Category: David Harley

Song of Chivalry video

It took me so many years to get around to putting a tune to this that it had already been published twice as a poem…

There is a different version of this song on ‘Tears of Morning‘: this one uses a guitar strung for Nashville tuning, which emphasises the archaic feel to the lyric. (Actually, it’s not in standard Nashville: it’s tuned to the high-strung equivalent of DADGAD.) However, the essential story has been repeated time and time again over the years. Wars are fought and won for the benefit of the ruling classes, not the people who most suffer the consequences of the fighting.

If you want to learn more about Nashville tuning, you might find this book of interest.

When the lord returned to his sheets of silk
And his gentle lady of musk and milk
The minstrels sang in the gallery
Their songs of slaughter and chivalry

The rafters roared with laughter and boasting
Goblets were raised and drained in toasting
The heroes of Crécy and Azincourt
Or the madness of some Holy War

The hawk is at rest on the gauntlet once more
Savage of eye, and bloody of claw
Famine and fever are all the yield
Of the burnt-out barns and wasted fields

The sun grins coldly through the trees
The children shiver, the widows grieve
And beg their bread at the monastery door
Tell me, then, who won the war?

Also published on Substack

Drunk Last Night

As if I ever…

Fairly recent video version of a relic of the times when I aspired to be a hardass blues player…

Words & Music (c) David Harley I don’t do a lot of real country blues, but from time to time I try to write something in that idiom. Though I probably wouldn’t go for anything as badass as this, at this time of my life…

I was drunk last night, drunk the night before x2
I’ll be drunk again this evening, but I won’t be drunk no more

I don’t mind coffee, milk or even tea
But water without whisky is just too strong for me

Feeling tomorrow like I do today
I’ll break your hard-rock head and make my getaway

If you quit me baby, tell you what I’ll do:
Drink a quart of whisky and let it out all over you

I was drunk last night, drunk the night before x2
I’ll be drunk again this evening, but I won’t be drunk no more

Also published on Substack

Whistle While You Walk

Audio blog on Substack

I’ve never been a real blues player/singer, but sometimes I can’t resist pretending. This was written about 2017.

Whistle While You Walk (Harley)

Sometimes – you look into her eyes
And you just want to talk
Sometimes you have to see her
Sometimes you just have to walk

Just walk away
Walk away
And whistle while you walk away

Sometimes you’re the heartbreak
Sometimes you’re just broke
And all your songs are lost
In the space between the notes

Sometimes you know you love her
Sometimes you feel so cold
Sometimes your heart is empty
And you turn back to the road

Sometimes – you look into her eyes
And you just want to talk
Sometimes you have to see her
Other times you just have to walk

Just walk away
Walk away
And whistle while you walk away