This is a one take live recording demo of a newly written song. It took quite a few re-writes to get the lyrics just where I wanted them.

Susanna and the Mission of the Sacred Heart
Davey O., ©2021 Davey O. Music (ASCAP)

Alleluia, Alleluia….

Susanna went down to the old church in town
On a rain-soaked Saturday night
She was last in the line as the mission bell chimed
Father Michael was a welcoming sight

She just needed a bed to lay down her head
And forget about the day she had seen
She only did rest, for an hour at best
As those demons came back in between

Susanna did time for a litany of crimes
In the walls of the Ford County jail
With model behavior and the lord as her savior
She was released to her friend, Abigail

But it didn’t take long before something went wrong
And she found herself out on the street
She went back to old habits and was scared as a rabbit
With her history stuck on repeat

[chorus]
Alleluia
Alleluia my child
Alleluia
Father Michael said – as he smiled

On that miserable night under the neon light
That barely flashed “Jesus Saves”
She surrendered her malice to the blood of the chalice
As her past started rolling in waves

Up in the tower at the top of each hour
The mission bell started to ring
And at 7 am like an old trusty friend
You could hear the choirboys sing…

[chorus]
Alleluia
Alleluia for miles
Alleluia
And Susanna just smiled
Susanna just smiled

Susanna & The Mission Of The Sacred Heart (demo)

The Welcome Note (demo)

A song written in May of this year, in the midst of a work furlough due to the COVID pandemic. More than anything, "When This Is Over" is a song of hope. Hope for a better future, that we will see the end of this, for better days ahead.

When This Is Over

I wrote this song a couple of years ago while traveling to and performing for the the first time in the Upper Peninsula (affectionately know as the "UP")of Michigan. While staying in a cabin at Birch Shores Resort along Manistique Lake, between gigs at Chamberlin's Old Forest Inn, and with internet/phone service being spotty, I decided to take a drive around to explore the beauty of where I was. Afterwards I returned to my cabin with a great deal of time on my hands and not much to do. So..... I wrote a song about where I was, the people I was meeting, the silence and beauty I was surrounded by. Truly a magical place.

Manistique

I wrote this a while back, inspired by the "objects may be closer than they appear" warning on the side mirrors on a car. I thought of how that might translate to life, how we often live with the regrets of our choices, as well as the rewards of them, and how it might be part of the human mind to sometimes wonder things like "if had just left 10 minutes earlier or later, I might have not gotten into that accident", or to wonder if we had gone to a different school or if our parents landed in a different country or city - how different our circle of friends and lives might be. One thing is true - money cannot buy happiness.

Rearview - Davey O., copyright 2020, Davey O. Music (ASCAP)

The distance that gets measured
Between failure and the treasure
Is a sign that there are things I cannot buy
To be - void of persistence
To give in without resistance
Is enough to hang my courage out to dry

[chorus] -
But who knows - what the way is?
What's left behind is often closer than I know
If time froze - without changes
Would there be days - I never would let go?

[bridge] -
Sometimes I gotta leave a light on
Just so I can find my way home
I'm trying not to get lost
In my own storm

So when I'm off somewhere and wishin'
Down to a half tank of ambition
When I can make up my own bed - but not my mind
When I pull my boots on
To go out and sing some sad songs
I am hoping - it is hope that you will find

[chorus] -
But who knows - what the way is?
What's left behind is often closer than I know
If time froze - without changes
Would there be days - I never would let go?
Would there be days - I never would let go?

Rearview

A newly written (last week), politically charged song for the current post-election climate in the U.S.

No Ordinary Time
Davey O. – ©2020, Davey O. Music (ASCAP)

Who can you trust, when deceit is the prize?
And the documents rust, beneath a mountain of lies
When truth is now flushed, into an ocean so wide
Left to drown in the rush, swept away with the tide

[chorus]
This is no ordinary time
To be extraordinarily blind
To truth, once self-evident
While playing victim to the crime
This is no ordinary time
Yet there are some who still deny
The reality and evidence
When it’s right before their eyes

Who can you believe, when the experts are ignored?
When secrets are now breached, from behind the sacred doors
When conspiracy abounds, and every word of news is “fake”
And there’s no indication, anyone is on the “take”
[repeat chorus]

[bridge]
Hypocrisy is the company line
While democracy fights for its life
We once stood tall, we once stood brave
As a shining light through the darkest days

Waiting in the shadows, are the sycophants and thieves
Their promise still rings hollow, that there’s nothing up their sleeves
They fly their flag of freedom, while denying some that right
From their backrooms of corruption, under cover of the night

No Ordinary Time (folksinger version)

Here's one to listen to on a snowy, stormy day, looking forward to "a new season"

A New Season

A new arrangement of a song I wrote a little over 20 years ago, inspired by my surroundings at a rest area while re-fueling my vehicle. A lonely song, but one with a very positive message as it tails off.

Travelogue

By Heart

A newly penned song, I jokingly refer to as "the cliche song" due to the fact that the content, chord changes, etc... are something that has been written a thousand times by a thousand different songwriters. I decided to go with the inspiration and write the song. I also felt it only required a simple guitar and two vocal arrangement, and lent itself to a mandolin part shortly after recording the bed tracks. In writing the song, I used an old songwriting adage, "don't bore us, get to the chorus", so I started the song with its chorus, which I believe will be quite the ear worm after a couple of listens!  :)

Heartbreak Town (the cliche song)
copyright 2021, Davey O., Davey O. Music (ASCAP)

[chorus]
Somebody must've let you down
On the mean streets of this heartbreak town
You hear the same old talk and the same old sounds
Everybody wants out of this heartbreak town - this heartbreak town

1.) You can't keep anything a secret 'round here
A rumor never has to travel too far
You drown every last sorrow in whiskey and beer
And half your paycheck goes to the bar

[repeat chorus]

2.) Every Sunday you've been taught to believe
Hard work and faith is all you'll ever need
But after 30 years down at the factory
You look around - no one ever leaves

[repeat chorus]
[bridge]

Nothing come easy
And nothing comes free
You can't even buy an ounce of your dignity
You get a little ahead
Then fall a lot behind
After you swore up and down you'd never cross that line

[mandolin solo]

3.) You thought by now you'd be a married man
You're only wedded to the bottle in your hand
When you were young you thought you'd turn your back
And never see this place again

[chorus]

Somebody must've let you down
On the mean streets of this heartbreak town
You hear the same old talk and the same old sounds
Nobody gets out of this heartbreak town - this heartbreak town