Origins: Heart Hill (Kristina Olsen)

Subject: RE: Origins: Heart Hill (Kristina Olsen)
From: Joe Offer
Date: 17 Jul 11 - 03:12 AM

I saw Kristina Olsen in a house concert, and she was terrific. I usually have a jaded attitude toward singer-songwriters, but I just can't say enough about what a wonderful concert it was. She was funny, her guitar playing excellent, and she sang some of the most interesting and insightful new songs I've heard in a long time.

She says the lyrics and chords for all her songs are on her Website, http://kristinaolsen.net/. Looks like many or all of the songs have PDF sheet music.

-Joe-

Subject: Lyr Add: HEART HILL (Kristina Olsen)
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 24 Mar 09 - 09:02 AM

HEART HILL is on the album "Duet" by Kristina Olsen & Peter Grayling.

It is advertised on a page at CD Baby but it seems to be temporarily out of stock. That site has sound samples of other songs, but not HEART HILL.

YouTube has a video of Bella Hardy singing HEART HILL. The sound quality is rather poor.

I copied the following lyrics from Allison Lyons' blog:


HEART HILL
Kristina Olsen

Speeding down the motorway in the north of England,
I catch a glimpse of a lover's mark:
A forest of trees in the shape of a heart.
I heard an R A F went down
In his plane a flame on the hillside
Not far from his fiancée.
In her grief she planted seedlings on that naked hill.
You can see it still.

There's a heart up on the hill.
There's a heart up on the hill.
If I left now, would you
Mourn me still.

When I drive, my thoughts are clear,
And I think of you.
We avoid conversation so perfectly.
The pilot in the plane, what if that were me?
It's easier to love one gone,
To love an absent partner;
No shattered words, no cleaning up after;
But the heat that's in your body, it's worth fighting for.
It's enough to stop a war.

A silhouette heart made of trees—
That love was meant to be.
Deep green against the yellow grass—
This love was meant to last.

There's no such thing as perfect love,
But I've seen perfect sorrow,
And I've seen the strength of a woman's hand.
Half a century ago, she made her mark on this land.
Now what about us? Do you think
Our love will fade in time?
Or can we change that age-old paradigm?
Unlike this English couple, we are both alive.
We have the chance to try.

Subject: RE: Origins: Heart Hill, by Kristina Olsen
From: Santa
Date: 27 Apr 08 - 12:17 PM

As does the Clarence programme of artists, but I took it as a mistake.

I have found rather more about this wood, thanks to the visitors to the RAF Commands website. For a view of the wood go to
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=nl&geocode=&q=Tebay&sll=53.034607,1.680908&sspn=12.247015,29.882813&ie=UTF8&ll=54.3968,-2.589726&spn=0.005784,0.014591&t=h&z=16

Those of a romantic mind may prefer not to hear the comments of the current farm owner on
http://www.bbc.co.uk/cumbria/sense_of_place/series2/prog_4_m6.shtml

Thanks for your attention.

Subject: RE: Origins: Heart Hill, by Kristina Olsen
From: kendall
Date: 27 Apr 08 - 06:37 AM

Actually, he spelled it with a "C" not a "K".

Subject: RE: Origins: Heart Hill, by Kristina Olsen
From: kendall
Date: 27 Apr 08 - 06:12 AM

Very interesting, Andrew Wyeth painted a picture of a handicapped girl named Kristina Olsen in Knox county Maine. It's called "Kristina's World" and is quite famous.

Subject: RE: Origins: Heart Hill, by Kristina Olsen
From: Tangledwood
Date: 27 Apr 08 - 02:25 AM

In her introduction to the song I'm pretty sure that Kristina says that she saw the heart and made enquiries about it's history, which should make it a true story. I don't think that she mentioned the exact location though.

The words and music to the song are on Kristina's website - http://www.kristinaolsen.net/pdfs/hill.pdf

Subject: Origins: Heart Hill, by Kristina Olsen
From: Santa
Date: 26 Apr 08 - 11:29 AM

I heard this song from Bella Hardy at the Clarence. It tells of a heart-shaped wood seen from the M6, planted by the fiancee of an RAF pilot who had crashed his plane in the neighbourhood.

The following day I was driving Edain back to Durham, when she saw a heart-shaped wood in Tebay gorge. Does anyone know:

Is this the wood that inspired the song?

Is it based on a real story or just inspiration?

Kristina will be at the Clarence in two weeks, and I can ask her there, but I've raised the question of the crash on an aviation site, and am being asked questions I can't (yet) answer.