New song, recorded in the Bunker.... May be the start of a brand new project

Hand in Hand
Across the wild and windy land
With all that shines
We see the seasons out of line
Times stranger than we’ve ever really known
Stranger still when the pretty birds had flown
When winter time saw roses in full bloom
And together we chased rings around the Moon

We shake our heads
No time left here in reminisce
Just disbelief
At how we let things come to this
We warm our faces on the setting sun
And count the silver stars there one by one
For the times we left the party far too soon
And the times that we chased rings around the Moon

To warm our faces on the setting sun
And count the silver stars there one by one
For the times we left the party far too soon
Together we chase rings around the Moon

Around the Moon ( The Timba Mix)

New track recorded in the Bunker

SWEET BLUE WATERS

In my memory, there’s a valley
Where my heart is apt to go.
When I’m dreaming, I’m returning
To where the sweet blue waters flow.
Love and peace, everywhere
Take my hand, and I’’ll lead you there
Where the sweet blue waters flow

In my minds eye, she was standing
Where the rose bay willows rise.
And the warm breeze flushed her soft cheeks
And there was loving in her eyes.
And they lay upon the hill
Felt that time was standing still
Where the sweet blue waters flow

Friends and lovers, they’re all gathering
Where the sweet blue waters flow
Down the ages, some call it heaven,
See the faces as they show
Feel the breeze, the scented air
If you take my hand I’ll lead you there
Where the sweet blue waters flow

Colin Holt January 2022

Sweet Blue Waters

I came across a photograph in sepia of a lady in a quiet lane, with a hand written note beneath it “Annie Watson in Pretty Lane Morley 1900”. The Watsons were Mill owners, with a long history in Morley. Both my Father and Mother worked in the A.C. Watson Woollen Mill for many years. My father was a spinner, and my mother a weaver. At the same time, I was looking through Morley Memorial information from the 1st World War, and found Watsons who had fallen in that “war to end all wars”. What emerged was a very simple story around Pretty Lane and two fictional lovers just before the Great War.

Pretty Lane

A song written following the death of my Mother
I tried so hard to write something in my Mums memory, but nothing worked. One day my sister called to say she had found a photograph whilst sorting through Mums things
And out of the blue, this came from nowhere, and wrote itself in 10 minutes. I’ve always thought Mum had a hand in this one"
Song written, recorded . and produced by Colin Holt 
in the bunker

LITTLE LEATHER PURSE

Somewhat interesting history to this song
You meet many people alomg lifes path way... Some remain strangers... some become close friends
I met a guy in a bar and listened to his story about his travels... and was intrigued by his story.... His retort.. "Ive spent so many years wandering".... sparked the song..
New updated recording.... Enjoy.... Let me know what you think

TRUE COMPANION

Written by Colin Holt
Performed by the Colin Holt Band with special guest Snake Davis
From the EP "Long Grass".

Across Your Face

"Take me to Howley Hall" - written by Colin Holt, and performed by Colin & CHB from the album "Reminiscence Deftly Trips" 2009

We lived quite close to America Moor in Morley, and pre dating the M62, which now cuts through it, my Dad and I used to take our dog on long walks on summer evenings over the moor to Howley Ruins. At the right time in the year we would all go black- berrying along the many footpaths which led to it. The ruins have always had a fascination for me, and the landscape from that whole moor area was a place of adventurous play for us all as children.

TAKE ME TO HOWLEY HALL
Over the brow amid heather and gorse
The ruins of Howley Hall
Come take my hand climb over the wall
Take me to Howley Hall.
The primrose pale
The skylark’s sail
And overlooking the vale.
Here was a castle fit for a King
Take me to Howley Hall

We’ll walk the dirt track
Marched by the Kings men
And we’ll re fight the battles again

Then carry me home
High on your shoulder
Homeward from Howley Hall

Then carry me home
High on your shoulder
Homeward from Howley Hall.

Reminiscence Deftly Trips

Take Me To Howley Hall

I've always had a passion for local history.
This song is based upon events, which took place in and around Morley a couple of years after the end of the Civil War. There are quite a few interpretations of the event from this time depending upon the political standing of the interpreter.  Generally however from what history tells us the Farnley Wood Plot was a gathering of a score or more of men in those woods. Led by a Captain Oates from Morley, their declared aims were, 
‘… To reform all orders and degrees of men, especially lawyers, clergy and magistracy, to restore the Long Parliament, to take York and generally upset the order of things.’ 
This was in late 1663, just three years after the monarch, Charles II, had been restored.
Joshua Greathead was a cousin to Thomas Oates, he lived in Gildersome, and was apparently very involved in the planning of the plot, but turned informer at the last minute. The Watson’s, the Crowther’s and the Scatcherd’s were well known local Morley landowners   who all had family members involved.
The authorities captured 21 of the men, many from Morley, including Captain Oates, and they were tried and hung at York.
This event was a little known local historical fact to me when I was younger, and I felt it worthy of recording for posterity in the grand old folk tradition, through a song. 

FARNLEY WOOD

Captain Oates was a loyal peer,
He fought with Fairfax down the years
On Marston and Adwalton Moor
Morley bred and Morley born

The year was 1663. 
And the Civil war was history
But Morley folk would not conform
To the Restoration doctrine.
Blood will spill and blood will boil, in the veins of men from Morley oil’
Muster pistols swords and men I’ll see you down in Farnley Wood

Plans were made in secrecy
And shared as far as Appleby
To plot against the Royal blood
And to rendezvous in Farnley Wood

Joshua Greathead friend and kin
But you turned your coat to save your skin
The Watson’s, Crowthers, Scatcherd's too
Would curse the day they trusted you.
Blood will spill and blood will boil, in the veins of men from Morley oil’Muster pistols swords and men I’ll see you down in Farnley Wood

Oates and all they met their fate
And their heads were hung from Micklegate
Reminding those with sympathy, 
Of the vitriolic monarchy.
Blood will spill and blood will boil in the veins of men from Morley ‘oil
Muster pistols swords and men , and meet me down in Farnley Wood.

So Far

Farnley Wood

New demo of song "Letting Colours Fly".. 
This was written and initially we hoped to include on  the Higher Ground Album..  A song written and dedicated to Art Therapy, and the important place it has in work within Mental Health services.
 It was recorded, guitar and vocal , but never worked on, as we felt it didn't fit with the overall feel of the album.. 
Here it is re vamped and recorded at the Bunker 10/05/20.

LETTING COLOURS FLY
You say that you’re sad
Well I can understand that
Tearing your soul out, 
Like leaves from a tree
Sometime the branches must give.
But where does it end, and when do the good times begin ??
They say time erases, that life goes in phases,
Then surely you’re due some reprieve
So let your colours fly

You say that you’re mad
But you can do better than that
We live in the age of the short memory span
You should be making your way

You sit all alone with your head in your hands
Distant, bewildered, searching for reasons
You’re like a man with no seasons.

And where do you end, and where does the real world begin ??
In this time of fashion
You’re filled with a passion
That’s shrouded in deep shades of grey
So let your colours fly……….

let your colours fly………..

Letting Colours Fly

Brand new song recorded from the Bunker....

Waiting for the Clouds to roll away

Brand new song written by Colin Holt 
Recorded and produced at the Bunker
- with Belinda Holt on backing vocals

Same Old Story (lyrics)

Hand to mouth
I took the long road south
Speculating a new adventure.
With highs and lows
Each to and fro
But the highs too few to mention

And looking back
Its been a long hard trek
Half a century worth of nothing
Filling empty lines
With happier times
Memories on the road to glory
And its nothing but the same old story.

I remember I’ve been told
All that glitters isn’t gold
Its the same old story

Well freedom brings
All kinds of things
Such as perfect isolation.
And with time to burn
And such a lot to learn
We’re just waiting for an hour of glory
And its nothing but the same old story.

The Same Old Story

My senior schooling was at Morley Grammar School, and I have vivid memories of these years. I remember the austere atmosphere in the old Victorian Building, and the air of tradition,  the Teachers black gowns, coupled with my own self-doubt and awkwardness.
The fairground in the song was “Morley Feast”, which came every year to waste ground very near to Morley Hole, and had a tradition going back well over a century.

The Same Old Track (lyrics)
School ties and blazers, long sideway glances
Standing apart from the scene.
You were the one, who haunted my schooldays
Never apart from my dreams
Common room trivia, free and easy,
Frightened to sit by your side.
Young and unsure, head full of knowledge
Somewhere you left me behind

The closest we got was the fairground one evening
Under a rain laden sky
I paid you a ride on the speedway and waltzer
You huddled up close by my side
And I wanted to tell you how I was feelingI wondered if you felt the sameUp the cobbled road home, with the fairground below I swore you were calling my name
And I still can hear
Down the winding road through the fading years
The sound of the fairground hum, and the moon above
We met once again at an old school reunion
A few of us sat round a bar
Relative strangers saying prayers for those absent
Amazed to have travelled so far
You said “see how the time goes, fast and silent
With no way of turning it back”
And the lines and the dreams like the speedway and waltzer
Spin away down the same old track.

The Same Old Track

Brand new song from the depths of the Bunker

Pick and Mix

Broken hearts, beckoning the door
The urge to tread, where none have trod before.
To leave your thoughts like candy in the jar.
Sugar sweet then choose your lucky star.
Life leaves her memory stick
So we can pick n mix

Closing down still something of regret
Betraying tongues, forgiving to forget
That's Caramel and toffee on your lip.
Well I prefer soft centredness to this
Love wields her memory stick
So we can pick n mix

Dusted sweetness gathered through the years
Sit side by side with soured souvenirs
Stand back a little bit
If you need a sugar fix
Then we can pick and mix.

new 

Pick and Mix

Song finished, recorded, and produced in the Bunker
"Cathedral Thinkers"

The idea of Cathedral Thinking stretches back through the centuries to medieval times, when architects, stonemasons and artisans laid plans and began construction of the soaring, cavernous structures that served as places of worship, community gathering spaces and safe havens. Working in the realisation that they would not live to see the fruits of their labours.

CATHEDRAL THINKERS
They walked as one through the everglade
In the days before the roads were made
Through aisles of trees, they gazed above
Before they found a word for “wonder”.

They took their metaphors from leaves
They moved the earth on their hands and knees
Who laid the stones down one on one?
A stairway to the Maker.

Thinking cathedrals
Beyond a lifetime
Thinking Cathedrals

The first great prayer 
The first sung song
The well trod path towards Avalon
From the sweeping Moor to the roaring sea
They searched to find the Maker

Thinking cathedrals
Beyond our lifetime
Thinking Cathedrals......

Cathedral Thinkers

New song  "Shadows of the Day"

SHADOWS OF THE DAY (Lyrics)
When the winters chilly finger bites
And the stubborn Sun stays low
When darkness wraps her shawl around her
And beckons you to stay
We will stand with the setting stars
In the shadows of the day

Hear the whisper of a sad refrain
As it tumbles through the fading years
Feel the melody to warm the soul
And keep the chills away
There are songs that will remain unsung
In the shadows of the day

Feel the rhythm of the falling leaves
Hear the music flowing in the breeze
Touch the heart as time unfolds
And beckons you away
We will wait for our time to come
In the shadows of the day

December 2020

Colin Holt

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