"I think the development of artificial intelligence could spell the end of the human race " ... Stephen Hawking 

Secrets of Things

Sitting by the stream imparts buoyancy to float the earth
to higher enlightenment than any could have thought
allow your mind to wander and in the sun throw off its coat
we're shadow dancing ....

Shadow dancing to our conceptions
making monsters from the earth
shadow dancing in the sunshine
playing with secrets of things

Soon we'll be facing a new morning of discontent
a sting tipped reality to the new dawning day
clutching at the moment, nudging servitudes of our time
we're shadow dancing ...

Shadow dancing to our conceptions
making monsters from the earth
shadow dancing in the sunshine
playing with secrets of things ...

a big thankyou to Mr Nick Krieg for his contribution to this song with the sparkling guitar work

Open to Suggestion

Secrets of Things

Sleeping In My Overcoat was written and produced at the Wildside  on Western Eyre Peninsula South Australia to a lyric penned by Bill White ...

Sleeping In My Overcoat

Phase changing drops of fear that linger
cold places lead to other worlds
dead bolts on doors that have no hinges
wet spots of blood upon the walls

Breakwater waiting for the big sea
humped under the wandering moon 
I'm praying to the devil that it don't come soon

Footsteps are sliding in the darkness
red bones are glowing in the dark
damp fungus growing on the jetty planks
dark blooms above the watermark

Breakwater waiting for the big sea 
humped under the wandering moon
I'm praying to the devi that it dont come soon

so cold I'm sleeping in my overcoat
So cold I'm crying for the sun
So cold trying to keep this boat afloat
Pass me that bottle 'cos there's no road home 

Back woods are creeping into town now 
all fences are tumbling down
lampposts leaning in the starlight
cold wind chills to the bone 

Breakwater waiting for the big sea
humped under the wandering moon 
I'm praying to the devil that it don't come soon

So cold I'm sleeping in my overcoat
So cold I'm crying for the sun
So hard to try and keep this boat afloat
Pass me that bottle cos there's no road home

sleeping in my overcoat

I wrote and recorded this song  in 2007 to a lyric by Bill White . It is sung by Koori woman Gail Page and has (now deceased) Yankunytjatjara man Patrick Mimpali Walker on voice over . Thanks to Mick Savage on lead guitar winding out my maton, and Greg Gurr  for the  bird calls recorded in the Kinchega Nat Park and Simpson Desert. Gail Page went on to feature this song in her 2008 debut album "Colours that Run".  On this release,  didgeridoo player Mark Atkins is featured  ...

Gecko Moon.WAV

my Tasmanian friends often complain about incessant rain when it has set in especially when they have a dose of what my mum called "the pip".... anyway this is an original I've put together over the last two weeks from an idea that's been in my head for a while but never done anything with ..

Its Raining

Jesus died for nothing

Is that the gates of hell I see, corporate cover up diplomacy
Is that the idiot resolve I see, aspiring to populist fantasy

Vested interest drags us down, ghost trolls spin the doubt machine
Life leaching shadows that I see, sleepwalk us down to catastrophe

Like Norberto Hernandez falling from the sky 
there is no way we get out alive
The climate wont negotiate with gold
nor trade for empty barrels of demagogy

Whores of the century
et dues misereatur nostri

Wink wink nod nod , COP 26
Our suicide our lovers pact the closing act
we've crucified each other to feed our greed
Jesus died for nothing it seems 
for nothing it seems.

Jesus died for nothing it seems
Jesus died for nothing it seems

Recorded and produced at the Wildside on Western Eyre Peninsula, South Australia ... a big thankyou to Mr Nick Krieg from Port Lincoln for the guitar work ...

Jesus died for nothing

one hundred seconds 'till midnight
no capacity to save ourselves
one hundred seconds 'till midnight
we've boarded a runaway train

we've really fucked it over
no government can save the day
core institution madness 
has duped us all this day

theres one hundrd seconds 'till midnight
soon the obituary of us all
when you want to know that god is real
no jesus will save the day

There were warning shots along the track
time to disembark
but growth economies swayed the day
we roistered and rankled away

one hundred seconds 'till midnight
no capacity to save ourselves
one hundred seconds 'till midnight
we've boarded a run away train

no mouths no words will tell of this
sweet life sucked from our souls
in the moment that we did look up
then everything was gone

one hundred seconds 'till midnight

I wrote this a while back but never did anything with it for ages probably because it touched a nerve. 

Loves Loss Lingers Long

On this shore of the evening
in this solitude 
wrapped in dreams and silence
between the lips between the voice
something is dying

you are absent  
your eyes have flown away
a kiss has filled your mouth
something is dying

I'll let the moon kiss my eyes 
the evening breeze caress me 
life is so short 
and loves loss lingers long

and the wind passes gently
shifting on shadow hopes
and my soul it wanders
bearing lamps in its solitude

as this night turns its clockwork face
and blue stars shimmer in the distance
we of that time are no longer the same

I'll let the moon kiss my eyes
the evening breeze caress me 
life is so short 
and loves loss lingers long

Loves Loss Lingers Long

this original obsessed me for a month while I got it together from a piano bed track... couldn't put it down... just when the song was ready for vocals I was blessed to have Australia's best contemporary female blues singer Gail Page drop in to the wildside and offer to put down the vocal tracks.. absolutely awesome Gail..

Whiskey Breath And Cigarettes

Tony Hello was created at The Wildside on western Eyre Peninsula south Australia and is focused on presenting an aspect of the rhetoric on climate change by political interests ... 

Who Is Next [Single]

Tony Hello

out of all Bill White's lyrics I've had the pleasure of writing music to this is one of my favourites .. recently reworked at wildside.

If We Will

this oldie I wrote very early in '89 has Gail Page helping me out on the vocal and Nick Krieg on acoustic steel string guitar

One More Time

The bleached bones of this original song has a twisted reference to Australian legend Lassiter. His fabled  reef of gold is still being searched for in the remote heart of the country where he disappeared in the early 20th century. Set between Dunjiba and Cadney Park.  I developed the lyric for "The Painted Desert" collaborating with Bill White who provided most of the imagery. Thankyou Billy and thankyou Nick Krieg for the cutting guitar work on the track. The song is set in the land of aboriginal artist Albert Namatjira an Arrernte plainsman and artist from the MacDonnell ranges in central Australia.

The Painted Desert

I wrote this around 1994 to a lyric penned by Bill White that instantly grabbed my attention when he gave it to me evoking this response ... and what are we scared of ? ... I'll leave that to your imagination.  Recorded at my home studio at Wildside.  So Scared features Nick Krieg from Port Lincoln South Australia on lead guitar along with myself on rhythm guitar and everything else ...

So Scared

This one has been at the back of my mind since reading Alan Taylors poem, 'Aleppo".. Hopefully I've caught the character  .. you be the judge .. it's nasty shit ..
Aleppo

you .. the oldest city of them all
your temple Hadad a showcase
when my forebears ran naked
smeared with mud and skun animals with flint

The Gate of Antioch protected you from angry gods
your citadel rebuilt and renovated
every time the quaking earth and armies
rammed your cracking ramparts

now nothing saves you from the raining thermite brimstone
having gained the upper hand flint is just a look
in eyes that glint at screens 
while fingers skim a keyboard looking for delete ..

Aleppo

"A Thousand Long Goodbyes", I wrote to a lyric given to me by friend Bill White.  It is another one of Bill's evocative lyrics that has hit my creative spot...  I played all instruments except for the guitar which was played by Port Lincoln based maestro, Mr Nick Krieg, on a nylon string acoustic. It was recorded and mixed off grid at Wildside on Western Eyre Peninsula, South Australia. Cover photo, Yellow Beach, Flinders Island.

A Thousand Long Goodbyes

I'll meet with you at sunrise
I'll offer you some small surprise
perhaps a thousand long goodbyes
to try and keep you here

We could head out on the ocean sea
the open sky just you and me
set our imagination free
in the blue reflective air

In a hundred year old motor boat 
we could chug along and stay afloat
share a mutual overcoat 
if a cold front happens in

You challenge me to can stay true
well I cant be true without you
everything I say and do
could change upon your whim

and will you be my flat mate
I wont let us stagnate
you can take me out on a blind date
a blindfold on my eyes

And you can set the course we take 
we can be the promise that we make
we can be the home we're going to make 
and say a thousand long goodbyes
 
Head out on the ocean sea
the open sky just you and me 
set our imagination free
in the blue reflective air

in the blue reflective air ... 
in the blue reflective air ...

A Thousand Long Goodbyes

I love the quietude of a stroll along the seafront .... its a time for being in the moment and good space to take stock on the goings on of life. Thanks to my dear friend Bill White for his beautiful lyric which I worked up into this song and my gratitude to Port Lincoln artist Nick Krieg for the tasteful noodling on his 6 string acoustic ...

From the Shore

A tribute to olden days miners who risked their lives daily  in coal mines feeding the industrial revolution. Its down to bare  basics for this song which I wrote to a lyric penned by my friend Bill White. My original music arrangement was recorded at Wildside and uses acoustic nylon string guitars supporting vocal tracks and harmonica. 

East of the Field
We were tired in the morning, in the hour you begin,
And the wags were all clowning at the top of the dig.
We watched as the basket came up from below,
And young Tommy asked it not to be slow

Then the steel basket surfaced and the night men came out;
When we asked was it worth it they said 'yes lads no doubt'
Yet their lungs were a bleeding and their hands were red raw,
But they'd long done with asking for more.

And the fog was all whirling and swirling,
All around at the top of the world
And the winds mouth was yawning, and the sunlight was forming,
A thousand miles East of the field.

So we got in the basket and we went down the shaft, 
Tommy called it a casket and nobody laughed.
And the red sun was shining on the edge of the world,
'This is mining' said Tommy, the diver for pearls.

And the clouds were all whirling and swirling
All around at the top of the world,
And the winds mouth was smiling and the white sun was flying,
And the night men were clear of the field.

East of the Field

a song highlighting concerns about climate change ... this track features Nick Krieg on the guitar work and Lee Gunness  provides vocal reinforcement.

Get it Right

I say she say he say we say
make the situation right
'cause the sea's getting hotter while the politicians stutter
in the dark of their great divide
and I say she say he say we say
make the situation right
because the air's getting meaner when we hope to make it clean
they want to open up a new coal mine

ecological catastrophe staring us in the face
sacrificing values, denial and inaction
spell the failure of our race

and I say .........
everybody raise the shout
because they promise they'll do this and they promise they'll do that
while they kow tow to big business and their kind
and I say ....... 
because we're caught up in plastic fallout 
when we should be going all out
tip the balance and turn back the tide 

I say ......
everybody take a stand
we're all looking for a handle in the bullshit preamble
when they want to drill for oil in the Bight
I say ......
because there'll be no one to forgive us 
when we've sold off all our rivers
trashed our forests for the profit of a few

Unknown album (21/12/2019 1:55:11 PM)

Get it Right

this apocalyptic song deals with the consequences of the industrial revolution

The Anthropocene Age

Leading up to the end days
we ran so young and free
mesmerised by media
we bore witness to the greed

When there still was an ocean
with cetaceans in the deep
we dug our graves still deeper
to bring on the Anthropocene Age

economic rationalism ... growth economy
trade surplus .... EXTINCTION
over population ... food shortage
just another virus ... EXTINCTION

We still surf the revolution 
big business profit iconoclast
and riding the waves of progress
we'll yet sell the universe

acidify the ocean ... flood the cities
set your house on fire ... EXTINCTION
meltdown the icecaps ... destroy the ozone
let go all the methane ... EXTINCTION

recorded and produced at Wildside Records South Australia, using renewable energy and good vibes from the garden. A big thankyou to Nick Krieg from Port Lincoln for the guitar work.

Biblical reading is from Genesis Chapt VI : 5

The Anthropocene Age

This original rockabilly style song was created and mastered at Wildside, on Western Eyre Peninsula South Australia....   Boogie Woogie Baby features legendary aussie blues vocalist Gail Page and Junior Sugarfingers from Trinidad South Africa on guitar...  thanks also to Geoff Thomas and Vicki Schaeff for handclaps on the percussion track ... 

Boogie Woogie Baby

I'll be your boogie woogie baby on a Saturday night
I'll be your boogie woogie baby make you feel all right
I'll be your boogie woogie baby if you don't tell Annette
I'll be your boogie woogie baby close as I can get

I'll be your boogie woogie baby in the car park after work
I'll be your boogie woogie baby you can take off my shirt
I'll be your boogie woogie baby don't say anything to Mark
I'll be your boogie woogie baby playin' in the dark

I'll be your boogie woogie baby we can go for a ride
I'll be your boogie woogie baby wont you come on inside
I'll be your boogie woogie baby hootchie cootchie on the floor
I'll be your boogie woogie baby then you'll come back for more

I'll be your boogie woogie baby

Boogie Woogie Baby

This original song 'Martin", was inspired after a read of Margaret Scotts' book, "Port Arthur: A story of Strength and Courage". I developed the lyric collaborating with Bill White who supplied most of the imagery and musically I partnered with Mick Savage on guitar and Gail Page on vocal. I played keyboards and bass guitar.  It was recorded roughly in a spare bed room at Streaky Bay on a digital 8 track with no percussion. The image on this post is of Martin Bryant at Port Arthur, by Archibald Prize winner Rodney Pople.

Martin

There's a storm in my eyes when I'm looking at you 
my pain is disguised by the pain I give you
I'll take nothing away I'll give nothing back
your grave is open when youre lying on your back 

I'm the emptiest husk any soul ever fled 
there's a sweet smell of musk in my dead lover's bed
there's no sign of sense in this shuddering storm 
the wind wails and shrieks I lie safe and warm

You're the brow that I beat you're the wasps at my feet
you're the sour in my sweet growing foul in the heat

I'm a weeping note on the idiot wind
 I'll leap at your throat and I'll shrink on your skin
there's no sign of life in this shuddering storm
the shapes are immense and they keep changing form

You're the brow that I beat you're the wasps at my feet
You're the sour in my sweet growing foul in the heat

When I mumble thunder every word is true 
when I take my plunder there's nothing you can do
when the ghosts of the convict past come back 
the streets will lie quiet in memory of my wrath

Martin

This original song I wrote and recorded with a lyric by Bill White and backup vocal by Gail Page expores things we could have done, or might have done, or things that still could be done if time doesn't get away  from us..And then there's that person you're always thinking about and subconsiously connecting with...Walking a crazy life along the dunes between the beaches, and wondering how and whatever out of reach is...

Never catch up with me

if you enjoy a shot of tequila this original from the wildside featuring Junior Sugarfingers on guitar and Gail Page on vocals is for you ...

Lick Sip Suck

Lick Sip Suck

The Lyric Bill sent me for this one struck a chord and I structured this song to it adding a couple of extra lines and repeating some phrases from the original text ... the song has a programmed  drum track and i played all instruments apart from the the the acoustic steel string guitar solos which were played by Nick Krieg from Port Lincoln. I love his playing.

So Fragile

this original has me on vocal and all instruments except for the lap steel which is played by Nick Krieg. It has a lyric written for me by old friend Bill White who isn't really that old.  I love to walk on mountains so it had instant appeal and the reference to our indiginous brothers and sisters was too true... It was recorded at home on my old digital 8 track.

Big Frets

Oscar Wild said, nothing burns brighter than your bridges ... 
'This Morning', explores powerful emotions that engulf you after breaking up a long term relationship.

This Morning

Well I needed you this morning when the tears ran down my face
yes I needed you this morning to hold me in this place
and the things that we both talked about came rushing blushing back
and I'm feeling so very frightened wide awake in troubled space

so sail on sweet lover, sail across the sea
sail to new horizons that we'll never see

Surfacing this new day gently holds me so enthralled
heralded by the magpie's muted warbling call
this bed is not familiar but the sheets do hold me warm
and I'll doze again and slumber dream on this broken dawn

so sail on sweet lover, sail across your sea
sail to new horizons that we'll never see

disconnected disconnection makes you laugh makes you wonder and cry
so show me to the doorway from beyond the square 
those windows of illusion cast by lovers in despair
oh you paused in your doorway for just a moment cast your plan
the sunlight flicked at the hair on your shoulder the grain of your skin
but its too late in love, too late in crucifixion
and its too late in death, its too late, too late, its much too late

time feeds on distress feeds on loneliness feeds on tears
time slips through empty silences hatches hatred greys in your hair
its always there who fucking cares ..

watching, waiting, for faceless moments unguarded tears
watching , waiting for hesitation and misspent years
and its too late in love, its too late in crucifixion
and its too late, in death, its too late, too late, too late ...

This Morning

An original I used to play a lot at gigs but have never recorded until now. It has jazz musician Mike Hester originally from Boston but now residing in Port Lincoln on alto sax. I wrote him outr the sax part and he nailed it.. Thanks Mike.

nwalkm

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