One Becomes Three (Four Becomes Two)

This Wednesday on HomeSongs4Life we are having a change of format. One artist performing 4 songs, will become 3 artists performing 2 songs. Along with a little bit of chat.

One of the best things about HomeSongs4Life has been the support that artists have given each other. But many of them have never even met online, and I hope this new format encourages and strengthens the sense of community, as well as giving the listeners a little bit extra each week.

The online Homesongs was originally supposed to be a stop gap, until life went back to “normal”. We’re in the habit now though. I do think it’s become a thing in its own right. I hope over time we can improve the technical quality of everything.

A little bit more polish wouldn’t go amiss.

The Passenger

The bus driver knew the route.
The road carried him
Called him
Lured him.
Familiar places and faces.
Over the years they
Built him a life, a role, an authority
Born out of the responsibility
For the lives that he carried daily.

He was proud of that.
But it was all over now.
He was on a new journey.
The one that would take him from
The end of his working life
To the Final Destination.

Standing at the harbour
On a Sunday morning in January
He gazed out at it all.
The present, the past
And the future horizon.

”It’s mild for the time of year” he said.
”We’re lucky.”

”How many more stops?” he thought.
”A few more I hope.
It’s nice to be the passenger for a change”.

Give ‘Em Smiles

This Saturday morning Give ‘Em Smiles. By Norman Lamont. This song has been putting a smile on my face the last few days, as do the rest of his songs.

I started to get to know Norman through HomeSongs4Life, and last summer we had the chance to get to meet in person when he came to play some Homesongs here in Kintyre. A fantastic songwriter, and performer, and a lovely bloke.

Give ‘em smiles contains great advice for any of us who have a tendency to take ourselves too seriously, and think that everybody else should too.

Here is the cool story behind the song:

”I had a dream in which I was sitting in a theatre while an elderly blues/jazz singer in a sharp suit sang this with a jazz trio. He sat at the front of the stage, the band stood at the back. Between them were three characters - I'm not sure if they were people or apes, but blindfolded - chanted an odd distorted backing vocal. When I woke up I remembered the chorus and bits of the verse, along with the feel of the backing vocal. I put this track together pretty quickly and married it with two American health promotion films from 1939, courtesy of the Prelinger Archive website”.

At The Same Time

It’s the tune that makes a song memorable and stirs our emotions.

It’s the rhythm that moves our bodies.

And the very best ones get our brain working too.

It’s that ability to speak directly to the head, the feet and the heart at the same time which makes a song such a potentially wonderful art form.

It speaks to the whole of us.

In a great song, the words, the rhythm and the music need an equal amount of love and attention.

No Change

Sonny played his first gig with his band at our house when he was 16 or 17. Now he is away studying music at university. He’s writing an essay at the moment about music in the community, and sent me some questions to answer about Homesong.

I was happy to oblige, though in all honesty I could have given the first one a very short response.

In what ways has Homesong changed since you started, excluding the changes made due to the pandemic?

None.

It’s still just songs in someone’s home. I need to organise another one soon at our house.

Sing Something Simple

There is a house, in a forest.
By a tiny stream.
That I visit, sometimes.
But only in my dreams
That house is full of hope.
That house is full of…
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Sing something simple.
Help me understand.
Coz I’m walking backwards.
In a complicated land.
And I don’t know, no I don’t know
Anything, anyone at all.

There is a hill, with a valley.
Where the grass is green.
Because it rains sometimes.
If you know what I mean.
That hill is where I go.
That hill is where I….
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Sing something simple.
Help me understand.
Coz I’m walking backwards.
In a complicated land.
And I don’t know.
No I don’t know
Anything, anyone at all.

Camping In My Garden

I slept in the garden last night. Well, part of the night. It’s usually the sort of thing 9 year old boys do. But in this case it’s something a 56 year old men did as part of his journey to getting comfortable with the darkness… (which is part of his planned Homesong walk to Iran!).

It was a failed attempt, but not because of anything to do with being on my own in the dark. I did almost everything right, but one part didn’t work. And that part sent me back inside at 3am in the morning.

So:
I managed to set up a tarp tent using knots I’ve taught myself recently. A tarp is open to the elements on a couple of sides, but provides shelter from the wind, and rain cover.
I had a warm sleeping bag.
I had a bivi bag (a waterproof sleeping bag cover) as extra rain protection.

And I had a sleeping mat. It was the sleeping mat that did for me. It was a small blow up mat, but I’ve had it a long time, and it kept going down. It was 4 degrees centigrade before windchill, and though I would have been plenty warm enough with my sleeping bag, the cold coming up from the ground was enough to make me cold to the bone by 3am.

I usually take cold showers in the morning. Not today. I felt a bit crap. A combination of lack of sleep, and frustration at a failed experiment.

But, I’ve learned something. Which never happens without trying something.

Onwards.

Back In My Day

Our 11 year old foster son made me laugh out loud on Sunday morning, as I sat with a book and a cup of coffee.

”Look, at you” he said “always reading a book. Back in my day we used to go on the Technology”.

He’s a smart, funny boy.

Right now everything is moving fast. I don’t think anyone really has a grasp of what is happening and where it might lead us as individuals and as a society.

But things will settle. They always do. Maybe future generations will have a healthier and more balanced relationship with this thing we call “Progress”.

Beyond A Shadow Of A Doubt

This is simply one of my all time favourite songs. Written and sung by Homesong performer Aaron English.

Such profound insight into our lives today. It capture the essence of what it means to be human, in an age when our technological and scientific progress becomes ever faster. Faster than we can ever hope to keep up.

Perhaps we should all spend more of our time simply bathing, in an un-rushed, leisurely kind of way, in the pure and wondrous mystery of it all.

The science of love
The biology of trust
The chemistry of you and me
The probability of us
There are times when I feel sure
We got each other figured out
Know what this mystery’s about
Beyond a shadow of a doubt

This experiment of us
My crooked to your straight
We take two bodies made of stardust
Fill them with courage and with faith
Then we stumble through the darkness
So certain and so proud
Yeah, that we can figure this thing out
Beyond a shadow of a doubt
Beyond a shadow of a doubt

What kind of scientists are we?
To believe so eagerly
Pulled by some force we cannot see
As if love was gravity
Yeah, to believe so eagerly
Pulled by some force we cannot see
Deep into this mystery

See how the city glows
All lit up by our fears and hopes
Out in the streets the traffic flows
Like atoms spinning in the dark
All ablaze with us
The particles and waves of us
The hopeful and the lonely hearts
They spin together in the dark
This experiment of us
It flickers in the night
We’ve discovered electricity
Now we shine with our own private light
We trust what we don’t understand

Oh, what kind of scientists are we?
To believe so eagerly
Pulled by some force we cannot see
As if love was gravity
To feel this electricity
This force we cannot see
What shall we call this mystery?
I hope we never figure out
What this mystery’s about
Beyond a shadow of a doubt

The First Day Of My Life

I watched this song and video by Bright Eyes, for the first time in a while. I’ve always loved it. I’m a romantic fella at heart, and this one brings on the Happy Tears.

I’ve never heard the song without watching the video though. They seem inseparable to me now. I don’t know if that makes a difference. I think it must. But I’d still be telling everyone in the car to shut up, if this came on the radio.

I was paying closer attention to the lyric. It’s a real art to get so much emotion packed into a song which describe feelings of love like this:

I could go anywhere with you
And I'd probably be happy

or

I'd rather be working for a paycheck
Than waiting to win the lottery

It’s hardly “I - i - Iiii will always love you”. But it still feels more real and lasting. More like love. At least to me. I like understated.

Until Midnight

Here is something I made for you
A painting in a cave for you

The shadows grow long,
Father Time takes a wander through the woods
Moving quickly, like you knew he could
The end of the song
It comes quickly round the bend at a lick
It’s not a ballad, it’s got a kick

But there are no shadows without sunlight,
So let your sunlight shine on
Shine on
Until midnight.

The shadows grow long
You’ve been my friend, and that’s been good
I’ll be right here, like you knew I would
You can’t right a wrong
But there is nothing I would change about our story
Though it’s not quite, a tale of glory

There are no shadows without sunlight,
So let your sunlight shine on
Shine on
Until midnight.

Here’s that something I made for you
The painting in a cave for you

There are no shadows without sunlight,
So let your sunlight shine on
Shine on
Until midnight.

Hear All About It!

This is amazing. A gentleman called Patrick Feaster found a photo of what was possible the first recording ever made. From that two dimensional photo he was able to reproduce a physical album that recreated the original. Read the story. Wow.

Human Beans have got their issues undoubtedly. But we’ve come a long way in the field of sound since the first cave dwellers shouted out “Uga Grub!” (Dinner’s ready!) to their hungry families.

Star Of The Show?

It’s getting harder for me to tie down what this blog is about.

The initial aim was to try and inspire people, musicians and music lovers, to be inspired by the community centred gig experience of Homesongs. That is still the main aim in fact, but Life always tries to squeeze itself in under the covers.

Of course it does. Personal life, its successes and failures. Family life. The goings on in the world. The biology and chemistry of this particular writer’s brain.

Each morning I wrestle with what to say. Don’t want it to be me, me, me. I would like it to be inspiring and helpful for “somebody else”. But perhaps it inevitably is mainly myself for whom I write. In many ways a personal diary. I’m trying to make sense of it all, to inspire myself, and if anything I say happens to make sense to, or inspire, someone else, then that is a welcome bonus.

As I’ve got older I’m trying to be more pragmatic about things. Live in the moment with realistic expectations. But I can’t seem to escape the tension I have always experienced between how the world is, and how I would like it to be. I can’t seem to be rid of that pesky inner idealist.

That’s my problem. But trying to change something, anything, and that thing NOT changing, or not seeming to change, is tough.

Don’t you find?

Is it worth even trying. I can’t say for sure. But personally, I’m not prepared to give in and put on the shield of “Forget It All” cynicism, which for some can prove to be a good protection against the disappointments of life. For me, that kind of cynicism, I know, leads only to bitterness and despair.

So, I try to remind myself of Kindness. To be kind to myself. The value of being kind to others. And the trillion acts of kindness that are being expressed, every day, away from the glaring flashlight of the Bad News media.

I still think it would be good to make Kindness the Star Of The Show.

But maybe she is destined to play her life out away from the spotlight. Who knows?

Or maybe she just needs a little more help.

A Twilight Challenge

I discovered that the word for twilight in Dutch is schemering. I have now taught it to my Dutch wife, because she couldn’t remember when I asked her yesterday. Honestly, I don’t ask for much! Uncle Google is useful for that kind of thing though.

This weekend just gone, I took my first walk up the hill and through the woods at twilight. It was not dark, but it was getting dark. My first step towards overcoming the fear of being in the woods after dark that I spoke about yesterday. I’d like to be able to spend a few nights sleeping out there this year.

I managed my first walk without too much trouble. You have to be more careful with your footsteps when vision decreases. And even more so when walking on your own.

In the middle of the walk, in the middle of the forest, it was at its darkest. Not completely dark, but enough for me to feel that little bit of edge. For my musiciany ears to start hearing things a little bit TOO clearly. For the movements of the trees to become simply “movements”. You know the sort of thing. It’s not any kind of issue when I’m close to civilisation, but more s in the middle of a bunch of trees when no-one else (no on that I saw anyway!) is around.

I made a point of occasionally pausing for a few moments to take in the experience, as I do in the daylight. It was all OK. I mainly enjoyed it.

First steps are the most important they say. And now I’ve done my first twilight challenge.

Noises In The Dark

I’m frightened about a lot of things. I don’t think that’s too uncommon. I don’t want to be governed by my fears though. I once heard a phrase…possibly a book title…that went something like “Feel the fear, but do it anyway”.

Which sounds like a great motivational speech. But where do you start?

Like a lot of people, if you put me in the woods, alone after dark, I’m a little bit afraid. It’s partly because I was brought up in cities. It’s partly just an inherent primal thing from the days when humans lived out there “In Nature” and genuinely had to be alert and aware for the presence of creatures that might eat them. It might be to do with the fact that I twice had the experience of seeing strange faces peering into my ground floor bedroom as a child.

All of those things and more probably. But it doesn’t really matter why.

For various reasons I’d like to be able to spend a night sleeping in the woods, but I have avoided it because of fear. I love being out in the wilds, and I have occasionally camped and slept alone outside after dark. It was always a challenge.

But I always slept out in the open. On a hillside or a mountain. It felt safer. Sleeping in the woods though - that’s another matter. It feels more ominous. Far more strange shadows and noises than I would like to experience, if I’m honest.

However, I want to face the fear, and do it anyway.

But I’m not planning to jump straight in at the deep end.

More tomorrow.

Walking The Talk

Returning to my epic walk to Iran, singing at Homesongs along the way. A journey that would make Frodo Baggins quake in his little Hobbit boots.

Like any big undertaking which, at least in your head, sounds nice or romantic or appealing ….learning to play a musical instrument, for example…it will involve putting one foot in front of the other. And then repeating. Often. Not just when I do it, but now as I get ready to do it.

The one step that I’ve already taken…and it could be argued, the most important one…is the step of, um, stepping more often. When you’ve got lots of days of walking to do…days upon days…the best kind of practice you can possible do, surely, is to do more walking.

And thats what I have been doing, as regular readers of this blog will know. My little regular four mile walks up the local hill, Beinn Ghuilean, are a small step in the right direction. No point in talking about walking to far off places, if a fella hasn’t even walked much in the place where he lives, is there?

Gotta start walking the talk.

One More Night

Haven’t seen my friend and fellow Home4Lifer Chris Annetts for a few weeks because of festivities and isolation. But I was listening this Saturday morning to a beautifully crafted song he wrote and put up on the old Youtube a short while before I first knew him.

Lyrically its a reflection on the never ending search for a scientific version of the Holy Grail. Some kind of water of life that will extend our ability to live forever…or at least, put off the dreaded day for a few years or decades. In the hook line of the song Chris says….”I’m not having that. Death is a part of living. Just give me a bit more now, not some kind of techno-denial about our inevitable mortality”.

Don’t want to live forever, oh, no no, oh, no no, oh, no no. Just one more night.

Knowing Chris, I can say that he very much lives the lyrics he’s written here …. though that doesn’t necessarily apply to every song he sings! And along the way we’ve had some interesting discussions about life and death, and everything in between.

As someone who is very much into getting fitter and who jokes to my sons (but is actually a wee bit serious) … “Watch me…I’m gonna live till I’m 118!”, it’s a good thing for me to hear.

Don’t ever get so focussed on staying alive, that you forget how to live.

Chris always writes great melodies too. So enjoy the song and the entertaining video he made. And I hope that both you and I will recover at some point from the sight of him dressed as the backing singers/dancers in his own band.

Oh, no, no!

Isfahan Nesfajahan

I might as well tell you. I told my wife and my boys a while ago, and it’s been a source of amusement and bemusement to them, so I might as well let you share the joy.

I’m going to attempt to walk from Campbeltown to Iran.

Yep. Been dreaming about doing it for quite a while.

What, you’ve got questions? Hmm…Ok…After you’ve stopped laughing, you can fire way!

Why Iran, you nutter?
Well, we’ve got some old friends from there, who we’ve visited previously. Though not on foot. They live in Isfahan. In Isfahan they have a saying “Isfahan, Nesfajahan?” Which translates as “Isfahan - Half The World”. It’s not half the world that I’ll be walking, but I’m sure it will feel like that. And that’s the idea.

Why so F-f-f-far?
I like walking. And the thing about walking, especially somewhere new, is the pleasure of discovering what’s around the bend. Except that usually, before you know it, you’re turning back. You’ve got to head home. Like most people living outside war zones and without any real deprivation, i’ve led a relatively sheltered life. I want to do at least one thing that feels a little bit epic before I take my, um, Final Journey.

What on earth has it got to do with Homesong?

I’m taking a guitar with me. I’m hoping to do as many Homesong gigs as possible along the way, and raise people’s awareness of the idea. Homesong, for me, is all about songs, community and friendship. And I hope that can be a big part of my walk too.

—————————

I’m not going tomorrow mind you. The plan is to wait 4 years until I get to about 60, which is when our main fostering responsibilities will have almost come to an end.

I’m also hoping to have company. There is another Homesong performer who is interested in joining me.

And, of course, I need to get prepared. That is a journey in itself, which I might even talk about it here.

There. I’ve said it.

Whatever Gets You Through The Night

In the immortal words of John Lennon….

Whatever gets you through the night, it’s alright, it’s alright.

Sometimes it’s just that. There isn’t an obvious way forward, or in fact, an obvious way anywhere. Sometimes people we love, or people we should have loved, or even people we barely knew but wish we had, die. Stuff like that happens, all the time, to somebody.

And the greatest act of respect we can show the ones who are gone, or the ones who are suffering, is to find a way of getting back on our feet and appreciating Life. Our own life.

Now Is Available

Spring is on its way! It’s not coming round the corner quite yet, but it is coming.

Something is always on its way. Expected or otherwise, it’s good to have that sense of anticipation.

And today is about to reveal itself too. It could be a good one!

But I should try not to get ahead of myself. Because now is available as I speak. The guitar is looking at me pleadingly.

But first a coffee I think.