I WRITE THE SONGS THAT MAKE THE WORLD GO "EH??"

And here are some of the tunes...

MIDI Files

Bear in mind that how these files sound will depend on your computer's sound card. The ones that sounded wonky because the drums were coming out as piano have now been fixed: any remaining wonkiness is therefore probably meant to be there.

Alchemy - lyrics
This song was written when a good friend of mine was in a band called Alchemy, which unfortunately went kafoofie before I had quite finished it. Alchemy is far more about personal transformation than about lumbering yourself with huge quantities of unregistered bullion. I think so, anyway.

Deskbound - lyrics
When I was working in a shop, lugging around huge cardboard boxes full of farming tools and standing at a till all day, the life of a bureaucrat had a certain appeal...

Dog Wizard - lyrics
Based on the series of books by Barbara Hambly.

Home At Last (instrumental)
This tune is the tune of another song, stretched out and harmonically tweaked a bit. The phrase "home at last" would be my contender for "most beautiful words in the English language." Others prefer "cellar door," for some reason best known only to themselves. We never had a cellar.

Judgment Day - lyrics
The rhythm used by Brad Fiedel to underpin his music for Terminator 2 was the germ from which this song sprang. Even now, in gatherings of filkers, all I have to do is tap out da-dum dum da-dum on any convenient surface and people will join in. It can be quite spooky.

Mama Maya - lyrics
I wrote this in pitch darkness in a farmhouse in the Fens, on the deathwatch for my father-in-law. Maya is the Buddhist concept of the world of illusion.

The Market At Mos Eisley - lyrics
This is a filk of "The Old Bazaar In Cairo," and Mos Eisley is of course a Star Wars reference.

Mizpah - lyrics
I wrote this song for the Countess, who had a Mizpah ring. We now have it on the inside of our wedding rings. The reference is Biblical, to Genesis 31:49.

Necronomicon - lyrics
Another filk, of Sir Cliff Richard's "Summer Holiday." His tunes lend themselves very well to Lovecraftian themes. They're just so happy...

None Question - lyrics
The lyrics here are the Countess's, and refer to the death of Severin Torrent, a character from the Mershane stories. The tune was composed, Shuttleworth-like, on a keyboard with one of those auto-accompaniment things.

No Such Thing - lyrics
My bid for eco-cred. This one was composed with the aid of an early version of Band In A Box.

One! - lyrics
This is a verse form called a sestina, in which there are no rhymes as such, but the last words in each line are interchanged, rather like bell-ringing, to make patterns. The challenge is getting the final verse to make any sense at all.

Sam's Song - lyrics
Sam's Song is probably the one for which I'll be remembered, if I am at all. I'm still proud of it, and of knowing Sam.

Triolet - lyrics
Another tricky little verse form, this one involving very few lines, and nearly half of those repeated.

MP3 Files

The files that were here are now included, with some others, on my album "To The Landing," available via the Lulu.com storefront on the main page, and so I've removed them from here. I have another album, "Blow For Freedom," in preparation, featuring tracks which have never been released in any form. Here's a lo-fi version of one of them.

If It Ain't Pibroch, Don't Pifix It