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For more music by Maggie and Sid, see Sid’s YouTube Channel<\/strong><\/a>.<\/span> Here’s a sample.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Unfortunately Fear and greed<\/i><\/strong><\/span> are all too timely in an age of shorters, hedgers, asset-strippers, pussy-grabbers, arrivistes, spivs, liars, cheats, swindlers, environment pillagers, Alfred Jingles, Roderick Spodes, and de Courcey Foulenoughs.<\/p>

Together with Pete Stacey, Maggie and I have occasionally performed as the trio Ouroboros. We once played a kind of ‘pass the parcel’ game where we each, in turn, suggested a chord and finally took the sequence of changes away and composed three melodies based on these harmonies. Maggie’s effort was a setting of Ouroboros<\/strong><\/em><\/span>, lines by the prophetic satirist George Wither (1588-1667). Ouroboros, the alchemical symbol of the serpent that consumes its own tail, is Pete Stacey’s description of my fondness for writing songs that endlessly loop back to the beginning instead of ending with a final cadence.<\/p>

Been here before<\/strong><\/em><\/span> is concerned with epiphanies, those moments of mysterious resonance that come upon us for no particular reason. I’ve arranged it as a mash-up with an old tune of mine from the nineties, Larry, you’re unbelievable<\/em>.<\/p>

Maggie’s Fierce and tender<\/strong><\/em><\/span> is the nearest we come to a blues, musically and lyrically.<\/p>

Pale creatures<\/strong><\/em><\/span> is a song I wrote many years ago to reflect the subject of my scientific research, which concerned studies of aging and lifespan. I’ve used the notation and lyrics as a chapter introduction in my 2016 book Senescence<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>

Finally, there’s The Honest Miller<\/strong><\/em><\/span>. This, too, arose from the subject of a couple of books that I wrote, in which I’ve given accounts of human history from the perspective of food and agriculture. Just about all the performances I’ve been involved in throughout my musical life have been essentially chamber music in scope. Here I decided to go for something symphonic in scale. I’m not sure whether it’s a success, but it certainly makes a grand noise and goes on for ages.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"