Recorded and produced by Greg Lines.
Artwork designed by Barney Lines-Hembrey.
Photo from Jude Hatton-Holland. 

Lyrics:

The wonders of the world, ain't so,
Wonderful to me,
Oh I'd, rather stay on this sceptred isle my friend,
I know, no greater wall than the one built by Hadrian.

So come along with me, let's sit,
By this old oak tree,
Take me, out to a pretty part of a public park,
All this, rushing around well you know that I want no part.

Cos I've seen such beauty, up and down this land,
The value of which some folks don't seem to understand,
But I know that out there, a life of ours was planned,
So don't go searching far and wide, the answer lies at home.

See the Shepherd sing, to his,
Flock and 'tween the wings, 
Of a, Sparrow on high you can hear yes he joins the song,
And as I, just catch myself yes I notice I sing along.

The Shepherd & the Sparrow

Recorded and produced by Greg Lines.
Artwork designed by Barney Lines-Hembrey.
Photo from Jude Hatton-Holland. 

Lyrics:

Slowly was a waggoner, in old Shaston town,
He always took the toughest work, 'twas nothing he'd turn down,
And one day on the road so long, a message he received,
To the Abbey you must go Slowly, 'tis your help that we need.

Arriving on the Abbey side, Slowly slowed the ox to find,
The Master by the bells so large, who told him of his coming charge,
Spreadeagle you must take them now, to a man who's dug deep underground,
There these two bells you will hide, to keep them safe from old Ironside.

The rain poured down, the oxen strained,
They ploughed along, to the hidden grave, 
Lower them down, deep underground,
Where these bells, shall ne'er be found,
Shall ne'er be found,
Shall ne'er be found. 

Returning through the Blackmore Vale, Ironside's men came down the trail,
Calling after Slowly's cart, "you there son get off this path",
"We're headed for the Abbey grounds, where great riches will be found",
Slowly smirked he knew their fate, empty handed they'd leave this place.

The rain poured down, the wind blew gale,
They searched all night, to no avail,
Their hopes were downed, gone homeward-bound,
Those Abbey bells, shall ne'er be found,
Shall ne'er be found,
Shall ne'er be found,
Shall ne'er be found,
Shall ne'er be found.

The Abbey Bells

(Please Don't) Sell Out

Song 2 of FAWM 2025! I tried to give myself a challenge of playing no guitar so I've trusted in my pretty rudimentary piano skills! The chorus is a little bit at odds with the rest of the song but I think the vocal pulls it together.
The song is is about holding someone you truly love and how that is often all either of you need.

Our Embrace

Song 3 for FAWM this year and this one was inspired by the Jeff Tweedy 10 verbs and 10 nouns writing prompt but I did it with my class of 7-8 year olds! I wrote down 10 verbs - them as they were coming in from lunch break, and then worked with a couple of them to choose 10 nouns from around the classroom. I then imagined the things in the classroom and how they would behave at the end of the day! Silly but fun.

I'm less pleased with the finished product. I feel it's maybe in the wrong key and my vocal is a bit uninspiring but I have to move on for fear of getting bogged down. And jeez I wish I could play lead guitar with a bit more skill / conviction!

Outta Sight

FAWM 2025 song 4 - so this one comes from my collaborator in chief Pete Abbey, a very fine writer who particularly enjoys 100 word stories!
He often records his stories for his soundcloud:
https://soundcloud.com/mrbinks?utm_source=clipboard&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=social_sharing

He shared a fresh story, Henry & the Bell with me and we thought it would be a great to add music to, and so here it is. Pete's story, with an odd soundtrack and a weird chorus. I hope you like it!

Henry & the Bell

After a week of not being able to sing, I figured I'd return with this song. Not having a voice has meant I've been able to spend a little more time on the instrumentation which is nice, and though there are shaky bits, I'm still really pleased with this one.

It's for Jo. My rock, my constant, my best friend, my wife. Without her, it just wouldn't be worth doing.

I'll Be With You

So this one didn't turn out as expected! The music came first and it was written with a much more positive message in mind, but my good friend Peter Abbey (maybe the Bernie to my Elton) sent me some pretty angry words and as soon as I started messing with them, it kinda stuck.
I don't often get overly political these days but the state of our fair nation is cause for concern. I hope you don't find yourself identifying with the words...

Better Than You

FAWM 2025 track 7 - this one I wrote with Hatty, my 14 y/o niece. She wanted to get involved and has just started gaining some confidence with her singing so I thought why not! We sat down for a couple of hours and hashed this one out which she sang on, then I added some extra noodling and a little bit of polish and I'm really pleased with the result.

She was talking lots about friendship so I just wrote down lots of things she said and then turned them into lyrics. I tried to keep the music nice and simple.

You & Me

If it ain't broke... Another collab with Peter (he really should do FAWM...) and this time, I already had the music, recorded one evening last week when I had no voice. When he sent me these words yesterday, I knew they would go well together. I allowed myself one rehearsal and then recorded the vocal in one take - I didn't want to overthink it and I liked the fact that it's a bit all over the place. I also enjoyed clicking on the distortion for this one - my most grungy song to date!

Michael feels fine

MrBinks

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