Songs I did wrote

A singer-songwriter with a single acoustic guitar, and the mournful sound of old folk, the folksie tunes of yesteryear, preserved in a healthy mix of modern muse. (Plus finer picking.)

Shine On Me

It's Christmas time and another year to remember the sad loss of singer Kirsty MacColl, a super talented singer and song writer in her own right, but mainly renowned for the part she played in the Xmas song by Shane McGowan and the Pogues.
To this day no one can be too sure what happened to her that sunny day in Mexico, but most people seemed to agree she was hit by a passing speedboat, not in the right part of the sea and too near the beach. An accident? Certainly a sad incident and two  children left without a mother.
Who knows what she could have contributed to modern music if she was still here. A sad loss, to her family and the world.
Happy Christmas,, Kirsty x

The Sad Death of Kirsty McColl

The Sad Death of Kirsty MacColl

Bob Dylan wrote a 'Song to Woody' and put it on his first album.
Mike Scantlebury wrote a 'Song to Bobby' in 1986, a tribute to Bob and a tribute to his song to HIS hero. Just like Bob, Mike's song is written with a tune that sounds like his hero's style, and some of the words are reminiscent of the other, but, in fact, it's all original, even if sticking to the world of Folk Music, as it was in the 1960s.
Sure, it's a coincidence that there's a new film coming, detailing Dylan's experiences 1961-65, a totally creative era. More people than Mike Scantlebury (3rd) were inspired at that time, but how many have sat down and put their feelings into a poetic form.
(The form, of course, is Anglo-Saxon. Rhyming came to England from Italy in Shakespeare's day. Before that time, alliteration inside lines was popular, but only 'half rhymes' at the end of lines. Check it out. 'Decide' doesn't rhyme with 'road'. No, it's a half rhyme, where the consonants are similar but the vowels are different. Yes, differant.)

Bob Dylan song (Mike Scantlebury)

The new film 'A Complete Unknown' starts musically by Timtothe singing 'Song to Woody' by Bob Dylan. That was the early sixties. Years later, Mike Scantlebury wrote 'Song to Bobby' and since then a variety of artistes have covered his song. This is one with a long, slow six string guitar (not like Mike at all).

'Bob Dylan song'  by Mike Scantlebury (cover by Atlas Benet)

The BBC moved their northern Headquarters in to Salford Quays in April 2011. Blow me down with a blues train whistle, they're still there! Not everyone is against the idea, of course, but the idea that the new office blocks and recording facilities was going to benefit one single Salford stiff is fanciful, to say the least. What has happened? Well, plenty. Even 'Woman's Hour' ends their space with the words 'From Salford'. Thanks, Ladies. Proof that the old city across the river from Mancester is there, (and breathing). Well, Soundcloud 'loves comments' - does the BBC? I've gathered words from local residents and put them together into a new song. Let's hear it, for them all, the people. The ones outside the airlock.

"Against the BBC" (song) all

No, not that song. Sure, there was something, way back in the 1960s perhaps, that had the same title. But it's not this one. This is a totally original 'folk' song. Go on, have a listen, and see if you don't believe that it was copied down in an ancient tavern in the heady days before sound recording. It's got that monotonous tone, morbid tune, and mordant words that say it's old, man. Really old. After all, they don't use ropes anymore. Do they?

The Hangman's Beautiful Daughter

Mike Scantlebury is a part of the band, radio show and song writing team known as 'The Jam'. No, Paul Weller he ain't. JAM stands for 'Jane and Mike' and you'll not just find them on Mixcloud but also Youtube and various websites and Blogs. It's modern songs, (in a folk idiom), radio shows in a 'Richard and Judy' idiot, and songs like 'Dit Dit Dit', (which, as we all know, stands for S.O.S. - good enough for The Titanic. Who knows, Salford might hit an iceberg, soon).

'Bob Dylan song' by Mike Scantlebury (cover by Atlas Benet)

MikeScantlebury