“For years, people have been asking me to record an album of classic old songs with beautiful melodies … I’ve always loved the popular music of the 1920s and ’30s and tin pan alley – crooners like Al Bowlly, Ukulele Ike and early Bing Crosby. Words are all important to me, so I have chosen songs with surrealist or odd ball lyrics, and added in a few of my own originals. This is a collection of strange songs with dreamlike, almost surrealistic imagery... From the moody and dark atmosphere in “Street of Dreams”, to the illusions of life and showbiz in “Paper Moon”, the sculptural and pun-filled construction of a spare-parts lover in “The Dummy Song”, and the rollicking “Winchester Cathedral” in which a building is blamed for the loss of love. “Street of Dreams” is surreal vaudeville with a dash of humour. Croon to melt your ears. Thanks to meeting and then performing with the marvellous ”Big Daddy Robbie Long Legs”, and his ability to play anything and everything, then record and produce it all to boot, this dream has become a reality.” Mic Conway 2011 My grandparents were in the world of vaudeville, while my uncles (John and Don Cameron) were renowned singers of musical theatre and opera. This album is dedicated to them. CREDITS MIC CONWAY : Vocals, tenor guitar, washboard, kazoo, harmonica, sound fx, jug, uke, musical saw. ROBBIE LONG : (a.k.a. “Big Daddy Robbie Long Legs” ) Electric and acoustic guitars, mandolin, banjo, uke, bass, drums, stomp, backing vocals. Whoopsy Daisy : Accordian and fiddle. Tony Baldwin : Piano. Jeremy Cook : Kazoo, shakers and some engineering at Jemdrum. Recorded, mixed and mastered by Robbie Long and Sound Ideas Newcastle. Additional recording by Jeremy Cook at Jemdrum. Illustration : Jefferton James. Design and photography : Cathy Kirkpatrick. Thankyou to : Susie, Bridie and Rosie; Ro, Tivoli and Tango; Jeremy Cook, Cathy & Andrew, Gleny Rae Virus, Liz Frencham. And to Cathy for bringing us together... Dedicated to John and Don Cameron, “singers of renown”.