The song I have sent you this week is called “DooWop Days” and reminds us of the vocal groups past and present who produce this great style of music. It began in the States with street corner groups singing acapella and progressed into the rock and roll scene….it is similar to a rocky version of “barbershop”….it is a style I have always liked with those wonderful multi voice arrangements…..I’ve sent it because this week I got an Email from a guy called George Galfo who is the only original survi...
Jan 30, 2016
The song I have sent you this week is taken from one of my DVDs so there are pictures to go with it…pictures you will see in your mind’s eye as you are one of us. Easy to sing about as it is such a great place to live. They have found a “new” planet in our solar system….it’s so far away you can’t actually SEE it and it my not ACTUALLY be there…but by all accounts this is very exciting. Now…is it me or is all this space stuff a complete waste of money…we are told that children are starving and th...
Jan 23, 2016
The song I have sent you this week is entitled “Wirral Wonderland” and is a track off one of my DVDs about the area….which you will be familiar with. I mostly send you demos of my songs but this is a finished job…I think you’ll like it….it goes well when matched up with the video. David Bowie has been heavily featured in the news…a sad loss indeed but whether it warrants blanket coverage on the national news is debateable…although he was a one-off…I was totally inspired by him when I first heard...
Jan 16, 2016
The song I’ve sent you this week was from my more “commercial” era (lol)…..it’s sung by a friend of mine called Sue Young who had a great voice … she did the clubs as well but had a superb session voice…I used to call her “One Take” Sue…..I used to have a demo service where people would send me their songs in rough form (sometimes just a voice) and I would knock them into shape for them to send to publishers…and Sue would sing the female parts…she would have a couple of listens then hit it in on...
Jan 09, 2016
The song this week is a demo I found in the drawer which I had forgotten about….it’s called “Nosey Parker” and was a song I wrote for The Krankies a while back….it was for their panto where Janette played Pinocchio and sang it in the show….I remember her saying how they laughed at the way I sang “church”…and “perch”. I have written a lot of songs for them over the years but I have only seen them do one live….it was for a show in Blackpool where she wanted a mickey take of “I’m a Barbie Girl”….I ...
Jan 02, 2016
The song I’ve sent you is a live recording of part of a concert I did a few years back with James Burton at the Floral Pavilion New Brighton….James was the guitarist on Ricky Nelson’s records in the 50’s and early 60’s and backed Elvis during his Vegas years…I was a huge fan of Ricky mainly because of the great guitar solos on his records .. so to eventually have the privilege of performing his songs with my guitar hero was a bit special…I have since done five concerts with the great man the lat...
Dec 26, 2015
To round off the Christmas play I have sent you two of the remaining songs….”Santa’s Song” and “In Me Christmas Stockin’”…..we have reached the stage where after our main hero Jimmy who doesn’t believe in Father Xmas wakes up on Xmas morning with no presents thus,to his mind,proving his point so he wanders round to his pals house to let him know he is right…meeting the milkman and the postman on the way…neither of whom can convince him he is wrong….he arrives at his mate’s to find him with all h...
Dec 19, 2015
The song this week is the continuing saga of the musical I wrote for Radio City back in the 80s. So up to now Jimmy,who doesn’t believe in Father Christmas,wakes up to find he’s got no presents….so he sings “There’s No Santa Claus” (which you played a couple of weeks ago)…he then hot foots it around to his mate’s house to prove his point…on the way he meets the milkman who tries to convince him he’s wrong and sings “If you don’t believe in Father Christmas” (which you played last week)…he then c...
Dec 12, 2015
The song this week is another from the musical I wrote for Radio City which was broadcast back in the 80s. the story so far….the main character Jimmy doesn’t believe in Father Xmas and has woken up on Xmas day to find no toys…so he sings the song you played last week (There’s no Santa Claus)…so he smugly goes round to his friend’s house to prove his point…on the way he bumps into the milkman (played by Paul Damian in the play) who tries to put him straight….to no avail…..this is the demo Paul an...
Dec 05, 2015
The song I have sent you this week “There’s No Santa Claus”…is from the musical I wrote for Radio City in the 80’s. I revolves around a little kid who doesn’t believe in Father Christmas….he wakes up on Christmas Day and hasn’t got any presents…thus proving his point…he then sings this song which asks some good questions…he eventually finds out how wrong he is…but you’ll have to wait til next week for the next instalment. This was the demo the kid worked from….the backing is in his key….that’s m...
Nov 28, 2015
The song this week is a song is from a Christmas musical I wrote for Radio City in the 80’s…..this is the demo the cast worked from…..the kids in the play sang the song and the play was broadcast on Christmas day two years on the trot….it was also nominated for a Sony Award….the cast included Johnny Kennedy…Paul Damian…the late Joe Butler…Carl Chase… and others. The song also recorded by Penny Page and Googi on vinyl….the play went on to be performed by a lot of schools…all good stuff. ….A frien...
Nov 21, 2015
The song I’ve sent you this week is another from the Cheshire Cats album we did back in the day….it’s an oldie called “White Sports Coat” c/w “Butterfly” and is a track I produced for Derek Smith who was the founder of The Cheshire Cats…..he put a lot of work in to keep it all going and was a pleasure to know…he was a massive Elvis fan and used to dress up as the King and delight the crowd…sadly he is another one we lost a few years ago….he was my best mate and I miss him. Speaking of Elvis…Jona...
Nov 07, 2015
The song I have sent you this week is another from the Cheshire Cats album we talked about last week….which we made back in the day….this song is “The Battle Of New Orleans” and is one I produced for my great mate “Skiffle” John Lomax…..who sadly passed away some time ago….I put the instrumentation together on the record…. John was a member of The Atlantics Skiffle Group who were one of the first in the area…I saw them in 1958 which was the first time I heard an electric guitar….they appeared on...
Oct 31, 2015
The song this week is a track I put together for a Cheshire Cats album back in the day….”Route 66” …which unfortunately I didn’t write but I came across it in a drawer….it is performed by a band we put together for our weekly jam sessions….it was a three piece me on guit…my lad Steve on bass and vocals…and a young fellow called Andy Thory on drums…Steve plays a mean bass …he was a good player and was great to work with…even though he’s the fruit of my loins…..he had his own band called The Black...
Oct 24, 2015
We spent a few days in Lichfield in the Midlands and went to The National Arboretum which is a huge remembrance park for the fallen in the wars …this is our second visit and I find it deeply moving….thousands and thousands of names on display….but I do wonder why…such a waste. It’s a very flat part of the country and you need a lesson from Lewis Hamilton before you take to the road…..horrendous. Bit of sad news….my mate Harry Prytherch sadly passed away this week…..he was a great guy and a good ...
Oct 18, 2015
The song I’ve sent you this week is taken from a DVD I made about our River….the inspiration came from the view I had down the River from an early morning ferry boat I had to catch to Liverpool…the sun rises up over the Liver Buildings and illuminates the Wirral side of the river…beautiful….you’ll be able to relate to this. There was a big build up here for the “Supermoon” at the start of the week….it was going to be bigger than usual…and red….and you will see the shadow of the earth on it etc…....
Oct 05, 2015
I have just got back from a few days in Caernarfon and did some walking around Snowdonia…which reminded me of the song I have sent you….The Legend of Prince Madoc. It’s a gentle song performed by my mate Paul Damian….it tells the story of how the WELSH discovered America 300 years before Columbus. I composed and arranged it in an acoustic style which works well. Volkswagon have been filling the news over here with their “cheating” regarding the emissions….again it’s GREED. As far as I am concern...
Sep 26, 2015
… it’s all been happening this week….with the song I have sent you.I got a mail from 41 WMGT which is an American TV channel in Georgia asking if they could use my song and some of my YouTube clip for a news item on their channel. This came about after Liam Dutton did a weather forecast on the BBC and mentioned the village name faultlessly…and went viral. ...I gave them my blessing and they sent me the finished job which is brilliant…..since then I have had about 300 thousand hits on the YouTube...
Sep 13, 2015
The song this week is one from the dim and distant past….it’s a tribute to The Royal Iris which graced the Mersey for many years….it was affectionately known as “the fish and chip boat” as there were many functions held on board where fish and chips were top of the bill…my band played on it on several occasions and on it’s last day of service I went down to Seacombe Ferry where it was moored and made a video…as I was the only one there I am the only one with footage of its last day…it is now rot...
Sep 05, 2015
The song I have sent you this week is one that failed to make the classical music charts which it should have done. It came about after Radio City’s Norman Thomas told his listeners how he went out to buy a dibber…which is a garden tool used for manually boring holes in the ground to plant seeds in….so Norm buys what he thinks is a dibber only to get home and find he’s bought a handle off a shovel….he took a lot of stick over this so I came up with The Dibber Song and sent it to him….he played i...
Aug 27, 2015
The song I have sent you this week is called “The Colour of Time”…and it was one of my rare collaborations…a friend of mine called Patricia Knapton came up with the title…I composed the music and we both worked on the lyrics. I really like this song and it has a nice twist at the end….I produced this back in the 90s but I am thinking of re-vamping it…I have a few ideas for it. .E cigarettes have hit the news….because they are 75% safer than ordinary ciggies (according to research…probably by the...
Aug 22, 2015
The song I have sent you this week was one I came up with for Radio City’s Norman Thomas back in the day….the one note song. It came about when someone told me they couldn’t sing a note…so I disagreed and that sparked off this song…as EVERYONE can sing one note…anywhere…you could go into a pub in China and everyone could sing one note…there are no language barriers or key problems….as the song explains. Maybe I was a bit ahead of my time….it did however make the local papers. 2.This has reminded...
Aug 15, 2015
The song this week was one I came up with in the 70’s “Strangle My Boss”….it has changed a bit since then but it opened a few doors…it got me a publishing deal with Evolution Records (with the help of Leapy Lee)…and this particular song was actually recorded by The Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band….didn’t do much and later it was recorded by some Australian DJ on vinyl (I’ve still got a copy somewhere)….I also recoded it in a big studio in Clapham….don’t know what happened to the master tapes but hey…that...
Aug 08, 2015
The song I’ve sent you this week is ANOTHER football song….again I found this in a drawer and must admit I laughed my head off…I had totally forgotten about this…it was a song called “We’re All Going To The Match” and I did it for Radio City when Liverpool played Everton in the cup final back in the day….I got Pauline Daniels in to do the girl’s part….as I recall we couldn’t do it for laughing…but we eventually got there…definitely a classic. We are all very proud of Chris Froome after he won th...
Jul 30, 2015
WE ARE THE ROVERS !!!!....this is a song I wrote for Tranmere Rovers round about 1979……The idea was to get the players into a studio and record the ones who could sing….sadly none of them could so this version (which was the original demo) was used. It was played every week at the home games and on the coaches for away games…..years later I was warbling away in a local restaurant where I was resident and a crowd came in and recognised me…they were Rovers supporters and got me to sing this….I jus...
Jul 23, 2015
The song I have sent you this week came from an idea I had when getting off the train in Liverpool and saw this guy busking in the subway….it’s called “Subway Songman”. Sugar is on the menu this week…every time you turn on the TV or the radio we are getting reports of record tooth decay in kid’s teeth…all because of sugary fizzy drinks. It’s a miracle how guys of our age survived….I remember having sugar butties when I was a kid…and drinking gallons of lemonade…and I’ve still got my teeth….they ...
Jul 18, 2015
.The song this week is a live version of Ricky Nelson’s Travellin’ Man which was recorded a few years back when I was in concert with James Burton…the guy who played on Ricky’s records…he is over here again and I’ll be working with him again this weekend…I’ll be singing 14 Ricky Nelson songs….I’ll also be interviewing him before the show…all good stuff. We have had a run through the stuff with him and it’s sounding good….got a great backing band who I’ve worked with before. Every Wednesday night...
Jul 04, 2015
The song I have sent you this week is called “More Than A River” and was featured in Radio Merseyside’s tribute to The Mersey….Billy Butler did a live programme from the promenade in new Brighton and gave me a ring and asked me if I would come along and play one of my songs of the river live….couldn’t do it at the allotted time as we were presenting a cheque for £3000 to a local children’s hospice called Claire House…this was on behalf of The Cheshire Cats which is our local organistion which ra...
Jun 27, 2015
The song I have sent you this week is another I have found in my drawer...it is entitled “Deep In My Heart Is Texas”…and is one that got away….it was one of the few collaborations I have been involved in over the years….this stemmed from and idea a friend of mine had…her name is Patricia Knapton….and she came up with the title and a few ideas…I thought the finished job was pretty good but it wasn’t to be….people didn’t GET the title….maybe this play might bring it to someone’s attention….Wagons ...
Jun 20, 2015
This week’s song is called “Laughter is Everything to Me” and was written for my old mate Pauline Daniels back in the day. Pauline has a great voice but she decided to turn to comedy (and did very well) so I wrote this song for her act…the lyrics get the message over and she sings it great ….I used to enjoy recording with her as she was such a good laugh. She hasn’t been too well of late but I think she has recovered…. Sad to hear of the death of Christopher Lee….he was the ONLY Dracula….this wa...
Jun 13, 2015
