The Sea Will Say

Put the shell to your lips
And taste sunken ships
The sea will say
What it will say

You're alone on this boat
The land feels remote
The sea will say
What it will say

Let the sirens sing
Let the sirens sing

Let loose of the rope
And drift from this boat
The sea will say
What it will say

Let the sirens sing
Let the sirens sing
Let the sirens sing
The sea will say

03.16.10
A G#m F#m
A Amaj7 A6 A/E
Bm D

Waltz With Your Last Breath

Waltz with your last breath
Keep moving across the floor
Waltz with your last breath
Hope the band plays one more

The room is spinning
While you dance
Can you see the dancers
Move and prance
If the band has heard
Your request
You'll get to waltz
With your last breath


The room is spinning
And going black
Can you see the ceiling
While on your back
Can you feel those fingers
On your chest
Tapping out a waltz
With your last breath

03.22

Leave A Little Space

Leave a little space in the morning
Cause I'm used to waking up alone
Leave a little space for me in bed
Cause I'm used to being on my own

Leave a little space between us
Gotta be some kind of room to grow
Leave a little space for me
Gotta take some time for me to know

Ooo, Ooo
Yeah, leave a little space
Ooo, Ooo
Yeah, leave a little space

Leave a little space in the evening
Cause I don't go to sleep at the same time
Leave a little space by your nightstand
Cause I'm not used to what's yours and what's mine

Leave a little space in your heart
Someplace where I can go and hide
Leave a little space, just a little space,
A little space for me inside



03.12
with Bb bend to B riff against E
E A D A
E D A

Consummatum est

Consummatum est.

It is finished.

*

For five voices from the Seven Last Words of Christ, this is traditionally counted as the 6th. The words are repeated six times in a Gregorian chant-like chorale fashion. After the third repetition a new melody rises above. You'll notice that on the second version of the melody, I didn't quite get all the Latin out. The fifth voice you hear at the end is feedback, the rest are me.

I didn't plan anything on this. I hit record and sang the words. Then I added the harmonies. The melody is also off the cuff. Due to the improvisational and aleatoric nature of this recording, I decided to let that fifth voice be.

Old Crow

Five little children
Sitting in a room
Watch for old crow
He'll be round soon
Keep the curtains closed
Don't open that door
Or five little children
Will soon be four

Don't say I didn't warn you
Don't say I left you out
The old crow will getcha
If you don't watch out

Four little children
Sitting in a kitchen
Won't mind nothing
And just won't listen
Two get up to leave
And one follows, too
Think about old crow
Coming after you

One little child
Lost her golden toy
So much sadness
Out of so much joy
Hide those shiny things
Lock them in your chest
Old crow will steal them
To use in his nest


03.25.10

Love Is A Season

Love is a season
And we had our spring
The harmonies we heard
When we would sing
We took a big breath
And held that note
Sometimes you say goodbye
Though it's too late to go

Love is a season
And we had our autumn
Tomorrow rises up
When today has fallen
The leaves were once green
New colors now show
Sometimes you say goodbye
Though it's too late to go

Love is a season
And this is our winter
The fireplace barely glows
When filled with cinders
Who knew our spring
Could turn so cold
Sometimes you say goodbye
Though it's too late to go

03.22.10

The Mule Is Stuck In The Mud

I saw the clouds coming
And thought I had time
I kicked and hollered at Molly
She wouldn't pay me no mind
There are a million reasons
None are worth explaining
The mule is stuck in the mud
And it won't stop raining.

The thunder covered my cussing
Lightning lit up my whip
Her eyes were wild with fear
And blood ran off her hip
I cried why, God, why
He's used to my complaining
The mule is stuck in the mud
And it won't stop raining.

The Good Book tells me
That there are cleansing floods
The sinners and the heathens
All get trapped in the mud
Molly held her head up
Yeah, she was straining
We'll fetch her body from the mud
When it stops this raining.


03.21.10
capo 5
A / G / A / G
C / G / A
C G D F A

(D / C / D / C
F / C / D
F C G Bb D)

The Flowitz

Hey, you know it's got the Flowitz
Hey, yeah, hmmm, the Flowitz

Souvenirs

The lights go out

alone in the dark

It's too cold

to sit in the park

Your friends are busy

or gone away

Your family's too far

to go and stay

It'll be clear
In a few years
All your scars
Are souvenirs

The night shovels doubt

on your daily dirt

And ashes & dust

blacken every word

Your mind is busy

connecting the dots

Your past is filled

with passing thoughts

03.19.10
PRJ011

Verse
C Cmaj7 Am G
A Asus2 F E

Chorus: Am F G Am G

Interlude: Gm6 Ebdim7 F E

The Past Ain't What It Used To Be

Looking through my past
I'm not who I was
Though the ink is dry
It can still be smudged
Did it happen that way
It seems so clear
Shouldn't the ink be dry
After all these years

The past ain't what it used to be

You've got your story
And I've got mine
If both can't be true
Then one of us is lyin'
The ears and the eyes
Have their own claims
The years and the sighs
Try to shift the blame

The mind can play tricks
and give you a better deal
Time should heal all
but some wounds just don't heal
Are you sure you're sure
I just don't recall
Soon I'll only know
what never happened at all

Who really knows
How the song goes?

03.19.10
PRJ010

Never You Mind

The sheets were on the floor
And the fan turned so slow
I lit a smoke and confessed
That I had no place to go
She almost raised her voice
To say something unkind
Instead she looked down and said
Never you mind, never you mind.

There's nothing left for me
In this godforsaken town
There's nowhere for me to go
Guess I'll have to stick around
There are times I knead my brow
And hope the knots unwind
I clench my teeth and say
Never you mind, never you mind.

The sun takes forever to set
On these dry Texas plains
That little chapel was full
Not an empty pew remained
My heart is a horizon
Just a long, flat line
She said she'd come back
Never you mind, never you mind

03.16
STE-039
capo 2
Intro: Bm F#m Em A
D / Bm / G / A
Bm / A / G Em / G / A / D
Interlude: Bm F#m Em A

The Water Will Hold You

Step off the boat
The water will hold you
The wind is fierce
The water will hold you

Deep calls to deep

Just take my hand
The water will hold you
Don't look away
The water will hold you

Deep calls to deep
Be not afraid

The tide goes out
The water will hold you
The wind will cease
The water will hold you

Deep calls to deep
Be not afraid
Water hold you

Losers Live Longer

Lovers live longer
That's what they say
Well, maybe that's true
When you count each & every day
But if you ask the heart
It'll have this to say
Losers live longer
It sure feels that way.

Lovers live longer
Read it in the headlines
Well, it really depends
On how you count time
Just look into the soul
And it'll have this to say
Losers live longer
It sure feels that way.

Till death do you part
As a man and a wife
But so very few do
Most don't and cling to life
But ask those hearts
Who have been betrayed
Losers live longer
It sure feels that way

Losers live longer
Broken bones grow stronger
Losers live longer
Broken bones grow stronger


03.11
drop-D capo 4
A G/D D

I'll Just Go Back To Sleep Again

Yeah I dreamed today
The sun stole your face
Yeah I dreamed today
The sun stole your face
So I’ll draw these shades
And climb back in bed again
And I’ll just go back to sleep again

Yeah I’ll paint the sun
Pitch black so light won’t come
Yeah I'll paint the sun
Pitch black so light won't come
And I’ll dig my heels in
‘til the world stands still
And I’ll just go back to sleep again

I hope my dreams
Won’t fall asleep (no)
‘Cause I need (you)
Eileen..

Yeah your eyes seem so strange
When your heart's about to break
Yeah your eyes seem so strange
When your heart's about to break
You say I’m to blame
Cause I only want the dream
And I'll just go back to sleep again

03.12.10
collab w/Deric Trotter
Bounce 00 Project 6

Memoir

What I couldn't say aloud
I could write to someone else
Just open my pages
And read for yourself

Are you looking for yourself
In between all these lines
Fact is fiction
Fiction's full of lies

What is memory
But dust on dust
When the wind blows
It blows away trust

My spine stands straight
Up against the shelf
And I'm feeling crowded
Like I'm not myself

And the years, the years
Show pristine pages
What's my wisdom worth
Among half-price sages


Think of Alexandria
And its ancient embers
Sending up smoke signals
That no one remembers

03.11.10
MTR Project
capo 1

Verse
Em C Em
C G D Em

Chorus
C Em
C B7

*

Note about this recording. This is a multitrack recording, which means that there are four tracks (all played/sung by me): track one, guitar & vox; track two, harmony vox; track three, lead guitar; track four, capo 8 rhythm guitar. They were recorded in that order at about 1 a.m on March 11.

Also, I recorded these without any auto-tune or punch in/out or other studio gimmickry. All is as it happened in just 1-take -- every cool lick and botched harmony vox is just as I recorded it. No going back and fixing things or fussing with the levels. They were all bounced down to one track and sent to my computer and then dl'd on soundclick.

Mysterious

She's a lingering breeze
On an August afternoon
Brushing past the wind chimes
Hear that ephemeral tune

And you lean a little closer
And you get a little curious
But she leans a little further away
And stays mysterious.


She's the sudden shower
On a prairie in spring
All the little flowers open
What a fresh smell they bring

And you dance a little closer
And get a little delirious
But she leans a little further away
And stays mysterious.


She's a lilting laughter
On el dia de mi santo
Though nobody knows
You should go light a candle

And you speak so softly
And try to get so serious
But she leans a little further away
And stays mysterious.

03.05
STE-036
Uke
(guitar shapes)
D G C
D G C Am C Am

*

There are two recordings of this song on the jukebox. The uke one was caught just after I wrote it, but the second one was recorded a few weeks later on a reentrant tuned guitar. Normally, a guitar is tuned (from lowest pitch to highest pitch) EADGBe. A reentrant tuned instrument changes things a bit. The reentrant tuning I used is EAdGBe; the fourth string is one octave higher than on the standard tuning for guitar. I took off the fourth string of the guitar and replaced it with an extra first string I had sitting around. Note that capo 5 is used to make it sound at the same pitch as the ukulele. The guitar used is a Yamaha FG110 from the Nixon era.

To hear another tune using this reentrant tuning, please check out The Water Will Hold You.

Toaster Too Short, Bread Too Tall

From February 2009.

I'd bought the uke (a Kala Mahogany Tenor Archtop!) in Jan and started writing songs on it. This was probably one of the first songs I wrote on uke. The tag line actually came from a poster on one of the uke forums. It was just too tempting and too good to let languish in uke forum obscurity -- the uke forum in question isn't defunct, but it did change servers (or whatever) and all the old posts were lost.

One of the greatest thrills I've ever had in my performing life was at a house concert and seeing the Gorman Family Dancers dance an original dance to this song. I wish I had that on video!





Toaster Too Short, Bread Too Tall

My friends call me up and they are worried
But they can't understand, oh no!
Though my toaster's still under warranty
It doesn't toast from head to toe

CHORUS
Toaster too short, bread too tall
Toaster too short, bread too tall
Why I bother getting out of bed at all
When my toaster's too short and my bread's too tall.

There needs to be a standard bread size
To avoid this calamity
The government needs to legislate
This threat to national security


I can overlook the big things in life
But the little things have so many details
If they could only be fixed right now
Every day wouldn't be a living hell.

Waiting for a widget

I'll get a jukebox widget up as soon as Soundclick approves my March 2010 Demo account. In the meantime, you can read through the lyrics and come up with your own tunes -- or check out tunes from previous months.

A Fool Dressed As A King

Since I've been burned
I'm somewhat suspicious
Of some of her wants
And most of her wishes

I wish I were still young
And I still knew everything
Could I have been so dumb
A fool dressed as a king

As I watch the lines
She makes while walking
I fall into old times
Memories won't stop talking

Oh, the plans
Oh, the dreams
Of fools & kings
Share the same seam

03.05
F2 STE-029/030 (with 'like' not 'as')
Drop D

Almost Nothing

He'd had enough
Of the desert
And he had hoped to die
But a message came
And pushed him on
And it gave him life

The wind blew
No, no,
There was nothing in the wind
The earth shook
No, no
There was nothing in the earth
The fire burned
No, no
There was nothing in the fire
And then, yes,
There was nothing
Almost nothing

Forty days and nights
To the mountain
And he knew fear
While inside a cave
A voice asked him
Why are you here?

He'd heard the sound
That only he heard
It was faint but clear
Get quiet enough
And hear it again
Why are you here?

03.03
STE-033
Drop-D, capo 4
D Bm G A

Day By Day

Monday is depressed
And Tuesday is down in the dumps
Wednesday is on the ledge swearing that she'll jump

Friday follows Thursday
She just wishes that he'd stop
Cause if he don't, she's gonna call the cops

Saturday likes his wine
And he likes his loving drunk
Sunday looks in the mirror and wonders what she's done.

Yesterday told tomorrow
That she didn't trust today
Tomorrow told her to just take it day by day

03.02
STE-034
Drop D, capo 2