Barb Jungr

Barb Jungr writes:
"On this new CD I wanted to dig into the feelings masked by other emotions. Deceit masks and outsiders are at the centres of these songs. And it all began with clowns; then jesters and fools. The feelings experienced by clowns, jesters and fools. It was sparked off when Christmas shopping where I found the best present. A clown, suspended from a ceiling alongside thousands of other papier-mache clowns, legs akimbo, floating above us and moving lightly in the centrally heated pre Christmas air. Suddenly, I couldn’t get them out of my head. Songs with clowns just poured through my brain.....so began a trawl through endless lists and cassettes of clown songs and books about clowns and websites and ....well, clowns! Tarot cards. Fools on hills, circus stars, white painted faces silently watching the world go by..... slowly, slowly, they found me.

Adrian York took the ideas and songs and arranged them with care and devotion. Geoff, Nick, Matt, Adrian and Stuart played like demons, and Calum recorded it all superbly. We mixed it in North Berwick, Scotland. The sea was crashing against the islands. And the sun was shining. And when John took the pictures for the cover a heron landed on the bank of the Thames below the embankment, and stayed with us till we packed in at Sunset.

Do You Play Guitar
Written by Barb Jungr and Adrian York
"We used to go to Anglesey to my folk’s caravan, me and my girlfriends when we were teenagers - wild girls. The wind blew. The sun rarely shone. Rain tap danced on the caravan roofs. In Lligwy. I fell in love in Treaddur Bay, with the tide going out, leaving the starfish in the rock pools. He didn’t play guitar. But we did play pool."

High Water (for Charley Patton).
Written by Bob Dylan
"Taken from the Bob Dylan album “Love and Theft”. Having recorded “Blind Willie McTell” some years ago, I felt like throwing myself into this extraordinary journey. And I wanted to sing another Dylan song. How could I ever stop wanting to sing another Dylan song?"

Cathy’s Clown
Written by Everly Brothers
The Everly Brothers classic song about betrayal. I loved their singing, the brothers. Their sweet faces and bouffant quiffs and the way that the double vocal made the tune and you could never quite separate the two voices. The Ferris Wheel, Wake Up Little Susie. Lovely songs. Innocent. But Cathy’s Clown isn’t innocent at all. Or at least, Cathy isn’t."

This Masquerade
Written by Leon Russell
"A view of a relationship from the inside. Why do we hang on in there when we know its over and done? And we all do."

The Great Valerio
Written by Richard Thompson
"Richard Thompson is a wonderful writer. From the Bright Lights Tonight album this was first sung by Linda Thompson. The brilliant June Tabor sang it too, keeping that same vibe. I wanted to take it into the Big Top."

When Do The Bells Ring For Me
Written by Charles de Forest
"Working on Girl Talk with Claire Martin and Mari Wilson was great, and at the end of the show we had a little “wedding bells” section in which we all sang unhappy/tragic wedding songs. This lovely Charles de Forest song was mine."

Written In the Dark Again
Written by Barb Jungr and Christine Collister
"If every lover you ever had left their mark on your body - and it showed up in certain lighting........maybe they do?"

Like A Rolling Stone
Written by Bob Dylan
"Jugglers and clowns.......Bob Dylan........"

Lipstick Lips Lament
Written by Barb Jungr and Russell Churney
"I sat up in bed with the line “archaeologists of human hearts beware” in my head, got up to write it down and the song poured out."

Laugh Clown Laugh
Written by Fiorito, Lewis and Young
"The Great American song book isn’t my usual repertoire, but this is such an intense, perfect song. It came to me through the wonderful Songbirds list, for which, thank you."

Waterloo Sunset
Written by Ray Davies
"Ray Davies is just a brilliant song writer. I have loved this song for such a long time, and sung it for years. Living near the river, it’s a sunset I know."

The Joker
Written by Steve Miller, Ahmet Ertegun & Eddie Curtis
"Deceit comes in so many forms and shapes; sometimes it’s wrapped in very pretty paper. But it’s still deceit. And who wouldn¹t turn down the chance to sing a lyric with the word “pompitus” in it?"