The Best n.19💫💫💫⭐⭐⭐⭐

As the exceptionally rainy Spring/Summer of 2024 heralds the Autumn chill and leaves begin to take on their golden and crimson hues, one reflects on summers past. Experiencing times with folk, the warmth and beauty on Scotland's west coast; those waterways and sunsets on this unique, famous Atlantic seaboard.

This demo ballad recalls a home coming of a Lochaber born and bred merchant sea captain. A career spent plying cargoes around the world through the maritime waterways, canals and crossing global oceans. He harbours a yearning to return to his precious native land and settle down with the love of his life who he left behind all those years ago.

If you need a reason to visit this extraordinary part of the world, here are some links to enhance your next visit! So let your journey of discovery begin and listen to the Sound of Mull and sail out onto those Hebridean waterways!

https://www.wanderwestardnamurchan.com/

https://www.ardnamurchanlighthouse.com/

https://ardnamurchandistillery.com/

https://www.ardnamurchancampsite.com/mobile/index.html

https://www.visitscotland.com/info/see-do/ardnamurchan-area-p2555641

https://www.westhighlandpeninsulas.com/about-the-peninsulas/ardnamurchan

https://heritageardnamurchan.co.uk/

https://www.ardnamurchanestate.co.uk/

https://www.moidart.org.uk/datasets/tioram.htm#:~:text=James%20Wiseman%20MacDonald%20bought%20the,is%20a%20scheduled%20ancient%20monument

http://isleofeigg.org/

https://www.visitscotland.com/info/see-do/isle-of-eigg-p246981


I would like to credit Steven Marshall Photography https://www.smarshall-photography.com/
for granting the license to use one of his photographs for this track. Please be sure to check out his exceptional work and creative talent for capturing this glorious scenery and atmosphere of the Ardnamurchan peninsula. Please consider making a purchase !

The Sound of Mull

Crying

Pop single with disco elements by Lisa Rogers 

Run To You

Show Me Your Sexy Tattoo, Lyrics Gerald E. Greene

Track 4 – Water for Sale (Mellow Version)💧

(The Human Cost of Privatized Water)

This song actually started it all. Inspired by my dear friend and sister in music, @DJShAnkAri, who opened my eyes to the global water crisis, “Water for Sale” sparked the idea for this entire EP. ShAnkAri’s research, insight, and passion showed me the hidden ways water is stolen and monetized, and our conversations about the problem guided the creation of not just this track, but the rest of the Water EP.

“Water for Sale” shines a light on the exploitation and privatization of water, exposing the harsh realities faced by communities denied access to this essential resource. From contaminated village streams to corporate boardrooms, the song reveals how greed and corruption profit at the expense of human life. The lyrics are raw, emotional, and unapologetic, painting vivid scenes of people living without clean water while companies bottle, sell, and commodify what should belong to everyone.

*Note: ShAnkAri and I are sisters in music, though our tastes sometimes differ. We each had our own vision for how this song should sound, so I ended up creating two versions. You're listening to the mellower version, (more her taste) but if you’d like to hear the angrier, more intense version (more my style), you can listen here:
https://on.soundcloud.com/H9WjTINy9Qb4ihWuFs

I’m deeply grateful to ShAnkAri for her inspiration, ideas, and collaboration. She not only sparked this song, but helped me see the bigger picture that became the entire Water EP. I couldn’t have brought these songs to life without her guidance, passion, and brilliance. Love you, sis 😘


LYRICS:

[Verse 1]
They signed the deals behind closed doors,
While our rivers dried and our springs ran sore.
Evian bottles shipped to foreign lands,
While locals get one drop in their hands.
Nestlé calls it not a right,
While we drink mud by candlelight.
A million liters pumped each day,
While Berlin showers wash away.

[Pre-Chorus]
You speak of “sobriety” as our wells go dry,
But tankers float while our children cry.

[Chorus]
Water for sale — in bottles and lies,
You drain our homes, you monetize our skies.
You tax our thirst, then call it aid,
But every drop we lose — you’ve already paid.
Water for sale — we see your plan,
To bottle the world, to starve the land.

[Verse 2]
From Ontario’s poisoned stream,
To the hills of France, it’s the same damn scheme.
They steal the flow from village veins,
And trade it off like oil or grain.
Digital meters, watching tight,
Punish us for every night
We dare to wash, or plant, or live —
While billionaires take what we give.

[Pre-Chorus]
A global market built on drought,
Silence the farms, and sell us out.

[Chorus]
Water for sale — in boardroom bids,
They sell our lives for executive gigs.
You privatize what once was free,
Then hand us shame, not dignity.
Water for sale — we’re done being calm,
You’ve bled our rivers, you’ve dropped the bomb.

[Bridge]
Forget the cows, forget the grain,
Synthetic meat, bug-burger chains.
You call it “green” while storms are sprayed,
And weather bends the way you’ve paid.
You whisper “scarcity” with fake concern,
While tanks of spring water churn and churn.
You weaponize the clouds above,
But all we needed… was water and love.

[Verse 3]
A village left with rust and dust,
While shareholders toast in gold and trust.
You mask the theft as “world demand,”
But it’s genocide dressed in plastic brands.
From Veolia’s grip to Coca’s name,
Every stream dies the same.

[Chorus]
Water for sale — at a premium price,
While mothers boil mud to feed their rice.
You ration hope, you auction rain,
You sell us drought, you package pain.
Water for sale — not anymore,
We’ll break your locks, we’ll flood your store.

[Outro]
We’re not your numbers, not your prey,
We’re wells rising at break of day.
So mark this line, and mark it well —
We won’t die silent while you sell...

Water.
Yeah, fucking water!!

Water For Sale (Mellow version)


IT WILL BE LIKE THIS FOREVER



Ask me why

(Verse)

That day you left and I never saw you again.

My heart was beating, but I held on.

Everything had been ready for a long time.

And then the opportunity arrived.



(Bridge)

Ask me why



(Chorus)

It will be like this and it will be forever.

From that evening, you will have nothing left.


(Verse 2)

I understood very late

The condition I had put myself in.

And, luckily, you helped me.

Leaving without even

saying goodbye.

(Bridge)

Ask me why

(Chorus)

It will be like this, but not forever.

From that evening, I begin again

To live...



https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=nncsHFt2mTk&feature=shared

https://open.spotify.com/album/0iCQlIVY06ZwPvjRGCXyM9?si=FKtU8DyyS0GGFQOxAVFOpg

https://music.apple.com/us/song/sar%C3%A0-cos%C3%AC-per-sempre/1830060724



https://music.amazon.it/albums/B0FKC3LC9Q?marketplaceId=APJ6JRA9NG5V4&musicTerritory=IT&ref=dm_sh_aLymqEwAc7GaOPOxCrKqhPjFC&trackAsin=B0FKC2D4WQ


Sarà così per sempre.mp3

Enjoy listening and just occasionally singing (to myself) 'Bothy Ballads' from The North East of Scotland. Influenced in my teens by legendary folk singer Marc Floyd Ellington and Charlie Allan. 

'Written' a few very simple lockdown ballads in the 12 months since the global pandemic struck and tried to learn the guitar...it helps!

The Sound of Mull

Nicholas