Chalk Circle - Live

Chalk Circle was in the acoustic session we did at TV21 last week, the dummy ending demands power so we did a shorter version without it, here’s a full band Live recording including the coda

Here 
Full of bleak darkness, Chalk Circle has been a live set favourite since early 1990 and is on the first album The Speed Of Sound At Tree Level.

Chalk Circle

I’ve drawn a chalk circle right around me

I’m going to stay in it I am never going to leave

Its going to keep you out its going to keep you away

I’m on my own in here and that’s how I want it to stay

I put out the light and I stay inside

Sometimes its hell just staying alive

You can’t touch me you can’t even get near

I can’t see anything that you describe

I know what it is to be so far down

There’s no doubt about it I am underground

I see no evil I hear no pain

Nothing can reach me through my chalk surround

I listen to the rhythm within me

I hear only sounds in my head

I do not move I seldom bother breathing

I sometimes wonder if I am dead

I sometimes wonder if I am dead

I am empty just an echoing jar

Remote and untouchable as the North Star

My memories are fading into the past

I am now completely insular

I send out no signals and get none in return

I can not remember the things I have spurned

The turmoil is gone and I know only peace

I can not go back for the bridges are burned

I listen to the rhythm within me

I hear only sounds in my head

I do not move I seldom bother breathing

I sometimes wonder if I am dead

I sometimes wonder if I am dead

I know what it is to be so far down

There’s no doubt about it I am underground

I see no evil I hear no pain

Nothing can reach me through my chalk surround

I sometimes wonder

I sometimes wonder

I sometimes wonder

If I am dead

John Armstrong 28 Feb 1990

Chalk Circle

Chalk Circle is about the danger of self-isolation and severing contact with the outside world as a means of emotional survival.

Inspired by the ancient notion of being protected from evil whilst standing in a chalk circle and also JW Waterhouses' 1886 painting The Magic Circle (which oddly seems to feature Siouxsie Sioux). Regularly played live and re-recorded in June 2010.

This isn't the only song on The Speed Of Sound At Tree Level to have been at least partly inspired by a JWW painting. If you have a day or two spare have a look at http://www.jwwaterhouse.com