Bright City Lights

In The Modern Stream

Dark Thoughts Bright City Lights

Cold Northern Winter

I know people like this song, though sometimes I've  been very surprised by the  reaction of some to it in that the emotional slant they found is very different, if understandable, from mine. I'll leave you to find your own.

The Caged Bird Sings  (1997)

Just after Christmas, 1968, I, along with 4 other scientists, flew to Mombasa to join a small research ship, Manihine. Built in 1906 as a Hull steam trawler(called Coot), she was not just an old lady but also a great survivor, having been at different times a trawler, luxury motor yacht, on active service throughout 2 world wars, and when I met her, a research vessel. My acquaintance with her lasted just a few weeks - yes, we did go through a hurricane (but ran as fast as we could - i.e.@  ca. 7 knots! - from the largest, highest, water spout I ever saw throughout all my sea-going days!!!)- but afterwards I didn't expect her to be around for too much longer. Wrong! She worked on another 20 years, the last 10 as a tramp plying up and down the east African coast. This song, a codensation of her history, is a little homage to her. A wonderful ship!

Manihine  (2016)

Steve the Piano was a top-class piano tuner, a delightful, warm character and friend, who often regaled the pub company with wonderful, outlandish, self-denigrating tales of his mis-adventures as a piano tuner. He died suddenly, well before his time - a great shock to all who knew him. A local chainsaw sculptor carved out an ash memorial bench in the shape of a piano which sat outside the front of the pub for all to use. One sees memorial benches wherever one goes and each is a statement of community respect for a particular individual and as such, generally cared for. Not so with the piano bench - a change of landlord and it was shoved round to the back of the pub in a position where it was hardly noticed by anyone, impossible to sit on. and where, over very few years, it fell into poor state.... all it needed was a thorough clean-up and re-oiling to slow down its decay. That wasn't going to happen. This song was the only way I could respond.
    Since then - well, landlords come and go, and somewhere along that line the piano bench was moved up to the pub garden, a far better place; and now, in 2019,  the current landlord has cleaned it up, given it some protection, restored the respect it deserves. That'll do!

Piano Man (2014)

Written for the Armistice scene in the Graham Sellor's play, 'From Gorsey Bank to Gommecourt'.

Stories (2014)

In February-March 1979, I was on R.V. "Oceanus', an American research ship. We'd fished a trawling transect in the Gulf stream from off Woods Hole to the Bahamas and back and, on the last night before final docking, were running before a gale, the Gulf Stream (+7 knots) pushing us along, which allowed us to attain a speed of 21 knots over the ground. The feeling was good.... I knew I'd be back home in UK within 3 days.... I borrowed a guitar, wrote this song there and then. Once in the blood, the sea never lets go.

Mistress Sea (1979)

Written on board a German fisheries research vessel, 'Walther Herwig'. Great trip -  hardworking, lots of fun, a wonderful crew to work with, encompassing a tour of exotic and evocatively named places - Bill Bailey's Bank, Hebridean Terrace, Feni Ridge, Rockall, Porcupine Seabight - all where the sun never shines and the wind blows hard.... The song? Autobiographical -  with a VERY large pinch of salt! My breakfast was coffee and a cigarette - a whore's breakfast, the crew told me - and the Doctor often spent his afternoons strolling the deck with a parrot on his shoulder!

Fish Finger Picking Blues (1983)

I see myself as a singer who sometimes writes a song. I've been writing, though, since the early 1970s and so there are a fair few. Occasionally people have asked if I have any albums - no, is the answer. Simply, I'm not comfortable in the studio environment, prefer being part of live music. Others have nagged me saying I should at least document them, open them out to a wider audience. This 'documentation' is what I'm building here, adding brick by brick. The recordings are niether 'studio' standard nor 'perfect' - regard them as field recordings - but if I've managed to capture and share the spirit of a song.... well, that's fine by me.

Julian Badcock

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