A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | I | J | K | L | M | N | O | P | Q | R | S | T | U | V | W | X | Y | Z

A

1. Absent Friends. I was going to a party where I'd be expected to sing a few songs and it occurred to me that I hadn't written anything new for a few weeks. We all have some kind of reputation to live up to and as mine was song writing I threw this together for the occasion.
2. Aces High.
3. Aids.
4. Ain' It Hard. Circa 1970.
5. Alderney. As with all of my other songs, everybody's real
6. Amber. This is the original song by this name. See also below.
7. Amber. The words to this were written by Amber Marks ( daughter of the famed marijuana smuggler) after visiting him in prison. The melody was loosely based on Return To Yesterday which I'd just written. If you want the words to this you'll have to shell out some greenbacks for Howard's book, "Mr Nice".
8. And It's Hard.
9. Anytime. Early ramblings from yours truly.
10. Apology. Serious stuff this.
11. April Fool. My response to a scandalous bank bill I received.
12. Audrey.

B

13. Backstreet Bedsitter Blues. I don't care what anybody says. This is a great song.
14. Ballad of Berkeley Bird. Probably influenced by Dylan's early stuff. Those songs were all the ballad of something or another.
15. Ballad Of Mary Louis And Buck Williams. Typical of my early stuff. Full of protest and anger.
16. The Banks of the Liffey. I didn't know any seventeenth century traditional Irish folk songs so I wrote this one.
17. Bar Room Blues.. This is the real world. Everybody knows everybody in this one.
18. Beautiful Dreamer. Beautiful song.
19. Behind the Cardboard Windows.
20. The Belligerent Pariak.
21. Big Book is a tribute to Phil Christenson who sadly died of an overdose back in the seventies. A few years ago I had a drink with him. O.k. so own up, who is dead.
22. Black Cat. A night in the life of Dave Keats in Saigon. A few Swedish guys were responsible for my actions that night. Well, that's my story and I'm sticking to it.
23. Bread. Yep. you got it. This is one and the same as the British sit-com.
24. Break In Song. I wrote a whole load of songs on my first trip to Canada in 1973. This is one of them which I put together after a prowler came a prowling.

C

25. Chin Chin. Very David Bowieish.
26. Christmas Again. I've seen more than a few since this was written.
27. Coleen B the Third. This is my pubescent wet-dream.

D

28. Daddy's Car. I was obviously in pretty good spirits when I put this one together.
29. Dear John. Man, this is really heavy stuff. I can't imagine ever being so low to write something like this. Maybe I'd been listening to Leonard Cohen the night before.
30. Death Of A Nation.  It's a pity that these stories have to be written.
31. December. This is really old. Part of my teen output
32. Deep In The Heart of the Canyon. Everybody dreams about something. This is three minutes of dreaming.
33. Dem Inner City Blues
34. Different Point Of View. I'd just seen a full frontal shot of Carly Simon (what a body) which has no baring-excuse the pun-on the words at all. I guess the melody is Carlyish though. This is really old. Part of my teen output
35. Dolly Parton's Tits.
36. Doctor Alberto's Last Christian Crusade To Antarctica. Conversely Other Continents Or Territories As Yet Uncharted. This has nothing to do with nothing, but if nothing else it's probably on top of the list of longest titles. You'll get nothing for knowing that though.

E

37. Epitaph. Despite being the same as any other kid when I was growing up I guess this shows that I had a few very serious moments.
38. Epitaph To Viet Nam. Short and to the point.

F

39. Falling To Pieces . It makes sense to me. Make of it as you will.
40. The Fifteenth of July. A teenage thinking song.
41. Fisherman's Tales. I wrote this after meeting Rambling Jack Elliot. The song has nothing to do with him but it just seemed like the kind of song to write.
42. Freezeout. Marti. This one's for you but you know that don't you?

G

43. Goin' To the Seaside. School day ramblings
44. The Great American Dream. American by name and American by nature
45. Gypsy Dan God. I must've been about thirteen when I wrote this

H

46. Happy Blues. My response to somebody who criticized one of my songs for being too miserable.
47. Happy Song. As Happy Blues.
48. Harper's Bazaar. Roy Harper I love your music man. And here's the proof.
49. Hate Song. And why not. I wrote Love Song.
50. Heading For New York. A country bumpkins lament.

 

I

51. I Call It The Blues.  This is oh so very true of my lifestyle at the time even though some of may be somewhat vague.
52.  

I Crashed In The Subways Of The Sinners. I was really getting my act together as a songwriter when I put pen to paper for this.

53. I'd Crawl Away and Die. My contribution to the sixties druuuuug culture. Hey Dylan. This shoulda bin on Highway 61.
54. I'd Never Sing This A Song. I wrote it and then discarded it. That's par for the course for any prolific contributor though.
55. I'd Take the Old Days. Written in the old days
56. I Gotta Go. Wrote it ten minutes after saying "I gotta come". No but really....
57. I Got the V.D. Seventies anthem. Nobody would sing along though. I wonder why.
58. I Just Wanna Be Alone. A one man sing along
59. I Know I'm Blue/Narcotic Rag/Reading Prison Reel. Influenced by Loudon Wainwright the Third. I was nicknamed Loudon......The Fourth at one point. That was due to my dancing not singing though.
60. I Know My Song. At least I used to. This is ancient
61. I'm Glad I'm Dead. I did a whole load of kooky stuff in the seventies. This is one such exhibit of kookiness
62. Immigrant Blues. Self explanatory
63. In My Hometown. Extremely vitriolic
64. I'm On Suicide. Great rocker. Don't be fooled by the title.
65. In A While. My version of the events when Margaret Thatcher met Michael Gorbacev on his first trip to Britain. This is probably the only time in history that the Iron Lady has been called "the lady with the enigmatic smile"
66. Iron Curtain It's pretty obvious what this is about. Somewhat dated now but it served it's purpose at the time.
67. I Saw God was written after a gig I did where at the back of the room, sat alone, and saying not a word to anybody was a guy who looked just like the average persons conception of what God would look like: beard, long hair, sandals, the works. And it wasn't until I enquired about him that I learnt that he even had the initials JC. Originally on Shaenea
68. It Doesn't Matter. Not exactly the happiest song in the world, but where would we be without Bruce Springsteen?
69. I've Crashed In The Subways Of The Sinners.  Real heave druuuug stuff.

J

70. Jemma Lee Highway Rag. Very David Brombergesque.
71. Joanne. Sloppy, luvvy, dovey urgh.
72. Just A Simple Tune In Open G

K

73. Kid. All about Johnny Rotten and the infamous Sex Pistols boat trip up the Thames.
74. Kilroy. Famed for his writings on toilet walls.
75. Kings 'N' Blizzards. Seventies thang. No not thing....thang.
76. Kit Bag Blues. Its over thirty years since I've played this.
77. Knock Knock. Ronnie Biggs. This one's for you.

L

78. La Rosignol. Don't know why I opted for a French title. Can't even speak the lingo.
79. Last Stand. Well it's the story of somebody's life.
80. The Last Thing On My Mind. Every word of its true except the story.
81. Lookin' For America. This really is a superb song. Kristofferson has Bobby McGhee and I'm still looking for America.
82. Lost In Space. I was really breaking out into six minute epics when I wrote this.
83. Love Song. Nothing more or less than......
84. Love Song In Wedding Suite D. I kinda half stole the title from Crosby Still Nash & Young.
85. Lucky Thirteen. This was written for Sarah Bolton at Rough Trade records. It was the first time that I'd ever received a positive response to a demo, and upon being asked to submit more material I found myself with twelve songs that I felt suitable and three minutes of spare tape, so I wrote this to fill the gap.

M

86. Magic Carpet Ride. Oh boy. I think I must've been dropping too much acid when I wrote this.
87. Make Sure My Mother Goes First. This is heavy stuff.
88. The Man Who's Got No Friend. Early ramblings from yours truly.
89. Marti. What a body. What a lady.
90. Miami Girls. Lyrically insignificant but a nifty little number all the same.
91. The Mimico Ball. Mimico is a place in Toronto. I wrote this while I was there in 1973.
92. Mother Theresa. She should be canonised but I've said that in the song already.
93. Movie Set. I was turning out ten songs at a time when I wrote this. Obviously some of them had to have mediocre titles.
94. My Haven.

N

95. Nobody's Fool.

O

96. Oh Mama. One of those that you just have to listen to the words.
97. Old Laira. Laira is an area of Plymouth where the subject of the title lives. She was a wren who went to serve her country in the Gulf War.
98. Outside Looking Back. Man. I really did write some good stuff in the seventies.
99. Overkill. This is especially close to my heart as it's one of the umpteen songs I've written about my time in Rio with Ronnie Biggs. Every word of this has great significance to me, though to the uninitiated I appreciate that it could be somewhat vague.

P

100. Paradise. Patti is real and so is every single word of this. Thanks for being my port in a storm. Or was I yours?
101. Partially Goodbye. Old as the hills this one. Well not quite..
102. Pat 'n 'Patricia. Written specifically as a male/female duet.
103. Photograph. I know. You've all read the Viet-Nam stories before but this ones one of the better ones.
104. The Proverbial Halter-Neck. Very much a fun song. It's nuts.

Q

105. Queen. Nothing to do with her or his namesake.

R

106. Rags 'N' Riches. Very up tempo. A good rocker.
107. Rainman. One of my several efforts to the Gulf War.
108. Rastaman. I wrote this for, and in turn sent it to UB40. I didn't get a reply.
109. Return To Yesterday. I wrote a whole bunch of songs with specific artistes in mind. This one I wrote for Tina Turner. O.k. so she didn't record it. It's still a great song though.
110. Rick and Delores. This is from way back when....
111. Right Down To The End. I wrote this after meeting Rambling Jack Elliot. It has nothing to do with him. It just seemed the right thing to do at the time.
112. Right Little Shit. Inspired by, though not necessarily about Maradonna. This is really close to the bone.
113. Rocking In The Aisles. A little bit of rock'n'roll religion for you.

 

S

114. Shoot To Kill. This is my contribution to the A.I.D.S. cause.
115. Sixteen Hours.
116. Sixty Four Dollar Question. This is a belter. At the time I was writing so much that it was impossible to perform everything which is a pity. This would be great live.
117. Society's Fist. I was obviously in one of my "let's protest about something" moods when I put this together. I had a lot of 'em in the sixties.
118. Some People Get All the Luck. This song didn't bring me any though.
119. South Across The Border. I wrote the video in my head for this before I wrote the song. I can just see it now. Chickens, sunsets, the works.
120. St Helier. Written before I'd even visited the place.
121. Strawberry Head. A joint effort shared with Lyndon Pullin
122. Sweet Berlinda. It's ironic that I've since sponsored a child in Ghana and her name is.....Berlinda.
123. Superstar. I won't insult your intelligence by explaining this one to you.

T

124. 'Tain No Use In Dreamin'. I still like this even though it's over twenty years old.
125. Take Me To The Temple. For an ex lover. Her family name was Temple
126. Talkin' Richard Nixon Blues. Self explanatory.
127. Ten Days Inside A Cooler. Nothing special about this.
128. Ten Wheel Drive. An excuse to show off on harmonica.
129. Ten Years Of Loneliness. Late sixties.
130. That's All. A friend and I had journeyed to the south of England for the first U.K. performance of the Detroit band MC5. On route we were propositioned to make love in a bar with all the clientele watching. We declined and fucked them on the subway with everyone watching instead. The song is as crazy as the story.
131. The Fool Who Wasn't Satisfied. This is my futuristic dream. Or is it?????
132. The Letter. An early poem that made tit to music.
133. The Ones Who Say Nothing Starve To Death Every Day. . Oh boy. Real angry stuff this.
134. The Prince and Lady Midnight. Modern day romance. My version of the events between Charles and Diana.
135. Thinking. This took about two minutes to write. Very spontaneous.
136. This Life's Too Big. So is the title. A love song to the nth degree.
137. Through The Door. Another early thing.
138. Too Young To Worry Too Old To Care. I love this title. Put it on my headstone. This song is an epic in every conceivable way.
139. Trick Of The Mind. And yet even another song about my time in Rio with Ronnie.
140. True Before Dark
141. Twenty Four Hours. Straight out of the papers. The only thing that's changed is the story.
142. Twenty-Two Blues. I played so much harmonica in the days when I wrote this.

U

V

143. V C Drinker. Very true and Corporal Jones is still alive to the best of my knowledge.
144. Venezuela. I put this together on a lazy Sunday afternoon with a friend of mine called Mike Lezala (ex of Legend) after I'd returned from a trip to.....I won't insult your intelligence

W

145. What Kind Of Religion. Not what you'd expect.
146. When The Day Is The Day. The only song to take more than thirty minutes to write. It took eight years.
147. When The Whip Comes Down. This was my reaction to the videotographer at my brothers wedding who messed up the video. Da Vinci was the videotographer, Mona Lisa

the bride, and everybody else are the inevitable drunks and fools that always seem to congregate at such events.

 

148. Where The Delta Meets Infinity. This one's for Delta McCloud, a great rock guitarist. He's the guy playing on "I'm On Suicide".
149. White Dove was written for John and Mona, two friends who left Jersey to live in Dubai. They both worked at a wildlife preservation zoo and John's father was the Bishop of Liverpool. Hence the line "the primate looks across the great divide".
150. Wish I Was A Schoolboy Still
151. Woman
152. Women's Lib. Speaks for itself.
153. World War Blues. About the reproductive functions of an iguana.....No, but really. 
154. Writing On The Wall. A good love song.

X

Y

155. You Can't Win Anyway. Up tempo. Yeh yeh yeh.
156. You Come Inside Me Despite it's title, this has little, if anything to do with sex. This is my tribute to Janis Joplin Hence the references to Pearl, Tell Mama, Cry Baby etc.
157. You Loved Me All The Same. Another love song.

Z

 

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This page was brought to you by Dave Keats January 2007