HAPPY 70th BIRTHDAY to the late, great, guitarist/composer and all round inspiration, Phil Miller.
Phil played and wrote in Delivery, Matching Mole, Hatfield and The North, National Health and later his own band, In Cahoots.
The melody to his track, Above and Below, has been echoing in my head for years. It's so interesting in that it never repeats, goes so many places harmonically but the bass retains the same pitch throughout!
In January 2019, I wrote lyrics to it, setting myself the challenge of including or alluding to as many of Phil's pieces as possible. I managed 22! Phil's birth date!
Anyway, I hope this recording is some kind of tribute to a phenomenal presence in many of our musical lives.
Billie x
lyrics
Grazie Miller (No Aigrettes) (Miller/Bottle)
You really were high above the threshold of genius
Lounging there trying while digging in to Nan True’s hole
Part of the dance is gurning and learning to grapple with your square root: A fleeting glance of dreaming wide awake
Out of the blue there’s a parallel mode; all that can be uncovered, recently discovered
Are you lything and gracing your god song tonight?
‘Cause the black cat it will sit down at the Inca delta borderline
Truly yours is no trick of the light, you glow
There’s a melody that Ed or Ian know
Underdub and you’ll blow
With your calyx above and your fretboard below
credits
from Grazie Miller (Tribute to Phil Miller),
released April 4, 2019
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