Eddie said: “As you can probably imagine, how do you write six songs about a bridge? I usually end up using a process of creative journalism. I get a few facts or even just a single fact and then I let my imagination take over. With each album early on in the writing process I draw a blank and think there’s nothing here I can write about but as you will know as a journalist yourself, there’s always something to write about; it comes eventually.”
Eddie is a contemporary of Dougie MacLean and the late Michael Marra and was probably on the same trajectory until his mid twenties when he decided to walk away from it all and get a proper job.
After getting married Eddie moved to New Zealand where he did several jobs, including editing a small newspaper, before starting his own electronics service business.
Retirement has allowed Eddie to continue writing songs and he took the time to explain his inspirations to the Edinburgh Reporter.
He continued: “I read an article about Columba Cannon and it was the name that got me and that gave me the first line of the song “He is a bridge builder wi a missionary zeal” Has to be with a name like Columba. He sounds like a really great guy so I’ve only said good things about him.
“Fishnet Bridge is completely different. I see the song in a meditative light. The bridge is a thing of beauty and looks like a big fish net glistening high above the Forth but it is a symbolic fishnet and the song takes the form of an imaginary conversation with the bridge.
“Midday starvation came from an article which highlighted the isolation of the workers working high up on the bridge. If you forget your piece you’ve had it and you starve for there’s no nipping round to the corner shop for a pie. The article also said that a local pizza delivery firm regularly delivered a pallet load of warm pizzas to the bridge so that was “midday salvation”
“Sketches o’ the Q.C. is one take little piano piece right off the top of my head. It literally took seconds and I quite liked it so I used it.
“The Boys Frae The Cheese is a play on words. I read an article that said The Forth Estuary Transport Authority (FETA) could have acted sooner and avoided the costly closure of the bridge at the end of 2015.
“Wind shields is a nostalgic look at the old bridge being at the mercy of the wind with a hope that the new wind shields will fix the problem and allow it to remain open despite the best efforts of “Big Boreas” to close it.”
John graduated from Telford College in 2010 with an HNC in Practical Journalism and since then he worked for the North Edinburgh News, The Southern Reporter, the Irish News Review and The Edinburgh Reporter. In addition he has been published in the Edinburgh Evening News and the Hibernian FC Programme.
