NB: Please provide feedback as I am interested in your thoughts on whether music/songs can be a useful platform for challenging the use of weapons of war against civilians.
On another tack I have recently spent a couple of days in a local studio recorded versions of some of my other newish material. These were done as simply voice and guitar due to time restraints but with a future plan to record with the whole band – drums, double bass and violin.
The session captured four songs. One of them – ‘Angel Gabriel’ – has been in the live set for a while. It is a snapshot of Angel Gabriel coming of the night shift at the Pearly Gates and observing life around him and realising that even angels get the blues. The second song I recorded is a new one. ‘Cross that River’ is about how much people are the same despite perceived differences and finding ways to bridge the gaps that can divide us. The song ‘Dancing your way to Disaster’ has a line that goes ‘It starts with a waltz /turns into a Tango/ leading your heart astray/ where there’s no mention/ of any redemption/ and even your heart says no’. The tune tips it’s hat to tango and is immense fun to play live with the band as the violin adds a whole other dimension. The last song, recorded acapella, is a lullaby written for the grandchildren that can also be an ‘all ages’ sleeping song with its comforting call to ‘sleep the sleep of the truly beloved’. The next stage is to get all these recordings mixed then uploaded to my website so you can hear them.