"The Silver Lining" (#444, 210306)

 * Co-written with Mark Anderson / @mark-anderson-474835928 * 

Half the prayer on earth lives in hospitals and prisons
Guess that's what it takes to get soul to listen
A simple conversation can break your heart in two
Funny how we learn to love what we're just about to lose

Doesn't matter who or why it hurts to say goodbye
But even then it's sometimes been a blessing in disguise
Every season I been seein' more and more examples
Life's for livin' and we ain't given more than we can handle

Like hot and cold like salt and pepper
Oh God sure knows how to weave it all together
I can make a plan but I gotta' trust His timing
And find the silver lining

You know that moment when you wake up from a dream
Ain't awake ain't still sleepin' you're somewhere in between
Damn near twenty years I walked around like that
Couldn't see the forest through the trees the good inside the bad

Like hot and cold like salt and pepper
Oh God sure knows how to weave it all together
I can make a plan but I gotta' trust His timing
And find the silver lining

Movin' on when someone's gone is something you can't measure
Holdin' hands or golden bands nothing lasts forever
Wasn't always pretty but it made me who I am
I think I understand

Week 10a - The Silver Lining (210306)

My father bought my mother a beautiful ring in the early 1980's.
It is very much like a famous Royal engagement ring of the times.
My mothers ring was well loved in a long and happy marriage. I don't think the other ring was so lucky.

The Ring

Shoes Untied
by Erin Wolf, Laurie & David Easterling © 3/122020 Little Chute, WI and Oak Ridge, TN

Week 10 Prompt: Foundations
*Disclaimer: The following tune is a song about grief and may cause some strong emotional responses in listeners.*

The horizon’s blue
Not a cloud in the sky
I think I see heaven
You’re not by my side
Yesterday you were with me
For life’s wild ride
I stand here alone
Raindrop in my eye

The earth is shaking
My firm foundation
My heart is breaking
I need restoration   
The earth is shaking
My firm foundation
My heart is breaking
I need restoration   

The music plays 
I hear the sound
It doesn’t move me
Like when you were around 
I used to stand
On solid ground  
‘Til shifting sands
Knocked me down

Sitting here for hours with my shoes untied
They keep sayin’ it’ll be alright
But I can’t find any hope tonight 

The earth is shaking
My firm foundation
My heart is breaking
I need restoration   
The earth is shaking
My firm foundation
My heart is breaking
I need...

Shoes Untied

A week late with a song for the SAW2021 "You Could Turn Back,
But Why Would You Want To" prompt, due to a week and a half on vacation. 
Tried getting started writing the lyrics on the plane to my destination, when the pilot announced that the navigation system was not working (this was before take off, luckily). So, from the word "navigation" came the initial idea to the song.
Many, many thanks to Erin Wolf for adding her beautiful voice to the chorus!


The shell brakes open, a beak poking out
A few more tries, and soon a chick stumbles about
Hungry and cold he starts to wail
Then his mamma brings him food every 5 minutes without fail

He eats and he grows, soon weeks have flown by
The nest is getting smaller, is it time to fly?
His wings not yet strong enough, and his legs not very steady
He sings about the day when he’ll be ready

Chorus:
I’m gonna fly - Across the sky
Navigate the air, as if no one else is there
Soar high - As a kite
On my maiden voyage flight

The day arrives when he spreads his wings and flies
Like in his song, he takes to the skies
This is surely freedom at its best
Why would he ever want to go back to the nest?

High above an eagle eye has locked in on its prey
And in a flash the end is here to the maiden voyage day
Trapped in talons, freedom gone, along with his last breath
His spirit leaves, singing, victorious over death

Chorus


Song and image Copyright © Claes Akerblom 2021

Maiden Voyage

The fourth tale of Snow and Cherry

Unrepaired

don't confuse yourself
with the things once said
that was long ago
when we were young and fool

you were right but wrong
lovers kiss friends don't
so you cut me out
but the doubt remained

cuz you couldn't love me back
when I cared
and i tried a thousand times
to no avail
so we went our ways
and now I’m afraid
some things are better unrepaired

we all got regrets
you were one of them
but you don't get the right
into my life again

Unrepaired

capo 3

A m             G.              D/F#
1.Let’s get back to basics
G.            D/F#.      Em
Can  we start again
Build a new foundation
G.     D/F# em.          C
Like we only just met 
2.I’ll Laugh at your old  jokes 
Like they’re new to me
You ll be sweet
And charming 
We'll spend days by the sea 

3.I’ll try and watch all the football games
You’ll sip Licorice tea 
I’ll even  learn the  players names
You’ll collect sea shells with me

CHORUS
C.                                          G.     EM
Well not speak of what ever then went wrong 
C.                                 G.                                  D
We wont dredge up the thoughts of the past 
C.                             D                  EM.             G
We will dream of golden days and all that's to come 
C.                              D.                 EM
 Lay down those  old  lies at last

BRIDGE
EM                                   G
You’ll put up with my anxious heart
C
adrift on the waves
              G
And the salt spray of life
We walk on now not torn apart
C
From shadows and caves into the bright light

week 10 foundations- song a week

"You Can Have Wichita" (#447, 210322)

 * co-written with David Easterling * 

Half a million people in this town
Why’s it feel so lonely when the lights go down
Hard as I’m tryin’ I’m no good at readin’ minds
But I can read between the lines

Just like every place before
Same old mistakes but this ain’t in Kansas anymore
A last decision in between these city limits
Just outside that door

You can have Wichita guess I’ll keep on lookin’
Gave it all I got to make it work until I couldn’t
Somehow the dirt here seems to hold your memory
You can have Wichita and it’s all Wichita to me

I won’t pretend to understand
The time I spent building castles in the sand
Everywhere it brought me everything it taught me
Well it made me who I am

You can have Wichita guess I’ll keep on lookin’
Gave it all I got to make it work until I couldn’t
Somehow the dirt here seems to hold your memory
You can have Wichita and it’s all Wichita to me

You can have the clovers that rise up when it rains
Tall grass in the back yard those long hot summer days
You can have the porch swing made for autumn evenings
Lonely as the willow tree season after season

Week 12 - You Can Have Wichita (210322)

The fifth tale of Snow and Cherry

No more Mr. Nice Guy

he's the type they bring home to family dinner
he's the kind they don't know they're looking for
because who wouldn't want to date a winner
just you wait for lines outside his door

dude is so good at bending over backwards
counts the days for his favors to return
he thinks he deserves everything for being nice
but everybody knows nice guys finish last
the only way out is through

no more Mr. Nice Guy
no more Mr. Nice Guy
no more Mr. Nice Guy
no more Mr. Nice Guy

he's so tired of pretending to be simple
there is only so much a man can hide
it's no wonder he can't tell why he's single
all he learned to give is an eye for an eye
the only way out is through

no more Mr. Nice Guy
no more Mr. Nice Guy
no more Mr. Nice Guy
no more Mr. Nice Guy

he thinks he deserves everything for being nice
but everybody knows nice guys finish last
the only way out is through

Tales of Snow and Cherry

No more Mr. Nice Guy

Mercy now 3.m4a

"(You Could Turn Back But) Why Would You Want To" (#442, 210226)

 * co-written with Rob Lannan * 

Morning air smells like your perfume
Layin' sleepless in my bedroom
Day is fadin' to a full moon
Feels like a perfect time to lose you

From Hawaii to the bayou
We ain't shinin' like the stars do
Spark is burnin' out between me and you
Gone as midnight in the afternoon

Won't forget these moments with you
But what's been done baby we can't undo
Open up the goodbye door and walk on through
You could turn back but why would you want to

Drew my smile on like a cartoon
We can't change who we turn into
Engine all but runnin' on fumes
Close as hand grenades and horseshoes

Won't forget these moments with you
But what's been done baby we can't undo
Open up the goodbye door and walk through
You could turn back but why would you want to

We gave up there's no shame
Can't light a candle in the pourin' rain
I'm just gonna' say it I think we always knew
Someone had to walk away it might as well be you

[ image credit: "freepik", which I assume is just a ... pik? That is free? See link below, or I mean, don't, w/e ]

www.freepik.com/free-photo/close-up-candle-rain_2231309.htm

Week 09 - (You Could Turn Back But) Why Would You Want To (210226)

"Fountains Foundations & Frontiers" (#443, 210305)

Concrete in the mixer spinning round and round
Two by fours in ditches dug into the ground
Sweat rolls down the faces squinting in the sun
At what they created in a cloud of dust

Sculpture in the center posing with a dove
Shaded by the shelter of cirrus clouds above 
Fishes in the water frozen as the sky
Waiting on the winter underneath the ice

Modern man must imitate the screen 
Even if we don't know what it means
On the edge we stare at the abyss
And wonder who made this

Somewhere in the desert where there they built no road
Is my buried treasure that's where I will go
Leave behind this palace let this place decay
Find myself a cabin dream the days away

Week 10b - Fountains Foundations & Frontiers (210305)

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 10b - Fountains Foundations & Frontiers (210305)

JamesTristanRedding