(Words and music: (c) Robin Hill except where stated)
"Discretion's for the wary, prudence for the wise"
"Mad, Bad, And Dangerous" was my eleventh completed collection, and the first to feature songs written this side of the millennium. It's also still one of my favourites.
A core of songs in the collection are loosely based around the infamous love affair between Lord Byron ("the poet") and Lady Caroline Lamb ("the lady"). However I deliberately declined to name them. Instead, the collection is really about indiscretion in general, and also the delicious notion, as we get older, that everyone has a past!
Sometimes my favourite songs are those which come with surprisingly little effort. "Mackerel Sky" was one of those. I needed something to complete the collection. I'd had the music done in all but one session a week earlier. Then the lyrics followed during a two minute walk to the shops!
I still have a hankering to expand this collection into a full musical one day, although that may have to wait until the next life time .....
PAGE HISTORY:
Page added May 2016 - Notes added March 2019 - Scores and Tabs added September 2019 - Audio samples added (complete) March 2024
All words (and music) are copyrighted. Any adaptation or duplication without consent is a breach of copyright.
OLD HAUNTS
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(Words and music: Robin Hill)
A gentle vision in the
night,
A dancing
lady gowned in white:
Then not at
all,
A
shadow’s fall
Against a
wall.
A subtle
presence drawing near,
A breathless
secret, crisp and clear:
Then no more
there,
The soft
night air
Against my
hair.
A teasing
whisper through the gloom,
A calling
just beyond the room:
To then
subside,
The gust
that died
From just
outside.
A vague
stirred memory of the past,
A faded
lover long since cast:
Then all is
slain,
A head now
lain
To sleep
again.
(Contents)
THE LADY AND THE POET
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(Words and Music: Robin Hill)
Come, sit upon my knee
And whisper
in my ear
Announce
with every breath you love me true:
It really
doesn’t matter
If the
servants overhear,
Or know the
soft sweet sighs I have for you.
Come, stand
here on the floor,
Admire me as
I dance
With every
man here waiting in the queue:
It really
doesn’t matter
If we
radiate romance,
Each
passioned waltz so clearly danced for you.
Discretion’s
for the wary,
Prudence for
the wise,
Our love too
wild to tread its path with care:
So hold me
now, my darling,
Before these
watching eyes,
Reveal our
unchained passion, proud and bare,
Exposed to
every disapproving stare.
Come, lean
across my desk,
And scribble
out in verse
The things
you fancy you and I might do:
It really
doesn’t matter
If the world
thinks us perverse
Or knows how
much I long to do them too,
Say, here
and now, upon the desk with you.
(Contents)
FOR WHAT IT WAS
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(Words and music: Robin Hill)
I looked into the future,
Hoping there
to see
A tiny clue
of what becomes of me:
Perhaps it
was the shapes within the mist,
The form in
which such prophesies exist,
And vagaries
persist:
Yet every
omen, every tiny portent,
For what it
was, just never seemed important.
I gazed into
the past,
Hoping there
to find
A tiny speck
of what I’ll leave behind:
Perhaps it
was the half remembered lies,
The ghost on
which such memory relies,
And haunts
its sad demise:
Yet every
memory, every recollection,
For what it
was, was merely introspection.
I peered
hard at my present,
Hoping it
would reveal,
The subtle
essence there that made me real:
Perhaps it
was the shape of who we are,
That makes
it hard to fathom who we are,
And makes us
who we are:
Yet every
notion, every tiny essence,
For what it
was, was so much evanescence.
(Contents)
SWEET LOVE SONGS
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(Words and music: Robin Hill)
Two poets’ souls in
gentle flight,
Guitars
which wail on through the night,
With simple
phrases time will soon confuse;
Soft fingers
sliding up the frets
In search of
riffs the soul forgets,
Progressions
which the ailing heart subdues,
As sweet
love songs turn slowly to the blues.
A tone too
low, a beat too late,
Their
faltered sounds reverberate
To false
crescendos neither of them choose:
Their rhythm
stutters, voices strain,
The night,
the sounds, the songs remain
In pastel
passion morning will diffuse
As sweet
love songs turn slowly to the blues.
It’s
what we can’t, but think we can
That forms
the flaw in every plan,
Distorts the
shape of everything we lose,
It’s
what we don’t, but think we do
That brings
the minor keys on through,
And strikes
the discord in our sad adieus,
As sweet
love songs turn slowly to the blues.
(Contents)
HOW COULD YOU SPURN ME?
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(Words and music: Robin Hill)
How could you spurn me?
How could
you let me go?
I thought
you loved me,
And wanted
me so.
I thought
you loved me,
I thought
you would always stay,
So why are
you shrinking,
Backing
away?…..
===
Drifting
self-expressions,
Like waves
upon the beach
Dreams which
falter just beyond our reach;
Shifting
self-impressions,
Like vagrant
desert sands,
Hopes which
alter in our grasping hands….
===
Didn’t
you feel it,
Wasn't it
brave and bold?
So why have
you spurned me,
So distant,
so cold?
(Contents)
A HUNDRED WORDS
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(Words and music: Robin Hill)
A hundred words, a
thousand phrases,
Nothing
seemed to rhyme,
It
wasn’t worth a dime cent,
All a waste
of time space.
Staring at
the same old ceiling,
Cracks and
cobwebs unrevealing,
Hiding some
elusive feeling,
Nothing
seemed to flow.
A hundred
lines, a thousand poems,
Nothing
seemed to scan:
It seems the
syllable count somewhat overran
Or underran.
Straining
hard in concentration,
Clutching
for some inspiration,
Giving up in
sheer frustration:
Nothing
seemed to go.
A hundred
songs, a thousand endings,
Nothing
seemed to follow,
Each
denouement hollow
So I went
down to the pub.
(Contents)
EROTOMANIAC
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(Words and music: Robin Hill)
A rich and vivid dream,
A passion
that inspires us,
Of one who
so desires us
In untamed
fantasy;
A wild
determined scheme
To harvest
that obsession,
The wanton
indiscretion,
Of unchained
flagrancy;
A picked
unravelled seam,
Where hope
turns to resentment,
The thrill
to discontentment,
And dark
humility;
The strange
erotic theme,
That secret
self inside us,
No longer
cloaked to hide us,
Laid bare
for all to see.
(Contents)
THE FAT LADY
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(Words and music: Robin Hill)
We must have been two
crazy fools
To think
that this could last,
Our futures
shaped from deep within the past;
While,
somewhere in her dressing room,
Disdainful
of our dreaminess,
The fat and
portly lady
Is slipping
on her dress…..
It must have
been naïve of us
To think we
could stay strong -
Our weakness
lay within us all along;
And, there
before the mirror,
To spite the
hope that still prevails,
The fat
imposing lady
Is
practising her scales…..
The braver
talk which once was us
Is now just
me and you,
And all the
things the other didn’t do;
The gulf
that yawns between us now
Grows wider
every day
With all the
things we simply failed to say;
While there,
behind the curtain,
Despite the
dreams false hope still brings
The fat
effusive lady
Is waiting
in the wings…..
It must have
been the height of daft
To think
we’d claim the prize
When wishes
turn to dust before our eyes;
And, there
before the orchestra,
To wipe us
from our empty page,
The fat and
full voiced lady
Is standing
on the stage….
(Contents)
NOW THAT YOU'RE GONE
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(Words and music: Robin Hill
Now that you’re
gone, it’s not just the skies that are grey;
The sun
which once shone now fizzled and faded away,
The light
that lives on falling, shadowless, into decay.
Now that
you’re gone, it’s not just the night that is black
The stars
which once shone now just tricks of the light that they lack,
While the
dark that lives on echoes quietly, you’re not coming back.
(Contents)
REMEMBER ME!
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(Words: Verses 1 and 2 by
Robin Hill - Verses 2 and 4 by Lord Byron
Music: Robin
Hill)
Remember me! Remember me!
My tall thin
face, my curled blonde hair,
My wit, my
great vivacity
Which lured
you to our grand affair!
Remember
thee! Remember thee!
Till Lethe quench life's burning stream
Remorse and shame shall cling to thee,
And haunt thee like a feverish dream!
Remember,
you’ll remember me!
And pay the
price for evermore,
Remember,
for eternity,
The things
I’ll make you suffer for!
Remember
thee! Aye, doubt it not.
Thy husband
too shall think of thee:
By neither shalt thou be forgot,
Thou false to him, thou fiend to me
(Contents)
THE NEWS OF YOU
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(Words and music: Robin Hill)
Barry says he thought he
saw you yesterday,
Carrie seemed to think that you were down her way,
Larry nodded, adding that you didn’t stay.
Rita says she saw you near the market square,
Peter thought he also might have seen you there,
Zeta nodded, adding that you’d changed your hair.
===
It’s good to hear you’re out there,
Somehow keeping everything together,
Coping with the things that life can throw,
Holding onto friendships,
Falling in and out of love with others,
Breaking off or starting up anew;
I wish you all the best:
The things that passed between us can't diminish
These wishes that you carry as you go,
And never will, despite
This gnawing pang that seems to stir inside me
Every time I hear the news of you.
===
Millie says she saw you making eyes at Mel,
Billy too, but then he said he couldn’t tell,
Tilly nodded, adding you were looking well.
(Contents)
A WISH UPON THE WIND
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(Words and music: Robin Hill)
Welcome to the twilight
world
Of avarice and lust,
Where plans have died,
And schemes have turned to rust:
Welcome to the nether world
Of confusion and mistrust,
Where hopes have failed,
And dreams have all gone bust:
===
A wish upon the wind,
A dream up in the sky,
A raft upon the ocean,
No star to steer her by,
As dying to live, we simply live to die.
===
A flake within a snowstorm,
A drop of falling rain,
As trying to shine, we always fade again.
===
Welcome to the whispered world
Of secrets undiscussed,
Where love has lost,
And friendship turns to dust.
(Contents)
THE LADY AND HER HUSBAND
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(Words and music: Robin Hill)
How strange the by and
by,
The way our twisted fortunes flow,
Our heads once held so high,
We failed to see the ground below,
Or spot the tripping blunders as we go.
How cruel the how it goes,
When passion, like a half lit ghost,
Still walks our thoughts, and throws
The shadow of its empty boast
To cause this pain to those who love us most.
How weird the who knows where,
The flights of certainty and doubt,
Of passion and despair,
Of parting pains and turnabout,
That lead us back where we started out.
How strange the how it ends,
The weird disjoins of love and pain,
The fortune that ascends
To ecstasy, then back again,
Back to where we’re happy to remain.
(Contents)
ECHOES OF .....
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(Instrumental: Music: Robin Hill)
THE REST OF OUR LIVES
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(Words and music: Robin Hill)
There’s a vague
gentle stir in the air,
Cool fingers that slide through my hair
From a curtain that dances to tease
To the tune of a faint night time breeze:
And I wake in the night
To reach for the light
With a momentary sense of unease…..
Yet the restlessness now
Will subside somehow,
‘Cos I know, I know…..
The night will pass, and the sun will rise,
The morning will shine with the light from your eyes;
And there, in the warmth as the new day arrives,
The soft gentle current, the rest of our lives.
There’s an echo from out in the night,
Lingering, airy and light,
A whisper that plays on the ears,
Like a lover who calls through the years;
And I lie, listening out
For that murmur of doubt
Which explains these imaginary fears …..
Yet the whisper, still deep,
Will melt into sleep,
And I know, I know ….
The fears will ease, and the sun will rise,
The morning will flow with the strength in your eyes;
And there, in the echo of the dream that survives,
A soft whispered promise ……
The dark will fade, and the sun will rise,
The morning will glow with the love in your eyes;
And there, in the radiance, a certainty thrives
The warm glowing thrill of the rest of our lives.
(Contents)
MAD, BAD, AND DANGEROUS
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(Words and music: Robin Hill)
She sits beside the fire,
Staring at the patterns
From shapes which dance and flicker
With a brilliant orange glow,
Reflecting her desire
In a whimsied recollection,
Like slowly moving shadows
From oh so long ago:
All her stories tell of yesterday,
All her glories seem so far away,
And sometimes she’ll feel sad
At how these thoughts can flow
Around the mad, bad, and dangerous …...
She sips on China tea,
Whilst peering through the window,
Picking silhouettes against
A fading autumn sky:
The patterns she can see,
Of trees which dance in twilight,
Resemble now the promises
Which somehow passed her by:
The hopes and then frustrations that she’s seen,
A past so full of things which might have been:
Of all she might have had,
That endless ebb and flow
Of mad, bad, and dangerous ….
She pulls upon the bell,
Summoning the maid to bring her
Fresh new logs and kindling,
And to clear away the tray,
And maybe it’s as well
To arrange to draw the curtains,
As comfy ladies like to do
Towards the close of day:
All her errors buried in the past,
All her terrors put to rest at last;
Where sometimes she’ll be glad
For simply letting go
Of all the mad, bad, and dangerous
To know.
(Contents)
MACKEREL SKY
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(Words and music: Robin Hill)
Sometimes at evening
When the quietness descends,
She’ll put down her glass,
Slip away from her friends,
And come to the window
Where the mackerel sky blends
To the shapes of her past means and ends.
She used to run,
Impulsive and free,
On hill tops, in meadows,
Or down into the sea,
Pursuing her dreams,
Relentlessly,
To the places her heart longed to be.
Those times have gone now,
Life has passed by,
Her hopes out of reach,
Her dreams too high,
A soft rippled pattern
Of whether and why,
Like clouds in the mackerel sky.
(Contents)