On my own now. No longer CBS’s baby. They had become tired of the obstacles. They read laziness into what was mental ill health. They did not understand why I seemed to want to scupper the commercial success I had. I began writing with Pete Glenister. A guy who had a short stint as guitarist on the raindancing tour and who was ‘let go’. Pete and I make a good team. He is a gentleman and a scholar and a great writer. We were excited by each others’ ideas. I suggested perhaps that he produce me. Muff Winwood AandR told me to do what I liked. I did.

In making Hoodoo, we were left to our own devices and found some passion and aggression again. It is not a flawless record…but I know of few that are… and none that I have made… but it became a road that lead to my understanding myself much better. It has some songs on it that I am very proud of and favourites, It wont be long, This House, Hoodoo and chunks of Footsteps.

Mixed reviews. The record company were disheartened by the decline in sales and lost interest and faith. I was just getting back it again.

Alison, writing here, May 2007

• Footsteps

  • Lyrics

    It wont be clean and easy
    There's more to carry than a case or two
    I come with a history that I wont forget in a life with you
    This man's been true to me and I didn't come by him easy
    Shame shame crying shame
    Losing more than a family name
    Don't let your footsteps falter
    You're gonna get wet if you dip in the water
    Be sure what you take me for and I wont ever want for more
    Don't let your footsteps fail me
    You're gonna get sunk if you slip on the way
    When I say the time is right
    Go walk this mother out of sight

    I didn't plan to meet you now here I am on a roundabout
    See the road where I lived my life
    If I go with you there's no turning back
    I'm tired and I ain't proud but I want you more than I ever have
    Tell me baby, did you think about it?

    It wont be young and pretty
    Look around you, you know it
    Ain't nothing new for me I don't get fooled so easy
    What's good ain't gonna be fine six months on down the line
    Shame shame crying shame
    Losing more than a family name

    Have you found it, did you find what you're looking for
    You know you change your mind and it's a waste of time
    And heaven only knows you'll be on your own

• It Won't Be Long

  • Lyrics

    One of these days
    I'm waiting on a day
    When nobody comes to trample my meadow
    Biding my time
    There's gonna be a time
    Might take a while
    But changes are coming
    And it wont be long
    When everything you said
    Won't sit around and pile up with the traffic in my head
    And when I wake up
    I wont see you on the bathroom floor
    In the tangle of clothes we left lying there
    It wont be long

    One of these nights
    With company I find
    I wont be inclined to leave before sunrise
    When my eyes, my mouth, my hands, my head
    Don't tell me that nobody else will do

    And it wont be long
    When everything you said
    Won't sit around and pile up with the traffic in my head
    And when I wake up
    I wont see you on the bedroom floor
    In the tangle of rope we left lying there
    It wont be long
    It wont be long
    'Till it's all gone

    And it wont be long
    When everything you said
    Won't sit around and pile up with the traffic in my head
    And when I wake up
    I wont see you by the bedroom door
    In the wallpaper stained by the cup that I threw at your head
    It wont be long

• This House

  • Lyrics

    Whose sticky hands are these
    And what is this empty place
    I could be happily lost
    But for your face
    Here stands an empty house
    That used to be full of life
    Now it's home for no one
    And his wife
    It's a hovel and

    (Who)
    Who can take your place
    I can't face another day
    And
    (Who)
    Who will shelter me
    It's cold in here
    Cover me

    Under these fingertips
    A strange body rolls and dips
    I close my eyes
    And you're here again
    Later as day descends
    I'll shout from my window
    To anyone listening
    I'm losing

    (Who)
    Who can take your place
    I can't face another day
    And
    (Who)
    Who will shelter me
    It's cold in here
    Cover me

    Oh, in a plague of hateful questioning
    Tap dancing every syllable from ear to ear
    I hear the din of lovers jousting
    When I'm hiding with my head to the wall
    So

    (Who)
    Who will shelter me
    It's cold in here.

• Rise

  • Lyrics

    Baby loose that frying pan
    You don't live to feed that man
    Nothing's gained through self-denial
    'Cos you weren't born to be servile
    Don't you know you've gotta
    Rise - Think about what you do now
    Where do you belong
    Are you somebody's niggababe
    Or does the fight go on

    Do you think the hurting is gonna go away
    If you leave uprising for another day

    Hey Mister! Better teach your child to run
    From all you name as just harmless fun
    Do you show respect everywhere you go
    Do you teach the young man how to treat your own

    Don't you know you've gotta
    Rise - Think about what you do now
    How do you behave
    Would you leave your children
    What you see today

    Freedom to the children of the world

    Think about what you do now
    Everything you see
    Life ain't living in a magazine
    Life ain't living

    Sister! Why do you trade it in
    For a diamond chip and a rabbit skin
    His big red car is a mote too fast
    And it wasn't built for the ride to last

    Freedom to the slave of the slave
    (And you know you are)

• Wishing You Were Here

  • Lyrics

    I can't begin to tell you how it feels
    It's a clear blue sky
    Out here my heart so full it's fit to burst
    Just counting the hours
    Home, such a long way gone
    How to share a day, here's my only way
    Send myself to you
    Wishing you were here

    I can't begin to tell you where I've been
    It's a world behind
    And if we are to find our heaven here
    We just have to look harder
    Now I can see you
    I never could before, now I want nothing more
    When I close my eyes
    Wishing you were here

    Home such a long way gone
    How to share a day, here's my only way
    When I close my eyes
    Wishing you were here

    I can't begin to tell you how it feels

• Hoodoo

  • Lyrics

    Well now everyone says you've got a heart of gold
    Huh! Yeah it's one of those things being brought and sold
    Now it's back on the market I've been told
    Hoodoo, you
    Well I rue the day I ever saw your face
    (Thank you God for the day I saw his face)
    Even more the day I opened up my place
    You can go and park your car in space
    Hoodoo you. Hoodoo
    Who do? Who do you Hoodoo too?

    Save it for your mother
    Save it for the judge
    Save it for your brother who can never ever get enough
    Share it with your neighbours
    Share it with your friends
    Hand it out if you're ever in doubt
    But here is where your credit ends
    Who do? Who do you Hoodoo too?

    Well now look at all the candles on your wall
    Set a little flame to one and all
    Burn them out it's fine to fall
    Hoodoo, you
    And now don't I just know what you're coming for
    (The sweetest thing without a d-dou-doubt)
    Ain't just for banging on my door
    (She don't know what its all a-b-bou-bout)
    Well I ain't hungry anymore
    Hoodoo you. Hoodoo. Who do? Who do you Hoodoo too?

    Save it for your mother
    Save it for the judge
    Save it for your brother who can never ever get enough
    Share it with your neighbours
    Share it with your friends
    Hand it out if you're ever in doubt
    But here is where your credit ends
    Who do? Who do you Hoodoo too?

• (Meeting With My) Main Man

  • Lyrics

    Well sugar sweetness
    Move yourself
    I gotta go I got a meet to make
    Fine as it is back there
    Back up your tin can
    Pack off your sweet behind
    Ain't got no time to fool around
    Ain't no wet nurse to you child
    Pick it up

    Baby meeting with my main man
    And I get a belly full of lovin'
    Meeting with my main man

    When I get through here gonna make my way
    Up to the 22nd floor with a pile of money
    I'll throw it all up for a hit on the back wall
    If I want more you'll be the first to know
    I'll call you later - much later

    Just doing fine my dear up here
    Look around "Where do we go" you say
    Never could come where I wanna be
    This is hard as hell and I don't want to take it easy
    Come on now - shake me

• Back Where I Belong

  • Lyrics

    Have no faith
    Believe me, don't believe in me
    I'm gonna let you down
    You make it so very easy
    He's waiting for me
    That's the way I ever want it to be
    It's always been the same
    Yes it has, do you see. Wanna be where I belong

    I belong
    What am I supposed to do?
    If he were there I wouldn't be with you
    And you know the time is wrong
    I'm going home back where I belong

    You cant loose what you don't have
    Making waves wont keep mine from me
    I was lonely and there you were
    Don't think he's hiding in the backroom
    He knows with a wave of his hand
    (On my way) you'll be out and I
    (On my way) I'll be on my way
    (On my way) back where I belong

    I belong
    If he were there I wouldn't be with you
    And you know that it's all I have
    I'm telling you baby I can't stop now

    He's waiting for me
    I gotta go 'cos
    I feel his hand
    Reminds me how ain't no use in having any other man

• My Right A.R.M.

  • Lyrics

    Don't be afraid of the dark my love
    What would old Hobbs do with this pure heart?

    Where shadows inch like rising damp
    Their seaweed fingers will us all to be wakeful, oh

    What a night for naming stars and parking cars
    Sink into our cloud of down and sleep with me

    Angel, angel, hold your head up high
    In no way let God's kingdom pass you by

    There's an open door and the lights are on
    And all the goings on, the shouting mouths are gone

    Though why should I care anyway?
    I'll see your sweet face everyday and that's everything oh

    A prayer that I may never find you there
    Folded up in an empty room too tired to laugh at a vaulting moon

    Angel, angel, hold your head up high
    In no way let God's kingdom pass you by
    In no way let God's kingdom pass you by

• Never Too Late

  • Lyrics

    I saw a face, grey as the cold December
    A face I know, not the one that I remember
    I wanted to hide but I cant run out on you forever
    (Milky eyes like opal stones
    Staring through a stained glass window
    It's never too late to change your mind
    Looking through a stained glass window)
    It's never too late

    I know a man, couldn't change the peace that stands between us
    But these open hands are empty bowls to fill
    (Come for the one who pays the most
    You don't get thanks for loyalty)
    And all your friends, they've gone and sold you down the river
    They've got your phone book now
    (Once your life was a fiery feast
    Now it's just a burning ember)

    It's never too late
    We'll get it back together
    It's never too late
    Release me from this sorrow

    Will you never learn, love knows no bounds
    Beggar or a king, it will bring you down
    Fool may I be, cant give up the ghost that haunts me

    I saw a face, grey as a cold December

    It's never too late

• Find Me

  • Lyrics

    Is your heart so heavy
    That it weighs you down
    So all you have is time
    Don't turn away
    We have both seen darker days
    And there's always a light that shines

    (Do you feel like) all your hopes are a long way gone
    (Does it seem like) every road only takes you down
    (Do they shut you out)
    Don't be afraid of what they say
    Throw back your head and cry

    When you need somebody, find me there
    When you're feeling empty I'll be there - find me

    When you're feeling weary with no peace of mind
    And the tone of your voice is hollow
    You're home to stranger that won't belong
    And there's no-one else to follow

    (Do you feel like) nowhere, oh no, there's no better way
    (Does it seem like) nobody hears a word you say
    (And they shut you out)
    And where does it say that a man ain't a right
    To throw back his head and cry

    You don't need to tell me 'cos I know
    I know how you feel (you're miles away)
    You don't need to show me (nobody listens to a word you say)
    We can shut them out
    Where does it say that a man ain't a right
    To throw back his head and cry

    When you need somebody find me there
    I'll be right beside you
    When you're feeling empty I'll be there
    Can you hear me? I'll be singing