29/6/26 We lost yet another dear friend to cancer in 2022. I felt very honoured that she asked me to sing Gounod’s Avé Maria on her final sendoff. Because I’d been doing a lot of DADGAD, I worked out the chords and it worked surprisingly…
Fun song in Dutch for the new king of The Netherlands by Simon Oak, written in 2013. Lyrics Ach werd ik maar geen koning Ach was ik maar geen prins Ach was ik maar gewoon Onbekend en onbemind Maar ik ben zo geboren Uit mijn…
Protest song in Dutch by Simon Oak written in 2017 in response to Erdoğan’s dirty game of sneakily sending a Turkish minister to Rotterdam, in spite of the clear objection from the Dutch government, just days before the Dutch national elections. At the time of…
Slow children’s song in Dutch that Simon Oak wrote for his three year old. It’s about a little beetle that wished it had a mustache and it tells the story of how it gets it. Lyrics Daar was een heel klein torretje Dat had een…
Inspired by a news item in 2018, Simon Oak wrote this true-story-song about Rhodri Philipps, an arrogant English aristocrat, a racist, a convicted criminal, and a Leave-voter in David Cameron’s anti-EU Referendum that started off the UK’s highly damaging Brexit process. Philipps issued a £5,000…
Tribute by Simon Oak to one of Ireland’s most famous singers, Christy Moore. Simon: “I’ll never forget my first steps through the streets of Dublin. It was on 30 September 2013, after the Mountshannon Trad Festival with my fiddle friend and priceless Ireland guide, Jan…
Ballad by Simon Oak about the White Tailed Sea Eagles of Mountshannon, Co. Clare. The song was written for the Song Writing Competition of the 2013 Trad Festival, where the theme was to celebrate the successful breeding of these mighty birds at a nest near…
Simon Oak’s protest song in Dutch to address Joost Klein’s cruel choice not to boycott the Eurovision 2024 and join a song contest with people who cheerfully represent a country that’s in the middle of committing a genocide. When asked why, Joost called himself a…
Protest song against Israel’s genocide in Gaza. Lyrics I wished the drones above my head were song birds Singing at the dawn to start the day I miss the shadows of our lofty palm trees Everything is rubble now and grey I wished my lovely…
Uptempo song about a bus driver who doesn’t care where she drives the bus as long as she can hold the wheel. She respects ‘the will of the passengers’ and watches how a couple of them they fight. She’d steer the bus right off the…