Cold Will

Within Stained Glass

Music/Merch

Mugshot "Within Stained Glass"

Copyright 2023 Kenneth A R Mitchell. Written, performed, produced and mastered by Ken Mitchell.  I've had the chorus in my head for several years...I used to sing it in the Post Office before I left for my route.  I had to go (pit stop) before I left!  LOL  I finally decided to write the entire song before someone else did.  One of those great country titles.  :)  Invoking the spirit of live Jimmy Buffett best I can.  Sound effects courtesy of Freesound.org, enhancements by KM.  Thanks to Sam D for post-mastering suggestions.  Remixed 1-4-24

LYRICS:

I GOTTA GO (BEFORE I LEAVE)
Copyright 2023 Kenneth A R Mitchell

When I was young I didn’t aim too well                             
A quick look round and anyone could tell
My mommy and daddy wouldn’t wait til it dried
And a long time before signed up for this ride.
As I got older things got better
I left the place a little less wetter
                                                                                       
Later my nights were parties and beer
But early morning, man, and I’m gettin out of there
The smell of stale sugar, the smell of stale coffee
If that’s all there is, make it caramel toffee
But gimme just a minute, I’m leaking like a sieve
Old Mother Nature got something up her sleeve
Well I gotta go before I leave

INSTRUMENTAL

In   time I went along and met my wife
She’ll be there for me and I can bet my life
She made me better than I ever coulda been
She’ll keep me walkin’ if I ever lose a limb
But men and their bladders, floating at the teeth
Old Mother Nature got something up her sleeve
Well I gotta go before I leave

INSTRUMENTAL 2

Well look around ya now you know its true
Look for those people that were sitting next to you
Half of them gone, now standing in the line
Standing there complaining since this they can’t believe
Old Mother Nature got something up her sleeve
Well I gotta go before I leave (3X)

OUTRO Chatter

I Gotta Go (Before I Leave)

I Gotta Go (Before I Leave) REMIX

~ HALLOWEEN MAN ~
words & music by Grayson Hugh


Put on your coat, grab your hat
and wrap your scarf around
let's get in the car
and go to the dirty old town
just for something to do
on this grey afternoon
and though it's only October
it looks like the snow might start soon

We'll walk down the streets
where dead leaves in the doorways lie
and look in the windows
at clothes too expensive to buy
the crows in the graveyard trees
aren't making a sound
til the ancient winter wind
comes up once again through the town

We'll stop at the club for some lunch
and a tall glass of beer
in the air-pocket room with a rug
and a dim chandelier
in the silence of silver and plates
we'll talk until two
and get a bit drunk
then go look for a good river view
if you'd like to

And it's just a few blocks to the riverbank
right across the highway
and no one knows
down below the road where the traffic flows
down near the homes of the water rats
where the wind is freezing when it blows
over the water and through our clothes
that's where we'll go

We'll sit on the rocks
and wait for the darkness to come
watching the geese
and wondering where they've come from
and when they'll get
to where they're so restless to go
and thinking how we'd rather stay up here
in the snow

The evening is distant
there's still half the day left to hide
from your lonely apartment
and all those dumb hours inside
where your life is a ghost
who waits in the wood of the walls
watching you drink coffee
and wonder why nobody calls

Look at the water
that's warm to the fish and the frogs
dead trees sit on the shore
like strange water dogs
and the sky's half asleep
in a pale and frozen light
and I've got some money
we just might stay out all night
if you say alright

'Cause the air's just right for taking off
for going somewhere far and new
beneath the autumn midnight blue
and as we look upon the waves
a sudden breeze begins to blow
the river seems to whisper low
it says "where will you go?"

And on this sudden breeze
coming around the bend
a barge comes floating up
and on it stand a man
wearing a hat of blue
waving his little hand
he steers the boat right up to the bank
plants his long pole in the sand

He looks at us with deep dark eyes
in a soft voice says "hello"
he asks us if we would like to
on a journey go

When we ask him "where to?"
he says "wherever you like,
deep within the countryside
and far into the night"

It's so much like a dream
but here he is
right before our eyes
just like the river is
leaning on his pole
awaiting our reply

We get on the boat
and he pushes away from the bank
he chuckles and says
"this here pole beats any gas tank"
our bones and our blood
start to fill up with a cold river thrill
and the birds are singing under the bridge
as we float toward the hills

As we're moving along
the sky starts to suddenly clear
and the moon-like sun
puts a strange purple glow in the air
"it's that old river light
that lives only here", says our friend
"it's the sunset and dawn
and the days of dead river men"

"And the chance to ride with me
only comes now and then,
when the stillness of your life
needs a fast moving wind

When the magic's in your heart
I'll come floating by
and off we'll go without a reason why
if you'd like to try

‘Cause there's nothing between you and the world
except what you're afraid to do
and everything they told you to
and with the next breath that you take
your life again belongs to you
and happiness will happen, too
it belongs to you"

                           
© 1978, 2023 by RIVER SOUL MUSIC/ASCAP

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NOTES FOR FOLLOWERS:  HTTPS://WWW.MIXHORIZONMUSIC.COM/whats-up.  ALSO:  HTTPS://WWW.MIXHORIZONMUSIC.COM/new-music
RECORDING HISTORY:    Over 50 years of experience!   I’ve been writing, performing and producing music since 1970, keeping up with tech advancements. With my recording, practices and live performances in bands, I have well over 10,000 hours of experience! 

I am on the Waves subscription plan, which with my DAW, Logic Pro, and other software purchases, gives me lots  of options to get the best sounds and loudness!  Add my speaker system and studio reference headphones, constant software and skills upgrades, and I am ready and able!

Musicianship:  I play drums, electric and acoustic guitars, electric bass, and keyboards. I sing, harmonize well. Primary influences: Beatles (and George Martin), Brian Eno, David Bowie, Elton John, & Leonard Cohen. 

I am in this for the joy of creating music.  It has always been that way, since my first transistor radio (!) to hours of absorbing the masterful sounds of my influence for hours on end…and blending them with my abilities.

I started on two cheap reel-to-reel recorders in 1970, using  a surprisingly successful sound-on-sound technique (in my late teens and early 20s).  I moved to a professional reel-to-reel sound-on-sound for a spell (later 20s), and then eventually to 4-track cassette mixing recorder, mixing to reel, with several effects units (later 30s). 

I took a 14 year break from the mid-90s on, as work and family became all-consuming.  I retired from working in July 2018.  I then began writing/recording again that August, now in the digital era with GarageBand at first, then Logic Pro late winter of 2020.  

I also played drums, then guitar, and sang, in the local covers-band, Revolver...which I left in 2021.  I record/produce other artists and add instruments as needed.  Thanks for reading all this!

I Gotta Go (Before I Leave) REMIX

KEN MITCHELL

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