Be Of Service

It might sound Way Out There, but businesses and organisations, like you and I, don’t need to wait for The Law to MAKE them do the right thing.

And anyway, they could be waiting a very LONG time in these days when Money is very much back at the top of the pile.

You may say that I’m a dreamer, etc, etc, but there already exists a kind of Social Enterprise where the bottom line is not about making more money, but simply enough money to be able to continue to Be Of Service to the people they could be serving.

Even if we don’t work for that kind of business or organisation, we can, and perhaps should, act as though we did.

Money For Nothing

I’ve recently received money from the Performing Rights Society for a song wot I never wrote.

I’m trying to give it back obviously. And I usually find that people who give out money are much happier about the receiving money back part of any transaction, so I’m quite sure this will be an easy job.

However, I’m a little bit gutted that, having recently received a decent payback for a song I DID write, it wasn’t the start of a trend.

But maybe there is another songwriter out there who is about to get a pleasant surprise. And of course, I wish the best of luck to ANY songwriters who share my name.

The songwriting David Fee’s of the world will stand forever united in the name of Rock…..‘n Roll!?

Onwards And Sideways

I’m feeling a bit out of energy in regards to writing about Homesongs, and how they are a very good thing, and everybody should have one, try one, etc, etc.

This blog shouldn’t really be a confessional though. That wasn’t the intention. Nor a diary. Also, not the intention.

But here I am talking about my life, songwriting, the world, and of course the fact that music in the community is something that can happen, not just in a community, but in a house. In your home.

I wanted to get other people on board with that idea, but I don’t think I’m succeeding at the moment.

Does that mean I should throw in the towel. Damn no!

It’s just an honest appraisal of where we’re at.

Onwards and sideways.

Fancy A Go?

Back in England. On the way home to Scotland on the morrow.

Apparently our trip back over the North Sea caused minor seismic disturbances leading to fragmentation in the Chaos Continuum all resulting in the resignation of another British prime minister.

Anyway, I was struck on the boat, reading the tele-script thingy on the news channel, by the comment of a political commentator about the upcoming vote for Somebody Else to lead the country.

Apparently “those MPs who fancy a go” will be putting their names in the hat very soon.

So I’m sure we can Trusst the powers that be to get it right this time round. Who are the powers that be? I’m a bit cloudy on that one.

But it’s nice to know that, when all the dust settles, The United Kingdom will still be the founding Mother and Father of Democracy.

Very proud.

Vote for me!

NO!

OK, vote for me then!

One Finger!

I know a blog shouldn’t be about how you write the blog.

But here I am again writing about how I wrote the blog. This one is being done with the One Finger Typing Technique on a phone keyboard.

You know how some folk (Young Folk) can do this at approximately 5000 words a minute.

I can’t do that.

This one took a while.

Hope you don’t feel like you’ve wasted your time discovering that information.

ps. We are putting ourselves into the hands of The Stena Sealink Captain for the return journey from The Netherlands today. Wish us luck!

Yours Sincerely

(Not) a new discovery.

It is easier to communicate with a blank page using a pen or a keyboard than it is using a voice dictation tool.

Having said that, the voice dictation tool is very good at picking up whispered swear words.But not so good at deleting them.

yes, I am trying to do it THAT Way again.

there is a reason why we TALK to people and WRITE scrip upon a blank page. There is also a reason why halfway through this blog I have given up editing.

So Siri, if you are reading this, Please feel free to take these words very personally.

Yours sincerely,

A Human Been

Screaming At The Internet

I scream at the internet sometimes.

But truth be told, it’s amazing. Marvelettes!

I mean, imagine if I had to put addresses and stamps on envelopes, individually, by hand, in order to send this blog out to folk who wanted to receive it.

Everyday.

No. The Internet has got a lot of faults, but so many more possibilities. So, mainly, we work with the possibilities, and accept the new problems that arise as a necessary downside.

But sometimes I still find myself screaming at the internet.

The Hardest Of Work.

…en daarom moet ik zeg, dat het niet altijd makkelijk is om iedereen te begrijpen.

I am speaking Dutch everyday at the moment, as we happen to find ourselves in The Netherlands. (Yes, that Stena Sealink captain came to his senses in the end!)

I find it mind blowing to realise that, most of the time, even for English speakers like myself, the words being spoken around the world are incomprehensible to most other people.

English is the nearest thing there is to a “common world language”. But mostly people speak their mother tongue. And mostly that is a language which a fairly small minority of the worldwide population understand.

But even when we speak the lingo there is no guarantee that mutual comprehension will occur. Even among friends, and even among people who share a relatively similar world view. Considering how little of the time we manage to communicate well, it is remarkable how much we have managed to achieve together.

And what makes the difference, when we speak, comes to down to how well we engage the listener. That is creative work. And the difference when we listen comes down to whether or not we are really listening. Which is the work of empathy and patience.

Real communication is the hardest of work.

And the most rewarding when we manage to do it well.

Today I Threw My Brain Away

Today, I threw my brain away
Took it to the tip
Nothing else to say
Coz I threw my brain away

Lots of other people there
Doing the same thing
The brain thing
All together

It seems to be a trend
Perhaps you’ve done the same my friend
Probably the safest thing to do
In the end

Coz who needs to think
Now we’re beyond the brink
When we can gaily sink
All together

All together now
All together now
All together now…

Today, I threw my brain away
Took it to the tip
Nothing else to say
Coz I threw my brain away

(My apologies for the dark nature of this little ditty. It’s just, y’know, a way of getting stuff of ye old chest, and perhaps a little commentary on The Current State Of Affairs…but that is really only when we watch The News. Which I try not to do. But I do read a lot of what People are saying about The News. And sometimes what people says makes me wonder whether there is some Collective Lemming Like Instinct occurring.

Meanwhile, out there in the real world, are lots of reason to hope. And it’s not that we shouldn’t listen to The Voices. But there are definitely Voices that we shouldn’t be listening to).

Careful With Those Chemicals

Chemicals.

So many ways that they can interact.

So many forms of life that they can create.

The chemicals in our head are volatile and the infrastructure that contains them needs, unless we are very lucky, various degrees of maintenance. When things are going well it is easy to become blasé.

To drift.

And before you know it some dangerous combinations start hanging out together, like long lost chemical brothers, leading sometimes to heightened creativity, but on other occasions to some very undesired reactions in Ye Olde Thinking Patterns.

Careful With Those Chemicals. They are a precious resource, but you don’t want to make enemies with them.

Just Enough Spice

Variety is the spice of life they say. But apparently people can have too much spice.

It will always be difficult, creatively, to walk that fine line between predictably comfortable and digestively explosive.

Singing a cover song as closely as possible to the original is predictable and comfortable and…..well…possibly a little bit dull? But there are of course many people who HATE spicy. And just coz I don’t get it, is no reason to say that kind of thing shouldn’t exist.

And even we allegedly creative folk sometimes need a slice of bland, but comfortable.

But try making something that is both artistically creative and still…well, strangely comforting. That is a toughie. And it is also why artists like Stevie Wonder, Lady Gaga, David Bowie, The Beatles, Prince, Kate Bush, and others who you could name, all of whom manage to do just that, are both popular and critically praised.

Most of the time anyway.

And no doubt it took even such lauded examples a little while to find their feet.

Lost At Sea

SOS!

Unfortunately we did overshoot.

We are currently sailing the Barents Sea having been “kidnapped” (?!?) along with 300 other passengers, by a bitter Stena Sealink captain who was just SO tired of crossing the same stretch of the North Sea for the last 35 years.

He decided, perhaps understandably … I really don’t know enough about his life to say for sure … to stretch his wings (his fins???). We passed, incredulously, by Hoek Van Holland and could even see people walking their dogs along the endless beaches of that stretch of coastline.

And now it seems that we really are taking the slow boat to China. Presently we are sailing AROUND Russia on our way to god knows where.

I’m all for people taking control and changing their lives for the better, but this has taken the biscuit. I am hoping that somebody reads this blog and contacts the appropriate authorities.

Before we get to The Other Side Of Blue. Thank you!

(Just my luck if today is the day when my thousands of readers all decide to have a break at the same time!)

A Slow Boat

I’d like to get

In fact I’m gonna get

On a boat to the Netherlands today. It takes a while to get there.

Hopefully we don’t overshoot…

Colours Of The Rainbow

That long stretch of the M74 from Glasgow to Gretna always feels like an eternity. I was driving it yesterday, and the weather was pretty poor to say the least.

But….

Oh my God! What a Rainbow! The best ever! Worthy of a super nova of superlatives and some hyper-exclamatory exclamation marks to top them off!!!!!!!!

Honestly, for about forty minutes we were driving towards it, spread across the whole of the landscape in front of us. Never dimming, or shrinking. Just a wall of colour against a dark slate background.

And all the while Little Miss Sunshine smiling at us bashfully from behind my shoulder, as though to say “Yeah, shucks, I did that … with a bit of help from my mates The Raindrops, of course.”

Absolutely wonderful.

And if you were to ask me “Can you tell me the colours of the rainbow?”….well, yes, I can as it happens. Better than I could before.

With a bit of help from my mates, The Grandweans, of course.

Everything’s Just Fine

Below is the lyric to a song I wrote a while ago for anyone who has contemplated checking out of life for good. I certainly have in the past, and it’s obviously not a great place to be. The most frightening part is that there no longer seem to be any tears to cry.

Tears are important, and anything that brings us back to that place - the place in which tears are possible again -can be the salvation.

It might just be a glimmer of recognition:

-In the eyes of a friend

- Or a stranger

- In the words or music of a song

- Or in any form of artistic creation

…which tells us that someone else has been where we are and has come out the other side.

There is an “other side” and it doesn’t have to involve taking your own life. The title of this song might sound a little facetious, but it’s simply a recognition that our present perspective is not necessarily the truth.

Everything’s Just Fine

Happy Ever After, Never ending laughter
The stories we tell
To stay alive
It’s a funny ending, but it’s still an ending
The one in which they all survive

And it’s alright including the fears
Everything I mean
Yeah everything’s just fine
Oh what a sight this vale of tears
We live it on the edge
And everything’s just fine

Happy Ever After,  Never ending laughter
It’s a perfect fairytale
But it’s not life
This rule is not for bending
There will always be an ending
So don’t let today
Pass you by

And it’s alright including the fears
Everything I mean
Yeah everything’s just fine
Oh what a sight this vale of tears
We live it on the edge
And everything’s just fine

You don’t need to find an escape
When the darkness overcomes you
And when we bleed, it’s not all over
Yes we have the power 
We have the power
To change our minds
And everything,  everything’s just fine

The Right Moment

I’ve been drip, dripping the concept of small intimate gigs in homes for a while now. It’s a habit that’s ingrained in me.

That means I’m not judging its success based on any measurable results. I believe in the idea, in spreading it, and in giving the universe as we know it, complete freedom:

- to ignore
- be inspired by, or
- to act upon it.

Obviously, I’m hoping that it’s the latter.

So it was nice to hear, via my wife and a work contact, about a complete stranger who lives on a Scottish island, but wanted me to know that he plans to try hosting a Homesong in his house, once his house is sorted.

That’s a result as far as I’m concerned.

And of course an encouragement.

Who knows who else might be out there, having the same thoughts, and just waiting for The Right Moment.

It Goes Something Like This…

It’s that time of year in the West of Scotland, just before the long winter, with the wind windding, and the rain reigning, when it’s possible to think that it might be nice to live somewhere else.

The thought never crosses my mind though. Apart from just now obviously.

But really, and though it be the cliche-est cliche of all, the truth is that the grass really ain’t greener on the other side.

Everywhere and everything has got its down sides to counteract any upsides. To make the green look duller or brighter depending on the angle you might happen to be looking from.

But upside down, or any way round, I’m very happy to live where I live. And I wouldn’t change it for the world.

Oh, go on then. That marmite song from Mr McCartney. Forget the name right now, but it goes something like this…

The Road To Fun

I mentioned The Grateful Dead a couple of blogs ago. One of the things that struck me was that, despite the fact that they took there music very seriously, the stated intention was not to “build a legacy” or “change the world” or “write the best music ever” or anything grandiose like that.

The aim was simply to have some fun.

And that’s not the worst objective in the world. Nor is it necessarily incompatible with any more serious challenges or targets. It’s really just about saying that, whatever we do, let’s make sure, at the very least, we enjoy doing it.

This is a theme that I’m warming to more as I get older, especially speaking as somebody who took both themselves and life far too seriously in the past. In fact what has always saved me, I suspect, from disappearing up my own backside, is an ability to laugh at myself taking myself too seriously.

But, it seems to be the case that…when all is said and done….we’re on The Road To Fun. Anyway, that’s the road I’m on right now. Feel free to come and join me. :-)

- As chance would have it The Road To Fun is the title of this month’s release in my Fee Come’s Fourth series. Not a bad segue (that’s how “segway” is supposed to be spelt apparently), though I say so myself.

Live Matters More

My favourite blogger today asks the question “What’s On Tonight?” and answers it by saying…well…in fact EVERYTHING is on. Tonight, via the power of the internet, it is access all areas, and that question we might have asked 30 years ago is largely irrelevant.

I agree with him. But I disagree with one remark later on in the same blog. He says that as result of these changes to society that “live matters less”.

It may well be that Seth is referring specifically to “live programming”, in which the time at which we actually watch The Program, has ceased to matter. Watch any damn time you like!

But I think that the Unrecorded Live Experience, has come to matter even more. And I’ve made this particular point many times before:

Something like a Homesong gig in which a few people are gathered for an evening of music that ONLY THEY will experience has, in this digitally ubiquitous age, become something very precious.

And my conclusion therefore, is that Live Matters More.

We need, even more than previously, those moments when the only thing to be said is - You Had To Be There.

Look, No Drugs!

I’ve started watching a documentary series about The Grateful Dead. Didn’t know much about their music or their history. But I had heard that they were a prime example of a band who focussed on simply making music and connecting with the fans. And having fun.

And they didn’t give two hoots about the music industry, but still managed to keep going for an awfully long time.

All of that seems to be born out by the series that I’ve been watching so far. But the question that has occurred to myself as a songwriter is not concerned with any of that.

Mainly, I’ve just been asking myself how the hell I managed to write a song without the assistance of some LSD.

Honestly quite proud of myself. Peace man!