Johnny Orwell

Tall Poppies - Turn In Your Circle

2007-08-29T22:49:00.000-03:00

One of my favourite Tall Poppies tunes that we never played with Julia's Rain (some songs transitioned from one band to the other, and some didn't). I co-wrote this in my parent's basement one night in 1990 with drummer Glenn MacCulloch - I wrote the words, and we collaborated on the music.

It seems like just yesterday.

Paul Kimball

Julia's Rain - Be There Always

2007-08-29T09:04:00.000-03:00

Of all the songs I wrote with Tall Poppies or Julia's Rain, this was one of my two or three favourites. Besides being a lot of fun to play, it pretty much summed me up - a shy, self-doubting but always hopeful 19th century romantic who believes in true love.

"You can have my heart
and you can have my body,
as long as you promise me
that you'll be there always,
to hold me tight
all through the night
and don't let go
in the morning.

I cannot be conquered
by all of this world's great armies,
but I can be won over
as long as you promise
to be there always,
to hold me tight
all through the night
and don't let go
in the morning.

Say that you will always be
waiting here for me,
say that you love me so
I need for you to let me know.

I cover my eyes
I'm yours if you want me,
and all that I need
is for you
to be there always,
to hold me tight
all through the night
and don't let go
in the morning."

Paul Kimball

Shooting Stars

2007-08-25T05:09:00.000-03:00

Playing with the guitar late at night, much to the chagrin of the neighbours... I still have an album to record by the end of 2007. This might be the foundation for one of the songs.

Its dark outside
the way I feel inside,
I see a shooting star
I close my eyes and wish
that everything will be all right,
that I'll be with you tonight,
but with my luck
I'm just wishing on a satellite
falling back to Earth
like I fell for you,
and what's that worth?

- Paul Kimball

Tall Poppies - Never Satisfied

2007-08-01T12:57:00.000-03:00

"Never Satsfied" (Savoury / Rumsey), live from Cafe Ole, 1993.

Mark Savoury - lead vocals
Yours truly - guitar, backing vocals
Adam Rumsey - guitar
Mike Riley - bass
Glenn MacCulloch - drums

We rocked!

- Paul Kimball

Tall Poppies - Medley, 1993

2007-07-31T22:47:00.001-03:00

A medley of three songs from a live gig by my first band, Tall Poppies, at Halifax's Cafe Ole in 1993 - "Crow", "Dead Flowers", and "The Other Side of Truth". The first two were written by other band members (Mark Savoury for "Crow" and Savoury and Adam Rumsey for "Dead Flowers") - "The Other Side of Truth" was mine.

The band was:

Yours truly - guitar and backing vocals
Mark Savoury - lead singer
Glenn MacCulloch - drums, backing vocals
Adam Rumsey - guitar
Mike Riley - bass

And a good time was had by all.

Julia's Rain - Bathurst

2007-07-24T15:09:00.000-03:00

"Bathurst" was one of the half-dozen songs singer Kelly McKeigan and I wrote together in Julia's Rain. What I did was take some of her poems, which always contained some great imagery but lacked the required structure for a pop song, and "edited" them down into a song, then added music and my own words, usually the chorus, as is the case here.

Kelly sort of fulfilled the "Lennon" role, in that her poems were always dark, full of angst and melancholy. I would pop in as the "McCartney" figure, adding a hint of hope in the midst of the despair. "Bathurst" is my favourite of the songs we wrote together, because it's about someone whose either lost their love, or loves someone from afar in an unrequited love, but then in the chorus he / she manages to express... well, some hope that true love could win out, or at the very least a longing that it will.

"Take my hand
and cross your heart,
and say to me
that we'll never be apart,
'cause I want to cross
that line and be with you
here tonight,
oh, I wish i may,
I wish I might."

Even if it's only a wish / fantasy, one must always have hope. That was me back then... still is - a guy who was always happiest writing what McCartney called "silly love songs".

And I presume Kelly is still darkness personified! :-)

Also in the band - drummer Dave Croft, bassist Mark Winkelman, and guitarist Chris MacKenzie. This clip is from a demo recording session back in 1997 that we videotaped as well.

- Paul Kimball

Oddfellows Local 151

2007-07-24T15:01:00.000-03:00

My first band, Tall Poppies, covering the REM song "Oddfellows Local 151" at Halifax's Cafe Ole, sometime in 1993.

That's me playing guitar in the front. Also in the band were singer Mark Savoury, drummer Glenn MacCulloch, bassist Mike Riley, and Adam Rumsey on guitar.

- Paul Kimball

New Lyrics #6 - Real World

2007-06-26T07:54:00.000-03:00

This one may well make the "Semaphore" album. I've been working on it for a while now. A conversation I had with a good friend today inspired me to finish it off.

Inside
love me,
outside
leave me,
Don't have to let them know
who we are,
as long as we both know
what we have....

Inside
different,
outside
we must conform,
don't have to let them know
who we are
as long as we both know
what we have...

Love me
hold me
be here tonight
until the dawn
then we're gone.

Inside
love me,
outside
hate me,
don't have to let them know
who we are
as long as we both know
what we have...
despite them
despite them
despite them.

- Paul Kimball, 2007

New Lyrics #5 - She Only Wants to Know You

2007-06-26T05:39:00.000-03:00

She only wants to know you,
why won't you open your heart,
why are the words "I love you"
so hard to say,
even the Berlin Wall
eventually had to fall one day.

She deserves better from you
call her tonight
start to make things right.

You don't know
what you're missing
what she's become,
she's an independent woman
steady like Gibraltar
or a noon day gun,
time to build a bridge
before it's too late,
one day she'll move on
don't let it end up that way.

She deserves better from you
so call her tonight
start to make things right.

She only wants to know you
why won't you just
talk to her,
why do you hide away
this isn't what
she deserves,
even Richard Nixon
admitted his mistakes
and made amends.

She deserves better from you
call her tonight
time to make things right
'cause she only wants to know you.

- Paul Kimball, 2007

A Hard Day's Night

2007-06-24T04:10:00.001-03:00

The Beatles were always my favourite band, so it's only natural that one of the few covers Julia's Rain ever did was a Beatles song.

A Hard Day's Night

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This comes from a live demo recording session we did back in 1996. We threw this song in at the end, just for kicks!

From left to right, that's me on guitar, Mark Winkelman on bass, Kelly Mckeigan singing, and Dave Croft on drums. The other guitarist, Chris macKenzie, is at the far right - you can only see him in the beginning, because whoever recorded this (a friend of Kelly's, as I recall) didn't focus on him, which made sense, as Chris wasn't actually playing, because he hadn't yet learned the song.

- Paul Kimball

Old lyrics #2 - Prospect of the Sea

2007-06-23T17:07:00.001-03:00

The air that you breathe
steals from my throat
you're drowning me
unreasonably,
cast me aside
adrift in the waves
I am merely
a prospect of the sea.

The October wind
punishes my face and my eyes
it's showing me no mercy
this time,
tears can't hide
the pain one feels
when you are merely
a prospect of the sea.

Chorus
Nerves of cotton
has this sailor
the waves loom larger
than they've ever
fear is the clarion
call of failure
for a prospect
of the sea.

A child's lonely voice
stands locked behind my smile
it is straining
to be free,
from the darkness
from the lonely nights
it is just
a prospect of the sea.

Chorus

The hope that you have
shines light a lighthouse
a beacon
that I can see,
but the rocks are wiating
close to you
for this prospect
of the sea.

Chorus

- Paul Kimball, 1994

Gingers, 11 June 2007

2007-06-23T03:47:00.001-03:00

Another screen capture from the Ginger's open mic night, this time of me playing "Darkest Hour", just before I slid into the cover of Wilco's "I Am Trying to Break Your Heart".

I like how the shadows pretty much covered my eyes for the whole time I was on stage.

"Darkest Hour" is one of the most "desperate" songs I've written. The whole song is played in A, with only a slight augment at the end of each verse and in the middle 8th. It's meant to just build and build, until the end when the singer laments that he can't be there to comfort the woman he cares for. What makes this truly sad is that while she's the one having the nightmare, he's the one who is living the nightmare, because he desperately wants to help, and be there for her, and make it all better, but he can't, because she won't let him in.

That's real pain.

- Paul Kimball

New Lyrics #4 - Darkest Hour

2007-06-23T03:30:00.000-03:00

A vision from the edge
comes to you,
as you lie asleep in your bed.

You're all alone
unable to move,
wounded by the things that he's said.

You feel afraid
as he's standing there,
even though he's only in your head.

I wish I could share this dream
and take the hurt away,
or at least be your comfort when you awake.

Mid 8th

It's three a.m.
still a long way from light,
the darkest hour of the soul.

And I want to be
with you tonight,
to give you
to give you
someone to hold.

- Paul Kimball, 2007

Memory Lane, Vol. I - Reviews

2007-06-22T22:37:00.000-03:00

Some reviews for Julia's Rain from back in the mid 1990s.

From Chart Magazine, the "Bible" of the Canadian indie music scene back then:

From The Coast, a Halifax weekly:

From Gig, a now-defunct Atlantic Canadian music magazine, there was the review pictured at left, which was kind enough to mention the one song in Tall Poppies or Julia's Rain history that I sang - "Do You Think". I wrote it as a 13-year old, and we added it onto wonderful broken silence at the last minute.

As I recall, we recorded it on a four track, with me playing guitar and doing the spoken-word voice over in the downstairs bathroom at my parents' house. The organ we used was an old Bontempi that my sister Sharon had stashed in the basement.

It was fun!

We never got a bad review, which is a nice thing to look back on!

Paul Kimball

Old Lyrics #1 - Louder Than Bombs

2007-06-22T06:56:00.001-03:00

From the wonderful broken silence e.p.

This feeling
washes over me
fills me through and through,
Spins me around
explodes inside of me
louder than bombs falling down.

Chorus
You sent me spinning
around the room,
and I'll do anything
you ask me to,
please do...

You make me turn
and stare at you
you seem to walk on water,
I open my eyes
and hear a sound
louder than bombs falling down.

Chorus

Mid 8th
Take me...
Take me...

This feeling
washes over me
fills me through and through,
I open my eyes
and hear a sound
louder than bombs falling down.

Chorus

London bridge is falling down
falling down
falling down
London bridge is falling down
my fair lady.

- Paul Kimball, 1995

Echo Flight - Update #1

2007-06-22T05:11:00.000-03:00

Echo Flight, my new band, has two members so far - myself on rhythm guitar, and Glenn MacCulloch on drums. Glenn and I co-founded both Tall Poppies and Julia's Rain (that's JR at left playing at our 1994 ECMA showcase in Sydney), and he later went on to play with Cool Blue Halo.

It's exciting to re-connect with Glenn, and to play with him again. It should be a lot of fun - we always worked well together back in "the day".

As for the recording of the album, I'll be calling on a number of my old pals from the 1990s Halifax music industry to sit in as guest musicians. The big question is whether I take on the vocal chores myself, or whether we find someone else, like I always did before. We'll see. But for live gigs, of which we'll play at least one, we'll strip it down to the basics - lead, bass, rhythm and a little good old rock 'n' roll.

Which means I have to find a bass player. Hmm...

Stay tuned. I have an old friend in mind!

Paul Kimball

New Lyrics #3 - Semaphore

2007-06-22T04:06:00.000-03:00

I know that other guys
can read it in her eyes,
but I'm so unsure
I always look away,
if only there was a cure
for this lack of nerve,
then I'd tell her how I really feel
today.

Chorus
But like Admiral David Beatty
searching for the High Seas Fleet,
I've always been poor
at reading semaphore,
I've always missed my chance
to be Nelson at Trafalgar,
and to find my way to her.

I know that other men
get it right time and time again,
they can see all of the signs
from a million miles away,
if only she would send
a signal out to me,
a signal that even I could read.

Chorus

Mid 8th
Where do all the moments go
that could change the course of events,
I look for them years later
and wonder where they went,
should have seen them at the time
but I missed the signs,
I was blind.

I know that other guys
are quick to realize,
but I'm too slow
and so I go
to the bottom
of the deep blue sea,
that's where you'll still find me,
if only I'd known
what to say to her.

Chorus

- Paul Kimball, 2007

New Lyrics #2 - Girl With the Bright Star Horizon

2007-06-22T00:39:00.000-03:00

You don't need shallow words
and one night praise
from guys who see you as
nothing more than a pretty face,
You don't need well-worn lines
and baited hooks
from guys who get their
savoir faire from comic books.

Chorus
'cause there's a better world out there for you
than the one that they would drag you through

You don't need fancy cars
and pretty green
from guys who'll say anything
but what they really mean,
You don't need phone calls
at a quarter to eight
from guys always explaining
why they're running late.

Chorus
'cause there's a better world out there for you
than the one that they would drag you through.

You don't need a paperback
version of Romeo
from guys always looking
for a quid pro quo,
You don't need letters
slid under your door
from guys who don't want
to be with you anymore.

Chorus
'cause there's a better world out there for you
than the one that they would drag you through
you're the girl with the bright star horizon
shine on, like a Byron star tonight.

- Paul Kimball, 2007

New Lyrics #1 - Her

2007-06-21T19:04:00.000-03:00

Her moves
the carefree pulse of her body
a rythym that roars like the ocean
touching my shore.

Her breath
runs through me like the spring
runs through summer
a new world to me it brings.

Chorus
My universe expands
and I begin to understand
time and time, it falls free
when she's with me,
fate, time, occasion, chance
all these I'd give for just one dance
with her.

Her touch
gets me up at a quarter to four
and then I fall back in her arms
once more.

Chorus

Her lips
whisper all things in my ear
let me know that I exist
in her eyes
windows to my soul.

- Paul Kimball, 2007

The Return of Johnny Orwell

2007-06-21T17:42:00.001-03:00

I've had a chance to look at the video of my "comeback performance" from last week's open mic night, which my pal John Rosborough kindly videotaped. It wasn't as bad as I thought, although it was still cringe-worthy in some places for me. I don't mind the singing so much - that's not what I'm good at, so I can live with it. The guitar playing was the problem. At the beginning, I was so sloppy it's not funny. Years and years of rust. Honestly, I was never a Hendrix or Clapton, but missing an F#M? Ouch!

However, by the time I started the third and final song, things were sort of in a groove, which was fun to watch, for me at least - especially as I played an old Tall Poppies / Julia's Rain song, "Mysterio", which was the last song I played live, in the last Julia's Rain set, back in February 1998. The really fun part for me, however, was watching what I did at the end of that song, and at the end of the second song - I basically started busking, i.e. just winging it. At the end of the second song ("Darkest Hour"), I slowed the tempo down and ad-libbed my way through a verse of Wilco's "I Am Trying to Break Your Heart". Then, at the end of Mysterio, I started to string together verses from a couple of songs I wrote this year, which tied the old days to the new. I watched it with an old pal today, and he commented that I almost seemed comfortable by then, because I wasn't trying to be perfect, I was just going with the flow - which is what I used to do, many years ago, at coffee houses or variety shows in university, or busking when I was in Scotland (and other places).

I've always been most comfortable in a band, as just one of the guys in the rhythm section (albeit the one who wrote all the songs). But it's nice to know that I can still play the guitar on my own - and even stay more or less in key for most of a song when singing.

And, best of all, I had fun doing it. Despite what I said at the end of the last song ("Thanks - see you all again in another nine years"), I think Johnny Orwell is back to stay.

Truth is, I missed him while he was away.

- Paul Kimball
aka Johnny Orwell