Shooting From The Heart

- Lyrics / January-March 2026 -

An anthology of all the known lyrics by the Irish singer/songwriter Paul Murphy created during his final writing spell in early 2026.

Despite being severely disabled by a muscle-destroying auto-immune condition at this point, in the space of just 120 days an astonishing 125 works were crafted, including the epic, unfinished screenplay-in-verse 'Stowaway'.

Among the topics covered, many of the lyrics unsurprisingly deal with ruminations on life, and mistakes made during it ['Not That Sorry (To Leave It All Behind)', 'Would Anybody Care', 'A Life In 2 Pages', 'I Gave All I Could']; other subjects dragged under the spotlight of the caustic pen of this long-time social campaigner include rising divergency in England and Trump's America ['Past The Point', 'Values '26', 'Sacrificial Lambs', and 'Have A Nice Day', a swingeing excoriation of the tactics of ICE]; domestic abuse ['The Illusion Of Love' 'Malevolent Torment (A Strong-Stemmed Rose)', 'It's Not Love']; some of the darkest-ever songs on broken relationships ['Mercury Kiss', 'Open Wounds Closed Exits', 'If Only We'd Never Met', 'Gallows Of Love']; and, experienced first-hand, the contemptuous attitudes of society, and charities, to the disabled ['Here To Help', 'The Letters After Your Name'].

As ever, several allegorical tales and 'mini-movies' were composed ['The Ballad of Old Luke Moore', 'The Demon's Lair', 'Always Just Love' and the 111-verse 'Stowaway']; and also included is a re-written/re-nuanced version of the epic 1994 morality tale, 'Sadly; As A Storm', looking at the two lovers therein from a distance of several decades on.

This collection presents a stunning series of narrative works - thought-provoking, heartbreaking, tumultuous, angering, caustic and inspiring - all told in the unmistakeable lyrical style of a true master of cinematic poetry.

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Also included is a fascinating song-by-song essay, 'Even If No-One Hears, You Still Have To Speak', in which Paul discloses the back-story to each lyric, and the circumstances to its creation, and, as extra bonus material, there are reproductions of all the existing handwritten manuscripts, and images taken from online performance videos.

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Fate's Dealin' Out Marked Cards Again Today [excerpt]

Born on the run with a blindfold on

I'm pushin' a stone that's been glued to the floor
Somethin' looks familiar - I've been here before
They'll only pat your back to find out where your wallet is to
Every mistake has the weight of the world
What's in that potion that you're giving a swirl?
There's a stranger in my bed - maybe you

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