This is an intimate view of the development of a song from inception to completion.

I shared this earlier in a private Facebook group and now sharing it further afield. The song is “One of A Kind”. The first section is just me on an acoustic guitar. There’s just a title, no lyrics and my vocals are awful. I write songs on guitar or keyboards but sometimes just in my head. When I use guitar, I tend to slap the strings to emulate a drummer. You might find it hard to believe but at this point, I can picture the entire sound of the song and the production in my head. I’m hearing something entirely different to what is captured on the tape.

Next, I gave the rough tape to my friend Tommy Morrison, a fine songwriter and lyricist. Tommy came up with a lovely set of lyrics woven around my title: “I’ve spent a lifetime, or so it seems. Moving in circles, dealing in dreams”. The picture you see is of me and Tommy at my housewarming in Whitley Bay in 1983. That was some rock and roll housewarming. Tommy passed away in 2014. His passing and that of a few other friends that I’ve shared my musical journey with is what caused me to start playing again and has ultimately led to the album THE LONG FADE released today.

One of A Kind was picked up by Elkie Brooks for her album “Pearls Three”. It was also released as a single in parts of Europe. Elkie also used another of my songs on Pearls Three, “The Last Teardrop” which was also a UK single. In the next section, you hear Elkie’s version of the song.

Finally, you hear the version from THE LONG FADE album with the magnificent Jen Normandale singing. The shots are of us in the studio in Middlebrough recording a few songs with no clear intent. The Long Fade had not yet been envisaged but that’s another story. Quite an adventure actually.

We’ll be performing this song as well as The Last Teardrop in our album launch show this evening at The Cluny in Ouseburn, Newcastle. Tickets £10 on the door. Doors open at 7 pm. Elizabeth Liddle on stage at 7.50 pm.

The show features songs I’ve written for other artists in my 50-year career in music and I tell the stories behind these songs Some of the stories are a little more outrageous than this one! If you can make it come on down, you’ll not be disappointed, and you can pick up a copy of the CD for just a fiver (whilst stocks last) Tomorrow it would cost you £15. The Cluny is a great venue and my band are a cracking set of musicians who play these songs with a passion and enthusiasm that matches what I put into writing them.