You Complete Me

Music and Lyrics by Jimmy Rivas @j-rivas

Sung by Mark J Bennett

Image of Loch Ness, Scotland by Doug Corrance

I was knocked out when Jimmy offered this beautiful song to me to sing, but then it took me 3 months to build up the confidence and to practice it. Jimmy is one of my favourite singers on SC (or anywhere) and he makes everything sound easy as he is so professional, so I hope you don't mind my take on this. Thank you Jimmy for sharing your skills with me.

You complete me
no matter how I feel
even with my nerves of steel
when the day is done
I know something good has begun
you complete me
when the day is warm
and the blue skies form
we sail on a following sea
far away from big pine key

You Complete Me - J.Rivas & Mark J Bennett

As the old Soviet joke goes, “In the Soviet Union, we know what the future holds. It’s the past that’s always changing.”      (lyrics below, after the song description)                                             
                                                     ****************
In this small, quaint college town, the town-gown relationship, for most of the 150 plus years since the college’s founding, had been productive.  The town benefited economically,  & students appreciated the town's charm, history & heritage.   Often on sunny days, classes of students would visit the park at the downtown square, brought by their history professors to learn not only of the town's history, but also about eleven young local men lost in America's Civil War, memorialized by the modest statue of a lone soldier, who had stood like a sentry at the the park's entrance since 1905.

But times change, don't they...
                                                   ********************

Notes:  More Americans died in the American Civil War than in any other war in our country's history, including each of the World Wars.  In my song, the word "Daughters" references the Daughters Of The Confederacy, a women's civic group formed in the 1890's by daughters (and wives & nieces) of men lost in that war.  The attached picture is the inscription on the base of a statue of a uniformed soldier, standing in a park in Dallas, Georgia, a small town 30 miles northwest of Atlanta.
                                                            



Lyrics....
My name is McKenzie, and Jenkins and Embry,
And eight other names you still hear in these parts,
For over a century, I stood quiet at the entry,
On East Main into Lafayette Park,
A plaque was engraved, told why I was placed,
On those gardened grounds,
In this Small American Town.

Commissioned in 1905,
By the Daughters for fathers who died,
I was erected to honor eleven so bold,
Not a single one knowing he’d never grow old,
On these boys account I’d forever stand proud,
Stand sturdy & stout,
In this Small American Town.

The kids from the college on Heritage Hill,
Would hold class in the park’s warm sunshine,
They learned of this cruel war we waged with ourselves,
How 600,000 had died,
And of eleven from here just about their age,
Small farmers & blacksmiths & craftsmen by trade,
None fought for cotton, not one owned a slave,
And they learned why the Daughters placed me on that mound,
To keep those boys’ memories around,
In this Small American Town.

But enlightened new students don’t meet in that space,
Through new glasses old wars just don’t look the same,
Now scholars say men who went off to that war,
Fought not out of duty, but hate,
I feared I’d be forgotten by Heritage Hill,
Yesterday’s soldiers, obscure battlefields,
But alas, rearranged history determined my fate,
                          **************
Wise men have long warned of changing the past,
Of purges & vengeance & iconoclasts,
Then one fateful night there was smoke rolling down from the Hill,

Quickly surrounded by torches of fire,
Cursing & spitting & rage in the air,
Rope round my shoulders, a cheer by the crowd,
I came crashing down to the ground….
                         **************
An uneasy quiet in the town since that day,
Hushed conversations about how things have changed,
But up on the Hill it’s all smiles & goodwill,
For it’s the 2nd weekend in May,
Ceremonial speeches, awards all around,
Uncles & aunts & parents in town,
To watch the sweet children who torched & burned me to the ground,
Be awarded their caps & their gowns,
In this Small American Town.

Small American Town

A few years ago, one of our presidential candidates referred to those who had the audacity to vote for the other candidate as "Deplorables".   It occurred to me that my family and I might fall into that "deplorable" category, so I thought I would offer a little insight into the daily life of us deplorables, or at least the perception of us by many of the social / political elites.               (pictured: the twins)

Adorable Deplorables

As  I once heard "I'm not complaining, I'm just making an observation"

© Joe Liberty 2022. All rights reserved

Just Getting By

Now in the land of milk and honey 
In the home of the free and the brave  
It’s a time of feast or famine  and your worth equals your pay 
Sometimes you gotta wonder why
  Work hard all your life but still just getting by
Still just getting by

Well now, do you have or have you not 
Its the question of the day  
And your answer will determine
 If you’re out or got it made 
Sometimes you gotta wonder why
  Work hard all your life but still just getting by 
Still just getting by 
Yea

¯\_(ツ)_/¯  solo ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ 

The bills they just keep coming  
The prices they all rise
 World you used to know before  crumbles by and by  
The same olds never ending
 But the dream keeps you alive  
Till you finely you realise 
That that dreams a lie

Oh, do what you can hope for the best  
Who knows you might win lotto yet  
Life a gamble and you know it’s true  
When one man wins the others lose 
Your lifes defined right from the start  
So get in line and do your part  
Buck the system if you dare 
But it’s dog-eat-dog so just beware 
Sometimes you gotta wonder why  
Work hard all your life but still just getting by
 Still just getting by 
Sometimes you gotta wonder why  
Work hard all your life and still just getting by
Still just getting by
Bye bye, still just getting by
Bye bye, still just getting by 
Yea

JustGettinBy3

© Joe Liberty 2022. All right reserved.

DayByDay

This world we live in 
With all the good and the bad
The sane and the crazies
The happy and sad

What we all have in common
Like the nose on our face
Is we live day by day, day by day 
And watch the world go by

So be who you are
And not who you’re not
Cause if you are who you’re not
Well then you’re missing a lot
And try to be 
Each and every day
The best you can in every way

Well it’s not always easy
No it’s not always fair
As we live day by day, day by day 
And watch the world go by

Solo

Revelations explode into colourful fireworks
As our atoms mingle with the stars and the universe

The past is remembered 
The future untold
As we live day by day, day by day 
And watch the world go by

So be who you are
And not who you’re not
Cause if you are who you’re not
Well then you’re missing a lot
And try to be 
Each and every day
The best you can in every way

Well this world that we live in 
With all the good and the bad
The sane and the crazies
The happy and sad

What we all have in common
Like the nose on our face
Is we live day by day, day by day 
And watch the world go by
Yes we live day by day, day by day 
And watch the world go by

DayByDay

℗ © Copyright Ian Stokes. All Rights Reserved
Recorded and mixed using Logic. Mastered in Soundcloud
Guitars played: Morris Nylon String in standard tuning
Photography: Thanks go to Nigel and Libby Hume at Hume Photography.
I thought it was time to start writing and recording some new songs, with a view to putting together a new solo album over the winter. For this song I have returned to my nylon string Morris guitar. Hope you like it!
LYRICS:
Sitting…. In my rocking chair
Rollin…….. with the beat
Pickin …..out a tune
Keeping time… tapping my feet

Maybe I’m getting old 
Maybe I’m getting slow 
Maybe things don’t seem like they used to do
Maybe, maybe not…. I don’t know 

Sitting….. in my rocking chair 
Close my eyes and see
All the places I have been
Just rollin … with the beat

Maybe I’m getting old 
Maybe I’m getting slow 
Maybe things don’t seem like they used to do
Maybe, maybe not…. I don’t know

My Rocking Chair

Many thanks to Andy Cruse (Kafla) for adding his great vocals to the track. You can hear more of Andy's music here.. https://soundcloud.com/andrewcruse/tracks

Here's to you my comrades
Who've been and passed
Here's to you my friends
I raise my glass.

The times we shared
Those times are gone
Our lives are joined forever
We share a bond

We had our fun
And now it's time to pay
All the things we've said and done
Are washed away

Ah,the young will live forever
All of a single mind
Always rushing forward
Never need to look behind

We had our fun
And now it's time to pay
All the things we've said and done
Are washed away

Single Minds. feat Kafla on vocals

Ya ever get bothered or stalked by someone ya ain't interested in?
Play them this track lol

My Bich

I know that we shared the girl
but I am not the boy that  you once knew
and if if you were in trouble
would I still look out for you

oooh ooh

and if if I was to live
throughout this whole life again
I yeah I have come to doubt
whether I would even call you friend

or would I just sit right there and rue  the day
I'd ever seen your bloody face before

and if if you were cold would I offer you my coat
and if say one day you were lost
would I show you where to go

or would I just sit right there and rue the day
I'd ever seen your bloody face before

I know things are strange
not the way they used to be
sometimes we all change

what Became of you and
what Became of you and
what Became of you and me
what Became of you and me
what Became of you and me 


sometimes I like to remenisce
think back on all the places
where we used to go
Jukebox purple hearts and questions
but how the hell am I supposed to know

remember when we used to venture South
closing time and they're gonna throw us out
but we we just wanna stay
and re-live all our yesterday's today

or would I just sit right there and rue the day
I'd ever seen your bloody face before

 would I just sit right there and rue the day
I'd ever seen your bloody face before

I know things are strange
not the way they used to be
sometimes we all change

what Became of you and
what Became of you and
what Became of you and me
what Became of you and me
what Became of you and me 



What Became Of You And Me

A new song I wrote last week.  Just commenting on stuff that's going on. Enjoy

The Yellow Road

Lyrics
Space time give me rhyme
Host chime in a void speck wide
Under worlds with higgz
Over worlds stitch ok PC's that glitched
The universe gives
Intention. New full connection to the shaman ancestral
Too Essential. Ear silenced control Needs move inwards now
Then we wake up and pick up a book
Ion find an ology to be critical with
Orion not found on cnn or fox or al jazeera
Not much fact on box 📺

Tuned till no end♾️
Our eggs my friend
Tuned till no end♾️
We'll make that happy here
Tuned till no end♾️
Now we're happy friends
Happy friends 
Tuned to make no end♾️

You will crush the sith
Good news with
The universe sick
Remedy quick
Eide for our strife
Ease for our life life
We love only light because fear becomes bright
And we love only light

Adorable Deplorables

Bruce Avery