Music

Musical Things I’ve Never Done

1) Learned to sight-read dots

2) Turned pro

3) Stretched a left-handed tenth comfortably (same goes for a right-handed one)

4) Soloed fluently in B natural (has anyone?)

5) Got a note out of any saxophone

 

………And some I have

1) Been on official strike for the Musicians’ Union, (sadly without strike pay)

2) Played guitar backing Screaming Lord Sutch

3) Played and sung in New York, looking at the floodlit UN building in the distance  

4) Done a session in Studio 2, Abbey Road (with Mike and Pete Giles and Mike Blakesley in 1967). It was never released at the time, partly, I suspect, because I kept forgetting to squeeze the piano-accordion on “One In A Million”, with predictable results. However, it’s one of four tracks from that session included in “The Giles Brothers 1962-1967” released in 2009 and available on iTunes.

5) Played solo piano backing for Matt Monro

6) Largely managed to avoid any form of woodshedding (practice)

7) Signed my first (and probably last) song publishing contract at the ripe old age of 72, a mere 30 years after I wrote the song.

And another thing… here are a few (Musical) Sweepings from the Factory Floor