My hommage to Planet Earth and the beauty all around us, which, if we stop to look closely, we might appreciate more and strive to protect.

Big Wide World - Liza Mulholland

Like so many others who were against Tony Blair's decision to invade Iraq in 2003, I grew increasingly horrified by the carnage as the war and occupation lurched on, amid revelations of the lies and deceit on which the whole escapade was based.

One day a news report stated that one hundred British, and a thousand US, soldiers had been killed there (it would go on to be many more); along with the hundreds of thousands of Iraqis who had by then died in the conflict, it was hard to take in.  Numbers lost in war can begin to feel meaninglessly vast but each one is a father, partner, sister, child; a life lost, and for what?  It got me thinking of Eric Bogle's heart-rending and beautiful WW1 song, 'The Green Fields Of France', also known as 'No Man's Land', and left me wondering what has really changed since Bogle's Private Willie McBride died in 1916.

The nature of warfare has undoubtably changed but the system that enables politicians with vested interests to send young men and women to fight in foreign lands, in the name of King and Country (or other assorted cliches), remains.  This is the song that sprang from those reflections. Tragically, the number of Iraqi people, including a great many civilians, estimated to have been killed in the conflict is upwards of half a million.  In this 100th anniversary year of the Somme, I wonder when humanity will ever learn to turn the tide away from slaughter and towards peaceful co-existence.

How Many More Willie McBrides? was one of ten winning  songs in the International Songs For Change competition.

Fathers, fathers, call back your sons
Stay in the field 'til the day's work is done
Shoulder to shoulder under the sun
Your child wasn't born to carry a gun.

Loyalty, duty, call what you will
His master's voice we answer it still
Wearing uniform, doing drill,
But there ain't no pride or joy in a kill.

Chorus
How many more Willie McBrides
Must line up on each side
Before we....turn the tide?
How many more Willie McBrides

Fine 'n' Rosy

How Many More Willie McBrides?

Took My Breath Away   (Liza Mulholland)
I am honoured that this song features as the soundtrack to Scottish Women's Aid video Speaking Out, marking 40 years of the organisation and their work. I wrote it after reading about yet another horrific domestic abuse case, telling a story of how a relationship becomes controlling and escalates to one of violence. Proceeds from sale of the download on iTunes go to Inverness Women's Aid.
When I met you in the summer, you fixed me with your gaze
Soon deep in conversation, my senses were ablaze
You took my hand, led me down to where the shadows play
Kissed me hard on the mouth and took my breath away.

You took my breath away
Took my breath away
Wish tomorrow was another day
Took my breath away

Within a week you moved in, said you'd never leave
The threads of your intensity around me did weave
We only need each other, you would firmly say
Told my friends I wasn't in, it took my breath away.

Flattered by your jealousy, I thought it must be love
But things were getting out of hand as push came to shove
I clung in fear to the facade, didn't dare betray
Blackened eyes, broken ribs, took  my breath away.

When I told you I was leaving, couldn't take no more
You blocked my way with anger, stood between me and the door
If I can't have you no-one will, is all that you did say
A flash of steel was all it took to take my breath away.

You took my breath away
Took my breath away
Wish tomorrow was another day
Took my breath away
Wish tomorrow was another day
Took my breath away.

Took My Breath Away

Musician (piano & accordion), singer-songwriter and composer from Inverness, in the Highlands of Scotland.  Plays in Highland bands, Dorec-a-belle, and country band Wounded Moose.

Liza Mulholland

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