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about

I read somewhere about a Turkish soldier in the first world war, a woman sniper who had been terrorising the Allied forces at Gallipoli. She was eventually killed by all accounts, and was found with 50 ID tags of the soldiers she had killed, as well as 50 pounds. I thought there was something incredibly sad and powerful about this woman’s story, and wondered where she had come from. I decided to invent a little prequel to it - perhaps she was a court lady of the Imperial Harem, longing for adventure, bored of the trappings of high society and servitude to men. In the Sultan’s Harem, court ladies who were often slaves captured in wars, could rise the ranks and attain the status ikbal (‘the fortunate’) hence the name Rana the Fortunate.

The song was written as part of a larger concept album that was never completed. It wasn’t originally intended to be duet, but its structure lends itself well to it I think, with the alternate verses, and Laura’s harmonies in the latter part of the song, which really lift it far beyond what it would have been otherwise. In my version of the story, Rana relishes the war, dancing to the beat of the bombs and interpreting the event as a violent rebirth.

lyrics

thrown in to a golden cage
renamed the breeder of grace but
all the finest silk of the land
couldn't tie up my arms, tie up my hands

as for all the sweet perfume
and for all the flesh consumed
nothing could change yes that i knew
and by the grace of he went i

I have known the pleasures of man
the honey spilled over my hands
and now an angry god commands
blood on the altar

as the drunken soldiers slept
through the palace gardens i crept
on a throne of feathers i have slept but now
i am awake

and all along
the dunes of the Dardanelles
a holy rifle on my shoulder
and
50 pounds sterling
i kept in my pocket
i know very soon will
be of no use to me

rolled through the night
on a truck to the coast
the arrows of Ulgen above us
I'll sway my hips to the beat of the bombs
and salute the fallen

oh the joy to hear it
so lonesome you wouldn't believe it

as all the world is born again
naked and wailing

credits

from In The Half​-​Light, track released July 16, 2021

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Joshua Burnside Belfast, UK

Joshua Burnside was born in Northern Ireland, where he draws inspiration from the beauty, the ugliness and the rich musical and literary heritage of an often tormented corner of the world.

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