BIRDS OF A FEATHER
Seeing what no-one ever witnessed
Going where no-one went before
Far from us to distant shores
Where sailing is a risky business

Reading the sea winds score
Reading the sea winds score

Raving, raving, undeterred
A hell-eyed pair of birds

Vocals: @BecHollcraft
Sax solo: @Dave-McKeown
Other instruments: Bas Kooman
Lyrics based on a poem by Ida Gerhardt
Translation, music and production: Bas Kooman
Master: Maria Triana
Cover picture: Dave McKeown
Cover Art: AnoArt

Birds of a feather

Spotify

Birds Of A Feather (ft. Bec Hollcraft & Dave McKeown)

WHAT ARE WE GOING TO CELEBRATE TODAY

Sometimes it pours
And views are grey
No-one has concern
For what you do or don’t
Sometimes the rut
Makes you feel low
Another day drags on
And you're not even halfway through

Resist the slide to misery
Don’t give up
Take a leap, don’t delay
Summon up your courage
and ask yourself: what
are we going to celebrate today

Sometimes you’re weary
Life isn’t fair
Days imbued with sorrow 
disappointment or despair
Sometimes there’s reason
To be upset
When it’s overwhelming
Try to keep it small instead

Resist the slide to misery
Don’t give up
Take a leap, don’t delay
Summon up your courage
and ask yourself: what
are we going to celebrate today
What shall we celebrate today

CREDITS
Vocal: @BecHollcraft
Violin: Luis Villalobos (@user-296837214)
Guitar: Bas Kooman
Lyrics, music and production: Bas Kooman (big thanks to @Hanjan for helping me to stay away from Dunglish
Mastering: Maria Triana
Cover photo: Michael Gaida (Pixabay)

What are we going to celebrate today

What Are We Going To Celebrate Today (ft. Bec Hollcraft & Luis Villalobos)

HOMELESS
Only in my poems can I dwell.
No other shelter could I ever find
I never was the home loving kind
In a storm I had to bid my tent farewell

Only in my poems can I dwell
As long as I know for sure that in the wild
In woods and plains i can find this shelter
I don’t have any worries on my mind
 
It may take a while, but the time will come
When my former strength has failed before night
And in vain begs for soft words, with which
I once could build, and when the earth 
Must give me cover and I fall down on my knees
Where my grave bursts open dark and deep

Vocals: @BecHollcraft
Sax solo: @Dave-McKeown
Other instruments: Bas Kooman
Original poem in Dutch: J. Slauerhoff (1898-1936)
Translation, music and production: Bas Kooman
Master: Maria Triana
Cover picture: Fabien Monteil

Homeless

HOMELESS (ft. Bec Hollcraft & Dave McKeown)

This is a song about the believes we consciously or unconsciously have and about the stories we tell, which contribute to inequality and poverty. Today’s meritocratic capitalism is not a naturally given fact of life. It is an ideology that is unjust to people, harmful to the environment and to a great extent fact-free in its logic. 

Vocals: @BecHollcraft
Instruments & production: Bas Kooman
Master: Maria Triana
Music & Lyrics: Bas Kooman
Cover Picture: Engin Akyurt

If It's Too Good To Be True

If It's Too Good To Be True (feat. Bec Hollcraft)

A Modern Pauper’s Funeral is a song about unnoticed loneliness and poverty. Many thanks to @BecHollcraft (vocals), @Dave-McKeown (clarinet) and Maria Triana (mastering).

Feel the draft through the window
See the torn rug on the floor
Pull the crooked curtain 
Smell the mold on the wall
Sitting at the table in this dim and musty place
You will search in vain for any hidden grace

You know the situation
You think you know for real
But you’ll never understand
Until you feel 
Forsaken
Forlorn

Stay warm in a blanket
Huddled on the couch
Sometimes there is breakfast
Always fear the truth will out
Hide unopened letters, throw away the bills
Pretend no one’s home when the doorbell rings

You know the situation
You think you know for real
But you’ll never understand
Until you feel 
Forsaken
Forlorn

Out in the street
A body’s been found
No sign of crime
Just silence around
Lonely as life
No love to recall
For a modern pauper’s funeral

Who knew the situation
Didn’t know for real
Didn’t understand
Didn’t feel

A Modern Pauper's Funeral

A Modern Paupers Funeral (ft. Bec Hollcraft & Dave McKeown)

STRANGE DREAM
This night, I dreamt
A most strange dream
Everywhere I scrolled,
What could not be, seemed so to me
Mocking lies flooded every screen

Awake
I turned
Reached for my phone
To check on my apps
I said 
How dreams can lie
But my socials looked all cracked 
Sugar mountains of glass
and muskrats attack

Say what?
Say what?

Confused
 I stared
 And slowly it dawned 
Reality check
No doubt
That feeds can lie
Deceit is a common thread
Sugar mountains of glass
and muskrats attack 

It’s time to move on
It’s time to move on
Move on, move on

Thanks to Langston Hughes for the inspiration and the first lines.

Lyrics & Music: Bas Kooman
Vocal: Stefan Defreyne
Other Instruments: Bas Kooman
Master: Maria Triana

Strange Dream

Strange Dream (ft. Stefan Defreyne)

We were in the kitchen making coffee, drained and weary, talking about her latest hospital visit. Saskia, my wife, grumbled that something was wrong with the coffee machine, to which I replied, mildly sarcastic: "Well, you can't have it all." She turned to me, eyes sparkling, and said, "Oh yes, I do."

She was referring to the countless conditions she's acquired over recent years. Conditions that severely limit her everyday life. Conditions so unpredictable that every day is a toss-up between good and bad — and even "good" is relative: just a few hours of somewhat normal functioning.

We laughed.

For a long time, I'd wanted to write a song for her — something uplifting, yet honest. And this small moment finally gave me the right perspective. Saskia loves seventies music, and she loves voices like Gregory Porter’s. DennisDeMille’s voice certainly holds its own in comparison (https://soundcloud.com/dennis-demille).


YOU CAN’T HAVE IT ALL
 Morning comes
You take it slow
Pull yourself up
Here we go
Another day
The hurt goes on
But we laugh a lot
Where we belong

You warm your hands around your coffee mug
I admire the way you push on through 
So much bad luck and struggles in a row
They say you can't have it all
But you know
You do

I won’t lie
It’s hard to see
The life you loved 
Slip out of reach
And what we lost
It takes its toll 
It drains us dry
Our heart and soul

But love’s not weighed in what we miss
What we still have will see us through
When we kiss, I kiss the love of my life
They say you can't have it all
But you know
I do
Yes, I do

No love’s not weighed in what we miss
What we still have will see us through
When we kiss, I kiss the love of my life
They say you can't have it all
But you know
I do
Yes, I do
Yes, I do

You can't have it all

You can't have it all (with Dennis DeMille)

Hi, Seb Mankoo is Bas Kooman (@bastiaan-kooman) writing and producing songs in English.

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