birthmarked: It was always an ambition to record my songs. Through a stroke of luck I was put in touch with the very talented knob twiddler, Arthur Wilson, by a colleague and friend, Jim Bathgate, and that meeting led to this CD. I performed the songs straight off so there's no big productions but it has a certain charm. In reality, when I started recording with Arthur, many of the songs were lyrically unfinished so I got together with yet another colleague, Bob Shields, who happens to be one of the best poets in Scotland, and he helped me complete a lot of them. I have a great deal to thank Jim, Arthur and Bob for and I am really grateful for all of their help and guidance. I can look back on recording birthmarked as a significant point in my life for many reasons but I am particularly glad that it has since given me the opportunity to meet so many musicians and to make so many new friends.
I shall provide a track list and some notes on the songs later.
Speaking In Tongues is the CD I made as part of a group of poets and singer songwriters called The Travelling Waverlies. This was our first CD and we are currently working on a second. The mixture of poetry and song is what we are all about and we try hard to work on integrated pieces.
The Harbour At Symi is a mini CD featuring the title track as a song/poem combination with Bob Shields and Martin Boland. I co-wrote Symi with my wife, Jane. We both love the island and regard it as a very special place for us. I would love to perform at the Symi Music Festival one day and perhaps get the chance to play the song there.
War On War was a Dutch compilation CD produced as a gesture against the war in Iraq. Mike Dillon, one of The Travelling Waverlies, features on the CD singing a song I co-wrote with Mike and Bob called Rockets Over Babylon.
Companions was a brilliant experience. It features three songs each by six songwriters; myself, Arthur Wilson, Mark Barnett, Martin Boland, Mike Dillon and Kenny Vass and we have all now produced solo CDs. I'll provide notes and lyrics etc later.
The Journeyman is my second and most recent solo CD and on this one I was able to get the help of a lot of great musicians and singers to help make it what I consider to be a very special recording. I think it contains some of the best songs I've written. I shall add notes on the songs later.
As Eden Lay In Darkness is the CD I am currently working on. I haven't officially begun recording yet but I have more or less decided on the track list. The title is taken from a line in one of the songs, Falling Down, which is a song about how all empires fall even the greatest and the worst. I shall provide notes on the songs later. I might add some audio clips as well. Here's a list of some of the songs I'm considering including...
Don't Wish Your Dreams Away, Falling Down, Indiana, Everybody Lies, I'll Know When I Get There, I 'Aint Goin' Dancin' No More, Shoeshine Boy, The Woman, Walk On The Wild Side Of The Street, Should Brothers Be, I Want To Be Kissed, Via Dolorosa, The Bells Of San Giulio
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This is a song of regret.
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This song is simply about our favourite Greek island.
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I tried to create a multi-layered song which was also straightforward and simple. It's about fathers and sons, brothers and death.
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This song is about memories. It's all true with a tiny bit of poetic liberty. The title refers to a letter in the Hebrew alphabet and is taken from a short story by Jorge Louis Borges, which contains one of my favourite passages about simulaneous events.
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This song was written for our grandson Joshua. I think he likes it and I like to think that it works as both a children's song and an old time country song. It's on The Journeyman CD.
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This is a song about the first steps into romance but it's really about taking a chance in life.
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This song was written in protest against the war in Iraq. I co-wrote it with Bob Shield and Mike Dillon and Mike sings it on The Dutch CD War On War.
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