All rights reserved 9/25/2025

We used to know how to read a room
Knew exactly what to say…
Now we’re divin in too deep
Never losing any sleep
in the bed we made

We used to take the time 
To see another point of view 
Now we toe another line
Like a party to a crime
In the bed we made…

Driving home
so alone
the streets on fire
Winding down
to the sound
it seems so dire

Why did you have to come around
as if you’ve made some kind of grade
My ears don't want to hear 
Now would you please just disappear
in the bed we made

Driving home
so alone
the streets on fire
Winding down
to the sound
it seems so dire

The Bed We Made

FIRST ECLIPSE ON MARS

==========================

Year 2015.

I'd only been composing music with my iPad 1 for four years.

I was lucky enough to find an app that allowed me to "make music" easily: Music Studio 2. It's the only DAW I've ever used, aside from trying out a few tracks with Garage Band.

I made an effort to learn, and so every night I searched the software's forum, where other users were asking questions, suggesting improvements, and posting their compositions (some of which were downloadable). Little by little, I got to know some of them and established some trust (I still write to them from time to time...). Yes, I was a forty-something among people twice my age (and much older... in some cases).

The most active was my friend Ronald, who suggested composing music related to the seven deadly sins. I chose envy.

A couple of years later, I completely reworked the melody and added new sounds with synthesizers I obtained from new apps I added to my collection. Although there was some underlying music that connected the two melodies, it couldn't be said to be the same. So I decided to give it another name, and called it First Eclipse on Mars.

I hope you like it.



18 Tracks native instruments MS2 and forum Xewton
3 Tracks kv331 Synthmaster
DAW Music Studio 2
Hardware. iPad
Mix……. My car 🚘

Cover art by Aynur Zakirov


Next composition…… Requiem for Autumn

First eclipse on mars

Nu Jazz chill music with a throbbing beat at varying tempos. I used the same "tick-tock" synth from tracks on my Time Machine EP.

Happy Samhain! 🔥

Hour Glass is about time ⏳

An original composition, no AI, digital music created MIDI to DAW by a human

HOUR GLASS
I have an hour glass in my mind 
It measures life in bits of time 
Like TikTok videos
Showing how the sand flows 
All in a trickle 
Dancing Wu-Li masters remind
The consequence of time 

While the force of gravity 
can bring me to my knees 
The hour glass remains to hold
Above and below 
Before and behind 
Carry me forever
In the consequence of time 

.........................
70-52 bpm
Variations of Cm, Am, Fm, C7, G7
DAW: Apple Logic Pro X
MIDI: Akai Professional Keyboard
VST or E-INSTRUMENTS:
Concert Grand
Boesendorfer Grand
Ambient Lead
Clarinet Solo
Ethereal Mallets
Lunar Chords
Phantom Winds
Cellos
Modern Strings
Studio Double Basses
Deep Round Synth Bass
Upright Ballad Bass
E-PERCUSSION:
Timpani
Indian & Middle Eastern Kit
..........................

COVER ART is a surrealistic interpretation of the song as original CGI by SUNNYBECK using a composite derived from original and AI-generated images rendered by the DaVinci app, then altered, retouched, and designed in Photoshop.

Released on SoundCloud
October 31, 2025, 11:12 PM ET

.

Hour Glass

A song about using my defense mechanism of humor to avoid conflict and achieve romance. Dedicated to class clowns everywhere.
Sorry I've been off SC lately, I've been taking care of a few things.

Lyrics:
I was just having a drink
In a bar on the rough side of town
Yeah, minding my own business
And these tough guys come up to me
They say: "Hey, we're tough guys."
"we don't like you drinking sparkling Chablis,"

Well, I had a real good read on the situation
I've got the gift of gab (talk) from my Dad
I'm a samurai of summation
I buy my sarcasm firsthand

I said: Gentlemen, may  I suggest a truce?
Let me be the peacemaker and buy you a bottle of booze
Then I got loose
I left them with a bill
For a three hundred dollar
Bottle of Chartruse

Oh, I listened to what my Mama say
You're gonna have to fight those boys someday
But if you use your brain
Then you'll find another way
Fight back, hit em in the funny bone (3X)
Funny bone

I was a young undergrad
A full-time miscreant
A part-time handsome man
I needed to get the attention of the ladies
But I wasn't that good-looking
But I knew what I had

I had a good read on the situation
I have the gift of gab from my Dad
I'm a samurai of summation
I buy my sarcasm firsthand

I listened to what my Mama say
If those girls don't give you the time of day
You're gonna have to use your brain
Then you'll find another way 
Step back, appeal to her funny bone (3X)
Funny bone

Funny Bone

℗ © Copyright Ian Stokes. All Rights Reserved
Recorded, mixed and mastered using Logic.
Guitars played: Taylor 714CE in open C Sharp tuning (Capo 9th Fret)
Photography: Thanks go to Nigel and Libby Hume at Hume Photography.

Having originally released this song on Soundcloud in 2021, I am delighted that the wonderful violinist Jessica Elisabeth has added her beautifully crafted playing to this remixed and remastered track. 

I hope you enjoy listening to this new version of one of my personal favourites.


LYRICS: 
These thoughts go drifting by
And I watch them fade away
Where they come from I don’t know
Where they go, who can say
It seems that there is always
A lesson to be learned
Another twist in the story
As the pages get turned

So I put on my walking shoes
Take it steady, take it slow
Turn my collar to the rain
Breathe in deep and let it go 

What are the rules in this game
Are there any rules at all?
These thoughts go drifting by
And down the waterfall
It seems that there is always
A lesson to be learned
Another chapter in the story
As the pages get turned

So I put on my walking shoes
Take it steady, take it slow
Turn my collar to the rain
Breathe in deep and let it go

Now I’m standing by the river
At the foot of the mountainside
Will the grass be any greener
Over on the other side
It seems that there is always
A lesson to be learned
Another time, another story
As the pages get turned

So I put on my walking shoes
Take it steady, take it slow
Turn my collar to the rain
Breathe in deep and let it go

My Walking Shoes Feat Jessica Elisabeth

My Walking Shoes Featuring Jessica Elisabeth

Here is an unreleased track. I felt this character study song was too dark, but I hope you find it interesting. A character study of bitter man and his breakup blues.

Lyrics:
I'm drinking the Devils urine
It keeps my angels yearning
Drinking darkroom chemicals
It's coming up burning
Slowly developing
That our love is turning
And all my love spells 
That I got from the bottom of the well
All your forgiveness
All those sutures
That never ever held

No movie music gonna save our final scene
Those swelling strings
( Do you feel manipulated?)
(Ya  know what I mean?)
All those curse words
That you heard
When I became 
Exiled from your world

Out where the molecules
And the numbers live
That makes the world spin 
(just right!)
When I'm doing the cemetery polka
All night

All the fake excuses
All the lies
My ghost will haunt you
But It will never look you in the eyes
All those insults 
That you hurled
When I became
Exiled from your world
I'm an exile from your world

Exiled from your world...

Exiled From Your World

'babe...' 

Scotty: epiphone casino guitar, fender squire 3/4 bass, lyrics, vocals 

(1-2-3-2-1) 

Babe, is my love in vain?
This loss of trust with you has made me rather quite insane.
Say what you need to say.
Get it off your chest, and lay to rest all of your blame. 

Some sorta solution needs to be figured out.
Otherwise resolution is without beyond doubt.
I'll do whatever it takes just to figure out
whatever's going on and causing us this drought.
Maybe you're right and I am nothing but a grouch.
Or, maybe, I am, and you just need to shut your mouth.
Maybe we're both to blame and should just carry out
our lives that remain and hang upon the couch. 

Babe, why can't we be
happy, understand we'll disagree and soon make peace?
Yet we always want to leave.
Turn our backs upon our love during difficulties.

babe...

Marking the current Mercury Retrograde.
Thank you for listening ♥

Retrograde (Chaos in the Skies)

Original track, lyrics and vocals by me
Music made in GarageBand

This song is about a friendship that ended, a long time ago..
The picture is from today, me and my mother had a walk in the beautiful weather 🌞
Thank you so much for listening 🫶

I need to tell you something
From a troubled heart
I've been thinking about us
And how we fell apart
But I want you to know
I didn't really want to go....

I tried my best to keep you
Turned my life upside down
Did everything to please you
Let all my shields fall down
But I could feel
It wasn't good enough for you...

The burning flame
Became a losing game

I often told you
You are everthing for me
Gave you full attention
But you still didn't see
And the burning flame
Became a losing game...

The burning flame
Became a losing game

I need to tell you something
From a troubled heart
I've been thinking about us
And how we fell apart
How the burning flame
Became a losing game...

The burning flame
Became a losing game

The burning flame
Became a losing game

The burning flame
Became a losing game

A Losing Game (Original)

a Blues song i wrote after watching a show. in Kansas Cities PORK N BEANS! ITS REALLY A PLACE, Enjoy

God Save My Broken Soul _Written by JCRACKER♤ (2)

BE STRONG

Have a listen to my album "Curiosities Of Outsider Art" (Sept 2025). Quirky and interesting tunes.
Thank you for listening!

I try to write with rich lyrical details and self-deprecating humor about the human condition. Plus, that unique Shade Structure sound!  It sounds best with headphones. Thanks for any comments, reposts or likes.

Discography: Available under Album tag on my Soundcloud main page. 
* Curiosities Of Outsider Art (Sept 2025)
*All this Useless Beauty (2025)
*Rockers (2024) 
*Arrhythmia & Blues (2024)
* The Curse Of A Good Looking Ghost (2024)
* Low Profile (2024)
* Smilers (EP 2023)
•Short Songs For Tall Minds"  (2022)
•Friends, They're Gonna Get Your Story Wrong (2021)
•A Suburban Dadaist With Some Store Bought Beats (2021)
•All Feel and No Technique (2020)
•This Is How I Spend My Nights (2019)
•California Songs (2018-2019)

All sounds contained within are home-made/DIY recordings. Most songs are short stories, as I am influenced by Musicians & Writers like Raymond Carver, Warren Zevon, Mountain Goats, Tom Waits, Mark Eitzel,  Randy Newman, Destroyer, Steely Dan, Captain Beefheart, Loudon Wainwright III, Leonard Cohen & The National. Most songs have the lyrics on the song page. Thank you for listening!