Renowned in Europe as the "Fantastic Englishman", Ballamy established himself playing alongside notables including Hermeto Pascoal, the late Gil Evans, George Coleman, Dewey Redman, Mike Gibbs, and the New York Composers Orchestra.
Touring extensively world-wide he has appeared at most international festivals and venues. Ballamy can be heard on over forty CDs. A long-time collaborator with Django Bates, since the days of Loose Tubes and Bill Bruford's Earthworks he is currently a member of Bates's 'Human Chain' and 'Delightful Precipice'.
Parallel to his international jazz career, Ballamy has pursued his interest in world music, playing concerts in India and Europe with the Karnataka College of Percussion. He has performed and forged strong working relationships with renowned musicians from Hungary, Norway, Spain, Sudan, Brazil, and beyond...
Combined arts projects include tours with Sankalpam the contemporary Indian Dance group and Ballamy's acclaimed role as 'Steve the prat' in Simon Black's stage play Out There which toured Britain in 1995 and 1996. His distinctive saxophone voice can be heard in his improvisations for the BBC Radio 4 play Signal to Noise by Neil Gaiman and Dave McKean, the film Legend, and a documentary Joseph Losey - the Man with Four Names. Ballamy recently scored the award winning film MirrorMask directed by Dave McKean for the Jim Henson company.
In 2001 he was awarded the BBC Radio 3 special award for innovation at the British Jazz awards.
He is also a specialist tutor at the Royal Academy of Music and Trinity College of music in London.
If I Apologised
Iain Ballamy Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
It wouldn't make it all unhappen
Wouldn't make the darkness go away
If I apologised
It wouldn't mean I was forgiven
It wouldn't mean you wanted me to stay
When you seem
To be walking into the sun
We're on first
Unrehearsed
And we still don't know what we've done
So we don't say anything
If I apologised
I don't suppose you'd even notice
Even though I'd whisper it inside
If I apologised
We could be the perfect couple
Well we could, but only in my mind
But if you ask
For the mask
Then we're tumbling on through the dark
But we wait
And it's too late
And we only had to be asked
So we don't say anything
Couldn't hurt to try it
Couldn't hurt too much to try
It's there beyond the quiet
It couldn't hurt too much to fly...
The lyrics to Iain Ballamy's song "If I Apologised" deal with the aftermath of a relationship gone wrong. The singer is considering apologizing to their ex-partner, but recognizes that it won't change the past or fix things in the present. They acknowledge that apologizing won't automatically bring forgiveness or reconciliation. The lyrics also reveal a sense of longing for what could have been, with the singer imagining a perfect couple that only exists in their mind. The line "we still don't know what we've done" suggests that there may be unresolved conflicts or misunderstandings that have yet to be worked through. Overall, the song speaks to the complex emotions of regret, longing, and the difficulty of moving on from a relationship.
Line by Line Meaning
If I apologised
If I were to express regret
It wouldn't make it all unhappen
It wouldn't undo what's been done
Wouldn't make the darkness go away
Wouldn't eliminate the negative feelings and emotions
It wouldn't mean I was forgiven
It wouldn't automatically result in forgiveness
It wouldn't mean you wanted me to stay
It wouldn't necessarily indicate a desire to continue the relationship
But it's a dream
However, in my mind,
When you seem to be walking into the sun
When it appears that things are going well
We're on first
We're starting from scratch
Unrehearsed
Without a script
And we still don't know what we've done
We're not entirely sure of the repercussions of our actions
So we don't say anything
We avoid discussing the situation
I don't suppose you'd even notice
I don't think you'd even realize
Even though I'd whisper it inside
Even if I expressed my remorse internally
We could be the perfect couple
We have the potential to have an ideal relationship
Well we could, but only in my mind
However, this is only in my imagination
But if you ask for the mask
But if you request a façade
Then we're tumbling on through the dark
Then we're struggling in the unknown
But we wait
But we hesitate
And it's too late
And the opportunity has passed
And we only had to be asked
And all we needed was a simple request
So we don't say anything
So we continue to avoid communication
Couldn't hurt to try it
It wouldn't hurt to attempt to make things right
Couldn't hurt too much to try
It's worth a shot
It's there beyond the quiet
The potential solution exists beyond the silence
It couldn't hurt too much to fly...
It's worth trying to make things right
Contributed by Hunter Y. Suggest a correction in the comments below.