Nik Newark

Theme : The words you heard

Theme : The words you heard

The Merman Tentacle Choir were Adelina Chalmers, Alake Lore, Annie Newark, Brian Harris, Colin MacFarlane, Cristhopper Armenta, Dan Raza, Deborah Kelly, Emma Gale, Erin Wolf, Fiona Hannon, Julia Bloom, Martin New, Matt Trzebiatowski, Neil Connor, Nik Newark, Niki Shepherd, Pete Kirkbride, Rohan Leach, Gabriela & Foxy, Squidwidget Trzebiatowski, Tamara Wilson, Tim Harford-Cross with Paul Richards : Drums & Percussion Colin MacFarlane : Guitars, Bass, Organ & Percussion Pete Kirkbride : Resonator Guitar & Didgeridoo George Moorey : Glockenspiel, Neil Connor : Harmonica Nathan Bloom : Fuzz Bass, Nik Newark : Bits & Pieces Brian Harris : Harmonica & Theremin Octopus Artwork : Kelly van der Toorn The Cape Town Octopus : Kassie Paschke Words and Music by Nik Newark, 2001 Recording (c) 2020 Www.NikNewarkMusic.Com/Octopus

Theme : Zombies Photography by Lee Jeffries (lee-jeffries.co.uk) Based on a title suggestion from Paddy McAloon

Theme : Zombies

Theme : Did You Get That Memo?

For my dear Granny Prague xxx Written and recorded on 5th June 2020. My grandmother, Bridget Thompson passed away yesterday. She was 97 (and a half), and was quite an extraordinary woman. She spent many years working for the British Embassy, overseas in China and in she spent a good part of the 1970s working in Czechoslowakia. It was for this reason that she was always known to me as Granny Prague. I accompanied her on one of her travels when I was 6 years old, and my uncle David was getting married in Poland. She never tired of telling an anecdote about the return train journey. The railway had been built long before the Berlin Wall, and consequently weaved in and out of East Germany every 20 minutes or so, and each time soviet-era border guards would jump onto the train to check everyone’s passports. Being 6 years old, and being woken up at some ungodly hour of the morning, I wasn’t best pleased, and could be heard to cry “oh, no, not another passport”. Of course, I’ve largely forgotten the details, but this favourite story was told and retold to me each time I saw her. Anyway, the spirit of that anecdote has made its way into this song, as she leaves on her final journey. RIP Granny Prague. Love you lots x.

Theme : Music in the distance

Theme : Frenemies

Theme : Peel Me A Grape

Theme : Better Off

I was always amazed that Edelweiss was an original composition for The Sound of Music, and not a traditional folk lullaby at all. It's timeless classic melody seems to have been around forever, and yet seems totally original. That was the starting point for this lullaby, whose angular chromatic melody (and copious modulations) I find very satisfying. I'm not sure how lyrically I got from Edelweiss to Eiderdown, but there you go. Eiderdown cover courtesy of William Morris. Waddler the panda did his own stunts.

Theme : The Funny Thing Is...

Theme : Olive Branch

Theme : A New Gravity