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An archive of previous bespoke songs.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row iron_row_type=”in_container” iron_remove_padding_medium=”” iron_remove_padding_small=”” iron_overlay_pattern=”” iron_parallax=”” iron_bg_video=””][vc_column width=”5/6″][vc_column_text]
ALISTAIR PARK
Alistair was a woodcarver who I’d helped out earlier by helping him repair one of his giant slugs. The highlight of his life was climbing the tallest tree in Australia, half way up he became terrified and shook terribly, but he overcame his fears and reached the top 200ft up. His most treasured possession was his carving knife and, unable to drive he was slightly ashamed of being completely dependent on his girlfriend Sandra to get him around.
DEBBIE ORCHESTON FINDLAY
Debbie used to work in personnel at Ottakar’s (not payroll as I claim in the song- but it sounded better) so I knew her a bit, we always had a bit of a joke on the phone, accusing each other of being on a permanent tea break. However I found out all sorts of interesting things when she volunteered to have a song written. Her heroine is Joan of Arc, she’d like to speak French, her favourite smell is Jasmine, she’d like a red sports car and longer legs, she believes that we are put on the planet to procreate, her favourite song is Barry White’s ‘My First, My Last, My Everything’ and her nickname is Baish- as in vivacious Debacious. At work we called her Debbie ‘O’.
SARAH CREBER
A lovely girl in her teens, she was fairly shy but insisted she was very loud at school. We learned a few minor facts about her, including the fact that she was in love with her friend Charlie (oops, I wasn’t supposed to repeat that), but nothing prepared us for her answer to the final question ‘what is your ideal job?’……..
EMILY JANE MOYES
Emily was working at the Larmer Tree after taking a year out after school. In that year she’d been teaching in Vanwatu (what rhymes with Vanwatu?) which is west of Fiji, where she climbed up a waterfall which she said was one of the highlights of her life. She was a vegan who sought happiness in life and believed that after death souls come together in a state of Nirvana. She had a very beautiful Arthur Rackham tattoo on her very beautiful back and a very nice philsophy which I open the song with….
PANDA
Reluctant to reveal too much, although she did show us her breasts which the band Tunng had signed the night before (after 18 pints her boyfriend Tim said). Amanda (her real name) wished she had continued as a dancer and singer, she’d worked with some big names but wouldn’t tell us why she stopped. Now she was a social worker and she last cried watching a film about child abuse called ‘Precious’. Her favourite smell was the sea, her hero was her mom who lived in France. She described herself as loud, dizzy and quirky.
SARAH MUSTON
Sarah was having a bit of a crisis of confidence, her youthful fearlessness that had seen her sail the Atlantic in a rusty boat with two strangers had seemed to have deserted her and now she was nervous about making any big decisions. Her earliest memory was chuckling at a green light that hung over her cot, and she wished that life was more like a teen movie.
SAM FARREN
Having suffered with depression there were a few treasured items that kept Sam afloat, namely a painting by her niece, her engagement ring, a necklace from her best friend, and her camera. Her family and friends were everything to her.
ONEVAI PITA
Onevai was an 8 year old from New Zealand, I managed to get everything she told me into this song. What a character!
HAMMERHEAD CRANE
This is the first song to have been written for the Friendly Society. A good choice as I’d just finished making a print of the crane, the beautiful monument to the Cowes ship-building heritage that fills the view from my kitchen window.
Out Of My Element
A song about the sea! Inspired partly by the wonderful Wade In The Water and other babtismal gospel songs of that ilk that celebrate the transformative nature of complete submersion in water. I find that imagery slightly sinister as it’s so close to drowning and death. Sink or swim, not waving but drowning, and all that malarkey.
Blood Red Moon
My friend Jan from Austria suggested this title a few months ago and I’m not sure if he was aware of the significance of the pending lunar eclipse with many quarters predicting a catastrophic end to the earth. I poo poo that idea in this song safe in the knowledge that if they are right, no-one will be here to point out my bad judgement.
Lines
Not really a bespoke song but a song that was written for the Found album. When writing the songs for the Found album I tried very hard not to make up a story for the characters but with this picture I gave in to temptation. I’m sure you’ll agree that it’s a B-Movie waiting to be written. As such it didn’t fit with the rest of the album so I left it off.
Shadows and Silhouettes
I recently held a songwriting workshop at Quay Arts with a group of 18-30 year olds. We had to choose a picture from the current exhibition of a private collection of crawings by well known artists. The group chose this picture ‘Cathedral’ by Bill Jacklin, a study for a larger work portraying Grand Central
Hospital Corners
This get’s the prize for the most unlikely subject for a song but I was inspired by the suggestion, making a bed with more care than necessary…hmmm. I really like the song, who knows….next album?
Dancing To The Time Of Their Lives
This wartime waltz was written by a couple of pensioners Mick Ainge and Bianca Tobin at I songwriting workshop I ran in Bishop Aukland in February, and was inspired by the attached ‘Found’ picture.
The East Of Rotterdam (The Mother’s Song)
This month fellow songwriter Mark Lotterman asked me to interpret his song ‘The East of Rotterdam’ from the perspective of one of the song’s other characters. I chose to be the mother! You can hear his song on his website and mine by clicking below.
Jewels On Slender Hands
This is a preview, my rough mix of a collaboration I am working on with revolutionary New York Hip Hop Producer Oktopus. He sends me his dark ambient grooves and I write lyrics and melody and add instruments (in this case sitar and slap bass) and vocals. He names his grooves after friends, this one was JOSH, I use the letters of the name to suggest a title and theme.
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