Hard Water, Soft Hearts (lyrics and music © 2024 by Mike Dampf - bass David Leadbitter, mandolin and vocals Becky Sora; Accordion Papa Tom Caraher

He met a lovely girl in old Paree
t'was then and there he fell on bended knee
the flowers bloomed, the world was tuned

Hard water, soft hearts
Hard water, soft hearts

Now he haunts the grassy banks along the Grand
where brown bats flit and strike above the strand
and nobody knows how his love goes

Hard water, soft hearts
hard water, soft hearts

He shouldn't stay but he can't move on
the ghosts of Paris fade into dawn
but their love is so strong

Leaning far over the balustrade
from the William Street bridge she jumps unafraid
stars glitter below, where the deep river flows

Hard water, soft hearts
Hard water, soft hearts

Hard Water, Soft Hearts

Is Love Enough  (lyrics and music © 2023 by Mike Dampf) bass David Leadbitter; mandolin & flute Becky Sora

A summer sun sinks in the bay
amber, crimson, gold
you are somewhere far away
yet near enough to hold

The dog is curled upon the floor
the cat has slunk upstairs
I am here just waiting for
an answer to prayers

Upon the mantle sits a clock
that's running out of time
while we wait the silence talks
and the moon begins to climb

I love you, the water says
I love you, calls the loon
is love enough, I cannot guess
I hope you tell me soon

Is Love Enough

This Little Light (Lyric and music © 2022 by Mike Dampf; Vocals Hana Dampf, Becky Sora, Mike Dampf)

This little light of mine, I'm gonna let it shine
it might be hard for you to see
and you may not know it's me but I hope you find
this little light of mine

This little song I sing, I'm gonna let it ring
I might be howling at the moon
off the wall and out of tune but it's my thing
this little song I sing

Day follows day, night follows night
maybe you pray when things aren't going right
but there's another way to help keep your spirit bright

This little life I live is all I've got to give
it isn't much it's true
but sharing it with you would be such a gift
this little life I live

This Little Light

Truck (lyrics & music by Mike Dampf © 2021)

Got an old truck, pretty beat up
that don't mean you shouldn't love me
take her downtown, drink another round
with jugglers and clowns all around me
game on the screen and I'm that fool in between
pretty girls, pretty boys
winking the eye, making the noise

Heavy rain, summer storm
just God's lighting bolts to keep you warm
I drove across a field to pick you up
used to keep a blanket in my brand new truck
brand new truck

She's got a rebuilt cam, flywheel's on the lam
what can I do to reach you
checking the sound, breaking it down
why can't I figure things out when I need to
engine's still strong but something's gone wrong
staring hard, nothing more
dirty hands and parts on the floor

Truck

A Picture of Grace (Music & Lyrics © 2024 by Dan Swanson and Mike Dampf - performance by Dan Swanson)

One foot on the dock, one in a canoe
She falls in the lake and laughs like a loon.
Ah, that’s a picture of Grace.

Hits a ground ball, tearing for first
Trips halfway, nose down in the dirt
Ah, that’s a picture of Grace.

She’s hot and ready and won’t take a ‘No!’
She’s going dancing and wants me to go
Ah, another picture of Grace.

Oh…, I must be dreaming
What could she have seen in the likes of me?
And I’ve got this wonderful feeling
And she keeps revealing love’s mystery.

We’re out on the floor, spinning around
She tries to lead, I try not to fall down
Ah, that’s a picture of Grace.

Oh…, I must be dreaming
What could she have seen in the likes of me?
And I’ve got this wonderful feeling
And she keeps revealing love’s mystery.

She’s driving home but the traffic has slowed
And she’s feeling romantic so we pull off the road
Ah, that’s a picture of Grace

A Picture Of Grace

Lonely Road (music and lyrics © 2024 by Dan Swanson and Mike Dampf - performance by Dan Swanson)

There’s a somewhere that lives in my heart
Where a sleepy river flows
With busy hummingbirds and buzzing bees
By a cottage down a lonely road

Was I ever really there?
Is it just a lovely dream I want to share?
   
A river’s running through my sleepy mind
Where dusk and dawn entwine
Her Sunday clothes are hanging on the line
By the cottage down that lonely road

Was there no way to change your mind 
Are these just a shadows from another time

It’s a somewhere that lives in my heart
where that sleepy river flows
with buzzing hummingbirds and busy bees
at that cottage down a lonely road

Was she ever really there?
Is this just a lovely dream I want to share?

There’s a woman in a dress of green
dreaming on an old porch swing
the river whispers, meandering
past the cottage down that lonely road

Don’t look back, Don’t look back….

Lonely Road

Love We Dance   music and lyric © 2024 by Mike Dampf

A demo - figuring out how to record it best.

When my reason for living can't get out of bed
when the world won't stop crying inside her head
as her sadness is building she thinks 
the house is falling down
we talk till she's empty and knows that she won't drown

Finally I begin to see
the price of admission is life
so we dance through the joy and the strife
my love, we dance

When your best friend deceives you
when your dog just up and dies
when the dream that you slaved for is finally denied
nothing is certain, the future's never clear
grief, sorrow and trouble
it's been one fucked up, lonely year

Love We Dance

This Silence Copyright 2024 by Mike Dampf & Becky Sora
Bass: David Leadbitter/ Flute: Becky Sora/ Photo: Becky Sora

There's many ways I failed you
there's many tears been cried
last year is best forgotten, you know why
but a fat, pink moon is rising over old Ashbridges Bay
and white swans are descending from the sky

We are just out walking
guess there's not much left to say
that first night's gently closing New Years day
that first star's us starting over
that still water is my love
that promise is a truth I won't betray

and this silence holds the three words
I won't need to say

Hmmm

This Silence

The Cottonwood Flats (music and lyrics © 2023 by Mike Dampf; bass David Leadbitter; harmonica, percussion Becky Sora

Way up north, near my hometown
is a place no one goes when the sun goes down
past the dump, with the garbage and the rats
a brown river crawls through the Cottonwood Flats

Used to ride our bikes to the river some days
my ghetto box blasting Purple Haze
try to catch fish and junk like that
then go listen to the wind moan through the Cottonwood Flats

Camping overnight in Big John's tent
telling all the best lies we could invent
watching bugs being hunted by bats
until the stars shimmered high above the Cottonwood Flats

Now and then, when I'm thinking I'm wise
I see my life through my childhood eyes
something tells me I ought to go back
and do a little rambling in the Cottonwood Flats

The Cottonwood Flats

Come September (© 2024 lyrics and music by Mike Dampf; bass by David Leadbitter/ percussion by Becky Sora)

Come September, we'll remember how to slow down
the River's sleepy, old Willow's weepy
and he just hangs around
the Sun is warm, spirits whisper in the trees
your bare arm draws me near so lazily

Come September, a fire's embers flicker 'neath the stars
I'll see Venus, but you're the genius
and you'll tell me that it's Mars
the Moon's so cool, she casts silver on the stream
some old Fool once said 'Life is but a dream'
Life is but a dream

Come September

The House Sparrow    Music and Lyrics © 2024 by Mike Dampf
Dave Leadbitter bass; Becky Sora harmony

I have a plan, a beautiful thing
in a place that no one can see
in a corner of my mind I crush everything
and nobody knows but me

In the leaves, in the brush I flitter and flush
and watch as my prey tries to flee
my two eyes are black, my one thought is attack
and nobody knows but me

I am weary, I am sad
but you don't know
and you don't know me
and that's too bad

Don't be surprised if your baby dies
with n'er a confession or plea
my judge is so wise, my jury decides
and nobody knows but me

There's a lovely park, over by the school
with places to hide beneath the trees
with my plans and guns I'll kill daughters, I'll kill sons
and nobody knows but me

I am weary, I am sad
but you don't know
and you don't know me
and that's too bad
that's too bad

The House Sparrow

Ballad of a Miserable Man   lyric and music © June 2024 by Mike Dampf.  Mandolin: Becky Sora/ Bass: David Leadbitter/ Piano: Mike Ryan/ Special thanks to The Tequila Jam Singers on chorus!

I don't really know what I want
I don't really know who I am
everything I once believed lies
like a mirage on the sand

My life's become a time-share
geckos, cocktails and sun
poolside's reserved for the angels
who know how to please number 1

So judge me if you must
I'm just a miserable man
looking for some love and pleasure
here on God's lay-away plan

We paid for this sham paradise
let the lawnmowers keep it all trim
let the palm trees keep it all shady
and let Happy Hour begin

When the jet taxis out on the runway
and the steward greets you with Death's grin
then tighten your seatbelt my lovely
what a hell of a ride it's all been

Ballad of a Miserable Man

So Blue    Lyrics and Music © 2024 by Mike Dampf; Bass - David Leadbitter; vocals & flute - Becky Sora; sax & organ - David Lavkulik; drums & mixing - Tim Bovaconti

The morning sun screams red
'Arise! Arise! get out of bed
go find a pulse and fix your head
The devil give, the devil take
T van Zandt and sweet Nick Drake
come down to give your soul the shake

They're so blue babe. so blue babe
They're so blue babe,
so blue

The Jesus bell swings high noon
Rosetta belts a gospel tune
Redemption must be coming soon
High and holy, headed home
a smoke, a silent telephone
go light one for Nina Simone

You want to live upon a moon
where there's no happy tunes
to bring you down

Sunday evening coming down
spin some Johnny Cash around
a man in black, that lonesome sound
Love is sweet and that's a fact
shut the door till it come back
but keep it open just a crack

So Blue

MORE ALIVE THAN ME     lyrics and music © by Mike Dampf 2024
Mandolin, Percussion & Vocals - Becky Sora; Violin - Kasandra Sharpe; Bass - David Leadbitter

The moon floats upon the bay
hope and woodsmoke drift away
I tried, but I can't chart
a path to Emma's heart
Is she happy, is she mad
why so restless, then so sad
blossoms falling from the trees
can bring her to her knees

She loves Thomson and how he died's a mystery
Tommy's legend is alive it's Emma
who won't survive his memory
to her he's more alive than me

Just 8 letters, just 3 words
just as if she never heard
they say his watch stopped at 12:14
his borrowed time is all I've been

What can you say to someone who won't come down
She lives and breathes in his painted trees
so high she can't see the ground
see the ground

Guess I'll pack up, catch a train
maybe Chatham, home again
Algonquin's a picture come the fall
but I'm feeling bad about it all

Just 8 letters, just 3 words

More Alive Than Me

Just Turn Around   © Dan Swanson and Mike Dampf July, 2024
Music and Performance by Dan Swanson/ Lyrics by Mike Dampf

Between the falling sun and the farthest edge of town,
Time is slipping fast away; why won’t you turn around?
Between tomorrow and my dreams, silence, the only sound.
All I can do is hope, it seems, that you’ll just turn around.

The sky is growing dark, the stars are dropping down.
A lonely night bird sounds, ‘Why won’t you turn around?’
You can’t stay, and I can’t let go,‘til what we’ve lost is found.
True love, like ours, is rare you know, why won’t you turn around?

Just turn around….
Why won’t you turn around?
Just turn around….
Why won’t you turn around?

Why won’t you turn around, my love, why won’t you turn around?
All I can do is hope, it seems, that you’ll just turn around.

The sky is growing dark, the stars are dropping down.
A lonely night bird sounds, ‘Why won’t you turn around?’
You can’t stay, I can’t let go, ‘til what we’ve lost is found.
True love, like ours, is rare, you know, why won’t you turn around?

Just turn around….
Why won’t you turn around?
Just turn around….
Why won’t you turn around?
Just turn around….
Please, just turn around?

Just Turn Around

YEARS DRIFT BY        Music and lyrics © 2024 August by Mike Dampf
Bass: David Leadbitter/ Percussion: Becky Sora

Every year about this time
he walks miles down the county line
to touch a name carved in stone
then walks home

Neighbors stop and offer a ride
he smiles and waves but never breaks his stride
but you know grief takes its toll
on us all

She died 5 years ago
God knows she was a gentle soul
but he knows if God really cared
she'd still be here

When will enough be enough
he hears some people say
but the years drift by
and nothing much changes, anyway

Give a lost young man a powerful gun
and he might blow your world to kingdom come
he might want to make your children run
'cause their time has come

So God damn the powers that be
their tortured logic and stupidity
13 children are history
but there's no mystery

Years Drift By

Until Your Heart Believes       Lyrics and music by Mike Dampf © August, 2024         Flute - Becky Sora; Bass - David Leadbitter; Vocals Jerneja Medved and Mike Dampf

I can see you hurt
I can read the signs
You smile through loneliness
like winter sun through the pines
this kind of wound is slow to heal
and I know how it feels

One light is on long before the dawn
a half moon rises and then it's gone
soft wind rustles the willow leaves
dreamless, until your heart believes

I see you nearly every day
your eyes say it all
it's just 'Hello' and then you look away
like you hit some kind of wall
Sure, you're fine, nothing's been revealed
but I know how it feels

Look at me
look at you
we shouldn't be alone anymore

Until Your Heart Believes

Too Old to Die Young (music and lyric by Mike Dampf © October 2024)    Becky Sora: flute, percussion, mandolin, vocals/ Dave Leadbitter: bass & vocals

You're really gone, not just gone away
I hurt in the spaces where we used to play
if music is love, my love goes unsung
I'm not too old, just too old to die young

Rumors of an angel, flowers on the breeze
you walked into the room, I went weak at the knees
Like in a church, sweet bells were rung
I'm not too old, just too old to die young

I laughed at love, I thought I had time
I played the game until pride made me blind
Thought I was a rock until 'lonely' cracked open my mind

God knows the reasons, I can't say why
this beautiful summer's so fast drifting by
each leaf's gonna fall as the pendulum's swung
I'm not too old, just too old to die young
I'm not too old, just too old to die young

Too Old to Die Young

LIFE AIN'T BUST          Original song by Mike Dampf © November, 2024  Bass by David Leadbitter; Harmonica by Becky Sora/ Original painting by Jay Dampf

Sometime up, sometime down
this old life is a steady pound
freezing rain, burning heat
best step aside if we meet

Give me things that I can trust
Show me how this life ain't bust

Stand in line, hurry, wait
one at a time through the gate
fold your arms, hide your fear
ask yourself why you're here

Give me things that I can trust
Show me how this life ain't bust

Keep quiet, don't gripe and don't make a big fuss
They need you alive but beware 'cause this life
is gonna break you down to dust





Life Ain't Bust

Another Silent Night     copyright December, 2024 by Mike Dampf. David Leadbitter on bass. Becky Sora on backup vocals.  A song about loss and light at Christmas, about sadness tinted with hope.

They've hung Christmas lights outside
every light's a tear
although through my whiskey glass
they're sweet this time of year
Children wandering homeward push each other into snow
I've no notion who they are or where it is they go

I remember being young
I remember songs were sung
I remember fields of white
on another silent night

Don't want to think about anyone
least of all about you
but you are all I think about 
so what else can I do
My good friend often tells me - don't call me when you drink
this cruise left at 4 o'clock and it ends when I sink

Sweet Jesus, someone's at the door
just pretend there's no one home
they're laughing and they carry on
I just want to be alone
The little girl has pushed her tiny face against the glass
her mom and dad have turned to go away
but the door's not locked, it opens up
she jumps in bold as brass
"We're neighbors!" is all she has to say

Another Silent Night

Pretty Loose music and lyrics © 2025 by Mike Dampf and Dave Medcof
Bass: David Leadbitter; Mandolin, percussion, vocals: Becky Sora

Buddy called, said 'Get off the couch'
you're old but that's no excuse
let's meet at the station with a pint and a plan
everything's been getting pretty loose

So we met on up and we strolled on down
down to where they bury 'who vamoosed'
had a drink and a tear over long gone friends
then we started getting pretty loose

He said 'I heard there's a party just down the line
jump a trolley to the Long Branch Loop'
so we climbed aboard, left the dead behind
and rolled along feeling good 'n loose

It was a-pull down the guitar, rosin the bow
treat your liver and your banjo with abuse
sing out the heart, forget about the head
and everyone was getting pretty loose

The good Lord made many lovely things
I've seen a beaver, a cougar and a moose
but nothing's half as lovely as the way I feel
when the music is getting good and loose

Now it's late, I'm back on the train
so sleepy that I drag my own caboose ...
yes I'm old but the day is young
and everything's been getting pretty loose
Ya everything is getting pretty loose!

Pretty Loose

A love song for strangers. Music and lyrics by Mike Dampf and Becky Sora © February, 2025 Becky plays mandolin, vocals; David Leadbitter plays bass. 

THIRD EYE BLUES

God has nothing to say to the sober
He leaves them high and dry but they don't complain
And God knows there ain't anything faster
Than a fall from grace, I'll never clean that stain

Do you know anyone here, you whispered
We were strangers sitting in a pew at the Church of the Homeless Angel
No but I'm gonna know you, I whispered
And by the way you really rock red at a funeral

I'm gonna live forever if it kills me
And I'm gonna love you for all time
Whatever made you want someone this crazy
I've got a third eye but sometimes I'd rather be blind

We balance on the edge of the moments between hope and fear
It seems to me
You and I ring, we're each other's everything
And alone together isn't so lonely

Third Eye Blues

Song lyric and music copyright 2025 by Mike Dampf. Love You So - is a gentle love song with a bossa feel. This is a stripped down version. David Leadbitter on bass.

Love 
Stumbled in the dark
Fumbled for a spark
Tried to hit the mark
But we ran out of time

Time
All was lost or won
We were so damn young
Dancing on the sun
And unafraid of death

Time out of mind I've watched you shine
And as it all unwinds you should know
I still love you, I still love you so

Death
So many friends are gone
But somehow they live on
At sunset and dawn
When I look for hope

Hope
I find you again
Up around the bend
Someday before the end
Of everything but love

Love You So

The Mourning Dove  Lyrics and music copyright 2025 by Mike Dampf
David Leadbitter on bass

At the river's edge, where small fry feed
there's that big blue heron in the pickerel weed
ravens rasp in cedar boughs
hanging on the line is a red, silk blouse

Can't you hear the neighbors, just downstream
big dogs bark, little girls scream
Back in town people act so strange
I'm just country, man and that won't change

When she left, last time around
I buried her dancing shoes in the ground
If she was here we'd be in love
asleep to the sound of The Mourning Dove

Haven't seen her in quite a while
She ran away, just like a child
I don't know who you could call
Seems the friends we had weren't mine at all



The Mourning Dove

A Hard Go     Original song (lyrics and music by Mike Dampf copyright 2025) Flute and percussion - Becky Sora; Bass - David Leadbitter; Guitar - Dave Medcof; Guitar, banjo etc - Mike Dampf 

It's a hard go, shuffling in line
papers in my hand, children on my mind
the day my job gave out, the first snow come flying
it's a hard go and I feel like crying

It's a lifetime of dreams I've already lived
and there's plenty of love I'm willing to give
but the world digs you up, then shovels you in
and you just want to sleep under blankets of gin

It's a pretty hard go and it's a pretty long way
from here to where a peaceful mind
can greet a sunny day
and it's a hard go, hoping my worries will end
but I know I'll find the heart again

A Hard Go

Alma Darling - original song copyright October, 2025 by songwriters Becky Sora and Mike Dampf.
Bass: David Leadbitter/ Vocals: Becky Sora, Hana Dampf, Mike Dampf; Mandolin and percussion: Becky Sora/ Guitars, percussion, organ: Mike Dampf/ Barking by Zeph 

Alma Darling

No one deals, no one reveals, no one appeals
like you, Alma Darling

The highs and the lows, hearts break wherever you go, didn't you know
we love you, Alma Darling

Love you, Alma Darling
Alma Darling, love you

You're so right, a heart's delight, we dream at night
about you, Alma Darling
So climb the stair, say a little prayer, all the angels care
about you Alma Darling

Alma Darling

This song is rough recorded in 1 take on my Zoom ... a song about my grandmother who I always think of as Advent approaches.

Let It Snow (copyright 2025 by Mike Dampf)

At her window in the spring, at her window everything
then the summer, then the fall
waiting for the call

She was there, I knew it well, loneliness rings like a bell
far away, on thinning air
but I was young and didn't care

"and who will climb the stairs for me
and who will bring his heart to see
these bitter stars, this hungry soul
let it snow, let it snow"

Dusty star on a metal tree, advent mass on a small tv
a ticking clock, an empty chair
an old, gray partridge in a pear

Finally I made the call but there was no one there at all
a clock unwound, a book unread
an open cage, a bird that fled

Soon the 12 days and the star, hope love finds you where you are
you'll hear bells on thinning air
but you are young and may not care

Let It Snow (Advent Song)

Writing songs and kitchen party playing with my many musical friends ... pretty much sums it up.

Mike Dampf

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