Nemo James

In The Garden

From the Album The Minstrel

With such sweetness I recall
The days when I’d come home from school
And watch her working quietly in the garden
With calloused hands that gently nursed
The flowers of the universe
She looked so happy working in her garden

A simple tune she whistled well
In chorus with the birds
She seemed to hold them in a spell
That never needed words

It may seem to you her life was tough
But she had more than enough
When she was working in her little garden
Though many years she’s laid to rest
Her memory still is clear
And when I see a flower, I must confess
It seems that she is near

In summer and in winter still
She loved her land and worked it till
All was well in her little garden

THE STORY BEHIND THE SONG

The terraced house where I grew up in South London had a very small back yard with a narrow border for flowers. The earth was very poor and littered with builder’s rubbish, so it was difficult to grow anything. It was a shame because my father would have loved a garden, but we made up for it by going camping every weekend in the summer. When my father retired, my parents moved to a semi-detached house in Lancing, West Sussex, where they had a large garden with an elaborate pond that I built them. For years, they both worked in their garden from morning till night, and in the summer months, it looked magnificent. I used to love watching my mother pottering around with her plants, so it was a great pleasure to write and record this song dedicated to her.