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Wherever you see the icon to the left of the title, it signifies a link at the bottom of the song page to hear it in Real Audio.

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. Alderney. As with all of my other songs, everybody's real
3. Amber.The words to this were written by Amber Marks (daughter of the famed marijuana smuggler) after visiting him in prison. The melody was taken from another song 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".
4. Anytime. Early ramblings from yours truly.
5. Apologies To You. Serious stuff this.
6. April Fool. My response to a scandalous bank bill I received.

B

7. Backstreet Bedsitter Blues. Every word of this is true to how Jersey was when I first moved there.
8. Ballad Of Mary Louis And Buck Williams. Typical of my early stuff. Full of protest and anger.
9. The Banks Of The Lifey. I didn't know any seventeenth century traditional Irish folk songs so I wrote this one.
10. Bar Room Blues.. This is the real world. Everybody knows everybody in this one.
11. Beautiful Dreamer. Beautiful song. Even though I do say it myself.
12. Big Book is a tribute to a very good friend who 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.
13. 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.
14. Bread. Yep. you got it. This is one and the same as the British sit-com
15. 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.
16. Bun of Hair. One of my earlier songs.

C

17. Cheese On The Chandeliere. This is my out of retirement song.
18. Chin Chin. Very David Bowieish.
19. Christmas Again. I've seen more than a few since this was written.
20. Coleen B the Third. This is my pubescent wet-dream.

D

21. Daddy's Car. I was obviously in pretty good spirits when I put this one together.
22. 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.
23. Death Of A Nation.  It's a pity that these stories have to be written.
24. December Night. This is really old. Part of my teen output
25. Deep In The Heart of the Canyon. Everybody dreams about something. This is three minutes of dreaming.
26. Dem Inner City Blues
27. 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
28. Dolly Parton's Tits. I wrote this whilst in Canada in 1973. A Canadian duo called Maclean and Maclean recorded and started singing it live and numerous others have since recorded it after hearing them. I did quite a few gigs in Canada and can only guess that they stole it from me at one of them. The latest version I've heard of is by Roy (Chubby) Brown.
29. Doctor Alberto's Last Christian Crusade To Antarctica. Conversely Other Continents Or Territories As Yet Uncharted. This has nothing to do with anything, but if nothing else it's probably on top of the list of longest titles. You'll get nothing for knowing that though.

E

30. 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.
31. Epitaph To Viet Nam. Short and to the point.

F

32. Falling To Pieces. It makes sense to me. Make of it as you will.
33. The Fifteenth of July. A teenage thinking song.
34. 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.
35. Freezeout . Marti. This one's for you but you know that don't you?

G

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

H

40. Happy Blues. My response to somebody who criticized one of my songs for being too miserable.
41. Happy Song. As Happy Blues.
42. Harper's Bazaar. Roy Harper I love your music man. And here's the proof.
43. Hate Song. And why not. I wrote Love Song.
44. Heading For New York. A country bumpkins lament.
45. Hedgehog's Knees. Written in Bali as a part of my renewed enthusiasm for songwriting.

I

46. 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.
47. I'd Crawl Away and Die. My contribution to the sixties druuuuug culture. Hey Dylan. This shoulda bin on Highway 61.
48. I Got the V.D. Seventies anthem. Nobody would sing along though. I wonder why.
49. I Just Wanna Be Alone. A one man sing along
50. 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.
51. I Lost My Casserole. In the same vein as my other recent offerings
    
52. I'm Glad I'm Dead. I did a whole load of kooky stuff in the seventies. This is one such exhibit of kookiness
53. In My Hometown. Extremely vitriolic
54. I'm On Suicide. Great rocker. Don't be fooled by the title.
55. 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"
56. Iron Curtain. It's pretty obvious what this is about. Somewhat dated now but it served it's purpose at the time.
    
57. 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
58. It Doesn't Matter. Not exactly the happiest song in the world, but where would we be without Bruce Springsteen?
59. I've Crashed In The Subways Of The Sinners.  Real heave druuuug stuff.
60. Ivor's Got A Kite.  Written in Bali 2016 when I decided to come out of artistic hibernation.

J

61. Just A Simple Tune In Open G

K

62. Kid. All about Johnny Rotten and the infamous Sex Pistols boat trip up the Thames
63. Kilroy. Famed for his writings on toilet walls.
64. Kit Bag Blues. Its over fifty years since I've played this.
65. Knock Knock. Ronnie Biggs. This one's for you.

L

66. Last Stand. Well it's the story of somebody's life.
67. The Last Thing On My Mind. Every word of its true except the story.
68. Lookin' For America. This really is a superb song. Kristofferson has Bobby McGhee and I'm still looking for America.
69. Lost In Space. I was really breaking out into six minute epics when I wrote this.
70. Love Song. Nothing more or less than......
71. 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

72. Magic Carpet Ride. Oh boy. I think I must've been dropping too much acid when I wrote this.
73. Make Sure My Mother Goes First. This is heavy stuff.
74. Marti. What a body. What a lady.
75. Miami Girls. Lyrically insignificant but a nifty little number all the same
76. The Mimico Ball. Mimico is a place in Toronto. I wrote this while I was there in 1973.
77. Mother Theresa. This was written before she was canonised.

N

78. Nobody's Fool.

O

79. Oh Mama. One of those that you just have to listen to the words.
80. 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.
81. Outside Looking Back. Man. I really did write some good stuff in the seventies.
82. 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

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

Q

R

88. Rags 'n' Riches. Very up tempo. A good rocker.
89. Rainman. One of my several efforts to the Gulf War.
90. Rastaman. I wrote this for, and in turn sent it to UB40. I didn't get a reply.
91. Return To Yesterday. I wrote a whole bunch of songs with specific artistes in mind. This one I wrote with Tina Turner in mind and submitted it to her record company with a note to that effect. O.k. so she didn't record it but if you don't try!
92. Rick and Delores. This is from way back when....
93. 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.
94. Rocking In The Aisles. A little bit of rock'n'roll religion for you.

S

95. Shoot To Kill. This is my contribution to the A.I.D.S. cause.
96. Sixteen Hours.
97. 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.
98. 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.
99. 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.
100. St Helier. Written before I'd even visited the place.
101. Strawberry Head. A joint effort shared with Lyndon Pullin
102. Superstar. I won't insult your intelligence by explaining this one to you.
103. Sweet Berlinda. It's ironic that I've since sponsored a child in Ghana and her name is.....Berlinda.

T

104. 'Tain No Use In Dreamin'. I still like this even though it's over twenty years old.
105. Take Me To The Temple. For an ex lover. Her family name was Temple.
106. Ten Days Inside A Cooler. Nothing special about this.
107. Ten Wheel Drive. An excuse to show off on harmonica.
108. Ten Years Of Loneliness. Late sixties.
109. That's All. Some friends 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 but did what we did with them on the subway with everyone watching instead. The song is as crazy as the story.
110. The Fool Who Wasn't Satisfied. This is my futuristic dream. Or is it?
111. The Letter.
112. The Ones Who Say Nothing Starve To Death Every Day. . Oh boy. Real angry stuff this.
113. The Prince and Lady Midnight. Modern day romance. My version of the events between Charles and Diana.
114. Thinking. This took about two minutes to write. Very spontaneous.
115. This Life's Too Big. So is the title. A love song to the Nth degree.
116. 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.
117. Trick Of The Mind. And yet even another song about my time in Rio with Ronnie.
118. True Before Dark
119. Twenty Four Hours. Straight out of the papers. The only thing that's changed is the story.
120. Twenty-Two Blues. I played so much harmonica in the days when I wrote this.
121. Two Legged Chair. Written as a part of my childrens educational series.

U

V

122. V C Drinker. Very true and the last I heard Corporal Jones was still alive. That was when I wrote the song though and nobody lasts forever.
123. 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

124. What Kind Of Religion. Not what you'd expect.
125. When The Day Is The Day. The only song to take more than thirty minutes to write. It took eight years.
126. 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.
127. 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".
128. Who Stole The Eagle From The Pantry Another of the songs I wrote in Bali in 2016.
129. Wish I Was A Schoolboy Still. This is one of the first songs I wrote that I can remember feeling really satisfied with.  
130. Writing On The Wall. The subject of this song is still a very special person in my life.

X

Y

131. You Can't Win Anyway. Up tempo. Yeh yeh yeh.
132. 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.
133. 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