Some of my songs from the last four years, in raw format, are up on SoundCloud. They are all, unprocessed first drafts. Part of a book I am writing, but I hope to actually turn them into an album someday. I welcome your help, but I don't have an income to afford mastering or editing. I have hundreds of songs, if anyone is looking to buy a song, let me know. None of this work is really in a format I feel presentable yet, but I just wanted to put up what I have been doing here. The 12 songs below were written between April and August 2020. The songs on SoundCloud are a mix of the last four years.
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4/17/20
Be Kind
(A Quick Song Writing Challenge - Wrote this after watching Josh Haner’s photography report from NYTimes Climate. We are in the midst of Covid-pandemic, my hip is killing me and I’ve waited 8 months for surgery. What else can I do but distract myself with songwriting attempts and random art efforts... pray to all the Gods. It’s rough out there. Be kind.)
Are we going to double down or are we going to leave?
This is our home, the only place we've ever lived
The sea is swallowing our ancestry and town
We have no choice but to leave or we'll surely drown
It's the end of live the way we've always lived
It's a new world and we're not prepared for this
The truth's worth telling
We'll get through this somehow
We need help to survive
and we need to be kind...
It takes time to change, so be kind
It takes time to change, so be kind
It takes time to change...
Be kind...
Be kind...
It takes time to change so be kind.
Video with vocals/acoustic guitar on YouTube
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4/18/20
Song for Kesha...
(Kesha's songs always make me laugh. I wrote this and immediately thought of her.)
I’ve got socks with rainbows
I’ve got socks with clouds
I’ve got pink socks with watermelons
And I’ve worn them inside out
But I’ll tell you a secret
It’s something you’ll never guess
Until it comes to you
You’ll understand it best
Never have Sex with your socks on
Never have Sex with your socks on
Never have Sex with your socks on
That’s with I’m singing this song
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4/27/20
I'm going to ride my bicycle (Moondance)
Songwriting challenge with the world Bicycle in it. Written on guitar while just playing around...
I'm going to ride my bicycle
Swiftly to the Sea
I'm going to ride bicycle
oh, won't you come with me
I'm gonna blow you kisses
gently in the breeze
I'm gonna blow you kisses
oh, won't you set me free
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5/6/2020
For Lukas... 1
I want you
I want me
I want us
I want them
To be free
You’re beautiful to look at
I love your guitar
But you’re so far away from
The places I’ve gone
I’m probably not the one you need
I’m not even a crumb in your bag of weed
I don’t smoke because it makes me sick
I don’t mind others who want to do it
But it’s not what I need
I don’t want my life to revolve around weed
Just like you said in that song so clear
You’ve got to focus on the music
For me to stay near
I love you like a child
But Singing and guitar are what make me smile
I love you so much
But you’re miles away
I love you so much
But you’re miles away
I wish I could help you see
It’s totally different being me
Learn something new
Read a book
Bike anywhere I can to get unstuck
Try to help my sons understand
It’s not what’s on the outside that matters
It’s all within
If you could be better
Would you try?
If you could love someone different
Would you deny them the chance
To show you their best?
Would you make them take a test?
Or would you just let them be
And see if they learn to be free
It’s never about what you think it is
It’s always an illusion in the midst of all the pain (shit)
The masks we are wearing to save the day
Can’t fix the games we continue to play
Can you see me for who I am
And still not run away?
Can you love me for my choices
And still tell me to stay?
I want you
I want me
I want us
I want them
To be free
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5/14/2020
Look, there's a Cardinal
(Continued... Written in the Winter Snow, a year ago in Connecticut, but added to as I saw the cardinals back in the Spring) Video with accapela vocals on Youtube
----
There are 3 ways I write songs:
1. Like this cardinal song, adlib.
I started this song a year ago, in the winter. Now that the cardinal is back, I started singing about it again. This is how I write songs “most of the time”- I just start singing about what I see or am feeling, trying to fit it into a rhythm or pattern I have already created. Sometimes, these thoughts just come out in a burst, like when I can’t find my hat or keys and then I start singing about it.
2. With guitar.
Other times, I will be playing guitar and hear something I like, then start to sing words over it.
3. Finally, I might hear something in my head and write the lyrics out on paper that rhyme, but have no notes to them yet. Later, I can go back and set them to music.
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Look there's a cardinal
Red colors, black beard
Sings a song so sweet and clear
Sings a song so sweet and clear
Look there's a cardinal
Red colors, black beard
Sings a song so sweet and clear
Sings a song so sweet and clear
Look there's a cardinal
Red colors, black beard
Makes me wish that you were here
Makes me wish that you were here
Makes me wish that you were here
Here,
here
here
My Dear.
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(New parts, ad-libbed this Spring)
Look there's a cardinal
sitting on a branch in a tree
Staring out at you and me
Look there's a cardinal
Pink flowers, green leaves
Drinking on my cup and tea
Thinking about you and me
Look there's a cardinal
Looking all around the world
Wondering what's next to do
taking a rest from me and you
Look there's a cardinal
Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, ooooh
Look there's a cardinal
Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, ooooh
Just outside your window
Just outside your window
Look there's a cardinal
Just outside your window
Just outside your window
Can you see what I can see?
Can you see what I can see?
Cardinal in a tree
A red cardinal in a tree
A red cardinal in a tree
in a tree
in a tree
sittin' there for you and me
you and me
you and me
you and me
Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, ooooh
Look there's a cardinal
Wondering when he's gonna fly?
Wondering what's his alibi?
Wondering where he'll go tonight?
Tonight,
Tonight...
__________________
5/14/20
You can’t break my heart
I’ve got a force field the size of Violet Parr
I can be invisible when I want
You can never break my heart
Who am I kidding, I’m crushed everyday
Like the tiny black ants that won’t go away
Take me back to your sweet face
Your warm embrace
Anyplace but this disgrace
Can we save the world, or is it too late?
I’ll wave my arms and save your heart
I’ve got a force field the size of Violet Parr
I can make a safe haven when I want
You can come inside and share my love
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5/15/2020
Criminal (Gleaning)
Criminal (2020) - SoundCloud
This is kind of about Jeff Bezos, CEO of Amazon, and Trump... but it’s also about extreme wealth and poverty at this time. One file should be a vocal track and then I just made a guitar track that I started it out with. I called the song “Gleaning” but I re-named it “Criminal” so it’s a bit confusing.
Every song has new meaning
What is it, that we're gleaning
From this time?
So revealing
What is your sacrifice?
What is wrong and right?
People looking for a way out
There's only hope
or extreme doubt
tell me you're not changed by this
because, if you're not I can only admit
That you're a criminal
You're a pirate with exteme ego
You don't have a heart
and I want to shout out, thru every mask
how we are all defenseless
with out basic rights
with out the food we need to survive
So you go play your games
Ignore the rest of us
but we all agree
You're a criminal
You're a pirate with exteme ego
You don't have a heart
and I want to shout out, thru every mask
how we are all defenseless
with out basic rights
with out the food we need to survive
So you go play your games
Ignore the rest of us
but we all agree
You're a criminal
You're a criminal
___________________
5/22/2020
For Lukas... 1I
(E) They took away my favorite flavor
(Am)they took away my favorite food
(C)they took away my favorite city
(G)they even stole my favorite boots(D)
Tonight I’m tired and pensive
saw a photo of you online
yeah, the AI says I want you
but I don’t believe it half the time
So I’ll just go ride my bike
I’ll pretend I’m next to you
Maybe dancing to your slow song
Maybe dancing to your slow song
Maybe telling you the truth
So I’ll just go ride my bike
Into the stillness of the night
I think of you on the fence
I think of you on the fence
Smiling in the sunlight
Maybe I’ll get to see you on the other side
Maybe then we’ll go for a ride
Maybe then we’ll go for a ride
Pull your horse right next to mine
Look me straight in the eye
I blush and turn away
I can’t believe you’re by my side
If even for a night
There are no worries in my mind
From your laughter there is light
From your light you make me real
From your light you make me real
It’s so easy to love you
From your radiance I heal
But then I remember
this is just a dream...
So I’ll go ride my bike
into the stillness of the night
I’ll think of you on the fence
Smiling in the sunlight
Smiling in the sunlight
_______________________
6/21/20
Somewhere Beautiful and Green (Acoustic Guitar)
Somewhere Beautiful and Green (Acoustic Guitar)
for Lukas III...
(with a nod to Hawaiian tree swings, rafts, Karin, Mark, Lois and Charlie, Val and kids, Bethany, Marc and Fam)
(with a nod to Hawaiian tree swings, rafts, Karin, Mark, Lois and Charlie, Val and kids, Bethany, Marc and Fam)
On Instagram as a video with acoustic guitar, here.
(D)You know I really (Dsus2)want to meet you (pluck EGB)
(D7) I wish I didn’t have to stay here
(5th fret C)But there’s nothing that I can do
(Chord progression:
7th fret- 3 finger Jimi Hendrix chord,
5th fret - 3 finger D, Dsus2)
I just have to wait ‘til it’s all better
You know I really want to meet you somewhere beautiful and green
Where they ride rafts along the river
Where they swing from Banyan trees
So I try not to dream too much
Cause your memory is so sweet
It’s bound to give me a head rush
And make me stumble from my seat
—-
Can’t understand what it’s like to be you my life was nothing like yours
I just want to put on different shoes
And try to walk a mile without getting sore
Just want to walk a mile in your shoes
So I can try to understand
What it’s like to be you
How you feel to be a man
When I don’t have the strength
to find my path
I don’t know the way to go
I have too many callings
And no place that is my home
—-
If you could teach me to play the way you do
Maybe I wouldn’t be so scared
I’d make music for the people
I’d play with gratitude and flair
I’d never write a song I couldn’t sing
I’d know what to do
And I’d believe
I was good enough
I’d know I was true
Just being who I want to be
Sending out a little light
Sending out love to everyone
Despite these tragic times
I’d believe I was good enough
I’d believe we’d all survive
I’d believe I was good enough
With your blessing so divine
Love is acceptance (3, 5, 7-2 finger BE strings)
Love is accessible
Love is helping someone achieve
The dreams they believe they never will
Love is when you smile so bright
The light shines out from within
Love is when you understand me
And I don’t feel alone and ghosted
—-
I’m tired of missing you so badly
That my heart lives outside my chest
I can’t ever seem to reach it
To feel positive again
They have yelled at me and told me
They don’t see it my way at all
I want them to help me anyway
Even if they think it’s not normal
I’m not looking for a handout
I really want to pay it back
I just want a fresh start
Where I won’t lose my home
Or my ability to give back
——
You know I really want to meet you somewhere beautiful and green
Where they ride rafts along the river
Where they swing from Banyan trees
Green mountains ripple like a pleated skirt
Blowing in the breeze
And the clouds sing down to you
there is joy in everything
——-
7/16/2020
By the Ospreys
I try to come here every day to see you
You sit there, watching like a lifeguard
The water ripples gold, black and blue at sunset
It’s different every night
One night, two horseshoe crabs stacked together like cups
They moved as if mating
But the next day
Only one, flipped over revealed smaller crabs eating a meal
The clouds dot the sky like hash marks
I touch my scar and it feels half numb
Like a thick cardboard flap on a package sent to me but not mine
The incision feels like a rip cord
Pull here to open
Under the dark periwinkle cloud
Is orange and golden light
The leaves hang down
Sailboats cross before the city
I don’t even want to be here
but if you were here too
It wouldn’t be so bad
My best friend
Love of my life
Who I will never let go
You are in my heart, always
Maybe I am here to save you
Maybe AI and robotics are not your calling any longer?
Maybe you need music more than anything, like me
Maybe you would sit here and watch the Ospreys with me
Drink love
As the light turns salmon-colored and wait to see if the sky is painted vivid pinks and rainbows
or just fades quietly into grey
Then we bike home together
Pick fresh basil and crawl into hiding
Hoping the scientists slay and triumph in the biggest battle of our lifetime.
Why can’t I do anything without you?
Why can’t I make a living and be happy any more?
He stole everything from me.
Everything but my aching soul and I want your love back. I can’t make it without you. You are my best friend.
You are out there, alive.
You are not dead. You are important to me. I can not give up on you, Gunnar.
Please don’t hate me because I never stopped loving you. You just left.
You didn’t even explain.
You said we would meet again.
You said elephants never forget.
You made me laugh.
Sent me a flower pic.
I guess it’s just going to be hell a lot longer than I thought.
I got stuck in a very bad life after you left. I don’t want that again. Never.
No more abuse. No more drug addicts.
No more narcissistic men. Confident, yet humble and kind, like you were.
I don’t want to meet anyone else.
You were the one. That’s it.
I just want to make enough money to live near my sons and have a nice place to live on my own.
Finish my book without people killing me.
Please be safe and stay alive until I can see you again.
Please don’t die.
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7/17/20
Squirrels chewed through the plastic fencing all Summer Long...
(A Bluegrass Song with Banjo, featuring a mother, daughter and father who won't pay $70. for a roll of metal fencing to keep the squirrels out of the garden)
(A Bluegrass Song with Banjo, featuring a mother, daughter and father who won't pay $70. for a roll of metal fencing to keep the squirrels out of the garden)
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Oh no, not again
Tell me dear daughter
Where did they get in?
Here mom, they chewed a hole
Right thru the plastic fence
This cucumber’s gotta go
It’s got Squirrel 🐿 Teeth marks and
Everything
They even ate buds off the branch hanging in the breeze
We need metal, I told you so
Yeah, I knew that long ago
But Dad wouldn’t pay the price
He’s wasting all our energy and time
Tell him we need the metal fence now
Oh no, not again
My pockets are being emptied
By your garden whim
Oh no, not again
My parents drive me crazy
I can never win
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8/1/20
Sent to Lukas IV... (about walks and things seen and overheard at a local park where a family of environmentalist writers lived, and the insanity of living during our first global pandemic)
We call this the Shed
She said
as they sat beside the pond
Not for too long
but long enough to remember
We’ll remember this place forever
It’s green and wild
Primal Scream a little while
Here with me
Primal Scream here
A little while
With me
He bikes up the hill
Fishing pole and a look to kill
Anyone in the way
It’s my time to prey
I catch something
That won’t kill me
Something that will fill me
I’ll remember this place forever
It’s green and wild
Primal Scream a little while
Here with me
Primal Scream here
A little while
With me
Down near the creek
empty bottle caught by a screen
Littered spaces in this green paradise
On the other side of the fence
Alma lives with respect
Conserving species and habitat
Clean and protected for now
It’s green and wild
Just sit here with me a little while
Here with me
A little while
A little while...
It’s green and wild
Just sit here with me a little while
Understand my years of sorrow
Can you hear me?
It’s green and wild
Understand my years of sorrow
Be here with me
Primal Scream here
A little while
With me
________________
August 12, 2020
Namaste, Osprey
Two Pinetrees
dark like black fingers after fixing my bike
Pointed up to a grey night sky
Light shines from the bottom of the trees
Who lives there?
The crickets and the frogs sing together
It’s so hot we should all be swimming
But no one is in the water
Two stars lit
directly above each pine tree
Why do you sing to me
Such angry songs
about bad things?
I wonder if the ospreys miss me
If they wait for me each night
Because I sing for them and play them music across the water
The ripples from a lone
Colorful orange and Black fish
With fins like winged fans
Spread circles like waves across the water
You fly towards me
Touch the branch above me with your talons
Then turn quickly and fly back to the nest
You can fly now!
You are curious about me
Coming to visit you at sunset
Share a quiet moment of peace
Colors, clouds, sky, water
And no one else is there to bother us
Wouldn’t it be nice if the pond teamed with wild life and flowers
The ocean was cooler and the hermit crabs and snails came back in armies
Like the days we collected them in plastic pails
Caught minnows in butterfly nets
Gazed at them the whole day
Then threw them back into what seemed like and endless, perfect sea
With nothing to fear
Only colored belts to gain
As we learned to pass each swim test
Sand castle contests
No sadness
No worries
When we were young
I hope you fly and find all the kindness here protects you
I hope you love your home
Your parents
Your food and nest
I hope you don’t fight with your siblings over food or space
That you find your way
Find your way
Be safe
Be well
Namaste, Osprey
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