smudie: generalbyebye Archives

Songs in search of a singer

Sometimes I write lyrics specifically for people who ask. In those cases, the music might already exist, or the singer might have an idea of what he or she wants the song to be about, and at the very least I have a particular style of music in mind. Emmylou is a good example of such a song - General Bye Bye's singer Philippe told me a story and together we turned it into a song.

Sometimes, however, I write simply because the lyrics need to be written. When that happens, it's up to me to find someone afterwards to sing the song. I think of them as songs in search of a singer, and I just put a whole bunch of new ones online, including An Open Relationship and Soles.

Murdering a perfectly decent song

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Here's a video, featuring a heart-felt vocal performance by Philippe, of General Bye Bye performing the unreleased song Murder Of Crows during their Oliver Peel Session last weekend.

Murder Of Crows

Writing to order

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When General Bye Bye were collecting funds on KissKissBankBank to help finance their recent US tour, one of the prizes they offered to generous contributors was the chance to have the group write a song for you.

Gilles-Marie Zimmerman, a photographer from Paris, took them up on their offer - and yesterday he listened for the first time to the song they came up with based on my lyrics, Flirting With The Camera.

By all accounts, Gilles-Marie was very pleased with the result.

Flirting With The Camera

General Bye Bye rock the US

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Follow General Bye Bye on their DIY tour of the United States, where they will be introducing unsuspecting American audiences to some of the new songs we've been writing together recently, including Physics and Maths.

Physics and Maths

A guinea pig I met in Texas

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Last night I attended the launch party for Girouette, the eagerly-anticipated first album from General Bye Bye that was released this week on Greed Recordings.

The album was recorded before I started working with the band so doesn't feature any of my work. However, at yesterday's gig they did perform two new tracks for which I've written the lyrics, including Emmylou, which lead singer Philippe introduced as being "a story about a guinea pig I met in Texas, that Stuart Mudie turned into a song".

In fact, my lyrics were about a hamster, not a guinea pig, but it's still a great tune.

Emmylou

A beast in every song

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When Philippe Beer-Gabel of the band General Bye Bye asked me to start working with him a few weeks ago, he was happy to give me carte blanche to write about whatever I liked. However, he did have one specific instruction, which was to try to include a reference to an animal wherever possible. This is sort of the band's signature, it seems - a beast in every song.

Well, we've been working on a few tracks together, and so far I've managed to satisfy Philippe's request in at least one - Give It All Away - by slipping a few geese in there. I'm looking forward to hearing the sound of their beating wings in concert soon.

Give It All Away

About smudie

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I'm smudie, a Scot living in Paris.

As a lyricist, I write both for and in collaboration with several local artists who sing in English. Some of the people who have sung my lyrics include Nadj, eliotE & the Ritournelles, General Bye Bye, and Rivkah.

I'm always on the lookout for interesting new projects. Send me an email if you think we could work together.

Here are some of my lyrics: