I haven’t an idea how to promote myself via social media. No clue. When something I do works, I can’t work out why: when it doesn’t, the same.
I could, of course, turn to a thousand digital marketing consultants for a fee, but I tend to think that, as William Goldman says in Adventures in the Screen Trade, no one knows anything. He was talking about what it takes to make a hit movie, but, frankly, when it comes to making yourself a shining beacon in the dense jungle of the interweb, I reckon same rules apply.
However, at least now I know someone up there likes me.
Now, when I say ‘up there,’ I should explain I’m not talking about Him, or more likely Her, Up There. I’m talking about Mountain View, California, which Soundcloud tells me was the home town of someone who downloaded one of the tracks from my first album, ‘Never Forget,’ recently.
Mountain View, Wikipedia tells me, is a town of around 81,000 souls, with many Silicon Valley employers, including Mozilla, maker of my favourite browser, Firefox. However, it’s probably best known for being the HQ of Google.
Comparisons between God and Google are invidious, of course. They do start their names with the same first two letters (coincidence? You decide) and both have a motto ‘don’t be evil’ (to paraphrase). However, only one of them can lay claim to being all-seeing and all-knowing. So far.
Anyhoo, man (or woman) from Mountain View, whether or not you work for Google, Mozilla, or the local coffee shop, thanks for listening, and especially, in this age when everyone streams everything, downloading. You have exquisite taste, and keep tuning in, because I have a bunch of new stuff coming up in the next few months that I think will knock your socks off.
Never Forget
When the hatred is high, and injustice is flowing
We must never forget who we are.
When the lies, and the fear, and the prejudice is growing,
We must never forget who we are.
We are very far from perfect, and we must keep going forward
But we are better than this. We must never forget who we are.
We have come a long way, out of shadows, out of ignorance,
Out of our own prejudice and unreason
But we must never forget who we are.
For we have become more tolerant, we have become more peaceful
We have welcomed our neighbours; we have sheltered strangers
We must never forget who we are.
And though it feels like night has fallen, there is a light
Shining within us, enlightenment in the darkness;
We have a history of this
We must never forget who we are.
Where we have reached out, and helped, and stood for
Fairness, equality, freedom and brotherhood
We must never forget who we are.
Where tolerance and understanding have lost their currency,
Where scoundrels wrap themselves in flags, wolves in sheep’s clothing
We must never forget who we are.
We are very far from perfect, and we must keep going forward
But we are better than this. We must never forget who we are.
We have come a long way, out of shadows, out of ignorance,
Out of our own prejudice and unreason
But we must never forget who we are.
For we have become more tolerant, we have become more peaceful
We have welcomed our neighbours; we have sheltered strangers
We must never forget who we are.
And though it feels like night has fallen, there is a light
Shining within us, enlightenment in the darkness;
We have a history of this
We must never forget who we are.
When our values, our beliefs,
when everything we hold dear is under threat,
We must never forget who we are.
Where there are refugees, where there are dispossessed,
Where there is shelter to be given,
Where there are children of every nation crying,
We must never forget who we are.
And where we believe we are in the early years of a better nation,
We must never forget who we are.
For if the eyes of the world are on us,
And we want to look them in the eye,
We must never forget who we are.
PS – Although the track uses my own music now, I originally wrote it to go with this Mogwai track, Special N, so feel free to read it with that playing if you prefer.
Looking for ads about Mogwai? They’re probably not below here. More likely car insurance or some such.
Man, I love this track. It’s quite simple, really, if you were to look at its basic chord progressions. But, for me at least, it’s like a mini-symphony, the way the boys pull the different elements together. And of course, it reminds me of the first season of Les Revenants, that wonderfully weird French (or is that just wonderfully French) zombie series.
I think that’s all I have to say about this one. Oh, did I mention to the uninitiated Mogwai are Scottish? Scottish music to a French tv programme. Vive La Vielle Alliance …
Feeling charitable? You could donate to the Red Cross campaign helping the persecuted Roingya Muslims living in camps at the Bangladeshi border.
I first wrote this after watching a news item about a bunch of moronic English football fans using the Brexit vote as an excuse to go on the rampage in France, shouting xenophobic slogans as they went. However, the savage killing yesterday of an elderly priest in a place holy to followers of that religion made me realise the words go beyond the original ‘inspiration.’
Key to getting the sense of the words, though, was to back it with music that conveyed the emotion I felt. I performed it live at Blind Poetics earlier this month with the Mogwai track that had, equally, inspired it: the words, their tempo, and the overall timing, were designed to be fitted to the music. As I said on the night, the words aren’t meant to promote a particular political view: you can interpret the ‘we’ any way you want.
I’m reluctant to record a spoken word version on Soundcloud of this, because it’s using the music without permission. So, instead, here’s a bit of audience participation for you: click on the track, Special N, and read the words aloud, slowly, starting about 18 seconds in when the cello hits the bottom note for the first time. Don’t just read it in your head: we always read quicker internally than we do aloud, so you’ll be finished before the music’s half done.
Probably best to do it when you’re on your own though, rather than on the train. Folk might look at you funny.
Never Forget
When the hatred is high, and injustice is flowing
We must never forget who we are.
When the lies, and the fear, and the prejudice is growing,
We must never forget who we are.
We are very far from perfect, and we must keep going forward
But we are better than this. We must never forget who we are.
We have come a long way, out of shadows, out of ignorance,
Out of our own prejudice and unreason
But we must never forget who we are.
For we have become more tolerant, we have become more peaceful
We have welcomed our neighbours; we have sheltered strangers
We must never forget who we are.
And though it feels like night has fallen, there is a light
Shining within us, enlightenment in the darkness;
We have a history of this
We must never forget who we are.
Where we have reached out, and helped, and stood for
Fairness, equality, freedom and brotherhood
We must never forget who we are.
Where tolerance and understanding have lost their currency,
Where scoundrels wrap themselves in flags, wolves in sheep’s clothing
We must never forget who we are.
We are very far from perfect, and we must keep going forward
But we are better than this. We must never forget who we are.
We have come a long way, out of shadows, out of ignorance,
Out of our own prejudice and unreason
But we must never forget who we are.
For we have become more tolerant, we have become more peaceful
We have welcomed our neighbours; we have sheltered strangers
We must never forget who we are.
And though it feels like night has fallen, there is a light
Shining within us, enlightenment in the darkness;
We have a history of this
We must never forget who we are.
When our values, our beliefs,
when everything we hold dear is under threat,
We must never forget who we are.
Where there are refugees, where there are dispossessed,
Where there is shelter to be given,
Where there are children of every nation crying,
We must never forget who we are.
And where we believe we are in the early years of a better nation,
