Category: collaborations

Floorsinging for Beginners update

A very old document that I’ve been promising to update since 2018 and finally did. Sort of.

Once upon a time, Neil Corbett of the Bracknell Folk Club asked on uk.music.folk:

“What would be your top 3 tips for aspiring folk club floor singers? I’d lke to put a top 10 tip list on our Bracknell Folk Website.”

However, the response was so enthusiastic that it seemed a shame not to use all the advice that was offered, so I suggested putting together an FAQ. In fact, this is less an FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) document than a tipsheet, but we hoped it would be of use. The site on which I was keeping it disappeared several years ago, and in fact I’d forgotten about it until I came across it in a dark corner of my network. There are probably a lot fewer folk clubs around than when we put this together in the late 1990s, but I’ve been to enough open mic nights and jam sessions subsequently to believe that there are still people who are new to singing in public who might find it of some use, even if references to cassettes seem a little quaint in the second decade of the 21st century.

David Harley

New album – Kitsch and Canoodle

Available, as ever, on Bandcamp.

Kitsch and Canoodle

David A. Harley

Songs of love, lust and obsession. Come to think of it, that probably accounts for my entire output.

All vocals and instruments by David A. Harley. Words and music for all songs by David A. Harley except ‘Quirks and Crotchets’, for which Alan Doyle wrote the tune, and ‘Back in the Day’, for which Alison Pittaway wrote the lyrics. Cover photograph by Jude Harley.

  1. Let Me Lie Easy
  2. A Rainy Day Blues
  3. Please
  4. Quirks and Crotchets (Doyle-Harley)
  5. This Guitar Just Plays The Blues 2021
  6. Her Own Way Down
  7. Back In The Day (Pittaway-Harley)
  8. This End of the 1960s
  9. Can’t Sleep
  10. Never Look Back
  11. New Ends and Sad Beginnings
  12. Two Is A Silence
  13. The Jailer
  14. What Do I Do?
  15. Song Without Warning

Wheal Alice Music WAM21-11

Wish that I’d said that – demo

Lyrics by David Harley – music by Alan Doyle

I had some things to say, but you took me by surprise
I can’t believe the words you said, or the look in your eyes
You don’t want me in your life, you said “Go and don’t come back”
You told me you don’t give a damn and I wish I’d said that

I thought that we could talk, but you beat me to the punch
I thought you were really something else, turns out you’re just out to lunch
You said “Don’t talk, just walk, don’t stand around, get off my back”
You said “I just don’t want to know” and I wish I’d said that

It’s too late to change your mind now your back’s against the wall
Now all I want from you is the chance to see you crawl
But I’ll take you at your word, and I never will look back
Turns out that I don’t give a damn – don’t you wish you’d said that?

 

 

White Noise – demo

A second song for which Alan Doyle provided a tune and added some words. 🙂 I think this will probably have a fairly synth-y feel when I’ve learned it properly, but while it obviously needs polishing, this will be the basic shape.

By Alan Doyle and David Harley

Backup:

The puppet master has turned his back
On the farewell appearance of the men in black
But he can’t stop thinking ’bout the shape he’s in
Heavy water seeping through his skin

Input/output all of the time
There’s only white noise out there on the line

He’s got the moves, but he’s worn so thin
He tried to be polite, but they cut his strings
His voice is rusty and his chords are crude
His fingers are raw and his head is screwed

Input/output all of the time
There’s only white noise out there on the line

White noise [white noise] in the air
White noise [white noise] everywhere
White noise [white noise] all around
White noise [white noise] the only sound

His skin is crawling, his resistance is low
There’s an overload building with nowhere to go
The feedback generates so much heat
He’s got to boost his signal out in the street

Input/output all of the time
There’s only white noise out there on the line

….There’s only white noise at the end of the line

David Harley