Free D/L available at https://www.terrywigmore.com/wigmore-allen-gibbons in  the album, "Mistaken Identity"

Dances With Shadows
    I find the world a strange place that I don’t understand
    And if there is nobody to take me by the hand…I’ll go…
    Dancing with shadows…with shadows, with shadows 
    Dancing with shadows…with shadows, unseen
    
    Are you searching for an answer?
    In a cold and dark empty room
    And are you trying to remember the question
    But the question keeps avoiding you
    Yes the question keeps avoiding you
    Dancing with shadows…with shadows…unseen…(unseen)

    Will I find the time to rest? (Take time)
    Sometimes the world is a strange place, that I can’t understand
    Dancing in the shadows, in the shadows, in the shadows  (x3)
    Dancing in the shadows, the shadows, unseen

    Take your lover by the hand…spin her up and spin her down
    It’s so easy to lose yourself…Everybody gotta hitch up their belt
    (Dancing with shadows…)

    I find the world a strange place that I don’t understand
    And if there is nobody who can take me by the hand…I’ll go…
    Dancing with shadows…with shadows, with shadows
    Dancing with shadows…with shadows, unseen!
    
Wigmore: music, mix, production
Allen: lyrics, bass, guitars,  vocals
Gibbons: lyrics, lead vocal

Dances With Shadows

A political rant. Explicit Lyrics -just in  case you missed the title - Free D/L
I hope I'm just one of countless musicians in the free world lending a creative voice to express the outrage at Putin's 2nd invasion of Ukraine. With my own extended family roots in Ukraine, maybe I'm feeling the frustration and sense of being left alone to fight the bully on the block. Ukraine is the front line for the rest of Europe, and it cannot fall.  1939 here we come again. Lessons not learned. FU*K!
FU*K Putin and his enablers.
Time for a peoples' revolt. Where is Nevalny, the leader of the opposition? Oh, Putin had him poisoned and imprisoned. Time to revolt Russian people.
Ukraine: remember the Holodomor under Stalin. Never again!
Resist and tell Putin to "Stay The FU*K Out Of Ukraine!"
* if any musician would like to work with the vocals only and create an entirely new and more powerful message for Putin, DM me
hashtag SayNoToPutin
hashtag WeAreUkraine
hastag TheWorldStandsWithUkraine
hastag Russian Warship, Go Fu*k Yourself
https://twitter.com/rizwerto/status/1497001153514541079/photo/1

STAY THE FU*K OUT OF UKRAINE

A feel-good tune driven by rhythms that are vibrant and lyrics and harmonies that paint a message of hope for us to fill in the ellipsis of life, the "dot-dot-dot" that is our moments of anticipatory optimism and choice.  Life Can Be... so... (choose life's descriptors for yourself, don't let others define you).

Available for free D/L at https://www.terrywigmore.com/wigmore-allen-gibbons
Track 4 of the album Done So Many - 10 years of Wigmore Allen Gibbons

* note- the last note is a Keith plinking of the 24th fret high E 

Life Can Be 

Life can be… Life can be so… 
The further back that we look, the further forward we see 
A huge yearning for good, we got the capacity 
The fine line that we tread between silk and the twine 
A springboard into wine… 

Life can be…(a bit of a trial) 
Life can be… 
Life can be…(a bit of a trial) 
Life can be… 

We’re visitors to this time and space We’re only passing through… 
Inspire…least you expire 
Lion or gazelle you gotta keep your eyes open 
Call up the prophet and see what he thinks: 

Life can be…(a bit of a trial) 
Life can be…(beaten by your smile) 
Life can be…(a bit of a trial) 
Life can be…(beaten by your smile) 
Life can be so...so...so....so-oh.... ( beaten by your smile) 
Life can be…(a bit of a trial) 
Life can be…(beaten by your smile) 

Life Can Be... 
So...
Beautiful 

Wigmore: music, chorus vocals, lyrics, production 
Allen: guitars, bass, lead and backing vocals, additional lyrics,

Life Can Be...

I always like to tell a story in a song, and this one tells a tale of misfortune, starting out looking like fate, while ending up as a tale of woe that is all fun in the telling. I started the tune, created the framework, and set the stage in Verse 1 and chorus and passed it off to Keith for him to continue to take the tune in any direction he wanted...and...well...darned if he didn't go and do just that...beep!   ;)

Lyrics:
 You Baby You

V1.  The time had come for me to leave, I grabbed my jacket and my cap
I slid my glass along the bar and I slipped out in the back
I didn’t see the car approach as I stepped out from the curb …ow -owowow!
I didn’t see it was you baby, you baby, you baby, it was you behind the wheel
You baby, you baby, you baby, you baby…you behind that wheel
I’ll never forget, the look in your eyes glancing at me as I flew over the hood
Your rag-top down, I ended up in the back seat upside-down
Ya only get one shot to make it right, Can I get ya number here tonight?
It was you baby, you baby, you baby…you for me

V2. Well three years later and it’s a pretty romance
She stood on my toes, but she taught me to dance
Every damn morning, well, a she burning my toast
But she is quite a good looker, so I don’t like to boast
My Mama say “She was never fair maid…
“Nothing comes cheap when you gotta pay”
She said: “Nothing is cheap, if you gotta pay!”
I thought she was crazy, clumsy and cheap
But so damn pretty that she makes me go… Beep! 
I’m telling you baby, you baby, you baby, you baby, yeah…you and me
I’m telling you baby, you baby, you baby, yeah…you and me
Ya just get one shot at this life…So pull out  ya finger and make it count
You baby, you baby, you baby…You and me

V3. So… this is where it ended, all my life in disarray …old timer
I thought I’d gotten away with it, but boy did she make me pay
She said one day she a come back, when all her cash runs out
But now I gotten my trailer I can’t put up with my back put out
I thought she was crazy, clumsy and cheap
But so damn pretty she can still make me go… beep!
Argh…no, no, no!
You baby, you baby, you baby, you baby, yeah…you and me
You baby, you baby, you baby, you baby, yeah…you and me
The animals went in two by two, I guess we done it too
Ooooh you baby, you baby, you baby, you baby, yeah…you and me
We just get one shot at this life…So pull out ya finger and make it count
You baby, you baby, you baby…You and me…ho-ho!

Wigmore: percussion,  synths, wah-wah guitar, lyrics, vocals, production
Allen: guitars, bass, lyrics, main vocals (young feller, and old git ;)

The 10th Anniversary Collection - Rule of 3

You Baby You

This is the foundation of who we are as song-writers, musicians and vocalists. We wander off into electronic, and experimental sounds, but always seem to come back to this - classic Wigmore-Allen-Gibbons! Strong lead vocals from Keith, choral harmonies from Kevin and Terry, and at its core is strong folk-pop song-writing from Keith. And all this wrapped up in a basic band arrangement of guitars, bass, drums. with the age-old tale of young love.

Angel
Lyrics

Ah...here, there, no one seems to
know where you can take a
wrong turn, it's all a part of life.

Meanwhile, like a wildcat love child
We can take our own on this merry-go-round

Can you see where you went wrong?
Do you know why you did it?
Can you see where you went wrong?
Does it all become clear?
Can you see where you went wrong?
Do you know why you did it?
Can you see where you went wrong?

We grow cold, so cold
We're nothing when we're gone

Chorus
You're my angel, you're my angel
You're the only girl for me
And I don't know how to tell you any more.

Hey..hey...hey...
Ah that's me tellin' my life story
It already bores me, 
bores me half top death

Can you see where you went wrong?
Do you know why you did it?
Can you see where you went wrong?
Did it all become clear?
Can you see where you went wrong?
Do you know why you did it?
Can you see where you went wrong?

I'm cold, so cold
I'm nothing when you're gone

Chorus

Everyday I look at you,
I see the things that we went through, we tried, we tried side by side
Everyday I look at you,
I see the things that we went through, we tried, we know that we tried

Chorus

Wigmore: percussion, production, backing vocals
Allen: Song-writing, lead,harmony vocals, bass, acoustic guitar
Gibbons: backing vocals, lead guitar

Angel

We are not a cover band, although we do enjoy incorporating recognizable motifs and sounds into our songs as hooks to the past and a form of tribute to artists of the past.
This song is a shout out to Supertramp, The lyrics are a bit of a ‘poke’ at these so called ‘celebrities’ that got the looks, but little else going on. They even manage to write a book about their superficial lives…well…ok…they get someone else to do that for them. 
“Look at her body?” Hmmm…well we do, probably because there’s nothing else about ‘em. 
Musically, it was always about the keyboard sound in tension with the strings that called Supertramp - the band - to mind.

*available for free - track 10 from the album Wait and See - https://www.terrywigmore.com/wigmore-allen-gibbons

                                              SUPER TRAMP

She draped one leg over the arm…She got no wit, but she’s full of charm
I got my note book out to write down all the things that she…
Had not got in her own head…
She could not look me in the eye…It started to rain and I just wanna cry
Well here she come now…Super tramp

“I’m not a super, a super tramp
I’m not a super, a super tramp
Well, I’ve got more brains than you got britches
Got more schemes than you’ve got hitches…baby…baby”

There’s nothing more that you could say…
I’m just a fly upon the wall you want to swat away
Well here you are again, with your life story…Bore me…
“Look at ma baw-dee…(Look at her bawdee)  Ain’t I gaw-geous?
I got no brains but I can fake it…haha I mean…shake it for you!”
Well here she goes again…super tramp

(Body-shake-down:)

“Well I got more brains than you got britches
Got more schemes than you’ve got hitches…”
Oooooh….She’s dangerous …
Oooooh….She’s outrageous…
Oooooh….But it makes her lots of money!

I had to stop to rub my aching eyes, all she was full of was …
Expensive perfume and cheap surprise…that’s no surprise. 
But she couldn’t… buy a halo…
And so the book came out in July…It made her a $million, 
But I don’t know why…She’s still a super…super… tramp

Wigmore: Synths, Production
Allen: Lyrics, Vocals, Bass

Wait and See - Keith's Picks

Super Tramp

The season of Thanksgiving (already enjoyed in Canada)is upon the US. And Christmas approaching,right on the heels of these family gatherings. In the midst of it all, wars are ongoing, and all the while hatred soars. What's a helpful message in the midst of all that? Hold On (To Someone)...onto someone, not something. Time to share some hugs.
Hold On (to someone)

    The best prediction for the future is the past
    For the further back you look
    The further forward that you see
    Carpe diem … to seize the day, no need to pray
    Far beyond the pale, a little faith will conquer all your fears
    Make love with your words before the end
    For the further back you look
    The further forward you will see
    I’ve seen… the end
    When all… that is left
    I’ve seen…the end
    When all... that is left
    Is to hold… onto someone
    (Lead Break)
    The best prediction for the future is the past
    For the further back you look
    The further forward that you see
    I’ve seen…the end
    When all that is left
    Is to hold onto someone
    Hold onto someone

Wigmore: music, production
Allen: guitars, bass, vocals, lyrics

Hold (Onto Someone)

Keith had a gentle guitar phrase and  a few words that he was playing with and shuffled it over to me for a listen to see what I made of it. The result is the song below. The conflict is in the spirituality represented by the sparks on a fire ascending, and the observation that the embers twinkle, fade and fall, silent. What is it all about if the prayers, meditations and positive thoughts just fall back to earth like the sparks? The beliefs we embrace must hit the road of reality. If they measure up to good - wonderful! But if not? The supreme irony for me is watching kids being taught to hate in a religious school class.  I was going to use the coordinating conjunction BUT to set up the point of contrast (But you can't..."). Instead, Keith preferred the AND ("And you can't...") as, in addition to all that one CAN believe, you must be aware that other things follow too. Can And Cannot. So simple. Or is it?
Free D/L - Track 9 of the new album Hold On To Someone : https://www.terrywigmore.com/wigmore-allen-gibbons

Lyrics:
We seem to want to find
A spiritual connection to space and time
An affinity for infinity and the great beyond
Now, chuck your branch onto the fire
Watch it spark, and come alive
Embers drawn up into the night sky
Twinkling, fading, and in silence, fall

And you can't lead, once they've all been turned
And you can't light, what's already burned
And you can't teach compassion and hope
Once the hating's all been learned,

It's the lack of definition of in the twilight hours
That makes it so difficult to find our way
Past all the claims and assertions of things that cannot be proven
Now, chuck your branch onto the fire
Watch it spark, and come alive
Embers drawn up into the night sky
Twinkling, fading, and in silence fall

And you can't lead, once they've all been turned
And you can't light, what's already burned
And you can't teach compassion and hope
Once the hating's all been learned,

Wigmore: synths, production, lyrics, vocals
Allen: guitars, bass, music, additional vocals

Hold On (To Someone)

And You Can't

Keith is an old school rocker who loves to belt out throaty vocals and crunch away on guitars.
I just come alongside and wrap a vision of additional parts and produce it all to show off the details in the creative process as best as a modest home-based  musician with a rudimentary DAW can. 
Once in a while, lyrics come along that glue everything together.

So, for 2024, here is our wish: we need a hero! Who do you envision in such a role?  Our parents, our family, our teachers, medical practitioners, scientists, researchers, friends, musicians, politicians who unite (not divide), a religious figure, a community member or volunteer, or perhaps someone who has overcome significant challenges? What makes a leader for the challenges of 2024? Maybe it's you?
*Posthumous dedication to Alexei Navalny who was murdered by Putin - the cost of speaking truth to power.
Free D/L: track 10 of the Wigmore Allen Gibbons 2023 Album Hold On To Someone - https://www.terrywigmore.com/wigmore-allen-gibbons

                               We Need a Hero
    Do you weary of everything?
    Does it turn like machinery?
    Do you drown in a puddle?
    As deep as eternity
    Do you surrender or fight?
    Even know what is right?
    Do you just rattle your tin?
    With all your walls closing in
    WE NEED A HERO…WE NEED A HERO TO LEAD US
    NEED A HERO…WE NEED A HERO RIGHT NOW
    WE NEED A HERO…WE NEED A HERO TO LEAD US
    NEED A HERO…WE NEED A HERO RIGHT NOW…
    (Lead-guitar-break)
    Does the smell seem to lurk?
    But your pain never hurts?
    Machinations of malaise
    With all your walls closing in
    (We need a hero, hero)
    (CHORUS)

    Wigmore: production, additional vocals
    Allen: Everything Else!

Hold On To Someone

Hero

February brings a slower, pensive, ballad from the WAG fellas. Perhaps we're feeling a little sentimental, or reflective in the bleak midwinter?  Maybe it is the approach of Valentine's Day slowing things down, or is it simply age, and the desire to capture anew, the childlike wonder of looking up in a gentle snowfall?

Change is the key to being fresh in our creative approaches to music. One For The Eye is a poem I wrote in celebration of the winter season. It was adapted by Keith to better fit an easy listening composition I had sent to him earlier. Keith ran with the challenge to make a song out of these parts and delivers a song that, we trust,  gives one pause to conjure up those moments from childhood in the snow, and smile. 

Two observations offer a frame for this song:
This week, Nova Scotia, where I have family, received a record setting dump of snow (Sydney N.S. received 1.5 m), and that is where the muse opens.
The other observation is that in the west, in Alberta and Saskatchewan, where I also have family, there is too little snow accumulation leading to worries about water tables, crops, and forest fires this summer. Too much or too little is not good.

Lyrics:
One for the Eye 

Too much can be an undesirable burden
Too little leave all hopes abandoned.
One at a time,
One on the tongue,
and one in the eye.

Or could it be a warm iconic postcard?
Or would it be much better left just as Mother intended
One at a time
One on the tongue
and one in the eye

A light descent from heaven
It may be euphoric
Though always seen,  
never heard in the falling

One at a time
One at a time
One for the tongue
One for the tongue
…and one in the eye


Wigmore: Original poem, music, production
Allen: adapting lyrics, vocals, bass.

One For The Eye

An exploration of the Woulda-Coulda-Shoulda  moments of growing up -  all the moments of choice and circumstance that defined us, isolated us, made us angry and caused us to be misunderstood. Does who we were define who we will be?  
Shyling is the word Keith used to explore the young person trapped by insecurity and fear. Despite lurking on the fringes of life  through the rebelliousness of our teen and younger adult years, there is always the hope of a page being turned in the book. "Keep on shining," despite of, or because, of who we were and who we are now. The book of life is certainly a more interesting read because of our struggles. Perhaps we just need to reconcile with our past, talk to your younger self, give him/her a hug, tell him/her that you understand their struggles and there is no blame assigned. Then turn that page and live in the now.

free D/L on Terry's Wix site - www.terrywigmore.com under the Wigmore-Allen-Gibbons tab at the top of the home-screen.

Lyrics:

Shy-ling
So I’ve finally got to meet ya…my old friend
Haven’t seen you since our school days end
If ya don’t mind me saying…ya looking old
Been once or twice around the block I’m told
Got some words of wisdom, for you alone
Listen real close and take it home
Shining, shining….you were once shining (x2)
Ya shoulda treat them better…you know ya should
Ya shoulda treat them better, because they were your blood
Don’t stop, never stop, never give up
This is your trial, and it’s your own damn neck
Trying, trying… never stop trying (x2)
Every man has two wolves…a wolf deep inside
Which wolf do you feed? Which wolf do you starve?
Oh to you of dull wit, have you just been asleep?
Ya could have done better, but you sold yourself cheep
Life made you harder, but life broke your back
Surrender your future so you’ll never look back
(INST)
Jumped up, litter bug, you just don’t care
Who you rip up, or who you do tear
Don’t stop never stop, never give up
Good at being bad and bad at being good
Shy-ling, shy-ling… never stop shining (x2)
Never stop…

Wigmore: music, production
Allen: guitars, bass, lyrics, vocals

Shyling

We may not have traveled far and wide,  but Keith has a way of transporting us all over the world through his curious mind and love of history. So, why are we in Italy? Simply put, Keith loves Vespas ;)  Actually, he loves the idea of the band touring Italy on Vespas, funky hipster wheels and recording tunes as we go.  The "Sock Puppets" was a theme Keith developed as he created some videos depicting travels with the WAG puppets.
Vesari Corridor is one adventure from the Album Keith wanted to develop, found here: https://www.terrywigmore.com/wigmore-allen-gibbons
Join Keith, Kevin, and I as we travel around Italy, taking in some famous landmarks and enjoying a lot of Kevin's favourite red wines.

Lyrics:
Vasari Corridor

Da,da,da,da,dah…… Da,da,da,da,dah……(nonchalantly strolling along, minding own business:)
Down the corridor …of Vasari.

I found a secret place…somewhere safe for us to go
No prying eyes in this narrow space…a hidden alley that I know
Down the corridor…of Vasari

Da, da, dah, da, da, dah …he’s waiting.  
Da, da, dah, da, da, dah …he’s waiting

We are not allowed in here… (Do-do-do-do) If we’re careful, we’ll be fine
Avoid the blade, avoid the fear… (Do- do-do-do) and we will live till next time
Down the corridor…of Vasari

If there was a way to avoid this…hiding and subterfuge
(Down the corridor…of Vasari)
I found a secret place, somewhere safe for us to go…
(Down the corridor…down the corridor…of Vasari)
Somewhere safe for us to go…go…go…go…

(The chase commences…)

Stab him in the back…He’s never going back!
He’s Medici…He’s Medici   (repeats)

Wigmore: synths, production
Allen: Lyrics, Vocals, Guitars, Bass
Gibbons: Lyrics, Vocals

Vesari Corridor (He's Medici)

Keith purges some demons in this one. I came along to help.
Track 7 from the Wigmore Allen Gibbons album called SHYLING which can be found at : https://www.terrywigmore.com/wigmore-allen-gibbons

Cuts Like Ragged Steel

    Unfurl your banner…sound your trumpets
    Surely you will know
    To you of dull wit…all I ask for is watch until she glows

    (CHORUS)

    She floats like a ghost, like a ghost in the winter garden
    Floats like a ghost to me
    She floats like a ghost, like a ghost in the winter garden
    Floats like a ghost to me

    She cuts like ragged steel, she cuts like ragged steel
    She cuts like ragged steel through me
    She cuts like ragged steel, she cuts like ragged steel
    She cuts like ragged steel through me

    The time has flown… the light has left this page
    That read of her own doom
    A lady that was full of Grace…forever walks alone

    (CHORUS)

    (INST)

    She cuts like ragged steel, cuts like ragged steel
    She cuts like ragged steel through me
    I shoulda turned back the tide, shoulda torn down the walls
    Shoulda ripped apart the world for you
    For you
      
Wigmore: Drums, Synths, Additional Vocals, Production
Allen: Music (Guitars, Bass, Vocals), Lyrics 
2024

Cuts Like Ragged Steel

Gotta let the cow out of the barn once in a while ;) Sometimes we just need to take ourselves less seriously, and laugh at ourselves and life's predicaments.
Start the summer with a tongue-in-cheek tune to lift our spirits.

Lyrics:
                                Sell My Cow
    I’d sell my cow if I needed a drink
    I needed a drink…I needed a drink
    A nice drink of milk…ah-ha…oh yeah
    I’m so thirsty and you know what they think
    I’d sell my cow if I needed a drink
    If I needed a drink…I needed a drink
    A nice drink of milk
    My cow she’s a good old girl
    A very fine udder, with her tail a twirl…oh yeah
    And a very fat ass that drives me insane
    With the taint of methane
    I’d sell my cow if I needed a drink
    If I needed a drink…For the price of a drink
    A nice drink of milk…that’s me!    
    (INST)
    As I made my way to market
    She followed on behind
    For all that bovine intelligence
    She didn’t read perfidy in my mind…oh no
    I’d sell my cow if I needed a drink
    If I needed a drink…For the price of a drink
    A nice drink of milk…Oh Id’ sell my cow…I’d sell that cow
    I sold me cow, because I needed a drink
    I needed a drink…for the price of a drink
    A nice drink of milk…I sold my cow…I sold my cow!
    I sold my cow ‘cos I needed a drink.

Wigmore: music, production
Allen: Lyrics, vocals, guitar and bass
2024

Free download
Track 10 of the album - Shyling
https://www.terrywigmore.com/wigmore-allen-gibbons

Once in a while I can coax Keith to put his talents toward  a ballad, and this is one of those infrequent endeavours.
Keith is a rocker at heart, while I tend to the contemplative and ambient slice of life and music. We compromise often. This time, Keith sensed his way through the lightness of the music. Though piano is the main source of movement and texture, there is a Native Instruments "Irish harp" VSTi in here too.
A mellow summer? Time to catch up on some summer reading? Here's a bookmark.

Available for free D/L , track 10 of Spittle and Spite found here: https://www.terrywigmore.com/wigmore-allen-gibbons

Lyrics
Bookmark
You found me in a barren land
And turned it all verdant green
I think it was page seventeen
You are the bookmark…on the page that I have lost
You are the bookmark…on the page that I have lost
Forever
Well riddles will come and riddles will go
Like the riddle of the Snark
To drive you mad…to drive you quite mad
You are the bookmark…for the page 
You are the bookmark…for the page
(INST)  …for the page
(You’re my bookmark)
This is the place
You’re my save point
You’re my bookmark
Pages that held us both together… to hold us… now…
Tears us both apart
Tears us both apart

Wigmore: Music, Production
Allen: Bass, Guitar, Vocals, Lyrics
(c) and (p) WAG @2024

Spittle and Spite

Bookmark

Remember those awkward days of our youth? A sort of wasteland of not-quite-adult but not a kid? Testing out style, language, gestures, attitude, hair styles, likes and dislikes, romances, tongue-tied moments of embarrassment. All of these years eventually sorted itself out and we headed out into adulthood, with  more or less determination to be successful. Or was that a fear of being unsuccessful that guided us? Tumultuous times. Awkward.
Track 5 from the collection called Spittle and Spite (2024) found here: https://www.terrywigmore.com/wigmore-allen-gibbons

Lyrics:
The Awkward Squad

    Why don’t you mind your business? Like I mind mine
    Why dontcha get ya finger out? And tap it in time
    Why do you throw a tantrum? And huff and puff away
    And when you’re outa your depth…you simply sail away!

    Who-hoo-hoo…The awkward squad (x2)

    I don’t like to look at you…You make me feel quite queer
    You make me feel uncomfortable… When you sat “Hello       dear”
    I don’t like your haircut…Don’t like your clothes
    Don’t like the way, a dew-drop hangs off your… nose!
    Awk, Awk...The awkward squad

    Awk, Awk…You’re in the awkward squad (x2)

    I dance just like a donkey…A donkey with three legs
    I never look you in the eye…Because it makes me …blush
    I st/st/st/stumble over all my words…Forever full of              shame
    And now I come to look at you…I know you’re just the          same!
    Awkward…The awkward squad

    Awkward…I’m in the awkward squad (x2)

Wigmore: Music, Production
Allen: Lyrics, Guitars, Vocals

Awkward Squad

Title track from the 2024 Album Vision:  https://www.terrywigmore.com/wigmore-allen-gibbons

Vision

I had a vision (x4)

I had a vision, when I was a boy
This was my kingdom… I drew it like a child…
But never stuck to my aim… and so I missed it by half a mile…
There’s a wide-winged bird, a circling…or could it be two or three
I could save it all the bother…and then it wouldn’t bother me, see
This is my vision…This is my vision
I had a vision (to find that common ground)
I had a vision (with friends that are benign)
I had a vision (to find that common ground)
I had a vision (with friends that are benign…)
I entrust this mystery to you
For my fate is in your hands
So let’s push on…so let’s push on…
I had a vision…

(INST)

I had a vision…
I had a vision (to find that common ground)
I had a vision (with friends that are benign)
I had a vision (to find that common ground)
I had a vision (with friends that are benign)
I had a vision (it was a real beauty)
I had a vision (all laid out for me)
I had a vision…I had a vision…a mystery!

Wigmore: Music, Production
Allen: Lyrics, Vocals, Bass, Guitar
(c) 2024

Visions

I Had A Vision

OK, maybe not exactly a scary Halloween theme but anything that "rattles your bones" must be frightening on some level. So, here is the WAG Halloween tune, available for free D/L, Track 3 of I Had A Vision found here: https://www.terrywigmore.com/wigmore-allen-gibbons

Rattle my Bones

Are you shaking with nerves?
Narrowly miss the swerves?
Are you glancing over your shoulder?
… roll downhill on a boulder?
Have you been stuck by a knife?
Hear vague threats to your life?
Are you para-paralysed?
Carry bricks upon your back?
Do your teeth do more than chat?

Rattle those bones

Do you have to rest a bit?
Feel your fingers lose their grip?
Wanna hear a bedtime story?
Are you no longer very sure?
Don’t buy what’s rich or poor?
Do you steal from the washing line?

Rattle my bones

Do you steal from the washing line?
Get more primitive with passing time?
Do you boat on a stinking lake?
Are you a fake?

Rattle my bones

Wigmore: Music, Production
Allen: guitars, Bass, vocals, lyrics 
(c) and (p) WAG 2024

Rattle My Bones

Starting off 2025, the new year, with a bit of uncertainty.
A life- choices theme? An Economic cautionary tale?
I prefer the political application of the Latin "Buyer Beware". The application came, in the US in November, turning back progress. In Canada, Trudeau has just announced his resignation. Buyer Beware, or to use Joni Mitchell's words, "You don't know what you've got til it's gone, they paved paradise (progress) and put up a parking lot (or oil pipelines, or coal mines, or trying to threaten neighbours and make enemies of friends). But the people knew what they were doing when they created this mess...or were they victims of social media, filters, throttles, algorithms, and moneyed influence peddling?

A dark musical synth-based veneer, casts a brooding affect over the listener, though, if the message is heard, embraced, and a direction changed, a hint of optimism may yet prevail.

Available for D/L on the WAG Wix page, track 7 from the 2024 collection called Spittle and Spite : https://www.terrywigmore.com/wigmore-allen-gibbons


Caveat Emptor (Buyer Beware)
Aaaaah….
Hear what you want to hear
And you see what you want to see
There is truth… and there is need
Caveat emptor…let the buyer be aware
Caveat emptor…beware
Shudda…like you shudda…check it out… like you shudda
Like you should …check it out (x2)
(INST)
The best that you can do, in a locked room
Is press your face to the window
Are you fearful of being angry?
Or so angry at being just fearful?
Caveat emptor…let the buyer be aware
Caveat emptor…beware!

Wigmore: Music, Production
Allen: Bass, Guitars, Vocals, Lyrics: 
WAG@2024

Caveat Emptor

A simple, rather loose, jazz ensemble, and a simple message.
It seems as though the social and political turbulence is much like trying to paddle your own canoe - it's going to get rough and it will feel as though hope is lost, but don't stop and don't despair. Hope Floats.

The song was originally intended as a relationship muse, where two people are supposed to be paddling, together, in the same direction, but the boat keeps turning 'round and 'round. It takes courage to realize you can only control your own paddle and how you use it. It can be overwhelming and daunting, at times, and you may be inclined to abandon ship: don't.

Uploaded one week into the Trump 2.0 Administration

Lyrics:

I got my paddle in the water, 
I'm paddling with all I've got
The bow is sinking slowly, 
Glanced off a rock.
And i'm startin' to sink down into the water
Losin' myself in the current,
Goin' down, down, goin' down,
Lord help me I'm goin', goin' ,goin',  down

(instrumental break)

I got a bucket in the water
I'm bailin' but it's not enough, no.
The water's slowly risin'
And I'm runnin' out of luck.
And I'm startin' to sink down into the water
Losin' myself in the current
Goin' down, down, goin' down,
Lord help me, I'm goin', goin' down,
I'm goin' down.

Jazz Collaborations

I've Got My Paddle in the Water

Keith needed to get some stuff out and needed to wail away on his guitar, singing his heart out. I rode his coattails through the concrete. 

King of the Concrete Jungle
Lyrics:

King of the concrete jungle
As far as he could see
Across the road and down the street
As far as the distant tree


Paved with puddles and historical dirt
A field of broken tiles
The Lord of darkened corners
Can see for miles and miles
 

(CHORUS)
NOW ALL AROUND IS CONCRETE
AND GREYNESS WINS THE GREEN
THE KING OF THE CONCRETE JUNGLE
WEEPS FOR YOU AND ME…YOU…AND ME


 Singing from his lamppost
A branch without a tree
The sweetest notes you would ever hear
But no honey for this bee

 
Mouth open to the heavens
Warm sunshine from deep within
Blue skies he used to soar in
Clear waves he used to swim

 (CHORUS)

(INST BREAK)

(CHORUS)

note from Keith:
"This was inspired by a lone blackbird, singing his heart out from the top of a lamppost. (The branch without a tree)  I remember that behind 'his' lamppost there used to stand a beautiful Maple tree...long chopped down to make way for more car-parking space. There's not a single tree left standing down our road now...not one"

Note 2:Terry likes the social/political application to life in the 21st c. , always ready to see a moral to all of Keith's tales. ;)
 
Wigmore: synths, percussion, production
Allen: guitars, bass, lyrics, vocals

King of the Concrete Jungle

I have loved getting to know, appreciate, and learn from many skilled people on various music-hosting platforms over the years. Dawn Sinclair is a lyricist, poet, writer, and story-teller who I first encountered on mp3u. Per-Olov (known as Master Peo) was a composer and arranger, mostly in old swing band styles.  I also met him years ago on mp3u. This song came about because they had a story to tell about Frank Sinatra and the Rat Pack, and needed a vocalist and although I did not really consider myself a crooner, I enjoyed acting and was willing to try out for the role. The result is Rat Pack Blues.
In memory of Per-Olov

Rat Pack Blues

Uncertain times. You'd Better  Run!


Lyrics:
Run For Your Life

Outlaws flee, there will be trouble
To distract, confuse and destroy
You have to grasp that stinging nettle
Before you throw it in the pot
You’d better run…for your life

(CHORUS)
A distant chime, passes away an hour
As you continue to float
Like a grey fish in a dirty bowl
At least this shroud of gloom, should protect me

You try to smile as the silence unfolds
To develop your breadth of mind
Such a fragile creature turns the corner
And then you’re gone…you’d better run

(CHORUS)

(Guitar-Break)

(CHORUS)
 …should protect me…
Run for your life….

Wigmore: Music/Production/Vocals
Allen: Guitars/Bass/Lyrics/Vocals

Run For Your Life

This a companion track to "Stay the F--k Out of Ukraine" uploaded in 2022) Let's not become desensitized to all the destruction and human loss at the hands of the Russian Invasion of Ukraine. Over 3 years of sustained violence with some of the heaviest drone and missile attacks being being  this week with attacks on civilian centres - Apartment Buildings, Neighbourhood playgrounds, Schools, Hospitals, Transportation centres/routes, Power generation . Wanton destruction. Mass graves. ICC, where are you?  Slava Ukraini. Putin could end it all as easily as he started this, faster than Trump claimed he could end it. LEAVE! and pay for all the damage in property and human lives wasted needlessly. Time for the Dinosaur of the old USSR  to go.

Lyrics:

Dinosaur 

Сволочь (You B******d)
Stop your shooting…Mr Putin…stop your shooting…( now!)
I bet you were a lonely child
Pulling legs and wings off flies
You cannot hide the dead behind your eyes
I bet you got no love from Mummy
Never even loved a woman
What you gunna get you will deserve
With malice towards none and charity for all  (Lincoln)
But you got malice towards all and charity for none
Stand your citizens in a line
They believe your every lie
“Tactical manoeuvres?” …my ass!
You wanna shell every woman and child
Then you threaten to vaporise
Leave them just shadows on the wall
You’re a dinosaur (x6)         …you should be extinct
You’re just a school-yard bully
Out of state and out of Country
And if we say the word “war”…ya gunna slap us all in chains
Stop your shooting…Mr Putin…stop you’re shooting now! (x4)
прекрати стрелять  (stop your shooting) 

Wigmore: Music and Production, additional vocals
Allen : Lyrics, Guitars, Bass. Vocals:

Wigmore Allen Gibbons - Dinosaur (Stop Your Shootin Mr Putin)

Time to get satirical with the US political dystopia, or maybe I'm just a  little touchy after all the threats to Canada, both political and economic (not pondering the military  threat to allies)
Sorry if this is offensive to any US-based listeners. Sorry, not sorry ;)

Track 2 from a new 2025 collection of ideas called FRINGE found at https://www.terrywigmore.com/wigmore-allen-gibbons

 Lyrics:
They've all come around on bended knee
Kissing the a-a-a-ass of a once and future king
They fought a war to get rid of a crown
Only to give it away to an autocratic clown
(how come you misjudge me so...

Pick on immigrants, round them all up
Doesn't matter if they're the ones who fill your shops
With all the merchandise and food that you just can't ignore
So you haul them off to a foreign shore - a foreign shore -a foreign
(how come you misjudge me x2   ...so...)

I take a little salt, not on the tail
I like my golden jets, like my foreign jails
I talk of the land, the land of the "free"
Whatever you've got, just give it to me


How did you misjudge me (x3)
I am the claw, in the white flabby hand
(how could you misjudge me (x2)
Autocratic clown (x3)

* samples... "I am Oz, the great and powerful, who are you?", "I could shoot somebody on Fifth Ave..", "China has total respect for Donald Trump and  for Donald Trump's very, very large uh, brain"

Note: No salt on the tail - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salting_a_bird%27s_tail

Wigmore: music, production, main lyrics and vocals
Allen: additional vocals and lyrics, bass, guitars

Autocratic Clown

Summer is marked by certain experiences, from swimming, to strolls along boardwalks, to...well...waiting in queues of all kinds as summer sees people fill outdoor spaces. Keith has a keen eye for observing these experiences and finding humour and stories in  all of it.

Welcoming our special guest voice - Sheila - the server at the window , whose calming, inquiring presence makes the  lineup tolerable ;)

Note: the term "poutine" on the side of the chip truck makes this a uniquely Canadian flavour  :)

Track 5 from the Wigmore Allen Gibbons album called SHYLING found at https://www.terrywigmore.com/wigmore-allen-gibbons

Busy at the Chippy

    I was standing in the queue 
    And there was more than quite a few
    That to be … perfectly blunt
    Wanted to murder the guy…the guy at the front
    
   5  cod and chips…3 fries with garlic dips
    A lamb shish kabab…and a happy meal for that bugger at the back”
    It was busy at the Chippy…so busy at the Chippy
    It was busy at the Chippy…Ooh baby tonight

    Well I kept on standing there
    Feeling hungry right in there
    When I could be doing something…
    Something much better on a Saturday night. 
    Than waiting for…

    5 cod and chips…3 fries with garlic dips
    A lamb shish kabab…and a happy meal for that bugger at the back”
    Chippy woman: “We don’t do salad…Do’ya want salt ‘n vinegar on them love?
    How’s your Mary’s feet? … Oooooh, I know”

    (INST)

    (CHORUS)
    “…oh and I want 4 scampi and salad…5 haddock lightly battered
    3 sausages in a lovely curry…and a happy meal for that bugger in a hurry”
    Chippy woman: “That’ll be £226 and 10p for a carrier bag, love! ...
    Will ya need that in dollars pet?”

Wigmore: Music, Production
Allen: Lyrics, Guitars, Bass, Vocals
Special Guest:  Sheila (vocals/lyrics)

Busy at the Chippy

Using Paul Revere's famous night-time ride alerting people of the coming of the red coats, Light The Lanterns serves as a contemporary warning to light the lanterns again, this time, for the enemy within the US Administration.
Smart people doing wrong always perplexes me.
Religious people supporting wrong raises concerns about faith claims of following truth.
Political parties  and governments oppressing people causes alarms to ring out.

Track 10 from the 2025 Album called Fringe, available at https://www.terrywigmore.com/wigmore-allen-gibbons

Light The Lanterns

V1
In a world that's confusing
When the Sheriffs are the bad guys
When the ones with the masks on
Are putting cuffs on the good guys
When the ones being locked up
May be the ones that we needed

Chorus
If you have a keen mind, then mind how you use it
If you've got a mean spirit, you don't have to use it/ abuse it


V2 
When they tax the poor ones,
And give it back to the rich ones
When the constitution becomes
the  whim of a convicted felon
Maybe it's time for Paul Revere 
to light the lantern ( to light the lanterns)

Chorus
If you have a keen mind, then mind how you use it
If you've got a mean spirit, you don't have to use it/ abuse it

How can something wrong, seem so right, for some 
Right for some (yeah yeah)yeah yeah
How can something wrong, seem so right, for some
Right for some 
Something wrong was right
Something wrong not right
Something wrong but right
Something

Wigmore: Lyrics, Vocals, Music, Production
Allen: Lyrics, Vocals, Guitars, Bass

Wigmore Allen Gibbons - Light The Lanterns

Track 5 from Wigmore Allen Gibbons 2025 release called FRINGE - available at www.terrywigmore.com/wigmore-allen-gibbons

*Keith makes observations everywhere he goes, and in this instance, his tours of local castles led to this idea - those great, huge, thickly-hewn doors are actually hung on very small hinges. Of course, Terry sees the image as a metaphor -great change often begins with small starts. Literal or metaphorical? We 'll leave that up to the listener.

Great Doors Open

    I walked along a beach…soft sand at my feet
    I travelled past a man…his chin down on his chest
    This man is not asleep…He’s too long past all that I guess
    It may sound pretty stupid, yet…there it is
    Great doors open on small hinges
    I don’t care no more…I don’t care
    I don’t care no more…I don’t care… 
    Great doors open on small hinges
    On this unmitigated nightmare
    No one walks the lonely path I trod
    More disasters left by the wayside
    At the time, didn’t look so bad

    1.47 (Instrumental Break)
    
    He joined in halfway through the movie
    He ain’t gunna chew this cabbage twice
    That dozy man out on the causeway
    Awoke upon his own advice
    Great doors open on small hinges 
    He don’t care no more…he just don’t care
    He don’t care no more…he just don’t care
    Great doors open on small hinges

Wigmore: Music, Production
Allen: Vocals, Lyrics, Guitars, Bass

Great Doors

In time for Halloween, or the End of the World.
Dark, brooding, pondering of the state of things, real and imagined, current, past, or future (political subterfuge through music?)

Track 3 of the songs collected in the Life In Tense collection on Wix: https://www.terrywigmore.com/wigmore-allen-gibbons
Art - courtesy of Dan the Man Wigmore -https://www.youtube.com/@cdneh6343

* sample from Orson Wells -Citizen Cane
** the emphasis on the "s" sounds...hints of a snake in the garden?

Lyrics:

Come one day, in a rainy conversation
Come one day, the tether line will snap
Come one moment one cover story blown
Come one truth, one smoking gun exposed

Come one day (x8)

Come one day, one coffee never sipped
Come one day, you're mentally unfit
Come one moment, the lie becomes what's true
Come one truth, there's no good guy to your rescue

Come one day (x2)

Instrumental

Chill Lo-Fi Interlude)

Come one day, there's a slip upon the rocks
Come one day, there's blood poolin' in the docks
Come one moment, a witness hesitates
Come one truth, arrives a moment late...


Come one day, the TV crackled noise
Come one day, politicians lost their voice(s)
Come one moment, we'll all run out of straws
Come one Truth, the Angel brought a chainsaw

The angel has a chainsaw (x2)


Come one day… (x4)

(Lo-Fi Outro)

Wigmore: Music, lyrics, vocals, production
Allen: Lyrics, vocals, bass, guitars

Angel Has A Chainsaw

Silent Standing
(D/L available at www.terrywigmore.com)

This is a very mean & moody Gibbo stood standing, silently singing ...more than thoughtful...leaning his back against his decaying doorway...
Terry somewhere in the chancellery, nonchalantly flipping a coin, with something nasty on one side and a worn out memory on the other. Offering some hope? Maybe not...
Me? Well, I'm in the toilet, with a grumbling bass whilst spouting a slightly sinister 'Andrews Sisters' thing :-)

This is just what we do...

Silent Standing

1) I can't quite remember, how it got to this
One moment you were there and then you're gone
But I stood silent in the doorway staring at the space you used to be.
And I stood silent in the doorway staring at the space you used to be.

2) But I can still recall your elegance and grace
As you shattered what was two and made it one
But I stood silent in the doorway staring at the space you used to be.
And I stood silent in the doorway staring at the space you used to be.

She moves like a flower in the chancelleries of spring...spring...
She moves...like a flower in the spring

(Repeat V.2)

…And I stood silent in the doorway staring at the space you used to be.........


Music and Lyrics: Wigmore Allen  Gibbons

(Terry) Wigmore: Guitars, Synths, Vocals, Production
(Keith) Allen:        Bass, Lead guitar, Vocals
(Kevin)Gibbons:   Lead Vocal

Silent Standing

Canada Stands With Ukraine
Elbows Up, Canada!
Never 51.

*singer-songwriter

Connecting, creating and sharing with others has been quite a transformative experience and one that I trust will continue for years to come. I enjoy listening to musicians on SC, and try to leave encouraging and descriptive comments.
Who said retirement can't be fun!

Terry Wigmore

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