Random Thoughts – George Blamey-Steeden

I’LL SETTLE FOR ADIEU

‘Un jour, je reviendrai’

Living proof a lyricist can get away with murder. Here’s some new words I’ve been playing around with.

Give me an illusion, a multi-coloured fusion
Give me back that sense of deja vu
Give me toast and honey, car keys and loads of money
And a guarantee that when I find you there’s no queue

I don’t need suntan lotion when I’m drowning in an ocean
And you’re dancing on the shoreline, what a view
I’ll take you to Morocco, we’ll dine on coke and taco
If you change your mind will Santiago do?

Although it might sound crazy, the truth is I get lazy
But if I can write you a brand new song I might pull through
If I can’t then I will borrow, an epitaph from tomorrow
And hope you never say au revoir ‘cause I’ll settle for adieu

Keeping up the French theme, a short piece that sounds more French on every replay. I must have been missing the place when I composed this one. I hope you enjoy.

As ever, if any poets out there are interested in having your poems turned into songs then click here to check it out: POETRY TO SONG

If you are looking for all my other music then you’ll find it to download on BANDCAMP or you can stream and/or make a playlist of it on SPOTIFY

If you’re thinking about new t-shirts and similar for the summer, you might be interested in ZOOLON’S MERCHANDISE

FIVE OF EACH

Lockdown but not totally locked in. I thought outside might be good for creativity. A decent hot day and a garden to check out even if it meant a dose of hay fever – and it did. Five shots of the garden accompanied with five songs, one song for each pic. I hope you enjoy.

‘Pride & Time’

‘Punchdrunk’

‘Sunlight & The Dust’

‘Francesca’

‘Goodnight Cleopatra’

As ever, if any poets out there are interested in having your poems turned into songs then click here to check it out: POETRY TO SONG

If you are looking for all my other music then you’ll find it to download on BANDCAMP or you can stream and/or make a playlist of it on SPOTIFY

If you’re thinking about new t-shirts and similar for the summer, you might be interested in ZOOLON’S MERCHANDISE

CANDY FLOSS EQUATIONS

I know these times aren’t for joking, and I mean no harm, but check out the place of origin of my American Fender Telecaster above. I’ve tried playing with gloves on but it’s not the same.

Anyway, here’s my dig at politicians worldwide. I might get a song out of it one day. It’s called ‘Candy Floss Equations’.

CANDY FLOSS EQUATIONS

Ever since the railways crossed the borders
Ever since the mountains touched the sky
Ever since the moon gave up on caring about the tides
Politicians have swapped each truth for another lie

No surprise their candy floss equations
No surprise when self is put before mankind
No surprise the toffee apple false assurances
When their forever promises go unsigned

Protesters, demonstrators, they get locked up
For shouting loud the honest facts of days to come
Deceitful politicians sit back and claim a triumph
When the riot squad have their opponents on the run

Democracy needs to have a blood transfusion
Democracy is dying on its feet
Democracy means nothing to neo-fascists
Claiming power, never accepting a ballet box defeat

When you own the press, the TV News, the money makers
When you own the generals, law makers and Twitter for trading lies
Then power begets power begets power
And you become a corrupt dictator in disguise

Time for music. This one goes by the name ‘Classic Rock Grove – E Major (Guitar Jam Backing Track). Even though it’s a backing track, these groves make for OK background music. I hope you enjoy;

As ever, if any poets out there are interested in having your poems turned into songs then click here to check it out: POETRY TO SONG

If you are looking for all my other music then you’ll find it to download on BANDCAMP or you can stream and/or make a playlist of it on SPOTIFY

If you’re thinking about new t-shirts and similar for the summer, you might be interested in ZOOLON’S MERCHANDISE

PICTURES FROM ISOLATION CENTRAL

‘Things to do when in lockdown’

It’s become a challenge now. I’m 10 days in to my lockdown and so far I’ve not stepped outside the house at all. Not even once. Not even to clean the seagull shit off my car. I’ve seen it from the window. It’s not a denim blue car anymore. I don’t fancy cleaning it just yet.

It’s still vitamin D tab day every day. At least the tabs – unlike the sun – are ready and waiting for me at breakfast time.

I’ve been wondering what the world record for self-isolation lockdown is? Google doesn’t know. It’ll be sad if I break the record without knowing I’d done it. Nothing comes easy.

So, no outside photos to take. Instead some pictures of pictures hanging on the walls. The same walls that have me in lockdown.

‘Lockdown boredom’

‘The lockdown girl from The Pigeons Are Switzerland album cover’

‘No humans; clean water’

‘Doesn’t everyone have a pic of their mum? Maybe, maybe not. I was 10 when this one was taken on the day she and dad finally got married. That was the day my dad – joking I hope – said, “George, at last you are only a bastard in one sense of the word”

To my slow build, semi-surreal, composition, ‘Dead Rain’, today’s music for the blog post.

As ever, if any poets out there are interested in having your poems turned into songs then click here to check it out: POETRY TO SONG

If you are looking for all my other music then you’ll find it to download on BANDCAMP or you can stream and/or make a playlist of it on SPOTIFY

If you’re thinking about new t-shirts and similar for the summer, you might be interested in ZOOLON’S MERCHANDISE

THE LONGEST SHORT WALK

‘Station at Perpignan’
by Salvador Dali

I recently discovered this lyric from back in 2013 – my first year at uni. It was from a song I can’t find the demo of. I remember it was a simple acoustic ballad. Anyhow, at least I’ve got the words.

Day turns to twilight on the railway platform
I’ve been here forever or does it just seem that way?
I sit cold and alone as a new star is born
Wondering if I should leave now or should I stay?

It’s the waiting that kills me
Questions bought – questions sold
Knowing the answers
A future foretold

The last time I saw you – you told me a secret
Then took yourself off to where I don’t know
I heard on the grapevine you lost yourself somewhere
But you’re coming home now along with the snow

Trains now and then arrive at the station
Lovers and workers alight and go home
My collar is up to keep out the east winds
I wish that time would just leave me alone

Remember in summer – the lakeside – the orchard
The small narrow pathway to the top of the tor
Remember that secret – the one I believed in
Right now I wonder what was it all for?

The guard tells me the last train has now left for Zion
That there’s no point in me being here anymore
I nod in agreement – feel for my car keys
And take the longest short walk right out of the door

It’s the waiting that kills me
Questions bought – questions sold
Knowing the answers
A future foretold – a future foretold

What about a Heartbroken Groove? It’s another of my backing tracks that make for listening as well. I hope you enjoy;

If any poets out there are interested in having your poems turned into songs then click here to check it out: POETRY TO SONG

If you are looking for all my other music then you’ll find it to download on BANDCAMP or you can stream and/or make a playlist of it on SPOTIFY

MIXED-UP HUMANKIND

No. 5 – HUMAN ART; Loire Valley, France – The Troglodytes

No. 3 – HUMANS (part 1)
Humans are intelligent?
That’s what most humans say
But if you look at human leaders
They’re as bright as a cloudy day

No. 3 HUMANS (part 2)
We’ve got a planet in its death throws
We’ve got wars, got rape and racist crime
If that is called ‘humanity’
“See you, another time”

No. 2 – HUMANITY
I’m not seeing where the good hang out
But I know we’re out there somewhere
It’s time we get real and go public
We can make a difference if we take the dare

No. 6 – HUMAN EVOLUTION
I started wondering when the first creature who decided to walk out of the sea realised that if it stayed underwater any longer it would probably drown. Motivation?

No. 4 – HALFTIME HUMAN (above)

No. 1 – HUMAN OBSERVATION
Some people look like a rabbit in the headlights most times. Others look like the headlights. On balance, I prefer rabbits to headlights.

No. 7 – ACCIDENTAL HUMAN ART (below)

My mad moment over, time for some music. One of my backing tracks, ‘Chilled Our Groove’. I hope you enjoy;

If any poets out there are interested in having your poems turned into songs then click here to check it out: POETRY TO SONG

If you are looking for the above or all my other music then you’ll find it to download on BANDCAMP or you can stream and/or make a playlist of it on SPOTIFY

MAKING DRACULA REDUNDANT

‘Bono’s Worse Nightmare’

I’ve been watching the new take on Dracula on the TV. I’m two episodes in. It’s not brilliant but I score it OK. The thing is the writers have missed a trick. To be certain to save yourself from Dracula you have to remember to carry a crucifix around with you at all times. Dracula can’t cope with people holding a cross in his face. It renders him useless. A load of nuns in one scene all get killed by Dracula because they forgot to carry the crucial crosses with them.

Then I had this random thought. Why not wear a T-shirt with a cross printed on it? Better still, if you are living in Transylvania just get yourself a crucifix tattoo on your forehead. Sorted – no need to remember anything, and the plus is Dracula becomes just a bloke with dodgy teeth, out of work and down the Job Centre hoping for a gig that has a night-shift.

On top of that, if Bram Stoker who wrote the original Dracula book had thought it through he’d never have had to bother writing the book in the first place.

Victory – what is victory
When you win a battle and then the war?
Victory – what is victory
When you’re unlocking an unlocked door?

Pointless – call it futile
The way you boast how well you lied
Pointless – call it laughable
That you thought yourself the perfect bride

Love and hate – now out of hiding
Love and hate – smack in my face
I count losers in the graveyard
You count winners lost without a trace

I saw it – I saw it coming
But never spoke out of turn
Watched you fan the flames of yesterday
And watched the future burn

Listen – can you hear me?
Or are you bathing in champagne
Hold your breath and believe me
When I say you won the game

Probable; possible verse/chorus – it bounces like an old English folk song:
No reason to share a truth or live a lie
Since we walked in the cemetery where all dreams, they die

My sleepless night words have a lot of opposite takes on life and something else I’m not sure of, a bit like my song ‘Shadow on the Wall’ from the Devil’s Kiss album. Here it is. I hope you enjoy;

If any poets out there are interested in having your poems turned into songs then click here to check it out: POETRY TO SONG

If you are looking for the above or all my other music then you’ll find it to download on BANDCAMP or you can stream and/or make a playlist of it on SPOTIFY

ME & MY GUN

Artist ‘Iced-Blackberry’ 2012

There’s an annoying Christmas ad on TV that has a melody I don’t particularly like yet it’s one of those songs that get inside your head. Christmas songs on ads are often like it. I call them creativity destroyers. I checked out the one that was killing my creativity. It’s a song called ‘Little Drummer Boy’. You may know it. In the lyric there’s a lot of repetition based on the noise that goes ‘…pa rum pum pum pum, rum pum pum pum rum pum pum pum, Shall I play for you? pa rum pum pum pum on my drum?…’ The thing is the last bit ‘on my drum’ was making my brain subconsciously say, “give it an update”. Not only have I got a tune I don’t like playing on a loop inside my head but I now have an update phrase I threw into the mix. For ‘On my drum’ read ‘Me & My Gun’. Try it out for size. It fits. At least I got something to write about out of the torture. I have to add that even if they were legal in the UK there’s no way I would ever have a gun.

ME & MY GUN
Me and my gun are going to change the world
Instead of bullets we use butterflies
Me and my gun at your temple
Will be a neat surprise

Me and my gun won’t kill you
We’re not out to shoot you dead
Me and my gun aim to save the planet
At least that’s what the butterflies have said

Some music from my YouTube. This one is an ‘E Minor Emotional Groove’. I hope you enjoy;

Lastly, it’s funny how I can get things wrong. In summer 2018 I took a pic outside a restaurant in Brussels. A few days back I was going through the WP Reader and saw what I thought was my pic. It was as good as identical to mine. Paranoia when I saw the credit was down to someone else. Thankfully I got it so wrong. We’d both simply taken a photo of the same scene. Here it is;

As I mentioned on my previous post if you are looking for music for Christmas then you’ll find mine to download on BANDCAMP or you can stream and/or make a playlist of it on SPOTIFY

TWO FACES

‘China Album Cover’

On the one hand it’s been a good week as I’ve just got my music into China. Hopefully the bespoke for ‘China only’ album ‘All Winter Long’ will be heard there via all the major streaming platforms. That’s the plan anyway. On the other hand, I’ve got the flu and and can’t sing a note right now as my voice sounds like I’ve got a clothes peg attached to my nose plus I could do with a body temp of 37 C/98.6 F again. Anyhow, time for new music words;

TWO FACES
I don’t know the freeway from the forest
Don’t know sunshine from moonlight
I’ve a head full of sand and sawdust
I see no colours, just black and white

Life, you have two faces
You’re a door without a key
Demons & angels trading places
Where nothing comes for free

An open prison I can’t escape from
You’re a thief but you don’t care
You’re an addiction without a needle
So you fix, sometimes you share

I’ll lose my dreams if can’t disguise them
Soon I won’t know tomorrow from today
You’re the god, you are the devil
You’re winter’s midnight midday in May

Talking about the album for China, here’s ‘All Winter Long’ originally from my ‘Rainbows End’ album;

Fancy a ‘Mysterious Grove’? It’s one of my backing tracks but you might find it OK to relax to – hopefully.

And here, one of the other places where ‘Mysterious Groove’ lives and can be downloaded;

SEAGULLS, CROWS & PIGEONS

‘Tuesday, 11AM: No Sign of Life’

Unless you’re composing to a specific theme, deciding on a title for an instrumental piece isn’t always easy. The title has to reflect the music. I suppose it’s a bit like naming a kid after its been born. When there’s lyrics there is always a way to find a title. Somewhere in the words or often the title is the thing that creates the lyric. Either way you end up with a title.

Take my ‘The Pigeons Are Switzerland’ title for an instrumental. It even became the title track to one of my albums. Some people have asked where it came from. I thought it a good idea to explain that here on the blog.

It was evening in early spring this year. A hot day believe it or not. I’d just composed and recorded the music. Sat out in the garden I was listening to the track for just about the hundredth time. I was getting nowhere with the title but then I heard a massive commotion from up in the sky. An army of crows where fighting with a seagull militia. I guess the crows were after the seagull’s eggs.

The thing was that sat on the roof of the house about 30 pigeons, cool and calm and not moving an inch, checking out the bundle going on up in the sky. They were just watching and not getting involved. Like an audience watching a play.

That was the moment I thought to myself that the pigeons were neutral just like Switzerland is when it comes to a war. The massive plus was that the pigeons calm weirdness gave me the feeling that this strange instrumental was theirs to keep. Hence the name, ‘The Pigeons Are Switzerland’.

It’s a shame all countries aren’t neutral when it comes to wars.

Here it is. It’s only 2 mins 18 seconds. You can access the whole album, plus all the rest of my work on BANDCAMP The instrumental, ‘The Pigeons Are Switzerland’ below. I hope you enjoy;