Learning To Love To Try

How many people end up in jobs that they don’t really care for.

It’s hard to give every task your full and complete attention even when you love what you do. It’s hard to give each person you work with, or for, the same quality of work, consistently. It’s hard to treat each customer or person you interact with the same concern.

Maybe impossible. Even when we love it. But when we love what we do, at least we try.

Or maybe that’s back to front. Maybe, in the trying, we learn to love what we do.

And these thoughts might have something to do with me being in the middle of learning some new tricks on my geetar…

Not The Same Old, Same Old

It would be interesting to know how many original songs have been played in just the few months we’ve been holding these HomeSongs4Life sets.

Of course there have been some repeats, but I’m guessing that over 200 original songs will have been performed. Some of them never heard by anyone but the writer before. And the vast majority of them new to the listeners too.

So much of our music experience is predicable. Whether it be going to the concert of a band or artist we already know very well, the majority of tunes we hear on the radio, or the covers we hear being played by pub bands.

The familiar is comforting.

But it puts a smile on my face to hear a new song.

Daily Miracles

Every note we sing.
Every rhythm we keep.
Every person we touch.
Every sound we hear.
Every breath we take.

It’s a goddamn, foot-thumping, heart-pumping miracle of Life.

What a privilege.

You Qualify

And then there was light!

In two and a bit weeks we will be having some live music in our front room again. This is the link to the first Homesong gig in a while (Friday 27th August) featuring Norman Lamont and Rosie Nimmo. You’re welcome to be here, if you can be here. And there’s another one on the Saturday here.

The chances are that you don’t live where we live though. And I have come across the misconception that Homesong gigs are only a Kintyre thing.

No! A thousand times “No'“.

Homesong is just a name I invented to describe a gig that happens in a home. And at the risk of repeating myself…OK, I am repeating myself…they can happen ANYWHERE. In those things we call homes.

I hope you’ve got a home. And if you do, you qualify.

Good To Be Back

Yesterday I succumbed. I ended my songwriting sabbatical. Earlier than planned, but you songwriters will understand.

I was noodling away with this new picking pattern I’d learned. Nothing fancy, but still a stretch for me. And the a title popped into my head. And The Urge arrived, with a vengeance, not far behind.

So it had to be done. And I have to say, it was fun. Back in the groove.

It’s been helpful to take a break, even from something I loved doing so much.

But oh boy! It’s good to be back. 

It Is Rocket Science

I was struggling to write something today, and returned to this song, Rocket Science, by Mary Cigarettes, just because it tends to have a restorative effect upon me. I found Mary’s introduction to the song made total sense, so I’m quoting him below. It’s a good description about the role of songwriting in general perhaps, helping us to express what “an epic movie this life really is”.

“there's certain things you learn to do when you get older to stop yourself from going nuts. the main thing is you try not to over think every single stupid thing. you give yourself some healthy distance from tricky situations, so you can protect yourself ,and see the wood from the trees.... acceptance becomes a big idea....you stop banging your head against brick walls like a cry baby just because life isn't turning out like you planned.... instead you strive for a bit of clarity.... once all this is in place you get a sense of what an epic movie this life really is. .....Because for all the sadness, and heartbreak, for all of life's supposed injustices, this really is a special and colourful trip we're on.

and that dear friends is what this song is all about....”

Back Home

Even the best holiday doesn’t usually detract from the simple pleasure of getting back home. We see our time away as a time of relaxation. But in reality we stretch ourselves when we experience a new environment and sleep in an unfamiliar bed.

And we breathe a relaxed breath when we walk through the familiar front door. No place like it, apparently.

Have YOU Got The Balls?

A Tennis Ball of luminous yellow

Had made a great escape

He’d always wanted to play the cello

The Tennis thing could wait.


His heart was lost to music

And though he still liked sport

He didn’t want to bounce through life

Upon a tennis court.


But if you say: “that tennis ball

Is probably not welled suited

To playing in an orchestra”

Well, go on then, refute it!


For there he sits upon a stage

The Cello between his………..Um?

Yes, OK, a point well made.

Ta Tumty, Tumty Tum!

Do You Want Fries With That Song?

I saw an interesting thread on Facebook where someone was offering a formula to write songs faster. The argument being that the more songs you write, the more likely you are to write a good one. 

I definitely thing it helps to get efficient at aspects of the processes, but in my experience that happens naturally by...um sitting down and writing a song.

The more time you spend trying to find the right words or the right notes, the better (and quicker) you get at it.

It’s not rocket science. I suppose it’s a formula of sorts.

And there is, of course, a place for formulas if you want to produce something in a consistent way. Like a Big Mac. I like a McDonald’s burger sometimes.

And sometimes I like a McDonald’s song. 

But mostly, and far more these days, as we become more automated, more binary, I like something with that human touch. 

The added extra which can never quite be captured in a formula.

Everybody’s Favourite Alien

For the longest time I’ve been releasing an original song every month and sending a copy to everyone on my mailing list. Today is song no.111. 

And for the longest time I’ve had around about 100 people on my mailing list. It’s not gone up or down.

Until just recently. Recently I decided to give my dedicated mailing list a little bit extra than the one song a month. Now, every Tuesday, they get    a Tuesday Tunesday where I record a live video of a song, and write about how it came to be. And on Fridays they receive a fun little feature (it’s already gaining cult status in some eyes!) called The Iron Chicken.

And yes. You guessed it!

The numbers on my mailing list have…

…started gradually decreasing. In a drip, drip fashion.

94 now. And counting!

I’m telling you all this with my tongue firmly planted in my cheek. I’m very happy in fact that people who don’t want to continue to receive my missives are unsubscribing.

Who on earth wants obligated listeners?

But I’m proud of the work I do, and I get some fantastic feedback. And though it’s always important to pay attention to the “voting with their feet” contingent…it might be a message I need to hear…in this case I’m going to keep on keeping on.

And if you’ve kept on to the bottom of this blurb, then have a listen to this month’s recorded tune Everybody’s Favourite Alien.

If you REALLY like, then feel free to push me back up towards that magic 100 figure.  

Smiley Face Emoticons

We creative people can be notoriously creative when organising our lives.

One of the best things a creative person can get in the habit of doing is simply to keep a note of information given, so that the person who gives out the information, The Organiser, doesn’t have to give it out on several occasions.

It stops us having to ask again. It saves them from unnecessary extra work. 

Win, Win. 

And smiley face emoticons all round. 

Sharing

It’s good to share. 

But when something good is shared online tens, thousands, millions of times, it can sometimes start to feel a little mundane. 

“Been there, seen that, got the T-Shirt”. 

A live Homesong gig is also for sharing. But usually only with the people who are there, live, in the moment. 

Something unique. 

Shared but unrepeatable. 

A Field Of Possibility

Music has been with us for ever. But with the advent of modern technology and media and the political revolutions of the sixties something happened.

A massive musical Field Of Possibility emerged. Suddenly it was possible to reach huge audiences AND to be be in touch with and influenced by the rest of the world, it’s cultures and its music.

And of course creative kinds quickly started to wander, open mouthed into this realm of songwriting potential. They began creating new music like horny rabbits.

Some artists like Bob Dylan (lyrically) and The Beatles (musically) really didn’t waste the opportunity. They explored a LOT of that Field. And since then the rest of us have been trying to find the gaps, still available but seemingly ever decreasing, to create something original and popular.

In my opinion it’s impossible today to write and release songs that could ever have as much impact as that which those earlier writers and performers achieved.

But there will always be gaps.

And perhaps, unseen by us, that Field Of Possibility is expanding. Stretching to distant horizons, just like the universe.

In this universe it’s never going to help us to sound too much like somebody else.

And why would we want to anyway?

Thank You For The Music

It’s a blessing to have a relationship to a song that is made stronger through a relationship with the person who wrote that song.

Many of my songwriting friends have been recording and releasing music over the last couple of years, and those songs hold as much resonance for me as the more lauded ones I listened to as teenager do.

I want the best for my friends, and for the success of their songs. And some of those songs are brilliant, and deserve a wider audience.

But whether or not that happens, thank you for the music.

It’s A People Thing

When I go for a walk in the woods, I love to be alone.

When I write a song I prefer to be alone.

And when I’ve performed my music I’ve almost always been alone.

But I’d prefer not to be.

My most enjoyable gig to date was a Homesong I played alongside my friend Les Oman in our manifestation as The Strunts. It was so much more relaxing to have someone to bounce off. To be in it together.

Perhaps a lot of this is subjective and personal to me.

But I really don’t think anyone in the room should be feeling "Alone” when music is happening. Above anything else, music and songs have the capacity to bring people together.

I think that’s their best quality.

Putting The Laurels To Bed

I don’t know the statistics but I was getting the impression, even before this Covid business, that many people, and I include myself among them, were less inclined to go out. There is so much entertainment now, and it’s available immediately. In fact it’s sitting right there in our pockets.

It’s just easier to stay in.

Two thoughts emerge. One is more of a question. After the some what claustrophobic experiences of Lock Down, is Going Out going to get big again? There are signs that may well be the case, even if it is only a temporary surge.

The second thought, whatever the answer to that last question, is that those of us who are trying to provide a reason for folk to go out, need to really make that experience a good one. Something memorable and unique.

There is a lot about Homesong gigs, to my mind, that already makes it an inherently better “going out” experience. And that’s been the feedback I’ve had from those who have taken part in them too.

But as a host, and as a performer, I firmly believe that any laurels gained are not there to be rested upon.

Let’s Get Digital

It’s a brave new world in which the digital interacts with the physical.

One of my foster sons is meeting up with a girl he’s been “going out” with online for more than 2 years. They’ve been speaking together almost every night during that time. She lives over 2,000 miles away and now they are meeting for the first time in the flesh in Glasgow, as I write. Now that’s romance.

I’m enjoying getting to know lots of other musicians through online means. Though not for romantic purpose I hasten to add. And it’s great to meet up. Two days ago H4Lifer Davey McCallum was visiting Kintyre and played his online set from the house of another H4Lifer, and his friend, Les Oman.

Les happens to live about 200 metres from me here in Campbeltown. So after watching the performance from my house I popped over to Les’s house to meet Davey in the flesh.

It’s all a little bit surreal. But very nice too.

Au Naturel

For online HomeSongs4Life it’s been my pleasure to have a front row seat, so to speak. Although technically, I’m just the guy (along with Chris Annetts) who presses the Go Live button, and does their best to sound like a sound engineer. I'm behind a computer as I watch, like everybody else.

But sitting behind that screen, having just spoken to whoever is playing that evening, feels like a very privileged position. It feels like I’m in the same room as each performer. And the variety, quantity and quality of original music I’ve heard has been a revelation.

But it has also been an insight for me to see the way everybody deals with speaking to a computer webcam as though it’s a live audience.

It’s a hard thing to pull off. Some of us, me included, find the “in between the song” bit the most difficult, even with a proper live audience. It’s good to get a close up view of the natural performers among us, giving it their best banter. Definitely a learning experience.

Anyway, it’s my turn this evening. I’ll be trying to fake that Au Naturel style. And then, like a crab running sideways looking for the safety of a rock, find refuge in singing a song.

Real People Are Scary

It’s been good to see signs of life on the playing live front. Various people I know doing what they do best. Still haven’t managed it myself yet, but my time will come, and there are irons in the fire.

I’ve personally never been able to play regularly enough to become as comfortable as I’d like performing to an audience. It’s always a bit of a “wing and a prayer” and a “faith over sight” kind of experience.

Maybe for that reason the first time back won’t feel any different than normal, despite the long wait.

Playing to a computer screen is surreal.

But real people can be scarey.

Consistency

I have sometimes confused creativity with unpredictability in my own work.

Unpredictable can be good…SURPRISE!… for the listener. But I don’t think it’s a good thing for the performer or creator. However late the decision is made to play a particular note, or use a particular word, or improvise a particular riff, that “unpredicability” should be deliberate, not accidental.

Of course every writer and performer has at some point done something accidentally which seems to enhance a creation or a performance. And we want to hear risks taken in which deliberate creative decisions, could potentially back-fire.

But I’ve come to believe that the vast majority of the creative work and performances we admire, are born out of one thing. Consistency.

A reliable, repeatable technique, and a confident knowledge of what works and what doesn’t work. And it would have been easier to have sorted all that out at the beginning, I’m finding.

But whenever we do it, it’s always worth taking time to work on the consistency.