Fifty Seven Channels

My latest song. Actually I wrote this a few months ago but had to reconstruct it from the chaotic pile of 100+ papers of unedited music fragments! Musically it is a four chord punk rock song.

Fifty Seven Channels

I liked to watch the goggle box when I was young.
I'd stay up late,
and it was great.
We only had the B.B.C. and I.T.V.
but I was hooked.
I sat and looked.

But now the times have changed.
I stare with shock at the digital age.

Fifty seven channels and there's nothing ever on.
Fifty seven channels and there's nothing ever on.
Fifty seven channels and there's nothing ever on.
Fifty seven channels and there's nothing ever on.
Fifty seven channels and there's nothing ever on.
Fifty seven channels and there's no-thing ev-er on.

I didn't mind the adverts when I was a kid.
They were not long,
or am I wrong?
But nowadays it's bloody adverts all the time.
It drives me mad!
It makes me sad

at how the times have changed.
Is this the choice of the capital age?

Fifty seven channels and there's nothing ever on.
Fifty seven channels and there's nothing ever on.
Fifty seven channels and there's nothing ever on.
Fifty seven channels and there's nothing ever on.
Fifty seven channels and there's nothing ever on.
Fifty seven channels and there's no-thing ev-er on.

What happened to the dramas that were written well,
with depth and scope.
Today's a joke,
for now we only get things with celebrities
who no-one knows
on "talent" shows!

Yes how the times have changed.
I check the guide and then cry with rage!

Fifty seven channels and there's nothing ever on.
Fifty seven channels and there's nothing ever on.
Fifty seven channels and there's nothing ever on.
Fifty seven channels and there's nothing ever on.
Fifty seven channels and there's nothing ever on.
Fifty seven channels and there's no-thing ev-er on.

(spoken)
Right that's it!
I've had it with this rubbish.
No more set top box.
No more scart leads.

But wait, what's that I see...
a million new channels for a one off fee...

Now I have a million there is surely something on.
Now I have a million there is surely something on.
Now I have a million there is surely something on.
Now I have a million there is surely something on.
Now I have a million there is sure-ly some-thing on!

Art of Painting Progress

Work is still stalwartly continuing on The Art of Painting, with one more day's work of this layer remaining. My next task will be to complete the underdrawing and initial preparation for a new Albion figure, then start on the Judith painting, which will be my largest and most complex painting to date. With luck, I'll try both of the figures for the Threadneedle Figurative Prize, but time is against me. I'd rather produce one good painting than rush one though. If quality demands it then without question I will miss the deadline and not bother with the contest.

Painting Update

Alas! My 2D/3D self portrait was not dry enough to allow the necessary layering before the RBSA competition deadline, so I must revisit the picture at a later and more leisurely time.

I am now glazing the art of painting picture, which, because it features a self-portrait at its heart, I may just enter into the RBSA competition itself. The Art of Painting is perhaps too bold a title though, so I might rename it.