Category: songwriting

A Christmas Story

She’d only gone in for carrots and sprouts
(She’d heard they were 29p
For the festive period, not bad at all
Thought she’d have some with her tea

She crept through giant tinsel
A neon flashing Hell
American accents on repeat
Wailed a jazzed-up “Jingle Bells…”

Kathy O’Toole

Kathy O’Toole was a painter, not the ones you hang on walls
But skirting boards and ceilings, window frames and doors
Steel-capped boots, jeans slung low, curls cut close to her head
Paint on her t-shirt, between her toes
Big Irish smile wherever she went

Kathy O’Toole came from Cavan but a-travellin’ she did go
And we met her in London in a pub on City Road
Oh we weren’t in a hurry ‘cos it was Friday night
And 5 or 6 pints later
We’d put the world to rights…

The Rag of Spring

New shirt with old jeans
Smell of Al’s coffee beans
Soft pyjamas on my skin
Sweet sound of a mandolin

Sunset over Wanstead Flats
Garden walls with grumpy cats
Bluebells bursting from the ground
In love again with this old town…

What Ya Gonna Be?

This poem was inspired by my 17 year old daughter complaining
about people asking her this stupid question..
(It is a song now – hence the chorus)

WHAT YA GONNA DO GIRL WHAT YA GONNA BE?
WILL YOU GET A JOB OR GO TO UNIVERSITY?
WHAT YA GONNA BE GIRL WHAT YA GONNA DO?
YOU’D BETTER MAKE YER MIND UP SO WE CAN PLAN FOR YOU

WHEN IT COMES TO JOHN

I avoid uncertainty – I like things to add up
Life needs careful planning, I don’t believe in luck
I keep things in order so that everything will fit
I stay away from drama, and things I can’t predict…

DRUNKEN GENERATION

These are the lyrics to the title track of my
soon-to-be-released CD with duo Black*Scarr.

I drink a lot – it’s true to say
It helps to get me through the day
It’s in my blood, my history
It’s etched in my identity

It’s all I know, it’s who I am
Another pint, another dram
Every woman every man
Down the pub drunk and damned
Welcome to The Drunken Generation…