4,226

(6 replies, posted in Poems)

hi stransongs,

how deep is this?

every time i thought i got the gist of what you were writing about, there came another twist in the tale! i read it though several times and found something new each time.

i dont want to speculate on what you are speaking about, just that i think i detected two [at least] different plots?

this is a well written and engaging poem, and i think you're right about it being a poem not a song.
some songs/poems can cross the divide, but i think this would be nice as just a poem.

you could record a piece of music and speak the words over the top, we've done that before with a poem by lena [broken bones bootlegger] and music by kenny .

thanks for sharing,

phill

4,227

(5 replies, posted in Poems)

i must apologise, i went on holiday 3 weeks ago, and i havent had a new tune or song or poem enter my head since. my brain must be still on holiday.

anybody else feel the same?

phill

4,228

(7 replies, posted in Poems)

hi daddy, lucky? i wouldnt go that far.
i was at the dentist today and there was this guy there...obviously high, and he was arguing with the receptionist about getting in to see the jaw-breaker. she wouldnt let him in as he kept missing his appointments! your barred...you know? so eventually he went, stumbling and bumping into doors walls etc. and i thought, it's about time the scum of society were given the bums rush, as it's usually the decent guys that get pushed to one side so that the dregs can get one more fix on my tax dollars [pounds actually]

ONE FOR US.

phill

4,229

(1 replies, posted in Other string instruments)

hi tod,

unfortunately what you posted can only be described as advertising. i would suggest if you want to advertise on this forum, you get in touch with ADMIN dept, you'll find it at the top. so i have taken the step of deleting your phone number and email, but as that is also your username...awkward aint it?

chordie is a non-profit making site and any revenue raised by advertising goes toward the maintenance of the site.

sorry for taking this action

phill

4,230

(4 replies, posted in Poems)

what a beautiful tale written in verse, i just love it when a song or indeed a poem has a story and a moral.

excellent work stransongs.

just thought i'd add 5 pennorth, in wales your currah is called a corracle, and i used to live in a house that had silver fish. they are similar to centipedes and they live in old chimney's apparently!

phill

4,231

(16 replies, posted in Poems)

if i had a penny for every penny i'd gambled, how much would i now have?

a penny, i dont gamble!

phill

4,232

(1 replies, posted in Poems)

hi coffeefairy,

i think it's ok to put it up as long as you credit the writer or the person you think is the writer, so maybe you should put her name under the poem just to be safe, use the edit button.

it's a lovely story and a fine poem, it sounds like something lena [AKA old doll ] might have written. how are things up the big smoke? it's raining here for a change...

phill

4,233

(5 replies, posted in Poems)

hi tine,

i read this very slowly because the words mean so much, they're a little self deprecating, where you're using several excuses [ your insecurity, his lust etc] to end something that you wont allow to start, so you nip it in the bud so you wont get hurt [again?]
you also state that "i am too strong" i think you wish you were...eating the bacon is better than loving the pig!

this is a lovely piece of work, well done and thanks for sharing.

phill

4,234

(2 replies, posted in Other string instruments)

hi megs,

as your a self taught guitarist, i would expect you to do the same on bass, that's not a criticism! as a guitarist you've most likely got a good sense of rhythm and a melodic bass line as your playing anyway, so i would suggest that you teach yourself and be original, anyone can copy

failing that try guitaretabs

phill

4,235

(33 replies, posted in Chordie's Chat Corner)

I am so sorry for the death of Michael, I've never been one of his greatest fans, so all I can say is that every form of music has it's place and followers.

I don't like the fact that people are comparing him to Elvis or Orbison or even Lennon, each one was great in his own field in his own way and each died tragically early, and if you need a comparison, on the come-back trail...not that he was any lesser a talent or celebrity. he was top in his field.

RIP Michael Jackson, his memory will live on


Phill

4,236

(19 replies, posted in Chordie's Chat Corner)

Hi Mark,

nice recordings, your voice and guitar come through very well, were the vocals double tracked?

anyway very good, you should now start touting the CD around the agents to get yourself a contract and some gigs...your future awaits.

Phill

4,237

(17 replies, posted in Chordie's Chat Corner)

HARDING STAND? you've even named it...by the way, i've got a little bracket in my shed that could do that job, i'll bring it round.

phill

4,238

(23 replies, posted in Chordie's Chat Corner)

"it's yesterday once more" by the carpenters, just for the way they sing it.

and Bette Midler again, in one of her films she sings "in my life" to an audience of soldiers in Vietnam, it's a very touching scene and she sings one of Lennon's best songs brilliantly.


phill

4,239

(15 replies, posted in Chordie's Chat Corner)

around south wales, the pubs and clubs have to pay a license for live or even recorded music. i assume that part of that money goes to performing rights and so onto the writers.
it seems the good old USA is full of legal eagles that spend their days looking for new ways to close down live music venues, and claw more and more money out of the poor saps that want to hear their favourite music played by local hero's.

it's just like the smoking ban, people just wont go out to hear live music as the cost will get too high, so the venues close. next step, no one bothers to form bands or become entertainers.

IS THIS THE DEATH KNELL FOR TIN PAN ALLEY?


phill

4,240

(17 replies, posted in Chordie's Chat Corner)

if you get any more strings for your bow, your gonna need more bows. your a cleverer person than i thought, and i thought you were very clever!

steve howe of yes has been using guitar stands for several years, but they're not as inventive as yours!

you say your going to put a clamp on the bottom for more support, this sounds like a good idea as things can get rather hectic during a gig and a little knock might tip the balance.

good idea

phill

4,241

(1 replies, posted in Songwriting)

hi jeff,

lovely words, as usual. i think everyone who's parents are no longer with us [both mine have died] regret the fact that there were conversations we meant to have but didn't quite got around to.

after my mother died, my father lived on a couple of years, and we had some great chats, about his navy days during the war, about when he worked where i was for a short time, and all kinds of general stuff. we never really spoke much before that, just one of my many regrets.

and where the kids are concerned, how one day i woke up to find that my babies were both in their twenties! so my advice to parents of young kids...make the most of them now, they will soon grow-up and fly the coop.

great song written with emotion and feeling, thanks jeff


phill

4,242

(7 replies, posted in Poems)

i find the main problem with speed bumps is that they are most effective with people that are more considerate of their speed anyway. the boy-racers, and the plebs who drive around in mammy or daddy's car, just ignore them and fly over them as if they were ski jumps.

there is an estate nearby with a school in the middle of it. there is a 20 mph limit there, yet i've still witnessed drivers doing 40 +!
and the worst offenders?   THE MOTHERS DROPPING THEIR KIDS OFF or picking them up...how sad is that? and they park on the zig-zags, and how outraged they'd be if a child got run over?

they may well be trying to improve things, still the road to hell is paved with good intentions.

phill

4,243

(17 replies, posted in Chordie's Chat Corner)

i remember seeing tommy steel on 6.5 special way back in the 50's singing "singing the blues" it was the first song i sang in public, and i still play it now 50 years on...how's that?

phill

4,244

(19 replies, posted in Chordie's Chat Corner)

well done bud!

cant wait to hear your stuff. i've only once ever been in a real studio. it was a converted coal shed, sound-proofed and the mixing console was in a caravan...yeah i know! but bonnie tyler had recorded there too...so there you go

phill

4,245

(15 replies, posted in Chordie's Chat Corner)

this is sick, and it just goes to show how sick some of the legal profession really are. it makes you think they're just scoring brownie points so they'll get picked up by some legitimate company, to keep them off the streets?

i dont agree with copying and distributing someone's hard work, which is why i wont down-load or copy, we are all trying to earn a living after all. but making all that money by suing is criminal. ambulance chasers of 21st century....?

phill

4,246

(7 replies, posted in Poems)

hi david,

i'm with you all the way on that, i am very saddened at the urban degeneration [as they like to call it] that i guess we are all experiencing. we could blame it all on thatcher, or gratuitous violence on tv. or even on the garbage music we hear these days, not all of it i must add, just the gansta rap and most of the rest of it! but everything i wrote here is fact, there are no exagerations or made up bits, just true memories of a better time now sadly gone.

hi stransongs,

speedbumps

just seem to grow here, we dont need any more of them! and to be honest, it seems the council are more than a little to blame for all this ... mess we are in. i dont want to start ranting again...so i wont.

thanks for your replies, lets get some more home-town poems up here

phill

4,247

(9 replies, posted in Recording)

hi crevs,

for a live sound, a subway or bathroom are great, for the reverb. but when you do a "proper" recording, you will want to control the sound and the effects, eg; you may want echo on the guitar but the vocals may sound better flat [no fx's] so you would do a multi-layered recording, with all tracks flat. then add the fxs later, even down to distortion on the guitar, so you can control echo/reverb etc and the levels; vocals up, drums lower down in the mix.

myself, i do my recordings in the front room, it's jam packed with furniture and the floor is carpeted so the sound is dead, which is ideal for recording. i know bands that have gone to the extremes of nailing egg boxes to the walls to get the dead sound. different strokes...

yechid dda

phill

4,248

(17 replies, posted in Chordie's Chat Corner)

hi cam,

i've been playing in front of live audiences for 30 years, big one's and little `un's! but the hardest one of all was my dad. my parents came a few times to see me in various groups and duo's, and i'd always look at him to see if i could make out his thoughts...never could.
then the last time he came to see me, he actually gushed! i thought yes, i've made it! the show was in his local club, and all his mates [who didnt know me] gave me a big ovation. i suppose it was a relief that i didnt shame him.

still, people come all the time to shake my hand and say that was great, but the words from dad mean more than any other accolade.

phill

4,249

(17 replies, posted in Chordie's Chat Corner)

My wife calls my Crafter semi-acoustic "The Other Woman" dont know why, maybe it's because I spend more time with her? and treat her better...women, cant live with them...Guitars...cant live without `em

Phill

4,250

(7 replies, posted in Poems)

Coffeefairy suggested we all write a little song/poem about our home town so here's mine. It's a very bitter piece as I've watched this town drown in a growing heaving mass of excrement for the last 10 years. it's called:-

                      I Used To Love This Town.

By Phill Williams.  19th June 2009

From high in the sky, from a plane looking down.
See the sea and the tranquility of the land.
See the green fields and forests, the beaches and harbours.
The small boats, the roads and the town.

I used to love this town. I like it less now.
I was born here. But it's a mess now.
There were gardens. Now there's a rubbish tip.
There were children playing. Now there's hoodies....drinking.

As a child I looked up at the stall holders wares.
When the plates were rattled at the bone china fair.
You could buy all the things that your heart could desire.
From a fish to a rabbit, from a clock to a spire.

I used to love this town. I like it less now.
I was born here. But it's a mess now.
There were gardens. Now there's a car park.
There were children playing. No go after dark.

There were special little places, all hidden from view.
Where lovers would canoodle, and kiss a little too.
Now you cant walk there for the needles might stick you.
And the pushers might beat you or stab you or shoot you.

I used to love this town. I like it less now.
I was born here. But it's a mess now.
Once there were playgrounds. A pool for the children.
And smiling policemen. Now they've got tasers and stab vests.

The council close the factories so the place will smell better.
Then they grass all the land and put foot paths and sand dunes.
They make it look lovely so that visitors will come.
But the vandals come first so the place look a dump.

And the councilors claim all their hefty expenses.
And the rate payers moan about the coast line defenses.
When you call the police they arrive the next day.
Dont die in that place it's no go for ambulances.

I used to love this town, But those days have gone.

And everyone claims unemployment benefit.
Some will work “off the books�  just for drinks and a quick-fix.
And fourteen year old girls with a baby in tow.
Come home from school to a place of their own.

I used to love this town. Now I just want to leave.
I could swallow the pain, but I just want to heave.
If I have the strength to live till I die.
When I see what it's become, I just want to cry.

I used to love this town, now it just makes me sad.


I'm sorry if this depresses anyone, all I can say is...join the club!


Phill