Idle Dreams and Improvisations

Pass It On

Thu, 14 Nov 2024 14:44:35 GMT

Pass it On - What's it all about.

I wrote this song about my brother, Ian, who died more than 30 years ago. It started as a folk song but some way down the line turned into a rock song, which I much preferred. The three young men at the beginning are me, Ian and his friend, Mick. We were walking along towards Lewes station one time, they were 12 so I was just 11. On the bench at the bottom of Station Street, Lewes , sat what for us appeared to be old men. Their chins were dark and partly shaven. Ian said to Mick., 'I never want to have a blue chin when I get old.' Mick nodded in agreement, but I didn't have a clue what they were talking about. Right or wrong, Ian explained that if you didn't use an electric razor, which was smoother, but instead used a hand one, your chin would turn blue. The idea had always sat somewhere in the back of my mind and is still there today. Ian must have thought he was so wise, and to me he was. That's why I wrote the lines, 'Good old boys to men, grown into boys again.'

The lines, 'About the dance they knew, just pass it on,' refers to Ian coming home from the Riverside Youth Club when he was about 11, and teaching me all the new dances he'd learnt that evening. My parents wouldn't let me go; I was too young.

The verse where all 3 of us walk through the graveyard is both ironic and poignant. We all wore Levis jeans and from watching the other 2, I realised that it looked cool if you put your thumbs through your belt loops while walking along. It's maybe not cool now, but it sure was then! The irony comes from the fact that all 3 of us where walking past the spot where Ian would be buried.

The remainder of the song involves ideas of adolescence, bewilderment and soon to be discovered, unrequited love. Passing it on means passing these thoughts from one generation to the next, thoughts and ideas that seemed so important to us and which will be lost when I'm gone. Here I am, chatting about it on Facebook.

David Bowie - Pretentious? Him? The Rise of the Gnome!

pcdavies@pm.me (Pete Davies) — Sun, 28 Aug 2022 10:16:23 GMT

Living on Caviar and Honey

Foreign Food

I would like to add smatterings of foreign languages to my everyday speech, I know how to order aubergines in Arabic so it would probably get me more than a few nods of admiration if in mid conversation I said, ‘as the Arabs say, ‘ لدينا طباخ يطبخ لنا ،’ (‘we have a cook who cooks for us.’) A little pretentious, you might say? Probably, but also ‘on trend.’

GB News

Group thinking has always worried me, what we should or shouldn't say. Free speech used to be the thing but not anymore, it's so much easier to tow the party line. Where's Cromwell's men when you need them? Surely there are a few more cathedrals to knock down? Oh, they're already here.

This morning I was watching DJ Diddy David Hamilton on GB News . I’m sure he’s a National Treasure and beyond criticism, but he was talking about an old demo of David Bowie’s which had just sold at auction. It seemed to have gone for a small amount of money, to which ‘Diddy Dave’ said something like, ‘mind you, it may not have been any good. After all, David Bowie did write the Laughing Gnome , he sounded like Anthony Newley!’ Pretentious and unimaginative.

I found this extremely irksome for a number of reasons. First I think it’s a really good tribute to Anthony Newley.

If you are unsure what I mean, look up ‘Strawberry Fair’, and if you really want to know where David Bowie got it all from, watch ‘ Who Can I Turn to ,’ also by Anthony Newley.

Present Laughter

I think these songs are genius and very much a part of the witty 60s, perhaps a continuation of Noel Coward’s contribution to music and society.

One of my favourite all time lyrics is in the line from, Right Said Fred , by Myles Rudge, where it says:

‘And Charlie had a think, and he thought we ought to take off all the handles

And the things wot held the candles.’

Those of you who didn’t live in what is now known as ‘olden times’, may not be aware that there were candle holders on pianos. I don’t think you get them on synthesisers, but I’ll check it out.

Derek Fearnley

Going back to Dave, (Bowie not Diddy) I have one other reason for liking, ‘The Laughing Gnome’. And that reason is Derek Fearnley , someone who was funny and who I really liked and who died sometime ago in a hospice in Eastbourne.

( ‘Then I put him on a train to Eastbourne.

Carried his bag, and gave him a fag’. Laughing Gnome lyric )

Derek played bass with David Bowie and with his brother, I believe, arranged, The Laughing Gnome. I met Derek when he played in a group I was in during the 70s. He had a blue Fender Jazz bass and was extremely proficient and modest with it.

Derek only told me 2 Bowie stories, one was that David Bowie had a bass cabinet belonging to him which he wouldn’t give back.

The second one was that the last time Derek saw him, David Bowie was lighting his farts in the back of a Transit van. (Pure, Bowie!)

I find it hard to relate to people who are embarrassed about their past successes. Although as I write this, I realise I’m guilty of it too.

I suppose I shouldn’t really expect much more from a DJ but you’d think Diddy (Dave not P) might know more about the stuff he’s been feeding us for the last 60 years.

And to end this, my late wife Louise collected a few gnomes from garden centres and started painting them in bright colours. It gave her great pleasure. I once told her about my grand plans to make an arbour in the garden to which she replied,’ are we getting a boat?

Unpretentious and imaginative.

‘ There is no life I know

To compare with pure imagination

Living there you'll be free

If you truly wish to be’

Pure Imagination, by Anthony Newley and Leslie Bricusse

I'm a One Man Banned -Social Media Update.

pcdavies@pm.me (Pete Davies) — Wed, 10 Aug 2022 13:24:38 GMT

Living in a Social Whirl

Saturday Night Fever

What an interesting week! Having avidly watched a YouTube video last Saturday, stating that a link-in bio called Koji was the latest must have thing (it’s like a landing page where all your social media, website etc is found in one place) I quickly put one together and then went about replacing all my website links with this new Koji one.

Monday Night Crisis

I think it was last Monday when I got my first violation message from YouTube. It’s a bit unnerving if you’ve never had one. So, having spent the next day racking my brains I realised that it was probably the website name swap. I swapped them back.

The following day I was told my video was back on line! I checked and found this was so, however another of my videos now had a violation attached.

Tuesday Mayhem

Tuesday night around 11 o’clock, , I got a note from Facebook saying my Facebook account had been suspended! I tried to sleep but woke up around 3 am deciding that I had to look into it. A quick check on Google showed (I think) that the email sent was a very elaborate scam. Fortunately I didn't reply to it so I assume all is OK.

Wednesday - Instaphobia

Wednesday - I got a note from Instagram ... site suspended! Panicking, I replied to this one, saying I hadn’t a clue what I had done. I sent the email, and as I have yet to hear back, I wondered if this was a follow up to the Facebook scam?

Monday - Musical Chairs

Yesterday, (Monday morning) got an email from YouTube: Congrats! Your video is now clear to go.

Monday afternoon, another email from YouTube: you are now violating copyright as the music attached to your video (mine!) YouTube say it belongs to CDBaby. CDBaby is the company that is going to distribute my song: ‘This is What the Fuss is All About.’

Tuesday - I Should be Dancing, but I'm Not

Today (Tuesday) YouTube agree that it is my music. I check my YouTube videos but the earlier violation is still there. I’ve no idea what it is.

(Oh, almost forgot, TikTok have stopped one of my videos!)

Right! That's it! I'm sacking my Social Media Manager! OK, I don't have one ... that would be me then.

I feel oppressed.

Anyway here up my updated stats, TikTok is still galloping away!

( 12th August) UPDATE! YouTube have reinstated me so it's all go there! However Instagram say I cannot appeal, I'm banned from advertising for good! Funny thing is, I don't think I wanted to advertise with them in the first place.

10 Things you Need to Know Before a Photoshoot

pcdavies@pm.me (Pete Davies) — Fri, 05 Aug 2022 06:49:50 GMT

Photoshoot Dos and Don'ts

Shoot the Photos or Shoot the Photographer?

On Sunday a photographer, Paul, took my pictures. I held off for as long as I could, but in the back of my mind I knew that people on websites and social media want to know who they are communicating with, it’s important to put a face to a word or two, apparently. Of course I knew this but I was ignoring it. Photos were fine when I was 21, but I’m not 21 anymore. If I wanted to develop my social media group and my website, I needed a presence.

Paul’s address on his website was challenging to say the least. It didn’t really exist. Just a road and the name of a town. I wasn’t too concerned as Paul told me he would send me his address over the weekend, unfortunately Paul forgot.

Undeterred, I jumped in my car and headed off towards the road and the town. half an hour later, as I sat in the As I sat in the layby, watching the rain drip down my windscreen, my good humour disappeared, I was lost. I rang Paul and did that thing you should never do, I got an incy wincy bit cross. That’s all it was, just a bit. No tears .. well not from me anyway.

Twiggy

‘It doesn’t matter,’ Paul remarked cheerily, as I finally entered his studio. ‘You are what you are, warts and all.’

‘I haven’t got any effing warts!’ I huffed, scanning the mirror. Was this mini-fit of pique the first indication that I was becoming a true model? I needed to remain calm otherwise we weren’t going to get very far.

'See!' said Paul, smiling enthusiastically. ‘I’ve lost my teeth!’

I shot a quick glance at him. Perhaps things weren't that bad after all, I thought.

‘Image is everything,’ Paul added.

‘It is,’ I agreed. Selling music is a lot about image and I would have to use my personality and looks to convince my undiscovered audience that I am worth listening to.

We sat down and stared at each other.

‘Hey Paul, I bought loads of clothes,’ I said, keenly, ‘and guess what? This will make you green with envy, I’ve photographed a really famous model.’ My fingers flicked across my phone, and there it was, me, paintbrush in one hand, squinting across my easel at the familiar couple who sat on stools, smiling before me.

The Camera Always Lies

‘Don’t worry about how you look,’ said Paul, ‘the camera always lies.’

Well that's worth knowing , I thought.

Within minutes the first few shots were taken. I stared at the results. I don’t know how best to describe my new image, just to say my face looked red and fat or fat and red, it’s about the same.

In the last month I had gained about 10 lbs, my home grown ‘PWC’ diet needed tweaking.

‘Can it lie a lot, Paul?’ I asked, the know tightening in my stomach.

I glanced again at the photos, I suppose I looked alright … me with guitar in hands, me pointing guitar up, down and then at Paul, it was just my head; it was red. ‘I can change the colour,’ said Paul, in a matter of fact sort of way.

'I'm sure you can,' I replied, wondering if he was thinking blue or orange. So we carried on regardless.

Not just Plain Photographs, this is now a Photoshoot Session!

After a brief chat, things got better. I decided to relax. Photos were now taken of me against a big white sheet thing. There’s probably a technical name for this but what is it?

I changed my shirt into the one without the collar, the one that I thought makes me look like Imran Khan. I was starting to gain confidence. More shots were taken but somehow the collarless shirt had turned me into Marcus Welby, MD.

Paul noticed by sagging expression. ‘What kind of music do you write?’ he muttered.

‘Disco music,’ I said.

‘Is it still going strong?’

‘I hope so,’ I replied nervously, ‘I've just written a song called, ' This is What the Fuss is All About '.

'Who's it by?' asked Paul.

'It's by me but under the name, Goo-Q. Anyway disco is called nu-disco now, Purple Disco Machine play it and I write it.’

Paul, nodding encouragingly. ‘Two down then, just the rest of the world to go.'

Plato's Archetypes

I glanced at the screen in front of me. Surprisingly my photos were actually starting to look quite good. Plato's archetypes tripped through my head. That's not the name of a band, but it's where we have an idea in our heads of how we think things should be and when we see that idea reproduced in front of us, it often fails to match the image in our heads. Well not at first, anyway, after a few hours things tend to become acceptable. It's like when you have a passport photo taken, at first it look terrible, always. But then a few years later, it really looks quite good! How worrying is that? Anyway, I digress.

From Photoshoot Session to Modelling Assignment!

As the afternoon progressed, things got better and better. I was really getting into the swing of this. The studio was starting to look like a scene from, ‘Blowup,’ but for men, if you know what I mean, no rolling around on a purple sheet of paper and no Vanessa Redgrave , but at a push, we could have been.

The next shots that Paul rattled off, (me with moody shadows) made me look almost presidential. I’d deliberately starved myself that morning in order to lose weight by the afternoon (it could have worked) and perhaps lack of food was making me hallucinate because the shots that followed made me look positively angelic! OK not very disco, but great if I ever want to start an Undertakers.

Ten things you need to know before a photo session:

Check the address
Check the photographer knows you are coming.
Check there is parking and that you don't have to walk for miles
Bring a hat or umbrella in case it starts to rain
Bring some makeup to cover any blemishes you didn't know you had. I hit my head with a barbell a few hours earlier and had a cut on my face!
Download the images you like on to your phone so that the photographer has an idea of what you want
Know what you want before you arrive
It's your photoshoot, be flexible but firm. Don't let the photographer lead you into an 'arty' area that you're not sure of.
Check if the images are available only online or as photographs.
Relax, relax, relax!

Well that’s it. I hope my photos do the trick. I survived the photoshoot. Now can I get back to writing songs?

The Lionesses, Gutted or Over the Moon? Here's my Result.

pcdavies@pm.me (Pete Davies) — Mon, 01 Aug 2022 16:09:30 GMT

Gutted or over the Moon?

Great football results!

Gutted or over the moon? See below my social media results after just 10 days:

Facebook, 10 likes, 139 views,

TikTok: 5,805 likes, 79.9K views!

Read the full story HERE , it's eye opening!:

#lionesses #socialmediatips #socialmarketing

Social Media! Who Needs it? I do! Follow me as I check my social media results, 10 days in!

Sat, 30 Jul 2022 11:30:17 GMT

Social media, Let's See How I Am Doing

Doing Stuff. Social Media! Who Needs it? I do!

Just like Abba , I spent the last 40 years hiding away doing what a diving supervisor I once knew called, 'stuff'.

Stuff is what I’ve been doing, and once again I am here, being creative. I’m a bit good at creating, usually I’m creating a fuss about something, but this time it’s different stuff, it’s music!

Le Gig

I did my first gig when I was 14, it was at the Riverside Youth Club in Lewes, Sussex. It was a Tuesday and I remember being at school, unable to concentrate, feeling indignant and scowling at my French teacher. Did he not realise I was doing a gig, this evening? At a youth club? In Lewes? How was I meant to concentrate on the pluperfect? I had important stuff to do!

Even More Stuff

Time has flown. The last time I put some songs together was about 4 years ago. Expressing myself was what I was doing, it was stuff about me and my feelings. That kind of stuff.

But now I’m writing songs again. Why Pete? You might ask, have you not tortured yourself enough? And what about those poor unfortunates who’ve fallen prey to your website, have they not suffered too? Don’t they deserve a life of tranquillity?

Well it seems not, it seems I still have stuff to accomplish and this time it's in the land of disco!

Get Stuffed

I look in the mirror and think I don’t want to be a popstar. And I don’t, I’m as nervous now as I was as a 14 year old boy in a French lesson.

And anyone who met me would know that I was no longer cut out to swizzle my hips on stage, but they can get stuffed. I still have stuff to do.

Time is Passing -TikTok

Social media, its what’s new, isn’t it? My fan base doesn't come from the school 4th or 5th form anymore, it comes from people I’ve never met, they don’t get the bus to come and hear my music anymore, they just pick up their phones.

So I signed up to social media. Returning to social media made me feel like I’d arrived late for the first day at school; everyone smirking at me while I clutched a letter from my mum. I felt out of place and like I shouldn’t really be there. The same feeling I had when I was 12 and borrowed my older brother’s black suede winklepicker boots to attend a gathering of the Scouts in Landport, Lewes. I thought I looked great, I didn’t realise until we all stood in line, that I didn’t fit in.

And how's my stuff doing now? Well I started my new website on 21st July. I signed up to the sites I was familiar with. TikTok however, was completely new.

Social Media Results

Today is the 30th June so I’ve been online for 10 days, and here are the results at the bottom of the page. Well ... TikTok it is! Now where did I put all that other stuff? You know those cutsie kitten videos …

Pete Davies new song, ‘This is What the Fuss is All About,’ is being released soon under the name of Goo-Q.

The Devil in Disguise, Song Writing with Psychic Help and Pesky Goblins

pcdavies@pm.me (Pete Davies) — Fri, 29 Jul 2022 09:23:03 GMT

How I write songs, with psychic help, of course.

Song Writing

One of my many sons once asked me how I wrote songs and I have thought long and hard into the night about this. And now as I rock back and forth in my creaky old chair, it occurs to me that inspiration comes from another worldly source.

Lightning Strikes

The process for me is quite simple and usually follows the same pattern. What I do is pick up one of my guitars, either the one that’s made from old coffin wood or the one my dad and I carved from the giant oak tree in the yard, you know, the one that was struck by lightning?

Then I write down notes, my hands running furiously across the paper, working long into the night until I collapse through exhaustion.

Goblin up my ideas?

And when the sun’s rays wake me in the morning the most magical thing has happened. The song has completed itself! Could it be those pesky goblins, you know, the ones that come in the night and repair my red dancing shoes ? Locals say my house is built on the old village burial ground, would that be influencing my creative process?

This is What the Fuss is All About

I’m just not sure. What I will say is that I’ve written a new, fab song, called, ‘So, Here I Am.’ This could be more fabber than, ‘ This is What the Fuss is All About!’ I’ve also written another song, about marital strife, it’s called,’ The Shop is Closed, I Can’t Come In.’ It’s funny and it should be ready soon.

You can watch this article on video by clicking here

Abbey Road, not just a Beatles Album

pcdavies@pm.me (Pete Davies) — Fri, 29 Jul 2022 08:48:15 GMT

Studio 1, 2, 3 or somewhere else?

Follow the yellow brick road

In October 2019, I found myself at Abbey Road Studios again. It's a fabulous place, I use it not only because it is the home of the Beatles , Zombies , Pink Floyd etc but because it's the only studio I've ever worked in which is professionally run. Even though the engineers no longer wear white coats with pockets festooned with biros, everything is done on time, no one wanders off and makes a phone call at your expense.

I first went to Abbey Road in 1975, I was playing with Robin Scott of Pop Musik fame and he'd won a recording contract with EMI. We recorded a few demos there but I never got to see inside studios, 1, 2 or 3. Even though I'd been back a few times since then, the studios were always booked.

Well, after 34 years I decided it was time to change all that and to give it my best shot and take a look. Abbey Road is a

big Georgian grade 1 listed House, which looks like a reasonably sized London townhouse, that is until you get inside. As I’d arrived 20 minutes early for my appointment I was put in the cafeteria which is downstairs. I knew there was a big studio on the left as you entered the building and assumed that was the famous studio 2 where all those Beatle songs were recorded. As I passed it, the door was firmly closed. However as I went down to the cafeteria, I saw a door open on the left at the bottom of the stairs. Classical musicians were carting celli and stuff inside so I thought I would grab a violin and join them. The room was enormous and I thought it was studio 2 but the famous stairs against the wall were on the wrong side and also they were of a different design.

Studio I or 2?

After a moment I asked someone. No, this was studio 1; studio 2 was on the other side of the corridor. Studio 1? Where I was now standing was where the Beatles had sat and recorded, All You Need is Love! I felt an urge to bob round in a circle, unfortunately no sandwich boards were available!

Someone suggested I go and take a look for Studio 2. At that point, nerves got the better of me. I realised I was no longer a confident 17 year old, scaling the roof of Sussex University to lower myself through a skylight to see the Who , or wandering into Radio 1 , clutching a sheet of paper trying to look as if I knew where I was going. Could I still do it and get away with it? It was worth a try. After all, what could they do? Chuck me out? Probably …

Well, guess what? studio 2’s door was also open so I walked in. This was the real place. Those long, soundproofing curtains are still there, only now they were shabby, thin remnants, the parquet flooring is dusty and old, but just the same. One thing I noticed was that most of the walls are not sound proofed but are painted bricks, like the outside of a very tall house. This was the place where the Beatles had sung, There’s a Place, Every Little Thing and all the rest. I was there, and I couldn’t believe it. All those emotive sounds absorbed by those very same walls.

Never meet your heroes

They say you should never meet your heroes, and I did wonder how Paul McCartney would react once he bumped into me. Shy? Nervous? Over chatty? Desperate to tell me about his Hey Grandude book? Anyway, it never happened.

The Prince of Wails

It wasn’t long before I was spotted. A tall German man approached me and I started to back off explaining I was just on my way. He told me his name was Buff or Boff or something like that, he’d worked with Prince and was recording some of his own songs. We chatted for a bit and he invited me to go up the famous stairs and to take a look at the control room. And off we went. It’s quite high and has a large glass window which looks down on the studio. It’s the one from where all those elevated long distance photos were taken of the Beatles standing, playing and singing. All the desks have been changed but it’s still the same place. It was easy to imagine Geoff Emerick and the Beatles listening to playbacks.

I’m not usually impressed by pop people anymore but this time I felt like I’d had a religious experience or one of those things that makes you feel better.

Now all I have to do is get into studio 3, the home of Revolver!

First published: Thursday, Oct 31, 2019 I wrote this not long after visiting Abbey Road and was still experiencing something like postpartum psychotic elation from which I have now fully recovered!

Give PWC a Chance!

pcdavies@pm.me (Pete Davies) — Fri, 29 Jul 2022 07:02:04 GMT

Give PWC a Chance!

GIVE PWC A CHANCE!

The PWC diet (pronounced, pweece) I made it up myself. It consists of pizza, wine and cheese.

I started it last night. You can eat as much as you want and you are allowed to follow the main courses (PWC) with cheese and biscuits or fingerfulls of whatever is lying around the fridge from the last few days.

Roaming in the fridge

Ok, I haven’t seen any results yet, but it’s still early days and unrealistic to think that I will. Good things take time, Rome wasn’t built in a day and all that.

Surely common sense says that in order to take it off, you have to put it on. Yes?

That will be my selling point, Give PWC a chance, that’s what I say.

Shoot the Photographer

And the reason I’m inflicting this horrendous regime on myself? I’m having my photo taken on Sunday, well, actually it’s a bit posher than that, the photographer called it, ‘a photoshoot.’ None of your rubbish. I have to look good for the promotion of my new record, ‘ This is What the Fuss is All About' . I'm very reluctant to do it but fortunately he told me the camera does lie, which must be a good thing. Wish me luck!

Through a Glass Darkly, My Songs Lie Underground Beneath a Ton of Earth.

pcdavies@pm.me (Pete Davies) — Wed, 27 Jul 2022 08:22:25 GMT

Buried Songs, Buried Treasure.

On my www.PeteDaviesart.com website I wrote:

‘My paintings are a mirror of myself, a visual representation in colour of my experiences and how I see the world. I hope that you will be able to find in them something that resonates and reflects a memory in your own life’s journey.

My paintings are valuable to me but they are also transient just as my life is. I don’t expect my work to outlive me, but I would like people to enjoy it while I am here’.

Did Anne of Green Gables actually exist?

Reading it now it sounds a bit pretentious and it probably is but I was trying to say what I believed at the time. Little did I know then that we were about to enter a new age of digitalisation where images of ourselves would be preserved forever. Imagine if we had the same facility now, what would it be like to hear Henry VIII singing Green Sleeves? Or to see if Henry's lesser known wives, such as Anne of Green Gables actually existed. Wouldn't it be comforting to have these answers?

During my life I have had periods when I thought my art, be it paintings or music, or my risotto, (that's not a term for my arty creations, I mean my real risotto, the one with the mushrooms) had no real value at all, and that it was the height of arrogance to think that anyone would be interested in any of my creative doodlings. During these times I have usually taken boxes of master tapes, recordings, paintings and so on, and thrown them into the local tip. And that’s what I’d done with I’m a Computer and the Goo-Q, they were gone. Dead and buried, as they should be, or so I thought, just like life’s other foibles.

Irony, eh? Our old chum irony

It happened last year and then again this year, when both Cherry Red Records and Night School Records asked to lease my song, ‘I’m a Computer,’

I wrote and recorded I’m a Computer in 1980 using the name I saw in a dream, Goo-Q. The Moog synthesiser was recorded and played by John Lewis at Electrophon Studios in Covent Garden, he also played the Moog on Pop Musik. The drums were played by Pete Thomas of Elvis Costello fame and mixed at R G Jones Studios, London.

Robin Scott’s (M, PopMusik) brother Julian was playing the bass for me, but when Pop Musik became a big hit he scarpered! Funny thing was that when Julian left, he introduced me to some chancer drummer who dabbled a bit on bass, Julian thought he might be 'OK' for, I'm a Computer. His name was Mark King . Whatever happened to him? I ask myself …

Abbey Road

As I was saying, when Cherry Red Records contacted me, I knew I’d thrown the master tape away. I stalled them by saying, yes, of course, I’ll send a copy over, while frantically looking everywhere and finally finding just one vinyl copy. What to do? I booked myself into Abbey Road Studios who I’d heard could recreate songs from old tracks, removing all the scratches and so on. However, my scratchy 45 was beyond repair. they couldn’t do it.

Then I remembered that it had once been released by another company back in the 80s. I know this sounds incredibly blasé but nothing had come of it and it really had slipped my mind. So I did have a digital copy.

I was recounting this story in the car to my daughter when she asked: ‘is it on YouTube?’

Here's a tip

‘How can, I'm a Computer be on YouTube?’ I scoffed. ‘Nobody owns a copy, not unless they’ve been digging at the tip. Besides, It’s a swamp down there’.

She didn’t answer.

My brow furrowed, it does that. ‘Surely you’re not suggesting we go there? Tonight? In the dark? What about zombies?

She Googled, I'm a Computer, on her phone. 'It's here.'

And there it was, in fact it was in a number of places including vintage record shops , last.fm … and it also stated that if I wanted, I could even buy it back on Ebay.

'What else have you released?' She asked.

I thought for a moment. 'There's a 12" dance single I wrote in the 90's called Passionate Feelings , by Doreen Edwards'.

'Yep, it's here,' she replied. 'You can buy that back too, if you want.'

Hazmat, Hardy

So what’s the moral here? Keep everything? I could just picture nervous teams in hazmat suits entering my house on my demise, ‘Oh God! Look at this! Hundreds of old records, stacks of ‘em! All in pristine condition! Unused! Poor sod!’

Maybe a healthy purge is a good idea, rather than a visit from Attila the Hun with a splitting headache.

And today I was trying to think of a name to front my new song, This is What the Fuss is All About , and I came up with Goo-Q. The name that came to me in a dream, 42 years ago. It seemed appropriate to give it new life after all this time. Rising out of the ground from the dead and all that.

As I said at the beginning: I don’t expect my work to outlive me, but I would like people to enjoy it while I am here. The same applies to my music. I hope you enjoy my new song! This is What the Fuss is All About, is going to be released soon.

Going Down a Storm in Miceland, I blame Bjork

Post Script. After writing this I was smitten with pangs of nostalgia. I decide to go and hunt out my one and only copy of I’m a Computer. Can it get any worse?

IDLE DREAMS AND IMPROVISATION

pcdavies@pm.me (Pete Davies) — Mon, 25 Jul 2022 07:38:46 GMT

I had a Dream

IDLE DREAMS AND IMPROVISATION

Last night I dreamt I was giving a speech and realised I had forgotten my notes. Unperturbed, I decided to make something up … improvise!

Improvisation was something all the pop groups did in the 60s, we were being progressive and had so much to say that we just couldn’t stop improvising! I can vividly remember improvising on guitar in the Grobs when after half an hour or so, Paul Skinner decided to turn my amp off. I reckoned at the time it was some kind of shock art statement by him, (what else could it have been?) a bit like Yoko Ono having her clothes cut off, that sort of thing. However, being the wacky, crazy guitarist I was, I turned my amp back on! At which point, Paul turned it off again! Were we living the dream or what? We loved improvising! I read somewhere that a good indication that jazz is being played is when the musicians are enjoying it more than the audience. Those jazz hepcats can't get enough of it!

Even Toads can Improv

Of course at that time, Toad , by the Cream was terribly popular. It gave drummers the chance to show off and took up at least half the second half of the set. Brilliant! Pete Thomas seemed to enjoy playing it although I remember that during a performance at the school dance, he had to recruit a young boy, I think nowadays you might refer to them as a child, to crawl under his drum kit and hold on to the bass drum with both hands. Pete's rhythmic thumping meant the drum kit kept sliding forward and backwards. I thought at first as I watched Pete chug around that this was all part of the act, good old Pete, he’s come up with the idea of actually ‘driving’ his drums on stage. A drum driver! Fab! Wooah!

This is what the fuss is all about

Anyway, what was I saying, ah yes, why am I here? (serious health warning bit) I’m here because I’m promoting my new song, ‘This is What the Fuss is All About.’ by Goo-Q . Weirdly enough Goo-Q was also a name that came to me in a dream in 1980 and which I used to promote my song, I'm a Computer, which although of the non-hit variety, was played on Radio 1. Please listen out for my new track and follow me, as at the moment I think I have about 4 fans! 3 or 4, maybe 3, I can’t remember.

To finish up, I once saw the Ukulele Orchestra on TV who addressed the audience, all aspiring ukulele players, (clutching their instruments) to improvise. The audience were told, ‘and if you don’t know how to improvise, just make something up,’ Very funny I thought, a bit like this blog.

PS Sorry about all the exclamation marks!! It seems we can't have enough of them!!!!