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Just An Inoffensive Wife

from Mad Martins by Gary Miller

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  • Compact Disc (CD) + Digital Album

    Comes in a gorgeous deluxe hardback book-format packaging, including approximately 100 pages featuring lyrics to all 50 tracks, additional interlinking text, a host of beautiful pictures and illustrations throughout, as well as a comprehensive list of credits and acknowledgements. This wonderful and unique presentation, designed by Helen Temperley at helentemperley.myportfolio.com has been a true 'labour of love' and is a fascinating and real work of art in its own right.

    Includes FREE bonus "companion piece" CD - 'FAIR FLOWERS AMONG THEM ALL (THE MAD MARTINS INSTRUMENTALS)', while stocks last.

    IMPORTANT MESSAGE for non-UK buyers:
    Please be aware that if you are ordering from outside the UK, due to reasons beyond our control, you may be liable for additional charges, e.g. customs tax. Please note: we will NOT refund payment for any items refused or returned to us due to non-payment of these charges at point of delivery.

    Includes unlimited streaming of Mad Martins via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
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      £24.99 GBP

     

  • Streaming + Download

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about

Despite his 'genius', William found difficulty in attending to the practical things of life and relied increasingly on his wife's devotion to feed and clothe him from the proceeds of her dressmaking. Thus released, William devoted himself with great energy to his own peculiar philosophy, and the list of his inventions grew longer and longer.

William Martin wrote of his wife that she was "an inoffensive woman, respected both by rich and poor, and a celebrated dress-maker who had upwards of sixty apprentices during the time she was in business". She was "A jewel of a woman with a love amounting to devotion for her eccentric husband, who may be said to have been for years mainly fed and clad by the produce of her industriously-plied needle. On her deathbed the only concern she felt was who would take care of William, for she knew he could not take care of himself, as clever as he was."

lyrics

JUST AN INOFFENSIVE WIFE

Do you take this man, William Martin?
Do you take his name, his song?
As he walks through heavenly dreamtime,
You sew on.

The mother of all true invention,
Never touched this dreamer’s life:
Misguided truths, a blinding passion;
But not for you, his humble wife.

Did he take this inoffensive woman?
Did he take your name, your song?
As you struggle in the real world,
He dreams on.

No dress coats hang on gallery walls,
No bodices of fine brocade:
The greatest work you ever stitched,
Received no artists’ accolade.

Do you take this man, William Martin?
Do you take his name, his song?
As he walks through heavenly dreamtime,
You sew on.

The world will mock creative dreamers,
The cost was high you paid the price:
Pick up the pieces, sew them together;
Just an inoffensive wife.

Did he take this inoffensive woman?
Did he take your name, your song?
When you left him with the real world,
He dreamed on.

(Lyrics: Jane Miller / Music: Gary Miller)

credits

from Mad Martins, released April 30, 2017
Gary Miller - Vocals, Acoustic Guitar
iain Petrie - Piano, Organ, Bass Guitar, Drums

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Gary Miller Durham, UK

Gary Miller first rose to international prominence with folk-punk/rock pioneers The Whisky Priests (1985-2002), founded with his twin brother Glenn - “the Joe Strummer and Mick Jones of Folk Music". He now performs as a solo artist and with his new band 'Gary Miller's Big Picture' whose debut album is coming soon. ... more

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