In the style of a rebound roll-in-the-hay, this is my first recording after my post-house-move slump. We're all a bit shame-faced about it, but it needed doing.

Based on a couple of quotes from Rumi (which may or may not have required some pumped-up beats), here are the lyrics:
This being human is a guest house
Each morning brings a new arrival

A joy, depression, or a meanness,
Or unexpectedly, a momentary awareness

Welcome every one them
Even crowds of sorrows,
who sweep your out house violently
And strip your things away,
Still, treat each guest honorably,
And entertain each visitor
They may be making space in you
for some new delight

The da-ark thought, the shame, the malice,
MEET them at the door laughing...
Invite them in.

Be grateful for whoever comes,
Each one’ s a guide sent from the beyond

Chorus

Today, 
like every other day, 
we wake up empty
and frightened
Don't grab your phone, no
Reach for your guitar

Let the beauty
we love be what we do.
There are hundreds of ways 
to kneel and kiss the ground.

Guesthouse

"What Is And What Could Be" (#488, 210729)

If you're fixed on takin' off that ring
Guess I'll take mine off too
Moving truck it took everything
Everything except the truth

Things are gonna' change for us
Kids will learn my new address
Every other weekend ain't enough
But I'll take what I can get

There's a lesson in the losin' and a grace in each goodbye
Bittersweet like all things human we can't know until we try
Sometimes I don't see it comin' other times it's outta' reach
Ain't we all in search of something between what is and what could be

After all the wishing
The waiting and the walking out
Somehow I quit the chasing
Grabbed hold of here and now

Week 31 - What Is And What Could Be (210729)

Copyright Erin Wolf 2021

Week 30 Prompt: Corner of the World

oh my child
i miss you more today
here in the mountains 
over 1,000 miles away
i'd like to wish you a good night's sleep
if i may

good night from this
corner of the world
i hope you're in your bed
nestled and curled
up tight, ready to sleep
with all my love to keep
all my love to keep

oh my child
i wish i could hold you today
here on this island
over 2,000 miles away
i want to wish you a good night's sleep
if i may

good night from this
corner of the world
i hope you're in your bed
nestled and curled
up tight, ready to sleep
with all my love to keep
all my love to keep

oh my child
i miss you the most today
as you're quarantined 
10 miles away
i want to wish you a good night's sleep
if i may

good night from this 
corner of the world
i hope you're in your bed
nestled and curled 
up tight, ready to sleep
with all my love to keep
all my love to keep
all my love to keep

oh my child
i love you more today
than i could
ever say
i'm waiting for your embrace
someday... soon

All My Love To Keep

"Greed (What More Do You Want)" (#489, 210807)

 * co-written with Texas Dave * 

I’m sick of my Ford
Lord gimme’ a Cadillac
I always want more
Ain’t that a fact

Look in the mirror and ask myself
What I’d say to someone else

What more do you want
What more do you need
When we already have it all
Anything more is greed

My bathtub’s too little
Give me a pool
A fountain in the middle
That would be cool

Look in the mirror and ask myself
What I’d say to someone else

What more do you want
What more do you need
When we already have it all
Anything more is greed

Could use more money
How about my own bank
And a good lookin’ honey
Please and thanks

Week 32 - Greed (What More Do You Want) 210807

Copyright Erin Wolf 2021

*Note about the song: Bit of a ramble inspired by an old bit of writing and a friend's recent break-up and the notion that even though it needed to happen, it still hurt. 

i speak, you listen
you speak and i listen
something has broken, shifted, and changed
i spoke my truth, i feel you did the same

we said we'll continue on
but we can't the way we used to 
we're too kind, too polite, too complimentary
oh we're masking all our heartbreak in this reverie 

(oooooooohs and woooooaaaahhhs for days)

we offer thanks and apologies
like our feelings are somehow too much
oh it's more than what we can give one another, darling
oh we need more than what we can give, oh darling

oh we were so kind
oh and we just kept trying not to cry
trying not to cry

and these words are true
they say that time will take away everything
but they can't take away these damn memories

and maybe, oh maybe,
someday, someday i will find
i will find it'll sting less
than it does tonight

maybe it'll sting less 
than it does tonight

wish you all the best
oh you wish me all the best
maybe we'll find true joy someday
maybe someday

Turn Away

Revisiting some of my band Side Street catalog from 1970s with some new musicians on board - Jarod Fedele on drums and Neal Morse on lead guitar.

Sunstroke

see again
free again
Welcoming the promise of the light
Walk again 
Talk again
Soon the darkness will be far behind

You held my hand and led me through the shadows
I saw the shape of all that is to come
I held my breath to dived into the water ever flowing
To swim into your depths of love 
Nothing   here will be enough

Dream again
Need again
Call among the planets and the stars
Fall again
War again
Shake the cosmic ruins of my heart

You held my hand and led me through the shadows
I saw the shape of all that is to come
I held my breath to dived into the river ever flowing
To swim into your arms of love 
Nothing here will be enough

Steal again
Feel Again
Open up my eyes that blind my shame
Break again
Make amends
Change the way my shadow hides in rain

Oh your arms of love
Welcome all of me
Shatter all the pain
let the rusty chains fall free

shadow shape

Anythings_possible(2).wav

"Buy Me A Pink Balloon" (#532, 211102)

Everyone gets older a little every day
Wiser too if they really listen
But we've been gettin' younger somehow someway
In the kisses we been kissin'

Children long for presents every holiday
To ring in the occasion
Well you're the greatest thing I ever celebrate
Always worth the waitin'

Buy me a pink balloon and I'll sing a song for you
Dance the world away right by my side
It happens once a year the moon so big and clear
Won't you raise a glass with me tonight

Hand in hand there's nothin' nothin' we can't do
Walkin' next to you feels so right
Later on this evening make a wish or two
Candles burnin' bright

Buy me a pink balloon and I'll sing a song for you
Dance the world away right by my side
It happens once a year the moon so big and clear
Won't you raise a glass with me tonight

Week 44 - Buy Me A Pink Balloon (211102)

As a member of Bozevilla, King of the Gypsies, I am indeed, the Gentleman Gypsy--enjoy without guilt or tilt!

"2008 I was out on the road
I was down ol Texas way
I got to feelin' like somethin' was comin'
And I had to go

I was 2000 miles
From anything that I know
So I stole
All the things I needed for the road"

The Gentleman Gypsy

Glyn Hyde - Summer On The Water 2020

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 32 - Greed (What More Do You Want) 210807

JamesTristanRedding