This is a song about ones we have loved & lost and whom have profoundly touched us

My Dear Soul

When Two Worlds Collide

Is it too late
For me to find my way home
To many hidden roads
Between what is right and wrong

Will there be an answer to the echo when I call
If I try to reach you will you let me fall

Sometimes, I can’t feel anything at all
Most times, I feel like I just don’t belong

Are there answers to the reasons for it all
How did I get lost on roads I knew before

When two worlds collide
When two worlds collide
In my heart my mind
When two worlds collide
How can I see beyond the fray
When I borrow from tomorrow
To make it through today

Sometimes, my nerves feel shattered to the bone
Other times, when I’m with you I’m all alone

How can I see beyond these shadow of my doubts
When my heart is broken twisted inside

When two worlds collide
When two worlds collide
In my heart my mind
When two worlds collide
How can I see beyond the fray
When I borrow from tomorrow

Two Worlds Collide

PS Perkins: Guitars, bass, lyre, vocals
Ron Thomas: Autoharps, Drums

Production notes:
---------------------------------------------
Very early on we wanted to use autoharps on this song to create a sort of swirling backdrop, reminiscent of the harps in Indian/Bollywood soundtrack songs of the seventies.

Right away there were challenges because the song is in B flat and is not wholly diatonic to begin with, utilizing a chord built on the augmented lydian scale in the choruses. So rather than transpose the song to a more amenable key (since the chromatic bits weren't going to work no matter what key we used) we instead re-tuned the autoharp. Moving through the strings one by one we tuned them either up or down a half step where applicable to bring them into key. Where the augmented chord hit in the choruses, we excluded those notes so that the autoharp was filling the diatonic parts of the chords and omitting the accidentals. It took us several tries to get it right. In the end we arrived at a chord progression that could be strummed on the autoharp and the modified chords could be played with existing dampers.

We also tuned the lyre so that the top half of the strings included the chromatic augmented notes while the lower register of the lyre was tuned using the diatonic, so the lyre could play the melody all the way through both parts of the song.

The inspiration for this song was essentially fourfold:
--------------------------------------------------------
First, H.P. Lovecraft's terrifying necromancer Joseph Curwen (from "The Case of Charles Dexter Ward") who masked his true identity in order to thwart suspicion from his fellow townsfolk. He has many secrets lurking in his underground catacombs where he performs acts of necromancy most foul, extracting the "salts" of the dead in order to raise them at will and learn the secrets of ancient eldritch deities.

Second, a poem by Rudyard Kipling titled "En-Dor" which was a warning against the rise of spiritualism and the cost of communion with the dead in the early 20th century.

Third, the biblical Saul who traveled in disguise to visit a witch at the city of Endor in order to summon Samuel from the dead and garner advice on defeating the Philistines, but who only prophesies doom for Saul. Saul dies later the next day in the battle of Gilboa.

Lastly, the story of Odysseus communing with the underworld where he enlists the help of Tiresias to have a chat with the dead and secure for himself a safe journey home.

They all seek communion with the dead for one purpose: to gain knowledge which only those who have crossed over between realms might possess. 

Lyrics:
-------------------------------------
A mask may reveal what it’s meant to conceal
From those who are standing beside us
Armor of pride, so we learn to abide
By the monsters which hide deep inside us
The monsters which lurk deep inside us
Oh, how they scratch and they bite us
The monsters which lurk deep inside us

Only to know what the professor knows

Eating black bread, wearing clothes of the dead
The soil soaked in honey around us
For fear if we failed, leave the ogre unveiled
And it’s back in the grave where they found us
Back in the grave where they found us
Freed from the ties which had bound us
Back in the grave where they found us

Only to know what the professor knows

In the catacomb vaults, we extracted the salts
From cadavers to lengthen our youth
Chanting the names at the edge of the flames
And a mirror to show us the truth
A mirror which speaks only truth
See how it seeks not to soothe
A mirror which speaks only truth

Only to know what the professor knows

In the underworld maze, in the night of no days
Concocting the plan we’re devising
Much to endure on the road to En-Dor
And to snatch from Elohim arising
To snatch from Elohim arising
Snatch from Elohim arising
Snatch from Elohim arising
Snatch from Elohim arising
Snatch from Elohim arising

The Professor

A gentle Song

A dystopian scenario! There has been drought for many decades. A generation or more has only experienced rain in old movies on the TV. Enter the Rain Dreamers, mystics with the power to induce mass hallucinations of heavy life-giving rain. Do they bring hope, or is it just a dream? One way, perhaps rather fancifully, I've imagined climate change may play out.

The best way to make your dreams come true is to wake up.
― Paul Valery (French poet and essayist)

Climate change is the greatest threat to humanity, perhaps ever. Global temperatures are rising at an unprecedented rate, causing drought and forest fires and impacting human health.
― Cary Kennedy (Democratic politician)

Rain down, you heavens, from above, and let the skies pour down righteousness.
― Isaiah 45:8 New King James Version

Rain is grace; rain is the sky descending to the earth; without rain, there would be no life.
― John Updike (Author)

Lyrics
The blinds are closed, the A/C’s on
It’s burning up outside
The streets are empty, no one’s there
We’ve all been told to hide
It hasn’t rained in many years, the land’s a dusty haze
Nothing there to tell you it’s
Where cattle used to graze

You love the sound of heavy rain
Pouring down to flood the street
But you’ve only seen it on TV
When divided lovers finally get to meet … Love, sweet love!

But I can help you … cos I’m a rain dreamer
Yes, I can help you … cos I’m a rain dreamer
I’ll dream up some rain for you
Out of a sky of cloudless blue (sky of cloudless blue)

I’m going north, they'd like some rain
They want me there they say
They wanna feel it trickle down their backs
Like a streamlet on its way
To feed a river heading down
To join a sea they’ve never seen
And they’ll pay me well for my mystic spell
Even if it’s just a dream!

They love … They love the sound of heavy rain
Tipping down to flood the ground
But they’ve only seen it on TV
When the hero saves his girl from being drowned … Go, man, go!

But I can help you … cos I’m a rain dreamer
Yes, I can help you … cos I’m a rain dreamer
I’ll dream up some rain for you
Out of a sky of cloudless blue (sky of cloudless blue)
I’m a rain dreamer, I’m a rain dreamer, I’m a rain dreamer
I’m a rain dreamer, I’m a rain dreamer, dream, dream, dream . . .
. . . Rain! Rain! Rain!

Track credits
Music: Michael Sellers & Sergio Aguilar
Lyrics: Michael Sellers
Vocals: Michael Sellers & Chris Curtis
Guitars & bass, keyboards: Sergio Aguilar
Drums: Juan Herrea
Production, musical arrangement, mixing & mastering: Sergio Aguilar
Cover design: Michael Sellers
Cover photo: Image from Pixabay

Urban Tales

Rain Dreamers

Buy at Bandcamp

Rain Dreamers ft Chris Curtis

All the trees that we do not climb
Bridges we cross in our minds
Who are we fooling when we cry?

When she says everything is fine
Over her head clouds that look like mines
Oh why can't she wish for brighter skies

All the speeches you make in your head
All the worries that you never said
Rotten fireworks, kept inside, waiting for a light

All the roads that you never take
All you know but never suspect
Rotten fire works kept inside

Look at them tell me what you see
Over there dancing in the sea
Free from all worries, laughing at me

If you say "it's a mystery"
Well I will say "easy but I agree"
No I don't wanna know everything

All the speeches you make in your head
All the worries that you never said
Rotten fireworks kept inside, waiting for a light

All the roads that you never take
All you know but never suspect
Rotten fire works kept inside, waiting for a light

All the trees that we do not climb
Bridges we cross in our minds
Who are we fooling when we cry?

When she says everything is fine
Over her head clouds that look like mines
Oh why can't she wish for brighter skies

Look At Them - Jeanne Added Vocal Cover

Once in a while I can coax Keith to put his talents toward  a ballad, and this is one of those infrequent endeavours.
Keith is a rocker at heart, while I tend to the contemplative and ambient slice of life and music. We compromise often. This time, Keith sensed his way through the lightness of the music. Though piano is the main source of movement and texture, there is a Native Instruments "Irish harp" VSTi in here too.
A mellow summer? Time to catch up on some summer reading? Here's a bookmark.

Available for free D/L , track 10 of Spittle and Spite found here: https://www.terrywigmore.com/wigmore-allen-gibbons

Lyrics
Bookmark
You found me in a barren land
And turned it all verdant green
I think it was page seventeen
You are the bookmark…on the page that I have lost
You are the bookmark…on the page that I have lost
Forever
Well riddles will come and riddles will go
Like the riddle of the Snark
To drive you mad…to drive you quite mad
You are the bookmark…for the page 
You are the bookmark…for the page
(INST)  …for the page
(You’re my bookmark)
This is the place
You’re my save point
You’re my bookmark
Pages that held us both together… to hold us… now…
Tears us both apart
Tears us both apart

Wigmore: Music, Production
Allen: Bass, Guitar, Vocals, Lyrics
(c) and (p) WAG @2024

Spittle and Spite

Bookmark

Music & Lyrics: Jan Schonander

This track is a little nuts.....

If you've ever battled a raccoon, this is the song for you, sung from the perspective of the perpetrator. Raccoons are wily little buggers and more than a little guile is needed to control the movements of an animal that has been trapped in a cage before.

Debated with myself a bit on adding more instruments and sounds but in the end decided that less was more. The "rhythm guitar" is a distorted saturated synth and the "lead" is a Logic Pro Heavy Metal guitar manipulated with the pitch stick on my synth. The difficult part was getting the swing on the drums right and the ADSR right on the main synth, modulation and LFO. Also played a bit with the compression to get a breathing sound.

About the raccoon - that battle is ongoing - physical deterrence is now in place.

The raccoon, also spelled racoon and sometimes called the common raccoon or northern raccoon to distinguish it from the other species, is a mammal native to North America. It is the largest of the procyonid family, having a body length of 40 to 70 cm (16 to 28 in), and a body weight of 5 to 26 kg (11 to 57 lb). Its grayish coat mostly consists of dense underfur, which insulates it against cold weather. The animal's most distinctive features include its extremely dexterous front paws, its facial mask, and its ringed tail, which are common themes in the mythologies of the Indigenous peoples of the Americas surrounding the species. The raccoon is noted for its intelligence, and studies show that it is able to remember the solution to tasks for at least three years. It is usually nocturnal and omnivorous, eating about 40% invertebrates, 33% plants, and 27% vertebrates. [Wikipedia]

NEVER LOSE

Keep on coming back
Doesn’t really matter 
Spicy red American 
Coyote piss whatever

Turn up the volume
Tie up the bait 
Bag it all, close the door
I don’t give a damn

I’ll never give up
I’ll never give up

I know what’s down under
I know what you’re trying to hide

It’s all mine
Day or night 
I don’t even care
Seen all the tricks
You can try again
All over again

Keep on coming back
Never ever mattered
Inca mountain flake 
Apple cider try

Play rock’n’roll
Talk show or news
Heard it all before
Kinda like it now

I’ll never give up
I’ll never give up

Time is on my side
Time is my legal guardian

Find another way
Find your hidden weakness 
Seen you from above
You can try again
All over and again

Keep on coming back
Its never gonna matter
Flashing disco lights
I’ll do a pirouette

Put a ring on it
I’ll go left or right
I’m coming down
I got you number

I’ll never give up
I’ll never give up

I know where you live
I know when you’re asleep

It’s all mine
Day or night 
I don’t even care
Seen all the tricks
You can try again
All over again

I never lose
I never lose
I never lose
I never lose

Keep on
Keep on coming back
Keep on
Keep on coming back

It’s all mine
Day or night 
I don’t even care
Seen all the tricks
You can try again
All over again

I never lose

Never Lose

after school
runaways
was just the two of us
babe

leave our homes
leave our friends
see where the highway
ends

flying
trying

you never come around now

ever gone
here to stay
you live inside of me
Maeve

in my dream’s
shadow play
until tomorrow comes
stay

crying
trying

you never come around now

until tomorrow comes
stay
-------------------------------------------------------------------

thanks to Janine Levinson, Cheesemont Paisely-Paisely, Wheelwright and Wodwo for patient support and great ideas.

image by Alexander Grey via Unsplash

Evergone

I've always quite liked the short version (https://soundcloud.com/michele-ansani/coffee-break), using it several times especially on FB to accompany a series of good-luck pictures when the new year arrived, and I was sorry that it only lasted 45 seconds. So I worked a bit on this update in these last weeks; to get the same sounds as the short track I also took out of the coffin the old Yamaha PSR 630 (born in 1997 but still in fair health), being especially interested in playing and hearing that awful piano sound again - but strings and woodwinds are no joke either!
With that set of chords it only took a few variations to have significant atmo changes that would justify a new piece; now that it is long enough, I commit it to the ether and oblivion.

------

Composed by Michele Ansani (2015-2024).
Posted on SoundCloud: 2023, July 30.

Coffee Break (extended version) *

Day Turns Night

Singing my heart out, like there's no tomorrow. Thanks for listening and supporting me! :)

(Sep 2024) After a long list of covers, I finally took the leap and wrote my very first song with the help of a SC friend. This wouldn’t have been possible without the incredible support I’ve been fortunate to receive from this wonderful community. Thank you all!

(Aug 2024) I never expected to make friends on SoundCloud, let alone rare ones. For that, I'm grateful.

(July 2024) I'm blown away by how welcoming this awesome community is. TY all for your support and wonderful comments!

Look At Them - Jeanne Added Vocal Cover

Elpiverse

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