Even Song: - Lyrics & Poems: October 2025 - (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9798272677693)

EVEN SONG

Lyrics & Poems / October 2025

A collection of all the lyrics and prose that Irish singer/songwriter Paul Murphy composed during October 2025.

This anthology collates the individual anthologies 'In Humanity' and 'No Mercy' as Volume 6 of the "Words" series, the lyrics and prose without the accompanying reproductions of the handwritten manuscripts.

Written as Paul's auto-immune F-MND had placed him in a wheelchair and with only one functioning arm, these were his final works, and in just 31 days he crafted an incredible 45 works, a sweeping range of tales concerning matters such as the dissolution of order in Trump's America and elsewhere ('You Know Who I Mean', ''33 Again', 'Come Tomorrow'); social and legal injustice {'It's Still Sunday', 'English Justice'); persecution of the individual ('Reclamation', 'Not In My Name', 'Angels Turn Away'); allegorical parables on the rise, and perils, of autocracy ('Wake Up Baby [And Smell The Dead Roses]', 'Beauty'); and, against those starker works, a song of self-belief and empowerment ('Me'), and the beautiful ode from a parent to his child, 'To A Sleeping Angel').

Despite the harsh and uncompromising content of most of the works, there was still a flash of what his young daughter would call "Daddy's cheeky grin", two double-entendre-laden numbers in 'Ballad Of A Hungry Boy' and 'Her Majesty's Pleasure', whilst among the prose presented here, the heartwarming 'Dawn Poem' and 'To The Two'.

Also included, two stark semi(?)-autobiographical life-reflections, 'Wrong Colour Name' and 'And Then... The Last Song Came', and, on his penultimate creating day, the incomplete narrative epic, 'My Tale', an elegiac story of love and tragedy in small-town, 1930's dustbowl America. Writing the 51 verses in one day, Paul became too ill to finish the work. Rather than leave the story completely unfinished, he then wrote 'signpost' verses, to show where the story would go, and then the concluding verse, and so although the work is missing an unknown number of chapters, both the path and the conclusion of 'My Tale' is known.

Accompanying the works are an essay - Goddamn, That Hurt - detailing the composition circumstances and back-stories to each song and poem, and, exclusive to this volume, an extra song, 'Follow The Leader', "which kinda tumbled out when I wasn't looking as I was finalising the manuscript."

Moving, emotive, thought and conscience-provoking, disquieting and, occasionally, humorous, this anthology proudly presents the final works, the final wordplay, of a master songwriter and storyteller whose talents burned bright until his last line was scribed.

. . . .

Angels Turn Away [Extract]

Lightning's striking, trees are falling down
Babies wailing and their mother ain't around
Anybody care? No not one
We live in times when murder is fun
Angels turn away and sigh "There's nothin' else to say"

Buildin's burnin', crosses on their lawns
Chantin' crowd, all of 'em gold-plated pawns
Whatcha gonna do? Not a thing
They give you their hymn sheet and you sing
Angels turn away and sigh "There's nothin' else to say"

Flatline's soundin', where are the doctors to?
They've trapped a nurse in her room, an' they're formin' a queue
"Go ahead, scream, no-one will come"
"Except for us!" laughs another scum
Angels turn away and sigh "There's nothin' else to say"

Someone's chokin', ah but not for long
"Dance, boy, dance!" yell the face-mask throng
Who you gonna call? Law's gone rogue
Hatred and depravity are in vogue
Angels turn away and s

Author: Paul Murphy
ISBN-13: 9798272677693
Publisher: Independently Published
Language: English
Published: 11/02/2025
Pages: 160
Format: Paperback
Weight: 0.49lbs
Size: 9.00h x 6.00w x 0.34d