Inspired by the work of former US Vice President Al Gore, I wrote this track in support of the call for action on climate change. It focuses on the impacts of climate change, the perils of ignoring it and the need, as I see it, for the planet's inhabitants to take responsibility for their home.

You know it’s coming, not a million miles away, from you.          
I can’t believe it, it’ll change everything we do, from now on.
Too late to stop it, keep your head above the water, and breathe.
Just can’t deny it, can’t slow it down, at all.

Pray to all the gods that we can summon,      
there’s no one else that you can rely on,                                   
the heat is on, growing day by day, 
through a hole in the sky.

You know it’s coming, not a million years away, from now.
It’s now a river, where the road used to be, no way home.

See the ice is turning into water, 
see the island slip beneath the sea,
the heat is on, flowing day by day, 
through a hole in the sky.

Please understand, we’ll do all that we can,
We don’t know if it’s a lie, we must wait for a sign,
And the world will be fine, it’s our race against time. 

You know it’s happening, and a million people burn, in the sun    
Their eyes are blinded, and their heads in the sand, hope is gone.

Like Icarus spinning down to die, we lose it all when we fly so high
The heat is on knowing day by day, 
there’s a hole in the sky.

Extract from Al Gore’s Nobel Prize Lecture December 2007:

So today we dumped another 70 million tonnes of global warming pollution into the thin shell of atmosphere surrounding our planet, as if it were an open sewer.

And tomorrow we will dump a slightly larger amount, with the cumulative concentrations now trapping more and more heat from the sun.

As a result the earth has a fever and the fever is rising; the experts have told us that this is not a passing affliction that will heal by itself.

We asked for a second opinion and a third and a fourth, and the consistent conclusion, restated with increasing distress, is that something basic is wrong - we are what is wrong and we must make it right.


Copyright Paul Mitchell Songs 2025

Hole In The Sky

The title comes from the introduction to Carl Honore's book 'In Praise of Slow' - a clarion call for slower, calmer living in which he tells us that the Japanese actually have a word for death by overwork - 'Karoshi' which at that time had increasingly accounted for the demise of highly stressed Japanese workers. This prompted me to write this cautionery tale about over work and the need for work/life balance. The nagging guitar riff and the song's frantic feel are designed to convey the unrelenting stress with only the brief guitar solo lifting into optimism which I imagined represented the respite of a short holiday. Be warned!

Gotta keep going, got bills to pay,
heaven awaits if I turn up each day. Oh, oh, oh.
Gotta keep going got mouths to feed,
got my expectations to exceed.
Gotta get going, gotta get going, gotta get going…..

Faster, faster, longer, longer, higher, higher, stronger, stronger,
better, better, better, better, bitter 
Karoshi

Faster, faster, longer, longer, higher, higher, stronger, stronger,
cooler, cooler, cooler, cooler, killer 
Karoshi

Gotta stop now, gotta think this through, 
gotta work out what I’m going to do. Oh, oh, oh.
Been working 24/7 or more,
couldn’t even tell you what its for.
Gotta get going, gotta get going, gotta get going………………..

Faster, faster, longer, longer, higher, higher, stronger, stronger,
better, better, better, better, bitter 
Karoshi

Faster, faster, longer, longer, higher, higher, stronger, stronger,
cooler, cooler, cooler, cooler, killer 
Karoshi

Copyright Paul Mitchell Songs 2025

Karoshi

This song was written at the start of a new relationship with the lyrics based on a poem written by my new girlfriend at the time. The practical circumstances were not ideal and while our heads were warning us against getting involved our hearts were impossible to resist - and there was 'Nothing In The World' we could do.

Please let me be your friend,
just let me know you better,
There’s nothing to be shamed for,
nothing to be blamed for.

They cannot see inside our heads,
no re-inventing us to fit the situation,
Take each other as we are,
close from afar.

I know that I shouldn’t, I’ve got enough hurt inside,
but life’s too short to wait and wonder, nothing to hide.

Something crazy hit me today, didn’t mean to start this way,
Out of bounds I’m out of my head, with everything that we said.
Something shone in me today, and I can see it in your face,
out of bounds I’m out of my mind,
now I can laugh and sing and feel and cry.

We were always going to be,
lost to reason drawn together,
But the truth comes shining through,
there’s nothing in the world we can do.

Something crazy hit me today, didn’t mean to start this way,
out of bounds I’m out of my head, with everything that we said.
Something shone in me today, and I can see it in your face,
out of bounds I’m out of my mind,
now I can laugh and sing and feel and cry.

I know that I shouldn’t, I’ve got enough hurt inside,
but life’s too short to wait and wonder, nothing to hide.

Something crazy hit me today, didn’t mean to start this way,
out of bounds I’m out of my head, with everything that we said.
Something shone in me today, and I can see it in your face,
out of bounds I’m out of my mind,
now I can laugh and sing and feel and cry…..……..

Copyright Paul Mitchell Songs 2025

Nothing In The World

An interview with Ray Speck on his Afternoon Delight programme (Mondays 1-4pm) broadcast on the 7th July 2025. Ray plays the three songs that are here on Soundcloud and I talk about their meaning, my songwriting and more! Thanks to Ray and Mid Sussex Radio for their support.

Copyright Paul Mitchell Songs 2025

Paul Mitchell Interview MSR 2025-07-07

It’s so easy to react to our emotions, to events, to peoples’ behaviour in an instinctive way that can sometimes be unhelpful. This track celebrates the choice we all can cultivate to stop, think – pause - and take a moment to consider our responses and to act with kindness and positivity. It was inspired by the mindfulness teachings of Ed Halliwell www.edhalliwell.com

What will you say?
Choose your words, you have time....
What have you seen?
What does it mean? You have time....
What have you heard?
What have you learned? You have time....
What do you feel? What is revealed? What is concealed?
And what can be healed? You have time....

Time to find a better way, 
Time to brighten every day,
Time to ease the pain away,
Time to choose what you will say,
Time, i-ime
Time, i-ime
You have time

Copyright: Paul Mitchell Songs 2025

Pause

On and off, through most of my life, I’ve been researching my family history. This has taken me to some amazing places - geographically and emotionally. The title of this track comes from that moment of awe when I stand in a place that my ancestors had been hundreds of years before, and in that moment - Only Time Divides. It is about the generations. How previous generations (especially my Dad) have influenced me through both nature and nurture; how we can choose which of those influences resonate with us as we develop personally into who we want to be and finally acknowledging how we, in our turn, influence those we love who come after us.

Lyrics

You made me what I am, one by one as cells divide,
left your mark on me, in the past a place to hide.

You made me what I am, showed me how to feel inside, 
left your mark on me, forever, oh, oh, oh 
only time divides….. only time divides…..
are you still with me, are you watching over me?

You made me what I am, I’m coming back I’m following clues, 
your paper life and hand-me-down tales, a photograph someone said was you. 
A letter from a friend, a poem to a girl, 
but I, only ever knew, the son of the son of the son of your son, 
all or nothing we can share, but only time divides, 
are you still with me, (only time divides), are you watching over me?

I reach out my hand ‘cross the centuries, 
hear me now, you’re not alone, 
and now I can stand where you used to be 
one divide, only time.....

I’ve found out who I am, I found it in a place deep inside, 
a place where I am free, a place where I can always be.
you helped me find the way, in the gift of every day, passed on and on, 
from the father to the son....only time divides,  
are you still with me, (only time divides) are you watching over me?

Only time divides, only time divides

And now that I know how it’s meant to be, 
living on, in the hearts I love, 
and a line can be drawn down to you from me, 
one divide, only time......

Copyright: Paul Mitchell Music 2025  

Many thanks to Fudge Smith for his excellent drumming, Luke Adams for 12 string guitar and general encouragement and Julian Tardo for mixing and mastering.

Only Time Divides

Singer, songwriter and keyboard player specialising in melodic, emotional, progressive pop.

Paul Mitchell Songs

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