On December 26th, 2004 a 9.1 magnitude earthquake occurred 100 miles off the coast of Indonesia. A giant tsunami spread across the Indian Ocean affecting Thailand, Indonesia, Sri Lanka and reaching as far as the East African coast. Banda Aceh was the first city affected and around 100,000 people died from the tsunami. All in all the tsunami killed nearly a quarter million people. Nine years after the tragedy, Natasha and I were celebrating my 29th birthday on Koh Phi Phi in Thailand, a resort island off the coast of Phuket. Koh Phi Phi along with all the surrounding Thai coast lines were deeply affected by the tsunami. Natasha and I spent a lot of time relaxing and celebrating under the tree in the picture below and its mind blowing to think about the horrible devastation and the joy that both occurred on that beach. The idea behind the song is both a mourning of the lives lost but also that the devastation was a result of a natural process of the earth, the shifting of tectonic plates. By nightfall on December 26th 2004 hundreds of thousands of lives had been lost but at dawn the next morning, the sun still rose and the earth continued as it does.
lyrics
Out in the ocean
off the southeast Asian coastline
a wave came that took
a quarter million lives.
Banda Aceh
As the water flooded your streets
the earth was only shifting as it does.
Nine years later
we were together
on Koh Phi Phi
in the moonlight
underneath our tree.
Tsunami ghosts
lingered in every luxury
as life was growing
out of tragedy.
Banda Aceh
As the water flooded your streets
the earth was only shifting
as it does
the sun still rose
the next morning.
Death is a part of life.
credits
from Social Circle,
released March 10, 2016
Miles Cramer - vocals, acoustic guitar
Tony Black - bass
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