I don't know what this is really,probably just more DV bollox!

The inspiration for the track came last year when part of my favourite walk was closed for renovations,but I sneaked in past the barriers most days anyway!
Being alone is a landscape prompted be to imagine I was the only person left alive. This in turn took me to what we are doing to the planet and what we might do to help.
Yeah,I was right the first time,more DV bollox!

Taking the shortcut
Past the sign pathway closed
I know I really shouldn't
But as long as no one knows

The sea is ever present
Turning pebbles into sand
As I begin my descent 
Into no man's land

Could be the world has ended
Erased the human race
There are times I have pretended
We didn't leave a trace

Fragile our existence
Living unaware
Yet somewhere in the distance
A rolling nightmare

Reflecting on our being
We seek to understand
Looking but not seeing
We live in Wonderland

Could be the world has ended
Erased the human race
There are times I have pretended
We didn't leave a trace

Wonderland

A little 2 minute Instrumental thang for ya all on new years day. Digging into my Celtic roots again!

Happy new year,you talented bunch.

Celtic Thang

A bit late,but best wishes to y'all. 

I hope this is a good year
I hope for me and you
I hope for warmth and good cheer
In twenty twentytwo

I'll raise a glass,here's to you all
Together we can do
Before our final curtain call
Let live twenty twentytwo

May your time be ever golden
May you see your trouble through
May you never be beholden
In twenty twentytwo

Remember what we took for granted
Remember what we thought was free
Isolated disenchanted
Life has no guarantee

Here's to all the tired and weary
I wish the best for you
A year that's not so dreary
In twenty twentytwo

(Twenty) 22

My father passed away today 18th Feb 2022. The last few months were particularly hard for him and he just wanted to die.  This song is one of a few I wrote as catharsis. Sometimes we can live too long when quality of life has gone. 

Sometimes there's no justice
There's no need to try
You just need to trust us
'Til it's your time to die

It's painful to watch you
It's not living at all
Just waiting the days through
For that hammer to fall

I know you really want to go
There's nothing I can do
I want you to know

I feel so helpless
Impotent and scared
It's all so hopeless
But cannot be repaired

I know you really want to go
There's nothing I can do
I want you to know
I know you really want to go
There's nothing I can do
I want you to know

A Thousand Cuts

In his final days,my father vividly saw things which obviously weren't there. He was otherwise sound of mind,so this was very odd. That's when I found out about Charles Bonnet syndrome.

Charles Bonnet syndrome causes a person whose vision has started to deteriorate to see things that aren't real.

The hallucinations may be simple patterns, or detailed images of events, people or places.

They're only visual and don't involve hearing things or any other sensations.

It's important to be aware that hallucinations associated with Charles Bonnet syndrome are caused by failing eyesight. They're not caused by a mental health problem or dementia.

People with Charles Bonnet syndrome are usually aware that the visions aren't real, even if they're vivid.
There are 2 main types of hallucination that people with Charles Bonnet syndrome tend to experience.

They may see:

simple repeated patterns
complex images of people, objects or landscapes
Simple repeated patterns can take the form of grids, shapes or lines, which can appear in bright or vivid colours. The patterns may lay across or cover everything the person sees.

More complex hallucinations can involve people, places, animals and insects.


There's a great big dog
Outside my window
Why he's alone,I really don't know
I can see him there
Plain as the day

There's a small bird there
On my windowsill
If you look really hard
He's there still
I can see him there
Plain as the day

I think they're trying to kill me
But I don't really mind
I long to be free
To be unconfined
I can see it now
Plain as the day

I see myself with your mother
On a golden afternoon
No wheelchair to roll me
My legs still below me
I hope it happens soon

Charles Bonnet

They wake you up,then lay you down
The part in between
Is just waiting around

The TV plays the same old shows
Groundhog day
From beginning to close

When your time is over And your picture's on that door
They won't need locks to keep you there
In room 54

The window shows the world outside
A million miles away 
From your bedside

When your time is over And your picture's on that door
They won't need locks to keep you there
In room 54

Your life's been lived and your time is done
The last great battle
Just can't be won

When your time is over And your picture's on that door
They won't need locks to keep you there
In room 54

Room 54

Play it loud.

I tried to look
But it hurts my eyes
Is this the truth I see
Or only lies

I can't see you
I can't fell you now
I can't hear you
I can't feel you now

Shadows

Shadows

SSMNF

In my teens I loved Focus songs such as Hocus Pocus and Sylvia,they epitomised melodic rock guitar of the era. My love affair has been with the Telecaster,so this is my ham fisted tribute to Jan and the rock instrumental.

If Jan Akkerman Played A Telecaster

There are no certainties in our short little lives,so it's best to make sure we treat folk right and enjoy every sandwich.

No one says it's about to change
No proximity alert
No time to dodge the damage
It's gonna hit you where it hurts

We sail along like nothing's wrong
Everything is fine
'Til the moment we are holed
Below the waterline

Everything is fine,brother
Everything is fine

One moment there we are
Safe from harm
Next we're on our knees begging
For the eye of the storm

Everything's gonna be alright
Everything's gonna be alright

When we're adrift and losing
All that we hold dear
Bad luck hits like an eighteen wheeler
All hope disappears

Everything is fine,brother
Everything is fine

I'm not the man I used to be
I've faded,like a ghost
Of all the things I cannot do
I miss loving you the most

Everything is fine,brother
Everything is fine

Everything Is (not) Fine

A tribute to my Da. He's a shadow of his former self,but still hanging in there.

I was born in the golden time
Ten years after war
People didn't have too much
But they worked damn hard for more
All those years of uneasy truce
Before the long farewell
The truth of making peace with you
Was to make peace with myself

Well I don't really know if you're a good man as such
I don't really know if it means that much
All those years I held a grudge
But I'm old now myself and I'm slower to judge.

I used to think you hated me and punished me each day
But no father held your hand,no one showed the way
You did your best to guide me through the good and bad
But you never read the book,'How to be a Dad'.

Well I don't really know if you're a good man as such
I don't really know if it means that much
All those years I held a grudge
But I'm old now myself and I'm slower to judge.

I'm super great at never taking my own advice,but perhaps this may help someone in a tight spot to gain some perspective.

Breathe in breathe out
Come and go
Be quiet and shout
Ebb and flow

Walk and run
Strive and rest
The moon and the sun
The worst and the best

Chalk and cheese
Fiction and fact
Cure and disease
Opposites attract

Hot and cold
Wet and dry
Young and old
Live and die

Angry and calm
Pleasure and pain
Safe and damned
Leave and remain

Don't stop now,you're doing grand
All you got to do is play your hand

Laugh and cry
Love and hate
Earth and sky
Choice and fate

Sick or healed
Shallow or deep
Fight or yield
Wake or sleep

Don't stop now,you're doing grand
All you got to do is play your hand

Breathe in breathe out
Come and go
Be quiet and shout
Ebb and flow

Breathe In Breathe Out

For those too young to remember (most,these days!)In the early 60s there was very little of the new rock and roll on the radio. What you did hear was controlled by the BBC suits,who had no liking for this passing fad.

Young people in those days who wanted to hear their music all day long tuned into the pirate radio stations. My choice was Radio Caroline North,which was anchored just off the Isle of Man.

These pirate stations were involved in a running battle with the authorities,in the shape of the Postmaster General,Mr.Antony Wedgwood Benn,more commonly known as Tony Benn.

Eventually,Radio Caroline was shut down and the musical arse fell out of my world. I listened to the final sign off when they played the Tremeloes song "radio Caroline',then there was radio silence. I felt like I'd lost a friend.

The authorities gave us the token of BBC Radio 1,but although I listened,because it was all we had,it was never the same for me and I won't forget.

Here's to the young who misbehave everywhere and to the changes they bring.


I recall Caroline
Playing over the air
It takes me to another time
A fresh,new somewhere

Play to me,my radio
Put the music in my head
Make everything alright
That's what the DJ said

Playing on the airwaves
New stuff every day
Youth will always misbehave
Will always show the way

The Postmaster General
He didn't dig the sound
He plotted for the burial
Send music underground

Play to me,my radio
Put the music in my head
Make everything alright
That's what the DJ said

I heard the dying moments
When they took it all away
They gave us all a token
But I won't forget that day

Radio Caroline

Inspired by the quote from Antonio Porchia,"In a full heart there is room for everything and in an empty heart there is room for nothing".

It's hard to
To do the right thing
When all the colours turn to black
You don't know
What the day brings
And no one ever has your back

Hollow in your heart
Following the pain
All the way to hell
And back again

You're walking
In a minefield
Praying you step the right way
No magic answer
Has been revealed
Confusion is the order of the day.

Hollow in your heart
Following the pain
All the way to hell 
And back again

Hollow In Your Heart

Sometimes we get s fixated by things going on in our personal lives,that we lose perspective and we sweat the 'small stuff'. Kinda like walking with our heads down and not seeing what's all around. This is a reminder to myself as well as anyone else who tends to indulge too much in the regarding of the belly button fluff of life!

Heads up y'all!

Walking with your head down
Looking at the ground
Life in tunnel vision
Blinkered,tightly bound

Living in a bubble
Insular and bound
While avoiding trouble
You miss what's all around

Rolled up in cotton wool
Safe from all harm
A life of only half full
But free from alarm

Look up
There's a whole universe
Listen up
There's so much to be heard

Ever wary,taking care
Avoiding risk or chance
Treading water,going nowhere
Maintain a careful stance

Look up
There's a whole universe
Listen up
There's so much to be heard

Look Up

This is not an anti faith song. It's a cry against those who use whatever system they can to act as a shield while they follow their own agenda. Those who prey on those who pray.

There are genuine people in all walks of life who may be tarred with the same brush as the opportunists,this is a classic mistake when generalising.

This is a song railing against those who are not what they pretend to be.

You raise us on your rituals of a god above
We all must obey the rules
You watch us drinking up your cup of blood
And see us all for fools

I call you out and all your sick desire
I see you for what you really are,a liar

You wouldn't know the truth if it stared you in the face
For you it's about control
You've fallen down so far from grace
All you are is just a show

You masquarade as some who is full of love
Another pair of helping hands
But when the push comes right down to shove
Then you have other plans

I call you out and all your sick desire
I see you for what you really are,a liar

Liar

A certain place I walk regularly gives me vibes,night or day. I'm never freaked out,just aware that I sense I have company,yet I'm alone.

Every time I walk here
'Tween the sea and the stone
I always get the feeling
I'm never quite alone

No one is with me
But someone,something
Feels like it's here

Footsteps behind me
'Tween the sea and the stone
After a while I turn around
But I'm still alone

No one is with me
But someone,something
Feels like it's here

'Tween the Sea and the Stone

'Tween the sea and the Stone (Paranoid)

Dear soundcloud friends,

I'm not in a good place at the moment,my father is very ill and the last few weeks have been traumatic. Life is on hold and so is the creation of music.

I'm sorry I have not had the opportunity to listen to your great new music,but hopefully at some time in the future,I will.

I wrote this track about a year ago,but for me it captures my feelings for the moment. Take care you all.

Davy.

I'm at the period in my life where family figures have become frail,the bones of the cage are failing and it's hard to watch. Once bright minds become dim and active bodies become fragile and temperamental.

Sorry for the downer,but my music nearly always reflects where my head is at. It's good to enjoy folk before the old enemy stakes his claim.

Time always goes for the kill

A beauty sublime
Ravaged by time
No mercy or quarter given
The bones of the cage
Decaying with age
Wrecked,ruined and riven

Oh,the ancient bones
They creak and they groan
Every task they're asked to fulfil
But there's no mystery here
No need to explain
Time always goes for the kill

Each line of worry
Tells a story
Someone who ages with grace
Nothing is hidden
Time moves unbidden
We see it etched on everyone's face

Oh,the ancient bones
They creak and they groan
Every task they're asked to fulfil
But there's no mystery here
No need to explain
Time always goes for the kill

Time

I was honoured to add some guitar to this track by The Gat(s) and Gina Wood.

Sonatina Violin Synth : Gina Wood @gina-wood-837506330
Guitar: Davy Vance: 
Music & all else: Jan Schonander https://soundcloud.com/thegats
ec·sta·sy
/ˈekstəsē/
noun
1.
an overwhelming feeling of great happiness or joyful excitement:
"there was a look of ecstasy on his face"
2.
an emotional or religious frenzy or trance-like state, originally one involving an experience of mystic self-transcendence.

Delayed Ecstasy by The Gat(s)and Gina Wood (Davy Vance Reload)

The black eye stares
But doesn't see
The crackhead floats
But he's never free

The fire is dark
Awaits the match
No ember to kindle
No flame to catch

I wish I'd something left to wish for
I wish I cared
I'd step over the edge for you
If I dared

The house lies silent
No piano plays
Not even the echo of yesterdays

Cold and empty
Reality thin
A home's just a building
When no one's in

I wish I'd something left to wish for
I wish I cared
I'd step over the edge for you
If I dared

Empty House

The whole world spun away
The sound incessant
Perhaps I'm dying now
Not a thought I find unpleasant

I've hurt some people 
and I loved some too
Life is a steep hill
But we made it through

I knew I had done it wrong
When the earth became the sky
It seemed to last forever
I don't need wings to fly

I took my chances
Didn't hedge my bets
I played the game
I have no regrets

No regrets

No Regrets

No Regrets(Motorcycle musings....)

Ah,the times were good
We had a ball
We didn't make much money
Sometimes none at all

We played our songs
Believed the part
All that we played and sang
Came from the heart

Remember when the fire burned bright
Playing those songs every night

Ah time moves fast
But we move slow
Nothing ever lasts
We weren't to know

Burned out and faded
The passion gone
Going through the motions
For every well known song

Remember when the fire burned bright
Playing those songs every night

Remember when the fire burned bright
Playing those songs every night

No Principles-The Storyteller

Oh let me in 
Anyway you can
Oh let me in 
I'll try to understand

Oh give me one more chance
I know how that sounds
I promise on my life
This time I'll stay around

I've tried to see the best in you 
I tried to pull down walls
But I'm a voice in the wilderness
No one hears at all

Oh don't freeze me out
I've nowhere left to hide
Oh don't close me out now
I need to be inside

I've played out all my cards
My options have all gone
I used the bank of you
And now I'm overdrawn

I've tried to see the best in you 
I tried to pull down walls
But I'm a voice in the wilderness
No one hears at all

A Voice In The Wilderness

First time parents can experience mixed emotions. On one hand there is the elation of bringing new life into the world,but this can often be accompanied by anxiety and worry about the future. This song explores a little of parental hopes and fears. Excitement and dread wear each other's clothes.

Just what lies ahead
No one really knows
Excitement and dread
Wear each other's clothes

Living is a lottery
An ever changing dance
Fate will make a mockery
Of anything but chance

May all the hope and love
Invested in you
Give you the heart
To see this battle through.

Welcome To The World

First track for 2020

For those in abusive relationships,for those who have suffered enough,for those who have tried so hard,to no avail,for those weary of casting pearls before swine,pick yourself up,leave it all and walk away. Life will not wait,the right time is now.

As soon as this piece came together I knew it would suit Amanda's voice,what she brings to the track was the icing on the cake.

Listen to Amanda here 
https://soundcloud.com/phoebeelena/tracks

Walk away
From those who always treat you cold
Walk away
From those who always grieve your soul

Walk away From those who always put you down
Walk away
They're no good to be around

Walk Away feat Amanda Sanderson

Epiphany is a cool word. Even cooler when it happens!

First track using my newly built baritone guitar.

Creeping on and dangerous
Like a rattlesnake
Nothing here to injure us
Falling awake

Scales on my eyes fall away
Crystal fair and square
My thoughts are a silent prayer
I see what's really there

Tears running down my face
It's all a big mistake
I think at last I know my place
Falling awake

Falling Awake

Around the seasonal blind bend
The Winter never seems to end
No cheer or warmth in sight
No sense of a respite

Ah we've been here before
Always expecting more
Memories aren't enough
Patience is so tough

Everything has changed
Nothing stays the same
Plans are rearranged
No one is to blame

Feels like a waking dream
Nothing's what it seems
Troubles are tightly wrapped
Potential is untapped

Don't you ever give up hope
Don't ride that slippery slope
The Summer sun will shine
All will be just fine

Everything has changed
Nothing stays the same
Plans are rearranged
No one is to blame

Change

The mighty baritone rides again. 😎


I never wanted to push the boat out
Give you pie in the sky
I didn't promise I'd be perfect
I'm not that guy

I'd rather be cool than a danger
Risking all I see
Better a fool than an angel
Is all I want to be

I didn't promise I'd be good
Not guilty of that crime
I do things I shouldn't do
Happens all the time

Please be good to me
Don't get on my back
I'm weak and I'm a fool
Cut me some slack

I'd rather be cool than a danger
Risking all I see
Better a fool than an angel
Is all I want to be

Better A Fool

There are times when we must step back and recognise certain events are beyond our control or influence. Rather than waste energy railing against this unalterable fact,we must learn to accept what we cannot change and find new ways of adapting. Although I say this,I struggle too. I'm a slow learner.
Some slide action to be played appropriately loud!


Don't be angry with the sun that sets
Or the wind and rain that blow
Nothing's gained by fretting
What you can't control

Don't get tight with things not right
Just let it all unfold
You can make it better
Just by letting go

Life is tough and treats you rough
If you swim against the tide
You can make it better
Let it all just slide

Let It Go

Second album of 10 songs 'Looking Up',available from bandcamp,Spotify and the rest.

https://vancemagill.bandcamp.com/album/look-up

First album of songs. 'Flying Solo'.
https://vancemagill.bandcamp.com/album/flying-solo

And on Spotify
https://open.spotify.com/album/4BOvUv16dOl6cgcWANX1Dz
This is my first solo venture. It's an album of ten songs and it can be downloaded  from bandcamp free,or for whatever you deem it worth. I'd be happy if you just take a copy and listen to my musical ramblings. 
Thanks to all who take the time.  :)

Follow on Spotify  https://open.spotify.com/album/4BOvUv16dOl6cgcWANX1Dz
A while back I viewed s/c as merely a hosting platform for posting on forums,but then I realised there was access to so many wonderful compositions by other folk,it then became my prime source of listening to music.
This little corner of the internet is actually a thriving musical community where nobodies such as myself can share songs with the great and the good.
All that just has to be positive and welcome.
Thanks to all who listen and comment,be assured I will return the favour,as I love finding new artists. Please don't follow me if you are going to unfollow,I only wish to listen and share music,I am not a follower collector.


Songs are a mix of solo work with all instruments played by myself,plus my own world weary vocals! I tend to favour my home made Telecasters and a Strat,though the odd acoustic makes an appearance. I use Logic Pro X and am a recent convert to DAW.

I play and write for the joy of expression and always with the hope my songs may be a positive force to anyone who takes time to listen. I'm an old boy now,so I harbour no dreams of success in the conventional sense,having the odd comment is just fine for me. Thanks to all who bother.

 Also earlier songs from a project in 2015, with Fiona and Martin Magill,Vocals and keys. Martin is a very talented working keyboard player,but sadly Fiona no longer sings. Our loss.
Lastly there are tracks from late 80s/early 90s from SOS,a band I was in back then.

Davy Vance

Pinned to spotlight

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