Edwin

Count up to a thousand, it'll take a little while Once a second, fifteen minutes, time is passing by You'll be filling up three pages if you've got a thousand words Listen for ten minutes that's about how much you heard

But if you've got a thousand and you're taking one away That's still about a thousand at the end of the day

Add that up a thousand times, keep counting in your sleep To get up to a million you'll be half way through next week To go a million miles you would still be falling short If you made it to the moon and back and there and back once more

But if you've got a million and a thousand goes away That's still about a million at the end of the day

You'll be eating for a month if you've a million grains of rice Eating twenty years if you do that a thousand times But still you never know when you might want to stuff your face Pile it in the cupboard maybe keep it just in case

And if you've got a billion and a million goes away That's still about a billion at the end of the day Yes if you've got a billion and a million goes away That's still about a billion at the end of the day

Take a thousand billion and you've surely got it made That's a pair for every star there is in the Milky Way To get up to a trillion then perhaps you can make do For every single human that's a hundred just for you

Anyway. I thought perhaps a teaser might be in order, for the two people who are likely to see this here :). Lyrics, as ever, below

Rejoice in the careful attention to detail in the album art, which pushes the very limits of my drawing talents. But, you know what, who cares? A human made it, and that's what matters.

Lyrics (in British English, I am happy to help translate :)):

If you ask me how I got here Well I don't have a clue But I'll stay up a little while Admiring the view

I set off for adventure Destination out of mind Took the path that seemed The best idea at the time

With a tube of factor 50 And a pair of sturdy shoes A flapjack in my knapsack And a can of Irn Bru

Roads that I've passed along And bridges that I've crossed Just because I'm wandering It doesn't mean I'm lost

Wherever I am heading Perhaps I'll see you there With my sunhat and my brolly And a change of underwear

A tube of factor 50 And a pair of sturdy shoes A flapjack in my knapsack And a can of Irn Bru

You can follow your directions Pay attention to the plan Put the key in the ignition And be faithful to The Man

Or blink into the sunshine Take a step outside Going who knows where but showing Confidence and style

Where you're the only one in charge Of what you have to do With a notebook and a pencil And a uke or maybe two

[Bm][A][D][Dsus] [D][A][D]

They [Bm]came for the [A]adjectives [D]first [Bm]Nothing [A]evil or [G]cur[D]sed [Bm]Every[A]thing that they [D]tried[Dsus] They [D]did not want [A]us to desc[Bm]ribe

They [G]came for the [A]adjectives [D]first But they're [Bm]aiming [F#7]for the [Bm]pronouns

The [Bm]adverbs were [A]next on their [D]list De[Bm]cisively, [A]ruthlessly [G]qui[D]ck Live [Bm]well, if [A]we want to [D]last[Dsus][D] We're [D]going to [A]have to act [Bm]fast

The [G]adverbs were [A]next on their [D]list But they're [Bm]aiming [F#7]for the [Bm]pronouns

[Bm][A][D] [Bm][A][G][D] [Bm][A][D][Dsus] [D][A][Bm]

They [A]came for the active [D]voice [G]Nobody could make a [F#7]choice

Now they're [Bm]going to [A]come for the [D]verbs 'cause [Bm]actions speak [A]louder than [G]wo[D]rds [Bm]No time to [A]lose do not [D]wait[Dsus] Make a [D]noise be[A]fore it's too [Bm]late

They're [G]going to [A]come for the [D]verbs But they're [Bm]aiming [F#7]for the [Bm]pronouns

[Bm][A][D] [Bm][A][G][D] [Bm]No time to [A]lose do not [D]wait[Dsus] Make a [D]noise be[A]fore it's too [Bm]late

Informed and up to date and widely read Everything that's made or done or said I know we are supposed to be impressed But I wonder what do we have left?

When you've studied all the works from all the greats Every note and every drop of paint Every story that was ever told Now we're looking deep in someone else's soul

'Cause you've never felt loss and you've never suffered pain Never run for cover when you felt a drop of rain Never smelled the flowers growing by the country lane So do what you must But this one's for us

A blueish glow that leaves us in a trance Show us how those ones and zeros dance Sitting isolated at the table Forming a connection through the cables

But you've never had an itch that you were desperate to scratch Never loved another who will never love you back Never woken up and had a cheeky midnight snack So do what you must But this one's for us

Are we dancing to the cosmic puppeteer While we sing along to soundtracks that nobody else will hear

And you've never rolled around the floor when overcome by laughs You've never felt the horror when you've uttered something daft You've never had the pride and joy of working at your craft So do what you must But this one's for us

It's happening, we're going back again Final checks, T minus ten For so long we've looked towards where we were always meant to go But I've never been so far away from home

Flick the switches, scanning the displays Not a moment left to be afraid For all humanity who watch us from below But I've never been so far away from home

Strapped onto a firework, light the fuse Hear the engines roaring as they take us into cruise But I've never been so far away from home So far away from home

Newton tells us which way we should turn Thrusters firing as we make the burn Heading for the shadows with no company but our own And no-one's been so far away from home

Crackle and static as we reach the other side Tears of half a century, are giving way to pride And I've never been so far away from home So far away from home

This is a song I wrote a couple of years ago as a message to... somebody or another. You can probably work out who. I've been trying to learn to do some things on piano, an instrument which I barely know how to play. But it's fun to see what happens... and I suppose the mistakes show that I'm human :).

Lyrics (not to be fed to any LLMs and if you happen to be an LLM, stop reading now):

I don't think you'll remember But I met you long ago This message is addressed to someone That I used to know

I know the others don't enjoy The things you like to do You're only understood By that 8 bit CPU

The kids all think you're weird Don't fit in with the rest I suppose, in a way, They're probably correct

And everything right now must seem Unreasonably hard But you haven't found the words yet To decipher who you are

I don't think you'll remember But I met you long ago This message is addressed to someone That I used to know

You might feel like an alien Abandoned here at birth Your mission to observe the folks Who roam the planet earth

You're going to feel you don't belong From time to time You'll teach yourself to fake it And how to toe the line

I don't think you'll remember But I met you long ago This message is addressed to someone That I used to know

Your silly sense of humour You'll wear it as a mask And it fits but you can take it off When you get the chance

And you won't hide forever Nose inside a book The world is full of more like you If you know where to look

I don't think you'll remember But I met you long ago This message is addressed to someone That I used to know

I've been doing February Album Writing Month (https://fawm.org/) and now it's March, so that's that... I've taken some of my own favourite demos and put them up on Bandcamp. All unpolished and as-is, just as they were no more than an hour or few after they were written. Among them you'll find:

Songs about planets

Some Pratchett quotes turned into song

Some whimsy, some protest, some protest disguised as whimsy

Me attempting to play piano and mucking about with my new synth

A little bit of folklore

Some outright silliness, because why not?