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Sydney Carter




Another notable song is ''One More Step along the road I go...''

He studied at Christ's Hospital school in Horsham , West Sussex and Balliol College, Oxford , graduating in History in 1936. A committed pacifist, Carter joined the Friends' Ambulance Unit on the outbreak of World War II and served in Egypt , Palestine and Greece .

He worked as a lyricist for Donald Swann 's reviews and musicals in the 1950s and in 1962 , produced an album ''Putting Out The Dustbin '' with Sheila Hancock , with the song ''Last Cigarette'' on failing to give up smoking that became a minor hit.

Partly inspired by Jesus , and partly by a statue of Shiva as Nataraja , Sydney wrote the lyrics "Lord Of The Dance" in 1963, as an adaptation of Joseph Brackett 's "Simple Gifts", and a tribute to Shaker music. He later stated, "I did not think the churches would like it at all. I thought many people would find it pretty far flown, probably heretical and anyway dubiously Christian. But in fact people did sing it and, unknown to me, it touched a chord… Anyway, it's the sort of Christianity I believe in."

: ''"I see Christ as the incarnation of the piper who is calling us. He dances that shape and pattern which is at the heart of our reality. By Christ I mean not only Jesus; in other times and places, other planets, there may be other Lords of the Dance. But Jesus is the one I know of first and best. I sing of the dancing pattern in the life and words of Jesus.
Whether Jesus ever leaped in Galilee to the rhythm of a pipe or drum I do not know. We are told that David danced (and as an act of worship too), so it is not impossible. The fact that many Christians have regarded dancing as a bit ungodly (in a church, at any rate) does not mean that Jesus did. The Shakers didn't...
:: ''Green Print for Song'' (1974)

In 1964 , he married his second wife Leela Nair, with whom he had a son Michael, who became a neurosurgeon.

He continued to work with Donald Swann writing six songs for the 1964 Donald Swann EP, ''Songs Of Faith And Doubt''.

In the 1960s, he also worked as a Critic for Gramophone magazine.

In 1965 , Carter wrote the six-song EP album ''Lord Of The Dance'' with Martin Carthy on guitar, the Johnny Scott Trio and the Mike Sammes singers. He also worked with Nadia Cattouse and Jeremy Taylor .


BIBLIOGRAPHY

  • ''The Rock Of Doubt'' (1978)

  • ''Dance In The Dark'' (1980)



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