Every father has a dream
For their children to be free
For the chains to fall away, away
For the hope of a brand new day

Every heart’s a broken cage
Every day’s an empty page
Clouds of white and the ocean blue, blue, blue
What good, the clever things you knew? 

Roll your troubles up the hill
Reach deep inside and find the will
And when it all comes falling down, down, down
It’s not too late to turn around

Put on your wings
Soar up in the blue
In the end he fell
But Icarus also flew.

Daedalus | Letters from Sisyphus (Original Song)

I made a little carnival waltz in MuseScore, and decided to keep the MuseScore honkytonk piano soundfont to maximize the cheap carousel sound.

Rondo Alla Carnie (Song-a-Week 2024/5: Carousel)

Verse 1:
Hey Joe, do you remember when the fairground came to town?
And your mother kept you home but you sneaked out anyhow
Drawn to the hum, the lights, the crowds all queued up in lines,
To eat candy floss and go on the rides

Verse 2:
Hey Joe, do you remember how the fairground made us feel?
Screaming through the ghost train's turns, laughing on the Ferris wheel
Flying wild on the waltzer, caught spinning in its whirl,
Yet nothing held our hearts like the carousel.

Chorus:
And we rode on painted horses who couldn’t feel our joy
As we clung on to each other, said we’d hang out here forever
Cos forever is a moment in a fairground full of rides
Forever is that feeling I’ve been searching for ever since in my life. In my life 
I can’t forget about forever
Cos without it I’ll forget you by the by

Middle 8:
We named that horse forever cos the future never comes
And forever took us places we can only visit once

Verse 3:
Hey Joe, the other day I saw my children squeal with joy
As they rode on painted horses and they beckoned me to join them
but no horse was called forever and so I had to pass
Cos I couldn’t ride a horse that’s not ours

Painted Horses

Song a week 2024 #6 - Prompt: Carousel (via the reddit Songaweek group) JTR 's prompt didn't quite fit with the carousel, so I just used one prompt this week.

We're always chasing the golden ring in the carousel of life ... 

Also dealing with a couple of losses recently, so I'm present to the value of being present. 

I enjoyed having a semi-conscious picking pattern in 3/4 time in this song, as compared to my usual "whatever strings get plucked is fine" approach. 

Photo by Scott Garner

Life is a Carousel

Verse 1:
Spring waves rise
Carrying away these grains of life
Childhood feet imprinted on the beach
Are consumed by inanimate grief
Cliffs retreat
Coastlines narrow as paths are freed
And we won’t think twice
As we float out on the tide

Chorus:
Standing as the architects of oblivion 
The places that we cherish dissolve, under our watchful eye
And we won’t think twice
As we float out on the tide

Verse 2:
Full moon shines
Beckoning the waves to lay siege to land
The sea’s salty embrace tightens
Its cold unforgiving hand
A restless sea
Takes its grip in boundless mercy
And we won’t think twice
As we float out on the tide

Outro:
Serene to the end
The sea murmurs forgotten names
And we won’t think twice
As we float out on the tide

Solastalgia

Jonathan Moore's Album

SaW (4.3.24) solastagia

Song a week 2024 #16 (Reddit #15) - Prompt = "Eclipse"

A folky version of "Total Eclipse of the Heart" - The sun wins, and the shadow goes fading away. 

Photo from 2018 solar eclipse - leaf crescents, in Oregon

Your Shadow Goes Fading Away

Don’t love you that much
(Mark I Anderson)

Every day I wake up tired
At the break of dawn
Whatever strength love gives to you
Honey it’s all gone
You got me running on empty baby
While your old man’s heart turns to rust
 
You asked me if I’m willing
And what it is I’ll do
To prove to you I’m thankful 
Just to be in love with you
I know I love you girl
I just don’t love you that much
 
[Chorus]
It’s more of a sharp pain / that I can’t do without
Then a slow dance in paradise / baby there’s no doubt
It’s like big slice of onion / on a slice apple pie
Your apples are sweet as sugar / but your onions make me cry

Some things don’t go together 
Wouldn’t you agree
Candy corn and razor blades
Baby you and me
I don’t eat candy while I’m shaving baby
I just don’t love you that much

[Chorus]
This is more like a sharp pain / that I can’t do without
Then a slow dance in paradise / baby there’s no doubt
It’s like big slice of onion / on a piece of apple pie
Your apples are sweet as sugar / but your onions make me cry

I told you I was willing
And what I’m gonna do
But I can’t wait forever 
For this love to pull me through
I know how much I love you girl
I just don't love you that much

[Chorus]
This is more like a sharp pain / that I can’t do without
Then a slow dance in paradise / baby there’s no doubt
It’s like big slice of onion / on a piece of apple pie
Your apples are sweet as sugar / but your onions make me cry

Some things don’t go together 
Wouldn’t you agree
Candy corn and razor blades
Baby you and me
I don’t eat candy while I’m shaving baby
I just don’t love you that much
I don’t eat candy while I’m shaving 
I just don’t love you that much
I don’t eat candy while I’m shaving 
I just don’t love you that much…

Don’t love you that much

Moments come and
Moments go and fade and
Then we turn and say
All this I’ve known

We slowly fade away, into the sun
When we’ve had our day,
And our work is done

People come….
Darkness comes…

I love you all


Fade Away

A string piece based on the poem Adolescence, by Claude McKay.

Adolescence

There was a time when in late afternoon
    The four-o’clocks would fold up at day’s close
Pink-white in prayer, and ’neath the floating moon
    I lay with them in calm and sweet repose.

And in the open spaces I could sleep,
    Half-naked to the shining worlds above;
Peace came with sleep and sleep was long and deep,
    Gained without effort, sweet like early love.

But now no balm—nor drug nor weed nor wine—
    Can bring true rest to cool my body’s fever,
Nor sweeten in my mouth the acid brine,
    That salts my choicest drink and will forever.

- Claude McKay (public domain)

Adolescence (Song-a-Week 2024/16: Coming of Age)

Corona Ablaze

Fresh start for songaweek in 2022. Find my old stuff (and other things) on YouTube! https://www.youtube.com/c/AhniwaFerrari

Daedalus | Letters from Sisyphus (Original Song)

ahniwa

Related tracks