Accoustic cover of classic Joe Jackson hit from 1970s

Different for girls

I guess it's a song about commitment. It's a guitar and a bit of cajon.

Johnny doesn't live here anymore

Hymn to sunny days and stormy nights and swimming in the nude. Glory be to dappled things!

Glory be

Man, guitar and H2 Zoom, one take, no harmonica ... taken ages to learn and it still has a few mistakes. The challenge with this song is the range and the lyrics which are wonderfully impressionistic and thence quite difficult to memorize. The beauty of the song is its building hypnotic pulse and the pictures that emerge from the lyrics over time. This cover based on the Sydney Opera House concert ... well worth checking out on youtube;  just man, guitar and harmonica ... and then you notice a piano, a violin, etc etc

Calgary (Bon Iver cover)

A celebration of dyslexia and malapropisms for a man who loves to wrestle with ideas ... and words :)

Flock of Herring

Dream River (recorded on my phone) takes me back to El Paso in 1972. Its about looking back some 50 years later.

#fortbliss #cliffedonaldson #elpasotexas #scenicdrive

Dream River

Hypnotic guitar harmonics; sailboats and sunshine.

Sailboat

I learnt this song so that I could accompany a friend - Doro. Enjoyed it. This recording on my phone. Its a guide.

Day before the day (Dido Cover)

The evolution of a song. This started off two years ago as an exercise in lyric writing for an online course (MOOC) on songwriting by Berklee College of Music. The result of that exercise was a song called The Letter which was described at one open night as a sort of country & western reggae song. Then about 6 months ago I wanted to write something in the DADF#AD tuning that was a bit more exciting so I decided to use the words from The Letter. It still didn't really work!

Then one evening I was with my songwriting mentor and friend Vincent Burke and he had a go at the lyrics while I was playing the guitar. Instead of 'I'm sending you a letter' he wrote 'I'm sending you a seagull' and then he also came up with a new chorus and a great verse - the one about sending you a song and the lines 'maybe I'm a memory falling from the blue, memories can cut like glass, cut you through and through'. I liked what he had done and I really liked 'the seagull' but I had a problem with it making some kind of sense.

Then my birthday came along and an artist friend and swimming buddy called Pip Tunstill gave me a little present. It was a small white box and when you opened it up there was a seagull and the sound of the seashore. Synchronicity ... serendipity ... I then reworked the lyric so that it made sense (to me at least) and played the new version at a few open mics and at Dermot Jones' 50th birthday party. It was beginning to make sense.

I kept fiddling and added a short guitar instrumental after the second verse and an outro at the end to tie up all the loose ends and then it seemed to be done. The Seagull Song. So many contributed to its creation which is rather lovely. :)

The Seagull Song

When the nights draw in or you spend too much time alone you can start to feel a bit out of touch with the world. Your sense of self can fade like the holiday suntan. There's advantages in being alone and in having that opportunity to withdraw and observe. But sometimes it may not be 'comfortable' ... maybe you feel that you are 'losing your grip'. Relax, you'll be back in touch someday. In the mean time enjoy the slide :).

Touch

It is so difficult to maintain the same tempo throughout a song. How many times have I tried to and this was the best version .... and it still wavers a bit. My attempt at a reggae song. It's a collision between my experience of Southern Rail in South London, my preferred mode of transport (a bicycle) and my love and learning of the Peter Tosh reggae classic 'Don't Look Back'. Its a simple message. If you are stuck and there is a way out but its not going where you want to go ... take it anyway and see what new opportunities it brings ... you can always change when the train gets in. And the sub message is if you want to have real freedom then get a bike. Hey you can even stick it on the train if needs be.

Train

This is a poem that I read out at The Library concert at Tooting Bec Lido. It was preceded by a piece of music called the Bouncing Smile.

Sons And Lovers

I wrote this song while riding to the pool in autumn. It was just yellow everywhere hence the use of this word throughout the song. I realise that it is probably a rip-off of Corinna Corinna or any old blues song but it has a certain unique charm. The wonderful thing about this song is that Vince played along with me and you can hear him and it sounded great. That must have been something of a first for me and I loved what I heard. Thank you Vince. We were singing and recording in the shed at the bottom of the garden. Man I will miss that shed. It was a really nice big shed underneath a tree. 

Jackson Pollock

This is a song about how cold water can save your soul or atleast keep you sane in a chaotic world. It sums up a great deal of what is special about Tooting Bec Lido in South London. Its not  just about cold water swimming but also the warm hearts of those that swim there. And all my friends in South London Swimming Club.

Jump into the Blue

This is a ballad in the traditional sense of the word ... I think. I wrote this as a poem years ago and then forgot about it. Then one evening when I was playing with Vince and Stuart in the kitchen, I got it out and just sang it to a simple accompaniment. They really liked it so I thought I would record it. I would love to take it out and sing it at an open mic but I cant remember the words. Its too damn long. This is more of a recording than the finished thing. Hope you find the story mildly amusing. 

Ballad of a Gambler

Started as a poem and ended up as a song. Played on a steel string parlour guitar using simple slide techniques. It was recorded and mixed on a hot summer afternoon in August by Vincent Burke. Thanks Vince.

Turning A Corner

These are some covers and self-penned ditties. I have been told that I sing a lot about trees, leaves and pools. Probably because I go swimming every day at Tooting Bec Lido.

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