"Concord to Paris" is the first track on my album, "On the Dying Breath of Wisdom." (2012). It features Ed Holub on electric guitar.
Jim Ramsey is a Chattanooga, Tennessee-based singer/songwriter whose romantic, Celtic-tinged contemporary folk music blends British progressive rock sensibiliti
Story behind the song
The lyrics come from the perspective of a diplomat who is on his way to a hastily arranged Paris conference following the accidental launch of two American nuclear missiles which have destroyed the Soviet cities of Leningrad and Kiev. The diplomat has been authorized by the President to offer the Soviet Union's leadership a chance to destroy two comparably-sized American cities as retribution for the destruction inflicted on the Soviet Union, in an attempt to avoid all-out nuclear war.
The bridge ("And when your time has come, Terra....") is an allusion to the response of extraterrestrial beings from more advanced civilizations who have been watching the unfolding of the Earth's history for eons, and wondering if Earth will be capable of safely negotiating the nuclear threshold. The song was written in mid-1980's, toward the end of the Cold War, but continues to serve as reminder to humankind of the fragility of life on our planet, and of the grave responsibility that each of us have to strive to live in harmony with others if humanity is to attain its highest destiny.
Lyrics
Concord to Paris
Music and Lyrics by James McNair Ramsey
My wife and friends and family are waiting in Detroit
To hear what news my trip will bring, and the turns that I’ll exploit
But a diplomat is limited by the powers far above
And the only thing that can save us now is a renaissance of love
I’m on the Concord to Paris
Yet I don’t know if or when I’ll be coming home
I have partaken of the chalice
As I run to meet the feast of the great unknown
Strikes were made this morning at eight-o-nine a.m.
Now Leningrad exists no more, and neither does Kiev
The unthinkable has happened as the seconds tick away
And Terra, don’t you ever stop to see the light of day
I’m on the Concord to Paris
Yet I don’t know if or when I’ll be coming home
I have partaken of the chalice
As I run to meet the feast of the great unknown
And when your time has come (Terra)
Will you know the meaning of your life?
Will you have a notion of your fame?
Will you be the Master of the Game?
I’m on the Concord to Paris
Yet I don’t know if or when I’ll be coming home
I have partaken of the chalice
As I run to meet the feast of the great unknown
Copyright ? © 2012 Jim Ramsey
Lead Vocals – Jim Ramsey
Keyboards -- Joseph Akins
Electric guitar -- Ed Holub
Recording Engineer – Fred Schendel
Production Assistant – Steve Babb
Recorded and Mastered at Sound Resource, Chattanooga, Tennessee
