This was around the mid 90's when I was
hanging out a lot with Gerry Crowley the A&R man for Ritz Records in London.
Gerry introduced me to Tony Hiller, a multi million selling songwriter &
producer most renowned for creating “Brotherhood of Man” – we wrote this song
the same afternoon that we met for the first time in Tony’s London apartment.
Having Russ Ballard produce it really added something special to the track.
That’s Russ whistling on the intro - I can't whistle to save my life!
Killarney 1998 the Irish Music Rights
Organisation put on a songwriting workshop in a nice hotel. This was the result
of my collaboration with the Irish singer/songwriter Celine Carroll. Gareth
O’Callaghan played it daily for weeks on his 2FM radio show and declared that
he’d been “inundated with requests and enquiries”....the song is now signed to
the publishing company of Guy Fletcher OBE - Commercial Arts Limited in
London...hopefully Guy will make it fly.
The Corner
Solitary Sun
This is like an old friend now. Written not about me but actually about an old
friend. Sally Oldfield once recorded a nice version of this but never released
it. Sang it on TV in Ireland a few times including the Gerry Kelly Live show on
UTV Belfast....it’s been recorded by several other people but......we live in
hope. Billy Farrell and Anto Drennan again on production and guitars.
I remember scribbling these
lyrics down in the back of a taxi in New York sometime in 2001. Didn’t really
know what I was talking about, but it sometimes gives me an eerie feeling now. The
melody had come to me before in one of those early morning, half awake/half
asleep states.
Something Inside So Strong
Where Is The Light
A great song by the great
Labi Siffre, a writer and musician I hugely admire. Tried to interpret it more
in my own folky pop style with the help of the multi talented Irish session man
Dick Farrelly. To this day I absolutely love Dick’s acoustic guitar, bottle
neck solo on this...just beautifully felt and played.
Some kind of spiritual
journey with no real destination...Dick Farrelly’s swirling guitar figures
really helped to take the song out there into the ether. I remember having a port and brandy in the pub
in Abbey Street, Dublin before putting the vocal down...the bartender looked at
me kind of funny...must have been early or something!
Too Late
Sky Horses
Another oldie written at
university – at the time I was obsessed with the Byrds and their jangly guitar
riffs, often in the key of D and played on 12 String Rickenbackers...I think
this was my attempt at writing one of those.
Wrote this melody high on a
hill in South Africa, but it wasn’t until years later that Padraic O’Beirn and
I worked on the lyrics together in Dublin. Some great bass lines here from
Dublin’s Paul Byrne & that is guitarist Dick Farrelly helping the horses to
fly with his pedal guitar figures.
Falling From A Satellite
Always (Spirit of Love)
A very old song written in
some kind of altered state when I was a Law student at Hull University. This
recording was later in Dublin & shows off the fine chops of Irish man
Aengus Devine on piano.
Possibly the most sophisticated
chord progression I ever managed to dig up, just as I was learning piano. Strings
arrangement here is by Billy Farrell and guitars by Anto Drennan, the guys who
ended up producing for the Corrs and having lots of other, much deserved
success. Wonderful musicians both.
Morning Has Broken
The One (November Day)
Tim sings Morning Has Broken, live.
Tim sings The One (November Day), live.
Whatever Will Be (J. Vincent Edwards)
Quand'e' che mi dici si (Francesco Baccini)
One of my collaborations
with my old pal J. Vincent Edwards, star of the original HAIR musical
and writer of amongst other things the huge hit “Right Back Where We Started From”
-fantastic singer, but above all an old and very close friend, who has helped
and advised me an awful lot over the years. This was written around his
keyboard in Barnes, South West London one afternoon. I later took it to Italy
and it would be covered by the household name Italian artist, Francesco
Baccini....now there’s another story! Good end result though.
This file needs Windows Media Player!
This is Baccini’s Italian version of “Whatever Will Be” which achieved
substantial sales and huge airplay in Italy. It also became popular with Italian
rock guitar enthusiasts thanks to a fine, rip-roaring solo by one of Italy’s top
axe-men Andrea Braido. This is the number referred to in the copyright story
which you can read here.
Don't Cry For Me
"Don't Cry For Me" shot outside on location in Guangzhou, China by Alex LLoyd in November 2011.