One of fifteen children, Kieran Goss was born and raised in County Down, Northern Ireland. He was just nine years old when he got his first guitar. Growing up in a big family with diverse musical tastes meant that early on he was hearing his brothers’ Johnny Cash, Kris Kristofferson and Willie Nelson records, his mother’s Frank Sinatra records and his sisters’ records featuring The Rolling Stones. These varied influences fermented into some brew that gives Kieran Goss his own unique sound.
Kieran supported himself while a law student in Belfast by playing club gigs and the University Students’ Union, earning himself support slots for Elvis Costello, Christy Moore and Joe Jackson along the way. After qualifying as a lawyer in the mid-eighties, Kieran left home for France and Germany in order to avoid being drafted into the legal profession! He came back home to Ireland in 1989 to record his first album, Brand New Star. It contained the songs Brand New Star and Just Around The Corner, which came to the attention of Mary Black as she was preparing the album Babes In The Wood. She recorded both songs.
Kieran followed up Brand New Star with New Day in 1994 and in 1998 he released the album Worse Than Pride, which contained the Top 10 single Out Of My Head. It was the second most played song on Irish radio that year. Worse Than Pride achieved double platinum status nine months after it was released. Not bad for an album recorded in a bedroom! Red-Letter Day followed this in 2000, and contained the gem, Reasons To Leave.
In the winter of 2002, Kieran released the compilation, Out Of My Head... The Best Of Kieran Goss, which was intended to act as a resumé of his work up to that point and to give him a breather while he holed up to write. His sixth studio album, Blue Sky Sunrise, was recorded in Tennessee in the Spring of 2005 and was produced by Rodney Crowell and Peter Coleman. It was released in Ireland on September 16th, 2005.
[source: www.kierangoss.com]
Lean On Me
Kieran Goss Lyrics
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She locked it up and threw away the key
Thoughts would flow but words were left unsaid
A distant shore at each end of the sea
She wrapped the world in fragrance of a dream
With all its wonder hidden in her heart
But precious few will ever see the change
Should I go it alone, must I pretend
Will people around me ever lend a hand
Can I do anything I want to do
If you lean on me, I'll lean on you
In passing conversation with the man
Who held her when she saw the light of day
Always thinking she would grow up strong
His little girl had somewhere gone astray
Lost the rhythm of imagination
And cut the canvas just to fit the frame
The lyrics of "Lean On Me" tell the story of a woman who once had a vivid and imaginative world inside her head, but over time, she shut it away and kept it hidden. She was unable to express her thoughts and feelings, bottling them up inside her, and thus, she created a distant world that nobody could see or understand. The singer recognizes the beauty of this inner world that the woman had created, but feels that it remains hidden from the rest of the world. The woman feels lonely on this journey, not knowing if she can go it alone, and questions whether other people will be willing to lend a hand. The father of the woman reveals that her daughter had once been full of imagination and creativity, but she had lost it along the way.
Line by Line Meaning
Once there lived a world inside her head
She had a world of her own inside her head which only she could access.
She locked it up and threw away the key
She kept it hidden from the rest of the world and sealed it away.
Thoughts would flow but words were left unsaid
She had many thoughts, but didn't vocalize them.
A distant shore at each end of the sea
She felt emotionally distanced from others and disconnected from the rest of the world.
She wrapped the world in fragrance of a dream
She dreamt of a world that she wanted to create for herself.
With all its wonder hidden in her heart
She kept the wonder and beauty of her world deep inside her heart.
But precious few will ever see the change
She knew that not many people would understand or appreciate the changes she had made to her world.
In this big bad world we all must play our part
She understood that we all have a role to play in this challenging and complex world.
Should I go it alone, must I pretend
She wasn't sure if she should continue to keep her world hidden or pretend like everyone else.
Will people around me ever lend a hand
She wondered if others would ever be there to support her.
Can I do anything I want to do
She was curious if she had the freedom to make her world anything she wanted it to be.
If you lean on me, I'll lean on you
She realized that if she could find others to support and trust, they could support each other.
In passing conversation with the man
She was talking to a man in a casual conversation.
Who held her when she saw the light of day
The man was associated with her from her very birth, maybe her father or a close relative.
Always thinking she would grow up strong
The man always thought she would become a strong person.
His little girl had somewhere gone astray
He realized that she had lost her way and wasn't the person he hoped she would be.
Lost the rhythm of imagination
She had lost the ability to imagine and dream.
And cut the canvas just to fit the frame
She had limited herself and her world to fit into societal expectations and norms.
Lyrics © O/B/O APRA AMCOS
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