1) ON AND ON WE GO.
This song, originally a ‘beckoning’ of sorts before a long song-cycle of mine called ‘The Journey’, seemed a fitting Prologue to our album. These age-old issues of leaving and returning, of loss and longing, of family and home are always with us – they never change.
2) WHERE TO NOW?
From the same narrative, this is the wanderer’s cry. How must it feel to know you can never return?
3) SHAME ON YOU, SHAME ON ME.
And another from ‘The Journey’ that speaks of the ‘lonely one’ – the wanderer… the outcast. What price a little empathy in this world? It seems to me this, above all, is what we lack.
4) MY LAST LOVE.
This began life as a long, rambling poem… a lament of sorts. Now, in it’s second life as a song, I have cut out all the wasted words and have managed to say more – with less. Sometimes our immediate thoughts are not the most eloquent.
5) UNBREAKABLE CHAIN.
This song was inspired by children and the ideas they contributed to a project called ‘With One Voice’.
When all else has gone we still have our family and friends – and perhaps, if we’ve been wise enough to make them along the way, a memory or two!
6) KEEP YOUR HEAD HELD HIGH.
Another song from the same project. Writing with children makes you purify your ideas. Their message is so clear. It’s up to us to stop for a while and listen to what they have to say.
7) OCEAN.
A song of veiled longing – sung by somebody whose pride prevents them from saying what they really mean – until the very last line. And even then…
8) MIND’S EYE.
A love song – of sorts – about the shock of realising your ‘ideal’ may actually exist… no longer a dream! Believe me, this changes everything!
9) WHEN WORDS FAIL.
A song about searching for truth beyond the literal meaning – maybe in the sound of the words. I’ve always believed that if you get the sound right, the meaning will follow. But sometimes language can let you down – and it’s best to walk away.
10) NO TIME AT ALL.
This song was written after being separated from my son for a while -when he was very small. As parents, if we are to be significant in the lives of our children, we need to put in the time. If we don’t connect now, there may not be a ‘later’.
11) TAPESTRY OF LIFE.
This song seemed a suitable ‘Epilogue’ to our collection of stories.
The great Canadian Prime Minister, Pierre Trudeau, likened an immigrant society to a wonderful tapestry. On one side shining and beautiful and yet, on the other, a mass of tangled threads – evidence of that necessary untidiness that binds the whole.
Building a society, learning to live together – cheek by jowl – with all our differences, can be hard work – and messy at times. But when it hangs together… Oh, the beauty!