The music video featuring this song is now available at YouTube:

https://youtu.be/IiVtELZRzgQ?si=rGXnh0R441foU5VH

Since growing up in an old neighborhood of Victorian homes, I’ve occasionally recalled one particular property at the end of our street that had fallen into disrepair. It was one of the biggest houses in the area and looked like it must have been quite the impressive home in its day. But my friends and I always imagined what horrified tales must lurk in those shadows. All these years later I can say that the house and property were completely replaced by modern, more cheerful condominiums, the rusty gates and wild overgrowth long gone. But I recall some of the history I learned about the once proud estate and felt it all made for great Halloween tale telling as Nat and I have tried to convey in this rockin’ trip into the dark and stormy night....

Written and performed by Daniels & Durgy
Produced by Nat Daniels of Gentle Rain Records
©2025 Daniels & Durgy

Lyrics: Thirteen Ravens

Dead of night, I’m walking home
The rain is beating down
I should have grabbed a cab before 
I left the pub in town

The sidewalks here on Franklin Hill
Uneven with despair
Lead me past the iron gates
The old stone mansion there

Behind the broken fences 
Overgrown with thorns
The thunder booms must fill the rooms
And stir the ghost that mourns 

He was a wealthy statesman
And this his grand estate
He had it all but shame did fall
Upon his final fate

Now all these decades later 
As the world just passes by
I stop to put my collar up
And hear an eerie cry

The mansion long abandoned 
There stands a silhouette
And on one bare limb of a tree
A dozen ravens sit

Above the broken gables
Circles one last mate
As if to warn that somewhere there
The old man lies in wait

Lightning cracks the darkness
The ravens scatter fly
They croak like deadly demons cast
Into the sullen sky

Thirteen ravens on their watch
To hold the blackened past
While crooked shutters hang upon 
Their secrets to the last

But I must pull away now
From this place where shadows dwell
Where thirteen ravens tell their tale 
And hold you in their spell

Thirteen ravens like a chain
Of nightmares in the rain

Thirteen Ravens

What you can do with 16 bars of piano MIDI notes :-)

Fragile

These are the two singles of my third solo album 'On the grounds of Indecency'. The album will be out on cassette and digital formats on Oct 11th, with Perceptual Tapes. 
Artwork by Elise Wilson
Mastered by Taylor Deupree

Deferral

Hoping you are having a lovely weekend....Just a little French inspired number !
Thank you for your very kind plays reposts and playlists.

Une Histoire

Prologue to a fantasy adventure

FEARS FOR DREAM

'strike two'

scotty: acoustic pearl export, epiphone casino, fender squire 3/4 bass. Just blowing off some steam, y'all. 

strike two

I used a phrase from a comment I received from Stars Mighty Fine as the title.
First, I see a chaotic array of tones, and then I try to create some kind of structure from that chaos. I think the process of composing is simply trying to control the song and sound with all my might.

We Control with All My Might (357)

an older tune I cleaned up a bit
it is a tribute to actor, singer, dancer, artist, and author Russ Tamblyn, who turns 91 in December.

I wrote the song around the time I retired from my  medical career. So  along with references to  Russ and childhood memory, there are veiled allusions to this strange  new exciting but a bit unsettling life circumstance in the lyric.

As per Russ 
He danced and acted in Westside story  and Seven Brides for Seven Brothers most famously but was in a bunch of movies in the 50s and 60s.. and ....my favourite as a kid was the War of the Gargantuas, which  for Russ was a creative low point ..but  it got him to Japan
opening clips from WotG...the middle and end clips from his movie Highschool Confidential



PS The line in the last verse Words stuck in my throat..lifted from the song The Words Get Stuck in My Throat From the movie War of the Gargantuas...sung by the wonderful Kipp Hamilton who has to contend with a Gargantua groupie..dont worry she survived....clip of the song in the movie is here
https://vimeo.com/358726099?fl=pl&fe=sh
Devo did a cover of it years later


Russ Tamblyn

I'll get a Tokyo life                             
Say some words off the script          
Monsters in play                                
Career gone adrift                               
I can make it in spite                          
Of the way they dub my lines              

I'll sail to the East
Maybe take me a bride
Dance out regret
Act up with pride
Let me do it 
Let me do it
Let me do it brother, what do you say?
My little boy brain wants to be Russ Tamblyn for a day

I wanna be cool
I’d like to be strong
A fighter who dances
A singer of songs
Add some rhythm 
Put some muscle on these rhymes 

The streets of the West
I'll be taking a side
Living forever 
This world’s opened wide
Let me do it
Let me do it
Let me do it, what do you say?
My little boy brain wants to be Russ Tamblyn for a day 

In 1970                                         
I saw him on the TV screen        
With those creatures, one             
brown, one green                         
My Gargantuan celluloid dream   

They said I could bail    
I’d much rather swim
Head above water
Life on a whim
I can make it in spite
Of their doubts and their goodbyes

Words stuck in my throat
What's left to say?
There's only myself
I can't stay away
Let me do it 
Let me do it
Permit me if I may
My little boy brain wants to be Russ Tamblyn for a day
My little boy brain wants to be Russ Tamblyn for a day





Russ Tamblyn(the Ballad of the HotR)

Years ago, my brothers and I had spent several weeks getting my dad's house ready to sell after he had passed. I was in the realtor's office ready to sign the paper work when the prospective buyers asked why I wasn't buying the house I grew up in.  I said (not thinking) "Too many ghosts".  The realtor immediately jumped in and said, "he means memories" to which I smiled confirming the needed clarification:)  It does beg the question however, how many "ghosts" haunt our lives; bad decisions, fractured relationships, things we did or failed to do.  I have found hope and forgiveness in the Christian faith, others have found healing in the passing of time, others still carry a heavy burden of what could have been or should have been.  Peter explores the theme in poignant verse to Seagull's quixotic soundtrack.  I am honored to  contribute a few colors to the tapestry;)
Acoustic guitars left & right; David Dunham; @david-dunhamuser589535203
Superb Poetry/Lyrics, Narration; Peter the Poet; soundcloud.com/user-264930040/tracks
Master of the music, lead guitar solo, mix & production;  Seagull @farout-music-studio
Wonderful voice: Clara Sorace
Track art: Bing images
Ghost of a Sense:

Yes, I know you.
I can feel your presence.
I can touch you, smell you.
I see you not by sight of eye
And yet I ken that you are I
That vespered wraith that writhes within
To test my faith, try my sin
Push the bounds to cause offence
A moral, soul thing, ghost of a sense recalls myself, so well defined
Entrenched, walls behind, built so sound of dust that crowned the pity, falling soft amiss,
Deep inside the tears I cry as here I find my self-abyss.

Whispers bringing shadows, filled of secrets therein held,
Memories, morose, piece me still, to wear in time, my wasted face.
And now reside, cast aside, to forge and ever meld,
Of haunting, ringing echoes, that will alone their chime erased.

Ah! But you won't twist me, nor bind me fast, to the sandy doctrines of the misty past,
With its beards and staffs and crinkled testaments.
My future's sprinkled here present with your crass irrelevance and matters not that sat right there,
The blackest chasm in my simpling world so spare,
Where space and time have overspilled the leaking psyche of a crippled mind,
That barely copes, unfulfilled, a crooked, limpid moral health of broken shrines
That hopes to find ....
.......some worthwhile inner self.

Ghost of a Sence (Seagull, Peter, David)

Cast of Characters:
Mistermark-- @user-432503709 -- Mark –- VST Middle Eastern instruments (Duf Drum, Daire drum, Darbuka, Riq, Qanun, Zurna horn, Ney flute, strings), female vocal sample, 'ululation' (high pitch yodel), and composition
Entheogenic Psychonaught (Josh Clary)– @josh-clary-1 –Josh – Custom fretless 5-string bass 
The Beautiful Dark -- @thebeautifuldark -- Carl — vocals and lyrics
J.J. Terrell– @j-j-terrell – saz, shakuhachi, and synth
K2 and the Three [and the Four]--@k2andthe3, @k2-kara –Ken — cymbals and Chinese percussion
Llanpsych - Fluffer for the keyboardist and key grip
TexMex Shaman– @texmex-shaman –Stephen — traditional gourd-body sitar and mastering.

  Josh had the idea for doing a traditional Palestinian song, as he is an avid fan of their music. He wanted to raise awareness of this music and everyone in the band was immediately on board with this idea, and set about to make it happen. 
  Mark, who is an expert percussionist, learned a basic traditional Palestinian drum pattern, in a very authentic fashion. He laid it down, along with an Arabic sounding modal melody line portrayed by the quanun, which is a kind of zither. Josh found this pattern fascinating, and added his five string fretless bass to the it shortly after. Carl jumped in very shortly thereafter, and came up with some really amazing vocal melodies, as well as wonderfully prescient lyrics. He even learned more than several phrases in Arabic, which he sang in there, too. We were all very impressed by this, of course.
  JJ was next up, adding his magical, melodic, and exotic saz, shakuhachi, and synth to the mix. Ken threw in next, adding his perfectly timed brass and Chinese percussion to the mix, too. Last, but certainly not least, Stephen recorded his subtle, exotic, traditional sitar to the piece. 
  Once we had it all recorded, we turned it over to Mark for a mix, as the whole thing is really his baby. Stephen mastered it, though, as he is our resident professional producer.
  Our hope is that this song inspires you to dig into Palestinian music, and through that, you recognize the magic and the humanity of millions of Palestinian people who are suffering unimaginably right now. We hope you enjoy listening to this as much as we enjoyed creating it.

From Carl...
Music is our key to permanant peace on planet Earth in my view. If written thoughfully, it is our unimposing tool where we can share our different cultures like EC have done here to celebrate with our Palestinian friends stylistically the light of their music. I don't speak Arabic so I hope I don't offend anyone but I learned the Arabic as best as I could phonetically. It's done with the best of intentions . The eight Arabic lines are famous proverbs and show us how similarly all of our truths evolve from our hearts and souls

Peace and Love to everyone


Original lyrics by The Beautiful Dark:

Sisters and brothers
Daughters and Sons
We would give you food
But the road is blocked to sun
Proud Palestine
Brave brethren
Our hearts are with you
Our souls are weeping

Inhumane blockade of bread
Pains collective minds 
We want gone this dread
Let's find our kind
Please be strong
As we right this wrong
Hope prays that day will not be long

We pine with your God
To find a normal truth
Where your kids can grow and learn good youth
Sisters and Brothers
Daughters and Sons
We are with you Palestine
Sending love through song

The eye sees but the arm is short ( العين ترى والذراع قصيرة )

We are in the same boat ( نحن في نفس القارب )

Winds do not blow as the ships wish ( لا تهب الرياح كما تشاء السفن )

Being alone is better then being with someone bad (أن تكون وحيدا أفضل من أن تكون مع شخص سيء )

What is hidden is more then what has happened ( ما هو مخفي أكثر مما حدث )

Every problem has a solution ( لكل مشكلة حل )

Good intentions count for as much as good actions ( النوايا الحسنة لها نفس أهمية الأفعال الحسنة )

All is well that ends well ( كل شيء على ما يرام إذا انتهى بشكل جيد )

Prologue to a fantasy adventure

FuWatt