Lower Sunbury’s Keith Munday has been a struggling songwriter all his life. His dream is to write a successful song and be in a position to raise money for the appropriate charities linked to our armed forces. His father George Munday fought in WW2 and survived. Keith shares his creative process with us:
“I wrote a song not knowing what it was going to be about. I woke up early one Sunday morning a year ago with the first line and a melody of a song in my head. I quickly grabbed my recorder which I keep on my bedside unit and sang softly “Let’s not think about tomorrow it’ll only make you cry”.
I glanced at the clock and it as was still early 6.15, so I lay back down and closed my eyes. I thought, this sounds like a song for Don Williams (one of my heroes by the way). I lay there wondering what the next line would be. I sang the first part again in my head and in a flash the second line came to me, “Let’s just lay here in the darkness and pretend it’s not goodbye”. I sang again into my recorder and I knew there and then, I had the chorus and hook for a new song.
I was wide awake now and excited, wanting to work on the song. I crept out of the bedroom, grabbed my guitar from my music room and went downstairs. I closed the door to the living room, so as not to wake my wife Maggie and scribbled down the lyrics that I had so far onto a pad. As I strummed on my guitar, I found the right key and jotted down the chords to the melody. I thought “this sounds good, .the only problem now is what’s the song going to be about?”
I came up with the line for the verse “A soldiers life’s not an easy one, many lives are in your hands”. The words made me think about our boys and girls out in Afghanistan. Also the soldiers in WW2 like my Dad, who survived, and others like him, who may not have been so lucky. That was it, the words just flowed, I finished writing the song by 8.30 just as my wife opened the living room door and asked what happened to her tea in bed?
“Let’s Not Think about Tomorrow” tells the story of a soldier’s last night at home, before returning to duty. It depicts the concern he/she has for a partner’s worries and fears, then tries to reassure their loved one that things will be all right, that they must put aside the fact that they must part the next day and enjoy the time they have left to spend together.
Timed with the centenary of WW1 this year, Keith has also set up a Public Facebook page called “Armed Forces Loved Ones”
It’s a message board for all Armed Forces Personnel around the world where they can post photos and send messages to their loved ones. It is also somewhere for their families to post. Keith is hoping that Ex servicemen & Women from WW2 onwards and WW1 relatives will also use this page to try and contact one another, to re kindle old contacts and memories. Maybe Sunbury Matters Reader’s who have some connection with The Forces, will post some pictures on the page, to get it up and running. If you have any stories or photos please post on the Facebook page.