Written and recorded originally in 2008, I don't quite know what this song is about as the lyrics can appear contradictory. However, I choose to think I intended it as a positive message about choosing a more generous way of changing the  world. All instruments are played or sung by me, with exception of the drums and piano, which are computer generated.

Revolution

The vid:  https://youtu.be/lMK4QHIsU3Y

With Him By My Side

When I was a little lad, I loved the times we had with dad.  
He came home from work each day enjoying family time at night.
In summers he would come to all our games always sitting on our side.

Soon I grew and moved away, yet somehow by my side he stayed,
always giving me advice filling me with loving pride.
I would go through life smelling his Old Spice with him by my side. 

Even though he's gone I know he's by my side, 
standing here right next to me.
Whatever I may do, he's there to guide me through.  
I know that's where he'll always be.  

With him by my side I sail through my life.  
He will always help me rise.
One day he will see just what he meant to me, 
and I will know my father's pride.  
He gave us his all, and I'm still standing tall with him by my side.

With Him By My Side



Things are always
always working out for me
No matter what it seems
What's meant to be will always be
What's not will never come
and what's done is done

Things are always always working out for me
Things are always moving towards our greater good
Things are always always working out for us
Things are always turning out as they should

Easy to forget
forget there's a greater plan
Remember to detach
Expectations lead to suffering
What will be will be
in letting go we are set free

Things Are Working Out

The Jailhouse Jump


The bars are cold they sing my song
This dusty cell where I belong
A creaky bed a lonesome tone
The jailhouse feels like home sweet home

The warden’s keys they jingle loud
My sins they form a ghostly shroud
Four gray walls 
This jailhouse feels like home sweet home

I’m shackled but my soul’s set free
This concrete floor’s my melody
The chains they hum a mournful drone
The jailhouse feels like home sweet home

The shadows dance beneath the moon
A prisoner’s hymn a hollow tune
The iron gates they moan and groan
The jailhouse feels like home sweet home
The jailhouse feels like home sweet home




The Jailhouse Jump

I had the privilege to have a few brief encounters over the years with the great poet, educator and activist Nikki Giovanni. She passed away last December. If interested there are many videos on YouTube about her. 

“Mothers” passage sung by Joliz going into the break, Copyright © 1972 by Nikki Giovanni.

I saw Nikki Giovanni outside the A train
She was reading a book by Baldwin and whispering the quotes
She had that Harlem quiet
The kind that makes you feel loud, even if you haven’t said a word all day
She looked up at me once
Like she already knew the next ten things I would say
And of course none of that mattered

She wrote poems like switchblades
And carved song verses on subway tiles
With truth tucked in the chorus
Love poems for the revolution and letters to the dead
All written in lipstick and ink
Some folks talk about hope
She talked about survival
Anyone knows there's a difference

“I see the moon
The moon sees me
God bless the moon
And god bless me”

I asked her once, I said Nikki, do you still believe in change
She half smiled and said, “Man, I believe in kids, I believe in rage,
I believe in writing it down so they don’t forget our names.”
“You either speak up or get buried under someone else's story.”
Then she walked into that bookstore on 125th like it was a church 
In a way I guess it was a church

I ran into her much later at a reading downtown
Tiny room, bad mic, nobody listening but the ghosts
She read a line about her grandmother’s hands
The room went quiet like it finally remembered what hands are for
The words, not angry, not loud, but like a bullet that only hits the guilty
Truth is a loaded pistol

But Nikki
She’s in the cracks
She’s in the ink smudge
The subway echo
The line you wake up hearing but don’t remember writing
Nikki
She’s still walking this city
Just quiet enough to make the truth sound loud

Nikki (with Joliz)

Promises

       Waiting For Your Call

  
        Old records spinning   Clock ticks slow
        Your faded picture by the bedside light
        Rain on the window I can't let go
        Dream of your arms holding me tight

       These blues won't leave  They haunt me still
       Your memory fades   against my will

       I keep waiting for your call at night
       Lonely shadows fill my empty room
       Every silence takes a little part
       Hope you're coming back to me soon

       I tried to move on, to find a new sunrise
       But every path leads back to your demise
       Cold wind is howlin', clock ticks way too slow
      This whiskey glass is empty, gotta let it go,

      These blues won't leave  They haunt me still
      Your memory fades   against my will

       I keep waiting for your call at night
       Lonely shadows fill my empty room
       Every silence takes a little part
       Hope you're coming back to me soon

                  short instrumental

      I keep waiting for your call at night
      Lonely shadows fill my empty room
      Every silence takes a little part
      Hope you're coming back to me soon
      Hope you're coming back to me soon
      Hope you're coming back to me soon

Waiting For Your Call

Slide Rule

Opium Tears
Reflected in mirrors
And dreams lie her fears

Relying on someone
Who doesn’t have time
Inspired, affected
While he draws the line

Swimming in oceans
Sweeping away
A day in the life
A life in one day

She’s rehearsed her outburst
with nothing to defend
She’s screaming and he’s held her
or so she’d pretend
But truth be known she’s frightened
And the tears are stuck inside
So she’s waiting out the force of the doubt
So she can push the feelings aside

Further she falls
She opens her eyes
She crawls
Into disguise

Falling away and
Losing all touch
Sunshine and madness
It doesn’t take much

If only he’d say that
Those three little words
He’d send her off
In the sky like a bird

She’s rehearsed her outburst
with nothing to defend
She’s screaming and he’s held her
or so she’d pretend
But truth be known she’s frightened
And the tears are stuck inside
So she’s waiting out the force of the pull
So she can push the feelings aside

In his embrace
It's his smile she feels
within her own face

The Empress card is drawn
It tells no lies
Just like the Lovers
She will learn to fly

Way past the pyramid
And out to the sun
Her heart on fire
With everything one

Opium Tears

Darcy lit a Newport with a gas station match
Leanin' on Joey’s Civic, the paint all scratched
With a trunk full of tools and 8-track dreams
She said, “They say Bushwick’s changing, but it’s still the same to me”

Joey had a scar from the Navy days
Said he used to fix turbines out in San Diego Bay
Now he’s doin’ drywall for a friend in the Heights
Said, “Baby, we’ll be alright, just gotta make it through another night”

In the empty lot behind Ed’s Food Store
With a streetlight buzzin’ like a holy war
They shared a cola and a cigarette
Talkin’ 'bout the days they haven’t lived yet
Skyline rising in the rearview light
Lookin’ for a way out on a one-way night

She had a spiral notebook full of names
Some ol’ boyfriends and schemes that never came
But Joey only read the poems she wrote in bed
About motels by the ocean and the words she never said

At her cousin’s place off Dekalb Avenue
Took turns in the shower, shared the one good bath towel
She worked part-time at the thrift on Flushing
Stole snacks for Joey when the hunger came rushing

In the empty lot behind Ed’s Food Store
With a streetlight buzzin’ like a holy war
They shared a cola and a cigarette
Talkin’ 'bout the days they haven’t lived yet
Skyline rising in the rearview light
Lookin’ for a way out on a one-way night

Some nights they’d dance to the car stereo
Some nights they’d fight about nothin' at all
She’d cry in the front seat, he’d punch the dashboard
But they never stopped showing up when the other one called

That winter hit hard and the heat got cut
But they wrapped up in blankets and called it enough
She said, “This ain’t pretty, but it’s better than gone”
He said, “Darcy, you and me, we’ve been holdin’ on this long”

In the empty lot behind Ed’s Food Store
With a streetlight buzzin’ like a holy war
They shared a cola and a cigarette
Talkin’ 'bout the days they haven’t lived yet
Skyline rising in the rearview light
Lookin’ for a way out on a one-way night

Brooklyn Love Song (with Joliz)

My song based on my experiences. Featuring Kari "Fat Boy" Tamminen on vocals. I play the guitars.
I produced this at my home with Band in a Box and Reaper.
Kirjoitin tämän omakohtaisiin kokemuksiini perustuvan lauluni kunnianosoituksenani kaikille keikkamuusikoille ja roudareille.  
Vierailevana tähtenä lauluissa Kari "Fat Boy" Tamminen.

Keikkamme jälkeen (After Our Gig) - Arri feat. Fat Boy, voc (säv.&san. EB 2017)

I've been a guitarist since the age of 15 and writing songs since then, albeit more prolifically since 2000. I prefer strong melodies and to borrow chords to move outside of the diatonic. Usually, the song mix contains my vocals, guitars and sometimes bass, with drums, keys and other instruments auto-generated. The tracks uploaded in my Soundcloud are attempts to 'illustrate' the idea and sound I imagined when writing the songs. At best, the quality of recordings are demo quality. You can't make a silk purse out of a sow's ear!

Revolution

Andrew of the antipodes

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