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The Dragonfly Songbooks:1001 Songs were published in 2023. These songbooks are divided into 5 volumes, each volume containing 8 books and about 200 hundred songs.
These 1001 songs were selected from songs written between 1976 and 2022. However, the songs are not ordered by time and have been grouped in a mostly random way. All the songs have also undergone editing over the last few years (2021-2023). In some cases the words have changed quite a lot from their original form. In the most part the song ideas should translate across time. Although, a few of the older songs may contain ideas that were written in the spirit of earlier times. The zeitgeist has changed a lot over the last fifty years.
The songs are not autobiographical, rather they are a product of imagination and a lot of poetic licence. While my words may have some basis in the real world, my song-writing process involves a good deal of both imagination and manipulation. For each song I will adopt whatever persona seems to suit the idea behind the words. I would certainly never let reality get in the way of a good line. While some songs do contain parts of me, I’m more the sum of all the parts you will find here.
The collection is intended as a source of raw song material for musicians. Most musicians I have worked with, like the words printed on a single page with space for annotating chords and other notes close to the words. As much as possible I’ve tried to allow space for making these notes, while still trying to fit each song onto a single page.
Usually, the words are written with a tempo, and style in mind so they can sometimes benefit from editing during the songwriting process. More important, I think, is the feel of the song, and I’m happy adapting words to suit any musical style.
While close collaboration in the songwriting process is not always necessary, it can help with the final crafting of the lyrics. This means they better suit the desired structure, rhythm, melody or musical style. It also means more fun for me as I get to learn a lot about the songwriting process working with people.
In the past I’ve been privileged to work with a range of amazing musicians. I expect this project will involve collaboration with different styles of musicians across a range of musical genres. If you want to collaborate then please let me know. I’ve recently retired so can usually find time. There are only two aims. Firstly, to have fun. Secondly, to create produced versions of the songs.