Dedicated to a distinctly odd boat that used to be moored by my favourite fishing spot as a child...

Adam's boat

Dedicated to the little rodents that often frequent our garden, particularly round the bird feeders - much to the delight of the children.

Scavengers

A song born of a title, lyrics added before breakfast in a flurry of pre-dawn activity.
Featuring Mark Woolley on whistle

Jesus came back in a dinghy (feat. Mark Wooley)

Recorded into a portable mic. This song is about making those choices that make you nervous; be it something as big as a new job or as trite as a trip to the dentist. Quite often after biting the bullet you can say" actually, that was a good move"... 

Lights in the city

Redone, though still into a portable mic. My first stab at arranging a traditional song. I've heard a few versions of this song - this comes from the wonderful resource that is the Penguin Book of English Folk songs. Guitar arrangement is my own. 
Version 2 on Brook Torridge

Young Ramble Away

A song about the area I was brought up in. I loved it, despie the small town syndrome. I wrote an EP during lockdown for it on BandCamp called Northwestern Soul. Despite working hard for the NHS during that period, It was cathartic. I have many positives attached to being brought up as a "country lad".

northwestern soul

Willow

A song about being bleeding cold and looking forward to the spring, the dual blessing and curse of smart meters and not being able to get rid of my garden waste....
Not to be confused with Green Day or Blue Mun Day

Whamageddon
And the year end excess 
Are thankfully now left behind
A pale sun refuses to donate any warmth
To a world that's both cold and unkind.
The decs are back up in the attic
Geese are still high on the wing
I'm waiting for green bin day 
And the welcome return of the Spring
 
My smart meter grins as it climbs into the red
It's giving me a psychotic twitch
"We've spent twelve pound fifty already today
Please, step away from the switch"
There's a pile of rotting logs in the garden
Upon which a Robin does sing
A song about green bin day 
And the welcome return of the Spring 
 
It seems a long time since I pruned my bush 
Like Mary said to the parson 
And it's almost too expensive to keep myself warm 
Without resorting to arson 
 
Those nocturnal cramps and the chill in my bones
Reflect in my face's contortions
I'm counting my blessings as well as my ailments
To give myself a sense of proportion
So when the crocus pops out of the lawn
I'll make a feast that's fit for a king
And raise a glass to green bin day
And the welcome return of the spring
 copyright 2023

Demo

Green Bin Day

Kevin Hume wrote:
"The wild wind that whips the waves
whistles low and misbehaves;
blows the music from their staves, 
sending them so far away"
in his song "Fanfare For The Common Wolf Spider"
I give him a mention in verse two because he deserves one :)

I love the notion of music being blown from their staves, so wrote this song about hearing music on the wind.

Sea Breeze

Dedicated to the 70s Health an Safety culture; or lack thereof. Those of us of a certain age should actualy be grateful for health & safety. The 70s for children - and adults - was a minefield, particularly in rural communities like the ones I lived in.... For many of us, our H&S advisor was a cartoon cat called Charley..... 
This ties in nicely with 70s children's TV, which featured lots of acoustic guitars, and was a constant source of joy and inspiration.

What Charley said

I tried to surf a duck pond 
Which went over my head
Although I ran the risk of being drowned
I bred some suspect germs
In the mess beneath my bed
Amongst half eaten scraps I left around
 
I kept a jar of angry bees
I captured in a net
Drank from puddles washed my hands in ditches
My skinny little legs 
Bore my Nettlebed encounters
I had my share of bruises, cuts and stitches
 
I made it to adulthood
Blemished but undead
I made it to adulthood
Despite what Charlie said
 
I wouldn't take lectures from a talking cat
Whose job it was to shield us from harm
He only had nine lives; I used up more than that 
But that's just life on a farm
 
So I'm sat here in my padded room
Wrapped in cotton wool
Knowing that I've pushed my luck so far
My healed bones are souvenirs 
And you can see my story
By joining up the dots which are my scars
 
I made it to adulthood
Blemished but undead
I made it to adulthood
Despite what Charlie said

© 2023

What Charley Said

A song about a meteorite which made landfall in Gloucester in Feb 2021.

By moonlight you came in a cloak made of stars
You sashayed with Jupiter, flirted with Mars
Announced your arrival with footprints of fire
 
From out of the void you set yourself down
In the wintry indifference of a cold market town
Where people lay sleeping or huddled inside
 
No one to greet you, no one to meet you
No one to crack you a smile
A sorrowful end to an odyssey
Over  the years and the miles
 
On Mrs Wickham's driveway, 
By Mrs Wickham's car
At journey's end you settled down to rest
 
On a tarmac bed you lay your head
Naked and alone 
Silent stranger, hobo from the stars
 
They came in their vans, they took you away
Because that's how things are
When you're fleeing from darkness
And guided by the stars
 
On a tarmac bed you laid your head
You'd travelled oh so far
To Mrs Wickham's Driveway
Copyright 2022

Mrs Wickam's Driveway

Based on one of my poems..... and introducing a bass guitar. Outside the comfort zone, but it's the place to be....

Dunes in June in marron grass
Oil rigs float and tankers pass
A picnic blanket dragged to where we eat 
While red ants feast on Sandalled feet
 
Tide races where lugworm cast
Carving channels slick and fast
The moat is flooded the castle breached
The children's ball carries out of reach 
 
Backs are red; shoulders blistered 
Sun and wind and sand assisted
A strandline zig zags seagulls poke and pry
Seeking a bounty with ever hungry eyes 
 
The tide that flows and ebbs away
Turns to surge another day
Finds the stranger on the shore
And cover tracks they made before
 
The tide that flows and ebbs away 
Turns to surge another day 
And in the evening dark serene
Recedes and wipes the whole beach clean

Beach Song

Rough first demo of a song about the onset of Autumn...

rough demo

Six Thousand Miles (Rough Demo)

Tried to draw the piano out a little more and  bring out the spoken samples as they are integral to the tune and were not always as coherent as I would have liked...

Wanderlust (Rejigged)

First written in 2005 on a quiet night in the paper mill, this has been shitcanned twice and now only one line remains from the original. 
It's a song inspired by, and about, a bloke who lived across the road from us when we were growing up.. 
demo version 2 on Brook torridge

Market Day (Rough  recording)

Slightly rejigged version of an old-ish tune celebrating the heatwave of 1976 and the whirlwinds in the cornfields around the village of Haskayne that, for an afternoon, blew freshly cut corn everywhere. Awesome sight that I'll never forget.

A Devil In The Straw (Re-jig)

Christmas is coming and all its excesses. Food, drink etc. I can take or leave, luckily. As for chocolates; there is an Achilee's heel.......

I love you like a Freddo
You're stuck inside my head oh
Gluttony's a deadly sin 
But I'll tear off your wrapper and dive right in
'Til the taste of you runs down my chin
I love you like a Freddo
 
I love you like a Freddo 
Beside me in my bed oh
I snorkel in your chocolate sea
Then lay down beside you so happily
I've loved you since you cost 10p
Yes, I love you like a Freddo
 
I love you like a Freddo
Forever til I'm dead oh
Let's make tadpoles and build a home
Netflix, Sky and mobile phones
On a lily pad to call our own
I love you like a Freddo

DEmo

Kiss Enough Frogs...

Demo of a song a song about about two kids riding their bikes...

Kings Of Clieve's Hill (Demo)

A gentle riposte to a guy who pulled one of my gigs after four songs in Dec 2022, because it wasn't "upbeat" enough. It was a town wide charity event he'd asked to be part of. It was unpaid. Cold. My first gig in 18 months.
Revenge is a dish best served cold and with relish and large flightless birds native to Australia.

Have you ever heard of charm, did no one teach you manners?
Does the weight of your ego strain your back
Do you have to get up early to practice being so surly?
Are you making up for something that you lack?

You're a strutting little minnow in the widest of oceans
I've met your kind a thousand times before 
A self appointed king in your grubby little kingdom
Just because your name's above the door

You didn't join the queue when they gave out grace
They didn't make good nature in your size 
And the corpse of your charisma lies rotting in your kitchen
Underneath a swirling cloud of flies

Downbeat's the new upbeat, chill out and listen in
Perhaps the words will move you or beguile
Your face won't crack in two if you break into a grin
And the world won't end if God forbid, you smile

Revenge is a dish best served cold and with relish
To turn the other cheek would just be wrong 
Public humiliation was the weapon that you chose
My weapon of choice is just this song

So may your barefoot road to hell be paved with drawing pins and lego 
May curdled milk forever grace your tea
May a herd of rampant emus peck your beady eyes out, 
Then I'll show you upbeat, wait and see 

Downbeat's the new upbeat, chill out and listen in
Perhaps the words will move you or beguile
Your face won't crack in two if you break into a grin
And the world won't end if God forbid, you smile

Your face won't crack in two if you break into a grin
And the world won't end if God forbid, 
Won't end if God forbid, 
Won't end if God forbid, you smile

copyright 2024 will riding

Downbeat's The New Upbeat

The simple refrain went through my head for a week or so and suddenly grew a pair of legs and took off. A song extolling the virtues of love and companionship. No shoes.

I Am The Sea (WIP)

A live recording of my song 'Favourite Shoes' recorded in June 2015 at a songwriting competition in Lymm. Hosted by Lymm Folk Club and recorded by Bernard Cromerty.
The song was written for a lad who had a bumpy ride when he started High School on account of his Autism..

Favourite Shoes (Live)

A true story about temptation..not what you'd expect by the title though. It's a forty three year old guilt trip...

Forty Eight Redheads (portable rec)

The song inspired by my son's autism, this version features some added instrumentation by Chris Jewell.

Favourite Shoes (Feat. Chris Jewell)

Reworked. Featuring Chris Jewell on piano and bass with my vocal and some ambient stuff.

A House By The Sea

Chris come up with an arrangement that frames the song perfectly.. very pleased with his efforts, where would I be without him? Chris on piano and bass

A House By The Sea #3 (Chris Jewell remix)

Portable recording of a song written in a field in Rhayader, mid Wales and based on a contra dance, Devil's dream, it's joy to behold, in full flight when my two left feet aren't messing it up..
A room full of people busting some nifty moves to a fast American reel, working together to hold it together... made me think, life could be like that...
Big thanks to Folk Camps and Barry Pollard for use of his catchphrase :-)

A Bit Like Devil's Dream...(Portable Recording)

Version 2. Pleased with how this is bedding in, so it was re-recorded and mixed on the eight track. A song I've been kicking around for a while, inspired by a same sex couple who were together when I met Emma, and are still together now, through an era of slowly-but-surely changing attitudes and the repeal of Clause 28. They kept it together where many other couples have gone by the wayside. It was also spurred on by a recent family announcement :-)

The Ballad of John and John

A reworking of a twelve month old portable recording.  It's the first of a few I have earmarked. Muses on mortality, we've lost a lot of cultural icons since I wrote this so figured it was worth a re-jig.

The Empty Chair (2016)

A song pretty much about how me and my brother came to be...could be a 1960s rural Lancs kitchen sink drama. Dedicated to my late mother, who was affectionately known by all as "Big Dot".

Edit V2  semitone higher/rearranged slightly

The Gardener's Daughter (WIP)

A song, the words of which emerged fully formed, less than twenty four hours after a conversation with my son about the number of sequels and remakes in the pipeline. We concluded that there are no stories left to tell which set off a train of thought... (Ironically we both intend seeing the Blade Runner sequel...)
It's a first take/rough mix. I'm happy with the less-earnest-than-usual tone but the guitar part needs playing in.

All of the stories are told (Rough WIP)

A solo acoustic retread of my "Hoof Pandas" song.  It's been pulled this way and that but seems to be settling in now... a little song about our journey from wonder, to understanding and back to wonder/mistrust

Fire In The Sky (Rough Portable)

Lancashire born Will Riding, now based in Chester, is an acoustic guitarist and songwriter, his honest and occasionally playful songs reflect the common experiences we all share from childhood onwards.
He started writing his own songs to go with the folk standards he’d sing in and around Chester. Encouraged by the reception they received, he continues to write and is getting them out to a wider audience. Amongst other things, he has supported the late Julie Felix, Harp and A Monkey, Emma Stevens and Mark Radcliffe’s Galleon Blast as well as playing several songwriting showcases for Pete Morton.
Music can be found on the usual streaming sites and on his BandCamp page.


will riding

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