The Unknown

I’m a ladybug in your dirty garden
And I fly around every morning
To every corner
Flapping my wings and I get them all wet
With the summer rain falling from the turquoise sky
And no, we don’t care for the Turkish guy
Or the Kurdish guy, or the Swedish or whatever
You woke bitches never finish a thought
This whole shit is like a Finnish art movie
About a British cunt who be really down with the left
You motherfuckers wanna copy identities
Why the fuck you asking us to be down with the theft?
Fuck the left and everyone in it
A new genocide starts every five minutes
A new generation born with advanced trauma
And that’s that democracy you’re yapping on and on about

How many more massacres do you have to fund?
How many more fake pride laps do you have to run?
Do you have to, like, post a story too?
Maybe even go and protest
Oh it’s too gorgeous of you
You’re just a true force for goodness
Doing all the things you’re supposed to just do
The soldier of truth
The wokest hocus pocus joker, shit
Ain’t no limit, you can be anything
A man, a woman, or something in between
Or out of it, whatever you feel is genuine
You can be a motherfucking penguin
You can fix the world
All it takes is to keep progressing 
‘Til we all get you live the dream
In the fields, where the cotton’s digital
And everyone’s in, no color limits y’all

Ladybug

Mats Demotape

Alla dagar. ( 1994 ) Eddy Mango - Margareta Theorin ( Eddy )

Between writing sermons as a small-town pastor, I was also engaged in writing songs, some you have heard in my "Scenes of St. Francis". This particular song came to me after reading an article about love and marriage--ministers do a lot of reading for sermon preparation--but this one knocked me a bit sideways.  Turns out men on average will fall in love between five and seven times before meeting their wife, and then 1-1/2 times afterward!  This song is about the 1-1/2 times afterward, a little different kind of love song for Valentine's Day. 
I have sat on the text and melody for over forty years but thought I better do something before time overtook it as it had overtaken my singing voice.  I heard Axel sing in his magnificent song with Sarah Paradise-Brown "What We Still Feel" and felt he could give the song the vocal it needed, an international voice of "everyman".  When he received the guitar parts he set to work on it and gave the song a stunningly beautiful orchestral setting as well.  Thank you dear Axel for lavishing your vocal and orchestral skills on a song that needed both. I am deeply honored and indebted.  Hear more of Axel's beautiful music @axel-m-501052973.
"Faithful and True" lyrics:

I recall the day I said "I do",
I never thought that I could love anyone
Like I love you,
But of late I'm really not so sure
That the promises we made can hold
Us together as we both grow older
With each day.
Is it possible for love to endure?
Chorus:
But I've made up my mind.
I've made my choice,
This feeling will pass but never the voice,
That tells me I must remain,
Faithful and true.

Bridge:
It doesn't stop the pain of admitting what can never be,
But if love has any meaning it is found in trust,
And not in what we feel.

Instrumental break...

Repeat bridge:

There's a sadness as I say farewell
To a love that promised more than I could ever tell,
Or at least that is the way it seemed
To a man who found himself in love
With another 'till he counted the cost of fantasy.
It was more than he ever dreamed.

Repeat chorus and end.

Faithful And True (David Dunham with Axel Menningen)

"A Quiet Room" is played on a Jeff Bamburg FSC guitar. Carpathian Spruce/Macassar Ebony, DADGAD tuning. A short tune which gradually "earned" its title as I made my way through composing this piece. Recorded Feb/2025. Thanks to all who might have a listen to this new track!

A QUIET ROOM

This is the only live-recorded ballad I can put up here from the first album of Stytz Syndicate.
Line Up:
Stytz                             : guitar/leadvocals
Michael Roth                : harmonicas/vocals
Günther Reger             : saxophone/vocals
Claus Wengenmayr     : keyboards/vocals
Benno Richter              : bass
Jörg Schäfer                : drums
Lyrics                            : Pee Gee
Album Cover-Painting : Joachim Scheffler

Many people in the audience that night became teary-eyed hearing this song. 
The band gave it their absolute best and Stytz sang with heartbreaking intensity.

Thinkin´of the years we spent
Together...you and me
Goin´thru a constant change of ups and downs
I remember when we fell in love
A world full of colors surrounding us
We were happy all the time

It´s so hard to bear when words get in the way
So hard to bear when nothing`s left to say
So hard to say ...I´m sorry, it´s too late
I just fail to understand why
Our love´s come to an end

So afraid of losin you
I made a big mistake
But I know I have to realize
The feelings are gone
I can never change your mind
You made your own decision
Tryin´to find a way 
Leadin` back to yourself

It´s so hard to bear when words get in the way
So hard to bear when nothing´s left to say
So hard to say...I´m sorry it´s too late
I just fail to understand why
Our love´s come to an end

Our Love´s Come To An End ,  Stytz Syndicate

special thanks for their acapella to : Ashes and Dreams
Additional voice " On sight"  thanks to :  Deadbitctrosa.....

Lyrics : 
The truth sure likes to sneak up on you
Yeah, the truth sure likes to sneak up on you

You got jump-scared so bad in your waking hours
You thought you were seeing stars
The truth sure likes to sneak up on you

Gonna see it, gonna see it, gonna see it, gonna see it
Gonna hear it, hear it
Only when you’re not listening

Gonna hear it, gonna hear it, gonna hear it, gonna hear it
Gonna see it, see it
Only when you’re not looking

It’s the same from Winnipeg to California
Punishing your intuition in the corner
It’s the same from Winnipeg to California
Punishing our intuition in the corner

The clue stuck to the bottom of a shoe
The mud trail she tracked through the living room
Told you what you already knew

The truth
The truth sure likes to sneak up on you
Yeah, the truth sure likes to sneak up on you
Yeah, the truth sure likes to sneak up on you

THE TRUTH. 🎧. Feat  Ashes and Dreams

Stomp on that

For my sixth birthday for weeks and weeks I begged my dad for a dog
But my dad didn’t think I was responsible enough and he was also kind of cheap
But I kept asking him constantly and finally he broke down
He gave me a little cabbage plant growing in a Styrofoam cup

He said if you take good care of this cabbage plant
Next year I’ll consider buying you a dog

I named him Charlie and I planted him in the flowerbed in the front yard
And every morning I’d go outside, and I’d feed him water and fertilizer
I’d update him on what was going on inside the house
And as far as cabbages go Charlie was a patient listener

Every night before I went to bed
I’d stick my head out the window and say goodnight to Charlie.

Our friendship was more than one of those passing fads
And every day Charlie grew until his head was bigger than my dad’s

And I guess my dad must have noticed too because one crisp autumn afternoon
Me and Charlie were sitting in the flowerbed listening to a baseball game
My dad came outside, and he said to me, it’s time for you to become a man

He reached down and he ripped my best friend Charlie out of the ground
For a couple of seconds, I could see his little roots gasping for soil 
Then we took him in the house and we cleaned and we gutted him

 And I swore that would be the last time I’d ever have a personal relationship
 with a vegetable of the cruciferous type
And as we sat around the table, eating our cabbage soup
It occurred to me I was so glad my dad hadn’t bought be a dog

I dedicate this song to Charlie because he made such a big impression on me
Those months we spent together made me so happy.
I go down the produce aisle at the grocery store.  I see those cabbages and it makes sad
I’m glad for the time we spent together.  Sorry it had to end up so bad.

Charlie (Cabbage Song)

Lyrics:
She was wrong for me
I knew it from the start
I'm not very smart
I left a spare key under the mat
To my broken heart

I'm kicking it
One step ahead of the blues
I'm kicking it 
One step ahead of the blues
I'm sleeping it off in those Sunday pews

My boss had an epiphany
When I was working at the mortuary
He said: Dig them holes faster!
"This business has no room for uncertainty!"

That may be
Oh, can't you see?
When I'm working for you
I just don't feel like I'm being me
When I'm working for you I ain't following my muse
And there she goes...
(There she goes!!!!)

I'm kicking it
One step ahead of the blues
I'm kicking it 
One step ahead of the blues
Hey friends, won't you help me spread the news?

I get all my blues for free
Don't you know I'm so low I can't see?
A lousy day...
A lousy pay...
I'm a lousy lay...
I think I'm everything
That everybody say

I'm kicking it
One step ahead of the blues
I'm kicking it 
One step ahead of the blues
I'm sleeping it off in those Sunday pews

One Step Ahead Of The Blues

I don’t say goodbye anymore
I’ve said it enough to last me till I’m old
Maybe I’m just trying to ignore
The feeling that there may not be
Another opportunity
To see you till our lives are over

And I don’t really cry anymore
I’ve shed too many tears before
That doesn’t mean my heart is a stone
But if I let em flow
They would fill the rivers wide and I know 
I could never stay afloat

I don’t wake up and get high anymore
I just fill up a bowl with milk and Cheerios
Maybe I’m just getting old
But these days all I really need
Is to know that I am free
That’s about as good as being stoned

I’m not afraid to die anymore
Ever since I opened up that door
Like everyone who’s lived before
All we have is time
We’re just holding on the line 
And I hope I get a little more

All we have is time
And I’m just pulling on the line 
And I hope I get a little more


Prompt: “Milk and Cheerios”
Week: 11 August 2025

Anymore

I am a finger-style guitarist living on the Texas high plains.  At the core of my music is melody that is inspired and informed by my Christian faith, family, friends, and countless influences through the years from the great composers, to jazz, folk, rock, Latin, Celtic, and the many fine musicians I have come to love on the Cloud, some I have been privileged to collaborate with.  Thanks for stopping by to have a listen. Comments are always welcome. Feel free to click on the picture of any track to learn more about it.