About this track: I was deeply moved by Jeff Buckley’s music. Buckley’s voice has a special way of getting under your skin. 'Shiver' is a personal homage, my way of saying thanks for the inspiration. It's about the mark his music left on me.

----------

LYRICS

Longing, pain, love and hope
haunting voice that won't let go

sends shivers down my spine

Longing, pain, love and hope
haunting voice that won't let go

sends shivers down my spine
shiver down my spine
inner torture and joy
within a twist of a line

runaway father
followed you everywhere
get out some anger
a screaming soul laid bare

sends shivers down my spine
shiver down my spine
inner torture and joy
within a twist of a line

What matters is grace
you had an unending life-or-death urgency to speak your heart
you made me feel
feel the rhythm
you made me feel
real music 
you made me feel

Sing what you need to sing 
when the spirit fails you
Hallelujah

You disappeared into 
the Mississippi river  
it was a spontaneous swim,  
fully clothed, you jumped in 
You were found upstream 
a few days later
The moon looked down as you drowned 
The clouds flew you away

Longing, pain, love and hope
haunting voice that won't let go

sends shivers down my spine
shiver down my spine
river of last goodbye
shiver down my spine

I hear it
light and delicate
like a wish

I see it
dark as the night
tears in trembling light

Play the music. Play it loud.
I'll remember you, 
I'll  remember you 
oh
Play the music. Play it loud.
I'll remember you, 
I'll remember you 
oh
but can't forget your fate
oh
can't forget your fate

Sing what you need to sing 
when the spirit fails you
Hallelujah
Hallelujah

Lyrics and Music (c) Darren Baxter

Shiver

I saw an old friend who's not long for this world
They're just doing their thing
I thought, "Why aren't you out there living it up?"
That's backwards I know, the question is why am I not doing
something I would continue to do if I was diagnosed like you.

Everybody tries, Everybody tries, Everybody dies
But not everybody really lives 
really lives

I saw an old friend who's not long for this world
They're just doing their thing
I thought, "Why aren't you out there living it up?"
That's backwards I know, the question is why am I not doing
something I would continue to do if I was diagnosed like you.

Everybody tries, Everybody tries, Everybody dies
But not everybody really lives 
really lives, really lives

Life is about love, I'll give love if I can, I'll share love if I can
this beautiful day may be my last
I'm right here, right now. 
I will never be here in this moment again.

Life is about love, I'll give love if I can, I'll share love if I can
this beautiful day may be my last
I'm right here, right now. 
I will never be here in this moment again.

Life is to be lived, give love if you can, share love if you can 
this beautiful day may be your last
you are right here, right now. 
You will never be here in this moment again.

Life is to be lived, give love if you can, share love if you can 
this beautiful day may be your last
we are right here, right now. 
We will never be here in this moment again.

Lyrics and Music (c) Darren Baxter

Everybody Tries

Crumbling mountain on high
Green, green grass and yellow sky
You’ve spread out all of paradise
Right in front of my eyes

I will climb to the top
See what I can find
Untie all of my knots
We’re all knotted up
But no light can make you blind

When you see the river
In the sunshine of its days
When you see the river
You’ll be on your way

Come with me and see
The beginning and the end
We’re up so high that I can feel 
The birds fly over my head

Oh and when you see the river
Running away
When you get nearer
You’ll scream out for the holy man to be saved

I can see the river
It wanders where it may
I am the river
I live out my days
I live out my days
As I may
I live out my days
Just like a river
Running my way
Be like a river
Run where you may
Run where you may


Download

The River

New song, recorded on my phone's voice recorder, please try to ignore the cars and the bikes and the birds in the background

You (Phone recorded demo)

3 What Am I Doing

Here be Dragons

Here Be Dragons

Week 5 #songaweek2020. Photo by Micah Bloom.

Speak without a word
Make yourself heard
Little bird
You are only everything
Joy of the spring
Music on wings
Oh sing little bird

Laugh at this cold world
bury your pearls
Little squirrel
You are part of it all
Winter through fall
sunshine and squall
So small little squirrel
	
Ease your mind in moonlit dreams
Till the morning sunlight streams 

Dance, rooted and free
reach out and breathe
lovely tree
You are happy right here
Year after year
Wind in your hair
So fair lovely tree

Feel, listen and be
Walk out and see
You with me
We are home in this place
Day after day
Finding our way
oh stay you with me

Somewhere there’s a star tonight
Pulsing out its final light

At Least For Now

Words She Heard

feel the rhythm of each breath
feel the rhythm of every single step
breathe in, breathe out
be here, be here and now

sorrows and worries drop away
only takes moments but every day
breathe in, breathe out
be here, be here and now

breathe in, breathe out
don't get caught up in your worries cos they only bring you down
breathe in, breathe out
don't get caught up in your troubles cos the only moments now

the only moments now

don't think of tomorrow or yesterday
Don't wait to meet death
for him to take your last breath
before you let go, before you let be
breathe in, breathe out
be here, be here and now

breathe in, breathe out
don't get caught up in your worries cos they only bring you down
breathe in, breathe out
don't get caught up in your troubles cos the only moments now

breathe in, breathe out
don't get caught up in your worries cos they only bring you down
breathe in, breathe out
don't get caught up in your troubles cos the only moments now

Lyrics and Music (c) Darren Baxter

Breathe

i walk by the beach by the ocean
the wind blows the stormy sea
let it come, let it go
why do i worry about anything?
it's only waves of my mind
let it come, let it go

i walk by the beach by the ocean
the wind blows the stormy sea
let it come, let it go
why do i worry about anything?
it's only waves of my mind
let it come, let it go

and i find i've been blind
to the waves of my mind
my minds eye focused on what it craves
here comes another wave
let it come, let it go
my minds eye focused on what it craves
here comes another wave
let it come, let it go

i walk by the beach by the ocean
the wind blows the stormy sea
let it come, let it go
why do i worry about anything?
it's only waves of my mind
let it come, let it go

i walk by the beach by the ocean
the wind blows the stormy sea
let it come, let it go
why do i worry about anything?
it's only waves of my mind
let it come, let it go

and i find i've been blind
to the waves of my mind
my minds eye focused on what it craves
here comes another wave
let it come, let it go
my minds eye focused on what it craves
here comes another wave
let it come, let it go

my minds eye
my minds eye
my minds eye

My Mind's Eye

Words & Music (c) Darren Baxter 2020/2021

The Moment Seizes Us

"Emotionally so intense... sucks you right in" - UK acoustic singer/songwriter Darren Baxter was influenced by Jeff Buckley, Thom Yorke/Radiohead, Nick Drake, Leonard Cohen, Eddie Vedder and Conor Oberst/Bright Eyes.

Unplugged, stripped-back, raw, authentic, vulnerable and evocative, Darren delves into themes of anxiety, sorrow and mortality with unnerving honesty. 

Darren embraces the philosophy of Jeff Buckley: "be awake enough to see where you are at any given time, and how that is beautiful, and has poetry inside. Even places you hate."

Everybody Tries

Darren Baxter

Related tracks