The Surrender Flag. Written, arranged and performed by John David Lawson.

Lover, I have been stumbling
Covered in war field sufferings
Angry artillery is rumbling
Loudly within my heart a-thundering
Offers of help are muffled mumblings
When, to the sea, my thoughts roll tumbling
Over bodies fallen from the ragged crag 
Piling under a surrender flag

I feel the tides of distant memory
Taking turns loosening the sands of time
Returning back to you the good in me
Until we hear the bells of freedom chime
Courage is not what has us pressing on
Ah but the promise of a better path
As grains of healing trickle one by one
Down through the gauntlet of the hourglass

A rod of iron's woven through my spine
A steel trap is how I've set my mind
By this machinery I stay alive
But I can't tell you that I'm doing fine
In dreams I see you in the waterfall
Fountains of sunlight bouncing off your hair
Down through time immemorial beyond recall
Oh baby maybe one day we will get back there

Credits:
Acoustic guitar, bass, VST's, vocals - John David Lawson

Music and lyrics © 2023 John David Lawson. All rights reserved.

The Surrender Flag

A soft wind blows and I'm delicate enough to feel it
Of the western rose you're the last one of the season
Brie keeps kicking herself for feeling
Left the light on cos your brain was reeling
Another piece down so it's all revealing
Watch how it grows from refracted things
Your belly's a home for a star we dreamed
I can't stop now cos the creams in flow
You're a primal force with a heart of snow
Wherever you are
We sing the same thing
Wherever you are
We sing the same thing

Cymbals in the back cos the trash has flow
Reaching for your hand like I'm doing up a bow
Melting on the ground cos I let it slip
You stuck around like you found something

Maybe I’m a someone in your life
It started with a day and it turned to night
Here you and I are conspiring thoughts
Now look at us folding up a cot
Glaciers wouldn’t melt
Meant it all in earnest but then it fell down
I couldn’t keep you honest but it seemed to work
When I think about your kisses my stomach starts to hurt
Held by the seven sealed doe
Rampant as a squirrel skipping through the snow
Keep telling you I mean it til you start again
When you catch a feeling
Ride it til the end

When you get the fine and the angels
Chime in their harmonies
Under your thumb
That is the magic devotion has given
I couldn’t trace the words but I felt the flow
I couldn’t look away but I caught the show
Sometimes a poem has the truth you need
But you don’t need to know a thing to write a poetry

Papa

Delicate

Lyrics:

If only people knew what you'd been through
They'd ask you
How you could still smile at all?
You'd grimace back, and say
After all that, smiling's no walk in the park
You'd say I spent many nights crying alone in the dark
In the dark

Did it all for you,
I give you my life
Did it all for you,
Child of mine

Started asking the right questions
Broke my heart in two
'Cause all of a sudden, I could see right through
You became a superhero
Because you had to
You'd say I'd do it all again, so I'd have you

Did it all for you,
I give you my life
Did it all for you,
Child of mine

She said I knew in the seventh grade
A good mother I would make
But life went wrong, and I was afraid
Didn't know how much it would take
How much it would take
This life of mine
Give it all to you, child of mine
I give you my life, did it all for you
No matter how much it takes
And I'd do it again, too

"Superhero" by Jules Renner

Giants (Live)

About those dreams we have that often feel like they are not coming true.  A song both sad and hopeful.

Dreams

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

Lyrics:

I never found the right time
To say three words to you
With little strength the thumbs have left
Type out “I’m sorry, too”

Bubble looking blue, 
Somebody’s typing
That’s someone new
I’m undefining 
Unsend, undo
My buddy’s typing
Begging me to
Quit reigniting 

Three little dots,
They help me power through,
Three little dots
But none of them from you
From you
No message in the queue

I can’t replace the facetime
The sparkle in your eyes
The only one who’s staring back now
The selfie that no one buys

Bubble feels blue, 
Somebody’s typing
That’s someone new
I’m undermining 

Unsend, undo
My family’s typing
Begging me to
Quit sleepless-nighting

I thought I could let us go
You got underneath my skull
Replays on loop so slow 

I hope I can quicky grow
But the time upon my wrist 
Says nobody ever knows

Bubble’s still blue,
Somebody’s typing
That’s someone new
I’m kiss-goodnight-ing

If I check on you
My body’s typing
Can we take two?
All done gaslighting 

Three little dots,
They help me power through,
Those three little dots
But none of them are from you

Can’t erase the thought
Of missing my shot
I can’t connect the dots with you

Jonathan Schwartz -- 2024

Demo - "Three Little Dots"

BabyFace

I love this song, but wanted to put a different spin on it. Hope you like this.

Singing In The Rain (Cover)

【SistasanDRA] FREE STYLE Prod By Chameleon

Spoken word/Poem. Inspired by the mist rising out of Afon Diysinny, the Diysinny River which I watched at dawn one late spring morning, from my bedroom window.

Thanks to Katey Jones from Snowdonia Hideaway for the photo 💐

Afon Diysinny Mist Rise

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

A Picture Of Grace

Mike Dampf

Related tracks