Last night I was playing guitar and singing a few of my songs to a group of people. One of the songs was ' Hide Away ' Everyone seemed to like it, but the burning question they all asked was,what inspired me to write it. So I told them; as they all seemed so interested, I thought it could be put on this blog.
A few years ago , on a spring morning in a suburb of Athens, I was walking along a tree- lined avenue; it was a perfect day with the sun dancing through the trees and the temperature soft and warm.
The birds were competing with each other by seeing who could sing the most original and loudest melody.Aromas of fresh bread mixed with a whiff of cigarettes and coffee were coming from an old- fashioned Greek cafe that was packed with early morning coffee junkies.
I was vaguely aware of all of the above, but I wasn't really there in that moment. I was still stuck in yesterday and my future.My head was full of bees all buzzing with worries. I have no idea what those worries were now,but I think, at the particular time, they covered most areas of my life ; relationship problems, family problems, business problems and I seem to remember I had some minor health worry. I knew that if I continued in this way I could have a major health problem.Suddenly this tide of anxiety overcame me ; all the chattering in my mind was just too much.I wanted'time out' from myself .
I was walking to a recording studio, where I was scheduled to do ' voice overs' for the next four hours. I can tell you , I certainly wasn't in the mood . Even the thought of playing,'Zeus', as it was He who I was going to be shortly, didn't thrill me .I felt nothing like a Greek God !
I turned a corner in the avenue and saw the familiar grey building where the recording was to take place. I checked my watch and saw , amazingly enough, that for once I was early, and wasn't due to record for another ten minutes.Here there was a clearing where trees were proudly displaying their pink -white blossoms.Other trees were dressed in the dazzling , bright colours of spring,with delicate, blood -red flowers seen scattered over a sun drenched meadow.that seemed to stretch on forever.The scent of lemon mixed with a hint of oranges pervaded the air.There was no traffic, thank goodness ,anywhere.
I felt the wonder and magic of the moment as I sat down in the shade of a lemon tree.I felt my whole body relax and was horrified to realize how tense I had been. Every bit of me had felt like a tightly- bound knot. Everything felt so tense and rigid , and my face felt like it had a mask on that was too tight.How could I escape from this non-stop static blasting through my mind ?
Suddenly though I was in another world; a magical enchanted one. My foolish, fevered ,worry chattering simply stopped.My body relaxed and I smiled for the first time that morning.
It was then that the lyrics and melody of the first verse of 'Hide Away' leapt into my head.I quickly wrote the words down- "Playing in the backyard with rag dolls and rings, what a wondrous morning to dream a thousand dreams ".I then added a few musical clues, to help me remember the melody.
After being Zeus for four hours, I hurried home and finished the song.I had just got paid and I had a new song.I felt so different to how I had felt earlier; I was happy.
Later it was put on youtube accompanied by a video taken from the film' Great Expectations ',that my son James had put together. I thought it was a great video, but I hoped people wouldn't say that old chestnut,"Great video, shame about the song ".Perhaps some did say that ! The song had gained quite a few hundred views- nothing amazing I admit- but its views were increasing everyday which obviously pleased me. So one day when I was checking out the views,. I found that the song and video had gone. Youtube had banned it worldwide . It wasn't banned because of the song, but because we had infringed copyright laws by taking the clips from the film," Great Expectations. "
I can't understand the film companies way of thinking, as surely any plugging of the film is a good thing for them. Anyway a new video of 'Hide Away' has now been made and you can find it just below this piece. I hope you like it.
A few years ago , on a spring morning in a suburb of Athens, I was walking along a tree- lined avenue; it was a perfect day with the sun dancing through the trees and the temperature soft and warm.
The birds were competing with each other by seeing who could sing the most original and loudest melody.Aromas of fresh bread mixed with a whiff of cigarettes and coffee were coming from an old- fashioned Greek cafe that was packed with early morning coffee junkies.
I was vaguely aware of all of the above, but I wasn't really there in that moment. I was still stuck in yesterday and my future.My head was full of bees all buzzing with worries. I have no idea what those worries were now,but I think, at the particular time, they covered most areas of my life ; relationship problems, family problems, business problems and I seem to remember I had some minor health worry. I knew that if I continued in this way I could have a major health problem.Suddenly this tide of anxiety overcame me ; all the chattering in my mind was just too much.I wanted'time out' from myself .
I was walking to a recording studio, where I was scheduled to do ' voice overs' for the next four hours. I can tell you , I certainly wasn't in the mood . Even the thought of playing,'Zeus', as it was He who I was going to be shortly, didn't thrill me .I felt nothing like a Greek God !
I turned a corner in the avenue and saw the familiar grey building where the recording was to take place. I checked my watch and saw , amazingly enough, that for once I was early, and wasn't due to record for another ten minutes.Here there was a clearing where trees were proudly displaying their pink -white blossoms.Other trees were dressed in the dazzling , bright colours of spring,with delicate, blood -red flowers seen scattered over a sun drenched meadow.that seemed to stretch on forever.The scent of lemon mixed with a hint of oranges pervaded the air.There was no traffic, thank goodness ,anywhere.
I felt the wonder and magic of the moment as I sat down in the shade of a lemon tree.I felt my whole body relax and was horrified to realize how tense I had been. Every bit of me had felt like a tightly- bound knot. Everything felt so tense and rigid , and my face felt like it had a mask on that was too tight.How could I escape from this non-stop static blasting through my mind ?
Suddenly though I was in another world; a magical enchanted one. My foolish, fevered ,worry chattering simply stopped.My body relaxed and I smiled for the first time that morning.
It was then that the lyrics and melody of the first verse of 'Hide Away' leapt into my head.I quickly wrote the words down- "Playing in the backyard with rag dolls and rings, what a wondrous morning to dream a thousand dreams ".I then added a few musical clues, to help me remember the melody.
After being Zeus for four hours, I hurried home and finished the song.I had just got paid and I had a new song.I felt so different to how I had felt earlier; I was happy.
Later it was put on youtube accompanied by a video taken from the film' Great Expectations ',that my son James had put together. I thought it was a great video, but I hoped people wouldn't say that old chestnut,"Great video, shame about the song ".Perhaps some did say that ! The song had gained quite a few hundred views- nothing amazing I admit- but its views were increasing everyday which obviously pleased me. So one day when I was checking out the views,. I found that the song and video had gone. Youtube had banned it worldwide . It wasn't banned because of the song, but because we had infringed copyright laws by taking the clips from the film," Great Expectations. "
I can't understand the film companies way of thinking, as surely any plugging of the film is a good thing for them. Anyway a new video of 'Hide Away' has now been made and you can find it just below this piece. I hope you like it.
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