What sounds like a fun shallow song certainly has some wise depth... I guess this boat floats! 😁🎵👏

Float Your Boat (#732, 231104)

 	by Donna Frost, Milton Blackford, Jay Brown, and James Tristan Redding

Stay out of the water if it don’t float your boat
Stay off of the stage if you can’t hit the notes
If you ain’t got gas in the tank don’t hit the road
Stay out of the water if it don’t float your boat

When the lightning strikes don’t take a walk in the rain
And if they think you’re crazy ain’t no need to explain
When you can’t say something good there’s nothing good to say
And if the boat don’t float stay outta’ the lake

Stay out of the water if it don’t float your boat
Stay off of the stage if you can’t hit the notes
If you ain’t got gas in the tank don’t hit the road
Stay out of the water if it don’t float your boat

Don’t make no promises you don’t mean to keep
Don’t say it’s over until you’re six feet deep
Don’t hate on the sinner unless you’re free of sin
Don’t hold the door if they ain’t ready to come in

Week 45 - Float Your Boat (231104)

Copyright Erin Wolf 2023
DADGAD tuning

Photo (my own): Sunset on Mission Lake at Waypost Camp, Hatley, WI - June 11, 2023

*song note: I don't really do resolutions, and I'm not picking them up via this song. Rather, it's a way of processing a lot of things from 2023 while also taking both literal & metaphorical breaths before plunging face-first into 2024. Guessing I'm not alone in that sense.*

here we stand at the end of the line
once again
as the clock ticks forward
its time

to let go of the end
of the old time
and welcome 
the new one in

we are called to stay the course
to somehow hold in the balance
everything all at once
and nothing at all

it's all so confusing
yet still straightforward and simple, really
are we just overthinking
am i just overthinking tonight

tonight

do we sing auld lang syne or do we 
sing our laments, sing our painful cry
do we sing the two, together
interwoven, intertwined

because grief and love
grief and love 
joy and pain
co-exist at the same time

at the same time

as we look back and reflect
as i look back and reflect
on the roof
on the strength, courage, & wisdom 

it came at 
far too high a cost
but i still give thanks
for i still have

i still have breath left in my lungs
and i still have my voice
and i still can carry on 
for you and your boys

and i will keep going
ever reaching
ever getting closer still
to justice on the

just beyond the hill
yeah
just beyond 
that hill

Resolute

This is brand new, so I’ll be editing it for awhile.  I’m also playing around with a version in 3/4 time.  Happy I had the time to do this take to share with Song A Week!

Searching for the Moon
Tamora Wilson, New York, NY © December 24, 2023

We had nothing to lose cause we didn’t know what we had
And riding by the lake wasn’t so bad
It’s a good thing we didn’t know what was to come
Cause we would have missed out on all the fun

Well I can’t go back and even if I could, my friends are all gone
It was easier to wish on the stars when nothing could go wrong
It’s too much work to start a campfire
I’m searching for the moon tonight

There was a full moon rising over the lake
It was as orange as a tiger, burning bright
It was larger than any cauldron of witch’s brew
And there was nothing in the way of the view

Well I can’t go back and even if I could, my friends are all gone
It was easier to wish on the stars when nothing could go wrong
It’s too much work to start a campfire
I’m searching for the moon tonight

I look up and see the moon in the sky
It’s stark white and the size of a dime
And I’ve gotta keep moving because there’s just too much to do
Only have a second to take in the view

Well I can’t go back and even if I could, my friends are all gone
It was easier to wish on the stars when nothing could go wrong
It’s too much work to start a campfire
I’m searching for the moon tonight

Searching For The Moon - 1:1:24, 8.04 PM

Original photography, poetry, songwriting, performance of drums, bass, guitar, vocals by Evan McDoniels

Locked out and alone
hidden worlds unknown
Sound from the stone
A chill in our bones

We’re worried we won’t come home
They took us from earth you know
A painted bird, plumes blue and white
Stands out to the infected gray blight
Esperanza, hatikvah, kibo, kava
Mathematics to build aasha 

Second part:

“Every stone on the road
Sacred to me”
Every dream we share
Every ecstatic water fall
Until the stars dream
Until the moon beams,
Until the soil screams
With glee, infinite symphonies

Part 2- Painted Birds

All instruments, lyrics performed, arranged and composed by Evan McDoniels.  Photography by Evan McDoniels

He walked through circles of worlds
Magnatonic swirls ovals oak burl
A tinge of sandalwood and juniper burned into the sleeve of his shirt
The smell of camping in the red mesas of northern Arizona
A conversation with sage
Only heard when javalinas translate
To the cactus and rocks
A waft of sacred scarred into the lock
Whom, what or where was the creature to be?
Why be cataloged into the canon
Of pretenders and wallowers
When the land of Maderas 
Awaits in softest fleeces
And offerings off the coats of sheep
Building a blanket of spaceship kites
And a planet out of airplane parts and speckled eggs
This he knew when he walked into the challenge
There was one possibility to succeed and it involved 
A large amount of bravado mixed with cactus spines and rancid wine
Cowboy hats had no purpose anymore in this factory
Civility and politeness had no validity within this callous vanity

Part 3- He Walked Through Circles Of Worlds

Original instrumentation, composition, performance, photography, lyric writing by Evan McDoniels

Happy new year (sounds like we're in a terminator movie, 2024 doesn't seem like a legit number, it's the future dooood!).  This 5 part EP was started around New Year's Eve and then I just kept adding instruments and finally got to the lyric part of it last and it it's been a fun multi-part odyssey! Hope you enjoy!

Overwhelmed under dusky smoke
Terrified by sight
There’s no reason to come out awoke
By the fireside

Waiting to feel again
Frozen under lakes
Harmonizing the time bends
Until earth shakes

Old visions,
Follow me
Across abyss 
and sea
Eclectic collections
Of books and keys 
A sordid history       

Under oath, casted a spell
Sidled by desire
No way to get out of this well
As the winds conspire

Part 5- Earthly Journey

Copyright 2024 Erin Wolf
feat. Baby (guitar) & Mando (mandolin)
Looping drone/vocal effect courtesy of BandLab Sounds

Photo: Gymnasium at the Oak Ridge Children's Museum in Oak Ridge, TN, December 2023

Performance/Song Note: Stream of consciousness writing here with patchy vocals (still not back to 100% from recently respiratory illnesses). Lyrically, the song merges self-awareness and conversations with loved ones as we reflected on 2023 and speculated about 2024. Thanks for listening. <3

--

as the sun rises in the east
i'm left wondering
what today will bring
what will it bring

it's been years since i've 
looked back
and i don't recognize 
the one i've become

don't think it's good 
and i don't think it's bad
i think it just is
yeah, just is

in this next year
i'm taking leap 
after leap
of faith

God has something
and sometimes 
we don't know it,
and that's okay

i've grown and 
i've flown
in ways i couldn't have known
a year and a day ago

i don't what 
tomorrow will bring
but i know i will breathe
yeah, oh woah

yeah, oh woah

and i know i will see new people
and new faces
and i will go to new heights 
and new places

and i know 
tears will fall
and laughter will
burst forth

i'll hope love will 
find me again
that i'll begin to blossom
anew again

i know that love will
find a way to burst forth
like heaven and
all the things in store

in store
in store
in store

All the Things in Store

Song a week 2024 #1 - The prompt word I used was "Renewal" - I wrote about of one of the places where I feel renewed.

I had a more complex chorus at first, but it wasn't doing it for me, so I ended up here.


Holy Water

Like leaves fall back to the forest floor
If the wind doesn’t get in their way
There was nothing left worth leaving
So I promised to stay

Without resolve for a revolution
Eat more, drink more, take up smoking again
Miles between saying and seeing
And intention

Falling leaves
Reach for the dirt
To be covered with snow
And wait for the earth

To leave them alone
And heaven it hurts
To wake dead in spring
We felt it first

Come on don’t tell me that either way
The sun’s gonna rise
Come on don’t tell me that either way
Seeds of renewal only need a little light
Need a little light

With nowhere to go, we go where we’re from
If life doesn’t get in our way
There was nothing left worth leaving
So I promised  to stay

Now holding on to the fall gone
And the foregone winter too
And the forsaken spring means everything
To man who had spoken too soon

Falling leaves
Reach for the dirt
To be covered with snow
And wait for the earth

To leave them alone
And heaven it hurts
To wake dead in spring
We felt it first

Come on don’t tell me that either way
The sun’s gonna rise
Come on don’t tell me that either way
Seeds of renewal only need a little light
Need a little light

Renewal - Song a Week 2024, Week 1

Song 1: 

Starting again
Finding a place to call the saints
Cold and displaced
Did you say it’s in my name?
 
I never asked you
I never wanted this to be
I never asked you
I never wanted to be freed
-like this?
 
Awakenings

I guess its time to renew my vows
With the world that lies outside my peripheral vision

Because I’m losing sight
And I don’t know where I’m heading
So, I need to reignite

Before I lose the light that guides us through the wrong end of right
But I don’t need your misplaced advice
I’ve been there before, didn’t we try?

I never asked you
I never wanted this to leave
I never asked you
I never wanted to be freed
- like this?

Awakenings

Words & Music by EMRLDS

Awakenings

Copyright Erin Wolf 2024
feat. Baby (guitar) & Viola (bass)

Photo: The Great Smoky Mountains of Tennessee near Cades Cove (2021) Great Smoky National Park

Song notes: Shout-out to my brother for passing on his old bass a few years ago. I'm not a bass player myself, yet wanted to give it a go for this one... but didn't change the strings out ahead of time (the originals - over 20 years old with questionable ability to hold their tune). Thank you for your patience on the sticky notes!

And shout-out to the lovely Laurie & David Easterling for hosting my kiddos & me over the holidays! Although this song was written in the evening of New Year's Day 2024, the nugget of an idea came to be while writing songs at their dining room table pre-NYE. 

--

i rode to the rolling hills of Kentucky
and i drove through the mountains
Great and Smoky
back home in Tennessee
you were the only one 
i could see

i don't know what it is 
about that holiday time
got all these memories 
of all the good times gone by
and oh, i'm lost in nostalgic memories
they're not faded, no, not for me

and will you come
will you hold on
hope for the new year
maybe

'cuz i'm hoping you are
not too far away
and i hope you are
somewhere close tonight
close tonight

look to the north star
may it guide our way 
back to something
back to something
back home

and as i watch the sun set
on that ol' mountain ridge
i wonder if you're thinking back to
what we had been

and as i look back on photos
and i listen to the songs 
that we shared
oh, that love was there

Oh, That Love was There

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 Eli Alger, Sarah Harralson, Dan Whitehouse, Emma Gale, and David Easterling.

Week 45 - Float Your Boat (231104)

James Tristan Redding

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