Posts Tagged ‘video’

You just call out my name

Sunday, March 7th, 2010

My request list is way out of control now. There are more than 300 songs at the latest count. I get many more requests than I can possibly do, so I’ve decided to pick and choose from the list. My first selection is “You’ve got a friend” by “James taylor”. People have compared my voice to many vocalists over time, and James Taylor is one of those comparisons. I don’t believe I sound anything like him but that’s my opinion.

Can you hear any shades of Taylor in this:

You’ve got a friend - A Jeffstunes cover

My Dad part 12

The two other drunks apart from my dad that I’ve told you about, worked for a while with my father at a company called “Taylor woodrow” in Greenford. I got the distinct impression that the company were winding up operations on the site they were working on. I remember once being invited to their annual summer party. It was good fun, but I didn’t really know anybody there. I visited his place of work on a number of occasions. I think he was employed in the capacity of some sort of security guard. The site was very larger, with many many buildings. Office and storage. There seemed to be a lack of staff though. It was a bit like a ghost town. I’d say that was probably the perfect environment for my father to work in. Nobody to see him drinking, and he did at work. There were many objects around his place of work, and if they weren’t nailed down, then he would take them. Actually he probably also took some things that were nailed down. By the time his appointment was over, his house looked like a bit like the offices :)

I’m not sure if he ended up getting fired or made redundant from there, but it doesn’t really matter in the end.

My father used to like to give. His gifts consisted of all sorts including precious and valuable items. The problem was that he didn’t buy any of these items. He took them. Something I found out at a later date. So what was bequeathed to me. Let’s see now. After adding it all up it amounts to nothing. He stole them from me, probably to buy more alcohol. I’m not too bothered about that. I’m not really a wearer of jewellery, and i never considered them mine. The brutal truth is that he didn’t have a right to give them either!

So, what does it feel like to be the son of a common thief and an alcoholic?

I imagine it’s no different from anybody else. Most of us disagree with some of our parents actions, it’s just that those of my father were illegal :)

To be continued…

The Youtube figures have been climbing steadily. My average daily viewing figures are roughly between 1,100 and 1,300. Oddly enough though. Occasionally one of my videos gets a boost in viewing figures for no apparent reason. Like one video getting 4,000 views in 2 days. I’m still scratching my head.

The subs are healthily up to 1,183.

The viewing figures for my channel are 27,367 and finally, the overall video views have stormed past the half a million mark and now stand at 521,210.

The current plan for the next vid is another cover version. I’m in the process of doing another duet so I’m not sure if that’s going to come first.

Not like the others

Thursday, March 4th, 2010

89 videos and counting.

The title of this one is “Beautiful freak” and it comes off the album of the same name which was put out in 1996 by the band “The Eels”. It’s one of my all time favourite albums. At the time their music was cutting edge and I was a big fan of their lyrics. I do plan to do another one from this album in the future. The music is very much the same except I only used Piano, Bass, Cello and Strings. This is the result of my efforts:

Jeff Edwards singing Beautiful Freak

Now for part ten of my dad’s story.

My dad part 10.

When I finally caught up with my dad, he was involved in a relationship with a lady called Sheila, who was the mother of two children called Sima and Kashif. She originally came from Tiger bay in Wales, although she certainly had asian roots. The two children absolutely adored my father. From my perspective it seemed like a strange relationship, but then maybe it was just me. His side of the family criticised the relationship, but as I saw it, if they were both happy then it must have been ok. I believe that everybody should be allowed to live the life they want, and befriend the people of their choice. Sheila resided in Southall with their dog Ruffles. Southall being west of London. If you didn’t already know, the bulk of people living in Southall are Asian. From being at the house many times, my father appeared a little bigoted, with negative comments about those from an Asian background. Yet he was having a relationship with one. I can only think that the comments were drawn from the people he mixed with in the past, because he obviously wasn’t a racist. He walked proudly with them among the streets of southall, as did I.

It is possible that his comments may have originated from those walks with the family though, because he told me on several occasions about the dirty looks and insults he received from Asians in the street because he was with an Asian woman. That wasn’t exclusive to him. I experienced a bit of that too, because I also walked with them. So if there was any racism, then it was coming from the Asians in the street who in my opinion were narrow minded to even consider such insult. We are all human beings. They just have a better tan than I do :)

To be continued……

I got out the feather duster and started to do something with my Myspace page. Seeing as it’s been sitting there for a few years now. I thought I’d let people know it’s there :) So here it is if you want to add me:

Jeff Edwards Myspace page

Also I’m going to try and do something with my Facebook page. When I first joined up, it was a very quiet place. Not like now :) I’ll broadcast that too. Here it is:

Jeff Edwards Facebook page

Now the lowdown on the current state of play on Youtube.

My Subscribers have raced forward to 1,061.

The channel views are up at 24,867 and the overall viewing figures for all my videos are 442,298.

Coming up next. I’m not really sure. I’ve got that other Eels song in my mind at the moment, but I have a habit of changing my mind :)

Hardest decision to make

Monday, March 1st, 2010

This is number four out of five original songs on the bounce. This song started out as an instrumental song written by a wonderful Swedish musician called “Ulf Pettersson”. The first time i heard it, I imagined vocals blending into it. I put this idea to Ulf and he was very positive about me trying to make something out of it. Ulf liked a lot of the stuff I did on my own, and there’s a twist on one of those coming soon. Getting back to the focus of this one though. It’s entitled “Swings and roundabouts”. There are some good points about being involved in a relationship. There are also some good points to being single. Some of those don’t mix, and this is the view of someone facing that dilemma in a relationship.

This is what we came up with.

Jeff Edwards and Ulf Pettersson - Swings and roundabouts

You can find a link to Ulf’s website on my own website at:

Jeff Edwards Official website

Here is the continuation of my father’s story.

My Dad. Part 8.

I didn’t realise when I met my father, that he was so much into alcohol. The clues were already there with his nickname of “Woodsy”. I was never that curious, and at that time I was unaware that he earned the name for his liking for “Woods Navy Rum”. Rum was his favourite tipple, though I think anything with a decent amount of alcohol in it would have done. So that’s how I finally found him. Before the knowledge of his exploits. I’m sure there are a lot of people that might criticise his life. I have done myself on occasion. The fact remains that he was my father. I feel no shame in that. After all, he helped give me life.

In the swinging sixties, drink was celebrated. Drugs were also on many menus. My father wasn’t much of a man for drugs. Drink was his vice. That’s not to say he didn’t take drugs, because he did. Though I think that was more for reasons of popularity. He didn’t go seriously into any types of drug, but he did like a bit of cannabis. I remember watching a film with my dad about the sex pistols, and he chuckled knowingly at the scenes of smoking pot in the living room. He recounted the times when the rolling stones were doing exactly the same thing in his mothers bedroom. Now that, I can believe. Somehow :) Apparently, a member of that band resides within a few miles from me.

I will say that my poor grandmother was blissfully unaware of all these goings on. Remember that she thought her son was a wonderful boy, full of integrity. Although she didn’t know these things. Just about everybody else did.

I’ve saved one more celebrity snippet for the next post. It was a tale that shocked me. Tom Jones fans look away. That’s all I am going to say right now.

To be continued…….

It’s Youtube time again.

I now have a total of 975 subscribers. 25 to go.

My channel has been seen 22,848 times.

The total viewing figures fo all my videos is 387,663.

Here’s another interesting stat. To date there have been 5,952 comments on my videos (not including my replies).

The last of the chain of 5 originals is another collaboration with Ulf Pettersson. I’m also going to tell you a little bit more about Ulf.

Right beside you dear.

Sunday, February 21st, 2010

82 videos done now. This latest one is my cover of the full version of “Run” by “Snow patrol”. A number of people have asked me to do this, and I didn’t recognise the song by the name alone, but when I found it and played it, I knew it straight away.

I love the song. I’ve used the imagery of roads and light for the video.

Have a listen and see if you like it:

Jeffstunes singing Run by Snow Patrol

My CDBaby webpage has received over one hundred hits now, and the digital album has been sent to 3 companies to date.

Amazon, Napster and Ruckus. I keep searching on a daily basis to see when it’s listed on those sites. There’s

nothing yet. The merchandise shop is currently under construction. If you would like to listen to some

short samples from my album you can visit my CDBaby webpage at:

Sight Or Sound - Jeff Edwards

Here’s the next installment of the extracts from my fathers life.

My Dad. Part 4.

The relationship between my mother and father didn’t last very long. Their first meeting was when she was going out with someone called Michael. After the break up with Michael, my father just happened to make it known that he was around. They are so different from each other. I think you could only uderstand the union if you had met him. He had an irresistable personality. An absolute charmer. Just about everybody loved him, and a lot of them knew what he was like. Perhaps it was that desire for unpredictability. It wasn’t long before my mother became pregnant with me. I’ve asked her what was the breaking point for her in the relationship, and there were a few things that swung it. One of those was where my father emptied out the electric meter, and left my mother to answer the landlord. My mother would not take anything from anyone, and she felt so bad to be accused of taking the money. In one sense she knew it was him, because apart from the landlord, they were the only two who had access to the house. She could only deny the accusations. The landlord loved my father so much that he didn’t believe it was my father.

The other event that helped to break the relationship was my mother’s eighteenth birthday party. My dad came to the party, but not alone. They were a woman on each arm. I think that would just about do it for most people. I don’t know if he did that deliberately to get her to end it instead of him. Knowing him, I’d say it was certainly a possibility.

So it was all over before I came into the world. My mother married someone called “Jeffrey” shortly afterwards. Now you know where I got my name from. He pleaded with my mother not to reveal to me the identity of my real father. Instead he wanted to pretend that he was my natural father. Everything was fine until his own child came along. There was a noticeable bias torwards his daughter. My mother believed in fairness, so as a counter measure, she showed bias toward me. Unlike my real father, my stepfather had a violent streak, and displayed that to my mother. This resulted in my mother fleeing with me as a baby to places of refuge. One such location was in the attic of a convent. The last time I remember living in the same house as him was when I was about 7. I never realised that he wasn’t my father until I was 18 years old, and i didn’t meet my real father until I was 21. The stories I tell about his life before me have been collected from him and confirmed by other family members. There’s more to come. I can appreciate why my mother tried to keep me away from him in my youth. She feared that I might follow in his footsteps, and I’m glad that she decided upon that course of action.

To be continued…….

Youtube time, and it’s the big race to the thousand subs.

I’ve had some good days over the last week and I now have 938 subscribers.

The channel have increased to 21,815 and the total viewings for all my videos are 364,724. I’m getting well over a thousand a day at the moment.

That’s the last of the cover songs for a little while. I’ve got a string of original songs to upload in conjunction with the distribution of my new album. The first four of these didn’t make the cut for the album.

More low singing

Friday, February 19th, 2010

Now to the 81st video. This was another request, and it’s “Afternoons and coffee spoons” by “The crash test dummies”. I thought I’d have a little fun with the video. You see many people singing behind locked doors, using whatever is available as a mic. Well, I thought I’d expand on that :)

See what you think of my version of “Afternoons and coffee spoons”. There’s a role call of objects in the video description, but I think you’d have to go to Youtube and view it to see that :)

Jeffstunes - Afternoons and coffee spoons

Now for the continuation of some of the events of my father’s life.

My Dad. Part 3.

My Nan lived a majority of her life in “Cowgate road” in the outskirts of of London in a town called Greenford. That place has reminders for a number of people, as I will expand upon later. It wasn’t long before my father became involved in criminal activities. He became involved in a west london gang, and became quite an influential member. Dad couldn’t keep his paws off of other people’s possesions, and at some point during his association with the gang, guns and knives came into play, though there were never any reports of him using any.

I’ve got a couple of interesting tales to tell about this time. One was a robbery that he was a part of. It was an art robbery in Chelsea. He told me that he was running away from the scene with his hands full, across Chelsea bridge, and had to lighten the load. So one of the artworks was tossed into the river thames. If the authorities ever wondered where one of the missing paintings went to. The answer to that question is “At the bottom of the thames”. He hid the rest of his stash in his mother’s attic without her knowledge. So she was quite surprised when the police raided her house and discovered a collection of paintings. They eventually captured him and he paid the price in prison.

One thing that you could never underestimate about him was his silver tongue. He was once arrested for a crime, and was sure to be convicted and imprisoned, but somehow he managed to talk his way out of trouble. He engaged one of the officers in conversation about music. There weren’t many people that weren’t fascinated by music in those times. Anyway, this policeman revealed to my father that he had an old violin. My father enthusiastically suggested he bring it in for him to examine. He managed to convince him that he was an expert in old musical instruments (which he wasn’t). Very soon the officer brought the violin into the station and allowed my father to examine it. My father got very excited about it and he convinced the policeman that this violin was rare and worth money, and he offered him a few hundred pounds to purchase it from him. Now that was an awful lot of money then. The policeman quickly accepted, and my father obtained the funds through contacts, and the result was one happy policeman. As far as the crime my father was arrested for, well he didn’t get charged. Oh yes. The violin. It was totally worthless. I don’t know where my father got the money, but one thing I can be sure about. It wasn’t his own money.

To be continued……

More news about the album. I’ve been getting used to the control panel on CDBaby. It’s pretty good, because it tells me how many people visit my page on a daily basis. Also which companies the album has been sent to for distribution. I think it’s probably reached all of them now. So it’s listed on the likes of Amazon, Itunes, Napster etc.

Check out some clips of songs from my album at:

Jeff Edwards - Sight Or Sound

Here’s the Youtube stuff.

Subscriptions to my channel are now up to 920.

Channel viewings are 21,490.

Total video views are 358,999.

The next one up will be the last cover for a while. It’s going to be “Run” by “Snow patrol”.

If I told you the right words

Sunday, February 14th, 2010

Now I’m going to get all acoustic. This is the last in the selection of my dad’s favourite songs. There are so many he loved, but I decided to do only three together. I might do some more in the future. This particular song is called “Baby can I hold you tonight”. Boyzone did a well known cover version of this song, but I still prefer the original which was by “Tracy Chapman”. It sits on an album of wonderful tracks.

I had a comment recently from someone telling me that I should stop relying on backing tracks. So I sat in front of my camera and played this on guitar. I have to tell you my opinions about backing tracks. I think that there is absolutely nothing wrong with using them. We can’t all play musical instruments, and they can be very useful. How many lead singers of bands just sing? Quite a few to my knowledge. Some people forget that the voice is probably one of the most versatile instruments you can play. So my advice to those using backing tracks. Keep on. If people criticise you for it, then just ignore it. The most important thing above anything else, is that you enjoy what you are doing. Not everybody will like it. Could you tell me any singer that is loved by 100% of the world’s population? Some people love you, and some people hate you. I saw a statement recently that said if you can get just 1% of the worlds population to like what you are doing, then you can consider yourself a success, because 1% is over 60 million :)

Now for the song. I hope you like my gentle take on this wonderful tune.

Jeffstunes singing Baby can I hold you tonight

My Dad. Part 2

My father was very partial to females, and he acted upon his desires many times. One female at a time was not always the order of the day. I was once told a tale of two girlfriends of his. When I raised it with him, all I got was a cheeky smile. They were bi-sexual and having a relationship with each other. The sleeping arrangements for the three of them were one bed, three people. This went on for a time. I wish I was a fly on the wall in the houses of the neighbours. I’d have liked to have known what they thought.

How this man came to be my father is confusing. As you will see when I give you a bit of background on my mother. If fate turned a different corner, then I would have been the son of a certain “Mungo Jerry”. Does the name ring a bell? How about the number one hit “In the summertime”? Mungo was very taken by my mother. After refusal, he asked her why she had refused. The answer could well have put him off for good. Perhaps his pride was dented. When asked, my mother replied “It’s because you are too ugly”. Now I know where I got that compulsion to be honest. Looking at old pictures of him, I have to say I’m inclined to agree. Good call mum :) Though I’m sure there are many women out there that found his very rugged appearance attractive. Just not my mother.

As time passed, the paths of my mother and father crossed. If you took their backgrounds into consideration, you would be scratching your head at the union. My father’s family history was fairly unspectacular, whilst the bloodline of my mother’s family can be traced to the aristocracy of the 19th century. That’s as far as I’ve looked back so far. I’ll probably research the family tree at a later date to see how far I can take it back. I reckon the mothers side of my family will be easy to map out, but I’m not as confident with tracing my father’s roots.

To be continued…

As always, I’m going to finish off with my Youtube statistics. There’s been a bit of a yo-yo effect with my subscribers over the last 5 days, but they have still climbed. Another 3 hve been added overall and the figure is now 893. Channel views are up to 20,958 and the aggregate figure for all the viewings of my videos is 349,427.

So what’s in the pipeline?

I prepared a number of cover versions to put up in advance, so that I could spend time concentrating on my album. I’ll be giving a track listing in the next post. My next few vids are a crash test dummies request, and a rather special Youtube duet with a lady who has a wonderful voice.

My cover of Through the barricades.

Thursday, February 11th, 2010

This is the second of three songs in tribute to my father who passed away. It’s my cover of Through the barricades, originally by Spandau ballet. If you didn’t know what it was about, I’ll tell you. It’s about the troubles in Northern Ireland.

Check it out.

Jeffstunes sings Through the barricades

I mentioned I was going to say a few things about my dad’s life, and so I will. I only know a small part of what happened in his life. Still there’s enough to mention that will astonish even the most resolute.

My Dad. Part 1

I’ll begin with the basic stuff. His birthplace was a place called Hammersmith, in West London. His mum Lily was a loving and kind person, but his father sadly did not live up to that reputation. He was an Irish waiter. The dad used to beat his mother whilst John was there. It isn’t any surprise that he despised his memory. He didn’t stick around for long. His brothers and sisters all share a different surname to him. Fortunately they had a better father. As a child he used to get into many tricky situations. Perhaps an indication of what was to come. Just an indication though. Some of the people he was to mix with in life ended up doing pretty well, and a number of them making quite a name for themselves.

John joined the Navy at a young age. Though he only managed to hold in there for under 4 years before being dismissed. He got a reputation for fighting, and as a gambling man, he used to set up fighting fixtures with side betting. During his service, and many fights, he managed to get away with only one loss. Part way through his service, he decided to take it upon himself to leave the Navy, short of his compulsory term. Hiding with travelling gypsies, and eventually at his mothers house. This is where the Military police finally caught up with him. Picture the scene. The M.P.s talking to his mother on the doorstep, whilst John was escaping out of the back window. He didn’t get very far before they captured him and returned him to Portsmouth.

To be continued…

On another note. This is quite exciting for me. I’ve finally put together my first album. It’s titled “Sight Or Sound”. As finances are stretched to the point of breaking, the availability of the album will be through Digital sales only. It’s been difficult doing everything myself. The performing, mixing mastering and artwork etc. It’s helped with the costs though. It will be on sale in over 40 places apparently. Some of those include Itunes, Amazon and Napster. I don’t want to come across as an anorak, but I was really extremely proud to have got the barcode for the album. Hooray! It now has a global product identity, and that’s official :)

It’s looking like it’s going to be available to buy in about a month from now. Then it will spread to other online stores in the next few months. I’ll be blogging it when it does, and telling about any reviews etc.

Finally, it’s those Youtube stats again.

The subs have climbed up to 890. Only 10 away from 900 now.

The viewings on my channel have passed the 20k milestone, pushing forward to 20,672.

The total video views are now 343,712.

Next up is an acoustic cover. The third of my dad’s favourites.

A tribute to my father

Sunday, January 31st, 2010

In august 2008 my father died. He attained 70 years of age, which was good going, seeing as he was an alcoholic. It was this addiction that finally took its toll on him.

I failed to see him before he passed away. He did his usual disappearing act, before booking himself into hospital. He died only a day later.

He had a very colourful existence, and there are many tales of his adventures, and happenings that surrounded him. He has met a lot of people in his life. Some of those people were and still are pretty well known to many. There are some stories to tell about them too.

I’m will be going over some of those in my future posts.

I can’t say that my father was a saint, because he most certainly wasn’t. He stepped on the wrong side of morality many times, but he nearly always seemed to get away with it. I think his persuasive and infectious personality had a lot to do with it.

I decided to slip in a few of his favourite songs into my Youtube covers. One of his greatest loves in life was music, and he had wide ranging tastes. From the 50’s to the present. I imagine that’s where I got my love for music. The first of his favourites I’ve uploaded to Youtube is one of his all time top songs, “Kingston town” by “UB40″. This one always got him dancing, and dancing is something he liked to do often. Not only on the dance floor, but just about anywhere. This was the song that I used at the end of his funeral. The original version that is.

Check out my cover of it:

Jeffstunes - Kingston town

I’ve got some stories to tell. I don’t really know where i should start. I think I will not do it in any particular order. He was unorthodox, so it seems right. I think I’ve got to be a bit careful about some of the stories because they cause a bit of fuss. I think the use of the word “Allegedly”, is going to be the order of the day. Lol.

Getting back around to Youtube. The numbers have still been climbing well, even though I’ve been away from it for a while.

I’ve now got 851 subscribers. A healthy increase.

The channel viewings are also doing well at 19,745.

The overall video views are now at 320,952. Still racing forward.

I’m looking at getting a few more of my father’s favourites up next. Then some other requested covers, and a couple of original songs.

My star is fading.

Sunday, January 31st, 2010

It has been some time since I last posted anything, and uploaded a video to Youtube. I’ve had a lot to do over the past month, and hardly any of that has had anything to do with music. I attended the wedding of a friend, and I have to say that that it was one of the best I’ve been to. We were very well looked after. Coaches were provided between all destinations, so that we could concentrate on the important things, like raising our alcohol levels :)

It all happened on the Isle of Man. A highlight of the day was a tram that was hired out exclusively to transport us all to the peak of snaefell mountain. A bagpiper joined us. Together with plenty to eat and a sufficient supply of champagne.

I very much enjoyed the whole thing, and was extremely pleased for them both, that the event went so well, and the weather took a break from raining.

I eventually got around to recording a few cover versions. This particular one is another Coldplay song called “Amsterdam”. It was from their album “A rush of blood to the head”. This one is in my top 5 Coldplay songs. The vid just shows a collection of pictures. I didn’t spend that much time making the video. The song is quite important to me, and perhaps it only needed some images :)

See what you think :)

Jeffstunes covering Amsterdam by Coldplay

There are a number other things I’ve been getting up to in the past month, though I’m not going to bother writing about it. It would fill several pages. I’m just update the Youtube stats.

I may have been neglecting my Youtube channel, but the numbers have still been increasing very well on their own.

I now have 806 subs. I was hoping to get to the 1,000 by the end of the year, but at this rate, it looks like it’s going to pass that sooner.

Channel viewings are now up to 18,423. They are rolling along well.

Last, but by no means least. The total video views have inreased to 291,498. The 300k landmark is less than 2 weeks away now.

I have prepared another cover version, and I am hoping that i can spend some time making the video amusing. It’s another “Crash test dummies” song. I’m hoping I can put that up quite soon. Rather than wait another month :)

This is Viva la vida

Thursday, November 19th, 2009

I chose to do a different song, but stay with the same group. Coldplay. After I had put up “Violet hill”, I got a large number of requests to try “Viva la vida”. Too many requests to ignore really. So I set about recording that one. It’s another one from their latest album with the same title.

I know that some people think that it’s a bit of a cop out to do cover songs to backing tracks, but I always find a use in everything I attempt in music. I really want to improve my production skills. It’s ok to record all the right bits for your song, but if the mix doesn’t sound right, then all your efforts are for very little.

One of the aspects I’ve been concentrating on is vocal production, and I’ve been trying to match that of the original song. It’s made a big difference to my ears, and it’s teaching me how to produce my own voice in relation to the different types of music.

I’ve implemented vocal boosting on this song. Plus low to moderate plate reverb in the verses. I’ve used the Chorus effect and a heavier plate reverb in the choruses.

This is the result. Viva la vida.

Viva la vida - Coldplay cover by Jeffstunes

Now for some up to date figures from my Youtube account.

Subs have come and gone, but yesterday I awoke to the pleasant sight of 6 new subscribers. That puts the figure at 727.

The channel views are now up at 16,529.

My total video views have done it! They’ve broken the quarter of a million views. All of this within a year of posting my first video. The current figure now stands at 254,512.

I’m hoping I can now do that old album track cover that I said I was going to do in the first place :)