RYAN MYDDLETON

Ryan Myddleton was born and raised in Maidstone, Kent. When his family moved to an isolated pocket of idyllic Somerset at age 12, Ryan found he had time on his hands and no concrete at his feet, thus he abandoned his beloved skateboard and picked up an old battered school guitar.  It was his school music teacher who first noticed in Ryan’s voice a twang of Americana and piled upon him a collection of well-used James Taylor LPs. Surrounded by rolling countryside, sunny beach life, rainy beach life, a colorful variety of musicians and free-thinking folk, Ryan became engrossed in the guitar and in the art of song composition.

As a young man Ryan was writing and performing on a regular basis, and strong musical alliances with Duncan MacKay (bass guitar) and James Cross (drums) were formed. He went on to study performance in London where he met Ed Sheldrake (piano) and began to hone his songwriting craft. Influenced by the work of John Martyn, James Taylor, Joni Mitchell and Ben Harper, as much as by the people and situation around him, Ryan began to carve out a solo singer/songwriter career for himself. He travelled around Spain with his guitar and for a good period made a living on the streets of Barcelona as a night-busker.

In 2002 he recorded his first demo album, As I Stand, and went on to perform these songs to audiences large and small all over the UK. He settled in European Capital of Culture -  the city of Liverpool, and in 2006 began to busk, borrow and car-boot his life away in order to begin recording a full-length album. Recruiting the assistance of old friends Duncan MacKay, James Cross and Ed Sheldrake, Ryan went about recording his collection of recent songs.

In 2007 Ryan signed to High Barn Records and soon after the completed album ‘The Road’ was released. Tracks from the album have since featured on various UK radio shows, the title track becoming BBC Radio Leeds MP3 of the week, and can even be heard regularly at Anfield, the home of Liverpool FC, during the half-time interval! Once a solo performer, Ryan now increasingly appears with his gifted band of troubadours at venues across the UK. His success is growing and even stretching as far as Germany, Australia, the USA and Canada.

www.myspace.com/ryanmyddleton
www.myspace.com/ryanslostsongs
www.ryanmyddleton.com

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THE ROAD – Ryan Myddleton
(Rychard Carrington/Moving Tone News)

When you take this CD out of its case a picture of a very small biplane is revealed. Trailing behind the plane is a banner upon which is written ‘thank you’. Lovely.

Yes indeed, this is a most pleasant album, thoroughly benign. Good to the ears, soothing to the mind. Ryan Myddleton has written that ‘there isn't much that beats a small party of people and a guitar to share between them’ and such warm, gentle sentiment pervades the whole project. The keywords would be ‘60s-style folk troubadour’ and ‘mellow’. In the harsh world we live in, I’m certainly not going to complain at that.

Les Cousins club. Early Al Stewart. Not the stark intensity of Bob Dylan, but a nice, relaxing, good vibe. An album to eat your vegetarian supper to; or one to have on in the background while you sit by the fire, drinking mulled wine and playing draughts. It’s poignant that the hope for a better world that once came with such music – an expansion of the ‘small party of people …’ sentiments – has long perished, but on the other hand it’s good to see this style extant – in the early 80s new wave and synthesisers were threatening the  perpetuation of anything remotely hippyesque.

This character is consistently confirmed, never challenged. (Even the cover art has a gentle surrealism that is thoroughly 1968.) And why not, when there was nothing wrong with this style in the first place? Well, to be honest I would have preferred wittier, more distinctive lyrics and more originality of sentiment (or at least a fresher album title), but let’s let that pass. Let’s say instead that the lyrics take a back seat and complement the music appropriately.

Ryan sings and plays guitar very pleasingly. I could have done without the bass and drums, but piano, violin, cello, harmonica and ukelele all enhance nicely, and the glockenspiel is a particularly good touch.

Besides, I’m favorably disposed towards people who have a ‘y’ in their name where you would expect an ‘i’. Why? I don’t know.

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Before You Rise

I’ll be there before you wake
There’s no need to cry.
I’ll be beside you as it’s getting light,
I’ll be home before you rise.

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The Cowboy Song

I am not a cowboy, but I've been known to ride
Far into the country with a guitar by my side.
I am not a player, but I just love to play
Simple songs by honest men in such a righteous way.

I am not a sailor, but I've travelled the seas,
Deep into the ocean to allow myself to breathe.
I am not a pilot, but in my dreams I fly
Gliding like a sparrowhawk to navigate the sky.

CH: Walk with me I don't want to be alone
There's no-one left where the cowboys used to roam
We'll walk these lands until we find our home
But I am not a cowboy . .

I am not an expert at matters of the heart,
But I do know that love is true and plays a vital part.
I am not a fighter, and I am not a thief,
But I would scrap and I would steal for what I do believe.

I am not religious, but I like to believe
Holy Angels watch over the children as they sleep.
Love may leave me blinded, but I will always see
The Devil is a real man but he's never getting me.

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Everybody’s Got It Coming On

Hey now, why do you cry now?
Things are alright, you know it’s alright now.
You’ve been making me worry,
The things you’ve been saying, the way you’ve been down.

Waking up with the sadness all about,
I’ve had enough of it all, come let it out.
Don’t you worry, you’re not here on your own,
Everybody’s got it coming on,
Got it coming on.

We’ve been speaking in riddles,
Questioning motives, all of the time now.
So chin up, you gotta keep moving,
Gotta keep changing, roll with the punches.

Waking up with the sadness all about,
I’ve had enough of it all, come let it out.
Don’t you worry, you’re not here on your own,
Everybody’s got it coming on,
Got it coming on.

Waking up with the sadness all about,
I’ve had enough of it all, come let it out.
Don’t you worry, you’re not here on your own,
Everybody’s got it coming on,
Got it coming on.

Hey now, why do you cry now?
Things are alright, you know it’s alright now.

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The Getaway

Come away with me darling,
And we’ll find places they’ll never know.
Have a drink with me darling,
And we’ll toast all the good folk back home.

It’s not too late to pack up and fly away,
Fly away.
Got to get out of here,
Got to get out of here,
The getaway.
All for the sake of a getaway.

Come away with me darling,
And we’ll sit under a coconut tree.
And let the waves wash our worries away,
And clear our heads like the open sea.

It’s not too late to pack up and fly away,
Fly away.
Got to get out of here,
Got to get out of here,
The getaway.
All for the sake of a getaway.
The getaway.
All for the sake of a getaway.

It’s not too late to pack up and fly away,
Fly away.
Got to get out of here,
Got to get out of here,
The getaway.
All for the sake of a getaway.
The getaway.
All for the sake of a getaway.

Come away with me darling,
And we’ll find places they’ll never know.

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Got It Made

It don’t take much to make me want to sing,
A man with hope is a man with everything.
Ten fingers, six strings and a whole lot of faith,
Man I got it made.

As long as there is a dream you gotta chase,
As long as there is air for your lungs to take,
One heart to feed and a soul to save,
Man you got it made.

Not even fallen angels can hold me down.
I’ll find my way to some higher ground.

And if your dreams, of they come a crashing down,
You gotta trust yourself to get yourself turned ‘round.
One life to live before the light fades,
Man we got it,
Woman we got it made.

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If I Could Sing A Song  

If I could turn time on its head,
And sing all the words unsaid,
And live as a braver man instead.
If I could turn time on its head.

If I could walk through doors,
I’d choose to walk through yours,
And stop pushing on doors marked pull.
If I could only walk through walls.

If I could sing a song,
And you could sing along,
To make right all my wrongs.
If I could only sing a song.
To make right all my wrongs.

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Oh My Love

Oh my love, where now?
Oh my love, where now?
We got to get out somehow, oh my love.

Oh my friend, how come?
Oh my friend, how come?
Look at what we’ve become, oh my friend.

Oh me I’ve been a wasting.
Oh my I’ve been forgot.
I can’t keep on forever,
Being something I’m not.

Oh my rose, my thorn.
Oh my rose, my thorn.
All for love, all forlorn, oh my rose.

Oh me I’ve been a wasting.
Oh my I’ve been forgot.
I can’t keep on forever,
Being something I’m not.

Oh no me oh my.
Oh my rose, my thorn, my friend, my love, my own.
Oh my love.

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On Your Own

Sit down next to me my troubled friend.
Slow down, it takes time for deep wounds to mend.
Although it seems that everything you love is truly lost
Soon you will be found,
You’re not alone, sometimes you choose
On your own.

So easy to say and so hard to do,
There nothing else that I could say to help you.
And everyone you know will love you just the same
Friends will gather ‘round,
You’re not alone, sometimes you choose
And some roads you walk
On your own.

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The Road We Travel

‘Though the road we travel upon
Is paved with copper, not with gold
Troubadour’s footprints centuries old.
Take me to town, don’t leave me hangin’ around
And together we’ll play to the street
And chase the cold with our broken beat.

It’s alright, don’t you let those old dreams drown.
It’s a long way up, it’s a long way down.
Just find them a new home, on the road we roam,
On the road we walk.
The road we roam,
The road we walk.

Though the road we travel upon
Ain’t quite as straight as it first seemed
Or as easy as the dreamers dreamed.
Dig deep down low and you’ll reap what you sow
You get back what you put in no less
It all comes out in the process.

It’s alright, don’t you let those old dreams drown.
It’s a long way up, it’s a long way down.
Just find them a new home, on the road we roam,
On the road we walk.
The road we roam,
The road we walk.

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See No Rain

Things may have been a little rocky in the past I know,
The rose garden you planted years and years ago.
You take the high times, you take the low,
You swim still waters and you sail through the rough storms of pain,
See no rain - see no rainbow.

If our mistakes are someone else’s gain, then our glory another’s aim,
May the golden light of our youth keep shine into our night,
So let’s walk tall and proud our smiles clear as day,
And if clouds come gather overhead to play their dull grey game,
See no rain – see no rainbow.

I’ll say again
See no rain - see no rainbow.

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The Train

All aboard on the midnight train westward bound,
I’ve got two gents beside me on the run, got to find safer ground.
And all the business suits and the cowboy boots step in line,
And what lays ahead soon enough is gonna be long behind.

From where we are going, to where we’ve been before.
Won’t you show me something?
Everybody’s looking for something more.
Second chances galore, on the train for . . .

Now we’re chugging onwards, the wind is at our back.
At one hundred and fifty miles an hour we cross disused farm tracks.
And if this song could be some sweet parody of the times,
I’d be singing ‘Dear God please keep this rickety train on the line’.

From where we are going, to where we’ve been before.
Won’t you show me something?
Everybody’s looking for something more.
Second chances galore, on the train for home.
On the train for home, on the train for . . .

All aboard the train – Are we homeward bound?
All aboard the train.

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Until The End Of Your Days

May your ways always be your own,
May your heart never turn to stone,
May your smile never roam.

Yes this I pray, may your heart stay ablaze,
Until the end of your days.

May you walk only in the light,
And steer your path past the drunken fists of night,
And if the Devil’s men find their way,

Yes this I pray, may you fight them off and stay,
Until the end of your days.

Yes this I pray, may your heart stay ablaze,
Until the end of your days.

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You & I

Don’t go away, oh please don’t go away.
Don’t you say there’s nothing left to say.
This thing we’ve started, it’s gonna take some mending.
These rules we’ve written, they’re gonna take some bending.

Sometimes the simple thing is the answer, it’s the answer.
Live, love and let us take our chances, take our chances,
You & I.

Imagine me a stranger once again,
Imagine we has started out as friends.
No point in trying to hide our bruising,
No point denying the path we’re choosing.

Sometimes the simple thing is the answer, it’s the answer.
Live, love and let us take our chances, take our chances,
You & I.

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