The Last Wolf

Wyatt Griffith, over on 5090, kindly consented to me musicifying some of his excellent 5090 lyrics. I hope he likes them:

The Last Wolf

Step Into the Light

Photo by Mary Legge at MJ Photography

I wrote this as a sort of jingle for a photography start-up run by Mary Legge, who is the daughter of a friend of mine. Have a look and like her page, if don’t mind.

Not sure how it stands up on its own, the idea is around taking pictures etc.

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Come right in and set yourself down
Take out your smile put away your frown
You got a face lights up a room
Hold that thought while I get my zoom

Now step into the light
Where everybody’s happy, and all the colors bright
Everything’s gonna be all right
When you step into the light

Put your baby down on the floor
I promise she won’t get out the door
Now take her hand and hold on tight
Help her step into the light

Help her step into the light
Where everybody’s happy, and all the colors bright
Everything’s gonna be all right
When she steps into the light

A photo’s just a point in time
But take two and you’ve got a rhyme
Take three and you’ve got a song
And everyone can sing along

As we step into the light
Where everybody’s happy, and all the colors bright
Everything’s gonna be all right
When we step into the light

Now let’s step into the light
Where everybody’s happy, and all the colors bright
Everything’s gonna be all right
When we step into the light

New demo for “Deirdre’s Lament”

I’ve finally cut another demo for “Deirdre’s Lament”, which conveys the purity of the song better than the last one.

I’ve hit a couple of bum notes in the singing, which makes a difference as it’s the usually the guitar that sounds a little rough. I’m more than happy with the guitar track on this one (apart from a slight hesitation at one point).

You can hear the audio on the original post (with lyrics and extra info), or via the Reverbnation widget in the right hand column.

Regarding Kissing – update

My lyrics “Regarding Kissing” has been set to a lovely ukelele arrangement with a sweet vocals by Kahiwa Sebire as a result of the 5090 songwriting challenge. UPDATE: I’ve added some backing vocals because it’s such fun to sing!

Have a listen:

If you are on Facebook I urge you to “like” Kahiwa’s music page. She is a very talented musician!

Reverbnation player

After searching high and low I found a way to make a Reverbnation widget work on my WordPress blog. And you can see it on the right – it’s kind of hard to miss!

It’s a handy place to find all my latest music if you keep track of this blog.

Next, going to try to work out the best way of earning money off this songwriting lark …

A Better Man Than Me

I’ve undertaken to collaborate with Arthur Rossi in the 5090 Songwriting Challenge. He wrote a lovely set of lyrics called “A Better Man Than Me” (follow the link for the set of original lyrics by Arthur).

The following is my very slightly tweaked version.

A Better Man Than Me (by Arthur Rossi and Paul Milne)

The more I think, the more things seem to worsen
Maybe you were never meant to by my wife
And maybe I was never meant to be the person
That you needed to complete your life

Never sensitive, never inventive
I never realised love’s so much more
And I was never so attentive
As at the moment you walked out the door

And now what to wish you at the end
May you find someone much wiser, who will understand
Let him be different from me
And if you ever fall in love again
Let him be someone who’ll love you as much as he can
Let him be a better man than me, a better man than me

Even my humour was never scintillating
When flirting with drunken women at the bar
All the time you were sitting home waiting
Too trusting, too faithful by far

I guess I was never able to show you
How much I loved you, what lay beneath
At least I can say I’m happy to’ve known you
Despite all the faults I can’t retrieve

And now what to wish you at the end
May you find someone much wiser, who will understand
Let him be different from me
And if you ever fall in love again
Let him be someone who’ll love you as much as he can
Let him be a better man than me
And if you ever fall in love again
Let him be someone who’ll kiss you not only now and then
Let him be a better man than me, a better man than me

The Isle of May

The Isle of May is an island in the North Sea off the entrance to the Firth of Forth, visible from Dunbar on a clear day. Rather enticing and mysterious.

Isle of May - Photo by bernadette54 on Flickr

Wild boy away, you sail away
You sail away just as you please
You’re chasing the whale to Americay
You’re chasing the whale to the Southern Seas

(chorus)
And one day we’ll sail, we’ll sail away
Over the sea to the Isle of May
And one day we’ll sail, we’ll sail away
Over the sea to the Isle of May

Wild boys away and hoist your sails
My true love is my first and last
He’s in the Southern Ocean, chasing the whales
With two years to serve before the mast

(chorus)
But one day we’ll sail, we’ll sail away
Over the sea to the Isle of May
And one day we’ll sail, we’ll sail away
Over the sea to the Isle of May

Wild waves away, roll away
From Dunbar to the Southern Seas
Wild winds blow from the Isle of May
Blow my true love home to me

(chorus)
And one day we’ll sail, we’ll sail away
Over the sea to the Isle of May
And one day we’ll sail, we’ll sail away
Over the sea to the Isle of May

New Creative Commons licence for my work

Please select the “Copyright and Creative Commons” link in the menu at the top of this page to review the new licence for my creative work.

Basically, I’ve changed it so that you now cannot use my works for commercial purposes without my permission.

Just so’s you know …

The Modern Robin Hood

A new song for the 50/90 songwriting challenge.

I’ll tell you the story of the Modern Robin Hood
He stole from the bad and gave to the good
But people let me tell you, from where I stood
Little Jimmy weren’t no modern Robin Hood

When Jimmy met Carla they were both on the run
He won her heart when she saw his gun
She said “Little Jimmy, let’s have some fun”
Ten people were dead before they were done

Well they called him the Modern Robin Hood
Cuz he stole from the bad and gave to the good
But people let me tell you, from where I stood
Little Jimmy weren’t no modern Robin Hood

The first thing they did was to steal a horse
Then they had to rob a bank, of course
They stormed the premises by force
And killed the bank teller with no remorse

They called him Robin Hood because he was bold
And threw the little children dollars of gold
And only killed wicked men, or so we were told
In the penny dreadfuls where their story was sold

One night I was sitting in Clancy’s Saloon
Waiting to hear Miss Alison croon
And thinking of asking her outside for a spoon
Not knowing that my dream would end so soon

Jimmy and Carla came in, looking for a fight
They started shooting to give us a fright
I took a bullet and out went the lights
They killed Miss Alison and stole my sight

They hung little Jimmy in the month of May
And they soon sent Carla the very same way
The preacher standing by started to pray
When the outlaws went to their judgement day

Remember my name, it is William McCrae
I have been blind since that terrible day
Give me a dime and I’ll sing you this lay
Of how the modern Robin Hood was made to pay

Yes they called him the Modern Robin Hood
Cuz he stole from the bad and gave to the good
But people let me tell you, from where I stood
Little Jimmy weren’t no modern Robin Hood

Tags: 5090, country, murder ballad, storytelling, western

The Ghost of Woody Guthrie

This guitar ain’t never killed a fascist
It’s hardly ever been up on a stage
And all them songs I should be singing
Are lying cold and dead upon a page

Now the world is full of desperate stories
And beautiful faces to see
This train should be bound for glory
And the ghost of Woody Guthrie is haunting me

Yeah the ghost of Woody Guthrie is haunting me
I’ve been too busy chasing the do-re-mi
This train should be bound for glory
And the ghost of Woody Guthrie is haunting me

In Africa they’re dying by the millions
And the rich keep getting richer every day
The bankers are counting up their trillions
But you know it’s the poorest who will pay

And I’m thinking of my grand-kids’ grand-kids
Are we sending them straight to hell
Will I be a goody or a baddy
In the stories that they tell

We are going down that road feeling bad
We are going down that road feeling bad
We are going down that road feeling bad Lord, Lord
And we don’t want to be treated this-a-way

Yeah the ghost of Woody Guthrie is haunting me
I’ve been too busy chasing the do-re-mi
This world should be bound for glory
And the ghost of Woody Guthrie is haunting me

Yeah the ghost of Woody Guthrie is haunting me
I’ve been too busy chasing the do-re-mi
This world should be bound for glory
And the ghost of Woody Guthrie is haunting me
Yeah the ghost of Woody Guthrie is haunting me
Yeah the ghost of Woody Guthrie is haunting me