The Women Who Inspired The Lady Vanishes
A young woman sits crossed-legged on her bedroom floor, surrounded by sheets of paper, books strewn across the wooden boards, tears streaming down her face as she whispers goodbye to her dream of being a writer.
This is Sadie. A few hours away, her childhood best friend Mille is at university, studying, which Sadie always longed to do. But it’s 1956, and Millie has been married for 2 years, now with a baby. So Sadie writes a letter to her favourite author, Daphne de Maurier, after reading her book Rebecca…
This was the image I had when I wrote one of the very first songs for my album The Lady Vanishes.
Ironically, this song never made it onto the record, but its imagery and meaning long stayed with me, and was essentially the heart of what this album became.
It might seem misguided to share a demo I didn’t include in an album that is yet to be released. Especially as I send out press releases to music blogs and publications about said album. “Only share your best work.” Why would I share a track that I didn’t put on the actual album?
Mostly, I didn’t feel the style fit the sonic themes of the album. But I feel it is important to share the moment I started. You can hear an overall idea forming here. I love artists’ sketches, sometimes more than the final painting. I find Leonardo da Vinci’s sketchbook pages far more fascinating than some of his famous polished paintings. Perhaps because souls are laid bare in the first stroke of the pen in a way that is never repeated. And perhaps because I am passionate that artists share their raw sketches, early drafts, ask stupid questions, make mistakes and do so publicly. For I am afraid of what we will become if we don’t.
Game for lovers of literature: How many classic books can you find in the lyrics?
Dear Daphne
White veils and wedding rings
Romantic or gothic thing
Was Rebecca the villain or was it Maxim?
A diamond necklace round her neck
Marriage is a noose my dear
What did you expect?
You can tie yourself in knots but they never see you
All roads lead to Rome and to a man with a view
Cathy haunted the room of a boy who never loved her
Did Rebecca have a narrator I don’t remember
These chapters on the floor where I once was the author
But lately the pages turning older and older
And the scariest thing now is I can’t imagine
Did I once have a name, Daphne I don’t remember
Millie writes notes
I stole her copy when she wasn’t looking
Now I make my own
In the margin of the night
Walk into a room and look around and I’m just his wife
(When did they forget my name)
You can tie yourself in knots but they never see you
All roads lead to Rome and to a man with a view
Cathy haunted the room of a boy who never loved her
Did Rebecca have a narrator I don’t remember
These chapters on the floor where I once was the author
But lately the pages turning older and older
And the scariest thing now is I can’t imagine
Did I once have a name, Daphne I don’t remember
Daphne, maybe I could have been a great writer too
Wasted my time on misprints of how men see you