News -
The Ballad of Vera Daydream - Willie Dowling
I’ve often said I have no interest in going back to revisit old material.
You may have even heard me say it.
Yet for the second time in a month, I’m releasing an old song.
A VERY old song.
The Ballad of Vera Daydream goes back to the days of The Grip.
It’s one of the first songs I wrote for The Grip, and I think it’s probably my first ‘character’ song.
So call me a filthy hypocrite, I’ll deservedly take it on the chin and we can all get on with our lives.
And then I’ll try to persuade you of an excuse I have for my hypocrisy.
Paul Swift, a friend from years ago, got in touch to say he was doing a fund raiser for food banks on his birthday and would I mind contributing something.
Now this was a few years back in the pre-vaccine days of Covid, during the first lockdown, when the world had become a very strange place, and there was the occasional thought that all bets may be off.
Paul was fond of The Grip and The Ballad of Vera Daydream seemed like a song he might appreciate for his birthday, so throwing my rule book away, I recorded it and sent it to him.
To my astonishment I remembered lyrics and chords instantly, and I can barely remember parts for any song I’ve written in the last twenty years, which says something about the way that memory functions as you get older.
Darby Todd did a remote drum session and the finished mix sounded reasonable enough.
So now it’s been sitting on my hard drive for a couple of years, and I can’t think of a good reason not to give it away rather than let it go to waste.
Go to this link and it’s yours for free.
In fact, the other act of gross hypocrisy Happy? (Dumka) is also still on Bandcamp for free, so if you haven’t downloaded it yet, now would be a good time.
I should also add an apology and a warm nod to Chris King (drums) and Steve ‘Reg' Hill (bass/vocals) of The Grip.
It would have been great to involve them on this recording but lockdown and geography made that impossible.
I hinted at news of The Grip on my Facebook page last week and then immediately regretted it since it triggered off a few questions about whether there’d be a Grip tour or perhaps new tracks.
I understand the nostalgic appeal but there can’t be really. With 25% of the band missing in action for thirty years now, the idea of doing it without Mark Keen (guitar/vocals) has never quite sat right with me.
I often think of Mark and wonder what he’d make of the world today.
He left school at 15 but remains one of the most naturally intelligent and curious guys I ever met.
I’ll just add (in case you missed it) that tracks from my new album The Simpleton will be coming out next year, starting in January.
More news and longer excuses coming soon...
Willie (and The Invisible Band)
