Ghosts (Dottystock)

Photograph (Dottystock)

Hollywood (Dottystock)

Almost as quirky as "They Might Be Giants", but not quite, Barenaked Ladies are still high up in the quirkiness rankings and combine it with a great sense of humour, insight and musicality.  This is a difficult song (for me) to play, so this is probably Take 10 or 11 - having fouled it up so badly on all previous attempts that I had to stop and hate myself for a bit.  This is the attempt that I didn't mess up too badly, and it is dedicated to my cousin Beth Blanchette with thanks for her donation to my fundraising.  Thanks Cuz! ;-)

Testing 1,2,3 - Barenaked Ladies (cover)

A cute song about adulthood imagined from a child's perspective from the musical Matilda.  This is for all my nieces and nephews: Jayden, Amelie, Tamuka, Tino, Jasmine, Leah, Paigen, Araiya, Darcie, and especially - because today is her birthday - Kaitlyn.

When I Grow Up - "Matilda" the Musical (cover)

A live studio take of an old favourite.  Martin Rimmer on finger-picked guitar.

Romeo & Juliet - Dire Straits (cover)

A song I wrote this week on the Mandocello, inspired by the memory of a friend who died in 2014 and also by reading about the 1861 Whitby Lifeboat Disaster. See here for more information - https://rnli.org/about-us/our-history/timeline/1861-whitby-lifeboat-disaster

The tragedy of rescuers losing their lives to something that they have saved so many others from, remembering those we have lost, and the way that our chances of survival can hinge on things that seem so small - often things that occurred during childhood.  It all seemed to fit together...

Flowers on the tide

Just me, a guitar, a microphone and a residual chest infection.  I like the extra gravel in my voice, but now my lungs feel like they've been punched in the balls.

She's so lovely.  Great song, and she is.  :-)

She's So Lovely - Scouting for girls (cover)

Cover of the infinitely-covered Crazy Horse song, featuring:
Danny Flecknoe (vocals, guitar)
Laura Bolle (vocals)
Martin Rimmer (bongos)
Lizz Lipscombe (violin and vocals)

I dont wanna talk about it (cover)

Track 1 from the EP "The Ballads of the Loved & Lost".

https://itunes.apple.com/gb/album/the-ballads-of-the-loved-lost-ep/1438469974

FINGERPRINTS

Written by D. Flecknoe
Produced by L. Scurville & D. Flecknoe

Vocals & guitar - D. Flecknoe
Drums & bass - L. Scurville
Backing vocals - S. Doherty
Violin - L. Lipscombe
Keyboards - B. Hayes

Lyrics:

So now you’re gone I’m wondering would I
Have felt the same if I knew we didn’t have to say goodbye
Would I have recognized your colours, and tell me
Would I have looked the same to you, what kind of man would you see?
We didn’t have that long, we made the most of the time
And now it’s over I can only wish that it was still mine

We took a chance to love, time running out, and I could pretend
That from the distance you’ve flown, I could be more than a friend
We were an unspoiled moment, in lives confused, and I cannot be sad for what I had with you

Now I cannot escape your fingerprints are inside my head
The miles between won't let me hold you but I will not forget
The memories come unlooked-for, the smallest thing connects to you
Now when I think of summer then I’ll remember you

Why do I miss you more tonight than yesterday
And how can I re-write the words in my heart just because you couldn’t stay
And what the hell was I thinking of to fall for you when I knew soon you’d be gone away?
Well anyway, we’ll bridge the oceans on the telephone
and I’ll kid myself today maybe you’ll be waiting for me when I get home
Somehow the empty room is no surprise
but your photo’s on the wall and I’m still captured by the warmth in your eyes

this summer’s memories push back the cold
the picture of you in my mind will never fade and never grow old
and I’ll sing the ballads of the loved & lost as if you could hear
but they sound brighter now than before you were near

Now I cannot escape your fingerprints are inside my head
The miles between won't let me hold you but I will not forget
The memories come unlooked-for, the smallest thing connects to you
Now when I think of summer
When I think of summer
I’ll think of you, the words you said
The nights we spent wrapped up in each other on a borrowed sofa-bed
The perfect day when we waded in the sea
The perfect night when you turned the lights out on me

Now I cannot escape your fingerprints are inside my head
The miles between won't let me hold you but I will not forget
The memories come unlooked-for, the smallest thing connects to you
Now when I think of summer then I’ll remember you

Fingerprints

Track 2 from the EP "The Ballads of the Loved & Lost".

https://itunes.apple.com/gb/album/the-ballads-of-the-loved-lost-ep/1438469974

IN THE AIR

Written by D. Flecknoe
Produced by L. Scurville & D. Flecknoe

Vocals & acoustic guitar - D. Flecknoe
Drums & bass - L. Scurville
Backing vocals - S. Doherty & D. Flecknoe
Violin - L. Lipscombe
Keyboards - B. Hayes
Electric guitar - G. Heath

Lyrics:

I made a sound that wasn’t a word when the wheels left the ground 
and I couldn’t explain the logic of leaving when i must remain

I could get sad 
thinking about all those second chances we’ve had
and i can’t quell 
my fears about stories that only the black box can tell

‘Cos you’re in the air tonight
The loneliness hits with the plane still in sight
In the air all night
And I can't help wonder if you and I are still alright

I walk home past the park, under the flightpath where it’s growing dark
Closing our door, the debris of packing all over the floor 

...are your discarded clothes
deep in the night I reach out for you with my toes
But you’ve flown away
I’d offer a prayer for you if I knew how to pray

‘Cos you’re in the air tonight
The loneliness hits with the plane still in sight
In the air all night
And I can't help wonder if you and I are still alright

I could get sad
thinking about all those second chances we’ve had
And i can’t quell
my fears about stories that only the black box can tell

‘Cos you’re in the air tonight
The loneliness hits with the plane still in sight
In the air all night
And I can't help wonder if you and I are in the air tonight
The loneliness hits with the plane still in sight
In the air all night
And I can't help wonder if you and I are still alright

In the air

This is a great song.  It's Friday night and I felt like learning it.

End of transmission

Garageband

Hell or High Water - Passenger (cover)

THE SELF-ISOLATION SESSIONS - Track 1

A song about resilience, recorded during COVID-19 lockdown using the magic of the internet :-)

The always-wonderful Lizz Lipscombe playing the violin about 80 miles away.

Main lyrics: 

You build a life together then it shatters on the floor
Once again you’re gathering up the pieces
Your ship has come un-tethered, drifting free once more
In the ever rising storm that never ceases

Summon up your strength and lean upon the oar
I’m sending you a dove, now strike out for the shore

You’ll get by, you always do
For the wind that shakes the barley
Never touches you
Come on sister brother don’t you cry
You don’t know it now but you’ll get by

When your best is not accepted, cries for help unheard
While all around unkindness gets rewarded
Hopes and plans rejected and you’re forced to join the herd
As cynical indifference is applauded

You’ve walked this road before, you can walk it once again
Why should it break you now 'cos it didn’t break you then

[Chorus]

You are bruised but unbroken
You are bloodied but unbowed
Unsteady on your feet still standing
It’s not the fame or the fortune
Or the rapture of the crowd
You’re fighting for respect and understanding

Castle walls are falling, thieves are at the gate
To take away our rights and our choices
False prophets are calling, singing out their hymns of hate
Silencing the land with siren voices

But the bully and the braggart, you can drag them from their thrones
Don’t join in with their songs when you’re loud enough alone

You’ll get by, you always do
For the wind that shakes the barley
Never touches you
Come on sister brother don’t you cry
You don’t know it now
You don't know it now
You don't know it now but you’ll get by

You'll get by - Show of Hands (cover)

A poem about that spiritual feeling - I say this as a decidedly non-spiritual person - that you get from being all alone in the vast wildness of nature.  More lockdown tunes, recorded with Ms Lizz Lipscombe using the magic of the t'internet

Eagle bear buffalo - Passenger (cover)

Another great Passenger song that reminds me of my dear friend Martin on the anniversary of his passing.  Go well buddy x

I see love - Passenger (cover)

I like to think of this as Lewis Capaldi being covered by Weezer :-)

Someone you loved - Lewis Capaldi (cover)

Hollywood - Lewis Capaldi (cover)

A long December, and there's reason to believe that maybe this year will be better than the last...
The days go by so fast...
The smell of hospitals in winter, and the feeling that it's all a lot of oysters and no pearls...
I'm still recalling all the times I tried to tell myself to hold on to these moments as they pass...

A Long December - Counting Crows (cover)

Lyrics:

Born in the keeper’s cottage, 1915 
Your father kept the lamp, shining on that narrow sea
The lifeboat crews stood ready down on the rugged shore
And you saw the bonfires at the end of the Great War

The tower was 90 metres high, carved in Cornish rock
With carbon arc and foghorn, it brought the ships safely to dock
The answered prayers of sailors’ fam’lies, in their sleeplessness and grief
To protect husbands and fathers from the wreckers and the reef 

And you were   guiding me, like a lantern in the night
Through all kinds of weather, you were
guiding me, when the stars were out of sight
And I wish I’d known you better
Daughter of the light

Dover 1940, a doctor gave you work
And you saw the harbour filled with little boats from Dunkirk
You wed a handsome soldier, return’d from the war
And you made a home and family for my mother to be born

[Chorus]

When I was a boy you pushed me on a swing
And sang to me songs from the past
You walked beside me in bustling stations 
I had to run, your steps were so fast
As I grew up the music you gave me
Soon taught me to dry my own tears
and you saved money for my future
in the twilight of your years

And you’re still  guiding me, like a lantern in the night
And I carry you inside me
Every time I hear the sea
You still walk beside me
Daughter of the light

Danny Flecknoe

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