Remember when the city lights go down
Remember when you’re hiding underground
Remember when the signal of democracy is gone
That the world that gave us evil gave us Warne

Remember the uncounted refugee
Remember through the lost humanity
Remember when the bough breaks and a hungry baby’s born
That this world of swords and suffering made Warne
Yes, a world of swords and suffering made Warne

Remember in the night time of the knives
Remember when they steer us into tribes
Remember when the demons in the wicket all come home
That the world that gave us wickedness made Warne
Yes, the world that gave us wickedness made Warne

Remember when they’re jumping on your dreams, oh
Remember when they undermine your schemes, oh
Remember when they claim you’ll never find your unicorn
That the world that shook our faith gave birth to Warne

Remember when they’re jumping on your dreams, oh
Remember when they undermine your schemes, oh
Remember when they say you’ll never find your unicorn
That the world that shook our faith has good in store
And in the winter we’ll do better to remember something warm
And the world that shook our faith has hat-trick maidens and
The world that shook our faith gave us Shane-
Yes, the world that shook our faith gave us Shane Warne

Unicorn

Sullivan Ballou was an American lawyer and politician from Rhode Island, and an officer in the Union Army during the American Civil War. He is remembered for an eloquent letter he wrote to his wife Sarah a week before he was mortally wounded in the First Battle of Bull Run. This is my musical adaptation.
-----
My very dear wife, I watch tonight
While many men dream of home
Your memory commands my mind
And soldier’s heart of stone
I long to roll inside your arms
And hold you like before
But when you wake tomorrow morn
I may be with you no more

Fair Edgar’s frolics I fondly see
As campfires flicker and burn
Though Willie can scarcely remember me
I trust I’ll one day return
But evil men with cruel desire
Have sworn to wound us all
And we must counter fire with fire
Lest freedom forever fall

I fear I was not as kind, my love
As ev’ry husband should be
My imperfections are insufficient
Cause for injuring thee 
If I could wash with tears alone
Ev’ry blemish on your bliss
I’d make your dreams come true once more
Just like our very first kiss

If I am stricken by stranger’s hand
And stumble onto my shin
I’ll whisper with my last utterance
Your name into the wind
No cannonball that makes us crawl
No sword which tears my skin
Can e’er lay bare this love we share
And know forever within

If mortal games come between us now
Fear not that I will be gone
In garish days and darkest nights
My spirit motions you on
For I shall watch in sweet reprise
Ev’ry moment of your life
To brush your face with softest breeze
Oh Sarah, my darling wife

The Letter Of Sullivan Ballou

See, any hour it’s coming down, get wise or get away
Boys and girls in every town we meet on a Wednesday
Watching for the warning signs, the Roswell crash, the Nazca lines
Official lies and alibis, beware the common salt
We’re opening your big steel door and going in the vault

And any hour it’s coming down, the day of reckoning
Wearers of  the starry crown, what medicine you bring?
Cure the common cold or try to mend our broken climate
Or take us on a trip across your hyperspatial stargate
Teach us how to live in peace or do away with death
Until that day it’s only us on lonely Planet Earth (so lonely)

Gone the days we wanted proof, just open up your eye
You never knew a foo could move the way these foo can fly
Look out for spies, don’t talk near flies, be careful of your cable guy
My pal Marie, she met a man who heard a colonel say
“The chemicals in cereal will take your breath away”

And any hour it’s coming down, the day of reckoning
Wearers of  the starry crown, what medicine you bring?
And won’t you feed our feeble minds or try to mend our broken climate
Or take us on a trip across your hyperspatial stargate
Show us how to live in peace and harmony on Earth
Unless you’re hostile then we’re walking to our certain death

Any Hour It's Coming Down

They’re burning through the capital
They’re hoisting up a noose
They’re warning on the radio
The boys are on the loose
They’re coming in a marching band
They planned a rendezvous
The time has come to comprehend
That soon they’ll come for you

They’re coming for the newsreader
They’re coming for the proof
They’re coming for the teacher
And the guardian of truth
They’re coming for the colonel
And the people that he knew
If you saw his broken brother
Then you know they’ll come for you

They’re jacking with a pathogen
They’re tracking down the cats
They’re shattering Volkswagens
And they’re confiscating maps
They’re breaking all the telescopes
And libeling the moon
They’ve been sending poisoned envelopes
And one might be for you

They’re coming for your castles
They’ll subsume the well-to-do
They threaten from a beachhead
Built along Park Avenue
You can try to test the waters
But don’t ever misconstrue
They’ll be coming for your daughters
Once they close the door on you

They’re coming in with Lebensborn
You might feel déjà-vu
We haven’t seen this uniform
Since nineteen forty-two
A boy with head all shaven
Will recall the brick he threw
Countless more were taken
So you know they’ll come for you

Yes they’re coming for the Syrian
They’re coming for the Jew
Look at how they redefined a citizen
Be careful what you do
They’re scorching with impunity
The courts have gone askew
Their friends all get immunity
But soon they’ll come for you

And when the love of kin and kindness
Has been trodden under shoe
Every corner of the kingdom
Fears the turning of the screw
No neverland too sacrosanct
No fury too taboo
No clemency for circumstance
They’re coming soon for you, and maybe you

And all you soldiers steeped in the sacraments
Of the sanctioned party hymn
As you don your leather holster
To another purge begin
This machine that made you a weapon
Never cared that you were true
Get in line for Armageddon
Wait and see, they’ll come for you

They're Coming

Darkness held when morning came
The sun came up and the stars remained
I know the reason why there’s teardrops in the sky
It’s a missing child
And I folded your blankets the same
I am carrying your flame
For the space in my mind, for the love misfiled
For the missing child

Have I mentioned all the rainbows that you caused
How you lifted up my life that was
So whatever stroke of wonder that brought you to my door
I am hoping it can happen just once more
And I folded your blankets the same
I am carrying your flame
For the space in my mind, for the love misfiled
For the missing child

Missing Child

For my father.


Summertime, June twenty-one
Rising at the crack of dawn
Homework done, father son
Going for a morning drive
What a day to be alive
The day we saw a rocket ship come flying through the sky

And we have always shared times like this and more
And I still go there in my mind
The day we saw that rocket ship come flying through the sky

They left the moon when I was born
Did you know then that you were the moon to me?
High above and smiling down
Old and wise and gentle eyes
I repaid the smallest slice
The day we saw the rocket ship come shining through the sky

And now that I have flown to a place that we once read about
Your favorite son can see your light
Coming round our roundabout
Remembering our talks each night
Before we saw a rocket flight ascending out of sight

The aeroplane was true and strong
Carrying the spaceship on
Just like you once raised me, John
Now it flies all on its own
And this is what it meant to me
The day we saw the rocket plane come soar above Mojave

White Knight and SpaceShip One
A father and a son
Two in awe and two up high
The day, oh dad, our rocket ship came flying through the sky

Rocket Ship

DOD Photo by Navy Petty Officer 1st Class Carlos M. Vazquez II.
Image cropped for thumbnail use.
License: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/

There’s bunting, there’s a wreath
There’s flags along the road
Scaffolding is shining
In the January cold
Newsreaders are smiling
With a cheerful flow’r lapel
And tales of meeting Biden
They can all remember well

And everyone in Washington
Was relieved to see him gone
From the sleepy subway crowd
To the Speaker of the House
And the Statue of Liberty
Came back home to you and me
Then a mother sang along
A warm and patriotic song

There’s Jill and there’s a wreath
Flags along the way
Mezzanines are shining
On a January day (There’s Jill and there’s a wreath)
The people all are smiling
With a cheerful flower lapel
Tales of voting Biden
Everyone remembers well

Inauguration Day

Aberdeen, Aberdeen
You give me joy sometimes
I feel like a boy sometimes
You turn these North Sea winds
Into a burst of sunshine, Aberdeen

You’ve stolen all my dreams
All my Saturdays
For the way you play
Through the night and day
If I pledge my love to thee, Aberdeen
Will you win this one for me?

Golden days
Gold in Gothenburg
You give me pride in times
When vict’ries are hard to find
You turn these North Sea winds
Into a burst of sunshine, Aberdeen

You’ve stolen all my dreams
All my Saturdays
For this way you play
Through the night and day
If I pledge my love to thee, Aberdeen
Will you win this one for me?
Will you win this one for me?

All My Saturdays

Do you remember the night we met
You were my Scarlett and I was Rhett
We played a strange game under silent stars
It’s funny, never could we work out who we are

Romeo and Juliet were made up in a book
Bill Sykes won his Nancy although he was a crook
Maybe one day we’ll stop wond’ring who to be
Perhaps that's when we'll learn to just be you and me

Life is just a movie scene and Hollywood is real
Perhaps that's why we never understood how we should feel
And every twister passing through is on its way to Oz
And Dorothy can walk with you because, because
Because I love you

Disneyland is our friend now in a world gone wrong
Josephine, we'll somehow find words to our song
So I'll be in your dream if you'll be in mine
It's real enough to me so Josie, hold me one more time

Josie's Song

Music by Richard Rodgers, words by Oscar Hammerstein II.

You'll Never Walk Alone

The Boxer (Acoustic)

There's a home in California
It has chimes around the door
And the flower of bougainvillea
Grows high down to the floor

You  can go there if you're weary
You can go there if you're scared
For when you cross the doorway
Your mind shall be repaired

There's a lady there who knows you
Though she's lived here all her life
She has seen it all before you
If she's ever been a wife

And she'll understand your suffering
If she's ever felt forlorn
She will heal you with her loving
Until you feel reborn

You  can go there like it’s Friday
You can go there to be free
For when you cross her doorway
Bougainvillea  you will be

The Doorway

If I could hold one single person's hand
If I could walk right into wonderland
If I could have one person on this planet understand
Please believe me when I say it would be you

If an opening appears I would apply
If I could be of service I will try
If I could carry water to relieve one person’s thirst
Through a desert in July, it would be you

If I could see one face when I come to
If I could keep one home and see it through
If I could have one hedge against the cold in Katmandu
On the beating of my heart, it would be you

If I could have one chorus to adore
If I could sing one verse forever more
If I could have one melody, indelible and true
And the cause of me to sing on clouds of laughter
Yes if I could have two eyes, two arms, one heart, one honey-boo
When they come to me to ask I’ll ask for you because
If I could choose my baby I’d choose you
Yes, if I could choose my baby I’d ask them for you

It Would Be You

I’m leaving you behind
I’m traveling with the morning tide
A one-way trip to summer climbs
I’m busting for the borderline
But you remain unmoved by time
You’re Lichtenstein
I’m leaving you behind

I’m sailing out still strong
I still know what is right and wrong
You barely even heard my song
You lost the will to fight at all
I’ll go before my own is gone
My lifeboat song
I’m sailing out still strong

I will run along the delta
Set a stone upon a stone
See me tumble through the flowers of the river
‘til the giver of the water leads me home

I’m leaving with the tide and then
I’m never coming back again
The court can choose the things I own
My life is on my telephone
I’m reserving my remaining time
For someone kind, oh Lichtenstein
I’m leaving you behind

I'm Leaving You Behind

The rush of the river is running through trees
And it speeds over stony plateau
The rush of the river is home in the breeze
When it speaks everybody will know

If you read in the river an insincere giver
Look out for the current behind
The rush of the river will always deliver
The soul and the secrets of time

The snap of October, the healing of water
The rhythms of gathering springs
The hand of a stranger, the voice of a daughter
The flap of a butterfly’s wing

And bystanders ever beside every river
May never imbibe of the flow
If music’s the pull of a wedding day lover
Surrender the song that you know

And if you heard in the river an insincere giver
Look out for the current behind
The rush of the river will always deliver
The soul and the secrets of time
The rush of the river will always deliver
The soul and the secrets of time
The music, the river will always deliver
The soul and the secrets of time

The Rush of the River

(Sail above the land and sea)
(Sail above the land and sea)
While waking from a mono sleep
A fancy thought came over me
I wondered what it might be like
To take a ride with Buzz and Mike
We sailed above the land and sea
Gave a wave to gravity
We could not say if this was real
Or candy floss inside a dream

Oh can it be it might be true
Someone walked upon the Moon
Can you believe that it could be
Someone just like you and like me
(Sail above the land and sea)
(Sail above the land and sea)

And I thought about how I might feel
Inside the heel of Buzz or Neil
A boy on the Moon in a long-distance call
From Clouden Road in Cumbernauld
For stillborn babies, weary dreams
Lives of strained and threadbare seams
With everything they’ll never do
You know that Neil felt this way too

But can it be it might be true
Someone walked upon the Moon
Oh can you see that it could be
Someone just like you and-
Can it be it might be true
Someone walked upon the Moon
Can you believe that it could be
One day we shall witness our dreams (like Neil)
(Sail above the land and sea)

Someone Walked Upon the Moon

I’d meet you at British Home Stores
Sauchiehall Street by the glass doors
You would stand out in your coat of Irish green
You would greet me with a smile
You didn’t know my heart went wild
Well, that's a young man and his Roman Catholic dream

So Magdalene, I'm singing you this song
Though your perfume is long, long gone
Because a coat of Celtic green
Made me think about the scene
When I walked with you one night in Glasgow town

Hair band, golden brown
We walked on through the town
I thought I heard Saint Mungo whisper “Now”
But you belonged to someone else  
And although I knew it well
I burned a flame the Firth of Clyde could not put out

Now Magdalene, I'm singin’ you this song
Although your sacraments are gone, long gone
Chalice of gold, vestments of green
Take a soul back to the scene
When I fell for you one night in Glasgow town

A half aways up Hope Street
The waiter made the mood sweet
But I couldn’t give you anything to stay (with me)
Then Shawlands gave no shelter
From the West of Scotland rain
Every time you said goodbye and walked away (from me)
So Magdalene, I'm singing you this song
Though your Beatitudes are ever gone, and gone, and gone
A touch of gold, a boy so green
Is he standing at the scene
When I fell for you one life in Glasgow...
When I fell for you one life in Glasgow town

One Life In Glasgow Town

This is a letter to my audience and to Taylor Swift, inspired by an interview she gave for the Long Pond Sessions, in which she expressed that being forced to record from home during the pandemic put her in uncharted waters. It is spoken from one songwriter to another, and echoes the introspection of her work during the lockdown. It discusses how I related to the isolation, and the irony that making music from home is the only way I've ever known. Lyrics below.

Cutting in the kitchen, time for one more snack
Chasing down a friend and then a “Miss you, call me back”
If you stayed and reacquainted with your wife
I can tell the truth and never break my stride
Listener, Covid was my ordinary life

Serials with ray guns, memory comes back
Running through recordings, time for one more track
Thinking of the day I might escape to Yellowknife 
Some years we’re the bridesmaid and some years we’re the bride
See me, Covid was my ordinary life

Singer, Taylor, soldier, Swift
You were nervous making music in your home
But that’s the only game that I have ever known
Don’t you know that it’s my home away from home?
They said a million people died
How many of us cried?
Clean the fork and wash the knife
Covid was my ordinary life

Are you starting with the music?
For amazing or amusing?
I’m composing in this railroad town for souls like you and me
Fair songs of hope and rainbows laced with dignity
No matter how alone we are there’s melody
Sing now, Covid was my ordinary life
We wore masks, yeah, and I had my songs
And Covid was my everyday and ordinary  life

Covid Was My Ordinary Life

You’re everywhere
Like the desert air
That’s blowing through your flowing hair
Like the clothes I wear
When I sit and stare
In my favorite chair
You’re everywhere
You’re everywhere

Yes you’re everywhere
It’s a gift so rare
It’s a sacred place
Of unspoken grace
It’s not anywhere
‘Cause you’re everywhere
You’re everywhere
You’re everywhere
	
Everywhere I go
Every seed I sew
At a half past ten
In Jerusalem
When I close my eyes

You’re everywhere
In the silverware
In the napkin fold
In the songs you’ve told
When the clouds roll by
On this April sky
You’re everywhere
You are everywhere

You’re everything
And everywhere

Everywhere

I hope it snows for you
I hope they close the roads for you
And if the cold front holds
I hope you see the snow

I’ve been away too long
But you’re the music in my song
I never stopped wond’ring
What you ever saw in me
So I would make winter blow
To bring you a hint of snow

Thousands of tears ago
Winter was ev’rywhere you go
Baby, they burrowed
It’s warmer to hide below
If it brings you a flake of hope
I hope you see the snow

We crossed the ocean, babe
We crossed the years
We took a notion, babe
And made the ocean disappear

I still believe in you
And whenever you are blue
I’ll summon the snowflakes
Right on the avenue
So sit by your window
Wait and you’ll see the snow
Wait and you’ll see the snow

I Hope It Snows For You

In the Second City of the Empire
Mother Glasgow nurses all her weans
And working hard to feed her little starlings
Unconsciously she clips their little wings

And Mother Glasgow's succor is perpetual
Nestling the Billy and the Tim
I dreamed I took a dander with St. Mungo
Tae try tae catch a fish that couldnae swim

Among the silent bells and flightless birdies
Father Glasgow knows his starlings well
But he cannae make his own way up to heaven
By waltzing all his charges into hell

And Mother Glasgow's succor is perpetual
Nestling the Billy and the Tim
I dreamed I took a dander with St. Mungo
Tae try tae catch a fish that couldnae swim

For the tree, and the bird, and the fish and the bell
Let Glasgow flourish

Image of Glasgow Attribution: Postdlf. Only change was cropping. Licensing info: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Glasgow_cityscape_03.jpg

Mother Glasgow

Love of my life, good morning
I hope you had a quiet night
Our hummingbirds are singing
Clouds are pink and sun is bright
And everything you need’s right here beside you
I promise I will stay
Because I loved you on the stairs
And I love you on our final day

And it’s a lovely, gentle June day
I hope you dreamed of throwing rice
Or your mother and your father
Kissing you once more goodnight
And everyone whoever might have hurt you
Is gone and out of sight
But I was always blown away
Now I love you on our final day

Oh wouldn’t it be nice if we were older
Then we wouldn’t have to wait so long
Gonna keep the dogs from barking
Better you can hear my song

On this calm and cozy June day
With the animals and me
There’s a plesiosaur playing
In the Great Glen Vault, you’ll see
Now the Cyclops in the sky, my Pookie, is calling
Oh it seems like yesterday
Back in Inverness I loved you
And I love you on our last and final…
I still love you on our last and final day

Inverness

I had an epiphany on 10/31/23, that there was a beautiful young adult in the wilderness I was uncle to, a treasure I've known since she was a year old, for whom I ought to be doing much, much more. I wrote this song that night, for Catalina Benitez, my star.

Every bird in solitary
If a girl feels ordinary
Every boy who needs to make his mark and fly
Never wait for nasty weather to subside
Get up off your chair

Sow a seed somewhere
Sow a seed somewhere
Dig it deep beneath the ground
And sow a seed somewhere
Making sure it’s safe and sound
Sow a seed somewhere

Sow a seed somewhere
Bring your love to bear
Let it blossom all around
And sow a seed somewhere
No more time for Johnny Weed
Sow a seed somewhere
	 
When the rain sheets in the morning
Out on Main Street without warning
Paint a rainbow shining all around the sky
Put a twinkle in a little baby’s eye
Let her see you care

Sow a seed somewhere
Leave your cupboard bare
Give it all you’ve got and then
Go sow a seed somewhere
Put a shoe on, make a plan
Oh, sow a seed somewhere
Sow a seed somewhere

Sow a seed somewhere
Don’t leave nothing there
Give it all you’ve got and then
Go sow a seed somewhere
Catalina’s song is me
So sow a seed somewhere
Sow a seed somewhere

Catalina's Song

There's a Robin
Watching over you
It sees your life
It knows your sorrow
There's a raindrop
Falling from a cloud
If it knew what was down here
Would it want to touch the ground?

There's a summer
Coming right around
Call it decent weather
For a one-store flyboy town
And you’ll hear Chuck Yeager
Own the speed of sound
If there's anything you need
Well it's really not a bother
I’ll be going into town
It’s just the way I’m going
Into town



M. Aidulis, December 16th 2024


Robin

I'm a singer-songwriter with influences from Paul Simon to Neil Young and more.

Michael John Anthony

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