Mud

Take a dab of dust and dirt
Add flotsam from the flood
Press it in our hands
And we are mud

Take a whit of wood and word
Add blessings from the blood
Press it on our tongues
And we are mud

Take a speck of sin and skin
And level it with love
Press it to our hearts
And we are mud

04.25
prj 025
1st 30-Minute Session
Gm /F# /F /E
C

Gm /F# /F /E
C Bb F C

Gm /F# /F /E
C Bb F C

break
Dm G7
Am D7
Bm F#7
C#m G#7
Am D7

See You At The Light

Will the question of speed and distance
Be answered when you arrive?
Will the quest for your needs and wishes
Be enough for you to survive?

See you at the light
See you at the light

Will the problem of pain and pleasure
Be solved and sound right?
Will the probing gain the treasure
That's found at the light?

See you at the light
See you at the light

Haunted by the taunting of the dauntless sky

04.17.10
verse: E A A G E
chorus: Asus2 Cmaj7 E

Judgment

I wanted to use poison
There were too many to choose
So I spent the night with whiskey
And mixed it with the morning dew
When they found the bishop's body
I'd just left the rectory
I went down to the river
To wash the blood off of me.

Sheriff Clark asked questions
Soon he'd heard enough
He stood me up, turned me around
And bound me with cold cuffs
They smiled on the evening news
Their experts all agreed
Eye for an eye after this break
To wash the blood off of me.

Who were the peers in my jury
I didn't know even one
And none of them, not a single soul,
Had ever done what I'd done.
Whores and thieves on the docket
As the judge looked over my plea
My lawyer said he couldn't help
To wash the blood off of me.

The padre checked his nails
As they tried to find a vein
All my senses were burned and black
As I tried to cry out his name.
I felt the river through my fingers
I felt the mud under my knee
I heard singing clear as water
As the blood washed off of me.

04.02
capo 3
Am
C
E
Am
C
Am
C G/B Am
G F G C

without the capo
Cm
Eb
G
Cm
Eb
Cm
G Bb/D Cm
Bb Ab Bb Eb

Do I Love My Baby (yeah, yeah, yeah)

I wrote this about three years ago, and this recording comes from an informal jam at Paul Gorman's house in McKinney, TX in summer of '09. That's Paul on acoustic guitar, Mark Ball on bass, and I'm singing and playing my new (at the time) Squire Telecaster Custom II through my new (at the time) Fender Super Champ XD.

*

Do I love my baby?
Yeah, yeah, yeah
I said, do I love my baby?
Yeah, yeah, yeah
I love her in the morning
When the sun is rising up
And she says, "yeah, yeah, yeah"

Do I love my honey?
Yeah, yeah, yeah
I said, do I love my honey?
Yeah, yeah, yeah
I love her in the noon time
When the sun is hanging high
And she says, "yeah, yeah, yeah"


Do I love my baby?
Yeah, yeah, yeah
I said, do I love my baby
Yeah, yeah, yeah
I love her in the evening
When the sun is going down
And she says, "yeah, yeah, yeah"

ReverbNation

You'll notice that I've added a jukebox and a link on the sidebar to your right. Both are from ReverbNation, which is a great site and a wonderful place to check out music.

Wheels

Perhaps my second or third song, I wrote Wheels in '91 or '92. This is my first multitrack recording on GarageBand, circa 2005.

Zeke was sitting by the lake
And the ground and the water started to shake.
When he looked into the sky,
He thought that it was his time to die.

There was no one near him to hear his tale.
Zeke was all alone and held captive.
So he rubbed his eyes and blinked them hard
To make sure he wasn't seeing shooting stars.

He saw wheels within wheels within wheels
He saw fire within fire within fire
And now old Zeke he's not the same
For he saw what can't be named
It can't be named
He saw wheels

It came from a whirlwind from the north
Over the mountains and through the clouds
And when it finally came to land
Zeke saw in it the face of man.

He saw wheels ...

Now Zeke was filled up with wonder
From the things he had heard and things he had seen
And when they finally left Zeke
It took him seven days just to speak

He saw wheels ...

Sip de rum

I'm trying out a new player for my blog. This is a song I wrote & recorded a while ago.

Sip de rum
Make my teeth go numb
Waters dance
But my Jenny won't come

My Jenny was a brown-eyed girl
To me she wore a sugar-cane crow
She went off to the sweetheart's dance
And left me feeling down

Sip de rum
Make my teeth go numb
Breeze may blow
But my Jenny won't come

Left a message for my Jenny
Told her about a hurricane
She never got my meaning
Thought my heart was insane

Sip de rum
Make my teeth go numb
The palms may sway
But my Jenny won't come

Jenny rocked at the dance
Hurrican rocked the island
In my mind she won't dance again
But my heart keeps on denying

Sip the rum
Make my teeth go numb
Waters sleep
But my Jenny won't come

ways & means

she has a way with me
could do away with me
by any means

she's more than what she seems
she's more than what she seems
in her ways & means

she can sway me
could always play me
by any means


she says she prays for me
i wish she'd stay with me
by any means

take me
break me
make me
forsake me
bathe me
scathe me
crave me
save me

04.16
capo 6
intro: Bb F
verse: C G/B Am (E)
chorus: F C G/B Am E
coda: F Bb

Down To The Shore

I go down to the shore
I go down to the shore

The moon moves the wave
The wave moves the sand

The wave moves the sand
The sand moves through time

And time moves the moon

04.13

C Csus4
Bb F C Csus4

Invisible

I come into a room
And feel so small
Like no one's
Gonna notice at all
Invisible

I get up on the stage
And sound so small
Like no one's
Gonna listen at all
Invisible

I walk right up to you
And talk so small
But you don't
Ignore me at all
I'm visible

04.12

Leave This Room

I have a book
I'm gonna read it real soon
Until the day I read it
I'm never gonna leave this room

I have a song
I'm gonna sing it real soon
Until the day I sing it
I'm never gonna leave this room

How can I be so sure
That there is so much more
On the other side of my door?

I have a prayer
I'm gonna pray it real soon
Until the day I pray it
I'm never gonna leave this room


I have a bed
I'm gonna go to sleep soon
And when I go to sleep
You know I'm gonna leave this room

04.11

Uke
D G
G D
F G D

Gm7 A7

(G C
C G
Bb C G

Cm7 D)

Jesus In Reign Boots

(Page 13 of the Supplement)

Jesus in reign boots
Splashing through puddles of sin
Jesus in reign boots
Umbrellas for his wet friends

Jesus in reign boots
Keeping us clean of the mud
Jesus in reign boots
Covered in holy blood

The devil's a storm cloud
He hates the warmth of the sun
The Holy Spirit blows him away
To show the light of the Son

Old Satan's a flood
Enflooding our holy land
Jesus is an engineer
He'll save us with God's Dam

Trying To Get Through

Trying to get through
Trying to get through

I settle down
And get quiet
One more time
I'll try it

Trying to get through
Trying to get through

The empty room
Is full of creaks
The day light
Is getting weak

That's not my body
That's not my heart
That's not my mind
It's something apart

04.09
CGDGCe

January 2010 Additions

I was looking through my docs and found that I'd forgotten to blog four songs in January: Inbetween, Wonderful Waterfall, Crepuscular, That Old Sound. There were also four songs and a rewrite that I've found lyrics but not sure if I can recall the tunes (there appears to be no recording of the four with lyrics, but the rewrite just needs to be recorded).

Check out January 2010 Demos for the updates.

Wishing For A Waltz

She wished for a waltz
Wild and in the nude
I laughed and said
I like your attitude

We cut up that rug
Flown from Isfahan
We were half the world
The other half was gone

Paris loved Vienna
In three-quarter time
If love were a number
I'm sure it would be prime

Paris and Vienna
Rugs from Isfahan
And even you and me
Have our own faults
Yet none of it matters
When wishing for a waltz

04.08

*

Note for the second verse: There is a saying in Farsi, Esfahan Nesf-e-Jahan, which means "Isfahan is half the world."

Graveyard Wisdom

lyrics by Paul Gorman & Chris Baker
music by Chris Baker

They'd give anything to have my cough
or a kingsized bed that was as soft
the dust settled in their veins
everyday seems just the same

just the same

they’d give anything to have my job
they judge my complaints as being odd
day after day they pine
that their days were just like mine

just like mine

They’d give anything to have my hope
And live this emotional kaleidoscope
Night after night they wish
That their lives were just like this

just like this

graveyard wisdom
graveyard wisdom


*

To hear Paul Gorman's version of this song, click here.

Before My Name Becomes Stone

I think about that night
We lost our way down streets
We found that dim hotel
And swapped secrets between the sheets
We swore we'd never go back
But tomorrow it's something I'll do
Before I go, let's drink together
I'll sing you a song or two.

How could love be forever
Even stars have their spans
Star light, star bright, first star
No star would heed your demands
I spelled your name in the stars
But it was smeared by the moon
I wish we'd drink one more together
And sing a song or two.

A promise is a snake's skin
The old one gives way to the new
Vows turn lovers to liars
Who'll turn you with small truths
So before my name becomes stone
And forgotten by all but a few
I'd like to drink with you alone
And sing you a song or two.


04.03.10
C F C G
C F Fm
C G/B Am G F C
interlude: Am Dm G7