Just a quick demo of the song I wrote a week or two ago - which I've been calling "The Robin" (it's a bit long story to say why a robin) which turned out to be the wrong type of bird as they don't migrate - they just hide away from us in Spring/Summer in the woods and trees... I was inspired by singer/songwriter who was in a circle - and that week/month they had to pick a bird and write a song about it. That sound like a good challenge. Apologise for the poor fidelity - I just record straight from the laptop mic and camera - but it's good enough to hear it...

LYRICS
I know I wasn’t an easy read
As ploughed your way thru Ulysses
I remember that it took me
More than five goes to complete

We both knew the rules of this game
Though it’s the first time we’ve played
Through all the turns that we will make
I wished you would stay

[So, I gave away my partial heart
Paid my dues to the mistress of the arts
Each time break we part
We’d always arrive at the start

So I will sing you this song
Though words I will never understand
They don’t mean a thing to me
They weren’t written by these hands
It would be a crime
To pass them off as mine
When they only come from birds

Now I see you in the tree
Why must you fly from me
Ah You’re just a bird on the wing
Following the way of the winds

And so, you if you must go away
And I here I must forever remain
And I don’t know if you will return
But I hope to see you once again - in the spring

And though you are now so far away
I think of you more every day
I love you more than words could ever say
But will go on saying them anyway

And I begged you not to go
Not while you were
feeding my soul
I cannot think of other birds
Because birds only
make me think of you

DEMO: The Robin

A demo of my song "Bring Her Home" which was inspired by the death of Brianna Ghey

LYRICS:
There’s many a day when others stop and stare
But learned to be blissfully unaware  
I’ve been told I am so brave
But I heard of someone more unafraid 
And she was only 16

Strong and fearless, one of a kind
And she barely started to live her life
And yet to find her place in the world

With the arch of her brow
And wink in her eye
She swore she give life one more try 
And head down to Linear Park

Chorus: Bring her home

She was found lying wounded on a path
On Saturday afternoon in broad daylight 
And with her dying breath 
She never gave up the fight
With their science, free speech and biology
They want to debate her right just to be…

While she made others feel unstoppable
You’re so busy reading their lies
You can’t read between the lines 
(Bring her home, bring her home)

The past is a foreign country they say
But for me, that’s not so far away… 
(Bring her home, bring her home)

Chorus: Bring her home

Well I looked on Twitter the very next day
But her name had just melted away 
(bring her home, bring her home)

People will say just stay indoors
We don’t want to see your kind more 
(bring her home, bring her home)

But we will go on lighting our candles in the dark 
To remember a life snuffed out in Linear Park 
(bring her home, bring her home)

For Pandora is well and truly out of her box 
And guess what, we’ve smashed all the locks 
(bring her home, bring her home)
Chorus: Bring her home

DEMO: Bring Her Home (Song For Brianna Ghey)

This song use the idea of the tightrope walker as metaphor - for how life is all about keeping putting one foot in front of the other to get to the other side - and sense of elation when you do make it to the other side

know you are here
I can sense that you are near
And from now on I will fear no fear
[RS] Keep putting one foot in front of another
6 years of holding one position
And my muscles are aching
Through this weight I’ve been holding
 Is this sickness something I ate
Or is it just the pain of the endless w-a-i-t 

What ever comes my way
I will face another day
Because this world will keep on turning
You and I will keep on finding
Our own special way…  

You got stop feeling sorry for yourself
You’ve got nothing to apologise for…
And now I’m not afraid of the dying
 The Spirt is free from the physical shell
there’s no way anyone can tell
I’m not afraid of flying 

Do you want to be like a stump of a tree?
Are you ready to let the sadness in? 
And the hardest thing is not being yourself
Just a pale imitation of somebody else 
And if you could just break through and be free 
[ND] I know you’ve got it inside you
To…. To…. be you… Tight rope walking
It’s just a controlled way of falling
And the fear of falling
just keeps – you putting one foot in front of another

And the tightrope just melts away
You’re just floating away
Finally, your just flying
No more the fear of dying
Just the fear of just trying
To hold on.. 

[low - whoooo whooooo whooooo…] x 3

But how I’m supposed to live without your love
Just floating here on a wire above
The Ground 

Now I’m close to the edge
I’m putting one foot in front of the other
I’m not looking down anymore
Just feeling the spirit in the soul
Let go of the pole
And now I can’t feel the wire under my feet anymore
And I am flying
I am flying…
I am flying… 
For ever more…

[whoooo whooooo whooooo…] x 3

DEMO: Woman On A Wire

The Reckoning is about how what ever your avoiding life, tends to catch-up with you. I use the idea of sailing a boat - and the stern and bough as metaphor for the past and the future - sometimes you must face the on coming storm rather than run away from it. The line "a good shantyman is worth four extra hands on the rope" I picked up from an Unthanks online event where folks were discussing sea shantie

When the moon catches the light
Of the darkening sea
lightning illuminates clouds
That are flecked with grey

I could never bring myself
To stand at the prow
Is it always to the back of the boat
That I must go to now?

Because
Here comes the reckoning
Here comes the reckoning

Must I always look back
Like Eurydice?
This Pillar of salt
That loses her tears to the sea?
I’ll sail away never to return
I’ll not come the same way again

I turn away from the bough
There’s no coming back from this now
Because
Here comes the reckoning
Here comes the reckoning

I’ll set my course
I’ll strap myself to the head of prow
Into the eye of this coming storm…
There can be no turning back now
I tell myself I’m unafraid of it all
And I’ll not be tempted
by the false siren calls

For a good shantyman
Is worth four extra hands
on the rope

And
Here comes the reckoning
Here comes the reckoning

DEMO: The Reckoning

This a demo of song that I wrote for the Talent is Timeless competition - the challenge was write a song dedicated to Paul McCartney. I choose to write and sing in the style of John Lennon. I was struck by the interview with Paul, which talked about how men his age weren't allowed to show love & affection for one another. So I wanted to give John the chance to express his love - which he didn't get to do. In away its a response to Paul "Here Today" which is where the title comes from after all we are here today and "gone tomorrow"

DEMO: Gone Tomorrow

This is a demo of the traditional song 'Butcher's Boy" to which I've put a different tune and also changed the words around a bit to suit my needs. The guitar tuning is D-D-D-D-D-D or what has been dubbed "Ostrich Tuning". Lou Reed used the tuning in a novelty song called "The Ostrich" before he formed the Velvet Underground. He went on to use the tuning in such songs as "All Tomorrow's Parties" and "European Son" on the Velvet's debut album

DEMO: Butcher's Boy

I wrote this song whilst attending a songwriters workshop run by Edwina Hayes in Melbourne, Derbyshire. I came with an idea, two lines and the music - and left with a song. The song is about being there for someone come what may.

DEMO: This song is for you

Cover: Cello (Nick Drake)

The song was inspired by listening to the BBC Radio4 programme "Redcar: Made in Steel" (https://www.bbc.com/mediacentre/progi...) which addressed the closure of the steelworks on Teesside (where I was born and raised). I was drawn by a comment by a local writer Linda Robinson she described the steelworkers walking off the plant as the last "torpedoes" that came off the rails she remarked that one of the men he didn't cry, but there were little white lines that down his face. 

I found the footage of the closure on youtube via "The Steelwerker" (love the spelling!) from a film no longer available called "The Last Cast" by Dene Films.

DEMO: No One Cried

A quick demo of new song. It's a little on the long side, so I'm going drop a couple of verses when I play live or record it in a proper studio

DEMO: Oh The Mercy

Singer/songwriter. Debut Album “songs from a cold conservatory” out now >>> https://michellelaverick.bandcamp.com/album/songs-from-a-cold-conservatory. I use SoundCloud share early demo's of songs before heading to the studio. Once I've recoup'd the cost of production - I put albums up here free to listen

Michelle Laverick

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