SongBlog - Jimmy Joyce

This Tuesday is Bloomsday, when Ulysses, a novel by James Joyce, is celebrated by people the world over who like to dress up and go down the pub. It's sort of like St Patrick's Day for bibliophiles. My contribution is a cover of Jimmy Jazz by The Clash, with a new lyric that tells of a bunch of writers looking for Mr Joyce as he wanders around Europe. Londoner Joe Strummer of The Clash was deeply fond of his home city and, like Joyce wrote about it with insight and originality. Joyce and Strummer saw heroic behaviour in the everyday struggles of the average working man, athough unlike Joyce, Strummer was highly political in his opinions of the working class. Both men also spoke out against violence; Strummer, when he stated that it, 'solves nothing' and Joyce (through the words of Leopold Bloom when he gets threatened by a bunch of toughs in a pub) writing that love is the answer to all conflict. A literary giant and a punk rocker can have more in common than you might think so raise a glass of burgundy and celebrate the work of two men who found beauty in places few would even think to look.

To download the song Jimmy Joyce, click on the link to the Book Rock E.P.

SongBlog - Return Of Beauty Queen

I first heard Beauty Queen by Roxy Music (from their second LP 'For Your Pleasure') when I was nineteen. Even though I was heavily into The Fall and The Clash and The Cocteau Twins, the song became my favourite. I loved the lyrics;

Your swimming pool eyes
In sea breezes they flutter
The coconut tears, heavy lidded they shed
Swaying palms at your feet
You were the pride of your street
While you worship the sun
Summer lover of fun

"Swimming pool, sea breezes, coconut, palms, sun, summer" these words perfectly described somewhere I lived a few years ago; the Caribbean. While sitting on Reduit Beach in St Lucia I heard in my head Lee Perry's Return Of Django playing behind Beauty Queen. A few months later I returned to my home city of Belfast because I had so many songs that I wanted to record, and one of the first things I did was check the key and tempo of both songs. They are one semi-tone apart and only a couple of bpm's different so a mash up was possible. It took a while to get it right, but this track is something I'm very proud of. Most mash ups are about songs that blend rhythmically, but this one is about the mix of atmosphere, words and rhythm, and for that reason it works...beautifully. It is also a song that, in it's mix of music from London, England and Kingston, Jamaica, is the essence of one of the greatest record labels of all time; Island.

Click on the link to the LP 'Here Starts The Weekend' to download Return Of Beauty Queen.

PhC does BND

Happy Buy Nothing Day! For me, (a time rich/cash poor songwriter) this no spending lark is a doddle. From Monday to Thursday I've got into the habit of leaving home without any cash. I have a bus card in case I decide to visit my family and I've stocked up on the essentials so there is no need to buy anything. The daily newspaper habit was kicked when I realised I knew far too much about the problems facing far off countries and not enough about the works of James Joyce. Friday is now like a wee Christmas Day. I swoon with pleasure after a coffee, muffin and Independent, (all at home) then browse charity shops for second hand books to keep me entertained for the following week.
I gave up TV when I moved into my flat in August 2006 and it makes not buying a lot easier. You only notice the agressiveness of adverts when you don't see them very often so that after a while they make you nervous and remind you of the school bully.
So I'm going to finish my book of Chekhov short stories, have a coffee and later mix a song that I hope my publisher will convert into money which I will not spend on anything that I cannot make myself.

The song 'Stop Your Shopping' is at:
http://www.divshare.com/download/5913582-345

Buy Nothing Day

This Saturday is BUY NOTHING day and my contribution to this delightful idea is a cover version of a cover version. The Pretenders released their take on The Kinks' 'Stop Your Sobbing' as their first single at the start of the 80's and I couldn't resist doing a quick remake called, 'Stop Your Shopping'. Have fun on Saturday. PL XX

To download the song go to,
http://divshare.com/download/5913582-345

For more info on Buy Nothing Day go to,
http://www.buynothingday.co.uk/