Song-a-week 2024 #34

Prompts: "Utopia" and "Set Your Sights"

I had all kinds of lofty ideas of what kind of Utopia I would write a song about. 

But everything seemed vague and up-in-the-clouds, so I came down to earth to get more specific. I started thinking I would do something from Michelle Obama's DNC speech. 

I landed on someone else,  who had some inspiring words for many little children growing up. 

It's sort of a kids song,  except it talks about some intense challenges that (most) kids don't have to deal with, hopefully. Some do, though. It's rough out there.







Just Be You (Look for the Helpers)

Beneath the Oaks is a moment of light and healing in Luminor’s Ashes & Shadows album.

After grief and burden, this track finds shelter in nature — laying down sorrow beneath ancient branches, breathing in peace, and finding strength in stillness.

Acoustic guitar, piano, strings, and a folk choir of voices weave together into a warm, pastoral soundscape. It is a song of release, resilience, and renewal.

Beneath the Oaks

Verse 1
Here I am in my desk
Trying to write about love
A cliche not again
Maybe itr's time to write about the rainfall

Pre Chorus
I am getting tired not again
Going crazy one more day
It's all over in my head
Lets go to bed
Maybe she will talk to me

Chorus
I wake up in the morning and try my pen
Write about a girl or a simple pain
Nothing is coming out so what can I say
Tomorrow will be the day

Verse 2
Word by word its coming out
Nothing crazy, something about the heary
Tell me gir is this alright
Feeling blocked or love you like a mad


Chords:
V: G  A
PC: E Db
Ch: G A Gb G Em Gb Db A

Tomorrow Will Be The Day

Verse 1:

Sent away tired and hungry

My intentions  misunderstood

Imagination’s taking over 

Beyond my neighborhood

The ceiling turned to starlight

The carpet turned to waves

I drifted toward the wild side

Where dreams my mind had saved



Chorus:

My room turned to an ocean,

My bed became a boat,

The stars guided my journey

For days I would float.

I sailed to the wild things

Tamed them with a tricks

Howling at the moonlight 

Roaring loud and quick



Verse 2:

They crowned me king of thunder,

On a shore of fire and gold,

Their eyes were fierce with wonder,

Their hearts were brave and bold.

We danced beneath the branches,

Where time began to slow,

But somewhere deep inside me

Heard something tell me “go.”



Break:



Verse:3

The sea grew still and silent,

The stars began to fade,

I dreamed of soup and comfort,

And love that never strayed.

I sailed back through the shadows,

Through calm and gentle seas,

To find my room was waiting 

Still warm, still home, still me.



Chorus:

My room turned to an ocean,

My bed became a boat,

The stars guided my journey

For days I would float.

I sailed to the wild things

Tamed them with a tricks

Howling at the moonlight

Roaring loud and quick

Wild Things.wav

The Drowning Hour is a raw, acoustic journey through a severe depressive episode and the slow, fragile rise that follows. Across fifteen intimate songs, a single close-mic’d tenor voice carries you from detaching and drowning to noticing the first crack of light and finally breathing again.

The Surface

Four Seasons fill the measure of the year;
     There are four seasons in the mind of man:
He has his lusty Spring, when fancy clear
     Takes in all beauty with an easy span:
He has his Summer, when luxuriously
     Spring's honied cud of youthful thought he loves
To ruminate, and by such dreaming high
     Is nearest unto heaven: quiet coves
His soul has in its Autumn, when his wings
     He furleth close; contented so to look
On mists in idleness—to let fair things
     Pass by unheeded as a threshold brook.
He has his Winter too of pale misfeature,
Or else he would forego his mortal nature.

John Keats

The Human Seasons

Audrey week 40

week 44

written/recorded (live) within 60 minutes https://www.reddit.com/r/songaweek/comments/1okn9ep/submissions_week_44_theme_the_60_minute_song/

a cannonball flew through it all 2 years ago
out of a blue sky there came a bolt that hit the walls
and made them fall

how long did you carry that cannonball, that cannonball?
you took it everywhere, every day, even on holiday
it was your baggage weight

our marriage had stood for so long
all that it took was just the one
cannonball

but I wouldn't change a thing
I wouldn't change a single thing
despite it all
despite it all
despite it all
despite it all

Cannonball

Written for Songwaweek 2025 (60 minute song)

-Hey Stranger-
Hey stranger, how are you?
I saw something funny
at work
no one got it
but you would've laughed 
till your sides were sore
Why don't we talk anymore?

Hey stranger, what's new there?
I saw what you posted -
the new hair. It's different. 
Remember how long it was
when we were in school?
Yeah, we thought that we were pretty cool

I've got more to share
If you ever decide to pick up your phone
I know that you're there,
and I'll keep sending memes
until you text me back
to leave you alone

Hey stranger, I'm joking
I'm sorry, whatever
I'm being a bother
I'll try again later
I'll try again later

Hey stranger

Verse 1:

My six-string’s singin’, from the crowd there’s a roar,

Dopamine dancin’ from my brain to the floor.

The groove is bumpin as the night takes its toll

Ain’t no feeling like rock ’n’ roll.



Chorus:

Good-time feelings rollin’ in my bones,

Good-time feelings puts me in the zone

Good-time feelings, it’s pure delight,

I’m flyin’ on good-time feelings tonight



Verse 2:

Music is my natural high,

Rollin’ like thunder in a clear blue sky.

Don’t need no bottle, don’t need no line,

 good solid rhythm puts me on cloud nine.



Chorus:

Good-time feelings rollin’ in my bones,

Good-time feelings puts me in the zone

Good-time feelings, it’s pure delight,

I’m flyin’ on good-time feelings tonight.



Break:



Bridge:

The good-time feeling got me again

I don’t think it will ever end

Every smile, every song, every spark I find

Lights up the dopamine in my mind



Chorus:

Good-time feelings rollin’ in my bones,

Good-time feelings puts me in the zone

Good-time feelings, it’s pure delight,

I’m flyin’ on good-time feelings tonight

Just Be You (Look for the Helpers)

DharmikaMusic