Song #37 Has Anybody Seen the Sun?

 

HAS ANYBODY SEEN THE SUN?

 

Has anybody seen the sun? (x2)

I know it’s shining way down south – shining way down south

On the other side

I know it’s not so important

There are people dying in far off lands

But it’s cold and grey right here

 

Has anybody moved from a land of sunshine

To a land where there’s always rain

If you have you will understand that rain can mean pain

As you sit around inside all day

Waiting for the sky to clear

As you sit around inside all day

Waiting for the rain to go

It’s depression and frustration inside

 

Have you ever lived in a world of beauty

Of space and clear bright light?

Where even in the middle of the darkest winters

The world will still seem right

‘Cos the sky still dawns a deep dark blue

And the sun shines down on you

Or so it seems

And though you may have your problems

They don’t seem quite so bad

When you can walk out into the sun

 

Has anybody seen the sun? (x2)

I know it’s shining way down south – shining way down south

On the other side

I know it’s not so important

There are people dying in far off lands

But it’s cold and grey right here

I’m cold and grey right here

(Holland, 1985) 

Commentary

I really struggled with the weather in northern Europe. In Australian terms they have a 9 month winter and a 3 month spring. And so much of life is spent inside. I did a a few solo gigs in Holland and sang this song at one of them. Went down like a lead balloon! Quite cheerful and upbeat despite the bleating. Needs to be recorded. Still play it live occasionally. 

 

Song #36 Face the Fire

 

FACE THE FIRE

There’s a river on the horizon

It flows any way you want it to

You can move the great big mountains

Move the ground in front of you

 

While the fire burns in front of you

The chance is offered just this once for you

To make your move towards your future

To take what’s there for you

 

You say there is no reason for never doing what you say

Take the path you know is calling

Before the chance is gone away

 

Now the fire burns in front of you

The future lies on the other side for you

Listen deeply to what you know

To what you know is true

 

It’s time to face the fire folks

To put it out before they do

They being those who hold the power

They who know not what they do

 

Yes it’s time to face the fire folks

Yes It’s time to stop all of these jokes

Before the fire burns forever

And swallows up me and you

 

(1985)

Commentary

I can't remember much about the background to this. I still remember how it goes - slow and melodic. It seems to be a metaphorical reflection of both what what was going on in my inner life, and in the external wider world. 

Song #35 The North Wind

 

THE NORTH WIND

 

I came here cos I loved you

I leave now for the same

And as I ride home in the rain

Tears cloud my view

 

I see you standing silent in the wind

Gazing out to see

I know you’re crying for it’s the last time you’ll see me

But soon you’ll sing when you know you’re free of me

 

I had no wish to hurt you, or take your soul

Our worlds apart; our cultures old

Wild and untamed, I don’t belong in your world

‘Cept when your hair is swept by the North Wind

 

It blows in my face now as I journey home

Stops the tears running down my face

It’s the same wind that blows in your land

The North Wind still joins both our hands

 

(Michael Coghlan 1985)

Commentary

The honeymoon was over. Back in Holland again. Relationship strained. I start dreaming about going home . A mournful, plaintive tune with a Celtic feel very much influenced by the music of Alan Stivell. It has the makings of a special song. Properly recorded it could be quite haunting.

 

Song #34 Dear Life

 

The song Dear Life was prompted by the joy with which my young son would crawl across the floor towards me as I sat on the floor playing the mandolin. I think he liked the fact that it was a much smaller instrument than the guitar, and I like to think he was also drawn towards the bright and infectious sound of the mandolin. Whatever his reasons it filled me with the joy of life whenever he did it – it simply gave me a greater appreciation of how dear life is. Corny perhaps, but true :)

Written in 1984.

Listen HERE

Lyrics HERE

Song #33 OO A LA LA; OO A LA LA

 

OO A LA LA; OO A LA LA

LISTEN:   option A  /  option B (with Hiske)

I don’t see nothing wrong if you always win

You gotta take it all and it ain’t no sin

I’ve lived far too long with nothin’ in my hand

You gotta take it all and you gotta have a plan

Sorry if it’s your gasoline I’m using

Sorry if it’s your own space I’m taking

 

CHORUS

Up goes down, follow the sun

You gotta change your life for another one

Up goes down, follow the sun

You gotta change your life for another one

 

Once you had it all but now you don’t

Yesterday he came but tomorrow he won’t

You’re looking back to yesterday but that’s forever gone

Get up and look ahead come on come on

Many say to me that time is running out

I’m gonna find new shoes to run in

 

CHORUS

Oo a la la, Oo a la la, Oo a la la, Oo a la la (x4)

(and fade)

 

Michael Coghlan/Hiske Weijers 1983

A blatant attempt to write a bright and meaningless pop song. A quite catchy melody links a bunch of cliches. It’s actually a lot of fun to play.

 

Song #32 A Song for Innocence

 

SONG FOR INNOCENCE

 

I’m reaching out for love

And I fear that when it comes

It will pass me right on by without a word

This sad old crying world can leave you down

 

We all know this world has problems

We all know that times are hard

But try and accept with wisdom

The many things you cannot change

Let your anger turn to joy if you care at all

About that drunk and lonely man on the road – goin’ nowhere

 

If you want to point a finger at the poor old man’s oppressors

If you want to preach a message then make it one of hope

And if you have no hope left in you keep you quiet

What are you doing preaching words of shock and hate?

 

We are all tethered to the same big tree

We’re all in this together: sadness, you and me

If you wanna give us something clever, give us words of hope

Try and make it easier for those who’ve lost their way

Your shocking angry sermons are a waste of words

 

No one’s listening

Are you listening?

If you’re listening

Sing I am listening…..

 

(Copyright Michael Coghlan 1983)

 

COMMENTARY

I had gone back to the theatre for the first time since I left school and found myself in a production that I think may have been called Songs of Innocence and Experience. Just checked and yes it was a collection of poems by William Blake.  There was a scene where the director wanted me to read a particular poem that I found offensive and I refused. It was one of those moments where I can be quite stubborn – I didn’t feel like such a poem added anything of value to the world. I know I didn’t read the poem in the play – perhaps someone else did – but I went away and wrote this song in response. I didn’t ever show it to the director! For the record, I thoroughly enjoyed the production and have many find memories of it.

Argentina and Adelaide’s Lockdown – Another COVID Tale

for my dear friend Rita in Rosario :)

Argentina and Adelaide’s Lockdown – Another COVID Tale

What does Argentina have to do with Adelaide’s lockdown? Well as it turns out, very little! Earlier in the year an 81 year old Adelaide resident, originally from Argentina, went back to Argentina for a visit with his daughter. This immediately begs the question - how did they get permission for this journey? There are few details made public about why they were allowed to travel to Argentina and back but the fact is hundreds of Australians have been refused permission to leave or enter the country.

However, the man and his daughter began their two weeks hotel quarantine in Sydney on their return. Towards the end of this quarantine period the man apparently had a fall in his hotel room and had to be transferred to a general hospital. He was COVID tested, found to be negative, and eventually discharged and returned home to Adelaide.

Some days later he developed breathing problems and together with is daughter presented with his symptoms at the emergency department of a local hospital at 2.30 am. What kind of person walks into a hospital with breathing problems in this day and age? What the hell were they thinking???? He was COVID tested, found to be positive, and immediately 57 emergency ward staff at the hospital are sent into quarantine and the emergency department shut down!

When this story was reported in the media we all started thinking it was another case of someone bringing COVID into Australia from overseas. BUT, it turns out the 81 year old gentleman caught the virus in the hospital in Sydney!! Because he and his daughter had been cleared of COVID in Sydney they just went about their normal life when they got back to Adelaide. Now he and his daughter and 10 other people in the community are infected, and thousands of primary contacts – from restaurants, schools, offices, shops - are in home isolation. And the entire state of South Australia is now in a 7 day stay-at-home lockdown.

So if the old man hadn’t fallen over in his hotel room this wouldn’t have happened. But he can’t be blamed. The virus was already raging in Sydney. It did come from overseas – an overseas aircrew passed it on to the driver of a minibus some weeks earlier and it quickly spread because the NSW state government were reluctant to enter lockdown. In the end they had no choice, but they were too late. By then the virus had spread through most Australian states and consequently I sit here in lockdown again.

COVID TALE II

 A friend of mine has been playing with some musicians for a few years and gradually developing a collection of songs they might eventually play at gigs. Recently a new member joined the band. When my friend went to this new person’s house for band practice the band were talking about COVID vaccinations and a couple of them were saying they would not be getting the vaccine. When my friend told the others he was already vaccinated he was told he was not welcome at the house because he would now be passing the virus on to other people in the band!! My friend has since left the band and is really disappointed. Three years of building up a repertoire and musical relationships down the drain because of dumbf***ery.

COVID-19: the gift that keeps on giving.

 

 

 

Illuminate Adelaide – Light Cycles

 

Botanic Gardens, Sun 18 Jul 

Light Cycles is one of the flagship events of Illuminate Adelaide, and has been created by Montreal-based multimedia studio Moment Factory. The light and sound installations that entrance as you wander the lit path through the darkness are tailored to specific parts of the gardens. The bamboo garden becomes this wondrous spectacle of dancing light on the densely packed bamboo stalks. Mesmerising beams of light dance and bounce of trees on the other side of the lake in a hypnotic, wondrous spectacle. Elsewhere a myriad of twinkling lights gives the effect of wandering through vast open fields. And the beautiful Victorian glass (Palm House) seemed like it has been sitting there for a hundred plus years just waiting for Light Cycles to realise its full potential.

Each installation is accompanied by soundscapes that are part music, part sound effects. They tantalise as you draw near the next installation and perfectly complement the visual fantasies on offer.

It was a brilliant decision to hold this event in winter. OK – so a few nights may be lost to poor weather – but dragging yourself out into the cold winter night makes you somehow appreciate the whole experience even more. The cold no longer matters as you’re transported to a world of fantasy and wonder – just a little bit Zen really!

No doubt everyone wandering through Light Cycles is aware of how fortunate we are to be living virtually COVID free in South Australia. So it was alarming that the early part of the session I attended was a logjam of people in long queues ignoring social distancing and not wearing masks. Organisers have to sort this. Let fewer people in per session and monitor the crowd movement to keep people properly spaced. (As I write Illuminate Adelaide management are working on a plan to address this issue.)

But once past the logjam it was possible to enjoy the rest of the circuit wandering at a leisurely pace and let the senses take over; let your eyes, ears and mind explore the colourful darkness as art, light, technology and sound transform the gardens into – yes it’s a cliché – a winter wonderland!

POSTSCRIPT: 3 days later Adelaide went into a 7 day COVID lockdown. Hopefully this wonderful event can re-emerge on Jul 28th ....

What Australia Has Lost

I began reading Anh Do’s The Happiest Refugee yesterday. Anh and his family came here as boat people from Vietnam in 1980. It wasn’t long before the tears came. Not just because of the intensely emotional circumstances surrounding their gruelling boat journey away from Vietnam, but because of what Australia has lost as a nation.

Found in the South China Sea, Anh’s family were ferried to Malaysia and after time in a refugee camp they were resettled in Australia. Anh writes that for some years his family used to thank Bob Hawke in their nightly prayers for letting them come and live in his country! In fact, the number of times Anh recounts outpourings of gratitude from his family towards Australia is disarming. I cried because I felt enormous pride that we were once a nation that took in refugees and gave them shelter. I was proud to be part of that Australia. I cried too because our more recent policy towards refugees sees them languishing in a stateless limbo for years. I cried because I’m embarrassed that we have become so mean-spirited to those in dire need.

Anh Do’s story is full of references to decent human behaviour from average Australians helping newcomers adjust to life here. On the personal level, when you do someone a good deed it generally makes you feel good. And when you receive sincere gratitude in return you feel even better. Imagine all the cases in those times when Australians helped out newly arrived migrants and were bestowed with kindness and gratitude in return. What an enormous well of karma and wellbeing must have been built up from all of this selfless giving. On the collective level we can think of it as a vast store of social capital: it made the country feel good about itself. Societies with deep reserves of social capital exhibit effective functioning of social groups through interpersonal relationships, and a shared sense of identity. And not only did this result in a large number of people feeling good about themselves and the society they belonged to, but we also benefited from having wonderful people like Anh Do becoming part of our culture.

In contrast, what we have now is a policy that turns refugees away or keeps them locked up in off-shore detention indefinitely. There is no opportunity for Australians to demonstrate their generosity to newcomers; no opportunity to feel good about helping others who come from far away; no opportunity to gain invaluable social capital and feelings of wellbeing on an individual or collective level. Instead, we have become a nation that turns its back on those who ask for our help. How many Anh Dos have we turned away or confined to offshore detention? We will never know. Instead, we are left with the self-satisfaction that we have denied access to those in need; a strange and empty feeling that we have somehow protected and preserved our way of life. All I feel are awkward feelings of guilt and sadness – sadness that we have squandered a golden opportunity to simultaneously help others, nurture a national identity that is proud of its willingness and ability to welcome those in need, and improve the diversity and richness of our communities.

What a sad and shallow nation we’ve become. I’m glad that we did at least once upon a time accept the likes of Anh Do and his family into our lives.  

 

Song #31 (Something New) The Silly Song

 

SOMETHING NEW (THE SILLY SONG)

Dunno what to do?  do something new

Dunno what to say?  say something new

Dunno what to think?  think something new

Dunno what to sing? sing something new

For you

 

CHORUS

Make the spine tingle

Sing something to make the day go

Make the spine tingle

Sing something to make the day glow

You should never be stuck

For something new to do amigo

Get up off your butt and pull your finger out amigo

Lie wasn’t meant to be easy-o amigo

And you don’t really have to do a lot to make the day go

 

SECOND VERSE

Dunno what to _______ ? _________ something new

Choose from:      eat, write, sit, wear

                Paint, drink, drive

                Cook,  smoke,  jump,  think

                Sew,  hit, scratch, fly

                etc

 

CHORUS

 

(Michael Coghlan/Hiske Weijers  1983)

Commentary

Another song from Hiske and I in a lighter mood to add a sense of fun to our performances. It did the job quite well. Features the phrase made fanous by the Australian Prime Minister of the time (Malcolm Fraser): Life wasn't meant to be easy!

 

 

Song #30 Sunny Avenue

 

SUNNY AVENUE

(Listen) 

Walkin’ along sunny avenue

Wondrin’ where all – all my time goes

Seein’ palm trees in my head

How and where will I get the bread

So many things to do

On this sunny avenue

Think I’ll stay home

Why go anywhere

 

All my friends are scrimpin, savin’

For their dream world far away

But we’ve got blue sky

And we’ve got Queensland

Why would we ever want to leave it?

What’s the point in tryin’?

What you gonna find there

That’s not here?

 

BRIDGE/CHORUS

Gotta cross them bridges

Leave everything behind

Gotta cross them bridges

Leave everything behind

Everybody’s always telling you

Just where you should be going

But if you decide yourself

You’ll come up with something better

 

All my friends are scrimpin, savin’

For their dream world far away

But we’ve got blue sky

And we’ve got Queensland

Why would we ever want to leave it?

What’s the point in tryin’?

What you gonna find there

That’s not here?

 

BRIDGE/CHORUS

(1982 Michael Coghlan/Hiske Weijers)

Commentary

Hiske and I wrote this one together. It was an unabashed attempt at writing something commercial sounding - a pop song really. No deep or hidden meanings here. Just a bunch of cliches that hang together nicely with a jaunty reggae rhythm. Still play it occasionally.

 

Song #29 Song for Margot

Sometime in 1982 Jeff and I began playing with Margot in our Last Wave trio. Margot played congas and sang. I had written an instrumental tune that we were experimenting with and Margot asked if she could have a go at writing some lyrics to it. That was fine with me, but we were very clear that we didn’t want it to be religious. (Margot was an avid Christian.) Some time later we were playing an outdoor gig in an Adelaide park on Easter Sunday when Margot suggests we do the song. Jeff and I were expecting to play it as an instrumental but Margot started singing – about Easter Sunday and the risen Christ!!!! We were stunned. I guessed we finished the song and at the end of the gig we agreed that we should go our separate ways. I went away and wrote the following lyrics to tell the story of what happened that day and it became one of my better and favourite songs. And it still is. Written in an upbeat English folk song style.

Margot – if you’re out there somewhere – thank you. And if you ever read this I hope there are no hard feelings.

 

SONG FOR MARGOT

I once wrote a song and it went like this

I gave it to a friend to write some words to

But she was a woman of God you see

She couldn’t find the words that suited me

She sang about God and she sang about a day

She sang about the love that the Christians say

Will save the whole world when the sky comes down

But I thought I could do it on my own

So we sang without words

We sang to the sky

We sang to the sun that shone in my eye

We sang to the people in the park that day

We sang the same tune in our different ways

 

She had long blond hair and she played on her drum

She played with the spirit of a life that’s done

With love and care for the people she sees

But she was blind to the truth that guided me

She couldn’t believe that the life we lived

Could be empty of the way she thought should work

So we sang without words, we sang the same tune

In different keys of the life we play

At the end of the song

We knew it was time

For the parting of the ways that we each must find

We sang without words

We sang to the sky

We sang to the people that happened by

Because of a tune that I wrote one day

It’s yours now friend if you’d like to play

 

(Copyright Michael Coghlan 1982)

 

Song #28 With Her

 

WITH HER

 

Got no money, nowhere to go

No so funny with the old roads closed

Involved in a new life

Love and keeping still

Patience required to check the restless will

 

These times in the past

You’d have hit the road this morning

Free and alone; lonely and easy

Now the wind in the grass

Blows sometimes without you

 

But the smiles on waking

The hugs for the shaking

Feelings of a child in doubt

And in love

 

Means the sun can go down

And never return

The wind blow without me

The grass to brown be burned

 

I got no money, nowhere to go

But new roads are open

And this life with her still new

With love to help me through

With her to see me through

With me to help me through

With us to help me through

 

(1982)

Commentary

I have no memory of writing this; nor how the song went. No longer alone I'm now grappling with the changed nature of life. Exchanged freedom and loneliness for love! 

Song #27 An English Folk Song

 In 1982 Hiske and I were doing a lot of busking and constantly looking for new and entertaining songs to sing on the street. Old English folk songs seemed very popular so we decided to write this light-hearted little ditty making fun of what seemed to be a standard format for so many English folk songs. (For the record, I love old English folks songs :) It proved quite popular. 

AN ENGLISH FOLK SONG

 

I am an English folk song and I go like this

If I had a sir in front of my name you could call me Sir John

But I’m not Sir John

I am an English folk song and I go like this

 

CHORUS

I’m not Dutch

G for German

F for French

I am an English folk song and I go like this

 

I must be sung through the nose

Or they won’t know what you say

You’ll be hearing me a hundred years from now

Once century to the next

 

And I use the same chords every year

So you won’t get confused

And I wouldn’t be an English folk song

If I didn’t go like this

 

CHORUS

Michael Coghlan/Hiske Weijers 1982)

Song #26 The Ugly Australian

 

I wrote this song after a deck class passage on a Greek ferry between Greece and Haifa. Deck class was cheap and basic – you slept outside on deck but a meal was included. I complained about the dreadful meal (don’t remember what it was) but to placate me they put in the first class lounge. I sat there alone for quite some time before I was served a meal that wasn’t that much better.

Decades later I added a verse to highlight the plight of refugees languishing in Australian off-shore detention centres.

 

THE UGLY AUSTRALIAN

(listen HERE)

 

You put shit food down in front of me and expect me to eat it

You put me up in the first class lounge with my anger and expect that to placate it

I’m on a foreign boat in a foreign sea In times foreign to us all

At times like this I'm wonderin' why I’m so far from my native shore

So I’m going home

 

I’m tired of the ever moving round

I’m tired of the ever changing ground

 

Australia will you wait for me with your long and golden shore?

You’re a land of sun and dreams they tell me

But I wanna know for sure so I’m coming home

 

Are you keeping up with fashion? Or are you keeping down the poor?

Are you looking down the barrel? Or has nothing changed at all?  I’m going home.

 

You put shit food down in front of me and expect me to eat it

You stick me out on an offshore island with my pain and expect that to placate it

I’m in a foreign place in a foreign sea in times foreign to us all

Australia was what I was looking for - why I left my native shore

Now I can’t go home

 

I’m tired of the never moving round

I’m tired of the never changing ground

 

Australia I will wait for you with your long and golden shores

You’re a land of sun and dreams they tell me

Will I ever know for sure? I have no home

 

Are we closing up the country? Have we locked up all the doors?

Are those in need no longer welcome? When did we get so mean?

And they can’t go home

They have no home

(1982 and 2020)

 

 

 

 

 

Song #25 One Fine Day

 

ONE FINE DAY

 

One fine day I’m gonna be a rich man

One fine day I’m gonna be a rich man

And win the lottery;

I’ll split tween you and me the money

And give it all away

 

CHORUS

Give it all away to those with nothin’ to buy a new car

Give it all away to those with nothin’ to buy a new star of hope

 

You got an alibi; all got an alibi

You like your comforts

And your shower in the morning yeh yeh with your radio

With your radio; listen to what?

You don’t know – you’re not listening no no

You’re not listening no no

 

To that voice in your head that tells you

You don’t always need to get more

You know the prisons are full of those who suffered from your greed

 

Give it all away, give it all away

You got too much, you don’t need it no no

You don’t need it no no, all that money no no

So give it all away, give it all away

 

CHORUS

 

Give it all away, give it all away

You got too much, you don’t need it no no

You don’t need it no no, all that money no no

So give it all away, give it all away (repeat and fade)

(1982)

Commentary

A little reggae riff with a few throwaway lyrics that contain a little reggae attitude :) Enjoyable to play. Would make a good band song. 

 

Song #24 Strange Appointments

 

STRANGE APPOINTMENTS

 

CHORUS

Strange appointments every day

The strangest people every day

Playin’ on the street

The only way to meet

The strangest people every day

Playin’ on the street

 

“Come to dinner” the man said

“Come meet my wife and family”

Come talk about life and death with me

Come marry me – I love you already

 

CHORUS

 

Man in the distance behind the small crowd

“Come live with me and keep my life afloat”

But who says I’m not sinking?

        Who says I’m not sinking?

Playin’ on the street

 

CHORUS

(1982)

Commentary

Late in 1981 I returned to Kibbutz Gevim to work as a volunteer. There I met Hiske – I heard her singing through the wall. She was staying in the next room in the volunteers’ quarters. We soon started singing together – firstly in The Irrigation Band (true!) – and then busking as a duo on the streets of Israel and Holland. Busking for a living was an extraordinary experience. You become public property and get exposed to the weird, wonderful and extremely vulnerable who all want to be your instant friend. (And at last I was lonely no more!)

Song #23 Sri Lanka

 In 1981 I went on the first of my many visits to Sri Lanka. Courtesy of my dear friend Louise, and Titus and the generous inhabitants of the village of Weligama, it was to become a home away from home for a few years. It’s hard to put into words the joy I felt living there, but the song gives a fair idea of how smitten I was with the place.

Alas real life punctured the idealised version of Sri Lankan life I conjured up in these lyrics. Titus’ premature death in a road accident and a 20 year long civil war put a stop to our magical visits there. (An account of my return to Weligama after 20+ years is HERE.)

 

SRI LANKA

 

(You) surprise me with your smiling eyes

A greeting so warm for me

I’d like to return your openliness

But Western pent-up insecurities die hard

I’d like to look at you as you look at me

But you smile so much

People of the Pearl – you’re charmed with a grace

Rarely spotted in the family of man

Children of paradise with Eden as your garden

No fences, concrete, smog, or canned food

Noble savages and little kings

Princes, princesses, and kings

So regal in your stance; so willing in your glance

To share the joy of home and living

 

CHORUS

Sri Lanka I don’t know thee

But already I love thee

Sri Lanka I don’t know thee

But already I love thee

 

“To the Family of Man we belong”

Twice you’ve told me in these so few days

Respect for your leaders and their path of neutrality

To warmth and kindness, sympathy and charity

I see it in your eyes to me

I see it in your eyes to them – your countrymen

Loved, chided, and left to wander

I can’t forget the children

“Were you once like they are now?” I ask the older ones

Do you know how lucky you are?

To wander these grasses, these jungles and beaches

Unfettered by the world as it groans

Can it last? Will it last? A monument to the beauty of people and places

 

CHORUS

Sri Lanka I don’t know thee

But already I love thee

Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka

 

(Copyright Michael Coghlan 1981)

 

 

 

 

 

 

Song #22 Ballad of Jo Moore

Back in the late 70s/early 80s there was an Adelaide rock band called The Fabulaires. They had developed quite a following and things were beginning to take off for them. Their singer was a beautiful young woman called Jo Moore. She had a wonderful voice and a great stage presence. One night on the way back from playing a gig in the country she and her partner and band guitarist Michael were hit by a truck. Jo was asleep on the back seat and died instantly. Michael and Jo were good friends. I think you’d like the song Jo. I still sing it sometimes but I have to pick the right moment. I must record it one day. (Done - 28/7/21!)

BALLAD OF JO MOORE

(listen here)

 

Is it strange to be sitting around

Late at night when the sun’s gone down

Thinkin’ of someone who lives no more?

And that was her name – Jo Moore

I hope you don’t mind Jo if I sing this song

About the way you left us

 

You were a singer of the best kind

You sang it with feeling, you sang it with melody

Every time

Her name was Jo Moore and even her name

Begs a song to tell her story

 

Travellin’ home from a gig up the country

Asleep when the truck hit

Asleep on the back seat

You didn’t even wake up

To know a thing about it

 

CHORUS

You were a singer of the best kind

You sang it with feeling, you sang it with melody

Every time

The guys in the front row they couldn’t take their eyes off you

And the ladies in the back row the same

‘Cos you were a singer of the best kind

You sang it with feeling, you sang it with melody

 Every time

 

Is it strange to be sitting around

Late at night when the sun’s gone down

Thinkin’ of someone who lives no more?

And that was her name - Jo Moore

I know there aren’t many Jo

Of all those who met you

Who’d ever wanna forget you

‘Cos ….

 

CHORUS

 

(Copyright Michael Coghlan 1981)

Song #21 Go Where You Will

 

GO WHERE YOU WILL

 

Take a walk down by the sea

What do you see there - please tell me

Do you see your dreams in a golden sky?

Or does the wind blow cold in your eye?

 

            REFRAIN

            Tellin’ you things you’d rather not know

            ‘Bout the pain inside cos you’re on your own

 

What do you see if you look at the sky?

Crystal plumes of a bird so high

Gates of paradise open wide

Or thunder and lightning; heaven on fire?

 

            REFRAIN

 

Take a walk down to the desert

Mirage of beauty but you can’t have it

Dunes of glory and soft palm trees

But if the sun goes down you’re gonna freeze

           

REFRAIN

 

Talk a walk anywhere you will

Where the sea is calm and all is still

Where the air is clear; you can feel the thrill

Breathe in and enjoy it; it is not real

           

Nothin’ reminds you of the feeling inside

The pain is gone but you’re still alone

 1981

Commentary

Still struggling with being alone.... does the beauty of the natural world bring joy or pain? I don't remember how this went. It must have had a tune at some point but clearly not very memorable! It will live on as a poem.

 

Song #20 Lights Across the Water

 

I have briefly referred to my time on Patmos earlier in this blog. Friend Peter and I landed on Patmos quite by accident sometime during 1981. That is where 'the next boat to a quiet island' was heading when we inquired at Piraeus. Them were the days! On Patmos we met a group of people who were part of a self-help group. They were led by an Australian couple who interviewed/counselled/advised everyone who joined the group. Peter and I rather interviewed them as I remember and we decided we didn’t need to be part of the group.

After a wonderful week or so hanging out on the remote beach of Psili Amos it was time for me to leave. I left by ferry and by chance the Australian couple were on board. We sat out on deck for a while that night and I chatted to the golden-bearded Australian guy while his partner clung to his arm sobbing. He quite happily chatted away with me while ignoring his distraught partner. Fascinating way for people running a self-help group to behave I mused. The image has never left me and some time after I wrote a song that referenced this strange, unsettling event.

The song’s called Lights Across the Water. There's also a set of slides to the song on YouTube.

Lyrics are in this earlier post, together with the song itself – a simple but slowly building arrangement that I’ve always enjoyed playing. Despite it's simplicity, or perhaps because of it, the song has a power about it.