Sunday, 29 May 2016

THE CALL OF THE REAL

The words, the call of the real, were for me just a few of the many which arrive in my head when trying to write and make sense of something incomprehensible 

And recently they got into a lyric I was writing Then, as I usually do, I checked on line to see if the title has been used by others for a book or a piece of music or a CD 

On this occasion - I have no literary background or perhaps the words would have been familiar to me before the search - I came upon the work of Rabindranath Tagore 

If I had known (and some may suspect that somewhere in my brain I did) I would have been alarmed when they appeared in the lyric 

Below is a quotation from his Gitanjali (Song Offerings) 
Rabindranath Tagore received the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1913 


The Stream of Life
The same stream of life that runs through my veins night and day
runs through the world and dances in rhythmic measures.
It is the same life that shoots in joy through the dust of the earth
in numberless blades of grass and breaks into tumultuous waves
of leaves and flowers.
It is the same life that is rocked in the ocean-cradle of birth and of death,
in ebb and in flow.
I feel my limbs are made glorious by the touch of this world of life.
And my pride is from the life-throb of ages dancing in my blood
this moment.

And here is a second quotation 'What is Art? It is the response of man's creative soul to the call of the Real.' Rabindranath Tagore

Now what about that!

As for my paltry lyric, I was intending to record it today Sunday May 29th but am not sure now if I can or should  There may be more about this another time

P.S.If you read this you may prefer to make your own enquiries but the quotation above came from the following link which was one of the first I found https://madlyinlovewithlife.com/2014/04/20/rabindranath-tagore-the-stream-of-life/

Saturday, 21 May 2016

TRIBUTE TO JOAN URE

More from the never ending sift and sort An old undated newpaper cutting
The link to the recording of the performance is below the image 
And (as a reminder) the words for twelve of Joan Ure's songs can be found at http://joanuresongs.blogspot.co.uk 

Also, on my web site at http://www.sheilakcameron.com/id140.htm there is a photograph of Joan and a link to the article by Jan McDonald entitled  ‘Is it not possible to have a Poem made out of Theatre?’ -An assessment of the dramas and dramaturgy of Joan Ure

The link is also provided below

Friday, 20 May 2016

A DIFFERENT SORT OF KISS

In the search of an image to use with ICEBERG AND KISS I came across this 

Doesn't he have nicely whitened teeth Perhaps the milk helps


ONE FOOT ON ONE OFF

The books which have been produced and which are available from www.lulu.com are listed below The book descriptions are rather inadequate but will suffice for now The title of the post is from the book I refer to as my Opus Peculiar Somewhere I have lost a small story called PEA SOUP and it will be added if I can locate it The image is one of my favourite self portraits and was used for the first book on the list
Clicking on my name will take you to the LULU site 




If It Had Not Been So Dark

Paperback, 40 Pages 
Price: £2.15 (excl. VAT)
This is a small book to accompany a 19 track Spoken Word CD of the same name This can be found at 

Schizoid Traveller

Paperback, 300 Pages 

Price: £10.00 (excl. VAT)
Sheila K Cameron (SKC) is a writer and singer who is based in Glasgow Scotland and Vancouver Canada. The words she writes fall into three main categories: those that become songs those that might become songs and those that never will be songs The words in this book belong in all three More information is available on the web sites at www.sheilakcameron.com and www.glalell.com 

The 35 Minus 4

Paperback, 42 Pages 
Price: £5.00 (excl. VAT)
The words in this small book were selected from an accumulation of several hundred lyrics. All had, at some stage of their making, had been given enough of a tune to be recorded onto cassette, reel to reel or dat tape. A further selection reduced these to thirty five. An additional four were removed and this provided the title for the book The words in the book have also been recorded and are available on a spoken word CD

So Said the Sap

Paperback, 142 Pages 
Price: £25.28 (excl. VAT)
A selection of posts from a blog about the songs of Sheila K Cameron and with images (in colour) from Glasgow Haida Gwaii and In-between

The Inescapable Road 

Paperback, 126 Pages Preview
Price: £5.00 (excl. VAT)
This is a collection of words in four sections. They are entitled THE INESCAPABLE ROAD, THE ROAD TO SUNDRIE, THE BAY AND BEYOND and HEARTBREAKLAND and THEREABOUTS.

So Said The Sap

Paperback, 62 Pages 
Price: £5.00 (excl. VAT)
More lyric than poem. The subtitle is 'words that might be songs' There are thirty examples

The Woman in the White Car
Paperback, 222 Pages 
Price: £6.60 (excl. VAT)
Nathan Brown, a Seattle based scriptwriter with a penchant for casual affairs, is in London attempting to recover from a brief but upsetting relationship. During his stay he gets drawn into a series of events which take him on a journey to find information about a man called Paul Bloch. In the course of his search he travels to Glasgow, Vancouver and back to London discovering on the way as much about himself as he does about Paul Bloch.

Toast Gets His Name

Paperback, 42 Pages 
Price: £2.18 (excl. VAT)
A dog gets found and a teacher finds a friend This is the story of how a puppy got his name. There are spaces in the book for children to draw pictures - if they wish 

One Foot On One Off

Paperback, 262 Pages 
Price: £5.38 (excl. VAT)
Better not to describe the book as it is likely to put most readers off buying it


A Dummy Bird

Paperback, 46 Pages 
Price: £3.00 (excl. VAT)

A short play about a married woman over forty years of age with materialistic tendencies and a yearning for some romance in an otherwise rather dull life: an equally ambivalent young man of about twenty eight years of age with a strong dependency on his mother and a neurotic affection for slightly painful experiences and an older man with a fondness for drink and a quiet life. 

Making Custtad

Paperback, 159 Pages 
Price: £5.20 (excl. VAT)
At its simplest Custtad is about providing individual children with a dedicated room resourced with creative materials, for the purpose of supporting them in the exploration of their ideas and concerns. A trained worker is also present in the room. One of their roles is to help create the conditions which may assist children in the task of addressing any concerns they might have. A visit to the room might lead to the resolution of those concerns but whatever the outcome, the child would be strategically involved in the process

The Limited Aims of CUSTTAD

Paperback, 24 Pages
Price: £2.00 (excl. VAT)
In a structured and dedicated setting CUSTTAD combines the use of sand trays and a procedure called Talk and Draw to support children’s creative intentions and their efforts to make sense of what is happening in their lives The Limited Aims of CUSTTAD is an abbreviated version of a presentation which was originally made to an invited group of Head Teachers in Glasgow Scotland Any proceeds from the sale of this small book will go to the Custtad fund 

Thursday, 19 May 2016

ICEBERG AND KISS: TOGETHER AGAIN

In amongst the songs that I have wanted to get overdubbed - and I have tried several times - is LIKE AN ICEBERG The words for it were written down without any changes on waking from sleep many years ago now 
I cannot recall if the waking was during a night or a morning 

It was eventually recorded along with WHEN ARE YOU GOING TO PHONE ME and submitted to the studio for some overdubbing It was at this time that the tracks got separated and only the phone song was worked on

And once it had been it was made available in several different selections Its appearance as track two on the album CUT FEET AND EMPTY SHOES is probably the best known
https://sheilakcameron.bandcamp.com/album/cut-feet-and-empty-shoes

But both songs were about 'holding' and I have always felt they belonged together So, on recently coming across the all alone Iceberg song I went in search of the version in which it was attached to its former mate - the kiss song

I found a mastered version of the original recording and i
n a rather rough and ready performance, the two - now closely attached songs - can be heard at https://sheilakcameron.bandcamp.com/track/like-an-iceberg-and-when-are-you-going-to-phone-me


Wednesday, 18 May 2016

WHAT THE HELL'S GOING ON

In amongst the posts about the various releases there is mention of the album RUN THROUGH SIDE A The release date was December 5th 2010 and this was one of the first selections of material to be made available for purchase through CDBaby The link is http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/sheilakcameron13 

There was however no track differentiation and the playing time was 26.59 minutes Now that is a long time for a stranger to listen to set of tracks from an unknown performer and I doubt if many have 

The clip on CDBaby which gives the listener a clue as to what is on the CD comes from the opening track HAVE YOU COSIED BACK UP It draws on some long ago comments by Joan Ure that the West of Scotland was a dangerous place for love between women

I have returned to the album because having come across it during an unrelated search yesterday I was reminded of the above details And after locating the version which had been mastered at CaVa www.cavasound.com and on which the tracks had been separated I decided to make it available on Bandcamp The link is https://sheilakcameron.bandcamp.com/album/run-through-side-a

For me this is a sort of re-release Somewhere I have suggested that I have only three albums which on some level I can like But I would like to change that to four For the way I sing the songs and for the content - although again there is much repetition for anyone who knows my material - I can also listen to this without cringing too much And I am thinking perhaps I should have stopped trying to write songs when I got to this one 

There are two very special songs by Joan Ure on the album and how I wish she were still around to hear them The lyrics for both can be found on the blog at http://joanuresongs.blogspot.co.uk/

PS The title of the post comes from the second very short track on the album It can be found on LYRICS OF A SORT at http://lyricsofasort.blogspot.co.uk/2016/05/what-hells-going-on.html

Thursday, 12 May 2016

BLOGS BEFORE AND SINCE

The blogs which are, or soon will be in use - are listed below 

The one you are on - if you are reading this - is SO SAID THE SAP It will continue to exist if nought else as a reminder of the sap I can be Although saying that reminds me of a lyric in which I decide not to be one 

So I'll break away from here, find it (if I can) and put it on LYRICS OF A SORT at http://lyricsofasort.blogspot.co.uk  

The blog http://custtadcentral.blogspot.co.uk belongs with my other work although as it all comes from the same source it does not feel like a separate activity 

And this one http://joanuresongs.blogspot.co.uk provides a place for the lyrics of the poet and playright Joan Ure

The blog which for a while took on information which did not belong on SO SAID THE SAP is http://sapasides.blogspot.co.uk This has now been emptied before a new role for it is decided 

The idea for a book prompted the acquisition of a blog of a possible title - before it had disappeared (as blog names are inclined to do) 
To date there is nothing on there The book will be called BEFORE AND SINCE and the blog will be http://beforeandsince.blogspot.co.uk




NO LONGER ON THE LOOSE

Having completed the posts about the released material I can now think about what I might do next And for starters I want to listen to some of the songs that I like by singers that I love, whilst not yet giving up on the tidying up

So for starters I plan to 
1. reduce the number of blogs I have - and either bring any posts worth keeping over to this one or revise their content
2. make a list of the books that are in print (along with the few that are available as ebooks)
3. create a post that lists and provides links to all the WILD BISCUIT MUSIC tracks 

And the first post to be brought on board (which lets me do some tidying and listen to songs I love) is one which was initially entitled NEIL ON THE LOOSE This had on it a link to Neil Young performing Four Strong Winds in the company of friends There was also a copy of the lyrics for anyone who might wish to sing along But here and now I intend to include only the link to the performance https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S3PonfLXKhc
Four Strong Winds was written by Ian Tyson a Canadian singer-songwriter

And for anyone who has not experienced Neil Young performing rough and ready with Crazy Horse the following link will take you to a track you might enjoy https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BNYFoRiRzOQ

And below is a further link to his superb Harvest Moon 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qVi0UvFu8Yo

The second stray is the lyric THE SAP and OLD FAITHFUL It belongs with the various unsuccessful attempts I made to be rid of feeling like a Sap and it can be located on LYRICS OF A SORT at http://lyricsofasort.blogspot.co.uk/2016/05/the-sap-and-old-faithful.html

The third item - this time from the SAP ASIDES blog - is no more than the title NOT WANTED - END OF STORY This was used for words which were on their way to becoming a lyric They have been copied into a folder on my computer waiting to be worked on

Which leaves only one more stray to bring over A long time ago now - or so it seems - I fell for the title UNSAPPED BY CARESSES And it is being kept because I like it so much and because it belongs with that old desire to be 'unsapped' It was found initially in the following quote 

'They seemed to be two upright vestal sisters, unsapped by caresses, unbroke in upon by tender salutations'.

And if a further reason is required: today, when checking out the phrase on Google, the only reference I could find was to the SAP ASIDES blog- and this has renewed my interest 

The SAP ASIDES blog has however now been emptied and if it is to have a role, it will be a different one from now on

PS The above quote is from the book A Sentimental Journey Through France and Italy: In Two Volumes By Laurence Sterne One of numerous links follows 
http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/762821.A_Sentimental_Journey

Wednesday, 11 May 2016

IF I COULD I WOULD

Beginning with the ever desirable Coup de Foudre what follows is a list of all that has been released - in alphabetical order
If I could I would do so many things - other than present the releases in a very long list 
Those were the frustrated words of yesterday but like so much in life if one perseveres for long enough an aspired to outcome can often be achieved And the two columns are surely better than one 
There is still some tidying to do but other tasks await attention - and they are about to get some

A Coup De Foudre ssx
A Friend In The Garden
A Jump in the Lake
A Light Crust
A Little Bit of Sunshine
A Longing Goes to Rest
A Pair of Shoes
A Perfect Landing
A Piece of Metaphorical Pie
A Piece of Rag
A Round Of Clappies
A Serious Bitch
A Ticketless Life
A Triple Whammy
A Velvet Glove
All Gone All Gone All Gone Away
Alone on the Road
An Irrevocable Moment
And You Lied To Me
Another Dream
As you are Moving up the Mountain
As You Wrapped The String Around Me
At Four O'Clock
Axons Like Cats
Baby How Long
Back Home
Back up from Down
Bad Girl Blues
Be at Peace Kiddo
Because you put a Red Rag in my Washing Machine
Been such a Fine Day
Beneath the Apple Tree
Between the Beginning and the End
Big Black Bird
Blue Water's Edge
Bluebird take me Away
Blunt face man
But Black Is The Colour
Celestial Desire
Clapped Out
Clown in a Pram
Coming Out Clean
Corunna Street
Dance On
Dark Nights
Did I Do Something Wrong Again
Did you sleep in the Snow Mr Toast
Done and Dusted
Don't Be Ashamed Sister 
Don't Hold The Hurt To Make It Easy
Don't Sigh Even Slightly
Doubt
Drink To Me Only
Dumped and Dumped
Education pays the Nation
Every Night When the Sun goes In
Failure Suits Me Falling About
Fears and Reservations
Finding My Heart Again
First time ever
For You
From a tree
From Deep Down in the Locker
From My Room
From the Feet Up
Gallus
Geese Don't Walk Too Easily on Grass
Getting Fitted In - and Up
Giving Love the Shove
Go on Then
Go 'way From My Window
Golden Slumbers
Good and Gone
Good Days Bad Days
Goodbye Baby Blues
Got you here
Had to work right on through you
How Long Blues
Hello Singing Bird
Human Race
Humpty Dumpty Mended
I'm Santa Claus I am Yours
I'd Like To Take You To The Forest
If It Had Not Been So Dark
If Religion Was A Thing That Money Could Buy
I Am a Shadow of Myself
I Am With You in Your Sleeping
I can Taste You in the Wood of my Room
I Cannot Send You Any Flowers
I Could Look For You Forever
I Don't Believe you Care
I Have Just Made You a Love Song (Joan Ure)
I Know Now What I Thought I Knew
I look you Look
I looked alright this morning
I love sheep
I Need You
I Think You Might Dry Her Eyes
I Walked Out One Morning
I want to Know You
I Want to Live Forever With You.
I Wanted a Rerun
I was Sitting on the Beach
I’m San
I'll play you Sweetly
I'll take the House with the Windows
I'm Feeling Lost Bring Me Home
I'm Giving my Head a Rest
I'm Giving Up I'm Not All There
In a Very Green Field
In Bed I'm Really Me
In-between Houses
Into the Bin
The Rubber Band
It Could Have Been a Knock on the Door
It Didn't Mean a Thing
It is Delightful for Some
It Was Such a Lovely Day
It's Done and Dusted
It's Getting Harder all the Time
I've Been Wandering Early
I've Got A Song For k.d.lang
I've Got To Let You Go
I've Waited a Long Time
Keeping Hurt from the Door
La Bonne Fee
Last Long Journey
Last Night I Dreamed About Doris Lessing
Let me Tell you How they Did it
Like a Sweet Warm Light
Like An Iceberg
Like An Old Tin Can
Like the Sea Rolling In
Loneliness aka Tell me That Now
Love Can Be A Scraggy Thing
Love Oh Love Oh Careless Love
Love's Crazy Game
Lowlands
Men Are Maniacs
Moments of Peace
Moon Over Masset
More Like Spam
More Seagulls
Motherless
Mr Moon: I'm Working Against Time
My Best Shot
My friend likes the country
My Love is velvet
My one and only
Naked as the Day I was Born
Never Before
Never leave a bottle with its top off
Never to Part
No Cat No Dog
No I Don't See Lizzie Anymore
No Matter What I Say
No time left child
Nobody Knew
Not All There
Not Always Safe To Touch
Not Enough
Not One Duck Oh Ducks
Oh Shenandoah
Old lady moon
Old Woman on the Road
On My Own Road Again
On the Highway of Blame
On the Road to Haida Gwaii
On the Road to Sundrie
On the Way to Live Out Life
Once I Had a Lover
One Step Behind Out in Oklahoma
Out to the Wilds
Outside In The Rain
Pale Sun (One)
Pale Sun (Two) Ready for discharge
Remembering Mr Toast
Rock Me Like A Child
Running Over
Sail Me Like a Boat
Saltcoats
Seriousness
Seven Cats
Shall we go to Mexico
She put my baby in the drawer
Sheep and Lambs
Sheltered From The Knocks of Love
Silloth and Beyond
So Another Day has gone
So Said the Sap
So You Said
Softly along the summer shore
Somehow (everything from my suitcase has got scattered on the road)
Stay with it baby (Joan Ure)
Still I Love You
Straw Doll
Subsidiary Connects
Surely no it could not happen
Taking a Tumble
Taking it down
Tell Me That Now
Thankyou and Clapping
Thankyou Jesus
That Kind of Day
That Wind
The All or The Nothing
The Boat
The Child Has Returned
The Day's So Sweet
The Good the Kind the Bad the Mean
The House With The Windows
The Irrevocable Moment
The Long Last Journey T
he Mountain
The Night Settles Down
The Not Enough Song
The Pale Dog
The Parade
The Play
The Price
The Reckless Tree
The Sea is Like a Pool
The Shop
The Something More
The Thought of You
There is No Place for Me Babe
There Was No Need of Me
There's An Old Sadness In Me
This Could Be Heartbreak Land I'm In
This Is No Way To Spend An Evening
This Time
This Yearning For You
Three Ducks
Through the Hedge
Today Our Love Has Flown Away
Tonight I could readily say to the world
Too Afraid To Ask
Took you down sailing
Turned Inside Out
Two Inches Tall
Two Sparrows
Uncertain Knees
Universal Energy
Up From Wyoming
Up to the Ankles
Waiting for the Day
Walking Talking
We Could Live in a Hut
We Sailed There in a Boat
What a Day
What the Hell
When Are You Going To Phone Me
When I became a blackbird
When I get up tomorrow
When I Grow Too Old To Dream
When I Say You Owe Me Nothing (Joan Ure)
When The Sun Rose This Morning
When the Truth Came Out
When We Fell Out
When You Asked If I Loved You
When You Found Out
When you Give Yourself to Love
When Your Dog is a Dog
Where The Last Tide Runs
Where The Pebbles Grind and Scrape
White Wings
Wild Mountain Thyme
With a Smile in Your Eyes
With You in My Life
You and My Mother
You are Lovely
You are walking through the Town
You Come On Over Me,
You don't know my mind
You had me believing
You Led Me Blindly
You Tell Me Nothing
You with your eyes open
You'll Like It at The Water Works
Your Suitcase is Packed

MESMERISED (BUT SATISFIED) in 2016

And what better way to end this phase of work than with a photograph in full colour of a mesmerised song writer who, in having released the releases may feel somewhat released And be sure to have even a cursory look at all that is now out there - whilst taking particular note of the words entitled COUNT YOUR LUCKY at http://lyricsofasort.blogspot.co.uk/2016/05/count-your-lucky.html

They demonstrate (I think) a deliberate tendency to use ordinary words to say ordinary - and sometimes important - things

As said some things never change Mesmerised then and still mesmerised today
A black and white version of this photograph is also on the home page of my web site at www.sheilakcameron.com 


PS the comment about the deliberate use of ordinary words is a lie They are the only words that my brain provides me with