You may be wondering what happened to that flurry of posts from earlier in the year…
The fact is, at the moment I’m concentrating on publishing my miscellaneous articles on Substack, mostly on my page (Un)Selective Symmetry. If you’re at all interested in what I’m writing about these days, you’re very welcome to take a look and even subscribe. (There’s no subscription fee.)
David Harley
Posted in Substack
A song I originally recorded in the 1980s, updated for the New Prize Silver Jug Band lyrically to reflect 21st century technology a little better. Though the global economic system was both corrupt and built on sand even at the time it was written. And as 2025 wears on, it feels astoundingly topical. You don’t have to pay for it to listen to it, but we won’t object if you do pay for it. ;)
Apologies to the shade of Jimi Hendrix for the new title.
Paper city at the heart of a paper empire:
You’ve got strings to pull, you’ve got wires all over the earth.
Sky-climbing parasite, stalking a paper jungle,
You’ve got money to burn, but I know you’d rather freeze to death.
You’ve got stacks of stocks and shares and bonds:
You’ve got more data than you’ll ever know how to use.
But you can’t produce as much as one lead pencil,
Or a bar of soap, or a rubber band to pull you through.
The media twitch at the flash of a freemason’s handshake:
Speeches are made and the punters gather round;
Paper politicians and faceless company men,
Sucking the sap from an ailing paper pound.
I bet you know just what you’re worth on paper:
When the market crumbles, what will you do?
So many cold people don’t own the earth they lie in:
Will you be OK in your green-lined paper tomb?
Paper city at the heart of a bankrupt empire:
Your towers get higher as your assets hit new lows.
Nose-diving parasite, I wouldn’t mind your dying,
But you’ll take so many with you when you go.
Music and original words by David Harley. Updated lyrics by David Harley and Dave Higgen. Vocals by David Harley.
Posted in Albums, New Prize Silver Jug Band, Songs
My instrumental Moonflow was written and recorded in Ludlow, using Garageband on a MacBook. Originally it was a short, improvised introduction to a recording of Bert Jansch’s Needle of Death. Later, I thought the instrumental introduction was interesting enough to stand as a tune in its own right. (And I’m not at all biased.) That recording of Bert’s song hasn’t been released commercially, by the way.
The acoustic guitar that comprises the first section is actually the entire improvised introduction to Bert’s song. The second and third sections are the same section, but electronically tweaked and with overdubbed instruments.
This is the version that was released as a single. It also got a mention in my book So Sound You Sleep. If it matters, acoustic guitar was a Gibson J160E, the slide guitar was a Gretsch Bobtail round-neck resonator guitar, and the electric guitar was a Variax Standard impersonating a Coral Sitar and then (if I remember correctly – it was quite a few years ago and I didn’t make a note at the time!) a Rickenbacker 370. And if it doesn’t matter, feel free to disregard the previous sentence.
Recording:
Acoustic, resonator and electric guitars by David Harley.
Posted in Instrumental, Substack
David Harley Words & Music 
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