Practice, practice and practice

The Small Change Diaries ensemble is now complete with all five members now in place. We are now in regular practice mode to refine and develop the material. Its fascinating to see songs develop and come to life. Its also a real pleasure to work with such seasoned musicians. The addition of Garry Jackson adds a different sonic dimension to many of the tracks and today we rehearsed “Birdman” and “Airport Codeine Blues” both of which benefit massively with great double bass lines. Its taken a while to find the right person to fill this slot and Rob Sayles has done a great job recommending Garry!

The next few months will be really busy as we decide which of the current 18 tracks will make the final cut for recording. Its a tough task, but we are already discovering a number of tracks that sound fully formed. Its strange for me to see a song develop from a scribble on one of my moleskin diaries to a fully formed song. Jessica Bowie has co written a number of the recent songs and bring a brilliant sense of melody and timing to the proceedings.

nick cody

Not One of Us Lyrics

This is the first song I wrote for The Small Change Diaries. Its also the first protest song I have written with a fair bit of social commentary!

Not One of Us by Nick Cody

Nothing I could say to you will make you change your mind,
This is not the first time but you still don’t see the signs,
When heads are in the clouds not a foot upon the ground,
You’re the one now long gone, the damage left behind…

Not one of us is smarter, than all of us round here,
Every thought you think right now, will someday disappear…
Not one of us is smarter, than all of us round here,
Every song, you hear right now will someday disappear…

They say this land is your land, but that’s not strictly true,
Fifty foot down in the ground still don’t belong to you,
Time to create some street art, paint the neighborhood,
A kaleidoscope of colours that will only do you good

Not one of us is smarter, than all of us round here,
Every thought you think right now, will someday disappear…
Not one of us is smarter, than all of us round here,
Every song, you hear right now will someday disappear…

You’re fucking with the future, fracking with the past,
It’s a waste of time and energy, but at least you’ve had your blast,
We are all just passing through; none are here to stay,
Don’t think about the future that just gets in the way, cause

Not one of us is smarter, than all of us round here,
Every thought you think right now, will someday disappear…
Not one of us is smarter, than all of us round here,
Every song, you hear right now will someday disappear…

Half the country’s drowning, now is the rising tide,
You say perhaps you’ll drop by and at least you tried,
This defense won’t hold water, no longer holds ideas,
A perfect storm is coming, for this to end in tears

Not one of us is smarter, than all of us round here,
Every thought you think right now, will someday disappear…
Not one of us is smarter, than all of us round here,
Every song, you hear right now will someday disappear…

No more benefits for us but there’s benefit for you
A tick box of uncertainty, no one knows what to do
Four more local suicides keep this population down,
Here’s your call to action when you hear this sound

writing

Welcome to the Site

Welcome to www.nickcody.co.uk my site for musical discussion, songwriting and random thoughts. I have been fascinated by music from an early age and am delighted to be involved in The Small Change Diaries – www.thesmallchangediaries.com 

I am interested in creating original thought to provoke music and am an avid collector of all manner of acoustic and electric instruments. In recent years I have become fascinated by the ukulele and now have a growing collection from around the world. Take a look at the video section on this site where I talk about my instruments.

Nick Cody

Please take a look around and check out my Facebook page as well

Warm Regards

NC