The Separation Circle - Let's Go Fly a Kite!

Kite - about one of many crushes, characterised by self-doubt. Dedicated to JW. When I bought some new recording equipment in 2001, I thought I'd use one of my 'lesser' songs to experiment with, in case I messed things up badly. However I was so delighted with the results that I named this accumulative collection after it.

Guest appearance in this Separation Circle

Blob - joint lead vocals on One Out, One In

A Social Conscience? - or not...... Sometimes in my songwriting I have challenged myself to express feelings which I feel uncomfortable with. This song was inspired while walking home one evening to my bedsit in Manor House (Finsbury Park, London) in 1983, not long after moving from Southampton to London.

Miss Japan? - the knight pauses to listen outside the castle. Is that a damsel in distress he can hear? How simple & straightforward these fairytales seem.......

And You'll Be Like Clementine - The trauma of miscarriage.. For Sarah H & family.

You Never Miss? - about deceiving myself (and not seeing it) at least as much as about being deceived. To Gina P.

You Are There - our perceptions of reality are affected by our emotional state. Here, loneliness & isolation result in the creation of an invisible 'friend' who is somehow always just out of reach. And is this a future which awaits me?

One Out, One In - another piece of 1980s British social commentary. This duet contrasts the circumstances and motives of 2 people on a socialist March for Jobs. Blob described the end bit as sounding like a very mechanical office environment.

Step Into Twilight - "Some words are never spoken, some things are never done. If we could forget our manners just once...... If I called for you, what would you do?" ['Eye Dance' - Comsat Angels]. I thought a list of my favourite Bollywood actresses would make for interesting backing vocals........

Neighbourhood Watch - an orchestral punk anthem, perhaps? (13,5) 1980s Middle England. I was fascinated to learn that Britain is the only country in the world that has milk floats, those slow electric-motor-powered milk delivery vehicles which share the early mornings with the paper boys (and paper girls) delivering Great British newspapers....... "And shall I find as I grow old that I've inherited your mould?......"

I'd Forgotten Just How Beautiful You Are - another song which was difficult to write. "Ever fallen in love with someone you shouldn't have fallen in love with?" This was about my first cross-cultural relationship. After 11 years, I still fear that putting her name into the public domain could potentially damage her & her relatives.

Aap Jaisa Koi - this is a really famous song yet completely unfamiliar to many westerners. An early 1980s Bollywood disco hit for British-born Pakistani teenager Nazia Hassan, I loved its optimistic bounce & decided to put my own spin on it, with versions in both Hindu/Urdu & English. "If somebody just like you came into my life, my life would be made." I recorded 1 version in Hindi & 1 English translation; the former is probably the best cover version I've ever done.

Daddy's Girl Has Fallen Down - ah, such a beautiful, bright yet dark, hopeful, dreadful, impossible relationship. It had to end in tears. On reflection, that relationship was probably just a minor chapter in her life, serving to contrast with the more familiar sequence of tragedies. A mother's love for her child is frequently eulogised; so how do we react when a particular mother is a violent psychopathic bully? I still hold tremendous contempt for the woman I never met whose enduring influence destroyed my relationship with someone I loved.