 Nice melody! Beautiful playing all around

Fine skills, a wonderful progression and melodic theme - a lovely collab!

Beautiful music David and the rose looks great!

A very nice miracle David. As usual performed with a lovely arrangement. I can only hope that we can "water and nourish", the best sides of humanity for the coming years so that we can see a regrowth of joy and harmony in our broken world. Perhaps our music can be a little fertilizer for the purpose. ;)

With Pat's passing, I wanted to post this version of Ode with us doing a little brainstorming on the creation of the song. 
I witnessed a miracle--at least I would call it that.  A beloved rose that was a regular bloomer(pictured) fell victim to the incredibly harsh cold spell we had in February of 2021.  By April when the rest of the roses were waking up, this one had not a sign of life in it, just a brown stump.  I watered, and fed, and waited, and waited.  Nothing.  I dug out the stump.   For Mothers' Day my daughter had bought a rose to replace the one that had perished...or so I thought.  Within a week of planting the new one, the old one put out a shoot just a foot away.  I guess the digging, watering, etc for the new rose stimulated some remaining root of the old.  It has since received lots of love and care, and has at least a half-dozen buds ready to bloom in a couple of weeks.  So this is an ode; to a beloved rose and all things miraculous.  
Special thanks to Pat Howell for the initial inspiration and his fine musicianship and sweet additions with mandolin and octave.  Please check out his page for more fine music @patrick-howell-786748109

Ode To A Rose (with new intro and outro 7/23/23)

Swirling in the sun
Did you dream the starling again?
The many and the one
Soaring like a starling again
You hear the haunting sound, look around
Will you be the starling again?

Join the chorus, sing along
That murmuration song

You hear the cries
And you are a starling again
Ride the rhythm of the skies
Will you dance the starling again?

In a chorus, a symphony
A canticle

Oh I don't know why
You are so shy today
You don't know when
It will come again your way

The isolation fades
And you are a starling again
Down the desolation days
Fly like a starling again
The madness, the rage, turn the page
Oh you are a starling again

Join the chorus, sing along
That murmuration song

I don't know why
You try to hide away
Who can say when
It may come again your way?
Look to the skies
Starlings will rise today

Starlings

The Trial
A Pico-Operetta for our Times

International Cast

Lady Humanity - Oddrun Eikli - Norway, vocals and lyric on the last song; https://soundcloud.com/oddrun-eikli
Lord Mammon - Peter - England, All poetic lyrics in the operetta, except the last song; https://soundcloud.com/user-264930040/tracks
The Judge - David Dunham - USA, and acoustic guitar in the third song; https://soundcloud.com/david-dunhamuser589535203
Music & Production - Seagull - Sweden, compilation, mixing, sound effects etc; https://soundcloud.com/farout-music-studio

Here you can download all poetic lyrics: https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/37k203an5c6azz0ekltvn/The-Trial-Libretto.pdf?rlkey=mope1vjiyqhaeo17b5u74dp2i&dl=0

Synopsis

Following unprecedented worldwide growth in human conflict, an emergency plenary session of the United Nations was convened late in 2023, tasked with finding new approaches to defuse global tension and ease conciliation.  Recognising the abject failure of extant UN jurisdictions and powers, and in a radical restructuring of the international legal and security framework, that session established a new UN institution to sit alongside the International Court of Criminal Justice.  The International Court of Moral Justice was formally incorporated into the UN Constitution on 1 January 2024.

The foundations of this infant organisation and those of the UN itself were shaken when it was revealed that the inaugural case to be heard by the ICMJ was to be a private prosecution brought by greed itself against the defendant, mankind’s innate sense of humanity.

In papers lodged with the court, the protagonist, Lord Mammon has asserted that the fundamental basis for human misery, the creation of discontent, thence envy and hence conflict, is to be found exclusively in false moral goodness and self-righteousness borne of a misplaced sense of benevolence.  The human race survived and thrived, he states, not by moving at the pace of the slowest, or sharing resources with the weakest, but by taking and keeping, for the self alone, much more than is needed for basic subsistence, this being the singular route to strength, individual contentment and thus tolerance of others. 
 
In reply, a broken and demoralised Lady Humanity has been compelled to present her own defence after failing to secure funding for a legal team to counter the advocates ranged in front of Lord Mammon. The case for the defence rests solely on the premise that good comes from within and cannot be created from nothing.  So whilst she may try to bolster the moral cause in her work, she increasingly finds that the human souls she sees have no humanity in them whatsoever for her to strengthen, nothing to work with and as such, concedes that she has failed, but denounces the notion that it was for want of trying.  Devoid of resources, supporters and allies of any kind she single handedly has held the fort against the self-perpetuating, self-reinforcing massed ranks of Mammon.
  
The Lord Chief Justice of the ICMJ along with his bench of associate judiciary adjourn proceedings to consider their findings and in the final act, return to deliver their verdict.

The Trial - A Pico Operetta for our times

Mysterious Ways

Mysterious Ways (Graham Williams)

Harmony laden lyrical acoustic rhythmic soul

Between Abstraction and Representation

You don’t know which way to stand
Is the light favorable?
Or is black now passe
I guess it’s all debatable

I’m trailing in your scent
You’re LA then New York
Ghosting like the Zephyr Train
Making sure you walk the walk
You’re caught there in between abstraction and representation
They watch you in between abstraction and representation

Though you deny you seek to impress
It’s other women for whom you get dressed
In and out of the closet you float
Strapping and weave – girdle and hose

Delaunay or Cassatt?
Hey honey bring it all back
Home . . . 

I could be jealously mad
Seeing all that attention you grab
But bedroom’s night is painting your curves
And only I will get to observe

Between Abstraction and Representation

Hey…. So I put down the slide guitar the other day, and picked up the mandolin after a slide solo wasn’t working. Then did this little song. A rather surreal look at the metaphysics of stars as they relate to us. Occasionally, we are at a loss to make sense of this life. I find perspective in observing the night sky, among other things, even if for only a brief moment. Hanging out with others helps too. So does playing music. I usually laugh at myself in those moments and realize just how fascinating life can be. I mentioned this story before, but in a different context. I have been ‘caretaking’ a fire ant colony for over twenty years. The common sense of today’s world would seek to destroy the colony, as labeling them as ‘nuisance pests’ comes with a dire consequence for the ants. Fire ants bite only to get a grip and then sting (from the abdomen) and inject a toxic alkaloid venom called solenopsin. Anyway, the colony had been in my neighbor’s yard decades ago, and I did my best to encourage him not to destroy the colony. But after seeing a friend of his riding over the colony with a riding lawn mower, I knew the colony was doomed if it stayed there. Then one day, while emptying the kitchen compost bucket into the compost pile, I saw a long trail of fire ants coming from my neighbor’s yard into mine. They had begun to build a mound near a brush pile in the back. So the ants have been here for 5 years or so. Sure, they may strip an aspen sapling bare, or try and sneak into my vegetable garden, but for the most part, they have been good neighbors. They have come out of their mound now that it is a little warmer. I was cleaning up the gardens in the back, and noticed hundreds of them working on their mound. I looked yesterday and I saw this one ant carrying a large twig, way bigger than him, on top of the mound. As he walked, the twig was waving back and forth like a sword raised in the air. I laughed (to myself) and realized it had been a while since I had done so. This song is about all those little things in life, like that, that bring us back…. Hope you like it. Thanks for dropping by, Mark

Lammbone's Album

Walk In The Park

The Trial
A Pico-Operetta for our Times

International Cast

Lady Humanity - Oddrun Eikli - Norway, vocals and lyric on the last song; @oddrun-eikli
Lord Mammon - Peter - England, All poetic lyrics in the operetta, except the last song; soundcloud.com/user-264930040/tracks
The Judge - David Dunham - USA, and acoustic guitar in the third song; @david-dunhamuser589535203
Music & Production - Seagull - Sweden, compilation, mixing, sound effects etc; @farout-music-studio

Here you can download all poetic lyrics: https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/37k203an5c6azz0ekltvn/The-Trial-Libretto.pdf?rlkey=mope1vjiyqhaeo17b5u74dp2i&e=1&dl=0

Synopsis

Following unprecedented worldwide growth in human conflict, an emergency plenary session of the United Nations was convened late in 2023, tasked with finding new approaches to defuse global tension and ease conciliation. Recognising the abject failure of extant UN jurisdictions and powers, and in a radical restructuring of the international legal and security framework, that session established a new UN institution to sit alongside the International Court of Criminal Justice. The International Court of Moral Justice was formally incorporated into the UN Constitution on 1 January 2024.

The foundations of this infant organisation and those of the UN itself were shaken when it was revealed that the inaugural case to be heard by the ICMJ was to be a private prosecution brought by greed itself against the defendant, mankind’s innate sense of humanity.

In papers lodged with the court, the protagonist, Lord Mammon has asserted that the fundamental basis for human misery, the creation of discontent, thence envy and hence conflict, is to be found exclusively in false moral goodness and self-righteousness borne of a misplaced sense of benevolence. The human race survived and thrived, he states, not by moving at the pace of the slowest, or sharing resources with the weakest, but by taking and keeping, for the self alone, much more than is needed for basic subsistence, this being the singular route to strength, individual contentment and thus tolerance of others.

In reply, a broken and demoralised Lady Humanity has been compelled to present her own defence after failing to secure funding for a legal team to counter the advocates ranged in front of Lord Mammon. The case for the defence rests solely on the premise that good comes from within and cannot be created from nothing. So whilst she may try to bolster the moral cause in her work, she increasingly finds that the human souls she sees have no humanity in them whatsoever for her to strengthen, nothing to work with and as such, concedes that she has failed, but denounces the notion that it was for want of trying. Devoid of resources, supporters and allies of any kind she single handedly has held the fort against the self-perpetuating, self-reinforcing massed ranks of Mammon.

The Lord Chief Justice of the ICMJ along with his bench of associate judiciary adjourn proceedings to consider their findings and in the final act, return to deliver their verdict.

The Trial. A Pico-Operetta for our Times.

Il y a quelques années, mon Ami Ed m'avait soumis une bande son guitare solo, pour une collaboration. L'ayant redécouvert il y a quelques temps, j'ai réadapté ces éléments aujourd'hui pour ce nouveau concept que je présente ici ....

N'hésitez pas à visiter sa page: https://soundcloud.com/westtracksmusic

**************************************************************************************************

A few years ago, my friend Ed submitted a solo guitar soundtrack to me for a collaboration. Having rediscovered him some time ago, I've adapted these elements today for this new concept, which I present here ....

Feel free to visit his page: https://soundcloud.com/westtracksmusic

Sway .... With Ed Cunningham

Closing instrumental track from an upcoming new release (most of which was recorded during Covid).

Postlude

“I enjoy the slowed down versions of songs so I decided to have some fun with the speed of this one. 

This song is inspired by McCartney III and The Beatles - mainly their Sgt. Pepper era - and is about trends, life long love and friendship. I personified the cassette to develop the narrative of music being a companion, how it is always there for us and how much joy it brings.”  

CASSETTE TAPE

I’m a cassette tape 
Do you remember me?
Once your solace, your friend
Now I’m out of trend
I am covered in dust, vintage technology 
I will wait for you
Will you wait for me? 

When you were younger
You would turn to me
Those times you were lost
You would read through the sleeve notes and find yourself
Find a place where you can be 
Look in the mirror and see what you want to see

In a dusty room I am found and people shake and see
If I sound like I did
If I make your ears believe 
I shine again like a new penny in the street
Come alive again
Press play and hit repeat 

There you go away from me
I taught you all I know and made you 
all you can be
I know seasons go and tides will change 
Say “you’ll listen to me”
Say “you’ll listen again” 

© Heart House Records 2024

Written, performed, recorded, produced and mixed by Heart House Records
Mastered by DOLBY

CASSETTE TAPE (SLOW + REVERB VERSION)

Well, let’s see…. Glad you dropped by because you get to listen to some dobro, on a new, very different version of ‘By The Sea’. https://soundcloud.com/lammbone/living-by-the-sea . When I first penned out the lyrics, there was so much going on thematically. ‘Alligator’ adds some of the original lyrics that were left out first time around as the saga continues. I had melded together experiences from my 67 years of living by cherry picking events and blending them into a singular situation, which would have make for a long song in its totality, that by nature, I shy away from, unless I am jamming. Haha. What does this all mean? First off, as an old man who finds himself reminiscing and daydreaming, there are some cathartic moments to be had in hindsight of one’s life. Looking back momentarily in the rearview is a prudent way to temper the trajectory of one’s life, especially if it has been a rocky road. Another facet of this is a personal extrication from a life one has been living, to find another way more suitable to one’s existence. In other words, the changes we make in our life to survive. There is also some grief and regret, that melt away over time. So maybe several more songs are on the horizon that elaborate on these experiences and what they mean to me. Hope you like this song. Thanks for hanging out, Mark

Smiling Alligator... A Reprise Of 'By The Sea'

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.

Ode To A Rose (with new intro and outro 7/23/23)

David Dunham

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