Copyright Duncan Macgregor & Erin Wolf 2021
Photo 72257285 © Colicaranica | Dreamstime.com

Guitar: Duncan Macgregor (https://soundcloud.com/macsongs_uk)
Mix: Duncan Macgregor
Lyrics & Vocals: Duncan Macgregor & Erin Wolf

Week 20 Prompt: Some People's Kids

why do other people's kids always stand up straight
eat the food off their plate
my kid's army crawling through the lawn 'cause he can't skate

why do other people's kids always walk without delay
keep it moving along the way
my kid only travels by cartwheels everywhere

they're all just kinder chameleons
never doing what they should
well they've come here to play
and there's no escape from 
the kinder chameleons

why are some people's kids so sweet and kind
yet some are less refined
my kid always seems to dance along the line

why are some people's kids quiet and calm
never seems to have a qualm
my kid broke the tension with a glitter bomb

they're all just kinder chameleons
never doing what they should
well they've come here to play
and there's no escape from 
the kinder chameleons

i still want to be your friend
but i don't want to play right now
i'd rather play with your toys

i still want to be your friend 
but i don't want to play right now *gosh*
i'd rather play with your toys

they're all just kinder chameleons
never doing what they should
well they've come here to play
and there's no escape from 
the kinder chameleons

why do other people's kids love to sing in tune
all kinds of great songs to croon
my kid's been singing baby shark in french all afternoon

why are other people's kids quiet and reserved
still, serene, unperturbed
my kid's got a personality the size of saturn

they're all just kinder chameleons
never doing what they should
well they've come here to play
and there's no escape from 
the kinder chameleons

Kinder Chameleons (with Duncan Macgregor)

Week 34 #songaweek2020. Maybe the only completely instrumental track I've ever recorded! Photo is my lovely daughter this summer at a lake in northern Minnesota. If you listen really closely you might hear my rowdy backyard squirrels who "enhanced" the lead guitar track.

Solitude

"Didn’t Know What I Didn’t Know" (#400, 201003)

 * co-written with Pete & Pat Luboff *
 * image by Jonathan Brazil: www.flickr.com/photos/jbwan *

Couldn’t see what I couldn’t see right before my eyes
Didn’t doubt what I believed and couldn’t tell you why
Wouldn’t hear what I wouldn’t hear not a whisper not a shout
You said it loud and clear but I knew how to tune you out

I didn’t know what I didn’t know of course I know that now
I had to learn the hard way the only way that I know how
Baby please forgive me don’t turn around and go
I didn’t mean to hurt you I didn’t know what I didn’t know

Couldn’t tell what I couldn’t tell and you couldn’t tell me anything
Followed you down to the water but you couldn’t make me drink
Didn’t do what I said I’d do I guess that all I can say
Now I’m looking at losing you I hope it’s not too late

I didn’t know what I didn’t know of course I know that now
I had to learn the hard way the only way that I know how
Baby please forgive me don’t turn around and go
I didn’t mean to hurt you I didn’t know what I didn’t know

I didn’t know how to love you
I didn’t know how much I do
Tell me we’re not breakin’ up
I swear I’ll make it up to you

Week 40a - Didn’t Know What I Didn’t Know (201003)

I see you in the morning and the words stick in my throat
Alarms ring when I look you in the eye and so I don't
I’ve learned to take a deep breath, then I slowly let it out
Every day I notice every time that you're around

and I want you to be mine all the time

I WANT you when I'm near you and I want you from afar
I WANT you with my body and I want you with my heart
I WANT to find a moment we can talk with just us too
I want to make you want me in the way that I want you

Cause I want you to be mine all the time

All the time, all the time, all the time
That I spend dreaming of you
I could BUILD a house of cards so high
The jack of hearts would touch the sky
If I found out you feel the way I do

Cause I want you to be mine all the time

I Want You To Be Mine

Back at the dawning of our days
We were a brightly burning blaze
Every star would shine upon us
And then the old world fell apart
Sometimes I wonder who we are
Without a fight to keep us honest 

Are we the spoilt brats of god?
the waste and damage rages on
Without the slightest sign of slowing
I stretch my tired eyes to see
a sign, a chance that we could be
More than just a mother's ruin

We could always break the pattern
It's always darkest before the dawning
When all the pieces come together
Though I every time forget it.
It's always darkest before the dawn but
It kind of seems it’s now or never 

.. You and me back at the start
We were so open in our hearts
We’d show it cause we couldn't hide it
Standing our own two feet
Now living independently
I miss the warmth of stars colliding

I miss the brightness and the fuss
I miss the gentleness of us
That strong and urgent sense of meaning
Despite the progress in these days
I long for old familiar ways
A closer more connected feeling 

Still time to make it better
It's always darkest before the dawning
when all pieces come together
It might take the stormy weather
To blow the dreams into the morning
Before they slip our minds forever
X2

And though they're 
Slipping from my mind
I never leave them quite behind
They seem to hover and they linger like the memory of a place
A certain place where I belonged, 
When I was bright and I was strong
And now the memory takes me back there
And the feeling calls me on

I once was a boy who’d met a girl
She was my bright and perfect pearl
And all the world for her an oyster
too green to even see the blow,
Await me as I let her go
then everywhere I'd hear her voice her ghost,

I felt the memory in the air
her absence found me everywhere
And everywhere a broken purpose
Without a compass or a road
Without the north where do you go?
What's an empty promise worth but

You can always break the pattern
It's just a trigger just a doorway
To the love that binds the child and mother
Seems like you can't recover
But it's always darkest before the dawn 
and gazing in another lover's eyes...

It seems to make it better
It's always darkest before the dawning
when all pieces come together
Might take the stormy weather
To blow our dreams into the morning
Before they slip our minds forever

Dawning

Julia’s song for week 46 of #songaweek2020. I didn’t set out to write this song but it found me anyway. For a tidy frame, you could go back and listen to this one from 2016 - https://soundcloud.com/cabin-of-love/pulse Photo from the Houston Chronicle.

I got one hand on the devil’s backbone
And the other on an angel’s breast
I got two eyes on the shiny prize
And a pocket full of nothing left

Take cover, I’m going in
I can’t ever not win
 
I got one hand on the holy bible
And my fingers crossed behind my back
I got two ears forever tuned
To the ravings of the maniacs

Take cover, it’s gonna hit the fan
It’s all pieces of my perfect plan

One Hand

on another episode of writing songs about TV shows...
I had the initial idea for this song about three weeks ago. I finally sat down and wrote it two weeks ago. And I finished recording it TODAY. FINALLY.

Lyrics:

You'd be surprised 'bout how heavy is the suitcase I brought
despite leaving behind 10 ton of hurt for a long shot.
A chameleon hiding out for its life, took your hand and you took mine.
We were just doing fine but I can't help to be myself back.

'Till I remember I left my ID back home,
I guess that I don't need it to say goodbye in your car.
Throw my arms to the wind, the soundtrack is your laugh
and I'm afraid I won't breathe it in enough.

Don't mind me, I'm just hoping my lungs will be cleaner
after one last night in Cartagena.

A baby deer learning how to walk in high heels,
I never knew what's like to start with the easiest thing.
Would you collect all the times I said no cause I was scared,
and light them into fireworks, hold me close and turn them into yes?

Oh mon amour, I left my ID back home,
I guess that I don't need it to say goodbye in your car.
Throw my arms to the wind, the soundtrack is your laugh
and if I look at your eyes, I can breathe it in enough.

Don't mind me, I'm just hoping my lungs will be cleaner
after one last night in Cartagena.

And just like in the movies you say
I've been here all along.
And I would stay with you here
until my days are gone.

'Till I remember I left my past back home,
and it's faster than me, so though it hurts I have to go.
"Don't you forget about me" you sound like paradise
cause for the first time I wanna say it back.

Don't mind me, I'm just hoping my lungs will be cleaner
after one last night in Cartagena.
(Throw my arms to the wind, the soundtrack is your laugh
and I look at your eyes to breathe it in enough)

last night in Cartagena

Copyright Erin Wolf 2020
Recorded at All Saints Episcopal Church, Appleton, WI

Week 51 prompt: Favorite one. Be forewarned that it's a one-way ticket to Sapville on this one. #sorrynotsorry

i think you’ve always known
that you’re my favorite one
the way your smile lights up a room
oh, i’m undone

for years i’d been alone
with this pain i’ve known
and then your love made me swoon
made my heartbeat strong

i don’t know
how to show
what i feel
all this fire
heart on the wire
it is real

will you stay
if i say
the truth i know
my favorite one
we’ve only begun
begun to grow

here we are again
just like we've always been
will you sing me some pretty tune
reminding me of when

we had to hide away
take cover from the day
yet somehow despite the gloom
you made it more okay

i don’t know
how to show
what i feel
all this fire
heart on the wire
it is real

will you stay
if i say
the truth i know
my favorite one
we’ve only begun
begun to grow

i think you’ve always known
that you’re my favorite one
the way your smile lights up a room
oh, i’m undone

Favorite One

Will the Trees Remember Our Names
by Tamora Wilson and Laurie Easterling © 12/20/2020 New York, NY and Oak Ridge, TN

Photo by Tamora Wilson, Appalachian Trail near NYC

I’ve been a part of this forest
As long as I can remember
I know every brook and tree
Hiked through her valleys and hills
January through December
She feels like a mother to me

I’ve learned how to read wildfires
Fighting flames far from my home
Now I teach all I’ve seen
As I lead a group up the ridge
I see the smoke and grab my phone
Not too late to call in the team

Chorus:
Will the trees remember our names
We fight to save them from the flames
Hold us in their memories
As the years become centuries
Will the trees remember our names

We all don our gear and grab shovels
The fire grows like it’s alive
My students tremble at the sight
Branches start to burn overhead
As the rest of the team arrives
We will battle through the night

Chorus

Bridge:
Though scarred the forest will survive
She nurtures saplings through the winter
Whispering stories of history
Rebuilding the network together

Chorus

Tamora Wilson and Laurie Easterling - Will The Trees Remember Our Names - 1:1:21, 4.15 PM

Ahora tengo la seguridad que en cada una de las personas se encuentra la luz, pero han perdido su rumbo, su sentido de la vida y se han olvidado de él. Muchos fueron los escogidos pero pocos los que respondieron a ese llamado.

Crearé una luz que nunca se apague, una luz que brille tanto como el sol. Al final de
mi vida podré decir “Mi vida sirvió para darle vida a alguien más.”

Nací como un niño y moriré como una luz.

Capítulo 7 - La Luz

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 40a - Didn’t Know What I Didn’t Know (201003)

James Tristan Redding