The Call Of The Laughing Dove
This song came about following a 2012 radio broadcast on Radio 4 featuring a war photographer who had returned from Iraq and was trying to make a living as a wedding photographer. He described his time in Iraq and talked about the wonderful wildlife there, which he loved to photograph. One of his favourite birds was the Laughing Dove, and during the interview it became clear that part of him was very tempted to return back to that picturesque country despite the risks.
The roadside bomb was waiting as the convoy passed on by
I photographed the wreckage and the soldiers who had died
The bride is looking radiant with her bridegroom at her side
Their whole life is before them as her mother beams with pride
Her mother beams with pride
The bride is looking beautiful; it is her wedding day
She’s hired me as her photographer and argued down my pay
Work is hard to come by so I take what I can get
I’m hoping to hit the big time but it hasn’t happened yet
But it hasn’t happened yet
I remembered clouds of butterflies that filled the Kirkuk sky
A kaleidoscope of colour a living rainbow passing by
I photographed the wild birds that would feed out of my hand
I was captivated by this strange exotic land
This strange exotic land
But my family persuaded me to leave and come back home
So I left my friends and comrades and struck out on my own
Now the bridegroom’s family are smiling in the frame
But my heart is with the laughing dove who is calling me again
She’s calling me again