Toshie Law

A song from the Scottish Borders by Lionell McClelland.

I first heard the song from Lionel’s nephew Jamie

Recorded in “the shed” on an iphone and a very old EV Mic. 

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I wrote this song about the time before Brexit, when we had migrants helping us, and before Putin invaded Ukraine.

Verse 1
It was a pickers party at a works canteen,
That’s where I met her
She said “I hope you are not American? They’re all mad
And the Britishers aren’t much better”
She said she worked for the KGB,
Olga from the Volga was her code name”
I said “I’m Mick from the Styx I’m with MI6
And we know your little game”.
We danced ‘neath white fluor escent lights,
Drank off table tops of for mica
But when we went outside into the warm summer night
I decided “I really like her”

She used to say
Chorus
Give me a pair of minutes
Wait for me through the door
I will always love you for ever
Da Da Da

Verse 2
We picked pears apples, and po tatoes
Through the days in the orchards and the farms
We spent the nights talking and loving
Wrapped in each others arms
I took her home to see my folks
They fell in love with her just like me.
She said “You must all come to visit me at home
And we’ll go swimming in the Black sea”
Sometimes she said she came from Gorgia,
Sometimes the Ukraine
Romania, or Moldova I’m ashamed to say
But to me they were all the same

She used to say
Chorus

Verse 3
The end of the season came around
When the pickers all head back home
We gathered for a farewell drink
To copy e mails and add resses to our phones.
In the station bar we all crammed in,
Lots of pickers but not much noise
As I took out my phone to put her details in,
She looked at me with watery eyes.
She said “I’m going to put some powder on my nose”
Then she took a little sip of wine
Then she kissed me gently on the forehead
I guess I knew it was the very last time.

She said
Give me a pair of minutes
Wait for me through the door
I will always love you forever
But I never saw her no more.

Chorus

The post A Pair of Minutes. appeared first on Twenty Forty Five.

Forever True

My song about the “other” people.

Lyrics

Verse 1
Good Morrow Ginny Jane
At last we meet a gain
It’s been such a long time
A hundred years or more
Since last I saw your charms
Since I held you in my arms
The world has moved around us
You haven’t changed at all. 

Verse 2
Do you still dream of dragons
And copper covered wagons
When the world was young and we were strong
And magic was every where
Well the time of man grows shorter
As the ice turns to water
We’ll rise again, paint the skies again
In a world true and fair.

Verse 4
Good Morrow Ginny Jane
At last we meet a gain
It’s been such a long time
a hundred years at least  Let’s take some of forever
And spend some time together
Then go our ways until the days
When we will be released.

The post Forever True appeared first on Twenty Forty Five.

If you want it fixed, go ahead fix it

Another song, this time on of mine recorded in the campervan with Bruno as the enthusiastic audience.

Lyrics

Verse 1
I was sitting in a bar room at the dawn of time
I was breaking bread I was drinking wine
I was trying to play a chord that was new to me
“What’s the point” said the Lord’s anointed
“I didn’t give you fingers that are double jointed
You’re just gonna have to change the key”

I said
Chorus
“Hey hey hey what’s to do?
Hey hey hey I don’t believe in you”

Verse 2
A man’s got more money than he can spend
But he never gives, he only lends
On a high interest contract signed in blood
Down the street a family with next to nothin’
Gotta tighten their belts and cut their cloth
And quit believin’ cos there ain’t no Robin Hood

They say
Chorus
“Hey hey hey what’s to do?
Hey hey hey we don’t believe in you”

Verse 3
There’s a lady executive up against the glass ceiling
There’s a sense of injustice that she’s feeling
Her boss gets paid as much as two hundred working men
She thinks he’s great, but she’s just as good
And she doesn’t see why she should
Only get paid as much as a hundred and ten

They say
Chorus
“Hey hey hey what’s to do?
Hey hey hey we don’t believe in you”

Bridge
It’s always been that way
Since the morning of that very first day
He’s got a Thirty Nine Martin 45
But he don’t play

Verse 4 
“So what’s to do?” said the Lord of alL
“If you wanna take it, that’s your call
All I ask is you don’t come whining to me
If you want it fixed, go ahead fix it
Push it, pull it, twist it, mix it
Like I told you before, you just gotta change the key”

He said
Chorus
“Hey hey hey what’s to do?
Hey hey hey I don’t believe in you”

We all say
Chorus
“Hey hey hey what’s to do?
Hey hey hey I don’t believe in you”

The post Change the Key appeared first on Twenty Forty Five.

By Tom Petty. I recorded this around 2018 in our motorhome. The instrument is my trusty Yamaha GL1 Guitalele The video was recorded on a Motorola G5 budget phone The dog is our late, wonderful “Bruno”

The post I wont back down appeared first on Twenty Forty Five.