Anne Gair

DEBUT ALBUM

Debut album ‘Cigarettes and Smokescreens’ available now on limited edition vinyl, CD and digital download. It is now also on all streaming platforms. This page is where you will find exclusive information, lyrics  and images

Album of the week - Celtic Music Radio Nov 2025

Third place - Album of the Year

“In ‘Cigarettes and Smokescreens’, Gair has delivered a remarkable debut … it flows as confidently as the incoming tide” (Neil King, Fatea Magazine)

“(White Horses) What a lovely song, beautifully written. A masterpiece” (Paul Johnson, Folking.com)

Cigarettes and Smokescreens

Anne Gair

Debut album for Anne Gair. Physical release on limited edition white label vinyl (numbered, signed and dedicated) and on CD. Available to buy now from Last Night From Glasgow
https://tinyurl.com/Anne-Gair-Buy-Album

 

At 20 years, she thought she was a princess and marry James Dean
He woo-ed her with flowers and a washing machine
He said he was her king and would make her his queen
And 50 years on, she wonders what the hell that means

And the waves roll in, and the sun still shines
And the lazy birds sing the same song ah ah ah ah ah…
She hoards her hopes in boxes in the depths of her mind.
She hides them ever so well so they’ll never be found.
She polishes her dreams and writes them on the soles of her shoes.
She cries to the wind...and she howls at the moon.

She says - ‘Save me, unfetter me
This future should not have been mine

And the waves roll in, and the sun still shines.
And the lazy birds sing the same song ah ah ah ah ah…

 I thought I’d be a dancer
 I thought you’d be a silver screen star.
I thought we’d have ten kids
And drive the latest sports car
I thought we’d see the world 
And share a bed under the stars
I thought we’d rent a spaceship
And travel to Mars….

One day he came to her and said, ‘I need you to be free
I know you’ve spent your whole life looking after me.’
She said, ‘My bones are tired and I’ve got chains on my feet
You’re all I’ve ever known, and I’m too afraid to leave’

And he said, ‘Save me, unfetter me.
This future should not have been mine.’

 

Look at the picture now
I don’t know how it came to this
House full of broken dreams
And cigarettes and smokescreens

He likes all the old haunts
Half smoked joints
He’s got a mouth full of
Crooked compliments
She spoke in perfect paragraphs
Now epitaphs of who….

She used to be
She used to be

He’s rotten
And she’s smitten
This is going to be a long
Slow burn
Til there’s only embers to remember
The girl…..

She used to be
She used to be

Look at this picture now, of broken dreams, I don’t know how
He likes all the old haunts, full of crooked compliments (Cigarettes and smokescreens)
She toasts the devil and the deep blue sea and sits alone in her finery
You know this is going to be a long slow burn (Embers to remember)

She used to be
She used to be

 

I don’t know when
You’re going to let me in
I’m just a child
In this old skin
Take it from me
You don’t know everything
So many blank spaces
Still to fill in

But I know I love you still
Please know I love you so

And the stars, they shine for you
And the universe is aligned for you
And the skies are blue for you
And the whole world is waiting for you

I promised myself
Not to hold on
You’ve got to lace up your own shoes
If you’re going to move on
Take it from me
I don’t know everything
I’ve so many blank spaces
I’m trying to fill in

But know I love you still
Please know I love you still

And the stars, they shine for you
And the universe is aligned for you
And the skies are blue for you
And the whole world is waiting for you

 
 

Come steal away
Lay your tired bones next to me
We’ll stop time
And in this moment, you’ll be mine

Come and we’ll fly over the moon

Here in this breath
We’ll remember our tenderness
Re-draw the line
Between freedom and loneliness

Come and we’ll fly over the moon
All too soon the day will come

Come and we’ll fly over the moon
All too soon you will be gone

So steal away

 

I ache to save you
But you think you’re not worth saving
But I can see right  through you
And what I see is beautiful
So I offer a hand
Try to understand why you 
Hide yourself away from the world

I do adore you
But you don’t know how to be adored
And you walk away
Cos you don’t know how to take it
When I offer a hand
Try to understand that I could
Help you find a way to to the land of

Hope
Where we could be free
To believe
How life could be

Maybe when we’re older
You will understand that I love you
And maybe you’ll let me hold you
And you’ll know I'm on your side
When I offer a hand
Try to understand that I could
Help you find a way to the land of

Hope
Where you could be free
To believe
How life could be

 

Oh Jimmy
Favourite son
Nothing but luck since he was born
Tall and handsome
Full of charm
He was born under a real good sign
But he howls like a dog ow-ow

Oh Jimmy 
Wed the love of this life
And still it wasn’t enough
Every day he preened and said
I deserve so much more than I’ve got
And he howls like a dog ow-ow

The grass looks greener on the other side
I’m gonna give my luck a try

Oh Jimmy 
Be happy inside
You’ve a mighty fine woman by your side
You're full of whisky, ego led
Don’t you know its all inside your head
And then he cried like a dog ow -ow

The grass looks greener on the other side
I’m gonna give my luck a try

Oh Jimmy
You can’t fool me
I’m not that blind you see
I see you running round the town
You’re trying to be a hoochie coochie man
And then then he howled like a dog ow-ow

The grass is greener on the other side
I'm gonna give my luck a try

Oh Jimmy
Your woman’s gone
When you went out and you had your fun
She doesn’t need your love that bed
You’ve lost the best thing you’ve ever had
And then he cried like a little dog ow-ow

The grass isn’t greener on the other side
And I cast my love aside
The grass isn’t greener on the other side
Don’t cast your love aside

No no - no no no no no
Uh uh - uh uh uh uh uh
Ooh ooh - no no no no no
No no


 

 
 

Oh won’t you come over and dance in the kitchen with me
We’ll have some fun and we’ll make something nice for our tea
Oh won’t you come over and cut some shapes with me
Cos I love your face and I like your company

We’ll fall in la la la la la la la la love
La la la la love, fall in love

I’ll do the Moondance and you do the cha cha cha
I’ll play the spoons and you play the oom pah pah pah
I like my salad and you like your steak tartare
I’ll shake me hips and you shake your ooh lah lah lah

We’ll fall in la la la la la la la la love
La la la la love, fall in love

We’ll fall in la la la la la la la la love
La la la la love, fall in love
La la la la love, fall in love
La la la la love
Fall in love

 

You aim your insults at my forehead
My shield was a smile
But you sure got me on the rebound
In the quiet dark of the night
They came reeling through the air
Caught me unaware in the shadows
Piercing slumber and shattering peace

You put your sadness on my face

I see your smile, your face
From a different place, with a different hue
Fostering mistrust
Now you’re wolf running, words hurling
As they tumble through the air
Til they fall one by one 
And get tangled up in my hair

You put your sadness on my face

You're not bringing me down
Bringing me down
Bringing me down
You're not bringing me down
Bringing me down
Bringing me down

You watch your face 
As you smile n the room
My God
You always seem so confident
But you bring me down every time

You put your sadness on my face.

You're not bringing me down
Bringing me down
Bringing me down
You're not bringing me down
Bringing me down
Bringing me down

 

He is a bear
I love the weight of him
He is an island
And I melt into his shore

And oh how he watches
As I glisten and I crinkle in my skin
And oh how he holds me
When my white horses come crashing in to him

He is a lighthouse
And he guides me home to safely
He is my anchor
And he saves me from drifting out to sea

And oh how he watches
As I glisten and I crinkle in my skin
And oh how he holds me
When my white horses come crashing in to him

And we toast to the devil and the deep blue sea
And we cherish the moments that lie in-between
Cos he's safe and he's warm
And he's always home to me

And oh how he watches
As I glisten and I crinkle in my skin
And oh how he holds me
When my white horses come crashing in to him

And we toast to the devil and the deep blue sea
And we cherish the moments that lie in-between
Cos he's safe and he's warm
And he's always home to me

Yes he's safe and he's warm
And he's always home to me

 
Anne Gair Vocals, Guitars
Maria Quinn  Piano
John Inglis Electric Guitar (2,4,6,7,9)
Ian Murray    Bass (2,4,6,7,9)
Alan Thomson Fretless Bass (1,3,8)
William Bowes Drums (2,4,6,7,9)
Paul Jennings  Drums (1,3,8)
Kirk Lothian Hammond (6,9)
Maria Orlowska Cello 
Lesley Woodbrooks Violin 
Ewan Mains  Trumpet

All songs and lyrics written by Anne Gair. All rights reserved.
Recorded, mixed  and produced by Andrea Gobbi at GloWorm Recording LTD, Glasgow
Mastered by Andrea Gobbi at Carrier Waves, Glasgow
string arrangements by Maria Quinn