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[ghost]

Hi,

I meant to post this earlier - in fact, a few weeks ago - but I obviously forgot.

If anyone fancies writing a wee rhyme, sketch out an idea, or write a full song based / inspired / named after something sea-based then here is the place to post it. There is no prize, but I'm actually looking to describe different songwriting processes on my radio show.

I've written one which I'll use to show how I got the idea, sketched out the story, wrote and re-wrote the lyrics, then worked on the tune. I'm hoping to get info from folk about how they wrote their song too - even if it was fairly simple.

If you'd like to enter, post your ideas here - or if you are shy - send a PM.

Ian

[Alan Cynic]

I wrote a sea-connected song recently....here are the lyrics...


'Sea or soil'

She was standing on the shoreline, searching the horizon for a sign
that her lover was still singing, bobbing on his boat upon the brine.
I was praying for a great wave, or maybe for a cruel leviathan
to drag him quiet to his wet grave, for lying with her there, upon the sand.

She was bonny, but she was easy...it seems he cast his net and hauled her in,
and from her pigtail she cut a ringlet, fixed it to his chest with a golden pin,
Oh, if you have the courage in you, it's really not that hard to take a life.
I should have severed his every sinew for daring to make bold with my young wife.

Now he goes sailing o'er the ocean, while I just dig these scars into the land,
and she tells me she still loves me, and hopes one day that I will understand
why she still wears the ring I bought her, and in my kitchen and my bedroom she will toil.
But I just cradle our baby daughter, and wonder if she's made of sea or soil.


The theme came from me deciding I felt happier being more of a farmer than a fisherman, as both my great-grandads were ploughmen. Being me, it ended up a pretty dark and depressing tale!

The words have been slightly honed through playing it live twice (I added more alliteration to the first verse, to give it a tide-like pulse.)

It'll be on the next Kitchen Cynics CD-R, called 'I went to an alehouse' (available soon).

[ghost]

Hi Alan,
I like that!! You've used leviathan in your song too. I like the open ending too.
So is that CD #6536343141 then? Where do you sell em now?

[Alan Cynic]

Release number 50 something, I think (including cassettes, singles etc).

The only place selling it will be Melody Bar mail order, probably. Total sales will be aound 10, as usual

[ghost]

Thanks for posting - I mentioned it and your forthcoming CD on my show tonight (podcast available). What is the Melody Bar website?

[Alan Cynic]

This is it....
boa melody bar

Thanks for the mention!