50 Years Ago

See That Man Walking
Music and Lyrics by Mike Krath

See that man walking
Walking down that road
See that man walking
Walking down that road

Where does he think he’s going,
He don’t know
He just keeps on walking
Walking down that road. 

His mind plans his way
But he doesn’t watch his steps
His mind plans his way
But he doesn’t watch his steps

He thinks he’s going up,
But his steps are going down
Down to some waters,
Where he’s sure enough to drown. 

Sometimes it takes a spouse, or a loved one, or a good friend,
Just to stand in our way,
To tell us to turn around,
Turn around don’t go that way. 

But that man wasn’t that bright,
He wasn’t very smart, too,
He didn’t listen to what they said. 
He didn’t care what they tried to do,
He just wanted to walk down that road,
And put another hole in his shoes. 

Instead of listening and turning around,
He now has a hole in his shoe.

Sometimes it takes God Almighty
To reach down and take a man by his hand,
And physically turn him and tell him
What are you trying to do
Build your house on sand?

Not on my watch!

See That Man Walking

I Don't Know If I Can Take Anymore

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

Okay, I really don't know how to classify this one.  I just wanted to write lyrics to music I had done, and this is what came out.

Two Women, Two Views
Lyrics and Music by Mike Krath

Two women,
Two views,
They live on my street,
And to me amuse. 

The first regurgitates her opinions for all of us who lose
A shallow wisdom poured out like deep,
To awaken the souls of those who sleep. 
An understanding drawn as from a pail,
But in reality just her thimble that covers her nail. 

Two women
Two views
How nice,
To keep me amused. 

The second is the one who drinks from lighter things. 
Then pours out her opinions, when asked, with haughty sings,
Her ideas are spilled at inappropriate times,
And she disdains suggestions to help keep her in line. 
Her wisdom consists of sugar with tea,
And if challenged, how great a piece of her cake would be. 

On my street these women,
Never grow old,
their mannerisms are such, 
they’ll always be told. 
And no matter what they say,
Or what they claim on the block. 
Does it matter to them,
That food and clothes,
Should be our lot,
For these two women,
I think not.

Two Women, Two Views

Fifty Years Ago,
Music and Lyrics by Mike Krath

You invited me to your 16th birthday,
I showed up with albums in my hand 
No one was dancing,
So I started up the first dance. 
And we danced all night,
While the stars shone above the sand,
Then the Germans crashed the party,
And your party got out of hand,
And your Mom was mad,
And asked why no one had brought gifts,
But she didn’t understand,
I was your gift,
And you fell in love with it,
When I walked out 
with albums in my hand. 

And we tried to be a couple,
But it just wasn’t meant to be,
And I told you I didn’t want to marry,
And I left you in university. 
And you went off and found someone else,
And I didn’t care,
But I learned to regret it,
And often wondered why you weren’t there,
And I drifted through the years
Alone in my life,
But I kept your pictures
To remind me,
If I could do it all over again,
You would’ve been my wife.

And you called me,
When I was thirty,
When life was over and I wanted to be left alone,
And we talked three hours,
And I didn’t want to hang up the phone
And I went to work the next day,
And told everyone,
that I was getting married,
And they thought I’d come undone.
But seven months later,
we tied the knot,
and picked up from where we first  begun.
and from then,
we never looked back,
To the time I stopped our fun.

And we traveled back,
On a cold November night,
To the house you had first fallen in love,
When I walked out with albums in my hands,
And your party was going strong,
Fifty years ago,
And we saw the stars still shining
Above the desert sands. 
Like love,
It kept on going,
Never quitting,
Regardless of what we felt,
or tried to understand.

Fifty Years Ago

I’m a song-writer who enjoys creating music of any genre.

My son recently introduced me to A.I. and taught me how to do covers of my previously released non-A.I. music. Since I've never considered myself a performer (except playing with worship bands at church or solo-piano at a rehab center) using A.I. is right up my alley.

Since I've  exhausted using my previously released music for A.I. covers, I now compose music in a DAW, rip to a wave file, and make an A.I. cover of this wave file. I then write lyrics to the A.I. music. It takes around 100 A.I. iterations to complete the lyrics and get a style I'm happy with.  

Brief Bio: Lived more than a quarter of my life overseas (Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Turkiye, Italy, Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan). Each country gave me an appreciation for different types of music plus probably why I get bored easily in sticking with one genre or another.