Secret Garden is the name of the resort I used to run on Koh Samui famous for the Live Music sessions every Sunday. The words of the song reflect the original idea I had when I started in 1990 - 1, but to make the song less obvious I moved the setting to SOCAL, Mexico and Baja. It waas some fanciful dream I had, which worked for a while but gradually became stale, not for the music, but for the inability for the locals in that place to follow basic laws of respect, culture, nature and consideration, all in the name of greed. A real shame for the inhabitants of Koh Samui. I played this song Live many times on stage at Secret Garden with The Big Buddha Blues Band, with Barrie Manso doing lead vocals. On this studio version, I play all instruments myself.
LYRICS
(I’ve Got a) Secret Garden
Down Baja way there's a place where we can go,
Down the Highway, just a few miles north of Mexico,
I’ll save a few dollars, give up my job
Put civilisation right out of reach,
Get the kids out of school, sell the car,
Buy a little shack on the beach.
Down on my beach there’s a world which co-exists
Without wives, without cities, without businesses,
I’ll live on your interest, live real cheap,
Learn how to live off the land,
Learn real values, meditate on the beach,
I might even start up a band!
Well it ain’t Big Sur, and it ain’t like the Rio Grande,
It’s just a life under palms mixed up with sea and sand,
For just a few dollars you can live on the beach,
Put your worries behind you and bring up your kids
To be aware an be one step ahead.
Down Baja way,
I’ve got a secret garden,
Down Baja way,
I’ve got a secret garden,
Down Baja way,
I’ve got a secret garden,
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About Indus Rush…, aka Stephen Whitby. That’s the artist name I use as the vehicle to release my music to the wider world. After Years of travelling, firstly as a child, and then throughout my adult life, I now reflect upon some of the stories, relationships, experiences and journeys I went through, and put them into the catchy songs I create in my Dalbeattie Studio in South West Scotland, under the name of Indus Rush. I especially like to write about places I’ve been to and incidentally, the very name “Indus Rush” actually comes from one of those places, Attock, in the Punjab, Pakistan, where the Indus river rushes past carrying the snows of the Himalayas down to the Indian ocean, past the old Fort.
As a child I listened to the great Bands and producers of the 60’s, 70’s and 80’s including Brian Wilson and George Martin and the Beatles, and had many other favourites such as the Kinks, the Small Faces, Gong, Caravan, Kayak and Klaatu. Most of the music I loved bordered on rock and pop, reggae and symphonic. Most of these genres are present in Indus Rush tunes.
I am a Londoner by birth, but after 10 years in the Netherlands, 20 in Thailand, and having lived 3 years in Pakistan as a child, I speak more of an international English now, as well as Dutch, French and Thai. I’m heavily influenced by a World culture, which is plainly audible in my music. I sometimes consider myself as the dreamer in Lennons’ “Imagine” – no religion, no countries or borders, I wish they didn’t exist, but I’m not naive enough to overlook human nature’s quest for belonging, for nationalism, greed and of course man’s power hungry behaviour. You can sometimes hear this in some of the more gritty lyrics in my songs, “The Love Ambassadors” for example.
Whist in Thailand I managed and ran the famous Secret Garden Sunday music session, and as a direct result of that I had the opportunity to play with many pro musicians. Amongst others I played with many exciting musicians including Adrian Fisher (GB), Sparks guitarist famous for the lick in “This Town Ain’t Big Enough…, Hans Vermeulen (NL) of Sandy Coast and The Rest, and producer of Stars on 45, Jaap de Jonckheere (NL) of Urban Heroes, G Carlsberg (NL) of Herman Broods Wild Romance, Matt Kelly (USA) of The Grateful Dead, Kingfish & New Riders of the Purple Sage, Wolfgang Rohde (D) of Die Toten Hosen, Ian Fisher (USA) of The Cowboys and John ‘Sparko’ Sparks (GB) of Dr Feelgood.
I now share my time between Scotland, Thailand and the Netherlands, but produce my music wherever i happen to be when the inspiration hits me.
Find my music and earn crypto listening on
