June 2020 – Page 2 – Wheal Alice Music

Angel

Backup:

Recorded on domestic equipment in the 1980s, so the guitar is a bit twangy, but the vocal seems to have come out quite well – probably better than I could sing it nowadays.

Tell me something that troubles me:
When you look at me, what do you see
To take a chance on a three-time loser like me?

You talk of trusting and sometimes I do
But what makes an angel like you
Waste time on a broken-down hero like me?

I can’t believe you’d want to keep going bail
For a shop-soiled knight errant with trouble on his trail

[break]

It makes no sense that you’d want to keep going bail
For an ex-crusader with a hell-hound on this tail

Anyway when I see you again
I’ll be praying just the same
That you still have time for a three-time loser like me

When I was (suite) – demo revisited and remastered

Several decades ago, I put a tune to ‘A Shropshire Lad’ XVIII:

Oh, when I was in love with you
Then I was clean and brave,
And miles around the wonder grew
How well did I behave.

But now the fancy passes by
And nothing will remain,
And miles around they say that I
Am quite myself again.

For a long time I sang that (occasionally) unaccompanied. More recently, it occurred to me that the same tune also fitted XIII ‘When I was one-and-twenty…’ and that the two actually had a thematic connection. So I put together a suite of the two, both accompanied on guitar, and also including an instrumental interlude. I’m still working on a final recording of that, which might also include an instrumental version of ‘Down by the Salley Gardens’: indeed, Sally Goddard and I were discussing a live set a couple of years ago that would have included all three songs. Recently, I reverted to an unaccompanied version of XVIII as sung here. And that might be the way I do XVIII in the final version. Here, however, is a remastered version of an early take on the combination of XVIII and XIII, including a quasi-orchestral interlude. (It’s actually a Yamaha keyboard, since that was the nearest thing to a real orchestra I had to hand!)

Backup:

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Or:

Backup:

Watch this space for further developments…

David Harley

Adventures in Video: ‘The Fancy Passes’

‘The Fancy Passes’ is part of a suite of settings of verse by A.E. Housman.

This one is XVIII in ‘A Shropshire Lad’.

Oh, when I was in love with you
Then I was clean and brave,
And miles around the wonder grew
How well did I behave.

But now the fancy passes by
And nothing will remain,
And miles around they say that I
Am quite myself again.

The full suite also includes an instrumental interlude followed by XIII ‘When I was one-and-twenty…’ I’m still working on a final recording of that.

This unaccompanied video version was my entry for the May 2020 Trad2Mad competition held by Islington Folk Club. It didn’t win, but that’s unsurprising, given the very high standard of singing that I generally associate with that club. Unfortunately, I’ll probably never get to play there again, given that I’m the wrong side of 70 and living in Cornwall…

David Harley

Adventures in video: “Thomas Anderson – a Jacobite Tragedy”

This is actually already available as a podcast, but I thought it might benefit from some pictures… I’ve used the (home-)recorded version of the song with several overdubs here, not a live version, and that takes up about half the video. Much more of the backstory here.

David Harley

Two is a Silence [remastered]

Actually, remixed and remastered, with the original main vocal replaced because it was annoying me that the words were not quite as I sing them now. Vocals, guitar and bouzoukis by me: I can’t blame anyone else.

Words and music (c) David Harley

Backup:

Two isn’t company, three is a crowd
Two is a silence, three is too loud
Two is a silence gets harder to break
But three always leaves one left over

Three into two isn’t good for the head
It’s no problem in math, but it’s bad news in bed
And it’s one for an ace and two for a pair
But three always leaves one left over

When we’re alone somehow he’s always there
You say it’s the same when you two are the pair
So it’s one for sorrow and two for joy
But three always leaves one left over

All the shouting is over and dead
Somehow there’s nothing much else to be said
And it’s one for the money and two for the show
But three always leaves one left over

Two isn’t company, three is a crowd
Two is a silence, three is too loud
Two is a silence gets harder to break
But three always leaves one left over

David Harley

Backup version

A Perfect Cocktail [early demo]

Words & Music (c) David Harley

And yes, I agree that blaming the person for whom you have an unrequited passion is not healthy or politically correct. This is a work of fiction, not autobiography. 🙂 Now I have to learn it, as I’ve promised to sing it next Saturday.

Backup:

Who’s driving nails into my lonely bed?
Who sent images scurrying through my head?
You…

We mixed a perfect cocktail, you and I
How come now my cup is dry?

How come these days I drink so much alone?
Who’s to blame if I end up stoned?
You…

And we mixed a perfect cocktail, you and I
How come now my cup is dry?

Who leaves me here, lying all alone?
Who asks six weeks later why I didn’t phone?
You…

And we mixed a perfect cocktail, you and I
How come now my cup is dry?

Who’s driving nails into my lonely bed?
Who sent images scurrying through my head?
You…

And we mixed a perfect cocktail, you and I
How come now my cup is dry?

Blues for Davy revisited

Music (c) David Harley

While I’m often accused of trying to sound like Bert Jansch, it was actually Dav(e)y Graham I wanted to sound like before I realized I was a better songwriter than guitarist and concentrated on the songs instead of instrumental technique.

‘Blues for Davy’ is a short guitar piece I used to play a lot in the 80s, trying to get some of that jazz feel that informed so much of what he did, though it was actually quite a formal piece. This is an extended version with a lot more improvisational content. While I don’t think my rheumaticky hands will ever let me call myself a jazz guitarist with any degree of conviction, it worked much better than I expected, especially for a spur-of-the-moment one-take version. I might come back to it adding a second guitar at some point.

I’m not sure I’ll ever be brave enough to play it live, though.

David Harley