There is a nice project, mainly in London at the moment called “notes to strangers”. (you can find out more about the project here www.andy-leek.com/notes-to-strangers) . I was inspired to write a song and make a video as my own notes to strangers.
You can find this song on my new album. The first Five Years
I’ve been writing songs for a long time but only started recording them properly around five years ago. I have now put together seventeen of my favourite demos in an album. This is a very strange selection so I don’t expect anyone to like all of them. I’ll be surprised if you don’t find something you like.
The most popular track on Spotify at the moment is Schauinsland.
This has also been played a lot.
The album is on all online platforms.
I made this video to encourage people to use local venues before they disappear. Worth watching for the reverse camera stuff alone.
Music released by DK Records.
Available on Spotify and iTunes
I wrote and performed the music and it was mastered by Paul Kenward at Stewie B’s.
A big thank you to all the people who appeared in the video including Henry, Eric, Adam , LeonC , Steve, Wes Lawson Bowie, Jack Tinmouth, and Andre.
Dig Beneath the Dust 5.45
Climbing on a train for a trip to the seaside
New trunks, no bucket and spade
Promised myself to learn to swim this summer
Confidence starting to fade
It’s hard to learn to swim, a mouthful of sea, making me choke
But when you throw away the armbands you feel stronger
Growing up with every stroke
Dig beneath the dust, beneath the dust, beneath the dust
The past is never dead. It’s only sleeping
Dig beneath the dust, then tuck it into bed
Walking up to Sunninghill on Saturday morning
For library books and lardy cake
Mother traded green shield stamps for roller skates
I learned the hard way how to brake
You learn to ride a bike by falling off so many times
But it’s worth it in the end when you can do it
Without a friend holding on
Dig beneath the dust, beneath the dust, beneath the dust
The past is never dead. It’s only sleeping
Dig beneath the dust, then tuck it into bed
Every time you wake a memory, it changes
Picking over the details rearranges everything
Walking up to school each day, a different adventure
Scuffing my new shoes on the way
Creeping past the wolf hound snarling at the gate
They said he only, wants to play
A rocket to the moon, on the TV, in black and while
I thought they must be cold up there
I watched the moon, every night.
Dig beneath the dust, beneath the dust, beneath the dust
The past is never dead It’s only sleeping
Dig beneath the dust, then tuck it into bed
Couple eating cupcakes in the morning light
They only met last night but still he knows
This man is different
It’s springtime, on Primrose Hill
Looking over London, you can see the BT tower
Looking over London, the misty sky climbs away,
Climbs away, climbs away
Couple lying on the grass in the afternoon sun
Watching the city having fun, sharing wine
Sharing time
It’s Summer, on Primrose Hill
Couple watching fireworks on a cold dark night
He says Guy Fawkes was right, the city glows
Sulphur in the air
It’s autumn, on Primrose Hill
Couple walk their dog in the morning snow
London sparkles below, it seems like a year
Since they first met here
It’s winter, on Primrose Hill
Buy Nick a Mug of Tea by 2033
At the end of September last year I got up in the middle of the night along with thousands of other people to see the red super moon. It was rather magical and I decided to make a date for the next one, it turns out that it is not due until 2033.
I then wrote a song about how the world might be in 2033 called “Jetpacks, Monorails and Rayguns”. In December I recorded it with James NTTB on Piano and it’s now on Spotify for your listening pleasure. Every time the track gets played I will get a tiny, tiny, tiny bit of money from Spotify. 250 plays will get me 1 US cent.
If the song gets 10 plays a day for the next 18 years ,about 65,000 plays, then I get to buy a mug of tea, which I shall of course share with James.
If you want to help with this project then just listen to the song and share it with a friend. If you want to be extra helpful then after listening to the song, click my name on Spotify and click “Follow”, I think that pushes the song up a list.
Thanks for your help and I will let you know if I ever get the Mug of tea.
I’m making a set of mini CDs with my songs on them and giving them out when I play live. Each CD contains at least two songs and there will be six of them. Red,Orange,Yellow,Green,Blue and Purple. The CDs are called the Rainbow sessions (Indigo and Violet are combined to make the purple CD).
I chose this format as it is easy to stick in the pocket and it’s more fun for me putting out a couple of songs at a time rather than waiting until I have recorded a dozen or so. It’s also a bit of a treasure hunt to see if you can get a set. You should only play it in a drawer loading CD player. If you don’t have one then you can listen to the tracks on You Tube below.
The Orange CD contains 1. Jetpacks, Monorails and Rayguns and 2. Space Dogs . Yellow will be out soon.
If you want to find out what I am up to then follow me on Twitter @nickHaynesmusic or Facebook NickHaynesMusic. See you soon.
1. Jetpacks, Monorails and Rayguns
2. Space Dogs
I’m making a set of mini CDs with my songs on them and giving them out when I play live. Each CD contains at least two songs and there will be six of them. Red,Orange,Yellow,Green,Blue and Purple. The CDs are called the Rainbow sessions (Indigo and Violet are combined to make the purple CD).
I chose this format as it is easy to stick in the pocket and it’s more fun for me putting out a couple of songs at a time rather than waiting until I have recorded a dozen or so. It’s also a bit of a treasure hunt to see if you can get a set. You should only play it in a drawer loading CD player. If you don’t have one then you can listen to the tracks on You Tube below.
The Red CD contains 1. Club59 and 2. Coffee Monster. Orange will be out soon.
If you want to find out what I am up to then follow me on Twitter @nickHaynesmusic or Facebook NickHaynesMusic. See you soon.
1. Club59
2. Coffee Monster
I have no idea how they do it (perhaps they have a selection of pictures of songwriters in compromising positions) but they have interviews with an amazing range of people. There are 69 podcasts at time of writing, many of them famous but there are a lot that I think “Who is that?” I then check them out and find they have written loads of songs that I love. For example Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil who wrote ‘You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feelin”, ‘On Broadway’, ‘Saturday Night at the Movies’, ‘We Gotta Get Out Of This Place’, ‘Don’t Know Much’, ‘Just Once’, ‘Here You Come Again’ and ‘Somewhere Out There’. There are loads more people like this who write classic songs, all the way from the Brill building up to more recent times.
There are also more recent writers that I haven’t heard of but I know their songs, check out the chat with Eg White, he sounds great fun. There are also loads of singer songwriters that you will know Chris Difford, Glen Tillbrook, Rufus Wainwright, Billy Bragg and Tom Robinson. There are so many classic song writers in the list that you owe it to yourself to take a listen.
I started writing this blog because I want to get good at song writing. Part of that process is understanding how other people go about writing songs. The problem is that most people who have got good at writing songs, particularly those who make a living doing so, don’t talk about it. I also suspect that those who do, don’t want to give all the dark details about how the song evolved, just a glossy version.
I decided I would write a “warts and all” description of how I write songs in the hope that it will help others who, like me, are still learning. Here is a description of how I wrote “Best Year yet”.
I was listening to a news program and the politicians were talking about the “Great Austerity” in the UK. The phrase had echoes of “The Great Depression” in the 1920s and I wanted to write a song about it. I collected together Ideas and wrote a song focused on how bad things are at the moment. It had the following chorus and was generally rather downbeat.
G
It’s called austerity
A
the great austerity
D
put your life on hold
C
The future was sold
Am D
The bright tomorrow’s been delayed.
I liked parts of the song but the whole thing was just all doom and gloom so I filed it away.
Sometime later I read Carole King’s Autobiography and one of the reasons she wrote so much is that she was always trying to write a follow up hit when she was working in the Brill building. It was a good way to get very focused.
It gave me an idea for an exercise. I have no idea what has been a hit over the past year as I generally take little interest in the charts but I thought it would be interesting to choose a number one single from the last year and try to write a follow up hit. I listened to a few and in the process I realised that a lot of the choruses used a lot of repetition and a single memorable phrase. There is a good book called “Best Year Yet” around the idea of New Years Resolutions so I chose that and wrote the following chorus.
A D
Gona be the best year yet
E
best year yet
D
best year
A D
Gona be the best year yet
E
best year yet
A
Gona be the best
I then added it to the verses of “Great Austerity” and thought it balanced the downbeat words with a more positive feel. This is a live demo that I did of it.
I tried it out a few times and thought the song worked well but I had some feedback on the recording from a guy that I respect a lot. He was a little harsh but I think he was right. He said that the recording needed a lot of work and that the chorus repeated a bit too much. So I simplified the chorus and rerecorded with a bass part and two guitars.
G C
Gona be the best year yet
D
best year yet
G
Gona be the best
This is the final version.
I’ll be interested in any feedback and would love to hear how your songs developed. That is one of the main reasons I am writing this.
It starts at 3.45 in the video.