Composition – Page 6 – George Blamey-Steeden

A NEW-BORN RAINBOW?

rainbow3

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;

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.

SUMMER DIED ON A SATURDAY

montreil5 (3) ‘The Ghosts of Summer Bid Farewell’

It’s good to be back. First some words and pics, then a brand new composition – a pre-release from the new album that should hopefully be out there come December. It’s an electronic instrumental called ‘Summer Died on a Saturday’. I hope you enjoy.

montreil5 (2) ‘Dressed to Impress’

SCORCHED LYRICS

Summer died on a Saturday

She was always heading for a fall

A rosebud in a cloak of thorns

No fuss, eyes shut, no curtain call

Through the window of addiction

A cloudy glass impediment

A crumbling headstone, premature?

Just tough luck or heaven sent?

Ashes to ashes, dust to dust

Goodbye to all that’s gone before

I keep memories of you under lock and key

You left me wanting so much more

Next the new composition;

Here the link to my albums at Bandcamp;

OLDER AND WISER

TURNING A POEM INTO A SONG

I recently had the privilege to be commissioned by the gifted poet, lovely lady and WordPress blogger, Vivian Zems, to turn one of her poems she’d written called ‘Older and Wiser’ into a song. Vivian decided on the genre for the composition and that was all I required. I got to work on this collaboration project and not long after I sent Vivian her completed song. I was well and truly chuffed to bits when she told me just how much she loved the final product. Since then Vivian has produced a brilliant music video to accompany her song (see/hear above vid). Vivian’s blog can be found at https://smellthecoffeeweb.blog/ and I strongly recommend a visit. Thank you for the commission, Vivian.

It was back in August 2017 I posted ‘When a Poem Becomes a Song’. The object of the post was to introduce my new, seriously affordable product. I’d thought for some time that there are some great poets and writers out there on WP who may not be musicians, who would like to see their creations produced as songs. Better still, the songs would become the royalty free property of the writer. I explained in that earlier post (https://zoolonhub.com/2017/08/16/when-a-poem-becomes-a-song/) how the whole process works.

The reason I can produce my material at a cost massively less than others in the market is simply because I handle the whole process myself. I keep my overheads low. There’s no individual fees for a composer, musicians or vocalist hire, studio hire, production, mixing and mastering or other third-party charges involved as I do all the work myself. It is because of this my charges are a tiny fraction of what otherwise would be the case. To back up my credentials I can advise that I have a 1^st Class Degree in Creative Music Technology plus a number of albums (including one of sound art) to my name, plus I play a number of different instruments and work from my own studio – low overheads! The writer gets to approve the final product before parting with any money.

If anyone out there is interested and wants more information, then simply email me at zoolonaudio@gmail.com and I’ll get back to you.

As another example of how words written by another can become a song, one that ended up on my Dream Rescuer album called ‘Sunlight and the Dust’;

If any of you are tempted to see your work become a song you know where I am.

Happy New Year, Vivian; Happy New Year to everyone.

Zoolon aka George