We are asked sometimes for some background to the songs and out songography is the place to come to for that.

Key to writing credits:

RC=Ronnie Carnwath

CC=Christopher Cowan

NC=Nerys Carnwath

RR=Ronan Cunningham

JD=Jeff Doherty

HM=Heather McClean

CW=Colin Wasson

AW=Alison Wilson

Where to find the songs:

ASOS=A Saucepan Full of Sequins (2011)

BNFS=Bad News From the Stars (2011 free download EP)

FDB=Foyle Delta Blues (2012)

HRAW=Human Rights & Wrongs (2015)

un=unreleased

ALBERT ROSS (RC - ASOS)

A song left over from Honey Ryder days. I love puns - no more so than when they include someone's name - to quote Ian McCulloch of Echo & The Bunnymen: "A punny thing/Is always a funny thing..." Inspired by Julian Cope's more pastoral moments on Fried. Heather (Honey Ryder singer)'s sister Linda asked if I could write a song about her. She was washing dishes at the time, hence the line: "Next time you see me, I'll be in the kitchen sink / My fingers clad in rubber gloves..." 

ARP (RC - FDB)

Inspired by the writings of French/German surrealist painter/sculptor/poet Jean Arp (known as Hans in Germany). I had borrowed a book on surrealist poetry from the library and was reading it on the bus. Arp's poem was a list of surreal requests: "Water the moon for me... Cage me an earthquake...", etc. The guy on the seat in front was discussing his new girlfriend: "It's great - she does everything - I don't have to lift a finger", which inspired the chorus: "Don't expect anything in return / Cos someday honey you will have to learn / That it's not you that makes this planet turn..."

AUDACIOUS CAKES JINGLE (RC - un)

25-second jingle made for my friend Audrey's cake-making business.

BEAUTIFUL BALLOON (RC - FDB)

Coupled with 'Toccata Tripitaka', this proved an effective closer for our second album. The lyrics concern the exploits of a couple in a hot air balloon. It's what happens after Jimmy Webb's Up Up And Away. if you will. The couple get carried away - literally, and forget where they are - ultimately losing control of the balloon, which crashes to earth in spectacular fashion. I wanted the end to have the same kind of feel as Down In The Sewer off The Stranglers' debut album.

BLACK UMBRELLA (RC - un)

In the tradition of Fleetwood Mac's Oh Well (Parts 1 & 2), Black Umbrella has a similar feel. Part 1 is like T. Rex doing Chuck Berry's Memphis Tennessee; Part 2 is much more languid - I've been told it sounds like Explosions In The Sky, but I hadn't heard of them when I wrote it. The title refers to a band from CHICAGO, IL., led by Derek James.

BLIND (CC - FDB)

Christopher (Cowan) wrote this and played everything himself - I only added some bass and the lead guitar riff, inspired by Will Sergeant of Echo & The Bunnymen. Lyrically, it's about those dark figures who skulk about, perpetuating their bad deeds under cover of darkness. Musically, it's one of the darkest things we've ever done.

CHERUB (RC/HM/CW/RR - unreleased)

Another ancient Honey Ryder song - the only time we ever jammed and wrote a song as a unit - normally, someone would give me a lyric and I would set it to music. One night, I was attempting to follow the chord progression of All The Way Down by The Primitives, only using minor chords instead of major ones and Colin followed me on the bass with something he'd been toying with. Heather then produced a Latin prayer book, which she opened at random and started singing. We were all awestruck - it sounded like Julee Cruise fronting Hawkwind, which was a heady brew, I can assure you! I took the tape home and transcribed what I thought Heather was singing. I've attempted to do it myself but my falsetto isn't that convincing, so it will remain in the vaults until I can persuade Heather to sing on it.

DAYLIGHT/MOONLIGHT (RC - ASOS)

I wrote this as a love song for my wife. It was inspired by the early pastoral Pink Floyd stuff - namely If from 'Atom Heart Mother' and The Gnome from The Piper At The Gates of Dawn. I was so pleased that I posted it straight onto Soundcloud the moment it was finished, prompting one listener to comment that it was a perfect 4 a.m. song. I said: "Funnily enough, that's the time I finished recording it!"

DON'T RAIN ON MY HIT PARADE (RC - HRAW)

Another pun - this time, it refers to Don't Rain On My Parade from Funny Girl. I'm not a fan of Streisand - I knew the song from new wave band Japan covering it - and even then, I only knew the title. The best version for me incidentally is the Bobby Darin one. Started life as a swing/rockabilly song. Stuck out like a sore thumb until we reworked it into an Giorgio Moroder-esque electropop number, complete with Acid House baseline and weather effects.

DROWNING MAN (AKA SONG ELEVEN) (RC - un)

Waltz-time song about the fear of drowning - hence the title. Inspired by a childhood experience where it nearly happened.

EMPTY CHAIRS (JD/RC - un)

Velvet Underground-inspired languid number based on a poem by Jeff Doherty, a friend of the band.

FEAR OF THE DARK (CC/RC - un)

Paranoid slab of electronica inspired by the Danish TV show Forbrydelsen (AKA The Killing). This is what happens when we try to be the Pet Shop Boys.

FRANKIE (YOU CAN COUNT ON ME) (RC - FDB)

The music came first in this case - sometimes the lyrics come first, sometimes all together. For about four months, I was listening to the backing track and nothing was happening. I knew the chorus would have a two-syllable title - I had several ideas: HIPFLASK! was one, HITMAN! was another. Then on January 14th 2012, I noticed it was the birthday of Frankie Sandford from The Saturdays, so I posted a video on my Facebook page. Sensing a possible backlash, I wrote: "I know you hipsters will be quick to diss this / But I know who I'd rather be stuck in a lift with." Realising I had a rhyming couplet, I thought of "New York - London - Paris - Aberystwyth" - a play on Pop Muzik by M: "New York - London - Paris - Munich / Ev'ryboy talk about Pop Muzik". The rest of the melody was inspired by Serge Gainsbourg's Comic Strip. The chant in the middle: "S-A-T-U-R-D-A-Y Nice!" is taken from Saturday Night by the Bay City Rollers, a song which supposedly also inspired the "Hey! Ho! Let's Go!" chant from the Ramones' Blitzkrieg Bop. 

Marc Riley of BBC 6 Music played the song three weeks in a row on his programme, which was wonderful - it got us noticed and Frankie eventually made No.34 on Dandelion Radio's Festive 50 for 2012.

FOR THE BIRDS (RC/CC - HRAW)

The expression “For the birds” means that it appeals to the feeble minded - literally the 'bird-brained'. The original demo was acoustic but this version was targeted to the original Sugababes - Mutya, Keisha and Siobhan - but their label never came back to us, so we kept it. Probably our prettiest song to date.

FUCITOL (RC - un)

Fucitol is a sugar alcohol derived from fucoidin which is found in the North Atlantic seaweed Fucus vesiculosus or by the reduction of fucose. It is also a mildly amusingly titled Stranglers-esque instrumental in waltz time. 

HALF PAST DAWN (RC - HRAW)

Started off as an attempt at writing a song for Chrissie Hynde - the original demo sounded like the Pretenders. I didn't realise Chrissie was working on an album or I'd have sent it to her! The guitar version didn't fit with the direction of the album, so it was completely reworked into the Pet Shop Boys song it wanted to be all along!

HARBOUR, The (CC/RC - HRAW)

Christopher's lyric. The music was inspired by The Smiths, PJ Harvey and 'Dirk Wears White Sox'-era Adam & The Ants. Water and waves seem to be a recurring theme in our songs - maybe because we live on an island and are therefore never more than an hour or so from the sea. Or a rainshower, for that matter.

HATE THE HATERS (CC/RC - FDB)

Again, Christopher's lyric. It's essentially a protest song. Inspired by an article written about the Oakland Occupy movement by author Craig Clevenger the lyrics grew as people reacted to the austerity campaign in Europe. He wanted it to sound like The Fall. I think there was an element of Half Man Half Biscuit too. Stephen McCauley played this when we were interview on BBC Radio Foyle’s Electric Mainline.

HITCH A RIDE (RC - FDB)

Inspired by Motor Bike Beat by The Revillos. The chords are deceptively simple and there's only one verse, repeated three times. I wanted it to be about a motorcyclist who picks up a hitch-hiker and falls for her. The chorus highlights this: "Hey you - I hardly know you / But I think, yes I think / That I could even love you / In the right light..." The 'Shadow' in the line "Hitch a ride on anyone's shadow lately, baby?" could refer to the Vincent Black Shadow, originally launched in 1948. There is some Syd Barrett - inspired 'glissando' guitar towards the end.

HONEYSUCKLE BRIDE (CW/RC - BNFS)

Another song which Honey Ryder used to play, circa 1991. Colin wrote the lyrics after mishearing The Pixies song Palace Of the Brine as ‘Honeysuckle Bride’. I wrote the music, inspired by Roxy Music's In Every Dreamhome A Heartache and Beethoven's Ode To Joy. For the 'Bad News' version, I added loads of tinkly bells to give it a kind of Christmas feel.

I WANT YOU (RC - ASOS)

I was trying to play Redondo Beach by Patti Smith without listening to it. I wanted to make a spaced out (as in 'sparce') reggae tune, but I wanted the vocals to sound like Lou Reed - in particular, an obscure song he recorded for a soundtrack to a long-forgotten film, called My Love is Chemical. The film, incidentally was called White Nights - told you it was obscure! During the middle section, I thought it would be fun to play the same chords but make it fast and punky - to me, it sounds like The Buzzcocks playing 'L.A. Woman' by The Doors - although I thought the chords sounded like Redondo Beach, remember? Someone said it reminded them of West End Girls. Unintentional, it certainly was, but I'll take it.

I'LL COME RUNNING TO TIE YOUR SHOES TOGETHER (RC - un)

What happens when Brian Eno falls out with you...

INDUSTRIAL MUSIC (RC - HRAW)

A controlled experiment to determine the psychological effects of different genres of music on the human psyche. Inspired by listening to too much Killing Joke. Warning - includes human beatbox...

IT'S NOT EASY (RC - un)

An everyday tale of someone who's been downtrodden and abused for too long and ends up taking the law into their own hands. All she wanted to do was dance and have fun. There's a long instrumental passage at the end, for no apparent reason.

III (NOT 111) (RC - un)

... or 'Son of Martinez Avenue'. Another keyboard instrumental - reminiscent of Inspiral Carpets. Added Morse Code at the end. If anyone wants to decipher it, they're welcome. If it means anything, I'll be astonished!

JACK HUGHES (RC - HRAW)

Derived from the French phrase: "J'ACCUSE!" Someone commits what they think is the perfect crime, unaware that they were observed. A little like the Steve Gutenberg film The Bedroom Window, only without the laughs. The song has been picked up by Danny Mac on his Village FM show Testifying Time and he has compared it to 1980s Stranglers, which probably not too far from what I was aiming for... with a little ABBA and Wire thrown in...

JEEZ LOUISE (RC - un)

The end of a relationship, during which the dumpee loses all self-respect and begs on his knees for the dumper to reconsider. Some musical nods to The Stranglers, Roxy Music, The Beatles and ? & The Mysterians at the end.

LAND OF THE MISFIT TOYS, THE (RC/NC)

Inspired by a conversation Ronnie had with his daughter, concerning a kids' film populated with broken toys, his mind switched to overdrive and this poured out almost instantaneously. Musically it was inspired by The Jam (in All Mod Cons phase) but again it didn't fit with the sound of the album, so it was reworked into a Hi-NRG disco number with a church organ intro.

LAUGHING (RC - FDB)

My first attempt at writing with a(n) ukulele. I figured out how to tune it, using a YouTube tutorial, but I thought it would be fun to play it without actually going to the trouble of learning the chords. I'd previously employed a similar technique using the keyboard. I've never learned to play keyboards, so when I write I have no preconceived ideas and seldom wind up slipping into cliche (which can happen when I write on guitar). I was going for a Leonard Cohen vide on this one and singing at the bottom of my register. The middle section, with the sleighbells and female backing vocals) was inspired by the Cohen song The Sisters of Mercy.

LAZYBONES (RC - ASOS)

This was my attempt at writing a Ramones song - in fact, at first listen, it bears a resemblance to Ramona from their 1977 LP Rocket To Russia. The solo was played on the bass, lending it a Glitter Band feel. We gave it to the NI Download page and it made No.2 in November 2011.

LIFE'S A LIQUID [see Lulubelle Theme]

LIKE A DREAM, SOMETIMES (RC - un)

Inspired by a recurring dream, where everyone had the power of flight except me. I would crash into trees while everyone else soared like birds. Musically, it's a cross between Sonic Youth and The Golden Horde.

LITTLE WORLD (AW/RC - Free Four EP)

One of the first songs we recorded, in an attempt to make sense of the Honey Ryder catalogue. Lyrics by Alison Wilson, so I can't really say with any certainty, although it seems to be from the viewpoint of someone who's a bit of a wallflower and likes a drink. Sometimes it's a bit of a challenge, setting other people's lyrics to music and this one was no exception - the lines don't really scan in the conventional sense, so some are shorter than others. When I did the original demo (in 1991) I thought it would sound nice with harmonies and that remains the case. 

LONG DISTANCE (CC/RC - HRAW)

Lyrics by Christopher. They seem to suggest the sort of relationships one has in the virtual world, although sometimes they're not enough. The original demo was guitar, bass and drums. The vocals were an octave lower and we weren't happy with it. Also it was decided the line: "I want a proper date" sounded too menacing, so it was lifted up an octave and we gave it the Erasure treatment.

LOST GIRL, THE (RC - un)

I'd been listening to 'The Head On The Door' LP by The Cure and was sufficiently inspired to come up with the backing track. The lyrics came from pages and pages of nonsense poetry, written when I was 17 or 18. I still really like this one though. Hopefully it'll see the light of day at some stage.

LOVE LIKE HOURS (RC - ASOS)

This was one of the first songs I wrote for Honey Ryder. There are numerous references to other musicians - Leonard Cohen, the Pixies, Primal Scream... Colin (Wasson - Honey Ryder bassist) came up with the line "Dressing as your personality" after observing a bunch of college kids in Hallowe'en costumes, so I nicked it. Roughly 15 years later, Green Day brought out American Idiot and the chords in the chorus matched exactly! For about 5 minutes, I considered legal action, however the likelihood of their having heard the song was negligible. Then it occurred to me, the chords also matched Me And Bobby McGee by Kris Kristofferson, so I figured it would be best if I kept my trap shut. 

We recorded this along with Little World, Lucinda Singular and 42nd Song for the Free Four EP - a giveaway promotional CD. All but Little World were eventually reworked for our debut album.

LUCINDA SINGULAR (RC - ASOS)

At the time of writing, I was at University of Ulster, Magee studying Graphics and Product Design. I thought I heard someone say "Lucinda Singular" and after asking everyone in the room, nobody was any the wiser. The name inspired the song and after a false start, the arpeggio guitar riff appeared. At that stage I realised "Yes, it is possible to do this!" Incidentally, 20 years and one Internet search later, I discovered a dance tune called 40 Miles by Congress. Turned out it was a hit around the same time I wrote this and the guest vocalist was one Lucinda Sieger!

LULUBELLE THEME (RC - un)

Another instrumental, based on the intro of Prime Time by The Tubes. Originally appeared on the official bootleg Honey Ryder - Demos (1991 - 1995) under the title Life's A Liquid, which is an appalling pun on the T. Rex title Life's A Gas.

MÄDCHEN VON DÜSSELDORF, DAS (RC - BNFS)

Experimental electronic instrumental. I thought it would be fun to try something with no guitars. The original inspiration was Waltzinblack by The Stranglers but other inspiration came from Kraftwerk - natürlich! The title translates as 'The Girl From Düsseldorf' (Kraftwerk's home town, incidentally) and is a sort of pun on The Girl From Ipanema, as there was a hint of bossa nova about the rhythm.

MARTINEZ AVENUE (RC - ASOS)

I was living in Belfast at the time and there was - and indeed, still is a road nearby called Martinez Avenue. It runs alongside Cypress Avenue, which Van Morrison fans will recognise as a track from his 1969 LP Astral Weeks. Anyway, I thought it would be an appropriate title, given the nature of the track. Rudy Martinez is the singer from ? & The Mysterians (of 96 Tears infamy)

METEOR SHOWER (RC - un)

Hard keyboard-led garage rock instrumental. So titled because there was a meteor shower the night it was recorded.

MISS SELFISH (RC - un)

Taking its cue from Silly Thing by The Sex Pistols, the song is about a teenage girl who doesn't care about the state of the world, so long as she's got nice shoes to go out dancing in. The line: "She ain't got no patience for the faces of starvation..." is reminiscent of Apeman by The Kinks.

MONKEYS (CC/RC - ASOS)

One of the most popular songs from our debut. Lyrics by Christopher, after a trip to Dublin Zoo with his children. He always liked the way Woody Guthrie wrote songs for his children and wanted it to sound like the Pixies and I'd already been working on a backing track which fitted perfectly. In the song, which is essentially a long list of animals, the visitors attend the zoo and love seeing all the creatures, but most of all they want to see: "MONKEYS! MONKEYS!"

MUSDEP (CC/RC - HRAW)

Named after the music department in George Orwell's Nineteen Eighty Four novel, this was inspired by The Government's draft communications bill, which would give it and the police greater access to what you've been up to online. Christopher came up with the chorus, during which a number of things are described as belonging to them - in a Dalek voice - i.e. emails, statuses, online shopping, etc. We used a Relax one-note bassline with a sequencer-type keyboards and some suitably sinister chords. We wanted to give the whole thing a kind of Killing Joke vibe. Not sure if we succeeded...

MUST DASH (RC - un)

Sung from the perspective of someone who is out of work and frustrated about the lack of progress from all the applications being sent, he decides to confront "The Man" in order to find out what the problem is. "Must Dash", said the man with the moustache.

NEVER SAW IT COMING (RC - un)

Every year an anniversary comes around which knocks me for six. I always ended up feeling really low for a few days around the same time of year, so I decided to write a song about it. Musically, think Sticky Fingers - era Rolling Stones with a Ron Asheton (Stooges) guitar solo. Dedicated to John (1957-1974) and David (1962-1978).

OTHER SIDE, THE (RC - un)

Influenced by The Standells in their Dirty Water period, I decided to write a song for the Peace Bridge in Derry-Londonderry, what it symbolises and a desire to cross it. There's a little bit of harmonica at the start, imitating a ship's klaxon. Also included, for the benefit of all you would-be secret agents is a cryptic message.

PI IN THE SKY (RC - un)

I'm not sure where this one came from, to be honest - I think I just wanted to write a 1960s pop song with some trumpets, so I did.

PLEASANT DREAMS? (RC - HRAW)

I'd just read a book called Haunted Belfast and every night I'd be lying in bed hearing the floorboards creak and freaking out - even though I knew there was nothing there.

The title is from a Ramones LP - the question mark is saying "I dare you to have..." There is a five-note riff at the end of the chorus which fans of Close Encounters fans might recognise. 

PSYCHEDELIC BUS (RC - un)

Inspired by The Byrds in Eight Miles High guise, this is a song about overzealous jobsworth bus drivers who pretend they can't see you standing beside them because you failed to press the bell. You get them everywhere.

RADIANT (CC/RC - FDB)

Usually when Christopher and I collaborate, he gives me lyrics and I put them to music; this time I sent him the backing track and he came up with the lyrics and melody - so all I had to do was sing it. This one was inspired by the 'Shoegaze' bands of the early 1990s - Ride, Slowdive, Chapterhouse, etc., all of whom had in turn been influenced by The Jesus & Mary Chain and My Bloody Valentine. It concerns an early morning car ride with your partner. The sun coming up and you are immediately struck by how radiant they look. The vocals are meant to be low in the mix and be swept along by the music, the sound of which evokes that early morning haze you get in the autumn (or the fall, for our U.S. readers). The harmonies in the chorus are inspired by R.E.M. in Fables of The Reconstruction mode.

RHYMING DICTIONARY (RC - un)

Inspired by Syd Barrett - in particular Here I Go from The Madcap Laughs LP, which concerns our hapless hero turning up at his girlfriend's house only to be told that she's not interested in him anymore, but her sister is... We gave it an early Floyd arrangement and a Stylophone solo to add to the whimsical feel of the lyrics.

RIDE INTO THE SUNSET (RC - un)

I wanted to write a disco song based on the chord changes from Neil Young's Like A Hurricane, concerning a speeding train and do my best Peter Murphy (Bauhaus) impression. My hands were wrecked after playing the bassline for over 7 minutes - think Girls & Boys by Blur and I let rip with some Neil Young guitar at the end. One day I'll finish it...

SALT 'N' VINEGAR (RC - un)

XTC meets Syd Barrett in a tale of love gone so sour, they can't even agree which crisps are the best.

SANTIAGO (RC - FDB)

I'd spent a long time trying to work out the bass intro to The Stranglers' No More Heroes, then one day, I picked the bass up and got it first time! I was so pleased with myself I decided to celebrate by writing a song, using the intro at half-speed. The lyrics are largely inconsequential - I just wanted everything to rhyme. Incidentally, Santiago is the capital of Chile. Joey Santiago is the guitarist for US alternative rock band The Pixies. Both are entirely coincidental.

SCHRÖDINGER'S CAT (RC - un)

Buzzcocks-inspired scientific experiment, contemplating the half-awake state. A 30-second snatch appeared on the official bootleg CD Honey Ryder: Demos (1991 - 1995). The "I'm alive / I'm dead" dilemma comes from Killing An Arab by The Cure.

SEVEN DAYS (CC/RC - ASOS)

The most Syd Barrett of all the songs on our first album (with the possible exception of '42nd Song'). This was written at Christopher's house, using his guitar, which is strung left-handed. It took me ages to work out how to play it on a right-handed guitar. It's essentially a song of longing and was the first new song written for the album. 

SHANE MACGOWAN BLUES (RC - un)

Originally entitled: The Walkin' Talkin' Drinkin' Smokin' Fallin' Over Shane Macgowan Blues, I wrote this in my head after witnessing The Pogues at the Trip To Tipp festival, Thurles, Co. Tipperary in 1991. Not having a tape recorder or anything to write it down with, I had to carry the entire song around in my head for three days before I could put it together. It got played at all of the Honey Ryder gigs but it was annoying as it switches from 3/4 to 4/4 during the last verse, consequently making it rather difficult to record. One of these days...

SIX INTO EIGHT (CW/RC - un)

Another Honey Ryder leftover with lyrics by Colin. Although they're largely nonsensical, it was very satisfying to play live. The title is also a red herring as it does not appear anywhere in the song - it comes from the fact that there are two vocal verses, four 'verses' in total, six chords and the fact that 2-4-6-8 Motorway was already used. Music was inspired by The Jesus & Mary Chain - for a change...

SLIP AWAY (RC - FDB)

I wanted to write something around a particular rhythm - in this case, the sound of a güiro. I didn't use any bass on the song - just guitars - and a Stylophone solo as a nod to David Bowie's Space Oddity. The song is partly inspired by a Sparks song - How Are You Getting Home, which is about meeting someone at a party and wanting to disappear with them into the night. It has been compared to Radiohead - probably the guitar intro. Any similarity is unintentional - not like the ending, which was inspired by Taurus by Spirit - which in turn inspired Stairway To Heaven by Led Zeppelin...

SO LONG, SO LONG (RC - un)

Wedding Present-inspired  song of hatred and revenge. Lyrically, there's a nod to An American Werewolf in London - "I'd like to see your name in lights / Illuminated by the bus that runs over your head in Lester Square..." Implausibly, there was another inspiration in the shape of 1980s electro pop duo Blancmange.

SOMETHING HAPPENED (RC - HRAW)

The title was inspired by a band from Dublin in the 1980s called Something Happens! (their exclamation mark). Two songs joined together - I had the first part (Palace of Ice in the Sky) in my head for ages and couldn't come up with anything. Likewise, I had the lyric: "Something happened in the universe today. What it was I'm not at liberty to say. Might affect you in a million different ways. Then again it might..." and it occurred to me - combine two unfinished songs to make a whole one!

The music was inspired by Sparks (think Kimono My House this time). If you listen really closely, about six seconds in, you might hear the ice cream van which was passing by when I recorded the vocals. Then again you might...

SOMETHING TO BELIEVE IN (RC - un)

Flaming Lips / Neil Young-inspired sloppiness. Title nicked from The Ramones. Goes on a bit towards the end. See also...

SOMETHING TO BELIEVE IN (SLIGHT RETURN) (RC - un)

I was attempting to play Blind Bill Paxton's version of the old blues number Railroad Bill after hearing it once on Tom Ravenscroft's show on BBC 6 Music and ended up with something approximating the song. I then took the lyrics to the last song I'd written (Something To Believe In) and used them again - hence the title...

SONG ELEVEN (RC - un)

Early title for what would eventually become Drowning Man. Also appears under its original title on the official bootleg CD Honey Ryder: Demos (1991 - 1995).

SOUND OF FREEDOM (RC - HRAW)

Julian Cope-inspired riff rocker. Rose and Valerie from Maxwell's Silver Hammer are shouting from the balcony in support of freedom. They just want what we all want - freedom to do what we want without harming anyone else...

STEAL THE SUN (RC - ASOS)

This was one of the first lyrics I wrote, when I was about 17. It was just a poem then. I hear it in my head being performed by Ride. The bass intro in inspired by The Chain by Fleetwood Mac. One day, we'll have another stab at it, using other musicians. I can only imagine how it would sound...

TEARDROPS (RC - un)

Another fun instrumental reminiscent of 'Wilder'-era Teardrop Explodes - hence the title. Would make an excellent theme tune for a radio or TV show, should anybody require one.

THIS MUST BE THE PLACE (RC - FDB)

The title was stolen from the Talking Heads song This Must Be The Place (Naïve Melody) and was also a nod to the Pet Shop Boys song This Must Be The Place I've Waited Years To Leave. I wanted it to be about the fantasy indie disco of our youth. They've got the best stocked jukebox you'll ever find - cities represented include Manchester (The Smiths, Magazine, Buzzcocks, etc.), Glasgow (The Jesus & Mary Chain, Primal Scream, Teenage Fanclub, Aztec Camera, etc.) and Detroit (The Stooges, MC5, The White Stripes). There is a reference to Shirley Manson from the band Garbage - or at least a girl at the bar who looks like her. I thought if a female singer wanted to cover it, all they'd have to do is change the name to Marilyn - or even Charlie. I went for an early 1990s 'baggy' groove, like Happy Mondays. Unfortunately, it had to be edited to fit on the album - in hindsight, we probably should have left off another song. I still hope to get it pressed as

a promo at some stage, so the full 12" version can be heard in all its finery. We could call it 'This Must Be The Twelve Inch' or 'This Must Be The Remix'...

TOCCATA TRIPITAKA (RC - FDB)

Coupled with Beautiful Balloon, it was inspired by Toccata and Fugue in D minor by J.S. Bach. It's the nearest I get to writing a 'Prog' tune. The title refers to Tripitaka, who was the priest in the Japanese TV show Monkey from th late 1970s.(S)he was played by the beautiful actress Masako Natsume - even at the age of nine, I knew that was no man - even when they removed her headdress to reveal a bald cap underneath...

TWO INTO ONE (CC/RC - HRAW)

Christopher had written a long stream-of-consciousness type lyric and wanted it to be like Mazzy Star with a bit of slide guitar. I recorded the backing track in one continual five-minute session, looping the same three chords over and over (Crimson and Clover). When I got half way through the lyrics, the backing track ran out so I doubled it. The arrangement sounded like Martin Rev and Alan Vega's seminal NY Punk Rock synth duo Suicide. We thought it'd be fun to add some slide guitar at the end. Eventually it built up into a kind of Primal Scream-meets-Spiritualized finale which clocks in at almost 11 minutes. I toyed with the idea of calling it "Two Into One (Part One)" and then completely reworking it to make "Part Two" - like when Andrew Weatherall turned "I'm Losing More Than I'll Ever Have" into "Loaded" but that just seemed silly - or does it?

212 (CC/RC - HRAW)

The title is from the number of the express bus from Belfast to Derry which travels along the A6, it is not quite as famous as Route 66 but give it time. You could consider it our road song. The lyrics are a list of what sort of things you see out the window as the bus travels through the countryside. The original version was inspired by twee 1980s indie band The Field Mice and it didn't change in the middle. Eventually it was decided that since it was about a motorway, we should turn it into a kind of 21st century "Autobahn". In the middle, everyone stops at the fried chicken place for lunch, then, bellies filled, we head for home...

UH-OH! (CC/RC - FDB)

Xfm were having a competition to write a song for a movie adaptation of a 'coming of age' book. The only stipulation was that the song had to be called 'Uh-Oh!' Christopher wrote the lyrics and I tried to keep the music simple, so it has one of those three-chord basslines, like 'Over You' (Roxy Music) or 'What Do I Get?' (Buzzcocks). The lyrics are very tongue-in-cheek.

UNCONDITIONAL (CC/RC - un)

Musically, it's Hüsker Dü meets R.E.M. Lyrically, it's about the unconditional love between a parent and a child.

UNREQUITED (CC/RC - ASOS)

Christopher's lyrics again. For some reason, they made me think of a 1960s film, hence the John Barry-esque keyboard motif during the instrumental bits.

UPSTARTS DOWNSTAIRS (RC - un)

I had just moved into a new house and the neighbours were always fighting and making lots of noise, so this was the revenge. It reminds me of one of the early singles by The Who. The title is a play on the BBC period drama Upstairs Downstairs.

WEEKEND SHOPPER (RC - un)

Half Man Half Biscuit-inspired whimsical number concerning the people who used to go into record shops (remember those?) with minimal information ("You must know the song - it goes "La La La"") and expect the assistants to know what the hell they were talking about. Invariably, my colleagues would send them my way.

WHAT'S-A-HAPPENING? (RC - FDB)

The title is a response to the song It's-A-Happening by The Magic Mushrooms - available on the Nuggets box set. It's just a throwaway little rock/pop song with some rudimentary Faces-style slide guitar. Behind the title, the backing vocals are: "The morning sun will miss his father more than any I can see / The mountain's cap protects it when the wind is biting hard..."

WISHING ON YOU (AW/RC - ASOS)

Lyrics by Alison Wilson - one of my colleagues in the late, lamented Honey Ryder. I wrote the music, which was inspired by Dinosaur Jr (although many have said it reminds them of The Stone Roses - a comparison I can't hear at all...). When I played Alison the original demo, she said: "How diid you know? That's exactly the way I wanted it to sound!"

YESTERDAY (HM/RC - ASOS)

Another Honey Ryder song. Lyrics by Heather, music by me. More sea/walking imagery. The lyrics seem to hint at another relationship that's hit the rocks (sorry). Honey Ryder used to finish their gigs with this one and we left more than the occasional punter running for the door with our feedback antics. It was a great finisher after being so polite and subdued for the previous tunes. I can't remember what inspired the music but it might have been Neil Young - I just wanted as dirty a guitar sound as possible and the chords are deceptively simple - it's G and B7 for the verses, Em, G, A and B for the chorus - at least that's the approximate chords. I can't read music so I write by ear. Sometimes I will write using what I think sounds great and when I go to look in my chord book, they're nowhere to be found. So there can sometimes be what a Derry singer/songwriter referred to as 'bastard chords' - I kinda like that description. Appeals to the old D.I.Y. punk in me.

The arrangement is inspired by the version we used to do in Honey Ryder - the cymbals crashing during the verses were like waves and the stuff at the end was just to test tolerance levels - I would weave a screwdriver through the strings and let rip, occasionally blowing an amp...

YOU LEAVE ME NO CHOICE (RC - FDB)

I wanted to write a song in the style of Teenage Fanclub. I tried to keep the music simple. Lyrically, it's about a boy telling a girl he didn't want to fall for her but she left him no choice. The part about watching the ships roll in and roll away again comes from (Sittin' On) The Dock Of The Bay by Otis Reding.

15 YEARS (RC - FDB)

I lived in Belfast for 15 years. The last few were the worst - I'd lost my job and was unable to get a new one and I was missing my family and friends back home. The City of Culture was coming up and I wanted to move back and be a part of it. I used to joke about the time I spent working in HMV: "I could've killed someone and been out by now", so when I wrote the song, I used it as the refrain. There's a reference to Malevolent Dog - a song by Derry band Mars Field. The music was inspired by The Stranglers, as was the reference to 'Peasant In The Big Shitty' in the first line, which led to our getting an 'Explicit' rating on iTunes!

42nd SONG (RC - ASOS)

OK, this one is pure Syd Barrett - the lyrics, as with Steal The Sun, were written when I was about 17 and it took me almost 20 years to come up with a tune. When I did, it had two chords and was only 40 seconds long - hence the title. Someone remarked that the bit at the end of the verse (A-E-A) reminded them of the French childrens' song Frère Jacques, so I added a little bit of the melody in the song's intro. Due to the rhythm of the lyrics being so irregular, the A-E-A motif occurs once at the end of V1, twice at the end of V2 and three times at the end of V3.

100% DYNAMITE (RC - FDB)

This is probably the song which sounds the closest to the sounds in my head. It's a celebration of vinyl and there are lyrical nods to Iggy Pop and The Jesus & Mary Chain, amongst others. The title comes from a series of obscure reggae compilations from the early 2000s. For the video, I slipped 200 x 7" singles inside the sleeve of XTC's Life Begins At The Hop cover and animated the whole thing using iMovie. People of a certain age may spot a visual joke - a 10p piece on the label of a flexi disc - they usually had a disclaimer: "Place coin here in case flexible record slips."

1000 EYES (RC - FDB)

Dick Dale-inspired surf instrumental. I wanted to put a theremin in there, as I seemed to hear one playing a four-note motif every time I listened! We found an approximation, which didn't sound quite as good as anticipated but I like that it's just a hint. Originally, I intended it to be called: "Random Surfer's Watery Grave" but I wrote the tune on the night the miners got trapped underground at Gleision Colliery and I thought it might be disrespectful. I can't remember what inspired the title - it might have been random horror imagery à la The Cramps. Days later, I remembered Bobby Vee had a song called: The Night Has A Thousand Eyes. 

Covers section:

GOTTA PULL MYSELF TOGETHER (Findon/Myers/Puzey - BNFS)

Cover of a song originally performed by The Nolans - it reached No.9 in 1980. It was suggested to me by Alan Giff from The Alturos it might be a good song to cover. When I listened to it, I thought it was a great pop song. Our arrangement, which is all scuzzy guitars and feedback, reminds me of Teenage Fanclub.

I DON'T WANT (Blitzkrieg Boys)

We were invited to cover a song by Finnish punk band The Blitzkrieg Boys for a proposed tribute record. I was unfamiliar with their work, so I had a rummage through their catalogue and found this little gem about doomed romance and drug addiction. We had a bit of fun with the song by adding the instrumental break from Love Is Strange by Mickey & Sylvia and repeating the chorus a couple of times at the end.

MY MY KIND OF A GIRL [Ramones]

Recorded for a Ramones fan page called Ramone To The Bone for a compilation called They're Alive!. As with the Blitzkrioeg Boys cover, we had a little fun with it - due to the similarity between the song and their own I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend, we thought it'd be fun to combine the two. We then bridged the gap by adding the solo from Just What I Needed by The Cars. 

Should you want the whole compilation, you can download it free of charge here: Ramone To The Bone, or if you just want our contribution, you can get it here: Lulubelle III Soundcloud page

SISTERWOMAN [The Gentle Waves]

Written by Isobel Campbell, formerly of Belle & Sebastian, this originally appeared on the second Gentle Waves album, Swansong For You. Although I always loved the song, I thought The Mary Chain could do a great version by grunging it up and slowing it down, but they'd split ten years previously so I thought I'd have a go myself. I found her on Facebook and told her we'd covered it and she asked me to send it to her agent so she could listen. I guess she hated it because she never got back to me and defriended me straight away. Ah well, I still love you, Isobel - if you're reading this ;-)