A collection of my celtic dreamsongs....    all originals, sung played and mixed up by Emma

Celtic Dreamsongs...

hard it is, so easy now to love you,
all the crazy things you do, the things you say,
hard it is so easy now to hold you in my heart

yes I will be leaving, but I won’t get in my car
and drive away…

how many layers can you peel from my heart?
and yet still, I am standing here, holding you tight
my arms enfolding you as promises of all
the everything you ever dreamed, that could come true

hard it is, so easy now to love you,
all the crazy things you do, the things you say,
hard it is so easy now to hold you in my heart

now, as the sun sinks down behind a winter sky
you are snarling as a wildling,  all the snares you have laid,
flowers lying broken, all the bottles overturned
all the ashes spilling over, all the bridges that you burned, you burned, you burned...

hard it is, so easy now to love you,
all the crazy things you do, the things you say,
hard it is so easy now to hold you in my heart
 (but something’s broken and I can’t bring it back)

yes I will be leaving, but I won’t get in my car
and drive away…
although it hurts so much, to stay

hard it is, so easy now to love you,
all the crazy things you do, the things you say,
hard it is so easy now to hold you in my heart

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Written made sung and played by Emma

hard it is so easy now...

I have been playing with this song for a while..  I decided to use 'found sounds' for a lot of the backing music - the photo is from a roadtrip I was lucky enough to take through Europe 3 years ago and the car sounds are variously from a holiday roaming the streets of Wellington NZ.  :-)

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I was dreaming of an ocean, but the only waves I heard
were the slapping of the rubber, as the cars flew down the road,
And the streetlights make a sunset, concrete’s like a castle
Kinda think I’ve been a-roving, I’ve been on the road too long

Let auld acquaintance be forgot and never brought to mind,
I think of you an awful lot, I dream of you sometimes,
I’m driving endless highways, where no-one knows my name
Red flowers growing on the side of the road and the rain falls, just the same

I was dreaming of an ocean, bells that rang and no-one came
Cars keep rolling down that highway in the blind eternal rain,
And the echo is an emptiness I never thought to see,
Guess I’ve thrown away the everything that meant a thing to me

There’s colour in the desert now, a place I once called home,
It’s a greening time, it’s a summer wine, no need to stand alone,
And the sun’s falling down so wild and sweet, I pick it up and run and run
I never knew, I never knew that life could be so fine

The fruit hangs heavy on the vine, the blossom’s on the bean,
some stay the same while others change, some winds that set you free,
I rode the winds , I climbed the cliffs, the mountains to the sea,
And now I stand where I began, hello, it’s only me

Let auld acquaintance be forgot and never brought to mind
I think of you an awful lot, it helps to pass the time,
I’m driving endless highways, where no-one knows my name
red flowers growing on the side of the road and the rain falls just the same



**************************************************************
Written played sung and made by Emma

Dreaming of an Ocean..  but the only waves I heard...

This song is about dancing  with the muse...  the creative spirit which often feels to me, like a little bird...  elusive and surprisingly powerful.
Thanks to my lovely son Flint for the little bird photo - a New Zealand wax-eye.

Come little bird fly to me....       

Come little bird fly to me
soft as a feather a song wild and flying free
come little bird sing to me
spin and dance in the limitless stars

Come little bird fly to me
I am cold I’m alone and I don’t like the way  that I
fill up my silences
dance all my days in deep sorrow

Come little bird fly to me
through the ocean of silence the way that our hearts keep on
breaking to pieces you’ll never ever know
that you’d been there until you arrived

Come little bird fly to me
through the deep layers of dreaming the webs we have woven 
to bind us down fast, the deep well of sadness
in which I fear I be drowning

Come little bird fly to me
in the mirror of silence reflection of dreams spilling 
over and under and sweet down the 
deep of your cheeks...

Come little bird... fly to me

Seven Geese - a Dark Remembered Dream

Seven geese were flying, moon the light upon their wing
in a dream of all things likely to appear,
Still the child in heartbeat tremble, bright the blade
so light her stepping through the membrane of a darkling world of dream


Seven gannets, seven gulls, a-slicing through the grey sky dull
to pain of mist and hollow heart, a beating pulse, call so shrill
Seven swans reflecting white, as waves recede and laugh with light
She wanders filled with promises, sweet garlands to embrace


Stepping lightly, green the water, dark the weed-swirl sweeping on 
as sirens sing so sweetly
the waves rise deep and keening,  keening..
for the lightly lapping whispers she remembers from her dreams


Seven steps it took her, through the shallow to the deep
and the waves closed up behind her as she danced,
Stepping lightly through the darkness of her deep remembered dream,
her dark remembered dream


Seven geese were flying, moon the light upon their wing
in a dream of all things likely to appear,
Still the child in heartbeat tremble, bright the blade so light her stepping 
through the membrane of a darkling world of dream,
darkling world of dream...
****************************************
Written sung made and played by Emma

Seven Geese - a dark remembered dream

An old moonsong I breathed life into the other day...
My son took the photo :-)
 I'm still exploring with new sounds and audio processing.  This one sort of took over while I was mixing it up...
Written played and made by Emma

walk me through the moon...   


walk me through the moon my lover
while the candle’s burning
walk me through the universe
they roll the planets turning

sing me lover, dreams on song
dancing wild and brightly
angels chorus in my head
tomorrow’s just some morning
  
filters through the window and the light burns up my head
it’s all so real and unafraid, I crinkle in my bed
of stale and ancient groaning tears come
spilling down my face

didn’t we meet here years ago?
I’m sure this was the place...






Walk me through the moon...

I recently re-discovered this daft song and decided to share it with you.   I first 'performed' it live aeons ago, at a very serious spiritual workshop, quite spontaneously (and a bit loudly),  after a day of intense meditation and self-discovery.  Although many appeared to enjoy the song, there was an abiding sense of disgrace at my flippancy and foolishness.  That sense of rebuke and naughtiness delights me still...

An absurd song indeed.. for absurd times :-)

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She’s fallen in love with a teapot
don’t ask me how can it be done
for I’ve watched her in action caressing
the smooth round and shine of his bum

The grip of her flesh on his handle
the knuckles sharp gleaming and white
just the way that her tongue darts and moistens
when she reaches for him in the night

I’ve studied with great fascination
for it’s novel I’m sure you’ll agree
Is she limited by saturation
or can she constantly consummate tea?

think I’m falling in love with my teapot
I  guess I can see how it’s done
for I’ve studied with great fascination
the smooth round and shine of his bum

She's fallen in love with a Teapot!





My Invisible Song

I dream in camellia, whitely I’m feeling you
Soft as a shadow – the dark of my bones
I dream in magenta – the places we went to
Travelled so widely to gather up stones

As the ribbons that bind us, the love that we shared
Untangles, unravels, we’re drifting apart
A palpable breaking, a grunt of despair
Cast adrift in the dreaming, bitter, bitter-beat heart...

I sing my invisible song
I dream my invisible dreams
I reach through the thickening breath-taking silence
and I sing my invisible song...

I call you, I’m laughing now, 
Watch as the colours leap – joyful and vividly painting the essence of 
All I have wished for, the whole of the dreaming I
Call you I Call -  you are walking    away...
.
.
.
.
Written, sung, played and mixed up by Emma... :-)

Silver Shadows

Invisible Song

My Invisible Song...



Anna met a man  

Anna met a man, drove her high to the top 
of a mountain
LOOK  he said,  Look what I can give you…
And the world below stretched out far, travelling on and forever

Anna,  he said to her Anna,
her eyes shone
on the far and fading line,  
where land and sky clung 

the man took her hand,  held it tight 
to his thigh,
Feel this he said  FEEL  how much I love you
and the flesh rose up filled the palm of her hand

Anna met a man, drove her high to the top
of a mountain
LOOK  he said,  Look what I can give you…
And the world below stretched out far, travelling on and forever

Anna sighed,
the small sound escaping,  like steam 
rising up with dark clouds that converged, as they covered the face 
of the sun




Anna  met a man...

Gosh!  Over a year since I've posted a new song!  It’s been a rough few years, but for me, the past 6 months have been particularly hard.  

This song was written ages ago, but I wanted to record it, just to have a copy for myself.  It’s a one-take piano/singing thing, with flaws but a sense of the underlying feeling.  While I was producing it, it developed a life of its own.  I had thought I’d rock it up with quite a conventional sound, but the drums and bass insisted on having their own unique flavours – ribbons of synth.  Aah well, here it is, a bit rough around the edges but at least I can feel that I am making music again...  thanks so much for listening!

Rock it…

O rock it, come rock baby roll
there’s a tide rolling green through my soul
Somewhere faint I remember the person I am
Rock it, come baby rock baby roll

Seems everyone’s dancing to light, 
there’s a song we all hear in the night
With the moon wide and high static spitting the sky
seems everyone’s dancing to light
Some red and some yellow some white
seems everyone dances to light

And the dust, it comes muddy your veins
dreary life dull and moaning in pain
Circuits broken and lost and you can’t think to cry
lost the code lost the path and can’t understand why
and the meaningless days and interminable nights
when there’s nowhere to fly and the wings lost their flight
found the feathers all crushed on the floor
trampled broken, don’t work any more

O rock it, come rock baby roll
there’s a tide rolling green through my soul
Somewhere faint I remember the person I am
Rock it, come baby rock baby roll

But somehow the cycle moves through,
the winds of change whisper and call
some beat in your brain lets the sleep patterns change
to the pulse of the blood and the beat of the brain
and awaken arise to the life-song refrain

O rock it, come rock baby roll
there’s a tide rolling green through my soul
Somewhere faint I remember the person I am
Rock it, come baby rock baby roll

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

Written sung made and played by Emma

Rock it...

and now for something completely different…
This song had been half-finished for an age and in a spirit of new-found whimsy I have faux-finished it 😊.  I had rather a lot of fun singing the pixie backing vocals!  Written sung, made and played by Emma.
 *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *
i saw mermaids, real live mermaids
swimming in that little bay
the secret one where dreams allow us
freedom yet for breathing

i saw elves, the wood-elf kind
when i was walking through the forest
green and golden sunshine drifts through
leaves and i feel magic

i feel magic in the air, i know i am alive at last
i can taste it on my tongue, it feels so.... it feels so....
i don’t know how i’ve been living here so long and never...
o... it’s magic

i saw serpents real live serpents
swimming in the backyard creek
twining tangle shadow waters
i can feel you calling – and the sun on water sparkles

i saw lights in many colours
i was holding out my hand to
gather in the pieces of you
floating on the water

i feel magic in the air, the endless possibilities, 
i taste them hold them on my tongue
run wild as all the colours run
over me now, over and over and over -  it’s magic....

i feel magic in the air...

This is one of my 'lounge series' acoustic thingies.  A simple one-take song/story for voice and piano.

Listen

Listen, I want to tell you, I respect you, I admire you
Listen, I want to open up, enfold you with my heart
You’re looking closed up, I’m feeling shut down, is there no place we can meet?
I’ve lost the shape now, words have vanished, think I’m talking in my sleep

And you’re not even listening, no you never even heard
Now you drown me out, shut me down, I’m bewildered and I’m hurt

Listen, I want to tell you, what’s the point in carrying on?
Listen, I’m giving up now, just can’t take this pain of losing
You’re looking closed up, I’m feeling shut down, is there no place we can meet?
I’ve lost the shape now, words have vanished, think I’m crying in my sleep

And you’re not even listening, no you never even heard
Now you drown me out, shut me down, I’m bewildered and I’m hurt

Listen, I need to tell you, how I love you deep inside
Listen, goddamn you listen, it’s no use, you run and hide
Been building walls up so long now, you’ve walled yourself away
If I come too close, you’re cornered and you toss my love away

Then I notice that you’re crying, in a small and subtle way
But there’s no way in to hold you, so I have to walk away
And I realise your pain now, the parts of me you heard
had to drown me out, had to knock me down, you couldn’t bear my words

And it’s all over now, the phone keeps ringing
and there’s really nothing left for us to say
it’s all over now, I watch you as you turn and walk away

Listen...

It's taken me a while to finish this song - it's  about struggling on... up the mountain and, o.... there’s another mountain – where did that come from? 
 I’m so thankful to Patrick who played some synth and guitar tracks for this song – listen out for his awesome guitar playing which allowed me to  expand the song into new realms of emma-sonic-chaos!  Thanks so much Patrick! ! https://soundcloud.com/ghostlybeard
It has taken me a while to mix this song up – some new challenges here...  I’ve called it a ‘rock’ song, really just because I can...   

  

Carried my stone to the top of a mountain
been a long way but I pushed on through,
Carried my stone to the top of a mountain
Wind begins blowin’ through my heart

Been a long way and you’re bound to get weary,
citadel rock and the cataract pain,
Been a long road and you’re bound down, weary
Wind song, the eternal rain

Carried my stone to the top of a mountain
But there’s nobody there, the mountain has gone,
Carried my stone but I think it’s been broken
Defeat is a feeling that I’ve never known

Turning around in the echoing silence
your voice sounds strange but you have to get on,
Don’t know the words to the sad empty dream song
Slow footfalls echoing on

Carried my stone to the top of a mountain
Been a long way but I pushed on through,
Carried my stone to the top of a mountain
Wind begins blowing through my heart

Ahead in the distance, a bell started ringing
the shadowland shadow band just passing through,
Looked back behind me, so far and familiar
Shrug it off, you know what to do

You pick up a stone and you keep on walking
Your feet move slowly, it’s hard to get on
You pick up a stone and you search for a mountain,
Don’t know where the last one has gone

Carried My Stone...


Summer winds are weaving runnels through the grass
echoes of a melody, the sound of children laughing
the smell of hay, the molten smell of sweet golden sun
silence in the spaces in your heart

In a dream, a dream of dancing, in a space we tuck away
all the treasures all the bitter fruit, the deep and endless pain
as we try to paint a photograph of someone that we knew
but she has run too far away to hear me calling

Fruit is falling drunken from the trees
the wasps are biting buzzing on the rotting fruit beneath
I am standing waiting darkly for the rain that never falls
to cool the dark and raging ocean soothe my storm

In a dream, a dream of dancing, in a space we tuck away
all the treasures all the bitter fruit, the deep and endless pain
as we try to paint a photograph of someone that we knew
but she has run too far away to hear me calling


Summer Winds...

Elegy: Rest now in Autumn...  


In the lemon of leaving, a bright disbelieving
the dull of deception, the way that we whisper,
Of kindness unspoken, yet something has broken
a part has snapped off and lies just beyond reach...

And I hold to the hope to the sweet endless dreaming
of shy possibilities, bright dreams that shine,
In my autumn of fruitfulness, deeply I harvest
all fruits, all richness on which I have dined

Rest now in autumn, rest now...

We break as we’re breathing in bright disbelieving,
we talk of the weather, the plans we have made,
As you drift through the thickness of air you are breathing
the struggle, the twisting to gasp and to swallow we
shudder exhausted, we shunt... and we break...



Elegy: Rest now in Autumn....

Saw you walking last week
Down a stale local street
And the colours, they all fade away,
As we step through this dance of dissolving

My friend is beginning to melt
All her edges beginning to fade
All the lines on her face become cages
Tied up with all the nooses she has laid

I called out, but she can’t hear through the changes
All the ways that she has chosen now to be
Pulled aside the warp and weft, a little bit bereft
Like a fleeting streetlight trembling out to sea

Saw you walking last week
Down a stale local street
And the colours, they all fade away,
As we step through this dance of dissolving 

A tangle of matchsticks combs her hair
Just a woman who is never really there,
In a melting dream of someone, watch the edges drift apart
All out to sea…


*     *     *     *     *     *     *     *     *     *     *     *     *     *     *     *
Written sung made and played by Emma

All out to sea...

green bird

it was a green bird, quite strange, I never seen a bird
it flew through the window and landed in my heart

she stood in the doorway with the ocean in her eye
a parachute of silk, blue billow falling
she stood half through the doorway to the land of bitter dreaming
sparks of gold fall down and scorch, like the burning rain

you’ve been down the tunnel and you’ve walked past the lake
you’ve watched the wild geese flying, free flying in the brightness
you’ve been on down the tunnel, heard the chains drop down 
this release, is this another kind of cage?

and the ball rolls through, the endless ball of silk 
unravelling the dreaming, the magic ways to fly
you take up the end to travel, find its pulling you apart
unravelling the fibres of your soul

you’ve been down the tunnel and you’ve walked past the lake
there’s no geese left and the moon hides her face
you’ve been on down the tunnel but there’s no way back 
and the rain’s closing in to all shadows

got a magic talking stick, a feather stick a dreaming
driftwood way to clear the beach of muddy waters
now you’re lying there naked with the wind crooning close
it’s a joke, an illusion, just a bloody sick joke

she stood in the doorway with the ocean in her eye
a parachute of silk blue billow falling
she stood half through the doorway to the land of bitter dreaming
sparks of gold fall down and scorch, like the burning rain

Written sung played and mixed up by Emma...


green bird

Iris


There was an iris in the way that I saw you smiling,
dancing to the London song, crying in my mind..
It is so quiet now that the music has faded into night
now that the hymns have gone away, the gardens broke in two

Hold me in the wild winds, calling in the night
tomorrow all these angels gone away
And who we love and what we love, don’t mean a thing to me
it’s just the lights and how they rumble in your head

Iris deeping blue and closing
wrap your body round me mind
drying drowning slowly falling 
gentle show me the unwind...
.
.
.
.
.

[I wrote this song a long time ago, back in the ‘80s when I was living in London and signed up to EMI... it was not a ‘suitable’ song for recording back then... heh, no hooks and a loose groove..  but I unearthed it the other day and it just seemed to flow in my own wee studio.  It’s virtually all acoustic, with a light layer of synth... and a few sonic gaps filled here and there...   I played my upright piano and blended that together with the vst piano, kicked a few bottles around and then pretended my poor cello was a jazzy bass...  it gave me a great blister to play it that way!   

It feels like quite a journey, to remember this song from back in another very different part of my life and now to re-claim it... as all my own work.    :-)]



Iris

There’s a land far away..     

There’s a land far away I’d forgotten
it’s a dream I’d lost, buried away
it’s a hope it’s a wildness a fierce shout of joy
I’ve unlocked the scream, opened the door

And the land is amazing, the colours so bright
the perfume intoxicates, fills you with light
And the song in your heart as you rise to the spring
the leap of the blood and the supple of skin

Your eyes are a petal to the blossom of brain
the sting of wild nettle, a fierce joyous pain
The land always was and it will always be
but your brain’s been asleep and you’ve swallowed the key
.
.
.
.

The photo of the NZ bellbird was taken by my son (proud smile) -  and I've recorded some of its birdsong to include in the song... it has a magical ringing call...
.
It has taken me a long time to mix this song – years actually...  Once again, I had an idea in my head but not the ability to translate that into sound.  This is a song about remembering a lost dream ... 
Written played sung and mixed up by Emma.


There's A Land Far Away...

Harvest   

You stand in a dream
a tree dream, upon eggshell sky
Hands upraised dark in dream
head thrust back, scream to the sky

I’ve stood here too long, my heart is burning
I’ve waited too long, I think I’m lost
stood here too long, in deepest silence
and the dark dreaming beat of your heart

You suddenly notice this pain, all leaves are falling
suddenly see the bare limbs, the grey empty sky,
leaves like dry tears curling round as they dance, far beyond you,
curling like wounds in the sharp little smile of the wind

You have gathered the harvest, you know that it’s time to lie down now,
the seeds in the ground snuggle deep, dream the warm dream of sun,
As the rain trickles down, I can sense you are leaving
on the crest, all the everything yet to be done
.
.
.
.

It has taken me quite some time to capture this song… I wrote it a few years ago and have been trying to capture the sense of it within a recording for ages… Essentially it is piano and voices with a smoothing of cello and a slither of synths…  The picture is an excerpt from van Gogh's 'Wheatfield with Crows'.
.
Written sung played and mixed up by Emma.


Harvest..

Sing in Blue  for the Voice of the Sea….    

Like a bird on the road, that has flown too far
feathers stiff, stuck in the gun-metal tar
like a ship out to sea where the people have fled
leaving food warm and waiting, words left to be said

I went walking one day on the turn of the tide    
felt a seeping of blood warming up from inside
Sing in Blue Sing in Blazing, in Sky Colours too
for the voice of the sea holds a memory true

There are faces there dreaming, just beyond reach
voices crooning in golden on a dream-shadow beach
It’s a calling, a drawing, it’s a pink spiral shell
whisper ocean, I hear you in a far away bell

I went walking one day on the turn of the tide    
felt a seeping of blood warming up from inside
Sing in Blue Sing in Blazing, in Sky Colours too
for the voice of the sea holds a memory true

Draw in deeper my darling, draw in wild, draw in wet
for there’s things here a-thriving, that you’ve tried to forget
And they watch as you pass, your body moves by
The yellow-head gannet slides clean through the sky
to the belly of sea and the beat of the sun
running faster we dance as the water colours run..

I went walking one day on the turn of the tide    
felt a seeping of blood warming up from inside
Sing in Blue Sing in Blazing, in Sky Colours too
for the voice of the sea holds a memory true

This is essentially an acoustic track – I was in a bit of a ‘dark celtic’ mode and I’ve been exploring how to play a wooden bass recorder (plus descant and alto) and have also included the ocean as an instrument… I recorded the waves/gulls on the beach where I originally wrote the song – how’s that for synergy??   it was a tricky mix I can tell you!!  The cello added some more grunt… well,  no synths in this piece!!  
That big recorder sure takes a lot of air to play it… but I love that hooty haunting sound… what do you think?  


Sing In Blue... for The Voice Of The Sea

A simple sad acoustic song for voice piano and recorders – no vst, just emma-voices and instruments.  I wrote this for my mother, she died when I was only five years old and the loss of her has shaped my life in many ways.

Lament                                    

I’ve been missing you too long to know you’re gone now,
the hand that holds my cheek, the tears that keep on falling,
I’ve been loving you too long to know you’re gone now
It’s a never-ending ever-falling rain

I know you’re gone, in my head I know
but this heart keeps right on crying, head can’t stop the crying,
I know I know, all these things I know
But the song I know is you, I love you so

There’s a song keeps on climbing through my window,
when I’m sleeping sings a sobbing little song,
waking up it feels my life has been a bleeding,
can’t figure out, just what’s going on

I know you’re gone, in my head I know
But this heart keeps right on crying, head can’t stop the crying,
I know I know, all these things I know
But the song I know is you, I love you so

lament...

Were I to open my eyes…

When as a child, I gazed far through the night
and dreamed in the clouds, clinging hard, small and bright,
never could I have seen,
never ever foreseen

Were I to open my eyes, let my love flow freely
as a silent tide swiftly falling
Were I to open my heart, let my love flow freely
would you stay with me laughing and hold me,
would the waves gently float you away?

Years fell tired in my head, wilting frightened,
yet I searched for you time and again,
Reaching out for some leaf I could cling to,
having touched you, I laugh with the pain…

Were I to open my eyes, let my love flow freely
as a silent tide swiftly falling
Were I to open my heart, let my love flow freely
would you stay with me laughing and hold me,
would the waves gently drift you away?


Written played sung and mixed up by Emma

Were I to Open my eyes....

And now for something completely different..
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8WgeUZRtBUA
I had recorded the neighbour's cows calling and decided to turn that into a song..
As if that wasn't enough, I then made a totally ridiculous video using my phone to film the sweet beasts..    Variety is the spice of life??  :-)

hehe... I have finally used the 'country' genre for this!
O dear, this is so very silly and yes, the video IS inept but I share with you with laughter!!

Made by Emma with help from some freelancers...

da MooMoo Song  (*with  ridiculous crazy cow video*)

but soft
see she tends now
her basket of dreams
be they dead dark in mystery
buried in shade
see how she tends now – her basket of dreams

see how she breathes now, her basket of dreams
singing softly sing sweetly - caress ever deeply
see how she breathes now
her basket of dreams

see how she calls to her basket of dreams
at first soft in awakening – barriers breakenning
layer upon layer upon mistake upon stake again
calls to her basket of dreams…

[Picture by Amanda Cass]
Video by Emma:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A_Rtf3mVfvA&t=14s
Drawn with charcoal and pastel, turned into song and then mixed all about. Made by Emma

basket of dreams...

but me…                       

if I could re-invent myself 
I would be all things
to all people who love me
I would do all the things they desire of me
be there when they want me (need me)

but me..
I’m missing me
I keep forgetting where my feet are taking me
but me..

if I could re-invent myself 
I’d be much stronger,  hold to things a little longer
not get sad, or quite as broken-hearted
finish all the things I started

but now…
I’m missing me
and all the things I’d planned
to do and be
but me..

perhaps I can
still re-invent myself
perhaps I can I don’t know
unless I try
breathe in and fly
hold on  and reach out for all the flying things that laugh and shine
in my twilight sky…


********************
robot picture by Matt Dixon

song written sung made and played by Emma

but me...

I've recorded  this in one take, just me and my piano, singing my little heart out...  I had added a bunch of things to the production, then I took them all away again, it just is as it is...
.
There Comes a Time
.

There comes a time, a time to let go
a time to say yes, a time to say no
a time to rise up, stand tall and stand free
that time is not yet/has begun, come and sail/fly there with me

It’s a season of growing, it’s a season of pain
a time of direction, the pain and the gain
It’s a time to re-order, re-shape re-define
prune out all the extras, re-assess re-align

It’s been a rough ride, and it aint over yet,
but life keeps on flowing, her rivers run deep
and I guess you can leave it, just let it flow by
whether joy or sorrow, you can’t tell till you try

Yes there has been pain, you’ve been broken apart
felt the wild desolation,  the wind in your heart
but it’s time to move on now, time to leave it behind
cast aside those that hold you, let the future unwind

And there’s no use pretending, 
I know that it’s hard
but sometimes you must leave them, 
move on and discard


Written sung made and played by Emma.
Picture is a dreamscape with pastel and charcoal.

There Comes a Time...

a song about the layers of meaning... what IS normal?  And the rage that is never discussed, so did it ever happen?   The picture is drawn with pastel and charcoal on a paper plate, which seemed kinda appropriate in some obscure way.  

Normality        

the mother she lives in fear
children they keep on keeping on with 
all the things that children do

father he lives in fear
of a strange red tide that blinds his eyes
makes him do the crazy things he do
(or so they say)

Emily has a broken arm 
fell down the stairs and broke her arm
Mama’s very quiet but then there’s
 nothing much to say

living in a loving family, trying to hang on to normality
don’t discuss the things that threaten to blow us all apart
keep on saying ‘normality’, the affirmation will set you free
normal, normality

Alexandra wets the bed
 fourteen years and she just can’t quit
Josh has nightmares 
screaming in his sleep

************************
Written made sung and played by Emma.

normality

he is building her a castle in the garden
sprung from tears of pain and anger, sprung from fears he can’t control,
she will wither in her castle in the garden
In the shadows where the dark weeds grow

in the distance a flute soft begins her calling
over seas of silver feathers tumble free,
drove away to watch the fine drops bleeding downward
on the pain of crystal water, on the eve of being born

gentle knowing soft awakens in her heart
warm and golden soft awakens in her dreaming
in a sad and knowing way erase the lines upon your face
drift me darling wild as storms into your arms

she has dazzled him with words of crystal silver
she has blazed a path of many flaming trails,
is it all for naught, this struggle? Is it all for want of trying?
locked inside our bitter breasts of want and endlessly denying

What ho!  My darling,  What Ho!
Now she’s happy now she’s sad she’s naming things that drive her mad,
the endless spinning of the dice, the things that don’t sound 
very nice

hooked back in by lures of comfort, warm adventure safe and true,
entangled snug in soft cocoons, you’ll never hear the bird sing, 
you will never be allowed to escape,
you will never be allowed...

he has tied her down with rose petals, locked her in wild gardens
he has handed her the key and promised her his undying devotion,
on one condition, that she must reward him, for all this
and he is counting, bit at a time, he is counting

she is drowning in devotion 
and the endless greedy needing
does her 
best not to feel guilty,

he is building her a castle in the garden
in the shadows where the dark weeds grow

in the shadows where the dark weeds grow
.
.
****************************************
Illustration by Arthur Rackham
Written played sung and made by Emma

he is building her a castle in the garden...

The washing machines had a gutsful
It’s raining again on the lawn
There’s muck on the floor and there’s mud in your hair
Can I wipe can I clean any more?

O woman rise up from your ashes
so you don’t thrill to clean any more,
Spin around and at least you’ll get dizzy
and there’s plenty of food on the floor

O I don’t expect joy all the time,
And I never expected true bliss,
But when we fell down and made babies
I didn’t anticipate this!

There’s a strange sense of wild in my head now,
There’s a part of me drifting away
Watch a woman down there in the kitchen
as I unclip one side of me brain


*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *
This is one of my older songs that I am still quite fond of..  I have had fun mixing it up with some random sounds from my laundry and goodness knows where else while I was in creative mode!  And yes, that picture IS the machine performing in the piece.. :-))
Written sung made and played by Emma.

Washing Machine Song...  (O I don't expect joy ALL the time!)

Will ye no’ come down...     

will ye no’ come down to the sweet green fields wi’ me
will ye no’ lay down share a wine, sup a bite wi’ me

getting late, much to do
must away, daren’t stay

will ye no’ come down to the sweet green fields wi’ me
will ye no’ lay down share a warm of the day wi’ me

time is past, skies of pain
never more, let it go, move away

will ye no’ come down to the sweet green fields wi’ me
w ill ye no’ lay down lay the warm of your breast ‘pon me

it is cold, I’ve grown old
days have passed, moved on by
I hear her cry

Will ye no’ come down 
to the sweet green fields wi’ me?


************************************
Written made sung and played by Emma

Will ye no' come down..

A funky little thing... thanks SO much to Mathieu from K-Yak Studio for his cool bassline!!  :-)

How many Rivers?                              



How many rivers must I cross?  I’m tired and I want to lie down,
How many rivers must I cross?  Gotta keep the feeling going
You stand in the doorway, your arms outstretched
I touch you I can feel your pain,
I’m a pale ghost dancing in the moonlight,  I’m a pale ghost dancing away

Dance the way the rivers run
Dance the way the rain falls down
Dance the way the sun wakes up
and dances in your heart

How many rivers must I cross?  It doesn’t seem to get any easier
How many rivers must I cross?  Gotta keep the feeling going
You stand in the doorway your eyes full of fire
exploding all around you I’m a pale ghost dancing
Over the walls up the chimney,  I’m a pale ghost dancing away

Written sung made and played by Emma

How many rivers....?

Hi there,

I'm Emma... :-)
I write songs, then I play, sing and record them in my small home studio.  

Thanks for checking out my cloud!  :-)



Emma Caiman

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