With the shocking Mumbai attacks still playing out as I type this, I can’t help thinking back to other attacks and other wars with their cast of innocent victims. But attacks also leave witnesses. Nitin Sawhney and Natty appear together on the remarkable “Days of Fire”, the opening track on Sawhney’s latest album “London Undersound”. It recounts the feelings of someone whose ordinary routine - and perhaps later life - was affected by the London terror attacks. What was ordinary takes on a new aspect. There’s a sense of disconnect, of time slowing down.

The lyrics are remarkably personal and sober, without playing on any easy emotions. The opening lines are very simple, an attendant presumably telling the author to find another way home:

There’s no more trains going that way
There’s no more trains coming this way
You better make your way home, son
There’s something going down in London

When the blasts occur, he records the emotion, without resorting to cheap shots or flag-waving.

Now it’s all gone slow motion, everything slow motion
The lights gone out - I feel no more emotion
I’m all out of emotion, I’m out of emotion

On these streets where I played
And these trains that I take, I saw fire
But now I’ve seen the city change in
Oh so many ways, since the days of fire
Since the days of fire

It’s interesting that nowhere does he refer to the dead, apart from mentioning the “Brazilian name all over TV”. So he rigidly steers clear of cheapening the song, or turning it into a “tribute”. It’s a simple statement about the day the city changed.

Remarkable writing, that is well served by the railway track rhythm of the Sawhney’s guitar. There are no strings or minor chords. It’s a clear, personal and honest account of one person’s questions faced with a monumental change.

With “Don’t Forget the Lyrics”, Singapore is now the 30th country to host a lyric-based TV competition. Along the lines of “Who Wants to be a Millionaire?”, the game pushes contestants to sing the missing lines of songs. The prize at the end of the rainbow? A cool $500,000. The show is hosted by local celebrity Gurmit Singh. Apart from actually knowing the lyrics, it takes a cool head to win. Talking to Channels News Asia, Singh said, “These people who come along thinking they know the song and when the music stops, the lyrics go away, they get stumped. My theory is this, when people see blanks, dashes, their minds go blank as well.”

Well, it sounds like writers are not the only ones to suffer from the fever of a blank page. My advice to contestants: don’t look at those blanks. My advice to writers: same thing.

One of the very best vocalists I’ve ever worked with is hands down CB Milton. I’ve often asked people for news, as he slipped off the map. Producer Kristof Hermé put me on the trail again, leading me to the documentary “Playing for Change”. This superb extract of various musicians playing “Stand by Me” features him at about 1.50″, billed as Clarence Bekker. I see he still has to stand about a metre from the microphone. This is one LOUD singer, believe me. I saw him sing “Redemption Song” a-capella without a mike in a huge venue in Amsterdam many years ago. Fantastic clip overall.

Irish songwriter, and founding member of The Irish Music Rights Organisation (IMRO), Brendan Graham has now officially been included in an exclusive club with the world’s top songwriters. His song “You Raise Me Up”, with music by Secret Garden’s Rolf Lovland, has been awarded “Million-Air’” status by the American Performing Rights Society, BMI. And to you fans of Josh Groban out there, yes, we’re talking about the same song, and no he didn’t write it.

“You Raise Me Up”, first recorded by Secret Garden featuring Brian Kennedy, has become one of the biggest selling songs in the history of popular music, with over three hundred recordings by some of the world’s biggest acts – Josh Groban, Westlife, Il Divo, Paul Potts, Celtic Woman, and has racked up sales of over 80 million copies. It has never been out of the charts somewhere in the world in the past six years. It has also become one of the most successful songs of all time in sheet music sales, being continuously at No. 1 for the past five years in the USA’s Sheet Music Bestseller Charts.

The song was originally written as the instrumental “Silent Story” by Lovland, who approached Irish novelist and songwriter Brendan Graham to write the lyrics. It was then released on the 2002 Secret Garden album “Once in a Red Moon” with vocals by Kennedy. The song was later sung by Daniel O’Donnell and then used as part of the 9/11 commemorations before being covered by Josh Groban.

So how come so many people think that Groban wrote the song himself? One reason must be the lyric sites that list the song under his name, despite the fact he had nothing to do with its composition. As has often been pointed out in this column, it is still amazing that the majority of lyric sites do not list the writer of the actual words.

The Million-Air award from BMI recognises one million airplays on American radio, the equivalent of at least 50,000 broadcast hours, or more than 5.7 years of continuous airplay. The song is published by Peermusic UK.

“You Raise me Up” (Josh Groban) on iTunes US:
and by Westlife on iTunes UK:

Grace Jones - Corporate Cannibal

Eek! She’s back. This certainly beats the return of Britney. Grace Jones, the inimitable singer of “My Jamaican Guy” and “La vie en rose”, is back with an album called “Hurricane”. Although some of the tracks I heard are more in line with her minimal funk, this track stands out for its dark, brooding tone that is admirably served by the video. Jones will be touring the UK in January.

“Corporte Cannibal” was going to be the title of the album. The stark video is by Nick Hooker, who has worked on the trippy visuals of U2’s “Love & Peace or Else” for the Vertigo tour. Lyrically, Jones is on comfortable ground (for her).

Pleased to meet you
Pleased to have you on my plate
Your meat is sweet to me…

…I’m a man-eating machine

Is it surprising that the style icon has taken an anti-corporate almost political stance? Perhaps not. The new album is released today, November 3.

Despite having one track with a working title of “Beverly Hills C*ck”, Mel B is removing references to former lover Eddy Murphy from her upcoming album, according to reports on the China Daily News. Two songs in particular, ‘Second Hand Lover’ and ‘Reflections In A Broken Mirror’, will be scotched. The former Spice Girl, currently recording, had a child with Eddy Murphy, who subsequently left her in an acrimonious dispute. Apparently, Murphy’s lawyers have requested to see the lyrics before any release.

In a pretty radical move, Sony Entertainment has decided to pull a track by the Malian harp player Toumani Diabete from the upcoming Little Big Planet game. The track “Tapha Niang” contains two lines quoted from the Quran. After a poster on a Sony message board started complaining, the company decided to withdraw the track and recall all games that were already in the shops.

Toumani Diabete is an award-winning player of the kora, an acoustic African harp. His gentle, dexterous music has been enjoyed by World music audiences for many years. The track “Tapha Niang” features on the album “Boulevard de l’indépendance”. In the online message, the poster claimed that using words from the Quran was offensive to Muslims. Given the nature of Diabete’s soulful music - and the fact that he himself is Muslim - this seems highly unlikely. However Sony were taking no chances and pulled the track.

The two lines basically say the equivalent of “All things must pass”, or “Ashes to ashes, dust to dust”.

Needless to say, the usual suspects waded in with conflicting opinions about whether it is offensive or not, although I’m not sure how many Imams play video games. My own sentiment was put best in a BBC interview with a British moderate.

“The number of stakeholders in the offence industry has just grown and grown and grown. Everybody gets offended about everything,” Yasmin Alibhai-Brown of British Muslims for Secular Democracy.

In a BBC interview, Diabaté claimed:

“It’s quite normal to play music and be inspired by the words of the prophet Mohammed. It’s my way to attract and inspire people towards Islam.”

It’s a shame that one of Africa’s most spiritual composers has fallen into this trap. If people find his music offensive, what must they think of the massacres that they are encouraged to carry out in games such as “Call of Duty” and the like or the witchcraft invoked in “World of Warcraft”. I can’t help feeling there’s a very selective offence button is being pushed in this case.

Diabaté is currently touring in France and the UK.

I’m not sure what to make of this. 80s icon Boy George has recorded a song using a sample of the US president candidate Barack Obama. But, it’s hard to know what exactly the point is, or what he intends to achieve. “Yes We Can” is somewhere between a very private statement and a feelgood political tune. Bizarre. Let’s have a look at some of the lyrics

This is no time for indifference
don’t you know how truly blessed you are?

Is he talking to Obama or the listeners? It sounds like he’s talking to the American people, but he goes on:

please forgive me for crimes against myself, I’ll forgive your lack of faith

OK, it’s always good to hear a grown man ask forgiveness. But who has the lack of faith? Obama, the Americans or me? I also find the chorus plain cringeworthy.

Yes we can, make it to the promised land

Add to this a video that features cartoony renditions of Bowie and Amy Winehouse and you have one very confused listener here.

To find out more, I checked some sites and came across a quote on Britain’s The Guardian: “I was deeply moved and motivated by Obama’s ‘Yes We Can’ speech and I used it as a metaphor for personal change because there have been huge changes in my own life this past year. ‘Yes We Can’ equates as ‘Yes I Can’ from my own personal perspective and like many people I am excited by the prospect of Obama being the first black man in the White House and the next President of America. Most politicians fail to live up to the huge expectations we have for them but Obama exudes a sense of calm and after the stutterings of George Bush I feel he is just what America needs.”

I can’t help comparing it to Will.i.am’s powerful rendition of the actual speech itself. I really respect Boy George, but this one is too bizarre - or to be more precise, it hasn’t been worked out enough. Am I being too harsh? Let me know

This is always an odd question: what is the value of words? It’s strange that the answer comes from auctioneers, who seem to have a better idea of what song lyrics are worth than other people. The recent sale of Brel lyrics and memorabilia generated intense interest in Paris recently, as it coincided with the 30th anniversary of the Belgian’s death. So how much are they worth? Well, one set of lyrics went for the princely sum of $170,000 (€126,000) - not bad during an economic meltdown

Brel was a trailblazing singer through the sixties and part of the seventies. His raw, passionate performances are rarely equalled for their intensity and lyricism. He is the writer of “Dans le port d’Amsterdam” (covered by Bowie), “Moribond” (covered as “Seasons in the Sun”) “Ne me quitte pas” (If You Go Away) and countless others. Nina Simone, Frank Sinatra and Sting are just a few of the many performers that dip into his repertoire.

The material for the French auction clearly comes from someone close to Brel, as it contains copybooks crammed with versions of his greatest songs that give a good idea of how we worked on the words to reach the incredible impact and humanity that were his hallmark. As one of the curators told The Economist, “For my generation, our ideas of love were shaped by Brel.”

Following a similar event organised in 2003, the Brel family tried to block the auction. “It is so hateful and mean. We tried all sorts of ways to have it banned,” the singer’s daughter France told Le Figaro newspaper. However, the foundation that she heads offered to buy the whole lot for €175,000. But it turns out they were well below the final prices, as the copybook with “Amsterdam” went for €126,000 alone.

Brel’s family had previously fought a battle to recover the rights to his work from his original long-time publisher. This means that the owners of the manuscripts have no rights over the actual words. I’m not sure how much that influenced them, as no one expects that owning Jimi Hendrix’s guitar would give them the right to the publishing too.

Brel is the subject of an exhibition at the foundation in Brussels, called “J’aime les belges” (I love the Belgians) as well as a documentary. For information, visit the Editions Jacques Brel.

Modest Mouse’s single “Dashboard” picked up the award for the College Song of the Year from BMI recently, topping a strong career since 2006’s “We Were Dead before the Ship Even Sank” (although they’ve existed since 1994). I’ve always enjoyed the band for their titles such as “This is a Long Drive for Someone With Nothing to Think About”. So I had a quick look at “Dashboard”’s lyrics.

The wry tone of the Washington band is just as strong in the lyrics as in the titles. The giddy optimism in the face of outstanding odds is quite topical.

Well, it would’ve been, could’ve been worse than you would ever know.
Oh, the dashboard melted, but we still have the radio.

Oh, it should’ve been, could’ve been worse than you would ever know.
Well, you told me about nowhere well it sounds like someplace I’d like to go.

Oh, it could’ve been, should’ve been worse than you would ever know.
Well, the windshield was broken but I love the fresh air you know.
(The dashboard melted but we still have the radio)

Modest Mouse recently contributed material to War Child International alongside Jarvis Cocker and Rage Against the Machine. Having said all that, I must admit that their sound does nothing for me, notably the barking vocals. But congratulations nonetheless.

I must admit: I wasn’t expecting this. Watching Britney Spear’s recent career has been a painful exercise, as a cute child star hit the worst times you could ever wish on her (or her family). But on “Womanizer” she’s back, almost as if nothing had happened. The photos look great, the production is slick, the songs are competitive and the lyrics… well, you can’t have everything at the same time, can you?

Daddy-O,
You got the swagger of a champion
Too bad for you,
You just can’t find the right companion
I guess when you have one too many,
Makes it hard, it could be easy
Who you are, that’s just who you are baby

Lollipop,
Must mistake me, you’re a sucker
To think that I,
Would be a victim not another
Say it, play it how you wanna
But no way, I’m never gonna fall for you, never you baby

Womanizer, woman-womanizer
You’re a womanizer
Oh womanizer,
Oh you’re a womanizer baby
You, you, you are
You, you, you are
Womanizer, womanizer, womanizer (Womanizer)

Well, it’s pop music isn’t it? She’s still singing to 15 year-old wannabe vamps. But that’s OK by me. There’s not much reason to get too deep on the analysis of it. In an interview with Z100 Spears talked about the song: “It’s basically saying, ‘We know what you’re up to.’ It’s about guys cheating on girls … It’s a girl anthem. That’s why I like it.”
Womanizer on iTunes:

The news of Marc Moulin’s death has come as something of a shock in Europe. The legendary composer and producer is perhaps best known for his work with the pioneering synth-pop group Telex. But that was only one small part of the man’s achievements, as he also had numerous hits as a producer and writer in France, ran a very successful radio channel for some time and was also a distinguished jazz musician and playwright. A bit of a Renaissance man, of the old school…

Moulin created his first jazz trio in Brussels in 1961, and gradually earned himself a reputation as a pianist playing for visiting American jazzmen. He later admitted that he simply couldn’t face a life of playing “Stella by Starlight” and turned his attention to free jazz, notably with guitarist Philip Catherine. Placebo, in the early seventies, saw him strike out in more experimental waters, blending jazz with fusion and prog rock (also featuring one of the early Moog synthesizers). In a trend that he would use again later, the album “Sam Suffy” (recently re-released by Blue Note) was a jokey tribute to black music styles.

Silly pop
In the dizzy days of post-New Wave, electronics provided Moulin and friends Dan Lacksman and Michel Moers with the format to create silly pop tunes such as “Twist à St Tropez” and “Moscow Diskow”. The silliness, if not the music, reached a high point when Telex represented Belgium in the Eurovision and flopped miserably. Many of Telex’s tracks have been remixed by DJs such as Carl Craig, Stacey Pullen, Maurice Fulton, i:Cube and Juan Atkins over the years.

In 1999, he was contacted by the jazz label Blue Note, eventually releasing “Top Secret” in 2001. It mixed electronic music with hazy cool school aesthetics. “Early modal jazz with early modal house,” as he described it to me in an interview at the time. It was followed in 2004 by “Entertainment” and in 2007 by the album “I Am You”.

His later career bridged the gap between jazz and - for want of a better word - pop. Despite what august reviewers might think, Moulin didn’t really see them as antagonistic. “Maybe because jazz came from dance music originally,” he opined.

The relatively low musical output is disguised by the fact that Moulin also successfully wrote and produced, notably for Lio, Sparks, and the French crooner Alain Chamfort. In later years, he also wrote plays and articles and appeared regularly on radio chat shows.

Marc Moulin died of cancer on September 26, 2008. For an interview with him from the time of “Top Secret”, visit Marc Moulin Top Secret.

Marc Moulin on iTunes US:
Marc Moulin on iTunes IK: