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Mucho Picnic

by Harry Bird (2023)

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    Harry Bird's latest album "Mucho Picnic" on CD for your home, car or portable discman!!! Comes with a 12 page colour booklet of song lyrics and in a lovely gatefold card case.

    Includes unlimited streaming of Mucho Picnic via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
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  • Full Digital Discography

    Get all 9 Harry Bird releases available on Bandcamp and save 25%.

    Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality downloads of Mucho Picnic, New to this City, Pigs in the Grass, Bead Off a String, Blue Angels, Bricks and Feathers, Kettle of Silver, The Bones on Black, and 1 more. , and , .

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1.
Doctor Road 04:00
doctor i could use a helping hand everything about me is so tedious and bland... doctor road, doctor road doctor road sure will kill you or he'll cure every ill, your every ill doctor road, doctor road doctor road, my heart needs a wheel spin, a rambling kick start i've been all cooped up for way too long my blood's gone thick as dungeon slime i need to feel the wind upon my face i need time away out in the sunshine doctor road, doctor road doctor road sure will kill you or he'll cure every ill, your every ill doctor road, doctor road doctor road, my heart needs a wheel spin, a rambling kick start miles of grind and miles of drudgery rising ground around every bend can't you see, doc, this is all too much for me man, it's agony tell me seriously when oh when will it end, please? doctor road, doctor road doctor road sure will kill you are he'll cure every ill, your every ill doctor road, doctor road doctor road, my heart needs a wheel spin, a rambling kick start oh my heart it needs a wheel spin, a rambling, gambling kick start
2.
no i can't pretend it was easy to take on the chin your haymaking sucker punch knocked me clean out of my skin i never saw it coming all i heard was the wind next minute i was lying on my back watching stars that had seemed so aligned all tailspinning i was your darling, your sweet loving thing till i slipped from your heart like a bead off a string and i rolled out the door just one more bead off a string there's a cold kind of violence lovers should learn to expect its that glacial drift from french kiss to old gregory peck oh but it felt like heaven hanging round your neck til i got the worst kick in the world finding i was no pearl but a factory reject i was your darling, your sweet loving thing till i slipped from your heart like a bead off a string and i rolled out the door just one more bead off a string with my head in the mouth of that sabre-toothed tiger of fame the showers of tweets, flowers and lace lingerie duly came yeah they'll applaud you but it's always the same cos the beasts gotta eat and you're quality meat and they're already on their feet screaming the next sucker's name i was your darling, your sweet loving thing till i slipped from your heart like a bead off a string and i rolled out the door just one more bead off a string couldn't some kind of poetry spirit us back to the start? cos this rag time rebel wants one last shot at the charts losing gracefully never made for good art and see me i'm the light brigade baby i'm still gonna charge even though you might blow me apart i was your darling, your sweet loving thing till i slipped from your heart like a bead off a string and i rolled out the door just one more bead off a string yeah, i was your darling, your sweet loving thing till i slipped from your heart like a bead off a string and i rolled out the door just one more bead off a string
3.
the casco's wild tonight on a high after beating madrid i hold your memory tight and all the things that we never did oh sure i hit my targets in ruthless pursuit of singular aims old goals make such lonely statistics though and i'm not sure just what it is that i've gained after all that heartache saw your face at last shining like a missing gem loved your photographs i wonder who was taking them still longing for your kiss in that way nothing seems to have changed but i shouldn't reminisce, i guess about all that i could have saved seeing as given the chance i'd make that same choice all over again uh oh, here we go, a-here we go boys what do ya know, here comes the artekale killjoy uh oh, here we go, here we go again boys what do ya know, here comes the artekale killjoy street fiesteros jeer at the egg throwing balcony grump me i'm counting up my winnings here no stomach for a victory drunk
4.
oh it's a thrill screaming down the happy hill cornering at speed our reckless skin an inch from the bitumen cornering at speed at speed what happens next is anybody's guess it's anybody's guess well the great unknown is a catalogue of broken bones cornering at speed breathe deep and lean in, with you i always get the feeling of cornering at speed what happens next is anybody's guess maybe there's an arch of triumph maybe there's a train wreck what happens next is anybody's guess so phones out, place your bets and record it cos we fall, we bleed, so easy when we're cornering at speed
5.
i feel so alive in the wild countryside when i'm roving and rambling about like a sweet burst of song that the heart feeds upon is the the fruit that the eye picks out it's that river in spate, it's those colours and shapes it's the sun riding high through the clouds it's the pigs in the grass, it's your face as we laugh that's the fruit that the eye picks out i was a bird holed up in this city too lonesome to speak but you just kicked away all of the bricks and then opened my lips with your beak so ruddy and ripe is the flesh from light all juiced in a jubilant mouth feel spring on your breath as you roll back death we're the fruit that that the eye picks out oh it was so cold i froze in my clothes i just froze where i stood but you said you'd show me the secret of heat that's as ancient as feet in the greenwood i feel so alive in the wild countryside as i rove and i ramble about like a sweet burst of song that the heart feeds upon is the the fruit that the eye picks out lai lai lai lai lai...
6.
Big Freeze 01:50
some of us are fighting tooth and nail about it others are running headlong in a panic wake me up when this is over me i wouldn't say i'm feeling melancholy it's more a disconnection from my body wake me up when this is over wake me up when this is over in the light of day and in the midnight creeping we'd breathe if we were actually sleeping wake me up when this is over wake me up when this is over wake me up when this is over oh wake me up when this is wake me up when this is please wake me up when this is over
7.
Old Pioneers 05:13
our forefathers faced unspeakable hardship to forge a better future for their own hounded from the highlands and the ghettos they settled stolen land we call our home and we sing the livelong praises of those generations gone set their names to fiddle, pipe and accordion making safe the brave new world behind intransigent frontiers we're the sons and daughters of the old pioneers sir cyril earned himself a handy peerage for services to commerce and the king the slaves who died by making him his fortune don't figure with his statue up on the plinth but we sing the livelong praises of those generations gone fight the fight with fiddle, pipe and accordion tending dutifully the flame of freedom, prejudice and fear we're the sons and daughters of the old pioneers missionary fervour swept the empire many gave their lives to serve the cause hearing the good news will also cost ya when humble church mice grind colonial jaws and we sing the livelong praises of those generations gone canonise with fiddle, pipe and accordion magnifying home-made halos with the passing of the years we're the sons and daughters of the old pioneers yeah we sanctify the memory of those generations gone glorify with fiddle, pipe and accordion as if all they ever shed were honest sweat and loving tears we're the sons and daughters of the old pioneers our forefathers faced unspeakable hardship...
8.
i don't have the faintest clue why i'm holding out for you i care so much but you don't care a thing do you? still i find myself in here waiting till my name appears it'll light up in colours and go shooting through the atmosphere cheri, cheri, cheri you've got a heart like a fruit machine i’m in love out of luck pushing at your buttons hoping only that your spinning eyes stop all of a sudden on me i'm buzzing here bouncing off walls imagining your calls i'm answering loud as a mad hampden crowd with that deafening roar every night i stoop and drop all my money, money, money, money all my money in the slot robbing myself blind, chasing my genie in your jackpot cherie, cherie, cherie you've got a heart like a fruit machine i’m in love out of luck pushing at your buttons hoping only that your spinning eyes stop all of a sudden on me limón, limón, limón pera, pera, naranja ¿cuando me tocará el amor que tanto me hace falta? limón, limón, limón pera, pera, naranja ¿cuando me tocará el amor que tanto me hace falta? cherry, cherry, cherry you've got a heart like a fruit machine i’m in love out of luck pushing at your buttons hoping only that your diamonds stop all of a sudden on me i’m all alone, i’m all alone i’m all alone all out of control i’m working the phone, panning for gold looking for some way out of this hole i’m in
9.
bomb disposal john says he's lucky he's physically in one piece at least he's back from iraq but there's not a way that he can stay sober says "i was trained for killing there's a hole needs filling and my system's numb i shiver, i shiver, i shiver all over" rule britannia britannia rule the waves there's a dungeon on your penny and the blood of oh so many slaves rule britannia you go and rule the waves just send our bodies home caress our headstones and decorate the graves so, no gernika for dresden then? men don't tend to paint their enemies' children often! noski... history as decreed by the victor is a grand obscurer says something like “famine in bengal was regrettable but a great necessity of war for whitehall” i guess the dirt don't stick when you "kick the schnitzel" out of a führer... rule britannia britannia rule the waves there's a dungeon on your penny and the blood of oh so many slaves rule britannia you go and rule the waves just send our bodies home caress our headstones and decorate the graves rule britannia rule the waves rule britannia and decorate our graves
10.
Cerberus 02:44
i've seen the future and you ain't in it you ain't in it, you ain't in it i heard them singing how you used to stand so tall i've seen the future and you ain't in it you ain't in it, you ain't in it the day will come when the rising sun finds you nowhere cerberus, we've seen your like before your rise and your fall, cerberus, cerberus and sure you've got a hundred heads all howling thousands hidden in the hollows of the heart but every one that comes around here growling will whimper just as surely as they bark i've seen the future and you ain't in it you ain't in it, you ain't in it i heard them singing from the ruins of your wall i've seen the future and you ain't in it you ain't in it, you ain't in it the day will come when the rising sun finds you nowhere finds you nowhere at all nowhere at all and from nowhere at all the wind picks up and the clouds begin to stir it's: here comes another storm to weather all together “hello cerberus, sir”
11.
Este Lugar 03:19
siete calles, dos guitarras a las tres de la mañana un lugar, este lugar poco pan, mucho picnic beti maite zaituztet, nik un lugar, este lugar con baldosas flotando y humanos intentandolo que lugar, este lugar sos-teniendo el fuego por si cae un puro luego que lugar, este lugar y aunque nada dura para siempre daré las gracias eternamente por todo lo que es y continuará siendo este lugar, este lugar este lugar, un lugar
12.
old hand shakes in a neon glove! i'm new to this city, new to this city a secret trumpet shy giddy'un in love! i'm new to this city, new to this city oh, i'm uneasy but oh, you talk so freely and oh you've got friends on the door yeah you know the backstreets while i've never been here before acrobats bend backwards not to offend! i'm new to this city, new to this city dyeing to fit it discolours skin! i'm new to this city, new to this city oh, you dance so nimble and oh, like you're invincible oh and me I feel like a fool yeah you're so at home here and i'm quite the welly in the swimming pool but still i've got big dreams that one day i'll step out singing hear ye, oh hear ye it's me! and i'm news, big news in this city!

about

"Mucho Picnic" is Harry Bird's first self produced solo album.

The songs themselves were written in the years surrounding his move from Bilbao, where he lived for fifteen years, to his current base in Glasgow. Featuring a cast of old friends and new, the twelve tracks are a mix of home, remote and studio recordings made between March 2020 and March 2023.

Taking its name from an old but unused artistic pseudonym, “Mucho Picnic” explores narratives of desire/uncertainty, future/nostalgia, national/self identity and blame in pandemic and Brexit era Britain. 

Big Picnic. What never was but could have been and still just might be. Maybe. "What happens next is anybody's guess".

credits

released December 2, 2023

Harry Bird - acoustic, spanish and electric guitar; clarinet; harmonica; organ; synth; melodica; vocals
Adam Sinclair - drums and percussion (all tracks except 6,10)
Ian “Dodge” Paterson - bass: electric (1,2,3,9,12); fretless electric (8); upright (5,7,11); synth (12)
Gavin McGinty - acoustic guitar (2); electric guitars (3,11,12); vocals (1,2,12)
Robbie Ward - piano (1,2,11,12); rhodes (1,3), jennings (1), synth (2)
Theodore Barnard - acoustic guitar (5,7,11,12); upright bass (6); vocals (1,5,12)
Pepita Emmerichs - mandolin (5,7); strings (1,5,6); vocals (5)
Christophe Capewell - piano (3,4,9)
Phil Cardwell - trumpet (3,9)
Kate Theodore - fiddle (7); vocals (7)
Rise Kagona - electric guitars (8)
Jamie Jauncey - piano (1)
Maria Blackwell - vocals (4)
Rod Jones - electric bass (4)
Barry Nisbet - fiddle (5)
James Cole - banjo (7)
Jamie Bird - vocals (7)
Will Rutter - mandolin (7)
Reggie - snores (most)

All tracks written and produced by Harry Bird

Engineered by:
Harry Bird in Glasgow, Ardormie, Dunkeld, Birnam, Balbriggan and Leith
Robin Wynn Evans at Tpot Studio in Path of Condie (4 days of residential sessions)
Adam Sinclair and Ian “Dodge” Paterson in Newcastle
Robbie Ward and Gavin McGinty in Dundee
Theodore Barnard in Dunkeld and Pepita Emmerichs in Dunkeld and Melbourne
Christophe Capewell in Balbriggan, Will Rutter in Bristol and Barry Nisbet in Cullivoe
Maria Blackwell and Richie Cuskelly in Hobart
Barnaby Thwaites at Open Access Music Studio in Winchester
Rod Jones at Post Electric Studio in Edinburgh

Mixed by Rod Jones at Post Electric Studio in Edinburgh
Mastered by Ed Woods at Ed Woods Mastering


Photography by Beth St John, Hilde Cocquyt and Harry Bird
Album design by Harry Bird with help from Kate Theodore and Eifion Sven-Myer

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Harry Bird

Harry Bird has spent the last 15 years touring hundreds of venues all over Europe and beyond with a passion for sharing his lyrically charged music and connecting with audiences of all kinds.

He is a versatile storyteller with a warm, reflexive vocal delivery and a deft rhythmic guitar style.

Original, entertaining and thought provoking, his energetic, feel-good shows are not to be missed.
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