Some writing music: Part 132

Hello there inmates!

How is the day finding you all? Well I hope! And what a day it’s been eh? Sunny, beautiful and oddly optimistic. That’s how it’s been here in the south of the UK at least. I’ve even managed to spend a handful of days on the beach this week. Hence yesterdays poem I suppose. Being out and about inspired that, to be sure. I certainly hope it lasts into the coming months. I’m totally bored of winter and frigid weather, as I’ve mentioned in the past. Lots of bike rides in my near future, I assure you. I’m hoping that wherever you guys are in this mad world, you find the weather agreeable.

Speaking of agreeable, we probably ought to have some nice music going eh? Did any of you glimpse todays musical theme clue? Unfortunately it was not a photo taken by yours truly, though I intend to take some more from around the Island in the future. It was a pretty photo though, wasn’t it? Did you get the clue?

Yes, that’s right! Or wrong! Todays musical theme is beaches! Not an overly surprising one given what I was saying above, but there you are. One of those quintessentially “holiday” areas that we all know and maybe love. It conjures up images of family outings and bonfire raves at night. Sitting on a deckchair in front of a serene shoreline. Surfing or bathing in the swell. I’m sure you’ve all got a picture or pictures in your head. Did it also bring some music to your ears? For me it does. The kind of song that speaks calmness or relaxation. Or the other end of the spectrum: a fast-paced party tune. I think beaches inspire both of these in equal measure, for different kinds of people. I’m going to share five songs that I think represent those yellow places of joy and serenity. Let’s get to it!

Join me as we delve into the musical minds of sandy artists the world over!

DNCE – Cake By The Ocean
http://www.dnce.com/

All Saints – Pure Shores
http://www.allsaintsofficial.co.uk/

Weezer – Island In The Sun
https://weezer.com/

Martin Garrix – Forbidden Voices
https://martingarrix.com/

Yellow Claw – After It All
http://yellowclaw.com/

And there we have it! I almost want to go and sit on the beach right now. That would be quite dumb though, cause it’s coming up to 9PM. But still, we have the vibe for sure. I hope all of you enjoy my choices for this week. There were so incredibly many potential choices for such a broad topic. Check them all out eh? You shan’t be disappointed!

Speaking of disappointment, would you like to follow some disappointing social media sites? The asylum has a page over on Facebook, an account on Instagram and of course a page on Twitter as well! Please give me a follow over on those eh? Also, if you enjoy what I do here at the asylum, please consider supporting me over on the Ko-Fi page as well. Thanks for everything!

So, until next week, have a very crazy day inmates!

Some writing music: Part 126

Hello there inmates!

How are you finding the day? The week? Quite excellent I hope! I’m having a reasonably decent week so far myself. Not exactly busy, but undeniably steady. Things are certainly more terrifyingly eventful in certain parts of the world. I’ve been watching with great trepidation the events unfolding over in Eastern Europe. It’s certainly a scary array of events. I really feel terrible for the people caught in the middle. If I had a bit more in the way of finances, I would definitely be donating some money to help the innocents who are being harmed and displaced. If anybody knows any legitimate charities who are operating in the UK, please let the asylum know!

So, today is the day for the Harlequins writing music. I posted a clue for todays musical theme earlier on today. Did anybody happen to see it and guess what it was? Come on! I’m sure you could get it.

The musical theme for part 126 of our writing music is the black community! Members of our society who hail from the great continent of Africa or the myriad islands of the Caribbean. Theirs is a history of struggle and hardship, of slavery and oppression. Of rum and sugarcane. I would never claim to be well-versed in the workings of the world and for obvious reasons I can’t speak of the experiences of people of colour. However, what I can trivially talk about is the influence of black or brown people on the world of music. Some of the most influential artists in history have been people of colour. From Jimi Hendrix to Michael Jackson. From Whitney Houston to Stevie Wonder. From Aretha Franklin to Marvin Gaye. These titans of music have impacted genres of all kinds, particularly pop, jazz and soul music. In fact, the unique stories of people of colour (particularly in the US) have shaped entire genres of their own. Jazz is the primary one that comes to mind. With Hip-hop and rap coming a close second. Obviously I’m no musical scholar so maybe I should stop rambling again. Want to hear some examples of “black music”? I know you do!

Please join me as we delve into the musical minds of black artists the world over!

Mary J. Blige – Just Fine
https://www.maryjblige.com/

Aretha Franklin – A Natural Woman
https://www.arethafranklin.net/

Living Colour – Cult of Personality
http://www.livingcolour.com/

2Pac – I Ain’t Mad At Cha
http://www.2pac.com/us

Rihanna – Disturbia
http://rihanna.com/

And there we have it! I had far too many potential options for this theme! I could have picked so very many different artists, so I think it’s entirely plausible this is a theme I may revisit. I hope that you guys enjoy the artists that I’ve chosen this week and check them all out as well. They deserve the love for sure!

Speaking of, may I have some love too? Come follow me on my social media sites! It would mean a great deal to me. The asylum has a page over on Facebook, an account on Twitter and a page over on Instagram as well. Also, if you really enjoy what I do here at the asylum, please consider supporting me on the Ko-Fi page as well! Cheers for everything!

Until next week, have a very crazy day inmates!

Some writing music: Part 123

Good day inmates!

How goes your week my friends? Surviving the winter blues I hope! Spring isn’t too far off you know! That’s what I keep telling myself anyways. At time of writing, there is a storm approaching our humble islands imminently. So that’s great fun, said nobody ever. If there are any other British inmates out there, I hope you all keep safe in the coming weather. I know it’s likely to be little more than an inconvenience, but still heads up eh?

So, part 123 of the Harlequins writing music! Who believed that we would make it this far? I certainly didn’t! Dare I ask if anybody saw the clue for todays musical theme?

Todays musical theme is crime! A bit of a strange one no? What’s stranger is the fact that I thought that I had already done this theme, would anybody be able to put my mind at ease? So crime. It’s something that we at least hear about all the time in our lives. Hopefully not affecting us personally. It’s a part of the human experience, especially in harder times such as these. Not everybody chooses to lead an honest life. Sometimes people go a different route in place of a traditional profession or some such. Naturally people have created music that speaks about crime in all of its facets. Speaking about the struggles of life that lead to people believing crime is the way forward. Or simply talking about stories of wrongdoing the artist is familiar with. It can be shown in all manners or genres. Want to see what I can whip up this week? You got it!

Join me as we delve into the musical minds of naughty artists the world over!

SKYND – Christ Watts
https://skynd-music.com/

Coolio – Gangsta’s Paradise
https://coolioworld.com/

The Clash – Bankrobber
https://www.theclash.com/

N.W.A. – Straight Outta Compton
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/N.W.A

The Boomtown Rats – I don’t Like Mondays
https://www.theboomtownratsofficial.com/

And there we have it for another edition of the Harlequins writing music! I hope nobody is donning a balaclava or looking at bank blueprints after listening to these tunes. I hope you all enjoy the choices of artists this week, I also hope you decide to check them all out. They all deserve the attention, as I always stress. You shan’t regret it!

Speaking of stress, mind if I stress about my social media pages? Thanks! The asylum here has a page over on Facebook, an account on Instagram and lastly a page over on Twitter as well! I share all kinds of random junk over there, as well as clues for my poems a few hours ahead of time. Please think about following me over there eh? Also, if you really enjoy what I do here at the asylum, please consider supporting me over on the Ko-Fi page as well! Thanks for everything!

Until next week, have a very crazy day inmates!

Crystalline Sky

That time at the lake,
As the mist looked on expectedly,
When I cried sad crystals,
And they flew skyward,
Joining hands with constellations,
It was then that I knew,
As my eyes still spilled celestial ink,
That the night sky was built on hurt lovers,
Cosmic beauty derived from pain,
The night was an anthology of romantic tragedies,
A sky of stories,
A landscape painting of bloodily cut diamonds,
Bled on to the firmament by the brush of our tears.

Some writing music: Part 118

Good day inmates!

So another week is here eh? How’s it been for you? 2022 thrown any spanners at you yet? I certainly hope not, that would be rather rude. I’m really not enjoying the winter, I’ll admit. I’ve had a stinking cold yet again. It’s more annoying than debilitating at this point. It also seems like almost everyone I know is getting similar things. It’s not the great plague either, just the time of year I suppose. Still, it’s not stopped me writing at least.

So, it’s time for part 118 of the Harlequins writing music. I wonder if one day I’ll get to a thousand parts of this series. That’s quite an insane thought, even for me. Did anybody see my clue earlier today? I revealed that I’m showing off a single band in todays edition. Did anybody work out who the band was?

Yes, that’s right! It was Paddy and the Rats! Now, they are a band I’ve listened to for a couple years after finding them purely by accident on the great tube. They are a rather distinctive band from Hungary that take a lot of inspiration from the likes of Celtic and folk music. At times they can sound like a fairly standard punk rock band, but then throw in an accordion, electronica and a variety of instruments I don’t even know the names of. They have their fair share of upbeat jigs, but then are quite capable of slower, more sombre melodies. I’m going to try and show you guys just how broad their music chops can go. Let’s go, shall we?

Join me as we delve into the musical minds of Paddy and the Rats!

Paddy and the Rats – That’s My Nature

Paddy and the Rats – Join The Riot

Paddy and the Rats – My Sharona

Paddy and the Rats – Dark After The Night

Paddy and the Rats – Ghost From The Barrow

And there we go! Quite a varied array of songs eh? I could listen to these guys all day to be honest with you. It wasn’t actually too easy to narrow down my choices to only five songs, but I could hardly put the bands entire discography on here. They even did their own version of the song ‘Drunken Sailor’! It’s really good! As always, I’ll include a link to their website here for your perusal. I hope you check them out, they really deserve the love!

Here you go! https://www.paddyandtherats.hu/

Speaking of links, I ought to include my own eh? The asylum has a page over on Facebook, an account on Instagram and even a Twitter page! Please consider following me over on those as well, it really helps! Also, if you enjoy what I do here at the asylum, please consider supporting me over on the Ko-Fi page as well! Cheers for everything!

Until next week, have a very crazy day inmates!

Espionage

Let me tell you a story,
A yarn of spies and the spied upon,
Of a world under our own,
A world of shadow and masks,
A world we are not privy to,
For the better,

She is a woman,
But also an agent,
A clandestine weapon with fake lashes,
All false wigs and suppressors,
A dame of deception,
She had slain tyrants while wearing unfamiliar faces,
She once had a lover,
But the flag stole him under its yolk,

He is a man,
But also a tool,
An extension of his nations left hand,
All handguns and sabotage,
An artist of wetwork,
No foreign dossier is safe from his gloves,
He longed for a normal life once,
But the flag kept drawing him back,

It’s a tale of two nations,
A love story spelled out in gunshots and dead drops,
Of two souls under opposing masters,
Once brought together by their humanity,
But rent asunder by the flags inhumanity,
Forced in future to kiss via crosshairs.

Muted Soul

Stashed in this dark cubicle,
Like a vintage speaker inoperable,
I languish in pained silence,
No more does poetry and music escape these lips,
No longer do I monologue,

I am alone,
No incoming voices,
No mechanics come to fix me,
Just perpetual let down after sore event,
Spurring me to depressive inaction,

With each crank of the dial,
I am less myself,
Turned down in volume,
A muted soul,
No longer to produce a syllable nor tune,

The loneliest sound is a single teardrop.

Rotten Vulture

Atop a statue once depicting liberty,
Perches a foul creature,
An avian actor,
Decaying piece by ruinous piece,
A scavenger feigning regality,
A vulture wearing the feathers of an eagle,
Mould and droppings falling upon a flag,

Nonetheless this animal is loved and reviled both,
Regarded in both sycophantic and tyrannical aviaries,
It wants not for fodder,
The carcass of a republic lies below,
So it rends at putrid meat no longer protected,
Picking at the scraps of the citizenry,
The flesh of a populace with potential,

Each wing of this beast is dyed an opposing shade,
One crimson,
The other a dull blue,
Battling over which part to gnaw at,
Even as they rot and fester,
But make no mistake,
Both factions are wings of the same rotten vulture.

Bassline

Do you feel that bass?
That tone in the atmosphere,
A low hum in sequence,
Pounding like artillery,
You begin to sway at the sound,
Intoxicating as it is,
It’s a legal high,
A sonic assault upon your composure,
A hysteria of the limbs,
It threatens to shatter your shell,
Make you move against your judgement,

It’s only a matter of time,
The beat continues unabated,
You’ll dance to this bassline,
With a grin that’d make the joker blush.

Abyssal

The waves are the embodiment of mystery,
An oblivion of crushing weight and shadow,
More unknown than the dark side of the moon,
Though its wane and wax has a rhythmic aria to it,
The abyss has a song all its own,
A dread tune,
Like tentacles licking at your eardrums,
Distorted static of whalesong,
The crunch of crabshell underfoot,
Its lyrics manifest as thalassophobia,
A warning in the mind,
Sharks teeth and squid beaks upon your nape,
Salt and brine on your tongue,
The knowledge that man is not welcome.