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(6 replies, posted in Songwriting)

Jeff great message. I like the feel that comes with your power chords.

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(9 replies, posted in Songwriting)

Thank you everyone for your comments. An old work colleague of mine from a few years  back heard a copy of Phill doing Candy Shop which I shared with him yesterday. He told me even though it is something we made up it perfectly  tells the story of him, his mother and philandering father. He told me his fathers last few years before he died were  spent living alone as years of heavy drinking had caught up with him. He also mentioned his dad had been a womaniser most of his life who treated woman badly when drunk. He also cheated on them all. Anyway with Candy Shop he loved Phillis singing and guitar plus the fact it summed up his family situation perfectly. It is another good  metaphor for  telling a story about how we reap what we sow. Thank you Phill for making a song with mine and your lyrics  and turning it into something that is very  special.

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(9 replies, posted in Songwriting)

This is Candy Shop written by Phill Williams and myself. Phill put it all together and made a real good song of it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TQKz71tz3lY 

1,279

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

Welcome  fritty  good to have you here. There is great bunch of people on here from all around the world with diverse backgrounds a great pool of knowledge and new ideas.     

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(11 replies, posted in Poems)

Awesome Phill if there is anything in there you can use that would be real good. I agree I added too many words that don't work. To  hear any bits of it in a song of yours would be something I would enjoy.

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(9 replies, posted in Songwriting)

Beamer your 12 string sounds good. Your lyrics work good I can hear many who have found that special one relating to your lyrics. I am sure your song will take on a personal meaning for those who have hit the jackpot and don't need anyone else to have a love affair with.

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(11 replies, posted in Poems)

Wow Phill that is brilliant a Cat Stevens father and son thing going on there.
What you worried 'bout Mum?
He wasn't much with his sums.
To lose a good one like you.
He had nectar and honey.
His life  so sunny.
All that candy  so handy.
For someone so randy.
His appetite  so greedy..
A man  so seedy.
Quick and speedy.
Looking for lovers like you.
After  bad reviews he received the  news.
Those clever moves were now bad news.
No longer able to chose.
The candy shop was closed to him.

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(11 replies, posted in Poems)

Phill  for me it is like the Dr John song "Right Place, Wrong Time" I got Maree so I don't need to worry.  I like your title for a song More Girls Than Boys.  I will add a couple of lines and leave it up to someone else to add the rest or just delete my added bits.

What your worried about son.
In my days it was hard to get  one.
All that free candy.
All so handy.
Just waiting for you.
Odds in your favour with so many different flavours.
With more girls than boys.
I got good news.
You get to choose.
The candy shop is well stocked for you..

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(11 replies, posted in Poems)

Beamer cheers I hope your Lady friend likes it.

Phill thank you  got Maree's name right. The song is about a  young local lad I know  and his feelings for a gal just before everything got shut down.  In recent years here in our part of the world  there were more girls than boys been born. This young man when he got to the age of  loving woman was  spoilt for choice but after a while the novelty wore of and he wanted that someone special. Just before Covid came our way he met this lass who he fell madly in love with but just as they were getting closer the lockdown meant that their growing relationship became a bit distant due the lockdown. Now we are back to mixing together in NZ he was feeling a bit nervous about  the future of their relationship. Some of the lyrics are a bit cryptic but I hope they make sense. I was trying to acoustic rock it up a bit. Unfortunately the recording is not the best on my laptop.

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(311 replies, posted in Bands and artists)

Good find CG  love Of Angels track stood out to me.     

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(5 replies, posted in My local band and me)

Grah your song tells it good. The biggest power for good in mankind is truth but sadly many have strayed from this.     

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(11 replies, posted in Poems)

I wrote this poem rock blues song  Hope Your Still Mine yesterday after life here In New Zealand went back normal. It is about a young man hoping the Gal he likes is still interested in him. Apart from our borders been closed to overseas people still we are now free to move about and mingle. No more temperature checks and wearing of face masks when I visit my 99 year old mum. Though it has only been in the last two weeks that I could visit her with it being for only half an hour and having to keep a two meter distance from her and have my hands sanitised. There has been no reported cases of Covid now for nineteen days and no active cases here in NZ picked up through testing. Now it is time to rebuild our shattered economy. I will attach me doing a very rough version of it on YouTube.        Hope you are all keeping safe and well.
                                                                                        . https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eUVcS9yIp4E

Hope Your Still Mine

Hello honey how are you now we are at level one.
I got a fire deep inside not of the sickness kind.
Now we are at level one you can give me a hug if you like.
You can get up close if you want and I’m feeling fine.
Yeah there is winter outside but the sun still shines.
Yeah I’ve got a temperature not of the sick kind.
Yeah you can get up close you can give me a hug.
Cause I’m feeling fine.
Now we are  at level one everything is fine.
You can go out have a laugh.
Get up close like most.
Yeah you are mine baby.
If that’s alright with you.
Yeah I’ve got a temperature.
A hot kind of temperature.
All for you.
Yeah I’ve got a temperature but I’m only thirty six degrees.
Its of the healthy kind. 
Now we are at level one I hope your still mine.

Last time I heard from Bill and Dondra was at Easter. They  were taking things easy while keeping a low profile due to Covid 19.     

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(5 replies, posted in My local band and me)

Excellent version Grah.     

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(11 replies, posted in Songwriting)

That is a good song about lockdown in this Covid world.     

1,291

(5 replies, posted in Poems)

A good suspense thriller  poem there EB.     

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(3 replies, posted in Poems)

Cheers Phill, good on Wales for keeping its borders closed.  Also good on Wales for having a sensible safe way of doing things with your kids.  All the different factions in our Government put most of their mud slinging on hold and are working together to get us through this lockdown. We here in New Zealand are fortunate that our population of five million have mostly taken the virus seriously. Here in NZ for the last week most days have  had zero new cases picked up through testing. We have been told that we have one of the highest testing numbers  in the world. Though things are starting to open up again it is all been done with caution and with strict contact tracing requirements in place. Social distancing and good hand sanitation the new normal. The country is moving forward with caution as we don’t want to be hit by a second wave of infection. Like everywhere else in the  world our economy has been hit hard but hopefully we are going to be in a good position to rebuild again.
Iechyd dda. Kia ora. Stay safe
Pete

Jim, teachers and the kids here have noticed that it  is much harder doing everything online because of the lack of social interaction. The one upside is nearly every kid in NZ now owns a laptop due to government giving them out to all the kids that didn’t have one.  The down side it has exposed kids to the bad  stuff on the internet where the parents haven’t installed the necessary safeguards..

All the best to you and your family plus your students.
Pete

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(13 replies, posted in Other string instruments)

Grah that is mandolin magic a cool sound.     

1,294

(3 replies, posted in Poems)

I put these words together after listening to my  neighbours young and old talking about kids going back to school this Monday after 7 weeks in lockdown. Sorry about the poor English on this one it is done in a local speak sort of way. I tried to do at a song with my guitar, it didn't work as my voice  and playing weren't up to it.

The New Cool
Things have changed a lot over the last few weeks.
Since that nasty little sneaky Covid thing came around.
Kept us all locked in.
Now the kids are thinking its cool to get back to school.
And their parents are thinking wow.
Its cool to have a job.
Because we got a new cool.
We got a new cool.
Yeah going to school is cool.
Having a job is cool.
People are starting to notice things like nature.
Yeah that’s cool.
We got a new cool.
We got a new cool.
We got a new cool.
We got a new cool.
Even going to school.
Yeah all they being looking for is getting on a train.
Or stop being a pain to the parents at the connect.
Times when they just wanting to get out and misbehave.
But  no they always  didn’t really think about things.
Until when we got hit by something bigger then us.
You know people thought they had control.
Well I tell yah it’s far bigger then us.
We got a new cool.
We got a new cool.
We got a new cool.
We got a new cool.
Even going to school.
Now things have a way changing when you least expect it.
We  got a new cool.
Yeah we have a new cool.

1,295

(11 replies, posted in Poems)

Jim that poem The Charge of the Light Brigade By Alfred, Lord Tennyson  I often think of that verse in it
“Forward, the Light Brigade!”
Was there a man dismayed?
Not though the soldier knew
   Someone had blundered.
   Theirs not to make reply,
   Theirs not to reason why,
   Theirs but to do and die.
   Into the valley of Death
   Rode the six hundred.

Phill you are right the days when Kings and Generals had to show valour by leading their troops into battle deserved respect. In the wars that followed that where the commanders gave orders from their safe positions many lifes were used as  cannon fodder by the powers that controlled them and were butchered like lambs at the slaughter. The Gallipoli campaign was  a major stuff up by the commanders. By the time the campaign ended, more than 130,000 men had died: at least 87,000 Ottoman soldiers and 44,000 Allied soldiers, including more than 8700 Australians. Among the dead were 2779 New Zealanders, about a sixth of all those who had landed on the peninsula.  The Gallipoli campaign was a relatively minor aspect of the First World War. The number of dead, although horrific, pales in comparison with the casualties on the Western Front in France and Belgium. Nevertheless, for New Zealand, along with Australia and Turkey, it has great significance.
In Turkey, the campaign marked the beginning of a national revival. The Ottoman hero of Gallipoli, Mustafa Kemal, would eventually become, as Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, the founding President of the Turkish Republic. In New Zealand (and Australia), Gallipoli helped foster a developing sense of national identity. Those at home were proud of how their men had performed on the world stage, establishing a reputation for fighting hard in difficult conditions.
Anzac Day grew out of this pride. First observed on 25 April 1916, the date of the landing has become a crucial part of the fabric of national life – a time for remembering not only those who died at Gallipoli, but all New Zealanders who have served their country in times of war and peace.   I will attach the song The Band Sang Waltzing Matilda which I think is a good song about that bit of history that started ANZAC day.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cZqN1glz4JY

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(9 replies, posted in Recording)

That came out good Russell.     

1,297

(11 replies, posted in Poems)

Cheers Phill the thought that someone can press a button and start a nuclear war scares me. Thankfully the powerful have been saber-rattling around weapons of destruction so far in modern times. France wasnt very happy with New Zealand back in the eighties protesting against their nuclear bomb testing on Moruroa, atol in the south Pacific. It  ended up in 1985 with the bombing and sinking of the Rainbow Warrior, by the French foreign intelligence service. The ship,  was  berthed at a wharf on Auckland harbour New Zealand. The pandemic here even though people  are in their safety bubbles  has brought out a good community spirit. Now things have slowed down they have time to stop look at nature and talk to each other even though it is from a distance.  We are just hoping the big job losses and pain will pass and we will come out of this stronger and better. HOPE is leading us on.     
Today  Saturday here is Anzac Day it  is a national day of remembrance in Australia and New Zealand that broadly commemorates all Australians and New Zealanders "who served and died in all wars, conflicts, and peacekeeping operations" and "the contribution and suffering of all those who have served. The Covid-19 lockdown has cancelled Anzac services today, but this morning thousands of Kiwis are not letting it stop them paying their respects.
Up and down the country, New Zealanders gathered at their letterboxes, front doors and living rooms as part of a "Stand at Dawn" campaign, many also were tuning in to a live stream of a virtual Anzac Day services. On my street  at 6am many stood at the front of their houses quietly in rememberance while the Last Post was played and the RSA ode was read out.
They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old:
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning,
We will remember them.
This is the fourth stanza from Laurence Binyon's poem For the Fallen. Referred to here as the Returned Service Association  Ode of Remembrance

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(311 replies, posted in Bands and artists)

CG good  find Val does some good down to earth household blues.     

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(11 replies, posted in Poems)

Thank you EB I hope my written rantings make sense it is a follow on from that old saying hope springs eternal.


Cheers Phill  when  I  wrote  about Invaders and Oppressors I was looking at  it on a global history basis  which could be any country or race in the world. At sometime in history whether it be world wars,  people in Nazi concentration camps  or way back further people and tribes have invaded others or have been invaded themselves. To me what happens is the spirit of hope drives people on when times are bad. Even if  we go back a short time in global history some major events such as the 1914 to 1918 world war followed by the 1918 to 1920 flu pandemic, followed nine years later in 1929 to 1939 by the world wide depression followed by the 1939 to 1945 world war and so on, people went through alot. They wouldnt have got through without some sort of faith and hope in their aspirational thoughts. Because of hope their courage and resilience didn't  desert them. My mother who is 99 years young has told me this is the time for this generation to experience a global threat and they should come out of it better in the long term. Another chapter in history's rollercoaster ride, but for some of our young ones sacrifice is a foreign word because everything has gone good for them so far. I must qualify that further even in modern times some young ones have been through fires , hurricanes, earthquakes and shootings just to name a few things and this has helped shape their world view bringing out the best in some of them and the worst in others. This pandemic will do the same on a bigger global scale.
Wishing you and your family good health.

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(11 replies, posted in Poems)

My Friend Hope.
Looking out my window at home.
Waiting for time to change.
Deep down in a canyon inside my soul.
The voice of my unseen companion is urging me on.
My invisable companion’s  name is Hope has been around since before I was put on this planet and made to float on the sea of life.
Back in history when the invaders came Hope was there urging us on.
My ancestors oppressors couldn’t see Hope leading my  people on.
The enemy flooded in with their mean spirit grabbing all they could.
Treating our people with contempt an arrogant  enemy  could not see Hope lifting our peoples spirits pushing them on.
Bigger than our solar system with more power than the hundred billion stars in the Milky Way an almighty force sent by God surged through their broken bodies and veins.
Strong in spirit inspired by Hope the enemy had their evil arrogance stripped.
They ripped and tore our bodies but they couldnt destroy our souls.
Strong in spirit pushed on by Hope our people were victorious.
Now here I am in a hole looking for light  knowing a time of change will come.
My powerful invisible friend Hope calls out to me,” this is  nothing there is light out there.”
Stay calm count your blessings.
I your friend  Hope have been through far worse than this.