Lyrics

In the darkest hue
With the curtains drawn,
Suddenly my lights flickered,
And I heard her song,
Hey! You in the dark,
In the darkening hue,
This is the banshee,
I’ve come for you. 

I am the banshee
The banshee you know,
You have had your time,
Now It’s time for you to go. 

I know you’re way too cheap
To hitch a ride,
So I’ve personally come,
But I’m too young I cried
I don’t want to go,
But it was too late,
We were already down the road. 

And she picked up those who’d strayed,
And she picked up those who were strong, 
And she picked up those who’d blessed us,
And she picked up those who were wrong.
And she picked up those who had lost their voice,
And taught them how to scream this song. 

I am the banshee
The banshee you know,
You have had your time,
Now It’s time for you to go. 

I am the banshee
The banshee you know,
When the young ones come,
The old’s got to go
If you’ve heard me,
It’s already too late. 

I am the banshee
The banshee you know,
You have had your time,
Now It’s time for you to go. 

And she picked up by those who’d prayed,
And she picked up those who were good, 
And she picked up those who’d confessed,
And she picked anyone she could,
And she picked up those who had lost their voice,
Taught them how to scream this song. 

I am the banshee
The banshee you know,
You have had your time,
Now It’s time for you to go. 


A Banshee is a death-spirit native to Celtic mythology and was regarded either as a type of fairy or a ghost, regardless of origin a Banshee was always seen as an omen of death and her screaming was said to be heard by those destined to die

Mike Krath: Lyrics
Finn Eces: Production, Arrangement, Melody, Vocals, Octave Mandolin, Banjo, Mandolin

Finn Eces - @finn_eces
Mike Krath - @mike-krath

The Banshee Of The Darkest Hue (feat. Finn Eces)

All The Craziness Of The World Is Going Away

A song I composed and played for my daughters when they were young.

Lyrics:

See the little girl
She has a seed
And she plants it in the ground,
Beside a weed,
And the sun comes up,
And the rain comes down,
And the little seed,
The little seed,
Springs UP
From the ground.


Lyrics and Music: Mike Krath

See the Little Girl

Memories of a Good Marriage

Maybe another Broadway track?

Verse One
I look forward to burning in hell,
With you by my side, I’m sure, as well,
We’ll scream and shout and let out a wail,
And no one around us will care
Not there, in hell.

Verse Two
I look forward to our time in hell,
No kindness, no goodness, no laughs to share,
Just moans and groans and thoughts of despair,
And no love between us as well, 
Not there, in hell. 

Verse Three
I look forward to our tears in hell,
That wash away hopes of life elsewhere
And flood us with streams of past despair
And no break from this mem’ry cell,
Not there, in hell. 

Chorus:

And you’ll wail with me, ill wail with you,
And you’ll scream with me, and i’ll scream with you,
  
And our days on earth will never grow pale,
those fights we had will always assail,
And this we’ll remember as our final knell:
Hey look! We did it! No chance to dispel.
We’ve turned our lives into a living hell

Bridge:

And you’ll wail with me, I’ll wail with you,
And you’ll scream with me, and i’ll scream with you,
And our days on earth will never grow pale,
We’ve turned those days into a living hell.

I Look Forward To Burning In Hell

Nine Cavities!!!

DAW - Reason Suite 11

Effects - Reason, Ozone 9 and H910 Harmonizer

Instruments used:
Hans Zimmer Strings - Spitfire
SynthMaster2 - KV331 Audio
MAIA Matrix Edition - Pink Noise
Revival Drawbar Synth - Sononics
VPS Avenger
Substance - Output
Kinetic Treats - Native Instruments
Albion NEO - Spitfire
Antidote - Synapse
Black Octopus

August 25 2021 Electronica

A Moment of Ambience

I saw a light in the windowpane
It was a light that soon engulfed me
And I was now the sun
And so I asked my self myself who I should burn myself
Should I burn the city or the world
Should I start large or small
Maybe the mouse in the hole in the wall. 
I don’t know because now I’m the sun.

Because Now I am the Sun

She Left Me Standing In The Rain

I Don't Know If I Can Take Anymore

Christmas Idea #1

I Know You're A Monster

She’s an Alien
Song and Lyrics by Mike Krath

Verse 1

It’s been over a day,
She doesn’t laugh, she doesn’t play,
She sits still, she looks away,
She transmits to my thoughts, she enslaves my brain. 

Chorus

She’s an alien,
She’s possessed by an alien,
She doesn’t cook, she doesn’t clean,
She’s an alien...from Mars. 

Verse 2
It’s been over a week,
She doesn’t move, she doesn’t blink,
The whole place is starting to stink,
She’s got me on the edge, she’s making me think. 

Chorus

She’s an alien,
She’s possessed by an alien,
She doesn’t cook, she doesn’t clean,
She’s an alien...from Mars. 

Verse 3

It’s been over a year,
She doesn’t stir, she doesn’t hear,
Her skin turned blue and now it’s clear,
She’s never going to do my laundry, she’s never gonna cook my meals. 

Chorus

She’s an alien,
She’s possessed by an alien,
She doesn’t cook, she doesn’t clean,
She’s an alien...from Mars. 

Bridge

But Andromeda
It’s not a strain
To think it’s this
But then again 
It could simply be
Kepler-452b!

She's an Alien

Preparing Electronica

Solo with a Dash of Duel

I Saw a Man in the Dark Last Night
Music and Lyrics by Mike Krath

I saw a man in the dark
last night
It wasn’t me,
Couldn’t be,
Shouldn’t be,
Oh no. 

I saw a man give in
to himself
It wasn’t me, 
couldn’t be,
Shouldn’t be
oh no.

Days and days
And months between
And years and years
And no between
And what is left
But solid thoughts
Of wasted opportunities 
And life goes on,
Keeps going on
When I just want to quit

Did I love my children,
their friends,
my spouse,
will my love be
in their memories
when I'm gone?

I Saw a Man in the Dark Last Night

A Happy Day in the French Countryside

TALK TO JESUS
music and lyrics by Mike Krath

I need someone to talk to,
Someone who hears what I say
Someone who listens when I speak
But who, who?


Not my mother,
She’s too busy,
Not my friends,
Only think of themselves
Not my cat,
She’s too lazy,
Not my father,
He is never around. 

Who, who do I go to?
Who, who do I go to?
Who, who do I go to?


Not my priest
He’s not a believer,
Not my brother,
He’s not always there,
Not my dog,
He doesn’t come when I call him,
Not my stylist,
He doesn’t know how to cut hair


Need to lay down
Need to lay down
Need to lay down
Need to lay down
Need to lay down
Need to lay down,
My soul. 

Lay it all down
Lay my soul down. 
Need to lay it all down
But who?
Who do I talk to?
8 billion people in this world
No one to talk to?
No one?
But…


Not my teacher,
He’s too academic
Not my sister,
She’s never off her phone,
Not my counselor 
He doesn’t know my name,
Not my coach
He never lets me play


Oh God,
Who do I call?
Who do I call
When no one listens?

I don’t want my life
To be a high school improv
A high school improv that 
Ends in (sound of gunfire)

Listen
Listen when I call
Who started this mess?
I didn’t ask to be here
I didn’t ask to be born

Give me someone to listen
Give me someone who understands me. 

Lay it down
Lay it down
Lay my soul down. 
Lay it…

Talk To Jesus

I SEE THE RAIN ON MY WINDOW
Music and Lyrics: Mike Krath

I see the rain on my window,
dropping down into the drain,
The pill I take helps me to like it,
and I watch it again and again.

But once a year the pill is forgotten,
and they let me see the world anew,
and have a date with a woman that will be like me,
that is, she'll be pill-less, too.

And they'll take us to a wooden table,
where she'll sit across with a rose between,
But before we talk, she'll want to go to the bathroom,
and I'll laugh and cry and make a scene.

And I'll see the rain on the window,
dropping down into the drain,
And when the waiter comes to take our order,
I'll ask for something to be normal again.

I see the rain on my window,
dropping down into the drain,
The pill I take helps me to like it,
and I watch it again and again.

I See the Rain on My Window

Spin Her Around the Room 
Music and Lyrics by Mike Krath


Life is like a party sometime
Life is like a parade
Life is like a party sometime
But sometimes there is rain. 

I once fell for a woman as clumsy as me
Who fell in my arms on the dance floor,
we helped each other two-step around,
and then decided to dance no more.

But as we left, she tripped over my foot
And fell and hit her head,
I was too embarrassed to see her after that,
and hurried home, instead.

But several months later when I had no dates,
when I felt my life was through,
I decided to go back to that club
To see if she might be there, too. 

And lo and behold she was there that night
and came to where I sat,
Hey! Look at you! After all these months,
I was wondering where you were at.

I’ve been looking for you ever since,
And hoped I’d see you soon,
But every night when the club would close
You’d never show to take me around the room

You know I have cancer now and it won’t be long
That my dancing days are through. 
So will you dance with me once more tonight
And spin me around the room

So I held her close as we danced that night,
Around and around the room
Sad she wouldn’t be around too long,
But hoping it wouldn’t be too soon. 

Then nine months later she was buried
By those she loved, but not by me. 
I wanted to dance with her forever,
Not be in line to see her leave. 

Life is like a party sometime
Life is like a parade
Life is like a party sometime
But sometimes there is rain. 

Oh to be in her arms one more time
And spin her around the room. 

Spin her around the room one more time
spin her around the room,
Just to be in her arms one more time,
Spin her around the room.

Spin her around the room one more time
spin her around the room,
Just to be in her arms one more time,
Spin her around the room.

Life is like a party sometime
Life is like a parade
Life is like a party sometime
But sometimes there must be rain.

Spin Her Around The Room

To Breathe Once More
Music and Lyrics by Mike Krath

I ride the train with packed men
Who haven’t bathed in some sense 
I hold my hand to my nose
After covering it with after-shave,
The dirty men make it necessary 
Their stench makes it necessary 
Their mannishness makes it necessary 
To hold my nose. 

I am above these sad souls,
I am rich, they are dirt poor,
I hold my cash in my pants,
After seeing these men as beneath me
These poor men make it necessary 
Their clothes make it necessary,
Their beneath me makes it necessary,
To hold my cash

And thirteen stations later,
That pass by in a dim blur,
These zombies move without purpose
Into the dirty air,
As rats play in the door
And women move their bellies,
But not their brains,
And children poop in the streets,
And no one cares. 
Not there in Filthy Land,
Not there in Filthy Land.

And I find resolution,
But not absolution,
A dissolution if you will,
To breathe once more,
But the air is dirty.

To Breathe Once More

It's Easy Doing Country (Instrumental)

It’s Easy Doing Country (or #widowlife)
Music and Lyrics by Mike Krath
 
Now a man started a country song,
And sang it out all strong,
And he played it at the honky-tonks,
And he hummed it all night long,
But nine months later,
His song became undone,
When someone knocked at his door
And handed him a son.  

Oh, it was easy (for him) to do country,
And sing it for all to hear,
Then forget all about it,
And keep it in arrears,
But the woman he’d composed with,
wouldn’t let it disappear.
And she added a boy to his chorus,
And that at sixty years!

And she told him flat out:
I really wanted to love you,
Until I found it was a sham
Your country song went out of tune
When I found you were a married man.
You made me think you were solo,
When your duet was at home,
So good luck at being trio,
You, your wife, and son. 

Oh, a man started a country song,
And sang it out all strong,
Until he got a baby boy,
And the tune went out all wrong,
Then the whole town got involved,
And sung the parts unsung.  
And his wife joined the chorus
And even brought her gun. 

It’s easy doing country
When your wife’s not a home
Going down to the honky-tonks
Pretending to be alone
But nine months later
When presented with a son
It’s really hard explaining
 exactly what you’ve done.

It's Easy To Do  Country

Cheap Stones
Music and Lyrics by Mike Krath

I had a sister
Who died too soon
Sixteen years
What could I do
Announced by my mother
Who’s now dead too
Both died young
What could I do
Harden my heart,
But life broke through. 
like a cheap stone
A cheap stone.  
Just like a cheap stone. 

On and on,
Life goes on,
On and on,
with a heart of stone
On and on, 
Life goes on,
On and on
But with a cheap stone,
Just a cheap stone
A cheap stone. 

I’ve had friends,
Who died too soon
twenties, thirties,
What could I do
Announced by my friends 
who loved them, too
All died young
What could I do,
Harden my heart,
But life broke through. 
like a cheap stone
A cheap stone.  
Just like a cheap stone. 

On and on,
Life goes on,
On and on,
with hearts of stone
On and on, 
Life goes on,
On and on
But with cheap stones,
Just cheap stones
Just cheap stones.

Cheap Stones

Empty Song
Music and Lyrics by Mike Krath

 Verse One
I walked out of an empty room,
Then stopped, went back in,
To catch one last glance of where you’d been
To caress the skin that once was sin,
But all I saw was an empty room,
Not even the hint of cheap perfume 
I wanted your breasts, but all I found
Was a faded memory on an empty ground. 

Verse Two
I awoke from an empty sleep
Closed my eyes, went back in
I hoped to find you there with me,
But nothing was there but an empty dream. 
I called your name but deep inside
All I heard was an echo in my mind.  

Verse Three
I departed from an empty pub,
I staggered, went back in,
I sat and toasted an empty crowd,
that you return to this town.
And be there always by my side,
And play and laugh like happy times,
But now all Is faded and gone aside,
And thoughts of growing old an empty lie,

Chorus:
Empty dreams, Empty hopes,
There's nothing left for me to cope.
How do I sing now that you’re gone,
When all I have is an empty song. 
How do I feel play in empty halls,
When your memory haunts my every move,
How do I play the songs you loved,
When all I can carry is an empty tune.

Macbook Pro 2019

DAW: Reason 12

Instruments:
Abbey Road One  - High Strings - Long - Spitfire
Hans Zimmer Piano - Bright — Spitfire
Hans Zimmer Strings —  60 Cellos All-In-One - Long - Spitfire  (Crystallizer — WET Pad - Soundtoys)
Felt Piano - Spitfire
Folk Fiddle - Key switch — Insanity Samples
Babel - Pads - Evolving under the sun — Orchestral Tools
Les Paul Standard MAR BUD - LP Stnd Lead Master — Play — EW Sounds
Pedal Steel Harmonics Bass — SampleTank MAX
EW Hollywood Backup Singers — WB Multi — EW Sounds
(Singers uses Crystallizer — Dark Climbing Echo — Soundtoys and Echo Boy — Cave Echo — Soundtoys)

Main Mixing Plug-Ins:
Oxford Inflator Native - Max Loudness Smooth
Ozone 9 -  Wide Synths — Izotope
Les Paul — Amplitube 5 — American Tube Clean 1

Vocals:
Scarlett 4i4 — Focusrite
AT2020 Condensor Mic
Edgy Vocals — Mixbox — IK Multimedia
Oxford Inflator Native — Max Loudness Smooth — Sonnox 
TR5 Saturator X — IK Multimedia
TR5 Stealth Limiter — IK Multimedia
TR5 White 2A — IK Multimedia

Empty Song

To Mary Jo
Music and Lyrics by Mike Krath

There's a cemetery on the hill
that contains my next of kin,
and some were fat, and some were thin,
and that’s all I remember of them,
And I walk among their stones without a thought,
On my way to my Mary Jo’s plot. 

And I spread a blanket near her stone,
And I lay a red rose down,
Then I sit and talk of our son,
How’s he been doing all year ‘til now. 
And I tell her what’s important,
And what she’d needs to hear
And if I miss something,
Oh well, there’s always next year. 

And the first year I told her he walked,
As one would expect,
But his first words were mama, not dada,
And he did it to show her respect,
And his second year he was trouble,
And I was glad she wasn’t around,
And in the third I disciplined him in anger,
And I wasn’t very proud. 

And his fourth and fifth were happy,
All he did was play
Then he cried going into first grade,
and I really wanted him to stay,
And then on and on through little league,
and up to seventh grade,
and his girlfriends made me sad,
And it made him feel dismayed
But High School I let him go
To choose his path to walk,
But he still asked my advice about life and such
And we had real times of talk. 
Then the dreaded day came,
When he asked if he could drive,
And I made a face, but still paid his course 
And thank God he’s still alive. 

And today I want to tell you,
Our boy graduated this week,
he looked so nice in his cap and gown,
so grown up now,
you'd be so proud,
and he graduated with honors,
He's so smart,
just like you were,
So proud, Mary Jo,
so proud.

Now Mary Jo it’s getting cold up here,
And I need to be heading down,
But I’ll return again next year, my love,
To let you know all our son’s doings above this ground. 

There's a cemetery on the hill
that contains our next of kin,
and some were fat, and some were thin,
and that’s what people remember of them,
But a woman who died before her son
could open his eyes to see her,
Has been kept abreast by the man she loved
Of the things her son’s endured.

To Mary Jo

Go To Sleep Little Donkey

Out of Sight
Lyrics and Music by Mike Krath

The toke I take can’t fill my hollow feeling
No matter how strong I hold it against my lungs,
The emptiness endures. 
But I laugh it off
Ha ha,
I can’t help it,
I’ve turned my emptiness into joy,
The gun by my pillow a joke
I lift it up and stare into its barrel
I smile at the bullet with my name. 
Ha ha. 

I fall to my knees,
I ask for pain,
I want trials
For a life of gain,
Bring down pain,
on bended knees
The tokes I take can’t fill
my parched soul,
Bring down pain
quench this thirsty soul

I’m tired of drugs that fry my brain,
Give me a wife to keep me sane.
And children that look up 
And call my name,
Free me with pain,
with strokes of pain,

Ohhh. Oh. I want to live again,
I want to live again
Just live again,
Please,
I just want to live
Again…

On my knees
With an empty bottle of pills,
I look under my bed for one last thrill,
I find one in the corner and pop it in my till
I fly upright,
face the window
Everything is out of sight
The birds outside are singing out my name,
The plants in my window are doing the same
And the bullet in my gun is rejoicing in its aim,
I’m turning normal now
I’m feeling normal now,
Everything is normal now,
It’s going to be a happy day. 
Hap-hap-happy, hap-hap-happy

It’s going to be a happy day.

Out of Sight

Christmas Idea #2

First Thoughts

I'm a keyboardist with a love for layering sounds to create ambient, ethereal atmospheres and composing simple piano pieces to embellish. I love all genres of music, and find myself composing different types depending on my mood of the day.

I’ve never had formal training. As a teen, my parents wouldn’t let a piano in our house in Egypt, so I studied piece-meal at friends’ homes. When I got to college, I learned by going to university piano practice rooms. In my 40’s, I met my birth-mom who turned out to be a child prodigy, winning a Van Cliburn competition by playing Rachmaninoff at age 11. Most of what I play today, I learned from the techniques she taught me. 

In the past few years, my music has been used in a documentary on Vietnam, a film festival short film and political advertisements (for a party I didn't endorse, btw, but, hey! I'm not proud! I'll compose for anyone).

I’m an American who has lived abroad for a good part of my life in Egypt, Turkey, Japan, South Korea, Saudi Arabia, Italy and now Taiwan.

Mike Krath

Pinned to spotlight

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