/Past Works/Songs/
seb_7
Before seb_7 I'd played around with computer music for probably 10 years, but I'd not written vocal lines or lyrics since leaving The Spectators. So seb_7 was a big deal for me - it felt shocking and wonderful to be writing songs again after so long. From the beginning I knew I wanted to put the songs 'out there', but I never promoted them. The output was rough and ready, but purely creative, no polish. It was fast and unworried. This is what I want to get back to.
--Verse 1--
Penelope is chopping tomatoes on a chopping board
Her husband enters the room and doesn't say a word
Says have a nice day, but he pretends he hasn't heard
Sets off for work on his bike, he's an early bird
The radio (for company), plays some classic symphony
Interrupted periodically with news quite shockingly
Of events around the globe relayed somewhat mockingly
Sightings of aliens, she reaches for the broccoli
Her neighbour comes to invite her to some social occasion
And have you seen the new arrivals at no 21, they're Malaysian?
And have you heard of Colleen's son's bisexual persuasion?
Have you read the rumours of alien invasion?
There's a mist before her eyes and everything becomes a blur
She's been getting this sensation since she was a little Girl
Like she was in another body, like she was from another world
She talked about it to her husband but he never even heard
Penelope hears a noise and sees a shape in the clouds
A plane or a ship, so large and fast, and the crowds
They're pointing and their screaming and they're getting rather loud
Yeah, the aliens are coming and there's no time to get out
Yeah the world and it's people are getting queerer and queerer
But for poor dear Penelope, it's all getting clearer
She just wanted to be heard and now the world's gonna hear her
The spaceship is hovering, now it's getting nearer
--Chorus--
Up there in the sky
In the sky
Overhead in the sky
And I can't believe my eyes
A ship like a city in the sky
Floating high
My oh my
It's not from earth
Are we all gonna die
People running here, running there
And there's bodies everywhere
There's a light, there's a blast
And the sky is overcast
All the TVs are now broken
And McDonalds isn'topen
There's no room left now for hoping
In the darkness I am groping
And then there's me and only me
First Contact
--Verse 2--
All her life, she has been trying to just fit in
All her life, yeah right from the beginning
All her life she's had her own special feelings
All her life there's been this thing she's been concealing
She could not see why she'd been cast out by the majority
Rejected and corrected, yeah treated pretty horribly
Cos they feared what they held dear would be ruined by her heresy
They never dared to think it was an alien conspiracy
Penelope steps into the garden and stares at it
Sandals hanging loosely from her feet and her finger tips
Crackle with energy, she's forming with the enemy
This is not an allergy, she's burning like an effigy
Her husband, Michael, comes home on his cycle
She's scorching all the magazines he wanted to recycle
He starts his appealing, "your dress is quite revealing
It's really not the time for interplanetary dealings"
Penelope is floating in the air, now she doesn't even care
About the people as they stare or what the neighbours
Say about her decadence, citing lack of evidence
Of aliens in residence, she's setting a new precedent
Michael is begging on the floor, yes I think he's got the score
That his darling little wife's, not so little anymore
He closes his eyes and pretends it's all a dream
… as she zaps him with her laser beam
--Chorus--
First Contact
03/2015
I love this little story. It's the very tiniest bit autobiographical, but spun on its head and put in a different context. I'd write a dozen songs like this if I could.
Most of the music is pretty random. Partly machine generated and manipulated? I can't remember. Certainly it was thrown up in the air, spliced and diced and toyed with until it worked. But to my ears it really works.
What the hell genre is this???
First Contact
lyrics
...details
--Verse 1--
I went to leave the other day
My feet they keep on dragging
Keep hanging on the words I'd say
Connection has been lagging
I guess I ought to leave him
Is it myself I'm deceivin'
Truth it keeps on knocking
It should know I'm not receivin'
--Verse 2--
I'm on my knees, get down and pray
Aint love a funny a thing
From this point on all love I feel
Will pain me like a sin
With tears my are blurred
Staring at the ceiling
He said that loves a dirty word
I guess that I believe him
--Chorus--
I need you
Like I don't need you
--Verse 3--
My father, sister, mother, lover
Blur into each other
My friends all say I'm on my way
They free me of this clutter
He says I can believe him
But I try to deceive him
I'm lying now, denying now
To him I'm not concedin'
--Chorus--
--Verse 4--
The doors they close around me
As I sink into the gutter
As everyone denies me
don't believe a wordI utter
I'm rolling and I'm reeling
The truth is not revealin'
My body shakes, my heart it aches
In you I have all meaning
--Chorus--
--Bridge--
Signed sealed and delivered
My ascension is arriving
Wont you all spin around me
To my dance the worlds colliding
The cocoon springs a butterfly
Am I the twinkle in your eye?
You see me now
I'm loud and proud
The angels sing
My name aloud
--End Chorus--
I need you
I need you
I'll love and a I'll believe you
I don't need you
I don't need you
I'll lie and I'll deceive you
-cover.jpg)
I Need You (like I Don't Need You)
03/2015
Is this a half decent disco track? Don't know, it's definitely one of my preferred ones though. Why does this work and the others don't? Probably because I didn't intend for it to be disco...?
A bit odd lyrically. Probably one of those songs which is autobiographical, but twisting things so it doesn't feel like it is. These things don't start out as being about my own experience, and actually actively try not to be. But I guess it's always there.
I Need You (like I Don't Need You)
lyrics
...details
--Verse 1--
I see a thousand pieces
Fall to the earth like rain
I see a cloudless city
Destroyed and built again
I see a pathless mountain
Rising to the sky
I stand and stare and wonder
Why, oh why, oh why?
--Chorus--
Stand and stare into the sun
Looking down the barrel of a gun
--Verse 2--
I walk now through a prison
I'm opening the gates
I'm taking what I'm given
I'm spinning many plates
I see a lake amidst the mountains
Clear and still like glass
I dance upon the shoreline
My senses free at last
--Chorus--
--Verse 3--
I see suns arising
I see the emperors clothes
I see the saints among us
I see the devil walk alone
I see a waking of the giants
I see the footsteps of the gods
I see the pictures rising from the wall
I see a world at odds
I see the shining in the mirror
I see dancing of the dead
I see the ghosts among the living
I see the snake that has 2 heads
--Coda--
The simple operator
He sits beneath the sun
He counts up all the pieces
And rolls the dice each one
No bag upon his back
No sweat upon his brow
Accepting what he's given
He thinks alone of now
Down The Barrel Of A Gun
03/2015
I can't remember where this one came from. Quite experimental. Actually a bit Bowie-esque. I like the trancey bit at the end. Not enough melody to take you through the earlier parts though. But I like the boldness of it though.
A lot of my songs at this point were kind of to do with discovery and escape, this one seems to be about the existential threat that that poses.
Down The Barrel Of A Gun
lyrics
...details
--Verse 1--
Had a little fantasy
I was holding on to you
Though you know I liked it
I don't think it's true
Reminded of a photograph
That I looked on yesterday
But life's not like that today
--Verse 2--
Got a little memory
Played it in a dream
I hate to admit it
It's not all it seems
Maybe with a little effort
I could try once more to breathe
But I don't feel like it today
--Bridge--
So we're holding on together
Separately thinking
"Has this all been left to me?"
--Verse 3--
The vase under the mirror
It smashed to smithereens
A thousand little pieces
Scattered to the winds
Take a whole lot of filler
To sew it at the seems
And I don't feell ike it today
Ditty of the nonchalant lover
11/2014
I love the stark rawness of this. Hard cut edges and blank spaces. Short, but not sweet.
I also like the blunt honesty of the lyric - knowing that everything is going to shit but not quite being arsed enough to do the heavy lifting of emotions required to do anything about it.
Ditty of the nonchalant lover
lyrics
...details
--Verse 1--
So we talk without instructions
No steps, no 1, no 2
No return and start again
Resist the urge to make reductions
Mere false deductions
--Verse 2--
I say you've still so much to learn
Shrug your shoulders, turn your head again
I speak and don't know why
All the battle scars you'll earn
Why don't you just take mine
Just words from the wise
--Chorus--
So let's talk about how birds fly
While the trees you climb - limbs like ladder steps
I stand and stare to fear you fall
So let's talk about how birds fly
And there's another thing
But it don't mean a thing
You're on the wing
--Verse 3--
Don't live a life of near misses
Your broken hugs and stolen kisses
Oh your opportunity
Give me your eyes and see what matters
Avoid the maddest hatters
--Verse 4--
And now you're oh so much like you
Just a small a part of me
But you keep on shining through
To walk now in your shoes
Why don't you just take mine
Some words from the wise
--Chorus--
How Birds Fly
05/2014
I was listening a lot to Beck's 'Morning Phase' and this was my attempt at occupying that kind of mood and sonic space. It turned out quite different, but still a song to be pleased with.
I re-recorded it as Stephen Ellis, but this version has an emotion to it which the later version lacked a bit.
Lyrically its about the often seeming impossibility of having authentic and heart felt conversations with your kids, but equally how wonderful it is on those rare occasions when it actually happens.
How Birds Fly
lyrics
...details
--Verse 1--
The poet is coming
He hides in your skin
I know that you hear him knocking
So let him come in
He creeps around the corners of
This place your living in
He'll steal you back again
--Verse 2--
A trembling fire
A groin ridden itch
The devil inside is riding
But the angel will snitch
He's seated on a throne
Gnawing on a bone
An eternal twitch
He'll steal you back again
--Verse 3--
Your conscience isr iding
Seeks out the prize
Mistook a promise of riches
Reclined for your eyes
Sleeps in a city of walls
Resisting sirens calls
Tells a lovers lies
He'll steal you back again
--Verse 4--
A grinning cadaver
A pulse that beats on
Your memory fades but for the
Opening line of the song
I'm on bus to the city of fools
It's gonna take us to school
It's gonna teach me to swim
Till he's steals me back again
The Poet
04/2014
I think this one is about the return of a way of seeing the world that coincided (cause or effect?), with me writing lyrics again. It's not always a pleasant or conducive way to see the world tbh, and this song reflects on that.
Achieved an amount of sonic space here which is affecting. And tuned the bass drum I think rather than adding bass. All pretty simple but effective stuff.
The Poet
lyrics
...details
--Verse 1--
It's been a lot of years since 1989
Still I'm standing here drinking cheap and cheerful wine
In a high school gym in a school I used to go
Class of '89 reunion disco
--Chorus--
High School Reunion Disco
High School Reunion Disco
--Verse 2--
I'm talking to the Goth who used to deal draw
Now he cycles, runs, and practices the law
His skin so amber and his teeth are so white
His wife so charming and his kids are oh so bright
--Chorus--
--Verse 3--
I linger at the buffet, with my eye upon the door
Talk to Graham in his wheelchair as he dances on the floor
And then I see a girl that I once took on a date
Looks a little older, looks a little overweight
--Chorus--
--Verse 4--
Says she used to be married, she used to be divorced
She used to feel a little better, used to feel a little worse
She used to live in LA, she used to live in Spain
She used to be happy, she used to be insane
--Bridge--
Step away boy from the dancefloor
But it's calling out to me
Take a stand then on the dancefloor
The glitter ball spins around me
--Verse 5--
It's been a lot of years since 1989
Dancing on the floor now everybody form a line
In a high school gym in a school I used to go
Class of '89 reunion disco
High School Reunion Disco
01/2014
Prob my best disco track? Something disturbingly Robbie Williams about it though....?
Lot of fun on this one. I used some freebie software to do the guitar effect. Think the song was just born from me messing around with that.
I never did go to a reunion though, not high school nor any other variety.
High School Reunion Disco
lyrics
...details
--Verse 1--
Something in the darkness
Always beckons for the day
But the coiled, poised, still unforgotten and unbeaten
Calls back the other way
The solitary whisper
tries to thieve away your mind
blind you to the world around you
But not today, today you are mine
--Chorus--
Today I'm drawing you near
Today I'm coming to you
All the love that I have
I'm going to bring it to you
Though the damage is done
All the demons are gone
The world spins around us
I'll be there soon
--Post Chorus--
But when the dawn becomes the day
And the day the afternoon
And now the nights drawing in
I might not make it to you
--Verse 2--
3 days since I've seen you
While a stranger takes your place
Same name, same clothes, same address
Something different in the face
With a breath that reeks of madness
Loveless, frightened eyes
The stranger isn't welcome anymore though
Not today, no, because today you are mine
--Chorus--
Yes Today
10/2013
This was the first song I did that genuinely felt like accomplished song writing to me. I felt this one.
The production is pretty rough and ready, but arrangement is actually pretty complete.
I felt it when I was singing it too. It was the first time that I'd let go vocally, and you can really tell that I'd not used my vocal chords in that way for quite some time.
I got very close to re-recording it, and even thought about resurrecting it for live performance. But it's a bit too heavy to lift. And I'm not sure I have more to offer it than is already there.
Yes Today
lyrics
...details
--Verse 1--
With a ten yard stare
On your street corner
You see him standing there
Like a new eras dawning
Smoking fags like Steve McQueen
Walking streets like Billy Jean
Yeah
--Verse 2--
So your eyes are blinded
For a boy so bright
But you must be reminded
He only comes out at night
Wears a suit like Frank Sinatra
Revolutes like Che Guevara
--Verse 3--
For him it comes so easy
For him it comes so fast
Cooler, smarter, funner, better
Leaner, meaner, he makes it last
Fighting talk like Muhammad Ali
Travolta dancing at the party
Oh yeah
--Verse 4--
So his time has come
The time is right
A new dawn arrival
The second light
Throws a punch like Johnny Wayne
DeNiro's face and Einstein's brain
--Coda--
Across the earth
24 / 7
On omnipresent
Television
as
09/2013
I heard this drum loop and liked it instantly. Brutal. The lyric is just riffing on the idea of someone who is cool "as" fuck. Nothing complex going on here...
Cheekily sampled Tim's guitar on top, which works nicely and was rather fun.
Listening back the main thing that strikes me is how comfortable I was with having long instrumental build ups and sections back then. More recently I became increasingly wary of boring the listener.
as
lyrics
...details
--Verse 1--
So lets make a deal
Sign a pact
Dance, romance and interact
And everyday
Will start anew
I'll be waiting here, just for you
--Chorus--
Cos the beating heart of every day
oh for the words you say to me
--Verse 2--
Hand in hand
Eye to eye
Speak to me, hear me sigh
It's all laid down
All in place
The dark fibre optic interface
I'll see every waking thing you do
And when you sleep, I'll be watching you
So contract written and agreed
You'll give me everything I need
Don't miss a detail, or skip a beat
Sit staring quietly at my feet
--Chorus--
--Verse 3--
So our interface
Is pre-agreed
Version controlled
Government decreed
You're just a regulated licensee
Obey the laws laid down by me
Its so easy darling, no need to lie
Pay your taxes and comply
Your communication, send them all
Over the packet transfer protocol
Structured this way, yes, just like that
Wait for confirmation, I'll send back
--Chorus--
--Verse 4--
There's a thousand others just like you
Don't be selfish, join us do
Sip on the Italian wine
Come on, join the party line
On the Mediterranean summer cruise
Bask in the sweet primordial ooze
So lets make a deal
Sign apact
Dance, romance and interact
And everyday
Will start anew
I'll be waiting here, just for you
--Chorus--
Acceptable Usage Policy
05/2013
First and only song with Trap hi-hats... I'm surprised that I didn't bin this one off tbh. It's not got many redeeming qualities.... I think by this time my creative juices had dried up a bit, but I still wanted to make sure I was outputting something, which probably paid off in the end, but this song is not good at all.
Acceptable Usage Policy
lyrics
...details
The light streams in through the windows, he covers his eyes
And draws himself out from under the covers
He reviews the state of the woken world on his phone
Then sits on the bed, staring at his toes
40 years, 6 months, 1 week and 2 days
He can hear his son in his room singing songs about wrestling stars
His other son, in the other room, probably playing video games
Or making video reviews of video games
Or watching YouTube clips of other people playing video games
As he walks to the shower, his wife stirs from below the duvet
A wonderful mass of morning hair and bleary eyed beauty
She drops her head back to the pillow
Refuses to wake until she's had her first cup of tea
He urinates, flatulates, chuckles as he hears his wife stirring again
Wonders if she'll wake without the cup of tea now
Turning on the shower, the water dances onto his skull and awakens his mind
Thinking over the day ahead
And thinking over the days gone by
Recounting 101 missed opportunities
Replaying a list of top 10 of memories
But no regrets, no remorse
So there will be no great adventure today
There will be no wondrous journey
No existential crisis
No date with destiny
Not today
40 years, 6 months, 1 week, 2 days
He's walking down the stairs now and thinking about the film he watched last night
The president in the war room
The wayward, but gifted teenager
The star-crossed lovers
The grand heroic last stand of the converted criminal
He opens the fridge door in search of an inspiring breakfast
His sons walk into the kitchen
One the puppy dog bounce, the other the teenage scuffle
His wife makes her appearance - still yawning
Toast and marmalade
Cheerios and rice crispies
The light stream in through the windows, he opens his eyes
40.6.1.2
04/2013
I had an old ratty guitar that I wrote this on. But I'm pretty pleased with the guitar sound actually.
I was trying to rip off the riff in Jubilee Street, and obviously ended up with something totally different.
The lyrics were a pretty accurate reflection of the best parts of my family life at the time. But the deliberately jarring instrumental bits seemed like a necessary and relevant counterpoint to the otherwise sunny outlook.
40.6.1.2
lyrics
...details
--PreChorus--
Is there something in the water
As it trickles to the sea
Doesn't taste quite like it oughtta
Doesn't taste quite right to me
The blackest black
The whitest white
The lightest day
The darkest night
They put something in the water
--Chorus--
Something is swallowing me
Something is hollowing
burrowing and funneling
I feel like someone's following me
--Verse 1--
The rope it tightens
Around the neck
Of an unsuspecting tree
We gather round on horseback
Push him to his knees
--PreChorus--
--Chorus--
--Verse 1--
For Pick n Mix
The only fix
unpick, unmix
a world of people made of stix
that need to try much harder
they just keep need to try much harder
I just need to try much harder
To drown
To drown
--Alt PreChorus--
They put something in the water
They put it there for me
It's no longer water
The land consumed the sea
The greyest black
The greyest white
The day's as dark now
as the night
So just don't drink the water
The Water
03/2013
This song felt different somehow, when I did it. A bit more serious. A bit more hard won. I think the initial flurry of songs was done and out there too, so this felt like it was a clear statement that, to myself and others that I was just going to keep doing this stuff.
Lyrically it centred around an image in my head of a lynching. So quite dark.
The Water
lyrics
...details
--Verse 1--
And silence
Upon entering the room
Pint, Whiskey, G&T
Judging eyes across the bar
They stand together and all alone
---Chorus---
The thief, the wife, the lover
The helpless mother
The wretched and cuckolded man
The assaulted man
Can see
See that we're not ready
Ready to escape the life so seen
--Verse 2--
She shuts the door
Sinks into the sofa
She's all flirtatious smiles and tears these days
Thinks about this man
Reflects on her father
Recently dead, much hated, not missed at all
--Chorus--
--Verse 3--
The 2 men alone
Fight for what they believe in
One believes in love, one believes in himself
They fight over her
A timeless scene
Hands on hips, with pouting lips, and one of them goes down
--Chorus--
--Bridge--
Just watch this
Just you watch this
Watch this
--Chorus--
The Life So Seen
02/2013
This was an attempt to do a full-band-sounding song, my first attempt I think. I was still surprised and a bit freaked out at the fact that I was writing and recording and singing on songs again. This was an attempt to see if I could do something which sounded like I might have done with a band, back in the day... It really doesn't. But also it kind of does?
A laudable, early attempt. Deeply flawed. "Not his best work". Etc.
Lyrically it's about Eastenders. True.
The Life So Seen
lyrics
...details
--Verse 1--
the foot of the bed
the cliff edge to the shore
the cat, the foot, the claw
the soft compress of the paw
a seaside scene
a walk along the shore
have we ever been
I'm really not so sure
--Chorus--
all of these thoughts just holding me down
the memories they beckon me
all of these thoughts just keep turning around
your memory reckons with me
but the mandolin
but the mandolin
--Verse 2--
the first
drop
falls
onto the first brick of the wall
the last
voice calls
I ready myself for the fall
the wheels in motion, they carry me there
flourescent lights
late nights
an empty chair
does anyone care
--Chorus--
--Bridge--
how many times it comes to me, I've noticed
shattered piles of memories
that come to pass
scripts arrive, swift upon my doorstep
rewritten, bitten, fractured, torn up memories
--Chorus--
Song 4
02/2013
As the title says, this was the 4th song which I wrote after my hiatus. Super super simple. Oddly it was one that seemed to resonate with people, even though it never has with me. Maybe cos I know that the "mandolin" line doesn't mean anything - it just came to me and I couldn't replace the word with anything which worked as well. Which is annoying because I hate mandolins!
The bridge lyric is stolen from 'Baby I'm Shattered', an old Spectators song. I was clearly trying to form a bridge to the past there.
Song 4
lyrics
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Sam looked happy and healthy in her bikini
she tweeted she was "loving the sunshine"
in the Canary Islands with her two sons
she's now got everything she always wanted
she thinks boyfriend Jake could be the one
and those close to the beauty entrepreneur say she's changed her lifestyle
and now prefers cozy nights in to boozy benders
Imogen/Sarah/Jenny has sparked speculation, since her recent split from model Thom
Clara/Nicole puts her new body down to regular workouts with her trainer
Chloe/Stacey took a break from tweeting pictures of her baby bump
Michaela/Annie soaked up the sun in Dubai last week
new mum Adele/Becky/Charlie always looks amazing on the red carpet
after dating for nearly 2 years David/Martin/Adam admits he's head over heels
a source adds that Tulisa/Nicky/Julie is in a world of domestic bliss
Lisa/Penny/Kerrycan't believe how far she's come
loved up Tania moved into a lavish home
a source adds that she wants to start a family more than anything
she spent years trying to put her troubled past behind her
all the years of hard work feel like they've finally paid off
she gushed to pals "this is the most settled I've ever felt"
she's barely spent a moment apart from her footballer beau
There were time she feared they'd never get their relationship back on track
Martine has declared herself unable to pay her debts
she'll be encouraged to downgrade her lifestyle
Kathy has turned her life around,
quitting drugs and junk food and embarking on a health kick
following an extremely tough couple of years
battling a slew of health problems
seeing her body shape change drastically
The model had gained 10lb through comfort eating
Closer vs Fame
02/2013
Before I was writing and recording songs I'd been playing around with computer based music for years. I didn't publish any of it and so it's all lost, on a hard drive in a municipal dump somewhere. But the instrumental backing of this song was the last thing I did before starting seb_7. I liked it and figured I could do some vocals over the top. It just about works, sort of.
The lyrics are all just strung together headlines from Closer magazine.
And the backing is mainly bits of Bowie's 'Fame', sampled and cut and spliced into a rhythm track.
Closer vs Fame
lyrics
...details
Something in the air these days
Normal people with crazy ways
With a shopping bag and a smiling face
So much here does not make sense
There's a high street store called Recompense
Selling branded jeans for 50 pence
Meanwhile in Nazareth
A shot is fired, a soldier's last breath
Somehow it's hard to feel sad about a meaningless death, when
The news reports from distant scenes
Mix with words and colours on magazines
And the top shelf now seems the least obscene
Everything is gonna be alright
Everything is gonna be alright
Everything is gonna be alright
When a man announces the system's down
Says please don't worry things will turn around
It'll come back up, sort itself out
Keep on working everything is gonna be alright
He's something like a circus clown
In his pin stripe suit and a dressing gown
Doing party tricks as we all crowd round
Please don't worry everything is gonna be alright
We've all been playing with funny money
It stinks like shit, but tastes like honey
It looks like rain, but they forecast sunny
Keep spending everything is gonna be alright
The talk about boom and bust
And cycles and rotations of economic trust
Maybe the whole sad system is full of rust
But just remember everything is gonna be alright
We're on the right track, the worst is past
The best is yet to come, lets remind ourselves of that
The sun is out today and he's wearing a hat
Good news will keep on coming everything is gonna be alright
Me fixed firmly in the middle class
My thumb settled nicely up my ass
Revolution? I'd rather pass
Tell myself everything is gonna be alright
So lets take this thing to the end
Up to the corner and round the bend
Been doing things we can't defend
Keep believing everything is gonna be alright
Everything is gonna be alright
Everything is gonna be alright
Everything is gonna be alright
Everything is gonna be alright
Alright
01/2013
I was listening to the World Service a lot on the way to and from work. It was all a bit bleak after the 2008 crash. Little did I know that Brexit and far-right populism was just around the corner, but at the time things seemed pretty bad and we'd been massively let down by our politicians.
So it was a good time to have writing songs as an outlet.
This one loops and builds and I just riff over it lyrically.
I love the fact that I accidentally mis-edited the vocal and cut off half a word but couldn't be bothered to correct it! I was more relaxed about such things back then!
Alright
lyrics
...details
--Verse 1--
Another day, Another dollar
And still I don't know whether to spit or swallow
The drive to work to earn some crust
The wants turned to needs and the needs to must
The traffic laid out before me in a stutter
We're chained along behind each other
Hands on the wheel, but the hands don't turn
My mind aches dully where it used to burn
--Chorus--
But then the simplest thing
It breaks the wall of hardened skin
The tired eyes, they quicken to alert the soul
Is there hope within this after all?
A few notes of a chord
A reflection, an idea, a light, a forgotten word
But the tired mind
My hired much maligned mind
Keeps on coming back to me
Keeps on coming back to me
What else could I be
Another boat in the sea
--Verse 2--
Travel the same roads each and everyday
Theres a groove in the road through repetitive play
My eyes catch on a distant plane
A passing lorry rattles the window pane
Return to the scene, the radio chatters
The newsman pretending something matters
Distant violence, pestilence, drought
While the traffic congests at the roundabout
--Chorus--
The Simplest Thing
01/2013
This song is about those existential moments where everything seems predictable, repetitious and mundane, but then something breaks through, the simplest of things, and in an instant, the world is transformed into something rare and beautiful.
But more significantly, this song is the first song which I'd written in 15 years. In what felt like a lifetime.
I'd tinkered with music production on my computer in the years since leaving The Spectators. But I never shared what I made and most of the pieces I produced were ideas that I played with for a few days, but never actually completed. Most significantly though, I never created vocal lines or lyrics. I never tried and never wanted to.
And then Tim released a song to Soundcloud, a song which he wrote and on which he sang. There was something about this act which made it feel possible for me to do the same. I guess at this point that urge to do something myself became not only a possibility, but almost a necessity.
That's not to say that I ever sat down with the intent of writing a song. Instead, I was tinkering away one day, putting a simple organ chord track on top of a simple drum beat, nothing special. When all of a sudden a vocal line came into my head. I was quite taken aback. I stood up from my seat and took a step back from the computer. I stopped what I was doing and busied myself with something else for the rest of the day. And then returned later, with growing curiosity to what was happening.
I couldn't even sing the song out loud at first - too embarrassed at being over heard by Dani and the boys. And I had no microphone to record it with.
I wrote 2 more songs before concluding that this was "something". Something I should lean into. That meant declaring to Dani that I wanted to buy a microphone so that I could record some songs. I think she was a bit perplexed.
I then had to wait for a day when she was out with the boys, and I could close the curtains and setup the mic on the stand, and sing.
I was relieved that it sounded ok. Good enough, even. Good, even.
And since then, I've been a songwriter again.
The Simplest Thing
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