Once in a Million Years
May 22, 2021  All Rights Reserved

Once in a million years
Stars align just to make it so 
Laying aside the fears
A feeling that we can’t let go

All through the day
It’s just like dreaming
Time slips and slides away
While we are scheming

Once In a million years
Fates are tellin you hold the phone
Pushing away the tears 
Believing that there’s no one home

Drift through the days
We’re only dreaming
Time slips and slides away
As we are scheming

Once in a million years
It’s crystal clear the time is now 
Leaving it in the rear view mirror
A time that never knew just how

All through the day
It’s just like dreaming
Time slips and slides away
While we are scheming...

Once in a Million Years

"I don't know what to say about this album other than that it is absolutely magnificent"
(Chris West, Phoenix Radio, Australia)

Island

Reasons Why
11/12/2021  All rights reserved

The reasons why we turn away
From all that’s seen…
A complication for another day
And the lies between…

The living daylights up the darkest night
And places we have been…
Raise a glass to our prosperity…my friend 

The reasons that we go out late 
And stay too long
A complication for another day
What could go wrong…

The vapid prattle and another beer
As the clock strikes half past two
Tell me everything I long to hear, would you…

In the season of obscurity
Lines will fade
A complication for another day
We’ve got it made

The living daylights up the darkest night
And places we have been…
Raise a glass to our prosperity…my friend…

The reasons why we turn away
From all that’s seen…

Reasons Why

Might need to turn it up a little:)
**remixed 12/23 to fix boomy guitar and adjust eq on multiple tracks:)***
All rights reserved 12/5/2022
Artwork by Robin F. Williams 

I know… if I look away
I’m better off to see…
Time in a different way
And how it should be…
The minutes move so slowly
And sow their seeds…
Morning takes away the darkness
Eventually…

And if…I don’t miss the chance
To take it all in inside
Before walls come crumbling down
And we run and hide…
The hours show so little mercy 
Don’t you see
That we’re given what we need
Eventually…

The hours show so little mercy 
Don’t you see
That we’re given what we need
Eventually…

Eventually

Running
I pick up my speed
The hands of the sun
snatch at me through the trees 
My shadow goes ahead of me
Burning cold
Burning cold, she is

This is how I unravel 
The sun a-parallel to me 
Blades of sand are flying 
The sculptor working his blade
Burning cold 
Burning cold, he is

I put my legs on automatic 
and travel expanses 
across the land and the mindscape 
Built to run

And out here there's a holy harmony 
I drape it around me 
My voice finds it like
my foot finds a solid hold 
And out here demons desert my mind 
- their messages are like papers 
that I can burn now,
old letters from old enemies

Desire, the fire lit under me
The world set spinning as I run 
We have to learn to be what we are 
and hook up to some other power 
Burning cold 
Burning cold, it can be

The cells a spread of stars now 
Our blood is effervescent, yes.
I'm travelling at the speed of blood
with fire licking at my heels.
Burning heat
Burning heat within 

I put my legs on automatic 
and travel expanses 
across the land and the mindscape 
Built to run

And out here there's a holy harmony 
I drape it around me 
My voice finds it like
my foot finds a solid hold 
And out here demons desert my mind 
- their messages are like papers 
that I can burn now,
old letters from old enemies

I snake like sand 
along the vacant shore 
and throw all ill-luck 
to the cleansing fire 
I snake like sand 
along the vacant shore 
and throw all ill-luck 
to the cleansing fire 

Evil had me by the ears 
then let go and I up and ran

Evil had me by the ears 
then let go and I up and ran

Evil had me by the ears 
then let go and I up and ran

Evil had me by the ears 
then let go and I up and ran

Up and Ran

The tragic tale of a foreign girl forced into prostitution in England during the First World War, and the terrible fate that awaited so many of the soldiers. Many, many thanks to Ale Destiny for her poignant and plaintive vocal. You can hear her latest song "Vincent", also produced by my producer Sergio Aguilar,  here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cfa7jjZoK0U&list=OLAK5uy_kwTdpzKWQbJ5Xm05Ok3ulGPmfAm_xv7s8

“Many home-front brothels served an increased number of clients following the war’s outset owing to the influx of men in arms preparing to go into the field.”
- Journey Steward (International Encyclopedia of the First World War)

Slang used in the song:
Dose: (in this case) a venereal infection
Dough: money
Slut: term for a person, usually a woman or girl, who is sexually promiscuous or considered to have loose sexual morals. It dates from the late 14th century in Geoffrey Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales, although ironically he was describing a man!
Squaddies: soldiers
The clap: gonorrhea (The narrator in this song gets gonorrhea, or the clap, which was rampant at the time because so many soldiers were catching it from the prostitutes operating near the front. Many of those soldiers, believe it or not, were still virgins and didn't want to die without experiencing sex)
Whore: prostitute

Lyrics
There’s many a squaddie comes visiting
From the barracks up the road
And they all, if they pay, get a welcome
And a rest from a soldier’s load
They’ll be fighting for King and country
And be paid with a grisly end
So, the least we can do is to hold them
To be, for a while, their friend
To be, for a while, to be, for a while
To be, for a while, their friend

Ah me, I was born in a Catholic land
I’ve no love for you Protestant lads!
But I got put in the family way
And reviled as sinful and bad
I’m in England now, a whore for sure
But I dance and I sing and I play
And the squaddies laugh so innocently
As night gives way to the day
As night gives way to
as night gives way to
As night gives way to the day

I fell in love with an Irish boy
No more tender a lad you could meet
He was set to ask me to marry
But was lost in some bloody retreat
I’m carrying his child in my belly
But it’s whoring that brings in the dough
I’m to visit some witch in an alley
To make sure that there’s nothing to show
Make sure that there’s nothing,
Make sure that there’s nothing
Make sure that there’s nothing to show

The doctor says that I got the clap
A soldier, I’ll bet, from the front
The sluts down there do a roaring trade
Death so close, that they bear the brunt
Of virgins wanting a taste of the flesh
‘fore their bodies are ripped to shreds
And if they survive, return with their dose
To pass on in the heat of our beds
Pass on in the heat, pass on in the heat
To pass on in the heat of our beds

Yes, many a squaddie comes visiting
And will do for some time to come
But will there be any lads left alive
To march to the military drum
Yes, soldiers are welcome, one and all
And will be for some time to come
But where are all of the marrying types
To save us from our whoredom
To save us from our, to save us from our …
To save us from our whoredom

From One Singer Left to Mourn; track released August 11, 2023
Music: Michael Sellers; Sergio Aguilar
Lyrics: Michael Sellers
Lead Vocal: Ale Destiny
Backing Vocals: Alejandro Hidalgo & Michael Sellers
Guitars & bass, piano, percussion; musical arrangement, & production: Sergio Aguilar
Cover photo: Photo by The British Library on Unsplash, combined with a photo provided by Loretta Sellers
Cover design: Michael Sellers; Loretta Sellers Fortuny

One Singer Left to Mourn

Soldiers Welcome!

Buy: Bandcamp

Soldiers Welcome! FT Ale Destiny (UK Songwriting Contest: Star Rating: 5 Commended Entry 2023)

Stefano Manotti -  Endless Road

Performed by Stefano Manotti

Written by Stefano Manotti

All rights reserved ©

Arrangement and mixing : Giulio Carmassi (ex Pat Metheny group)

Executive production and mastering : Paolo Schianchi and OmniaMusica Recording Studio


The wind of hope
Rushes through the night 
Like a swift bird passing by 
And a love light shines 
Silver in the distance
Where fatigue and sadness leave
And a need appears

I’m waiting to meet you 
On an endless road
With a free wind blowing even more

And you are a stranger
You are one of those
That could help inflame
inflame my soul

Now sadness plays the blues 
Without notes or beats
With a strong desire to erase 
Blank faces in the street


What you perceive 
Has just cooled inside
But the past, like a dream
Will always warm your cry 


I’m waiting to meet you 
On an endless road
With a free wind blowing even more

And you are a stranger
You are one of those
That could help inflame
inflame my soul

Endless Road

This song describes a person who has spent his entire life in the same town, enjoying friends and all the comforts of familiar places and people. But as the years advance he becomes more fixated on the increasing number of friends that have passed on, leaving him to contemplate his approaching fate. He determines that he has to leave his home town to escape the unnerving confines and find renewed hope for his future.

All music and lyrics written and performed by Craig Durgy
Copyright 2024 Gentle Rain Records
(thanks to Brett Styles for the cover photo)

Lyrics:     So Long by Craig Durgy

There’s too many gravestones here for me to hang around
I see them grow from row to row
Like weeds up from the ground
They used to be all faceless, a place to calm me down
But the start of each new row 
Was the end of folks I know 
I’ve been too long saying so long in this town

There ain’t much to be said, that ain’t been said a lot before 
And nothing changes anything, it’s either less or more
Less familiar faces, more stones to gather for
If I stay here for too long, then
I will surely be among them
I’ve been too long saying so long in this town

The setting sun’s long shadows come, and slowly form a wall
And I can’t ignore the call to look away
If tomorrow ever comes again it comes again for me, 
It’s gotta be, where I can breathe, 
A brand new day, I cannot stay

If I head down to Allentown and find a fair-haired lass
And settle in till I begin to lose track of the past
We’ll go to malls and carnivals, we’ll ride the coaster fast
It has its ups and downs
But it always comes back round
I’ve been too long saying so long in this town
I’ve been too long saying so long to this town

So Long

A song I threw together in a bit of a rush to have something new ready for the TMC May playlist, based on an old progression I had lying around, about resurfacing after burnout/depression/any kind of rough time. Ironically, it almost sent me straight into the next crisis, because the verses weren't exactly jumping out of my head, but I got there in the end I think.

Lyrics:
Verse 1
Climbing - I can almost see the peak it’s within reach for me
The sky above is free and clear now,
The clouds and - my doubts disperse below 
they’re no more hanging over me right now I feel serenity

Chorus 1 
But I was off the rails, I couldn’t set my sails in the head wind and rain
I let the tide pull me away from myself
But now I’m back, I’m back, I’m back on track and back in the game, I navigate
The space between heaven and hell and everything else

Verse 2
Healing - believing hope will rise and dot 
the darkest skies with starry guides towards a brandnew dawn/morning 
Blinding - light that opens up my eyes 
to new horizons now, and beauty thriving all around

Chorus 2
I was lost on forbidden trails winding away through the thicket of my brain
I let the fog lead me astray in myself
But now I’m back, I’m back, I’m back on track and back in the game, I navigate
The space between heaven and hell and everything else

Verse 3
Breathing - leaving distant pistol shots ricocheting round my mind 
behind and tune into the silence
I don’t - know how long the calm before the storm will last this time
But I’ll enjoy the view while I am… fine

I'm back (demo)

I'm Back (demo)

'Fortress' out now on all streaming platforms. Thanks for listening :)

Credits: 

Written by, acoustic guitar, vocals: Emily Theodora 
Violin: Jenni Grossmann
Drums: Neo Sukhraj-Hammerl
Bass: Linus Hakansson

All rights reserved©

Fortress

Hail
stones
drumming on the window
murmur of a heartbeat
Long lost
Is anybody out there
wishing for a love scar crossed?
(You're on your own
You're on your own)

Let go
Cling with the clenched teeth
Planet for the lonely
Lost soul

Look at me
can't you see
Who are we?
(Long lost
Long lost)

Holding light
Oh love of mine
Holding tight
Oh love of mine...

Long Lost

London based singer-songwriter

Thanks for the support :) 

Listen here:

Fortress

Emily Theodora

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