It will be exciting to be out playing to audiences again. There as been a lot of work with John Scudder on double bass to recover the arrangements after what has been a long period when rehearsals went into lockdown hibernation. The set list for this gig has been put into a chronology of my musical time-shifts. This starts from the early influences in my teens through the winding paths of songs written over the years with detours into examples of songwriters who have inspired me to play and sing.

The set includes one written in many years ago called Miss Mercenary. The person alluded to in the song had no idea it was about them at the time. This is one of the great things about writing - you can summon up a character and simply present it without explanation leaving the audience to fill in the story. I have added the lyrics below so you can see where the song goes and decide for your-self what it is about. Let me know what you think.

Miss Mercenary © Terry Sarten 1978

You’ve got your passion and you’ve got your pride
Don’t ever let it show
Don’t you ever let it go no no
Don’t you ever let it slip away
Living for expediency / always on the make
Steal what you can take no no
Don’t ever let it slip away
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Out there on the trail of love and money
Always on the lookout for an ambush
You’re just a mercenary
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People say she’s beautiful but so’s a tiger too
I got scars that show so clear just what those claws can do