English singer Rose Betts explains the story behind her track, “Irish Eyes.”
AYESHA RASCOE, HOST:
Some songs have no extra to them than a great beat you possibly can dance to, and that is fantastic by me. Different songs have a great beat and layers of tales behind them.
ROSE BETTS: I am Rose Betts. I am a singer-songwriter.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, “IRISH EYES”)
BETTS: (Singing) My mom says I’ve Irish eyes, Irish eyes…
I am from London, England, space initially, however I reside in LA for the time being.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, “IRISH EYES”)
BETTS: (Singing) They go ever so blue below stormy skies, however they’re by no means so blue as after I allow them to cry.
That first line of that track I really began writing about seven years in the past. I’ve the identical eyes as my mom, and I feel she has the identical eyes as my grandmother. In order that’s sort of the place the road got here from.
(SOUNDBITE OF ROSE BETTS SONG, “IRISH EYES”)
BETTS: I would not say I used to be Irish. I’d say I used to be English as a result of that is the place I grew up. However my mom’s household are all very, very Irish, and I grew up fully round Irish tradition and round my grandparents. And yeah, I feel these days, I felt very related to my Irish tradition.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, “IRISH EYES”)
BETTS: (Singing) Irish eyes, Irish eyes. My mom says I’ve…
I by no means acquired past that first opening line ‘trigger I did not fairly know the place the track wished to go. And I – just a few months in the past, I used to be like, I do not forget that. I am going to return to that track. And abruptly…
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, “IRISH EYES”)
BETTS: (Singing) My father says I’ve English hair, English hair…
The following line got here of, like, my father says I’ve English hair.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, “IRISH EYES”)
BETTS: (Singing) Brown just like the bark of an oak someplace, just like the mattress of a lake the place the hemlock grows, just like the thorn within the stem of an English rose.
And I used to be, like, oh, that is what this track is about. It is virtually just like the track informed me what it was about. It is, like, oh, it is about all of the issues that we inherit and the issues that we take from our ancestors. It actually pursuits me what everybody will get. Typically, the way in which that I sit is, like, rather a lot like my mum, and I do that factor with my foot that is identical to my mum. And my Irish grandmother – we actually, actually deeply related. And he or she died after I was 16, and it was the primary time that I would skilled dying, and it was simply horrendous. And on the similar time, it made me a songwriter. However there are such a lot of issues – apparently, I sit on the piano simply the identical means that she does. And I simply thought, that is so attention-grabbing – to think about us as this massive puzzle that is fabricated from all these various things that have gotten us right here and the way grateful I’m for these issues.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, “IRISH EYES”)
BETTS: (Singing) I am a map of the world and those earlier than, one foot in sea and one on shore.
Once I began working in music, inevitably, individuals would evaluate my voice to Irish music, or they’d say I simply sort of had a Celtic vibe. And I felt very cautious about utilizing that facet of my life or my heritage as a sort of gimmick as a result of I take it fairly critically, the tradition and lots of the ache and the darkness that goes together with being Irish and the historical past, particularly in reference to English. And being somebody who has cut up heritage, I feel these days, I’ve felt ready, as a songwriter, to deal with the fantastic mild facet of Irish tradition and Irish music with the darkness.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, “IRISH EYES”)
BETTS: (Singing) My sister says I’ve a stressed soul, stressed soul, stressed soul. Simple to catch, however I am arduous to carry, like a track on the wind that you just caught someday. I get below your pores and skin, then I slip away.
Often, I play piano in all my songs, however I sort of was – this isn’t a piano track. It weights issues down. I assumed, oh, this wants lightness. It wants guitar and mandolin or banjo. And now I’ve acquired my twin sister who performs Irish flute to play an Irish flute, lilting melodies. Like, the whole lot, I felt, wanted to be sort of joyous.
(SOUNDBITE OF ROSE BETTS SONG, “IRISH EYES”)
BETTS: Particularly in terms of, like, a number of the strains. It actually helps, generally, once you smile and sing. I really feel like you possibly can actually hear that generally.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, “IRISH EYES”)
BETTS: (Singing) My nana says I’ve touring ft.
I am in my touring ft section. Yeah, I’m.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, “IRISH EYES”)
BETTS: (Singing) Slippers for princesses do not match me. However I dance to my very own drum vivid and daring, and my touring ft at all times get me dwelling.
Dwelling distant from household, I’ve by no means felt significantly homesick, nevertheless it’s attention-grabbing that now I am feeling like I need to write songs with a sort of Celtic really feel. And it is very – I do get nostalgic about sure issues. My Irish grandparents are each handed away, and all that is left are tales. All that is left are the recollections. And Eire is a rustic of tales. That is how they survived the whole lot. And to be in a room with somebody Irish telling you a narrative is simply the right factor ever. They’ll inform a narrative like none else. I imply, it is unimaginable. Even when my mum begins, it – she will be able to describe going to the retailers in a means that makes you simply completely enraptured, and I am intrigued to see what extra comes from Eire. The extra tales that come out of that place, the higher as a result of they’ve a lot energy and depth to them.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, “IRISH EYES”)
BETTS: (Singing) My mom says I’ve Irish eyes. They go ever so blue.
RASCOE: That is singer-songwriter Rose Betts, sharing the story of her track “Irish Eyes.”
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, “IRISH EYES”)
BETTS: (Singing) Each step, each hope flung excessive. I am a map of all of them with my Irish eyes.
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