A Knock at the Door (Piano/Vocal)

14 Dec 2016 · 4 min

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4:26

The piece is a lyrical monologue performed with piano and vocals that recounts the harrowing experiences of a man born in the early 1940s who endured wartime displacement and internment. He describes being stripped of his belongings, forced onto a train, arriving at a camp where children were separated from mothers, and living amid constant death, hunger, and fear. The recurring refrain, “Everything can change with a knock at the door,” underscores how a single moment can abruptly alter a life. The narrative blends personal memory with vivid sensory details—train wheels, burning smell, sand‑filled soup—to convey the trauma and lingering impact of survival, while also reflecting on the broader loss of community and innocence caused by war.

Chapters

Shared a story, shed some tears. After all the time and distance, looked like he was living through those years. He was born in the early '40s, a childhood not easy to enjoy. Spent his days without security. His worries, a lot for a little boy. How could he have known what would be in store? How everything could change with a knock at the door. Soldiers took all his belongings. He was thrown onto a train without a clue about his destination. The sound of wheels on tracks still echoes in his brain. The train arrived, the sky was cloudy. The air was filled with a burning smell. Children taken from their mothers, standing outside the gates of hell. Once there was a town, but now it is no more. Everything can change with a knock at the door. Used to have a friend, We have a family, then there came a war. Everything can change with a knock at the door. In the morning they'd count the living, make them wait till they were fed. Soup and coffee full of sand and water, seeing bodies hanging, wishing he were dead. Oh, I remember that survivor. How he took me through those years, gave me more than just a story. Everything can change with a knock at the door. Everything can change with a knock at the door. Everything can change with a knock at the door. Everything can change with a knock at the door.