AGADIR
(Requested by Judy Hancock, Macclesfield)
...rise up, like a phoenix in the sun - and still believing..
Agadir, I understand, in part, the way it was - when the earth moved and you crumbled into dust
- when the very ground you walked upon somehow betrayed your trust and left you dazed - and grieving.
Foundations gone - how did you find the strength to carry on? - find the will to do what must be done
And then rise up, like a phoenix, in the sun - and still believing?
CHORUS:
I need to know - now Love has moved this earth beneath my feet and I am shaking and unsure of how to stand
How do I rise and build an oasis, cool and sweet, within a heart that's like a barren, desert land..... within a heart that's like a barren, desert land?
Agadir - was your overwhelming feeling pain - or fear - when you knew you'd lost the ones you held most dear?
Or were you too confused to even shed a tear for your dead and dying?
Or did you cry - but then find that, as a healer, Time is kind? Are there really ways to leave the past behind?
Or are the scars still burning - deep within your mind - it's peace denying?.....
CHORUS:
I need to know - now Love has moved this earth beneath my feet and I am shaking and unsure of how to stand
How do I rise and build an oasis, cool and sweet, within a heart that's like a barren, desert land..... within a heart that's like a barren, desert land?
Agadir - was it Fate that brought me somehow to your door - to rest this shattered heart upon your shore?
And to find that life in ruins can rebuild itself once more - with stunning grace returning...
And can it be - that somewhere through your darkness I can see my phoenix rising, flying high and free?
And that somewhere, in this icy soul, if I just let it be - my flame's still burning?......
CHORUS:
I need to know - now Love has moved this earth beneath my feet and I am shaking and unsure of how to stand
How do I rise and build an oasis, cool and sweet, within a heart that's like a barren, desert land..... within a heart that's like a barren, desert land?
Lyrics & Music: © Rosie Hardman 1987
(On a personal note - I still believe this to be the best of all my song lyrics).
THE HISTORY OF THE SONG
On February 29th, 1960 the town of Agadir in Morocco was struck by a huge earthquake, totally destroying the town (the pictures below of the Yachech area and one of the major hotels - before and after the earthquake - speak for themselves). Since the disaster the whole town has been rebuilt on a new site and is now one of the leading holiday resorts in Morocco. I visited there in January 1987 having had a great personal upset at Christmas 1986. The song is the result of my seeing, in Agadir, the results of a seemingly impossible triumph over catastrophe and hoping to learn from it......
(Pic of Rosie on holiday in Agadir, Jan 87 on Photos Page 2)
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