I really like the rising and falling guitar lick you have going on here. The melody on the chorus is also really nice.

Wow, I LOVE this. That chorus is fire (and that's literally the first time I've ever called anything fire). Great melody throughout, unforgettable, and I not only agree with the song but also think the emotion is perfect. Instant classic.

Very well done, Claes, a really great anthem for the sentiment.

Brilliant!!! Mother Earth is pleading and bleeding! Love everything about this song... Lyric, vocal, harmonica, and amazing guitar! 🙂🎶👏❤️ from David Easterling

Hot damn, Claes, really digging this one! Wow! Everything is on point to carry a really powerful environmental message. Really incredible work & advocacy with this one, friend.

And then you hit us with the harmonica. I'm undone.

Love this feel a lot! Very timely and well exucted. Love the chorus!

Loved this, Claes -- that simple percussion element really gives an exotic atmosphere. Great melody and fantastic chorus! Well done!

This is great   Love that riff that plays throughout   The verse.  Real earworm

"Kent Aitken Also Saved My Life" (#437, 210216)

It was dawn but also midnight
And somehow also 3am
I was moments from my last rites
Until I saw a man named Kent

It was Paris and Nova Scotia
And at the same time Annecy
He was sort of like a human Visa
Everywhere you want to be

So where's the conflict where's the drama
Where's the problem you may ask
You see I'd come across a deadly llama
That nearly ended my sorry ass

Why was he angry this crazy mammal
What was his problem his urgent strife
Turns out the llama had just been rankled
By Nik Newark's drum and fife

The creature charged me with nostrils flaring
I saw my life flash before my eyes
The lights were blinding the music blaring
I thought I just might die tonight

But then around the corner racin'
Came a man with a plan
The one and only Kent Q. Aitken
A banjolele in his hand

He lulled the llama by strummin' gently
Into a state so calm and soothed
And it got sweeter and downright friendly
Instead of freaked out by their tunes

So while I was once saved by the music
From Nik Newark's drum and fife
There came a night when in the confusion
Kent Aitken also saved my life

Week 07 - Kent Aitken Also Saved My Life (210216)

"What Else You Got" (#438, 210218)

 * Co-written with Dan Rivers * 

Packed it all up in a rental van
Guitar a girl and a half assed plan
Heard that it's a 10 year town
Better start makin' the rounds

Fifty cold calls 'til they let me in
Tiny office and a guy named Slim
Thought my first song had a pretty good shot
Then he said, "what else ya' got"

I got mouths to feed I got bills to pay
A dog and a wife and an H.O.A.
I got high blood pressure one bad knee
And a Volvo leakin' antifreeze
To top it all off one verse and Slim said stop 
What else you got 

Hot take from my Uber driver
What I needed was a great co-writer
Said he was Tim McGraw's third cousin
Hell he'd written almost a dozen

We wrote a track just right for Garth
Got as far as the driveway guards
Sang it through the intercom
A voice came back, "what else you got"

I got outta' state plates and two flat tires
And a radio tuned with needle nose pliers
I got bootleg cable and uh, Obamacare
And holes in all my underwear
Dann Huff told me son you're really good, NOT
What else ya' got

I got to thinkin' how hard could it be
To start a publishin' company
Get the writers all lined up around the block
Just so I can tell 'em what else ya' got

I got smoker's cough I got whiskey shits
And a mother in law that just won't quit
I got plumber's crack I got athlete's foot
And I'm still a long way from Brentwood
There goes the mansion, the Rolex and the yacht
What else ya' got

Look out Music Row I'm comin' in hot
What else ya' got

Week 08a - What Else You Got (210218)

"Run Down" (#439, 210219)

 * Words by Jerry Frohlich, music by James Tristan Redding * 

Another town another show
Didn't seem that long ago
A one night stand and off I go

Run down I hit the road again

Haunted by the highway sound
I close my eyes the lights go down

Echos distant in my mind
The days are long and the nights are longer
As I stare out the darkened window

Run down I hit the road hit again

I feel the eyes of all the fans
They all watch me as I stand
On stage again

And as we drive away
I feel so empty
But left them wanting more

Run down I hit the road again
The band, my friends

Run down I hit the road again
Yeah rock the night away

Run down I hit the road again
Another town another show

Run down I hit the road again

Week 08b - Run Down (210219)

My contribution to week 7 of Song A Week 2021. The theme this week was Nik Newark's Drum & Fife, which at first I had no clue what to make of it. So, I zeroed in on the Drum & Fife. Just a side note; the song is in Eb minor simply because, being the first time playing the piano, there are less of the black keys to keep track of than the white ones. :)

Lyrics:
When I start to grumble, that's the rumble of my battle drum
and when I've stopped listening watch for the whistling, of bombs in flight
Am I about to start a fight? All because, I want to be right?

Chorus:  There is no victor at the end of a war
	only the wounded with open sores, that time won't heal
	now tell me, how do you feel, about war?

You start to sweat, perceiving a threat that isn't real
all your efforts are in vain, you need someone to blame, when nothing goes right
Are you about to start a fight? All because, you have fear inside?

(Chorus)

I have my opinions and beliefs - and you have yours, you have yours
I also have my baggage to retrieve - and you have yours, yes you have yours
Rarely do we match, so there's bound to be a clash
without negotiation, co-operation, and understanding, we would have ourselves a war

Are we about to start a fight? All because, we want to show our might?

(Chorus)
There is no victor at the end of a war

Song AND image Copyright © Claes Akerblom 2021

Battle Drum (demo)

The Words I Heard

Where the Buses don't Run

Song A Week 2021, week 8 the theme was "Change, please".
Please excuse me, if I ended up sounding a bit political again, but these were the words that came to me when faced with those two words.

The ice is melting, the white bear's escaping to town
The waters rising, soon the old coast is nowhere to be found
Wildfires are raging, raging out of control
"This isn't global warming, just something cyclical", we're being told
And Mother Earth is crying out; 
"Change, please change your ways before it's too late.
Change, please change your ways. This wasn't meant to be my fate" 

Storms - devastating, lives and possessions destroyed
The crust is crumbling, as we're greedily fracking for more oil
while Mother Earth is pleading;
"Change, please change your ways before it's too late.
Change, please change your ways. This wasn't meant to be my fate"

This after all is our home, that I,m talking about
If the roof is leaking, foundation breaking, you'd want to fix it, right?!

And Mother Earth keeps crying out;
"Change, please change your ways before it's too late.
Change, please change your ways. This wasn't meant to be my fate"

Song and image Copyright © Claes Akerblom

Change, Please (demo)

Week 8 #songaweek2021. 
by Julia Tindall Bloom, Laurie & David Easterling © 2/24/2021, Saint Paul, MN, and Oak Ridge, TN. 
Photo is a fairy house my daughter built on the banks of the Mississippi River summer 2019.

Please change your mind 
Don’t leave me behind
I was desperate to say
But I left it unsaid
The words wailed in my head
You’re leaving today  

May you never be sad enough to give up
Or too busy to explore the unknown
Remember no matter how far you go
You can always make your way home

I’ve been waiting so long 
To sing my own song
Can’t stay in this place
Stretch my wings and try
To see where I can fly
Cast off my old ways

May you never be sad enough to give up
Or too busy to explore the unknown
Remember no matter how far you go
You can always make your way home

The road is always there
Time may not be fair
The same road that leads away
Leads back home someday

May you never be sad enough to give up
Or too busy to explore the unknown
Remember no matter how far you go
You can always make your way home

Make Your Way Home (cowrite with Laurie and David Easterling)

On every corner
On every street
It’s where they eat and pray and wait
And where they sleep

In rags in bunches 
Cardboard boxes
They lie in wait beneath the pain 
Of a life discarded

And we’re just people
We walk on by
Our children asking questions
With tears filling their eyes
 What going on here ma 
cant we try to make it change

change
please please
change

In every playground
In every school
The innocent unsuspecting one 
is called a fool

The weight of terror
The sting of lies
Each word that hits a broken shell
Who’s lost the will for life

And we’re just people
We walk on by
Our children asking questions
With tears in their eyes
 What going on here dad can we try to make it change

And in the darkness
Beneath the glow
Of neon skies and bad mens lies
Of pain she’d never knowm

Her dream a vapor
A faded hope
There’s nowhere here to run
There’s no safe place to go

And were the people
Won’t even try
To answer all the questions
That fall from our children’s eyes

What’s going on here
Can’t we make a change
Please can’t we can’t we try

change please - week 8 2021 SAW

Copyright Erin Wolf 2021
Instruments featured: guitar, mandolin

Week 8 SAW Prompt: Change please
*Note about the song: A bittersweet, yet hopeful song about break-ups and new horizons written whilst on a serious Adyn Townes kick.*

how long after you left
did you try to leave
were you trying to grow
or were you running away

was it all too close
all too soon
not enough space
was the air smothering you
with the smoke from 
a love still burning
a love still burning

you wanted change
needed change, please
then the world stopped
you were stuck 
bound in a haze

did your dreams shift then
or did you hold your peace
waiting for the light to shine
through the darkness
bringing release
bringing release

and change, did she 
come in the night
like a thief, taking your heart
in her flight
she's not what you expected
or what you came for
but will you give change a 
chance for something more

and change, did she
come in the night
like a thief taking your heart
in her flight
she's not what you expected
or what you came for
but will you give change a 
chance for something more
something more

how long after you left
did you try to leave
were you trying to grow
or were you running away

Change, Please

Photo from https://www.piqsels.com/en/public-domain-photo-jbapq/download under CC0 https://creativecommons.org/share-your-work/public-domain/cc0/.

You Could Turn Back, But Why Would You Want To - Song a Week 2021, Week 9

Mainly a guitarist, and sometimes singer-songwriter, I am influenced mostly by the singer-songwriters from the 60's and early 70's.

Change, Please (demo)

Claes

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