Songs I have played at the legendary Stallards Open Mic hosted by Terry Shepperd

Stallards Open Mic

Angry Man

Crumble - Nigel Mines

I know, I know, it's not like me to do a cover, but I love this song so thought I'd give it a go.



Going To A Town - Rufus Wainwright cover

Oldish song, sang it on FromeFM at the weekend, decided to do a quick'n'dirty lo-fi recording of it.

Boolean Rhapsody - Nigel Mines

Home To Me - Nigel Mines

This song is inspired by the Stop the Traffik charity, working to try to stop people trafficking and help the victims of this activity across the world.
http://www.stopthetraffik.org/default.aspx

Slow Blinking Light (Stopping Distance)

Is 75 feet enough?
Is 75 feet enough?
75 feet at 30 miles an hour
Is a thousand feet enough?
A thousand feet enough?
A thousand feet of train track
A thousand feet to impact
It’s coming through the tunnel and it’s not goanna stop

Enough is enough
If we don’t stop now, how we ever goanna stop?

Does anybody care?
Is anybody there?
They promised me the world then tied me to a chair

It’s 30 dollars and up
30 dollars and up
30 for a daughter
30 for a son
They're waiting in the car with the engine started up

Enough is enough
If we don’t stop now, how we ever goanna stop?

Enough is enough
Enough is enough
Enough is enough
When there’s nowhere to hide
And there’s nowhere to run
And that slow blinking light is my only sun

Is 75 feet enough?
Is 75 feet enough?
75 feet at 30 miles an hour
Is a thousand feet enough?
A thousand feet enough?
A thousand feet of train track
A thousand feet to impact
It’s coming through the tunnel and it’s not goanna stop


Stopping Distance (Slow Blinking Light) **DEMO**  - Nigel Mines

Heart and Soul - Nigel Mines

Crutch

Honest faces with lying eyes
Holding out a hand to touch
Offers us some straws to clutch
Builds dependency so we might need that crutch

Softly spoken, hardly said
Words to comfort and confine
Telling me what could be mine
Whispers in my ear ‘This mountain you must climb’

My addiction that took me high
Left me scars that cannot heal
Left me hands that cannot feel
Left me haunted by the ghosts that seem so real

Honest faces with lying eyes
Holding out a hand to touch
Offers us some straws to clutch
Builds dependency so we might need that crutch


Crutch

Me - Acoustic Guitar, Lead and Backing vocals
Paul Doman - all other instruments, recording/engineering, mixing and production (not mastered)

Funeral (In the Morning)

I’m hatching a plan now
I’m happy to stand out
Everything’s gonna be alright in the morning

You were always so helpful
Poison by the spoonful
And you can sing at my funeral in the morning
	
I’m hatching a plan now
I’m happy to stand out
Everything’s gonna be alright in the morning

You were always so beautiful
Loyal and dutiful
And you will sing at my funeral in the morning

We all have a cross to bear
A thorn in our side
And we all have a mask to wear
To keep it all inside
All the smiles are all a fake
A house of cards that we make
And all it takes is one mistake
And it comes crashing down…

I’m hatching a plan now
I’m happy to stand out
Everything’s gonna be alright in the morning

You were always so beautiful
Loyal and dutiful
And you will sing at my funeral in the morning


I’m hatching a plan now
I’m happy to stand out
Everything’s gonna be alright in the morning

You were always so spiteful
The architect of my downfall
And you can sing at my funeral in the morning

We all have a cross to bear…

And at the end of days, you’ll lie in your bed and say a prayer
Like someone might still be there when you close your eyes

Funeral in the Morning - Nigel Mines

Strangely Dry
 
Did I ever know, or did I just forget?
Clinging to my memory like a lifeboat from a wreck
Did I shed a tear or was something in my eye
Running down my face into a mouth that’s strangely dry
 
Strangely dry yet somehow I am swallowing my pride
I am laughing in the faces of the things that passed me by
I am floating six feet from the ground
I wonder if they know what I have found
The answer to the question…
 
Why are we still here? Why did we forget?
Staring down both barrels of the gun of our regrets
I cannot make a sound, I dare not even try
I open up my mouth to speak but it is strangely dry
 
Strangely dry yet somehow I am swallowing my pride
I am laughing in the faces of the things that passed me by
I am floating six feet from the ground
I wonder if they know what I have found
The answer to the question…
 
Why, oh why, oh why, oh why
Oh why, oh why, oh why, oh why
 
Strangely dry yet somehow I am swallowing my pride
I am laughing in the faces of the things that passed me by
I am floating six feet from the ground
I’m hoping that I’m never coming down
I’m hoping that I’m never coming down
I’m hoping that I’m never coming down
 
I’m standing in the crowd, but they don’t understand
The power to forgive and to forget is in our hands
And the anaesthetic rain that’s falling from your sky
Is running down my face into a mouth that’s strangely dry
 
Strangely dry yet somehow I am swallowing my pride
I am laughing in the faces of the things that passed me by
I am floating six feet from the ground
I wonder if they know what I have found
I wonder if they know what I have found
I wonder if they know what I have found


Strangely Dry

Wisdom Trees (Burn Down)

I was talking to a man with a wisdom seed
He planted it and let it grow
He’s been living in the tree for all his life
He said there’s nothing that he doesn’t know
I asked him to explain about my pain
And was it ever gonna go
He said he had a plan then he took my hand
He said he’d show me everything that he knows

From the top of the tree everything that you could see was very beautiful
And living in the tree were the birds and bees and everything was very peaceful
And no-one was in pain, no-one was afraid and everything was good
But as he surveyed everything that he’d made
Little did he know that one day they would…

Burn down, burn down, burn down that wisdom tree, they would
Burn down, burn down, burn down that wisdom tree

I asked him what his secret was and he began to sing
Then the angels came and they did the same, proclaiming that their god is king
I asked him why the other trees were singing a different song
He said that god would bring them to their knees ‘cos they were wrong and he would…

Burn down, burn down, burn down their wisdom trees, he would
Burn down, burn down, burn down their wisdom trees

I asked him if he could give me something to satisfy my need
He said that I should worship now the god of avarice and greed
I climbed down from his tree, I said “I haven’t learned a thing
Except that I would rather burn down here in hell than up there in your fucking tree and I’ll…

Burn down, burn down, burn down your wisdom trees, I will
Burn down, burn down, burn down your wisdom trees

Wisdom is the truth, wisdom is a lie
Wisdom for the stupid, wisdom for the wise
Wisdom for the weak, wisdom for the strong
Wisdom for the right and wisdom for the wrong
Wisdom is the goal, wisdom is the prize
Watch it disappear before your very eyes
Wisdom for the nutter, wisdom for the sane
Wisdom in the gutter running down the drain


Wisdom Trees

Rise and Shine

Someone saved my life today
Washed the dirt and stains away
And the lies that I’ve been told
You released their stranglehold
And wisely you explain
I was not to blame

And I will rise and shine
I won’t waste no time
In the dirt and the grime
Or the ties that bind
Without fear or doubt
Without passing out
I will rise and shine

I will rise and shine
I will rise and shine
I will rise and shine

In the mirror, all I see
The Devil and the deep blue sea
You see more in me, it seems
More than I would dare to dream
But rightly you proclaim
I can rise again…

And I will rise and shine
I won’t waste no time
In the dirt and the grime
Or the ties that bind
Without fear or doubt
Without passing out
Without safety line
And for the last time
I will rise and shine

I will rise and shine
I will rise and shine
I will rise and shine
For you


Rise and Shine

Wrote this after spending two weeks at my dad's bedside. We eventually switched off his life support machine. This is for dad.


Leave the Machine (Anxiety)

If I could rely on your help in my trial
Don’t leave me on my own please

It’s beeping, I’m sleeping. It keeps me from dreaming
Your secrets are safe with me

Don’t crowd me please
I find it hard to breath
With the weight of your anxiety


Don’t crowd me please
I find it hard to breath
With the weight of your anxiety

This iron lung which makes me breath
Keeps me under
A better place there has to be
But you’re too blind to see

Slow breathing, slow bleeding
No walls and no ceiling
I’m leaving, don’t keep me here

Don’t help me please
I’ll find it hard to leave…
…the machine…
…the machine…
…the machine…


Leave the Machine

Bile - Nigel Mines

For the benefit of anyone who follows me but not the talented Literate Wolves, here is a copy of the recent collaboration between him and me. For the version uploaded by LW himself, with comments etc, see here:
http://soundcloud.com/literate_wolves/love-song-for-a-dying-planet-green-blue-nigel-mines-pawed-at-by-literate-wolves
Based on an original song by me (also available for your listening pleasure on here under my name), the much improved version herewith features suitably dark and mysterious noises and voices provided by the LW. Please leave feedback and constructive criticism, as this is a work in progress and we would value any input for improvements

Love Song For A Dying Planet (Green & Blue) - with Literate Wolves

Really old song - one of the first I ever wrote :)
 

You come to me when I sleep and touch me there
You dance across my grave of past regrets
Always aware that your footsteps
Are almost too much for me to bear

Our gazes meet across a room and then it flows
Saying words we dare not speak, forbidden love
That never shows its face above the parapet
I hide behind and hope that no-one knows

And it shows in the pain that I cannot hide
And it shows in a heart ripped open wide
Yes it shows in a lifetime of misery when you're not by my side
Yes it shows in a lifetime of misery when you're not by my side

How much time do I have to wait?
Until it takes away the pain
You tried to mend my broken heart
Before you ripped it all apart again

And it shows in the pain that I cannot hide
And it shows in a heart ripped open wide
Yes it shows in a lifetime of misery when you're not by my side
In a lifetime of misery when you're not by my side
In a lifetime of misery when you're not by my side
In a lifetime of misery when you're not by my side


It Shows - Nigel Mines

Leaflet (Happy) - Nigel Mines

All hope for humanity rests on the success of this mission. Could this be his greatest ever adventure?
Or does he have his own agenda? Will he return a hero? Will he return at all?

Land On Mars

High on the top of a white stick, a rocket
Sitting on a bomb
Counting down, engines on
Hear the sound of cheering as I leave gravity far behind
Deep into space with a smile on my face
I'm feeling all the weight slowly lift
From my bones as a drift
Through emptiness and leave gravity far behind
And if I make it into space
I might not tire of this place
And if I land on Mars
I just might not come back
Here in the black with my life on my back
I'm feeling like it hangs from a thread
Cut the cords now I'm dead
I'm drifting out to see galaxies in my mind
And if I make it into space...
We’re breaking up
We’re breaking u..u..u..p……
This is all I dreamed of for all my life it seems
Fading into black only you can bring me back
And if I make it into space
I might not tire of this place
And if I land on Mars
I just might not come back


Land On Mars (If I make it into space) - Nigel Mines

Last Moment Robot - Nigel Mines

Singer/Songwriter based near Bath, UK.&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;Looking for opportunities to play live, and collaborators/fellow musicians who want to join me on my journey&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;If you like what you hear then become a fan and tell the world!