Stolen World Cup tickets

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bang goes another dream

inspired by a rodney trotter line in the only fools and horses episode "yuppy love", this song is a sombre sad reflection on missing out on something.

As I head backpacking in China I thought of this once again.

hamilton china

This song was written in New Zealand, the city of Hamilton as it happens, a few days before my flight to China. I'm writing about this now in a rare internet moment I have had recently, as it feels appropriate to print the lyrics of this song because in less than 2 days time, I'm heading east again in life...to Taiwan. I wrote the song live in the front room of the wee hostel in Hamilton. I took the last bed in the hostel, JDs Backpackers. I had arrived on a 3 hour bus journey from Taupo and when I got to the bus depot, there appeared to be no vacancies at any of the hostels, it was July 2007, their winter. Then suddenly there was one bed in JDs, but it was a fair few miles out of town. Luckily the lady who worked there, Bex picked me up and took me there in their mini-van! And from entering I realised it was a fun hostel. An old worn acoustic guitar gaped up at me on entering the lounge. I was in urgent need of a strum, having gone more than a month without a guitar, and so I penned the song "Hamilton China", a song written in Hamilton about my trip ahead to China.

It was made even better when I met Yang, a local cleaner, who was from China, a man of international spirit and free talking, and it was a conversation with him about China and the fact I'd never heard of Tiananmen Square that got me strumming the line "the only reason that I've heard of China is because I bought a map and it had China on it..." and so the song progressed, written and sung in front of 4 others in JDs lounge. I later added some extra lyrics and a verse, following on from my actual experience in beijing and badaling, china!


written - 28.07.07

collection - northern range (2007 - track 5)

where - hamilton, north island, new zealand

about - my trip ahead to china

inspired by - yang xixao (from china)

performed live - JDs hostel lounge, hamilton

audience - yang, a danish guy, a guy from bristol and bex, the hostel lady

lyrics -

the only reason that ive heard of china
is because i bought a map and it had china on it
and i hope that we all find out freedom
in china

the day before i had a plane to china
i wrote this song about a plane to china
and its easy to find some freedom
in china

i hadnt even heard/of tiananmen square
and so the forbidden garden's forbidden
this man is english i can understand him
where's the bar around here?


the only reason that ive heard of china
is because i bought a map and it had china on it
and i hope that we all find out freedom
in china

the day before i had a plane to china
i wrote this song about a plane to china
and its easy to find some freedom
in china

so much smog and you say you eat dog
at the huntong's im beijing doubt
yet only by luck i have peking duck
my china nightclub's european


the only reason that ive heard of china
is because i bought a map and it had china on it
and i hope that we all find out freedom
in china

the day before i had a plane to china
i wrote this song about a plane to china
and its easy to find some freedom
in china

my china nightclub's european
my china nightclub's european

(i won't be without you)

written - 18/03/05

about - false love

collection - room card only, 2004 (track 18)

lyrics -

who put the fire in my heart out?
i'm staring at a starless sky
traffic waiting at the roundabout
i've got that glint in my eye

but i won't be without you
not like a dream where i don't wake up

i won't be without you

i won't be without you

i won't be without you

i won't be without you

i won't be without you

i won't be without you

a powerful reality

written - 29/6/2004

about - dreams in life

collection - only me (2004) track 7

lyrics -

these clouds of mine are drifting by
and they won't tell me why
my local street looks american

the dreams we have you understand
are what God might have planned
before the world was counterfeit

hey hey hey
i was looking away
from the time of my life
hey hey hey at what price?

in life's uplands you never land
upon the golden sand
we read about as school children

on summer nights my parasites
are never by my side
they're locked inside treasure chests

hey hey hey
i was looking away
from the time of my life
hey hey hey at what price?

don't think you're alone
don't feel you're alone
everybody's in the same boat
pray it's not the titanic

collapse italy

written - 2006

collection - charing cross (track 4)

lyrics -

i've been round hers again
these nights just pass me by
i won't deny myself
the right to make her mine

but maybe she won't have me
i'm a spark that she won't light
those two stars they travelled together
but never quite collide

you can hold your head up high

written - 1998

lyrics -

standing on the sun
is not as hot as i imagined
at least the earths a safety net
holding out a gun
for the ground youre standing on
makes a man no less a man

you can either stand and cry
or you can hold your head up high

crime is almost gone
as we fill our rights with wrongs
a preacher stands reluctantly
bullets pass my head
fifteen people lying dead
innocence is null and void

you can either stand and cry
or you can hold your head up high

i've got nothing to kill

written - 2006 - 2007

collection - charing cross (track 3)

lyrics -

my tongue's a taste of chardonnay
the time is ticking fast
this life has watched me come and go
the chemists help me last

i feel i'm in control
but i don't know what of
my destiny is do predictable
i know i've lost my soul

i've got nothing to kill
so i'm not your suspect

my lips sucked out the chardonnay
my glass an empty heart
people notice i'm there again
and have been from the start

i feel i'm in control
but i don't know what of
my destiny is so predictable
i know i've lost my soul

i've got nothing to kill
so go find your culprit

not rising

written - 2000

collection -

about - greysteel massacre, londonderry, halloween night, 1993 (dark times)

lyrics -

problem still hasn't been solved
mainly due to lack of trust
but who could force a man
to sit beside a killer?

without some kind of fear
i could not be standing here

but the rising sun's not rising tonight
in its innocent yet torn apart world
and the rising sun ain't rising tonight
in a sky so dark i can't see the moon

and the sorrow doesn't end there
everyone watches the news
and where is all this leading?
to another grave yard question mark?

without my native land
i could never shake your hand

but the rising sun's not rising tonight
in its innocent yet torn apart world
and the rising sun ain't rising tonight
and in times to come it won't rise again

without a loaded gun
i'm the same as anyone

but the rising sun's not rising tonight
in its innocent yet torn apart world
and the rising sun ain't rising tonight
in a sky so dark i can't see the moon

the way it isn't

this song is one of my favourites, envisaging a young man who is a terrorist in northern ireland, i wrote this song about not knowing the answers for the problems we have had in our wee country. there is a sense of reality to this tune, a real life reflection on terrorism. the main subject is how newspapers report us as being always wrong and they tell it "the way it isn't", hence the song's title, changed from the original of "standing on my own"

written - 2001

about - northern ireland

lyrics -

in my homeland forlorn
the sun shines down upon
a tattooed youth
his mind a microwave
of loss and feeling brave
in disrepute

my eyes bore into him
beneath a sky undimmed
by fear and callousness

i've worked out why my feet are cold
is that why i'm not getting old
the winter air won't let me know
the summer breeze won't let me go
and i'm a faded mural

in bloodshot countryside
rain does it's best to hide
un-needed graves
despite an empty hand
a balacalavad man is suspicious
another ambulance can't take much more of this
pray it's a fire

i never got my fortune told
what that means i'll never know
the winter breeze won't let me know
the summer air won't let me go
and i'm a faded mural

another paper tells
it the way it isn't
we're front page news
and when we live in peace
i'll keep my memories
the nights of fear

i've worked out why my feet are cold
is that why i'm not getting old
the winter air won't let me know
the summer breeze won't let me go
and i'm a faded mural

in my home town forlorn
the sun shines down upon
a tattooed youth

Acoustic Settee Version, Southbourne, 2009