Something Like This
Survivor’s guilt is what sometimes happens when we survive and others don’t.
Late last night I heard of a tragic accident that killed the father of a young family that we know a little bit because the oldest boy, in the family of five children, is friends with one of our foster boys. And his dad, just 33, used to play football with our eldest son.
And I realised I was driving up at the same time as the accident happened, on the same road, in his direction, to the gig I was playing on Saturday. Oblivious to what was taking place a few miles ahead of me.
These sad occurrences are happening daily, somewhere. Often they don’t affect us, but if we live long enough we can’t help but be affected by the sadness that is forever out there in somebody’s life. Because sometimes it’s people we know. And it might have been us.
That is why it is so important to try and share the burden, share the pain, of those who are suffering. Even though that is nigh on impossible. Because we are all in it together. Sooner or later it will be we who need some comfort and understanding, though we always hope it won’t be something like this.
And the guilt? The guilt is unnecessary and unhelpful. Tragedy should simply serve to remind us that we need to appreciate life while we have it.
RIP Roddy Mc.
Room At The Inn
I was able to play a wonderful Homesong gig on Saturday evening at Clachan here in Kintyre. Lori hosts her Homesongs in a a kind of big shed/garage by her house. She decorates it for the occasion and it has loads of character. Heating supplied by a small calor gas heater, so coats were worn by the audience and me. But it didn’t feel uncomfortable for the 2 hours or so we were there.
The gig had all the features I like. A decent audience considering other events on the night. An intimate, unplugged set with good banter and the chance to chat to everyone who attended. I tried out a couple of new tunes along with a selection of older material. Only a couple of cock-ups on lyrics and guitar. A nice pot of half-time chilli. A few extra (funny!!!) songs from my mate Chris. Great feedback. And I sold all but one of the CD’s I took along.
All in all a lovely warm up for Christmas.
ps. Lori’s mini -barn features in the Homesong video we made a few years ago.
All Crazy Now
When I was a lad down in Auld Ingerland, a fella would introduce themselves to another fella with a handshake.
Personally, I’m adaptable, quite malleable, and not too averse to change. So as other forms of greeting evolved - hugging, fist bumps, high fives, upside down handshakes, elbow-to-elbow, it wasn’t like I was going to get all uppity and old mannish about it.
But that doesn’t prevent confusion. I just bumped into someone, an old friend of one of my sons. I went in with the back to front, thumbs up handshake. He, fully aware of my old man status, came in with the old fashioned English Technique.
And that, my friends, is what the world as a whole feels like at the moment.
It will all settle down. But while change is happening, and whether that change be good, bad, or indifferent, we better get used to riding the wave.
Because, Mamma, we’re all crazee now.
.
Nearly Yuletide
The days are getting very dark now. The weather is cold, wet and grim.
It happens every year. The seasons dictate all of that when you live far from the equator. And although British weather has plenty of uncertainty, it’s still roughly predictable.
And so we have Christmas, and before that Yule. Festivals where people in the Northern Hemispheres try to bring some light and merriment into the shorter days and longer nights of the Winter Solstice.
My favourite kinds of songs are ones which do something fairly similar. They are also the kind of songs I most often try to write. Taking a difficult or sad subject and attempting to find some hope and a way forward. To keep on going till the Springtime.
Here’s a bit of mish-mash of a Christmas song that I wrote and recorded 3 years ago to commemorate one hundred years since the end of the First World war. It was lovely to have family members, (my sister and 2 grandchildren) involved in the production of this one.
I hope that you have a lovely Christmas time when it comes, and are reminded that, although times are strange, sad and difficult for many, our near ancestors have came through far harder circumstances.
In the end they reached a season of peace and light. We will too.
Find Me!
If you’re having a festive party this year -
(I know, I know. C19 will, along with Santa, Mary, Jo, The Wee Wean and a Donkey, still be amongst us, and making everything uncertain for so many reasons. Maybe this particular blog is only applicable to the UK Government )
- Why not make space for a bit of original music?
Invite someone along (you might even know that someone) who, as well as playing some jolly singalongs … “SO HERE IT IS MERRY CHRISTMAS!” … will also throw in one or two of their own tunes.
People might not even notice after a glass or two of your extra potent Fruit Punch, and also because … well … just because you haven’t heard a song before, doesn’t mean it’s not a good song.
There are an awful lot of unknown, but very good songs out there, songs that you might end up requesting in the future, that are just asking you to … Find Me.
Why not give an Original Tune a home this Christmas.
(PS. David McCann from the link above is playing next Wednesday’s HomeSongs4Life).
Wide Awake Music
The received wisdom is that your audience need to roughly know what to expect when you perform. They would like to hear the songs they know and love. And when they’ve come for some heavy metal, they don’t want you to start singing confessional ballads.
It can be a dilemma for many creative artists though. Creativity doesn’t feel like it is something that should be tied down then tied up with a ribbon in a pre-defined box.
One answer to the dilemma might be to get people into the habit of expecting the unexpected. Or to seek out an audience that actually prefer things that way in the first place. (Personally, I’d be in that audience).
All creativity that speaks to people involves a fine balance between creating something that is both familiar enough and unusual enough. Where we place ourselves on the spectrum between those two end markers is a very personal decision. In truth, the wrong decision can hamper our progress, turning the listeners perception of us either into something that is dull and predictable or, at the other end of the scale, completely inaccessible.
Although given the choice, it might be better to play with fire and risk complete alienation, than send anyone to sleep.
Staying On The Bus
I was listening to another Homesongs performer, Donna Canale, play online last night on Rowland Jones “Talking Songs”. She used the phrase “staying on the bus” in regard to trying to find a following for her songs, simply by keeping on keeping on.
We don’t like to think of our creative endeavours as a competition. We are Artistes! We spend our time waiting, working and listening…for Inspiration. And then we Give Birth to that inspiration.
Well, yes, maybe something like that happens.
But…and this isn’t a given of course…if we want our “inspiration” to find an audience to inspire, then we inevitably find ourselves in competition with other Inspired Folk, who are also targeting that audience.
Yep, it turns out there are many (Many!) other inspired and talented creators out there, all hawking the crowd. All trying to grab the attention of a limited number of listeners . And some of them will be reaching out to our particular audience. And they might even be better than us. God forbid!
If life as a Creator was, to some degree, a competition, then the name for that competition could well be: “Staying On The Bus”.
We need to work and get better at our creative endeavours, obviously.
After that?
Well then we damn well don’t give up.
Taking Care Of Home
Confession. There is one thing about hosting a Homesong that I still haven’t nailed. It causes the most stress. In fact it’s the only real stress now.
I’m still haunted by the question: who the hell is going to turn up?
For our particular Homesongs I’ve got a mailing list from our small town of 4,000 of over 50 addresses. People who in theory are interested in coming along. I send them out 2 or 3 emails before the gig, and ask people to respond if they are planning to come.
Some people do respond. Either to say they plan to come or that they can’t come. Some of those who do come don’t tell me. Folk who have said they were coming don’t always come. Some tell me at the last minute that they can’t. And some people were initially happy to be on the list, have never responded at all.
The upshot is that I only have a vague idea on the day of the gig who will be there. Sometimes I’m hopeful and end up disappointed at the turnout. Sometimes I’m anxious and end up being delighted.
The perfect scenario is of course that there is enough demand that I need to put a limit on attendances. And I still think that’s achievable, but it hasn’t happened so far.
My own take on this is not: to build a bigger mailing list; do more facebook promotion; seek more local advertising. It’s too easy to start trying prematurely to make something bigger when in fact it simply needs to be made better. And Homesong should be first and foremost about the community who are already in existence. I want to value them not lose them. I want them to always want to come along to the gig (Covid and Life Circumstances allowing).
So my first step will be to try to appreciate and look after those people better. I don’t know quite how yet. But it’s pointless talking grandly about Homesong networks and tours, if I’m not taking care of home.
Career Choices
I’ve always loved The Monkees, even if they were seen as a Beatle’s derivative band . Pleasant Valley Sunday was a great tune, but I’ve only just discovered that it was written by Gerry Goffin and Carole King.
Once upon a time songwriting had a career path. At the birth of pop, people wrote songs and there was a clear route to getting those songs, if you weren’t yourself primarily a performer, to the singers and bands who focussed mainly on the performing of other peoples tunes.
Though singer/songwriters existed (lots of blues artists doing it themselves before the pop explosion) for a while it was not unusual for the performers to be that, and that alone.
It’s a lot harder now, for people’s whose main focus is the songwriting. For a while I was one of those people, but in the end I succumbed to the need to sing my own songs in order to get them heard.
The route to writing songs for other people to sing still exists, but it’s a lot tougher and more convoluted these days. And because people aren’t purchasing recorded music nearly as much, only a handful make a good living from it now. The music business is all much more performance and production based.
I’ve learnt to enjoy the performing. But spare a thought for the folk who love writing songs, but wouldn’t want to be anywhere near a mic.
Talk It Out
Everybody who has ever held a conversation is a creative. Because do we ever really know beforehand the words that are going to come from our lips.
Not really. We just get passed a baton and then run with it in whichever direction our brain fancies. One thing leads to another, and before you know it you’ve had a conversation. A creative exchange of words. We do it all the time.
And that’s the kind of thing that, in some people’s hands, ends up in novels. Or film scripts. Or songs. And the strange thing is that the people who do that stuff sometimes get told “I wish I could do what you do”.
But they can. We all can.
So don’t be shy. The world needs more intentional creativity, and more people who are at least trying to make and build something new.
We’ve got more than enough of the folk who prefer to tear things down.
Get Up And Go Out
A digital recording of any kind is a very convenient way to listen to music.
Homesongs aren’t convenient. They involve getting up and going out.
Is it worth the effort?
For some people maybe not. A lot of the benefits of music can be accessed at the press of a button.
But the only way to really find out, is by getting up and going out.
Dreaming Is Free
Imagine all the people, living life in peace.
John Lennon was a dreamer. But he’s not the only one. We dream about all kinds of crazy shit. Going on holiday. Sex. Falling down a very long and dark hole while dressed in a tuxedo and eating a bacon sandwich. Taking over Iraq. Becoming very, very, rich.
A lot of dreaming is all about ME, ME, ME. Including mine.
Some folk, it turns out, just dream about having POWER. And then a bit more.
And what if the bad guys do win?
It is so very easy to allow ourselves to drift into snarky cynicism these days, what with Fake News, Conspiracy Theory, Pandemics and DIY Truth. As Ray Davies said … it’s a mixed up, muddled up, shook up world (except for Lola). A real life nightmare with dark creatures in the shadows. And sometimes right out there in the open.
And yes, there is a lot of scary stuff which is outside of our control.
But actually nobody can tell us what to dream.
So why not pick a good one. A generous, big hearted one.
And then try and make it happen where we live.
Living Memories
I returned from my varied travels yesterday to find an envelope with the words “Homesong Fri” on the outside.
Inside was a CD. It had been posted by a regular Homesong attender here in Campbeltown. The CD contains some songs by Beldina Odenyo, who played one of our early Homesongs here, and who I mentioned in a recent post. She tragically died a short while ago, and the poster, the mother of Beldina’s partner, just wanted us to remember her at our Homesong on Friday, by playing a couple of her songs.
It’s a beautiful idea. We will do.
To hear Beldina live would always be so much better. But the songs and the memories will always live on.
With A Smile
Creased skins by southern seas
Vino blanco and charred sardines
The autumn sun is gentler
Upon some lucky souls
The grey skies and damp cold
Of a Northern European November
Are crueler on the old
But it can all be faced
The harsh and the mild
And often it is
With a smile
Falling Off Horses
It’s nice to forge a habit. But it’s really not the end of the world when it dies a temporary death. Like this blog, which I did daily for about 6 months. But not yesterday. I’m travelling, and what with one thing and another, I forgot.
But here I am today. I fell off the horse then I got back on.
Which sounds like a line from a song. I must write it. Probably when I get home.
And anything that inspires a song can’t be all bad.
Rotterdam (Or Anywhere)
Shortly, I’ll be leaving on a jet plane to Rotterdam. Such a modern day man I am, writing my blog in departure lounge D at Malaga airport.
One thought for today: it would vastly improve life at an airport if they allowed a bit of busking. Apart from the presence of actual humans, airports are probably the most de-humanised, synthetic environments known to man.
A hard place to relax. Killing time as time slowly drains your brain of life.
Perhaps I should just burst into song. But these days that kind of thing might get a fella arrested. Thankfully, when I get back home I’ve got a Homesong at the house to get ready for and enjoy next weekend.
That’ll get the old soul back in working order.
Just Sing
Do you need a certain amount of rave reviews, or compliments, an exam result, or a record deal to call yourself a singer?
Or do you just sing?
Ditto for playing an instrument or writing or song? Or anything else that we attempt.
There are a million judges out there, and sometimes we need people to make those judgements. To tell us whether we pass the test.
But mostly it’s probably better to just sing, and play, and be whoever it is we are trying to be.
“Nice Song”
I’ve been through a couple of days when I felt extremely weak and tired and slept the majority of the time.
Fortunately I don’t get ill very often, but because of that I put two and two together and assumed that I’d gone down with C19. The tests came back negative though, and I’m feeling better now as well.
Sometimes assuming the worst has its advantages , because anything less than the worse case scenario feels like a win.
There was a period of time when I put Great Expectations on particular songs. This was going to be the one that broke through, for this reason or that reason. And it was a disappointment when, despite my best efforts, they didn’t.
These days my definition of “breaking through” is a song that I’m personally proud of, and happy to sing out loud. On my own or in front of an audience.
So now even a small compliment … “nice song” … or a round of applause, is a wonderful bonus.
It’s a happier existence.
A Normal Day
Some things that we may well do daily … brushing our teeth, preparing food, taking a shower, breathing … are seen as a normal part of being human.
Other things …. practising an instrument or a skill, writing a song or a blog, exercising … are seen as the domain of the truly dedicated or the masochists.
It’s just a mindset though. We can decide to do anything on a daily basis and choose to see it as normal.
That takes a lot of the pressure off.