Set list

Rich songs

Prompted by the mighty James Tristan Redding I've written and recorded 45 songs this year, most of them turned around in less than a week and written for a given theme / title.

This is an album of my favourite ones.

What do you reckon? xx

bespoke

Heard the news today
So unexpected
When that nice man came and told us
Everything was gonna change
Been working a long long time,
now I been selected
I been lifted and directed
To a new life on the way,  and….

I'm getting ready x4
I'm getting ready to go meet the lord

See this bright new world
In living colour,
Everyone with one another 
gonna dance the night away
So I kick my shoes off now
And I'm gonna shake it
Cause my heart must travel naked
On the road I'm gonna take, and...

I'm getting ready x4
I'm getting ready to go meet the lord

I'm ready now 
Cause if you want me Lord, I know that you can take me now
I'm ready now
Just put me where you want me to be and show me how

Half my life gone by
I never noticed
Kept my head down staying focused
On the busy-ness at hand
All the joy I missed
I didn't seek it
Say the prayer and come to meet it,
Follow willingly the plan, but…

I'm getting ready x4
I'm getting ready to go meet the lord

Getting Ready

Written with and featuring the mighty Julia Bloom ( https://juliabloom.org/ )

I’ve been dead and born again
More times that I can count 
From smallest to the largest I have grown
The corners turned, the lessons learned 
but only to forget
In the silence of the falling snow

Summers come and summers go
And winters never end
until the spring awakens us from sleep
But ON beyond the coming fall
I'll never rise again
These bones will be the final piece of me

But oh - feel the life rising and I'm new again
Oh - does it really matter how it goes away?

I been dancing skyward 
with the birds and all the bees
Spinning out the quivering strands of life
Weaving sound and colour til they're free to be released
Miracles on miracles in flight

Inside the gene you never see
but feel at every turn
I'm the one who steers you through the dark
I'm the love and longing
That can bring you through the hurt
That makes the meaning pulling at your heart

Oh - feel the life arising and I'm new again
Oh - does it really matter that it goes 

When there’s a love……
I feel a love that lifts me up and lays me down to my rest
I feel a love that lifts me up and lays me down to my rest

Feel the bees that tickle 
as they nibble at your flowers
Knowing how their kisses share your life
Though the birds may wound you 
as they're pecking at your boughs
Only they can spread the seed so wide

Lovers come and lovers go
and wonders never cease
So we travel wide and travel far
Though they fade and fall away
like autumn's changing leaves
love remains and makes us what we are

Oh - feel the life arising and I'm new again
Oh - does it really matter how it goes away?

New Again (with Julia Bloom)

I'm a doctor, in a helicopter
If you wanna step to me
You'd better get a little higher than you are
My warmth and knowledge, like morning porridge
This love bomb is gonna tear right through your life like a motorbike

Though my fabulous air ambulance is flying high
There’s evidence that arrogance is rife
This life can take or can leave you like a wife
And so I'm cutting through your butter like a hot knife

Well, I'm the pilot - high-flying skyward
I could let you try it but
You got to get your little fire under my control
Might dent your ego if you’re watching me go
I wouldn't say I'm a hero but
They are a little magnificent, these things I do

Chorus

We’re only heroes - we’re just heroes, that’s all we are
We’re only heroes - only heroes, nothing more
Everyday heroes - only heroes, that’s all we are
That’s why we fly so high and go so far

Air Ambulance

I know, I know, you'll say I'm doing it again
You'll say I'm giving all my self-respect away
I can't help but follow
I can't help but be a moth drawn to her flame
You know it's really only cause I love to feel alive
Yeah and you know we've gotta make our own mistakes
I know this might be one of them
But I'm not gonna let the chance escape

Incoming call - She's coming over - Somethings coming over me
Just like a momentary madness come to set me free.. from
this flesh and bone - this scrolling phone - I've got this hole in my soul
I know it's stupid but I can't help but believe she'll make me whole
She's coming home, she's coming over - And she's coming over me
Just like a wave that's gonna wash me to the sea and I say
Oh come along, come take me home - I've got this hole in my soul
I know it's stupid but I can't help but believe you'll make me whole

Bleary-eyed I focus on wreckage of the night before
There's clothes and chaos strewn around the room
Here inside my heart I feel the warmth, I feel the victory of you
Shrugging at my nakedness of body and of mind
I see the heaven and the earth that curve around
I can't help but let the moment take me - make me let my feelings out
I can't help but shout oh...

She's coming - oh, she's coming over - And she's coming over me
Just like a wave that's gonna wash me to the sea and I say
Oh come along, come take me home - I've got this hole in my soul
I know it's stupid but I can't help but believe you'll make me whole
So come around, come take me out - you lift my feet right off the ground
You lead me anywhere, I’ll follow you without a doubt, cos
You lift me out of the lost and found - Come take me out of this town
Out into the wildness that all the world revolves around….

When the stars glow over us, 
It’s never hopeless
Heaven's close enough for me 

Incoming call - She's coming over - Somethings coming over me
Just like a momentary madness come to set me free.. from
this flesh and bone - this scrolling phone - I've got this hole in my soul
I know it's stupid but I can't help but believe you'll make me whole
She's coming home - She's coming over - And she's coming over me
Just like a wave that's gonna wash me to the sea and I say
Oh come along - come take me home - I've got this hole in my soul
I know it's stupid but I can't help but believe you'll make me whole

I Know It's Stupid

Come - all you tired ones
Let yourself be held
Let yourself be welcomed 

Meet me in the presence of the moment
Meet me in the flowing of the stream
Meet me as you fold into your own mind
Meet me as you wake into the dream

Come - all you lonely ones 
Let yourself be seen (/ known)
Let yourself be welcomed (/ open)

Meet me in the moment ever flowing
Meet me at the sinking of the sun
Meet me as the other's arms enfold you
Meet me in the presence of the one

Come - all you shining suns
Let yourself be bright
Let yourself be radiant
Come - all you shining ones
Let out all your light
Play in any way you want

Meet me in the dazzle of the noon time
Meet me as the sunlight fades away
Meet me in the quiet of the moonlight
Meet me at the breaking of the day

Come - all you tired ones
Let yourself be held
Let yourself be welcomed

Song For The Tired

I was a sperm - among hundreds of millions
Among hundreds of millions, I came through
I was an egg - I'd been waiting forever
I mean waiting since my mother's mother's womb
But Heathcliff runs and Cathy comes
They're melting into one

This is the bonus round, the bonus round
We made it through the dark
This is the bonus round, the bonus round
I'll tell you who we are
We are the winners
We are the winners
Waving to the crowd

I was a slave - with bowed head and broken
I was cowed and soft-spoken, in my fears   
I ran away - til I turned and I faced it
til I learned and embraced my wasted years
And now Andy’s out of shawshank
Lifts his hands to feel the rain

This is the bonus round, the bonus round
We made it through the dark
This is the bonus round, the bonus round
I'll tell you who we are
We are the winners - We are the winners

On darker days I tell myself
It's all too much I tell myself
I tell myself it's more than i can do
I want to break the story's spell
I want another tale to tell
To break the spell - I tell myself the truth

I was a sperm - among hundreds of millions
Among hundreds of millions, I'm the one 
I was an egg - I'd been waiting forever
Til I never thought my prince’d ever come
But then boy meets girl and theirs the world
We're bursting into life

 This is the bonus round, the bonus round
We've made it through the dark
This is the bonus round, the bonus round
And love is what we are
We are the winners - we are the winners
The game's already won
Cause look how far you've come - you were a sperm

Bonus Round

A little voice inside of me, it tells me I should hide
Tells me if I'm seen I'll just be hated
In recent years I've seen enough, To trust that it's a lie
To know that underneath we're all related

So come on let's not dance around it, 
Let's be brave and talk about it
Have the heart to walk towards, 
The crashes and the minor chords
If this is what we really want, 
Let's open up and be up front
Let's let the staring public see, 
Our beauty and integrity
So come on let's not dance around it, 
Let's be brave and talk about it
Speak the secret words aloud, 
And let's not dance around it any more.

If all manipulation springs, From fear that they'll say no
From fear to lose control and risk rejection
I know that we're all scared sometimes, But all the same I know
I wanna take a more direct direction

So come on let's not dance around it, 
Let's be brave and talk about it
Make the leap of faith it takes, 
To play a game for greater stakes
If this is who we really are, 
Well maybe it's a bridge too far
Or maybe it's the bridge that leads, 
Us to the very thing we need
So come on let's not dance around it, 
let's be brave and talk about it
have the heart to spit it out, 
And let's not dance around it any more.

That little voice inside of me, That tells me I should hide
Tells me I can't tell you what I came for
The love that flows in spite of me, that comes from deep inside
It tells me nothing natural is shameful

So come on let's not dance around it, 
Let's be brave and talk about it
Have the heart to walk towards, 
The crashes and the minor chords
If this is what we really want, 
Let's open up and be up front
Let's let the staring public see, 
Our beauty in integrity
So come on let's not dance around it, 
Let's be brave and talk about it
Speak the hidden words aloud, 
And let's not dance around it any more.

Let's not dance around it

At the worst possible time
With the worst most difficult of people
The sudden flood will flash me back
Til I'm just a little kid - and there I am
And I feel if they see me small and lost and weak I'll
Lose whatever worth I've had no matter what I did - But I say….

Please don't push it under the carpet - no
Please don't sweep it under the rug
What slumbered lost and broken must be woken, spoken open-hearted
it comes up for healing needing love (It needs to feel the healing love)

And we might not have much time
And this could be our final meeting
And if I never get the chance again - I wanna say it all
So here I am - I'm trying to find a way to break the pattern
Would you let me know what happened 
and what all the walls were for? Oh

Please don't push it under the carpet - no
Please don't sweep it under the rug
What slumbered lost and broken must be woken, spoken open-hearted
it comes up for healing needing love (It needs to feel the healing love)

And It's no mystery - the rolling family history
Is what appears to be - the tune that's leading the dance
And though we tend to think - the past was written indelibly
Just like a time machine - the triggers give us a chance….

At the worst possible time
With the closest most beloved people
The sudden flood will flash you back
Til you're sinking like a stone
And there you'll be - like me
With the chance to write a better story
The urge to just ignore it
And a choice that's yours alone, and I'll say….

Please don't push it under the carpet - no
Please don't sweep it under the rug
What slumbered lost and broken must be woken, spoken open-hearted
it comes up for healing needing love (It needs to feel the healing love)

Under The Rug

Hey Al tell me now what we got
What's 2 bodies doing in a pool of blood?
Better DRAW that CHALK outline around 'em
we ain't touched nothing - that's how we found them
neighbour called it in and from what she said
There was banging and groaning and the sheets all red
A man and a woman in a pool of blood
But there AIN'T no crime this time but love

Every day's a day for love 
Every day's a day for love 
Every day's a day for love with you 

Hippies! Goddamn hippies making love
All units, be advised we have reports of sexual relations during a menstrual time - stand by

Hey man, don't you thi-i-ink that love should be free?
WHAT do you want get HUNG up on it for?
And the ORgasms they HELP with the CRAMPing, you see
And my lover it don’t bother him at all

So every day's a day for love 
Every day's a day for love 
Every day's a day for love with you 

Well hold up singing now, I ain’t saying there’s
Anything wrong with getting it on
When it’s code red, Shark week
Moon time, Communists in the funhouse - oh no
But your neighbour called us saying you’d been murdered
So we came to check it out
And though you’ve somewhat rubbed it in our faces
And the rest of us aren’t always quite so blessed
I hope you’ll get back down to what you’re supposed to do 
I truly wish that for you both of you 

Every day's a day for love 
Every day's a day for love 
Every day's a day for love for you

Crime-Scene (a Day For Love)

Out beyond the edges of your little patch of light
Awaits a darkness you can never know….
And every single thing you think you know just borders on the night 
On the other world that's out of your control
Out beyond the edges of the things that keep you safe
The butcher and policeman wash your hands
Here be all the dragons that at night keep you awake
Welcome gentle traveller to our lands

Come into my parlour says the spider to the fly
The perfect guest and who could ask for more?
Such a tasty feast we’ll have together you and I
Sweet mother nature red in tooth and claw

Out beyond the edges of the things you dare to say
Beyond what you'll admit to your own self
I await you smiling like the brother to your play
Smuggled in beneath your shame-filled stealth 
Out beyond on the edge of where the rules and laws are strong………. 
There's a madness that no mortal man can hold
Grip tight your burning torches and your precious right and wrong
I am the monster driven out by men of old

I was once a tender cub, an innocent at play
Lifted gently by a tender mother
With strike and shout they cast me out to hide the livelong day
And sink my teeth beneath a midnight cover
 
Out beyond the edges of the things that keep you safe
The butcher and policeman wash their hands
Here be all the dragons that at night keep you awake
Welcome gentle traveller to our lands
Out beyond the edges of the maps you're hoping still
Might bring you safely home so glad and happy
But in the valley’s deathly shadows I shall fear no ill
I am the evilest motherfucker in the valley

Out Beyond The Edges

Good enough is good enough - good enough is fine
There’s no need for chasing after perfect all the time
It’s good to make it better but I want to draw the line
When good enough is good enough cause good enough is fine
Good enough is just good enough
Good enough is just good enough

Good enough is good enough - good enough is great
Helps me get things done so I’ve got less upon my plate
Except a sense of sweet accomplishment, of lightness and of fun
As a happy a imperfectionist I get so much more done
Good enough is just good enough
Good enough is just good enough

Cos when I'm striving trying to be the best
It doesn't matter just how good it gets
The love I try so hard to find
Comes only from inside

Good Enough Is Good Enough

I sit and remember back when we began 
Getting to know you, you taking my hand
Now you're keeping your distance whenever you can
And I'm scared and I don't understand 

Don't wanna hear what you don't wanna say
And each time I reach out, you say not today
Is there still time to fix it or is it too late?
Am I watching you drifting away?

I’ve felt there's been something not right for a while
I know you're not telling me what's on your mind
And I took it for granted that we'd have more time
But it feels like the end of the line

Don't wanna hear what you don't wanna say
And each time I reach out, you say not today
Is there still time to fix it or is it too late?
Am I watching you drifting away?

I'll always treasure the moments you gave me
Belonging together with you
Nothing's forever, they say, and it saves me,
Feeling this pain as I do

Don't wanna hear what you don't wanna say
And each time I reach out, you say not today
Is there still time to fix it or is it too late?
Am I watching you drifting away?

Drifting Away

She's still got the scars from
being the foreign one
From being the one that the others could prey on
it made her a traveller
And made her a hard one
It sent her in search of somewhere she'd be welcome

And through all her travels
This thread keeps on going
The fabric unravels
The threads come unwoven 
And all of the wanderings
they bring her on back to here….

I still got the scars
From being the other
From being the kid with the red hair and temper
It made me a fighter
It works for a while but
you dream of the freedom and travelling lighter

I long for the ocean
The wide open spaces
The sun on the water
I'm dreaming of places
Of warmth and of beauty
Where everyone's welcome
This world is a factory
It should be a garden

Doesn't matter where you're from you belong here - earthling

She's still got the scars from
From being the foreign one
She'll take herself off and she'll hide in the corner
It works for a while but
You find in the long run
You long for a life that's little bit warmer

Each land's been invaded
And people have settled
And made it their homeland
Where is the threshold?
We've all been outsiders
We've all been excluded
Everything here on this earth's been uprooted

Doesn't matter where you're from you belong here - earthling

Earthling

Come sit quietly now, and do what you're told
There's no-one to hear you - there's no-one to hold
No-one to hold a space to let your fears unfold
So you sit quietly now and do what you're told

Ink and paper - black and white
No-one's coming to save you - no end in sight
And no-one's gonna come make it all alright 
So you sit quietly now, keep it all inside

Sit quietly now, and do what you're told
There's no-one to hear you
There's no-one to hold
No-one to hold a space to let the fear unfold
So you sit quietly now and do what you're told

Thoughts so ugly, who could love me,
Made your bed now sleep in it
Tears are running down my bloody face
Starving hungry, must be some way
I can let you, help me out,
Let your kindness soften my disgrace

Everything that brought me to your knees
showed me only what I had to see
it turned you into who I’m meant to be
Every river runs into sea

And you can sit quietly now - you're held and safe
There's love all around you now
No price to pay
And now you've made it through the darkness to the day
You can sit quietly now - you found your way

Sit Quietly

I don't think we're gonna make it
Think the billionaires will take us 
off the precipice
We're sliding off the edge of it
And though I'd love to change it
How's an ant derail a train
I'm insignificant
Or is that what I'm meant to think?
So

No need for conflict now 
cause no-one’s gonna make it
No safer spaces now that 
no-one’s getting out this alive
Stare in your loved ones’ eyes cause  
every moment’s sacred
Squeeze every hand so tight and 
wait while the aPOCalypse arrives
Cause no-one’s getting out of this alive

I don't think we're gonna make it
I’ve been trying not to face it for the longest time
Always at the back of my mind
Bitter is taste
It’s all so pointless, such a waste
It’s so avoidable - 
if human life was just affordable
But

No need for conflict now 
cause no-one’s gonna make it
No safer spaces now that 
no-one’s getting out this alive
Tears in your loved ones’ eyes and 
every moment’s sacred
Squeeze all their hands so tight and 
wait until the after-life arrives
Cause no-one’s getting out of this alive

How could I lead you to this place
Only to leave without a trace 
of hope, without a call to arms?
Baby, I just need you to be strong 
and carry on
Or come despair with me and feel the eerie calm

I don’t think we’re gonna make it,
I think the billionaires will break it
Fuck the future up
For a little more of way too much
So WRONG it's almost funny
Cause the little extra money's insignificant,
to them, 
Still they SNUFF out every chance again

No need for conflict now 
cause no-one’s gonna make it
No safer spaces now that 
no-one’s getting out this alive
Stare in your loved ones’ eyes cause  
every moment’s sacred
Squeeze every hand so tight and 
wait while the apocalypse arrives
Cause no-one’s getting out of here alive

Out Beyond The Edges

Rich Waring