Wednesday 14 January 2009

Low-key

Last night I did an open mic night. The Brunswick in Holland Road, Brighton.

I was trying to think of it as a low-key performance. I dressed down and told myself I was going to make mistakes. I was telling myself anything that would take the pressure of performance off so that I could just get up and knock out a couple of songs. This all changed when my girlfriend invited a few friends, who then invited other friends, and then there were about ten people round our table waiting for me to go on!

The acts started and I was feeling nervous. My heart was racing and no matter how much I tried to rationalise things I couldn't control it. Then a guy came on who was doing all twiddly rock guitar stuff, his fingers moving up and down the fretboard at a lightning pace. I knew instinctively that I would be next and sure enough I was asked to get ready to go on.

"Great", I said sarcastically down the boomy microphone, "That was a great act to follow. Thanks". I got a laugh. Hope the guitar guy didn't take it the wrong way!

I started playing The Junior Architect. Heart pounding. I looked down at my fingers picking out the notes but they didn't seem to be hitting the strings properly. They wouldn't relax enough to play properly. I struggled on and started singing. Jesus my voice sounded loud! My voice sounded okay but my guitar picking was awful... every note was wrong, some notes weren't coming out. I abandoned my picking half way through and strummed it instead. This was better even though I had never strummed it before.

I got through that song. Not too bad except I was annoyed that I couldn't have picked the tune. My fingers had just turned to mush. I made a quick decision and rather than try to pick another tune I opted for an easily strummed song: Down the Line. I know this really well so I could relax a bit more and I think I got through it okay.

I got some good feedback. My friends said it was good and congratulated me. Obviously they would, but it was nice none the less.

I waited around and played guitar with Annie for a couple of songs, one of which Annie dedicated to my girlfriend. I really enjoyed playing this time. It felt like all the pressure was off because I'd done my songs. I fluffed it a couple of times but it didn't matter to me. I was just having fun.

Anyway, I did it! I knew I would make mistakes, and I did, but I'm just thinking that this was the first of many open mics so it doesn't really matter. Adopt, adapt and improve.

Tuesday 6 January 2009

Ghosts


At the end of last year I wrote another song for my songwriting class. The theme was 'ghosts'. I wrote a kind of historical murder ballad. Here are the unfinished lyrics:

The Ghost of Frederick Isaac Gold

Wandering...
Down the dusty, disused line
Crumbling...
Down the bridges over time
And time didn't register
In the field where he was thrown
Left to crawl back on his own
He never made it home
Oh no

Shimmering...
Over streams like Damselflys
Wallowing...
Under cloudless late July
He hit the ground struggling
Tried to keep his timepiece gold
Left a childless widow cold
Poor Frederick Isaac Gold
Oh no

Sleeping his way through the tunnel
Shot to the floor with a tumble
Thrown from the carriage a bundle of bones

Stumbling...
Cause his feet won't touch the ground
Hollering...
Though his cries don't make a sound
And people walk through him now
In the street where he was born
Worked the chandlers for their corn
But now that it's all gone
Oh no

Hovering...
Over cornfields dressed in gold
Wondering...
What the next life's gonna hold

It's loosely based on a story I read about that happened close to Brighton in the 1890s. A petty criminal shot a wealthy, somewhat miserly gentleman on the train from London. He put up a struggle but was eventually pushed from the train in Balcombe Tunnel. It was in the middle of the summer.

My idea was to tell the story of a ghost haunting summer fields where he was pretty ineffectual, the same as he was when he was alive. But I don't really think this comes across in the lyrics I've written. I don't know... I'm just not happy with it. Maybe some tweaks would make it come alive a bit.