welcome to the world / are
we a surprise to you? / i know we may look tired and broke-in-two / just remember
that we're children, like you / what should i say about the world? / well, it's
not what it's cracked up to be / you'll have a share of pain along the way /
and the occasional sunny day / so go out on a limb / don't be afraid to watch
it burn / go out on a limb / kick the world and watch it spin / alleys into
roads / into streets and shopping malls / to the out-skirts and the byways /
past the highlands and the
highways / through the cabbage fields and orchards / over the country to the
sea / stretching out below the oyster beds / swimming up against the tide /
dive along the surf and take a ride / it's so easy / go out on a limb / breaking
the waves to take the air / skimming on the ocean with the hammerheads / diving
up to break the clouds / guaranteed automatic sunshine / it's so easy / landing
on the beaches / soaking wet into the towns / past the lemon groves and gardens
/ to the highlands / to the highways / go out on a limb!
There's quite a
funny story about this one. During the sessions for "Across The Milky Way"
we cut a number of songs that were never properly finished. One of them was
a song called "A Million Miles In Sorrow", it had bongos, tambourine
and piano on a computer loop which Jim Gash played along with - once only -
at the end of a session. The cold light of day revealed it to be a terrible
song with a nice groove so it went in the bin. Later, when I was changing some
recording equipment I had to archive some multi tracks and this came up on a
tape. Anyway I set up a piano and just improvised some new chords on the old
groove and that was how "Flora Belle" got started. The song is named
after Brian McAlpine's new baby daughter and I guess it's a message to her.
The lyric is a journey that comes back - just like the chords that always come
back round. Soundwise I had somewhere between "What's Goin' On" and
"All Things Must Pass" in mind. The usual, bang up to the minute reference
points.
he can paint you a day /
if your colour's washed away / when the phone just doesn't ring / when you can't
feel anything / there's so many roads to run / all those brilliant things left
undone / and you can call on him / if you're worried about the state you're
in / and if you ever wonder / what the world is about / i was straight out of
line / in a fix of my own design / happiness seemed out of range / no matter
what I tried to change / couldn't even find a song / to take this night away
and move it on / i tried to say a
simple prayer / but the feeling really wasn't there / i thought if god is watching
/ what's he doin' about? / it's such a long way down / i'll take you there /
well just remember / todd is god
Remember
when they used to say "Clapton Is God"? Well they used to say that
about Todd Rundgren too and I'm inclined to the latter view with no disrespect
to the former. The basic thing with this song is when I got the chords and structure
it was definitely in the Todd / Laura Nyro area and I thought about why I was
doing that. Basically I feel drawn to Todd because his music at best is so healing
and human. During hard times I'll often put on Todd - "Something / Anything"
or the track "Zen Archer" and feel really uplifted. It's just a thank
you.
sky meadows where the unicorns run / and dally just a sigh from the sun / sky meadows / they get there on unicorn trains / with monkeys holding on to the reins / and singing our sweet love's gone / what's the point in holding on? / sky meadows and days that we knew / when christmas was easter to you / sky meadows, our sweet love's gone / what's the point in holding on? / walk above the world / swoop between the rays / buzz the coloured clowns below / wave away the fear / slowly disappear / wish me luck before you go
to michael and veronica coyne
"Sky
Meadows" started out as one of a bunch of poems I've been writing with
children in mind. Most of them are just funny little things that could end up
being a collection or something. Anyway, this one seemed a bit more mysterious
and I started thinking more about a song. I would say this is about heaven.
I like the image of monkeys driving trains through the clouds. I might have
been thinking about Laurel And Hardy's "Babes In Toyland". Funnily
enough Amy Allison, who sings on this track, recorded a version of the "Babes
In Toyland" theme a couple of years back. Her voice adds the most elegant
melancholy to the line "our sweet love's gone" - sometimes a singer
can elevate a song out of the ordinary.
My Dad The Weatherfan
my dad the weatherfan /
puts his trust in the weatherman / always knows when the rains are due / isn't
shocked when the sun breaks through / takes a look out the window / but the
snow doesn't worry him / gets a hat and some gardening shoes / to tell the flowers
some sunny news / across the sky, angels push the clouds away / i wanna live
in your way, i wanna live in your way / and
though i try, i can't believe in anything / i wanna live in your way, i wanna
live in your way / if the sky's turning for the worst / the bbc will tell him
first / with a gin and a cigarette / while the world gets soaking wet
There's
a running joke in my family about my Dad's interest in weather reporting. A
quick resume. I say he's obsessed. He says he's not but adds that the weather
reporting on the BBC is almost always one hundred percent correct. Anyway I
can't even remember what happened but I just found myself singing this song
- the easiest thing I've ever written. Basically there's more than one way to
tell someone you love them. The string parts on this record were done at Castlesound
Studios outside Edinburgh. It's fantastic. A proper studio. I usually like to
have the small string sound - that's why we always go for a quartet - but all
the strings on this album sound huge to me. Probably something to do with the
beautiful room in the studio, the vintage plate reverb we used and, of course,
the superb string players one of whom, Wendy Weatherby still hasn't forgiven
the "squiffy strings" remark. See "We'll Be The Summer",
ATMW.
The Gay Fishmonger
the gay fishmonger stands
/ among the cold marble slabs and the sawdust / hands out lobster tails for
free / i'm ashamed to wonder what he wants of me / and he paints me little scenes
/ from the lives of his cold hearted patrons / mrs ross from number three /
sniggering underneath a slate black toupee / circles in the town / whispering
circles in the town / on the back streets and the stairs / whispering circles
in the town / bats up in the barn / all the cats in his alley are screaming
/ the priest from saint
evangeline / with a briefcase full of magazines / pissholes in the snow / salmon
eyes like pissholes in the snow / on the back streets and the stairs / salmon
eyes like pissholes in the snow / the gay fishmonger stands / among the cold
razor clams and the seaweed / wiping off the skin and bone / hurrying up to
catch the last bus to heaven / circles in the town / whispering circles in the
town / every-where you look around / whispering circles in the town
Mick
Slaven, the greatest guitar player on the planet, said to me : "I know
a gay fishmonger"! Well, so do I Mick, but it's a different fishmonger.
This is an unusual song for the Pearlfishers I think. More of a story song.
Musically there are nice sounds though - one happy accident before the words
"the priest from Saint Evangeline" which is a plain Hammond Organ
with full percussion ( i.e. the note peaks then dies away into a drone ) playing
the wrong chord along with upright piano recorded from some distance. We repeated
the accident. Keith Matheson and Jim Gash do most of the harmony singing on
this track. Really good singers.
Pantohorse
some day, some day soon
/ i'm gonna go gonna go where the air is free / lost in some sweet dream / i'll
make a dash for the planets and in between / how to be happy? / how to be good?
/ how to get away from the coldest world? / you've gotta go where you're goin'
/ know what you're knowin' / be who you wanna be / see who you wanna, live where
you wanna / things could be better and / so on, so on / maybe it's a long way
to heaven from way down here / we'll fly, we'll fly harder / but we'll stumble
and worry away the years / how do i smile now? / how to be good? / how to make
a mark in the coldest world? / you've gotta go where you're goin' / know what
you're knowin' / be who you wanna be / see who you wanna, live where you wanna
/ things could be
better so / let's take a trip from all the grey cities / and in the blue we'll
stay / starring along the southern sun / is there a world where we can sing?
/ up on the roofs and through the rain / without a thought for anyone / knowin'
we're right / we don't belong to anyone / we've got to sparkle alone in a private
sun / we'll spin, we'll spin slowly / till we're back in the places we first
begun / how to be happy? / how to be good?
This
was originally written for the same play as "The Vampires Of Camelon".
That's where the title comes from - this was a scene where the actors pranced
about in a pantohorse. The rhythm of the piano suggested the lyric which is
kind of conversational - frantic. This time Duglas Stewart made a very musical
contribution with the beautiful soaring lyric and melody of "How To Be
Happy". My Mum says this is one of her favourite Pearlfishers tracks :
"it¹s a bit faster than your other things". Stuart Hamilton,
the mastering engineer at Castlesound said, noting Colin Steele's trumpet playing,
"How did you get him to do that? It's cruel". I should add he wasn't
referring to any technical difficulty in the part. It¹s Weatherby times
three on pizzicato cello.
I Can't Believe You Met
Nancy
i can't believe you met nancy / living down in london town / well, her life's the stuff of fables / and though i never really knew nancy / we grew up pretty much the same / on streets with painted gables / with the beatles in our cradles / where are you going and where have you been? / nancy, is your life falling in? / is the world too cold for you? / because the world's too cold for me / i kicked and scratched and stumbled / i lost a spark along the way / well i guess it's only natural / and now i can't believe you met nancy / you know, her daddy helped me out / with a painting of the mccartneys / in feathercuts and moonboots / where are you going and where have you been? / nancy, is your life falling in? / is the world too cold for you? / because the world's too cold for me / and do your old friends say that your accent's gone? / if you're lonely can you turn it on? / can you get it back? / can you get it back?
Someone
told me they'd been in London and bumped into a girl I'd been at school with.
I didn't even know her but it just got me thinking about the different roads
people take. You know who somebody is when you're fourteen and the next time
you hear their name another twenty two years have gone past. I've been trying
to get that line about "The Beatles in our cradles" into a song for
years. Pet theory is my generation are so obsessed with the Fabs because we
heard nothing else for the first six years of our lives. We were force fed National
Health Milk and "For No One".
Saddle Sore
turn a page, see the same
picture / gaze ahead as pretty towns go by / pass the square / children chasing
pigeons to the sky / and you're out in a dream / a loony on the bus / running
on thin air / rustling your paper / and you could have it all / let it go and
let it tumble / let the walls around you crumble / rub it out and start again
/ watch the town dissolve behind you / let them look and never find you / well
you could have it all / saddle sore! / quicksand in your head / you're stuck
on feet of lead / and you could have
it all
to maher shalal hash baz
This track is dedicated
to the Japanese musical collective Maher Shalal Hash Baz. You can find their
wonderful music on Geographic Records. I helped record their album "Blues
Du Jour" over a total of about fourteen days in 2002 - 2003 and it was
an enlightening experience. Their leader Tori Kudo is a unique musical visionary.
Every day he would come in with some new creative surprise, some new seed which
would burst into technicolor and just as suddenly be gone. As inspiring as someone
with a totally different approach to music can be, one can also start feeling
that one's own music is walking on feet of lead. One night, after they'd all
left to go home, I switched off the machines and walked to the door. I just
stopped at the piano and made these chords, had to turn the machines back on
and record them. Funny thing is, my music, inspired by being with Maher, is
ultra conventional. You can't be put in jail for that and I thank Maher for
the stars they scattered on East Kilbride Arts Centre.
a swan so graceful soft
and white / prefers to sleep alone at night / and tuck a beak in snowy wings
/ and slowly dream of swanish things / in half a snooze our swan may glide /
on motorway or mountainside / or cities on the winter stars / where swans are
kings and drive swan cars / or dive into the midnight moon / and wake in shock
a breath too soon / coughing on the lake for air / to see that moon reflected
there / your dreams will fade and you'll awake / the sun will yawn the clouds
will break / let jesus take your
tiny hand / across the bay and safe to land
This
is another one of the poems I've been doing with kids in mind. The story of
this recording is that I was doing a workshop with young people from an orchestra
and only two people turned up. Stephanie and Jemma. I was going to just send
them home but they looked a bit put out so we tried a couple of things. I quickly
scribbled out the parts for this song and set up my portastudio. It was me on
piano, Stephanie on flute and Jemma on trumpet. It was rough - they'd say that
themselves but what a feeling in the playing. I played it to my friends from
the band The Homecoming and they said "you've got to use this". I
hadn't taken any care in the recording so it was a big job to make it sound
okay. Jim Gash always likes these ones - "Everything Works Out", "Snow
On The Pines", "Blue December" - it's funny when The Pearlfishers
are putting a set list together and Jim, the guy you'd expect to rock is going
"Snow On The Pines! Snow On The Pines!"
haricot bean and bill / grew up on a wintry hill / where they lived among the bears and outlaws / protected by a statue of jesus / who wept upon a world that stretched ahead / oceans full of cities and cars / policemen guarding piles of money / looked out every night, never left the hill / life is kinda sad and funny / haricot bean and bill / kept on gazing out until / they really couldn't take it much longer / stole some plastic cups and shortbread / tripped along a river and crossed the bridge / alleys full of waiters and stars / mazey streets, hazy faces / set back every night, never found the hill / life is kinda sad and funny / we were young, we were stupid / we were brave, in our way / we were precious, we were standing / when the other boys had flown away / kinda sad, kinda funny / kinda sweet, in our way / thought we'd always be outrageous / thought there'd always be another day / they found us on the chapel steps / the bears and outlaws come to claim their own / we left the city, climbed the hill / the moon was still, the river frozen over / but things were never quite the same / we knew the secrets of the policemen / and every night we braved the rain / to gaze on streets we knew we couldn't walk again
I was going to Italy on holiday and my friend Joan said "Oh, you might see big Haricot Bean and Bill at the airport." Haricot Bean being Jean, tall and slim, and Bill being her husband. I started thinking they were like kids from a TV show - "Haricot Bean and Bill living in a happy land". I did see them at the airport but couldn't say hello and then have to explain why I was giggling like an idiot. Anyway the song started coming along and turned into something not quite "happy land". "Sky Meadows" was pretty much done at the time but I got the guys together and we recorded the song live in the studio and then overdubbed a little bit. it was difficult to play because of all the bits that change but an exhilarating experience nonetheless. I can hear the excitement on the track. If there's an influence on these kind of sectional songs it's definitely McCartney tracks like "Uncle Albert", "Picasso's Last Words", "The Pound Is Sinking", "We Got Married". I just think the journey you can take in a four or five minute pop song is pretty thrilling.
say goodbye to the fairground,
baby / say goodbye to the painted clowns / say goodbye, don't expect a postcard
/ when they move on to another town / they'll be gone and they'll just forget
you / it's okay, just the way it goes / say goodbye to the fairground / if the
fairground should return / you'll be older / you won't care / they're packing
up their carts / and pulling down the swings / when monday comes you'll never
know that they were here / so trade your broken heart / for boots or wheels
or wings / you'll
never grow until you / say goodbye to the fairground, davie / say goodbye, wish
it all away / say goodbye to the fairground / if the fairground should return
/ you'll be older / you won't care
This song has been around for a couple of years. Just couldn¹t get the right feel for it at all and as usual the answer was to keep it simple. An obvious story in the lyric. Just about growing up. I said it was obvious and then explained it anyway. Sorry. Amy Allison doubles the string line in the verses which is a beautiful sound. Quite Hollywood, as is the choir at the end. We tried to keep the voices a wee bit raggy so it could be half believable as the circus family pulls out of town.
