David Harley Words & Music

This is a sort of West London blues for the 1980s that probably demands an authentic glo’al stop here and there, but I don’t think I could carry that off, in spite of many years living surrounded by Londoners. There again, I don’t think Lily Allen carries it off either, but it doesn’t seem to have harmed her career.

You don’t hear much about inhalant and solvent abuse nowadays – certainly not here in Cornwall – perhaps because there are plenty of more glamorous highs around, but it certainly hasn’t gone away. It was one of a batch of songs I wrote for a review in the 1980s, but didn’t offer it for consideration because the show was going into quite different directions. I’ve never performed it in public that I remember. 

Words & Music by David Harley: Copyright 1981

Backup:

I stay away from dear old dad
He’s out of a job and gets to feeling bad
And it don’t take much for him to lose his rag
He hits the beer from time to time
And mum takes it out on me and Brian
But when we’re not at home we don’t much mind
It’s their way of cooling out

Of course I haven’t worked since I left school
No jobs around, and I’m no fool
I can get more money on the street as a rule
It would really get right up my snout
Stacking crates and washing bottles out
Anyway I like to get out and about
Got me ways of cooling out

Dad thinks mum’s got the dropsy bad
There’s this smell of glue all round the flat
But I’m away down the road with me blowsing bag
If he asks I’ll say Bri’s into Airfix kits
And off I’ll go with me Evostik
Down the park with me packet of crisps
Got me ways of cooling out

Mum thinks I’m always down with a cold
She says I’m off me nut but then I’m never home
When I’m reeling round on a toluene high
But you’ve got to do something when it all goes grey
So I’m back down the road with Mick and Dave
The caretaker chases us off the estate
But we’re only cooling out

Dad’d go spare if he knew, I bet
But he’s too busy drinking himself to death
And mum only sees what she wants to see
That’s her way of cooling out…

Her Own Way Down: Words and Music by David Harley: copyright 1980

Backup:

She’ll have to learn to make her own way down
Or learn to lean on someone else
Now her good man’s not around
She’ll have to learn to make her own way down

She’ll have to make her own way in the dark
Though I tried so hard to warn her
I always missed my mark
She’ll have to make her own way in the dark

I’ll have to find my own path through the rain
I got by without her once
I guess I can again
I’ll have to find my own path through the rain

I’m crying now, but not forever, wait and see
Though once we loved each other
And she was so good for me
Nothing lasts forever, wait and see

She’ll have to learn to make her own way down
Or learn to lean on someone else
Now her good man’s not around
She’ll have to learn to make her own way down

Originally called ‘Same Old Blues’ but as there are several songs with a similar title, ‘Same Old Same Old’ seemed more appropriate.

David Harley: vocal, guitars, keyboards (no, that’s not a real sax…)

Copyright David Harley, 1987

(Remastered version)

Backup:

The burglar bells chimed midnight
The sky was pouring down
My feet froze to the catwalk
But my head was homeward-bound

Same old blues
Same old back-street blues

My head is stuffed with nicotine
My throat is full of sand
My bloodstream is pure gin
I can’t remember how to stand

Same old blues
Same old inner-city blues

The all-night bus is AWOL
I can’t get to my bed
There’s a tangle in my fingers
And a jangle in my head

Same old blues
Same old long-gone midnight blues