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Author Topic: (15) Heart Of Oak (1:43)  (Read 42763 times)

OfflineKnopflerfan

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Re: (15) Heart Of Oak (1:43)
« Reply #30 on: March 26, 2015, 08:57:29 PM »
What a fantastic thought!! Beautiful little track that I play and play and PLAY!!! :clap
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OfflineFletch

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Re: (15) Heart Of Oak (1:43)
« Reply #31 on: March 27, 2015, 01:57:50 AM »
This has to be the very last song of the tracker tour setlist, right after "Going Home", just MK and his guitar. I bet you could hear a needle drop - even in O2 arenas. 

Springsteen did this for us on his second encore - came back on stage alone with an acoustic, performed two more songs - amazing !!
Hey, i`ve got a truffle dog - finally a song the ordinary man can relate too!

Offlineborder_reiver

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Re: (15) Heart Of Oak (1:43)
« Reply #32 on: March 27, 2015, 09:01:20 AM »
This has to be the very last song of the tracker tour setlist, right after "Going Home", just MK and his guitar. I bet you could hear a needle drop - even in O2 arenas. 

Springsteen did this for us on his second encore - came back on stage alone with an acoustic, performed two more songs - amazing !!

Springsteen and his persona is unfortunately like a bazillion times more of a fans' artist than MK ever was or will be.
« Last Edit: March 27, 2015, 10:36:34 AM by border_reiver »
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Onlinejbaent

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Re: (15) Heart Of Oak (1:43)
« Reply #33 on: March 27, 2015, 10:17:24 AM »
This is the song MK is playing and whisteling at the start of the Henrik Hansen short film, isn´t it?
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Offlinewespresso

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Re: (15) Heart Of Oak (1:43)
« Reply #34 on: March 27, 2015, 10:26:06 AM »
This is the song MK is playing and whisteling at the start of the Henrik Hansen short film, isn´t it?
Yes it is. Beautiful melody

Offlinestormbreaker

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Re: (15) Heart Of Oak (1:43)
« Reply #35 on: April 01, 2015, 05:41:21 PM »
Something is wrong with the Heart of Oak copy on my cd, it doesn't work good and you hear strange sounds (ticks).

OfflinePondlive

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Re: (15) Heart Of Oak (1:43)
« Reply #36 on: April 01, 2015, 08:45:01 PM »
I've had similar problems with this track (and ToTT) after ripping them to the computer. Anyone else have any issues?

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OfflineH97

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Re: (15) Heart Of Oak (1:43)
« Reply #37 on: April 01, 2015, 09:27:03 PM »
Given that second encore idea... would be awesome if he'd perform this one, then Guy would join and they would go out with an acoustic Wild Theme  :clap

OfflineJustme

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Re: (15) Heart Of Oak (1:43)
« Reply #38 on: April 06, 2015, 03:14:24 PM »
Yes, that's just about possible, although the reference to excellence with bat and ball suggests a significant all-rounder. Which certainly rules out Fiery Fred.

But Fiery Fred (requiescat in pace) was heavy browed indeed: http://blog.thecricketer.com/?p=32931
« Last Edit: April 06, 2015, 03:17:16 PM by Justme »
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Offlinestormbreaker

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Re: (15) Heart Of Oak (1:43)
« Reply #39 on: April 06, 2015, 08:29:55 PM »
I've had similar problems with this track (and ToTT) after ripping them to the computer. Anyone else have any issues?

Pondy :hmm

Yeah it happened after ripping!

OfflineShai

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Re: (15) Heart Of Oak (1:43)
« Reply #40 on: April 09, 2015, 11:47:16 PM »
I still don't understand what the "Heart of Oak" refers to in this song.

According to Wikipedia, the chorus of the official march of the UK is as follows:

Heart of Oak are our ships,
Jolly Tars are our men,
We always are ready: Steady, boys, Steady!
We'll fight and we'll conquer again and again.


Does this tie in?

Saul

OfflineStanko

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Re: (15) Heart Of Oak (1:43)
« Reply #41 on: May 28, 2015, 10:07:59 PM »
Well noted LE, may even be carrying on where he left off in the sense of the villagers playing cricket in RD and then going off to war. That is what is what I am picturing...
I am along with those thoughts too... The finale of the song is remarkable imho. It is impossible to describe it - any comment would stray and ruin the true meaning surely...
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OfflineFernando

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Re: (15) Heart Of Oak (1:43)
« Reply #42 on: May 26, 2016, 02:04:08 PM »
Hi folks,

I love this song. I will cover it for sure.

In my humble opinion, the cricket player might be John Phillip "Jack" Wilson. He was a first-class cricket player before the First World War when he joined the Royal Navy Air Service. Indeed, I believe it is a cricket song and the character went to war. The song has two parts (Past, Youth and Present, Adultness) with two different scenes in every part (cricket and war). Being Heart of Oak the march of the Royal Navy and having survived the war, Mr. Wilson could be the one.

http://www.espncricinfo.com/england/content/player/23076.html

OfflineFabioSorbello

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Re: (15) Heart Of Oak (1:43)
« Reply #43 on: September 29, 2016, 01:08:03 AM »
Hi all,
In my opinion this song is very special. It's not about cricket, although mark has certainly made reference to any given sport-man with bat and ball.

And how he used to thrill the crowd (the subject is Mark himself)
The ready eye with bat and ball
The village fighter, heavy browed
The Englishman who had it all

In this and following verses Mark looks back at his past. The time of his big days with the dire straits. When his long solos would send lots of people to tears, give the big goose bumps to any vip sport man, wealthy or bright and knowledgeble English man who attended his gigs. He looks at what he was with admiration with the view that little is left of the wonderful guitar player he was.

A mighty shoulder to the wheel
To join in battle with the best
The iron arm, the will of steel
 And heart of oak to mourn the rest

Mark likes to hide the true meaning of his songs and uses phrases to confuse the listener... However to me there is no doubt as to who this mighty shoulder belongs to. Mark broke his collarbone in the motorbike accident and I have noticed he still carries post trauma effects on his arm and hand.

I don't think there is more to explain as the above text is far too obvious if read under this perspective.

To me the reference to the heart of oak is not fully clear but it seems plausible that he meant to refer to himself as a very strong and confident man, like a warrior, with little attention to the rest of the world who did not have as much talent. Heart of oak could also be a reference to the brave and fearless man he was years ago. He probably has more fears nowadays.

A power harnessed to the game
Once yoked and tempered fades away
The willing arm, the steady aim
The youth and fire that won the day
As twilight shadows dim the field
The ageing fighter stands bereft
With just the will to never yield
And heart of oak to mourn what’s left

The subject of this verse his 'the ageing fighter'. We move from the glorious past to the present days. Mark sees himself now as an old man who has tempered over the years due to the huge effort and will to carry on with heavy duty work (productions, collaborations, thousands of concerts and rehearsals). The tempering of a metal makes it harder but brittler. He refers to himself as the aging fighter. He looks at what it is left of himself with sympathy. He is determined as ever to carry on to give the best he has to produce good songs and keep hold of his strong heart to mourn what's left of his own talent.

Clearly this is not what I think of him but just how he sees himself today. I have gathered this from what he recently says. How much humble he has become. He claims not to be a true musician but simply the songwriter, and he can afford to get away with plenty of mistakes or with forgetting his licks.

This song to me is the core of tracker. With this record MK wanted to go back in time and tell his story to the world. And he really did an amazing job!! Even the decision to use the sultans of swing tune is for a reason. It is the tune that changed his life for good, it identifies the time when everything started for him.
This song is so personal that he frightens me. I think he wrote it with the thought that he may not have another chance to write a further record. It is not by chance he placed this song at at the end of Tracker.

I just don't get the reason why he has relegated it to the deluxe cd!
There are lots of lovely things in the worlds and then there is Mark... And he is unique and irreplaceable!

Offlineskydiver

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Re: (15) Heart Of Oak (1:43)
« Reply #44 on: September 29, 2016, 09:03:12 AM »
Thanks for your very interesting post.
You add the perspective that Mark refers to himself in this song.
I would be a bit more cautious.
He often writes about people who have character traits he admires like resilience for example or who master life circumstances that he himself is familiar with.
So in the song he could refer to himself but it does not necessarily be about himself but about a character he can relate to.
The same holds for The Oldest Surfer on the Beach which gets very close to beeing about MK himself.
Finally your post reminded me what a very personal and intimate overall theme MK laid into the Tracker album.
« Last Edit: September 29, 2016, 09:08:53 AM by Skydiver »

 

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