N.B., Soundclick is reviewing my account as per their "1-user, 1-account" policy. I may get some demos consolidated into one account, but I may not. Feel free to download anything you like.

Noonday Demon

Of the arrow that flieth in the day, of the business that walketh about in the dark: of invasion, or of the noonday devil. Pslam 90:6 (Douay-Rheims)

Noonday Demon

Middle of the day
Hottest part of the year
My noonday demon whispers in my ear
My noonday demon whispers in my ear

He shows me the road
And how it stretches out
Whatcha gonna do when the world comes down
Whatcha gonna do when the world comes down

My thoughts zip past
Like bullets flying round
My noonday demon digs a hole in the ground
My noonday demon digs a hole in the ground

Run you can’t run
From your hole in the ground
Whatcha gonna do when the world comes down
Whatcha gonna do when the world comes down

*

A bunch of John Lee Hooker with a bit of Skip James at the end of this one. The song is built around one chord, A for acedia.

America the Beautiful

Commeration plaque atop Pikes Peak

I have an unusual connection to this song. The lyrics come from Katherine Lee Bates' poem, Pikes Peak. The mountain, Pikes Peak, was discovered by Zebulon Pike. My paternal grandmother's maiden name was Pike, and she was related to Zebulon.

Tell Me What I Want To Hear

How do you think I’ll feel
When it falls apart
My face is full of light
But soon it’ll be dark
So tell me right now
What I want to hear
Tell me right now
What I want to hear

Time takes its time
And I don’t mind
I just wish I knew
How much time
I had left with you

How do you think I’ll see
When the light goes out
My eyes are filled with stars
Soon there’ll be doubt
So tell me right now ...


How do you think I’ll be
When I pass this place
My heart is full of hope
Soon it’ll be erased
So tell me right now ...


How do you think I’ll hear
When I’ve heard enough
What good is a song
If it can’t save love
So tell me right now ...

7.2.10

*

I wrote and recorded this around 2am this morning and did the mix this afternoon.

I Hear Your Voice

J’entends vibrer ta voix tous les bruits du monde.
--Paul Eluard

I hear your voice in every sound
I stop, I turn, I move all around
A sudden noise and you can be found
I hear your voice

I feel your touch inside the wind
I stop, I turn, I move all around
A sudden breeze and you’re here again
I feel your touch

Love is the root of every song
And you are why I sing along

I see your face when you’re not around
I stop, I turn, I move all around
A sudden glimpse and you can be found
I see your face

Love is the route I’m traveling on
And you are the way I move along

I sing your name when you're not around
I stop, I turn, I move all around
A sudden song and you’re every sound
I sing your name

*

This was written in 2007. I just rewrote some of the lyrics, found a new key to sing it in, and finally recorded it just now.

And I'd forgotten till just now that I'd recorded an instrumental version of this on Oct 18, 2007. You can compare and contrast the two versions at your leisure.

Awake, O Sleeper

Awake, O sleeper
For the night is filled with song
Awake, O sleeper
Before the tune is gone

Awake, O dreamer
For the song has touched your ear
Awake, O dreamer
While it still lingers near

Get up, get up
Don't be down
Sit up, sit up
Don't be down

Awake, my soul
For the stillness waits for you
Awake, my soul
Before they close the gates on you


Rise up, rise up
Wise up, wise up

05.09.10
Psalm 42, Ephesians 5

Live from the Fra Angelico CoffeeHaus, St Elizabeth Ann Seton, June 17, 2010

Compostela (A Field Of Stars)

Walk through a field of stars
Leave your dust behind
Keep your staff moving
Let the road clear your mind

Walk through a field of stars
The path can't be changed
The way ahead is worn
The way back ain't the same

Compostela
Compostela
Compostela

Walk through a field of stars
Picking up some shells
Just over that hill
You can hear bells

Walk through a field of stars
Below the Milky Way
Flashing flowers above
Shining on St James

*

Info on Compostela

Toil and Spin

I've been thinking of the ways
That I have blown the bubbles
of my days

I've been blinking in the gaze
Of the bright & tempting baubles
in my maze

toil & spin
begin again
reap & sow
above & below

I've been toiling in dark mines
My canary soul is caged
And confined

I've been roiling in past minds
Over larks & lovers laughing
All the time


I've been spinning round my heart
A swirling centrifuge pulling
Love apart

I'm beginning a new start
One where I can travel
Off the chart

consider this
inside a wish
there is a bearer
of prayer

05.14.10

Sophia

This world contains no precious stone.
No emerald found will match her eyes;
The green it seeks springs from her eyes.
No precious stone comes from this world.

The world contains no precious ore.
The silver minded amid the clay
Shall not be reckoned more than clay.
No precious ore comes from this world.

This world contains no precious worth.
Count golden coins like grains of sand;
When tallied they will equal sand.
No precious worth comes from this world.

Sophia is the boundless light
Of wisdom, joy, beauty and love
All wisdom, joy, beauty and love
Are bright inside Sophia

*

Based on Wisdom 7:7-14

05.08.10
Words 1998 and 05.08.10
Music 05.08.10

Leave This Room (remix)

Just a remix of an April 2010 Demo.

Way Past Coffee

Another date at the cafe
She says it's plain to see
Next time dinner or nothing
We're way past coffee


Another night at the cafe
He's down on his knee
She cries & says yes
We're way past coffee


Another day at the cafe
It's an anniversary
The kids are grown and gone
We're way past coffee

*

The clapping sound you hear is me slapping my torso with both hands. I've been trying to figure out how to get the sound of a couple of people clapping without taking up too many tracks. There is actually one other track, with the harmony vox in the second break, that actually has real clapping.

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