Song and a Chat

Episode #227: The Prettiest Picture  (Song starts at 5:14)

I wrote this song for my mother (Mum), back in 1987 {!). I remember like it was yesterday.

It was Mother’s Day, in the morning and I’d remembered. I like to give some sort of an original gift, so I thought I’ll paint mum a picture.

Yes, I thought I would come up with something suitable in a couple of hours, rock around to Mum’s house in the afternoon and deliver it. Unfortunately the painting just didn’t come together. It wasn’t up to scrat...

Episode #226: The Smallest Of Dreams   (Song starts at 3:47)

I found a quite extensive amount of audio of me composing this one. So I’ve included some of it on this episode. As I listened back to the process of the smallest of dreams coming together, I found it fascinating.

Often songs come together quickly for me. This one was different. Each time I picked the song up, and gently sung it through, it seemed a new bit revealed itself each time. Even if what I was playing didn’t seem to be heading in the...

Episode #225: One More Cup  (Song starts at 4:27)

As usual, I thoroughly enjoyed producing this episode. Earlier this evening, I had a feeling I had some recordings of myself composing One More Cup – somewhere on one of my hard drives…

By some sort of miracle, I managed to locate the snippets of audio.

I put them all together on a timeline and as I recorded this episode, I listened to each new section in turn, much as the listener would do, discovering what I got up to. I found it at ti...

Episode #224: Old Horse Grey  (Song starts at 3:45 )

There’s a state of mind you get into when you’re doing something creative like writing a song lyric, composing the accompanying music & arranging the instruments during the recording process. You’re right in the moment. Honouring what you’ve already created, you’re asking constant questions to guide you to what’s next. The questions come from feeling. And the answers just seem to appear and fall into place like they were meant to be.

Welcome to the art of songwriting. It’s a reflection of l...

Episode #223: Changing Times (Song starts at 4:18 )

The featured song on this episode is song #7 on the album ‘River Walking’, by Paul Dredge and myself. At the time of recording this episode, the album has not long been out and I’m working my way through the songs.

I’ve actually skipped one in the sequence the song ‘Gone Too Soon’ is song #6 on the album. I’ve already recorded an episode featuring this song (do a search on the platform you listen to your podcasts to and you’ll find it – or follow the link below).

Episode #222: River Walking  (Song starts at 4.22)

This song is the title track of the album by the same name, by Paul Dredge and myself. It was fun looking back to see how ‘River Walking’ came together.

Although it was written in sections, by 2 people, in a sort of a call and answer style (which we do, as we’ve lived in different countries for some time). We send the sections online back and forth. I think the finished song sounds like it was written by one person.

It’s an example of how mu...

Episode #221: Electric Cow.  (Song starts at 4:52)

I would say the main take away from this particular episode is perhaps this: no matter how strange, how silly, how childlike a creative idea that pops into your head is, I would suggest it’s really important not to dismiss it.

In fact, I would say these are perhaps some of the most important sparks of ideas. The unedited & unbridled joy of creativity – the sort of domain that comes so naturally to us as children.

I think perhaps that voice, that state, is something we te...

Episode #220: A Quiet Moment   (Song starts at 3:31)

This episode features the song ‘A Quiet Moment’, composed by Paul Dredge and myself.

It’s a song about reflecting back on the history of a friendship, so it’s a quite a personal document, in a way.

On that intimate sort of a note, you’ll get to listen to some audio of Paul and I composing and arranging the vocals for this song. So you get hear some of the actual process of a song coming together.

The style of ‘2 voices to the f...

Episode #219:  I’ve Loved Life  (Song starts at 6:52)

On this episode, I’ve featured a song which is track number 2 on the album ‘River Walking’, which I’ve written and recorded with Paul Dredge.

The gist of the meaning of I’ve Loved Life is: there’s lots of ups and downs – that’s the way it is. But we’ve got the choice to try to enjoy ourselves along the way. I think we might as well. The rough bits are going be there anyway. The world seems to reflect back what put out there.

Episode #218: All Through The Years     (Song starts at 4:05)

I’m really enjoying recording these episodes (obviously I wouldn’t be doing it if I wasn’t). It’s my online weekly gig.

The song ‘All Through The Years’ ( #541) was written in 2007. To be honest I haven’t thought about it too much through the years. Ha..so many songs, you get busy. Keep composing. So it’s been sitting in my purple book til now. Handwritten  in my handwriting – a code most people wouldn’t be able to decipher. Until now.

Anyway, I’ve given this...

Episode #217: Sunset Swim (Song starts at 5:27) Going back to March 1997, my girlfriend (now my wife) and I had just arrived from New Zealand to settle into the big city of Melbourne, Australia. This was the first song I wrote since we’d left NZ. As the title suggests, this song is inspired by a sunset we experienced in an incredibly beautiful place called Sprits Bay, in the far north of New Zealand. I feel we were so lucky to have stayed there when we did. There  was an old camp (just a couple of cold showers and a toilet), a lon...

Episode #216: Autumn Evenings (Song starts at 5:33) It was a pleasure to rediscover song #261, Autumn Evenings for this episode. I wrote it in 1993. Here we are now, in 2023 - I’ve written about 800 songs now. At the market this week, people were asking me how on earth I managed to do this (not to mention the 1000s of cartoons & hundreds of seascapes). I’ve found having a peaceful space it really helps me to create. I make sure I’m in the mood before I even pick up the brush, the pen, or let my hands near the keys of the piano...

Episode #215: Righto (Song starts at 4:10) It struck me tonight as I recorded this episode, how grateful I am to be doing this. It is such a buzz, letting the song lead the way as I look at the creative process of how a song comes together. Don’t worry, you don’t need to have any musical theory up your sleeve to enjoy the show. I believe the creative domain is an inclusive one. The more the merrier. Ok Righto, song #262 was written in 1993. The recording you’ll hear on this episode became the title track for the album Righto. You ca...

Episode #214:  Trust To Receive.   (Song starts at 7:12) Hi there &  welcome to another episode. Here we are, looking at another song again, in a ‘songwriter speaks’ style  - inclusive, casual fun, entertaining.… this time it’s Trust To Receive, song #105. Composed in 1989! Again this week, this song popped into my mind. I knew it was in the ‘green book’ (my 1st old book of handwritten songs)…as an experiment, I held the book upside down and back to front, flicked the pages once - and it opened, sure enough - on Trust To Receive. Amazing, to me. Go figure. I take it as a 'nod that I...

Episode #213: Revolving Door  (Song starts at 5:42) I’d completely forgotten about song #453, from 1999, Revolving Door. Well, it isn’t 1999 now! The years have certainly whizzed by. The great thing about being a songwriter (or doing any creative activity) is, it gets you ‘in the moment’ - the moment where your sense of self is put a side somehow. You are so focussed on your art, you’ve let go completely. In that moment you’re inspired. A song becomes a document of a series of moments like this, it’s a magic, slightly altered state to be in, if you will. That sort...

Episode #212: New World Dawning  (Song starts at 6:22) I really enjoyed writing song #207, New World Dawning, back in 1992. The lines ‘I never thought I’d cry tears You can buy at the chemist’ Were never going to shake the foundations of anyone’s world, but that was my opening gambit (I was talking about the saline solution I used with my contact lenses). Undeterred, I carried on. The words came and they lead on to an expansive sort of a world view. A world that felt like it was yet to exist: a world of golden opportunities, communication and love - that’s on...

Episode #211:  Got Away On Me Again  (song starts at 4:02). Welcome to another episode. Picture me sitting at my piano, with the microphone on. Before me I have my songbooks. I’ve picked out a song Got Away On Me Again (Song # 663, written in 2017). Yes, I have a song to sing, which is nice to be able to present and talk about. I’ve written quite a few over the years. It’s nice to have them up my sleeve. The real pleasure has been the time spent creating them. There’s a line in the this song. Time, time, time’s got away o...

Episode #210: Forever  (Song starts at 4:20) I went outside tonight, just before I recorded this episode. The stars are incredible aren’t they? Infinite. Makes you realise how insignificant we are, really. I like to think we all count. We all made up part of the universe. Those sorts of big thoughts are the sorts of things I was thinking when I wrote Forever, song#85. It was 1988. I had a gig at the ski fields in New Zealand. I was playing the piano and singing in the evenings. Apart from this, my time was my own. So I skied. And when it...

Episode #209:  A Certain Kind Of  (Song starts at 4:41 ) This song, #213, is in a different style to the piano vocal ones that have made up the bulk of the songs featured on this podcast. It was written in 1992 by myself and with Paul Dredge on guitar. So it’s a guitar + voices song. Writing with Paul, when we are in the same room, is great fun. Having had a brief chat about the lyrics, what sort of mood style might suit, Paul will start playing a riff or some chords on his acoustic guitar. I have the prewritten lyrics draft in hand...

Episode #208: Country Gentleman Jack (song starts at 4:30) Back in 1993, I was the piano man at Wairakei resort, in New Zealand’s north island, near Taupo - beautiful place. Outside of my regular entertainment in the restaurant hours, I wrote songs like this one: Country Gentleman Jack, song #319. As part of the contract, I was also hired to play piano vocal music for conventions. One particular calm winters evening, I found myself in the scene, playing away, equal parts lost in the music and also keeping an eye the patrons, making sure what I’m doing suited the moment. It’s an art...

Episode #207: Better Late Than Never    (Song starts at 4:30) This song (#659), came about back in 2017.  I was on my way to work and there was a bit of difficulty getting there, due to the public transport not exactly running smoothly. I was off to teach piano for the day ( I’ve been a piano teacher now for probably about 15 years. I teach as a contractor in a primary school. I teach 24 private lessons in 2 fairly intense days (I’m working steadily on video courses. More on this later). Anyway, on this particular cold winters morning, the bus had been late and then th...

Episode #206:  Whirlpool (Song starts at 5:20) I enjoyed recording a demo for this episode. It’s such good fun when I do this. It occurs to me as I write these show notes, it’s been a great way to archive some old songs (and of course putting them together with a show that gives them a context. A context? Con : more than one. Text: story. That’s one of the things that makes a song interesting and engaging. That over used word the ‘back story’… I guess that’s actually a step on from the song itself. The lyrics, bring so many memorie...

Episode #205:  Piece This Star Together (Song starts at 4.45) I find it endlessly fascinating, thinking about where a song might come from. 'Piece This Star Together' came from something my grandfather, Harry, said. My mum passed it on to me, when I was a youngster (bit of wisdom, I think): ‘We’ve all got a little piece of the star within us all and we’ve just got to piece this star together’. It resonated in me and it remained in me. Years later, in Melbourne, Australia in 1998, the phrase/ concept popped into my mind, and I thought ‘Aha ! I’ll write a song...

Episode #204:  The Setting Sun. (Song starts at 4:12) In the studio, I opened the songbook book and thought ‘Hey, why haven’t I featured Setting Sun on on an episode yet? It’s been sitting there since 2013’. So here we go. I thought I’d have a sing and play through the song, but I did a quick search of my hard drive and found an old piano vocal demo. It’s got lots of energy. A snapshot of a moment in time. That’s what makes demos great. So where does a song come from? Looking at my song book, I see the songs...

Episode #203: Count On Love     (Song starts at 3:42) Welcome to a very relaxed episode. Thanks for tuning in, by the way…it’s great that this podcast is being listened by people all around the world. Music is the international language isn’t, it - or perhaps it’s love? Song #617, Count On Love, started out life as a piano solo piece. You can hear the original piece on my album 'Peace' (1 hour of peaceful piano solo pieces). Somewhat bizarrely (and rather unromantically), it was one of 3 pieces I wrote back to back in about 30mins, to use to teach piano. After a whi...

Episode #202:  Sideways From A Paper Bag   (Song starts at 3:55) On this episode I’m going to take you back in time, with a demo recorded in the year 2000. Quite a bizarre title, isn’t it. Something I’ve noticed on this podcast is that as lyricist, if I’m not really too sure what to write about, I’ll look around and see what’s happening around me. My eyes will generally focus on a object and I’ll just go ahead a describe it. This seems to have the effect of grounding the song in something real. And away I go. In this case...

Episode #201: Sleeping On A Wish (Song starts at  4:08) I’m in a fairly relaxed state of mind. I’ve been holidaying, camping beside a stream In Bright, Vic, Australia. The sound of the stream is what I’ve brought back with me, it just sort of permeates the whole being, the sounds of the stream and birds. So when I came into my studio, I thought to myself I’m not going to do a rock n roll song…I’m in a cruisey mood. 'Sleeping On A Wish' came from a phrase my daughter said to me when she was very, ver...

Episode #200 :  One Thing We Know. (Song starts at 4:26) Welcome to episode #200! It’s such a great feeling, because I honestly wasn’t sure I’d get past episode #1. It’s become like a ‘Songwriter Speaks’ sort of an online gig for me - something I really look forward to each week. Whether you’ve been here from the start with me, or a new arrival, or perhaps you pop in from time to time, regardless, thanks so much for tuning in. I hope you’re enjoying this podcast as much as I am. I wrote this song back in 2009. I was at a school w...

Episode #199: Song For August   (Song starts at 3:08) Welcome to another song - and another 30 mins of observations, humour, with a particular focus on songwriting. For this episode, as it happens, I found a couple of different of versions of Song #396, Song For August, using the same lyrics. Both done in 1994. One was written on the piano by myself. The version we went with ( and quite rightly) is the one Paul Dredge and myself wrote on guitar (Paul) and voice (me). This was one of 12 songs which Paul and I decided to record one weekend, years later in Melbourne Australia. We we...

Episode #198:  Only Love Is Real   (Song starts at 4:29) This one, Song #660, popped up in amongst a dozen or so songs I had a sing and play through, earlier today. I thought ‘Aha!’ this would be a good one to have a look at for the podcast. It’s a seemingly simple song. A ‘big day’ was the topic of my blog this week. And it was a big day, the day I took the hand of the person who turned out to be my wife… 'When you took my hand, helped me to understand Worked out how I felt, The turning of the w...

Episode #197:   Let Her Know    (Song starts at 5:19) Song #156, Let Her Know, was composed in 1990. Back then, I was starting to think that’s a reasonable amount of songs. The demo on this episode was recorded a decade later. And here we are in 2024. Wow. 34 years later, I find myself with 800 songs. It was fun, as always, listening to the demo, playing parts of 'Let Her Know', talking about where it came from, how it came together, what inspired the song. What inspired the song were a series of episodes that obviously happened years ago. But the thing about art is: in br...

Episode #196: Home Straight  (Song starts at  2:40) This episode’s song would be a ‘protest song’ about the way we are not looking after the world & how out of touch with nature we have become. Every now and then a song like this sneaks up on me. When it happens, I just go with the flow. It’s a great way to let off some steam. It’s also a very creative & effective way of dealing with some big feelings. The trick is, it doesn’t hurt anyone. It’s a great place to put anger, the arts - because we can harness all...

Episode #195: White Angels  (Song starts at 5:51) On this episode we are looking at the 2nd song I wrote after I arrived in Melbourne in 1997. I'd already written 385 songs in New Zealand before this one. I came to Melbourne as it was a rite of passage, of sorts, for kiwi songwriters to jump the ditch. I was here to set up camp, to be here for some time, to continue on - or perhaps more accurately start again - on my creative path. I needed to find some more band players, and I really wanted to get cracking again, here, in a...

Episode #194: Parachutes    (Song starts at 4:40) Back in 1993, I had a residency as a pianist at a resort in Wairakei, near Taupo, in New Zealand. To rejuvenate myself - and lift my spirits - while I know I was very lucky to have this sort of gig, being a pianoman has it’s ups and downs. During the daytime, I’d often get out into nature. I’d play golf or go trout fishing. I wrote the words for song #303, Parachutes, as I sat in my old van Hercules one late morning. I’d taken a drive to a vantage point where I kn...

Episode #193: Soul Yo-Yo     (Song starts at 5:08) Ever wondered about all the personal ups and downs we have and how - in some of the more extreme moments - we seem to bring to light aspects of ourselves we perhaps don’t regularly access? I wonder why we wait for those times of crises to express and act on more of our potential? That was the inspiration for the words of song #43 Soul Yo-Yo, Written in 1998. ‘We’re barely in touch with our souls, closest to them in our pain’ When I arrived in Melbourne (from NZ, back in 1997), it was quite an adj...

Episode #192: When I Was Young  (Song starts at 4:52  ) When I Was Young is song #554, composed in 2010. I remember it was a fun piece to write. Lyrically, as the title suggests, it’s an older me, looking back at my youth. It’s a reflective lyric. It’s about hanging on to the childhood optimism, the magic that can be found in life. I strive to hang on to those sorts of feelings. I think because I’m so involved in the arts, it’s kept me awake, alive, optimistic and passionate about life. The music came together quickly. The words (which came f...

Episode #191:  Goodnight  (Song starts at 4:20) Here’s another half an hour of music and gentle chat. This isn’t a left brained sort of dry presentation eg: “ and here we have the verse, you'll note… blah blah”. No, it’s more relaxed. I’m on stage - in my mind. Well, I’m sitting at my piano, in my a studio in Melbourne, Australia, and you are my audience and I’m here to entertain and inform you. So I’m an entertainer. I enjoy relating events from my past that help paint the picture of where the song of the episode came to mi...

Episode #190: Driving Home Blues     (Song starts at 3:00) I’m really enjoying producing these episodes - it’s a live online gig, really. That’s what it feels like. Thanks so much to those of you who are tuning in regularly. If you’re new here: I’m looking to shine a light on some aspects of how I compose a song. I’m certainly not to looking take away the mystery - as if I could do that. The mystery is half of what makes song writing intriguing. In 1991, when I wrote song #190, 'Driving Home Blues', I was working in a piano bar wit...

Episode #189: Finding This City.  (Song starts at 3:42  ) Hi there, this episode was a fun one to put together. To start with, Finding This City came into my mind as I went into my studio. I went over to a large box of old cassettes and selected one completely randomly. Amazingly, the tape that said Peter ’94, was teed up and ready to play the uptempo rocker that is: 'Finding This City'. That sort of thing really appeals to me. It feels very close to the sort of magic feeling that can happen when I pick up a pen to write lyrics, or w...

Episode #188: Weather Girl    (Song starts at 3:48) Back in the day, when I wrote this one, there used to be a weather girl on TV after the news. She used to have a stick and point out the highs and the lows on a weather map. Also back in the day I was getting to know a young lady. It was a little bit of an up and down time. I wasn’t sure quite how a lunch date was going to go, from day to day. I guess looking back, we just weren’t cut out to be together too easily...