Have you written a song recently?

Subject: RE: Have you written a song recently?
From: glueman
Date: 17 Apr 08 - 05:44 AM

My mother came from a very rural English community and the family were old catholic. That gave a mix of religion and animism that she passed on to me I suppose. Everything living or inanimate had meaning of some kind. Here's one I wrote for the kids with a banjo accompaniment. She called reflections Jack o' Dandies.

The Jack O' Dandy

The spoon was in reflective mood
Newly washed from scooping food
When he let loose a sudden beam
Perhaps to let off excess steam

A shiny orb traversed the room
A second sun, a captive moon
It danced on Frank and Aunty Mable's
Much prized occasional table

It leapt from Father's comfy chair
To Rover's unhygienic lair
But then grew week as afternoon
Welcomed evening much too soon

As Jack resigned himself
To dying on a dusty shelf
The setting sun had one last go
To stage a most spectacular show

From watches and cups, from knives and forks
A Host of Dandies went for walks
Or pranced drunkenly before
The mirror on the chest of drawers

The jealous moon had seen enough
And rose in something of a huff
She knew in truth she was herself
A dull reflection of something else

Subject: RE: Have you written a song recently?
From: GUEST,huw
Date: 17 Apr 08 - 12:39 PM

To Leveller
Thanks for the kind comments!!!
Chris and I got together last night and we are reworking the song to make it a bit tighter and to change the chorus..then it will be unleashed on that part of the world we call our local folk club!!!!Good luck with your own song!
Huw

Subject: RE: Have you written a song recently?
From: the lemonade lady
Date: 17 Apr 08 - 05:51 PM

I wrote one within the last few years... my only one so far but it works. This is the first verse...

I always thought I'd got it right,
There was no crying all through the night,
They drive me crazy,
they're bloody lazy,
I've got the worn out mama blues

Ta daa

Sal

Subject: RE: Have you written a song recently?
From: Herga Kitty
Date: 17 Apr 08 - 06:12 PM

Jeffp - I was wondering when someone would write a Heathrow Terminal Five song.... I think you might have pre-empted them!

Kitty

Subject: RE: Have you written a song recently?
From: Georgiansilver
Date: 17 Apr 08 - 06:15 PM

This one I wrote for last years "Write a Lincolnshire Folk Song" cvompetition but failed to make the final ten. It relates to the First World War and is called "Lincolnshire Lads Answer the Call"


Went down into Lincoln, my uniform shining,
A fiery young soldier, away to the war.
I said my goodbye to my dainty young sweetheart,
A knowin' I might never see her no more.
I marched far away' o'er the fens and to Grimsby,
And sailed far away 'cross the wild rolling sea.
I went with my regiment into the battle,
Not knowing my future and what was to be!

Two days without sleep, as we travelled the ocean,
The sickness it took us and turned us all green.
No food could we eat then, for none could we stomach,
We were looking much less than a fighting machine.
But we fought side by side, our bayonets thrusting,
The shots they rang out and so many men fell.
We moved on the enemy, killing and dying,
My legs disappeared, I was hit by a shell.

So many men died and more they were injured,
Back to Lincoln they brought those alive and in pain.
Now just half a man, I was vowing that I would
not ever be seein' my true love again.
But she being wilful, she made to my presence,
She held me so tight I could scarce catch the air.
She vowed that she loved me and would so for ever,
Her lifetime she now would devote to my care.

The war it was ended, with no side the winner,
But many sad losers confined to their beds
Some legs and arms missing all lost during combat,
Some mentally shot and some out of their heads.
'Twas so long ago I left Lincoln for battle,
A memory so distant but now after all.
I often look down for to see where my legs were,
They were lost to me only when I answered the call.

So to Lincolnshire men who are ready for fighting,
For all you young men who may choose to make war.
You may not come home whole of mind or of body,
And you may never see, your own homeland no more.

Mike Hill
(July 2007)

Subject: RE: Have you written a song recently?
From: Don(Wyziwyg)T
Date: 17 Apr 08 - 06:23 PM

Inspired by the current culture of corporations defending themselves from customers by the use of "Call centres".

Help line LAMENT.

1.        When calling up a helpline, you would be well advised,
If you have to wait an hour or two, not to be surprised,
'Cos you've just joined the tail end of an automated queue,
In a system that's designed so they don't have to talk to you.

Ch.        It's a Helpline you're connected to, you try to keep your cool,
        You have no choice, you hold the line, and stand there like a fool,
        You can bite your nails, or pick your nose, you've not much else to do,
        It's a premium line, they're getting all the cash they can from you.

2.        They'll play a little music, your frustrated mood to fix,
Mozart 40 played on dustbin lids, by chimpanzees with bricks,
And when you're semi-conscious, you'll find you've been put through,
To a pre-recorded message, that will tell you what to do.
Ch.

3.        "Thank you for calling helpline", says an electronic voice,
"To further your enquiry, you will have to make a choice,
If you want to pay us money, press button number two,
Any other button takes you back to the tail end of the queue".
Ch.

4.        The thing about this system, is that automation means,
That they need not permit you to converse with human bein's
Thus preventing you from finding out, they haven't got a clue,
About solving all the problems that their product's giving you.

Ch.

5.        "We're only here to help you", that's their regular refrain,
        "And at a quid a minute, we sure hope you'll ring again,
        Our products really don't make too much profit, sad but true,
        But the helpline's made us millionaires, and that's all thanks to you.
Ch.

                                        

Don T.

Subject: RE: Have you written a song recently?
From: Don(Wyziwyg)T
Date: 17 Apr 08 - 06:26 PM

Apologies for the Formatting. MS Word let's me down yet again, but I don't think I'll ring them to ask for help. LOLOL

Don T.

Subject: RE: Have you written a song recently?
From: Georgiansilver
Date: 18 Apr 08 - 11:18 AM

Couldn't resist adding a song I have written to the "COME ON YOU MISERABLE LOT IN THE UK" thread in BS....It might give a few of you a laugh.
Best wishes, Mike.

Subject: Lyr Add: SON OF DAVY (Bob Clayton)
From: GUEST,Songster Bob
Date: 18 Apr 08 - 11:35 AM

Amazingly enough, after a long dry spell, broken only by the occasional political screed, I've penned a few lyrics lately. The most recent came to me while walking to the Metro two mornings ago. I started singing "Clayton Boone," an American version of "Gypsy Davy," and pondering on what happens next, this took form:


Son of Davy

I am the son of a gypsy lad,
My mother was a lady,
My brother lives in a castle fine,
I'm called the Son of Davy.

I met my brother one fine day,
Along the road a riding.
He aboard a proud-cut-dun,
And me by the roadside striding.

"Good morn to you, kind sir," says I –
I own he did not know me.
"You look as though you've seen a ghost;
Whence comes that look you show me?"

"I beg your pardon," says he to me,
"And please excuse my staring,
But your looks are like a portrait fine –
It's my mother's face you're wearing."

"There is an inn close by," says I,
"Where we can take a rest.
We can discuss this odd event,
And their ale is of the best."

"The sun is hot, the road is dust,
And a glass of ale could suit.
So to spite my father, I'll come along,
And I'll stand a round, to boot."

The day was gone and the hour late,
When talk turned to his mother –
"She left when I was but a babe,
And bitter grew my father."

"He married soon again – too soon –
To a greedy, wicked lady,
Who takes his gold and leaves him poor
As that long-gone gypsy, Davy."

"As for me," he said as he
Called for another round.
"I'm cast out now to make my way
And roam from town to town."

"Well met, well met, well met," says I,
"You cannot know how well!
But if you'll come with me tonight,
There's a story I can tell."

We rode up to the caravan,
Parked 'round the campfire gleaming,
And there we heard the sweet guitar,
And the voice of our mother singing.

"Come home, come home, you have, my son,
Come home to your mother.
Sit you down and meet your kin,
You were brought here by your brother."

In shock, he climbed down from his horse,
In shock he looked around him.
The very words he heard from her
Served only to astound him.

"How have you been all these long years?
Tell me of your father –
Does he still cast all blame on me,
Or does he even bother?"

"My father sits in golden rooms,
Which my step-mother rules.
She spends his gold as he grows old,
And calls him but a fool."

"Will you return to your own sweet bed,
In another mother's home,
Or will you join us on the road,
Along with us to roam?"

"I'll not return to my own sweet bed,
Nor to my father's hall.
He made the bed that he lies in,
So let him keep it all."


© 2008 Bob Clayton

You'll note that Davy himself is not spoken of. This kept me from having to invent a story for him as well as the others in the original. There's been a good song penned about a meeting a few years along, so I placed this story a decade or more later.

I'm sort of thrilled that this song came about. I have been in the longest dry spell you could ask for (and why would you ask for a dry spell? I hear you say -- well, that can be tomorrow's song topic, can't it?).

Bob

Subject: RE: Have you written a song recently?
From: Georgiansilver
Date: 18 Apr 08 - 04:57 PM

Dry spells come and go...and sometimes can last for too long. Not always easy to get inspired or motivated. Good song though Bob.
Best wishes, Mike.

Subject: RE: Have you written a song recently?
From: Big Al Whittle
Date: 18 Apr 08 - 09:52 PM

yes

Subject: RE: Have you written a song recently?
From: GUEST,hg
Date: 19 Apr 08 - 01:22 AM

Ivory Bill Blues
by harpgirl and Stephen Brooke, (2007 copyright)

Ivory Bill, old Ivory Bill
Do you fly wild in Florida still?
You are the spirit of an age gone by
Before we banished you from woods and sky.

Lambent dreams of yesterday
Ancient dreams they've flown away;
Elusive shadow in the morning mist,
A love that fades yet still persists.

Oh Ivory Bill blues have bound my soul
I search for a ghost now legend of old,
A glimpse of white winged flashing flight,
The Lord God Bird black as starless night.

What doomed you ghost, what sealed your fate?
Rise up from the swamp before it's too late.
The Ivory Bill blues like a love long past
Fills my heart with longing, a die that's cast.

Each bend in the river upends memories,
As I glide beneath the mighty trees
And the morning whispers of all that's been lost
In a world we've built, but at what cost?

But I'll keep searching the swamps and the sloughs
Trying to cure my Ivory Bill blues;
I won't find peace till I know your plight,
Oh Lord God bird, black as starless night.

Some swear they've heard the beat of your drum
Among the tall pines and the old sweet gum,
Or the swamps where the mossy cypress grow
Along the dark Choctawhatchee's flow.

Others insist your time is all gone
You nest today where there is no dawn;
Did you fade away like the lover we lose?
I need a cure for my Ivory Bill blues!

Old Ivory Bill, old Ivory Bill,
Do you fly wild in Florida still?
Or like old love are you lost and gone
A memory fading in a misty dawn.



yeah, we know....it sounds like Gilligan's Island when you sing it...oh well...they hated it at Will McLean too....

Subject: RE: Have you written a song recently?
From: alanabit
Date: 19 Apr 08 - 02:57 AM

I had this thing floating around in my head in the car and it would not leave me alone. It is not the sort of song, which I sing any more, so I had probably best leave it alone. Still, it's dead easy to play and I shall file it away somewhere!

                        When We Get To Heaven
When we get to Heaven we shall just be kind
Not demand our brethren are all of one mind
We shall heed no icon, have no holy cow
We shall do so many things we do not do now

When we get to Heaven we shall hear the birds
We will never drown their song with our shouted words
We shall hear the nightingale on the willow bough
We shall hear so many things we do not hear now

When we get to Heaven we shall feed the poor
We won't let them waste away outside our front door
We shall share the blessings of the wheel and plough
We shall share so many things we do not share now

When we get to Heaven we will not complain
Sorry, please and thanks are words we'll learn again
From the bright eyed child, from the furrowed brow
We shall say so many things we do not say now


When we get to Heaven we shall all forgive
Both ourselves and others – we'll live and let live
We shall live in harmony – we shall then know how
We will do so many things – why not do them now?

Alan Moorhouse
Copyright (probably irrelevant!) 19/4/2008

Subject: RE: Have you written a song recently?
From: Georgiansilver
Date: 19 Apr 08 - 04:09 AM

Look forward to meeting you Alan...if not soon ..perhaps then.

Subject: RE: Have you written a song recently?
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 19 Apr 08 - 06:54 AM

Until yesterday I would have said no - But last night I had some sort of mental version of a short circuit and here it is! If you follow the link in the first post this takes you to, you will find both the words and the story behind them. The tune is by someone far more famous than me but can I now put Polshaw/MacColl on the credits? :-D

Cheers

Dave