Song Words And Music



Sir John Young "Jackie" Stewart, also known as The Flying Scot, got a rather special present for his 70th birthday from both his son, Paul Stewart, and rock legend Eric Clapton. Paul wrote the music and lyrics to a song dedicated to his mother and father, while Eric performed the solo guitar on the track.

Jackie, former Formula 1 World Champion and team owner of Formula 1 team Stewart Grand Prix, was very moved by the unexpected gesture. “I cannot think of a more wonderful gift to receive for my Birthday. I did not know that my son Paul could sing; write music, or lyrics for such music. What a surprise and delight. Our younger son Mark created the pictures to go with the music so well; representing the wonderful and exciting life that I have enjoyed with my wife Helen and both of my sons and their families,” he said.

“To have Eric Clapton play on this CD and DVD is another enormous thrill and privilege for somebody who enjoys Eric’s music as much as I do. Eric is a good friend and one of the great musicians of the world. I am so proud and honoured that they created all of this for me,” said Jackie.

Paul Stewart also wanted to show his gratitude for everybody involved in the project: “Thank you so much to Eric for urging me to write the song and coming to play on the track at a very busy time; Matt for all he did to pull it all together and finally to 'Uncle' George who was always with me as I searched for guidance. Dedicated to my mother and father with love.”

The song is called “Fly Free” and both the lyrics and video are available below.


FLY FREE
(Words & Music by Paul Stewart 2009)

Well well, here we are tonight to celebrate with you,
and I’m so pleased that we are here for you,
I’m so proud of the things we’ve done with you,
Thank you all for coming here tonight, I know he’s honoured too

While we’re here, let’s take the time to recognise the magic that’s got us here
So many souls that you have shown me
Some good, some tough but they all brought us here
In so, so many ways, we thank the good and the bad
If you fly with crows, you’ll get shot at...

Well I’m so pleased that we are here to party with you
So bring on the music, let’s dance and sing
We love you so dearly but please don’t judge us tonight...
We’ll just do what we can and play with the vibe!

JYS, LHS I owe it all to you
This song didn’t come easy but the words are from my heart
It’s my gift to you for your three score and ten
What a wonderful place to be I hope to get there too

If you fly with crows, you’ll get shot at...

Well I’m so pleased that we are here to party with you
So bring on the music, let’s dance and sing!
We love you so much for all that you are...
So bring on the music, let’s dance and sing

Fly... free... be... strong....




I spent one of my college summers living in Newport, Rhode Island with my father. I got a full-time job at a local packaging and mailing store. I ended up making about $3,000 that summer, and I spent pretty much every dollar of it at Strawberries, the music store in town.

I probably still have most of the CDs I bought that summer. It was the beginning of a collection that at one time included about 600 CDs. I lost a good number of them to FBF when he failed to get all my stuff out of the basement where we lived (and kept plenty more for himself), and I sold a bunch more, but I still have about 350-400.

I also wrote music reviews for the college newspaper, worked at the college radio station, devoured every issue of Rolling Stone from 1996-2002, and visited allmusic.com more than Google. I was a music hound.

But for years, pretty much between the end of college and now, the whole music thing fell by the wayside. I stopped keeping up with my favorite bands, I stopped looking for new things to listen to, and I quit trying to learn and make connections from here to there (i.e. without “Paint It Black”, there’d be no “Head Like a Hole”; without “Kashmir”, there’d be no Metallica). The reason for this was money, and the crackdown of the U.S. government on free internet music, and also trying to keep my life together and then build a new one.

And then, a week or so ago, BF taught me how to use BitTorrent. This was a giant mistake on his part; I think we’re probably going to have to buy another hard drive just for all the things I want to download. I’ve missed so much in the last 6-7 years, and there’s so much yet to learn about the past. (I know virtually nothing about Zepp. How sad is that? I just downloaded “Whole Lotta Love”, the first song of theirs I’ve ever taken the trouble to listen to rather than just hearing, and it cracks me up that Plant so obviously meant “dick” every time he said “love”.)

I like most styles of music, except music that is brutally stupid, country, and very heavy metal and rap. I especially like oldies, from 20’s jazz to absurd 70’s pop. The problem is, most of what’s popular seems to be in the brutally stupid category. I went to high school during the Blink-182 years, and I personally remember the summer when “Semi-Charmed Life” was so everywhere that you couldn’t go to the bathroom, possibly in your own home, without hearing it. Because of that I don’t really have much faith in pop music.

There’s been good stuff happening all this time, though, and I’m starting to see it. Behind Disturbed and Fuel, and the entire emo crowd (many of whom are imitating Blink-182’s vocal style for some reason I totally fail to understand), there’s music going on that’s really worth something. And I heard some of it last night: I discovered Muse, and their album of this year, The Resistance.

Although I previously dismissed Muse because they sounded quite a lot like Starsailor (particularly the lead singer – it’s sort of uncanny to me, but thus far no one in the business has mentioned it that I know of), I was totally wrong to do so. This record made me excited, the way I felt when I heard the White Stripes for the first time, as if music was fresh and new again.

All the old language of music journalism came back to me. I found myself wanting to write rapturously about how, in one song, there was Queen, Dr. Who, Danny Elfman’s score for Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, and a big helping of New Wave. In one song! I wanted to write about the rock opera and how to distinguish it from the concept album, about Coldplay’s interesting influence on pop music, about how to be a producer in a post-Timbaland studio, about why Britain churns out white boys who can make thoughtful, interesting music decade after decade (I actually don’t know the answer to that last one). But the thing that interests me most about this is the syncretic quality of it, the soup pot of a vast number of influences that makes for a sweet, spicy, emotionally effective piece of pop.

It reminds me a little of when I heard Blue October’s “Into the Ocean” a few years back, and briefly flirted with pop through that one album: I thought, wow, there’s all kinds of time periods all mixed together here. There’s 80’s synth and disco percussion and all-new vocals all stirred together for this song. How cool!

This has been true all along, of course; you can’t have Prince without the Isley Brothers, Screamin’ Jay Hawkins, the Beatles, and the Marquis de Sade. But taking cues from a dozen places all over the spectrum and blending them directly together – rather than merely being influenced by them – into something that makes sense, that’s actually mainstream, is progressing forward in a way not seen since David Bowie. There’s a lot more to say about this, including how delightful I find New Wave influence and whether genuine creativity is dead, but I’m running out of space here.

If this is the direction of pop music, count me in. I’m sort of piqued by the thorough takeover of Top 40 by R&B, and don’t know exactly how much more sex we can cram down the throats of teenagers before there’s a backlash, but it’s pushing the angry rap-rock out of the way entirely, which to me can only be a good thing. (Still wish Lady Gaga would go back to whatever planet she came from, though.)

So, if you want to find me in the next couple of months, look on BitTorrent. I could easily spend my whole salary on iTunes, just like I did that summer almost a decade ago…but there’s a whole computer to fill up for free this time around.