Pretty Things

I have written a lot of songs since I was a starry-eyed teenager, and this one - 'Pretty Things' is one of my favourites. I wrote it back in 2019, and released a new version with the Band of Ghosts last year. I have spent most of today putting together a whole pile of small movie clips, to create a video for it, something I've wanted to do since I first wrote it. I hope you enjoy it. Lyrics have always been hugely important to me, for me, the music is just a way to carry them... songs should say something. I was always drawn to singer-songwriters when I was growing up, especially Yusuf / Cat Stevens, who wrote songs about his spiritual searching... this is kind of in that vein. You know it’s not about who you are Or about what is your name It’s not about how you might define yourself, truly As all of these things are the same It’s not about the cool people who you like And it’s not about if those cool people like you It’s not about what it was you ended up being Or what it was you wanted to do And it’s not about how much you tried And it’s not about how much you cried And it’s not about how much you thought you understood Or was lost in falsehood and pride And it’s not about anything that you wrote And it’s certainly not about the things you wore Not about how filled up your long, long days Or about who, or what you saw And it’s not about the fancy things that you did And it’s not about the pretty things that you made And it’s not about the juicy facts that you learned Or about how hard, how hard you prayed Because it’s truly not about what you believed And nor is it about how you were deceived It’s not about what you thought it was about If you had faith, or you had doubt Were denied, or received In the end it’s about not being thrown By any illusion which you are shown So that you don’t get swayed By any turbulent wave, On the course you’ve been blown