SAW 2020

Song A Week Demo Tracks from Erin Wolf 
Erin Wolf Music
(c)(p) 2016-2023

Photo credit: https://tapetardis.wordpress.com/2020/09/06/route-to-fame-the-band-demo-tape/

Demo Tracks

Copyright 2020
All Rights Reserved


Lyrics & Music: Erin Wolf
Guitar & Vocals: Erin Wolf
Photo: Erin Wolf

Recorded with GarageBand for iOS/iPhone in downtown Phoenix, AZ. Special thanks to Jesse Villegas Jr for lending the guitar heard on this track.

flying across the countryside
i thought i knew what 
i was getting into
but i didn't expect to find
a place that my heart wanted to stay

and usually
i can pack up and just
go away
this time i wanted 
to take it slow
i know i still have to go
but it will be hard
to leave

oh goodbye phoenix
goodbye arizona
goodbye mountainside
oh i guess i'll 
catch you next time

i thought i knew that
this was temporary
but my soul knows
it is good
came out just to clear
my mind
came out just to have
a good time
but i didn't know i'd
feel this way

oh goodbye phoenix
goodbye arizona
goodbye mountainside
guess i'll 
catch ya next time

know that it's time to go
and return back to 
my home
but i know that i'll
return someday
'cuz i know 
my heart can't stay
away
oh i know my heart
can't stay
away

oh goodbye phoenix
woah goodbye arizona
oh goodbye mountainside
oh i know i'll 
catch ya next time

goodbye phoenix
oh goodbye arizona
oh goodbye mountainside
you know i'll 
catch ya next time
oh i know i'll
catch ya next time
oh i know i'll
catch ya next time

Phoenix

Copyright 2020
All Rights Reserved

Lyrics & Music: Erin Wolf
Guitar & Vocals: Erin Wolf
Photo cred: Erin Wolf 

Image Description: Full moon peeking out behind trees at Camp Lakotah (formerly Camp Webb) in Wautoma, WI. June 2019.

it's coming on midnight
and i can't quiet my mind
focus on anything tonight

everything around me
is all a blur
don't know where it's coming from
or where it's going
ahh-ooo

notice in the distance
that pale full moon
oh it torments me
beckons me, calls me into
the unknown
master of chaos
will i meet my doom
all i know, all i know

this explains a lot
ahh-ooo

this explains a this explains a this explains a lot
ahh-ooo

going on weeks now
this chaos' reign
i don't feel like myself
can't contain all these thoughts
they're racing and i'm
trying to slow them down but
they won't come around, they won't come around

this explains a lot
ahh-ooo

this explains a this explains a this explains a lot
ahh-ooo

come on closer now
help me find my way out
ahh-ooo
come and take my hand
man in the moon
help me find my heart
help me find

this explains a lot
ahh-ooo

This Explains A Lot

Copyright 2020
All Rights Reserved

Lyrics & Music: Erin Wolf
Guitar & Vocals: Erin Wolf
Photo credit: Nik Neward via Facebook
Song Prompt: James Tristan Redding, founder of Song-A-Week

*Note: I've not yet met Nik in-person, but his tremendous impact on the Song-A-Week community is well known to we who have been around for a bit. My inspiration for this song comes from this week's prompt and song titles from Nik's insanely ambitions "Song-A-Day" challenge from 2019.*

Did I ever tell you about the day
Nik Newark saved my life
Not all heroes where capes, you see
some save sonically
I tell this tale now

like the time White Rhinoceros
was charging me down
charging me down and
Nik yelled, "The Mamils are Coming"
"Erin, the Mamils are Coming!"

so I got out of the way
and ran off into the day
Salt of the Earth, that one

then there was another time
I lost my luggage
turns out I was just
at the wrong baggage claim
that Nik Newark saved my life that day
pointed me in the right direction

and that Lost Luggage was found
that Lost Luggage was found

oh, My Grandma Used to Say
Not Enough Hours in the Day
to sing
to sing 
that Nik Newark Saved My Life
saved my life

maybe it was just Technical Driving
maybe it was just pure luck
but either way
Nik Newark saved my life
that day
that day

Nik Newark Saved My Life

Copyright 2020
All Rights Reserved

Lyrics & Music: Erin Wolf
Guitar & Vocals: Erin Wolf
Photo credit: Erin Wolf (taken in 2016 at the top of the observation at High Cliff State Park, Sherwood, WI)

*Inspired by a sonnet by Pablo Neruda, the current weather, and "safer at home" orders in the time of COVID-19 orders. It's brought out some stories of hope in a time of great uncertainty.* 

i don't know how or when i even started
to love you
all i know is that
this is true
there is nothing complex
about this love
and i will
i will love you the only way
i know how

oh oh oh oh

and it's been raining
for days now and i'm stuck in side
gone mad from quarantine
all i long for is sunshine and to 
see your face
hold your hand in mine

oh oh oh oh

all i need is one single day
all i need is one single day
don't know if i can tell you
but i need to try
i need to try

to tell you that i love you
to tell you that i love you
to tell you that i love you

all i need is one single day
yes, all i need is one single day
oh, all i need is one single day

to tell you that i love you
to tell you that i love you
to tell you that i love you

One Single Day

Copyright 2019, 2020
All Rights Reserved

Lyrics & Music: Erin Wolf
Guitar & Vocals: Erin Wolf
Photo credit: Erin Wolf (Little Chute, WI 2020)

*This started as an untitled poem as I waited for my flight out of Denver in the fall of 2019, and I ran across it again now in spring of 2020. The things of the quarantine of COVID-19.*

a beat
a flow
a current running between

a song 
a note
a melody turns to harmony

a breath
a touch 
a new question forms 

oh oh oh
oh oh

a laugh
a smile
a promise of return

a hope
a light
a new adventure begins 

a dream
a wish
a whole night begins to unfold

oh oh oh
oh oh

now is your chance to prove it
prove it
to show you can change for the better

now is your chance to prove it
to prove it
to show that you can be the bigger man

oh oh oh
oh oh

Prove It

Copyright 2020
All Rights Reserved

Created using GarageBand for iOS|iPad

Music arranged by: Erin Wolf
Lyrics & Vocals: Erin Wolf

Photo credit: Erin Wolf (photo description: darkened street with street lamps & traffic lights in the distance; Wisconsin, April 2020)

I cannot see you on the road up ahead
Where have you gone, my love
Where have you been
Will you return again

You said you had to clear your mind
You said nothing had changed this time
Do you take me for a fool, my love
You shan’t return again

The funny thing is
I can hear your thunder rolling in
You think I will break and fall
But nothing is farther from the truth 
You’ll see

I feel the rain is falling faster
But still you’re nowhere to be seen
I know that this is likely goodbye, my love
I’ll see you in my dreams

Rolling In

Copyright 2020
All Rights Reserved

Lyrics & Music: Erin Wolf
Guitar & Vocals: Erin Wolf

Prompt for Week 26 of Song a Week 2020 proved a daunting task in the midst of a strong bout of writer's block. My calloused fingertips might not forgive me for a bit. We'll see.

another sleepless night
wish my mind would just shut down
if it could go to sleep
maybe i would be right as rain

but it circles back to you
every time i get lost in my mind
always you
why is it you

at least i can see the sun
rising again in the east
a glorious new day
and maybe i can find a way 

to calm the voice
one more time

don't know the words you heard
don't know the words i heard
i hope, though, someday 
i will find a way
find a way

i hope someday 
that maybe my words
could be yours and
yours be mine

mine be yours
and yours be mine
be mine
be yours

maybe someday
i could be yours
and you could be mine

The Words We Heard

Copyright Erin Wolf 2020

driving through the mountains at night
see the stars taking flight
chasing down the last sunlight

wondering why have i returned
was there something i hadn't learned
did i last leave a stone unturned

tears fall freely but silently
feel this weight crushing me
of the life that wasn't meant to be

is it time for letting go
is there something i need to know
do i need to watch out below

mountains, tell the stories that i need to hear
help me release this inner fear
will i know when i'm on the right road
can you help me to carry the load

still not sure what i left behind
not quite sure i cleared my mind 
i know i didn't unwind

yet i'm feeling full of light
something's changed, but i can't quite
tell you why this feels right

Mountains, Tell The Stories

Copyright 2020
All Rights Reserved

Lyrics & Music: Erin Wolf
Guitar & Vocals: Erin Wolf

run run running around
run run running around 
in circles

let me take a moment
to explain myself
i know this is hell
quite a bitter pill

promise if you just
really hear what i'm saying
don't take it out of context
hear me out

then we won't be
run run running around
run run running around
in circles

i know it's hard to hear
that he lied with every word
how do you think that i had felt
when he'd done what he'd done

but then you cast me out
made me the villian in my own nightmare
i guess you gave me my way out
had my way out

i guess there'll be no more
run run running around 
run run running around 
in circles

i knew to be free 
it would take all of me
and i knew to be free
it would cost but i didn't know
it would cost so greatly

no more
run run running around
run run running around
in circles

Running In Circles

Copyright 2020
All Rights Reserved

Song written for and inspired by one of my favorite couples that should have been celebrating their wedding anniversary soon. But even in death, their love is undeniable. 

*Apologies for a rushed, rough recording. Time was short this week.*

Lyrics & Music: Erin Wolf
Guitar & Vocals: Erin Wolf

here's my hand
i reach it out to you
take my hand 
if you would do 

oh it's not mine anymore
it's yours
oh this hand ain't mine anymore
it's yours

oh and take this heart of mine
feel it beating
feel it beating wild and free

but it's not mine anymore
it's yours
oh no it's not mine, this heart,
it's yours

and take the breath in my lungs
as it goes
breathe it in deep 
down to your toes

oh 'cuz it's not mine anymore
it's yours
oh, no it's not mine, my breath,
it's yours

oh oh 
oh oh

you gave me everything 
i could have ever wanted
you gave me your hand, your heart, 
your breath, your everything

you weren't yours
you were mine, mine to hold
and i wasn't mine anymore
i was yours 
i was yours

and death do us part
oh oh
but ours was not a love
that was defeated by the grave

oh 'cuz i'm still yours
and you're still mine
you're still mine
i'm still yours

You're Still Mine, I'm Still Yours

Official account of Erin Wolf for Song A Week 2019-present. • For 2016-2018 Song A Week archives, follow @erniwolf or click the link below.