Gary's Box of Stuff

Here's a quick live video of a new song. It's called Change Me, and it's about wanting to change one's appearance and generally have more self confidence.

Change Me

I'm gonna look in the mirror
And I'm gonna like what I see
I'm tired of getting down on myself
I'm tired of being me

Gonna wake, give my head a shake
and begin
Gonna look myself in the eye
and say you're alright kid
I'm not buying into the lie
Cause it's always rigged, always

We've been on this road for so long
It's time we sang a different song
I just want to feel I belong
Change me, Change me

I'm gonna turn it around
Get up if I get knocked down
Gonna visualize myself
Minus twenty pounds

Gonna move, find a better groove
and get on
Gonna breathe in, deep in, deep out
Gonna step right up to you
and have my mind made up
Coming out on top

We've been on this road for so long
It's time we sang a different song
I just want to feel I belong
Change me, Change me

Sometimes I wake up with a head full of shame
I can't look at myself if it's a losing game
I walk around all day, with a big black cloud
Raining over me, feeling lost at sea

I get the feelin everybody thinks I'm wasting time
I never have any friends, cause I'm a loner inside
Spending all this time and it feels so strange
Feeling bad about me is something I should change

Change me, Change me

This one was written about Rachel Fuller, who is Pete Townshend's girlfriend. She went to her little studio flat in Kew Gardens for a week for the purpose of writing an entire album worth of songs. Her efforts were so inspiring, I wrote this one.

 

TO LET

words and music by Gary Stockton

I found a room to let
I'd like to fill it with song
There's time to come and take in the view
I smoke a cigarette
then crumple the pack
I'm gonna make up my mind down in Kew

It's just a picture of you
a post and some words
not to be taken away
That's all that mattered
That's all that came
To my mind down in Kew today

I found a room to let
with pictures and flowers
I come in here and get it all down
It's a kitchenette
With white sheet and shower
In the attic an old wedding gown

Within these words
is the mystery of a song
Within these walls
is a place where I belong

Gonna wake up here
Don't you carry me home
Or send someone to take me away
I'll break a record
I'll be quite knackered
It's everything in heaven for art's sake

I found a room to let
I'll never forget
How lucky I am to have you
Quit smoking cigarettes
Stub it out with a song
There's Ash in my mind down in Kew

Within these words
is the mystery of a song
Within these walls
is a place where I belong

 

 

This song was written in memory of Tim Russert, who I would watch on Meet The Press every Sunday. He passed away in June of a heart attack while recording voice overs for the upcoming sunday show. He was 58 and a hell of a nice guy.

TIM

words and music by Gary Stockton

Summer came and took a friend away
Feels like only yesterday
When Timmy smiled you'd see a boy inside
Sunday'll never be the same

Reaching out into America
Sunday on t.v
Ooh I'm gonna miss your style
Even more, I'm gonna miss your smile

Turn back the time, turn back the day
Time give me time, time to say
So long

So we're left with only yesterday
A time for every scene
I reckognized the meaning in the book
That healed a Father's pain

I think I saw you in the eyes of Luke
The day we said goodbye
We put our differences to sleep
Watching rainbows in the sky

Turn back the time, turn back the day
Time give me time, time to say
So long

No we won't see the likes of you
No better man could fill those shoes
So put your hand upon your heart
Go make a pledge, a brand new start
You'll see a rainbow up above
It's no goodbye, farewell my love
It's just a sign for all to see
From our dear friend, Timothy

copyright 2008 Gary Stockton  

Written for Brad Delp, the former lead singer from the band Boston.

 

Sing me your song
Tell me bout your day
Get me out of my mind
Take me away
From this lonely day
Send your love on time

If you could see me now
Would you still believe in clowns?
If you could see me now
Could we make believe?

So I'm driving away
Let the double yellow line
Push the curve and sway
Outside my lifeline home
When there's nothing left to say
We face our fears alone

If you could see me now
Would you still believe in clowns?
If you could see me now
Would we make believe?
Outside, up and away I fly
In a day I'll try to go home
Outside, running away I sigh
Keep it all inside, if it's all inside my head
Let me out in the wind,
Let me out on my own
There's always time for next time

Sing me your song
Tell me bout your day
Lift me out of my mind
Take me away
From this lonely day
Send your love on time

If you could see me now
Would you still believe in clowns?
If you could see me now
Would we make believe?

 

How come when I cut the ace of hearts
You always draw the ace of spades?
How's it when your best friend
Brings you lillies on your birthday?

How come, how come
I ain't superstitious, but these things I seen
How come, how come
I ain't a superstitious fella, but it worries me

How come when the local clergy calls
He tells me that you shouldn't wear black?
What kind of bread are you gonna bake
With that hemlock in your spice rack?

How come, how come
I ain't superstitious, but these things I seen
How come, how come
I ain't a superstitious fella, but it worries me

The spider's run, the cobweb's gone
Did you eat it when the moon was new?
I drowned your cat, what do you say about that?
I've even broken up your broom

How come, how come
I ain't superstitious, but these things I seen
How come, how come
I ain't a superstitious fella, but it worries me

 

I was never really happy with the way one of my demo's turned out, having recorded it right when I was starting to mess around with pro tools. So, I re-did it with better bits.

The song is called "A View From The Churchyard". It was written when I was about 19. It is about an old church in my hometown right next to where my first girlfriend lived. Another broken hearted story. I used to stroll through this churchyard hoping to spot her on her way home, and this song came to me long after we broke up, I was actually living here in the US when I wrote it. Hope you like it.

Just to let you know I posted a new song demo to my IAC page. It's called "I Never Wanted To Say Goodbye" see above MP3. It's a pop song which was co-written with Aleisha Russell who challenged You Tube subscribers to write music for her lyrics, and since I had never tried it that way, I decided to have a go. The link to the song is:

http://iacmusic.com/songs.aspx?SongID=48338&ArtistID=28606

You can also hear it as first song playing on my myspace page.

If you would like to see Aleisha's original challenge video, it can be found on You Tube at:

 

 

 

 

 

My out of tune singing attempt on the initial idea is here:

 

 

 

 

 

 

My version wasn't picked as the winning version, but I think we managed to create a pretty cool little song together. Hope you like it. Hope to have a better video for it up on You Tube real soon.

What a treat, Foy Vance's debut album arrived this weekend from HMV in the UK. It's a work of genius. If you haven't heard of Foy Vance, take a listen to samples of his songs below. Foy is from Belfast, Northern Ireland. He has the most amazing soulful voice and writes the most stiring songs I've ever heard. If you like him, please help spread the word about him.

Here is where you can order:

HMV  |  Amazon UK  |  iTunes UK  |  Townsend Records  |  Play.com  |  Amazon USA

 

This one was written for my Father on his 70th birthday. He was always working two, sometimes three jobs, and always had dreams of bringing us all to America. Anyhow, another patriotic song I guess. This one has mandolin on it, a new instrument for me. One of those songs that came about not knowing the actual chords I was playing, but finding something that sounded cool. The drums were done in Ableton Live, a bit of accoustic guitar and bass underneath and we have a pretty cool little tune, which happens to tell a true story of how we got here.

This one was a little rif that kept coming up when I was feeling a bit sad. I heard my mate Neil had lost his dear Mother. Her name was Doreen, so I did an instrumental because I didn't know her personally there are no words. Neil's a great guy, lives over there in England, a real mate is Neil.