I thought about you first amidst that tragedy
And maybe that says a lot about me
I wanted to write and say you'd give me hope
But when I wrote it all out, the pencil lead broke
No love survives in this awful place
Evil opens its eyes and it's got no eyes
Not even the dead make it out alive
Because of the strength of the grip of the hands all trying to turn back time
I sat down to write you this letter
But instead I just broke down and cried
The kind of strength that you hope makes you better
But it just leaves you wishing you were one of the millions who died
Some kids ran across the road screaming
Because the bottoms of all of their feet
Were all red and blistered
And innocently scorched by the heat
No goodness shows its head around here
Cries for help fall on deaf ears
Toast, now buttered and jammed, falls face down
And turns to black on the burning ground
I sat down to write you this letter
But instead I just broke down and cried
The kind of strength that you hope makes you better
But it just leaves you wishing you were one of the millions who died
You feel your heart beating out your skin
At least that means there's skin to live in
You're not dying crucified on a black wave of fire
To history goes the most victorious liar
- Lyricist
Eamon McGrath
- Composer
Eamon McGrath
Listen to Hiroshima by Eamon McGrath
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Hiroshima
Eamon McGrath
In spring of 2019, Canadian songwriter Eamon McGrath embarked on his first tour of Japan supporting his albums Tantramar and Guts, which saw him continue onto Europe and North America, playing over 300 shows in support of the releases. Now, in 2022, McGrath's determination to return to Japan has led him back to the offices of Moorworks Records where his latest album Bells of Hope finds a wider Japanese release.
The album's first single, "Hiroshima", was inspired by a daytime trip McGrath took to the Peace Museum, and documents the speechlessness and shock he and his bandmates experienced after being that close to relics and testimonials from such a dark and harrowing moment in human history.
"Nothing prepares you for it," McGrath explains. "A grim silence came over all of us as we stood at ground zero and later wandered through the rooms. And then, in what seems like as quickly a time as it all started, it all ended: it was a beautiful day, we were back out in the sun, the wind was blowing across our faces, almost as though nothing had even happened at all."
McGrath's lyrics in "Hiroshima" describe the sense of helplessness he felt later on that night, after the band's Hiroshima performance, where McGrath sat alone in a dimly-lit hotel room, trying to articulate in words what he'd felt only hours before. "I tried to write a letter to someone-anyone-back home," McGrath remembers, "Trying to describe what we'd all felt and how emotionally drained we all were, and I just couldn't do it. The letter never got sent, nobody ever read it. So instead, it became a song, written the next day on the bullet train to Tokyo."
The result is a moody, atmospheric and brooding piece of music, dedicated to the lives lost at the atomic bombing, speaking to the fragility of human life and the shocking lengths people will go to destroy it. "It's a human duty to go there," McGrath concludes. "Everyone should visit Hiroshima once. Afterwards, nothing is ever the same."
Artist Profile
Eamon McGrath
カナダ、エドモント出身でトロントを拠点として活動するEamon McGrath。2017年にはおよそ60本近く、2018年には80本以上のライブをこなし、更に”Berlin-Warszawa Express”とうい本を出版、彼が参加しているJulie & The Wrong Guyというバンドのアルバムリリース(Tokyo Police ClubやYukon Blondeを擁するdine Alone Recordsより発売)。そして今作のソロ作品をリリース。楽曲だけでなく、活動もパワフルでアグレッシブだが、2019年アルバムリリースツアー敢行中の彼が、日本にも来日することが決定し、日本での活動も注目が集まるだろう。
Eamon McGrathの他のリリース
Moorworks