Artist Bio
Influences: john coltrane, emily dickinson, paul bley, robert graves, frank zappa, harold bloom, camille paglia, andrew vachss, phil ochs, donovan, the doors, suede. maxwell anderson, yeats and blake, van morrison, noman mailer, sam peckinpah, john cassavetes,andy warhol, goya, alex harvey, james blood ulmer, tim hardin, jamaa fanaka, last poets, nwa
I started taking songwriting seriously when I traded by trumpet for a guitar in 1970, and for several years the results were not very good. I wrote three songs a week to play at the open mike, and never got much response.I was told my harmonic experiments were interesting, but my lyrics were overly influenced by the poetic theories of Robert Graves, and few people had much idea what I was singing about. Besides, the competition was so strong in those days that my primitive meanderings had no chance in the market. It wasnt until punk rock opened peoples ears that I began to connect with the public. I wrote some pretty good stuff from 78 to 82 and had a decent following for my bands. Then I moved from Seattle to Boston, where nobody knew me, so I languished until 86, when I met Tracy Chapmen and a host of others in the New England songwriters revival. I recorded an album, but was dissatisfied with it and used it as a demo, which put me on the folk circuit for the next five years. I also got involved in theatre and wrote the scores for two plays that toured Russia. Then Britpop hit and went back to rock music. I moved back to Seattle and started a band with an old friend who had been Soundgardens drum tech and was now out of work because the band broke up. We recorded an EP, which was enthusiastically received, but there was too much conflict in everybodys lives so I headed South, where I was befriended by James Blood Ulmer who led me into the world of harmolodic blues. I stayed there until I was able to create my own style out of it, and made some 4 track recordings that i liked, but there were too many defets in the sound recording for it to be commercial. Eventually I returned to Seattle and wrote music for a young poet I had met. We started a band with him as singer and me as guitarisit, and had a pretty good run until he got married and disappeared. Then I teamed up with ex Van Morrison sidewoman, violinistToni Marcus, and returned to writing for and fronting a band. Joining a group called songwriters in seattle spurred me to new creativity in writing, and then I left the country to marry a girl in Peru. this is where i discovered FAWM, and decided to limit my songwriting to the month of february. then 50 90 got my attention and no i and now I write over 100 songs a year., this year i will be writing lyrics only, hoping some musical singing fawming friends will be inspired to turn them into songs
https://billwhite.bandcamp.com/
Songs (36)
STREET CORNER ANGEL
Soundboard
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@berni1954 Mar 2022
Moltes mercès des de Catalunya!
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@berni1954 Mar 2022
On your "Lower Class Aristocracy" album you state I'm in Spain. Any chance you can change that to Catalunya? The repression against those of us who feel the country would be better off reverting to an independent nation (as it was till 1714 and for centuries before Spain even existed) has been brutal.
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@berni1954 Mar 2022
MOVED
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@katestantonsings Mar 2022
I also don't eat animals! “I don't want to eat anything that has a mother,” --the late Fred Rogers
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@timfatchen Mar 2022
Your "our last day" comment...teaching myself recorder in the mid '80s led to a lot of Dowland. I don't consciously think about it these days, but something stuck, now you point it out! :D
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@timfatchen Mar 2022
You'll make it to the wedding! On resolving things of the past: I had one huge, dangerous, romantic love affair before I met Deborah. I did largely resolve it down the track, or rather it was resolved for me: we didn't meet again for over 40 years, then it was at our favourite aunt's funeral (we were related: that was another complication). I was so relieved to discover there wasn't a spark or ember left, just a sweet/sad memory of a memory. And AFTER that, I was able to use it as a basis for songs. Especially one I did with Sherry Somach. And the ballad "At the dawn of our last day" this year is very very close to actuality of 52 years ago! #138128 Only minor licence taken ("camp stretcher" would be soooo unromantic...)
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@timfatchen Mar 2022
Ye gods, you're 70? (I tend not to take notice of numbers in FAWM names!) But yes, I guess you'd have to be given the late 60s & 70s conenctions. And I'm 72, born in the first half of last century, as I put in one lyric. Sh!t. Well, we've still probably got another couple of decades, WW3 permitting, so here's to us! (and families) (and music) (and ibuprofen)
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@timfatchen Mar 2022
And I think you need to write a song "The last man to escape Seattle".
When I was an academic way back in the 70s (and a ranking one, my own department even!) the environmental literature was short and the best published examples tended to be USA. So, eutrophication and the cleanup of Lake Washington, I would regale my students at the start with "The bluest skies you've ever seen are in Seattle/But the lakes are full of sh1t". Just thought you'd liek to know :D -
@timfatchen Mar 2022
And now I've listened right through....what an amazing album.
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@timfatchen Mar 2022
Working through Lower Class Aristocracy tonight. I see what you meant about General Cisski. I still find it scary. Have I thanked you for including it on a spectacularly good album??
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@timfatchen Mar 2022
Listening to the Last of the Arrogant R&R Singers and I so wish my treue godmother Julian (from Seattle) was still alive; she would adore this. I reckon it's pretty good too! We all end up on the scrap heap and need to give the finger to the universe anyway but oh! some of the suckerups we meet along the way...
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@greengrassgirl Mar 2022
Bill, thank you for the supreme compliment on the lyrics to Ghost of a Chance. Means a lot coming from someone like you with a lifetime of experience making songs come to life. I agree that @Gwyn did a fabulous job on it. He seems to do that with every project he takes on. What a remarkable talent!
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@andrea Mar 2022
Thank you for your thoughtful comments on I Cherish Our Love and Shangri-la. I love collaborating and feel fortunate to be part of both of these collaborations. I appreciate your kind words :)
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@berni1954 Mar 2022
Thanks for "clarifications" ;-)
The combination of living in Catalunya for 36 years, having retired from teaching and translating and being three weeks of my 68th year means I frequently get these blocks where I can't dredge up the English word.
It wasn't so much the lyrics in themselves as the "feel" of the whole that reminded me of Sitwell's performance piece "Façade". -
@berni1954 Mar 2022
Thanks for the "aclaraciones"... Can we say that in one word in English?
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@karlsburg25 Mar 2022
Brilliant cheers bill. Can't wait to hear how to me a finished sounding tune sounds when its er..........finished ;-)
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@fearlessflight2014 Mar 2022
Your lyrics are so good, I don’t know how I’ve managed to miss visiting your page properly earlier. If there are ever any lyrics you want to send my way I’d be honoured!
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@fearlessflight2014 Mar 2022
Ah yes, I really enjoyed working with those lyrics.
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@fearlessflight2014 Mar 2022
Hey there Bill, which song took you for a walk around Walden pond?
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@sherrycanary Mar 2022
You do have a unique way of listening and commenting. I always look forward to your comments
In my Sea of Uncertainty you said Tim added a warm embrace of an optimistic response to anxiety.
I guess I am optimistic, given the trials I have recently come through. Everyone deals with having to process change
By the way, I recorded my interpretation on Tim's covering the song I wrote from my hospital bed just after surgery.
Much less FAWM Anthemic....but determination definitely from FAWM -
@gm7 Mar 2022
Bill thx for doing a collab with me this year..i Loved what we did on "Little Gerri'. I wish you and your family good health for the coming year and maybe we can do something for 2023. Cheers
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@katestantonsings Mar 2022
Likewise regarding your comments. The best of 50/90. The pessimistic optimist or the optimistic pessimist in me sees the good that came out of it though; the unseen were seen. The unheard were heard. Injustices couldn't be ignored. Nobody gave a sh*t about celebrity worship--those things were refreshing to watch. I can't resist lyrics that champion underdogs.
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@katestantonsings Mar 2022
I'm listening now...so good! I feel like this should be on your YouTube with clips of the crazy things that have happened over the last 3 years!!! Nice work! The brass is exceptional. The lyrics are poignant yet funny and cutting. This one really hit me--we really did see the class division during COVID and the lack of humanity.
"nobody gets a pass
because the poor are the criminal class" -
@guatecoop Mar 2022
Hey Bill, I just got to check out what you were talking about....Uh, well I'm not sure what you would like me to do, as the song is 3 minutes and 41 seconds. I think that your vocal is 9 minutes and 27 seconds. I'm not seeing how this can work to fit the vocal in unless it would be condensed or shortened. Hmmm... I can't elongate the song, so just let me know what you would like to do. Thanks!
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@guatecoop Mar 2022
Oh my goodness. I’m going to have to change that when I get home. I guess that I shouldn’t have done that in a rush so sorry about that. Feel free to lock it
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@guatecoop Mar 2022
Hey Bill, I came home for lunch and snuck in a mix! So, Chalk it Up is up!
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@guatecoop Feb 2022
Thanks for the placeholder Bill! Im getting there!
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@jonmeta Feb 2022
Bill, thank you for letting me put music to such a personal and emotional lyric. My only goal was to do them justice. When I sketched the music in my head it was punk, Velvet Underground. But it came out different, more hopeful, maybe because of “only god can raise the dead” in the last verse. Some people seem to be hearing a disconnect between music and words, so I appreciate you hearing grace instead of incongruity.
The cancer album is my friend’s project so I’m only working on songs that he already chose. Use it on your own album, definitely.
If you make it to the north of Spain, you’ll be just up the road a bit. -
@katestantonsings Feb 2022
Your wife's comment made my day :)
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@katestantonsings Feb 2022
& you tell Estrella that my teen will spoil the crap out her if your family is ever in the area and is up to visit!
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@katestantonsings Feb 2022
The respect is very much mutual. I have several people to thank from FAWM for helping me out of my shell. Your lyrics cut!!! Truth bombs that I hope I have the balls to write someday!
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@katestantonsings Feb 2022
Thank you for the lovely collabs, Bill! You’ve had a successful FAWM!
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@dutch1967 Feb 2022
Glad you like EVERYTHING RHYMES WITH BABY
Loads of fun to write and more so to record -
@kenmattsson Feb 2022
Thanks for your comments on the collab. I never thought of myself as a cross between Dowland and Irish rebel songs, but I think it's an apt observation!
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@timfatchen Feb 2022
You commented on @sherrycanary's defiant "Will of the Heart" https://fawm.org/songs/132639/ earlier (thank you). We now have Sherry's voice on it and a slightly better piano. Whilst there are some production issues which I can't fix at this stage, it's definitely an improvement over me singing it (!), if you'd like to listen again, or download the fresher version.
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@elesimo Feb 2022
It wasn't me talking about Kraftwerk, but I appreciated the article nonetheless! :)
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@kanttila Feb 2022
I can give it a go! If I feel inspired enough I think I can squeeze out another song. You can send it to [email protected].
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@rayboneor Feb 2022
I was honored that you thought of me with those Arrogant Rock Star lyrics. I put them into a document the other day, with line breaks and everything, and the flow is really great. I'm running out of steam, though. I'm working a lot and I'm leaving town this weekend, so my fawm is pretty much over. I might steal some ideas for future songs, though
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@cindyrella Feb 2022
Ok. Thanks for getting back to me
Well do something in July -
@sbs2018 Feb 2022
Thank you for your comments. Enjoyed your lyrics this FAWM. Hope to see you in 50/90!
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@berni1954 Feb 2022
YOU SAID: "you are never old until all your friends are dead." :-)
I guess that's the truth, but I have met guys in their 30s who act like the generation of my grandfathers! What was that phrase I couldn't remember last night while composing that song. It's something like:
Growing old is obligatory
Growing up is optional :-) -
@cindyrella Feb 2022
Hi. Was wondering if you be interested in my Warning Signs?
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@nahlej381 Feb 2022
You’re killin it bill! You goin for triple FAWM? 42? Love your writing love your performance even more
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@sunnymae Feb 2022
Bill, thanks a million for your comments on Tethered to the Wind. You're feedback means so much to me, as I value your insights implicitly.
This season has been exploratory and a time of self discovery musically. I've opened up to another aspect, in a sense, a re-introduction to oneself. Comes with advancing age. -
@nancycunning Feb 2022
Yep. Yep. You’re right Eugene O’Neill wrote Long Day’s Journey into Night not Arthur Miller. I think I’ve been confidently wrong for decades.
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@jonmeta Feb 2022
Me too. I've copied the lyrics into my lyrics folder and will try to do them justice.
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@vegansongs Feb 2022
Thanks for your comment on Queen of Swords. Actually used a DAW and separate tracking. So fun!!
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@berni1954 Feb 2022
Thanks, Bill. I knew you would get it. I was inspired by the whole BLM / ALM movements to wonder how people can say ANY lives matter in the US today.
I think you're right, it is the desensitizing that has largely been responsible and nowadays it's the drawing up of battle lines amongst the GOP and its fascist looney fringe... Lines which reduce anyone opposed to them as inhuman and therefore a legitimate target. Goebbels would have loved the US today. He'd have felt right at home. -
@sunnymae Feb 2022
I hear you loud and clear on the pitiful state of the media. It's a cash cow, with coiffed and prompted puppets, regurgitating ratings raising scripts from the "control" room thru their earpieces. I could go on, but I have two more collabs to work on. :0)))
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@sunnymae Feb 2022
Gena Rowlands eh?? Nice! Thank you for that stunning review of Don't Tell me a Story, my collab with @berni1954 You're the on the
scene reporter we've all been missing in the media these days. They don't make 'em like you anymore.
As my cousin Paulie would have said...you're a seldom piece, Bill. -
@mikeskliar Feb 2022
just posted! that was fun! now off to drink some tea and honey after a little vocal shredding :)
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@berni1954 Feb 2022
Glad you liked "The path" I could certainly write more detailed verses about some of the other con artists posing as bodhisattvas I've come across in my 67 years. But I just gave a taster with the pastor. Honestly, he was the embodiment of evil in the sheep's clothing of a Xtian minister. That day I was the focus of his attempt to convert me. It was a public challenge to him with his adoring flock around him acting like a satellite dish focussing his power at one point in the room -me... I could feel his hate as every argument he put forward I countered and when I pointed out that I recognised his game and his motivation, I swear I was half terrified he would shed off his human form and reveal the devil within. And this was at an engagement party for an old friend who was a gutarist of the stature of John McLaughlin, but who, after his baptism in this false prophet's church, was forbidden to improvise, because "improvisIon comes from the devil".
That day was my closest encounter with true evil. -
@cindyrella Feb 2022
Thanks Bill!
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@guatecoop Feb 2022
Hey there....it's just at gmail.com. I will look into that, but I look forward to getting your track! Thanks for doing that.
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@cindyrella Feb 2022
Hey there. Wondered if you'd be interested in my Disappear song?
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@katestantonsings Feb 2022
Hallelujah
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@katestantonsings Feb 2022
If there were such a thing as upvotes, I'd spam the sh*t out of the thumbs up button on this comment, Bill:
"like a cognac after a happy meal" -
@katestantonsings Feb 2022
Kris Kristofferson helped a lot of artists behind the scenes. I've read many encouraging stories about him. Van Morrison DGAF what others think. Neither does Neil Young. Original punks. People in this industry are sharks--they build artists up to tear them down--but damn, do they love a good comeback story! Groupthink. It's nice when artists are creating for the right reasons. Look what they did to Janet Jackson after the 2004 Super Bowl. Or even Britney Spears. Those old interviews are appalling. Justin Timberlake gets a slap on the wrist.
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@lowhum Feb 2022
I did another version of the Cuba song,
I can post it if you like it:
https://archive.org/download/cuba3/cuba3.mp3 -
@acousticmaddie Feb 2022
Thanks
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@acousticmaddie Feb 2022
O would love for you to have a go on Echoes of a soldier. No matter how long it takes.
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@daveyboy103 Feb 2022
I did realise that Bill. I kept asking Geoff Matthews to write some happy words and when he did I put them to sad scary music.
https://soundcloud.com/davidharrington/happy-hit-me
Complete with scary clown. -
@vegansongs Feb 2022
I had to wiki "frock rock". Now I feel ill. I suppose it was meant to be cute? Our world is so messed up.
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@guatecoop Feb 2022
Oh ok....Whatever you want to do is fine with me. It's definitely cool, so if you want me to do that then I will. Thanks!
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@guatecoop Feb 2022
Hey Bill, your lyrics and vocals are so cool!! I was expecting a Johnny Cash kind of thing with a crooner over top of the crazy--but NO WAY! That's amazing. If you send me your vocal track I would be happy to mix it, as you know mixing with a vocal is different than when I'm just mixing the music without. Just let me know. Thanks for doing that--I think that is the biggest WOW of the year for sure! My email is on my page.
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@berni1954 Feb 2022
Hi Bill,
Queen Beaver thanks you for liking her dig at early 60s Male Chauvinism. :-) -
@timfatchen Feb 2022
Hi Bill, ref the melody of Last Day. It's not that there's something wrong with it, it's just the wrong melody! Doesn't fit the words!
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@coolparadiso Feb 2022
yes Bill by Dragon. its always been a mystery where the name came from. he was on radio today and said it was a reference to Capablanca a Cuban world chess champion who lost the world title and said he couldn't concentrate as he was blinded by the April sun in Cuba
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@guatecoop Feb 2022
Oh sure! You can go right ahead....I trust what you do, for sure. Thanks! I look forward to hearing it.
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@beat Feb 2022
Thank you, this is a nice observation. It was listening much more then doing, that created the outcome.
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@guatecoop Feb 2022
Hey there Bill, absolutely go for it! I’m really interested to see what someone with your pipes would do with a song like “A Friendship Lost”. Thanks for your interest!
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@timfatchen Feb 2022
Hells bells 21! I'd better get a move on and listen more!
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@vegansongs Feb 2022
Bill- I sent the long version that needs your vocal part for chorus.
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@vegansongs Feb 2022
Bill- I sent you a short demo file for Cuba song
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@sunnymae Feb 2022
So glad you were pleased with the direction I took (or the muse took me) on No Intention. It was a pleasure collaborating with you. You write from a very deep well, which inspires one to honor the source.
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@katestantonsings Feb 2022
"book reads more like a coming of age novel ala Salinger than a film critic's memoir" !!
Nice! -
@sbs2018 Feb 2022
Maybe it’s more of a dance in your head song - lol! I know my head can’t stop dancing, which keeps me awake at night. Ack!
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@nadine Feb 2022
You're right. I hope this song helped you to process.
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@coolparadiso Feb 2022
Bill you might like this! i thought is sounded very Pulpy! https://fawm.org/songs/127743/
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@berni1954 Feb 2022
I agree with you that it was the crassest of errors putting Hilary on the ticket and as my song "Take it Away" notes, I don't have much faith that your average politician of any party truly want to serve anyone but themselves (or their rich buddies). However, wouldn't you agree that there was a qualitative difference between the orange nightmare and every GOP leader before him? How a person so twisted, so ignorant, so cynically willing to lie on an hourly basis (and even deny having lied when confronted with video evidence), so lacking in anything even approaching empathy.... (I could go on for a couple of pages) got to be POTUS is a damning condemnation of the current state of play in the "good old USA".
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@vegansongs Feb 2022
Great Bill! I'll try it.. I left a message on the song page too
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@berni1954 Feb 2022
YOU SAID: "feels like we are skating around the pond, playing it cool before we strike" - Oh how I wish. The Thatcher-Reagan-Friedmann years did everything they could to sink the only organizations that protected the rights of ordinary people. They convinced millions there was no such thing as a class war, while winning it hands down by eliminating all organised opposition. And just how effective that was can be proved by how many people from working class America backed the orange nightmare. It was like the turkeys had voted to make thanksgiving a weekly event!
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@jibbidy34 Feb 2022
Hi Bill. Flattered to be asked. Send it to [email protected]
I may not get to it until middle of next week if that’s ok? -
@elesimo Feb 2022
Hi, Bill! I do live in Bodega Bay, and I've visited some of the locations from the movie (which has some locations in Bodega as well, another nearby town). It's a beautiful place!
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@rayboneor Feb 2022
I'm always interested. I ain't no rock 'n' roller, though :)
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@lowhum Feb 2022
I like you liked it. Hell, yeah!
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@emkaydeebee Feb 2022
Also, congratulations on the “win”
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@berni1954 Feb 2022
Such enthusiasm about my pirate song, that you posted twice :-)
Glad you liked it. I hooted when I saw the word pirate in the list assigned to me. If you ever visit my Facebook page, the icon is me in a TV show I was in a few years back playing a pirate and on the Ukulele Underground I am known as "Barbablanca" :-) -
@berni1954 Feb 2022
Hi Bill,
"THE JUDGE" is up and running. Now will it get the justice it deserves? :-) -
@gwyn1234 Feb 2022
Many, many thanks for the listen and your kind and encouraging words...
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@vegansongs Feb 2022
Hi Bill..Thank you for the lyrics - I am passing on the Road tripping song. Can we try again?
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@acousticmaddie Feb 2022
Hello; I am bit late to the party but Yes lets. You are almost done though :) I will write a bit upcoming week
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@daveyboy103 Feb 2022
There was a double chorus at the end and repeating the whole chorus wouldn’t work but the repeat of the last phrase worked a treat.
Good fun and a great result. Thanks man -
@daveyboy103 Feb 2022
Thanks Bill, I think the song certainly evokes the cold.
What did you think of the final version of "I saw their lips move"? were you happy with how it turned out? -
@vegansongs Feb 2022
Thank you. Bill! We need to collaborate this year.
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@berni1954 Feb 2022
Hi Bill, thanks for commenting on my songs. I always appreciate your comments. I'm not as caught up on thanks as I usually am. My lovely Carmen has Covid! I'm asymptomatic at the moment though. But that's just as well because I am in constant demand for hot lemon and honey drinks, food, slippers, mobile phone, i-pad, etc, etc, :-)
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@resonut123 Feb 2022
Thanks for the nice comments on my songs: Mind's Eye High and the False Prophet. FAWM On!
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@katestantonsings Feb 2022
I just copied and pasted your comment into my song journal for 'House Guest'--if I decide to turn it into a song after FAWM, I'll keep your very thoughtful words in mind. Thanks, Bill!
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@coolparadiso Feb 2022
not sure why it doesnt work emailed it to you! I am well advanced with your lyric as well - done one run want to re do the vocal!
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@sbs2018 Feb 2022
Thanks so much for your praise of my vocals on “Would You listen.” Means a lot!
