Your Mix 3

lilac wine. rest ing peace. i'm really sorry.

Lilac Wine

Cover  of the great singer Dinah Washington.

Mad About The Boy By Sucole & 6qsax

Blueprint for track that became 'Sandycove Milk'.

Inspired by wondrous music by Conin, whose track 'Kitty's Wake' reminded of the rich clay of Joyce's 'Finnegan's Wake'. This track, about the opening pages of Joyce's Ulysses, borrows coffee spoons, forever those of T.S. Eliot, in an effort to add sweet milk...drawn from the milk-well of honeyed Sandycove.  The lyric speaker is, notionally, Stephen Daedalus. For practical purposes, the lyric speaker is James Joyce himself. His aim? To hit Haines for a guinea [a pre-decimal unit of currency] before heading to France on a ferry. Whilst Haines still feels guilty (sheepish) about having fired his pistol at an imaginary cat he thought he saw in the fireplace in the Martello tower in Sandycove (now the Joyce Museum....a sacred...magical place, whose attendant Joyce scholars told me about the Haines' imaginary cat episode....it is all true...yet also dovetails eerily with the first chapter of Ulysses).

The reference to Haines having consumed Absinthe is a narrative fiction, invented to offer an explanation for his dangerous behaviour. No peer reviewed evidence capable of demonstrating Absinthe has hallucinogenic properties, exists, to my knowledge.


Lyrics

[chorus]
Gotta learn me some Italian
Gonna get me a guitar
Gotta learn me some Italian
Gonna get me a guitar

Hellenise me now
She come and go
talking bout Michelangelo
there will be time
there will be time

do I dare to eat a quiche?
I shall wear enchanted trousers
and float upon the beach

I’m still dreamin
something happened last night

Haines downed a snot-green bottle of Absinthe
started shooting at his Schrödinger's cat
in the fireplace
looks real sheepish this morning
gonna hit him for a guinea [a pre-decimal unit of currency]
and get outta here
gliding on the Emerald sea
to Paris
with Haines’ guinea in my pocket
when I’m at sea

gonna go uptown now
hitting the top deck of this here Martello
gonna watch the mailboat
glide on an Emerald sea
gonna rest my shiny elbows
on the jagged granite
just leavin the harbour

and here comes stately Buck
bearing a bowl of lather
crossed razor and mirror as well
holding the bowl aloft
and intoning...intonin

Introibo ad altare Dei
sacred chalice
sacred cross
and now I’m lookin at the sea
Thallata...sweet mother
Hellenise me
mailboat clearin the harbour
rage of Caliban inside me
cos of Haines....[firing a gun inside the Martello tower when drunk the night before, at a giant cat he imagined was sitting near the fireplace]
sweet Thallata
buttercups on the quilt
powdered musk and gauds of amber beads
calm now like the sea
there will be time
there will be time

Martello

As each November approaches I try to make my own little Remembrance-time tribute.  Seems more relevant as each year passes...

Following the huffing and puffing empire lunacy in the summer of 1914, the next four years would see 40 million casualties, half of them deaths and of those, half were civilian.  

40 million.

40 million tales of poignancy, pain, grief and human tragedy, through times that can often seem littered with coincidence, symmetries …. bookends and mirrors.

In the Military Cemetery of St Symphorien near Mons rests John Parr.  At only five foot three inches and several years under age he (amazingly) managed to enlist in 1912 - hoping to see the world, and get the advertised “two square meals” a day.  He was the first British Army casualty, killed in the battle of Mons aged just 17, his body left behind, fate unknown until much later in the conflict;  the army unable to answer his mother’s letters of enquiry about her “silent” son.

By pure coincidence, John lies just a few yards from the last British soldier to die in the great war.  George Ellison served for four long years including at the same first battle of Mons as John, and most of the famously grinding, attritional infantry battles of the conflict.  His working life bookended by military service, George had first enlisted in 1902, leaving the army in 1912, just as John joined, he became a coal miner, re-enlisting at the outbreak of war to dig mud not coal and fight from trenches he helped excavate.  George was killed just 90 minutes before the armistice took effect at 11:00 on the 11th day of the 11th month.  The futility of the conflict was cruelly illustrated by the fact that George’s war had started and ended at exactly the same place, Mons in Belgium.  They had literally gone nowhere.

As a postscript to progress since "the war to end all wars" the human race is currently reckoned to be engaged in 7 major wars, 15 significant ongoing conflicts and 21 “minor” conflicts (the latter defined as up to "only” 1000 deaths per year).  By way of another macabre bookend, the longest of these has been going on, unbelievably, since the year .... 1918.

As always, this simple ballad is offered as a live one mic one take effort - please excuse the fluffs and gaffes.
_______________________

Bookends and Mirrors

Sun turned cold ‘cross every sky in the summer of ‘14
The Good Lord shook his head, and he placed it in his hands
Braided declarations flying, whose like was never seen
Lunatics in feathers stockpiled lead, bagged their sand.
Slapstick Mephistopheles, unleashing of his flame
Spiral minds lobotomised in the waltz of the insane
Simple lives unknowing of the mud that would become
A mirror in the resting place of two Holy Mother’s sons.

Signed the line, five years young, fingers crossed behind his back
Chance to see the world, grab a future, two square meals.
At 17, John’s angels sung, first to fall in dawn’s attack
Abandoned and forgotten, deaf to all his ma’s appeals.
Never knew the miner, his bookend pal to be
Fighting down the line, many battles that he’d see
Full four years in trenches, George’s hell lived through them all
Cruelty was smiling wide at England’s last to fall.

In service time they travelled nowhere, nothing to achieve
Embracing 40 million weeping mothers left to grieve
The crime of puffing chest bravado beggared to believe
Hall of mirrors seeping others’ blood of the innocent naive.

Now John and George lie facing each to seek their mirrored peace
Raise my eyes and brim a tear for the lessons never learned
Pray God, don’t ever let them know man’s insanity but increased
The war to end all wars a mere sequel oft’ returned 
By comedies of leathered fools stuck on infinite repeat
Bemedalled and bejewelled, they prosecute their moral defeat
But here, on sallow turf twixt heroes, broken mirror in my broken hand
Met by my own broken eyes, I still fail to understand.
_________
Photo by Michael Yuan on Unsplash

Bookends and Mirrors

White Sail | Korima

Listen to Korima at www.korima.net.

White Sail

Vidéo YouTube : https://youtu.be/xpmxidMUL8g
 
Roots  (Racines : à la suite en Français )

My dear brother , my Theo 
Thank you for your letter and the bill but it's too much
Since things are going well for you and yours 
What do we have to do with what is less so?
My dear brother , my Theo
You have your share in my work, my paintings 
which in the debacle keep their calm, and that's beautiful!

I risk my life in my work
my reason has half melted away.
I've already had bouts of madness
my condition must have worsened.

My dear brother, my Theo 
I'm a burden to you, for me it's too much 
You owe it to your son, to your family 
my painting will never be a source of profit. 
 
My dear brother , my Théo  
I'm sending you "Roots", my last painting.
I'm going to finish it with my blood
then die at the Ravoux: it's high time.


I'm risking my life for my work
my reason has half melted.
I've already had bouts of madness
my condition is only getting worse.  

My dear brother Theodore
lying beside me, what a comfort
you have joined me now in Auvers
where we rest, my brother, two feet under!

My work cost me my life
my sanity melted away
I had many fits of madness
my state was desperate.


Racines 

Mon cher frère , mon Théo 
Merci de ta lettre et du billet mais c’est trop
Puisque cela va bien  pour toi et les tiens 
Qu’avons nous à faire de ce qui l’est moins ?
Mon cher frère , mon Théo
Tu as  ta part dans mon oeuvre , mes tableaux 
qui dans la débâcle gardent leur calme , et c’est beau !

Mon travail à moi j’y risque ma vie
ma raison y a fondu à moitié .
J’ai déjà eu des accès de folie
mon état a du s’aggraver .

Mon cher frère , mon Théo 
Je suis une charge pour toi , pour moi s’en est trop 
Tu te dois à ton fils , à ta famille 
ma peinture ne sera jamais une source de profit . 
 
Mon cher frère , mon Théo  
je t’envoie  « Racines «  mon dernier tableau .
Je vais le terminer avec mon sang
puis mourrir chez les Ravoux  : il est grand temps .


Mon travail à moi j’y risque ma vie
ma raison y a fondu à moitié .
J’ai déjà eu des accès de folie
mon état ne fait que s’aggraver .  

Mon cher frère Theodore
allongé près de moi , quel réconfort
tu m’as rejoint à présent à Auvers
où nous reposons , mon frère , deux pieds sous terre !

Mon travail à moi m’a couté la vie
ma raison y a fondu en entier
J’ai eu de nombreux accès de folie
mon état était désespéré .

Racines (translated in description )

Toca la Guitarra | Korima
Following “White Sail”, we continue to showcase Korima’s short songs. Hoping to leave you wanting more.
This is the next one: Toca la Guitarra
Korima's songs are written and performed by Suzanne Ledwith (Ireland) and Steve Pumphrey (England).

Toca La Guitarra

Although
I sometimes let you down
When you're not around 
I miss you being around

Cos you mean everything to me
I might not let it show
But I need to let you know

The world slows down
When you're not around
When you're not around

Biggle, Kathy Biggle
I love you
I love you

Cos you mean everything to me

370. biggle [acoustic] (harding).mp3

371. crazy for you (madonna).mp3

For just one Smile

1) Composed by Johann G. Ebeling (1637-1676)
Soprano & Tenor unison Duo.

2) Composed by Jacob Van Eyck  (1590-1657)
(Soprano Recorder & Fx solo).

 AI image art.


All my heart this night rejoices / Preludium of Voorspel.

Space Sirens (2018) Anthology CD4 Track 09

I have my doubts again
And that won't change
I am alone again 
And that won't change
I have my fears again 
And that won't change

That won't change
Not before we die
That won't change
As long as we're alive
That won't change
Not before we die
That won't change

I'm in love again
And that won't change
I feel joy again
And that won't change
I like myself again
And that won't change

Chorus

Go away or get me
Take it from me now

This is the life I wanna live
This is the life I'm gonna live

That Won't Change

Bitten Lips (Prod. Sickboi)

Neustart

Blatt im Herbstwind

Heavy Punk Rock 'n' Roll band turns into Synthwave nowadays! Brand NEW album "Ultraviolet Cosmos" available NOW!
https://shockthealgorithm.bandcamp.com/album/ultraviolet-cosmos

Folk indie punk singer songwriter, guitars, keyboard. Jordan Watkins co-wrote 7 songs and plays guitars on those songs (as attributed). Also writing credits (as attributed) to Nigel Boot, K. Biggle and M. Rambout on 8 songs.

Putting my stuff out there "where funk meets punk"- using dynamic Shure SM58 microphone and Ableton 11 live recording software. Hohner Strat, Epiphone ES339 guitar, Taylor GS Mini Acoustic, Hohner harmonica and Yamaha keyboard E463.

Fave bands - L7, Lemonheads, Fat Tulips, Joy Division, Strawberry Story, The Smiths, Shonen Knife, Sex Pistols, Heavenly, The Fall, Slits, Bhundu Boys, Vaselines, The Pastels, Teenage Fanclub, Shalewambe, Jonah Moyo, Billy Bragg, Felt, Velvet Underground, Jeffrey Lewis, Jimi Hendrix....plus loads of other stuff.

Thanks in particular to Damian Smith and the Journeymen, QB Bills and The Strums for getting me into the Soundcloud community, and John Stone for listening from the start, and all those great musicians around the world listening in. Wonderful that music that didn't even exist a day, or even hours ago gets to go around the world. Always brilliant to be amongst the first to hear new stuff.

Remember, inconsistency means, even if one track is dodgy, the next might be a masterpiece. Keep listening folks, and keep making great music.

TOP 3 MOST PLAYED SONGS FOR EACH MONTH

JAN 2022
1. MCCARTHY'S GAME
2. FIELDS OF DREAMS
3. WEATHER WOMAN
FEB 2022
1. SO MANY THINGS TO DO
2. QUEASY
3. CAN I HAVE MY BALL BACK PLEASE
MAR 2022
1. PUT YOURSELF IN MY PLACE
2. MY NEW GIRLFRIEND
3. GCHQ
APR 2022
1. LET'S SEE WHAT YOU GOT
2. YOU ARE NOT ALONE
3. YOU WON'T REGRET DOING NOTHING AT ALL
MAY 2022
1. BREAKFAST AT TIFFANYS
2. GOD SAVE THE QUEEN
3. WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE KIDDING
JUN 2022
1. A MILLION TEARS FOR YOU
2. PURPLE ZONE
3. SWEET HOME ALABAMA
JUL 2022
1. SEVEN NATION ARMY
2. THREE LIONS
3. PASSENGER
AUG 2022
1. STOP THE FROWN
2. NITE CLUB
3. KEEP IT SIMPLE, DO IT WELL
SEP 2022
1. STOP THE FROWN
2. FEARLESS
3. EINE KLEINE PUNKMUSIK
OCT 2022
1. THE INSOMNIA SONG
2. KEEP IT SIMPLE, DO IT WELL
3. RUNNING UP THAT HILL
NOV 2022
1. HELEN
2. DON'T CHA
3. STOP THE FROWN
DEC 2022
1. LA PUNKEILLAISE
2. CHRISTMAS LIGHT
3. KEEP IT SIMPLE, DO IT WELL
JAN 2023
1. THE PRICE OF WAR
2. SHEENA IS A PUNKROCKER
3. THIS CHARMING MAN
FEB 2023
1. PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE LET ME GET WHAT I WANT
2. JA JA DING DONG
3. BIG GAY HEART
MAR 2023
1. SONG TWO
2. I DIDN'T KNOW WHO LOU REED WAS
3. CRISPIN WAS A STREET CLEANER

370. biggle [acoustic] (harding).mp3

neil harding

Recent comments

Negative Headphone

one man verity show

Steve Low

Related tracks