THIS IS LIFE (Colin Vearncombe) Reid Jamieson & CVM - drive thru the wilds of West Cork

THIS IS LIFE (Black/Colin Vearncombe cover) Reid Jamieson & CVM
Video includes a drive through the wilds of West Cork where we made our last all original record with Kieran Kennedy at the wheel. More at https://linktr.ee/reidjamieson

10 years since a car accident took Colin Vearncombe (aka Black) in Cork Ireland. We were kindly asked by our Irish peeps to record a couple of covers for the #LoveColin project. When you take a tune with 80s or 90s production, and then strip it down to a folksier place, you can see how the song really is the thing, and endures the ages. Delighted to take part in honouring Colin and his music. This is our second Colin cover, check out STONE SOUP for another. https://reidjamieson.com/love-colin/

'THIS IS LIFE' from the self titled album BLACK, Written by Colin Vearncombe, recorded at home and performed by Reid Jamieson & CVM, produced by Carolyn Victoria Mill. This recording would not be possible without inspiration & initiative from Marc McDonald at Interference Archive, and Colin’s talented wife Camilla Griehsel. A very timely tune we would wholeheartedly agree.

COLIN VEARNCOMBE May 26, 1962 -Jan 26, 2016
Colin Vearncombe, otherwise known as Black, was born in Liverpool on 26 May 1962. He had three top- ten records across Europe and sold over two million albums before leaving the mainstream and going independent. He released a string of albums as Black and under his own name on his own label; Nero Schwarz. On 10 January 2016, Colin was involved in a car crash, near Cork Airport in Ireland, and placed in a medically induced coma after sustaining serious head injuries. He never regained consciousness and died from his injuries at the intensive care unit of Cork University Hospital on 26 January 2016, at the age of 53. He left a widow, Swedish opera singer and former One 2 Many singer Camilla Griehsel, and three children. His legacy lives on in the Love, Colin project.

THIS IS LIFE 3/C

If your lonely heart is aching,
think you can't take anymore,
You have to cup your hands, to keep the light.
I will lean across your shoulder,
and whisper in your ear - That this is life.

If you're old enough to face it,
you are old enough to fake it,
To get what you desire and still ask why.
Then I'll tap you on the shoulder, and whisper in your ear - that this is life.

This is what you struggled for,
No reprisals, no resistance, This is life.

Can you answer me a question?
have you lain awake at night?
The blinds undrawn, the ceiling streaked with light.
You feel tired but you can't sleep,
feel so hungry you can't eat- well - this is life.

Has your courage seemed to fail you
As you take your chosen path?
You pass a camel through a needle's eye.
Cut up in tiny little pieces
And you've learnt the major rule - That this is life.

This is what you waited for,
no rehearsals, no more stalling, this is life.
Have it tattooed on the inside
of your pink and sleepy eyelids; this is life.

Absence makes the heart grow fonder…
Grow more foolish… than we can ever guess.
You feel your nerve ends slowly coiling
And you hope the answer's "no" - the answer's "yes".

This is what you struggled for,
no reprisals, no resistance - This is life.

This is what you waited for,
No rehearsals, no more stalling - This is life.

If you can't do what you ought,
lead by example, don't get caught, 'cause this is life.

This is life, this is life, this is life.
This is life, this is life, this is life.
This is life, this is life, this is life…