This seems the right sort of song message as we arrive at the Festive Season.  Something with a

happy ending!

MC  

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Once again - a thought for those who can't make it home for Christmas but who are always there

in their minds.  This version is from the crystal clear tones of the late lamented Marcie Summers.

1.

At home the Christmas snow is falling

I see it clear across the miles

I hear the happy voices calling

See the dear familiar smiles.

2.

Every Yuletide brings its reason

To celeb...

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Some more seasonal fun, with modern techy kids in mind giving their long-suffering parents a hard time.

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DAD

We get these questions from our kids...they won't leave us alone

When they jump out of bed on Christmas Day

Each time they ask their M...

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Lift up your voice

Let all rejoice

And make a joyful sound

Cast off the care

Most folk must bear

When Christmas comes around

Look to your hearts

That's where love starts

Where life itself begins

And you shall know

That Faith will show

Forgiveness for your sins

Look to His truth

In Age and Youth

Salvation shall be found

As One they stand 

Be...

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A musical re-run along romantic lines!

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Darlin' now I'm miles away

From where I long to be

Now there's too much distance

Keepin' you from me

I lie awake most every night

To the locomotive's wail

And my heart heads back

Down the waiiting track

To ride that lonesome rail

I see your face before me

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Something for the ever-hopeful in romance.  

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Nearly never made it to that dance the other night

Nearly stayed at home again - alone and out of sight

So glad I went and found you there

And found again that I could care

This loser's heart was still so sore

From all the hurt it had before

REFRAIN

You looked at...

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Those of you on WOL who remember my seasonal song/words for "Christmas Snow", might enjoy the

attached orchestral version, especially if you recall the style of the James Last Orchestra.   I will

probably upload a repeat of the vocal version at a more appropriate time closer to Christmas itself,.

In the meantime, I hope this might help lift some spirits out there!  :-))

MC

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Appreciation is due to Pete Dymond of Bristol for his recording of my carol.

Merry Christmas everyone!!

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Just for a change - something to listen to!

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You are the music in my heart

With every beat I feel a part

Of some romantic symphony

Written just for you and me.

You are the prelude bringing joy

The magic touch that you employ

Never ever out of tune

And never will I be immune

And so I see it'...

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At home the Christmas snow is falling

I see it clear so far away

I hear the happy voices calling

See the children at their play.

Every Yuletide brings its reason

To celebrate old ways before

Family gathered for the Season

Friends and neighbours at the door.

Whatever in my life forsakes me

Wherever in the world I go

I bless this heart that always takes me

...

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A personal favourite from my batch of seasonal songs - originally written for all those unable to be at  

home for Christmas, but who keep the best of what it means in their imaginations: now - with added

meaning - given a fresh "airing" at a particularly relevant time around the world. 

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At home the Christmas snow is ...

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An annual reminder of the positive message that Christmas brings to us all.  Sing along!

1.

Lift up your voice - let all rejoice

And make a joyful sound

Cast off the care most folk (alt. mankind) must bear

When Christmas comes around

2.

Look to your hearts - that's where love starts

Where Life itself begins...

And you shall know that faith will show

Forgiveness f...

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Well, here we are, looking towards an unusual festive season - but let's also look on the bright side. 

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At home, all alone

So sad on my own

I was wondering how things were so wrong

When your face filled my mind

Loving eyes to remind

Me of what I had missed all along

That night before Christm...

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From a previous Remembrance Day - 

For Armistice Day 2020 - in memory of 2nd Lieutenant Ernest Valentine Venner, aged 24, The Rifle Brigade, killed during the Battle of Delville Wood, The Somme Campaign - August 18, 1916.

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You are the music in my heart

With every beat I feel a part

Of some romantic symphony (alt. rhapsody)

Written just for you and me

You are the prelude bringing joy

The magic touch that you employ

Never ever out of tune

And never will I be immune

And so I see - it's you and me

Meant to be in harmony

You are the melody in my mind

And with each note I seem to...

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Thanks, Julia, for the vocal

IT'S A HEARTACHE THING (C)M.C. Newberry 2018/2019.

I thought that you'd come back to me when I saw you at the door

I thought that life was looking to be kind

But you told me you'd returned to take what I flung on the floor

You smiled your smile and hoped I didn't mind

It's a heartache thing to understand that you have gone for good

To realise ...

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Near Kingswear town there stands a tree

That stand alone and waits for me

To take the track back to the sea

The way down by The Mewstone

Past the beacon in the corn

Built for every seaman born

To the works of war forlorn

At bay down by The Mewstone

Above the rocks - beneath the pine

Look-outs lost in leaf and vine

Still staring out in dark design

Decay do...

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Blessed are those who are born of this land

Happy are those who can hold fast its hand

Who can pull up a chair

And bid goodbye to care

We won't ask what you're thinking

When we ask what you're drinking

Lucky are those who share this old bond

Eager are they who come from beyond

To this land full of history

Magic and mystery

We won't ask why you smile

Or why you...

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Marcie Summers is no longer with us but the clarity of her voice stays on. No text is needed for this blog of

the song.  Her voice tells it perfectly.  A Country version has been recorded over in Nashville USA.  

MC 

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Those on WOL for a while will know of my liking for combining verse/lyric and finding a song in the process.  The attached title is based on the predicament of an unlucky soul who realises by the way 

the loved one's gaze seems preoccupied, attention elsewhere as if "seeing" another, that the relationship is in trouble.  My thanks to Bob Evans for the recording.

MC 

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Remembering those who have gone from this world but still keeping the positive gratitude for this life, 

here's an instrumental version of my song Christmas Snow...put up in the style (I hope) of the James

Last Orchestra !

A FOOT-TAPPING MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ONE AND ALL!! 

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Here's my contribution towards the coming Festive Season.  Grateful to Diamond Studios of Bristol.

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I was sitting alone, long after you'd gone

Wondering how love had gone wrong

When in my mind your face I'd find

And with it the words for this song

That Night before Christmas all on my own

Was the loneliest...

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My uncle, Ernest Valentine Venner, Lieutenant: The Rifle Brigade, has a grave that is marked, but many 

who served and died do not, and these lines from 2014...the 100th anniversary of the start of WW1...are intended to mark and maintain their memory.

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For all who have found that "special one" - or who are still looking!  Be happy, whatever!!

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Come with me to the small car park by the fields of Higher Brownstone high above Kingswear and the

River Dart in South Devon where the track to the old World War Two coastal defences is marked by a

solitary tree.  Breathe in the salty air and step out down that track towards the sea.

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My thanks to Marcie Summers of Bristol for recording this poem for me.

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Our English hills like sentries stand,

Proud guardians of an ancient land.

Across their brows, God, ever wise,

Has draped the everchanging skies.

While in their valleys, gently laid,

There lie the ...

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This poem with its musical setting joins my collection of verse recorded for a personal CD

by Peter Dymond.  The subject can be said to have been approached with the value of hindsight!

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There's this to say for getting old:

You take more care against the cold,

And value each new day.

And this to say for getting old:

You want to keep and not to s...

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Intended for August but I mixed up my dates and it appeared on 31 July.  Oops.  So here it is again.

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Written following a memorable blue-sky afternoon looking out over Preston Sands, Torbay.

Pausing high above the beach,

I watch the children ...

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The tune and title came out of a dream, obliging me to get up and put them on tape or risk

going back to sleep and forgetting.  The completed lyric followed within the next hour or so.

LOOK AT ME (C)2016

1.

Look at me happy

Look at me sad

Look at me laughing

Look at me mad

2.

Look at me watching

Whenever we part

And you'll find me waiting

Right there in your hea...

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I understand that Sir Cliff hopes to return to his habit of releasing an annual festive season song in 2017.

In the meantime, here is my nod to a great time of the year, bringing together those who are absent

with their imaginings of home, family and friends at a precious time of the year. 

My thanks to The Kingswood Sound for their enthusiastic rendering of my material.

Now sing along...

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Darlin' - now I'm miles away from where I long to be

Now there's too much distance keeping you from me

I lie awake most every night to the locomotive's wail

And my heart heads back down the waiting track

To ride that lonesome rail

I see your face before me whenever I'm alone

I hear your voice implore me: "Don't leave me on my own"

It hurts too much to realise I was the on...

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Now that the evenings are lengthening and the beauty of the coastal South Devon countryside returns

to fill my mind, come with me along the old metalled path from the end of the lonely road high above

Kingswear - marked by a solitary tree - to pass the watchtower looking out over the land as it drops

down to the beautiful River Dart estuary and the ruins of the WW2 coastal battery that st...

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A seasonal re-post of my attempt at a Christmas carol - now that Christmas Eve is upon us.

I'll let the content speak for itself and trust you can follow the words in the absence of a

displayed lyric.

Happy Christmas to all on WOL !

MC

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Nearly never made it to that dance the other night

Nearly stayed at home again - alone and out of sight

So glad I went and found you there

And found again that I could care

This loser's heart was stil so sore from all the hurt it had before

You looked at me and in your eyes I saw a stare of wild surprise

Everything stood still and then - you smiled and love began again

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I get memories of our melody before I lost the song

I get dreams at night that hurt me right

Where your heart should belong

I get letters from your lawyer and your Ma and Papa too

But I never get a letter from you

Serves me right for trusting love the way a sucker can

And thinking that was all I had to do

Serves me right for being such a trusting kind of man

And thinki...

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This is the closing (21st) poem on my new CD of verse with music settings: "POETRY TO PLEASE".

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There's this to say for getting old,

You take more care against the cold

And value each new day.

And this to say for getting old:

You want to keep and not to scold

The children at their play.

And this to say for gettin...

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Written following the ceremony on November 11, 2013, a copy has been received by the Adjutant,

Wellington Barracks SW1.  The poem is especially relevant this year...the 100th anniversary of the

start of World War One - "the war to end all wars".  This version is included in a forthcoming CD

of my work called "Poetry To Please".  

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This is posted to herald the welcome signs of spring in this great city.  Now put in a music setting, 

intended for a currently produced CD of "poems to music" called "POETRY TO PLEASE".

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In all the world there's nowhere quite

Like London on a soft spring night

When saffron sunset sends its grace

To linger...

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The robin sang his song to me

When I walked out by Galmpton Quay.

Alone he sang at twilight's gleam

Beside the darkening Devon stream.

I am Life,  his sweet song said,

An angel's voice above my head.

Exulting in his melody, 

The robin sang his song for me.

The tiny songbird touched my heart

That day beside the dreaming Dart.

My spirit soared as I passed by

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I loved to drive to the old songs

On the radio each day

They said the things I felt myself

And sure wished I could say

One day I met a wise man

Who read me clear right through

He said "You gotta learn son...

That's what you gotta do!

Hear that radio when you ride

But listen to what I say -

You could sing of what's inside

If a guitar you could play".

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You sparkled like a shining star

When I first saw you from afar

You promised what I'd never known

And I sought you for my own

But love with you was not to be

You couldn't share your light with me

However hard you said you tried

The glow between us dimmed and died

Angel - you are my fallen Angel

All hope of love with you has flown

Angel - you are my fallen An...

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A re-post (slightly altered)...inspired by- and dedicated to - all who cannot be at home for a precious time of the year but who are always there in heart and mind.

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CHRISTMAS SNOW

At home the Christmas snow is falling

I see it clear so far away

I hear the happy voices calling

See the children at their pla...

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I was the one who knew everything

Had a Bachelor of Loving Degree

But love taught me and now I know nothing

That matters a nickel to me.

I was the one who lost everything

Got a Loser in Loving Degree

Love taught me and now I've got nothing

That matters a nickel to me.

So - listen up...don't be a know-all

Don't think that you've got it made

Be wise and beware...

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Thanks are due to Peter Dymond and Diamond Studios (Bristol) for putting this song on disc.

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Darlin', now I'm miles away from where I long to be

Now there's too much distance keeping you from me

I lie awake most e...

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Posted again - a carol to help the festive mood.

"Lift up your voice - let all rejoice

And make a joyful sound

Cast off the care Mankind must bear...

When Christmas comes around"

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Happy Christmas!

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CHORUS >

O Lord lead me to the right road!  O Lord lead me to the right road

O Lord lead me to the right road...that's where I long to be

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I was a sinner man - yes sir-ee... I loved sin and sin loved me

We were thicker than flies could be - be wise and heed this warning

REPEAT CHORUS

The easy life was what I sought - everything that could be bought

A...

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Thanks to bobevansmusic.com for the tune and the version you will hear!

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Go on - walk away!

Should I beg you to stay

When you say

You're leaving for good?

You've told me before...

Many times - and what's more -

I don't think you will

Or you would.

Go on - if you dar...

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Recently, I posted the words, now here's the song...a breezy alternative to the admirable profundity often found on WOL.  Recording/vocal credit goes to Pete Dymond in Bristol.

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I thought I'd post this as a gentle antidote to the harsher world.  The tune (a personal favourite)

is adapted from the music of Kingsley Mellanby, a composer from Hampshire, UK.

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The sun shone out all around me

When you walked int...

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As spring approaches, here's a ballad for all who may have been unlucky in love.

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Winter days are drifting by

Each one passing with a sigh

How cold the days have grown

The love you thought was here to stay

Has somehow sadly slipped away

And ...

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