Girl Singer - a song by Bard of Ely

My song Girl Singer was recorded in a recording session donated by Carl Bevan of the 60 Ft Dolls,.

Girl Singer was inspired by something I have often been witness to when female singers, who are not famous or signed, may well get passed over at music venues where the audiences prefer louder and more in-your-face acts including local rock bands with a following. The quieter and more sensitive sounds of a girl singer can get drowned out by chatter and people more intent on drinking and going to the bar.

Many people used to think that Girl Singer was actually about my former partner Janice Pugsley who had become a singer-songwriter who played the Cardiff local music circuit at times but this was not the case. Girl Singer was actually inspired by Susan Lewis who used to front an acoustic act called The Nice Fish.

I used to really fancy Sue and was a big fan of the band and remember one night they were playing at an open mic night at the Chapter Arts Centre in Cardiff and I was appalled by all the noise that was being made by inattentive members of the audience. I just wished these people would shut up and show some respect. I wrote my song the same night based around this.

The years have gone by and The Nice Fish are no more as far as I know. I heard that Sue became a teacher and got married. I often wonder what would have happened if she and The Nice Fish had found that elusive big break in the music world.

My song was also intended as a comment on the music industry that for many years was mainly making it a lot easier for male artists and bands than it was for women performers and song-writers. Fortunately this has changed over the years but at one point there was the Riotgrrrl movement led by female performers who were protesting this discrimination against women.

Carl Bevan the drummer of the Welsh band 60 Ft Dolls donated a competition prize of a free session at the Soundspace Studios in Cardiff back in the year 2000 and I was the winner. I decided to get a studio recording of my new song Girl Singer made and enlisted the services of Pod, a local band I was friendly with, to back me up as session musicians.

Pod were fronted by Mark Humphries as their singer and songwriter. He is still performing and has been singing and playing for the bands Doofer and Cakehole Presley. At the time of the recording session for Girl Singer, Mark's former partner Janeen actually came up with the line "On the road of falling stars" as an additional lyric I incorporated into the song as the ending.

Girl Singer was produced by Greg Haver, who is a very well known and acclaimed producer who has worked with the Manic Street Preachers, Super Furry Animals and Catatonia among the bands that made the headlines in the music press as part of what the media called "Cool Cymru."

Girl Singer

I first saw you standing in the spotlight
Standing lovely, lonely on that cold night
I saw you singing, singing through the moonlight
I saw you sparkle, I saw you sparkle bright
I saw you there singing your heart out
I saw you singing through the clamour of these fools
And you delivered something special
On that special night
Now I can see you and I can hear you
You're not alone in the wilderness
You're not alone in this sea of madness
You're not alone in the music biz

Girl singer, where are you now?

I need to find you across this crowded city
I need to find you across these desperate bars
I need to find you through the halls and clubs of loneliness
I need to find you on the road of falling stars
I need to find you through all the teeming millions
I need to find you through electric storms and dark
I need to find you through all our crazy pathways
I need to find you from right across the world

Girl singer, where are you now
On the road of falling stars?

By Steve Andrews aka The Bard of Ely