It’s time once again to rope up to Tim and Damian as they traverse the rocky (‘n’ rolly) wastelands of bandmatery.

This week, our musical explorers discuss banishment from a famed pub…van breakdowns… a lovely and much-missed fella called Martin Ruby…inspirational management…getting kitted out at Afflecks Palace…dodgy ‘Suede’ bootleg cassettes… and a recording studio called Frog.

And, as if that weren’t enough (and it probably isn't), the show culminates in a newly recorded version of an old ‘Boat Thief’ live set classic, Tim’s marvellous paean to Edinburgh: ‘Morningside Road’.

Och, the new!

🎧 BOAT THIEF

LYRICS:

Morningside Road

words and music by Tim Riley

Well, I wrap my coat around me

And I wish that you were here

So I can take your hand in the Canny Man’s

And make things disappear

Come with me and share my load

I’m gonna walk with you down Morningside Road

Come with me and share my load

I’m gonna walk with you down Morningside Road

So I nudge the sleeping city

As I’m walking through her streets

And I kick my toes at the falling snow

As it settles around my feet

Come with me and share my load

I’m gonna walk with you down Morningside Road

Come with me and share my load

I’m gonna walk with you down Morningside Road

Well, I’ve always seen this place as my second home

And the city is my friend when I’m all alone

So I’m counting every hour

Til I’m with her once again

Til I again embrace that wondrous place

That mistress to so many, many men

Come with me and share my load

I’m gonna walk with you down Morningside Road

Come with me and share my load

I’m gonna walk with you down Morningside Road

Join Tim and Damian on another scamper through the deep, dank forest of bandmate nostalgia.

This time, the nearly-men of pop bang on about the weight of mandolins, the value of using antique audio equipment, first-person versus third-person song perspectives, brushes with bigwig A&R men…and background sheep noises.

All topped off with a rousing little rendition of Tim’s “A Thousand Miles Away” (with tasty real drums!).

Join them and together, hack through the music-biz wonder-growth.

LYRICS

A Thousand Miles Away

words and music by Tim Riley

She’s away from here

Even when she’s right here

And her vacant stare

Means she’s never quite there

She’s a thousand miles away

She’s a thousand miles away

With her head in the clouds

She skips around the town

And no one knows the sanctuary she’s found

She’s a thousand miles away

She’s a thousand miles away

She’s away from here

Even when she’s right here

And no one knows the sanctuary she’s found

She’s a thousand miles away

She’s a thousand miles away

Tim and Damian once again amble along the windswept promenade of music-biz memories, deliberating on childhood tribalism, cultural appropriation, difficult time signatures, recording studio nerves… and Jamaican beer. All culminating beautifully in a wistful re-recording of Tim’s ‘Can’t SeeFor Looking’. Grab a jacket, turn up the collar and join them for the b-side stroll.

References:

Peter Gabriel

https://open.spotify.com/track/6vZZtivPrtpggT5SSXsYTy

https://open.spotify.com/album/5mHESsxnNuS9E6s6769eWu

Aztec Camera

https://open.spotify.com/album/1VduWll7rkJvGmwe5gYu72

The Style Council

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T3eGSA4P5vw&list=RDT3eGSA4P5vw&start_radio=1

Sly & Robbie

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VVIsTZPp0iM&list=RDVVIsTZPp0iM&start_radio=1

Stephen Duffy - The Lilac Time

https://open.spotify.com/album/5SgauH4yHE5d2s7cBZRHKK

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/37i9dQZF1DZ06evO0Ew8gg

David Sylvian

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rEArdmll_9w&list=PLI6kLIhBBwmRkH-vUXwHhDFkortLSwLsi&index=4

Linden Studios Cumbria - Guy Forrester

http://lindenstudio.co.uk/

LYRICS

Can’t See For Looking

words and music by Tim Riley

I can’t see for looking, see the wood for the trees

Though I’ve looked high and low on my hands and my knees

And I wish that you’d tell me what it is that I’ve lost

Cos I can’t see for looking

Our union is ending, and it cuts me in two

To see you turn away when I look at you

And you decline my invitation to give it one chance

Our union is ending

I’m practising perfection, my motive unclear

It’ll soften your defences, I’m certain, my dear

And if that were to happen, I’m sure you’d agree

Oh, what am I saying?

As a desperate attempt, I have pleaded with you

To consider it further and start anew

But my rivers of persuasion are fast running dry

These rivers of persuasion

Please forgive me

Please forgive me

Please forgive me

Please forgive me

I can’t see for looking, see the wood for the trees

Though I’ve looked high and low on my hands and my knees

And I wish that you’d tell me what it is that I’ve lost

Cos I can’t see for looking

Our union is ending, and it cuts me in two

To see you turn away when I look at you

And you decline my invitation to give it one chance

Our union is ending