Category: Songs

A very 60s-ish guitar arrangement of a traditional song. Final arrangement might be quite a lot different. Words and tune approximately as A.L. Lloyd et al. Is he (Reynardine, that is) a British outlaw, a Bluebeard, a werefox, a French outlaw? I don’t know, but he’s attracted many different theories, which I’ll maybe go into later…

backup:

Just trying out some ideas at the moment.

 

David Harley

Words and Music by David Harley, copyright 1974.

Written at a time when I was much more ambivalent about my religious beliefs (or the lack of them) than I am now, but I’d like to think that even the least enlightened deity or prophet might be appalled at some of  the actions their followers take in their name. A version of this song was released on the Scriptwrecked cassette, but re-recorded here. 

backup:

Have you seen a man choke on another man’s dream
And humanity dying of shame?
Have you seen a man drunk on another man’s blood
And a scapegoat called Christ get the blame?

And God knows I’m no angel
But then I wouldn’t claim to be
Nor the gambler who lost
On a hill called Calvary

Have you walked in fear of another man’s lust
In the heat of a holy war
That slashed the throats of the innocent
The guilty and the bored?

And maybe we’re all guilty
But I wouldn’t want to be
The gambler who lost
On a hill called Calvary

Have you seen the soldiers of fortune
Fighting for names?
Have you seen the fallen angels
Play their whisky games?

And each one thinking
He has the right to be
A stand-in for the dealer
Who OD’d on Calvary

 

This End of the 1960s: Words and Music copyright 1975 David Harley

Backup:

Shine like a sun on this cloudy day
Reached out my arms but you’re far away
Dawn took the sunshine away

Strange how familiar a new song can be
At the trigger end of a memory
Dawn took the sunshine away

I can remember a sunny day
Could be just yesterday
Dawn took the sunshine away