Name: BARRELS, RUST, AND TEARS by Gregory Brown
Duration: 3 min 16 s
Description: This track was written for my late father who passed on November 16th, 1977, at the young age of 44.

BEAUTIFUL POP SOUL BALLAD. IN MEMORY OF ZEGRETTI ELENA.

WHEN I LOOK INTO YOUR EYES

Lyrics

Trees grow both ways
And I cannot believe that it is another way
Searching for a truth but finding just yourself
Look me in the eye
And tell me that you’ve found it

Climbing up to the highest branches
On the days of your best wishes
Then falling right down to the roots
On the days you’ve found no proof

Trees grow both ways
And I cannot believe that there is a single fate 
Prayers to the skies with feet stuck down to Earth
We’re the only ones to cry for what we’re worth

Clinging on again to the highest branches
Hoping they will hold through your big heart-ache
Looking back on days when you were just a kid
Haven’t you ever known what a bold lie is

Trees only learn to fly by digging in deeper
How could we ever feel we could be any wiser
Our pride will disappear
As they watch us all surrender
Nostalgia for a day that only we’d remember


Credits 

Music & lyrics: TINY MESS
Production & arrangement : Titouan Demereau-Deveau
Mixing: Clément Baysse
Mastering: Simon Lancelot
Strings played by: Béla Bluche

Trees grow both ways

Ride With Me ( remix)

A song born from silence after chaos —
After the Storm I Glow tells of strength found in pain, and beauty born from scars.
A cinematic emotional ballad where the voice rises through thunder into light.
✨ “The pain becomes my art — a rhythm from the dark.”


After the Storm I Glow

LYRICS:
I lit a candle on my windowsill  
The city hums beneath the dark  

I write to no one in particular  
But I hope someone will hear this heart  

Shadows stretch across the pavement wet  
Each step I take
I almost forget  

I trace the corners of our faded frames  
Memories hang like stars in broken skies  

I speak to the empty chair across the table  
Hoping your voice
Will answer my silent cries  

The world moves softly
Gentle yet unkind  
I fold my quiet thoughts 
And leave the rest behind  

I fold my fears 
Into paper wings  
Send them drifting 
Where no one sees  

Maybe someone
Maybe no one
Will read -
The words I whisper 
Into the evening breeze  

This is my letter to nobody  
A confession in ink and sigh  

If anyone finds it
I hope they know me  
Or at least hear me cry  

Softly I break 
And softly I mend  
Writing to the void
Until the end  

I held a picture against my chest  
Felt the warmth of what we were
So small  

I hum a tune my mother once sang  
Both comfort -
And the melancholy in the melody  

Friends drift past 
Like shadows on a street  
I smile
But it’s fragile
Bittersweet  

Maybe tomorrow 
The stars will answer  
Maybe tomorrow 
I'll write 
Less sad lines  

For now, I fold my heart into this page  
A solitary echo in endless time  

This is my letter 
To nobody  
A confession in ink and sigh  

If anyone finds it
I hope they know me  
Or at least hear me cry  

Softly I break 
And softly I mend  
Writing to the void
Until the end  

And if you’re listening somewhere  
Know I’m here
Quietly breathing  

This letter to nobody  
Is my truth
Softly leavin'

---------




LETTER TO NOBODY

Already Taken is about trying to process living without somebody after they’ve chosen to leave you, and the everyday reminders they leave behind. Written with friends Sam Perry and Tom Hammond, and released via Mahogany Songs. 

Already Taken

This song is an interpretation of “Shake the Dust,” the powerful spoken-word poem by Anis Mojgani. It’s a letter to the overlooked — the tired, the shy, the broken, the dreamers... Each line is a reminder that a hand can reach out to every corner of forgotten humanity.
------
LYRICS:
------
This one is for the fat girls
This one is for the little brothers
This is for the schoolyard wimps 
And for the childhood bullies 
That tormented them

For the former prom queen 
And for the milk crate ballplayers

For the nighttime cereal eaters 
And for the retired elderly Wal-Mart 
Store front door greeters...

Shake the Dust

This is for the benches 
And the people sitting upon them
For the bus drivers driving 
A million broken hymns

For the men who have to hold down 
Three jobs simply to hold up their children

For the night schoolers 
And for the midnight bike riders 
Trying to fly...

Shake the Dust

For the 2-year-olds 
Who cannot be understood 
Because they speak half-English 
And half-God...

Shake the Dust

For the boys 
With the beautiful sisters...

Shake the Dust

For the girls 
With the brothers 
Who are going crazy

For those gym class wallflowers
For the 12-year-olds 
Afraid of taking public showers

For the kid who’s always late 
To class because he forgets 
The combination to his lockers

For the girl 
Who loves 
Somebody else...

Shake the Dust

This is for the hard men who want love 
But know that it won’t come
The ones the amendments 
Do not stand up for

For the ones who are forgotten

For the ones who are told to speak 
Only when you are spoken to 
And then are never spoken to
Speak every time you stand
So you do not forget yourself
Do not let a moment go by 
That doesn’t remind you 
That your heart beats 
A hundred thousand times a day

And that there are enough 
Gallons of blood 
To make every one of us oceans

Do not settle 
For letting these waves settle
And for the dust 

To collect in your veins

This is for the celibate pedophile 
Who keeps on struggling
For the poetry teachers 
And for the people 
Who go on vacations alone
For the sweat that drips off of 
Mick Jagger’s singing lips
For the shaking skirt 
On Tina Turner’s shaking hips
For the heavens and for the hells 
Through which Tina has lived

This is for the tired 
And for the dreamers
For the families 
That will never be like the Cleavers
With perfectly made dinners 
And sons like Wally and the Beaver

This is for the bigots
For the sexist
For the killers
For the big house 
Jail-sentenced cats 
Becoming redeemers
And for the springtime 
That always seems to know 
To show up after every single winter

This is for you

This is for you

Make sure that by the time 
The fisherman returns 
You are gone

Because just like the days
I burn at both ends 
And every time I write
Every time I open my eyes
I am cutting out parts of myself 
Just to give them to you

So shake the dust
And take me with you when you do

For none of this has ever been for me
All that pushes and pulls
And pushes and pulls
It pushes for you

So grab this world by its clothespins
And shake it out again and again
And hop on top and take it for a spin
And when you hop off
Shake it again

For this is yours

Make these words worth it
Make this not just 
Another poem that I write
Not just another poem 
Like just another night
That sits heavy above us all
Walk into it
Breath it in
Let it crash 
Though the halls of your arms
Like the millions of years 
Of millions of poets 
Coursing like blood
Pumping and pushing
Making you live
Shaking the dust

So when the world knocks 
At your front door
Clutch the knob tightly 
And open on up
And run forward 
Into its widespread open arms
With your hands in front of you

Fingertips trembling 
Though they may be
May be

May be...
May be...
Maybe
Maybe
Maybe

-----




SHAKE THE DUST

Down with hate

ABBA’s classic “The Winner Takes It All” is reborn as a darkwave elegy — not about the end of a marriage, but about the illusions built around the concept of winning.
------
LYRICS:
------
I don't wanna talk
About things we've gone through

Though it's hurting me
Now it's history
I've played all my cards
And that's what you've done too

Nothing more to say
No more ace to play

The winner takes it all
The loser's standing small
Beside the victory
That's her destiny

I was in your arms
Thinking I belonged there
I figured it made sense
Building me a fence
Building me a home
Thinking I'd be strong there

But I was a fool
Playing by the rules
The gods may throw a dice
Their minds as cold as ice
And someone way down here
Loses someone dear

The winner takes it all (takes it all)
The loser has to fall (has to fall)
It's simple, and it's plain (it's so plain)
Why should I complain? (Why complain?)

But tell me, does she kiss?
Like I used to kiss you
Does it feel the same?
When she calls your name
Somewhere deep inside
You must know I miss you

But what can I say?
Rules must be obeyed
The judges will decide 
The likes of me abide
Spectators of the show
Always staying low 
The game is on again
A lover or a friend 
A big thing or a small 

The winner takes it all 
Takes it all

I don't wanna talk
If it makes you feel sad
And I understand
You've come to shake my hand

I apologize
If it makes you feel bad

Seeing me so tense
No self-confidence

But you see...

The winner takes it all
The winner takes it all
So the winner takes it all
And the loser has to fall

Throw the dice
Cold as ice
Way down here
Someone dear
Takes it all
Has to fall

And it's plain

Why complain?

------------








THE WINNER TAKES IT ALL | ABBA | DARKWAVE EDITION

This track is a reflection of the kind of person I strive to be. Loving, caring and kind. I hope you like my song! Love you all!

I Will Hold Your Hand

This track was written for my late father who passed on November 16th, 1977, at the young age of 44.

BARRELS, RUST, AND TEARS

Gregory Brown

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