Bob's Serious Songs: E book edition with links to 80 YouTube song recordings

.Bob’s Serious Songs

E book edition with links to

82 YouTube song recordings

.Big Bob Campbell

Warning:

There are expletives (‘fowl language’)

used in these songs .

Copyright

Bob’s Serious Song’s:

E book edition with links to 82 YouTube song recordings

and all associated songs and recordings

Copyright © Big Bob Campbell 2020

First published in print on 17th November 2020

by Rebellion Bob

ISBN 978-1-8382766-0-7

available from www.bobssongs.co.uk

This E book edition with recordings

was first published on 9th March 2022

by Rebellion Bob

ISBN 978-1-8382766-1-4

All rights reserved.  Moral rights asserted

Cover design and artwork by Kev Stevens

@ The Art Room North East.

Copyright of photographs are individually identified through this book

No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means

(electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise)

without the prior written permission of the publisher.

Any person who does any unauthorised act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages.

A CIP catalogue record for this book is available

from the British Library.

Introductory Verse

About Big Bob Campbell

Big Bob Campbell is a Scottish singer songwriter who spent most of his adult life in the North East of England. As a child he liked folk music when he heard it, which was not often, and songs on children’s movies, but disliked pretty much everything else until 1977 when punk came along:  He was just 9.  It really connected with him. Musically punk is his true love. But to Bob, punk is urban folk music, everything really stems back to that.

This is a little ironic, because Bob’s childhood was almost exclusively rural and not urban and as such Bob always feared that he didn’t really belong to the scene. Indeed bar 3 friends at primary school and one at University, Bob didn’t really know any other punks and pretty much kept to himself at gigs. Though life his friends more tolerated than shared his taste in music, so it was a big thing for him when his son found punk for himself when he was 9, shared Bob’s love for the music and set up a really good punk band: The Antiseptics.

Bob felt very much more part of the scene from then and as much or indeed more with younger punks than punks his own age, but really, he’s everyone’s friend.

He learned to love rhythm and blues in his twenties, as that was the music playing in pubs at that time; that and other strange stuff that he found in record shops. The music he loves means the World to him, but he still positively dislikes popular, metal or church music and especially the music played at Christmas.

He has very few inhibitions and is always the first to dance and somehow, despite his size, weight, asthma and age he will dance vigorously all day long if the music is good and keeps playing. And when he does he sweats so much he’ll drink water by the gallon and change his shirt after every band. He is well known and loved on the punk scene for that

He started writing poems when he was nine years old and songs in his mid-twenties, but only learned how to sing in 2020 while locked down during a pandemic:  So very much a newcomer as a performer: indeed he considers himself to be more part of the audience.

He struggled to learn to play instruments as a child but succeeded with the tin whistle in 1994 and he went on to invent and develop new better and easier ways to teach this instrument. Bob also uses the tin whistle as a composition tool

He is strongly political and empathetic, with a strong moral compass, a great but warped sense of humour and despite being dyslexic, finds words really easy to master: or perhaps because of it? 

Through his life Bob has had very few holidays: he worked through most of them; He also worked long hours and took work home, and often had more than one job at a time: but he thoroughly enjoyed all of them and genuinely believed in their importance. At one point he had a full time job, a full time business, a full time charity running concurrently and was trying to do a master degree by distance learning and trying to spend what time he could with his wife and young son. That’s when he coined the phrase: Nothing you can do will make you live longer, so let’s pack a bit more in

Bob was berry picking on farms and pheasant/ partridge beating on private estates since he was a small boy. He started teaching outdoor pursuits and skiing professionally from the age of 16; He worked for a bit in the management of bingo after University (Sunderland Polytechnic), it was good management training but as he disapproves of gambling he was never at ease in that sector and he retrained as a wildlife and countryside professional. He was a senior countryside ranger in local government for 20 years, leading teams and services and engaging in pretty much everything you could imagine in this field. Bob specialised in social inclusion and was a key figure in disabled access to countryside. He set up a leading national project in that area before he was 30 and the social enterprise and charity to own and manage it. He also created and developed exciting new ways to teach music and first aid and promoted them both through businesses he set up. During the Covid pandemic in 2020 he stopped working, stayed at home and wrote around 220 songs, sometimes 4 a day. Now, in his 50’s he has his heart set on setting up a band to give those songs a life. In part this series of song books is a search for the right musicians, but it is also to ensure that his songs live on long after he does.

Despite his asthma and being bazaarly uncompetitive Bob loves swimming, badminton, skiing and has always found time for sports: Well playing them: he doesn’t spectate anything – he says that’s like when the kids wouldn’t let him join in in the playground all over again. In 2019 he started training with his local Roller Derby team (forcing him to learn to skate in his 50’s). Covid delayed that progress but he’s determined to play for Teesside and perhaps Scotland?

Bob uses the stage name of Big Bob Campbell to distinguish himself from other Bob Campbell singer song writers: There are quite a few! One wrote and sang the blues in New York; another wrote and sang topical songs in the 1980’s; there was an award winning Texan country and western singer song writer using the same name. And many more. Bob’s size justifies the prefix ‘big’ and that hopefully distinguishes him from the others in name at least?

For more details look at Big Bob Campbell’s bio on the BobsSongs.co.uk website:  ABOUT BOB | Bobs Songs

Song Finder (by topic)            ABC Song Finder

Description

This book includes 82 songs for the rebels among you to sing and covering important issues that should make you think and stir more difficult emotions.  They cover a range of topics from  exclusion, sexism and abuse; bullying racism and transphobia; homelessness, working or not working; hunting, guns, war and refugees to Palestine and other politics.

Every song in the book has a link below the title to the song being sung A Capello on YouTube (without musical accompaniment.) Bob does play tin whistle on a few

With so many songs in the book there was the need for simple and clever navigation tools to help you find the song you are looking for.  Or, if you choose to read it cover to cover the song topics are jumbled so that you don’t find yourself reading/ listening to three songs on the same subject one after the other.

I suppose you could consider this to be a very large album, but the book was not meant to be used that way and as such the recordings are not designed to give that standard of performance. The song recordings are to show you how to sing the songs in the book: because without that, they are just poems: and they were written to be much more than that.

It is hoped that you will sing them. If you decide to record them remember that their copyright is reserved: Please get in touch to arrange that through the artists website: www.bobssongs.co.uk Bob would love to know that you are using his songs

These songs also have a rich use of expletives (swear words) that may offend some people, (Bob prefers to think of them as an emotive and expressive use of language), and some adult topics: As such these books are not promoted for children

Song Finder (by topic)            ABC Song Finder

Other books in this series

For earlier printed editions of this book; for information about the author and other books and products he sells please go to the authors website:  www.bobssongs.co.uk

There is a second book in the series: Bob’s Songs about Music, Fun and Life. Those should make you smile and laugh and cover more pleasant and light-hearted issues.

Third and subsequent books are expected soon.

Song Finder (by topic)            ABC Song Finder

Why this e book?

By showing you how the songs are sung, the YouTube links in this e book enable the reader to sing the songs, not just to read them like poems. (As you might if you had the printed edition of this book)

This series of books is a goldmine for bands or musicians looking for new and original material: the emotional and engaging words and the simple melodies combine to create some delightful treasures that simply have to be played and enjoyed. 

The song writer Bob Campbell is looking for a guitarist to work with in the Middlesbrough area of England. He is also looking to set up a band and interested in working with other musicians. Bob’s politics, beliefs and sense of humour are quite evident from these songs: so hopefully you can see from this book whether you are a good fit to work with him?  So if you like the songs and play an instrument:  please get in touch. It is easy to see from these books if you are on his wavelength.

Bob is also well known and loved on the punk scene in the North East of England and across the UK. He is affectionately called ‘the one-man-mosh-pit’ – as he is a giant and friendly brightly coloured figure who dances to every band. Bob has been on the scene for decades and doesn’t care if no one else is dancing, he just goes for it, but he also ropes others in to join him and as such he is also popular among bands. He also looks after and protects smaller people in the pit and fetches water for others when it’s hot. It is hoped that the ‘popularity’ he has built up and his inclusive and extroverted nature might help stimulate a following for the band.

Song Finder (by topic)            ABC Song Finder

How to use this book

Introduction

Depending on the equipment you are using to read this book, you may or may not be able to see the books ‘Table of Contents’, and you may or may not have access to the internet. If you can’t access the internet then there are some links in the introductory pages that you won’t be able to follow and you won’t be able to listen to the song recordings.

Bearing in mind that there are 82 songs in this book none of which you have heard before, some help