This guitar piece started as a sort of fake Irish air in DADGAD but somehow became a slide guitar piece in Csus2 tuning (if I remember rightly), by way of one or two other tunings I can’t remember right now. Or maybe the slide version came first. Anyway, I can’t quite decide which way I prefer it. But there’s no reason I can’t keep them both in the repertoire (though I’ll need to practice them a bit before I do them in front of a real audience again).
Here’s the slide version, which acquired the title ‘Fainter Fahey’. Not that I’m as well acquainted with John Fahey’s work as I ought to be, but when I played the first demo version back, it reminded me vaguely of ‘The Death Of The Clayton Peacock’, even though the tune and tempo are completely different.
Backup:
Here’s the other version. It didn’t have a title originally, but it’s now called ‘Faintly Fahey’ because it’s pretty much the same tune as the other, but not very Fahey-like bereft of its slide context.
Got a seat facing the engine So I don’t have to face where I’ve been Luggage on the rack, no reason to look back At all my wrecked and reckless gypsy dreams No more bright lights, no more white lines Or crashing in the back of the van No more hustling small-time gigs I guess time has beaten the band
No more deadlines, no more breadlines Mr 10%, you’re on your own No more fine print, no more backstage blues This rolling stone is rolling home
Got a ticket to take me to tomorrow It can’t be worse than today So driver, take me home and don’t spare the horsepower I’m on a ten year holiday No more missed chances and chickens*t advances Cold chips in the back of the van No more blown tires and fuses, no more broken promises Time has beaten the band
No more deadlines, no more breadlines Mr 10%, you’re on your own No more fine print, no more backstage blues This rolling stone is rolling home
No more spotlights, no more ups and downers Absolutely no stage fright No more superstar fantasies From today I’m strictly 9-5 No more infighting, no more moonlighting No more one-night stands All along while the band was beating time I guess time was beating the band
No more deadlines, no more breadlines Mr 10%, you’re on your own No more fine print, no more backstage blues This rolling stone is rolling home
I tend to regard my songs as fiction, albeit sometimes taking their starting point from my own experience or that of people around me. This one, though, actually sounds closer than is comfortable to how I often felt in my mid-20s: not the best time of my life…
Backup copy:
The best days (Harley)
Sometimes I miss those other places where my lifestyle has been forged
I might even miss this town when I’ve moved on
Though I’m just turned 24, right now I’m feeling so much more
When I get this weary feeling that the best days are gone
The best days are gone
Other times I felt so low and wanted what was lost
Are hidden in a mist of golden days
But mostly I was happy, though I didn’t know it then
Such strange tricks that hindsight plays
Tricks that hindsight plays
Nothing’s as it seems to be, there’s no one I can trust
I want to wake and find myself a million years away
And more than once or twice when just living wore me down
I’ve wished I had the nerve to split and drift with the highway
And drift with the highway
There are names that I remember, many more that I forget
All the girls I never had, too many that I lost
One or two could make me cry at midnight all alone
But when you go I think I’ll miss you most
And now you’re gone, Lord knows I miss you most
David Harley Words & Music 
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