Farewell to Kentucky

Another 5090 song

Lyrics:

Oh my Pappy is dead
And my Mammy is too
They took to their beds
And they died of the flu

All good things must end
The bank took our home
I said good-bye to my friends
And I started to roam

(chorus)
Farewell to Kentucky
And to sweet Rosalee
I always thought we would marry
But it’s not meant to be

I worked on the rivers
I worked on the sea
Until a white shark
Took a bite out of me

A one-legged man
Can’t haul on a sheet
So I found myself
Back out on the street

(chorus)
Farewell to Kentucky
And to sweet Rosalee
I always thought we would marry
But it’s not meant to be

I took to the begging
Then I stole a gun
I held up a store
And went on the run

I ran through the country
And I ran through the town
With the law close behind me
And jail bearin’ down

(chorus)
Farewell to Kentucky
And to sweet Rosalee
I always thought we would marry
But it’s not meant to be

One desperate dark night
I broke into a house
I crept up the stairs
Just as quiet as a mouse

There a lady was dreaming
Fast asleep in her bed
But when she started screaming
I filled her with lead

(chorus)
Farewell to Kentucky
And to sweet Rosalee
I always thought we would marry
But it’s not meant to be

The silence was deadly
Then the sirens commenced
My running was over
My relief was immense

Then they brought out the corpse
And they pulled back the sheet
There dead on the gurney
Was my sweet Rosalee

(chorus)
Farewell to Kentucky
And to sweet Rosalee
I always thought we would marry
But it’s not meant to be

Yes, farewell to Kentucky
And to sweet Rosalee
Now she is in Heaven
But it will be Hell for me

Begin Again

Another 5090 song.

(I thought I would start writing a series of lyrics based around a course on spirituality that I started last year. Not that all the songs will be spiritual, though some may.

This one serves two purposes, because the first booklet is about starting the course, intiation, etc. and I lost it a couple of weeks ago when I left my bag on a train. So loss comes into it, but the truth is I started the course well over a year and a half ago and just recently decided to go back the beginning to re-engage with it – hence the booklet was in the bag that got lost. Anyway, this song isn’t particularly spiritual, but it is the first of many – I hope!)

Lyrics:

(verse 1:)
You say that there is nothing left
And this thing we have should really end
But before you go I’d just like to suggest
That we could always begin again

(chorus:)
Darling let’s
Begin again
It would really 
Be a sin
If we just
Gave up on us
Without trying
To begin again

(verse 2:)
Now Adam he loved Eve back in the garden
And they fell out, as do the best of friends
But even after they got kicked out by the warden
They decided to begin again

(chorus)

(bridge:)
Everything has its appointed hour
All things must come to an end
But love is like the apple flower
In springtime it begins again

(verse 3:)
Just as one door shuts, another opens
Honey open that door and let me in
So I can help to fix whatever’s broken
Let’s walk through and begin again

(chorus x 2)

Come Lie with Me

another 5090 song:

(verse 1:)
Turn out the light
Come lie with me
All through the night
Come lie with me
I feel weary
And I need the company
So come lie with me

(chorus:)
Come lie with me
Come lie with me
Come lie with me 
Come lie with me
In this room 
By the sea
Come lie with me

(verse 2:)
On this old bed
Come lie with me
Leave it unsaid
Come lie with me
Moonlight on the waves
Is all we need
So come lie with me

(chorus as above)

(bridge:)
Please don’t turn away
There is no need to fear
Don’t shut the door
Don’t leave me here

(verse 3:)
Face to face
Come lie with me
Legs interlaced
Come lie with me
I’ll breathe you in
And you’ll breathe me
Come lie with me

(chorus)

The Life of Leaves

Another 5090 song:

The Life of Leaves

Music and vocals by Leslie Stahl, lyrics by me.

The leaves on the trees, they are budding
Oh the leaves on the trees, they are green
The leaves on the trees are the loveliest, 
That I have ever seen

Now the leaves on the trees, they are dying
Oh the leaves on the trees, they are brown
And the leaves on the trees, they are letting go
And drifting to the ground

Oh the leaves of the trees, they are crumbling
The leaves of the trees disappear
But the life of the leaves of yesterday
Will rise again next year

Holy Corner

Lyrics for a new song I wrote for 5090:

I church, 2 church, 3 church 4
All the little churches with an open door
Little church, big church, cathedral town
Dead saints and sinners all a’gazing down

And Jesus is on the Cross
Guess that makes Him the Boss
I mean the Man he went
The extra mile
But you can sometimes just detect the hint
Of a superior smile

Up in the chapel, hear the wedding vows
The couple promise and the Church endows
A future full of eternal bliss
The couple seal it with a sacred kiss

And Jesus is on the Cross
Guess that makes Him the Boss
After all the Man he went
That extra mile
But can you sometimes detect just a hint
Of an ironic smile?

Once I knew Jesus and he knew me
We’d meet up in church to sing
“Nearer My God to Thee”
But even the best of friends can drift apart
I think all in all he’s probably got a good heart

(maybe some jaunty whistling here…)

The rain is deep and the couple weep
As they tuck their baby to his final sleep
But the mourners say as they drop the clay,
“They’ll be together again on the Judgement Day”

Hey there Jesus, up on the Cross
Do you think you’ll always be the Boss
We all know you went
The extra mile
But sometimes I’d like to see a wee
Apologetic smile

5090 Songwriting

Okay, following on from FAWM (February Album Writing Month), the organisers also do 5090, the challenge for which is to write 50 songs in 90 days.

I’m there with the same username carried over from FAWM, and I have 4 song lyrics written – no demo recorded yet though …

http://5090.fawm.org/fawmers/paulmilne/

Radio Druid

The nice chap who runs Radio Druid has put some of my songs into the playlist. Have a listen, there are plenty of nice tunes on it.

In addition, there’s the Druidcast podcast, produced monthly, music and interviews. A new one is just out. Also available from iTunes.

Granny Danced a Two-Step

Last song that I wrote for FAWM (February Album Writing month).

Granny Danced a Two-Step music

Lyrics:

VERSE 1
Back when we were young
And dancing was the thing
We’d go out of an evening
To hear them play and sing
They might swing like Bob Willis
Or do a Hank Williams tune
Something about cheatin’
By the light of the moon

VERSE TWO:
Then the grownups would head out
Onto the sawdust floor
While us little kids
Would head for the door
Playing outside
On a warm summer’s night
With music in the air
And the stars shining bright

CHORUS:
And Granny danced a two-step
To a good old country song
Back when we were young
And the nights were long
Everybody faded
But she kept going strong
Dancing that two-step
To a country song

WALTZ BRIDGE:
And sometimes a slow waltz would creep in
Later on when the children were sleepin’
On coats piled up in the corner
Sucking thumbs like little Jack Horner
And sometimes they’d dance out of doors
On a dancefloor made of old boards
Under the stars above
Holding tight to an old dream of love

VERSE THREE:
Now life on the farm
Could be a hard row to how
Getting in the crops
And then the seeds to sow
With fences to mend
And stock to be fed
Then you eat your own supper
And get off to bed

VERSE FOUR:
But things would be different
On a Saturday night
With everybody laughing
And shoes polished bright
We’d go to the dancehall
Where songs could be sung
And cares put aside
And hearts could be young

CHORUS:
And Granny danced a two-step
To a good old country song
Back when we were young
And the nights were long
Everybody faded
But she kept going strong
Dancing that two-step
To a country song

Demo for “This Uncertain World”.

I have created an MP3 file for “This Uncertain World”.

Lyrics

This Uncertain World music

I wrote six songs in February – yay!

Thanks to “February Album Writing Month” (or FAWM, as it’s more colloquially known), I’ve been inspired to write 5 new songs plus one I’d just written before I learned about it. So that makes six songs in Feburary! Yippee! Okay, they are not all gonna win a Grammy, but it has been fun and listening to the brand new music of others is a humbling experience.

Check out my songs, but don’t stop there. Explore the links at the top and hear some top comteporary music – maybe a bit bit rough around the edges, but you heard it here first.

FAWM rock on!

http://fawm.org/fawmers/paulmilne/

Demo for “Ride the Yellow Moon”

Here is the audio file, on PureVolume:

http://www.purevolume.com/paulsm/albums/99584560

Count All the Stars

A lullaby…

(Listen to the track on Pure Volume)

It’s never really dark when there’s stars in the sky
Look out the window at the light
The Great Bear is dancing, don’t ask me why
Just count all the stars tonight.

CHORUS:
Count all the stars in the window tonight
When you’re finished everything will be all right
You know your Daddy loves you, so try with all your might
To count all the stars tonight

Sometimes it’s cloudy, sometimes it rains
Sometimes the curtains are pulled tight
But tonight the stars are shining through the window pane
So count all the stars tonight

CHORUS

And it’s one two three, put your hands on your knees
And it’s four five six, pick up sticks
And it’s seven eight nine, I can see your eyes shine
As you count all the stars tonight

CHORUS

(repeat verse 1 etc. until you or child falls asleep)

Demo for “As the Crow Flies”

Posted on PureVolume.

http://www.purevolume.com/paulsm/

As the Crow Flies

[I hear this with a full-blown bluegrass band...]

Way up yonder on the mountain
There sits a little two-room shack
That’s were my true love is waiting
And she don’t know if I’m ever coming back

If I had the wings of an angel
Or even the wings of a crow
I’d fly straight into my lover’s arms
And lord I would never let go

chorus:-
As the crow flies, as the crow flies
My heart flies to you as the crow flies
As the crow flies, as the crow flies
Oh my heart flies to you as the crow flies

Now they took me away to the trenches
They took me away to the war
They took me away from my lover
And I don’t know if I’ll see her any more

Now I’m pretty good with a rifle
And I’m pretty good with a knife
But I’m even better with a horse and plow
And three little children and a wife

(chorus)

Now they say that the war is over
Yes they say that the war is done
They tell us that we can go home now
But they never told us who won

Oh it’s two hundred miles of walking
Down the river and over the bridge
But it’s only twenty miles as the crow flies
To that dear little house on the ridge

(chorus)

Oh way up yonder on the mountain
There sits a little two-room shack
That’s were my true love is waiting
But now she knows that I’m coming back

And If she had the wings of an angel
And I had the wings of a crow
We’d fly straight into each other’s arms
And lord we would never let go

(chorus and repeat)

Ride the Yellow Moon

I wrote this after pondering a fat yellow moon last night, and thinking about Bride/Bridget.

I think the chorus will probably be good for harmonising, and maybe work well as a round.

Listen to the audio file here http://www.purevolume.com/paulsm/albums/99584560

chorus:
Bride, Bride, Bride, Bride,
Bride, Bride, Bride, Bride,
Bride, Bride, Bride, you
Ride the yellow moon

Bride hear my voice
Teach me to sing
Bride hear my song
And give it wing

(chorus)

Bride stroke the fire
That burns in us all
Bride of the forge
Our hearts hear your call

(chorus)

Bride pluck the herbs
Stir the cauldron black
Bride heal our wounds
Give our bodies back

(chorus)

Bride call the spring
Let green leaf unfurl
Bride spread your legs
Give birth to the world

(chorus)

This Uncertain World

This is a song I’ve written for February Album Writing Month (FAWM). I’ll try to get an audio file up soon.

This is for my wife Eileen.

This Uncertain World

Lately I have nursed a worried mind,
Late at night when the kids have gone to bed.
Sometimes it seems the world is so unkind,
With just a stone to lay my weary head.

Now times are hard, and they won’t get better fast,
Even the rich man’s house is built on sand.
Everybody’s looking for one thing to last,
I know I’ve found it when you take my hand.

Cuz you’re a sure thing in this uncertain world,
I’m just your boy and you are just my girl.
I finally realise I’ve found my pearl,
Cuz you’re a sure thing in this uncertain world.

The seas will rise and storms will sweep the sky,
Disease will try to take us in our prime.
But we’ll face the worst together, you and I,
And our children will flourish in their time.

Cuz you’re a sure thing in this uncertain world,
I’m just your boy and you are just my girl.
I finally realise I’ve found my pearl,
Cuz you’re a sure thing in this uncertain world.

Now the seasons come and go,
If we can just hold on,
Through summer sun and winter snow,
Until our days are done.

And when my final day is here at last,
And I lay down to my eternal rest,
If I can take your hand in one last clasp,
I’ll know that my life’s been truly blessed.

Cuz you’re a sure thing in this uncertain world,
I’m just your boy and you are just my girl.
I finally realise I’ve found my pearl,
Cuz you’re a sure thing in this uncertain world.

Quiet Night In – another older song remixed

I’m enjoying this. Finally getting round to using the borrowed guitar and various bits of kit I got before Christmas to lay down some proper tracks.

“Quiet Night In” is one of the first songs I wrote and scored in 2007, when I first started writing songs.

Listen on Pure Volume

Quite Night In Lyrics

Living on the Coast – new cut of an older song

Just posted a new version of a song I wrote a couple of years ago now: Living on the Coast.

Pure Volume

Check out the lyrics here:

Living on the Coast lyrics

Snowflakes fly – listen to track

I got my “Snowflakes Fly” track recorded and put up on Pure Volume this morning.

Have a listen:

Pure Volume

Snowflakes Fly

A new song (imagine a waltz time signature):

Snowflakes Fly

You told me you loved the snow
Although it would bring in the cold
Now you sit by the fire
While the snowdrifts grow higher
Outside where you no longer go

And the snow comes falling from the sky
Like souls you watch the snowflakes fly …

You once took me out in the night
To look at the stars shining bright
And to my surprise
In the tears from your eyes
Were reflected the pale Northern Lights

Then the snow came falling from the sky,
Like souls we watched the snowflakes fly…

Now eighty winters you have seen
And eighty times you’ve welcomed spring
Eighty snows have shrouded Earth
And eighty times a second birth

I found you out in the snow
That day it was forty below
I took you into the fire
You were light as a sigh
And I wept in the warm fire’s glow

Then the snow came falling from the sky
Like souls I watched the snowflakes fly
And snow comes falling from the sky
Like souls we watch the snowflakes …
… oh how the snowflakes fly …

Equipment is arriving

At last I am starting to get my recording equipment organised. I now have two pieces in place: a cheap pickup for my guitar and my M-Audio Fast Track USB input box. And it works, hooray! Now I need to get a vocal mike sorted out, and I will be ready to rock and roll.

I’ve also bought two books to help me understand what I want to do:

David Pogue’s Garage Band 2: The Missing Manual

Fred Sokolow’s Fretboard Roadmaps: The Essential Guitar Patterns That All the Pros Know and Use

Pogue’s book has arrived and I can see the danger already – the temptation will be to play around with the software instead of actually using it to do something useful. Hopefully the fun factor will  get me going with it. I’ve already taught myself a little trick just mucking about: lay down a rhythm track of some kind, (bass or percussion) to play and sing along to, even if you don’t intend to use it in the final song. It just helps you stay on the beat consistently, instead of randomly slowing down and speeding up over the course of the song, as is my wont!

Sokolow’s book hasn’t arrived yet, but the reviews on Amazon indicate it is the book I need to take my guitar playing to the next level. I’ve noodled around with chords and such for years and years, but it’s a bit, well, boring to listen to (imho), so hopefully I’ll be able to add a little musical interest the songs I’ll be putting up.

Now I just have to get my vocal mic and I can start laying down the songs. I’ll keep you posted.

Equipment and lyrics

A couple of things.

I got an email saying my M-Audio Fast Track thing has been dispatched, so it looks like a fun weekend ahead.

I tweaked a lyric to one of my favourite songs, “Living on the Coast“. I never liked the last verse very much, the line, “The sea breeze that blows through your honey hair / is the same breeze that blows across my lips” just never sounded right, I mean a breeze blowing across your lips just sounds a bit odd, a bit, well, like your looking for a rhyme, ya know what I mean? So I’ve changed the verse as follows:

I don’t know if we’ll ever kiss each other’s lips again
Or ever feel our fingers interlace
But the sea breeze that blows through your honey hair
Is the same breeze that blows across my face

Better, don’t you think?

Change of music site

I have moved my music from the file store website “Fileden” to a music website “purevolume“. Thus links from here will lead to the music page on the Pure Volume, where you will be able to play the music or download it.

Music news

I have finally bitten the bullet and am buying some equipment to get my songs “properly” recorded (early Christmas presents…).

Following my friend Tim Riley’s advice, I have bought an M-Audio Fast Track audio input device, and a fairly cheap pickup for my guitar to be getting on with. I figure this can be upgradable if I feel the need.

The next step is to get a mike sorted out. I have a unidirectional dynamic mike, but I need to find out if it’s mono or stereo or if it matters. It has a 3.5 mm jack, which i will need to get an adapter for to plug it into the above-mentioned M-Audio box. The adapters don’t cost much, but the one I’ve seen says specifically it will work for any stereo mike with a 3.5 mm jack. If I need to get a new mike, I won’t bother getting the adapter, but I don’t want to have to spend any more money than necessary at the moment. I’ll keep you posted on how I get on. Shouldn’t be long now before new arrangements of some of the songs start appearing…

The Running of the Deer

Running of the Deer:

(music files on Pure Volume)

[The tune to this song is inspired by the traditional American song "Pretty Polly".]

Come with me and be my love
In the Springtime of the year
Dance joyous with the honeybee
And with the running deer

chorus:
May your heart always be happy
And your singing always clear
May you run forever fair and free
With the running of the deer

Come with me and light the fires
That promise fertile crops
Gather flowers from the woodlands
And from the mountaintops

(chorus)

Drive the cattle through the flames
And leap the raging fire
Look into my loving eyes
And feel my heart’s desire

(chorus)

By hart and hare and trout and wren
By land and sky and sea
By the running Lord of Stags
And the dancing honeybee

(chorus)

By the spin of moon and stars
And the cooing turtle dove
In the springtime of the year
Come and be my love

May your heart always be happy
And your singing always clear
May you run forever fair and free
With the running of the deer

The Year of Jubilo

(music files on Pure Volume)

Walking home through Georgia
In the Year of Jubilo
The War Between the States is finally over
Beside a burnt-out farmhouse
Music fills the air
Where a mockingbird is singing in the clover

I try to whistle up a tune
A dear old mountain song
But something bright down deep inside me dies
After all the things I’ve seen and done
And all the men I’ve killed
A happy song sounds like a pack of lies

But though we may not feel like singing
Music soothes the soul
So it’s a sin to kill a songbird
In the Year of Jubilo

Lord knows I have been hungry
And you don’t know what it means
When a widow gives you cornbread with grits and greens
And sleeping in that widow’s barn
Bedded in the hay
A nightingale is singing til break of day

Although we may be hungry
Music feeds the soul
And it’s a sin to kill a songbird
In the Year of Jubilo

I remember…
Little boys who sang
Of marching off to war
I remember …
Little girls who sang
Of love forevermore
I remember…
Old men sang of horses
That they used to ride
And I remember …
Old women sang of meeting
In the sweet by-and-by

A child playing in the dirt
Beside the weary road
Once a white man owned him, it was all he knowed
A blackbird singing in a bush
The child laughs and claps, and
Something cold and hard inside me finally thaws … and cracks

Though we may be slaves to life and death
Music frees the soul
And it’s a sin to kill a songbird
In the year of Jubilo…

Snowdrops

With apologies to Robert Frost …

(music files on Pure Volume)