It was only after I’d assembled the poems and song lyrics for this anthology, I realized there was a theme – death! Despite this there was also an underlying comic streak which, I hope, lightens the tone. But perhaps I should not be surprised by the gallows’ humor – when I was a teenager, learning to play guitar, my favorite numbers were murder ballads such as: Frankie and Johnny, St James Infirmary, and Jailer Bring Me Water, to name but a few. Over the years I have also added many of my own compositions in a similar vein, both factual and fictitious as songs and poems. I’m not sure where this macabre fascination comes from – possibly my father dying unexpectedly when I was a child was a factor. Also, being born in the last year of WWII contributed, since growing up in the 1940s and 1950s there were many reminders of the recent conflict in the way of movies, comics and books, etc, as well as large areas of big cities still in ruins from Nazi bombing. I was also drawn to folk and blues songs that were not afraid to describe the darker side. MB – 2025

Not that I and my siblings had an unhappy childhood – far from it. Though our single-parent mum struggled to make ends meet, we never went without basic home comforts and, if we wanted more, could earn extra cash doing a paper round or other part-time jobs.

We also had a lot of freedom and spent much time on bicycles exploring the neighborhood without undue fear of strangers nor, with mobile phones not yet invented,feel obliged to report our whereabouts to worried parents.

Later, after leaving school at sixteen, I traveled widely around the UK and Europe with little money and often got about by hitch-hiking. Nowadays I wouldn’t recommend it, but back then it was common to arrive at a major road junction or motorway slip road to find a queue of people carrying backpacks with thumbs out waiting by the kerb. There was, even then, an element of danger to hitching and most hitch-hikers had funny or hairy stories of dodgy drivers, but the benefits outweighed the negatives. For a start, having stood by the roadside for long hours or even days in freezing rain or snow, before finally getting picked up, made you appreciate arriving at a destination even more. Secondly, hitching turned travel into a constant and unexpected adventure, even if often an uncomfortable one. On the other hand, if you only wanted to spend your holiday lazing on a beach, this mode of travel was not for you.

Writing songs, and especially performing them in pubs, clubs and parties, etc, is a similar experience to hitching. You begin strumming your instrument (walking) and eventually towns and villages (words) appear and pass by until, eventually, you arrive at a destination (song or tune). Over time you get to know a place (learn song) and when performing discover, by an audience’s reaction, if the song is any good or not. When concluded you move on to a new location with, hopefully, the previous audience’s applause still ringing in your ears.

Growing up I was employed in various jobs around the country, though later mainly as a primary and special needs teacher where my musical experience came in very handy. I also continued playing in clubs for adults. This book is a small selection of my work.

Unfortunately, I don’t play in public so much these days since contracting Parkinson’s Disease five or so years ago which restricts muscular control affecting both playing and singing. At present I can still type reasonably well and carry out most manual tasks such as driving, household chores, gardening, etc, though for how much longer I’ve no idea.