Song Number 10: I Should Be Here

TEN SONGS!  We're into double figures, folks!

And now, PLEASE donate a few bob to Parkinson's UK by clicking on the widget in the top right, or visiting justgiving.com/songaweek.

BEFORE I TALK ABOUT THE SONG, I'd like to say a massive thank you to everybody who came along to the Water Rats gig on the 9th.  It was a great success on the night, but I need you all to do me a favour and, as Batman once said, TELL ALL YOUR FRIENDS ABOUT ME!  If we're going to reach this £1,000 target, we're going to need all hands on deck.

Now, the song.  This one was written and largely recorded in the early hours of this morning after eating a large takeaway in front of a documentary about Harry Nilsson.

 Nilsson is one of my biggest influences as a singer and songwriter.  When he was in his prime, his voice was just beyond compare; and his best songs wouldn't have disgraced Lennon & McCartney.  Even if you've not heard of him, you'll have heard him - "Can't live, if living is without you..."; "Everybody's talkin' at me.  I don't hear a word they're sayin..."; "One is the loneliest number that you'll ever do..."; "You put de lime in de coconut you drink em both up..." and so on and on.  For the uninitiated, I recommend you check out the albums Nilsson Schmilsson and Harry.  The former was the biggie that made him a star, beautifully produced by Richard Perry; the latter is a slightly earlier album that sounds like what music might have sounded like had Rock n Roll not come along - it's one of my 5 favourite records, and if you don't absolutely adore at least one track on there, you simply have no heart.

He was a flawed man, bent for whatever reason on sabotaging his own career, and could be a bit of a bastard when he wanted to be... but he was also capable of this.

26/2 Update

First of all, thank you for all your kind comments about songs 6 & 7!  Here at Falconer Towers we're over the moon with the response generated by Jess's performance... but that's only part of what I'm doing this for.  I'm killing myself here trying to get a song a week recorded, so please make sure it's not all in vain, and DONATE TO PARKINSON'S UK by clicking on the widget on the top right!

Just finished writing this week's song - it's kind of a commission for brilliant stoner rock band Earthtide*. Amongst their riff-based Deep Purple/Sabbath type music is a fantastic song about Jaws called "Bigger Boat"; the idea came up about doing a similar song about the Jerry Bruckheimer monstrosity Armageddon, and I volunteered to come up with a suitable ditty.  I'll explain more about the writing of the song when I post it in the next couple of days.

Also, rehearsal on Thursday evening with the Peter Falconer Band was very exciting - looking forward to an electrifying set on 9th March at the Water Rats, King's Cross. We're on at 8pm - drop me a line if you want to get on the Early Bird discount list!

Finally, exciting new purchase - Korg X50 keyboard (the little one on the top)

It's basically all the sounds of my old Triton ProX, except where the former weighs about four ton and is the size of a sofa, this is a teeny little thing that weighs - get this - 4.5kg!  Which means, of course, that while I'll still be using the Yamaha piano (big one on the bottom) for most gigs, the X50 will do just fine for any depping in bands that want a keyboard player rather than a piano player.

Anyway, that's me for now.  Stay tuned - song 8 on the way soon!


* Featuring Andrew "Randy" Nicholls, star photographer, whose latest shoot with me will be online soon; and Steve "Steve" McGuigan, who drums with the Peter Falconer band an' all.