Very moving & touching. God bless him🙏

Thank you Mike for this wonderful musical story. It really touched me. All the best. Björn

Five guitars.

A companion piece to: https://soundcloud.com/jonathan_beckenstein/billy-i-am-ruined

Billy I Am Ruined, Too

We told some lies
we touched the sky
the cliff it sluffed away in heavy rain
and left a gaping gash upon it's face.
it took the trees
it even took the shrubberies

We all sat down on our respective curbs
with heads in hands and played our favorite tunes
performed before and audience that none can see.
you know i really miss your company.
you know i really miss your company.

Rest in reason, move in Passion
living in illusion
living incidentally.
don't you worry about annihilation or creation
Burst asunder
monumental Blunder
little tiny fragments blown past all known horizons.
only to eventually be gathered up upon the waking
and one by one assembled for the rising of the Chorus
for the rising of the chorus.

I've finally got my feet back on the ground
i've finally left that dirty little town.
it's been living in my brain, i guess i found another lane.
and it's real nice out here on the plain.
 it's so goddamn clear. 
and i'm not feeling any pain at all, no, i'm not feeling any pain at all.

No Pain............

Little Red Harmonica
Music and Lyrics by Mike Krath

Many years ago,
When one of our sons was born,
The doctor told us your boy is very sick,
He’d live three to four years at most,
And when he turned five, we were so happy,
Maybe there was a chance after all,
And on that birthday I gave him a little red harmonica,
You may be weak, I told him, not able to do much but lie around, but with this you can play anywhere you are. 
Now go ahead, make something of yourself. 
Let’s hear some sweet music. 
And he smiled and took the little red harmonica in his hands. 
I’m gonna learn how to play this, daddy,
I’m gonna learn how to make a heavenly sound. 
I laughed. I bet you will, son. I bet you will. 

And for the next year,
He played the best he could,
Here and there, to anyone who’d listen,
To his brothers and sisters, to the neighbors, the cats, the dogs, even the pigs.
He loved that harmonica,
It never left his little hand all day, 
Not even to eat (to an extent)
And he had it with him by his side until he went to bed,
But on his sixth birthday, the music stopped. And we had to take him to the hospital. 
And there he begged me in a weak voice, daddy, please don’t let them take away my harmonica. I want to practice, I want to keep practicing. If I’m gonna die and be buried, don’t let me buried without it. 
And I promised. 
And when his 6-year-old body was lying in the coffin, the little red harmonica lay in his hands. 

Now the years have passed,
And we’ve moved on with our lives,
And I try not to think too much of my son,
But from time to time 
I have someone from our old town
Tell me that when they visited the graveyard. 
They swore they could hear a muffled sound
Of someone practicing a harmonica. 
And I start to think again of my little boy.  
I start to think of him day and night. 

In the great redemption story,
I know I’ll see him again,
I know I’ll see him and we’ll be standing side by side. 
And in my mind I see him with his little red harmonica,
And him saying,
You want to see me play it, daddy, you wanna?
And I say, of course, Let’s hear what you’ve learned all these many years. 

And I see him lift it and play a heavenly sound,
A sound that lights up my heart,
And I can’t believe it,
And I grab and squeeze him tight,
What joy is this? What joy are you giving?
And he laughs. 
Do you like it, daddy, do you?
Do I like it? I love it!
And I hug him again,
And then weep on his shoulder,
I’ve missed him so much. 
And I hear him say, don’t cry, daddy, this is heaven now. There are no tears. 
I know. But I’m crying tears of joy. 
And I hug him like I’ve never hugged him before. 
I hug my little boy with his little red harmonica like I’ve never have before.


Set-Up:
DAW: Reason 12

Analog Instrument:
C-Harmonica

Keyboard Instruments:
Folk Fiddle - Keyswitch - Insanity Samples
Appassionata Strings - Spitfire
Hanz Zimmer Strings - Spitfire
Voices - Barbary Solo Glide AH TF - Soundpaint
Solo Boy Legacy and Legato Sections - VOXOS
Originals - Felt Piano - Spitfire

Little Red Harmonica

Tribute to the coolest, kindess, multi talented French Instagram Queen of Vintage. ClaraVICTORYA. Here are my lyrics. Cover Art MahanMahan

If your bored...with your wardrobe
And you got no dough
I know where to go
Everything there is so clean
Relique's a visual dream
This sweet girl's become
An Instagram QUEEN

V is for Victorya
I knew her as Clara
Vintage is her passion
She even sews her own cloths

If it's not orange
Her favorite color's gotta be green
She's always wearin', the grooviest jeans
With her shining shoes
They reflect her contouring
Have you seen her latest post
Everything she does is a scream

V is for Victorya
Vintage Vibes
Velour Vestes 
Velvetly Voluptuous
Vivacious Vampiress
Eyeliner
Red Lipstick 
She's always so well dressed
I love her
ClaraVictorya
Where are you ?
Out shopping in Paris most likely

V is for Victorya

V Is For Victorya (collab M2)

A trip down memory lane (available on Bandcamp)

Drive-In

Hello, this piece is more to let go, a little distraction, dream, chillout, or just let wander your mind , soul flight is also allowed 😊 Hope you like it, have fun while listening!

P.S. see also my new album GALACTIC ECHO on Bandcamp and Jamendo 

CJR-Music originals | more info also here:  https://www.cjrogersmusic.com

Galactic Echo

Unique View

Frozen

Ustera

Out of the Box August 2022
Top up anyone?..

Trip Out

For all the love I had for you.
I'll never forget how your love felt,
or the last time you drank that bottle
of whiskey.

I'll Never Forget How Your Love Felt

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. 

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

Little Red Harmonica

Mike Krath

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