(Bruce W. Davies MCPS/PRS)

A photograph of a friend from Glenfarg Village Folk Club abseiling/rapelling down a mountain (complete with his wheelchair), featured in an advertising campaign for Capability Scotland. His courage inspired me to start writing, especially as I had difficulty facing my "mountains". A friend later sent me an e-mail with some great wisdom, attributed to the Dalai Lama including the words "Open your arms to change, but don't let go of your values". All this helped me finish the song. For Bob. (1999/2000) Supporting musicians: - Stewart Hardy - fiddles; Stuart Duncan, Sandra Ireland, Jim Malcolm, Gerry McFarlane, and Gillian Murray - vocals.

Climb your mountain
Reach for the other side
You can find your own way
With love and truth your guide

A mountain stands before us
And it's getting in the way
Of a place we'd like to get to
A place we'd like to stay
We can choose to face the journey
Or stay right where we are
Is standing still an option
When you know we've come so far

It's not an easy road to travel
We should have known it from the start
But reason takes a back seat
When you're following your heart
Let love be your reason
For love is truth and light
Step out on the journey
Take the darkness from your night

Chorus

Sometimes we feel like quitting
Looking for an easy ride
Give in to the mountain
Forget the other side
But we'll never taste sweet victory
Or know all we can do
Unless we face up to the mountain
As it faces me and you

Chorus (twice)

Copyright ©2000 Bruce W. Davies. All international rights reserved.

(Bruce W. Davies MCPS/PRS)

Our memories can be triggered by many things, scent, sight, names... (1998)

Supporting musicians: - Allan Gregory - drums, Tom Haycock - bass guitar, Gerry McFarlane - electric lead guitar, Edwin Muirhead - piano.

She says, "Will you sign this album?"
And I ask her what's her name.
I hear your name from her lips
But it doesn't sound the same.
My mind begins to wander
To places far away
Where we walked and where we talked
And I wish we were today.

Then she asks me how I'm doin',
I say, "Life is goin' well,
And where this life will lead
No one can really tell."
She says, "Thanks for being here tonight
Your music fills my dreams"
But sometimes somethin' happens
And somehow it just seems...

That it's always the same
When I hear your name
I'm with you
'Though you're half a world away
Like a moth to a flame
When I hear your name
I'm drawn to you
In such a special way
Without you I'm half, I'm not whole
Like a body without any soul
It's always the same
When I hear your name.

Departure lounge is filling
An announcement fills the air
I hear your name again
But I know that you're not there
I wonder, "Do you miss me
The way that I miss you?
And when you hear my name,
Do your thoughts wander, too?"

That it's always the same...

It's always the same...

Copyright ©1998 Bruce W. Davies. All international rights reserved.

(Stan Rogers)

In November of 1999 I spent a weekend with some of the US and Canada's foremost folk performers, including the late Stan Rogers' friend and producer, Paul Mills. The highlight of a wonderful weekend was the unforgettable experience of singing some of Stan's songs with him. Paul gave me the album, "From Coffee House to Concert Hall", which was about to be released. When I heard "Louise's Song", which shows Stan's tender side, I related to it immediately and knew I had to record it. (1976)

Supporting musicians: - Stephen Adam - 'cello, Stewart Hardy - fiddle.

Lyrics unavailable. Copyright owned by Fogarty's Cove Music

(Gill Bowman and Pupils of Bellyeoman School, Dunfermline, Fife)

Written as part of a wonderful community based, lottery funded songwriting project in Fife. (1998)

Supporting musicians: - Jim Hyndman - mandoline, Kirsty Edgar and Karen Rees - vocals.

Lyrics unavailable. Copyright owned by Gill Bowman and Pupils of Bellyeoman School, Dunfermline, Fife & The New Makers Trust

(Sandra Ireland MCPS)

A song of yearning for the kind of love that once was shared, but has become a memory. It's also a song of hope... (1999)

Supporting musicians: - Stephen Adam - 'cello, Stewart Hardy - violins, Sandra Ireland, vocal.

Will you take me back again...someday?
Will you take me take me back again so we can play
Where the years fall from our shoulders
Where the sun will always shine
Will you take me back again...someday

Seems forever and a day since last I saw you
When really it was only yesterday
We laughed with childlike fun
Dancing in the summer sun
Saying more than words could ever say

Chorus

Remember when we searched for hidden meaning
In a song you swore was written just for me
I believed it to be true
I was so in love with you
Now it's just a fading memory

Chorus

Do you think we can begin a new tomorrow?
As we drift along in dreams of yesterday
Hold my hand and say hello
Yes we'll take it nice and slow
Kiss me in your soft and gentle way

Chorus

Copyright ©1999 Sandra Ireland. All international rights reserved.

(Brian Bedford)

Brian Bedford and his wife, Jacey are two thirds of "Artisan", a wonderful acapella trio from Yorkshire, England. Brian writes most of their songs and has an eye for the things we know, but somehow never manage to write. (1991)

Supporting musician: - Stephen Adam - 'cello.

Lyrics unavailable. Copyright owned by Bedspring Music

(Bruce W. Davies MCPS/PRS)

Inspired by my first visit to Nashville. The quality of writing, playing and singing astounded me. With all that talent around, how does anyone "make it"? Written as fiction, but I think I know the guy (and many of his colleagues) intimately! I saw many "nobodies" who truly deserved to be "somebodies" one Monday night in Nashville. (1996 - 2001)

Supporting musicians: - Jim Hyndman - mandoline, Sandra Ireland - percussion, Gerry McFarlane - Lead acoustic guitar..

There was never any harm in thinkin'
Things didn't have to be that way
Pickin' cheap guitars, playin' low life bars
With nobody listenin' anyway
But he put his heart and soul into every song he'd sing
With his sights set on glory somewhere in his story
He'd do anything

Soon all of his friends were sayin'
"You're too good for a place like this
You've got what it takes if you could get the breaks
Shoot for the stars you just can't miss"
So he packed up his guitar
Used every penny he'd stashed away
He hoped they were right as he boarded a flight
For "Music City", U.S.A.

But it's Monday night in Nashville
And every "nobody" is "somebody"
Somewhere else.

At Douglas Corner and the Bluebird
He sang the best songs he knew
He picked with the best (and all the rest)
He'd be a star before he was through
But ten years down the line
Only "pickers" know his name
They've got what it takes (except for the breaks)
And their story's just the same.

Chorus

And still he dreams
And still it seems
The big break slips away
But still he has to play...

Well he never really had a choice
Music was all he knew
He'd dropped out of school 'though he was never a fool
But singin' was all he wanted to do
And now he works the day job
But he sings his songs at night
Fire in his heart, true to his art
He's alright

Chorus

Every "nobody" is "somebody"
Somewhere else

Copyright ©1998 Bruce W. Davies. All international rights reserved.

(Bruce W. Davies MCPS/PRS)

For some, travel means, "going away", for others, it's part of the journey that brings us home. (1999 - 2001)

Supporting musician - Gerry McFarlane - electric guitar

I could be driftin' over deserts, soaring over seas
High above the highlands, anywhere I please
Racin' with the sunrise, 'way up above the blue
Anywhere I'm flyin', I'm on my way to you

I could be driving on a highway or down a country lane
Motorway or Interstate, I'm on the road again
Feedin' all my senses on a tree-lined avenue
Wherever I am drivin', I'm on my way to you

They say, "Home is where the heart is",
"Wherever I lay my Hat"
Home to me is anywhere
Anywhere you're at...

I could be walkin' in a woodland or struttin' down a street
Hikin' on the high road with a smile at folk I meet
Strollin' along, takin' in the view
Wherever I am walkin', I'm on my way to you

They say, "Home is where the heart is"...

Copyright ©2001 Bruce W. Davies. All international rights reserved.

(Bruce W. Davies MCPS/PRS)

Many people touch our lives for good or ill without even being aware of it. This song was inspired by a night in May 1973 that has had a profound effect on my life. Almost every song I've written since was inspired by that night! This may not be the best song I've written, but I think of it as one of the most important. (1999)

I can't recall his name, but I remember what he did
When he took the time to talk with me when I was just a kid
He'd just come off the stage, sweat clinging to his hair
I didn't know it at the time, but he was teaching me to care
I didn't know it at the time, but he was teaching me to care.

Question followed question, questions without end
About the songs, about guitars, about my new found friend
He told me of his heroes, Paxton and the rest
The songs told me to seek the truth, don't stand for any less
The songs told me to seek the truth, don't stand for any less.

He was a small part of the show, he played "back-up guitar"
But to this apprentice picker, he shone out like a star
I thought that he was special, but pretty soon I found
That he was just an ordinary guy with his feet still on the ground
He was just an ordinary guy with his feet still on the ground

Ordinary folk do extraordinary things
And random acts of kindness give our dreams their wings
That night taught me so much I've come to know as true
That lives are touched and lives are shaped by all we say and do
Lives are touched and lives are shaped by all we say and do.

Still I can't recall his name, but I remember what he did
When he took the time to talk with me when I was just a kid
He'd just come off the stage, sweat clinging to his hair
Didn't know it at the time, but he was teaching me to care
And I won't forget the time he taught me how to care.

And I won't forget the time he taught me how to care.

Copyright ©1999 Bruce W. Davies. All international rights reserved.

(Bruce W. Davies MCPS/PRS)

For many, "nothing lasts forever". If you believe that, nothing will last forever. I believe, we have to believe... (1999)

Supporting musicians: - Stephen Adam - 'cello, Allan Gregory - drums, Stewart Hardy - violins, Tom Haycock - bass guitar, Edwin Muirhead - piano.

I don't know how it happened
Don't know where we went wrong
Didn't know that I could feel this
After loving for so long
You said "Nothing lasts forever"
Were you making plans to leave?
I can't straighten out my feelings
I don't know what I believe
But...

I need to believe in forever again
I need to know hope like we had way back when
I need to believe in forever again
Or I'll lose my best friend

We started out so hopeful
The world was ours to share
We helped each other live again
We loved without a care
At first we grew together
But lost something on the way
Lone paths and new directions
Should I go or can I stay?
For...

I need to believe in forever again...

I don't wanna leave
Don't know if I can stay
Don't wanna believe
It could turn out this way
But...

I need to believe in forever again...

Don't wanna lose my best friend

Copyright ©1999 Bruce W. Davies. All international rights reserved.

(Tom Paxton)

For over twenty years, my brother has been a fire fighter. He once told me that, if there is an incident and people are running one way, you know those fire fighters are running the other. I thank God that, although he has seen much devastation and suffering through his work, he has never had to face what faced the people of New York and Washington DC on September 11th 2001. Tom Paxton, who I believe is the greatest living songwriter and also one of the finest people I have ever met, did not want to write a song about the day that shook the world. it was too big, too tragic. However, he, as so many of us, was haunted by the vision of "firemen pounding up the stairs while we were running down". Written and sung with great respect to the fire fighters of New York and "the Bravest" everywhere. (2001)

Supporting musician: - Stewart Hardy - fiddle.

Lyrics unavailable. Copyright owned by Cherry Lane Music Publishing Co. Inc.

(Harvey Andrews)

I first heard this song, sung by Harvey on my Ansaphone when we were in the process of recording his album, "The Gift". It moved me then and moves me now. As I recorded it I thought of Derek Moffat, who was a member of The McCalmans and in his last few weeks of life. They, and countless others, inspired and taught me. We all have heroes, some no longer with us, the best way we can honour them is to carry it on. (2000)

Supporting musician - Stewart Hardy - fiddle.

Lyrics unavailable. Copyright owned by Haska Music.

(John Denver)

I never met John Denver, but saw him many times in concert. Like millions of others, I considered him a friend; his music spoke for, and to, me. I first heard him on TV in 1973 and from that time, this song has been a favourite and one I've long wanted to record. It's a song of hope that seemed right for this album and is no less valid now than when it was written. (1969)

Supporting musician - Sandra Ireland - percussion

Lyrics unavailable. Copyright owned by Cherry Lane Music Publishing Co. Inc.

(Bruce W. Davies MCPS/PRS)

Have you ever been somewhere, where everything seems right...except that the person you want to share it all with is not there? I could not have written this without beautiful scenes, scents and friends...and the desire to share it... (2001)

Supporting musicians: - Stephen Adam - 'cello, Stewart Hardy - violins.

If I could bottle up the scent of sunrise in the Smokies
I'd do it for you; I'd give it to you
Or paint the song of birds at dawning in the Smokies
I'd do it for you, only you

If I could sing the red of poppies in the Smokies
I'd do it for you; I'd do it for you
Or share with you the love of friends back in the Smokies
I'd do it for you, only you

But all we have are wishes
And if I could ever make a wish come true
It's that somewhere down the road we'll be together
And someday I can share this all with you.

Copyright ©2001 Bruce W. Davies. All international rights reserved.