For me, September can be a bittersweet month. Endings and beginnings. A time of reflection, both of self and of the world.

This song was written on Sept 5th and 6th of 2023, during a heat wave while we were staying at a cottage. Jimmy Buffett had just died. It seemed like the world was a bit up-side-down. I'm not sure it's righted itself just yet.

* This demo was recorded on Sept 20, 2023

September Once Again

About a year into the pandemic lockdown I started playing guitar again for the first time in over 20 years. Six months later I figured since we were still in lockdown I'd better get busy and write a song.

I started thinking about the things I was missing. My mind kept coming back to a good 'ol greasy breakfast at a neighbourhood diner. But as I began to write, I realized that it wasn't the breakfast I was missing it was the people. This song is for anyone who's ever worked an early shift, or a late shift, or any shift where you made someone's life better.

This demo was recorded on February 7, 2022

Late Century Breakfast

In the summer of 1979 we moved from one small Ontario town to a different small Ontario town. And it felt like arriving late to a party. A town that wasn't all that it used to be.

Everything's Fine

Sometimes it takes a long time to tell a story. I first wrote a version of this song back in 1993. It was horrible. Fast forward to 2023 and a more mature version of me was able to help that kid from '93 get his thoughts together. Thus, this is a co-write, of sorts.

With rust in my joints and a very different perspective of the world I sat down and rewrote about 60% of the song. I switched the perspective from 3rd to 1st person and also stripped away all of the gender references to focus on the intimacy of me-and-you.

I freed up the narration to drift so that you (the listener) can decide who says what to whom.

Oh, and I added a chorus. Something the original never had. Still no bridge. Sorry music purists.

This demo was recorded in June of 2023, when both past and present me were finally happy with the story.

That Night and the Morning After

It can be hard letting go. No matter who or what it is you're trying to let go of.

Fade Away

No one writes clown ballads anymore.

In August 2024 I texted myself a lyric, "Just outside Saginaw, we ran into a clown."

I'm not 100% sure where the line came from but thankfully it came with a chord progression A# > F7, so I knew how the song should sound.

And then it lived in my head. For more than a year. I let it brew and just let the story evolve naturally, from being sung. Most often that was while out on dog walk. I'd sing the lines I had and then would slowly build on them, adding lines and verses a little bit at a time.

About two or three weeks ago, it had finally coalesced into a nearly complete song. The trickiest part at the end (at least for me) are the little connective words. When to use them, when to drop them, etc.

This song is called Circa 1963, because that's where the story starts. Some of you may be too young to remember a time when children's TV entertainers were often clowns. Sometimes literally men in makeup and big shoes (like Oopsie or Bozo) but also performers who sometimes dressed up and just clowned around (like Mr Dressup or Captain Kangaroo).

This song isn't about any one of them, but is a tribute to all of them. It contains things both real and imagined.

This demo was recorded this morning - Friday, September 12, 2025.

Circa 1963

We all have people in our lives who go away sometimes. I don't mean those who die, but rather those who move away somewhere. Sometimes we see them again. Sometimes we don't. This song is about all the little curves in life that we negotiate by ourselves while those people are off on their own adventures.

Allan Bedford

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