About My Music:

I write every note and every word.  I play every instrument and sing every part.  I try to write lyrics with meaning, although in some cases the goal is laughter.  Overall, my intention is to make you think. A few songs are autobiographical, but more often they are written from the point of view of complex and flawed characters, which I find more interesting.  Some of my tunes express a point of view, which I don’t expect anyone to agree with.  So feel free to tell me my lyrics suck. 

I use a touch-sensitive MIDI keyboard to control a library of hundreds of thousands of professionally sampled instruments.  That means that, for example, when I’m playing a violin, it’s literally the sound of a Stradivarius with every note recorded separately in a concert hall in Cremona, Italy. But having great sound samples at your disposal is only a small part of what makes a keyboard-triggered instrument sound authentic.  The trick is to know how professional musicians actually play their instruments.  Otherwise, it sounds fake. 

Keep in mind, not everyone records that way.  Many artists now simply put together combinations of loops of prerecorded music, or rely on AI to do all the work.  Those results often sound great, but my preference is to play every note.  I do however sometimes use samples of short patterns (such as drum beats and fills) to build a track measure by measure.  I also now play guitar parts from my keyboard, since I lost all feeling in my fingertips due to heavy chemo treatment.  That way the strings don’t buzz.  Typically, my songs contain multiple guitar tracks. 

IMPORTANT (well kind of)

Below the links to each tune, you’ll see brief descriptions of the music and lyrics (we called them “liner notes” when music albums were something you could really hold).  Read them before listening to each song and you’ll have a better idea of what I was intending… and why, perhaps, my sanity is such a debatable topic. 

My Music is Free to Listen to and for Other Musicians to Record and Perform

Simply click on the links below to listen to and save my songs.  Feel free to share them with friends.  In case my singing sounds like I have a sandwich in my mouth, you’ll also find PDFs of the lyrics of each tune below.  If you’re a musician, those PDFs contain the chords, so that you can perform the songs yourself.  Feel free to record them and email me a copy – I’d love to hear your arrangements.  The only thing I’d like to keep are the writing credits, because even beer is expensive these days. 

Hopefully you’ll enjoy my music as much as I enjoyed writing it.  I’ll keep adding new songs to this website as I finish them.  My wife suggests that I’ve become a tad obsessed by it.  It’s better than losing golf balls.

Released 11/29/24 by DistroKid

 Currently available on Spotify, Apple Music, iTunes, Instagram/Facebook, TikTok/TikTok Music/Resso/Luna, YouTube Music, Amazon, Pandora, Deezer, Tidal, iHeartRadio, Claro Música, Saavn, Boomplay, Anghami, NetEase, Tencent, Qobuz, Joox, Kuack Media, Adaptr, Flo and MediaNet.

“People Slip Through the Cracks”

CLICK TO HEAR THE MUSIC: “People Slip Through the Cracks”

CLICK TO SEE THE LYRICS & CHORDS: “People Slip Through the Cracks”

Song ideas can be found anywhere if you’re curious enough.  In this case, I was reading an interview with the author of a humorous obituary a man had written about his rather eccentric dad.  The obituary had gone viral.  During the interview, he expressed genuine appreciation for all the folks in the small Texas town that his dad had retired to that had shown him kindness.  None of them had to, they just did the right thing.  The author lamented the fact that “older people often slip through the cracks.”  To me, that’s a subject worthy of a song.

Of course it’s not just older people who can slip through society’s cracks, age isn’t the only root cause.  Yes, some homeless people are there by choice (prioritizing self-medication for example), but many suffer from challenges like mental illnesses, neglect, violent relationships, serious addictions, economic setbacks and others.  The friendless/family-less neighbor in the song has “lost his hope in the war.”

The unique thing about this recording from an arrangement standpoint is that all of the drum fills are performed using cinematic toms and tympani, giving the song its ominous feel.  Otherwise, the instrumentation includes three guitars and a Fender Jazz Bass played with a thumb slap method (as apposed to fingering or using a pick).

Without sounding too preachy, I’m hoping that listeners may take the song’s message to heart and reach out to their neighbors who have little other human contact.  Not everyone has friends or family nearby.  You don’t have to know them.  Forget your apprehensions.  In the words of the immortal Nike slogan – “just do it.”

“Blood From a Stone”

CLICK TO HEAR THE MUSIC: “Blood From a Stone”

CLICK TO SEE THE LYRICS & CHORDS: “Blood From a Stone”

While reading a Sally Rooney novel one day, I stumbled upon her use of a somewhat ancient idiom – blood from a stone – and thought: “That would make a hell of a song title, let’s pilfer it.”

But before doing so, I used the phrase far too often while trying my best to guide both parties in a mutually loving relationship that was seriously frazzling.  “Blood from a stone” means a lot of things, but to me its most important insight is to accept that the outcome you want from a person, thing or situation is, at least at that moment, not going to happen.  So accept that fact.  In relationships, that necessitates compromise and a genuine desire to understand the point of view of your partner.  Easier said than done, and unfortunately, rarely practiced.

The song “Blood From a Stone” isn’t an account of that couple’s relationship, instead it’s a simplified illustration of a fictional couple each feeling victimized and deflecting the blame towards their partner.  In verse #1, he blames her.  Verse #2 is the opposite.  As a result, the refrain fits both parties.

While laying down the rhythm guitar line, I noticed how similar a muted electric guitar sounds to pizzicato orchestral strings.  In some cases, they serve the same function.

Listen to my music, and it’s fairly easy to trace my roots.  In this case, it’s my almost lifelong infatuation with the incredible sounds of Stax Records.  Yes, the guitar interludes and solo are an ode to the great Steve Cropper.  Wish I could sing like some of those Stax greats, but I’ll keep trying.

“Seven”

CLICK TO HEAR THE MUSIC: “Seven”

CLICK TO SEE THE LYRICS & CHORDS: “Seven”

Call it roots or call it country rock, but this song is a slice of Americana right down to the issue the lyrics deal with – a late bloomer.  The singer/guitarist simply hasn’t launched and he’s conscious of that fact.  In the meantime, he’s routinely broke and playing in a cover band, proudly wailing on guitar riffs recorded a half century ago.

Written tongue firmly in cheek, each refrain ends with a familiar two-measure riff, listed in order: “Sunshine of Your Love” by Cream, “Smoke on the Water” by Deep Purple, “(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction” by the Rolling Stones, and “You Really Got Me” by the Kinks.

The fact that I quickly played all those riffs like I’d heard them yesterday is a sure sign of age. If you recognize them, it may be time to update your playlists.

“Honeymoon Suite”

CLICK TO HEAR THE MUSIC: “Honeymoon Suite”

CLICK TO SEE THE LYRICS & CHORDS: “Honeymoon Suite”

What makes a good standard?  My definition of a standard is a song with wide-based appeal and relevance that stands the test of time.  Better yet, it should be a tune that works in multiple music genres.  In other words, good luck writing one.

“Honeymoon Suite” is my latest attempt.  The message is simple – it’s about a couple, of any age, sick of the rat race and questioning whether it’s all worthwhile.  Why not toss it all in and just book a honeymoon suite next to the ocean for an indefinite period?

After writing these lyrics I tried it as a blues tune, as a country number, accompanied by a ukulele, as a jazz chart… it worked in all cases.  But I felt that the best accompaniment would be an island groove, so I played a nylon string guitar through a small jazz amp with plenty of treble.  Other than that, it’s simply bass, background vocals and a pleading electric guitar line at the end.  Simplicity.  Just like the goal of the guy in the song.

“It’s Life – It’s Not Perfection”

CLICK TO HEAR THE MUSIC: “It’s Life – It’s Not Perfection”

CLICK TO SEE THE LYRICS & CHORDS: “It’s Life – It’s Not Perfection”

We’re nothing without experimentation, at least musically.  Recently I spent a few hours fiddling with the sounds of a 21-stringed West African instrument, the kora. Fun fact: a kora’s strings are made from twisted antelope hide.  Blended with lush chords played on a phased electric piano, the kora in this song is backed by an ensemble of drums playing various Yankadi patterns, which are traditional courting rhythms (“dances of seduction”) in Southwestern Guinea.  The instrumental interludes are played on guitar in a Delta Blues style.  Call it a Disneyesque mishmash.

The opening lyric – “There’s no truth, there’s only perception” – is my favorite Flaubert quote.  The rest of the lyrics are optimistic, another instance where I’m writing ideas for my grandchildren to ponder as they grow older (guys like me with terminal diseases think that way).  As the song title says, “It’s Life – It’s Not Perfection.”  In other words, don’t sweat it.

“Like Water Headed Down the Drain”

CLICK TO HEAR THE MUSIC: “Like Water Headed Down the Drain”

CLICK TO SEE THE LYRICS & CHORDS: “Like Water Headed Down the Drain”

I wrote and recorded these lyrics a year earlier in 3/4 time, but never released that version, feeling it fell short musically.  Nevertheless, I felt it was an important message to share, especially since in a year’s time our country’s political divisions had only gotten more deeply entrenched.

Even the media (on both sides) now considers it okay to be blatantly partisan.  No one seems willing to swallow their pride and simply listen to opinions other than their own.  Obviously, that’s not working and in the process were ruining America for subsequent generations.  Thus the metaphor that concludes the refrain: “We only hear our own voices and argue in circles like water headed down the drain,” which unfortunately is the direction our country will continue to be headed until common sense prevails and people start working together to solve difficult issues without pointing fingers.

Probably just the musings of an old guy, but worth considering.

Recording the song, I had a blast bending notes and the whammy bar trying to emulate the guitar sound of Carlos Santana during the four guitar solos.  To do so, I routed a blues guitar tone through four separate effects boxes.  Haven’t quite figured out his secret sauce, but the fun is in the process.

“Why?”

CLICK TO HEAR THE MUSIC: “Why?”

CLICK TO SEE THE LYRICS & CHORDS: “Why?”

“What made you think of that?”  I’m asked that frequently, especially when I write an odd lyric or say something else particularly stupid.  Something I do quite often.

“Why do men think with their glands?” was a thought I wrote down quite some time ago, after reading about yet another public figure derailing his career in a sex scandal.  No spring chicken myself (66 at the time I penned this song), I feel adequately qualified to ask the question that ends each refrain: “Why do geezers still play in bands?”  On that note: it was a good friend of mine, Jim Kusz, an amazing videographer, who once texted me what he thought was the worst example of a geriatric rock act stretching their careers a bit too long.  One of the featured performers (they were a duo) in a concert he was filming at a large tribal casino was actually hooked up to an oxygen tank on stage.  I hope the audience didn’t light matches to request an encore.

Yet as much as the refrain of “Why?” is written tongue in cheek, the verses are based on serious issues.  The morning I wrote it, I had seen two feature articles in the online version of the NY Times that were particularly alarming.

The first was a great opinion-video by Kirby Ferguson, a documentary filmmaker, which among other things demonstrated how the algorithms that dictate your social media feeds are stifling creativity by essentially giving you what they already know you are interested in.  The echo chamber effect.

The second was a scathing article blatantly attempting to discredit the qualifications of Dr. Jay Bhattacharya, a Stanford physician and economist who had been nominated to become director of the National Institutes of Health.  Essentially, the reporter and her editors, none of which were physicians or epidemiologists themselves, didn’t agree with the Great Barrington Declaration, a document Bhattacharya helped pen at the height of Covid lockdowns and school closures.  What they didn’t reveal was that the document at the time of the article’s publication had now been signed by 940,755 concerned citizens, including 16,151 medical and public health scientists and 47,788 medical practitioners.  Apparently, all of them were wack-jobs too.  They also ignored the fact that the majority of what the Great Barrington Declaration proposed is now almost universally practiced worldwide.  In short, the signers were basically correct, and risked their careers to suggest that the shoot-from-the-hip policies that the government and media were dictating at that time had serious side effects (like spiking deaths of despair and teen suicides, not to mention the extreme decline in student test scores).

What does this demonstrate?  That George Orwell’s masterpiece dystopian novel “1984” (published in 1949) was wrong about one thing – the year.  The “thought police” are already here.  Anybody who doesn’t realize that cancel culture exists – on both sides of the political spectrum – is listening too closely to our “thought police,” which now sadly includes much of the American media.  That needs to change.  No one should stifle creativity or ideas.

Sorry for the sermon.

“It’s His Hometown”

CLICK TO HEAR THE MUSIC: “It’s His Hometown”

CLICK TO SEE THE LYRICS & CHORDS: “It’s His Hometown”

I like to make up and sing tales about fictional characters who remind the audience of people they’ve encountered in real life.

This is the story of a high school hero in a sports-obsessed small town whose fame seems to tarnish as he enters the outside world.  Feeling anonymous as he works a dead-end job, he decides to move back to his hometown, where he’ll be appreciated. But, as Thomas Wolfe famously wrote, “You Can’t Go Home Again,” and his life continues to spiral downward.

Football has always been close to my heart and I coached it for seven years, but the axiom “life moves on and you better move with it,” certainly applies here.

As far as the arrangement, the song is anchored by the acoustic guitar.  The refrains are jazz-tinged with a walking bass.  The final lyric of the coda is a shocker.

“The Things That You Do”

CLICK TO HEAR THE MUSIC: “The Things That You Do”

CLICK TO SEE THE LYRICS & CHORDS: “The Things That You Do”

Imagine what it would sound like to play French horns through a guitar amp in a stairwell.  Not a good idea if you’re pleading sanity, but I woke up with that thought one day and recorded it.  Further inspired, I added grand piano, bass and a swirling drum part with the eighth notes played – not on a high hat or ride cymbal – but on the low tom-toms.  To give it an even more epic quality, I added cinematic tympani for the drum fills plus a full chorus of background voices on the last two verses.  Call it overkill, but subtlety can be overrated.

The lyrics centered on a thought I had paraphrased and written down from a novel, “You’re not the center of the world; other folks have problems too.”  Interestingly enough, a few weeks later, a wise soul less than halve my age mentioned almost exactly those same words to me while describing her frustration in dealing with a loved one.  I knew at that point that it was a message that had merit.

Are the rest of the lyrics pertaining to anyone in particular?  No, but they do describe various behaviors I’ve noticed in a wide variety of people, myself included.  Looking in the mirror can be brutal, especially at my age.

“Too Hip for the Room”

CLICK TO HEAR THE MUSIC: “Too Hip for the Room”

CLICK TO SEE THE LYRICS & CHORDS: “Too Hip for the Room”

As a young working musician, I first heard the phrase “too hip for the room” after finishing a set of fusion in a bar filled with drunken cannery workers screaming for “Proud Mary” and “Freebird.”  Since then it’s become my go-to cliché; the perfect way to describe anything that doesn’t quite fit its social setting.  Admittedly, I use it in excess.

This song is the observations of a younger man sipping free wine at a First Thursday art gallery show as he shamelessly hits on – for all the wrong reasons – a rather pretentious woman hell bent on sharing her intellectual superiority with the world.  Now in Tennessee, she’s as out of place as he is – “too hip for the room” is a diplomatic way of describing it.

Deep in the mix, but essential to the groove, is an acoustic guitar routed through a Chicago blues amp setting.  A full brass section is featured in the interludes and as a chordal counterpoint during the verses and refrains.

“The Girl Who Played Tin Whistle”

CLICK TO HEAR THE MUSIC: “The Girl Who Played Tin Whistle”

CLICK TO SEE THE LYRICS & CHORDS: “The Girl Who Played Tin Whistle”

I’ve always been a big fan of Celtic music, so I decided to compose a tune one day that featured traditional Irish instrumentation – a bouzouki (a plucked 8-stringed long-neck member of the lute family that sounds like a lower pitched mandolin), a bodhran (a flat goat-skinned frame drum played with the hand or a beater), and of course the high-pitched tin whistle featured in the song’s title.  I certainly didn’t master those instruments, but it was fun learning to play them in a reasonably authentic manner on a keyboard.

In the lyrics, an American college student studying in Dublin visits a pub and – aided by generous quantities of black and tans – falls head over heels in love with a woman playing a tin whistle in a gathering of local musicians.  Of course he’s yet to meet her.

This isn’t a totally unfathomable scenario.  People (both young and old) routinely share their positive memories of studying abroad.  A student visiting Ireland might very easily become entranced with the warm sense of community found in a local pub, where age, income and social standing don’t seem to matter.  It’s certainly different than growing up in the suburbs or cities of America.

Authenticity, community and an unpretentious atmosphere have their allures.  A room full of locals swaying to jigs while fueled by pints of the black stuff is enough to make anyone fall in love.

“American Requiem”

CLICK TO HEAR THE MUSIC: “American Requiem”

CLICK TO SEE THE LYRICS & CHORDS: “American Requiem”

At the time I composed this song, it seemed like everyone in America (especially the media and politicians on both sides of the aisle) were blaming our country’s problems on immigrants (legal and illegal), particularly those arriving across our southern border.  Yes, there needs to be a functional and just process of entry, but putting a noose on immigration is the last thing our country needs, not to mention the inhumanity of that idea.

Take a look around you and notice how many recent arrivals are filling the less attractive jobs essential to our way of life.  It’s always been that way.  Immigrants arrive willing to work their way up the ladder of success that our country is so fond of touting.  In fact, unless you can claim 100% Native American heritage, we all come from immigrant families.  And by the way, there isn’t a business person I know that doesn’t complain about the current labor shortage we have in the US.  Many of us consider ourselves “too good” for lower-level jobs.  That’s a recipe for economic disaster, something we’re well on our way towards accomplishing.

Enough venting.  “American Requiem” is the story of a legal (card-carrying) laborer willing to work a difficult American job to support his family south of the border.  I love the West, especially the rural areas, but it’s a land of contrasts – stark beauty spotted with patches of rusting trailers housing people eking out a living in often harsh conditions.  In short, not where the protagonist would rather be.  He longs for his family.  Yet he’s villainized by the town and treated with contempt by the boss benefiting from his hard work.

The instrumentation is purposely sparse.  A flattop acoustic guitar is up front, backed by several cellos, which add an element of sad longing.  The percussion instruments hint of the protagonist’s heritage, yet they lay down a rhythm that often sounds like either horses or a train, “riding the rails” being a no-cost transportation option long used both north and south of the border.

The American West is in many ways still a land of unbridled opportunity.  But like the former boom-towns that emerged during the gold rushes, man’s contribution to the Western landscape is often rather hard to look at – as the song points out: “Strip clubs in strip malls near the strip mines.”

Released 9/4/24 by DistroKid

 Currently available on Spotify, Apple Music, iTunes, Instagram/Facebook, TikTok/TikTok Music/Resso/Luna, YouTube Music, Amazon, Pandora, Deezer, Tidal, iHeartRadio, Claro Música, Saavn, Boomplay, Anghami, NetEase, Tencent, Qobuz, Joox, Kuack Media, Adaptr, Flo and MediaNet.

“Dancing in the Desert”

CLICK TO HEAR THE MUSIC: “Dancing in the Desert”

CLICK TO SEE THE LYRICS & CHORDS: “Dancing in the Desert 7 9 24”

Deserts get a bad rap.  Of course they can be dangerous, monotonous and dire places, but they also abound with beauty, if you know where and how to look.  More importantly, desert solitude is the perfect antidote to the trappings of modern society.  You start to understand what’s important in 115-degree heat.

Slowing down for a change is a great way to look in the mirror and prioritize.  That’s what the couple in this song is experiencing.  Maybe obsessively striving in the rat race for 51 weeks a year to enjoy a one-week vacation is, as they say, ass backwards.

So that it flows naturally, the song was written in a circular fashion, but it’s the unusual rhyme scheme (rhymes are sometimes at the beginning or in the middle of phrases) that makes the lyrics unique.

I tried to channel the great Simon & Garfunkel as I sang the background vocals.  We’re nothing without our roots.

“Don’t Blame Anybody But Me”

CLICK TO HEAR THE MUSIC: “Don’t Blame Anybody But Me”

CLICK TO SEE THE LYRICS & CHORDS: “Don’t Blame Anybody But Me 7 24 24”

The protagonist of this song is a guy who may or may not be battling mental health challenges.  He seems most comfortable socially isolating, yet he blames no one but himself, which is admirable.  The last line of the refrain represents the straw that broke the camel’s back in his efforts to find his place in this world – his humiliation in discovering that a woman he found himself very attracted to (most likely in a bar) didn’t turn out to be a woman equipment wise.  He may be uncomfortable with his true feelings or he may actually remain appalled.  Doesn’t matter, he’s running away.

Yes, this is a lyrical shocker (somewhat like The Kink’s rock classic “Lola,” a tale of a transvestite love affair).  But hooking up with a woman and eventually discovering that she currently or previously was something else is a story I’ve heard several men sheepishly admit.  Now they can sing about it.

Originally, I recorded “Don’t Blame Anybody But Me” as an up-tempo R&B chart with a different melody and chord progression.  About a week later I deemed it “too hip for the room,” which is how musicians describe songs that are difficult for the audience to latch on to.  But I really liked the lyrics, so I sat down at the piano and within 15 minutes had rewritten the song as the ballad you’re hearing today.  It was a big improvement.  I kept the instrumentation sparse to keep the focus on the honesty of the lead vocal – you’ll hear just piano, bass, cello, violin, a brief solo on a nylon string guitar and a single background voice.

“Not Every Question Has an Answer”

CLICK TO HEAR THE MUSIC: “Not Every Question Has an Answer”

CLICK TO SEE THE LYRICS & CHORDS: “Not Every Question Has an Answer”

One of the most insightful things I ever read was an interview of José (Pepe) Mujica, the remarkable former President of Uruguay.  Answering the question of how, while suffering from terminal cancer, he could remain an Atheist, he said “Not every question has an answer,” meaning he wasn’t avoiding the issue, but explaining why he thought so many people preferred to believe in a higher power.  He was simply okay with the realization that his days were numbered.

This song highjacks Pepe’s insight into light-hearted lyrics about fatherhood.  The refrain remains philosophical, but the overall feeling is an island groove established by a 10-string ukulele, Latin percussion, an upright bass and lead lines on a jumbo acoustic guitar.

Who needs answers when you can hangout at the beach?

“What’s the Best Part of My Life?”

CLICK TO HEAR THE MUSIC: “What’s the Best Part of My Life”

CLICK TO SEE THE LYRICS & CHORDS: “What’s the Best Part of My Life 7 13 24”

Some guys buy their spouses expensive anniversary gifts.  Cads like me write love songs, such as this one that I wrote for Karen to celebrate Year-28 of our marriage.  I meant every word of it.

I’m a great believer that music should have no rules or boundaries.  The backbone of this song was Eric Clapton-like acoustic guitar fingerpicking emphasizing the upbeat of the second beat of every other measure by plucking two notes simultaneously.  However, instead of an acoustic guitar, I used a reggae-style electric sound.  Complicating matters, I added dense jazz chords, a conga for the rhythm track and a meandering soulful electric piano played in a call and response manner with the vocal.

The sole background vocal introduced during the bridge and carried through verse 3 is pitched significantly lower than the melody.  This is an unusual pairing for a pop song with a male lead vocal.

Most obvious is that song titles are rarely questions, like this one is.  But after hearing this tune, I think you’ll realize that the only thing I don’t question is my love for my wife.

“Not My Day”

CLICK TO HEAR THE MUSIC: “Not My Day”

CLICK TO SEE THE LYRICS & CHORDS: “Not My Day”

Call this a feel-good song about feeling bad.  I got the idea after listening with great respect as the amazing Amy Ray of the Indigo Girls described how awkward and out of place she felt while in college.  “Not My Day” is written from the perspective of a university student trying to sort things out.  A twenty-year old’s brain is far from fully formed, at least mine wasn’t.  Four and a half decades later, that still seems to be the case.  Like most of us, the student in this song constantly utilizes an overused conversational segue – “anyway.”  That lyric is repeated six times during the song.

“Not My Day” is definitely an instrumental melting pot.  The up-tempo soul rhythm guitar that defines the tune is actually played using a Nashville guitar sound.  Techno drums are augmented with massive orchestral tom-toms, a sound used for blockbuster film scores.  The percussion during the two bridges is a single Middle Eastern darbuka.  The synthesized keyboards are a mixture of organ, electric piano and a choir.  I’ll try anything to make you dance.

“Pepe & Lucía”

CLICK TO HEAR THE MUSIC: “Pepe & Lucía”

CLICK TO SEE THE LYRICS & CHORDS: “Pepe & Lucía”

The airwaves are full of love songs, but I guarantee this tune is one of a kind.  To start with, it’s absolutely true.  It also uses three beats per measure, whereas 98% of popular music uses four.  Perhaps most interestingly, this a song about a pair of armed rebels who fell in love with their country (Uruguay) and each other.

José (Pepe) Mujica and Lucía Topolansky were members of a violent leftist guerrilla group, the Tupamaros, who were fighting a repressive government.  He robbed banks to finance the cause, while she was said to be an expert at forging documents.  Not the typical profiles we see on today’s dating sites.  Somehow, they found each other.

Both were jailed for 14 years and suffered through abuse and torture.  Eventually, when the repressive regime was finally toppled, Pepe and Lucía were each granted amnesty and released.  Both were subsequently elected to Uruguay’s senate and Pepe eventually served a five-year term as the country’s President.  A few years later, Lucía served as Vice President with Pepe at her side as Second Gentleman.

Politics aside, what impressed me about Pepe & Lucía is that they never lost sight of their convictions.  As president, he saved taxpayer dollars by choosing to live on their own humble farm instead of in the presidential palace.  Pepe & Lucía rode to work each morning on a moped or in their beat-up old VW Bug.  He donated 90% of his salary to local charities supporting the poor and entrepreneurship.  Hard to imagine that happening in Washington.

In retirement they raise chrysanthemums, which they sell in local markets.  Prison robbed them of their chance to have children, but they have a three-legged dog.  Pepe is now best known as a philosopher.  What a life they have led.

“I Must Have Learned Something”

CLICK TO HEAR THE MUSIC: “I Must Have Learned Something”

CLICK TO SEE THE LYRICS & CHORDS: “I Must Have Learned Something”

Call it the “oh shucks” moment, put there’s a point when most folks realize that substituting self-deprecation for boastfulness gains them far more social capital, or at least allows them to brag in a humbler light.

The middle-aged character in “I Must Have Learned Something” has mastered that craft.  He’s able to spin deplorable personal traits into wise aphorisms.  You actually like the guy as he recalls his former repugnant self.  What it does prove is that self-deprecation and age can be remarkably enlightening.

This is a rock tune featuring call and response between the lead singer and the three background vocalists singing nonsense syllables.  Think The Temptations or The Four Tops, with, unfortunately, all of them looking like me and dancing just as poorly.  Maybe that’s a bad visual.

“Max and Madelaine”

CLICK TO HEAR THE MUSIC: “Max and Madelaine”

CLICK TO SEE THE LYRICS & CHORDS: “Max and Madelaine”

The backbone of Max and Madelaine is complex finger-picking in a Cuban style on a single nylon string guitar.  The cajon percussion ensemble also has Cuban roots.  But the doo-wop chorus that accompanies the bridge lead vocal is pure streets of New York.  So, from a pedigree standpoint, call this tune a mutt, which is what interests me, at least currently.

Lyrically, the song started with a line I’d been kicking around for months: “Was it lust was it love, was it heaven or hell?”  After completing the refrain with a few more contradictions, I concocted the story of Max and Madelaine, two nice people terrified of pursuing the sparks from within for entirely different reasons. 

“Sorry I Don’t Have a Dog”

CLICK TO HEAR THE MUSIC: “Sorry I Don’t Have a Dog”

CLICK TO SEE THE LYRICS & CHORDS: “Sorry I Don’t Have a Dog”

The best way to start a song is with a strong hook.  In this case, the phrase “sorry I don’t have a dog; I’m hoping someone rescues me” was an idea I got by observing countless couples less than half my age.  There appears to be more dogs these days than children.  In fact a guy answering the question “do you have a dog?” in anything but the affirmative, now seems to be lumped with senators, televangelists and convicted rapists in terms of popularity.

During each verse of this song, the hapless young man is searching for female companionship in a different manner: online, at a gym and in a bar.  He’s far from confident, especially since he’s dogless.

Heavy industrial sounding drums are at the forefront of the mix.  The rest of the instrumentation is primarily synthesizer, making “Sorry I Don’t Have a Dog” electro-pop.  I probably played too long of a synth solo at the end, but I was having too much fun doing it.  Nobody suggested I crowd surf however.

“Living on Borrowed Time”

CLICK TO HEAR THE MUSIC: “Living on Borrowed Time”

CLICK TO SEE THE LYRICS & CHORDS: “Living on Borrowed Time”

I woke up one night with this song title in my head.  Turns out John Lennon and Yoko Ono had the same idea, but I liked the possibilities of that line so much that I wrote my version anyway.

Each verse covers a different period of a man’s life: as an 8-year-old, as a high school partier, as a young father, and finally, a half century later, as a disabled widower with a failing memory.  I’m often asked how much of my lyrics are autobiographical.  Very little, but in many cases sections of songs are based on things I’ve observed.  The third verse of this tune was inspired by my son Brock, who has grown to become quite an admirable girl-dad (three and counting).  His youngest, one-year-old London, spends most of their visits joyfully sprinting down our hall.  An image captured in these lyrics. 

Growing up in New Jersey, I was exposed to very little country music.  But hearing the great Floyd Cramer tickle the ivories for the first time made me run down to the basement where my parents had put a $25 upright piano.  More than a half century later, I still love brushing notes using Cramer’s signature style.  This laid-back song is a prime example.

“Half Hangit Maggie”

CLICK TO HEAR THE MUSIC: “Half Hangit Maggie”

CLICK TO SEE THE LYRICS & CHORDS: “Half Hangit Maggie”

While taking a free walking tour of Edinburgh, Scotland (Sandeman’s offers one each day at 10 am – the guide, Naïve, tells phenomenal stories), we heard the true tale of Maggie Dickson, a woman who survived a hanging in 1724 that she most likely never deserved.  Amazingly, she hung from the gallows and later rose from the dead.  A woman to worship.  Unless you think she had murdered her child.

It’s a fascinating story about an era when women’s rights were basically nonexistent.  The only person who really knows what happened is Maggie herself, but the possibilities continue to be hotly debated three centuries later.  Folks do seem to agree on one thing, her nickname: Half Hangit Maggie.

Knowing it would make a great song, I researched multiple accounts of Maggie’s story to be as historically accurate as possible.  But tales do seem to get more fascinating with age, even true ones.

This is the third time I’ve put this story to music, and in this case, I was pleased with the outcome.  It’s an uncluttered musical arrangement with bass, contemporary drums and a single finger-picked acoustic guitar played through a digital delay in order to create the reflected polyrhythms.  The background vocals during the refrains represent the thoughts of her fellow Scottish citizens: “was she innocent or guilty?”

“Half Hangit Maggie” is a complex and unforgettable legend.  In other words, a great drinking song.

“High Desert Anthem”

CLICK TO HEAR THE MUSIC: “High Desert Anthem”

CLICK TO SEE THE LYRICS & CHORDS: “High Desert Anthem”

A few years back we purchased a home in the high desert of Central Oregon, an area we had visited often while raising our family and always loved.  Thus the lyric: “we should have done this decades ago.”  The opening line: “Faith, Hope and Charity” is what the locals call the majestic Three Sisters Mountains (technically labeled “North Sister,” Middle Sister” and “South Sister”).

But as much as the lyrics apply to Karen and I, I was thinking of our good friends Robin and Randy Krieger as I wrote this.  The Kriegers moved to Bend as empty nesters, but they simply belonged here.  Karen and I enjoy the abundant high desert recreation, Robin and Randy put us to shame.  They downhill ski, mountain bike, kayak, backpack the PCT, run marathons, do triathlons... in their sixties no less.  It’s exhausting.  We’ll be at a brewpub with them and I’ll ask them what they did that day and my jaw will drop.

The high desert is that kind of place.  But, in the immortal words of Oregon’s former governor Tom McCall: “Come again and again.  But for heaven's sake, don't move here to live.”  Real estate prices around these parts have already escalated enough, and besides it gets mighty cold in the winter.  Of course for Robin and Randy, that just means more powder at Mt Bachelor.  For wimps like Karen and I, it means winters in Mazatlán.

Released 3/8/24 by DistroKid

“Unfinished Stories” is a collection of 13 original songs all written in narrative form.  Why exclusively narrative?  Authors, educators, coaches and especially parents all at some point realize that if you want a something to be remembered, attach a story to it.  Even if you have to make it up.  Since narrative songs require character development and a story arc, the lyricist has to make every word count.  It was quite a challenge but much fun.  Hopefully you’ll enjoy these tales.

 Currently available on Spotify, Apple Music, iTunes, Instagram/Facebook, TikTok/TikTok Music/Resso/Luna, YouTube Music, Amazon, Pandora, Deezer, Tidal, iHeartRadio, Claro Música, Saavn, Boomplay, Anghami, NetEase, Tencent, Qobuz, Joox, Kuack Media, Adaptr, Flo and MediaNet.

“The Saint”

CLICK TO HEAR THE MUSIC: “The Saint” – 2/18/24

CLICK TO SEE THE LYRICS & CHORDS: “The Saint”

There is a point when a saint can become a doormat, which is the point of this song.  The 43-year-old heroine is too good to too many people, including her freeloading boyfriend, absent siblings, needy mom, philandering dad, and a callous boss.  As a result, they take advantage of her and she sees her life passing away. Finally she does something about it.

A single acoustic guitar, strummed in four different patterns at a relatively fast tempo (134 bpm), provides the chordal background, which leans heavily on suspensions.  An active bass and contemporary drums provide punchy counterpoint.

Often in the middle of the night, I’ll think of short phrases that might turn into good lyrics and jot them down into the Notes app on my phone.  Months later, I might complete the thought.  This song is an example.  The first line: “If patience was a virtue, she was a saint,” became an entire story.

“When the Going Gets Tough”

CLICK TO HEAR THE MUSIC: “When the Going Gets Tough” – 1/24/24

CLICK TO SEE THE LYRICS & CHORDS: “When the Going Gets Tough”

With its congas, claves and tropical beat, most musicians identify this song as salsa, but it actually uses Bembe rhythmic patterns.  An AfroCuban beat with its roots in Nigeria, Bembe can best be described as elastic, meaning it regularly switches pulses, often through the use of drag triplets.  Add a walking bass plus a crooning vocal, and this tune sounds like something you’d hear in a Tiki bar.  So, if you’re pouring yourself a daquiri, don’t forget the parasol drink umbrella.

“When the Going Gets Tough” is the story of Joey, a highflying Wall Street type who has to leave town in a hurry due to an SEC investigation.  With the help of a Mexican plastic surgeon and a lot of black hair dye, Joey emerges as Joachim, selling timeshares in Cabo, hustling gringo divorcees and stealing their IDs.

No one knows the exact count of US fugitives hiding in Mexico, but it’s at least a four-digit number.  Curiously, most gringos on the run seem to gravitate towards tourist hotspots like Cabo and Cancun, and many quickly resume their criminal tendencies, which may be why they’re caught so easily.  Or, perhaps too much tequila makes it hard for crooks to remember their current alias.

“It’s Easier to Pretend”

CLICK TO HEAR THE MUSIC: “It’s Easier to Pretend” – 1/27/24

CLICK TO SEE THE LYRICS & CHORDS: “It’s Easier to Pretend”

We grow up under the illusion that someday, you’ll miraculously meet your perfect soulmate.  You’ll find that needle in the haystack of the 8 billion+ inhabitants of our planet.  Really?  What I’ve observed is that successful couples become so, by showing a great deal of tolerance for each other, and in doing so, true love grows.

That’s what this song is about.  I’d written the opening phrase, “He’s a contrarian, she’s a librarian,” a while back.  When it fit the rhythm of a melody I was playing with, I expanded on that scenario.  In this case, she’s the breadwinner and he’s an unemployed philosophy aficionado, which gave me ample opportunity to throw in some of life’s unanswerable philosophical dilemmas.  Much fun.  She continually teases him, but as a couple they understand that “love isn’t perfect, it’s easier to pretend.”

This is kickass roadhouse music with over-the-top bass and drumming, several guitars and a 10-piece horn section.  I once heard Paul McCartney say in an interview that Roy Orbison had taught him the importance of big endings.  This song ends with a crazy full bar drum solo followed by a guitar and brass stinger.

“Where are the Grownups”

CLICK TO HEAR THE MUSIC: “Where are the Grownups” – 1/21/24

CLICK TO SEE THE LYRICS & CHORDS: “Where are the Grownups”

By far my favorite newspaper columnist is Nicholas Kristof of The New York Times, a winner of two Pulitzer Prizes.  Kristof has the unique ability to unapologetically present complicated situations in which there will never be easy answers.  Yet, and rarely showing bias, he offers commonsense ways that people can help. One Sunday morning, the last four words of a Kristof column had a profound effect on me and I knew that they were the start of a meaningful song.  He simply wrote: “Where are the Grownups?”

Verse 1 portrays a young boy in a violent dysfunctional home.  The second verse describes a slightly older girl living with parents addicted to meth.  Neighbors, educators and friends are well aware of the situations, yet all look the other way. I originally sung this with only acoustic guitar accompaniment.  Later, I added bass, drums, cello and the ethereal synth pad.

Hopefully the message will resonate with listeners because there are always ways we can help.  We just have to prioritize at-risk kids and not accept our own comfort zones.

“Girls Just Like to Play”

CLICK TO HEAR THE MUSIC: “Girls Just Like to Play” – 1/19/24

CLICK TO SEE THE LYRICS & CHORDS: “Girls Just Like to Play”

Women face an impossible dichotomy.  On one hand are the principles of feminism, all highly valid.  Thankfully, some positive strides are occurring in that area.  Yet on the other hand, although no woman should be solely valued on her attractiveness, it’s rather obvious, that based on contemporary apparel trends, many women do like to be looked at.  In fact, it seems that women of all shapes and sizes are wearing less and less, which, since it is their choice, is positive.  In other words, a practicing feminist should be able to dress anyway they please, without apologies.

The issue is also one of cultural bias.  Folks from the USA are often shocked when they see nudity on European billboards, but Yankees are certainly not Puritans.  Few Americans are advocating that women need to wear burkas.  Couples having to be fully clothed while in bed with one foot on the floor is no longer the standard for Hollywood.  So what’s okay?  It’s a woman’s choice, and that’s certainly progress.

“Girls Just Like to Play” is about that very dichotomy.  All three women in the song are in various stages of toxic relationships.  And all three have decided that they don’t mind being looked at.  No one is apologizing for anything.  Nor should they.  This is sort of a “you go girl” set of lyrics, something no one has ever said to me.

It’s a jubilant pulsing song.  I laid down four separate phased guitar parts and mixed them with hip-hop drums before writing the vocal.  If you’ve seen my picture, you understand this song is far from autobiographical.  But it’s fun and suggesting nothing more than personal choice.  That said, my granddaughters are not allowed to listen to this song until they are well past thirty and have safely joined a convent.

“You Are My Soul”

CLICK TO HEAR THE MUSIC: “You Are My Soul” – 2/1/24

CLICK TO SEE THE LYRICS & CHORDS: “You Are My Soul”

Mexico has a rich and varied musical history, and I find it admirable that musicians of all ages regularly perform traditional ballads.  The local cultures evolve, but rarely forget.  “You Are My Soul” was composed with great respect towards the live music and musicians that Karen and I have the good fortune of listening to on a regular basis in our adopted winter home in Mazatlán.

The song began with a fingerpicked nylon string guitar in E minor.  Later, I added upright bass, a second guitar, Latin percussion and strings.  The arrangement adds, and later subtracts, instrumentation to support the story arc, finishing the same way it started, with a single guitar playing bell-like harmonics.

The story follows a similar path.  In a Mexican small village, Jorge is passionately enamored with Lucia, who has many suitors.  When she marries for wealth and moves to the city, Jorge is shattered, but never forgets her.  Her glamorous life eventually unravels as she ages while her rich husband ignores his marriage vows. Picking up the pieces of her life, she remembers her first love, Jorge.  I won’t spoil the outcome, but I will say that epic ballads in minor keys rarely end in fairy-tale fashion.

“Don’t You Agree”

CLICK TO HEAR THE MUSIC: “Don’t You Agree” – 2/26/24

CLICK TO SEE THE LYRICS & CHORDS: “Don’t You Agree”

To me, there’s nothing more important in a story than nuanced characters.  People that act in complicated ways are far more interesting than predictable architypes.

“Don’t You Agree” follows the lives of Patrick, a kind studious high school student, and his attractive biology lab partner, Vanessa, who turns down his prom invitation.  Years later, he’s become a science teacher, while her upscale life has seriously unraveled.  Pondering her prospects, she realizes she still has her looks, so she heads out dancing, accompanied by her younger sister.  When, by chance, Patrick walks in to the bar, she decides that he’s not too bad after all and attempts to seduce him.  He turns her down, using the same lame excuse she had given him years ago, when she refused his prom invitation.  Perhaps it’s payback, or perhaps he’s not that nice himself, since he callously proceeds to hit on her sister.

“Don’t You Agree” is up-tempo rock featuring four guitars, Hammond organ and a driving rhythm section that includes the unlikely addition of Latin shakers and sticks.  A dark phased guitar played through a wah-wah peddle fades away during the coda, seemingly asking: “what just happened?” 

“It Is What It Is”

CLICK TO HEAR THE MUSIC: “It Is What It Is” – 1/30/24

CLICK TO SEE THE LYRICS & CHORDS: “It Is What It Is”

Writing narrative lyrics to fit a melody you’ve already created is a bit like solving a complicated crossword puzzle.  Rarely do you start from the beginning.  I find it best to first write the lyrical hook, in this case: “It’s not what it looks like, it is what it is,” and then start filling in the blanks.  Sometimes along the way, a decent story emerges.

This is the tale of Ruth and Tom, a couple equally ignoring their wedding vows.  When caught, both offer the lamest excuse on earth: “it is what it is.”  Somehow the marriage survives, which may not be a good thing.

The song started with a swampy slack key electric guitar that sounded interesting played through a phase shifter and digital delay.  Solo alto sax and a jazz guitar trade licks during the bridges.

As it is with all narrative songs, the challenge was to tell a complicated story within the confines of the melody.  To do so, I used the background vocals to provide essential details.  No “doo-wops” in this song, every word counts.

“Nothing Ventured Nothing Gained”

CLICK TO HEAR THE MUSIC: “Nothing Ventured Nothing Gained” – 2/6/24

CLICK TO SEE THE LYRICS & CHORDS: “Nothing Ventured Nothing Gained”

Don’t overthink things.  That’s the moral found in these lyrics.  It’s the story of a decent guy in a bar enamored with a woman he’s never even spoken to, because he thinks she’s looking to meet a millionaire.  When we hear the story from her perspective, we learn that she couldn’t care less about his financial status.  Apparently, she’s as shy as he is, so neither of them makes the first move.  Both simply bury their faces in their phones, as if an app can solve their social anxieties.

At the heart of the music is a funk acoustic guitar pattern supported by electric guitars, bass and a very contemporary drum mix.  The first guitar solo is played in the style of a hero of mine, Pat Metheny, who somehow combines exceptional melodies with cutting edge fusion.

It’s a unique arrangement, merging sounds not usually played together.  But, in the spirit of the song: “Nothing Ventured Nothing Gained.”

“Why Not Now”

CLICK TO HEAR THE MUSIC: “Why Not Now” – 3/2/24

CLICK TO SEE THE LYRICS & CHORDS: “Why Not Now”

A year or so after graduating college, I was working as a stockbroker, making more money than anyone in their early twenties should have, when it dawned on me: I didn’t want to spend my entire career earning generous returns for folks who already had healthy portfolios.  So I told myself, “If I’m going to make a change, why not now?”  The next day, I tendered my resignation and booked a regular gig for the rock band I’d been performing with.  After about a month or so of playing cover tunes for drunks in a bar, I realized that wasn’t the ticket either and moved on, again thinking “why not now?”  It’s a philosophy that’s worked for me, but I’ve never been accused of patience.

This is a fictional song about a perfectly nice and capable woman who eventually comes to the same conclusion.  “Why Not Now” is primarily acoustic, in fact the entire rhythm is created without drums.  Instead, the beat comes from tapping on the bodies of several nylon-string guitars.  It’s a bit of an island groove, which serves as a precursor for the last verse.

Life is too short.  If changes are long overdue, ask yourself: “Why Not Now?”

“Love Being Love and Not Reason”

CLICK TO HEAR THE MUSIC: “Love Being Love and Not Reason” – 2/10/24

CLICK TO SEE THE LYRICS & CHORDS: “Love Being Love and Not Reason”

Some sobering statistics: 40 – 50% of first marriages in the USA fail.  Experience actually makes things worse – 67% of second marriages and 73% of third marriages end in divorce.  The general consensus is that those who marry in their late teens – like the couple in this song – have little chance of success, yet those who marry between the ages of 20 and 25 are far more likely to divorce… so much for maturity gained at college.  Vegas bookmakers ought to offer odds on the success rates of the nuptials held in their casinos.

I’m not advocating any perfect age for matrimony; I just like to tell stories.  This one is about a pair of 18-year-olds who politely refused the advice of their parents and friends to marry and start a family.  It’s fiction, but I’ve always admired couples who knew during high school exactly who they wanted to spend their life with, then actually pulled it off – the beaming pair of lovebirds who stand up when the cruise director asks the audience: “do we have any couples who have been married sixty or more years?”

My wonderful mother and father-in-law, Doreen and Dale Beck, were one of those couples, hopelessly in love and married before twenty.  If they’d followed conventional advice, my wife might not be here.  They did sacrifice plenty for their family.  When her kids were old enough for school, Doreen juggled college and motherhood, eventually becoming a teacher.  Dale worked long hours as an owner-operator of a log truck, a noble profession if there ever was one.  Tragically, their lives were cut short in a plane crash, but they died together, still hopelessly in love, headed for the trip of a lifetime.

I’ve always liked the expressive soulfulness of a phased electric piano, which is the musical backbone of “Love Being Love and Not Reason.” The brief instrumental bridge following the lyric “then they renewed their vows on a 10-day cruise” includes marimba, Latin percussion and a nylon string guitar.  Bon voyage.

“Don’t Lock the Door”

CLICK TO HEAR THE MUSIC: “Don’t Lock the Door” – 2/12/24

CLICK TO SEE THE LYRICS & CHORDS: “Don’t Lock the Door”

During the winter of 2024, when I wrote “Don’t Lock the Door,” I’d noticed a disturbing trend.  Politicians on both sides of the aisle, as well as the media, all seemed to be in agreement that the answer to all of America’s problems was to dramatically curtail immigration.

Those of us who aren’t Native American seem to have forgotten where our own families came from.  We are a nation of immigrants.  The juvenile perspective of “we were here first” is not only foolish, it’s utterly false.  Especially during an era when rural communities and small cities are facing declining populations, and when most of the messages on the reader boards outside of American businesses always seem to say the same thing: “Help Wanted.”  Talk to the owners of a small and medium size businesses and they’ll universally tell you: “filling a workforce is virtually impossible these days, especially if you drug test.”

It's hardworking immigrants who have traditionally provided much of the manufacturing, agricultural and construction labor that fuels our economy, many eventually rising through the ranks and becoming business owners and community leaders themselves.  Sure immigration must be organized and a legal process, but as the song says: “don’t lock the door.”  If our forefathers had been as shortsighted, you wouldn’t be here.

“Unfinished Stories”

CLICK TO HEAR THE MUSIC: “Unfinished Stories” – 2/22/24

CLICK TO SEE THE LYRICS & CHORDS: “Unfinished Stories”

Apparently, there is an untapped market for songs about living with disabilities.  Shocker.  Having lived with a disability myself for well over a decade, I thought I’d offer my two cents worth.

I certainly can’t speak for everyone dealt a bad card in life, but it’s been my observation that the plus side is an appreciation for what remains, and – as is always the case – attitude is everything.

I used to live to play basketball.  It’s poetry in motion.  I was so enthralled with the sport that I actually played for five different city league teams in five different towns during the same season.  Call me obsessive.  Now that I’ve lost all nerve response from the knees down, those days are over.  I had to teach myself to walk again.  Do I miss it?  Every day.  But the hours I used to spend on the hardwood, I now can put towards other pursuits, meaning I’m one lucky guy.  Life is good.

“Unfinished Stories” is a walk down memory lane.  It was recorded using “a wall of sound” (an 8-part string section, 9-part brass, tenor sax, grand piano, 3 guitars, bass and drums), most played simultaneously.  It sounds like an old recording on vinyl with no overdubs.  Of course since I played all the instruments, that’s hardly the case, but it was fun trying to get that sound.

Released 1/9/24 by DistroKid

Currently available on Spotify, Apple Music, iTunes, Instagram/Facebook, TikTok/TikTok Music/Resso/Luna, YouTube Music, Amazon, Pandora, Deezer, Tidal, iHeartRadio, Claro Música, Saavn, Boomplay, Anghami, KKBox, NetEase, Tencent, Qobuz, Joox, Kuack Media, Yandex Music (beta), Adaptr, Flo and MediaNet.

“Maybe Someday”

CLICK TO HEAR THE MUSIC: “Maybe Someday” – 12/28/23

CLICK TO SEE THE LYRICS & CHORDS: “Maybe Someday”

Typically, I don’t write songs about folks my own age.  That would be marketing suicide, since as the obituaries indicate, we seem to be dropping like flies.  And of those of us still standing, how many really know what an MP3 is, let alone can download one?

But, as the steady stream of Golf Channel commercials promising an end to erectile dysfunction have taught us, geezers can have fun too.  In vintage Mustangs or clawfoot tubs.  And nowhere on earth do seniors act wilder, than south of the border.  That’s what “Maybe Someday” is about.  An older couple deciding to ditch a lifetime of responsible living, to have some fun for a change.

It’s an up-tempo roadhouse song driven by a twangy rhythm guitar, exuberant drumming and tight vocal harmonies.  Even the tremolo-laden guitar solo seems authentic to the genre.

As population data indicates, “chasing the sun,” or simply heading to southern states or beyond, has become the American dream.  Canadians seem to have the same aspirations, as well they should.  Maybe we lose our tolerance for cold as we age, or perhaps we’re just refusing to age.  Whatever the case, I highly recommend it.

“Disagreeing Isn’t a Crime”

CLICK TO HEAR THE MUSIC: “Disagreeing Isn’t a Crime” – 12/31/23

CLICK TO SEE THE LYRICS & CHORDS: “Disagreeing Isn’t a Crime”

A polite prediction: those thoroughly ensconced either left or right politically will hear exactly what they want to hear in these lyrics.  And they’ll all be wrong.  “Disagreeing Isn’t a Crime” is simply a plea for folks to get off their high horses and attempt to understand each other for a change.  They don’t have to agree, they just have to listen without judgement, trying to understand other points of view.

We live in an era when the press thinks it’s perfectly okay to tell people how to think.  People now gravitate towards news streams echoing their personal biases.  Questioning anything has become taboo.  The Orwellian bullying tactics of cancel culture are widespread and now unfortunately practiced by both sides.  Quotes are routinely shortened without regard to context.  It’s not just the media, it’s our political leaders, religious leaders, celebrities, our friends, ourselves... everyone needs to look in the mirror.  As the song says: “when we’ve decided we know all the answers, we get it wrong every time.”

From a recording standpoint, this was a challenging song.  Freeform fusion, which emphasizes improvisation and lack of structure, is much easier to play in an ensemble so that musicians can “play off of each other.”  When you play all the instruments yourself, you have to record them separately, and the inclination is to overfill the spaces so that you establish some sort of rhythmic and chordal backbone.  In this case, much of the rhythm is implied in the vocal, so I laid down a “scratch” vocal track to start with, in order to know when to appropriately play fills on piano, alto sax and with cymbals.  The background instrumentation includes a phased Rhodes electric piano, a Fender Jazz Bass and an ethereal synth pad which includes swirling voices.

“I Should Have Listened”

CLICK TO HEAR THE MUSIC: “I Should Have Listened” – 1/3/24

CLICK TO SEE THE LYRICS & CHORDS: “I Should Have Listened”

I’ve always been enamored with R&B and I’m elated that the genre seems to be enjoying a Renaissance on the pop charts. I began “I Should Have Listened” by playing an active but soulful rhythm guitar over bass and drums.  At measure number five, hip-hop percussion is added, as well as a tenor sax riff that is repeated in subsequent interludes and during the closing vamp.

The unique thing about this song is that the refrain features seven sets of drag triplets in the vocal.  What’s a drag triplet?  It has nothing to do with what you’re wearing.  You can try one yourself by first singing two consecutive conventional triplets (three notes per beat).  Now accent notes 1, 3 and 5.  Then eliminate notes 2, 4 and 6.  The result is a drag triplet, a syncopation technique that adds emphasis to a musical phrase.  Or, option two, listen to the song and sing along.  Hopefully you’ll also get up and dance.

Lyrically lighthearted, “I Should Have Listened” follows the trials of a guy who broke the Cardinal Rule of relationships.  His spouse or girlfriend was upset and he tried to help her by blurting out a solution.  Dumb move.  He should never had opened his mouth.  Apparently, there are far more evolved methods of offering support.  Now he’s sleeping on the couch and may be thrown out of the house.  As the song progresses, he’s seriously backpedaling, apologizing by saying: “that’s not who I am, sometimes I act like a jerk.”  Sound familiar?

“The Pelicans’ Sushi Buffet”

CLICK TO HEAR THE MUSIC: “The Pelicans’ Sushi Buffet” – 12/23/23

CLICK TO SEE THE LYRICS & CHORDS: “The Pelicans’ Sushi Buffet”

Can an entire song be based on a single example of juvenile word play?  It can if you’re like me and your maturity level hasn’t progressed a bit in a half century.  In “The Pelicans’ Sushi Buffet,” the last word of each refrain is replaced with a similar sounding word with an entirely different meaning.  I know, silly.  The title came to me one morning while reading on our deck in Mazatlán.  As I often have, I found myself staring at the pelicans as they continually dove into a school of fish.

Since it was to be a beach song, I wanted the music to replicate the soothing, but inconsistent sound of waves.  To do so I played a highly syncopated, yet gentle, chord progression using a single nylon string guitar played in a Cuban Songo style, which is essentially rumba based.  The bass line is part of the fingerpicking.  Unlike most American popular music, the beat is highly varied – the spaces are as essential as the notes played.  The only other instrumentation is rhythmic, including a cajon ensemble, guiro, claves and maracas.  I purposedly sang in a relaxed style to fit the mood.

“The Moment Passes By”

CLICK TO HEAR THE MUSIC: “The Moment Passes By” – 12/16/23

CLICK TO SEE THE LYRICS & CHORDS: “The Moment Passes By”

My brothers and I grew up with a deep respect for women.  No one ever had to teach us, we simply observed how our dad and grandfathers behaved.  That presented a problem when we dated girls who were equally conscientious about not appearing aggressive.  We’d sit just millimeters apart on a couch for hours and nobody would make the first move.  Eventually I’d go home wondering why nothing had happened, while the girl would question if I really liked her, or perhaps my sexual preference.

That’s what “The Moment Passes By” is about.  Anticipation that never comes to fruition.  It’s a wonder I ever fathered children.

Musically, the song is far more complex.  Since our condo in Mazatlán sits adjacent to an oceanfront outdoor events venue, we hear lots of free live music.  Plenty of weddings and parties – it’s not unusual for local bands to play until as late as 5:30 am.  We hear oom-pahs in our sleep.

By the mid-19th century, a large group of German immigrants had come to the area bringing brewing expertise – Mazatlán lagers and pilsners are superb – and a style of music, still popular today, with the background chords played by brass countermelodies.  “The Moment Passes By” wasn’t composed in a German-Mexican style (it actually has soul influences), but it does use brass (two trumpets, two trombones and a tenor sax) and background vocals to form the chords.  The guitar and bass are played as heartbeats, which probably makes sense in a song about anticipation.

“Guess I Got the Baja Blues”

CLICK TO HEAR THE MUSIC: “Guess I Got the Baja Blues” – 12/10/23

CLICK TO SEE THE LYRICS & CHORDS: “Guess I Got the Baja Blues”

“Guess I Got the Baja Blues” is anything but a traditional blues tune in that the protagonist has nothing to complain about unless he looks in the mirror.  He’s living in paradise, drinking like a fish, not at all interested in learning the culture and seems to have lost his wife.  She may have dumped him, he may have simply lost track of her, or perhaps he’s run away to Baja because he screwed up his marriage in the US.  Whatever the case, it’s a drinking song about a guy who drinks far too much.

Most important instrumentally is the blues rhythm guitar, which I played using an R&B sound, to leave space for a wide range of Latin percussion.  Each refrain concludes with a three-part brass hook, which is typical in Mexico, where on a per capita basis, far more horn players make a living than in the US.  The two wild instrumental bridges suggest the protagonist’s confusion and difficulties on the dancefloor.

Although “Guess I Got the Baja Blues” required multiple tracks and many takes, the overall feel is live because there’s nothing polished about what this song depicts.

“Six Strings, Four Lives”

CLICK TO HEAR THE MUSIC: “Six Strings, Four Lives” – 12/19/23

CLICK TO SEE THE LYRICS & CHORDS: “Six Strings, Four Lives”

Naked.  That’s how it feels onstage when you’re singing solo with just an acoustic guitar slung over your shoulders.  The audience focused solely on you, your inadequacies and your mistakes.

Recording solo is a bit less daunting.  You can seamlessly stitch together sections from multiple takes to create a much-improved end product.  Regardless, making a record with only your voice and an acoustic guitar is an extremely vulnerable pursuit.

Each verse and subsequent refrain of “Six Strings, Four Lives” briefly describes a nuanced individual.  While their personalities and situations differ widely, they have two things in common.  Each finds solace in playing an acoustic guitar and each loves one of contemporary society’s most endangered species, books.

Because of the subject matter, I felt it was appropriate to record just a single acoustic guitar, so I worked hard to create a fingerpicked accompaniment as interesting as the people the song depicts.  My only deviation from minimalism was to sing periodic harmony in the background.

“A Cold Rain Falls”

CLICK TO HEAR THE MUSIC: “A Cold Rain Falls” – 12/13/23

CLICK TO SEE THE LYRICS & CHORDS: “A Cold Rain Falls”

“A Cold Rain Falls” is a tone poem – a canvas for spoken words over shifting sonic textures and colors.  The music is fusion with dense jazz chords, hip-hop drums, layered guitars and a distant forlorn flugelhorn that gives the song a cinematic urban feel.

I’ve always admired artists like David Wilcox and Zach Bryan who sometimes use spoken and sung words side by side to paint a multifaceted image or tell a complicated story.  The technique allows for multiple lyrical rhythm structures, which in this case was exactly what I was after to describe the complex and often anonymous lives of people living in high density areas. 

Yes, cities can be sophisticated and exciting, but they also can be alienating, cruel and lonely places.  The multiple lives briefly touched on in this poem are just the tip of the iceberg of city living.  As Charlie Rich famously sang: “no one knows what goes on behind closed doors.”  In this case, no one seems to care either.

“Love Can Be True”

CLICK TO HEAR THE MUSIC: “Love Can Be True” – 12/7/23

CLICK TO SEE THE LYRICS & CHORDS: “Love Can Be True”

These lyrics channel the wonderfully complex character of Landry (played by Jesse Plemons) on the bingeworthy TV series Friday Night Lights.  He’s smart, humane, socially awkward, athletically challenged and hopelessly smitten with Tyra, a beautiful and equally complex classmate with a whole different set of challenges.  Although his friends and parents kindly suggest that she’s way out of his league, in Landy’s mind they’re a perfect match.  Tyra enjoys his company and unwavering support, yet inevitably dates more popular guys, teasing Landry – and her own self-worth – just enough to keep him around.  “Landry and Tyra” would make a fine opera.

“Love Can Be True” started with a soulful phased electric piano progression, a bit advanced in chordal structure, but naturally flowing.  Since the electric piano provides punchy rhythm, both the bass and drums are used sparsely as accents.  Periodic drum fills are played with deep cinematic toms, which suggest Landry’s heartbeat.  The high end is provided by a soulful rhythm guitar line principally on the first beat of each bar, and slightly more elaborate on the refrain and bridge.

The background vocals on the refrain play a prominent role, a rarity in popular music.  While the lead vocal presents Landry’s astute analysis of Tyra’s non-physical attributes – “her disposition,” “her intuition,” “her inhibitions,” etc. – the background vocals get more to the point: “call me back please, we could be much more than friends.”  Ah, to be a teenager again.

“Fake It Till You Make It”

CLICK TO HEAR THE MUSIC: “Fake It Till You Make It” – 12/26/23

CLICK TO SEE THE LYRICS & CHORDS: “Fake It Till You Make It”

It’s funny how one word can change an entire song’s lyrical perspective, which is what occurred here.  The original hook was “She’s forty but she acts fifteen,” yet simply by changing the word “acts” to “feels,” the phrase became nonjudgemental, which is what I intended.

The woman portrayed in “Fake It Till You Make It” may not have it all together, but who does?  In fact the expression “Fake It Till You Make It” isn’t a bad career strategy, it’s something that many of us have successfully practiced at times in our lives.

Forty may be a tad old to still be hitting on young guys in a bar, and she may be seriously lacking a moral compass, but you have to admire the woman’s spirit and ability to continually remake herself.  In case you’re wondering, she’s 100% fictional.  My inspiration was simply watching women run to the dancefloor as they heard the first notes of upbeat soul classics.  Regardless of your age, there’s something great about feeling fifteen and dancing that way.

From a technical standpoint, what makes “Fake It Till You Make It” musically interesting is the fact that the song never sits on the root chord (G in this case) for more than two beats.  Everything keeps moving.  The bridge, with its three key changes, features a pseudo-Greek chorus chanting hackneyed phrases typical heard in bars.

“Fake It Till You Make It” is a complicated song about a complicated woman doing something entirely basic – surviving.  And that’s something that should make us all dance.

“Now a Divide”

CLICK TO HEAR THE MUSIC: “Now a Divide” – 1/6/24

CLICK TO SEE THE LYRICS & CHORDS: “Now a Divide”

This one is gritty and dark, but it’s a story most of us have witnessed.  “Now a Divide” is about a 30-year marriage that is unraveling.  In this case it’s fictional, but it’s a tale that occurs far too often when couples become empty nesters.  Suddenly they’re faced with the reality that their social circle, focus and favorite activities revolved around their children, who are now elsewhere.  They’d both been good parents, but somehow, they’ve forgotten what they loved about each other.

I’d wanted to write a tune in a minor key – which gives it the sadness – and my wife, Karen, had been telling me how much she enjoys songs that are primarily piano-based.  Our union is solid, in fact it seemed to flourish when we became empty nesters, but as I was recording these tracks Karen poked her head into our home studio, wondering if I was trying to tell her something.  I replied that writers have to portray characters far different than themselves, otherwise Steven King or Cormac McCarthy would be less than stellar houseguests.

Although “Now a Divide” is somewhat of a “wall of sound,” the instrumentation is actually quite sparse.  Besides the piano, I used a dense swirling orchestral synth pad and cinematic drums, having always admired the explosions Simon and Garfunkel used in the refrain of “The Boxer,” which probably were created by an old-fashioned plate reverb unit.  Playing with rock bands in my earlier years, we used to get the same effect by kicking the side of a vintage guitar amp after we had turned the coil reverb up to 10.  Not a recommended practice.

The three brief guitar solos in “Now a Divide” are an ode to one of my favorite musicians, Mark Knopfler, who somehow squeezes more colors, attitude and moods out of a guitar than just about anyone on earth with ten fingers.  Perhaps he has eleven.

“Call it a Dream”

CLICK TO HEAR THE MUSIC: “Call it a Dream” – 11/30/23

CLICK TO SEE THE LYRICS & CHORDS: “Call it a Dream” 

Up-tempo, with what’s best probably described as a world-beat, bass, five guitar tracks and lots of vocal harmonies, “Call It a Dream” is an infectious wall of sound.  The song ends with six voices (all yours truly), pleading listeners to simply: “think of the children.”  This is the second time I’ve recorded a song using essentially these lyrics.  I felt that the first attempt fell short.

 Lyrically, the song questions America’s role in arming the world and constantly meddling in foreign affairs (sending troops, bombing or simply arming other nations or factions).  In a nutshell, we always claim to have good intentions.  But as we learned in Vietnam, Iraq, Afghanistan and are currently witnessing in Gaza, things aren’t always as clear as our government and media like to portray.  Wars are nothing new and are almost never clearcut.  As the song says, they happen “for too many reasons – religion, borders, frontiers.”  “Think of the children” is something we can all agree on.

Released 11/24/23 by DistroKid

Currently available on Spotify, Apple Music, iTunes, Instagram/Facebook, TikTok/TikTok Music/Resso/Luna, YouTube Music, Amazon, Pandora, Deezer, Tidal, iHeartRadio, Claro Música, Saavn, Boomplay, Anghami, KKBox, NetEase, Tencent, Qobuz, Joox, Kuack Media, Yandex Music (beta), Adaptr, Flo and MediaNet.

“Cruel Intentions”

CLICK TO HEAR THE MUSIC: “Cruel Intentions” – 11/12/23

CLICK TO SEE THE LYRICS & CHORDS: “Cruel Intentions”

As a relatively affluent boomer male, it’s come to my attention recently that we’re apparently the scum of the earth and the cause of all problems upon it.  And while much of that is accurate, some of us are still trying.  Quite awkwardly.

I’ve written a number of songs from the perspective of seriously flawed male characters, but the protagonist in “Cruel Intentions” isn’t such a bad guy.  He’s just frustrated trying to understand and help his wife or girlfriend.  Something is really bothering her, but she neglects to tell him what that is.  In fact, she labels his actions as “Cruel Intentions.”  His dilemma is that he’s in the doghouse for something she imagines he’s thinking, while his true thoughts are far from it, which of course doesn’t matter.

I guess the moral is for guys to simply shut up and listen.  For women, it may be: don’t ask your husband if those new jeans make your butt look too big.

“Cruel Intentions” is up tempo rock, a guitar anthem with an aggressive rhythm section.  Starting the refrain with a minor chord is unusual, but fitting, considering the dark connotation of the words “Cruel Intentions.”

The instrumental bridge that follows the second refrain represents a moment when the couple is seemingly calmly communicating.  But of course, that ends quickly with renewed shouts of “Cruel Intentions.”  I didn’t invent abysmal spousal communication.  I’m just an experienced practitioner of it.

“Dance Wild”

CLICK TO HEAR THE MUSIC: “Dance Wild” – 11/9/23

CLICK TO SEE THE LYRICS & CHORDS: “Dance Wild”

One of the highlights of my life occurred visiting my daughter and her family.  While improvising on their piano, I glanced over my shoulder and witnessed our eldest granddaughter, who was six at the time, dancing with such fluidity and grace, that I had to turn back towards the piano keys to try and mask my tears.  I failed.  Her pirouettes and arabesques flowed freely and seemed entirely natural.  I’ve never forgotten that sight.

Dance Wild was a phrase I picked up reading a novel and I just knew it would be a great starter for a refrain.  Since I kept picturing our granddaughter as I was writing, I decided to make the entire song appropriate for children, a message of possibilities.  “Imagine it and you can make it real,” are actually words to live by for adults too.

Structurally, “Dance Wild” is closer to a Broadway number than a pop song in that it opens with a long freeform verse that leads into a repeated refrain intended for dancing.  Three interwoven guitars form the chordal background and the drum tracks use eight different Balakulandian (West African) rhythms.  Two more guitar tracks are featured on the eight bar first instrumental interlude – feel free to breakdance if you can avoid injury.  The second instrumental interlude features two windpipe/vocal synth patches, both of which return as counterpoint later in the song.  Finally, starting in the third refrain, a Mark Knopfler-like rhythm guitar part joins the accompaniment.  I recorded eight different vocal tracks to build the final section, thoroughly intending for listeners to sing along and hopefully “Dance Wild.”

“The Gringo and the Fisherman”

CLICK TO HEAR THE MUSIC: “The Gringo and the Fisherman” – 11/7/23

CLICK TO SEE THE LYRICS & CHORDS: “The Gringo and the Fisherman”

Americans have a habit of vacationing or retiring to more laidback tropical cultures, then deciding, with all good intentions, that they can help the locals learn how to get ahead by adopting more vigorous work habits.  In other words, join the rat race.  I’d call that not seeing the forest amongst the trees, palm trees in this case.

Karen and I are lucky.  We now spend a significant portion of the year at our home on the beach in Mazatlán and love it, especially the locale culture.  I find myself biting my tongue each time I consider suggesting to our Mexican friends how they can work as obsessively as I do.  I constantly have to remind myself to slowdown, never miss a sunset, and to understand that I have far more to learn from Mexican natives, than they have from me.

I didn’t make up the story of “The Gringo and the Fisherman,” but I’m guessing I’m the first to sing it.  Condensing what is essentially a long bar tale into a reasonably concise rhyming song was quite a challenge, so I decided to add a spoken part to augment the singing.  The moral of the story is implied.

If you want to read a fuller version of the tale, I included one in my novella “The Walls,” which is available on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Wall-s-Dave-Lutes/dp/B0C128M185.  The book is a quick read and I guarantee it will make you laugh.  How’s that for a shameless plug?

Since the story of “The Gringo and the Fisherman” takes place on a remote beach, I used simple instrumentation to mimic warm ocean breezes and gentle surf.  Two nylon string guitars weave around each other over a salsa beat of conga, bongos, timbales, guiro and maracas.  Cajons (essentially an ensemble of wood boxes) are added on the refrains.  To differentiate who is speaking, I purposely sang harmony over the lead vocal during lines that are attributed to the young fisherman.

“Send Them Home”

CLICK TO HEAR THE MUSIC: “Send Them Home” – 9/20/23

CLICK TO SEE THE LYRICS & CHORDS: “Send Them Home”

Regardless of whether you consider yourself red, blue or anything in between, it’s hard to ignore the fact that congress has become increasingly dysfunctional.  Career politicians engage in endless squabbles and grandstanding.  Their solution to everything seems to be massive spending.  During Trump’s term, $7.5 trillion (yes, that’s trillion) was added to our national debt.  Biden has added $7 trillion himself in less than three years.  That’s insane and the perfect recipe for obscene amounts of inflation, which has already occurred.  Worse yet, inflation hits working families the hardest and we’re saddling our kids with future economic catastrophe.  Why can’t congress be required to pass balanced budgets, like most states are?

“Send Them Home” was recorded in a live fashion.  After laying down the acoustic rhythm guitar, drums, bass and wall of electric guitars, I played a very active honkytonk piano track (honkytonk being a uniquely American contribution to music).  Most of the vocals were recorded in single takes, prioritizing emotion and sincerity over polish.

“Know What Matters”

CLICK TO HEAR THE MUSIC: “Know What Matters” – 11/21/23

CLICK TO SEE THE LYRICS & CHORDS: “Know What Matters”

Like my grandson, I was a second kid, a position in family hierarchies that seems to captivate psychoanalysts.  No complaints here.  However, as a cancer patient, knowing that my days above soil will be somewhat limited, I feel a need to answer in advance any of life’s questions that my grandchildren might have.

My daughter and son-in-law have been blessed with a son who’s smart, inquisitive, hysterically funny and endlessly fascinating, so I’m confident that his adventures will be many.  But perhaps this song can shed light towards questions he may have along the way.  Not that grandpa has things even close to figured out.

I owe the title to a good friend of mine, Randy Krieger, who is wise beyond his years, which is saying something at his age.  I always value Randy’s reading recommendations, so I was elated when he texted that I should be reading “Know What Matters” by Ron Shaich, and suggested that it would make a good song title.  I then brainstormed dozens of phrases starting with the word “know,” before assembling some of them into a reasonably cohesive song.

The last line of the second verse encapsulates the message I have for my grandchildren: “Know you are loved, know all you bring, I know you can do anything.”

It’s a mesmerizing arrangement opening with a finger-picked nylon string guitar accompanied by an electric guitar.  A muted electric guitar providing rhythm is added at the first refrain and an additional higher pitched electric guitar is added at the third refrain.  No other instruments are used.

“I Need AI”

CLICK TO HEAR THE MUSIC: “I Need AI” – 9/23/23

CLICK TO SEE THE LYRICS & CHORDS: “I Need AI”

Way back in the seventh grade, I had the good fortune of meeting a fellow trombonist and kindred spirit, Mark Sobolik.  He took up bass about the time I started playing guitar and we’d save our pennies to visit the New York hockshops in search of used axes.  Mark has now spent a lifetime contributing innovative, yet always steady, bass lines for countless rock, jazz, country, blues and show acts.  Having played and harmonized with him for many years, it was Mark I was channeling when I played the infectious bass line that gives “I Need AI” its energy.

A swampy southern rhythm guitar and a lead guitar bathed in tremolo play a nice counterpart to lyrics humorously dealing with the inevitability of AI eventually becoming a surgical option.  The first verse states the protagonist’s everyday mental challenges with the refrain providing the solution.  The second verse and orchestral bridge provide a glimpse into his future.

“Gazing at Sunsets”

CLICK TO HEAR THE MUSIC: “Gazing at Sunsets” – 11/16/23

CLICK TO SEE THE LYRICS & CHORDS: “Gazing at Sunsets”

We’re not even Catholic, yet Karen and I are riddled with guilt.  Guilt for living in paradise, guilt when we read the news, and guilt for the free time granted in semiretirement after decades of living the rat race.  We find it odd to sit on our deck without a purpose, strange to start a day without a plan, and we feel utterly guilty when we simply do nothing and enjoy the moment.  But we’re working at it.  One margarita at a time.

“Gazing at Sunsets” is autobiographical, but I wrote the lyrics to be appropriate for couples of any age (had I mentioned we’re both currently older than 30?).  It’s about slowing down, the beach we live on in Cerritos (Mexico), and the love I feel each day for my wife.  It advocates for priorities I’m not particularly good at, but more than willing to practice.

The arrangement is purposely simple: nylon string guitar, congas, handclaps and the sound of the surf.  If you’re reading this in a colder climate, sorry.  Never the less, sing along, you can enjoy the tropics vicariously.

“Dream Big”

CLICK TO HEAR THE MUSIC: “Dream Big” – 9/8/23

CLICK TO SEE THE LYRICS & CHORDS: “Dream Big” 

I’ve always loved how George Harrison made rhythm guitar patterns sound simple, yet perfect.  Many of the chords in “Dream Big” are complex and the key changes three times, but it all flows naturally, as George would have played it. 

This was my third attempt putting these lyrics to music and I finally decided that this one is a keeper.  The idea came from an interview I’d read with a respected sports trainer.  He explained that he always preached to young athletes to “dream big, and if no one is laughing at you, you’re not dreaming big enough.”  Powerful words, worth sharing with anyone of any age. 

The lyric: “the only bad decision is no decision,” came from a friend I used to coach basketball with and is applicable to solving mental paralysis in any walk of life.  Play this song for your kids, but understand that you’re never too old to dream big yourself.

“Dad”

CLICK TO HEAR THE MUSIC: “Dad” – 9/26/23

CLICK TO SEE THE LYRICS & CHORDS: “Dad”

After hearing the first line of this song: “He worked four jobs at the same time,” people have asked how that’s possible.  But my dad really did that, for most of his adult life.  He’d leave each morning by seven for his fulltime job as a manager with the county mosquito commission, returning to eat the dinner my mom always had on the table for the six of us.  Then he’d head out to work till about 10 pm as the part-time health inspector for two different towns.  Both of those jobs also required him to work weekends.  When he had a few extra hours, he freelanced, doing private percolation tests.  Actually, he had five jobs, since he also was a Captain in the Army Reserve.  Amazing.  But that’s what it took to support his family.

Tragically, while in his mid-fifties, Dad was diagnosed with symptoms of both Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s diseases.  We suspected differently – his job at the mosquito commission had meant regular exposure to DDT, which, as his autopsy later confirmed, was what had compromised his brain.  He was barely in his sixties when he passed away.  DDT is no longer used for mosquito control, but it also had adverse effects on many farmers.

Dad was an exceptional person and he meant everything to our mom and his four children.  He was quiet, humble, learned and tremendously caring.  I’ve never heard a bad word about him.

The day he died, I had played a concert at the Massachusetts Soldiers’ Home, a wonderful facility providing long-term health care for hundreds of veterans including my dad.  He was in the first row.  Afterwards, as was our custom when I visited, Dad and I walked the streets of Holyoke.  His body was still strong.  As we drove home, my mother told me that things were going downhill, but he knew I was coming.  He passed that night.  I so wish I had written this song years earlier, so I could have played it during that concert.

“I’m Tired of Children Dying”

CLICK TO HEAR THE MUSIC: “I’m Tired of Children Dying” – 8/7/23

CLICK TO SEE THE LYRICS & CHORDS: “I’m Tired of Children Dying” 

Allow me a moment on my soap box.  I really am sick and tired of the USA consistently having by far the highest per capita gun death rates of all economically developed countries.  Worse yet, mass shootings are only a tiny sliver of our gun carnage. 

Since I’m past the point of actually caring what anybody thinks about me (as my appearance clearly indicates), I’m the perfect candidate to sing about gun control (“cancel Lutes? who the hell is that?”) 

My personal feelings about gun control are that we need far more, but we’ll never getting anywhere insisting on either extreme.  This song simply advocates compromise and action (and hints that for starters: hunting we can live with, but assault weapons need to be banned). 

I’ve always admired how utterly unafraid the Beatles were to experiment with wild techniques in the studio.  This song starts with a slap bass line that is repeated after each refrain and during the coda.  To accent it, I used a nasty sounding low synth patch plus a dystopian portamento that sounds like an air raid siren.  During the refrain, the background pad is primarily made up of a choir all singing differing random syllables.  Consider them lost souls in the night. 

With such a complex accompaniment to hide behind, I was able to really get aggressive on the lead vocal.  I borrowed a friend’s weapon to shoot myself in the crotch in order to belt out the high background vocal.  Just kidding.

“It’s All Up to You”

CLICK TO HEAR THE MUSIC: “It’s All Up to You” – 9/20/23

CLICK TO SEE THE LYRICS & CHORDS: “It’s All Up to You”

Taking advice from me has always been a risky proposition, but over the years as a coach, mentor, employer, friend and dad, I’ve heard a litany of reasons why things aren’t working out for various people.  Experience has taught me to shy away from offering specific solutions, but inevitably I share the basic philosophy that your outcomes are largely dependent on personal choices.  At least that’s what’s worked for me.  In other words, in general, we make our own luck.

The feel is a “wall of sound,” Phil Spector’s epic contribution to popular music before morphing into a convicted murderer.  A concert grand piano, fat bass, drums, power guitar chords, Hammond organ and nine tracks of vocals build the wall, but the real star is the recurring high rhythm guitar riff played on beats two and three of every measure.  Musicologists will correctly point out the riff’s Robbie Robertson influence.

“It’s All Up to You” is about no one in specific; it’s an amalgamation of multiple things I’ve heard or witnessed from many people.  The general message is: “don’t waste your life blaming others or finding excuses.”  To me, that’s empowering, but it truly is all up to you.

“Have Faith”

CLICK TO HEAR THE MUSIC: “Have Faith” – 11/4/23

CLICK TO SEE THE LYRICS & CHORDS: “Have Faith”

Faith is one of the finest words in the English language, but too often it’s only associated with religious beliefs, which of course are entirely personal.  Instead, this is a song about a burgeoning relationship, in which faith is essential.  I’m exceedingly lucky in that I have a wife who inspires love songs on almost a daily basis.

“Have Faith” starts with dual acoustic guitars, each playing complementary finger picking patterns that result in an almost banjo-like quality.  Towards the end of the first verse a bass and phased electric piano are added.  Drums enter at the refrain, followed by solo viola, tenor recorder (we’d recently been in Ireland and Scotland and I fell in love with that sound) and finally a lead guitar.

The meandering vocal in the refrain is sung using jazz phrasing, which sounds interesting in contrast with the finger picking acoustic guitars.  Much of the instrumental arrangement is Nashville, but the vocal in the refrain is of a far different genre, using complex rhythms, because there’s nothing simple about love.

Released 9/7/23 by DistroKid

Currently available on Spotify, Apple Music, iTunes, Instagram/Facebook, TikTok/TikTok Music/Resso/Luna, YouTube Music, Amazon, Pandora, Deezer, Tidal, iHeartRadio, Claro Música, Saavn, Boomplay, Anghami, KKBox, NetEase, Tencent, Qobuz, Joox, Kuack Media, Yandex Music (beta), Adaptr, Flo and MediaNet.

“Take a Look at You”

CLICK TO HEAR THE MUSIC: “Take a Look at You” - 8/13/23

CLICK TO SEE THE LYRICS & CHORDS: “Take a Look at You”

I wrote the melody and chord progression of “Take a Look at You” before starting on the lyrics.  Then, experimenting with some phrases that fit the tune, I eventually realized that I was portraying a guy who constantly complains about his girlfriends and inevitably runs away. 

However, the lyrical hook: “before you go a looking for someone new, take a look at you,” negates all his whining.  It’s a message about taking responsibility for your own actions.  I don’t think Shakespeare ever inserted the words “before you go a looking” into a sonnet, so I’m not worrying about plagiarism accusations… unless a redneck poet lawyers up. 

Musically, I had recently been watching a documentary about Andy Summers (the amazing guitarist in The Police), and was wondering what he’d sound like with a horn band.  I layered four Summers-like guitar parts before recording any other instruments.  Much fun.

“Did He Leave Tulsa”

CLICK TO HEAR THE MUSIC: “Did He Leave Tulsa” – 7/27/23

CLICK TO SEE THE LYRICS & CHORDS: “Did He Leave Tulsa”

Chuck Leavell is as great as they come – my piano playing sucks compared to his, but he’s always been an inspiration.

The idea for the lyrics came after reading a New York Times story about an 11-year-old running away by driving his parent’s car hundreds of miles to live off the grid in a state park his family had once visited.  You had to think there was far more to the story. 

In the song, there’s an absentee dad, a single mom working long hours, and perhaps the idea that the community is also part of why the child has fallen through the cracks – “Did he leave Tulsa or did Tulsa leave him?”  The actual story occurred far north of there, but Tulsa is such a musical name that I chose it for the setting. 

The song is about one of those “oh my gosh, look what happened” situations that may have been avoidable if adults were more conscious of how kids were really feeling.  Music has a way of illuminating complicated subjects when written words fall short.

“Saving the Planet from our Mid-Century Modern”

CLICK TO HEAR THE MUSIC: “Saving the Planet from our Mid-Century Modern” – 7/5/23

CLICK TO SEE THE LYRICS & CHORDS: “Saving the Planet from our Mid-Century Modern” 

I wrote these tongue-firmly-in-cheek lyrics several years ago while on a cross-country RV trip, but didn’t put them to music until I was recently screwing around with this classic blues guitar riff. 

No offense to millennials, every generation deserves parody, but it sometimes appears to me that the people “saving the planet” all the time are also living more pedestrian lives – buying homes and stuff they really don’t need, trying to pay for it all, raising kids, forging adult friendships and growing beards to look wiser… we’ve all been there, in fact it seems kind of exhausting when I look back on it. 

It also occurred to me, that all those perfect couples debating between potential home choices on HGTV all seemed partial to mid-century moderns.  Aren’t one-story houses for geezers like me? 

The most enjoyable part about recording this song was playing the baritone sax part, which starts at the first refrain.  That’s what gives the song punch.

“Things Look Better in the Rearview Mirror”

CLICK TO HEAR THE MUSIC: “Things Look Better in the Rearview Mirror” – 8/1/23

CLICK TO SEE THE LYRICS & CHORDS: “Things Look Better in the Rearview Mirror” 

This song was written and recorded as a stadium rock anthem – picture 70,000+ fans slowly swaying to the music with their cellphone flashlights held high above their heads. Probably a typical weeknight for Taylor Swift.  For me, that’s just not going to happen. 

The lyrics are far from autobiographical, my marriage is the best thing I have going for me.  The self-deprecating guy depicted in this song is remembering how he and his girlfriend met (at closing time in a bar) and trying unsuccessfully to justify why he’s running from the relationship. 

Although this tune has the perfect tempo for the first dance at a wedding reception, I couldn’t resist adding the lyric: “this will never be a wedding song, cause not everyone can get along.”  I kept remembering the time, while playing a wedding gig years ago, that I was asked to sing “Feelings” (a song about divorce) for the newly married couple’s first dance.  Luckily, I annunciate poorly, especially when it’s an open bar.

“Sophie & Levi”

CLICK TO HEAR THE MUSIC: “Sophie & Levi” – 7/22/23

CLICK TO SEE THE LYRICS & CHORDS: “Sophie & Levi”

Sometimes I wake up in the middle of the night with bizarre ideas.  This was one of them.  I thought it would be interesting to write a song in which a repeated guitar riff would finish the words and thoughts of the characters.  The riff would end every verse. 

The next morning I wrote the tale of “Sophie and Levi,” both complicated 30ish singles secretly longing for companionship.  Each possess individual redeeming and not-so-redeeming features.  What they definitely have in common are insecurities.  It’s the story of “boy meets girl” in today’s world where, as the refrain states, people “have forgotten how to act in person and keep looking for love on their phones.” 

Eventually Sophie and Levi do awkwardly meet, and in a feeble attempt at small talk, he makes up a story about adopting today’s essential fashion statement, a rescue dog.  “She asks him what kind; he says that it’s blind.”  I won’t spoil the outcome.

“An American Story”

CLICK TO HEAR THE MUSIC: “An American Story” – 8/27/23

CLICK TO SEE THE LYRICS & CHORDS: “An American Story”

Lyrically, this one is sort of a cross between Harry Chapin and Warren Zevon, but to my wife and I, it’s deeply personal. 

While talking with one of my sons on the phone, he expressed that a close friend of his had committed suicide.  We all loved him.  Everybody did.  He was genuinely caring, personable and great to be around.  So were his parents and sisters.  Nothing fake about them.  I’d coached him in football for several seasons and through his friendship with our boys, he’d spent a great deal of time at our home.  Karen commented about how considerate he’d always been to her, something young jocks aren’t particularly known for. 

After he had graduated high school, it became apparent that alcohol was something he didn’t handle well.  In that decade+, erratic incidents happened, primarily when he was heavily intoxicated. 

Like most younger adults, the majority of his interaction with his friends (most of whom had gone on to college and started families) was via social media. Eventually, some of his posts became conspiracy-driven rants and many of his friends began to ghost him, which most likely further fueled his sense of isolation.  Covid restrictions didn’t help matters. 

There are no clear answers and no one thing to blame.  Obviously, substance abuse is at the root of the issue, but there are other factors.  When friends go in vastly different directions as their lives move on, people can become alienated.  I’m not a social media user, but it seems to me that ghosting can be devastating.  I realize that ghosting isn’t typically stated, but when someone no longer receives comments, likes, etc. from their friends, it must be readily apparent that those friends have moved on. 

I don’t know how he killed himself, but in the song, Danny (a fictitious name) uses a gun.  Suicide rates among young adult men are terribly high and guns are the usual methodology, primarily because they are so effective.  Social media rants sometimes draw government observation, something he had claimed that was happening.  Again, there is no simple answer.  We’ve become a nation of mass murders, but suicide deaths via guns are far higher. 

This song is in no way an accurate portrayal of his tragic story.  But, if there is any way I can bring attention to the dangers of ghosting, substance abuse and alienation, then his tragic passing will serve some purpose. 

To avoid making it a 10-minute song (covering his life as a child, as a popular high school jock, and as a struggling adult), I decided to make the refrain gradually evolve until it finally became the action.  The haunting cello at the end sums up the sad mood of “no good answers.”

“Honesty”

CLICK TO HEAR THE MUSIC: “Honesty” – 8/29/23

CLICK TO SEE THE LYRICS & CHORDS: “Honesty” 

If you’re a guitar player, listening to the late-great Stevie Ray Vaughan can be a very humbling experience.  Nevertheless, in his honor, I decided to try my hand at a guitar-driven blues/rock tune with horns. 

About 75% of the lyrics I dictated into my phone’s recorder while riding my bike (don’t try this at home).  I started with the line: “I’d take a selfie, but I’m not that good looking,” than kept coming up with similar self-deprecating couplets in rhyming pairs. 

Then I imagined putting them together in the words of the worst guy you’d ever want to meet in a bar.  He’s not afraid to talk about his many shortcomings, in fact, he considers his unflinching honesty to be the reason women should like him.  His main goal, however, is simply to get the unlucky gal he’s talking with to buy him a beer. 

Although the music is hard-edged blues, the lyrics will make you laugh, even more when you drink too many.  I’d like to think this tune will be added to the canon of rowdy roadhouse songs, but it may be as beneficial to drinking establishments as Covid restrictions. 

It took six separate tracks of guitar licks blended together, to sound remotely like Stevie.  He could and would have played this song with his guitar behind his back.  Like I mentioned earlier, listening to Stevie makes all us guitar slingers consider other occupations.

“Because It’s With You”

CLICK TO HEAR THE MUSIC: “Because It’s With You” – 8/10/23

CLICK TO SEE THE LYRICS & CHORDS: “Because It’s With You” 

It’s always interesting how to start a song – lyrics first? chords? melody? riffs?  In this case, I wanted to write something that would be timeless, romantic, memorable and slow, so I started with just a melody. 

Since it was to be a love song, I chose my wife as the subject… which is why I’m still married to this day.  Actually, if you know my wife Karen, you realize that any kind words I may write fall woefully short.  Meeting her was like winning the lottery.  In this song, I just tried to express my love, something I don’t do often enough. 

As you can hear, I like to use guitars and brass that are somewhat “over the top” and not afraid to play counterpoint to the main vocal.  That may sound complicated, but it can be impactful.  Elvis was the master of that type of musical arrangement.  Listening to recordings of his live shows in Vegas can be a “come to Jesus” moment.

“Cerritos”

CLICK TO HEAR THE MUSIC: “Cerritos” – 6/28/23

CLICK TO SEE THE LYRICS & CHORDS: “Cerritos” 

Cerritos is the beach just north of Mazatlán, Mexico where Karen and I spend most of our winters.  Trust me, it’s paradise – perfect weather, fresh seafood, $2 beer and the nicest folks on earth.  Forget how the US media portrays our hard-working, family-centric neighbors to the south.  When you live there, you rapidly understand how inaccurate and inflammatory those portrayals are.  Hint – unless you’re planning on purchasing or trafficking in drugs, you’re far safer in most Mexican locations than you are in a typical American city. 

This was the first song I recorded that used a spoken voice in sections, something I’ve continued to do on occasion.  In this case, I imagined (not hard to do since I’ve frequently witnessed it) a 60-ish gringo lounging in his bar chair enjoying warm ocean breezes and cold Pacificos while a great local band plays to a full dance floor… probably midafternoon.  A typical day in Cerritos. 

By the way, the best tuba players on the planet can be heard on Mexican beaches and the traditional music of Sinaloa is awesome.

“Staring at the Waffle House”

CLICK TO HEAR THE MUSIC: “Staring at the Waffle House” – 7/1/23

CLICK TO SEE THE LYRICS & CHORDS: “Staring at the Waffle House” 

In an effort to write about subjects less banal than love, trucks and parties, I wrote these lyrics several years ago while we were driving the back roads of Alabama in a rainstorm (Karen was at the wheel).  But in the pursuit of ever more currency, too many home remodels and improving my declining golf skills, I never took the time to set them to music… till recently. 

The song is about a lonely 25ish Alabama man struggling to make basic decisions.  The story starts with him sitting in a Cracker Barrel restaurant, perplexed with the simple choice of which bread option to pick with his order, in fact he’s rethinking whether he should have chosen to dine at the Waffle House across the street. 

Each subsequent verse takes place in a quintessential Alabama business: Dollar General, Piggly Wiggly and a Love’s Truck Stop, where he ends up trying to get the nerve to find a prostitute.  But of course, he’s also baffled with that process and can’t decide which brand of condoms to select in the bathroom vending machine. How’s that for gritty realism? 

The song is kind of dark, but deals with the thin line between mental health struggles and the simple inability of a young man not knowing his place in the world and what’s important.  No answers are offered. 

Acoustic guitar and piano interact during the verses; a Hammond organ fills out the refrain.  My favorite lyric was: “It ain’t what I am, it’s what I am not.”  My answer to Descartes.

“What the Hell Does That Mean?”

CLICK TO HEAR THE MUSIC: “What the Hell Does That Mean?” – 7/9/23

CLICK TO SEE THE LYRICS & CHORDS: “What the Hell Does That Mean?”

I’ve never been a firm practitioner of grammatical rules (which my poor teachers will attest to) or a staunch defender of the King’s English (sorry William Safire), but many of today’s popular phrases baffle me.  Meaning I’m old.  And crotchety.  And tend to answer to the taunt: “hey boomer.” 

So I thought I’d have some fun with it and started stringing common cliches into a song totally devoid of merit.  Set the bar low enough and you’ll clear it with ease. 

From a musical standpoint, this song attempts to disprove the theory that white guys can’t play funk.  We just can’t dance.  Or jump. 

If these lyrics make sense to you, you’re younger than me.  Now explain to me what “catfishing” really is.  And why it doesn’t require a hook.

“Bad Luck Can Be Good Luck”

CLICK TO HEAR THE MUSIC: “Bad Luck Can Be Good Luck” – 8/4/23

CLICK TO SEE THE LYRICS & CHORDS: “Bad Luck Can Be Good Luck”

Totally autobiographical, this song is targeted towards the largely untapped market of cancer diagnosis songs, a genre rarely played on top-40 radio… go figure. 

After coming up with the finger-picking nylon guitar part, I wrote the lyrics hoping to capture a difficult subject that might possibly benefit others dealt a similar hand in life.  It was kind of hard for me to sing without choking up, but I truly have lived and believe every word of it. 

The viola part between verses was intended to express the seriousness of the subject and the tragedy of life potentially cut short.

I’m very fortunate to be under the care of the world’s most compassionate and skilled oncologist (hats off to Dr. Kelly Perlewitz and her entire team… I owe my life to them), but 11+ years of having to be tested multiple times annually to learn if my cancer is flaring up again does challenge your outlook on life.  I for one, thoroughly believe that a positive attitude must help your chances of survival and that realizing that you have “to live each day like it’s your last” is a lesson that only a brush with your own mortality can teach you.

“He Says the Problem is You”

CLICK TO HEAR THE MUSIC: “He Says the Problem is You” – 7/15/23

CLICK TO SEE THE LYRICS & CHORDS: “He Says the Problem is You” 

At first glance, this appears to be a story of a 20-something guy who blames his lack of success on everybody and everything but himself.  The problem is his girlfriend, his hometown, his parents, even society in general.  But deflected blame isn’t just symptomatic of current generations, it’s been around for centuries, and come to think of it, isn’t entirely a male thing (it just seems that way). 

The music is infectious pop-rock, something I’m very familiar with having written jingles for more than four decades (pop hooks lodge in your brain).  If you’re into pop rock and sick of the Beach Boys and boy bands, listen to the masters – “Fountains of Wayne.”  Those guys are phenomenal.

Not Yet Released but Available Today on this Website

“In a College Dorm”

CLICK TO HEAR THE MUSIC: “In a College Dorm”

CLICK TO SEE THE LYRICS & CHORDS: “In a College Dorm”

Great rock acts know how to open concerts.  As the arena’s house lights are dimmed, colored spots swirl above and the ominous first notes of the prologue are heard.  Suddenly the stage is illuminated and a wailing guitar leads the band.  A few seconds later the lead singer bounds into view, picks up his mic stand, and fervently belts out one of the band’s best-known anthems as the crowd leaps out of their seats.

That’s exactly the feeling I wanted to create to open this album.  All of the instruments I played to construct “In a College Dorm” are drenched in reverb to sound like a massive arena.  So are the vocals.  Even the horn section sounds live.

It’s a story about a couple who hook up at a college that seems to exist for the wrong reasons.  Networking, resume building and drinking games are expected, while learning is an afterthought.  Yet everyone gets A’s.

The couple marries after graduation and both dive headfirst into incessant work in pursuit of “conspicuous consumption.”  Along the way they lose their children, their parents and each other.  The first lines of the vamp sum it up: “They hooked up in a college dorm, when they were both in debt.  They could tell you what they wanted then, now they both forget.”

“You’d Argue with a Stump”

CLICK TO HEAR THE MUSIC: “You’d Argue with a Stump”

CLICK TO SEE THE LYRICS & CHORDS: “You’d Argue with a Stump”

Decades ago, I heard someone describe a particularly confrontational woman by saying: “Put a hat on it and she’d argue with a stump.”  Now I’m sure he wasn’t the first to utter the phrase, but that aphorism was hard to forget, which makes it perfect for a song.  Full disclosure, “You’d Argue with a Stump” doesn’t at all pertain to my wife.  In fact if anyone in our nuclear unit could be accused of excessive belligerence, it’s yours truly.

In the first verse, a guy in a bar is reluctant to go home because his marriage isn’t quite living up to their initial courtship.  Like any warm-blooded American male, he places the blame firmly upon his wife.  It’s amazing how often tipsy guys holding pint #4 profess to be victims in their marriages.  But by verse two, he’s decided that he’s too chicken to confront her, since he’s adverse to sleeping on the couch.  What a gentleman.

It’s a big sound, but the instrumentation is sparse: bass, drums and two guitars.  This is roots music with a roadhouse feel.  Kind of reminds me of the first bar I played in that had chicken wire in front of the stage.  You never know when someone takes a lyric like “you’d argue with a stump” too personally and decides to throw a longneck bottle at you.

“He’s God’s Problem Now”

CLICK TO HEAR THE MUSIC: “He’s God’s Problem Now”

CLICK TO SEE THE LYRICS & CHORDS: “He’s God’s Problem Now”

If you’ve ever lived in a small town, you already know this guy.  He’s the old fella with the sparkle in his eye who wants to tell you the same jokes and stories he’s told a hundred times.  You might call him a character or maybe a rascal.  He’s at the counter in the diner, a regular at the tavern, or on a bench in the town square.  You might be in a rush and avoid him, until he’s no longer there, and your town just ain’t the same anymore.  He’s God’s problem now, and you wish it wasn’t so.

“He’s God’s problem now” was the last sentence in the greatest obituary I ever read (written by Charles Boehm in honor of his dad, Robert, in 2024).  Obviously, a line like that deserved a song, and perhaps a movie, a mini-series, a novel, or at least a commemorative bobblehead.

My problem with writing lyrics like this is that it usually requires about a half dozen or so takes before I can sing them without tearing up.  For that reason, I don’t know if I could ever perform this song live.

This tune was composed as an acoustic number in the singer/songwriter tradition of the lead vocal following the fingerpicking of the guitar.  Otherwise, it’s just piano, bass and the forlorn lead guitar line between verses.

I don’t think I’m worth a coffin, but if you can write an inscription on the small cardboard box that my ashes deserve, these words would be as appropriate as any: “He’s God’s Problem Now.”

“Someone Say Something”

CLICK TO HEAR THE MUSIC: “Someone Say Something”

CLICK TO SEE THE LYRICS & CHORDS: “Someone Say Something”

In search of a totally different vibe one morning, I began experimenting with a liquid sounding pulse created out of swirling accented eighth notes.  It sounds like a synthesizer, but it’s not.  It’s a guitar playing muted chords through a series of processors to give it a Doppler effect.

The low volume sparkles at the top end of the sound spectrum are a mix of tones from piano strings played both with a mallet and by plucking.  Who needs piano keys?  Weird stuff, but very interesting sounding.

“Someone Say Something” is a story about two very nice people who experience mutual love at first sight, but are each too shy to do anything about it.  No one makes the first move.  I purposely didn’t give the story a location because people can meet – and love can bloom – in all kinds of settings.  But of course for that to happen, someone does have to say something.  The tension in the song is because no one does.

“Never Miss a Sunset”

CLICK TO HEAR THE MUSIC: “Never Miss a Sunset”

CLICK TO SEE THE LYRICS & CHORDS: “Never Miss a Sunset”

In Mali and Guinea bolons are revered traditional stringed instruments.  Essentially, they are large open-topped gourds covered with skin with a fretless neck and three or four tunable strings.  Close your eyes when you hear one and a bolon sounds a bit like an upright bass, yet by slapping one, it can be also used as a drum.

After studying bolon recordings for a while, I laid down a basic track that sounded to me like a freeform jazz rhythm section, so I added layers of dense chords on both acoustic and electric piano.  The solos I played on electric piano and guitar.

The lyrics for “Never Miss a Sunset” came from a short poem I’d written earlier.  If you think they sound like the musings of an old fart, you’d be correct.

“I’m Not Too Good at Talking”

CLICK TO HEAR THE MUSIC: “I’m Not Too Good at Talking”

CLICK TO SEE THE LYRICS & CHORDS: “I’m Not Too Good at Talking”

As the title indicates, the guy singing this song isn’t overly confidant about his verbal abilities.  Which is okay, because he prefers to do his talking with his guitar.

By the final verse he’s attempting to explain things to the new girl in his life, his daughter.  Once again, he chooses to express himself with his guitar while his daughter happily dances along.  That verse is loosely based on one of the most profound experiences I’ve ever had – watching my eldest granddaughter fluidly and instinctively dance as I was improvising on the piano.  Her natural grace was astounding.  Fortunately I could periodically stare down at the keys to mask my tears.

The anchor accompaniment in “I’m Not Too Good at Talking” is a 12-string Charanga ukulele, an instrument I’ve become quite fond of.  Although the song has a Caribbean feel, the primary percussion is a six drum West African ensemble playing a traditional Baga Gine beat (“Baga” pertaining to an ethnic group in northwest Guinea and “Gine” meaning woman).  A Latin hand percussion ensemble adds additional rhythmic interest during the interlude and the bridge.

The guitar solos are all mimicked with scat singing.  Typically attributed to George Benson because of his hits on the pop charts, this is actually a common technique of many lesser-known blues artists.  It’s also phenomenally fun to try.

“Each Night (Anniversary Song)”

CLICK TO HEAR THE MUSIC: “Each Night (Anniversary Song)” – 7/13/23

CLICK TO SEE THE LYRICS & CHORDS: “Each Night (Anniversary Song)” 

What do you do if you’re calmly enjoying your breakfast and morning paper and your wonderful spouse walks in asking: “do you know what day this is?” 

You wrack your brain and then reassuringly answer: “of course I do, it’s our anniversary,” then realize that it’s far too late for you to even order a gift via Amazon, especially if you’re disabled enough to be somewhat of a hazard behind the wheel of a car.  That’s when you say to yourself: “I better write a song.  Fast.  And what the heck rhymes with 27?” 

About eight hours later, I played Karen this track.  Being the angel she is, she actually appreciated the sentiment.  Then I got to unwrap the real gifts she’d purchased for me, since she never forgets an important date. 

Close call, yet somehow I don’t think I fooled her.  But 27 years ago she did fall for the illusion that she was marrying a guy worth growing old with.  Too bad she picked a guitar player.

“Lillyana”

CLICK TO HEAR THE MUSIC: “Lillyana” – 8/19/23

CLICK TO SEE THE LYRICS & CHORDS: “Lillyana” 

After coming up with the finger picking acoustic guitar part, I decided to make this a kid’s song about the fun things Karen and I had just gotten to do with Lillyana, one of our grandchildren, who had been visiting us for a few days.  I may be bias, but she’s an extraordinary girl with quite an imagination.  Better yet, whenever she had a spare moment, she’d sit at our piano and compose her own tunes.  There’s a Grammy in that girl’s future.  I want to sing background. 

Musically, this is a very simple song, as kid’s songs should be – acoustic guitar, percussion, an atmospheric synth pad and vocals.  It’s also simple to sing the refrain, because every kid’s singing should be encouraged. 

In my younger days, I played a lot of charity gigs for great audiences that deserved sing-a-longs: nursing homes, orphanages, mental health facilities and a wonderful summer camp for the blind.  I’d forgotten how much I enjoyed doing it.  Move over Raffi.  Let’s all sing together now.

“Surviving the Age of Exaggeration”

CLICK TO HEAR THE MUSIC: “Surviving the Age of Exaggeration” – 7/25/23

CLICK TO SEE THE LYRICS & CHORDS: “Surviving the Age of Exaggeration” 

We now live in an era when the metrics of every news story are closely monitored.  As a result, the media feeds us more of what we click on, meaning headlines that shock and excite have become par for the course, regardless of their relevance.  Quite simply, we’re living in “the age of exaggeration.”  Probably an exaggeration on my part, but you’re reading it, aren’t you? 

The goal of media is your engagement, because your habits can be sold to advertisers.  Make no mistake, accuracy is not the target, you are.  What kind of headlines do you click on?  

Coming up with these lyrics was simple.  I just read news reports online and “curated” (we’d have said “picked” in earlier years) the embellishments. 

I’m certainly not insinuating that today’s issues don’t need to be solved (I’m not a climate change denier for example), but we all need to remember one of Aesop’s morals: when you cry wolf too often, people stop believing you. 

So was it: “an atmospheric river resulting in an epic 100-year flood?”  Or was it simply a major rain storm?  Is that a “generational talent” or “GOAT” you’re watching dunking a basketball?  Or is he just damn good?  More importantly, can we intelligently discuss major issues without constantly scaring the daylights out of children? 

A song about exaggeration deserved over-the-top cinematic percussion with ominous ethereal synth pads swirling in the background.  A bit Alan Parsons, a bit Hollywood. 

Please click on this song and I promise not to sell your IP address to advertisers hawking age-appropriate products.  Unless they pay me a stiff royalty.

“The Man in the Mirror”

CLICK TO HEAR THE MUSIC: “The Man in the Mirror” – 5/8/23

CLICK TO SEE THE LYRICS & CHORDS: “The Man in the Mirror” 

I wrote this after getting to know a wonderful couple in the tiny hamlet of Alsea, Oregon.  They’re owner-operators of a log truck – he drives and keeps the rig running, while she does the books and handles the myriad of regulations they must comply with.  They’re incredibly hard workers, great parents, they don’t think anyone owes them any favors and they diligently provide a dangerous service crucial to one of America’s most important agricultural industries. 

Yes, lumber is a crop.  We protect millions of acres of national and state forests, as well we should, but without the timber industry, we’d have no wood to build homes and to manufacture the toilet paper you’ll be reaching for after reading this.  Sorry to be so graphic. 

We raised our family and still maintain a home in Oregon, so this is important to me.  Karen’s grandfather was a logger (who lost his life in the woods), her dad drove a log truck, her brother still does.  Folks residing in a concrete jungle ought to think twice before telling those who make a living harvesting sustainably grown crops that they’re “killing the planet.” 

Breath the polluted air, listen to the cacophony and take a serious look around while standing on a clogged street in Manhattan, then do the same standing amongst sustainably managed timber in Oregon’s Coast Range.  Then you’ll understand who’s actually living in harmony with nature.  Then you might take a look in the mirror yourself. 

Told you I had an opinion about this subject.