This is one of a series of eight tracks which I recorded back in the early years of my writing. I captured these songs on a digital camera with video capabilities. I was happy with most but one or two should have been given another take - I suggest, you may think more. But things are what they are. I have stripped the audio track from the video (original video on my You tube channel) and posted them on Soundcloud close to 10 years ago. I have now available, the ability to edit and manipulate the audio tracks. Just for purely personal reasons (makes them sound better ????) and have now posted them on SoundCloud as a remix. Hope you like it.

The One who Sung The Song

the one who sang the song - acoustic remix

I have been listening to some videos of various covers I recorded during Lockdown. All in the name of fun and sanity, Just sat down in front of my laptop, picked up my uke and started turning pages of my songbooks. Nothing special, just went for it and clicked record.

I wanted to post these onto Soundcloud so had to use a little technological magic. First stripping the soundtrack, and then using a few lttle tricks in my DAW (Audiotonic based on the Audacity codes and just as free) and adding a little reverb for effect. Finally posting on SC and creating this album/playlist.

After you've Gone written by Layton and Creamer in 1918 and recorded by many including Frank Sinatra and Nina Simone amongst other great Jazz artistes

After You've Gone - Cover

A very sombre song with a backing to match. This is the fifth song from a  collaborative project, all instruments by my collaborator who records in his home studio, mixes and masters the finished track. I bring my song to the project and complete the track with the vocal.
This is worth hearing with headphones or external speaker to enjoy the full benefit of the bass tones from the lead guitar.

I Sing My Song In Remembrance

I Sing My Song In Remembrance (2024)

I just had to do a second song from my project about The Myths & Legends Of Arthur. I used exactly the sam prompt as with "Arthur and The Sword" but of course the AI would not do as it was told (quite usual) and had to do several iterations, before I got what I was asking for - you get used to this with AI.
Anyway, wrote another poem/lyric today (31/1/2025) and this is the track I decided to upload. I don't expect to post a track per day but at least with two tracks, I now expect to I will complete the project. I imagine many edits before I consider it fully finished.

Merlin the wise - lyrics

In ancient times, when magic thrived, 
A wizard wise and grand, 
Counseled a boy, with heart so pure, 
To lead a noble land.

Merlin's eyes, with wisdom bright, 
Saw Arthur's destined reign,
 He taught him strength, and honour's might, 
Through joy and deepest pain.

With spells and lore, he paved the way, 
For Arthur's rise to fame, 
A bond unbroken, night and day, 
In heart and soul, proclaimed.

Beside the boy, and man alike
Through battles fierce and crucial
Stood Merlin like a rock unmoved.
His advice was always vital 

He helped him through the hardest times
Their friendship did succeed
For Merlin's counsel, wise and strong, 
Made Arthur a King fit to lead

Merlin The Wise

Found this to be a difficult track to get what I envisaged,In fact I have been having issues with trying to generate music from a clone of my voice. A few weeks ago I though I had the process under control, but now from an audio clip although it is cloning my voice the AI is neither retaining the original melody or at time adding any backing music. I shall persevere, I am trying to overcome this by covering the initial iteration, but this is altering the voice as well. C'est La Vie............... And the this turns up with a duet, this is possibly unsuitable for this song but I like it.

You Haunt My Dreams

Have had a writing holiday, with no musical acoutrements whatsoever. Having posted a poem set to music yesterday, I decided that today I would write a song. Maybe not my best but had found a new "method" for writing lyrics; and used it to produce this song. A quiet and melodic song this time, hope you like it.

Our Love's An Illusion

WARNING...This track is seven and a half minutes long. But the "guitar" solo which ends the song is a must hear. Suno has really made this track something special for me. I wrote this song with a uke on my lap,  and developed the 8-bar chord sequence which constantly repeats thru' the song. This goes a long way with the lyrics to defining the song. It starts slowly and quietly, but soon continues with an anthemic intensity.. I gave no specific prompt for the long, very long outro solo. Nearly  a minute of superb guitar and a final soft section of piano arpegios, bringing one of my best song to a fianl end.

I Don't Know Why (full version)

Wow Suno v5 just dropped onto my laptop. Wrote a very quick lyric - just to try it out, and think I love it (ps still beta & for paying customers I guess).
A theme I have considered before but put the idea to one side, I  am great at procrastinating but not to the point in the song. Tho' I think I do know some people who have this type of problem.

Life's A Puzzle (To Me)

A cover of "ONE LAST TIME" . To exactly the same prompt, of a song on my playlist/album, "The End Of The Beginning". Just an experiment to hear the sound quality  from this updated version of Suno, V5.

FATEFUL DAY ( Cover v5 )

written as an answer to the recent uploaded song, "Life's A Puzzle", I don't claim to be a psychiatrist (is that the right word?) but after writing that song, I felt things were left up in the air and I found a few positive quotes (sorry unattributed) and strangled them and left them out to dry. I quite like the song, but feel I might rework it . But I will leave it for now and see if it ages well. It is a simple chorus/verse/chorus structure, with an intro/outro and a couple of guitar solos.
maybe it will hit the right note with you?

The Fire Inside Of You

Still on the trail of my favourite music, !960's Rock. I pushed the "Weirdness" up a little, only a little and it came back with this - And I love it. R&R, Rockabilly, ROCK or Alternative Rock, I will take any suggestions but it won't change my mind. Took the tempo up a touch as well, but all to the good. Ther persona (with prompt) is "Daniel True" but that little touch of weirdness has come good.

It  Started  As  A  Sad  Day

This was an experiment for me. I wrote a simple and repetitive lyric,  with the idea of a modern "Dance" genre.  But when I prompted for the first iteration, I  suggested modern reggae as the genre??? the vocal was in a heavy patois accent - I have no issue with that for the genre, but did not really fit the lyric. So I tried a different prompts and Found that I had far better results, however there is still a hint of a reggae beat. But I really liked it and decided to add to my listing  on SC. Maybe it will please your musical ear?

Feel The Beat

A laid back country song from Circle80, featuring Brett Steele (Suno persona specialising in this genre). A song I worked on for some time, in the process moving more versions and iterations to the trash can than |I have for a long time. But leaving it for a while and then taking advice from an AI source, on idioms - yep - and shock, horror, I always use a rhyming dictionary and a thesaurus too.

Anyway, being serious, I have gotten to love this particular song and I hope that you can feel the same. Again you may notice that I am now mentioning Suno on all the cover images. I have never hidden the fact that When I use Suno, I always mention the fact. So I now use the Circle80 monika as the artist; and of course IS John Dyhouse with Suno. And often, when appropriate recognise the persona used. Suno defines a persona as a recognisable voice and the prompt used for genre and style, etc. It simply helps me to classify the songs where I have used this Suno feature.

Once Bitten, Twice Shy

My latest song, with a female vocal. I have left it too long but this could only be one of the earliest personas that I created on Suno. A beautiful Pop Ballad of anthemic proportions - if I do say so myself, LOL. Hope you like it. The backing may be a little "sparse" for some ears...

Fireworks and Ashes

A cover of the next track, I started working with a male persona but did not feel it was working as I wanted. I changed the lyric to reflect the fact that this version/cover was a female vocalist and created a new prompt. RESULT! I still felt that as it was written for a guy singing, I should make a new start and try agaiin, NIL DESPERANDUM! The result will be uploaded immediately after this track, if you are interested in how it sounds.

The Curtain fell  (Cover)

Well at last back to a new song with a bang! Very excited about the lyrics and the arrangement of this song. I think I had a premonition and actually learned to play a version of this  song to work out a chord progression, something a little out of the ordinary - a little jazzy - but not so's you would notice. I also spent some time crafting the prompts (meta-tags) I have used with the lyrics to arrange the structure of the song and its dynamics. So apart from playing or singing on the track, I have done more work on this track than possibly any other of my |AI assisted songs.

Your Love Has Shown Me The Way

As  Armistice Day (2025) comes around, I found my self drawn to this song I wrote earlier to celebrate the 80th anniversary of VE Day. I had been a little uneasy with the original version, I had been finding that Suno v4.5 still left some tracks with minor sound problems, which at the time had been acceptable. But v5 has been so much better that I decided to remaster it, if only to see if v5 was as good as it seems to be.  I do think it is a much cleaner sound, and so have posted this new version here.

Never Hear A Siren Again  (Remastered in Suno V5)

Following on from the last upload, I have remastered this track using Suno v5. One thing I missed noting against the previous version was the Suno persona used was Orion Vox

Love At Last (Remastered,  Suno V5)

A little bit of an experiment for me with a different way of using AI. You  chat with the AI "agent" to create and then edit/modify your requirements. Rather than having to use an external agent, rather than creating a prompt and trying it out. Maybe my explanation does not do the process justice but it feels much more natural. Discussing the workflow and the direction of an arrangement, etc; just as one would with a collaborator, I guess. That's how Tunee Hit me anyway. Just for this song, I let the AI engine take the strain over the lyrics. I described  rough draft, how I wanted the structure of the song to work, and the dynamics / instrumentation. I really felt like I contributed.

Let Me Settle Down

A rock duet from Tunee, I have given this AI just a short synopsis of the lyric for each of the sections in these experimental  exercises with Tunee. At first I was happy with the generated lyric, meant I could do more with the musical side, etc. But if I do find that I decide to work with this as an alternative source of demos for my songs I will definitely do more work for myself on the lyrics. The titles are a problem, and like this one I use the hook, generally from the chorus to improve  the title. I am very happy with the way of working compared with Suno and will hold back comments on the quallty for now; but all comments will be looked at carefully and much appreciated. Anyway, hope you like this  song.

The Ocean Knew Before We Did

A relaxing tune in the style of "sixties surf music". One of 8 tracks from Tunee

Guitar Glow (instrumental)

Night Lounge Drift

I have been reviewing some notes I made on the work I have done with Suno over the last 18 months or so. I happened to look at one of my Suno "personas", a duo I called "Just-in-Love", and could not find the original Suno file for this song. Panicking, I decided to try and improve on it by using V5 (the original was with V3.5) and of course my prompting skills have improved. Here is the result, I do hope you like it.

Anywhere You  Are

Another wordless track, that's instrumental (not worthless, it's not a typo).
A cover of an improvised keyboard track, I recorded some years ago whilst "playing" with my eldest son's keyboard collection. Plus auto percussion and bass. The original , for info, is on Suno on an album  "The Coming  Of The Keyboards. It's the 13th track - not named, on that album.
Oh yes, this is a two-for-one offer, couldn't reduce the choice to one version.

Dance 'Til We Drop (doodle13)

Late-ish November with Christmas rushing  toward us! I was in my car, waiting for my wife - again, I had my notebook and a pen in hand and started writing, This is what I came up with. Later at home I sat down with Tunee and completed this track.

Christmas Without You

After a weeks worth of nothing but rain, I seemed to be drawn to this theme. Only good thing about this week was the fact we had booked an long weekend in the country but we had to cancel. Yep we had paid extra to be able to cancel for free. Any ways, got a great track from it, hope you like it!

Rainy Day Blues

An early iteration of the previous track of the same name. Too good to waste.

Rainy Day Blues (acoustic)

Not my usual fare, but was at a loose end and this sort of eased out. Don't honestly know why - apart from the obvious and having been dragged around doing Xmas shopping. Anyway, it is what it is, I think the church bell sound effects from pixabay may just be a little sombre, But they do produce a great  contrast - if you listen far enough into the track, LOL

Can You Hear those Christmas Bells

A tale of a relationship coming to an end; it had been "heaven" but both parties beginning to recognise that they are now pretending. They "gotta get it right".
I quite like this but am wondering if I have used the title/hook just a little too often. I'll leave it open for now but may change the track if it doesn't grow on me a little more. Any comments will be welcome?

When We Got It Right

Not my usual "happy place" when writing but this sort grew out of  a n inspiring quote I  happened to come across - always open to a good title/idea. In fact there were 2-3 quotes along the same lines (roughly) which I borrowed. Although after completion I did have to  listen to the song a few times before deciding to post it here.
Kinda reminds me of a TV interview of David Bowie I watched bac in the seventies. H was describing how he wrote some of his songs; he was sitting on a carpet in the middle of a large room  and arranging headlines / quotes from newspapers / magazines , to come up with a song lyric. A method I then used my self for a couple of songs; one of which is "Consistent Caroline", which is posted here on Soundcloud.

Difficult Roads

A cover of an improvised, track as part of an experiment with a borrowed keyboard.

BTW, the track from Suno was much shorter than the original. But then, I couldn't choose  which track to use for this upload - so I actually stitched two of them together in audacity. The first a very shortened version was quite quiet so matched it with a version which built up very nicely to give a climax.

You Make Me Wanna Dance (doodle2 Cover)

Oh... I have had this title in my head for the past week. Just couldn't  do anything with it, hence the number of "EDM/dance inspired" instrumentals these past few days. I don't often  give up with a lyric but maybe to persistent rain pushed me over the edge. A long walk often works to get me writing...
But Suno came up with this lyric when I prompted with the title. I was really amazed , not a situation I had even considered, But a few minor edits  soon gave me something I was happy to work with.  I used a "persona" from my small  collection and this Americana leaning ballad came out on the 5th iteration. I love it, The 8th was almost better, but this just pipped it at the post. I would love to hear your comments, I feel ready to get on with more original writing after the short bout of "writers block".

She Didn't Even Look at Me

[Verse]
Whispers filled the empty space.
You told me stories, they had no face,
Said it meant nothing,  just a mistake.
But my heart knows of no escape
 
[Pre-chorus]
A shadow falls
A memory calls
 
[Chorus]
I can forgive, but never forget.
That ghost lingers, in my heart yet.
My trust it took, the hardest hit,
I can forgive, but never forget.
 
[Verse 2]
The scent of her perfume, tho’ a tiny trace,
Left on your shirt, after that cruel embrace.
You wiped it away, with timely haste
But my mind retains that terrible mistake

[Prechorus]
A shadow falls
A memory calls
 
[Chorus]
I can forgive, but never forget.
That ghost lingers, in my heart yet.
My trust it took, the hardest hit,
I can forgive, but never forget.

[Bridge]
Time heals all wounds they say
But some scars they simply stay
A part of me will always weigh
What happened on that fateful day

[Chorus]
I can forgive, but never forget.
That ghost lingers, in my heart yet.
My trust it took, the hardest hit,
I can forgive, but never forget.

[Prechorus]
A shadow falls
A memory calls
 
[Chorus]
I can forgive, but never forget.
That ghost lingers, in my heart yet.
My trust it took, the hardest hit,
I can forgive, but never forget.

Another song which was  inspired after reading this phrase in a magazine. Hoping after the last upload, my spell of writer's block was over, but took the easy way out and asked Suno for a little help.  I did a considerable amount of editing of the offered lyric but must admit  I am still finding it difficult to  tell a story  in a way which leads to a strong  song lyric.  I could call it a matter of not seeing the wood for the trees, I guess? I need to work on this!

But anyway, after several iterations, throwing many into the proverbial trash can, I ended up with this . Easier to work from a third person view (the female singer (?) and her feelings rather than a lengthy, detailed expose. Maybe this  could help me move forward for the next song.

I have come to like this song, hope you can do.

I can Forgive, But Can Never Forget

This is a cover of a classic song, written in 1965 by Buffy St Marie,  I tried singing this song during my experiments with the keyboards - and soon gave up the idea of playing and singing. I posted my initial cover of this song on my playlist/album, "The Coming Of The Keyboards". Love the song - hated my cover. But in the spirit of examining the abilities of Suno, I then covered that cover and have posted it with this collection on revisiting this album. The improvement is better than I would have dared hope for, although still a long way from  Buffy's rendition, originally a folk ballad.

Many people, including Elvis Presley (1971 from memory), have recorded this over the intervening years. If you would like to know how much better Suno made of my efforts, search on Soundcloud for the album named above. The song is titled, (doodle7BSM). You can only be amazed at how much Suno has picked up from the very poor recording and what it has done with it.

Until It's Time For You To Go (cover-doodle 7)

My first new song for a while, maybe a couple of weeks or even three. This due to illness in family and getting ready for Christmas. But you can't keep a good dog down.
From a deep sleep and a "so realistic" dream, once awake the sleeper realises that all is still the same.

I awoke from a dream

Two lonely people meet an they quickly discover an affinity to each other.
This  was completed over the Christmas period and I have several versions, notably a male/female duet which I also really like. Watch out for this to be posted very shortly. A completely different song in the two versions.

You And  I

Prompted by a  stress reducing (?) saying.  "Forget the past, it's already gone". I wrote the lyric about a couple whose relationship was on the rocks (not auto biographical, which I really don't do) where one of the couple was trying to say that only the present was important.

Already Gone

What can I say? I was  amazed to discover that I had not covered this song during my time  with Suno. Only written a few years ago, and one of my favourites.  I thought I had covered "ALL" of the songs I had thought worthwhile - now I am having to check back over the last 21 months or so.  Still just think of the fun I will have!
This track is a cover of my original  demo, just me and my ukulele so of course the lyric and melody her are my original work. Although  all the songs I write have both lyrics and melody, most (especially  new songs)  are developed in Suno from  just the lyrics - getting lazy? Any way hope you like this version and of course I would love to see any comments you may have.

baubles, blue skies-3a

One of my songs. I originally Put through Suno as a jazz number. It is on Soundcloud but it was really experimental, and so decided to try to cover it as an alternative rock number. I am quite satisfied with this version but will be uploading an alternative as my next upload; much the same but with extended instrumental sections - too good not to use. Anyway, hope you like this and as ever, all comments/feedback will be gratefully accepted.

HOW MANY FACES cover

As promised on my last upload, here is a  different version with extended instrumental sections; and less vocal repetition.  For interest, other aspects of the prompting were exactly similar.

HOW MANY FACES cover (extended instrumental section)

All my own AI assisted tracks, are free to download.

I have been writing songs since1959 until the present. As a songwriter, I am more than happy with the wide range of songs I have written over the years. But my musical skills are quite limited and the early demos on Soundcloud are of me singing  and accompanying myself on guitar or latterly ukulele. I can strum the strings well enough, but there my skills end.

Recently I discovered Suno AI and the results astounded me. I could finally produce demos of my songs to be proud of. I am currently going thru my catalogue of songs and producing AI assisted demos. I know many musicians turn away from AI but it has a place for me. There is no other way I could have obtained some 300 demos to this level. I do not and do not intend to look for any reward except the satisfaction that hearing my own songs gives me.

I am still writing and hope to have many more years of songs left in me, Enjoy if you can and I would love to hear your comments on the tracks, if the music moves you at all.

You Tube: https://www.youtube.com/@shadfan66

John Dyhouse

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