From the recording As Eden Lay In Darkness

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This is a song that contrasts modern mores with traditional values. It's about a man caught between a life in California and one in Italy. The new world and the old world. Setting it into a country song makes it more interesting and there are some lines that also act to subvert the rest of the song. "Sleekit" as we say in Scotland.

Lyrics

Sonoma And Sistine

I got a letter from foreign parts
I broke a few Italian hearts
I recall a night in old Verona
But that’s a long way from California

She liked Madonna Del Rosario
I’d rather have Marilyn Monroe
When I saw her for the very first time
I didn’t think twice but to make her mine

And I couldn’t let her know
That I’d have to let her go
There was someone I’d left behind
I’ve been torn between
Sonoma and Sistine
Between a lover and a little peace of mind

In the Chapel of the Sacred Heart
I was walking through Renaissance art
Might have been a Caravaggio
Or something by Leonardo

Did you ever burn a lover’s notes?
For fear of lace and petticoats
I’m wise enough to know that I’ve been cruel
Read enough to know that love’s made me a fool

And I couldn’t let her know…

And I couldn’t let her know…

© Sonoma And Sistine words and music by Thomas Yule Fairnie, Mark Barnett, Robert McGregor Shields & Jane Fairnie 22nd Sept 2007