Rainbows End – Page 22 – George Blamey-Steeden

A BALD HEAD & AN iPHONE DEAD

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(a pic I once took with my now dead iPhone)

Until I dropped it and watched it die, I never realized that my iPhone was my external brain drive. It stored all the things my brain never got to handle or know about. I tried to resuscitate it. No luck. Dead iPhone.

Then the strangest thing. Obviously, I had to get a new one. It was early morning when I left for the phone shop in town. The pain was it was so cold outside, the temperature +2, costing in the wind chill factor -4. So, I got dressed for the occasion, Arsenal beanie, hoodie hood up style. Everyone I passed on the way down town was wrapped up as warm they could, except for a middle-aged, bit overweight bloke with a 100% totally bald head walking ahead of me. The cold didn’t seem to bother him. He had a t-shirt on. Jesus, just a t-shirt – well trousers as well obviously. Anyhow, we get to the High Street, him still ahead of me. When he gets there, he goes into the barbers. As I passed the barbers the bloke was sat in the chair ready for the haircut to start, and the barber stood behind him holding a pair of scissors in his hand looking bewildered. What was that all about? Surreal.

Anyway, I don’t think this one has had an airing recently. It’s the title track from my ‘Dream Rescuer’ album. First the lyrics, then below the music.

DREAM RESCUER

You rescued dreams

And nightmare schemes

Spinning around inside your head

You kept them in your diary

A book you said you never read

Come morning

Come daylight

You’re lost in time

A dream you dared to dream

Come morning

Come daylight

You’re lost this time

I hope I said goodbye

You rescued dreams

And nightmare schemes

Spinning around inside my head

Pressed Petals

And four-leaf clovers

Turning the pages

Of wild illusions

I am a great fan of the creative perfectionist Lana Del Ray. I think her work, musically, lyrically and visibly is amazing. I got sent this link of Lana and Adam Cohen (son of Leonard) the pair of them covering a Leonard number, ‘Chelsea Hotel’. It’s better than good;

ROAD SIGNS, RAILWAY LINES & ARROWS POINTING

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(A pod of refugee helium balloons)

The above is a photo I took yesterday in a supermarket. Its full title should read, ‘A Pod of Refugee Helium Balloons Hiding from The Bextiteer Children Armed with Knitting Needles & Ladders’. That was my take on it anyhow.

A true story. A couple of days ago I got asked the most stupid question anyone has ever been asked. A mate of mine is about to take his Driving Theory Test – the test you must pass before you get to take your actual driving test. So, he asks me the question, “How many times are you allowed to drive round a roundabout?” Obviously, I looked at him strangely, then said, “Seriously?” He says “Yes”. I say, “Until you run out of fuel, I suppose.” He says, “Are you sure?” I say, “Positive. Why do you want to know that?” His reply, “I’ve been worried sick I might get asked it in my theory test.” And I thought I was random!

Here’s a new lyric for a new melody. It’s a twist on The Allegory of The Cave. I’m not quite there with the finished song yet, so it’s just the words for now.

FAT CAT CENTRAL

Road signs, railway lines and arrows pointing

You say to me the writings on the wall

That I should go chase new horizons

Me? I think I’m heading for a fall

Road signs, railway lines and arrows pointing

To a place where I don’t want to be

Trading Neverland for Fat Cat Central

Trading The Sea for Concrete Destiny

Road signs, railway lines and arrows pointing

A flock of suited, booted fools, they lead the way

The Pied Pipers on his lunch break

Some they tumble; others stray

Road signs, railway lines and arrows pointing

Road signs

Railway lines

And arrows pointing

Road signs, railway lines and arrows so disappointing

As ever it probably sings better than it reads. Here’s a song from the ‘Rainbows End’ album. It’s called, ‘All Winter Long’. I hope you enjoy;
https://www.reverbnation.com/zoolon/song/29099521-all-winter-long?wordpress=1&pwc%5Bbranded%5D=1

The ‘YOUR POETRY TO SONG’ button is at the top of the page if you’re interested.

SHE’S JUST A SHADOW ON A WALL

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(artist unknown)

‘I walked out this morning and I wrote down this song,

I just can’t remember who to send it to’

From the song ‘Fire & Rain’ by James Taylor, 1970

When writing lyrics for acoustic songs it’s sometimes easy to get stuck for words that fit the melody or vice versa. A bit like trying to put a small t-shirt on an XXL frame. Besides, I’m not a natural poet. When this happens, my fall-back position comes from when I spent a couple of years studying decades of lyrics written by great songwriters. Of all the ‘fall back positions’ I found/read, the two lines above work best for me. To me they tell a story as well as influence a creative a mood. Simple genius, often inspiring.

Anyhow, back in December 2016 I posted my song, ‘Just a Shadow on a Wall’ from my concept album ‘Liquid Truth’. The ‘concept’ of that album was my take on Plato’s ‘Allegory of The Cave’. When I posted it back then I didn’t include the lyric. Now I’m posting the words written raw before they became a song – before the music arrived. I remember it was the key track to the album in terms of developing songs to fit the allegory. Maybe read ‘raw’ it’s not a poem, just my words.

JUST A SHADOW ON A WALL

You draw a line; a line in the dirt

I ask you what it’s for

You tell me I can cross it

You should have told me more

You tell me that; you tell that it’s time

For you to set me free

Unshackled from these chains

I might find my destiny

Nothing is so precious

That it cannot be undone

By word or by the dagger

Or a step towards the sun

You tell me you; you tell me you got bored

With the game that we play

That you want for me to move on

You’d be grateful anyway

I ask you if; I ask you if you’ll grant me

Just one final wish

Just the one final wish

‘Can the dancer travel with me?’

You take some time out thinking

Then you treat me like a fool

You laugh as you remind me

She’s just a shadow on a wall

…A shadow on the wall

Whatever, here’s one of my older numbers that I haven’t posted for an age and a day. It’s about a subject close to my heart, namely the way mankind is treating our Planet Earth. It’s called ‘Red Planet’. I hope you enjoy and by the way, the links to my two latest albums are on the side of this page if you’re interested in listening or buying – just click on the pics. Have a good week, Zoolon aka George.

THE BEARS DO BATTLE

pooh

(Winter in England – the view from my window at 11AM the other day)

So, I was walking about in town looking for a new keyboard when I overheard two little kids discussing, “Who do you think would win if Winnie the Pooh and Paddington Bear had a fist fight?” The random thought part of me kicked in. The ‘who would win?’ question made me forget all about the keyboard.

I was lucky as a kid. Before the family moved to Devon when I was 5 we lived quite close to The Ashdown Forest where A A Milne who wrote the Winnie the Pooh books lived. He used the forest as the backdrop to his stories. I even got to play the ‘Poohsticks’ game at the same bridge Milne’s son Christopher (aka Christopher Robin) played at. Then when we moved to Dartmouth in Devon, the self-same Christopher – he’s been dead for a while now – ran the bookshop down town. An odd coincidence. So, as a kid I was a Pooh fan. But would Pooh trash Paddington in a fist fight?

Pooh is reckoned to be slow-witted, friendly, thoughtful and steadfast even though his mates all agreed that he “has no brain.” However, sometimes even for a brainless bear he comes up with the odd clever idea. Also, Pooh isn’t above cheating and has a cunning side, like the time when it was Eeyore’s birthday. Pooh was going to give Eeyore a pot of honey as a present but he couldn’t resist scoffing the lot on his way over to Eeyore’s place. Instead he ends up giving Eeyore “a useful pot to put things in.”

Paddington? An illegal immigrant from ‘Darkest Peru’ – I welcome refugees, by the way. A polite bloke, kind-hearted like Pooh, although if anyone gets under his skin he gives them ‘the glare’ of disapproval. He always does his best to “try so hard to get things right.” His problem is that trouble always finds him. Plus, he wears a street cred disaster duffle coat and a stupid hat to match. I can’t see how anyone wearing a heavyweight duffle coat could out box a cunning Pooh who’s not above cheating. All things considered, I reckon Pooh would take out Paddington. My money is on a 3^rd round KO.

Talking of bears, they are – like a lot of wildlife, especially the polar bears – are getting a raw deal out of climate change. Here’s my song, ‘Rainbows End’ on that subject. The lyrics follow in case you want to sing along;

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