Wild Fields

Album: Crooked Wing (2025)
Play Video

Songfacts®:

  • "Wild Fields" is the sixth track on Crooked Wing, the 2025 return after a six-year gap of These New Puritans, comprising brothers Jack and George Barnett. The song title comes from an old historical name for the region now known as Ukraine.

    Jack Barnett told Uncut magazine it's not actually a song about the war torn country, "but you can't help but respond to what's around you." He cites William Blake as a role model for this kind of thing: able to talk about the political rumblings of his own day while simultaneously tackling concepts like eternity and paradise, as if the two were items on the same shopping list.
  • The track ends with the words "come down from crystal heavens above," which Jack Barnett revealed is a direct quotation from William Byrd's lament for his fellow 16th-century composer Thomas Tallis.

    When he Googled the reference to verify its accuracy, Barnett was bombarded with advertisements about crystal meth withdrawal.
  • Jack Barnett produced the song with Graham Sutton, who had previously worked on the band's acclaimed albums Hidden (2010) and Field of Reeds (2013). The track is steeped in the album's favored palette: organs, bells and pitched percussion.

Comments

Be the first to comment...

Editor's Picks

Ian Astbury of The Cult

Ian Astbury of The CultSongwriter Interviews

The Cult frontman tells who the "Fire Woman" is, and talks about performing with the new version of The Doors.

00s Music Quiz 1

00s Music Quiz 1Music Quiz

Do you know the girl singer on Eminem's "Stan"? If so, this quiz is for you.

Michael Schenker

Michael SchenkerSongwriter Interviews

The Scorpions and UFO guitarist is also a very prolific songwriter - he explains how he writes with his various groups, and why he was so keen to get out of Germany and into England.

George Clinton

George ClintonSongwriter Interviews

When you free your mind, your ass may follow, but you have to make sure someone else doesn't program it while it's wide open.

Lita Ford

Lita FordSongwriter Interviews

Lita talks about how they wrote songs in The Runaways, and how she feels about her biggest hit being written by somebody else.

Tom Johnston from The Doobie Brothers

Tom Johnston from The Doobie BrothersSongwriter Interviews

The Doobies guitarist and lead singer, Tom wrote the classics "Listen To The Music," "Long Train Runnin'" and "China Grove."