A song for peace

“We Can Sing Together”: Words by Brute Force, a singer-songwriter once on The Beatles’ Apple label

My latest release is “We Can Sing Together,” a song for peace with lyrics by Stephen Friedland, aka Brute Force, who was once on The Beatles’ Apple Records label. I first met Stephen online back in 2020 on the ReW & WhO? show, which went live as a virtual open mic from New York every week. I was immediately impressed when I heard Brute Force perform “King of Fuh,” and wasn’t surprised Beatles George Harrison and John Lennon wanted this song on Apple.

I had been invited to New York based singer-songwriter and actress, Rew Starr’s show by our mutual friend, Paul Richmond, aka Zest, who thought I would fit in well with the community of singer-songwriters and musicians who joined Rew for some music and chat. He was right. I loved performing on this virtual stage and hearing and watching the other acts, who soon were to become my friends.

The Fuh King

I was soon to learn too of Brute Force’s amazing story, which goes back to 1969, when he actually had a phone call from Harrison to tell him the song “King of Fuh” was going on Apple Records. As a singer and songwriter, Friedland had already had success by being a member of The Tokens and by penning songs for established acts like Del Shannon, The Chiffons and The Cyrkle. He had an album released in 1967 as well. But getting the news he had the support of The Beatles was of course, a dream come true. This was his really big break, or so he thought.

Now “King of Fuh” is a whimsical ditty about the “Land of Fuh,” and its king, and everybody loves it. Harrison was so impressed by the song that he had strings overdubbed onto the basic recording, which had been produced by The Tokens. Tragically though, although there was a limited pressing of 1,000 copies of “King of Fuh,” EMI and Capitol Records were having none of it. Lyrics like “All hail the Fuh King,” and “The Fuh King did what he wanted to do,” were deemed unfit for public listener consumption and the release was stopped going any further. However, times they change, and over 40 years later “King of Fuh” was included with hits by James Taylor, Badfinger, Mary Hopkin and others on Come and Get It: The Best of Apple Records, released in October 2010.

There is a connection to Whitstable Views too, because Brute Force is included in my book Earth Spirit: Saving Mother Ocean (already featured on this site), and endorsed it.

Now fast forward all the way to May, 2024 when I was delighted and surprised to receive a message from Brute Force with the lyrics of “We Can Sing Together,” and asking me if I could come up with the music. I felt honoured to be given this opportunity to collaborate and sat right down with my guitar to see what tune and chords I could find. I soon had a melody and chord structure so recorded a basic version on my computer and sent it to Stephen to see what he thought. I was glad to get his reply saying he was happy with what I had come up with. I wanted to see how the song would be received by an audience and if I could get them singing along.

There was an Open Mic Lisbon happening that weekend so I decided to play “We Can Sing Together” there and to wear my “Who is this Fuh-King Guy?” t-shirt. My shirt provided the perfect introduction to the song, which was very well received, and yes, I did succeed in getting the crowd to sing along with parts. I mention this because it forms another important part of how this story plays out. I decided I would get a professional recording made here in Portugal so I contacted my friend, local producer and studio owner, Ricardo Verdelho. I had used his VerdelhoStudio in Quinta do Conde where I live to record my songs “Time For Ocean Aid,” and “Mother Nature Rap,” and was very happy with his work as a producer. I booked some time at the studio and a week or so later the big day arrived. I went along to Ricardo’s studio and played him the song he was about to be working on, and was delighted to hear his suggestion. Ricardo said he could hear a choir of children singing behind me, and said he thought he could make this really happen. Naturally, I said, yes, please, see what you can do. Ricardo is a music and singing teacher besides being a studio owner and producer, so the possibility was very real.

Choir

We recorded the song with me playing guitar and singing it, and I left the recording with him to produce and mix, and to see if he could sort out having a choir behind me on it. Another week or so later I had a message from him to say he had been successful, had got parental permission for the children, and was going to record a bunch of his students singing backing vocals he could include on the final mix and master. When that had been done Ricardo invited me along to hear the results and when I was at his studio he went a step further by saying he would love to make a music video to go with the song. He had taken the step of adding strings to the track too, which with the children’s voices made the song just what I was looking for.

Ricardo also suggested an ideal location, a place I knew well. It was the Boa Aqua Amphitheatre in Quinta do Conde, and where the Zbigens Festival was held just a year or so back. The stage has very colourful graffiti and pop-art that would look so great as the background, especially if I was wearing my psychedelic shirt, which along with peace symbols and rainbows has the image of a bowler-hatted hippy guy wearing John Lennon style shades. Anyone seeing the shirt immediately noticed the similarity between me and the hippy dude on the shirt. I thought Ricardo’s idea would work so well and left it with him to arrange a date and time. I had decided I wanted to get the song and video released on 1 August, and Ricardo was due to go on holiday, so there was a bit of a rush for him to film me performing the song on stage with the children but everything was accomplished. “We Can Sing Together” song and music video was completed on time.

Since then we have been looking for as much airplay and publicity as possible that the song can get. Central Magazine, published in the Algarve, gave us a two-page feature (pages 42-43) in which I got to talk about the song. And “We Can Sing Together” was recently included on the album Let’s Have a Rockin’ Christmas, Various Artists Vol. 9, released by Monique Grimme on Bongo Boy Records in time for the Festive Season just gone. But Brute Force and I really want our song to be as out there on the world stage as possible. For example, we would love it to be used in the next Olympic Games.

Our transatlantic collaboration shows that people of three countries can work together, we can sing together in an effort to bring peace to the world.

We are peacemakers. “We can Sing Together” ties in well with my song for peace, “A Real Love and Communication,” and Brute Force’s album titled Planetwork, which includes his “Pledge of Allegiance To The Planet,” which I have a poster of on my wall.

I pledge allegiance to my planet,
And to the universe,
All around and within me,
One Spirit indivisible
With eternity for all.

Our message is simple: we are all humans living on an amazing planet in an even more amazing universe. It is our home. Let’s quit being influenced by any of the isms that keep us divided. Let’s stop fighting, let’s live in PEACE!

BruteForce® is a registered trademark of Stephen Friedland and registered with USPTO.

Steve Andrews

Also known as The Green Bard, Bard of Ely, and Green Beard, Steve is an iconic figure who has featured in books, on radio and television, and also in film. He is, in his own right, a musician, a writer, a lifelong environmental activist, a sometime television presenter, a poet, a Britain’s Got Talent feature act, and a champion fighting against climate change, the destruction of trees, and plastic pollution. His power animal is the butterfly, several species of which Steve rears and nurtures in his spare time. Steve is based in the UK and Portugal, but has fans all over the world. https://www.bardofely.org/

WEBSITES:

https://steveandrews.info/https://linktr.ee/steveandrews
https://www.instagram.com/bardofely/https://bardofely.bandcamp.com
https://www.reverbnation.com/bardofely https://www.facebook.com/TheBardofEly/
https://twitter.com/bardofely

BOOKS: Herbs of the Northern Shaman, Herbs of the Sun, Moon and Planets, Herbs of the Southern Shaman, Earth Spirit: Saving Mother Ocean (all by Moon Books)

PUBLICATIONS: Big Issue Cymru, SWND, Kindred Spirit, MyHerbs, Permaculture, Welsh Coastal Life, Celtic Life International, Mediterranean Gardening and Outdoor Living, Bee Culture The Magazine of American Beekeeping, National Federation of Occupational Pensioners, Prediction, and Living Tenerife magazines, Tenerife News, Tenerife Weekly and the Tenerife Sun newspapers, as well as the Huffington Post, Whitstable Views, Tripedia and Ancient Origins websites.

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