2020 Finalists

Poisonous insects, poisonous insects.
Poisonous insects, poisonous insects, there coming over here,
Oh yes, they are!
Poisonous insects, global warming everybody.
Poisonous insects there coming to get yah.
Poisonous insects and parasites,
and other really creepy stuff is coming over here.
 
Poisonous insects,
Massive hornets with agonizing stings,
Wasps that lay eggs in you,
And fish that swim up your wee.
We don’t want that over here do we.
 
Poisonous insects, poisonous insects.
A result of global warming,
Coming over here everybody.
We don’t want that do we?
Nope we don’t.,
 
Rave time………
 
Poisonous insect coming over here, nope!
We don’t want any of that matey.
Nope, poisonous insects coming to get yah, we got…
 
Massive hornets with agonizing stings,
Wasps that lay eggs in you,
And fish that swim up your wee.
Nope we don’t want that over matey.
 
Poisonous insects, poisonous insects.
There coming to get yah, there coming to get yah, yep.
Poisonous insects, you better watch out.
Cos if it gets warmer, there coming over here.
You get a windy day and they’ll get all blown over,
And their goanna get you, and me there goanna get me as well,
But I’m ready for it!
 
Rave time…………
 
Ok, you think that’s scary, check this stuff out….
“A small lecture about a fungus that creates Zombie ants” (with handouts during live performance).
I don’t want any of this coming over here,
I love people, all and any people are welcome here, but I don’t want any of this coming over here,
Doing this sort of weirdo, NOPE!
 
That’s quite scary, so let’s have a bit of a rave……….
“NOPE”.
Continue Rave……….
 
Poisonous insects’ poisonous insects,
Yeh massive hornets, no problem,
Wasps that lay eggs in you, easy, yeh, I can handle that.
Even fish that swim up your wee, yeh easy.
But this stuff (picture of zombie and) nah I don’t want any of that coming over here,
None of that please, yep.
 
Rave time….. outro. 

Copyright Phil Jones 2019

Carry my soul on a westward bound breeze
To the hills and the valleys of home
Take me back there to the hedgerows and trees
And the commons where cattle can roam
Far from the city, where lights shine so bright
Dawn breaks a new day, to earth springs new life
Carry my soul on a westward bound breeze
To the hills and valleys of home
Take me back there to the hedgerows and trees
I'll be once again Westward Ho!

When my world closes in
And my head's in a spin
Caught like a rabbit in lights
Just close my eyes, lift my head to the skies
Imagination takes flight

INSTRUMENTAL

When the world closes in
And my heads in a spin
Caught like a rabbit in lights
Just close my eyes, lift my head to the skies
Imagination takes flight

Carry my soul on a westward bound breeze
To the hills and the valleys of home
Take me back there to the hedgerows and trees
To the commons where cattle can roam
In the depths of dark winter, the cold of the night
My heart longs to warm to, wonderful sights
Carry my soul on a westward bound breeze
To the hills and the valleys of home
Take me back there to the hedgerows and trees
I'll be once again Westward Ho
I'll be once again Westward Ho

Copyright The Peekies 2020

This is a broadcast from the edge of space.
We’ve gone out as far as fuel will allow.
It’s down to vapour. To the lipstick trace
of some half-forgotten kiss. In the slough
 
between the stars we spin and drift
and it feels like we could dance on endless
in this void. Economies of scale, and thrift
mnemonics, have left us friendless
 
and alone. We crave news, however grim,
like salt, to salve the sourness of our tongues.
The want of gravity itches like a phantom limb.
An airless horror clutches at our lungs.
 
We’ve been waiting for the call to turn, to lean
into some other planet’s pull and swing for home.
There’s nothing but static on the screen
and our faces, distorted violently in chrome
 
so that we don’t look human any more,
are streaked with tears of hunger and despair.
We long to touch and be touched, to paw
at our loved ones and at the soil we share
 
but we’ve learned, out here, how blame
was shifted to our shoulders with a magician’s grace.
How other we must seem to those who frame
their selfish narratives on the human race.
 
This is a broadcast from the end of time.
We’ve reset all the clocks. We’re turning back.
We know the punishment must fit the crime.
It’s us, from now on, who’ll be taking up the slack.

Music by Mark Thompson
Lyrics by Adam Horovitz
Copyright Thompson & Horovitz 2020

you went out all night 
I made out with another guy
you got drunk in the bar
I was taking it way too far
will I get in trouble 
will she hate me after this 

didn’t meet you in the morning 
I wanted to say that I’m sorry
should i call her to  say 
I regret it and I’m on my way? 
Will we scream like clichées
fighting in the kitchen and throwing plates

I say I love you but I kiss somebody else 
you say you’ll be back soon but sleep in another bed 
will it be alright?
will it be just fine?
we look like  lovers 
but we are perfect liars 

I sit in front of you 
sipping on my coffee thinking “what did I do?”  
you’re playing with your knife 
silent, thinking “is she still mine”
Will we end up like all those broken hearts 
are we made of stone or made of glass

I say I love you but I kiss somebody else 
you say you’ll be back soon but sleep in another bed 
will it be alright?
will it be just fine?
we look like  lovers 
but we are perfect liars 

You found out about me 
I found out about you 
you told me to leave 
I said the rumours weren’t true 
oh yeah the rumours were true 

I say I love you but I kiss somebody else 
you say you’ll be back soon but sleep in another bed 
will it be alright?
will it be just fine?
we look like  lovers 
but we are perfect liars

Copyright Annika Laue 2020

Life can be a funny game, the joke is on us all, got ya turnin in the grave that punchline is so cruel, riding on a spinning ball, it's me I'm individual, when all is said and done you can come see the residual, I'll check my crystal ball, yep my distance is exceptional, the human race is done but I have morphed into the spiritual, god is a poet who rhymes in multi syllables and sends you straight to hell if you ain't never smoked no blim at all, us humans got it twisted we invested all our being, in destroying everything, instead of helping fixing feeding, giving others what they're needing, lending hands and believing, we’re over farming over breeding, always following not leading, never loving till we're greeving, confusing money with succeeding, paying for the s**t that politicians just keep excreting, they sit on their green seating having psychopathic meetings, deciding how to rob us while the sheep all keep on bleeting, come on people I am feeling, revolutions but a stones throw, let's unthrone These clones so we can see some real diplomacy, let’s refresh the system like the spray from the ocean breeze, bring new blood to the planet putting life into its ovaries, see people as people no matter if there over seas, the new deals isn’t  profits it’s about showin more empathy, start fixing what we've broken with the smoking from the factories, the petrols and the diesels and the non recharging batteries, this world should be a sanctuary for each and every one of us, a perfect place to holiday until we all return to dust, all things corrode and rust that's one statement you can trust, I feel that we should leave a place that's much greater in the wake of us, before we're buried or combust I think that we should get it sussed, roll up our cuffs and we can work for peace and love .

Written, recorded, produced, performed by Leyman
Copyright Leyman 2020

Sometimes when I’m feeling sad, another night alone              
With no-one here to hold me, no-one calling on the phone
I find a kind of pleasure watching love films on TV
Of other people’s happiness though it seems there’s none for me
       
But tonight it’s New Year’s Eve and I just don’t wanna see
Actors make-believing, pretend love on a screen
Seeing someone else’s love, When I know there’s none for me
I don’t believe there’s any chance of feeling how they feel

Love stories, oh love stories, love stories can’t comfort me tonight
Love stories, oh love stories, love stories can’t comfort me tonight

The candle light is flickering, another night alone
So tired of wishing, waiting for someone to come along
Another night imagining that he was here with me
Sharing from a distance someone’s sweet romantic dream

Watching strangers meeting someone special
Doesn’t make me feel any better
‘Cause I know love isn’t real

Love stories, oh love stories, love stories can’t comfort me tonight
Love stories, oh love stories, love stories can’t comfort me tonight
Love stories can’t comfort me tonight, tonight

Lyrics and melody by Susan Leigh Fenton & Jenevieve Turner
Sung by Jenevieve Turner
Arrangement, instrumentals, production by Nelson Kummer
Copyright Susan Fenton, Nelson Kummer, Jenevieve Turner 2020

1-2-3-4
They're asleep in the belly of the beast
Living in a dream, no fantasy
A battle with lucidity
Transmission follows live feed
Can you hear me?
Possessed by a force deep inside
Nothing ever seems to change
Except cuts, their masks, heavyweight state
Destroy hallucination with desire

1-2-3-4
Times they are so treacherous we need to stick together
Now the nights are closing in we need to stick together
Where is the heart and soul we need to come together
When the youths are so damn cold we need to stick together
Times they are so treacherous we need to stick together
Now the nights are closing in we need to stick together
Where is the heart and soul we need to come together
When the youths are so damn cold we need to stick together

1-2-3-4
Weapons come cheap from the factory
Desperate souls made scapegoat
Impotent power of the modern vote
Remember we're united you know?
Moderate blood sucking blues
With cheap designer views
Red top leadership propagates dirty news
Fresh faced youths sent to kill
No definition just orders
What came first the addiction or the drugs?
Modern day thuggery and pinstripe thugs

5-6-7-8
Times they are so treacherous we need to stick together
Now the nights are closing in we need to stick together
Where is the heart and soul we need to come together
When the youths are so damn cold we need to stick together
Times they are so treacherous we need to stick together
Now the nights are closing in we need to stick together
Where is the heart and soul we need to come together
When the youths are so damn cold we need to stick together

I'm in the dark just like you
I'm in the dark just like you
I'm in the dark just like you
I'm in the dark just like you
I'm in the dark just like you
I'm in the dark just like you

Copyright The People's Revolutionary Orchestra of Stroud 2020

Everybody’s got a Jekyl and Hyde
Constantly at battle deep inside
You can tell by the look behind those eyes
Everyone’s afraid of losing their minds

It’s no good trying to escape
Doesn’t work attempting to keep them at bay
They won’t listen if you say you need space
You can’t help it by running away

Just because you didn’t mean it, don’t make it not your fault
Just because you can’t control it, don’t get you off the hook
Just because you don’t believe it, don’t make it fake
And just because you don’t deserve it, don’t change your fate

Cos everybody’s got a Jekyl and Hyde
Constantly at battle deep inside
You can tell by the look behind those eyes
We don’t need a closet, skeletons live in our minds

Well I decided to put up a fight I tried with all my might
I didn’t like the way my life was going and I thought I’d take control
And I tried being good, and I tried being bad
I tried it all and I just drove myself mad
And I tried being right, and I tried being wrong
It never mattered, no one cared all along

Cos everybody’s got a Jekyl and Hyde
It’s a battle with no end in sight
Well you can try with all your might
And you may come away with your mind.

Copyright Cat Mead 2020

I see you,
head in your hands,
not knowing what to do.
Feeling stuck at the circus of life.

Who you are,
doesn't fit into this way of being,
where to turn,
where to belong.

What is home for you?
When you're not falling under the sound of crashing clowns.
What is true for you?
away from the strangeness that surrounds you.

There's a whisper in the air,
it's calling your name.
Spirits dancing all around,
can you feel? can you hear?

So come with me,
follow the way the wind blows,
take its lead,
oh be completely free.

What is home for you?
When you're not falling under the sound of crashing clowns.
What is true for you?
Away from the sadness that surrounds you.

There's a whisper in the air,
it's calling your name.
Spirits dancing all around.
Can you feel? Can you hear?

Let it be home for you.
So you're not falling under the sound of crashing clowns.
There is truth in you,
step into the greatness that surrounds you.

You
You.

Copyright Lizi Rayner 2020

I feel a raindrop
Drop on my skin
This is how it begins
Water runs clear
As clean as a smile
But my conscience is heavy
With all the lies...

This is something that I can’t explain
I won’t remember till it happens again
Something that I can’t contain
It always slips away...

I feel a pinprick
Prick in my palm
This is how it starts
Blood runs red
As dead as the pain in my head
And the night is a shadow of the day
And the day is a shadow under my eyes
And my eyes see shadows over the sun...

A pinprick opens up a hole
The hole reveals the raw inside
The flesh and blood beneath my skin
Skin that shields me from the world
World that brings me joy then pain...
Then the rain drops again
And it happens all over again...

I feel a raindrop
Drop in my palm
This is how it starts
Water runs clear
As clean as the smile on my face
And the grace is all part of the disguise
Or are these lies just a figment of my design
When my eyes read fiction between every line?

I see a rainbow
Bow across the sky
Towards me
But it’s always away
The colours are bright
But my conscience is black
And my head hangs heavy
In the heady night...

A pinprick opens up a hole
The hole reveals the raw inside
The flesh and blood beneath my skin
The black and white that turned to grey
The grey that filled the sky with rain...
The drop that overflowed the glass
The glass that shattered in my hand
The shaking hand that wrote these words
Words that tell the story of a life
Life that brings me joy then pain...
Then the pin pricks again
And it happens all over again...

Song recorded with Valfrid Couto (bass) and Lucas Tagore (drums).

Copyright Dominic Gourd 2020

Feeling Your way
Feeling your way
Feeling your way in the dark
There’s no telling
What the night will bring

Get it right, from the start
Fan a flame from a spark
You can’t go wrong if you follow your heart
Feeling your way in the dark

Let your fingers do the walking
Somewhere silence is unbroken
Let your fingers do the talking
Making promises unspoken

Oh, it’s such a state of grace
To be here with you in this magical place
Feeling your way in the dark.

In the dark
In the dark
In the dark
In the dark

Let your fingers do the walking
Somewhere silence is unbroken
Let your fingers do the talking
Making promises unspoken

Each kiss is a stepping stone across a river of dreams
You gotta take the first to find out where the second leads
Feeling your way in the dark

Feeling Your way
Feeling your way
Feeling your way in the dark
There’s no telling
What the night will bring

Copyright Chas de Whalley 2020

She walks tall like a warrior
dances wild like the sea
speaks soft like a lover
plants fiery kisses on me

talks quiet with confidence
sings smooth and steady
each lilting syllable
setting fire and setting free

no crown is required
for everyone can see
this woman is royal
a goddess is she

heavenly and primal
delicate and rough
dont be fooled into thinking
that woman isnt tough

she walks tall like a warrior
dances wild like the sea
speaks soft like a lover
plants firey kisses on me

woman dont be fooled
into thinking you can be ruled
freedom is your birthright
none can take it from you

Copyright 2019 majestic vision music
Lyrics written and performed by Ruby Debonnaire
Music and instruments by threebagsfull
Horns by Dave Andrews and Crispin Hebron

I get to thinking sometimes when I'm alone,
Did I really get all of those things wrong that you said,
And I wonder why it's taken so long,
To say I'm grateful, for all that you done,
I guess my heart just takes a long time to learn,
And I know it wasn't easy, I'm like a candle in the rain,
It can't be easy when you're cut off from the pain,
It's just that my heart takes a long time to warm,
I get to thinking now you're gone
Perhaps it's better I walked this alone anyway,
Still I wonder why it's taken so long,
To say I'm sorry for all that I've done that caused you any pain
It's just my heart again,
And I know it wasn't easy I'm like a candle in the rain,
I didn't make it easy I shut you out again
It's just that my heart takes a long time to warm
I know it wasn't easy, I'm like a candle in the rain
I could have made it easy if I let you share my pain
It's that my heart takes a long time to warm
Of yea my heart takes its time.

Copyright Leon Gerrard 2020

The outset of my life when I met you
The wind dragged the tide out as it blew
Some Gods had played our sails far from home
Chance had drilled its way into my bones

Oh honey now I need to keep this short
I promise I will leave some room for thought
Burn my soul and throw me off the port
No one’s ever hurt me like you

The moment that your fate had struck our ship
The light that cursed you cracked me like a whip
Our wooden post had burned into shard
A wretched piece aimed hard into your heart

I cried and swam for shore till I was sick
All the while your heartbeat stops it’s tick
The winds tickle angered to a kick
The breathes I took turned cold and thick

I was sinking further deeper down
A lifeless body no time to be found
A big white light shone up from underneath
Pulled me in to its arms and to my feet

I see it now I see it so clear
I see your face carved out through blinding fear
It always is and always will be you
Darling oh I wish that were true

Copyright Humm (Arty Jackson & Carys Lewin) 2020

What If life was really just a dream
And I am the dreamer
All around the things I do and see
Are just a dream
Wake up and see

I know it sounds so strange to you
But it’s something you really can’t dismiss
Don’t just believe
Find the truth out for yourself
When you awake
That feeling is bliss

Because this just feels incredible
Life is nearly edible really not comparable and shareable
I want to open your eyes

You think you know what’s going on

And if life was really just a dream
I dreamed when I was lonely
Could it be
The universe is me
Diluted  by indivuality
And if life was really not what it seems
And you are the dreamer
You can manifest a world full of beauty
There is magic in creativity

Chorus

Copyright Brighid Nathanson 2020
Written and performed by Brighid Nathanson
Guitars and Bass by Simon Fiddler
Dubbing by Threebagsfull (Majestic Vision Sound)
Produced by Josh Keating