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Stories Click on the song title you would like to learn more about.
Bobby's Song The women on the island were all out at the annual Iona women’s Christmas meal and me and most of the island’s men were eating fish and chips at the hotel. Everything closes in winter but once a week the St Columba hotel opens it’s restaurant and half the islanders come and huddle round eating fish and chips and choc ices (the only things on the menu). It’s a great event, especially for everyone living in the abbey where the diet is healthy and deep fried food doesn’t exist. The men were sitting talking and invited me over. Bobby said he’s heard that I was doing some music and he got inspired telling me about his accordion playing and his disappointment that people don’t play so much anymore.
Bobby went on for a 10 minute rant about people at parties strumming in the corner and how incredibly boring and self-indulgent this was. To appease his disappointment I told him that I was also a songwriter. This worked, he was no longer annoyed and he challenged me to write a song about him. Two months later I meet him coming off the ferry (like he does everyday).
Peterpan I’d been on testosterone for two months at this stage and it was about a week before going into the recording studio to record “Wiser”. I knew that taking T meant I was about to lose my voice – a terrible choice to have to make. This was so important for me, I wanted a song to mark it; I knew there was a song about it gestating in me but I wasn't sure it would come out before my voice broke. This recording was perfect timing – you can hear that I am losing the notes and the control, and the pubescent voice and emotion is a real record of events. Sacred Earth When the lesson is hard the song grows slowly, sometimes very slowly. It will start with an image or with some chords that strike the right chords inside. But here I wanted more than my story, more than just my time on this sacred wee Scottish island. My theory is that on Iona any shit you have bubbles to the surface and that this happens to everyone here not matter whether they recognise it and not and no matter if they stay for 6 days or for 3 years. It did for me. Rowena (my former wife) sings with me in the dream sequence, helping to painting the experience of looking from the top of ‘Dun I’, Iona’s tallest hill. This was my place where I wrapped the island round me as truth clawed hard and stripping away the dead skin of both me and my marriage. I hope this is her song too: we came to Iona together, we shared the struggle, the insights and the gifts. Funny Kinda Guy When you change gender, the way people hear your songs shifts as well. I wrote this song before I’d chosen to become Simon. As a female, standing singing this (in Glasgow of all places!) people were gripped and challenged. Strange though it might seem, I prefer having an uncomfortable audience than a bored one. In 2001 when I was still gigging - but as Simon - with my alto voice and androgynous appearance, audiences responded with a bit of uncertainty and this was my swan song, I suppose. I remember the feeling of being stared at, rather than watched and I got the impression that the people were listening more intently because they weren't sure what gender I was. Circle Dance Occasionally I apprentice to my friend Mally the basket weaver. She took me circle dancing. I was the only guy there and I was significantly younger than everyone else but much to my own surprise I loved it. What grabbed me was dancing to music that had the same rhythm as my own music - it felt like playing the guitar with my whole body and held the same meditative peace that I get when I play. I went home and wrote the Derby circle dancing ladies a chant to dance to. On The Boat Builder CD I have a shortened version of the circle dance chant but I did record a longer version for the Derby circle dancers so please feel free to contact me if you would like the longer version of this song. Blue Ocean This song grew out of my counseling work and friendships with people who had been sexually abused. Like all my heavy songs, the tune came first and the lyrics later. Hearing Michelle I was staying over at my friend’s house in the south side of Glasgow. Through the wall, I could hear Michelle's beautiful voice. She was singing to her prospective lover but I don’t think he was listening. Luckily for me I was. Angry Foetus Ken, my former brother in law, is a surfer and a really decent guy. He plays electric guitar, and one day he asked me if I wanted to play with him and Chappo. So I decided I’d learn to play bass – on a left handed bass, played upside down. Chappo lived with his Mum and two dogs and I can only describe him as an anarchistic military fanatic. I liked him despite the fact that we had no interests, musical or otherwise in common. At that time I worked for nonviolence in both my voluntary and professional life, and Chappo romanticized military history and nuclear explosions. He was so creative, a dreamer, and he’d give us beer when we came over at 11am. Health conscious folk musicians like me aren’t used to hash and beer for breakfast. The three of us would jam and record the sessions and Ken and I would go away and pull songs out of tapes at a later date. We all sang, Chappo drummed, and from this random mix lots of songs poured forth. I was in a punk band: I hate punk and hip-hop but we were playing it! We were lined up to start gigging and then Chappo got piles so badly that he couldn’t drum or do anything. The wives all objected to the name of the band, so when Ken's wife Christabel got pregnant we changed the name to Happy Foetus - but by then Chappo's piles had finished us off. |
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