Cover of Julia Jacklin's version of Someday by the Strokes. 

Original sample of Chen Chen reading his poem here in The Adroit Journal: https://theadroitjournal.org/issue-forty-chen-chen/

The School of You (Chen Chen) / Someday (The Strokes) [iPhone Demo]

A "free song" with a loose structure that means the song is different every time, like looking into the surface of a pond!

Rules:

Create two chord progression with vocal only
The song must begin with going to the river / stream / creek / a running body of water
The song must contain the words “Amazing Grace”

LYRICS:
Walked by the river
Flowers were there before me
Smiled cause I know what I am
Weight of the clouds passing by

And if you cry for me
You're wasting your time
Cause I'm just a little sigh
I'm just God's alibi

And I held your hand in mine
Cold between my fingers
You smiled cause you know my name
The words don't sound the same

Don't cry for me now
I don't want your sorry phrase
Don't sing Amazing Grace
When I'm just a passing face
When I'm just a passing face

Mm

I don't want, I don't want your grace
I don't want it

Oo, oo, oo
Oo, oo, oo...

Pondsong 1

Made with the same rules as all the Pondsongs.

LYRICS:
I went walking
By the river bend
Clouds formed above me
Daisies turned to see

You cried from the other
You said you couldn't do it anymore
I knew as soon as I saw your face
Amazing grace

I went, I went, I went by the river
I went, I went, I went by the river
I went, I went, I went by the river

And you cry for me now
I can't stand to hear your voice now
But don't be afraid if I don't see you baby
Cause I'm just a part of all of this now
Cause I'm just a part of all of this now

I went, I went, I went by the river
I went, I went, I went by the river
I went, I went, I went by the river 

I went, I went
I went, I went
I went, I went

Pondsong 2

A cover of a line from Jay Clayton:

I want to sing like birds sing
Not caring who hears, or what they think

LYRICS:
I want to sing like birds sing
Not caring who hears, or what they think

I want to sing like birds sing
Not caring who hears, or what they think

I might sing of the past
But it wouldn't be history 
It would be here with me
Sweet as a berry off the branch

I could sing of things yet to come
And they'd be hard and dumb
Like a stone and not a cloud

I want
I want, oo
I want to sing, to sing, to sing, to sing
Like a bird sings
Like a bird sings
Like a bird sings..

Like a bird sings

After Jay Clayton

Shitty glitchy demo of a magical witchy moment, the moment of inception on a song!

LYRICS
Don't go
Don't go seeking beneath the
Circle 
On my finger

The gold band that I wear
It shows me I'm truly there

The Me Tea

Composed and written on Twigs, my custom sound box.

LYRICS:

Oo, oo
Oo, oo

Plant words
Plant words
Plant words

That which is heard
That which is heard
That which is heard

Oo, oo
Oo, oo
Oo

If words are the source of what prospers
Lay down in the soil
Words and hours swimming 
Meaning in the sea of no meaning

How to describe the way 
It flows
How to describe the way
It flows, it flows, it flows

That Which is Heard

A birthday gift for an old friend.

LYRICS:
Born with a crown on her head
Born with the sun in her hair
Raised in the grove where the city faded
And the shade was so far from all that was

Ah, ah, ah, ah

Wandering through on the dry land
Stumbling through in her way
She came upon a little town
It was made of a hall where she stayed

And the pavement ran dry in the heat
And the horses ran fast
And gleaming steel pipes in the heat
Made to last

Ah, ah, ah, ah

Sleeping away on the shore now
The princess awaits her gown
Destiny stirred in the mouth of a Whale
Wondering how it is sung

And it goes
Ah, ah, ah, ah

Ash in the Whale

Song for a friend going on a journey.

LYRICS:
My Nushka's gone away
I think he's going to stay
In that room above the garden where the crows play
Where the crows play

My Nushka's gone away
He's taken all the photographs
The ones that used to make me laugh
To make me laugh

And time goes so fast
It's the plane that makes the wound shine
In the night sky

My Nushka's gone away
I think he's going to stay
In the place where no one knows his name
Or loves his face

And I'll see him in the part
Of the novel where they say
What happened to the characters 
That disappeared along the way

And time goes so fast
It's the ray that leaves the sun behind
In the bright sky

In the bright sky...
In the bright...

In the bright light
I'm free

My Nushka

LYRICS:
Take the birds
Take the birds on my windowsill
Take the birds
Take the trees
Swaying in the rain outside
Take the trees

Nobody gets to be loved without a mother
Nobody gets to be loved without a mum
Nobody gets to be loved without a mother
Nobody gets to be loved without a mum

Take the bees
Swimming in the sweet honey
Take the bees
Take the bees
Swimming round in the sweet honey
Take the bees
Take the bees

Nobody gets to be loved without a mother
Nobody gets to be loved without a mum
Nobody gets to be loved without a mother
Nobody gets to be loved without a mum

Take the rabbit
In the dark dens underground
Take the rabbit
In the dark dens undergrounds
Take the tigers
Waiting for that mighty sound
Take the tigers
Waiting for that mighty sound
Take the dogs
Just wanting to be loved
Take the dogs
Just wanting to be loved
Take the dogs
Just wanting to be loved
Take the dogs
Take the dogs

Nobody gets to be loved without a mother
Nobody gets to be loved without a mum
Nobody gets to be loved without a mother
Nobody gets to be loved without a mum

Homesong

Photograph by J. Adkins

Lyrics:
Oh, mother
You don't know
What I'm waiting for
Your smile like a row of buttons
Tossed across the floor

Oh, mother
You don't know what I'm waiting for
You don't know 
How sweet, how pillowy
Must the veil be 
Between you and me

How white as snow, and glistening
Must the veil be 
Between you and me

Letter 1 (Of Snow)

Just a lil' schoolteacher from Toronto, Canada.
Profile picture by the beloved pete.ey on Instagram

M. Jia