What happens when a mathematician on vacation with his soon-to-be-ex-girlfriend goes insane?  Let's explore that ...

Jigsaw Star

Abide Love

The result of a co-writing exercise in our songwriters’ group.

Can't Get There From Here

The prodigal son returns after wandering around for who knows how long and for no especially good reason.

High Road Or Low

Disappointment rooms, where family embarrassments (epileptics, Downs, etc.) were hidden from public view, were and remain more common than we’d like to believe.  An article about a New Hampshire couple who found a disappointment room in an old house they were renovating inspired this song.  When our songwriting group critiqued it, one said it was the saddest thing he’d ever heard and he hoped he never heard it again.

Disappointment Room

The past few years it’s been a challenge to reduce the time I waste thinking about American politics.  Occasionally it pays off, though.  Here I present a Buddhist take on the karmic debt of a former high US official.

Karma Sings The Blues

I love walking quietly in the woods, just looking around and thinking.  On a stroll around a small lake I had a few observations about change and connection I put in this song.

In The End

I grew up near Coalwood, WV in the '50s and '60s, loving science, space and the Space Race. Oddly I hadn't heard of the Rocket Boys of Coalwood until 2000 when I first saw "October Sky". I even worked with one of the Boys in the early '80s, but somehow the subject never came up. Homer Hickam's book "The Rocket Boys" inspired me to write a ballad about the story. This is it.

Homer And The Boys

In 1998 John Glenn became the world’s oldest astronaut. Shortly before his launch, I was in the car listening to a well-known radio comedy duo’s show.  For the last time.

Ol' John Glenn

Built during the Cold War, the Cheyenne Mountain Complex in Colorado is a fascinating installation.  Though most of the original tasks have since been reassigned or made obsolete, had the Cold War turned hot Cheyenne Mountain would have fired the ICBMs.

Need To Know

All the world’s a stage ... for a while.

My Curtain's Last Call

My wife and I are members of a local astronomy club.  We attended an astronomy conference at a nearby college a few years back.  On the lunch break I watched a club member explaining a helioscope (a telescope designed to view the sun) to a cute co-ed.  I considered the body language and my imagination did the rest.

Sunspot Baby

To the Amigos.  Long may they wave.

Come When You Call  (Josh Jones, Dave Berry, ~1996)

The house seems smaller now than it did so long ago
When I ran much too fast down the hall
And I'd hear mama's voice in the kitchen down below
I learned then to come when she called
Jacks, rocks, building blocks, kicking a can or two
King of the mountain or G.I. Joe with comrades tried and true

The recess bell would ring and out we'd go to play
We’d scramble for bat, glove and ball
But there’s so much to learn, Mrs. Lively used to say
"Now children, come back when I call
Jacks, rocks, building blocks, put them all away,
King of the mountain and G.I. Joe 
Will wait till the end of the day..."

Now I admit that I forget exactly where or when
There’s much I no longer recall
But we made promises to trust and to defend
And always to come to the call
It was one for all and all for one over a bowl or two,
Share the dreams of the lives we’d lead 
And we'd play the whole night through

Now it's FAXes, phones, installment loans, 
And we work the whole day through
But sometimes late at the keyboard I sit back and I think of you

So when your steps are slow and when your eyes grow dim 
When time runs like sand through the glass
When it seems that none are left on whom you can depend
My voice will come out of the past, singin’
Jacks, rocks, building blocks, kicking a can or two
I'll pick up this old guitar my friend, 
And I'll play this one for you ...

Tool For The Job

Come When You Call

When I was a kid I loved magic eight balls.  I always wondered, "how do they know?"

Magic Eight Ball (Josh Jones, 2009 / 2014)

Magic eight ball, tell my fortune,
Lemme ask you, will you answer my question truly?
Magic eight ball, will my lover take no other, 
Swear to give herself up to me? 

As I see it, yes, yes, it is likely
As I see it, oh you may rely upon it
As I see it, yes, yes, definitely
I can tell you it is very certain

Magic eight ball, see my future,
I am unsure, will you answer my question truly?
I was cheatin’, she caught me lyin’, ran out cryin’, 
Will she ever forgive-uh me?

Reply hazy, try again tomorrow
Reply hazy, concentrate and ask again
Reply hazy, I cannot predict
Think it’s best that I not tell-uh you

Magic eight ball, I’m bleedin’, 
I’m pleadin’, will you answer my question truly?
I been sleepless, lost and broken, we haven’t spoken in days now,
Will she come back to me?

Very doubtful, all my sources tell me
Very doubtful, outlook not so good and it is
Very doubtful, my reply is no
One last turn says ohhhh ... d-don’t be countin’ on it

Magic Eight Ball

I'm a singer-songwriter interested in history, science and the human condition.  It's not a song if it doesn't have a story.  I also write instrumental pieces.

Josh Jones

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