Songs from Stony Rock, Bernie Parry, Folk Music Singer, Songwriter, UK

Bernie Parry CD:

Songs From Stony Rock (Private Release BP005)

Track Listing

Waiting In The Wings (5.59)
Dama De Noche (Lady Of The Night) (3.41)
A Bend In The Road (5.42)
No Tengo Nada (I Have Nothing) (4.17)
Dolores, My Andaluz Dove (4.50)
Sweet Vagabond (4.14)
An Ordinary Day (6.02)
Songs Of The Drifter (6.14)
October Song (4.34)
A Rose Without Thorns (6.15)
I Will Love You Till I Die (3.25)
I Learned To Dance (3.52)
Ride The 61 (5.33)

All songs Written and Composed by Bemie Parry except Track 9 - written by Robin Williamson.
All vocals, instrumentations and arrangements by Bernie Parry.
Recorded, produced and engineered by Bernie Parry.
Sleeve concept, design and photography by Bernie Parry.
CDs reproduced by Bernie Parry.
AH inlays and inserts printed by Bernie Parry.
Recorded March to July 2005 at Stony Rock Studio, Leeds.
Copyright Parry Publishing 2005. prs/mcps.

Reviews:

1. Tykes News (www.tykesnews.org.uk) 2005

In the last issue of Tykes' our editor made reference to a rare appearance of Bernie Parry at a charity concert, noting his Stateside success and wondering why we see so little of him live in the UK. This album raises the same question.

Maybe the opening song 'Waiting In The Wings' - actually about a lady who leads the singer a merry dance indeed - provides a clue. The songs here are finely crafted, carefully considered and expertly arranged. Bernie's distinctive guitar playing is one of the aspects of his art which is rightly admired by American fans: here it is displayed to great effect (he also plays keyboards, mandolin and vielle a roue (hurdy gurdy) on the album.

Time spent in both the USA and Spain is reflected in the songs, as is Bernie's own Romany background. So we move from Midwest highways to the dusty backgrounds of Andalucia to unmade tracks in Wales. More to the point, we are taken there not only by the precise observation of his writing but also by subtle hints within the music.

The songs were mainly written over the last eight years. Some reach back even further - the apocalyptic 'An Ordinary Day' is from the early 80s but hindsight renders it almost prophetic; and Bernie's admirers will be delighted to know that he has finally recorded the song that was his great inspiration, Robin Williamson's 'October Song', the only non-original on the set.

As one would expect from a storyteller-in-song, many of the tracks are narrative, but all are intensely atmospheric and several are redolent with symbolism. My favourite track, and the longest on the album, is 'A Rose Without Thorns' which encapsulates all these qualities and features a tune to die for.

No denying that the album is intensely romantic, but it does not descend to sentimentality. Its closing song, the Dylan influenced 'Ride The 61' expresses a dream whose subject matter made Bernie enquire whether he dare sing it in America: I agree with Tykes USA reviewer Dave Palmater who said it is a song he should sing there because there are scores of American singer-songwriters who wish they could write just one song that good. Bernie has written a dozen for this album. This is Bernie's fifth album in a quarter of a century. Self produced, self written and self performed, it is a major achievement.

If we don't hear many of these songs adopted by floosingers soon, then not enough of them bought a copy!

Nigel Schofield

2. Folk Roundabout 2005

Whatever happened to Bernie Parry? That's been the question for those who remember this distinctive singer/songwriter (who grew up in Co. Durham) from some 20 years ago and into the early 80s, when he released a couple of albums crammed full of abnormally fine songs like 'Man Of The Earth', 'Davy' and 'The Windwitch'. Bernie gained a healthy following from his regular appearances on the folk circuit, and he was still to be found gigging through the 90s, latterly in a highly regarded duo with Tony Taffinder, but for some strange reason his work never seemed to bring him the acclaim he deserved, at least here in the UK, and for the past eight years he's been performing mostly abroad (the USA and southern Europe).

Now he's returned to Leeds and is making amends to his fans in this country by releasing this new CD consisting entirely of previously unrecorded songs, some written here and there over the past few years and some brand new compositions. Also (and here's a first for Bernie) there's a solitary cover, Robin Williamson's revelatory 'October Song', which as Bernie acknowledges occupies a special place in his affections (as it does in mine!), since it had a profound effect on his early development as a guitar player. And indeed ever since, as you can hear on many of the songs in this new collection. All along, it's fair to say, Bernie's songs have been noted for their striking and expert 'free' guitar accompaniments, often involving unorthodox and/or key centres, and often providing a healthy challenge for the adventurous listener (and fellow guitarist!)

Within their unusual and instantly recognisable style, many of Bernie's songs also challenge by virtue of the rather individual compass over which his melodies stretch, sometimes rendering them less than easy to join in with or perform. But the bottom line for me has always been the high level of reward, the sense of satisfaction that invariably repays attentive listening to Bernie's carefully crafted songs. Overall, his personal style may not have changed significantly over the years as such (and why should it?), but he's still in great voice and still capable of writing powerful lyrics.

He's not lost his touch in any way; 'Songs From Stony Rock' is emphatically not one of those 'variations on the same old theme' comeback jobs that have littered the folk scene in recent times. It contains some stunningly beautiful songs - I'd single out 'A Bend In The Road', 'A Rose Without Thorns', the emotionally potent opener 'Waiting In The Wings', the economically expressed introspection of 'I Will Love You Till I Die'. Listening to the melody alone on 'Ride The 61', that melody-line just couldn't have been written by anyone but Bernie, it's that distinctive in it's twists and turns and its wide range, and when you add in the evocative road-restlessness of the lyrics you have a masteroiece in my opinion. Yes I'm inclined to welcome Bernie's return to the UK scene with open arms - so go buy this superb CD, on which Bernie displays his all-round prowess by undertaking 'all vocals, instrumentations and arrangements' and CD engineering and reproduction, with true skill and panache.

Dave Kidman.

Lyrics

2. DAMA DE NOCHE
Written and Composed by Bernie Parry 1990s

Dama de noche, lady of the night
I wish that you could be here
And bloom for me tonight.
Dama de noche, though we’re apart
You know I want you to come and grow
In the garden of this heart.

Dama de noche, dama de noche
Lady of the night.

Dama de noche, so far away
Why don’t you leave that cold country
And be with me today?
I’ll read you stories down in the park
And the time will pass so quickly
Then it will be dark
Oh then it will be dark.

Dama de noche, dama de noche
Lady of the night.

Dama de noche, your petals now are closed
But I’ll wait for the dark, for here in my heart
The flower of hope still grows.
I breathe your perfume when the night wind blows
And I compare you to a Spanish flower
But you’re still my English Rose
You’re still my English Rose

Dama de noche, Dama de noche
Lady of the night.

3. A BEND IN THE ROAD
Written and Composed by Bernie Parry 21st century

I went out walking bright early one day
Down through the woods and along the Green Lane
At a bend in the road I saw a dark gypsy man
Brewing up tea by his fine caravan.

Now I’ve heard how unfriendly some gypsy folk are
But he said ‘Come on over and share in me Cha’
So I took out some grog and I perked up that tea
And we nattered like old long lost friends him and me.

CH:
‘I do what I do and I go where I go’.
That’s what he said by that bend in the road..

He said ‘Life on the road is so damn bloody hard,
You might ask well why do it if it’s all that bad.
Well I’m cursed like my kind with the need for to know
What’s waiting for me round each bend in the road’.

I asked him what country, what land he belonged
He said ‘There is no country or land I am from.
This truck and these wheels they are all that I am
I suppose that my country is my caravan’.

I said ‘you must know just what place you were born’.
He said ‘I know exactly just where I am from
I came into this world as a thunderstorm roared
I was born in this van at a bend in the road.’.

He said ‘I am going, d’you want to come too’?
I said ‘Well I can’t, I have ties, I have roots’.
He laughed through the grog then he rocked and he rolled
Leaving me here by my bend in the road.

4. NO TENGO NADA
Written and Composed by Bernie Parry 1990s

The moon floats on the sea
Dappled in the palm leaves
Sweet music and a warm breeze
Beautiful

But someone is missing
No loving no kissing
Just a hoping and a wishing
She’ll come to me.

I thought that she would choose me
But she chose that other man
I held her once, we had a chance
But now the chance has gone
And if I don’t have her love
I have nothing.

The dream time is long gone
No more magic, no unicorns
Just a sharp thorn that someone
Left inside me.

It’s farewell sweet lady
Now you no longer need me
I loved you and it was lovely
To know you.

I thought that you would choose me
But you chose that other man
I held you once, we had a chance
But now the chance has gone
And if I don’t have your love
I have nothing.

No Tengo Nada

I Have Nothing.

5. DOLORES MY ANDALUZ DOVE
Written and Composed by Bernie Parry 2000s

I was playing my guitar down in old Manuel’s bar when she came and sat opposite me
Her eyes were as blue as Manuel’s swimming pool but I swear that she smelt of the sea
Her cheeks were the colour of ancient Rioja but so was her nose tragically
She was no great looker but something about her called out to the hombre in me.

Now I’m no great beauty so quite nervously I asked her to meet me for tea.
In a bar by the beach down in old Los Boliches she shared her salchichas with me.
By the end of the meal I was head over heels, oh she really got under my skin.
I fell so much in love with Dolores that dove, for her beauty shone out from within.

CH:
Dolores my love, my Andaluz dove
You flew into the heart of this man
And though your name it means sadness
You gave me much gladness
Before all the madness began.

This love that was new well it grew and it grew as the seasons flew by carelessly
But one fateful day, yes, when I was away well my dove was unfaithful to me
She was carrying on with a rich Spanish Don who was dripping with gold finery
His brains were potatoes but his one saving grace was he had more pesetas than me

So I lost my love, my paloma, my dove, yes it seems that I loved her in vain
Some games you can win and there’s those that you can’t but to me it was hardly a game
Now some folk maintain people act out their name, it’s been proven again and again
And though it means sadness, the name of Dolores can also translate into pain.

6. SWEET VAGABOND
Written and Composed by Bernie Parry 1990s

I hope you don't think badly of me
Now it's all over and done
What did we do
I think it must be
Is that I needed you
More than you wanted me.

I hope you'll remember me fondly
As fondly as I think of you
A long lasting love
Was just not meant to be
Your vagabond heart
Simply had to be free.

CH:
So it's goodbye sweet vagabond
I just looked around but you'd already gone
Farewell my sweet sweet one
And I hope that you find everything that you want.

I hope you don't speak badly of me
To the people around you now
I didn't hurt you so bad
As far as I know
But perhaps just enough
To cause you to go.

I can't help but think of you sadly
'Cause I'm still in love with you now
Wherever you go
And whatever you do
There's a part of my heart
That will travel with you.

8. SONGS OF THE DRIFTER
Written and Composed by Bernie Parry 21st Century

He stepped down off the train and he walked away’s down Main
Dusty suitcase and a beat up old guitar
Faded boots and jeans, he’s kinda long and lean
With a face that sure has seen too many bars.
The drifter took a room above Sad Mike’s saloon,
Seems he knows Sad Mike from someplace long ago
And soon down in the bar he sang and he played guitar
And half the town turned out most nights to see the show.

And the songs of the drifter they can break or lift a heart
‘Cause he sings about the struggle to be free

CH:
He’s a restless breed’, And like the tumbleweed
He’s a drifter and that’s all he’ll ever be.

He sings about the days when cowboys rode the range
And Covered Wagons sailed out on the Prairie Sea.
He sings of pride and shame, he sings of love and pain
And ‘bout the aimless wayward life the drifter leads.
Now pretty Sally Ann, she fell for the drifter man,
Every night she’d sit and listen while he played.
Sad Mike cautioned her.’ He’s just a wanderer
Mark my words, ‘he said’ he’ll break your heart one day’.

But it seems she didn’t listen and she took the drifter in
And she gave him everything a man could need.

The Springtime strode along and Sally’s love grew strong
But one day the desert wind began to blow.
It shook the window pane, It called him by his name
‘Tumbleweed you’ve stayed too long, It’s time to roll’.
The drifter left today, just upped and walked away
She was crying as he climbed aboard the train.
I don’t know if she heard the drifter’s final words
He said ‘You knew I was a drifter when I came’.

Another song for the drifter ‘bout another broken heart
Another town, another girl along the line.

10. A ROSE WITHOUT THORNS
Written and Composed by Bernie Parry 1990s.
(The best song I ever wrote.)

I travelled from a land of storms
Into this land of unicorns
And I picked a rose that had no thorns
Or did my rose pick me.
I sang to you, you spoke to me
Beneath that Jacaranda tree
You reached the very soul of me
And I reached into your heart.

Looking through the little shops
I came across a silver box
I thought it looked a little lost
So I bought it just for you
Wish I could grasp a piece of Now
And place it in that box somehow
Then you could choose to let it out
When you need this Now again

CH:
When you’re lonely in the night, just look inside that box of light
And live again those wondrous nights when we rode the unicorn.

That montage made by fortune’s hand
Two roses and a Spanish fan
And a picture of this Gypsy man
Who danced with you one night

CH
When you’re lonely in the night, just look inside that box of light
And live again those wondrous nights when we rode the unicorn.

Now the time has come to leave
I leave you with that box of me
And I have those lovely memories
Of a rose that has no thorns

When you’re lonely in the night, just look inside that box of light
And live again those wondrous nights when we rode the unicorn

My Rose that has no thorns…….

11. I WILL LOVE YOU TILL I DIE
Written and Composed by Bernie Parry 1990s

Some things in life are truly true
Carved in stone, absolute
Like grass is green and the sky looks blue
One and one together make two.

Many things are surely known
Lonely people are alone
Skeletons are made of bone
Lawyers hearts are made of stone.

CH:
Certain things can’t be denied
Fish do swim and birds do fly
Seasons change, time goes by
And I will love you till I die.

Lots of things are plain they say
Lost ones they have lost their way.
The tide will always find a bay
Dawn will bring another day.

Now some things can be seen to change
The moon will wax, the moon will wane
But then the moon will wax again
And in it’s change remains the same.

13. RIDE THE ’61
Written and Composed by Bernie Parry 1990s

Hitchin’ in the mid west out on Highway 61
Way out in the wilderness and runnin’ from a storm
The thunderheads are buildin’ and I wish that I was gone
Got one eye on the highway and the other on the storm.

CH:
Feel I’ve spent a lifetime on Highway 61
Feel like I’ve been travellin’ since the day that I was born.
Feel I’ve spent a lifetime on Highway 61
But I’ll soon be with my darlin’ just the other side of dawn.

Ain’t travellin’ too fast, took an age to get this far
Well I must’ve rode in twenty trucks and maybe thirty cars.
Must’ve been in every diner from here to Iowa
But last night lyin’ in the corn I seen a million stars.

There’s rain out in the distance but it ain’t so far away
There’s a mighty pretty rainbow but it’s headin’ straight my way
There’s thunder on the prairie, lightnin’ on the plain
Lord I hope somebody stops and picks me up before the rain.

Hitchin’ on the highway from the north down to the south
Getting’ by from day to day and livin’ hand to mouth.
I guess I coulda took a train or maybe even flown
But I want to make like Zimmerman and ride the 61

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Bernie Parry - folk music singer, musician, songwriter

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Bernie Parry CD:

Songs From Stony Rock (Private Release BP005)

Track Listing

Reviews:

1. Tykes News (www.tykesnews.org.uk) 2005

2. Folk Roundabout 2005

Lyrics

2. DAMA DE NOCHE Written and Composed by Bernie Parry 1990s

3. A BEND IN THE ROAD Written and Composed by Bernie Parry 21st century

4. NO TENGO NADA Written and Composed by Bernie Parry 1990s

5. DOLORES MY ANDALUZ DOVE Written and Composed by Bernie Parry 2000s

6. SWEET VAGABOND Written and Composed by Bernie Parry 1990s

8. SONGS OF THE DRIFTER Written and Composed by Bernie Parry 21st Century

10. A ROSE WITHOUT THORNS Written and Composed by Bernie Parry 1990s. (The best song I ever wrote.)

11. I WILL LOVE YOU TILL I DIE Written and Composed by Bernie Parry 1990s

13. RIDE THE ’61 Written and Composed by Bernie Parry 1990s