Over the last few months, I have been clearing and sorting lots of my old junk. This has uncovered a collection of demos I recorded between roughly 2006 and 2010. I put them onto last.fm at the time but they have since disappeared. One realisation I have come to while sorting out this stuff is that those projects you think you might get round to one day will probably never happen. So it is with these songs. Each one is filled with memories and thoughts that I felt at the time, but now I’ve moved on. I’m never going to want to devote time to recording better versions when there are more songs to find. But I don’t want to just let them die either…
I also discovered a song I wrote 11 years ago (there are hundreds of these), which I never recorded – Until Autumn Leaves. In the last few weeks I became slightly obsessed with this song, and have reworked it and am releasing it now in an album with the original collection of demos.
“Until Autumn Leaves” is a song about riding bikes. It’s dedicated to everyone I rode trails with; Tim, Seb, Nigel, Pete, Tom, Rob, Richie and Max Dagger, Paul Wilson, Chris A & D, Mark, Simon, Joe and Poll, Yak and Aiden, Louis and Will Spence, and Max, Dave King, and anyone else I rode trails with.
Hidden in the song are many bike related puns. See how many you can spot:
Lyrics:
Summer has gone again
The leaves are falling from the trees
Hedges burst with bright rose hips
I can taste them on my lips
Until Autumn leaves
These leaves were not growing for long
Budded blossomed bloomed and now they’re gone
And now they stay on the ground
Where the earthy worms will grind them down
Until autumn leaves
Winter’s cold grip clamps again
Mud slides under my feet
Frost bites hard and the snow falls down
As the autumn leaves
Spring has sprung again
The sap is pumping through the trees
Stems rise up and break new ground
Birds fly free, wheels spin round
We will ride until Autumn leaves
Autumn’s crown will fall again
The seasons cycle in their chain
Sunset notches up a gear
They tread the tracks of the former years
We will ride until autumn leaves
The album is now available on Bandcamp, Spotify, iTunes, Google Play and all major music outlets.
Here are some photos that didn’t make the cover:
scruffian 