arbiters of glee

How deep is the ocean of your mercy 
How far and wide the expanse of your love
How firm is the rock of your salvation  
How strong the grasp of your unfailing love

How rich is the fragrance of your goodness 
How complete your understanding of me 
How sweet  the refreshing of your presence 
How good are your promises to me

How great is the weight of your glory 
How full your cup of suffering
How high you are exalted over all names
The Lord of Lords and King of all Kings!

As far as the east is from the west 
You have removed my sins from me
You have washed me with the blood that spilled
From the nails at Calvary 
I confess to you my failings 
And the sins that enslave me 
You have broken chains of bondage 
You have set this captive free
You have broken chains of bondage 
You have set this captive free

You are faithful; You are true
You have forgiven; Your word is true
You love mercy; You give grace
You love justice for the human race

O let Your mercy rain       
We bow our hearts again
O let Your mercy rain
O come forgive our sin    
As we confess again
O come forgive our sin
O come and free our hearts   
No more a slave to sin
O come and free our hearts

How Good (studio Demo)

Brave New World

I thought I saw your face
I heard a whisper in the wind-
A momentary trace- 
you got my attention once again

Charred and brittle ruins
Washed and worn by the rain
A man stands drunk in the threshold
Between sanity and the insane

Its a Brave New World 

Songs drifting down the hill
I saw the tears on her cheek
Sifting life from a landfill
Offering her goods on the street 

Why do daddies have to die 
and leave their little ones behind?
Shot down by the ruthless on Miami streets-
Orphans of a brave new world

I thought I saw your face
Heard a whisper in the wind-
A momentary trace-
You got my attention once again

Its a brave new world
ooo the brave new world

Brave New World

Waiting for the sun to rise
Waiting for the light to come
Waiting out the dark night of my soul

Hoping for a single spark
Hoping for a blazing fire
Hoping thru the coldness of my soul

	death to the natural inclination
	the uncommon taste of that which is so plain
	discovering the quietly hidden vintage
	found in the cellar of the mundane
	oh-oh found in the cellar of the mundane

Mourning for the love that's lost
Mourning for the long since passed 
Mourning from the empty in my soul

Watching for a little sign
Watching for the heavens rent
Watching from the longing in my soul

	death to the natural inclination
	the uncommon taste of that which is so plain
	discovering the quietly hidden vintage
	found in the cellar of the mundane
	oh-oh found in the cellar of the mundane


	Always running but never free
	Always searching but never see
	Always chasing a dream that's mocking me
	Always listening but never hear
	Always present but never near
	Always chasing the wind that chasing me


o hallelujah hallelujah hallelujah
and the truth will set me free
oh and the truth will set me free

Cellar (remix)

Walk about in cold gray din
Underdressed to my chagrin
I'm walking…Walking
Fish don't bite on an eastern breeze
Leaves turn upward on thirsty trees
I'm waiting…Waiting

See through the withered man a strength unseen
An unfaded image in a wayward machine
An ever-presence that a man can not dream
No ear can hear  No eye can see
- without Your Love

Sun beams down on parched attire
Tattered, worn, squelched desire
I'm hoping…Hoping
Groping in the stench of waste 
Through bitter wounds and rancid taste
I'm hungry…Hungry

Trudging on through earthly mire
Holding on down to the wire 
I'm watching…Watching
And pinched between the pressure plates
of a fallen world and lost estates
I'm living… oh oh I’m Living

See through the withered man a strength unseen
An unfaded image in a wayward machine
An ever-presence that a man can not dream
No ear can hear  No eye can see
without Your Love  (2x)
Oh without your love, without your love   ooooo without your love
without your love……without your love, no ear can hear no eye can see

Lost Estates

I made a discovery digging deep for some change; 
pursuing an elusive recovery in the pocket of the peculiar and strange.

I left a trail of inner-lining; fluff, fuzz, lint, and broken thread;
trying to stay warm in the coat I am designing 
wondering if I’d be better off dead.

I got buried mining for gold 
looking for meaning behind the task;
scraping the walls of my hollow soul and choking on the questions I ask.

I got blinded by my disillusion with evidence of love in this place;
leading me to this one conclusion: the gun went off at the start of the race.

Oooo-oooo-oooo-oooo I don’t like I don’t like what I see
Oooo-oooo-oooo-oooo I was blind, I was blind now I see
Oooo-oooo-oooo-oooo I don’t like I don’t like what I see
Oooo-oooo-oooo-oooo Shine a light Shine a light over me

I made a discovery 
searching through the years of my life.
(I don’t like, I don’t like what I see)
I’m making a recovery
(Shine a light, shine a light over me
Looking in the mirror of my life. 
(Shine a light, shine a light over me)

Made a Discovery

in a day when arguing and opining is the rage...let us find a better way

Love Lays Down Here

Sad and alone too far from home
Mad and afraid of this mountain you made

Called once or twice every minute or more
Stood on the deck stared at the door 
ohh, could not go in,  you could not go in

Somewhere over the rainbow
you hoped you could fly
there was no gold no glory
no magic you could buy
the dream flipped the pages 
and the damages were done
now you pray to an empty room
and there’s no where left to run

the years come and go,  the days came and went
you ran from the ghosts and you could not make the rent
oh, you could not pay, you could not pay up

torn up and scared of the anger you face 
the hearts that you broke, how long you stayed
away,  you stayed away, you stayed away


Somewhere over the rainbow
you thought you would fly
no calls no cards no letters
just an empty lullaby
Somedays you cried and wondered
if the well had run dry
now you’re home with an empty feeling
afraid you’re going to die

you lost your way
its the price you pay
you should have stayed
Sad and alone too far from home

The Price You Pay

In 1996 we said good by to a dear friend...

Lyrics:
Shape the earth with my hand
building castles out of sand
living water in the dust
solid steel turning to rust


Moving mountains out of holes
clearing windows for our souls
pitching rocks in desert ponds
watching the ripples sail beyond
on and on

Parting waters through the sea
watching heaven look at me
raining mercy from the sky
while children's mothers slowly die

Kissing hands that crush the stones
hearts that soften brittle bones
memories toting burdened years
laid to rest in salty tears

Requiem: Dust and Water

Did this song at the same time I recorded (and wrote) Hope is Born. Almost like the same session (except in your own home its not really a session). Recorded on my living room floor with the tascam porta-studio one cassette tape 4 track, a boss flanger, roland drum machine and roland string machine and a vintage National acoustic guitar with a piezo for a pick-up and the toy yamaha keyboard for the bass.

Silence in the heart of hearts (1987 recording)

Lyrics:

Hey Diddle Diddie

Hey Diddle diddie got your moonface on
Cat got your tongue but the race is on
Can you give it a rest ?  
we will stop and see
people are a swingin’ in the family tree
Hey diddle diddie got your moonface on
Fish are ajumpin' in the murky pond

Little Jack Horner got your thumb in the pie
Get just little more before you die
Get a little piece before the judgement day
Make a few girls cry 
along the way
Little Jack Horner with your thumb in the pie
there’s an empty soul staring from behind your eye

Hey Peter Piper the pepper is hot
Picked a peck of peppers but soon forgot
if you play with the fire you gonna burn
you never stop  
you never learn
Hey Peter Piper with the pepper hot
You’re In a little pickle you little snot

Jack be nimble Jack be quick
Jack made off with the candle stick
got a little edgy and pushed the line
living like a king 
while you’re doin’ time
Jack is nimble Jack is quick
Jack rigged the game and Jack is slick

Hey Diddle Diddy

I began piano lessons at age 7 and shortly there after the teacher removed me as his student telling my mom and dad something to the effect that I would never learn to play. I remember the meeting, it was like a doctor consulting the family of a dying patient.      "Count", he was always telling me "count" but I always had my own version (adaptation) of everything he tried to teach me and seldom played anything right, at least in his eyes. He would tap his foot and hit the page with his pen on every note teaching me to "count". I got it. I just heard it differently. I was always showing him the things I learned and figured out on my own.Nothing to do with what was on the page. Like at Christmas time, I showed him some version of "Little Drummer Boy"  I learned (made up) with low rumbling base notes. I loved rumbling bass notes on the piano. None of the songs I was learning had low rumbling bass notes. I had to take things into my own hands.     My practice habits were frustrating for my parents as well. It was like a daily 1/2 hour prison sentence to the piano in which I pretty much goofed off and experimented with sound including strange voices singing strange lyrics. Very annoying for sure. My dad thought he would help me understand what was happening by taping me in practice. He had an old Akai reel-to-reel sound on sound deck. I listened to the recording and liked it. What I remember most about that session was when my 4 year younger brother came walking through the room crying. Cool sound effects.     I was heart broken when I was kicked out of lessons. The organist at our church then gave me private lessons for a little while. I do not remember what happened there except that I progressed some and learned to play a few things I liked. Most importantly, I learned to play (mostly by ear), "I'd Like to Teach The World To Sing". My 3rd grade teacher discovered my hidden talent and for reasons I do not remember, one day rolled a piano into the classroom and I played my song for the class and then she asked me to play again so that everyone could sing along. And they did!     I still can't count. Even after seven years of high school and middle school band class playing trumpet, I can barely read and cannot count rests or any kind of a dotted note. In college, after taking up piano by volunteering to play for our church's worship group, I took lessons. I would struggle through the reading and the coordinating of my hands to the page until I could memorize what I was playing. The teacher would listen in to our practice through headphones as we all sat at a bank of electric pianos. We did not know who she would be listening in on switching between players at will. I learned to look at the page as if I were reading the notes and just play what I remembered. She would say kind things about our playing into our headphones, at least in to mine. She was compassionate but I still couldn't count.     My parents bought me an unmarked bass guitar when I was around 13 years old with an OLD Gibson Tweed Amp. (man do I wish I had that amp, I sold it for 15 dollars in High School). I learned to play along with Foreigner and Kiss records and pretend to play along with Rush records. My sister had an old toy acoustic guitar with three strings. I learned my first bar chords. Actually it had 5 strings but they sounded so bad I put masking tape on the two high strings to stop them from playing. Eventually I modified it to a 3 string.     Ever being the innovator, I got the idea to mic the guitar with an old plastic Panasonic tape deck microphone taped to a drum stick, taped to a shelf and play into my JC Penney's stereo through the tape deck. One day I stuck the microphone into the guitar because the tape would not stick to the shelf. I turned the input volume on the tape deck all the way up and discovered distortion. Power chords!     My first song on the three stringed toy acoustic with panasonic plastic mic distortion on JC Penney's stereo?  Smoke On The Water.  What else?

Dave I

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