Friends And Influence

from Sweet Optimism by Alun Parry

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    “IF YOU HAD FRIENDS IN HIGH PLACES, YOU’D BE ABOVE THE LAW…”

    Acclaimed storyteller Alun Parry returns
    with a set of broadsides & ballads from the other side of the mirror

    Nobility isn’t a word often associated with songs. Nor is it often written in the same sentence as Woody Guthrie-worshipping socially conscious storytelling songwriters. But Alun Parry’s work contains multitudes and is brimming with noble thoughts and music. The Scouse storyteller has sold albums and filled rooms across the UK for two decades, but his fans have noticed a shift in focus: he plays fewer gigs, records more songs and releases more music than ever before. Why? No matter how hard he tries, he can’t stop writing:

    “This latest set of songs are stories about how we live our lives. Yes, there’s politics, but there’s also personal struggles, humans having histories and meditations on navigating life,” he reveals. “These songs have enabled me to break out of the folk straitjacket and work within other genres to best tell the stories I want to tell.”

    There’s confessional songwriting in the quietly-devastating If I Should Reach The Night Again, funky musings within Friends And Influence and even a finger-pointing anthem to challenge Parry’s seminal My Name Is Dessie Warren in the gallant The Ghosts Of Your Grandfathers. “I hope there’s some optimism in there, too,” he smiles. “No matter what we go through, we need hope. And we’ll always need each other.”

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lyrics

He saw a book on body language at the local library

Now when you scratch your face he scratches his face too

It tells him how to build rapport and he follows it blindly

Now he’s using it on you



He found a guru on the way to win a lady

How to give compliments that subtly undermine

Precariously she is clinging on to his maybe

Keeps her dangling on the line



Though they cheer and thank the Lord

You know deep inside that you’re just a fraud

Though you say it does no harm

All these ways you coax and charm

But you haven’t got a clue

Because none of this was you

Every single word you speak

Well it’s just some cheap technique

No one knows who you really are

When you’re just an avatar

Did it need so much pretence

To win friends and influence



He learned persuasion from Dr Bob Cialdini

Now he can make you do whatever he wants you to

And his charisma is magnetic and so appealing

Ah but none of it is true



Though they cheer and thank the Lord

You know deep inside that you’re just a fraud

Though you say it does no harm

All these ways you coax and charm

But you haven’t got a clue

Because none of this was you

Every single word you speak

Well it’s just some cheap technique

No one knows who you really are

When you’re just an avatar

Did it need so much pretence

To win friends and influence

credits

from Sweet Optimism, released August 22, 2022

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Alun Parry Liverpool, UK

Known as the UK's Woody Guthrie, Alun Parry's music is uplifting, soul stirring, defiant, and tons of fun!

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