Neil Fest 2023

Weather woman
She controls the clouds
Weather woman
She controls the skies 

She makes it rain on your parade
She stops the sun from being slayed
She takes the temperature up a notch
Whenever you're (she's) around 

Rain, wind or shine
She's always around
She always has the time
To make that thundering sound

037. weather woman (harding-watkins).mp3

130. queezy (harding).mp3

I don't mind you going into town
And I don't mind you swanning around
But all the time that you're alone
Just remember the tone on your phone

Radical lives
Anatomical strifes
Disaster is rife
For most of our lives

And don't tell, GCHQ
Cos they're listening to you!

They listen to you, GCHQ

You think you're safe
In a surburban space
But all the time 
They're watching you
And you think you're fine
But you're not fine

Because GCHQ

Walking down the street
The people you meet
And all the time
You might as well be mine

Cos they're watching you
GCHQ
They're listening to you
That's GCHQ
G-C-H-Q

146. gchq (harding).mp3

174. dancing queen (ulvaeus-andersson).wav

192. who do you think you are kidding mr hitler (dad's army theme).mp3

215. 3 lions (baddiel-skinner-brodie).mp3

220. you're no good (jesse fuller).mp3

From the tips of my toes
To the end of your nose
Tap to the rhythm
You know how it goes 

Wanna see all ages
from young to old
Get up on their feet
Now don't be cold 

There's a summer of fun to be had
Life is hard but best be glad
Cos it aint gonna get any easier
If we mope around it'll send us mad 

Well we all got inside the magic
That drives us forward past the tragic
Of life's ups and downs
We gotta stop the frown 

Well that's the way it goes
No time to overload
Snap to it now
Or forever you will bow


221. stop the frown (harding).mp3

I remember some advice my parents said
But I didn't take much notice then
It was to the point and that was the point
It was keep it simple and go ahead 

Keep it simple do it well
Wherever we go in life is swell   CHORUS
Complication is just hell
Keep it in the real world 

Whenever we try to do too much
Just step back from such and such
Get back to basics, back to life
And ditch all that strife 

And keep it simple do it well
Whereever we go in life is swell   CHORUS
Complication is just hell
Keep in the real world 

Just a final note to add
Complex lives are really sad
Think back to when you were young
When you weren't quite so highly strung 

CHORUS


232. keep it simple do it well (harding).mp3

234. what goes on (lennon-mcartney-starr).mp3

Mozart seemed like a punky dude
He played fast, died young with attitude 

With only half a keyboard
He was a music lord
Always will be adored
He was the greatest
Forget the latest
They're the lamest
Ones of all
Oh Mozart we love you we love you forever more
Once more
Oh Mozart we love you forever more, forever more 

His name was Amadeus
Which is a bit suss
For a kid of such an age
He was all the rage
Learned to play piano
Not the bow and arrow
Unusual for his time
So Guten Morgan Mozart
From this Midlands kid's heart
Your tunes will live forever more 

Oh Mozart we love you forever more , forever more

253. eine kleine punkmusik (mozart-harding).mp3

283. sheena is a punkrocker (ramones).mp3

291. song 2 (blur).mp3

I met a girl in Spain
I was only seventeen
She told me her name
It sounded like a dream 

We talked into the night
That everything's alright
But I don't know
I didn't know, I didn't know the scene 

We went down to the beach
My friend was with her friend
We chatted easily
Well, until the night, it did end 

But when we talked about bands
I did not understand
Her knowledge exceeded mine
Now I cringe to the end of time 

I didn't know 
Who Lou Reed was 
How could I not know 
who Lou Reed was?
Was I living behind a curtain 
like the wizard of OZ
I was such an imbecile
Time to get real
Despite her incredulous look
Surely it was 
not such a big deal

297. i didn't know who lou reed was (harding).mp3

The corporations make money
The boss he drives a big car
My daughter has worries
And she won't get too far 

The bills mount to the ceiling
She's too ill to work
The state governor is stealing
Yet we elect that jerk 

They change the laws
Say the water is fine
When they use a river
Through a cadmium mine 

The rich get the pure stuff
And we get the slime
Can I drink the water
In fracking time 

When Barack came around
And our hopes were raised
The corporate donors
Got their liabilities erased 

They say it was "the day
That Barack died"
In the hearts of the poor
And they all cried 

Compensation oughta
Be paid without delay
Can I drink the water
In America today?

300. can i drink the water (harding).mp3

301. golden brown (the stranglers).mp3

The ragged trousered philanthropists
They work night and day
Work for starving pay
And give it all away 

To the rich and powerful
Who are laughing all the way
They have all the say
They take it all away 

Until there is nothing left
There nothing left
There nothing left
We all bereft
We are bereft 

Today is the same as yesterday
Edwardian yesterday
Edwardian yesterday 

So onward we go towards our feudal doom
There is no room
For any of us to live  today
And now we die away 

We die away
We die away
And the rich go on their way


302. the ragged trousered philanthropists (harding).mp3

The British press killed my family
Yes they did, yes they did
As if they cut them with a Stanley
Yes they did, Yes they did 

Corporations killed democracy
Yes they did, yes they did
"Rolling" news blinds our faculties
With bullshit, bullshit 

"Reporters" tell themselves
It's not their fault, not their fault
They ruin lives, so what
Just an unfortunate assault 

On the lives of the poor
But they don't count, they don't count
"If I don't do it someone else will
And helping the poor don't pay the bill
They don't have the clout
They're worth nowt" 

And they are right
They are right
Unless we change the system
They are right 

The public killed my daughter
Yes they did, yes they did
Her dinghy sank in the water
Yes it did, yes it did 

Foaming at the mouth
With their daily hate in hand
With the TV & phone telling them not to take a stand
They scream at anyone who is different
They scream and hate and kill 

Because it suits the corporate agenda 
To be a big spender
And distrust helps divide 
And take people for a ride.


307. the british press killed my family (harding).mp3

We're spitting out lyrics with aplomb
There's an 8 track studio in my home
I walk my dog and when I'm done
I wash the car and go for a run 

Cos I'm a hardcore suburban man
With a balding head
And a fading tan
My wife retired at 51
When we sold our souls for a campervan 

I got an easy life
An easy life at your expense

I dream of pensions and good deals
And trading shares and meals on wheels
I don't know where the money's from
But I know it's not from work I've done 

You see, we invested in property
When we already owned loads anyway
And now we don't need to do any work
It's our tenants who have to sell their shirts 

To pay for us to do what we like
And we tell THEM to "get on their bike"
Cos we never tire of telling others
To work hard, to fill our coffers

308. i got an easy life (harding).mp3

314. walk of life (dire straits).mp3

Folk indie punk singer songwriter, guitars, keyboard. Jordan Watkins co-wrote 7 songs and plays guitars on those songs (as attributed).

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, 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

Neil Fest 2023

neil harding