This is a reworking of a song written in 2018 about meeting my soulmate Philly, who not only gave me the line 'stuff of dreams' but provided some lovely oohs and aahs too! All other sounds by me on GarageBand.

Cover image: JR Korpa on unsplash.com

THE STUFF OF DREAMS - JUNE 21

A rough demo. If you've had a bad day, waking up to a new one can feel like a fresh start. A song of hope.

TODAY

Can we learn the lessons form the past? Have I just been walking around in a daze, careless with my love? Each turn of the page is a new chapter, a new verse, and a chance to work out who I am.

TURN THE PAGE

Sometimes it just ain't meant to be! 

Image: Joseph Morris at unsplash.com

TWO WORLDS APART

Sometimes songs just find you. I was about to give pop after an unproductive writing session when the tune just emerged. The song wrote itself in under an hour after that. Thank you songwriter gods!

CAN'T GIVE MY LOVE AWAY

Sometimes, when you're deeply involved in something, you just can't see how stupid you've been. But everyone else can! An ode to wise friends I've ignored. THANKS TO WILL B for some great backing guitar licks!

EVERYBODYS FOOL

This woman was once the life and soul of life. Adored, detested and loved in equal measures. Alone and feeling melancholy, she reminisces about her wild past, the dangerous affairs, the dodged bullets and the near misses. Inspired by Costello's 'Veronica', reflection is a common theme in my songwriting as I try to trace my feelings about my own past.

ONE OF A KIND

How did we get here? What a mess. We've gotta work towards a better world 'cos no-one else is gonna do it! There's no Superman, there's no Spiderman, there's no Batman! We have to be our own super people and save this beautiful world.

Cover image: joel-de-vriend-o0sZHtfp4N8-unsplash

SUPERHUMAN ME (SAVE THE WORLD)

Everyone has the right to love and be loved by whoever they choose. This upbeat song is all about equality and understanding, in how we treat each other and in our close relationships. We can all tread a little softer.

WE GOT THIS

I guess… it's when it dawns on you that everything's about to change, again. Can be a good thing! Ch-ch-ch-changes. (All my own work).

I GUESS

An emotional piece about past relationships and how they affect future ones.

Cover image: Alexander Krivitskiy at unsplash.com

1984

On his daily walk to the tube via Belsize Park my friend used to pass this bench. Every morning there was something different left on it, "weird oddities, almost as though someone was placing them there as public art". A lovely romantic idea for this song, written by him around 1993, revised by me for 2023.

MAGIC BENCH

Everyone has a story to tell. Sometimes songs work best with the simplest of arrangements. Hopefully this one reflects that notion. All my own work!

HURT'S FADING BRUISE

Happy song about a messy relationship. Happens to us all it seems!

HAPPY

An antidote to the craziness of modern life. Find your special place and take a walk. Listen to the sounds, take time to think, let yourself BREATHE!

BREATHE

I had previously tinkered with the idea of the ‘last weekend of summer’ many years ago. I thought it sounded evocative of an ending, that sadness you feel inside when the days start shortening and leaves start turning.

I can still hear the melody I wrote back then. But it wasn’t right. So I rewrote it. Turns out the birds know when it's time to go.

LAST WEEKEND OF SUMMER REMIX 1

I started talking to a young homeless guy who was begging on the tube in London. I asked him about his story. All he had to say was "I'm just a nobody". All the lonely people…

A NOBODY

Remembering times when I was free and easy, when life seemed like more of a breeze. Take it, cause there will be challenges ahead no doubt!

Cover image: Casey Horner on unsplash.com

THE SILVER SCREEN

I struggled with this one a bit! Starting out as a cute melodic acoustic tune some years ago, I updated it and added some bits in 2021. I decided to try and toughen it up with a harder full band sound, but it still came out a bit too sweet! Oh well, I think it's got something about it, some energy and maybe some nice hooks, but let's see what the world thinks!

SOMETIMES LOVE

Sometimes you can never say the right thing. At other times you can be misinterpreted. And then you can simply lose your rag! Even roses can't be rosy all the time. All my own work!

SHOT BY MY OWN TONGUE

You can't stop the sands of time, but you can make the most of what you have. Cherish your friendships, appreciate those you love.

WORTH LIVING FOR

I wrote this song in 1993 when I was in the band 'Absolutely Sweet Marie' (named after the Bob Dylan song). You might realise that I was very keen on Prefab Sprout as this recording has overtones of their style I feel. It was written about our singer at the time who was much younger than the rest of the band but she was very ambitious. Also quite precocious and pushy. All good qualities I guess if you want to get somewhere in music. However, 'Sweet Marie' and us didn't make it to the promised land. Despite flirtations with some notable music biz movers, we parted with her and never really recovered. Maybe it was all make believe? Anyway, I got a song out of it and enjoyed bringing it back to life in 2024. Thanks to Philippa for your backing vocals.

SWEET MARIE

Sometimes you're blissfully unaware of hurting someone's feelings when you're enjoying yourself in company. I do it all the time, get a bit over excited and say something I think is funny, but others don't! But I'm trying hard to change me. A Bit Magic Numbers this one.

CHANGE ME

If Coldplay made a Christmas climate crisis song, it might be something like this! Joking aside, here's a different take on the message of hope at Christmas. It's an age old song of humanity - to replace hate with love, war with peace, conflict with respect. Simple really. Maybe we should all try it.

SILENT NIGHT 2024 MIX

Words Like Stones is a song about the hurts that lie await inside for that moment they resurface, an unwanted ache etched into one's being. Inside, there's a part of you that remembers everything, a residual energy that recalls all the happiness and heartbreaks, recommissioned to play out over and over.

Words Like Stones

WORDS LIKE STONES

Everything seems darker when you wake in the night worrying about things, especially affairs of the heart. 

WAITING FOR THE END (THREE IN THE MORNING)

A love song written late at night when missing someone who brings life to life.

AROUND THE TIME

Inspired by Bob Dylan’s ‘It’s All Over Now, Baby Blue’ (1965), this really is a song of hope in the face of adversity. Like Dylan’s own affirmation of a way forward in his relationship or music, ‘bury the doubt’ attempts to shrug off the negative and embrace more positive feelings about my own life and music. Lovely bass lines by Kris Wilkins.

Like Baby Blue

LIKE BABY BLUE

I guess this is a song about that first flush of love, the giddiness and exhilaration of meeting someone for the first time and going home with a feeling of ecstatic excitement. When you click, you click. It can't be beaten.

DANCING IN THE LIGHT

This song seemed to be just waiting to be written. Like the sculptor sees a shape inside a block of wood waiting to come out. It all just came together painlessly in a few short hours. 

Thanks to anyone who has liked my tracks so far. Please let me know if you enjoy this one. All my songs are just demos created on GarageBand - feel free to share.

Photo: Viktor Omy on unsplash.com

WATER INTO WINE

Hummingbird

Hummingbird
I kept my word
But I can’t hang around
Times have changed 
Shapes rearranged
Fly by without a sound

I won’t forget
Our beautiful regret
We can’t have lost what we never found

Hummingbird
Your face is blurred
Just like your wings
It won’t be long 
Before your song
Is lost between these strings

I won’t deny
I tried to make it last
But your movements were too fast

Hummingbird

The wind sweeps in
To brush the clouds away
And there’s no doubting we’ll live for another day
Nothing’s gained
No clarity observed
Just the joy of a Hummingbird

Hummingbird 
I overheard
You’ve found another home
I’m pleased for you
If you’re happy to
Leave my heart alone

Hold your breath
It’s wasted on me
Hummingbird go silently

HUMMINGBIRD

When you're trying to move on to somewhere else, sometimes life puts everything on hold and there's nothing you can do! 

My gratitude goes to Will Barker who composed and performed the amazing solo in this one. Thanks Will.

Photo credit: Emile Seguin at unsplash.com

STUCK IN LIMBO

Catchy, raucous guitar fun. Days are precious... don't waste them! 

Cover image: claudio-schwarz-purzlbaum on unsplash.com

YOU STOLE MY DAY

A clever and kind woman fulfils her dream to live and work in New York in the 1950s. She's smart, but it's an unforgiving man's world, a Mad Men's world in fact. Finding it tough to be heard, and falling for the wrong guy, she decides to take matters into her own hands. Featuring the blissful guitar of Ed Jack Barker (AKA Shedward https://soundcloud.com/user-220219446). Image Pexels/Pixabay.

TROPHY WIFE

As a singer/songwriter I have a passion for the examination of the human condition. And an obsession for the current state of the world we have inherited. It’s up to us all to have the conversations about how we live our lives, and how we can think and act for the benefit of everyone. It’s not quite too late. If you can take something from any of these songs, if I can move you in some way, I’ll be really happy. This is for all the people who deserve love.

Andy Barker

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