Plastic People

Written, recorded, upload today Monday 13 September, on my day off.
Don't worry, I am mostly happy x.

I Wish I Could Be Happy (Instrumental)

A song about liars.
===
I came to ask the horses mouth 
Once and for all let’s have it out
Off the record if you must
Redacted and anonymous

Do you believe the lies you spin?
Delivered with a rictus grin
I’m glad you see the funny side
Dishonour is a badge of pride

Guilty parties get away
With secrecy and NDAs
Money pays for loyalty 
When you’re as rich as royalty 

The public interest won’t be served
By the legal teams who groom your words
Manufactured get out clauses
Sponsored by unworthy causes

So guilty parties get away
With secrecy and NDAs
Money pays for loyalty 
When you’re as rich as royalty 

I’d like to think there’ll come a day
When moral debt will be repaid
But lying with authority 
Is credited as honesty

I came to ask the horses mouth 
Once and for all without a doubt 
A broken record we can’t trust
Corrupted and preposterous 

The public interest won’t be served 
By journalists who mince their words 
You can’t believe they’re on your side
Dishonour is a badge of pride 

©Jim Pearson 2022

The Horses Mouth (Radio Edit)

This song has a beginning, a middle and an end. Sorry for the inconvenience.
Many thanks to my good friend Russ Sargeant for recording upright bass.

(Beginning - Proposition)
She took a ride to Tinseltown
To meet the guy with deadpan eyes
A golden opportunity 
To showcase her variety

He showered her with compliments
“You’re a rose about to bloom”
But first she must audition for him
In his hotel room

Make me a star

(Middle - Assault)
The moment that the door was closed
He dropped his inhibition 
And just like that took off his clothes
With rightful expectation

But her mother didn’t raise a girl
Inclined to acquiesce
And so her a-list body
Stayed inside her favourite dress

Make me a star
But I won’t 
Be your whore

(Intermission)
No one dared to speak his name
Or break their vow of silence
Because of his connections
His lawyers and his finance

(End - Comeuppance)
He offered her fortune 
If she’d sign a non disclosure
Instead she turned the spotlight
On his predatory behaviour 

One by one her sisters spoke
Of stigma and abasement 
But reimbursed the shame and hurt
With sweet revenge and just deserts

You left a scar 
But we won’t 
Be afraid 
Anymore

©Jim Pearson 2022

Tinseltown

A meditation, a mantra, an ebb and flow. Riding the waves. 
Self improvement, self indulgent.
Please don't tell me it's too long. Be patient, breath into it. It starts, it ends, there is an in between.

From "YOUR STUPID LIFE"
https://jimpearson.bandcamp.com/album/your-stupid-life

The Sea

Your life is like a fairy tale 
Mine is but a curse
It puts a spring back in my heels
To make yours somewhat worse

It feels so good when you feel bad
I’m cruel to be unkind
It's a twisted psycho therapy 
To exorcise my mind

I get so unholy
I don’t know what comes over me

I follow in your shadow 
Wishing I was you
But it’s my guilty pleasure 
To take you down a peg or two

I don’t break bones with sticks and stones
It’s just freedom of expression
Behind a fake identity 
I release my inner demon

I get so unholy
Without a shred of empathy
I don’t know what comes over me

My alter ego takes the pen
Whenever I’ve been drinking
You wouldn’t want to be my friend
If you knew what I was thinking

I don’t know when my heart gave in
To petty jealousy
Busted by your private eye
You see the real me 

We’re splashed across the tabloids
For you a starring role
But I’m well and truly hated by
The trolls who troll the troll

I get so unholy
Without a soul for company
A bona fide phoney
I don’t know what comes over me

©Jim Pearson 2023

https://youtube.com/shorts/kKpAQ5WOmBY?feature=share

Trolls

Buy One Get One Free
From my impending new album... as yet untitled (that's is not the title).

====
The more you spend the more you save
This offer ends tomorrow 
Maximise your credit cards
And bonus points will follow 

Did you think we wouldn’t notice
Or believe our bloodshot eyes
What used to be affordable is
Twice the price and half the size

Buy one get one free

You’ve stopped opening your letters
Cos the bills are stacking up
You wish you were appealing
To the whims of Lady Luck 

There’s nothing to rub together 
And you wonder where you went wrong
There’s an obvious conclusion 
It’s a global economic con

But one get one free
Two for you but none for me

Round and round and round and round and round we go
Round and round and round keep going with the flow

There’s money in the boardrooms
For crony VIPs
There’s money for those with money 
But there’s none for you and me 

You sold off all our assets
You’ve done us up a stitch
With super sonic profits 
For the super duper rich

But one get one free
Two for you but none for me
========
©Jim Pearson 2023

BOGOF

Full version is on my new album DEATH TO MORTALITY which was released on Jan 1st 2024.

https://jimpearson.bandcamp.com/album/death-to-mortality

Fossils (Radio Inst)

Judges Award Winner Liverpool Acoustic Songwriting Challenge 2023
Announced at Live Showcase Final at Leaf on Bold Street 27.1.24
From "Death to Mortality" released on 1.1.24
https://jimpearson.bandcamp.com/album/death-to-mortality

===

That red hat boy will be here soon, whose eyes pursue you ‘round the room. Drawn from a hopeful, restless heart, still life imitating art. An abstract form, a composite, attracted to the opposite. In catching the beholder’s eye, you can love someone and not know why.

Laugh or else you cry... Give up before you try... Take the easy path... Run an early bath.

He’s on the hook, he’s in the frame, nothing to lose but all to gain. Just for one moment of acceptance without contrition and repentance. He won’t grow up to be a man with detailed thoughts and complex plans. He doesn’t need more than an inkling, vague ideas and funny feelings.

Laugh until you cry... The truth becomes a lie... Take the easy path... Always finish last... Give yourself a break... You’re neither early nor too late... Turn the other cheek... Think before you speak... Give up before you try... Laugh or else you cry... Draw an early bath... The future is the past.

The boy with the red hat has gone for now but he’ll be back. He’s not for sale, he can’t be bought, he’s not as foolish as you thought. He’s lost the plot, he’s lost in space, he’s opted out, fell on his face. Without a critic’s recognition, he’s just an artistic impression.

The Boy With The Red Hat

Next week I'm releasing a live version of Perma Tan recorded at Future Yard when I supported The Lunar Pull. I'll be performing it next Saturday evening (on the day of the release) at Start-Yard Sound & Vision with Dan Wainwright Music with a back drop of the movie from the Future Yard gig recorded by Nathaniel Scott... get your heads around that!!!!
Tickets and more information... https://www.events471.co.uk/.../jim-pearson-dan-wainwright/

Perma Tan - Live At Future Yard

Written in response to Post Office Horizon IT Scandal / Inquiry.
===
Thanks to my heavenly choir; Ann Lewis, Bob Glass, Brian Larsen, Dave Atkins, Dawn Williams, Erica & Beth Harwood, Glyn Jones, Iain Paterson, John Jenkins, Katie & James MacGregor, Lise Marie, Mal Redhead, Michael Loveland, Nathan Stephens, Peter Sabourn, Pippa Murdie, Sarah-Lou Fletcher, Scott Cryer and Will Riding Music.
===
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cf4y5d3NB4I
===
She without empathy cast the first stone
In a guilty communion you’re never alone
From under a rock you emerge to account 
For the lives you destroyed without shadow of doubt
 
God fearing liars God loves a tryer
High minded clergy that preach to the choir 
God fearing liars in slim fit attire
Making their heaven on earth

No smoke without fire a binary force
Knows your every transaction for better and worse
If your bottom line simply doesn’t add up
They will ruin your life and they won’t give a fuck

God fearing liars God loves a tryer
The gall and the spite one can almost admire
God fearing liars how much they acquire
Making their heaven on earth

The passing of time must have clouded your mind
You can only be trusted to save your own kind
We don’t want your insincere apology
Or your habit to blame everything on IT

God fearing liars God loves a tryer
Selfish ambition with every fibre
God fearing liars sidestepping the mire
Making their heaven on earth

They’ll circle the wagons close ranks cover up 
Collective amnesia when called to the dock
They’ll swear on the bible keep lips buttoned tight
Knowing God will forgive them ‘cos they’ve seen the light

But karma’s a bastard I think truth will out
Thanks to the playwright they’re in with a shout
Will there ever be justice and who’ll take the blame?
Or face up to the upshot and suffer the same

God fearing liars God loves a tryer
High minded clergy that preach to the choir 
God fearing liars dishonest deniers
Making their heaven on earth

God fearing liars God loves a tryer
Out of the frying pan into the fire
God fearing liars immoral vampires
Making their heaven on earth

In heaven as it is on earth

Amen

©Jim Pearson 2024

God Fearing Liars

Popish... Bookish... from my next album.
====
I don’t have a fancy cover
Neither hard nor soft
Written by a pseudonym
You can’t buy me in the shops

You can read me in the bathtub 
Or leave me on the shelf 
You can lend me to your boyfriend
Or keep me to yourself

This ain’t a book with pictures in it
This ain’t a book with a pop up plot 
It may not have a happy ending 
I thought we were singing in the beginning 

It’s just a book I wrote for you
You’ll recognise the story
Names changed to protect the blamed
I hope you’re sitting comfortably

If you can read between the lines 
Decipher your own meaning 
You can leave a bad review
If that’s the way you’re feeling

This ain’t a book with pictures in it
This ain’t a book with a pop up plot 
It may not have a happy ending 
But I thought we were singing in the beginning 

©Jim Pearson 2024

Bookish

This song is not a work in progress, you are, and so am I.
====
Everything’s a work in progress
Nothing ever really is done
I’m looking through the eye of a beholder
Because tomorrow we’ll be another day older 

Everything’s a work in progress
Watching the pendulum swing
We’re living in a state of flux
So if you’re not fitting in you must be one of us

Can’t you see it’s all for you and me

Everyone’s a work in progress
You can’t expect you’re always gonna be right
You’ve got to know when to go with your tail 
 between your legs
Or turn around and put up a fight

Everyone’s a work in progress
Measured under scientific conditions
But you’re trying your best give or take more or less
To be defined by unimportant definitions

Can’t you see it’s just for you and me
Can’t you see there’s only you and me

If you’re looking for somebody to trust
I think you and me should become us

Can’t you see it’s all for you and me
Can’t you see there’s only you and me
Can’t you see it’s just for you and me
Can’t you see there’s only you and me
©Jim Pearson 2024

Work in Progress

"William Goldring, my son’s best friend, was one of eight non-violent protesters found guilty of ‘conspiracy to cause a public nuisance’ at Heathrow in February. He is currently  incarcerated in Wormwood Scrubs awaiting sentencing next month. He gave up his career, Ph.D., and a couple of years of his life to draw the government’s and the public’s attention to the climate change emergency and the scientific community’s call to reduce fossil fuel burning immediately. I asked my friend, Jim Pearson, if he would write a song about his predicament. This was his response. Thanks Jim!"
Brian Larsen, West Kirby, Wirral.

Mixed by Jack Pearson

A Minor Inconvenience

I thought I'd get this one out before it's too late.
Recorded yesterday. Mixed by Jack Pearson > https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IjVRAf97Pac

===
I won’t stay put where it’s no fun 
I’m hunkered down in bunker town 
I can’t believe what we’ve become
A circus over run by clowns 

Now I’m off to outer space 
Cos I’ve been feeling out of place
Now I’m off to outer space 
Away from brutes and reprobates

Who votes against democracy 
Gives up on moral gravity
We all agreed to drain the swamp 
Then welcomed home the same old chumps

So now I’m off to outer space 
I’ve been feeling off the pace
Now I’m off to outer space 
Must escape the rodent race

Is it real or is it fake?
We could make a evolutionary mistake
There won’t be capacity for the likes of me and you?
But we can build a homemade rocket just for two?

So tell me what did we achieve 
By wearing hatred on our sleeves 
All that was good was painted bad
I kinda miss the lives we had

Now I’m off to outer space 
Count me down ‘cos I can’t wait
Now I’m off to outer space 
To disappear without a trace

We’re all off to outer space 
Down the plughole what a waste 
We’re all off to outer space 
Humankind cut to the chase

©Jim Pearson 2025

Space Race

Album description
Jim's sixth self penned, self produced, self absorbed album. SELFIE.
Released on 1st February 2020 via Bandcamp / Spotify etc.

Album notes
It's five years since my last solo album "It Might Never Happen". It never did. The themes on this album are somewhat personal, reflective, subtly political, eclectic in style and idiosyncratic in places. There are ideas that have been knocking about for a while, a couple were rejected by my band Scaredycats, others are new, and one sneaked up on me at the last minute. Some of them took a long time to crack and refine, others were quick to write and record, one or two fell at the final hurdle, but all I hope evoke a spirit of spontaneity and musical curiosity.

Thanks to Fred Bishop for the photos. Dedicated to his daughter x.

Track 6 - Happy Sad

I'm sad when I'm happy
Happy when I'm sad
I'm bad when I'm good
Good when I'm bad

Some people like following orders
Some people have to be in charge
Some people choose healthy options
Some people go extra large

Some people like the sound of silence
Some people like the sound of their voice
Some people can’t make their mind up
Some people want an infinite choice

Some people eat chocolate digestives
Some people like custard creams
Some people are manic depressives
Some people think they’re living the dream

Some people watch George and Mildred
Some people watch Terry and June
Some people can’t wait for the future
Some people think it’s coming too soon

©Jim Pearson 2020

Happy Sad

©Jim Pearson 2008
I had some more songs, so I made another CD.

Listen to the album on Spotify or listen/download from here... https://jimpearson.bandcamp.com/album/unlucky-for-some

I'm Happy. You're Sorry.

Dedicated to all key workers of whom I am not one x.
©Jim Pearson 2020

The best education 
Put you on your feet
And with the right connections 
You took an empty seat

A nanny for your children
A chauffeur driven car
But in a global crises
We know who the heroes are

Who’s gonna teach our kids?
Who’s gonna make us well?
Who’s gonna help the old?
Who’s gonna stack our shelves?

You took a brave decision 
To bet against the grain
A pin point incision 
Profit from other’s pain

You made a tidy killing 
While others fought the war
But come the revolution 
We know who the heroes are 

Who’s gonna teach our kids?
Who’s gonna make us well?
Who’s gonna help the old?
Who’s gonna stack our shelves?

Who’s gonna drive the vans?
Who’s gonna pick our crops?
Who’s gonna keep the peace?
Who’s gonna serve in shops?

When the war is won
Heroes go unsung
Normal life returns
Lessons never learned

Shelf Stacker

This track is from the album Work Anxiety Syndrome.
You can download it and/or buy the CD from 
http://jimpearson.bandcamp.com/album/work-anxiety-syndrome
Or iTunes.

Struck

My Father's Chair

Winner of 2024 Liverpool Songwriting Competition with "The Boy With the Red Hat", taken from "Death to Mortality".

People have said that Jim plays guitar like a drummer. He is. In the mid eighties, he toured the Far East, Europe and Tyneside with near-legendary Geordie club band Foxy, before putting down his sticks, opting for a life of obscurity as graphic designer, husband and dad.

In his late thirties with a mid-life-crises looming, he started writing and recording his songs, self-releasing “Some Songs by Jim Pearson” in his fortieth year.

Suddenly, nothing happened, so he continued, and gradually accumulated a niche following of several well-intentioned virtual people, each possessing an uncanny appreciation of music and lyrics, as well as managing to get a handful of plays on BBC 6 music.

Jim is also singer, guitarist, songwriter with niche NW-UK band Scaredycats, who's debut album "Dumb Animals" was pronounced album of the year by Liverpool Sound and Vision in 2017.

Last year, he was a key collaborator and producer with international lockdown supergroup "Nothing On TV".

According to Jim... "You might not agree, but I think I’m getting better at this. I’ve come to terms with the fact that I will never get the global recognition I so clearly deserve, and honestly, I am all the happier for it."

BBC 6 Music's Tom Robinson says... “This is the astonishingly prolific Merseyside songwriter Jim Pearson… you never can be sure what kind of project Jim will come up with next, but you can always be sure it’s gonna be pretty darn good...” (The Tom Robinson Show, January 25th 2020)

Songwriter from Northern England
https://jimpearson.bandcamp.com/
https://open.spotify.com/artist/5R96vnb0ABdaZRMLG4XUNf

Scaredycats
https://scaredycatsuk.bandcamp.com/
https://open.spotify.com/artist/02W2iVwO5b3EIjzspgmS1N

Nothing On TV
https://nothingontv.bandcamp.com/
https://open.spotify.com/artist/07ADDEerdBir7xBgvdYyeo?si=k65U2tPkQuqbd1WFuPQOyA

Jim Pearson

Popular tracks