The Child Of Joe O'Connor

About a hit and run.

Photo: Alexander Popov - Unsplash

Mr Sweeney

Elves and The Shoemaker

Elves And The Shoemaker

In 1771 in the fens of Cambridgeshire a miller manages to escape the smoking paws of Black Shuck , but at what cost ? If anyone could bluff Shuck it be a miller I suppose. Cautionary note , this is a true story.
https://youtu.be/j54v4pA5sPg

A Brush with Black Shuck (Video on You Tube)

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

Kings Of Clieve's Hill (Demo)

Written in response to Post Office Horizon IT Scandal / Inquiry.
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Thanks to my heavenly choir; Ann Lewis, Bob Glass, Brian Larsen, Dave Atkins, Dawn Williams, Erica & Beth Harwood, Glyn Jones, Iain Paterson, John Jenkins, Katie & James MacGregor, Lise Marie, Mal Redhead, Michael Loveland, Nathan Stephens, Peter Sabourn, Pippa Murdie, Sarah-Lou Fletcher, Scott Cryer and Will Riding Music.
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cf4y5d3NB4I
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She without empathy cast the first stone
In a guilty communion you’re never alone
From under a rock you emerge to account 
For the lives you destroyed without shadow of doubt
 
God fearing liars God loves a tryer
High minded clergy that preach to the choir 
God fearing liars in slim fit attire
Making their heaven on earth

No smoke without fire a binary force
Knows your every transaction for better and worse
If your bottom line simply doesn’t add up
They will ruin your life and they won’t give a fuck

God fearing liars God loves a tryer
The gall and the spite one can almost admire
God fearing liars how much they acquire
Making their heaven on earth

The passing of time must have clouded your mind
You can only be trusted to save your own kind
We don’t want your insincere apology
Or your habit to blame everything on IT

God fearing liars God loves a tryer
Selfish ambition with every fibre
God fearing liars sidestepping the mire
Making their heaven on earth

They’ll circle the wagons close ranks cover up 
Collective amnesia when called to the dock
They’ll swear on the bible keep lips buttoned tight
Knowing God will forgive them ‘cos they’ve seen the light

But karma’s a bastard I think truth will out
Thanks to the playwright they’re in with a shout
Will there ever be justice and who’ll take the blame?
Or face up to the upshot and suffer the same

God fearing liars God loves a tryer
High minded clergy that preach to the choir 
God fearing liars dishonest deniers
Making their heaven on earth

God fearing liars God loves a tryer
Out of the frying pan into the fire
God fearing liars immoral vampires
Making their heaven on earth

In heaven as it is on earth

Amen

©Jim Pearson 2024

God Fearing Liars

Recorded on a voice memo - for TisT comedy comp

In a previous life

Popish... Bookish... from my next album.
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I don’t have a fancy cover
Neither hard nor soft
Written by a pseudonym
You can’t buy me in the shops

You can read me in the bathtub 
Or leave me on the shelf 
You can lend me to your boyfriend
Or keep me to yourself

This ain’t a book with pictures in it
This ain’t a book with a pop up plot 
It may not have a happy ending 
I thought we were singing in the beginning 

It’s just a book I wrote for you
You’ll recognise the story
Names changed to protect the blamed
I hope you’re sitting comfortably

If you can read between the lines 
Decipher your own meaning 
You can leave a bad review
If that’s the way you’re feeling

This ain’t a book with pictures in it
This ain’t a book with a pop up plot 
It may not have a happy ending 
But I thought we were singing in the beginning 

©Jim Pearson 2024

Bookish

"William Goldring, my son’s best friend, was one of eight non-violent protesters found guilty of ‘conspiracy to cause a public nuisance’ at Heathrow in February. He is currently  incarcerated in Wormwood Scrubs awaiting sentencing next month. He gave up his career, Ph.D., and a couple of years of his life to draw the government’s and the public’s attention to the climate change emergency and the scientific community’s call to reduce fossil fuel burning immediately. I asked my friend, Jim Pearson, if he would write a song about his predicament. This was his response. Thanks Jim!"
Brian Larsen, West Kirby, Wirral.

Mixed by Jack Pearson

A Minor Inconvenience

A lot of people struggle. Some show it, some don't, some have coping strategies, others need varying levels of assistance. We're being screwed down so tightly both personally and via the craziness going on at the top table that it's hardly surprising there's a mental health crisis. And you can't legislate it out of existence.
 
Those little pockets of peace,both physical and mental are essential. As are the opportunities to deconstruct and reconstruct with the right help. 
 
Safe to say that musically this took a bit of a detour from my usual folky fayre. Channelling Martin Stephenson And The Daintees and also inadvertently in parts, err... Wake Me Up Before You Go Go. If you're of a mind,you can even dance to it.
Hell, I just followed it where it went went...
Stay well xWhen the drip drip drip of poison is all we notice
And we're pummelled by a life which we've been sold
There's a place beyond the savage seas where we can rest a while
Beyond a world which leaves us cold
No flags or borders, no last orders; an open range
Where we learn to love ourselves once again
 
We can watch the stars fall in the evening 
Feel the blood course through our veins 
Our beating hearts will punctuate the silence
And summon hope of better days 
We'll  cackle like hyenas and sing between the showers 
Buzzing like the honey bees which dart between the flowers
 
Don't want to be where egrets dare to flash their wings and blind me
I'll wrap myself in a cloak of calm, so they won't find me
 
So come and hear the tideline's whisper
Let's reconnect and redefine
No looking back, no looking forward 
Let's take a moment in this time
Like limpets we can cling to the good times
And groan like rusty gates at bad rhymes
 
Don't want to be where egrets dare flash their wings and blind me
I'll wrap myself in a cloak of calm, so they won't find me

 Don't want to be where egrets dare flash their wings and blind me
I'll wrap myself in a cloak of calm, so they won't find me






Egrets

Written about an off-the-cuff comment that was made to me and I wrote an entire song around it!
I love the sound of Dave Guild's solo guitar on this song.

Two Years Down The Line

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.


Egrets

will riding