Here's how this one came about... I always wanted to try to write a long, narrative, tragic balled. The name 'Killarny Glen' popped in my head out of nowhere one day a while back, and when I looked it up it turned out to be a swimming hole in Australia. The real Killarny Glen works well as a setting for a balled - it's a rock formation naturally shaped like a heart. It's also permanently closed now because a teenager drowned there a few years ago.
I wrote the song from the perspective of the young drowning victim. When I had the verses I sent this demo over to my friend Eric in Nashville to see if he knew
My heart is the shape of the summer
My heart is the shape of the wind
My heart is the shape of the birds above
The waters of Killarny Glen
I walked far away from the city
Where I stated I do not know when
But I walked without anyone with me
Down the road to Killarny Glen
My mother she won’t leave off me
She squawks like a mean old hen
So I could not wait to leave the house
And hurry to Killarny Glen
The lights make my eyes water
The sounds make my head spin
So I’m headed out in the summer
To the rocks of Killarny Glen
The birds are in their cages
And the pigs are in their pens
And I’m bound for the open skies above
The waters of Killarny Glen
I once knew a man who told
That the women there make you grin
They lie right there in the sunshine
On the rocks of Killarny Glen
The pack has a bottle of water
And some cigarettes and some gin
And I won’t need too much else
When I make it to Killarny Glen
I don’t dwell in the past
Or worry about what might have been
All I knew is what is before me
As I walk towards Killarny Glen
There’s nothing I need behind me
No I’m never going back there again
All I need are the things that I’ve got
By the waters of Killarny Glen
There’s air that rolls off the river
That’s not found in the world of men
And it lifts me up as I fall into
The waters of Killarny Glen
I look down into the water
And I count from one to ten
And I close my eyes and I feel
The waters of Killarny Glen
Now the days are long behind me
Maybe someone will pick up a pen
And write a song about my life
And the story of Killarny Glen
Music and lyrics by Benjamin Adair Murphy ASCAP (464341364) Watery Grave Music ASCAP (396517127)