4 posts tagged “songwriting”

This here is a brand new song I was working on this month. It's for a split single with Kenny Leckie which you can find out full details at my main site, and also buy it from the shop there!
I wrote the song after a gig in a trendy wine-bar in Glasgow. The song itself though could be about any major city. Bruce Springsteen says that a decent 'rock' song only needs one great line, and I think in this song it is my line "You don't get child poverty in Paradise, why should you get it around here".
Also on this song is a number of different instruments, I usually only have guitar and vocals with a bit of Harmonica, but here I have added Violins (Nichola Kerr), Mandolins (Dan Hughes) and Bass. There is also a female backing singer.
It's definately one of the songs that I'm most proud of.

Here's a song I wrote for my first proper album thing. I was going down to Newcastle to record it with a group of musicians my brother knew from University, so I decided I'd quite like a bolsterous opening song. I'd been playing this song solo for a wee while, but then in the first meeting with the band I counted it off "one two three four", 30 minutes later we had this recording of it. If you listen carefully you can hear me shouting out chord changes.

I wrote it about growing up with political parents and being dragged out to marches when under the age of 12. Some have said it's an anthem about independence for Scotland, I think it's more an anti-corruption song - just so happens the corruption I've seen in governments has been one that is part of a union.

This here is a brand new song I'm working on, it's for a split single I am releasing with another singer songwriter called Kenny Leckie. The track is called "Never took the time" I've now added all the other parts of the track sent to me as the collaboration is with other musicians who I've met along the way.

My brother came up with his mandolin and bass and over dubbed his parts over my basic rhythm, and by the time it's properly finished it should have harmonica (better than the guide one I've put on) and violins.

Anyways, about the track. Most of the time if I am playing a gig, it's on an 'acoustic' night and I'm playing with people who conform more to the audience's idea of what acoustic music should be. So, I thought I'd write a song basically saying from the outset, who I am, what I do, and what to expect for the next 30 minutes (or how long my set is!).

It's a biographical track, reaching all the way back to my school days when I couldn't be bothered to learn cover versions of Oasis, Blur or the other top 40 indie bands for school talent shows. I've always wanted to write my own songs, and started as soon as I picked up the guitar. It was a conscious decision I took to be the best songwriter I could be, most bands can have several brilliant guitar players, but a good song only needs one good songwriter.

I just thought I'd start this off by telling people about this track. Most people say that this is the best song I've ever written, I'm not too sure about that, but I do agree it's a pretty good song. I wrote it in the second half of last year after the failed airline bombings. In the fallout of this event a couple of Asian boys were removed from a plane for making the other passengers wary.

Not through any malicious activity, merely speaking their own language. I hate racism in all forms, especially institutionalised racism through the media and this was a key example of this. Yet, the media still didn't accept responsibility and take it as a sign post that maybe they should take more care to provide a less biased, fairer and just standard of reporting.

The song itself went through many incarnations from out and out rock mode with big drums and distorted guitars, to a strummed lo-fi arrangement. Finally I tried it out with harmonica and this version arrived, borrowing hints of Bruce Springsteen's Ghost of Tom Joad album and Dylan's playing of harmonica. The following review from Rock'n'Reel magazine mentions the song.