mybook.to/SongsforJoss Amazon Kindle
mybook.to/songsforJ Amazon paperback
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/809796 Smashwords ebook edition
‘Songs for Joss’ was first printed in 2007, the year of our marriage and our 27th year together, and was surprisingly popular, so I withdrew it, thinking to make it more professional. Unfortunately that takes money and effort, both in short supply. I’ve kept adding to it for the last 14 years and because Joss and I are still here, trotting along nicely, here it is again. Amazing to think that it’s been over forty years now. In that time I’ve learned an extra chord and…well, that’s about it.
Songs for Joss has been written over the past 41 years, and contains songs, stories and verse that bubbled up in that time. One song per year, of variable quality but most enjoyable for us to write and sing. YouTube link to each song, although most of the videos are blank. Close your eyes or just read the lyrics. Ebook can be purchased on Kindle or Smashword link. Paperback on Amazon. Here are a few random songs.
Song number six: 1986 Just Another Day Today (Perf: Richard Spencer)
Richard and his sister sing and arrange this beautifully, we think. Joss and I were wondering what it would have been like had we been school kids together, would we have been high school sweethearts? I wrote this song to disguise the ugly truth. Joss confided that she particularly hated boys who pulled her pigtails and made rude noises. They were my best subjects at school.
Song number eight: 1988 Bars & Steel Guitars (Perf: Richard Spencer)
Philosophy is quite an interesting thing and I often wrestle with conundrums like ‘is there life before death’ and ‘why me?’ Joss was writing a university essay in what was possibly a foreign language and I believe the crux of her thesis was that mankind’s life is short and brutal and we better do something meaningful with our allotment.
It made a great deal of sense to me and I thought I’d write a deep and philosophical song to convince her that, despite appearances, I was a man of potency and substance. I subtly addressed some major issues: art and spirituality; time and relativity; the dichotomy of good and evil. I think the discerning listener can also detect a thaumaturgical subplot.
Song number twenty eight: 2008. Epitaph, be dooby doo (Perf: Colin Rock)
I always expect each song to be my last. As I explain in the book, I only play the guitar 3 or 4 times a year and the output from some of those times are more disappointing than the other disappointing times.
Song number thirty-six: 2016 After The Music (Perf: Colin and Joss)
Unfortunately I tend to write a song, record it quickly, then never again. After I’d hauled Joss in to sing this I realized I needed another verse. Haven’t actually got around to recording the new version yet. I wish I wasn’t so slack and lazy.
Colin Rock 