40 Year Itch : A Broken Promise or a Broken Heart

Photo I shot this Summer of my hometown

Richard and Linda Thompson : Dimming of the Day

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    I don't have this album, but having heard the two tunes posted below, I feel like I must be missing out on one of 1975's most beautiful releases. By 1974 Richard and Linda Thompson had adopted the Sufi faith and moved into a commune. Their sheikh had originally forbid them from recording music. On the other hand, they owed Island Records another album. It was like a toss up between Allah and Richard Branson. A compromise was reached and the couple recorded subtle songs of faith. 

   "Dimming of the Day" has often been interpreted as a love song but I don't think it is. The lyrics could just as well be sung to God:

 This old house is falling down around my ears 

I'm drowning in a river of my tears 

When all my will is gone you hold me sway 

I need you at the dimming of the day 

You pulled me like the moon 

Pulls on the tide 

You know just where I keep my better side 

What days have come to keep us far apart 

A broken promise or a broken heart

  What stands out is Linda's beautiful voice and Richard's eloquent guitar. Stunning! "Night Comes In" is simply epic. Perhaps Pour Down Like Silver is the real gem in the Thompson's discography.