Uptempo but sad song about the end of a relationship fraught with conflict.

I Was Only Trying To Love You

An original song, written this week, about how hard it is to change.

Muscle Memory (short version)

Written based on the prompt "Black Sheep" as part of #fawm songwriters month.   Got really out of my comfort zone with this and had loads of fun.  Also, a rare occurrence of me allowing a piano solo of mine to survive longer than a day before deleting it out of sheer embarrassment.  :-D   Hope you enjoy.

A Flock Of Shadows

Not a cover of the Led Zeppelin classic, just a song about depression.

Lyrics:

Pinned to the wall in memory's centrefuge
reliving all that subterfuge
Eyes that see love only in silhouette
The stare of a thousand yards starts with the first regret
Thoughts strange in tone masquerade as my own
Whispers dissolving on the glass
Turn the TV on, turn the TV off, nothing entertains
Nothing is gone and nothing remains

Chorus
I can't go out with the black dog prowling outside my door
I can't even eat cuz the black dog sleeps on the kitchen floor
Yes, you're there for me, 
yes, you care but you can't see it all through my eyes
I don't need a reason to cry.

Day after day, this subtle vicissitude
between isolation and solitude
Under the tree waiting for god knows who
Nought to be done and nothing I can do
Time yawns insouciant just like my youth
Wrath ripens fat on withered vines
Turn the music up, turn a kindness down, turn it all to flame
Nothing can excuse and nothing can explain

Repeat chorus

Talk with me, walk with me, drink with me, sleep with me
Comfort me, punish me, carry me, bury me
Robbed of my sense and deprived of the sensory
Ecstacy, agony, it's all the same to me
Nothing you feed to me meets any need
Cuz the black dog inside of me's trying to swallow me whole.

Repeat chorus.

Black Dog (live)

This is a reimagining of the 4/4 Weller classic as a 6.  What I'm most proud of with this arrangement isn't the reverse hemiola that was just a triplet on his original but how the whole band just held back and served the fucking song.  The beautiful fucking song.

I would've posted a pic of us on stage.  But I'm playing the sax in that shot and one of Jack's cymbals is obscuring his head.  At least here you can see us all.  Left to right: Alex "Care Bear" Ainsworth, Paul "Papa Bear" Dennis,  Wayne "Smokey Bear" Davies, Jack "Baby Bear" Brown.

I miss playing with these guys.  They are bad motherfuckers.

You Do Something To Me (Paul Weller), practice recording by The Bear, 2007

Arranged by Paul "Papa Bear" Dennis.  We did a lot of this mashup kinda stuff.

Crosstown Traffic (Jimi Hendrix)/ Drive My Car (The Beatles) , practice recording by The Bear, 2007

This began as a loose improvisation I put together for my old band Charlie's Mushrooms in 1994.  I wrote Wholesale Philosophy around it and the song survived that band into my next project, Fagin.

But it never felt finished so when The Bear were open to doing a version of it, I got to work on reimagining what is still known to some as "C B Flat Jam"

Awaken (Paul Dennis), practice recording by The Bear, 2007

The Bear's first demo recorded about 3 months after we formed.

Repertoire Dogs

Lady Marmalade (Bob Crewe and Kenny Nolan), recorded at Rook Pie Studios, Swansea, 2005

Fever (Eddie Cooley/John Davenport), recorded at Rook Pie Studios, Swansea, 2005

Moondance (Van Morrison), recorded at Rookpie Studios, Swansea, 2005

This is a very laid back version of the bouncy summer classic with a slightly jazzy flavour.  I recorded this live as part of my weekly music stream over at www.facebook.com/thatpd every Sunday at 9pm.

Mr Blue Sky - jazzish twist on the classic ELO song

This is a groove-spun version of Don McLean's beautiful tribute to Van Gogh played with a Wurlitzer sound and a sprinkle of jazz.  I recorded this live as part of my weekly music stream over at www.facebook.com/thatpd every Sunday at 9pm.

Vincent - soulful mellow groove version of the Don McLean classic played with a Wurly sound

Complete songwriting or music for your lyrics (and vice versa) and arrangements available at industry rates.  Contact facebook.com/thatpd.

Paul B Dennis

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