ONLINE SONGBOOK - CHRONOLOGICAL LISTING

No.	Date	Title	Talis' Comments
13	1989	A Farewell to Childhood	To the lovely traditional melody 'Farewell to Tarwathie' - one of my very earliest songs, both in the writing and the singing.
19	7.2.90	Chameleon Cloak	Wrapped in a big brown cloak and with the wind before me, would-be changeling and dreamer, me.
20	8.2.90	Harlequin Skirts	Ever tried making diamond-pane harlequin patchwork? No? I wrote the song, but I never did make the outfit.
38	24.4.90	The Dancing	My mother was a dancer. No fiction, this.
41	5.5.90	Ceinwen's Bow	inspired by Guy Gavriel Kay's 'Fionavar Tapestry' trilogy.
43	9.5.90	Siren Song	She's beautiful and deadly, and you'll drown if you let her love you.
60	16.7.90	Candledancing	find me in the kindled flame.
72	23.9.90	I Want to be an X-Cat	Write a song about comics, they told me. Oh, and cats. What, the same song?
74	12.10.90	Triptych	a rather Kit Williams-esque fable, I always thought; and I really do have a pocket sundial.
76	21.11.90	Ancient Sky	There is a place where these arches and towers exist, and the secret door as well...
78	16.12.90	Belvedere	Inspired by M C Escher's picture of that name - his lovely impossible towers always intrigued me.
87	9.3.91	Secret Garden	Moon magic, tarot cards and change - oh, and the fact that the right gender didn't actually rhyme.
88	11.3.91	The Face Within	Well, what I thought it was about and what other people think it's about are completely different, anyway, so you can make up your own mind.
90	12.5.91	Still Catch the Tide	The selkie returns to the sea - and what of her lover?
92	18.7.91	Time on a string	sundials, pocketwatches and the cycle of the Moon, loving, hurting and changing.
93	3.8.91	Pagan Angel	Read the song. Then go to Brighton and drink the cocktail.
96	30.12.91	Still Falling	Falling's the sweet part; you don't want to land.
97	1.1.92	A Harp Strung with Wind	inspired by Patricia McKillip's 'Harpist in the Wind'.
101	18.2.92	Relativity Mall	25th century shopping environment designed by MC Escher.
103	21.2.92	Tea & Kisses	from one of those middle-of-the-night conversations where only one of the parties is actually awake...
109	26.3.92	Small Stowaway	written when my son was very, very young.
120	4.6.92	In Summer Lightning	And it did rain, too. But that was later.
121	7.7.92	I am China	Inspired by Richard Adams' 'The Girl in a Swing'.
122	1.8.92	Those Crows	this was my unlikely explanation why Corwin slept so long as a baby.
123	1.8.92	Company	Corvid adventures again, from the child's perspective.
126	19.9.92	Velvet	dangerous woman, this.
127	12.10.92	Looking for Jack	If you were a dryad and your tree was located on a traffic island, you'd be a bit desperate too. The song pre-dates the comic strip, by the way.
128	1.11.92	Mon Seul Desir	the tapestry hangs in Cluny, France, but this story is not the allegory its makers had in mind.
131	16.11.92	Any Kind of Light	and you have to have lived in old houses to see the image clearly.
133	24.11.92	Uffington Hill	there are white horses running wild through umpteen of my songs, but they all started out here.
155	10.4.93	Tom's Picture	take care what you leave on your easel at night. A cautionary tale.
157	12.4.93	Red Riding	As in the post-modern, post-feminist Big Book of Bedtime Urban Myths. No, not really.
159	25.4.93	Cathedral Heart	Kieran says this one's a 'wave your lighters in the air' kind of song.
176	1.8.93	Scarecrows Dancing	because it's really not quite safe out there...
179	13.9.93	Icarus' Sister	well, we don't know that Icarus was necessarily an only child, do we now?
183	14.10.93	The Kelpie Woman and Me	You can trust the fact that she won't play fair.
186	6.11.93	Sweet Delirium	Inspired by Neil Gaiman's character with the odd coloured eyes. Kamikaze ice-cream, Neil.
193	29.12.93	Wolves & Changelings	Listen in safety. These creatures are my own.
194	1.1.94	Vampires' Courtin'	What happens when you watch too much CMT.
198	17.7.94	Jack Hare	inspired by Kit Williams' enchanting book 'Masquerade'.
208	12.10.94	Poison Candy	Such a sweet little vampire, you know...
220	17.3.95	Coffee	A little fable about asking all the wrong questions.
224	17.5.95	Death Danced at my Party	Senor Muerte vino, yo no lo invite...
225	19.5.95	The King & Queen of Boston	written for Spencer and Persis' wedding.
227	17.7.95	Lissa, Now Look What You Made Me Do	Entirely the fault of Lissa Allcock, not to mention those foolish listeners who said they liked the last cat song.
234	1.11.95	Inside her Skin	Not an autobiographical one, thankfully; but it was a near miss, once.
233	1.11.95	Pizza Delivery Wing	Your fault, Smitty. Of course that's what dragons do best.
237	1.12.95	Tribes of the Moon	inspired by Clive Barker's film 'Nightbreed'.
239	31.12.95	The Sun Drives Twelve Gold Horses	but the Moon drives a red Chevette.
243	13.2.96	The Alchemist's Landlady	a woman who sets out to get what she wants.
244	4.3.96	Evil Twin	introducing Skippy!
245	13.3.96	I am Your Demon	not one of Talis's gentler songs.
248	29.5.96	First Hero	written for Jon Pertwee, the third Dr Who, and sadly missed.
252	6.9.96	Templar Gold	well, it all made sense in the documentary.
253	7.7.96	Delphi	where you can feel the old gods walking around.
255	20.7.96	Tokyo Foxes	urban Japanese mythical shapechangers on the loose!
256	12.8.96	Valhalla Drive	written for Mary Ellen Wessels, who lives there.
257	4.10.96	Out Of Season	Three of my favourite women, and The African Riff...
259	12.11.96	Smoke Gets in...	the obvious parody: or, One Helluva Way to Choose a Bedfellow.
261	9.1.97	Acts of Valour	I know I don't need rescuing - but...
264	17.2.97	Archetype Café	the cool place to hang out on Wednesdays.
266	27.2.97	Prayer for Santa Lucia	and it doesn't even mention the contact lenses.
267	2.3.97	X-Libris	the song I swore I'd never sing.
269	18.3.97	Pretty Damn Proud	well, the roses deserved it!
270	20.3.97	Small Mended Corners	there are women I've been.
272	21.4.97	Chicago Airport Lounge	where Talis ate a very nice pastrami bagel.
273	30.5.97	Spanish Gold	for English silver.
274	9.5.97	Cotton Tail Girls	Based on 'Cotton Mill Girls' as sung by the Poozies, and to whom I apologise, this came out of a genuine freudian slip and went downhill from there. Sorry, girls.
276	1.6.97	Carrion	This is for the bastard who attacked me going home one night.
277	1.6.97	Harbouring Hopes	Truth hurts.
278	11.6.97	Your Crimson Bride	OK, so a month later I was writing Madrigal ... things change.
279	21.6.97	Bacchante	Some things you're just safest not knowing about...
280	15.7.97	Madrigal for Vaurien	Written in love - deeply.
286	14.8.97	The Centaur	one to celebrate the male...
293	30.12.97	The Highwayman	written on harp at the turning of the year on the way home from Glastonbury.
294	30.12.97	Never Trust a Man in Shades	Some men are just trouble. Trouble is, that's just what some women like in them...
296	19.1.98	Taken by Storm	thunderelectricityfireworkswhiteorses -
297	3.2.98	Blood & Chocolate	parodying Urban Tapestry 's 'Sex and Chocolate'. It seemed the next logical step, really.
298	9.2.98	One Big Sea	oooh, that was an unhappy time.
311	4.4.98	Eleven Candles	You know what they say about absence...
317	20.5.98	Appleby Fair	A fine picnic we had on the moor, taken there by gypsy pony and painted cart. I sang all my horse-songs there, and found another to join them.
318	10.7.98	Rapunzel	I do actually know what this one means. Honest. Mostly. Especially the balloon.
320	18.8.98	Marchwood	Not the cuckoo, not the magpie, but the white owl's way... the sorceror's way.
321	2.9.98	Thin Blue Mean Streak	Love, hate and second-hand bookshops. And what I said after the gig, OK.
323	5.9.98	Lady Susanna	A wedding-song for my kinswoman, this.
327	20.10.98	Pale Shamen	Oh, those White Horse women...
330	16.12.98	I Should Cocoa	Chocolate. It's wonderful. I like eating it... but I wouldn't want to be it.
334	1.3.99	Azusa	wolves, dolls, woods you shouldn't stray into: have I told you this tale elsewhere?
335	19.3.99	Zed Alley	I'll let you know what this song is about when I've figured it out myself.
349	25.6.99	Mont Saint Michel	We arrived with the dawn, before even the abbey was open: so we got to see the bones of the place. The high cloister overlooks the sea; in such a place one can feel very small.
358	4.10.99	Epona's Birthday	Y2K and an eighth white horse on the hillside; so I heard, once, and Epona ran off with the rest of it.
361	25.1.00	The Rose	The books will say that in the Middle Ages St. Anne's Well was a place of pilgrimage even for queens of England. The books do not speak of the Rose-Wolf. This song does.
364	5.4.00	Tom's Cross	All true, this one: Tom Jeffers now has his cross back, and knows the full story.
366	20.5.00	Tattercoats	inspired by Mydori Snyder's lovely and heartwarming telling of the tale, in the book 'Black Thorn, White Rose'.
375	28.8.00	Rose of the World	Well, there was this king, and he had a Queen, a mistress, and a garden, and it went downhill from there, really.
377	19.8.00	The Red Stuff	My lovely cousin Jay and some of the weird stuff in the back of my head.
378	12.10.00	Ursa Major	The old tale 'East of the Sun and West of the Moon mixed in with memories and assorted bears.
380	24.11.00	Bleed / I Cut Myself / Treasons	Two titles too many, at present, and me not dancing in the wardrobe; and that words are dangerous things.
381	25.11.00	Postcards from the Muse	Once again, I come out of a non-writing too-long time with a song about not writing songs. You bet this is how it feels.
383	29.11.00	Midwinter Hymn	My midwinter card - a non-specific celebratory little song for all faiths or none.
384	1.12.00	He Knows the Way from Here	My pride in my son grows apace as he does.
386	31.1.01	Amazon Ahoy	I always wanted to be Captain Nancy Blackett from Arthur Ransome's 'Swallows and Amazons' books as a child, but I fear that her adult life would have carried its share of grief and confusion. Maybe I'm wrong.
387	23.2.01	Sometimes she Dances / Ravens	Only one too many titles here. My usual mixed set of images, but I must say the ravens were a surprise here - at first.
389	29.3.01	Scarred	Ever been bullied at school? Ever been given some really useless advice by adults who should have known better?
393	11.4.01	All the Tea in China	A long time stewing, this song. We are not obliged to give others the tools with which to hurt us.
395	22.4.01	Pulling the Nails	It all started with the stair carpet actually, and a hundred and sixty five nails, and then my allegorical side kicked in and started making allusions.
397	03.5.01	The King's Own Kitchen Boy	The liner notes on a CD by the band Blowzabella tell more about Lambert Simnel than I knew before: boy pretender to King's falconer via kitchen boy is an unlikely but heartwarming progression, don't you think?
398	20.12.01	Flavus et Luteus	Our new monarch, King Guy of the Far Isles (a medieval recreation society) is known for being a somewhat colourful character. This was written for his coronation, and sung with all due ceremony on that most solemn occasion; it was later performed at the feast with its rather colloquial translation.
401	03.3.02	Katherine Lane	Dark and twisted little tale. With mermaids in.
404	12.3.02	My Gold and Silver	We're in fairy-tale-as-metaphor-for-my-life country again, with the Twelve Dancing Princesses my unlikely accomplices.
405	17.3.02	Ten Years	I always wondered about Penelope. Really. I mean, standing by your man and all that. for twenty years? Hmm.
415	14.11.02	Paper Worlds	Marvellous little things, books. you can go anywhere and anywhen with the right set of pages to take you there. I'm a bibliophile. Can you tell? This was written for and premiered on the TV programme 'Highly Illogical', broadcast on HTV on 28th February 2003.
416	26.11.02	Near Earth	So I was reading a book about asteroids, and it scared me silly, actually. We have the means to safeguard against this very real threat, if only the international will were there. Our existence here is truly very fragile.
425	10.06.03	Supercats	Ladies & Gentlemen, the moment you've all been waiting for. From deep in Outer Space; from way back in the 1970's. Please welcome the Supercats!
432	16.02.05	Cream Cake Girl	Don't we all need a hero sometimes? One who arrives with something sinfully yummy when least expected? Course we do...
442	5.4.05	Bag Ladies	My favourite vice, tea, has as many alluring names as any more illicit substance. Golden Brown? A little more milk, please, and one sugar. Ta
444	12.4.05	Head of a Pin	Sacred geometry, treasure hunts, flights of fancy or pure hokum - I love these things, but then I have low tastes. And the benefit of a Classical education.
446	25.4.05	Lady of the Underpass	There was a stain on the underpass wall somewhere in Chicago. Some folk looked at it and saw a stain on the wall. Some saw an image of Mary. Did their prayers and candles, then, make the place holy?
447	27.4.05	Jonathan's Coffeehouse	My friend Judith suggested I would make even the stock exchange interesting if I put it into a song. Now, I always do what Judith tells me, so I did a little research.
448	20.5.05	The Wolf at your Door	Inspired by the website www.wolfatthedoor.com, one of many which informed my views on global resource depletion, particularly peak oil. And because Red Riding Hood was busy on a climate change march.
449	23.5.05	When I was a Mermaid	"That's you", said my daughter, pointing to the Waterhouse Mermaid picture we'd found, "That's you when you were a mermaid".
450	1.6.05	Kitchen Heroes	Not riding off to the wars with a pan lid and a carving knife, but quietly getting on with the essential jobs which are less and less practiced these days. Their time will come.
451	14.6.05	Vitruvian Man	Leonardo da Vinci was,they say, the last man living who knew everything. He might not find this song's sentiment as reassuring as it would clearly like to be...
454	28.12.05	Rutupiae Light	Rosemary Sutcliff's Roman Britain sequence, beginning with 'The Eagle of the Ninth', is a captivating and far-seeing set of novels. Written for young adults, it bears repeated reading at any age. 'The Silver Branch', 'The Lantern Bearers' and 'Dawn Wind' complete the set, and foreshadow every age in which people have looke bravely ahead into dark times. Together they inspired this song.
459	1.2.06	Blackthorn Winter	Hands on the spade. Seeds in the ground. The year turns and if we're lucky, we grow a little wiser.
460	6.2.06	Worlds End	There are many small villages throughout England that carry this curious name. I suppose such places could be considered the ideal refuge when the time comes.
462	27.2.06	Jam Tomorrow	I had a serious conversation with the Red Queen at Lincoln Museum once, all three of her, and she's Not Happy with things at all. Well fine, neither am I.
463	28.3.06	Cassandra	Now if there had been global media networks at the time of the Trojan War, then it's clear who would have been wearing the flak jacket marked 'Press', isn't it?
468	17.8.06	Lucet the Braid	When the contents of all my many handicraft baskets converse at night, I dare say Lucet rouses the various peg looms and dolly bobbins to sing with her. Don't you think so?