Name: Dancing For the Soldiers
Duration: P00H04M45S
Description: My grandparents met in a Displaced Persons camp in Austria near the end of the war and survived there for more than two years, even marrying and welcoming their first daughter there. My Dido was a good folk dancer and he used to dance for the soldiers and collect the smokes they threw him to sell for money in the camp. In this song, my Baba watches him dance and falls in love with him.

Dancing For the Soldiers

from You're Just A Place That I Know by Adrian Glynn

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about

My grandparents met in a Displaced Persons camp in Austria near the end of the war and survived there for more than two years, even marrying and welcoming their first daughter there. My Dido was a good folk dancer and he used to dance for the soldiers and collect the smokes they threw him to sell for money in the camp. In this song, my Baba watches him dance and falls in love with him.

lyrics

I saw you dancing for the soldiers, they’d gathered all around
You were fearsome in your lightness, you didn’t touch the ground
Did you learn it from your father? Would it make your mother proud?
You were dancing for the soldiers,
I was hidden in the crowd

I saw you dancing for the soldiers with your village in your bones
I felt a thousand ages and a thousand leagues from home
You collected up the coins and you collected up the smokes
You were dancing for the soldiers,
I was standing in the cold

They were weather worn in uniform, lions in the height of day
Dreading further orders like devils sick of prey
Smoking in their corners, happier to wait
You were dancing for the soldiers,
I was watching through the gate

I saw you dancing for the soldiers, a bandura called the tune
I thought of summer in the mountains, a thick Carpathian June
But the shadows all around us were the silhouettes of ruin
You were dancing for the soldiers,
I was squinting through the gloom

I saw you dancing for the soldiers, though I dreamed that it was me
I’d have flowers all in garlands and embroiders down my sleeve
And you’d dash my heart wide open like there were roses in your teeth
You’d bring the planets closer and you would lift me from my feet
And in the morning glow you’d be beside me in my sleep
You were dancing for the soldiers,
But I dream you’d dance for me

credits

from You're Just A Place That I Know, released February 27, 2024

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about

Adrian Glynn Vancouver, British Columbia

Adrian’s 5th solo album tracks the story of his Ukrainian grandparents’ flight from their homeland in the 1940s, to settle in Montreal. Adrian is a songwriter based in Vancouver and has released more than 8 critically acclaimed albums, both solo and with his folk band, The Fugitives. He has been nominated for a JUNO Award and multiple Western Canadian Music Awards and Canadian Folk Music Awards. ... more

adrianglynn.com

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