MUSICAL INSPIRATION
Tarifa is a place like no other, with a truly idiosyncratic atmosphere and pace of life. It´s easy to see why anyone travelling down the coastal N340, over the hilltops and down towards this ancient fishing town and its beautiful beachy environs, would quickly become enchanted. For some, this has even become a source of creative inspiration, and led to the composition of some great music…
DIRE STRAITS LEGACY
In Autumn 2016, Alan Clark and Phil Palmer, former members of the legendary Dire Straits, teamed up with Marco Caviglia and numerous other musical legends to form a new band, LEGACY. The ´LEGACY Project´ began in Los Angeles, and a year later they released their first album called 3 Chord Trick. One of the tracks on this album shares a special affinity with Tarifa; a local hotelier was called up by a member of the band, and told that they had been inspired to write ´Jesus Street´ by their time staying alongside the Straits of Gibraltar. The name of the song is taken from Calle Jésus in Tarifa town, and the lyrics of the song capture quite powerfully the geographical extremity of Tarifa as the southernmost point of mainland Europe:
I hit the ground running
I didn’t say goodbye
I was heading down the highway
with the first light of dawn
at least the sun was on my side
I took it to the limit
to where I’d never been before
I’d been walking on the wild side
playing with our lives
well I’m not playing any more
Then I found myself on Jesus Street
on the great divide, where the angels meet
I found myself on Jesus Street
on the great divide, where the angels meet
I was in the dream chamber
I could feel the desert wind blowing in my hair
whispering the answer for the second time
and it blew my mind
Then I found myself on Jesus Street
on the great divide, where the angels meet
I found myself on Jesus Street
on the great divide, where the angels meet
SHARON VON ETTEN
In 2014, Indie rock singer Sharon von Etten released her fourth studio album, Are We There. One of the most emotional songs on the album a slow ballad called Tarifa, and uses the sleepy seaside atmosphere and, again, the strange geographical sense of being on the ´edge of the world´ in Tarifa as an allegory for the sensation of letting go and falling in love. Here are some excerpts from its lyrics:
Hit the ground
The yard, I found something
I could taste your mouth
Shut the door
Now in the sun tanning
You were so just
Looking across the sky
Can't remember
I can't recall, no
I can't remember anything at all
We skipped the sunrise
Looking across the grass
Said he wanted
And not that I'm "every"
It's the same, I could mean you were right
