MY 2023 TOP TEN

MIXED/MASTERED: WOODS STUDIO
https://soundcloud.com/woods_studio
LEAD GUITAR, BACKING VOCALS: Fog City Fogey
https://soundcloud.com/user-610054726

LYRIC

Far along the beaten path
No end in sight 
What supplies we have are poor and running low
We’ve so far to go

Some split off
We’ve seen their camps
Maps they study by weakening lamps
The light will die out and then
They’ll join us again

We march on
It’s our purpose
 We march on
We endure thus we survive
And that’s our true goal
Stay alive

In the distance mountains loom
The darkening skies mean winter soon
We’ll find an old tree down
Build a fire to gather round
But not a shelter
We’ve lost that skill
Our arms are weak
As is our will
Besides we don’t have time
There are mountains we must climb

We march on
Tired but trudging
We march on
No use judging
Why we do
It’s just another day
to get through

Elders tell of a homeland
Their own elders told them of and
Maybe it’s all true
Who knows what they knew
But maybe it’s all true

The trail is lost
We’re on our own 
Our courage sapped
Our fear has grown
We can’t give into dread
Salvation lies ahead

So we march on….

Sexagenarian III

We March On

MIX/MASTER: Woods Studio

NOTE: The key line - "One butterfly can fill the sky" - just sort of came out of my mouth while singing to a new tune I'd come up with. I view my lyric as my way of trying to understand myself exactly what that means!

LYRIC
Child in a garden
Mother isn’t far
One hand holds a net 
One, an insect jar
A flash of color flying
The softest flap of wings
The net will capture
The jar will trap there
Beautiful things

One butterfly can fill the entire sky
When seen by a child’s eye
Don’t ask how
Don’t ask why
One butterfly can fill the sky

We too had a garden
Thought of it as home
But we broke the house rules
Kicked out, we had to roam
We tried to recreate it
With every skill that’s ours
We still need wild things
Buzzing and dancing in the flowers

One butterfly can fill the entire sky
Just look with a child’s eye
You’ll know how
You’ll see why
One butterfly 
Wonder and awe
Filling us all…. and the sky

Child back in garden
Gives the lid a pull
The creature sent free
The jar now empty
The child’s heart full

One butterfly will fill the entire sky
We look with a child’s eye 
And know how
And see why
One butterfly will fill the sky

Sexagenarian Volume IV

One Butterfly

MIX/MASTER: Woods Studio

NOTE: This tune came to me three days after the news of Burt Bacharach's passing. I dedicate the song to the great man's memory. 

LYRIC
Why watch the clock 
Count hours by the minute
I may be wrong but for right now
We have to live in the present
Let’s let the sky show us how

It has the signposts giving us guidance
And even if at times they hide  
We know they’re there inside or out

Good morning, good night
And that’s not to slight
A good afternoon
Twenty four hours of
Shining upon our love 
Are the sun and moon

Sometimes the times are some of the best
And sometimes they’re best forgotten
Who knows what this the day has got in store
  
Good evening, good day 
And may I just say
We work hard at fun
Climb in and out of bed
While always overhead
The moon and sun

Awake, asleep and so in love
Our besties hang above
Reality it seems  
Is a galaxy of dreams

All day and night
As gravity pulls us
Toward the core of [our] existence
What’s the use trying to fight it
That wouldn’t make any sense at all

Good morrow my dear
At last it’s here
Not a minute too soon
And not a minute late
For us to celebrate
With the sun and moon

Good morning, good night
la di da da
Hang loose, sleep tight
la di da da
Just stay in sight
Day and night, endlessly  
For me you’ll always be the sun…and moon

The Sun And Moon

MIX/MASTER: Woods Studio

NOTE: I don't hold myself to any strict "historical accuracy" in my lyrics. There may be one person in my distant past I had in mind as I wrote this. Or not...

LYRIC

Sir
I called you sir
It was a different time
And that's just how things were

Role
You played your role
And it was quite a fine performance
I was so naive
It’s hard now to believe
I never saw through you, ‘sir’

Gone 
That world is gone
For both the worse and better, maybe
It's moved on

Sir
Did you ever let your guard down
And let the truth slip through
Was there a real ‘you’
Or were just a man I knew as ‘sir’

Now
The world of now
I wonder if it would astound you
Frighten and confound you
But could it be inside
You would feel some pride
At how it could be
If you lived to see 
A world somewhat free for you, sir

MIX/MASTER - Woods Studio
Fog City Fogey - electric guitar, bass, background vocals, production assistance

NOTE: Yup, the C in CW stands for Chris...

LYRIC
The morning mirror can be harsh and cold
You know you’re not young but are you that old?
You need your coffee to really wake up
Maybe that happens around the fifth cup
It’s a new day - brand spanking new
It’ll probably - spank the heck out of you

It’s time to face up to the mess you made
The fools you trusted and the loyal betrayed
You better face up to the mess you made

You tire your brain thinking who to blame
It keeps coming up with the same damn name
There’s so many people who go by Chris
How you supposed to know which one it is
What a puzzle, a conundrum 
Ah come on now, you’re not that dumb

It’s time you own up to the mess you made
The debts accrued and the tax unpaid
It’s time you own up to the mess you made

of things through bad decisions
Sad submissions
Hasty brush offs 
And clumsy overtures
That mess you’re seeing is all yours

Meet a friend at a diner, slide in the booth
It’s time for confession, admit the truth
Eat half her fries, say yeah I’m a wreck
And then you leave her with the check

no one’s thinking you’ll repay a loan
so when you call they mute the phone 
It’ll shock them if you atone

It’s time you face up to the mess you made
You’re no innocent, drop the charade
If your sins had legs it’d be quite the parade
You better face up to the mess you made

Sexagenarian Vol IV

The Mess You Made

MIX/MASTER: Jack Holston

NOTE: There will be a "That's the Dream #2." I wrote two songs almost back to back, in different genres, and somehow the same title seemed to work for both. I wouldn't have let myself do that in the past...I'm calling this "flexibility"! 

LYRIC
Happy campers
Congregate 
Raise your lanterns 
Rush the gate
Climb up and jump free
Get feet flying
Outrun the dogs 
Build a raft
From loose logs
Float off happily

A second childhood 
That’s the dream - the dream
Gonna be twice as good
Run wild and scream
That’s the dream

When you’re it at
Hide and seek
Wait a bit then
Sneak a peek 
Everybody does 
Mom at screen door
Yells ‘supper’s on’
Just an hour more
Soon summer’s gone
Remember how it was?

To be a kid again
That’s the dream - the dream 
The taste of life back then 
Like homemade ice cream 
Sweet and cold

And though we’re told
To grow up and grow old 
gracefully
Well to me
That would hardly seem
To be the dream

Early riser
Late to bed
Midday nap
Rest your head
Tomorrow’s a new day to play

Your life to remake
That’s the dream - the dream
To have and eat your cake
See that smile beam
Leave this world in your wake
As you slip downstream
That’s the dream

That's The Dream #1

UPDATED Aug 25 2023
MIX/MASTER - Woods Studio

NOTE: This melody came to me soon after the tune for "That's the Dream #1" and somehow the same "dummy" lyric idea fit. I was hesitant to use a song title twice but...why not? Who cares? The songs are very different otherwise....

LYRIC
Over the years
And there’ve been quite a few
I’d often think of you
And wonder how
How it would be
If this or that had been
If I had the chance again
I wonder even now

Holding you through the night
That’s the dream
That’s the dream
Seeing you come in sight
In the glow of a lone moonbeam
That’s the dream

No wise old man
I’m still fool enough
To dwell on a lost love
And without fail
With my eyes closed
My arms reach out to you
My heart beats faster too
To no avail

Holding you oh so tight
That’s the dream
That’s the dream
Just as on that last night
The way I remember
To this day I remember
Or is it all just my dream?

There’s someone here
Someone warm and real
Someone who lets me feel
The way I feel

Holding you through the night
That’s the dream
That’s the dream
Keeping you in my sight
As we share a lone moonbeam
That’s the dream

That's The Dream #2

Mix: Jack Holston

NOTES - Maybe this is "TMI" but the recording of this song had a hiatus while I recovered from Covid. It finally got me! Wasn't fun but didn't have to see a doctor. Be careful out there!

LYRIC
At a young age I declared
I liked the world
I wasn’t scared of what it had in store

Now I have to wonder was I lying?
Was I really that brave boy?
I’d say today if you should catch me crying
Don’t be concerned, these are tears of joy

My first love was no great one
We pleased ourselves and then when done
Wandered off without a word
If I spoke would you have heard?

Somehow my silent heart retains so much
It’s a memory time cannot destroy 
My skin warms as I recall your touch 
Across the years to now as I sing
If you see tears, they may well spring from joy

Sadness is a pool of doubt
Dive in and then climb out

There’s so much feeling in a single day
At night our dreams can get no rest 
When it gets too much the heart must find a way
To cry out what is best expressed 
 in tears of joy

Tears Of Joy

MIXED by Jack Holston
https://soundbetter.com/profiles/368799-jack-holston

NOTE: I turned 60 at the end of November 2015. Thus began the "Sexagenarian" era! "My Last Song" is from summer 2019, after I had retired and moved from Los Angeles to north San Diego. Felt a bit at that time like my muse was...busy elsewhere? In a lull. I was not aware that I was about to enjoy a resurgence of my songwriting, leading to the multi-volume Sexagenarian series. Anyway, here is me exploring the world of bubble-gum pop! 

LYRIC
Far away
Long ago
I had the cheapest six string
Learned a few chords
and scribbled some words
Not much voice but I’d sing

Little shared
So few cared
But I continued writing
It was how I kept track as life rolled along
Now this might be
My last song

I’ve lost count
the amount
Never once paused to note it
Any one song can take me back to the time I wrote it
Every place
Every face
Once more appears at my will
And that is how it will be until
My last song

Why look at photos?
What do they show
Some old tune of mine captures the memory
I close my eyes and let it flow

Yesterday
Lost my way
Couldn’t find inspiration
Told myself it’ll be all right but
I might be wrong
Yes this could be
My last song   
Yes it may be
My last song

I’ve got a box full of
Old cassette tapes
A bit of life is stored up inside them
Choose one, hit play and - the past escapes

Long ago
Far away
Or was it just this morning
I added a few words to a new tune 
So here’s fair warning 
This won’t be my last song
No this won’t be - my last song

Sexagenarian 1

My Last Song

MIX: Jack Holston

I wrote this in April 2019. I believe the 2020 presidential election campaign was already in full swing. Possibly relevant. Possibly not...

LYRIC
In the dim past where no light falls
Trapped inside gated walls
Where’s the key
Who has the key?

Yes it hurt and healing’s slow
But time enough has passed
We want you to know

All’s forgiven
Come back home
In a cruel world
It’s not safe to roam
If you hear us
This we vow
We will leave a light on for you
All’s forgiven now

Who among us has never strayed
Known the right course and still delayed
We understand
We understand

If the worst comes and you can’t cope
We’re not far apart 
There is always hope 

No heart truly turns to stone
Come to us and see
You are not alone

All's Forgiven

NOTICE: I DO NOT PAY FOR PROMOTION. EVER.

SPOTLIGHT: Sexagenarian Volume VI is now complete after the addition of its twelfth tarck, "where once...". Check out the other five (5!) volumes of Sexagenarian as well. 

BIO: I started writing songs in high school (1969-1973!) and I've pretty much never stopped. These are mostly solo recording projects (my brother, Fog City Fogey, contributes sometimes).  I don't do much self-promotion, not a fan of Repost Exchange etc, so all of you who find this page and like a song or two - you are truly appreciated!

MY 2023 TOP TEN

CW Mullins