excellent track.. what a collab!!  ..great production and performance..super vocals!

Great vocal. Superb guitar and that organ is perfectly fits. Another fantastic arrangement!

Excellent collaboration Goff. I wish you many more exciting musical adventures of this quality 👍

Love this song. Takes me right back to Woodstock days!

Oh yes, i really like this, great bluesy sound, love that blues guitar and great Vocals, reminiscent of Robert Cray. Love the Hammond organ overall great live sound. Glad i found you guys. Johnny

This track doesn’t just explore disillusionment, it feels it, in the bones, in the blues, in the brutal honesty of that chorus. Todd, your vocal lands like someone who's lived every line, and Goff’s writing is just.. painfully precise. The whole thing plays like a confession made with a guitar in one hand and a fading spotlight in the other 🎙️ It’s beautifully empty of pretense, and that makes it full of something much rarer.... truth 💨 The kettle whispered, “He sang what most of us can’t say out loud” 📼 The cassette deck wheezed to life and croaked, “This feels like the kind of track you hide in a shoebox with the letters you never sent” 🧃The juice press blinked and said, “This squeezed the ache out of me, and I’m not even plugged in” 🎧 One of those listens where you don't hit replay because you're finished, you hit it because you're not.

This is a repost of a collab with the brilliant Todd J McLean, originally posted on his Soundcloud account, 15 May 2025. Soundcloud.com/todd-j-mclean/water-to-wine?si=2debfe8ca9744b878dfc380a1a8ac430&utm_source=clipboard&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=social_sharing)

WATER TO WINE
 
Words & Music: Goff Johnson
Vocals: Todd J McLean
Keyboards & Rhythm Guitar: Goff Johnson
Drums and Hammond Organ: Kat Hendrix
Lead Guitar: Tim Porter
 
Mixed and Mastered by Kat Hendrix at Absolute Time Studios, Vancouver, May 2025
 
About the Song

"Water to Wine" is a song about the appeal of perfection we often see online, contrasted with the seemingly unremarkable and ordinary lives that most of us lead. It’s a reflection on the emotional toll that comes from chasing validation through likes and follower counts— and the emptiness that can follow when the spotlight fades.

Our value, though, goes far deeper than what shows up on a screen and authenticity holds more power than appearances. Take a deep breath and if we look up from the scroll and take a brave look at the world — and each other — we might find something much more real!

Behind the Song (from Goff Johnson)

Ironically, while the message of the track talks about isolation and the cost of surface-level connection, the making of Water to Wine was the exact opposite of that! It came to life through collaboration with the incredibly talented Todd J McLean, who, in addition to his awesome vocals, and red-hot music connections, also created the cover art (Woman in Yellow Chair) for the track! The overall result is something far richer than either of us could have created alone.

Working together brought depth, direction, and new energy to the song — proof that the best things happen when we connect for real. No filters, just music, shared purpose, and mutual trust!

Final Notes (from Todd)

This is my first collaboration on SoundCloud. I could not have been more fortunate than to work with Goff Johnson, an immensely talented singer/songwriter/musician. When I first came across Goff, I listened to his entire Stories of Stardust album end-to-end .

Although Water to Wine is not part of Goff’s Stardust series, it is nonetheless a beautifully written song and it’s been a privilege for me to sing it. Besides, I love to sing the Blues. Thank you so much, Goff!

We owe a huge shout-out to both Kat Hendrix, a master musician and our producer, and Tim Porter, a virtuoso on guitar. It is a real privilege to work with these West coast legends.

Lyrics:

Verse 1
Someone wrote a playbook for perfection 
with lives of photo ops, their outtakes seldom seen 
today a star, the next you’re a pariah 
“Be Kind” they say, but that ain’t what they mean 
 
Chorus: 
Well I never watched the water turn to wine, 
and i never took a flower out of the desert, 
but i walked until my feet bled, and I looked until I was blind, 
and I reached out for a hand to hold in mine 
 
Verse 2 
Well there’s nothing quite as quiet as “the silence” 
after fame has passed, so flashbulb fast, away 
and i wonder if it really makes a difference 
cos the next in line wait for their time, to shine but not to stay”

Chorus: 
Well I never watched the water turn to wine, 
and i never took a flower out of the desert, 
but i walked until my feet bled, and I looked until I was blind, 
and I reached out for a hand to hold in mine

Cover Art: Woman in Yellow Chair, Todd J McLean

All rights reserved

Released by:
Why I Outta Records
Release date:
15 May 2025

Water To Wine

*** WATCH OUT FOR NEW SOUNDTRACK RELEASE, SELENE, OUT 31st  OCTOBER!!***

What a great place Soundcloud is !  I can honestly say I never imagined there were so many talented and generous artists, composers and producers,  to be found in one place!  It's been my very great pleasure to meet and collaborate with some of you, already, out there in the WWW,  and I hope many more in the future! 

I've written and recorded music since I was a teenager  (... that's a long time ago!!) and about half the tracks posted here are purely my own work. I also experimented, for a while,  with A.I. supported music, which I used to help build up a Sci Fi "concept album" (for those that remember them!) titled "Stories of Stardust", released 26th Feb 2025.  

A.I music can be a divisive topic, but I've no wish to use it as a replacement for human musical talent, and going forward I'm back to  working  with real people again. That's where the magic is to be found!  Which brings me to....

Collab is ALWAYS welcome!!  In fact it's my favourite way to work - check out my Collabs playlist for some recent examples!  Really enjoyed working with these talented artists!!   

For me the collab journey is only just starting so please (please)  gimme a shout if you think we could work together in the future! 

cheers, and keep the music playing !! 

Goff

Comments

😏 Krazy Krissie 🧦

No killie fish

Babún

Babún

Thomas GT

ManuLaGratte

Heliopolis 5

Pee Gee , Lyricist