chorus
hit the lights

verse 1
Life is a stage 
Some of us fall off 
again and again and again
Act your age
Trying not to grow up
Again and again and again 

pre Ch
The Curtain goes up and I run a mile 
Far away far out of sight 
Forgetting my lines I freeze every time 
Until I hear them say
CH-Hit the lights 

V2
Life is a stage 
Some of us shine on 
again and again and again
At your age 
Take every moment 
Again and again and again 

The particles swoon inside the room
Caught in a brilliant white
Bathe in its bloom 
The shows not over 
Til you hear them say 
Hit the lights

the shows not over

hit the lights 27 SAW 20

I don't think we're gonna make it
Think the billionaires will take us 
off the precipice
We're sliding off the edge of it
And though I'd love to change it
How's an ant derail a train
I'm insignificant
Or is that what I'm meant to think?
So

No need for conflict now 
cause no-one’s gonna make it
No safer spaces now that 
no-one’s getting out this alive
Stare in your loved ones’ eyes cause  
every moment’s sacred
Squeeze every hand so tight and 
wait while the aPOCalypse arrives
Cause no-one’s getting out of this alive

I don't think we're gonna make it
I’ve been trying not to face it for the longest time
Always at the back of my mind
Bitter is taste
It’s all so pointless, such a waste
It’s so avoidable - 
if human life was just affordable
But

No need for conflict now 
cause no-one’s gonna make it
No safer spaces now that 
no-one’s getting out this alive
Tears in your loved ones’ eyes and 
every moment’s sacred
Squeeze all their hands so tight and 
wait until the after-life arrives
Cause no-one’s getting out of this alive

How could I lead you to this place
Only to leave without a trace 
of hope, without a call to arms?
Baby, I just need you to be strong 
and carry on
Or come despair with me and feel the eerie calm

I don’t think we’re gonna make it,
I think the billionaires will break it
Fuck the future up
For a little more of way too much
So WRONG it's almost funny
Cause the little extra money's insignificant,
to them, 
Still they SNUFF out every chance again

No need for conflict now 
cause no-one’s gonna make it
No safer spaces now that 
no-one’s getting out this alive
Stare in your loved ones’ eyes cause  
every moment’s sacred
Squeeze every hand so tight and 
wait while the apocalypse arrives
Cause no-one’s getting out of here alive

I Dont Think Were Gonna Make It

Copyright 2020
All Rights Reserved

Lyrics & Music: Erin Wolf
Guitar & Vocals: Erin Wolf
Photo credit: Jennifer Groth 
(Photo description: James, Erin, and Ryan back in the day, sometime between '06-'07, ready to rock out at some event we made the music at in Oconomowoc, WI)

james
i know you probably don't remember
how we met in the summer of '03
we met in the woods
in the middle of wisconsin
a far cry from your roots in boston

you didn't say much
lest music was involved
then you jumped right in 
and you evolved
strumming your guitar
or beating the drums
clearly this is what you loved

we were outside
a small town called wautoma
used to be known as webb
now it's called camp lakotah
singing by the campfire
swimming in the lake
that's the story
of how i met james

james
look how far we've come
after all the years and all you've done
you started song-a-week
you welcomed people in
i'm so proud of you
my friend

and to think
we were outside
a small town called wautoma
used to be known as webb
now it's called camp lakotah
singing by the campfire
swimming in the lake
that's the story
of how i met james

we were outside a small town
little place called wautoma
used to be known as webb
now it's called camp lakotah
singing by the campfire
swimming in the lake
that's the story
of how i met james

James

"With A Sigh" (#374, 200717)

Not every story can sound like a fairy tale
Sometimes the lovers don't love in the end
Not every promise lasts but I believe anyway
Somehow someday that I'll see you again

We couldn't have guessed
But nevertheless
I sing to the wind
As the raindrops roll off my skin

With a sigh and a kiss as the train leaves the station
I know I'm gonna' miss you it's hard to be patient
While the hands on the clock and the seasons are changin'
But me and my kiss we will be right here waitin' with a sigh

Maybe it's early a little too soon to tell
Or maybe I'm late how would I know
Pick me a rose and I'll pick you a daffodil
Before they all freeze under the snow

You brought me to life
Totally opened my eyes
Left hours ago
But I'm never letting you go

Week 29b - With A Sigh (200717)

Copyright 2020
All Rights Reserved

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

**The third song from the "Quarantine Sessions" side project connected with my Song-a-Week writing. The prompt from JTR for this song is "knowing what we know". This song has influences from a wide range of people and things. Hamilton lyrics, work pressures, heart heavy days, moments filled with light and laughter, new friendships and connections.**

la lo la lo lei

feeling heavy
scent is seeping
in my skin
perfume will win

feeling the weight of
expectation
on my shoulders
weigh like boulders

la lo la lo lei

feeling weary
bleak and dreary
say it with a sigh
*sigh*

feeling hope, though
knowing what we know
will this turn around
will light abound

la lo la lo lei

feeling my heartbeat
it's quickening
la lo la lo lei

feeling all these things
what will tomorrow bring
la lo la lo lei

la lo la lo lei

Knowing What We Know (La Lo)

"Help Somebody" (#379, 200719)

 * Co-written with Pete & Pat Luboff * 

Ever get a feeling like everything is wrong
Everybody joined the club and you just don't belong
You're cold and lonely on the outside looking in
When it all feels like it's over where do you begin

Help somebody it'll turn your world around
Help somebody get your feet on solid ground
When you're down and out and upside down reach out to someone else
Help somebody and you help yourself
Help somebody and you help yourself

Got a God shaped hole and I can't fix it with food
Can't fill it up with money or drown it in booze
I dreamed someone could love me and make it all okay
Never knew there was a way out 'til I heard somebody say

Help somebody it'll turn your world around
Help somebody get your feet on solid ground
When you're down/out upside/down reach out to someone else
Help somebody and you help yourself
Help somebody and you help yourself

Maybe you think I've got it all together
Don't believe what you think you see
Because we could both get to feelin' better
If you'll help somebody like me

Week 30a - Help Somebody (200724)

Me, I never seem to see
Those creatures creeping up on me
Mostly in reality 
it's just my personality again
What if there are people peeping
That could give me trouble sleeping
And sluggish like a drunk
I’d be more vulnerable to monkeys on my back
But when I see them, I’m free….

Same old monkey, always worrying
Sometimes quietly, sometimes loud,
It's ok, monkey - I will handle it
You can put your burdens down now

If i leave it 
What will happen?
They might think I'm dot dot dot
Think I'd better make it better
Act in time to stop the rot
Unless it’s inside me?

Same old monkey, always worrying
Sometimes quietly, sometimes loud,
It's ok, monkey - I will handle it
You can put your burdens down now

Someday it'll all be over
Someday I won't be this monkey man
But I don't really think that 
someday it will be over - this is who I am 
I will end as I began
Same old same old

Same old monkey, always worrying
Sometimes quietly, sometimes loud,
It's ok, monkey - I will handle it
You can put your burdens down now

Ok Monkey

song a week wk30

sometimes I forget to breathe

SAW wk30 sometimes i forget to breathe

Seventy boats down from a Yankee gale
Dead like the dream of the age of sail
For a side wheel steamer in a suit of mail
Seven boats down from a Yankee gale

Left a broken fence around the coast
Of timber and beams and bones and hopes
Pick through the teeth and the hands of the host
Now the graveyard recruits its own

Seventy boats down from a Yankee gale
Sowing calm, and courage pales
In the cold night
Growing time, passing by
It's a life

It's living

But it's beginning
To feel like giving in
And the cold wind
Feels comforting
The winter blanket bed
The fire on again
And wait to be dead
Or go swimming


Image credit: http://vre2.upei.ca/cap/node/216

Yankee Gale - Song a Week 2020, Week 31

"I Can't Believe It's Not" (#382, 200802)

Something about your smile
Darker than the rest
The anger in your eyes
Always hurt the best

Better hold on tight
To the pain I know
Never safe inside
Never could let go

I'd give you everything
To have you back again
One more night together
We could stay forever

Show me some kinda' sign
Before I'm out of time
And the door is finally locked
I can't believe it's not

Nothing could have stopped
What you meant to me
All those aftershocks
Brought me to my knees

I'd give you everything
To have you back again
One more night together
We could stay forever

Show me some kinda' sign
Before I'm out of time
And the door is finally locked
I can't believe it's not

Did I dream it did I fall in fantasy
Did I carve you from the earth
Did I leave behind my sense of sanity
Did I waste until it hurt

Week 32 - I Can’t Believe It’s Not (200802)

Song a Week Challenge

Original Lyrics:
He wondered if it was up to him
Symphonic gongs blasting through the ceiling
A taste of raspberries stained in his memories
There! It begins again! Hit the lights! Hit the lights my friend!

Meteors hurtled from her hands
As if she was bowling across the universe
A song of mango bleeding across asteroid fields
There! It begins again! Hit the lights! Hit the lights my friend!

Who are we but two beings?
Built of carbon and electricity
A touch of melancholy the abyss between pinprick stars
And worlds collide, hit the lights, hit the lights!

Hit The Lights

Nashville songwriter and multi-instrumentalist, Godin Guitars Official Artist and Founder of www.songaweek.org.

His catalog of 500+ titles includes collaborations with hit writers Mark Narmore, Elliott Park, Steve Dean, and Pete & Pat Luboff, among others internationally from England to Australia.

Redding's music has landed cuts by numerous recording artists including Dan Whitehouse, Emma Gale, and David Easterling.

Week 29b - With A Sigh (200717)

James Tristan Redding