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Blackbirds Banquet: Songs From FAWM 2016

by TA Walker

/
1.
Someone called the Nineties The Sixties upside down I wondered what they had in mind The flowers dried and brown When videos came on cassette And tweets came from the sky When mobile phones weighed half a ton And cost the same to buy [chorus] The 90s called, a joke to crack Would we like their decade back? The 90s called back anyway “Admit it - you preferred life this way?” [verse 2] Friends we met, and got to know And watching home alone The internet at tortoise speed Whilst paying for the phone I cast my minds’s eye to recall What key events occurred An oasis in the years of war Or maybe, just a blur The 90s called… [bridge] Before you know - it’s twenty years ago And often we find The ruling men you thought so low Were not the worst, in the end...
2.
Lunchtime 02:24
[Verse 1] Not meant to watch the clock This food fan is taking stock Now sushi is my jam I conserve patience wherever I can For this desk gourmet My favourite hour of the day... [Chorus 1] With my bento box, it’s off I trot To lunchtime Keep those eyes off my fish and rice It’s all mine Like Gollum with his “Precious” I’ll guard this most delicious hoard So jealously - begone It’s all for me! [verse 2] Twenty-four hours slip by Fickle is my foodie-eye To chilli-sauce I’ve turned And I must feel the burn For this desk gourmet The hottest hour of the day... [chorus 2] It’s chilli con car-nay - out of my way For lunchtime The microwave - slow as a Paving-slab line Too hungry to make good rhymes Oh look, there goes my lunchtime Already - I’ll take it back with me
3.
62nd Street 00:59
[instrumental]
4.
[verse 1] It all started with the word A greater distance, overturned And surely by the letter they were made Came the light, and all were pleased And then in time, a bended knee Began their journey - neither felt afraid [chorus] Wherever they roam Down every path and lane Each place where they lay to sleep A secret store Accompanies their steps The chest they only know, where letters keep [verse 2] As a life reveals How words can wound or heal A dagger or a scalpel to use A spring both salt and sweet A coin’s opposing sides compete Every moment, a path we choose Wherever they roam… [bridge] To the start, they retire To the lines forged in fire In the white heat where love took form Where the strokes of the pen Lead the memories to when The shards to a sword reformed
5.
Helmsman 02:45
[verse 1] They call me Mark the helmsman I guess that that’s my name I guide this tub the river long And sail it back again Stop long enough to fill this flask And it might last the journey back ‘Bout cargo, don’t ask a thing Some things are best unknown [chorus] Just leavin’ the helmsman To pilot through the river foam Just trust in the helmsman He’ll steer your course for home [verse 2] Ain’t never looked for trouble And I’m too broke to rob You’ll never catch me fishin’ The river’s just a job I’m not the type to wash ashore Up Cripple Creek without an oar No man of words, but sometimes plans Perhaps that’s just as well [bridge] No wish for a change of scene ‘Cos this is all I know I measure days in plumblines Enough to last a lifetime
6.
So it’s Friday I’ll pick you up today By six-thir-tay Mmm-mmm You and me Hot-dogs surely A drive-in movie Mmm-mmm Drive round town without a care I know you'll be always there Went shopping for a ring today I wouldn’t want to miss a cliché Home obediently, by Ten-thirty Parents happy Mmm-mmm I see your bedroom light And you wave me goodnight The whole world feels alright Mmm-mmm
7.
8.
I can say “I love you” And sound as if it’s true The easiest words I’ve ever known The moods and temper swings Are just some of those things It’s worth it, not to have to be alone How I can cope with you And you can cope with me Is one of love’s marvellous mysteries True, opposites attract But I know another fact You make this world rotate for me I can say “I love you” And I often do Although I feel that I should tell you more We know the best and worst of us Which gives us plenty to discuss Through all the winding years we have in store How I can cope with you...
9.
Turnaround 02:11
You’ve fallen back, behind the pack The only signs, the solid lines That stopped you in your tracks Time to take your ranking back Your turnaround is overdue The when and how and why Is down to you It makes no sense - you hit the fence So stand again, push through the pain The prize that moves you still Is waiting down that hill Your turnaround is overdue… And when you kept the pace I know your will was strong Until you cross that line Find it in yourself to carry on
10.
Now I remember I heard you say These opportunities don’t come around every day Don’t miss a prize you’ll then regret Let them land and then swipe them up in your net Some you will find, may come easily Others will leave you barking up a tree Across the road from where you should Be looking for the trees amid the wood Running on the spot Or maybe in a wheel The times you make progress May come when that’s not what you feel And we know times when the treadmill stopped And to the floor you saw me skip and drop But we know too, it’s exactly then To gather self and to stumble up again We have a marathon to run Today, the gym, tomorrow, in the sun This view is not necessarily The one before us, that we will always see Running on the spot… Now I remember I heard you say These opportunities don’t come around every day The time will come, you’ll hit your stride And find the strength you thought you lacked inside Then far ahead, the goal awaits And now we start, for we’re still not too late And when our hearts race fit to burst Remember we don’t have to come in first Running on the spot...
11.
[instrumental]
12.
The silent mists Wrap me round I beckoned sleep None to be found Too tired to go Too far to stop Grasping for The words to drop I’ve spent too much time Outside the space that I made for myself Can’t find the rhymes that I Used to entice with the greatest of ease They slip away nicely while leaving no trace Outside the space The distant cheers That coax me hence A golden arch A rusty fence My conscious mind No longer clear On instinct pure I found you here I’ve spent too much time... [bridge] Lift me over Lead me closer
13.
I'm going to the tearooms For my usual Earl Grey Perhaps, this time, Darjeeling To form my pre-soirée Where I may watch the world go by With scones and clotted cream And strawberry jam at 4pm My daily dining dream And furthermore, moreover No plebs or oiks or proles Shall spoil my afternoon repast With munching sausage rolls Their noxious whiff, their poor attire And offensive repartee Allow them entry if they must But far away from me!
14.

about

These are the songs I wrote and recorded for the 2016 FAWM (February Album Writing Month) annual songwriting challenge. The aim is to compose and record, from scratch, 14 songs/instrumentals within the month of February, and share them with your fellow participants.

This is my fourth year of participation - the albums from 2013 ("Homecooked") and 2014 ("Conditions Apply") are also available on my Bandcamp page. (My 2015 FAWM was aborted due to family reasons after completing two songs; "B-L-O-C-K-E-D" is available on "Allsorts Vol 1", and I'm holding "Sleep Song" back for Vol 2 :-) )

Everything you hear on this album was composed and recorded between 1-29 February 2016 (although mixing and mastering "spilled over" to the first couple of days of March). As a result of the somewhat frantic pace, you may well hear occasional signs of this - mistakes, garbled lyrics, wrong notes, etc. - which I have left in as a representation of what I came up with during the FAWM challenge.

The songs are presented in the order in which I wrote and recorded them, except where I swapped "Seventh Planet" and "Odd Love Song". During the challenge, I meant "Planet" to come before "Odd...", but was unable to complete and mix it in time, and had to come up with the latter song to keep "on schedule". This album restores the intended sequencing.

Overall, though, I feel that this time around, I didn't do too badly! I recently took a course in studio recording and engineering, which I hope has translated into a noticeable improvement, especially on the mixing front. I'll let you be the judge of that...

(I should mention that if you have heard - or even downloaded - the songs I uploaded to the FAWM website, the versions on this album have been remixed quite thoroughly, and in my admittedly-biased opinion, have a much-improved sound overall. Just putting that out there...)

Hope you enjoy these, and perhaps you'll hear them again in mutated form in the future...

TA Walker
March 2016

P.S. Before anyone asks: the lack of an apostrophe in "Blackbirds" is intentional.

credits

released March 7, 2016

Drums by the Garageband Drummers: "Kyle" (tracks 1 and 9), "Darcey" (2 and 6) and "Mason" (5)
Other instruments, voices and programming by TA Walker

A Sidingsound Production by TA Walker
All compositions written and recorded by TA Walker at Sidingsound I and various locations on the Sidingsound Mobile, between 1-29 February 2016
Mobile recording hardware: Apple iPad Air, iPhone 5S, Line6 Sonic Port VX
Mobile recording software: Apple Garageband, Harmonicdog Multitrack DAW
Mixed by Tim at Sidingsound I (Logic), February-March 2016
Cover photo by Tim
Cover design by Canva (canva.com), guided by Tim

Thanks to my family for understanding, support and space; my fellow FAWM'ers for support and mutual encouragement; Line6 for the Sonic Port VX (great recording machine, but how about a hardware gain control on the instrument input next time, eh?)... and you, of course

(p) and (c) 2016 Tim Walker

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TA Walker UK

Guitarist/multi-instrumentalist, composer and songwriter, often with "electronica", "lo-fi" and "prog" inclinations.

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