We’ve updated our Terms of Use to reflect our new entity name and address. You can review the changes here.
We’ve updated our Terms of Use. You can review the changes here.
/

  • Streaming + Download

    Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    Purchasable with gift card

      £1.50 GBP  or more

     

  • Buy the Full Digital Album

  • Compact Disc (CD) + Digital Album

    Includes unlimited streaming of The Devil's On The Mast via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    ships out within 3 days

      £15 GBP or more 

     

  • Book/Magazine

    NB if you don't want the CD - then buy the book here and the downloads separately. The price is the same as CD + booklet
    ships out within 3 days

      £5 GBP or more 

     

about

Belladonna 


A Physic Garden — a beautiful woman — a man steeped in expertise in the tending and use of medicinal herbs — a cruel disappointment. Some medicinal plants, if used incorrectly, can also do considerable damage. Belladonna, in small doses, was used as an effective sleep remedy, but in larger doses
— and in the wrong hands — can kill.

Physic gardens were common in big estates, one of the most well known being in Chelsea, founded in 1673 by the Worshipful Society of Apothecaries. Plants for healing were the main focus, but a good knowledge of poisons also came in handy ... especially in the machinations of political power. Later, plant-hunters searched the world for plants with useful powers, but also for economically useful plants. Physic Gardens sometimes became synonymous with kitchen gardens, which also grew plants for other purposes, such as for food and for dying cloth.

Belladonna was so named by Carl Linnaeus in the mid-1700s, in his new classification system; the name referring to the common use of the plant’s extract to dilate the pupils of a woman’s eyes, intended to render her more seductive — literally ‘beautiful woman’ or ‘bella donna’ in Italian. Its common English name — Deadly Nightshade — tells a different story and the plant has a commensurately long history as the poison of choice for the illustrious: it was, for example, said to be the favourite poison of the Emperor Augustus’s wife Livia.

lyrics

Belladonna 
Lyrics - Kirsty Merryn

Berries sweet, berries dark,
Berries stop a grown man’s heart,
Gather me at spark of dawn,
Mix me with sea holly thorn.

He visits me each early morn,
He eyes me with a baleful glare,
He loves and loathes me each in turn,
Both curse and covet in his stare.

I watch him hungry gaze at her,
With feverish eye and pallid face.
She bends to gather nut and burr,
He longs for her to grant him grace.

Berries bright, berries black,
Berries make your vision slack.
Gather me at morning’s dew,
Grind me down with feverfew.

He came to me again today.

With sharpest knife he stripped away
A leaf and stem, and berry black,

And furtive hid them behind his back.

I never saw her here again.

As I begin my winter’s sleep,

I see him pace his lonely tracks,
And often bend, and often weep.

Berries tart, berries bold,

Berries make your skin turn cold.
Gather me in softest silk,

Mix me down with poppy milk.

credits

from The Devil's On The Mast, released June 2, 2023
Music by Adam Summerhayes, Murray Grainger and Kirsty Merryn

Produced and mixed by Murray Grainger.
Lyrics by Adam Summerhayes and Kirsty Merryn


UTE007 (Under The Eaves Records)
Mastered by Jon Astley
Artwork - Adam Summerhayes 
© & ℗ 2023 Adam Summerhayes, Murray Grainger & Kirsty Merryn


license

all rights reserved

tags

about

The Ciderhouse Rebellion image

The Ciderhouse Rebellion England, UK

Two virtuoso musicians playing some of the most startling and original music you will ever encounter. Compelling, exciting and utterly original" Phil Beer

The duo brings together master accordionist Murray Grainger and fiddle player Adam Summerhayes. ... more

contact / help

Contact The Ciderhouse Rebellion

Streaming and
Download help

Redeem code

Report this track or account

If you like The Ciderhouse Rebellion, you may also like:

Bandcamp Daily  your guide to the world of Bandcamp

On Bandcamp Radio

Featuring interviews with LA music scene pillar Kamasi Washington, and new London-based duo Mrcy.

listen now