"As If the Flowers Knew" by Michael Stern, © 2012 www.mikesongs.net
LYRICS, DESCRIPTION & CREDITS
Lyrics:
A flower grows in Hiroshima
But it’s known by very few
How its color changes at a certain time
As if the flowers knew
From spring till early August
It remains a solid blue
But then its edges appear to be burned
As if the flowers knew
It’s funny how it happens
So precisely but it’s true
Every August 6th at 8:15
The blossom changes hue
As if the flowers knew
I think flowers remember
And there’s something else they do
They pass that memory on again
If only we will, too
If only we will, too
At 8:15 on August 6th
In 1945
Out of rubble a flower grew
And still the flowers thrive
Still the flowers thrive
A flower grows in Hiroshima
But it’s known by very few
How its color changes at a certain time
As if the flowers knew
As if the flowers knew
Description:
After visiting Hiroshima in April 2012 for a series of peace concerts as a guest of the World Friendship Center, Michael Stern was inspired to write this new song. Remembering the past is an important means to avoid repeating it (from a quotation by George Santayana), & this song was his attempt to help us all remember – so that atomic & nuclear weapons will never be used again.
Credits:
Michael Stern: vocal, guitar, fretless bass
David Lanz: piano, accordion synthesizer
Gary Stroutsos: flutes
Susan Williams: cello
Shiho Kurauchi: koto
Cover photo: JoAnn Sims
Graphic design & layout: Tim Braun
Arrangement concepts: David Lanz
Recording engineer: Gary Lanz
Produced by Gary Lanz & Michael Stern
Translated by Yukio Sakiyama. Others consulted on Japanese translation & artistic concepts: Michiko Yamane & Harumi Makiyama.
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