Borrowed Heaven
Codes & Release Dates
Year of first release: 2004
Show/hide detailed information...Tracklist
Tracklists may vary; this is from release 7567-83670-2| # | Title | Lyrics | Listen | |
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| 1. | Summer Sunshine (2:56) |  |
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| 2. | Angel (3:26) | |
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| 3. | Hideaway (3:17) | |
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| 4. | Long Night (3:47) | |
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| 5. | Goodbye (4:11) | |
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| 6. | Time Enough For Tears (5:03) | |
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| 7. | Humdrum (3:43) | |
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| 8. | Even If (3:03) | |
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| 9. | Borrowed Heaven (4:21) | |
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| 10. | Confidence For Quiet (3:11) | |
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| 11. | Baby Be Brave (3:58) | |
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| 12. | Silver Strand (4:26) | (I) | ||
| Total running time: 45:19 | ||||
Singles
- Summer Sunshine (May 2004)
- Angel (Sept. 2004)
- Long Night (Jan. 2005)
Credits
Produced by Olle Romo
Recorded at Westland, Dublin (Ireland), Tweek's, Los Angeles (USA) and Schnee's, Los Angeles (USA); "Borrowed Heaven" recorded with Ladysmith Black Mambazo in Joe's Garage, Johannesburg (South Africa)
Thanks to (among others) Anto Drennan, Keith Duffy, Jason Duffy, Shaun Evans, Marie Hughes Jnr., Jim Sheridan, Ciaran Tanham and all our fans everywhere.
Special thanks to Ladysmith Black Mambazo, Bono, Mutt Lange, Gavin Friday and Maurice Seezer, Rob O'Connor, Mark Caylor and Kevin Westenberg.
Very special thanks to Marie Hughes, Gavin Bonnar, Frank Woods.
And at last Gerry - thanks for the piano lessons (terrifying!!!!!) as none of this - us! - would be possible without you and Jean.
This album is dedicated to Jean.
Trivia
For info on the song "Summer Sunshine", please visit the single page.
Both "Angel" and "Goodbye" (written by Andrea and Jim respectively Sharon) deal with the loss of their mother 5 years ago. Jim came up with the guitar riffs for "Angel" and as Andrea liked the sound, she wrote the melody for both chorus and verse. The lyrics were added much later when she realized only something very honest and personal would suit the song. The lyrics are about seeing it from the other, quirky side, i.e. her mother's perspective from heaven, about the hope she is being loved up there as much as she is down on earth and that she is getting along with the other spirits in heaven. Though Jim noted the lyrics are kind of very sad, Andrea insists it's not a sad song. Caroline thinks the lyrics (like for "Angel") are becoming emotionally deeper which goes hand in hand with maturing and becoming older. Her becoming a mother also helped her understand her mother better now because she thinks of the sacrifices, i.e. the things you do for love, everyday.
Sharon and Jim wrote "Hideaway", which started out with some chords Jim was playing on the guitar. Sharon later provided the melody and especially the lyrics. Not only does she love the word "Hideaway" but the subject of the song is also very dear to her heart: it was inspired by a friend of hers who she felt needed to be more confident about herself. She was taken care of by her boyfriend though there was no harm she needed to be protected from. On the whole, it's a song about women and the impulse to believe in yourself and take chances.
Sharon also wrote "Long Night" on her piano at home in Dublin and notes that in this case the lyrics and melody came almost tumbling out of her. Some of Sharon's personal experiences are worked up in the song which essentially deals with breaking up and trying to be, quote Sharon, "flippant" about it.
"Goodbye" deals more with the frustration felt by Sharon and her not accepting the concept of death. Caroline notes that she thinks the time they had to deal with their mother's loss helped them to put the grief into a better expressed form unlike on "In Blue" where it had still been quite raw. In fact Andrea said she felt that music is a release and singing "Goodbye" is almost cathartic for her.
There is an alternate version of "Goodbye" which can only be found on the Mexican release of "Borrowed Heaven". In the beginning you can hear some lines from various poems by E.E. Cummings spoken by a man. The text is as follows:
"Spring is like a perhaps hand
(which comes carefully
out of Nowhere) arranging
a window, into which people look (while
people stare
arranging and changing placing
carefully there a strange
thing and a known thing here) and
changing everything carefully "
(from 'Spring is like a perhaps hand')
In the end, you can hear this:
"listen: there's a hell
of a good universe next door; let's go
(from 'Pity this busy monster, manunkind')
Sleep well"
(from 'Sam was a man')
Thanks to Wesjack2 from the Corrsonline message board!
Strictly speaking, "Time Enough For Tears" is not a Corrs song as there is only one member of the band involved: Andrea sings this truly wonderful Christmas song which was written by Bono, Gavin Friday and Maurice Seezer for Jim Sheridan's movie "In America." Andrea became involved because she is friends both with Bono and Gavin Friday and they were all invited by the director to have a look at a rough cut of the movie. As Sheridan wanted a special song for the end, all three musicians sat down and started fooling around on the piano a bit, with Andrea agreeing on singing the final product. She then had to leave to Los Angeles but the others kept her uptodate with MMS. When the song was finished, Andrea just took one take to sing it and admits as the song is so emotional it would be hard singing it a second time. The Corrs put this song on the album because they felt it would "get lost on the ether" after not being nominated for an Academy Award (though it was nominated for a Golden Globe). The final version on the album has some background "ooh ooh la la"s added but basically remains the same.
Jim and Andrea wrote "Humdrum" together, which like many other tracks, just started with a few chords on the piano. Andrea then wrote the melody and lyrics, and producer Olle Romo added his unique touch with e.g. the scratching in the beginning. According to Jim, this made an already strong song even better. There is quite some confusion about the correct lyrics as in the booklet, it says "Bathe while you're downstairs" but many people hear Andrea singing "Fade while you're downstairs".
"Even If" has been written by Andrea as rumor has it especially for Shaun Evans, her boyfriend. She just combined 4 simple chords to a melody line. Unsurprisingly, it's a love song dealing with the headiness of being in love. Andrea describes it as the feeling of suddenly being landed on another planet and not caring how you got there.
The fact that the title of the album is both the name of a song and a line of the lyrics stems from Andrea's original plans to call "Summer Sunshine" "Borrowed Heaven". However after thinking about the concept of this phrase a little longer she decided there was more to it than just a single line and wrote another song. Basically it deals with the idea of our bodies being heaven which is only borrowed and has to be given back. Before that times comes we should hold it tight and enjoy what we have been given. The whole spiritual feeling of the song was reinforced by African influences, especially of course Ladysmith Black Mambazo who are heard towards the end of the track. The collaboration with Ladysmith Black Mambazo developed through the "46664" concert in November 2003 where both bands performed, also together. The song was recorded right then and there in South Africa.
After Caroline had written a specific progression of chords on the piano years ago, Andrea now provided the melody and lyrics for "Confidence For Quiet". The concept of the content follows the idea of someone who has been a star and now after it's over doesn't know what to do with their life. As notes Andrea, it's a rather ironic twist to write a song about being quiet but it was also influenced by her feeling rebellious about having to write a whole album. It poses the question whether there is still something interesting to say if your life isn't dramatic any more. Another typo can be found in the lyrics for this song: "rhyme" is spelled "ryhme".
Andrea wrote "Baby Be Brave" after seeing a report about the Wailing Wall in Jerusalem. It's one of Caroline's favourite songs on the album because of the strings and the slightly darker mood.
"Silver Strand" was written by both Andrea and Sharon and is the album's only instrumental. Apparently the strand in the title is a certain beach in Ireland which reminded Sharon of her mother.