What Are You Looking For? (see below)

Animals Rule

Since I wrote Canine Stew, which seems to stand up for the rights of dog-eaters, some people may have thought I am not an animal lover. So I wrote this song to show how much I care about our four-footed and feathered friends.

Here is my performance of the song, but it would be better done in punk style.

Here are the lyrics.

Another Little Murder

A song about domestic violence. The inspiration - and the title - comes from the book, Just Another Little Murder, by the Australian writer, left-wing politician and footballer, Phil Cleary, which is an account of his sister's murder by a violent partner.

Here is my video of the song, and here are the lyrics.

First upload removed from YouTube with 521 views due to corrupted file. See Archives for comments and video responses.

Axel Likes to Ride

The main reason I retired from teaching in Hong Kong was to come back home and be a grandfather. My wife and I spend a lot of time looking after the younger of our two grandsons, Axel, who has just turned 19 months. Though he can't talk yet he is very good at letting us know what he likes to do. This song shows some of his favourite activities, most of which have lasted for a long time, apart from the fascination with pushing his stroller, which he is now pretty much over. Too much work, I suppose.

Another favourite activity now is watching this video. He loves the song and gets quite excited about seeing himself doing all his favourite things.

Here is my video of the song and here are the lyrics.






This is probably the one that got me back into song-writing again. I wrote this just as the USA was about to invade Iraq. Although it is partly an anti-war song, it is meant as a kind of fantasy, based on traditional ballad style. Though it has been well-received wherever I have sung it, I felt that it didn't quite live up to people's expectations as a protest song, so I wrote the more serious Coalition of the Willing as a companion piece to this one. Both songs are on my first CD - Axis of Evil and Other True Stories.

You can hear the audio track from the CD on imeem above. This was also the first song I put on YouTube so the quality of the video is not the best as I was still learning how to use my web-cam. And here are the lyrics.

Here is a live performance of the song at the Hong Kong Welsh Male Voice Choir's end of season party.

The Ballad of Nakhoda Manis

The legend of Nakhoda Manis is Brunei's best-known story. This tale of the importance of filial piety has counterparts in Indonesia, where it is known as Malin Kundang, and Malaysia, where it is called Si Tanggang.

Jong Batu is a rock in the Brunei River, shaped like a ship, and Kampong Ayer is the world's largest water village, located in the capital, Bandar Sri Begawan.

This is the longest song I have uploaded to YouTube. Fortunately it was not rejected for being over ten minutes.

Here are the lyrics.

Blackmail

A song about manipulative relationships, idealism and genocide.

I am honoured to have had this song covered by two YouTube singers - marcoacca and lewdite.

Here is my own video of the song and here are the lyrics.

Burning Giraffe

l've always wanted to sing a song about a burning giraffe. Well, who hasn't?

As such songs are rather hard to come by, I found I had to write it myself. It is dedicated to Salvador Dali.

To all those who requested the song about the exploding penguin - I'm sorry but I refuse to do that song. And that goes double for the one about the decaying hippopotamus!

And here it is! You can even read the lyrics!

Canine Stew

While we were in China, we hear the news that two man had been jailed for cooking and eating dogs. We found this a bit strange, as we often saw people eating dog meat in restaurants and at street stalls in mainland China. The song raises questions about where you draw the line between what can be regarded as food and what is out of bounds. What makes sheep, pigs (if you are not Muslim or Jewish) and cows (if you are not Hindu) okay to eat and dogs illegal? Traditionally Chinese seem to accept anything that moves as food, perhaps barring cannibalism.

The song is on the CD, Pigs Might Fly and Other Politically Incorrect Songs, and you can listen to the audio track from the CD. There is also a video on YouTube, which stirred up some predictable reactions from people who wouldn't consider eating dog, and therefore don't think dog should be part of anybody else's diet.

The lyrics are here.

Coalition of the Willing

This is a response to the Australian government's decision to join Bush's "coalition of the willing" and take part in the invasion of Iraq. It also comments on the government's refusal to accept refugees from Saddam's regime, and apparent willingness to send them back to the dangers they had escaped from.

You can hear the Audio track from the CD or watch my performance of the song. You can also read the lyrics.

The Collector

A song inspired by John Fowles' classic novel of the same name.

Here is my video of the song, and a live performance at a session of the Hong Kong Folks Society at The Canny man in Wan Chai.

Here are the lyrics.

The Devil Made Me Do It

So I am not to blame!

Here is my performance and the lyrics are here.

Don't Turn Your Back

A song about someone who has a falling out with his brother and other family members. This song is on my second CD, Laws of Chance.

You can hear me sing it here and the lyrics are here.

God Bless the Domestic Servant.

A tribute to all those ladies who leave their countries to become maids in more affluent parts of the world in order to support their families back home.

Here is my performance of the song. The lyrics are here.

If You Love Me

Some women want it all! A song about the Lady Macbeths of this world.

You can see me singing the song here. And here are the lyrics.

If You Miss the Train

This tribute to Hong Kong's transport system is based on the well-known traditional song, 500 Miles.

Here is my original video of the song and here are lyrics.

Here is a live performance of the song at the monthly Hong Kong Folk Society session at The Canny Man. The Imeem file above is an audio recording of the same performance, recorded by Samson, which seemed to pick up the audience participation a bit better than the video.

The song is on my fourth CD, Pigs Might Fly and Other Politically Incorrect Songs.

I Love Kuala Belait

I wrote this "tongue-in-cheek" song when I was living in the small city of Kuala Belait, Brunei, for our folk group The Belaiters (pronounced "Blighters") to sing at our folk nights. I usually prefaced it by saying that all the other great cities of the world had songs written about them, so it was about time somebody wrote about Kuala Belait.

I put it up on YouTube, thinking it would not get much of a response as few people have heard of Kuala Belait, and most would not have the local knowledge needed to understand the jokes. However, it turned out to be one of my most successful songs as it was discovered by the local Bruneians, including many overseas who grew up in KB. They were thrilled to find a foreigner claiming a love for their city, and for a while I became quite famous in Brunei.

This song is included on the Laws of Chance CD. You can hear the Audio track from the CD. The lyrics are here, and you can also read about The Belaiters’ International Tour to KL. No, not Kuala Lumpur, just the Malaysian border town of Kuala Leura, where we performed to a small audience, which comprised more bar-girls than expats.

Journey

I wrote this as the concluding song for the Laws Of Chance CD. It is about three loves of my life, two of which are travelling and singing.

You can see my video performance and hear the audio track from the CD on imeem above.

The lyrics are here.

Laws of Chance

This song, the title song of my second CD, was written after staying with a friend in Australia who loves playing the "pokies". We would often go out for an evening stroll, but would inevitably end up at one of the many clubs in the area, where people would pour money into machines and press buttons in the hope of getting rich. The song explores some of the dangers of this kind of gambling.

The mention of Mr. John Cain is a reference to a former premier of Victoria who, for many years, refused to allow poker machines in the state, with the consequence that people would take tours across the border to New South Wales to do their gambling, thus providing a windfall in taxes to the government of that state.

The title refers to the mistaken belief that a series of past negative results will be balanced by more positive results in the future. Anyone who has studied probability theory - or uses a bit of common sense - knows that chance has no memory.

You can listen to the audio track from the CD and I have made a video of the song. You can also see the lyrics.

Minangkabau Angels

This song is loosely based on my experiences in Sumatra, and is meant to be impressionistic rather than about actual events.

Minang culture is unusual in the Muslim world in being a matrilineal society, so the women tend to be very powerful. It seems to be a moderate form of Islam, where the emphasis is on resolving conflict through negotiation rather than confrontation.

There are obviously cultural inaccuracies in the song and, if I get too much criticism, I might do a rewrite. For example, I had a great time with Karo people (around Berastagi) and no doubt some of that has got mixed in with the very different Minangkabau experience. And, of course, some people I met in West Sumatra would have been immigrants from other parts of Indonesia.

Here is my video of the song and here are the lyrics.

Next Time We Meet

The subject of this song is obscure. It is more about emotions than a real situation, which seems to mutate from a story of spouse abuse to one of tyranny and revolution.

This song is on my CD, Laws of Chance, and you can watch the video. The lyrics are here.

Nourish Your Soul

A song about the fact that you can't take it with you.

You can watch my video of this song. Here are the lyrics.

Ode to the King of Skiffle

This song is a tribute to Lew Dite, who, in my opinion, has the best folk music channel on YouTube. If you haven't come across him yet, check it out. Lots of great old time songs, rendered with love.

Here is my video of the song, and here are the lyrics.

Osama bin Laden

Another response to the Iraq war and 9/11, this time focusing on Osama, but looking at the situation from various angles. It is meant to be basically a humorous song, but with very serious undertones. The tune is based on a tune Dylan used, but I am not sure of its origins.

The song is on my second CD, Laws of Chance, and you can hear the track on imeem above. I have also posted it on YouTube where it stirred up quite a lot of controversy, especially as it is never quite clear where I stand on the issues raised in the song. And here are the lyrics.

Paris Plage

After Brunei, we lived in Paris for three months and travelled around France and Morocco for another three. In Paris we experienced the "canicule", the hottest summer Paris has ever had. To try to keep Parisians in Paris over the summer, the local government now builds an artificial beach along the Seine each year, quite an extraordinary sight, and one which I just had to write a song about.

The song is on the Laws of Chance CD and you can hear the track on imeem above. You can also watch my video of the song and even read the lyrics.

Petey and Jaydee

A song about the two little aliens, created by Momentum Animation, who come to earth to explore everyday objects, with disastrous consequences (at least for Petey). I hope this will become an animated Music Video some day.

Here are the lyrics.

Pigs Might Fly

This song was inspired by the songs of Tom Paxton. it is basically a list of events that are highly unlikely to take place.

I used this as the title track for my fourth CD, Pigs Might Fly and Other Politically Incorrect Songs, partly because it allowed for some interesting cover art.

You can listen to the audio track from the CD or my video performance and you can also read the lyrics.

And now, here is a live performance at the Hong Kong Folk Society at The Canny Man in Wanchai. There are a few changes in the words to reflect the current political situation.

Please Don't Spit

Much as I love China and the Chinese people, I can never come to terms with the constant spitting so prevalent in this country. I wrote this little song on a recent trip to Guizhou province.

You can hear my performance of this song. Here is a song by a teacher inspired by my song and used in an American school to teach children not to spit.

Here are the lyrics.

Politically Correct

I wrote this song specifically for the CD, Pigs Might Fly and Other Politically Incorrect Songs.

When I put it on YouTube it stirred up a lot of debate, with some nasty insults directed at me and other commentators who agreed with the opinions expressed in the song. As I explained in one of my comments, the song raises a number of questions rather than stating a clear point of view. I worry a bit about some of the people who say they totally agree with me. But what do you do in situations where another culture eat animals that our culture considers out of bounds? Or when equality for women is in conflict with their religious beliefs? Do we accept cultural differences or claim cultural superiority and condemn those less enlightened?

The incident in the sixth verse is based on my own experience. One of my Form 3 students in an Australian school was killed by her own father because she shamed her family by having a boyfriend. The case is also referred to in Phil Cleary's book, Just Another Little Murder.

The lyrics are here. You can see a live performance of my song at a Nosom Lawen.

Polly Ann

Another song about relationships.

Here is the video of this song, and here are the lyrics.

Saddam

A response to the hanging of Saddam Hussein. Though I can't say he didn't deserve it, I do not believe in capital punishment, and doubt that anything of value was achieved by this execution. The style is clearly influenced by some of Dylan's early songs.

Saddam is on the CD, Pigs Might Fly and Other Politically Incorrect Songs. When I put the song on YouTube I got quite a negative reaction, so I uploaded a second version (different tune and rhythm) to see what response I would get.

The lyrics are here.

Song for a Hundred Subscribers

When I reached a hundred subscribers on YouTube, I wrote this song to celebrate. It is basically just a list of all their names, with a few comments thrown in where appropriate. I wrote it to blandmangopatterson, because he was my first non-family subscriber.

The tune is the one Dylan used for Song to Woody, which Woody Guthrie had used for 1913 Massacre and had probably got from some earlier song. I did the same for my second hundred subscribers, and so on up to 500. By that time the subscribers were coming so fast I couldn't keep up.

Here are the videos for Part 1 (the first hundred subscribers), Part 2 (the second hundred), Part 3 (the third hundred), Part 4, and the fifth and final episode Part 5.

It is interesting that Part 4 of thiis song was removed by YouTube, after World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc. notified them that it infringed their copyright. See YouTube Copyright Blues at the bottom of this page. I put in a counter-notification and it was reinstated after a couple of weeks. It turned out that one of my subscribers, shemlexluger, had a name similar to one of the wrestling stars - a strange reason to remove the song!

Part 4 was also the first of nearly a hundred videos to become corrupted for some unknown reason, those posted between February 16 and May 19, 2008. They have since all been reposted using a different format. Part 5 also had to be removed (with 1391 views) for the same reason. Comments on these videos can be seen on the Archives.

Here are the lyrics for all five parts of this song.

Song for a Thousand Subscribers

Although I decided not to do any more songs each time I got another hundred subscribers, I thought I would celebrate reaching a thousand by doing a shout out of all the usernames. Unfortunately, the video went for twelve minutes, even with singing fast and cutting it to the bare bones. Therefore I had to put it on YouTube in two parts. I couldn't even put the lyrics in the box as I normally do, but you can read them here. I divided the song into Part 1 and Part 2. Then I found out that I had somehow missed out one of my regular viewers whose name should certainly have been in the list of a thousand, so I added a Part 3 especially for the missing subscriber, after waiting a while to see if anyone else reported their name missing.

They Don't Have Roses in Hong Kong

This song was originally called The Gweilo Song, the name by which it appears on the Laws of Chance CD. You can hear this track on imeem above.

Although many expatriates love living in Hong Kong, there are some aspects of life here that are hard to come to terms with. Unfortunately this song gets out of date very quickly as it refers to events in the news which soon disappear from the public consciousness. For example, the case of the woman being arrested for dropping her keys was newsworthy for a while as were several cases of windows falling out of poorly-constructed buildings. The "bus uncle" incident caused a big stir when it was posted on YouTube.

The song may be heard here and here are the lyrics.

A Thousand and One

When I first started putting up songs on YouTube, there was a young singer who promised he was going to sing 365 songs in 365 days. I took this as a challenge and decided that my goal was to post 1001 songs in 1001 days.

I failed to reach the second part of my goal, for a few reasons, one being that there were times when I was unable to post as I was travelling. Another was that about a hundred of my uploaded videos somehow became corrupted due to some kind of change in YouTube, and I had to post them all again over a period of time using a different format.

However, I have now reached my thousand and first song. Better late than never! No doubt I will still put up the occasional song, but I won't be doing it every day. I think there are plenty of videos already on my channel for anyone who would like to listen to more of my songs. I can't imagine there would be many people who have seen them all!

As this song is an important landmark, I will publish the honours it received, as at December 14, 2009.

#11 - Most Discussed (Today) - Australia
#3 - Most Discussed (Today) - Music - Australia
#77 - Most Discussed (Today) - Music
#29 - Top Favorited (Today) - Music - Australia
#31 - Top Rated (Today) - Australia
#4 - Top Rated (Today) - Music - Australia
#20 - Top Rated (This Week) - Music - Australia

Here is my thousand and first song and here are the lyrics.

Uncle John

Children are warned about "Stranger Danger" and the issue of child sexual abuse has been a major embarrassment in the church, but it it is probably true to say that a large percentage of offenders are people within the family, people the child loves and trusts and with whom he or she should be able to feel safe.

Normally I try to write about serious social issues in a humorous way, but I don't think there is any room for humour in this matter.

Here is my video of the song and here are the lyrics.

The Way It's Gonna Be

A song about a man who really know how to handle women - or does he?

Here is my video of the song, and here are the lyrics.

The Welsh Male Voice Choir of Hong Kong

A song about the Hong Kong Welsh Male Voice Choir, of which I am proud to be a member. I sang a solo version of this song for the first time at a Noson Lawen in June 2008. Fortunately, my wife managed to take a video of this performance.

The lyrics are here.

Notes:

Myfanwy, Yvory, Gwahoddiad, Calon Lan: Well-known Welsh songs which are part of the choir's repertoire.

"Some are young and some are hoary": A reference to Men of Harlech, one of our signature songs.

Hong Kong Cultural Centre: We joined with the Kassia Women's Choir and Kassia Youth Choir to perform a concert, Raising the Roof at this venue in June, 2005.

St John's Cathedral: We do several concerts at this venue, including an annual Christmas concert. We also rehearse twice a week in a hall at the cathedral.

Angeles, Phillippines : We do an annual concert tour in Angeles to raise money for The Bahay Bata Center which provides a home, education and a future for abandoned children.

Saigon, Vietnam: We do an annual concert in Saigon to raise money for charities such as Operation Smile and Victims of Agent Orange.

Jack Edwards OBE (24 May 1918 - 13 August 2006): Life member and patron of the Hong Kong Welsh Male Voice Choir. A former British World War II army sergeant and POW survivor, well known for his dedicated efforts in tracking down Japanese war criminals and in defending the rights of Hong Kong war veterans.

Sydney Opera House: The choir took part in a festival of male voices at this venue in November 2007.

Albert Hall, London: In 2004, the choir took part in 1000 Voices - A Festival of Male Choirs at the Royal Albert Hall, and will do so again in October 2008.

Safari Bar: A bar in Bangkok where the choir sometimes meets on our annual tour to Bangkok to perform at the St David's Society Ball.

Old China Hand: A bar in Hong Kong popular with expatriates. The choir traditionally meets there after Tuesday evening rehearsals for a few drinks and some more singing.

What Are You Looking For?

I think this is one of the best songs I have written, though it is basically just a list of things that various people are searching for in their lives. I wrote it while travelling in Laos, where other backpackers were the first to hear it.


It is on the Laws of Chance CD. You can hear the Audio track from the CD. There is also a video performance (See top of the page) and you can follow the lyrics.

Who Needs Reality?

A comment on modern life and technology, inspired by the songs of Malvina Reynolds.

You can hear this song here and a live performance at the Victorian Folk Music Club in Ringwood. Here are the lyrics.

Writer's Block

How do you find something to write about when nothing goes wrong in your life?

Here is my song about this problem, and here are the lyrics.

YouTube Comments

Most of the comments I get on YouTube are encouraging, informative and friendly. This song is about the other ones.

Some people seem to get pleasure out of insulting, criticising and even threatening those who contribute videos. More often than not they have nothing to offer themselves. Personally, if I don't enjoy somebody's video, I go and watch something else, rather than writing derogatory comments or giving a one-star rating, and I'm sure most of the YouTube community feel the same.

Constructive criticism is another matter. If my guitar is out of tune, it's probably fair enough to point it out, but wanting to strangle me with the strings could be carrying it a bit too far.

There may be some exaggeration in this song, but it's not exaggeratedly exaggerated. Almost everything in the song is adapted from actual comments I've had.

And here is me singing the song. Here are the lyrics.

YouTube Copyright Blues

On May 29 2008 I received the following notice from YouTube.

* * *
Dear Member:
This is to notify you that we have removed or disabled access to the following material as a result of a third-party notification by World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc. claiming that this material is infringing:

378. Song For 100 Subscribers - Part 4 (Original): http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=WmNGuI3...

Please Note: Repeated incidents of copyright infringement will result in the deletion of your account and all videos uploaded to that account. In order to prevent this from happening, please delete any videos to which you do not own the rights and refrain from uploading additional videos that infringe on the copyrights of others. For more information about YouTube's copyright policy, please read the Copyright Tips guide.

If you elect to send us a counter notice, please go to our Help Centre to access the instructions.

Be aware that there may be adverse legal consequences in your country if you make a false or bad faith allegation of copyright infringement by using this process.
Sincerely,
YouTube, Inc.
* * *
The song removed is an original song in which I pay tribute to my subscribers, similar to Parts 1, 2, 3 and 5, which can still be seen on YouTube. I have no idea why World Wrestling Entertainment , Inc. would think this song infringes their copyright.

Obviously the only thing to do was to file a Counter-Notification and write a song about it.

Some weeks later the song was reinstated.

You can see my video here and here are the lyrics.