This was the first song I ever wrote. When I was 16 - many many years ago - our French class studied a poem called "Chanson du Spectre", by Victor Hugo. I liked it so much that I wrote an English   more...translation and set a tune to it.

Lyrics:

Who are you my beautiful one?
Please will you tell me your name?
There was a maiden in our town.
Her eyes were like jewels aflame.
"I am the maiden," she said, she said.
Gather the branches of holly so red.

You're clothed in white, my beautiful one.
Please won't you tell me your name?
While minding the big red oxen,
A young man wooing her came.
"I am the girl," she said, she said.
Gather the branches of holly so red.

You're carrying flowers, my beautiful one.
Please won't you tell me your name?
One kiss can wed the wind and the heart,
For the wind and the heart are insane.
"I am his lover," she said, she said.
Gather the branches of holly so red.

Why are you weeping, my beautiful one?
Please tell your name, dear, to me.
She had a sweet little son,
And God took him up on his knee.
"I am the mother," she said, she said.
Gather the branches of holly so red.

You are so pale, my beautiful one.
Please won't you tell me your name?
Madly she fled through the bushes.
To live with the owls was her aim.
"I am the mad one," she said, she said.
Gather the branches of holly so red.

You are so cold, my beautiful one.
Please won't you tell me your name?
Our loves and our eyes so sweet;
The nails of our coffins the same.
"Yes, I am dead," she said, she said.
Gather the branches of holly so red.  less

I co-wrote this song w/ a veritable stranger during an impromptu meeting in a park. The park is just a city block w/ some trees amidst all of these skyscrapers and parking garages. There were several   more...homeless trying to rest there.

The song reflects what my co-writer(Kyle), was feeling at the time.

Big Green Bowl

Sitting in a big green bowl w/ perfect strangers.
They are all tired w/ calloused fingers
They are no longer waiting for angels
In a place where time stands still

Lazy day, nothing stealing my time away
All that was lost has now returned to me

Spent too much time running in the rat race
Then I noticed, I couldn't recognize my own face
In the maze of a world in my rat costume
Is this the way, that they'll remember my tune?

Lazy day, nothing stealing my time away
All that was lost has now returned to me

I see the blackbirds spreading their wings
Oh, how I do fancy such beautiful things
You can't find it in a bottle of wine
You find it right here, while just wastin' time

Lazy day, nothing stealing my time away
All that was lost has now returned to me x2

piquant pariah publishing 2007  less

Can't say he didn't deserve it, but do we have the right to take a life?

Lyrics:

...Today they hanged this man, Saddam Hussein.
...Another life was lost. What did we gain?

They found him at his hidden base.
  more...He was brought to the courtroom in disgrace,
No chance that he could ever win his case.
Did his death make the world a better place?
It might bring a smile to a Shiite's face,
But wasn't he a member of the human race?

One of the guards called out his name.
"Remember Muqtada to your shame.
You caused us suffering and pain.
We knew you were the one to blame.
Go to Hell, Saddam Hussein,
And burn in everlasting flame!"

Do you want to make a martyr of this man?
Can you complete what you began?
You walked with him and you shook his hand
And used him in your quarrel with Iran,
But when he didn't fit neatly into your plan
You sent out your soldiers to invade his land.

Whatever did you come here for?
He was hiding weapons? Are you sure?
You say that things were bad before?
The time will come when you must withdraw
And leave this land to its civil war.
Yes, he spilt blood, but you've spilt more.  less

A song I wrote some time ago.

Lyrics:

I am your unborn baby, mother
My future is in your hand.
Don't cut me down, but let me grow.
Give me tomorrow while you can.

I am a pupil in your school.
I won't ask,   more...I can't demand,
But teach me all I need to know.
Give me tomorrow while you can.

I am a soldier in your war
Sent out to kill my fellow man.
If there's still time to turn around
Give me tomorrow while you can

I am an old man in your world.
All my days I've drifted on
Taking all I could from life.
But where has my tomorrow gone?  less

One of my own compositions from some time ago.

Lyrics:

...Listen to the falling words
...Hear what they're saying.
...Flying like the morning birds
...In the branches of decaying.

What do they tell you of the   more...sands of distant shores?
Do they say the things you've worked for never can be yours?
Do they speak of hungry faces far across the sea?
Do they whisper sweet reminders that the truth will make you free?

Can't you hear them growing softer, falling faintly in the breeze?
Do you think that you will hear them through the long-forgotten trees?
Can you hear, or aren't you listening? Maybe it's your only chance.
Let them reach you; they will teach you how to do the freedom dance.

When the clouds are slowly drifting, listen to the words they speak.
If you use your ears you'll hear them, clearly still but growing weak.
If you lose them they'll be wandering round the corners of your life,
Where you'll see them half-reflected in the shadows of the night.  less

A song about the four horsemen of the Apocalypse.
(Revelations 6: 1-8)

Lyrics:

I saw a rider riding on a white, white horse.
In his hand he held a bow,
A rider riding on a white, white horse.
Forth to conquer   more...he did go.
Forth to conquer he did go.

I saw a rider riding on a red, red horse.
In his hand he held a sword,
A rider riding on a red, red horse.
Plunging the world into war,
Plunging the world into war.

I saw a rider riding on a black, black horse.
In his hand he held a pair of scales,
A rider riding on a black, black horse.
As the famine drives in its nails.
As the famine drives in its nails.

I saw a rider riding on a pale, pale horse.
Driving me out of my mind,
Death was the rider on the pale, pale horse.
And Hell followed close behind.
Hell followed close behind.  less

Candle Burning original song written and performed by Darren Webb copyright 2007

(song 2) <a href="http://www.myspace.com/listentotheethics">The Ethics</a> at the Roots and Riffs fundraiser for the Ottawa Folk Festival, Irene's Pub. Unfortunately, I wasn't able   more...to get the title of the song before I had to upload it. I will add it here when I get it.  less

The coolest lead singer in the Galaxy.

Talking and singing my version of Wayfarin' Stranger..

this is my original song "minneapolis"

Song I wrote about the pike place market.

FUN TIME SING ALONG

Banjo Paterson included this in his Old Bush Songs. It is based on an earlier convict song called "Ten Thousand Miles Away", and uses the same tune, but with new lyrics about pastoral Australia.   more...It has been attributed to C. A. Flower, who was the accountant for the company building the railway line between Mitchell and Roma in Queensland.

Notes:
The technique for exporting frozen meat was developed in Australia in the late nineteenth century.

Nardoo (mersilia) is a clover-like fern that is highly drought-resistant.  less

This is a shearers' song that pokes fun at newcomers who think they know how to shear a sheep, but actually don't have a clue.

The first known print version appeared in "The Bulletin" in 1898   more...using the title, "The Whaler's Rhyme". Collector and singer, A. L. Lloyd, heard it while working on the Lachlan River in the early 1930s. He wrote that "this song was much sung in the woolsheds while the men were actually shearing."

A "lime juice tub" is a British ship.  less

A tall story from the Australian bush. Shearers had to be tough.

The song is often sung to the tune of "Villikins and His Dinah", a melody which is probably used for more songs than any other,   more...though, in the version I know, the tune is barely recognisable as "Villikins".

It has been recorded by Trevor Lucas and A. A. Lloyd (accompanied by Peggy Seeger).

This song is on my first CD: "AXIS OF EVIL and other True Stories."  less

This was a serious song when i first wrote it. i guess i was a little bored and decided to make the video a little different than what was intended in the lyrics

A popular Australian shearing song, which Banjo Patterson included in his 1905 collection of old bush ballads. There seems to be a tradition in Australian songs of listing all the exotic places known   more...to the protagonist. Another example may be seen in the convict ballad, Moreton Bay.  less

Ned Kelly was Australia's best-known bushranger, and has long been considered a bit of a hero by many, a kind of Australian Robin Hood.

This is one of several songs about Ned Kelly and his gang, with particular   more...focus on a famous robbery at Euroa in 1878. It is sung to the tune of "The Wearing of the Green".

Folklorist Warren Fahey collected the song in 1973 from 92-year-old Joe Watson in Caringbah, New South Wales.  less

The origins of this outlaw ballad are obscure, though valiant attempts have been made to find the identity of Australia's second best-known bushranger (after Ned Kelly). The first written version of this   more...song dates from 1881, and the main character is known variously as Jack Doolan, Jack Dowling and Jack Duggan.

This song is on my second CD: "Laws of Chance."  less

Ironically, my first exposure to this popular "Australian" ballad is hearing it sung by American folksinger, Burl Ives, on one of my parents' 78 records. It was probably one of the first songs   more...I ever learnt.
It is not really an authentic Australian song as it originally came from the English Music Hall tradition. "Jim Jones at Botany Bay" (which I've already put on LiveVideo) seems to give a more realistic picture of the convict days. But it's a good song anyway.  less

Nearly 25,000 women were transported to Australia as convicts, half of them from Ireland. This is one of the few songs about female convicts.

The tune is based on "The Croppy Boy", an Irish song   more...from the 1788 rebellion,  less

Another Australian song about transportation, originally known as "The Convict's Lament on the Death of Captain Logan."

For those who don't know Australia's history, it began as a penal settlement   more...for English (and Irish) criminals whose crimes were so petty that they managed to avoid being hanged. For example they may have stolen a loaf of bread to feed their family.

Moreton Bay, in Queensland, was one of the worst penal colonies. Between 1825 and 1830 it was run by Captain Patrick Logan, notorious for his cruel and sadistic treatment of the prisoners. Records kept by one of the prison clerks show that, from February to October in 1828, Logan ordered 200 floggings with over 11,000 lashes. He was killed by Aborigines in 1830 while he was surveying the Upper Brisbane river. When his body was brought back to Moreton Bay, it is reported that the convicts "manifested insane joy at the news of his murder, and sang and hoorayed all night, in defiance of the warders."

The origins of the song are unclear but it may well date back to the time of Logan's death. Bushranger Ned Kelly quoted some of the lines in his "Jerilderie Letter" of 1879. A bushranger, Jack Bradshaw, who wrote a "True History of the Australian Bushrangers" (1911) and "Twenty Years of Prison Life in the Gaols of NSW" attributed the song to Francis MacNamara (Frank the Poet), who spent years in various Australian penal settlements.

Like many Australian songs, this one uses a traditional Irish tune. It is a variation on "Boolavogue", a ballad written by Patrick Joseph McCall (1898) for the centenary of the Irish Rebellion of 1798.

This song is on my first CD: "AXIS OF EVIL and other True Stories."  less

One of my favourite Australian songs from the convict days. The defiant character portrayed here is far from resigned to his fate, and, as a Victorian, I can relate to his comments about New South Wales!
  more...
This song is on my first CD: "AXIS OF EVIL and other True Stories."  less