The Lucky Face, Songwriter #7

The Lucky Face is performing on 3 December at the Jenny Lind for the Adventures in Pop monthly alternative creative pop/indie evening. He talks to Jude Montague about his life in music and songwriting and the lyrics for his song Keyboard Warrior.

I’ve been writing songs since 1991, (Farley’s rusk in hand obviously), so choosing one lyric to dissect was impossible. Songs are like children, although children tend to earn more money, so I compiled a set list for Adventures In Pop and stuck a pin in it. Keyboard Warrior got jabbed.

Keyboard Warrior was released in 2017 on the AI album, so I’m guessing it was written as a reaction to the social media carnage that ensued in the UK as a result of the Brexit referendum. Social media has of course descended further down the slippery slope since then, with the likes of Trump, Covid and Musk encouraging the great divide.

When Twitter first began, it was basically destination mundane,  full of people happily sharing the minutiae of their everyday lives with their seven equally interesting followers.

“Having a coffee, then going to the toilet.”

“Taking the kids to Judo, then putting out the recycling.”

Now it’s billionaires meddling in foreign politics.

Growing up in Lancashire in the ’80s when it was all fields and Angel Delight, I can remember a time when adults, or at least ones I knew, could debate quite rationally despite holding widely differing views. We seem to have lost that ability in recent years, which is sad.

Lyrics are important for me. I’m only really interested in songs with at least one great line in, unless the melody is the greatest of all time. There are a few decent lyrics in Keyboard Warrior. The first line is a bit of an ironic nod to Buffalo Soldier by Bob Marley.

None of the other songs in the set at Adventures In Pop will be this serious. They will be about demon hairdressers, stalkers and long-lost disastrous nights on the pull. Nearly all will be 100BPM faster too!

I can get a tune out of pretty much anything as long as it isn’t brass. All the blowing is too much like hard work. Bass and piano are my preferred instruments now if I’m not doing Lucky Face gigs. When you’re 16, you want to show off and be lead guitarist or pretend to be Keith Moon. By about 40, you want a low maintenance instrument, one you can play whilst enjoying a cocktail or maybe a three course meal.

I’m not a big fan of repeating myself, or indeed writing the same thing twice, and have ‘retired’ from music at least three times over the years. The music ‘business’ (I remember when it really was a business involving actual money) is now as much about constant self-promotion as it is about making music. I have no interest in that. The tunes keep coming though, so I keep recording ’em.

The Keyboard Warrior

Keyboard warrior, smartphone gangster
Enjoying the role you’ve found on the moral high ground
Well it’s a long way down and your sneer won’t save you
From the cold hard ground of your snide behaviour

Free speech is brilliant until someone disagrees
You’re so resilient, that you fall down crying on your knees
Oh please!

Keyboard warrior, the next world power
Spreading the hate you hide when you venture outside
Well it’s a long way home but the truth will find you
And now you’re on your own, you’d better look behind you

Free speech is brilliant until someone disagrees
You’re so resilient, that you fall down crying on your knees
Oh please!

Are you all for a social media civil war?
Would you adore a social media civil war?

 

The Lucky Face is the headline act at Adventures in Pop at the Jenny Lind, Tuesday 3 December, a monthly night of original pop and indie music on the first Tuesday of the month. 

 

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