Six Songs (2021-2023)

See her taking all the busy routes
Or try to find a way that’s new
Ready to pretend she takes a phone call

Hear a whistle from a passing wolf
Will the braking lights be coming on?
Scanning her surroundings for a camera

If she’s smiles at the things
That you’re shouting out
It doesn’t mean
That she’s putting out
It’s a smile that’s designed to bide time for her latest escape

Living in a world of fear
In her head
Don’t turn around

There’s a cigarette she wears away now
Breathing out the holes she falls down
Don’t turn around

There’s a cigarette she wears away now
Breathing out the holes she falls down
Don’t turn around

"You're too pretty not to smile"
"Stick around just for a while"
"Just cheer up"
"I like the way you look"
"It might never happen after all"

Do you know who’s responsible? (For all this mess)
It’s my brother
My father
And my silence

Go Getter Man (Fake Phone Call)

Sometimes the bad things you lose outweigh the good things you lose, and vice versa. We all wrestle with this over time.

We were born to move the world
To challenge the old
We did conspire to crush all of the liars
We’d never be told
Oh no
But it’s all behind us now

I've made peace with my past
With the memories I've lost
With the memories I’ve got
I’ll never fit neatly in that little box
That is tied with a bow
Oh no
Cos it’s all behind me now that I’m just looking forwards

The sun is left behind me
All I see is
All I see is
All I see is shadows in my way
To make me pause
To stray me from the course

I miss the summer sun that used to light up your face
The smiles you gave so freely are now just gone without trace
Oh no
But it’s all behind me
Now that I’m just looking more to the future.

The sun is left behind me
All I see is
All I see is
All I see is shadows in my way
To make me pause
To stray me from the course

But that is not what a man’s supposed to do
Sat around in the house just feeling blue
Cos it’s all behind me
All behind me
All behind me now

But that is not what a man’s supposed to do
Sat around in the house just feeling blue
Cos it’s all behind you
All behind you
All behind it’s true

You know you just shouldn’t waste it
Sat around getting wasted
Cos It’s all behind you
All behind you
All behind you now

All Behind Me

Don’t go swimming in the lake this Summer
They don’t know how pure the water is that wets your lips
Don’t be first to skate on ice this Winter
They don’t know how fragile is the skin you’re cutting in

The greatest danger
Is never to risk anything at all
Share your dreams with others and you’ll fall and never surface

You laugh too much and risk appearing a fool
You fight too hard and risk the breaking of a rule
Thanks for slowing our recovery

Don’t go rolling up your sleeve for freedom
They don’t know what risks there are - you could be paralysed

The greatest danger
Is never to risk anything at all
Share your dreams with others and you’ll fall and never surface

You laugh too much and risk appearing a fool
You fight too hard and risk the breaking of a rule
Thanks for slowing our recovery

They don’t know what’s in it
They don’t know what’s in it
They don’t know what’s in it like their Earl Grey

They don’t know what’s in it
They don’t know what’s in it
They don’t know what’s in it like their Merlot

They don’t know what’s in it
They don’t know what’s in it
They don’t know what’s in it like their Earl Grey

They don’t know what’s in it
They don’t know what’s in it
They don’t know what’s in it like their Guacamole
Mascarpone

To give your love and not be loved

Guacamole (They Don’t Know What’s In It)

The suits might have changed but the nightmare remains as I wake up
Reflection betrays the few hopes I retained
Am I still alive?

I’m weighing up the costs between
Filling My belly and warming my bones
What do you think?
Who do you see? 
Someone who you think you never will be

Grey skin wrinkled by the winds of years that blew right past me
Only old men miss old men these days

The cold is alive
An acquaintance I now know so well
A creature they made
To devour the voice I once had
Devour the voice that I once had

Only old men miss old men

“Who the hell are Rush?
It’s just a t shirt after all.”

“Who the hell are Rush?
It’s just a t shirt after all”

After all so,
I’m weighing up the costs between
Filling My belly and warming my bones
What do you think?
Who do you see? 
Someone who you think you never will be

Grey skin wrinkled by the winds of years that blew right past me
Only old men miss old men these days

The cold is alive
An acquaintance I now know so well
A creature they made
To devour the voice I once had
Devour the voice that I once had

Take a look at me and wonder when
Take a look at me and wonder when I’ll reach the end

The suits might have changed
But the nightmare still remains
Feed my belly
Warm my bones tonight

67 Gone Under

My daughter plays a bit of Cello on this one. She’s a member of the Teesside Open Orchestra for children with SEND.

We worry when the roots will grow back in the aisles 
Then terrorise the soul who’s trained to answer back with blatant lies
My war - rages in between the hours of 5 and 4
Your war - gets the better of me all the time it does it does

Your War
My War
Your Five
Against my Four

When I see the Poppies bleed the Autumn hue
Should I call for Mother or some morphine in my veins now that I’m done
My war - rages in between the hours of 5 and 4
Your war - gets the better of me all the time it does it does it does

Your War
My War
Your Five
Against my Four

Here is a new version of a track I wrote last year.

Tuning is C G C G C D with Capo high up on 6th Fret. Song is in the key of F# alternating between major (verse & bridge) and minor (chorus).

Lyrics:
There’s a man I know
Who likes to hide behind
To tear the pages of the books he finds

He is a man
Of course a male disease
That spoils the ending of the lives we lead

As you read he will smile
At the thought of knowing he decides

See the man who hides
Between words so wise
He picks out the ones that are new

He will hide behind
Until he can find
A life to unbind
And ruin

I saw him once
When I moved a book
He ran away before a second look

Cursed his luck
He was seen
Terrified he’ll never tease and deceive

See the man who hides
Between words so wise
He picks out the ones that are new

He will wait behind
Until he can find
A life to unbind
And ruin

He hurries home
The pages they are thrown
Into the fire as he tries to warm alone
So alone

Library Man

Play-listed on BBC6 Music (“Carjacked Onesie” & “Brave Jamel”) & BBC Tees (>15 songs).

Most of my tracks are free to download. Please leave me any comment or criticism you want - these mean a lot to me as its the only way for me to improve.

Thanks for taking the time to listen and I wish you all the very best in your own music creation and listening. Please get in touch if you would like any track as a wav or mp3 backing track (without vocals etc).

Six Songs (2021-2023)

Greg Atkinson