SIMPLE SAMPLE

After completing the six re-issues of songs (plus the seventh of spoken words) it was time to concentrate on the other material which had accumulated

And that was the plan until the idea took hold of putting together a selection of the tracks which had been played by Women of Substance Radio and Podcast at www.wosradio.com 

Most of the songs had been included on previous CDs and the proposed 'new' selection was viewed as a top up, more of a sample of songs than a continuation of the re-issue project 

And so it is:THOSE THEY CHOSE is nothing much more than a SIMPLE SAMPLE OF SONGS It's usefulness may lie in the songs reaching places they have not been before along with the hope that they will enjoy the journey and that a few of them will be well received when they get there

A REMINDER - TO MYSELF

The site SO SAID THE SAP was set up as a follow-up to writing words and making a paper collage to go with them Both are below The words have been strung together to limit their use of space The image below is a scan of the original collage

On the way to live out life

These words may not be heard as rap but they were written by a sap who could not see that need and greed can oft times quell true love's appeal who could not see that what they saw was victim of their deepest flaw a tendency to keep repeating what they had when four or more

Around that time the date's not clear but what they got was stark - a fear of losing what they had and whether light or dark the fear was bad or bad enough to find a place in everything they did - a trace of fear ran through their every move and kept them tied to anxious mood To hesitating stepping back scared of falling off the track that others rode with engines stoked with words of love of praise of hope that all would play out good and true that what they had would see them through

But being sap does not require to also breathe a bitter fire upon all those who have it good although a bit more sharing would improve the lot of those who feel they never got their early needs met in ways that set them free of fear - the sort I'm citing here

So said the sap the day they found love does not always leap and bound to fill the heart and head with joy sometimes its crap and but a ploy to satisfy the selfish needs which found a place when grief destroyed those tender moments soft and kind which we all need if we're to find within ourselves a peace of mind

In the above version some of the capital letters used in the original text have been changed

The words are available as a spoken word track on Bandcamp at https://sheilakcameron.bandcamp.com/track/so-said-the-sap

THOSE THEY CHOSE

When I used to perform in public it was always much easier if the words and music or both were not mine And I have experienced a similar pleasure working on this selection of tracks Although most of the songs were written by me and I recorded them, the fact that they were chosen by others has allowed me to feel somewhat distanced from them 

The selection is presently available for streaming and download and as a CD on Bandcamp at https://sheilakcameron.bandcamp.com/album/those-they-chosehttps://sheilakcameron.bandcamp.com/album/those-they-chose 
It also now features on the new site at https://skcsongs.com/those-they-chose

Cover of the CD: SKC and the WOS Icon  

With the seven re-issues there was a sense that a major task had been completed These songs most of which can be found on the previous CDs are more of a sample from what's gone before than a continuation 

The first track, AS YOU WRAPPED THE STRING AROUND ME, belongs to Glasgow and the last one, WHERE THE LAST TIDE RUNS was written in Tlell on Haida Gwaii Those in between belong to various times and places They have, however, all been specially remastered for the occasion 

The musicians magicians and technicians who enhanced them as they made their way from basic acoustic tracks to something more include in first name alphabetical order: Brian McNeil (of China Crisis) Brian Young (of Cava Studios Glasgow) Fraser Spiers, Geoff Allan, Jennifer Clark and John Saich - along with Mags Russell (of Wild Biscuit Music)

SKC SONGS

A need to freshen up the information that is out there lead to the setting up of a new site at www.skcsongs.com It is intended to act as a gateway to the various other sites and sources of material that have accumulated 

This idea was more appealing than trying to change what is already there and I liked the sound of skcsongs.com and at last perhaps I have found a comfortable way to use the short name SKC 

Using Bandzoogle was appealing until I tried it and it has taken me hours to get only one page in place Below is the image I have used on the new site 

SKC and the WIZARD of WOS

Over a period of several years I have submitted songs to WOMEN OF SUBSTANCE RADIO STATION and PODCASTS at www.wosradio.com and some of them have been played and included in their Podcasts  These now 

number over 770 and they can all be accessed at http://breenoble.libsyn.com/*

My most recent submission was the song MY LOVE IS VELVET and it may have been Bree Noble's* comment that she 'loved it' which set me off thinking I might put together a Women of Substance selection of songs The thinking was that the songs which WOS had chosen to play would have a certain je ne said quoi about them - and any selection was likely to be different from any that I or others might compile

The selection is now complete Entitled THOSE THEY CHOSE it has been professionally prepared and fine tuned for the selection and it can be heard and purchased on Bandcamp at 
https://sheilakcameron.bandcamp.com/album/those-they-chose

* Bree Noble is the Founder and CEO of WOS and for a direct link to find out more about WOS go to http://www.wosradio.com/aboutwos/

P.S  At the time of revising this post a CD of the selection of tracks is also being produced

NOTHING BUT THE MOON

In a while I plan to have completed another small lyric video This one will be for the song My Love is Velvet which has been newly arranged by Wild Biscuit Music www.wildbiscuit.com 

The song may also appear on Bandcamp although the decision to use only an image of a Tiree moon as photographed by Alan Millar of https://lifeontiree.wordpress.com might be a problem With no text the image might disappear too much (as it does here) into the black of the Bandcamp page The decision not to add any text had much appeal this morning - that may change

Taken from one of Alan Millar's photographs of the moon

Alan has given permission to use one of his Tiree moon photographs and I have chosen one with the darkest sky to go with the opening line of the song 'My love is velvet like the darkness' 

The video has now been completed and the song has been uploaded to Bandcamp The links are https://youtu.be/qF70p3cjpsM and 
https://sheilakcameron.bandcamp.com/track/my-love-is-velvet

MORE SWOOP AND SWAY

This post will make more sense if the latest small video has been accessed at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TR2XcX_OvXQ but the before and after message is the same 

Of course every day is unlike any other day and some are decidedly more pleasurable than others But it is a delight to wake to the sound of doves in a banyan tree and to be reminded that what we are and have become is not set in the stone of our own lack of imagination - amid the fears of what experience has cautioned us might happen if we try to spread and stretch our wings too far

Well no one in this video (and yes it is small at just over a minute) is advocating the 'too far' but they are favouring the idea (if only for themselves) that a bit more swoop and sway should surely be ok

DUMPING THE DIRGE

Rather than the (elsewhere mentioned and aspired to) good tuneful singable song - the one I chose to use on the next lyric video could be accurately described as a dirge

Of course I did not think this when I was working on it but having now revisited it - in preparation for the video - and having checked up on the definition of a dirge* I have now wholeheartedly accepted it is one And without any hesitation I have taken on board the message from the lyric itself to 'leave it behind' But not until the video has been completed 

Anyway, once I had lined up the song to work on - and in keeping with - at times - a troubling - at times - tendency to persevere - it would have been harder to give up on it than to continue with it

Several failed attempts were made to shorten the track but I eventually decided to use the full length version It had been professionally mastered and it proved difficult to neatly lopp off the numerous repetitions at the end: although I appreciated it was in need of some radical lopping

The image is as stolen as it was the last time I used it Its relevance to the song only becomes evident well into the track And for anyone for whom a dirge might have some appeal - as it obviously had for me when I recorded it: the video is now on Youtube at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zqYtNRUqQTk - for a while

* A dirge is a song or piece of music that is considered too slow, miserable, or boring

AND LOVE IN YOUR EYES AND THE SEA

‘All you really need is the sea and love in your eyes and the sea’

News that the sea song is being used by Women of Substance Radio reached my tired eyes this morning - although I did know it was coming!

The song can also be heard at 

https://sheilakcameron.bandcamp.com/track/all-you-really-need-is-the-sea

A SORT OF EPK FOR SKC

The EPK has now been made - but may be remade very soon 
It’s a bit plonky but it can be found at http://youtu.be/1xxtbSEK20Y 

ACROSS FROM THE WALL

In amongst the lyric videos which I was revisiting recently I saw an old attempt to devise an Electronic Press Kit (usually referred to as an EPK) Disliking what I saw I decided to get rid of it and have another another go 

The new one is now in the making

Some images have been identified and some words have been chosen All that remains is for me to record the words and align them with the images This will need to wait until I am reunited with my main recording equipment but having got this far I am impatient to declare that it is on its way

And I can achieve that (if only for my satisfaction) with the above comments and an image from the EPK which, as you will see below, is of a wall

                                    With this EPK I may be paying homage to my father

P.S There is a coloured version of the wall but as some of the other images are not coloured I am choosing to make them all black and white

LOST AMAZED AND USEFULLY INEFFECTIVE

In some respects I would feel both lost and amazed if I were to find that my various attempts to sort out my material were at an end And why would I not be? Most of the time I can't remember much of what I've written and recorded and by continuing to add to it the task of remembering is made more difficult

If, therefore, I ever reached a stage of being well organised I would probably be amazed And at times in my life when I was unsure about what I should be doing next - without that task - I would feel lost

But every now and again when the mood takes me - or when I get a reminder from others who have read a post or listened to a track - I renew the effort with added determination And the latest of my never ending attempts was to bring some order to all the various lyric videos I have uploaded to YouTube over several years - and to make them available on one channel The original idea was to obtain a simple URL that I could use in a post or an email

The link below is evidence of how successful I have been so far

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLfi01sG5tj2kmLHtgizChwv1tvEXVA0s4&app=desktop

BLACKBIRD AND BROKEN BITS

The third foray into the workings of iMovie gets me back in touch with the favoured subjects of being bad, of broken bits and of blackbirds
And with the foray now completed the link to the video on Youtube is https://youtu.be/zDmlOfRByvM

Choosing to do this also provides me with the opportunity to say that I have personally never known a  bad girl But I have known girls who have had bad things done to them and who have (in various - and sometimes disturbing ways to themselves and others) let it be known how bad they feel
I have also known boys who have had the same load to bear and this song might easily have been called BAD BOY BLUES

TWO WELL LOVED SHEEP

With several writing ideas under consideration and trying to take it easy - creatively and otherwise - I have continued with my lackadaisical (and rather unsuccessful) foray into the workings of iMovie  The latest effort - using an old recording of one of my many short songs - is entitled I LOVE SHEEP
And as I discovered today, on line, (and how pleasing that was) sheep are amazinginly well loved

Of all my encounters during the summer, those with the two sheep in the photograph below - and with some of their pals and relatives - were undoubtedly among the most pleasurable

The link to the video is https://youtu.be/a8q_QCpjnZE

JUST AROUND THE BEND

The image below is of a road on HAIDA GWAII whereas the song ON THE ROAD TO HAIDA GWAII is about a road that will take you there
And the following link will take you to a very basic lyric video of the song
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uk6wmjsN5ws

Tow Hill Road

Tow Hill Road is a road which I - as happens with many of those who are on the islands for only a few months or years - came to know well but only as a relative stranger would know it Nevertheless it can leave you with such fond and profound memories you are unlikely to ever feel free of them - and indeed would never wish to be

And as the New Year begins I remember especially fellow travellers Mr Toast, Vicki and Jim and Wendy and hope all who journey along there in future will find in the forest and by the sea as much solace and comfort as I often did

The purchase of a Subaru when all other remedies for lost love have failed is not a serious recommendation - although I may well follow through on it myself - anytime soon

P.S And thanks again Aldo

ALDO FROM GUATEMALA

Another delight! And I have let Aldo know how pleased I am that he liked the song ON THE ROAD TO ROAD TO HAIDA GWAII 

Again, as I find often, a positive response from a complete stranger can get me working on a task I have been considering - but have been uncertain about- for days or even weeks

Recently I tried using iMovie for two very basic lyric videos and had thought I might make another using this song Thanks to Aldo I’ll probably now do that!

The song is the second track on the CD Kiss Deep and the Missing Beat and can be heard at https://sheilakcameron.bandcamp.com/track/on-the-road-to-haida-gwaii-2

MORE OF THE SEA - AND THE SKY

Your Song on our #1 Award-Winning Podcast

More of the sea and the sky

Podcast Playlists  for January 15 - 19, 2018
Show #737 Friday, January 19, 2018

----------------------------------------------------

Robyn Taylor - The Last Real Gentleman

Eliane Delage - Such Is Life

Lynda Dobbin-Turner - Steering by Starlight

Niño Crudo - I'll Still Rise feat Marie Lister

Sheila K Cameron - All You Really Need is the Sea

jen jen - Annie's Song

Soulshaker ft Adrianna Edwards - What You Do To Me

LINKS

Websites: WOSRadio.com WOSPodcast.com

Twitter: @WOSRadio Facebook: wosradio

Instagram @bree.noble Pinterest breernoble

THE LADY GETS A BOUQUET

The Lady of the Rocks gets a bouquet

 

And then almost disappears 

THE SEA MONSTER

Occasionally - as mentioned previously - I use a facility called Crowd Review on Reverbnation This lets you test what other people (chosen by the site) think about a song And on this most recent occasion I had chosen, against the advice of some who are familiar with my material, to try out the song All You Really Need is the Sea

And, as I have also said before, I find the most outrageous and even the most critical responses in no way discomforting They are inevitably interesting and often very amusing My main criticism relates to whoever chooses the listeners From some of the comments in the latest batch their interest was in hearing hip hop and rap tracks whilst my genre on this site is designated as Spoken Word

Leaving that aside: the most enjoyable response - which made me laugh most and provided me with the title for this post - came from a 60 year old woman  Some context is required

When I uploaded the song onto Reverbnation it was a mastered version and I had omitted to remove the word master from the title of the track  It could be that I was being careless or not wearing
glasses at the time - and it could be that the woman was not wearing hers either when she listened and wrote - and I quote:

‘The music was pretty in All You Really Need is the Sea Monster. I think the lyrics were meaningful. The singing was only OK and the tone of the voice was too light and not rich enough’

Now there were no monsters around when I was writing All You Really Need is the Sea but I was also taking photographs of rock formations on one of the superb beaches on Tiree  And, as I did with The Lady of the Rocks, I returned repeatedly to one which I referred to at the time as The Beast

Some may see nothing of what I saw in the photograph below but as I like whenever possible to include an image with a post, I remembered The Beast after reading the woman’s remarks
It changed in amazing ways depending on the light, the wind and the tides - but here it is: a loosely associated ‘monster’ in one of its many guises

More of The Lady of the Rocks from the same location can be seen at  https://sheilakcameron.bandcamp.com/track/the-lady-of-the-rocks

OUT THERE SOMEWHERE - ON ENGLISH BAY

Several times each year I discover that some of my songs have been used for Keep Fit classes and Karaoke performances As yet I have no idea how this happens or what if anything I might have done to  help bring it about but I can say, based on the facts from PRS for Music, that the track which has recently topped the list has been Go On Then (Convince Me) 

And, in the process of sorting out which songs are on YouTube as lyric videos and considering which  one I might upload next, I chose this one
It can be found at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WcY7ZkPOxtM

The rather low key image benefits (for me anyway) from belonging to a photograph of English Bay Vancouver And more so because neither the boat nor the head of the swimmer in the water were observed at the time the photograph was taken Perhaps it also offsets some of the seriousness of the song

The words ‘out there somewhere’ which have been used in the title of the post - are from a line in the song

PS Unfortunately I had mistakenly opened up a new YouTube account for the song about the sea but once I had recovered from my foolishness I decided to make it my main account from now on  What to do about the previous account at Eepsylyrics (https://www.youtube.com/user/eepsylyrics) is under non urgent consideration

THE SEA - ON THE TUBE

The link below will take you to the lyric video of the song
All You Really Need is the Sea
youtu.be/6eWWBCc6ZPA

‘As the evening arrives and the sun goes away'

And knowing it will be back again tomorrow: Happy New Year everyone 

THREE WISE MEN - and NUMEROUS WOMEN

Well I think they are wise! And over the course of the year there have been more than three - but taking into consideration the recent review below from Blues Bunny, Iain Anderson playing my latest Wild Biscuit arranged track (twice) and the words from Ian D Hall about the spoken word double CD - I  am choosing them for a special mention

To do this is rather self congratulatory but I can almost feel comfortable about that as this is the Season of Goodwill
And more and many thanks are due to those who read this blog, who listen to my songs and particularly those who like what I do enough to keep encouraging me to keep doing it

The following link will take you to the song played by Iain Anderson on his Radio Scotland  program https://sheilakcameron.bandcamp.com/track/all-you-really-need-is-the-sea And the link to Iain Hall's comments can be found at http://www.liverpoolsoundandvision.co.uk/2017/09/16/sheila-k-cameron-the-unknowable-next-spoken-words-album-review/

NO SONG ATTACHED

Reflecting the chosen title for some of the work I do i.e SONGS AND IMAGES FROM GLASGOW HAIDA GWAII AND IN- BETWEEN perhaps the emphasis has been too much on the songs and not enough on the images Although I have used copies of my paintings and photographs on the sleeves of the various CD's which are now out there

The image below appeared this morning as I was sorting out some computer files It was taken from the window of my hotel room on waking one morning in Canada a long time ago now Another photograph I took at the same time has been used on my web site at http://www.sheilakcameron.com/id102.html 

And the one below evoked such memories of my time in Canada I felt impelled - and entirely for my own very personal reasons - to use it in this post And it is something of a relief to say it has nothing whatsoever to do with a song

FOR AS LONG AS IT LASTED

When Iain Anderson featured me as songwriter of the week on his BBC Scotland Radio Show in August this year it went to my head And it stayed there And while it was there I told him he had got me believing I was a song writer

Iain Anderson

I have explained this before It's not that I don't know that I write songs but thinking of myself as a song writer is something 'other'

Something other could have been the title of this post

Anyway, while it lasted, I was what he said I was That could also have been the title for this post i.e I was what he said I was

However, this morning on waking early with a need to write these words (and yesterday having sent him one of my latest songs) I realised that what had gone to my head seemed to have gone elsewhere

Where it is I have no idea and although I had enjoyed it being there - very much - I now intend to enjoy what I was before it went there i.e someone who, along with what else I am and do - writes songs

The link to the Iain Anderson Show is
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0074hkv

The link to the song I sent to the Iain Anderson Show is
https://sheilakcameron.bandcamp.com/track/all-you-really-need-is-the-sea

PS The laid back vocal in the sent song is rather quaky but the track does benefit greatly from the delicate arrangement by John Saich and Mags Russell of Wild Biscuit Music And it would be good if what the track lacks does not get in the way of what it also offers The song was written and recorded by me sometime around a stay on the Island of Tiree in the summer of 2017

BROKEN BITS

This morning I came across the song on You Tube about a bad girl who gets shown the door and finds refuge as a blackbird in a doorless nest 
I'd forgotten about it - but not about bad girls with broken bits So here's to them and wha's like us!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vF9D6tAdKCc

ALL YOU REALLY NEED IS THE SEA

Following on from the previous post is news of the song All You Really Need is the Sea 
It can now be heard on Bandcamp at https://sheilakcameron.bandcamp.com/track/all-you-really-need-is-the-sea

And there is a bit more about it in the next post 

IS THIS THE ONE TO GO WITH THE ONE THAT MAY BE THE ONE

The title of the post refers to the image I am using for a song which is on the way to being mastered and made ready to be heard

I did like the song when I first recorded it as a song (it had previously been recorded as a spoken word track) but now that it has been arranged by John Saich and Mags Russell of Wild Biscuit Music I love it 

Its much easier to love a track that is not all ones own

As they have done with other songs of mine Wild Biscuit have made it so much more than it was and made it sound exactly as I had wanted it to sound

In some ways it is hardly there at all - which might make more sense after it has been listened to

And as it approaches being heard by others I am wondering if I will care how it is responded to Today, I don't think I will care at all - although that might change

What I can say is that when it gets to the last few notes I am pleased to have heard it Such responses have led me to question whether this is the closest I have yet come to writing a 'good' song 

But that is a question for another day

The link to the Wild Biscuit Music site is www.wildbiscuit.com  When the song is ready to be heard it will be made available on Bandcamp and elsewhere and news of that happening will be posted on this site 

THE FEET HAVE BEEN REFRESHED

On a recent visit to the CAVA STUDIOS GLASGOW the track FEET FEET FEET was given some additional beef by FRASER SPIERS and BRIAN YOUNG 
It was mastered by GEOFF ALLAN and the fresher version can be heard on Bandcamp at https://sheilakcameron.bandcamp.com/track/feet-feet-feet

A PUBLIC SERVICE SONG

This track FEET FEET FEET came from personal experience and on hearing of friends and others who had occasionally not been paying enough attention to their feet

The firmly planted feet (and some leg) in the image above belong
to a well loved companion called Mrs Sheep

More of a message than a song it has words which are simple and repetitive enough to be sung easily - even while walking

The song can be heard on Bandcamp at https://sheilakcameron.bandcamp.com/track/feet-feet-feet

From another well loved companion

SPAM VALLEY oops and a wink

There is a reference to Henry Healy's spam in one of the tracks on the selection ON THE WAY TO SONG and checking for the correct spelling for Healy this morning I came across the site below There were numerous references to the Grocer's which closed down throughout the City of Glasgow in 2009

The text below the image came (without permission) from the Forum and provided the title for this post The Hidden Glasgow Forums can be located at http://www.hiddenglasgow.com/forums/

Post by ramor69 » Thu Oct 19, 2006 9:09 pm

OMG!!! 8O

What a coincidence. The first girl I ever really fancied

worked in Henry Healys under the Umbrella, I've seen

her a few times since then but guess what? I bumped

into her yesterday, (literally). TBH I was pretty well

lost for words, (makes a change for me). :oops:

Anyways my old granny always used Healys across

from the Eye Infirmary, (can't remember the name of

the street it was on). She always said that's where the

spam valley crowd got their meat. :wink:

The track, entitled Do You Want To Tell Me Again is no longer available on Bandcamp: it is the next in line for some dressing up

The image below (which I think enhances this post) was provided by an interested reader of the blog 

Henry Healy Shop front in Shettleston Road Glasgow