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It was Paul Simon that wrote on the back of his LP 'The Paul Simon Song Book': "I start with the knowledge that everything I wrote will turn and laugh at me. It is discomforting, almost painful to look back over something someone else created and realise that someone else was you." I remember being puzzled by these sleeve notes at the time, because everything I wrote I firmly believed and identified with, then.

The songs that make up 'Ghosts' were written as early as 1971 and as late as 1997 with the majority being written in the seventies. At the time they were my diaries, my confidants. Nearly all the people I ever fell in love with or hated the sight of are immortalised in these songs. But the fact remains that now, the feelings, the white heat with which I created these songs are gone, long gone. All the girls I fell in love with, all the reasons for which I wrote these emotional ditties (when the words were mine, of course) now mean nothing to me. Now I understand what Paul Simon was getting at! But what remain here are some of the best songs I ever wrote. I plan this collection to be the first of three, god willing. I wrote nearly two hundred songs in those years, including the show songs from Stag and Marilyn, which have a permanent and special place in my heart. The remaining 150 or so have been whittled down to about three dozen that I am still inordinately proud of. Here are the first twelve. I hope you enjoy them as much I do.

Chris Dumigan - April 2009

The lyrics for all songs on 'Ghosts' can be found here.

10 Popular Songs - Vol. 2, arranged by Chris. Available from Lathkill Music Publishers.

Well, here it is! Once again I have arranged ten songs from all musical walks of life for classical guitar in the hope that players will get much pleasure out of them, and hope that they will find some use in any number of musical environments, whether they are private or public.

The music ranges from 'Brother, Can you Spare A Dime' from the days of the depression, to show songs such as 'Memory' from Cats, and 'Feed the Birds' from Mary Poppins. Also covered here are film music 'We Have All the Time in the World' from On Her Majesty's Secret Service, and the haunting harmonies of 'Women of Ireland', used to spectacular effect in Barry Lyndon as originally played by the Chieftains. Finally there is a smattering of classic pop/rock melodies such as Cyndi Lauper's 'Time After Time', and Brian Wilson's 'God Only Knows'. I do hope you enjoy them.

Contents:
A Groovy Kind Of Love - Mindbenders/Phil Collins
Feed The Birds - Sherman Brothers
Love Is Blue - André Popp/Pierre Cour
Brother, Can You Spare A Dime - E. Y. Harburg/Jay Gorney
We Have All The Time In The World - John Barry/David Hal
Time After Time - Cyndi Lauper
Memory - Lloyd Webber
Women Of Ireland - Traditional
God Only Knows - Brian Wilson/Beach Boys
And I Love You So - Don McLean

10 Popular Songs, arranged by Chris. Available from Lathkill Music Publishers.

As a result of copyright difficulties, it was 2-3 years before Ten Popular Songs was published, but it became, and remains, one of Lathkill's biggest sellers.

Contents:
Vincent - Don McLean
And I Love her - Lennon/McCartney
Scarborough Fair - Traditional (arr Dumigan)
Scarlet Ribbons - Danzig/Segal
Killing me softly With His Song - Gimbel/Fox
The Skye Boat Song - Traditional (arr Dumigan)
Sealed with a Kiss - Udell/Gold
A Londonderry Air - Traditional, arr Dumigan
Dream a Little Dream of me - Schwandt/Andree/Kahn
Let There be Love - Grant/Rand

Review of 'Ten Popular Songs'

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It was on a rainy night of September 1971 at St.John's College in Manchester that I first met Chris Dumigan, guitar case in hand, looking every inch a bedraggled muso!

A shared interest in music and an ambition on my part to play lead guitar in a rock band despite having no actual musical ability (punk rock would not appear until much later!) cemented our friendship.

In the ensuing years I have seen a talent that continues to impress me both in its quality and range. As Musical Director of the Genesis Theatre Company during the seventies his writing and arranging with partner and wordsmith Chris Fogg led to a prominent local radio station referring to them as 'Manchester's answer to Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice'. Their work was featured at the prestigious Royal Exchange Theatre on more than one occasion.

As a respected classical guitarist Chris has transcribed the complete recorded works of Agustin Barrios in seven volumes. These transcriptions are rapidly establishing themselves as the definitive reference edition for some of the world's leading guitarists. He composes pieces for one, two, or three guitars and a composition entitled 'A Garland of Grainger' was premiered at the Brighton Festival in1997 and has just been published. A piece for guitar and flute has recently been completed and is due to be debuted this year. He is also on the review panel of 'Classical Guitar' magazine.

In singer/songwriter mode, Chris is a prolific writer with some 120 titles to his credit spanning the last 30 years. He is presently working on a showcase CD of his favourite compositions.

In the last three years, Chris has played as part of the guitar trio 'Acoustic Moods', arranging and performing songs by Genesis and creating 'suites for guitar' from well-known musicals.

As if all this were not enough, this CD highlights yet another facet of his musicianship - the ability to take a well known tune and arrange it in a way that sets it apart from other 'easy listening' guitar music. A classical guitarist bringing classy arrangements to classic tunes.

I hope you enjoy listening to Chris Dumigan as much as I have during our long association, and if anyone does need a lead guitarist in a rock band - speak to Chris - he can almost certainly do that as well!