Comes in a jewel case with an attractive 16-page booklet including lyrics to all songs, a selection of individual photographs of each contemporary band member who played on these sessions, recording details and additional credits, etc.
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Includes unlimited streaming of Think Positive!
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Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
This is a song about personal failure and having to come to terms and live with that failure, seen through the eyes of a rock star who tasted success for a brief while but ultimately failed through bad luck, judgement, timing, whatever. As he drowns his sorrows, his so-called mates laugh at him behind his back. There is no sympathy, yet the song offers a sense of hope, however, when in the last verse our protaganist realises positive thinking can pull him through and he carries on with new hope and a new self-belief. Please note, although this song is based on a true story, it is not meant to be autobiographical (although we can relate to some of these experiences) - let's hope it never is!
The last song to be finished in time for inclusion on the album, although, like 'A Better Man Than You', it evolved out of an earlier, scrapped song, from our 'Life's Tapestry' era. The title and the last section are the only parts that remain totally intact from the first attempt to write this song. Several attempts had, in fact, been made to re-write the song before it reached its (hopefully!) final incarnation on the album, with the total amount of lyrics written running to about 15 pages of text! A new song could probably be written about the conception, alterations, versions and completion of this song in itself!
(Taken from The Whisky Priests April 1998 Newsletter)
lyrics
WHAT I COULD HAVE BEEN
Here's to the glorious failure, here's to the great unknown
To another wasted burnt-out case, washed up and alone
The circus has departed leaving one more sad old clown
One more night goes by; one more drink goes down, down, down
In this small-minded town
You need the courage of your dreams
I never stopped believing I would make it to the top
With a single-minded tunnel vision no one else could stop
One day I rocked it with the best of them
Every backslapper come backstabber seemed to know me then
Maybe because I was ahead of my time or because I never compromised
All I'd sacrificed came to nothing in the end
Going, going, going, gone
Now all I've got left are my songs
My memories and my unfulfilled dreams
Of what I could have been
And how my workmates love my stories
Of rock 'n' rollers bound for glory
Now I'm bound for the building site
My leathers and good looks departed
For tatty jeans and a hairy arse
And how my sad mates love my stories
But it’s just a piss-head's faded glories
Now I'm bound for the bar again
As they laugh at me behind their pints
And mock me when I'm out of sight
(I never liked them that much anyway!)
Going, going, going gone
Now all I've got left is this song
The memories and the unfulfilled dreams
Of what I could have been
Now I hate this fucking business after all its done to me
But it’s in my blood now and for another crack at it I'd give anything
And 'though people say to me "It was never meant to be
So keep your feet still Geordie Hinny"
They'll never drive those bonnie dreams away
For I'll keep up the hope, I'll keep writing songs
'Though no-one might hear them to me they're so strong
They'll tell of my life and the things that I've seen
And serve to remind me of what I could have been
from Think Positive!,
released May 1, 1998
Gary Miller - vocals, acoustic guitar
Glenn Miller - accordion
Hugh Bradley - electric guitar, mandola, backing vocals
Andy Tong - bass guitar, backing vocals
Cozy Dixon - drums
Chuck Fleming - piano
Gary Miller first rose to international prominence with folk-punk/rock pioneers The Whisky Priests (1985-2002), founded with
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