Begin Began Begun

dedication

The back of my debut EP reads:

“For my mum. With thanks to Jenny, Boo, Fin and my lovely DIAMC crew. Without you there would be no songs”

However, there are many others I’d also like to say a big “thank you” to:

The team at Moniack Mhor, all the Stages Programme mentors, and my fellow Stagers. Thank you for being a brilliant springboard and a brilliant bunch of human beings.

My lovely Universal Hall Promotions team for all your support and encouragement.

Ewan MacPherson, you’re my hero. Your inspiration, vision and input were everything I’d hoped for, and more. Plus it was so much fun!

Jamie MacRae, Dave Martin, Beth Porter and Maria Quinn, I’m indebted to you all for your arrangements, instrumentation, inspiration, creativity and for all the laughter (some of which features on the EP).

Mattie Foulds, mixing and mastering wizard with the patience of a saint. Thank you for accommodating my tweak requests so graciously and making it all sound amazing.

Jen Cantwell, for both my new logo and the artwork and design for the EP and singles – all of which is utterly beautiful in every way.

To my girls Chrisanthe and Kemi, for keeping me bolstered with self-belief inducing cocktails sessions. Also the many other lovely friends who have offered encouragement along the way, of which there are too many to name here. Thank you, you know who you are.

Michael Mitton, for being my rock, my chef, my roadie, my tech support, my stop-motion filmmaker, my camera man and video editor and, when required, my scratching post.

Connor Barthelmie, for being willing to listen to your Mum’s music and give constructive feedback.

Lauren MacColl for the loan of your beautiful harmonium, and also for the loan of the excellent mic for the clapping in The Rope.

Expanding on the DIAMC crew mention in the dedication – we are the Drunks in a Midnight Choir – a songwriting group that was birthed from the Boo Hewerdine and Findlay Napier Bird on a Wire online songwriting workshop which we all participated in together during April/May 2021. We decided to keep going after the eight-week workshop completed and have been meeting online monthly ever since. It’s an amazingly supportive group who’ve had my back at every step of the journey towards the creation of this EP (and one of whom recorded the beautiful piano parts for it). Five of the six tracks were written to prompts from within the group. I’m immensely grateful for our ongoing friendship, support and hive mind.

Expanding on the Stages Programme mentioned above – this was a four-month long writing, production and performance mentorship programme that I took part in during 2023. Curated by Boo Hewerdine, it was facilitated at the Moniack Mhor Creative Writing Centre. You can find out more about it on Moniack’s website here. I not only learned a massive amount during those four months, I also made yet another wonderful group of songwriting friends, two of whom you hear on the EP.

Studio

The EP was recorded in most part at the studio at Universal Hall, which is in the Park Ecovillage, Findhorn.

Lyrics

Shirley Barr: vocals, shruti box
Ewan MacPherson & Dave Martin: percussion
Jamie MacRae: additional vocals, harmonium

When I first read the poem of the same title penned by my songwriter friend Colin Macduff, I knew I had to set it to a melody. Very little was changed structurally, it flowed perfectly to music. Thank you for the beautiful words, Colin.

Coiled, crossed, entangled in the corner
Old and wise and silent, silent as a snake
Left aside beside the new, unwanted
You dream of hands, the touch, their grip, their shape

Once you ran the span and moored our vessels
Safe between the capstan, capstan and the quay
Once you were the rope that held us steady
Once you were the rope that cast us free

The push the pull, the swing, lasso and ladder
The tug of war when we were in our teens
The give, the take, that bound us all together
The start, the end, the knot, the way and means

Lifeline, last line, frayed and poorly
In my hand your strands so soft, soft and slack
In my dreams you’re running on beside me
With me all the long way – long way out and back

With me all the long way, with me all the long way, with me all the long way
Long way out and back
In my dreams you’re running on beside me
With me all the long way, long way out and back

Shirley Barr: vocals, ukulele
Ewan MacPherson: bass, percussion
Jamie MacRae: additional vocals, ukulele, Casio keyboard, harmonium
Dave Martin: percussion

A particular sentence from the poem Pied Beauty by Gerard Manley Hopkins immediately recalled a much younger me and the joy felt at the beginning of school summer holidays. I tried to capture that feeling in this song.

Fickle and freckled, bonnie and blithe
An aura of wildness, a sense of wonder and a
A fountain of joy that’s springing forth from the child
As she skips and hops and jumps
Skips and hops and jumps and runs

Sunshine speckled, her hair streaming free
An ocean of feelings, a taste of freedom and a
A summer that’s bringing new places to be
As she stops and sings and laughs
Stops and sings and laughs and hums, she hums, hmmm

Run free, run free, bound only by earth’s
Gravity, gravity, gravity
Cos nothing, nothing will bring her down

Roads that are metalled, one day to be driven
An ounce of pain, a pinch of pride and a
A heart that is feeling, feeling though it’s being riven
As she grows and gives and strives
Grows and gives and strives and loves, she loves, loves

For now, run free
Bound only by earth’s
Gravity, gravity, gravity
Cos nothing, nothing, nothing, nothing can bring her down
Free, free, free

Shirley Barr: vocals
Beth Porter: cello
Maria Quinn: piano

Inspired by Shakespeare’s The Winter’s Tale. A song about regret.

Hermione
Still as a statue
Life forever fractured
By jealousy
Hermione
In trial you fell

Hermione
In trial you fell
Will to live all but quelled
By tragedy
Hermione

To turn back time
Breathe life into what was once mine
I’d give all and tell
Hermione

To turn back time
Breathe life into what was once mine
I’d give all and tell
Hermione
You knew me so well

Shirley Barr: vocals, tenor guitar
Ewan MacPherson: additional vocals, percussion
Maria Quinn: piano

The word ferret is derived from the Latin furittus meaning ‘little thief’. They’re commonly used to control rabbit populations because apparently, four rabbits can eat as much grass as one sheep. Upon discovering these info gems online this love song from farmer to ferret practically wrote itself.

Little thief, little thief
Four rabbits can eat as much grass as one sheep
So burrow your way
Deep down, deep down beneath
Little thief
Little thief, little thief
I’ll warrant this warren is home to a feast
So burrow your way
Flush those bucks out to me
Little thief

We’ll skin and we’ll bone
And we’ll dine, then we’ll rest
Little thief you’ll have earned it
Doing what you do best
What you do best
We’ll skin and we’ll bone
And we’ll dine, then we’ll rest
Little thief you’ll have earned it

Little thief, little thief,
Ingredients and pastry await on a plate
So burrow your way
Flush those does to their fate
Little thief
Little thief, little thief
Four rabbits can eat as much grass as one sheep
So burrow your way
Deep down, deep down beneath
Little thief

We’ll skin and we’ll bone
And we’ll dine, then we’ll rest
Little thief you’ll have earned it
Doing what you do best
What you do best
We’ll skin and we’ll bone
And we’ll dine, then we’ll rest
Little thief you’ll have earned it
Doing what you do best

Deep down, (deep down), deep down, (deep down), deep down
Deep down, (deep down), deep down, (deep down), deep down
Deep down, (deep down), deep down, (deep down), deep down

We’ll skin and we’ll bone
And we’ll dine, then we’ll rest
Little thief you’ll have earned it

Shirley Barr: vocals
Ewan MacPherson: additional vocals
Jamie MacRae: Casio keyboard, harmonium
Beth Porter: cello

Inspired by an online definition of the Queen of Cups tarot card and set in an imaginary restaurant with a gossipy Maître d’. This song looks at the givers and takers of the world.

I’d heard it all from the maître d’
Top Cats, chief whips, debauchery
But my eyes filled, in my throat a lump
When he told me of the Queen of Cups

She comes each night to eat her fill
Fine wines, fresh fare, upon the bill
Yet her lips never taste a drop
No this queen, she gives it up

Queen of Cups golden hearted
Queen of Cups own needs thwarted
You are doomed to starve and fade
When nothing’s left to give away

I’d heard it all from the maître d’
Film stars, small gods, debauchery
But my eyes filled, in my throat a lump
When he told me of the Queen of Cups

Queen of Cups golden hearted
Queen of Cups own needs thwarted
You are doomed to starve and fade
When nothing’s left to give away
You are doomed to starve and fade
When nothing’s left to give away

Shirley Barr: vocals
Ewan MacPherson: kalimba
Jamie MacRae: additional vocals, harmonium

I came across a book of poetry by Les Bates called ‘Light Down the Loch’ in one of my favourite local bookshops. This completely fictional tale of unrequited love emerged from his writings about Beccán mac Luigdech, a 7th-century Irish composer of Christian poetry and monk of Iona who may or may not have retired to the life of a hermit on Rum for 45 years before his death.

I will leave my love bright sea pink
Psalter in his hand
I will leave my love fresh ewe’s milk
While he walks the sands
While he walks the sands

I will row my boat through darkness
Clear stars in his eyes
I will scull my oars to find him
While he stares at skies
While he stares at skies

Papadil, oh Papadil
Papadil, oh Papadil

My first love, as a maiden of fifteen
Brightness in his wake
I’ve loved him two score years and five
But my love he did forsake
My love he did forsake

I still leave my love bright sea pink
Psalter in his hand
I still leave my love fresh ewe’s milk
He once walked these sands
He once walked these sands

Papadil, Oh Papadil
Papadil, I love him still

Musicians

Track Info

Produced and engineered by Ewan MacPherson, Universal Hall, Findhorn

Mixed and mastered by Mattie Foulds, Caribou Recording

All songs written by S Barr except for The Rope – S Barr/C Macduff

Papadil includes sound recordings from the Freesound website as follows:

Oar sounds: Soutuvene, soutu / A wooden rowing boat, rowing on a calm lake, a light wind rises, small waves by YleArkisto — License: Attribution 4.0

Sea sounds: Palm Cove Waves.wav by digifishmusic — License: Attribution 4.0