I've occasionally attempted to write songs throughout my life, but the result were boring and banal.

In 2001, an ex-colleague and a good friend of mine, died. We were both 49.  This was perhaps the closest death I had experienced to date.  Besides the great discomfort of seeing his family grieve, I felt a deep guilt that I had never expressed my affection and admiration of the guy to his face. Anglo-Saxon men leave so many things unsaid.

While trying to write a suitable eulogy, words began to form in a way that were a fully fledged song. Lyrics were no longer a barrier and within a few weeks I had the basics of a dozen songs of which I could feel proud. 
Despite the cause, I was pleased with the words that were appearing and I sent them to Mike, another old work colleague with whom I used to play folk music.  He read the lyrics and pulled a melody out of somewhere and was so chuffed with his creation that he rang me and played it over the phone. We definitely had the kernel of a song. It had a strong melody but repeated itself with little variation. This is where, with a couple of small adjustments, the verse and chorus became different but complimentary. Little embellishments, a cascade of chords for the intro, a second part for the chorus, a bridge, an instrumental and a coda made for a “complete” song that became "Fields & Sunny Skies". The lyrics had come fairly easily to me, a melody easily to Mike, and the structuring and embellishments were a breeze for me once there was a core on which to build.

So here is Songbook #1 for "Not All It Seems" by Mike & Greg (all songs written in 2001, recorded/released 2002).

The 12 tracks can be heard on all digital platforms, including Spotify.

The 154pp PDF is 5MB (fine for screen viewing).
The 22MB versions may be required if you want to print any pages.

Any questions (or pleads for me to stop), just ask.

Greg

Vol 1 - NAIS SongBook for Songstuff (smaller size).pdf 265741858_Vol1-NAISSongBookforSongstuff.pdf