Billy Fury, A reminiscence

Billy Fury was an underrated but inspiring singer,and a wonderful person. Unfortunately he passed away in 2003, having suffered from a heart problem for most of his life after suffering from rheumatic fever at the age of 7. He was one of the first and greatest British rockers - only the Beatles, Elvis and Cliff scored more hits in the Sixties - yet he never had a No 1. He would have been 70 this year if he had lived, as I was reminded by a posting from Rockabillyville.

Billy's place in rock history was ensured by The Sound of Fury, a ten-inch vinyl album recorded in 1960. It's an extraordinary record, not least because it is entirely self-written - pre-Beatles this was unheard of. The producer Jack Good captured what he called "the soul of Billy Fury". It was pure rockabilly. Sparse yet tough, it documents one broken love affair after another, with Joe Brown's stinging guitar in counterpoint to Billy's echo-laden vocals.

This is the cover of an extended play 45rpm record featuring music from the film, "Play It Cool" in which he starred. My first Album by him was, "Halfway To Paradise" but By far the better side of his work was an earlier album I bought, simply called, Billy Fury". Always one of my favourites.

This featured songs from "The Sound Of Fury" Which has been released on CD in Stereo with extra tracks; read about it here. from "The Rocking Gypsy".

I have just written a Squidoo lens (a single page website), featuring several videos available on You tube from Billy's career. If you are not old enough to remember him, why not take a look and be amazed!

Back to The Shadows and their short film Rythm & Greens

And now for something Completely different.

I seem to be selecting You Tube Videos for this blog. I am having a great time, so much to choose from and then all in one easily acccesibl place for some favourites. But here was a surprise for me. The whole of The Shadows first ( and only?) film, "Rythm & Greens" is available there in three parts. I have posted some details about the film and the links to these three parts on my Squidoo Lens of the same name.

The three parts are available for viewing and although the humour is often a little strained, it is a product of its time and should be enjoyed by all fans. ( and that is an order!)

Find the videos on my lens

and just for old times sake, here is a reminder of how they used to look

Don't they look serious, obviously had a goal in mind.

Just had to add a video of Joe Brown

One of my favourite early sixties singers/musicians whi is still packing them in around the UK

I have just writen a Squidoo Lens about Joe, Nothing new to add really but it is a site mostly viewed by the US and if it helps to get Joe any recognition then I am sure that it is a great thing. Find the lens on Squidoo

But if you need a faster fix, why not view this You Tube video of a live performance of Joe and The Bruvvers singing (and playing) "I'll See You In My Dreams" a song with which Joe usually finishes his act these days. Also it was the song that ended the Concert For George, in memory of George Harrison who was a great friend of Joe's.



I am still having problems with finding time to research songwriting help on the internet. Hopefully this will not last much longer than Christmas, as I will have had my knee operation and be confined to home for a good few weeks. Keeping my fingers crossed.

A video of one of my favourite rock songs

Sorry if you started following this blog, Illness and other real life issues have stopped me developing it as I wanted to. This posting is just to show that I am still kicking. The Shadows have been long time idols of mine, but I do have some more upto-date artists who I listen to. Of course, you may not include Pink Floyd as upto-date even if you really dig their music. Don't lets argue about pedantics, rather enjoy the wonderful guitar of Dave Gilmour. A fantastic guitar player.

Hope to start posting information on the intended topic for this blog, just as soon as normal service is resumed in this household.

The Shadows, Shadoogie

I have never made a secret of being a great fan of The Shadows, they were my inspiration and the reason I learnt to play the guitar. Here is one of their early classic numbers, first reforded on their first album whilst they were still backing Sir Cliff Richard ( as he is now).


Hope youenjoy this, I have been so busy with many things that some activities have had to be put back. writing this blog is unfortunately one of them. So I have borrowed this video from You-Tube. Hope to be back in action soon, although my other half may have to be placated. If you like this you may well like the "Final Tour" dvd which contains many of their old favourites.

songwriting help on the web

Seem to be having a little (free time) problem with picking up the guitar for anything but the most minimal practice sessions these days but hey.... what about songwriting?

It is a small issue these days but rhyming does seem to add a little something to a song lyric. There are of course, as you would expect, lots of sites offering help on the web. here are a few which you may find helpful.

Rhymer is a free on-line rhyming dictionary, offering six different types of rhyme. This seems to be a very wide ranging search of words that give both storng and weak rhymes. You may find you need to be selective. But on the other hand, the more rhymes you have the more creative you can be.

WIKI rhymer, claims to be the best on-line rhyming dictionary. A claim I have not substantiated but why not try it for yourself. It seems to have a separate engine for weak rhymes ( eg those rhymes which are almost but not quite there but will work in the right place)

Write _express seems to use Rhymer (see above)

Ultimate songwriting.com is a site with lots of tips ( it claims) for writing good songs, this link is to the page on how to use rhymes. It is a blatantly comercial site, but it is up to you to pick what you need from its many pages of tips, etc. It also has a page dedicated to using a rhyming dictionary, and cautions using a rhyme for its own sake, make sure it fits naturally.

Michael Thomas has written a comprehensive explanation of the different types of rhyme. A good idea to at least understand the main points.

Song writing fever 3 has a page on using rhymes. Why and how. A short tutorial but opens the way to more information.

A short article on rhyming ( Samantha Gonzalez), again you are urged to be natural and consider wether you need to rhyme at all. Something the commercial sites selling rhyming dictionaries or software never mention.

OK, I have just proved that I can use Google. And now I am proving that I can use my Amazon associate links.


But seriously, lyrics have to sound good. It should go without saying but writers do try and force lyrics to do what they are told is the right thing. This only leads to a loss of the natural flow of the words and becomes to sound stilted. I know it happens (and even in classic songs), but the use of a natural sounding lyric keeps the listener involved. Leave the breaking of rules to those who can get away with it, a good vocallist can makethe telephone book sound interesting. If you are just learning or want to raise your standard a notch - take some advice and make it sound natural.

I guess you know the sort of thing I am getting at, the order of words is changed to force a rhyme - something you would never hear in ordinary speech. I think this is a death knell to most popular songs, the listener is trying to work out what happened and loses the song altogether.

( note to myself..... I am writing this on the fly. Will be back to add in a couple of examples)

Now, Do I ever use a rhyming dictionary? The answer is no! I let my lyrics come as naturally as possible. The rhyme is the least of my problems. I sometimes run thru a list in my head of simple, single syllable rhymes by changing the first letter in a word. Perhaps my lyrics would be more sophisticated if I used two syllable or weak (near) rhymes but that is debatable. I guess my best advice is as quoted above. Stay natural and do not force a rhyme for the sake of that rhyme.

OK thanks for getting this far, I will try to get back sooner next time and perhaps get down to choosing a subject.

song writing

One of the reasons I started this particular blog was that I wanted to write about my songwriting. So far I have posted a few videos of my singing and playing the guitar, some of the songs have been self-penned ............. but have said little about the process of writing the songs. I have been browsing the internet for blogs and other sites that have a similar objective. And I have been disappointed. there is little on this theme that is not trying to sell a book or a DVD, etc with the magic way of turning out that special song. Well if it could be done like that, the authors would be writing those songs and becoming very, very rich.

Composing music is a skill that anyone can learn? The mechanics are easy, just learn the rules, but to give a song that extra factor which turns it into a real classic is not so easy. Ask the large number of highly capable musicians trying to earn a living at it. You need something extra. You have to be able to turn emotion into something audible.And the same is true of writing lyrics; just because you can string a few words together and make them "rhyme", doesn't mean that it will be something that people want to hear or even sing. You need passion. In this modern world you also need to be able to put across a simple idea in a new way. Cliches are not allowed anymore. Well that puts me down then!

I tried books and course in my younger days, but the best of my songs always came from "me", the emotional input was a clear winner when analysing why a particular song came out better than the rest. Of course none of my songs ever became well known, not even published but I could still analyse the structure of the music and the lyrics. A marvellous analyst, but not so good at writing. I am still intending however to put some of my thoughts across in this blog.

There are some sites where there are useful tips, both for lyric writing and for the music. The latter usually concerns the chord structures / harmonies that support the music but some do attempt to give tips about creating melodies. Many of the sites try to put across the thought that the business angle is of crucial importance and I would not disagree. It is not difficult to google these subjects and find "words of wisdom" in fact it is all too easy and some help in finding the most useful sites will be offered.


Talking of help; just try amazon there are inumerable books on the subject. I have not read any of these but browse some of these to see what is available.






























there are so many, I would not even pretend to be able to guide you in selecting one or even two for you and imagine that it would turn you into a great songwriter. But you may need to understand a few easy rules and it is sites which offer this help that I hope to be able to point out to you. Hope to see you again in the near furture to see how I do.

Bob Dylan was my inspiration

MAny moons ago, too many to remember... I had a guitar for christmas. Bod Dylan was beginning to make vaves with his early folksy material and I was hooked on his songs. he was the reason that I started writing my own songs althought some of the early examples of mine are a little cringeworthy. I very rarely perform these for anyone although I do still sing some of them in private. But I was a very young teenager, having just started grammar school. But it started me on to a life long "hobby" and that's all it has been for me. The occasional party or after a few drinks has been the limit of my achievement. Not so much lack of ambition but more a complete lack of belief in myself in this field of endeavour.

Anyway enough reminiscing ( aahh........... Buddy Holly, but that's another story), I thought it only right to include a Bob Dylan song on the blog, and I just happen to have one which I recorded earlier. Not a great performance, it was recorded at the same time as two other songs and I simply forgot to move the capo up a few frets. I seem to be saying the words rather than singing them. Nevermind the guitar work is not too bad. Again, forget the lighting a consequence of a late night recording session nwith a poor diogital camera. Here it is then, "Don't think twice, it's alright".





There you go then, nnow I really am running out of videos from Youtube so will have to get sorted and reecord some fresh material, hope that you will be back, thanks for getting this far.

Video: when You were sweet sixteen

Ok................ have been slightly inconvenienced lately but here is another video you may like to see. I am afraid it was taken whilst I was practicing one evening and my digital camera wasn't up to making allowances for the lack of light. But apart from that a great song even if the performance is not quite up to the Furey's standard.




Hope to be able to get down to some original blog posts in the very near future, I shall be running out of videos on You Tube soon anyway, LOL. Thanks for your time

At last - a new song

Never really thought too much about it when I wrote it in the last post but the title did sound like a cue for a song. Now it's has been quite a while since I penned any but having started this blog, that was one of the ideas.... to get me writing again. So I took the title and sat down with my guitar and started singing. If it sounds old fashioned then that's because I am only a couple of years off my pension. I didn't really decide on the style but the metre and length of the line took me to a sort of country-rock. The words aren't very elegant,  the tune is simplistic and the guitar part is almost non-existent, so far, but at least it is the first for a long time and so I have recorded it on my digital camera ( going to have to do better now I have a blog to write for), and posted it on YouTube. here it is in all its glory:- BTW do you like the get up?






Hope you take it for what it is and enjoy it. I must sort out a better solo ( ?) for that guitar break! thanks for visiting.

a little bit of this & a little bit of that

Strange title but couldn't think of anythink better - in fact it could be the first line of a new song.

A little while ago, I started going to a folk club in the Birmingham, Shirley area. I was hoping to take along my guitar and give the folks a treat, ha-ha. In fact they ssaid they welcomed all styles but the singers we heard were all very traditional and I thought that I would do something a little different. It has been a long time since I played ( and sang) in front of an audience so looking for a little confidence, I recorded a couple of numbers again using my digital camera just to see how it sounded. Unfortunately I have not managed to get back recently - logistics are a problem as I work late on the day of the club and things have simply got in the way.
 I am posting one of these videos, it is a Richard Thompson song although my effort is far below that of the original:-


Thanks for looking.....................

I'm in a rock n roll band................

............. well not now and probably never will be, but this was the title of a BBC TV show last night. It was the second of a 2 part series and was looking at the roll of the guitarist. Fascinating TV, for me anyway. particularly when they covered the interaction between the other leading members of the group/band. I was especially interested by the approach to song writing by the band. Many guitarists suggested they took the lead by playing a new riff and the singer/vocalist simply added the lyrics, one told a story of a singer asking, " got any riffs". It was actually attributed to Paul McCartney asking George at a studio session.

This is sort of the way I write songs. I usually have an idea ( A title or hook for the lyrics) and sit down and generate a chord sequence, making up a riff on the run. I don't often play lead guitar when writing or performing my own songs. No real reason, except it maybe means I have less to think about. I do play lead, but this tends to be in the style of Hank Marvin; my guitar hero. Never quite got around to trying to emulate rock guitarists, I like my solos to be tuneful. In fact Apache was the record that turned me on to the guitar, I had an instrument for my next birthday, my fouteenth and am still playing although not quite so regularly.

Anyhow back to the TV prog, another interesting aspect was the way that rock guitarists had haad to come up with little signature tricks to get noticed on the back line. Playing with their teeth, carry a stachel, painting their faces, windmilling, leaping or walking like a duck; they were all designed to take some of the kudos away from the singer, who naturally held centre stage and got all the interviews and other goodies which I won't go into here, LOL.

So, to end this post here is another video of mine with another self-penned number
entitled, " It's later than you think"


Thanks for your time, John

New songs and songwriting

Hi there, my first post on a new blog. I decided I needed somewhere to write about my songs and the processes I use to write them.

I play guitar and sing, most of the recordings on here will be home made ( very home  made!) and are to give a feel of the song rather than being a demo standard.

OK, having got that out of the way what do I want to say? I have been writing songs since I was about 15 years old, mostly to a simple guitar accompaniment. I have always been interested in the so-called song-writing programs and techniques / tutors but have never found them to be any use at all. If you listen to music with half an ear, it is usually quite obvious how they are stuctured and what they are about. Simply using the basic you pick up by listening to a song is most of the battle. Of course, rudiments of music are helpful but very few modern songwriters are versed in any theory and most bash out a melody on gtuitar or keyboard. Then use this to develop a set of lyrics. In my experience very few work up a lyric and then add the melody. It can be done but that is where the difficulty lies. Where lyrics come first you do need a good appreciation of music or a high level of skill on an instrument with a well-founded feeling for music.

I am ready to be shot down in flames on these opinions, but we are all entitled to hold an opinion; my own processes seem to be based on a musical idea or developing lyrics and music together.

I hope to be able to provide links to other sites and blogs, and review what the authors have to say. And most importantly wether it will help you to write better songs. the most important use of techniques is to make it easier to get stuff together, and complete songs. So many good ideaas do not lead to a completed song and that is a real shame. Half-a-song is of no use whatsoever! Always try to complete a song and the more you complete the better is your chance of coming up with a decent combination of melody and lyrics.

I will take you thru the process and provide a few hints and tips, which I feel certain are already on the web but will bear repeating again and again. I have recorded songs at home in the past but never taken the step of trying to get them published. Why you may ask? Well it's not easy to give an answer but lack of confidence is ertainly one of the key issues. I have played/sang them at parties and get-togethers with friends and they have usually gone down well but baulked at that next step. As a non-performer, options are not easy. It can be done and there are routes to follow but I have to admit I did not have that something which said, " I nned to get my songs known".

Recently, a very close cousin of my own age was taken with cancer and this provoked me to post a couple of videos on YouTube. I had meant to add to this small collection but the project lapsed because of pressures from so many other things. I hope to start/finish this project now that I have started this blog. OK, that's more than enough talkin', I leave you with a chance to see one of these recordings.