Forest and the Shore

"Forest and the Shore" closes Pigmy (1971, B&C). It was written by Christmas, with Rod Argent on organ and a choral and string arrangement by Robert Kirby that Derek's Music Blog called a carefully crafted dark mellotron choral arrangement. Christmas says the strings were a five-member section of the London Symphony Orchestra, his first close experience of top session string players; Kirby had written the parts beforehand and dismissed a lead violinist who would not listen back to takes.

The track has since appeared on Early Morning Hush (2006), on the Robert Kirby overview When the Day Is Done (2018), and on Gather in the Mushrooms, a Bob Stanley compilation that Ace Records reissued on June 6, 2025. Kieron Tyler wrote in The Arts Desk that it was as evocative as its title. We found no source for what the lyrics are about, no chart history or video, and no covers; setlist.fm lists 29 Keith Christmas setlists, but this song is not in the visible list, so a play count is not known.