a selectiopn of singer/songwriters that i have come to hear from the fringe and beyond.

singer/songwriters

Light A Fire

from the opera odessy of the forgotten written by david roberts with performance from the students at edinburgh university and recorded at the reid concert hall in 1996.

racks

This recording is a live on the spot recording, taken in the quadrangle of the Edinburgh University Old College. The song was written and recorded on 11 July 2013. 

Well i can't understand what you say anyway
Half of the time
Sometimes in, sometimes out, you're in tune on the dial
In my mind

On my own behalf i'd like to say that it's a pleasure
To see you again, but is it art, i'd like to know
Or is it something that will never make the headlines?

Well, it's hard to comply with the rules that apply
to you every day
Drifting in, drifting out, you will be wearing a smile
When you fly away

On my own behalf i'd like to point out the air masks
And parachutes, the exits are here, here and here
The passage will illuminate

Don't listen to the radio
The news is old and the pace is slow
Don't you listen to the radio
The exits are here, here and here
The passage will illuminate

(This will never make the headlines)

Headlines

From "Dinosaur Abandonment Issues" available at www.calumsmusic.com
Additional production by Joe Campbell-Dawson.

I'm gonna go up north where the dinosaur kingdoms are
Gonna get me a big T-rex or a stegosaur
I'm gonna be the envy of my friends
When i bring it home to show them

I'll keep him in the yard with the chickens and the rooster too
He'll be a riot at parties 'cos he'll know how to play the kazoo
I'm gonna be the envy of my friends
'Cos i've got a pet dinosaur, yeah!

Don't really know how to catch one
Don't really know what they eat
But i know i really want to be the first
To have a dinosaur on our street

So i'm gonna go out and catch a dinosaur today
It's gonna be easy or i'm gonna have something to say
My friends will say: i wish i had a dinosaur as well yeah
I wish i had a dinosaur as well
I wish i had a dinosaur as well, know what i mean?

My Pet Dinosaur

A piper on Princes Street plays for the tourists who throw him their coins in reply 
His Robertson tartan's a proud battered remnant of a Scotland that's long since gone by 

Some day our wee country will again be a nation 
I belong to Scotland and in Scotland i'll bide 
I'll wait for that day with anticipation 
They've taken our freedom but they'll no' take our pride 

Well it's said that without the support of Great Britain our economy wouldn't be strong 
But we've yet to be given the chance we deserve to prove that that theory is wrong 

Some day our wee country will again be a nation 
I belong to Scotland and in Scotland i'll bide 
I'll wait for that day with anticipation 
They've taken our freedom but they'll no' take our pride 

So we're facing the future and like it or not there's decisions that have to be made 
To survive as a colony of a long fallen empire is something i would happily trade 

Some day our wee country will again be a nation 
I belong to Scotland and in Scotland i'll bide 
I'll wait for that day with anticipation 
They've taken our freedom but they'll no' take our pride

Our Scotland

Like A Woman And A Man

Secret Lovers

Severe Amnesia

Just uploading this as a little dedication to our English friends on this glorious sunny St George's Day! 

All the lead guitar in this number was played on my acoustic guitar.

Taken from my album Vicious Circle, released 23 January 2015, which you can find on my website at: www.calumsmusic.com

Written and performed by Calum Carlyle 

'Cross The Border

by Older not wiser

written by David Roberts, October 2014
recorded June 2015
final mix by David Roberts and Thomas Koller

Stop You Running (demo)

For the ones who felt the resentful feeling against people who haven't believed in you, here there is one of the most energetic song of the EP "Life, Music & Bread".

You'll Get There

Here there's the second track of the EP "Life, Music & Bread".
Ballad written for her...

Welcome Home

Music & Bread

I wrote this song as part of February Album Writing Month in 2012, and it was partially inspired by the human rights situation in Syria which, as i write this, has sadly only got worse since i wrote the song.
lyrics
The rain had just stopped
We were there on our own
And we didn't know what would come next
The last falling drops
Crashed like bombs to the ground
As we took our first tentative steps

But now we can go home
No-one will stop us and we can have ice cream
And we won't go out
Under those strange skies again

So we're inside again
Put the kettle on then
Take your coat off and we'll have some tea
And we won't go outside
We'll just stay in and hide
I'll be with you and you'll be with me

Because now we can go home
No-one will stop us and we can have ice cream
And we won't go out
Under those strange skies again

Under those strange skies, under those strange skies again

credits
from Strange Skies, released 12 July 2012
Written by Calum Carlyle

Calum Carlyle: guitar and vocals
Susanna Mulvihill: backing vocals.
Recorded and mixed by Daniel Davis at Windmill Sound.
Front cover by Nicole Strachan. 

Strange Skies

Emerald City

This is the earliest song in the Tanakh, from Exodus 15. I have edited it down, but have left it in its original Hebrew. It's a charming song about how great it is to have a god who will smite your enemies utterly.

lyrics
The song, Shirat HaYam, is in Hebrew. Here is the English translation of the lyrics (words selected from Exodus Ch 15, verse numbers included)

1 I will sing to the Lord for He has triumphed gloriously.
Horse and rider He has hurled into the sea
3 The Lord the warrior,
Lord is his name
4 Pharaoh's chariots and army
He has cast into the sea
6 Your right hand, o Lord, glorious in power.
Your right hand, o Lord, shatters the foe
8 At the blast of your nostrils the waters piled up.
The floods stood straight like a wall.
The deeps froze in the heart of the sea
16 Terror and dread descend upon them
Through the might of your arm they are as still as stone.
Till your people cross over, o Lord,
Till your people cross, whom you have ransomed
11 Who is like you Lord among the gods?
Who is like you, majestic in holiness,
Awesome in splendour, working wonders?
18 The Lord will reign forever.

credits
from Honesty And Thorns, released 08 January 2010
lyrics traditional 

Shirat HaYam by Calum Carlyle

This is just a nice little song about what happens after the happy ever after. Hope you enjoy it!
lyrics
For The Rest Of Our Lives

We've got a lot of potential but where does it go?
You don't have to tell me because i know you know
'Cause everything's perfect, and we'll be so happy
For the rest of our lives
So take out the garbage, i'll turn on the TV
We'll eat shepherd's pie, for the rest of our lives

For the rest of our lives

We've got a lot of indifference to what is out there
We've got ourselves in a nice place, so what do we care?
We could be happy for the rest of our lives to the end
We will be happy, 'til we start it all over again

For the rest of our lives
For the rest of our lives
For the rest of our lives
credits
from Strange Skies, released 12 July 2012
Written by Calum Carlyle

Calum Carlyle: guitar and vocals
Susanna Mulvihill: piano
Recorded at Windmill Sound by Daniel Davis 

For The Rest of Our Lives

a very romantic song about someone wishing the other person would see that they love them.

love light

this track is about thinking you are the only person in the world feeling something and then realising that you are not. one of my favourite tracks to play live, energetic and lively/

don't ask why

this was writen about a friend who i thought was looking for something that he could not achieve until he sorted him self out instead of hiding away the problem by using drink drugs and trying to find peace that way. the older i become i wonder if in fact it is about myself looking for utopia myself and the answer i get back is yes. yet again a great song to play with two guitars, this time one being copoed on the second fret.

looking for utopia

edinburgh based singer/songwriter/busker, david roberts,

facebook https://www.facebook.com/davidroberts.musician
twitter @wisernot
email weareoldernotwiser@yahoo.co.uk

singer/songwriters

older not wiser