Music & Lyrics by Melanie Mitrano (ASCAP) © 2004.  From "Phobias & Infatuations," published by Ivy Cottage Press (ASCAP).  Melanie Mitrano, vocals; Judy de Wette, piano.

Time For Tea

I have a photograph of you
inside my kitchen cupboard,
where you preside over
Swiss Miss
and aromatic teas.
In black and white,
so elegantly coiffed...
I imagine your scent
is as wonderful
as ceylon,
earl grey,
or kiwi-lime with strawberries.
Time for tea!

Time for Tea

Music & Lyrics by Melanie Mitrano (ASCAP) © 2007. From "Phobias & Infatuations," published by Ivy Cottage Press (ASCAP).  Melanie Mitrano, vocals; Craig Ketter, piano.

Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder

For many years I have suspected
I might be borderline O.C.D.
There are 39 trapezoids
on my living room rug, 
times two, counting the matching one
in the dining room.
My house is the cleanest house
on the block, in the town, county,
maybe the entire state of New Jersey.
You could actually
perform surgery in my kitchen,
if you so desired.
Although the lighting could be better,
and there’s a draft 
from the window near the stove,
which would require that
the operating table be situated
at the left-hand side of the room.
That’s easily done.
It would definitely work,
If the need ever arose.
For many years I have suspected
I might be borderline O.C.D.
There are 39 trapezoids
on my living room rug, 
times two, counting the matching one
in the dining room.

Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder

Music & Lyrics by Melanie Mitrano (ASCAP) © 2006. From "Phobias & Infatuations," published by Ivy Cottage Press (ASCAP).  Melanie Mitrano, vocals; Craig Ketter, piano.

Prom Date

Sometimes at night in a cold sweat,
I wake up thinking of you;
Someone I try to forget
and can’t believe I even knew.
Arrogant, dumb and self-centered,
those were your good qualities;
just the right choice for a prom date,
so many great memories.
High school was a hell on earth for me,
I see that clearly.
Nothing but the worst you offered me,
at least sincerely.
I was a bookworm with short hair,
no one would notice me then.
Now you can see how I’ve turned out;
wish you had known way back when.
So eat your heart out now, you loser!
(“L-squared!”)
My name flashing on a billboard…
(Times Square!)
Some years ago, one Sunday, 
I ran into your mother.
I had been married for almost a year,
successful in a new career.
She told me you dropped out of college 
to play in a rock band
and still lived at home with your cat, 
working in a pet shop.
Now that’s what I call 
poetic justice at the finest hour.

Prom Date

Music & Lyrics by Melanie Mitrano (ASCAP), copyright © 2022. Vocals, keyboards, effects, and mix by Melanie Mitrano.

Ação de Graças
(Thanksgiving)

Garoa
horas vazias
cinzas dos dias
sem chuva
à toa
noites em branco
como me trano
e me arranco
sem sono,
Garoa
sem a dignidade de chover
sem a dignidade de chover
aí, vem
aí, vem
aí
vem mudar minha vida

Drizzle
empty hours
ashes of the day
without rain
aimless
sleepless nights
how I lock myself up
and tear myself out
without sleep,
Drizzle
not even the dignity to rain
not even the dignity to rain
oh, come
oh, come
oh
come change my life

Ação De Graças

Music & Lyrics by Melanie Mitrano (ASCAP) © 2010.  Melanie Mitrano, vocals; Dave Rimelis, guitar

Você Não Existe Mais
(You Don't Exist Anymore)

Você não existe mais
no tempo, no espaço,
na mente, no corpo,
na espera sem fim, 
não existe mais,
nas palavras do mundo,
na língua do amor,
não existe mais
pra mim.

Quando chamo, ninguém vem,
e então vivo sem.
A pessoa que tem
nem sempre vive bem.

Você não existe mais
na cor da verdade,
na imaginação,
não existe mais
p’ra mim.

Você Não Existe Mais

Excerpt from the 11-2-14 broadcast of "Singing And Other Sins" on Hawaii Public Radio, featuring 21st-Century Art Songs, including the compositions of Melanie Mitrano

Singing And Other Sins / Hawaii Public Radio

Blind Spots Theme

Traditional Sardinian song, hymn to the Blessed Mother in Sardo language.  Original arrangement, vocals and keyboards, Melanie Mitrano (ASCAP)

English translation:
"God save you, Mary, full of grace.  You are the source of grace, and its current. Almighty God is with you, and has preserved you immaculate."


Deus ti salvet, Maria

Music & Lyrics by Melanie Mitrano (ASCAP) © 2011.  Melanie Mitrano, vocals; Matt King, keyboards; Scott Neumann, percussion.

These Things Were Known

On a summer night
in another world
in another lifetime,
I remember you
in another dream
with another ending.
On the right side of a bright sky
with the moon ascending,
oh, you taught me everything.
I'm still remembering.

These things were known,
these things were known to me
previously,
clearly.
Oh, how did I know already?
Had it been hiding in memory?
Under lock and key
'til you set it free,
like the fantasy of you and me.

Do you see?
You were known to me?
You were there in the summer air,
like it was meant to be...

On a summer night
in another world
in another lifetime,
I remember you
in another dream
with another ending.
On the right side of a bright sky
with the moon ascending,
oh, you taught me everything.
You taught me
everything,
everything...

Melanie Mitrano

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