Soul Gardens (Music by Christian Moll, Sax by Mikey)

Happy New Year from The Welcome Parade!!

We hope 2022 will be the start of something quite exceptional for everyone.  I think we are all due a bit of a respite from the current state of affairs! 

Lyrics:
I'm moving slow and steady
wind your watch here comes the ready
looking so unsteady
I think you had enough already

Time is slowly finding time to leave you without time
now you've seen the time you've taken was you're own decline

1234

I'm moving slow and steady
wind your watch here comes the ready
looking so unsteady
I think you had enough already

4321


The Welcome Parade is proud to release our first two tracks of 2022

The Ready - This piece starts with our usual Skype call and some drinks, after a few rounds and a lack of focus that requires another call. The next call we dedicate to getting the music business accomplished before we drift off topic. First on the list to complete is "The Ready" a heavy piece that has a unique frenzy to it.  

Edges with a bit of fury and finesse,  Jay's tense vocal work pushes this beautifully in the punk direction.  Perhaps something you might encounter in a Tarantino movie...preferably one with Selma Hayek in it! Thom with his top shelf fret board dancing, creates a complex texture that keeps you on the edge of your seat.  Finally Jeff keeping the piece grounded with some pounding bass work! 

On a final note...this track gets me off the hook for a request made to me by Jay's bride!  To have Jay perform something as an Englishman!  Huzzah and mission accomplished! 

Not Today - See "Not Today"

I hope one day the world looks at us and says...we got to get these guys together!  If not I am just very happy to have a couple of friends with a musical connection that exists as something so natural, it is difficult to keep the components separate, to realize where one ends and another begins. 

You guys rock and I am so glad to have you as friends and musical companions...rock on mi amigos!

The Ready

The Ready (by The Welcome Parade)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c9tP97FIdlU

Bamboo Dance

In his final days,my father vividly saw things which obviously weren't there. He was otherwise sound of mind,so this was very odd. That's when I found out about Charles Bonnet syndrome.

Charles Bonnet syndrome causes a person whose vision has started to deteriorate to see things that aren't real.

The hallucinations may be simple patterns, or detailed images of events, people or places.

They're only visual and don't involve hearing things or any other sensations.

It's important to be aware that hallucinations associated with Charles Bonnet syndrome are caused by failing eyesight. They're not caused by a mental health problem or dementia.

People with Charles Bonnet syndrome are usually aware that the visions aren't real, even if they're vivid.
There are 2 main types of hallucination that people with Charles Bonnet syndrome tend to experience.

They may see:

simple repeated patterns
complex images of people, objects or landscapes
Simple repeated patterns can take the form of grids, shapes or lines, which can appear in bright or vivid colours. The patterns may lay across or cover everything the person sees.

More complex hallucinations can involve people, places, animals and insects.


There's a great big dog
Outside my window
Why he's alone,I really don't know
I can see him there
Plain as the day

There's a small bird there
On my windowsill
If you look really hard
He's there still
I can see him there
Plain as the day

I think they're trying to kill me
But I don't really mind
I long to be free
To be unconfined
I can see it now
Plain as the day

I see myself with your mother
On a golden afternoon
No wheelchair to roll me
My legs still below me
I hope it happens soon

Charles Bonnet

YES! I finally saw a Tarantino's Film (Django) and this is the result. Thank you all!

Mandingas Fights

Little Red Harmonica
Music and Lyrics by Mike Krath

Many years ago,
When one of our sons was born,
The doctor told us your boy is very sick,
He’d live three to four years at most,
And when he turned five, we were so happy,
Maybe there was a chance after all,
And on that birthday I gave him a little red harmonica,
You may be weak, I told him, not able to do much but lie around, but with this you can play anywhere you are. 
Now go ahead, make something of yourself. 
Let’s hear some sweet music. 
And he smiled and took the little red harmonica in his hands. 
I’m gonna learn how to play this, daddy,
I’m gonna learn how to make a heavenly sound. 
I laughed. I bet you will, son. I bet you will. 

And for the next year,
He played the best he could,
Here and there, to anyone who’d listen,
To his brothers and sisters, to the neighbors, the cats, the dogs, even the pigs.
He loved that harmonica,
It never left his little hand all day, 
Not even to eat (to an extent)
And he had it with him by his side until he went to bed,
But on his sixth birthday, the music stopped. And we had to take him to the hospital. 
And there he begged me in a weak voice, daddy, please don’t let them take away my harmonica. I want to practice, I want to keep practicing. If I’m gonna die and be buried, don’t let me buried without it. 
And I promised. 
And when his 6-year-old body was lying in the coffin, the little red harmonica lay in his hands. 

Now the years have passed,
And we’ve moved on with our lives,
And I try not to think too much of my son,
But from time to time 
I have someone from our old town
Tell me that when they visited the graveyard. 
They swore they could hear a muffled sound
Of someone practicing a harmonica. 
And I start to think again of my little boy.  
I start to think of him day and night. 

In the great redemption story,
I know I’ll see him again,
I know I’ll see him and we’ll be standing side by side. 
And in my mind I see him with his little red harmonica,
And him saying,
You want to see me play it, daddy, you wanna?
And I say, of course, Let’s hear what you’ve learned all these many years. 

And I see him lift it and play a heavenly sound,
A sound that lights up my heart,
And I can’t believe it,
And I grab and squeeze him tight,
What joy is this? What joy are you giving?
And he laughs. 
Do you like it, daddy, do you?
Do I like it? I love it!
And I hug him again,
And then weep on his shoulder,
I’ve missed him so much. 
And I hear him say, don’t cry, daddy, this is heaven now. There are no tears. 
I know. But I’m crying tears of joy. 
And I hug him like I’ve never hugged him before. 
I hug my little boy with his little red harmonica like I’ve never have before.


Set-Up:
DAW: Reason 12

Analog Instrument:
C-Harmonica

Keyboard Instruments:
Folk Fiddle - Keyswitch - Insanity Samples
Appassionata Strings - Spitfire
Hanz Zimmer Strings - Spitfire
Voices - Barbary Solo Glide AH TF - Soundpaint
Solo Boy Legacy and Legato Sections - VOXOS
Originals - Felt Piano - Spitfire

Little Red Harmonica

Admiral Krank and his Mo Sheen. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mtWiAHvKXqo&t=92s&ab_channel=AdmiralKrankandHisMightyBandofSpacemen

From The Travelogue of Ben E. Gringo

My new song written on my acoustic piano this time. 
Thank you to my lovely Sander for this gorgeous master. @wane-of-summer 😊🎶❤️🎤🎼🎧🎹🎵❤️

SEARCHLIGHT (with acoustic piano)

This original ode to the desert night highway brings two lovers together in the splendor of the stars. The silent expanse inspires their moment of passion.

Guest Soloist - Ignacio Galaz (Erhu)
Nat Daniels: piano, guitar, bass, harmonica, vocals
Craig Durgy: banjitar & vocals

Song written  and performed by Daniels & Durgy (copyright 2022)
Gentle Rain Records
Lyrics:  Whispers and Wishes  (a.k.a "Was I Insane")

Black desert night... 
Dotted lines flashing white
Straight is the road 
The mountains like ghosts
And you're ever by my side…

The highway just wails
The stars form a veil
That shimmers and calls
‘till we give it pause 
And break a silent sky

Chorus:  
Your hands in mine..
Hearts that entwine..
Soft moans and kisses..
Whispers and Wishes.
That shatters the deep… 
That shatters the deep of the night.

(instrumental solo)

Chorus:  
Your hands in mine..
Hearts that entwine..
Soft moans and kisses..
Whispers and Wishes.
That shatters the deep… 
That shatters the deep of the night.
That Shatters the deep of the night..

Whispers and Wishes

A Job That Pays

This was a part of a concept album that never took off.  This is the young man going to work in the big factory that keeps the town alive. Years later the factory would close. But for this scene, things are looking up. 

Lyrics;
I've been flipping burgers.
For what seems a hundred years

My life was stuck in neutral
But now I'm changing gears

I got myself a job that pays
the place I need to be
I'm putting on a hard hat
Gonna work in a factory

Walk in with a hot cuppa joe
Lunch bucket too

Working that nine to five
Cause baby needs a new pair of shoes


Yeah I got myself a job that pays
It's the place I need to be
I'm putting on a hard hat
Gonna work in a factory


Maybe in a couple years
I'll get a big fat raise

it sure beats flipping burgers
Cause it's a job that pays

I got myself a job that pays
It's the place I need to be
I'm putting on a hard hat
Gonna work in a factory

Wear that blue collar
Making that dollar
Not a doctor not a lawyer
But I'm feeling ten feet taller

I'm gonna make my ol man proud
And be all I can be
No it's not the Army, but
I'm Working in a factory!

I got myself a job that pays
It's the place I need to be
I'm putting on that hard hat, baby
Go to work in a factory!

Call me the working man
Guess that's what I am!

A Job That Pays

Those wonderful folk at https://soundcloud.com/masterigtruemusic gave me the opportunity to work with them again , This new adventure in sound should take you to euro-holiday songs from the 80s , enjoy !
Lyrics :-
Out of darkness
Into the light
Getting closer
Feeling so right
Step by step and
One by one
We’ll be together
Under the sun

We’ll be the warriors
The children of the future
Make a stand
We’ll lead the way
Amongst the mayhem and confusion
They had planned
We’ve really got to pull our socks up
And walk the walk as well
We don’t need empty words no more
‘Cause that’s the route to hell

Out of darkness
Into the light
Getting closer
Feeling so right
Step by step and
One by one
We’ll be together
Under the sun

So you and I can be the guides
For all the sleepers
On our hands
Hey it’s a dirty job
But someone’s got to do it
The line in the sand
And no one’s gonna thank you
For it at first
They’ll brand you insane
Your madness will be your
Banner of truth
No reason for shame
We’ve really got to pull our socks up
And walk the walk as well
We don’t need empty words no more
‘Cause that’s the route to hell

Out of darkness…
winkandwoo

Under The Sun

UNDER THE SUN - MTM & winkandwoo

Two song writers, two kindred spirits... that found each other by pure happenstance and great fortune, to collaborate and create music together.
To see our separate artist pages, please click on the following links:
Nat Daniels   https://soundcloud.com/natdaniels
Craig Durgy  https://soundcloud.com/durge