[PaulAds]

Hello

I brought some stage lights home for my daughter...who's doing photography and video at college...and as I was bashing about on my 12-string...I thought I'd yank the sofa out of the way and record a few songs as I went...

there are 10 in total this afternoon...some old, some new(ish) and even a couple of covers...I'll upload them all gradually (Vimeo has weekly limits)

maybe someone will find them interesting...I need to practice a bit more anyway...filming yourself is a little excruciating...but it really helps to show what you're doing wrong and what needs improving upon...quite a lot, as it turns out!

[PaulAds]

First one is an old song I wrote around 1987...when I was about 19 or so...it's about my hometown...a mining village in north-east England...Chopwell...or "Little Moscow" as it was dubbed for 'twas a hotbed of communism back in the day...

Abandon Ship

https://vimeo.com/303998585

Every day's different...but largely the same
This village is walking the plank
It's destined to drop off the roadmaps
And no-one will know where it sank

Abandon the ship 'cos there's nothing left here
The past's dead and gone and the future's not clear
And the old man he coughs and he splutters
And he brings up the fruits of his toil
As he drags on the woodbines that one day
Gonna drag him down into the soil

He's always intended to die here
Perhaps that explains why he laughed
Cos he knows he won't find the direction in life
That he lost when he fell up that shaft

So they landscape the slag-heaps around us
And leave us to rot in the streets
Of a village that once got knocked flat on its arse
And just couldn't get back on its feet

I'm gonna drown in a wave of nostalgia
Bringing turnips back home from the tip
You can go jump in a lifeboat
I wanna go down with my ship

[PaulAds]

This second one I wrote earlier this year...

Six Ways From Sunday

https://vimeo.com/303999149

So are you sitting comfortably and are you finally getting warm?
Did you get your shit together in the calm before the storm?
Or did you get so full of hate?
That you couldn’t see it straight?
And has insanity become the norm?

Are you all stocked up with popcorn to see the tragedy unfold?
Are you thinking for yourself or are you doing what you’re told?
Is it ever gonna stop?
Will the penny ever drop?
Has it already been bought and sold?

We got Six Ways from Sunday for exacting retribution
We got Six Ways from Sunday to erode the constitution
We got Six Ways from Sunday…will we even get to Monday?
We got Six Ways to throw it all away...

[ScottLevi]

Yo Paaaaul!

Smashing it mate, love 'em.

Really dig your strumming and was nice too see you get into it and move around some. Lights setup looking nice leaving those mesmerising shadows on the wall - well worth getting some recording in!

Didn't catch much of the words but only used laptop speakers so will revisit when better equipped.

Looking forward to the other instalments

Cheers,
Scott.

[redrhodie]

Really impressive guitar playing and you looked totally comfortable. The pink was a great idea. It added a dynamic visual to your dynamic performance.

Cheers,
Lynn

[CaliaMoko]

Well, I enjoyed those a lot. And I love the 12-string. I'm biased. All I had for years was a 12-string (a long time ago). I have a different one now. So I need to see if I can learn to strum like that. !! Fun to watch you "in person".

[PaulAds]

Thanks for the nice comments!

Number 3 is Stand Down...which I think has the most Soundcloud plays of any of my efforts...

Stand Down

https://vimeo.com/305202036

Those who met me
They won't forget me
But you’ve got to let me go
Understand
I've done all I can
I'm winding up the show

Stand down...

Don't be sorry
There’s a bigger story
And now we know their game
I don't feel danger
Got one in the chamber
They can't even say my name

Stand down, it's true
Stand down, I'm gonna stand down too

Leave it all behind me
Let the sheriff find me
And don't touch a single thing
There'll be some crying
And rumours flying
And then the birds can sing

In memory of Michael C Ruppert

[PaulAds]

Another oldie...this is from the late 1980's

Disaster Strikes

https://vimeo.com/305202563

There’s a light…which might go out
I’ve got to try…and make it count

I spend so much time sitting on my arse
And I watch the days drift by
Then there’s an urge to go and get something done
That gets lost in reasons why

And though I need to make it happen
I just can’t seem to get at them
I’ll be alright…I’ll do what I like
Before Disaster Strikes

There’s a chance…perhaps just one
I’ve got to take…before it’s gone

I can’t pretend that all is wonderful
When it’s obviously not
Or say that I don’t even want
The things I haven’t got

And watch the fat-assed calf get fatter
And pretend it doesn’t matter
I’ll be alright…I’ll take a hike
Before Disaster Strikes

[pompeyjazz]

What a great project @PaulAds . It works so well with just you and the 12 string. There's a wonderful full sound emitted from a 12 string that can't be described. I had a lovely 12 string stolen when I was working in France using it to supplement my income many years ago. Bastards    Keep them coming Paul as they are immensely enjoyable and Stand Down is one of my favourites of yours. You do still look a bit pink though 

[PaulAds]

Ha ha...thanks, John. Yeah...pink's not dead 

I need to differentiate between doing a "performance" properly and just goofing around playing songs at random!

I do think that songs can take on an extra dimension or have greater resonance with a simpler treatment.

I've been a mug in the past, playing everything fast and loud all the time...when there were better ways to do it...i might even mellow out a little one day...But I just start playing and get a bit carried away 

I'll post a couple more next weekend...unless someone talks me out of it.

[PaulAds]

Ploughing on doggedly...here's "Same Circus, Different Clown"...

https://vimeo.com/306544010

We don't get involved
in our own affairs
We're like lions...
frightened of chairs
And we all wear a frown
when they roll into town
It's the Same Circus, Different Clown

CH

And they twist and turn
like acrobats
But there's no one pulling
rabbits out of hats
They feed us with lies and then custard pies
It's the Same Circus, Different Clown

And we must perform
Or they might forget
to spoil us with
some kind of safety net
And we all wear a frown
when they roll into town
It's the Same Circus, Different Clown

CH

We don't hold out breath
and we bite our lip
and we dance when
the man cracks the whip
And we all wear a frown
when they roll into town
It's the Same Circus, Different Clown

[PaulAds]

And I thought I'd have a tootle through "Busman's Holiday" as well

https://vimeo.com/306544302

You can telephone the helpline
where no-one takes your call
make a generous donation
if you have the wherewithal

The legal team is all tooled up
the PR firm engages
in another fight for hearts and minds
and the sympathy of strangers

Out of season...early May
On a Busman's Holiday

You're just helping with enquiries
above investigation
but reasons why and alibis
get lost in the translation

Sirens started screaming
cameras started flashing
statements being taken
and faces turning ashen

Out of season...early May
On a Busman's Holiday

But they'll never close the case
until someone can explain
the feeling something's missing
and the empty seat on the plane

Out of season...early May
On a Busman's Holiday

[PaulAds]

A little relief from my own songs...here's one of my favourite Beatles songs...

https://vimeo.com/307842919

Pesky 12-string was drifting out of tune...serves me right for re-stringing just before a "performance"

[PaulAds]

This is "Say Something Happened" which won song of the month, believe it or not...it's a tricky little thing to play with my somewhat arthritic and double-jointed fingers...but I had a crack at it and just left the blunders in...it was just one-take...like all the others I did...life's too short to pretend you're better than you really are.

https://vimeo.com/307843385

Fingertips on photographs like floodgates
Reverse-engineering broken dreams
Nightmares are much easier to live with
Cos everything’s exactly as it seems

What are you going to do...say something happened?
When everything you have just slips away
What are you going to do...say something happened?
Something happens every single day...

Memories are slipped back into shadows
Throats are cleared and tears are quickly dried
It’s a long way from the moment that it kills you
To the moment that the headstone says you died

What are you going to do...say something happened?
When everything you have just slips away
What are you going to do...say something happened?
Something happens every single day...

[pompeyjazz]

That's one of my fave Beatles songs Paul. I had a go at recording it a while ago as an exercise.

Keep em coming