Ballad – George Blamey-Steeden

MAYBE TOMORROW, MAYBE NOT

‘The Long Way Home’

My song ‘All Winter Long’ off the ‘Rainbows End’ album seems to fit the mood of the new words that I found washed up on the beach – sort of.

SONG FOR ANOTHER DAY

Dreamers dance while dancers dream
Songbirds love while lovers sing
No frozen sun, no burning snow
Maybe tomorrow, long ago

No need for signposts to guide me home
They say all roads, they lead to Rome
I travel light always alone
Since you said ‘goodbye, au revoir, shalom’

I never followed in your footsteps
Never read the words you wrote
Never picked up on your last message
Never checked out your latest quote

Too late for celebration
Just time to snuff the flame
No need for explanation
The whistles blown to end the game

The only killer with this potential lyric is that, even adapted, it presently sounds like a Eurovision Song Contest number. Not good.

2.51PM Saturday, 9^th February 2019. Ten minutes to go before a 3.00PM kick-off. Arsenal at home against Huddersfield. The game’s not on Sky so I’m rushing along the hallway to get to the PC to find a quality stream when there on the carpet my random mind tells me is a new-born rainbow. I’m not good with colours but even I can see the magic of this one. I called her ‘Amitola’, the native American name for a rainbow (thanks, Google). I had to take some pics – not that they do her justice.

Here’s a close-up;

rainbow

What I’d seen got me thinking about my song, ‘Rainbows End’ from the album of the same name. The song is about serious stuff I feel passionate about. Here’s the song and the lyric – I got that quality stream and Arsenal won, by the way. It wasn’t long before the rainbow left for wherever it is rainbow’s go. Anyway, I hope you enjoy the song;

RAINBOWS END

On the day the ice caps melted

The sun swallowed up the sea

No rain from Africa to Eurasia

No spring time blossom on the trees

Rainbows end will stay our secret

For forever and a day

Rainbows end will stay our secret

For forever and a day

This song is not a blatant warning

I believe it’s far too late

Mankind’s ways of greed and war

Has defined this death wish fate

Rainbows end will stay our secret

For forever and a day

Rainbows end will stay our secret

For forever and a day

Rainbows end will stay our secret

For forever and a day

Here’s my current albums on Bandcamp, take a listen if you feel like it;

QUESTIONS I CAN’T ANSWER

george21 ‘Le Touquet – 2016’

PERHAPS THIS TIME NEXT YEAR

You ask me questions I can’t answer

I write you songs you’ll never hear

Words fading into thin air

Words that die and disappear

In the company of egos

In the places I don’t want to be

I leave when no one’s looking

No goodbyes = no history

Now it’s time for me hideaway

Go on the run to someplace new

Where dreamers get to dream their dreams

Maybe a room without a view

Midnight keeps its secrets

Daylight takes but never shares

Twilight’s just the Devil’s kiss

Only Love’s Shadow cares

You ask me questions I can’t answer

I write you songs you’ll never hear

A promise made, a promise kept

Perhaps this time, next year

The beginning of a song? I never know at this stage, but I hope so.

Time for some music. My ballad ‘Pain – aka Love’s Shadow’ from the Dream Rescuer album. Hope you enjoy;

All my music is available to stream or download on Bandcamp per below;

LOUD QUESTIONS

dover311

‘A Hill with a View’ by Zoolon

Just ½ an hour ago I got stopped by a lady in the street who said, “I’m in dire need of puzzles”. True. I had no idea if this was a question or not, so I grinned a hopeless grin and walked on. Ultra odd.

Early hours, Sunday. Creativity, lyric wise – dead. I thought I’d try something new; something different. I picked out a few verses from songs I’d been listening to, then wrote down any random words they prompted. Result = Odd. This is what I got.

LOUD QUESTIONS

‘Yes, I received your letter yesterday, about the time the door knob broke

When you asked me how I was doing, or was that some kind of joke?’

‘Bob Dylan’

What things do you count when you’re alone in my head?

Grey cells, forgotten dreams or just words that I’ve said?

What do you see when you’re behind my eyes?

Black and white and silver grey, or a red green divide?

‘I was feeling tired, from the silence and the daily trends

Wanted to feel inspired, from the voices I heard in my head’

‘Lola Marsh’

Mist fell for a cliff edge

A hopeless affair that couldn’t last

Lover’s kiss the rocks below

I should have told them, but they never asked

‘Got shackles on, my words are tied, fear can make you compromise

Lights turned up, it’s hard to hide, sometimes I wanna disappear’

‘Foster The People’

Woke up this morning

A song for you inside my head

Reached for the pen and paper

The song was already dead

‘In the air, a sea of words, that didn’t come soon enough

In my mind a railway station and a ticket stub’

‘Emmy the Great’

What do you dream of when lying in bed?

Fairy tales, party balloons or a pain in the head?

What will I do if I ever finish this song?

I’ll go searching for the dark place where I long to belong

If you’ve not heard of Lola Marsh or Emmy the Great do have a listen.

Time for a song. This one is called ‘Rexie Believes in Magic’. Ever since it got curated this one has had been streamed hundreds of times – thankfully. Hope you enjoy;

Below, my new album, ‘The Forgotten Daughter of Zeus’ plus all the other albums. The downloads are available to buy at £5 – or the equivalent in other currencies worldwide. The complete set of albums i.e. my discography, is £12 the whole set. It/they can be streamed direct from Bandcamp, although for great sound quality the download is best.

‘MANDY’S DOOR’

folkestone sky ‘For Free’ by Zoolon

The brainwasher wearing the grey suit that sparkled said he drove an Audi Quattro. He asked what I drove. I lied and said a skateboard. He asked why I didn’t wear, “A smart suit like mine”. I couldn’t be bothered to answer. Also, he looked like someone who might end up on a #metoo rap. Maybe that was a bit harsh, maybe not. Later he mentioned that when he sees a door, he sees an ‘entrance’. When he spoke he acted as if he knew something no one else knew.

“What do you see when you see a door, George?”

I was going to say, ‘A door’ but said, “An exit” instead. He told me that was a negative reply. Probably was.

Outside his office, a giant office full of ethically sourced takeaway coffee cups and stressed people looking like they wanted to end it all, I noticed a fire exit door. I thought I’d like to have seen the brainwasher in the grey suit that sparkled try that door out as an entrance. Maybe my answer wasn’t so negative after all.

Out in the street just up from the office in front of a private house a white van pulled up at the same time a lady in a grey tracksuit that didn’t sparkle came out to greet the driver. A fat bloke in trainers. She apologized for collaring me before asking if I could give the van driver a hand carrying the door he was delivering upstairs. Said it was too heavy for him to carry and that she wasn’t strong enough to help. She hadn’t brushed her hair and only had one slipper on. Odd. The toenails on the foot without a slipper were, I think, painted lime green. I’m not good with colours. Anyway, I said OK, thinking all the time that this must be ‘The Day of the Door’.

The door wasn’t that heavy. Neat house inside. Now in her smart kitchen both her black cats left via the cat flap ‘exit’, reinforcing the positivity of my ‘exit’ theory of doors.

I noticed she’d brushed her hair and found her other slipper when she thanked me for helping out, offering me a smile, a fiver and a slice of wedding cake (?). I would have settled for the smile but she insisted I take the fiver. I took the fiver, not the wedding cake.

She told me her name was Mandy, after Barry Manilow. I said nothing but thought if she’s been named after Barry Manilow then logically her name should have been Barry. I suppose I could have said my name is George, after Lana Del Ray but though better of it.

I wonder what Mandy sees when she sees a door. I never asked, maybe I should have. I guess todays song should have been dedicated to Mandy, but it’s not. This one is for Mr Brainwasher, it’s called ‘Delusional Troll’. I hope you enjoy;

There’s a new album close to completion. It’ll be out there very soon. Below, my current albums available on Bandcamp;

TICK TOCK & MR MOUNTAIN TOP

beatles (classic, official Beatles ‘Back in the USSR’ tie from way back. To eBay or not eBay, that is the question)

How can someone be busy and bored at the same time? I quite good at that. Anyway, a stab at a new lyric? Not sure. As I was wondering where words come from, this one took to the road sign that read ‘Weird Street’. I decided not to stand in its way.

TICK TOCK, TICK TOCK

The second-hand turns

Feels like I’m slipping through time’s net

Tick tock; tick tock

A heartbeat’s silhouette

The Queen of Hearts in handcuffs

Dragged before the King at court

He asks her, ‘What you guilty of?

She answers, ‘Getting caught’

The desert sun’s a spotlight

Showcasing the dead; the camels; the dunes

While grand Victorian ladies

Watch through telescopes from pink hot air balloons

It’s safe inside the slaughterhouse

If you don’t have four legs

Safer still in Camelot

Just don’t go stealing dragon’s eggs

Hitler took the poison pills

He wouldn’t have it any other way

Santa Claus took to drinking

Totalled his reindeer’s and his sleigh

The vanquished never take the bribe

And victims seldom lie

Go tell that to Mr Mountain Top

He’s best friends with the two-faced sky

I’m dreaming by day

Save my scheming for night

I look for the answers

But they’ve all taken flight

Time for some music. Here’s an older song I wrote some might have heard before, ‘Busking in Berlin’ that I’ve recently added to Zoolon’s ReverbNation profile. I hope you like it;

PUTTING A SIMPLE VERSE TO SONG

dream rescuer2

First a quick view of the evolution of my ‘Dream Rescuer’ album’s cover art. I forgot I still had these sample shots. Above, one of the source photos; below the final cover.

album-cover-300px

Anyhow, to the point. If you take the acoustic route, then verse words transfer reasonably easily into song, especially so the ballad. The song I wrote a good while ago now, ‘Busking in Berlin’ is an example of a simple verse being turned into song without too many revisions and adaptions to the original text. This song sits on one of my old SoundCloud pages for no other reason than it’s in an acoustic ‘demo’ format. I hope you enjoy;

BUSKING IN BERLIN

Storm clouds on the horizon

No red sky tonight

The wind blows away the magic

Of a starry, starry night

Melissa cries for Candy

Candy dreams of John

John is suicidal

On how it all went wrong

Larry plays the old guitar

Kate the mandolin

And Finn plays the accordion

They’re busking in Berlin

It’s a game of names and fortunes

A game played out in time

A game of life that ends in death

A mountain we must climb

And John’s looking out for Sally

Candy’s dreaming on

Melissa took an overdose

She does not belong here

Larry plays the old guitar

Kate the mandolin

And Finn plays the accordion

They’re busking in Berlin

Candy is the blinkered one

John has the broken heart

Larry’s getting on with life

Melissa fell apart – she fell apart, she fell apart

Finn, she won a battle

Kate, she lost a war

Candy is still dreaming of

What are we fighting for?

Storm clouds on the horizon

No red sky tonight

The wind blows away the magic

Of a starry, starry night

Larry plays the old guitar

Kate the mandolin

And Finn plays the accordion

They’re busking in Berlin, they’re busking in Berlin

https://soundcloud.com/george-blamey-steeden/busking-in-berlin-jorj

Below, Derek the Owl. He’s here for no good reason other than he’s a mate.

derek owl

Lastly, a number from the maestro. Paul McCartney’s song ‘Blackbird’ revealing the sublime quality of his simple, no frills approach to acoustic ballad song writing. His trick? Basically the same as everyone else; he lets the voice carry the melody – only he does it better. I’m betting Derek would have fancied being a blackbird, then he could have claimed this one as his own.

Tag: Ballad

MAYBE TOMORROW, MAYBE NOT

A NEW-BORN RAINBOW?

QUESTIONS I CAN’T ANSWER

LOUD QUESTIONS

‘MANDY’S DOOR’

TICK TOCK & MR MOUNTAIN TOP

PUTTING A SIMPLE VERSE TO SONG