Lyrics & Song Notes from Parallel Lives
Click on a song title to go directly to that song .....
THE LINESMAN
A song for those who look on thinking "I could do that"
I used to think everything had to be perfect before putting it out there.
It took me a long time to realise even the confident ones 'wing it" sometimes.
I am the linesman
Running the line
Life on the sideline
Most of the time
I get them moments
When they see me there
Waving my flag
Make them aware
Scars of life
Tattoos of time
Stories to tell
I'm feeling fine
I'm feeling fine
Make the pitch
Run with the ball
Part of the game
Giving it all
Scars of life
Tattoos of time
Stories to tell
I'm feeling fine
I'm feeling fine
THE GAMBLER
Memories of being a kid on holiday and being given a handful of 'old' pennies to go round the amusement arcade. I used to head to the one called the waterfall and try and win the pennies that were defying gravity and hanging on the edge for dear life.
That was the extent of my gambling career, unlike today where we are continuously bombarded with adverts enticing you into the fray where you can lose your home from the comfort of your own armchair.
Like metallic rain drops
The sound fills the room
He hears coins fall from the mountain
He'll be putting all the wrongs to right soon
Tonight the omens look good
He prays to the omens 'be kind'
As he hangs all his fears on the coat peg
He's panning for gold in his mind
So the lights and the bustle take over
Adrenaline it pumps in his vein
His mind it's set on its journey
To salvage some hope from the pain
The queen calls
The king lies
Jokers laugh
No diamonds in this mine
Cherries spin
Barrels roll
Hearts bleed
No prizes this time
No prizes this time
So he sits himself down he table
The keys to their house are his hand
Him and his girl had a dream
Things hadn't quite worked out as planned
Now he walks this desolate highway
Talks the desperate talk
Lies to himself and his family
His mind heavy from this perilous walk
Some turn to god,
Others to crime
For some there's a rope at the end of the line
Some live with their fear
On the edge of the abyss
Rolling one die at a time
The queen calls .......
Like metallic rain drops
The sound fills the room
He hears coins fall from the mountain
He'll be putting all the wrongs to right soon
Tonight the omens looked good
He prayed to the spirits 'be kind'
As he walks past his coat on the coat peg
And leaves his old life behind
OLD FATHER TIME
Whilst having a sort out I found some old cassette tapes. I played them to discover it was me playing but had no knowledge of ever writing the tunes.
I didn't use any of them on this album but I wrote this song on the back of wondering where the lost years went.
Where did you go to, Old Father TIme
Here stands an old man where once stood a child
Where did you go to Old Father Time
I've lived a whole life one the blink of an eye
I stood by the window
Looked at the rain
Wondered if anything would ever be the same
Then I caught a glimpse of a gap in the cloud
Remembered a time when once I was proud
Suited and booted, enjoyed the crowd
But it all seems another life now
So I played my music
I didn't know it was me
But it was my fingers moving
From what I could see
Then I caught a melody
I recognised as mine
It hung on the cloud though my heart it was crying
For it triggered a memory from way down the line
Oh it all seems another life now
Where did you go to .....
I stood by the window
Watched the rain fall
I was looking for a reason
Waiting for a call
Then something from somewhere
Made me look at the wall
There stood the answer
There stood them all
All looking back at me
All saying "hi"
Pictures of family and good friends gone by
So all you young kids
Who think you've got long
Write your own stories
Sing your own song
Hang your own pictures
On your own wall
Take fate by the hand
When fate comes to call
Where did you go to Old Father Time
The pictures tell a story of a life that was mine
Where did you go to Old Father Time
You cannot change it
And neither can I
WIGGLY WORM
This tune seemed to appear out of nowhere as if it was already in the guitar, all I had to do was give it a chance to show itself.
It took longer to decide if Wiggly should have an 'r' in it.
FREEWAY TO HER DREAMS
(Gordon Haskell)
Her secret's in her shoulder bag
They’re sewn into the seams
Is a journey that she has to take
On the freeway to her dreams '
She asks herself how come my life’s forever in a spin
And she hides a tiny photograph in an old tobacco tin
She keeps her make-up in a box with its lid of tortoiseshell
I caught a glimpse inside it once of a jewel beneath the veil
I loved her then I love her still though it’s not what she believes
One day I hope she’ll see me there on the freeway to her dreams
Her secret's in her shoulder bag
They’re sewn into the seams
And the journey takes her on and on
On the freeway to her dreams
And one day I hope she’ll see me there
On the freeway to her dreams
IN MY MIND
A song that began as I walked through the the dark down the unlit lane to the music night at the Red Lion. It was cold, It was raining, it was bleak. I could have driven but it didn't give you the time to clear your head, and you always felt like you deserved that pint when you finally arrived there.
I can't walk this walk anymore
Every turn I take I'm dreading
And I can talk this talk anymore
Every word I say I'm regretting
I cannot see to make it right
Cannot turn my dark to light
Seems that I'm just too tired for trying
And I can't dance this dance anymore
I pirouette but always end up falling
This engine it won't start anymore
I turn the key but always end up stalling
I cannot seem to find the spark
Cannot seem to light my dark
She says, I'm just too tired for trying
But hey babe, what do you know
If I could find a place to go somewhere
To ease the troubles from my mind
A place where roots take hold and
I don't run when things turn cold
That's the kind of place I'd like to find
That's the place I go to
In my mind
This river it don't flow anymore
It's waters' run dry well before the shore
Somewhere in the dark and distant past
All I ever learnt were things were never meant to last
But hey babe, what do you know ........
Please let me sail this yacht one more time
Once round this island and all will be just fine
To free myself from these tides
That pull me to the rocks where I'm destined to collide
But hey babe, what do you know
If I could find a place to go somewhere
To ease the troubles from my mind
A place where roots take hold and
I don't run when things turn cold
That's the kind of place I'd like to find
That's the place I go to
In my mind
BLACK GOLD
As a teenager I was lucky to be gigging in the miners welfares around the midlands. I remember the guys at the bar with their jet black eyes from the coal dust. I saw the families dance together, I occasionally saw them fight. I learnt to be deathly quiet during the bingo.
I then watched as their communities were ripped apart.
He's gonna sit here and wait for a morning
There's one due along in a while
He's not in a hurry to get there
He's not been back since his son was a child
That's when they closed all the pits down
And the last ship sailed the bay
The steel works lie rusty and broken
So he pedaled south down Maggie's way
And I got a job juggling money
And talking to folks on the phone
They'd buy off me little bits of plastic
That come here on a boat far from home
I sell yellow and red ones
I've got pink and green
There's every color and hue
But even now after all of these years
I don't have a clue what they do
There's a hole in my heart
Where there's a hole in the ground
Relentlessly pulling
My heartstrings around
Every day, there's a feeling of blue
For however vibrant these colours
They don't shine like the black gold I knew
I'm not saying that life there was perfect
But that old terraced house was my home
The backyards and streets were my kingdom
Grazed me knees, broke my arm, carried on
On the weekend we'd go down the welfare
Mum would jive to the live rock n roll
Dad would pretend he was Elvis
Drink beer, play bingo and pool
There's a hole in my heart .......
TRAWLERS
I hope it takes you somewhere nice
PARALLEL LIVES
You may alter the rules
You can use all your tools
To turn all of the wrongs into rights
You can change all your views
You can distort the news
But you can't give a blind man his sight
All his witnesses there
All his crosses laid bare
His eyes hide the scene of a crime
Leaving those who lie hollow
In darkness and sorrow
Trying to make stagnant words rhyme
So on side by side
Out of sight but not mind
With memories tied
To the one left behind
And the one who's along
We'll sing him a song
Rock a bye baby, up in the tree
But look through the tears
And the smiles through the years
Tell me in his eyes who did you see
THE ROAD THAT MIGHT HAVE BEEN
A song for the drifters and dreamers amongst us. I think of this track as a watercolour where, hopefully, the colours draw you in and you feel part part of the picture rather than an observer
The breeze blows the nets from the window open wide
Outside two paths, which to choose I must decide
One smooth tarmac, no troubles I would guess
I head for the green lane, destiny and fortune do the rest
The wind is sharp and piercing the rain stings my face
But head down I push on, no need to start to race
I rest when I'm tired, I sleep when I'm done
Berries taste sweet, in the warmth of the sun
I learnt to swim the rivers that flow across my track
Kept moving forward, no thoughts on turning back
For that's not where I'm heading, to look forward is to grow
Live life in the present, the here and the now
Then my path crossed the tarmac road, I stood by the busy street
But the roar of the 4x4 nearly knocked me off my feet
Took a stroll down the arcade, for something I might need
I could have been in any town, with all the corporate greed
I ended up in the suburbs, I met a man like me
He smiled, said "come on over, I've not seen you recently"
We talked a while and reminisced, till the full moon filled the sky
Then we shook hands and said our goodbyes
He went inside and locked the door, turned on his tv screen
I buttoned up my raincoat, headed off down the street
Turned off at the track with the blue and the green
And laughed out loud, at the road that might have been
The breeze blows the nets from the window open wide
Outside two paths, which to choose I must decide
One smooth tarmac, no troubles I would guess
I head for the green lane
Destiny and fortune
And you, and me did the rest
OUR SNACK
A ditty about a rescue dog. A fictitious story but Snack was an actual dog saved by a friend, Emma who was working in Thailand and rescued the dog on the way to teaching English at a local school. The young pupils named him Snack as with a bit more meat on him they'd probably have had him for dinner.
Here he is the family pet
The kids have named him snack
We've had him for a while now
We found him in a sack
Walking down the towpath
me and the wife
Drowning in the old canal
Doggy paddlin' for his life
We dragged him out we dried him off
We took him down the vets
She said " he'll live the plucky lad"
But I wasn't taking bets
Scabs and flees
Skin and bones
What teeth he had were yellow
How can some folks be so cruel
He's such a lovely fella
We fed him up, we brushed him down
Got a blanket nice and thick
With love and affection
He perked up really quick
He buries bones, I throw him sticks
His favorite game
He's got his own plastic basket
And a collar with his name
If you ever are down our street
If you ever are in town
Do pop in and see our snack
He's the cockiest dog around
He struts around like he owns the place
I sometimes think he does
He believes he's one of the human race
He thinks he's one of us
But when all is quiet, and nothing is around
When sleep starts to take him
If he hears the faintest sound
His eyes look straight up at me
So piercingly deep
I comfort him and wink
I pat him back to sleep
When all is quiet, and nothing is around
You can tell in his eyes he remembers
The day, he nearly drowned
RESOLUTION MOON
The result of sitting up until early hours of the morning with a bottle of whisky..