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My brother mentioned that I play guitar, so I went to describe what I consider my level of competence is.  

A lot of the guitar forums and programs ask what level you play... and I guess one standard level is "Campfire Strummer" ... that's what I always check.  As I put it, I'm an OK Campfire Strummer.

Well my brother said that should be a song.

So now it is.

First song I've produced in the new Little Corner Studio.

OK Campfire Strummer
Phil Leith 8/21/21

Well I've come so far just learnin' guitar
And I'm better than I thought I'd be
I got a late start I'll never tear it apart
But I can't let it frustrate me
I'm only so-so never be a virtuoso
And sometimes I think that's a bummer
But I can get by without bein' too shy
As an OK campfire strummer

I'm a little bit sloppy, and I can get off-beat
But I'll just plow on through
What I lack in flash I make up for in passion
And a sustained chord or two
But I can still win if you can rein me in
With a bass man and a drummer
Ain't no Pollyanna never be Santana
Just an OK campfire strummer

Messin' around, makin' that sound
Playin' calypso or swing
I'm havin' a blast, just makin' it last
But I hope I don't bust a string.

My friends seem to love it when I play Jimmy Buffett
Or a John Denver song or three
And I can be gentle with a quiet instrumental
Finger-picking amateur-al-ly
But they can't sing along if I play my own songs
Though I might try to slip in a number
I might sing too loud, but I ain't too proud
I'm just an OK campfire strummer

[And I'm alright with that
Pick on my friend!
No, don't stop now, you're doin' fine!
What's that key change?
Ah, never mind, I'll just fake it 'til I make it]

I might sing too loud, but I ain't too proud
I'm just an OK campfire strummer!

Single 

OK Campfire Strummer

Several things going on in life at once, not the least of which is watching our grandchildren grow up to fast for us.  Especially the youngest, who just turned 5 and is starting Kindergarten.  That magic first 5 years is about over, and I know we will be seeing less of her from here on out as we won't be needed as much by her mom and dad.  Our oldest grandson is 15 and it happened in the blink of an eye.  He'll be a man soon.

So it got me to thinking about life and how fast it goes and how we waste it.  Here it is:

Life Between the Pages
- Phil Leith 2023

Staring at the bottom of a glass
Life is going nowhere fast
Dreams all seemed to vanish in the sky
I'm crying out but there is no reply

I can hear the calling of the sea
But there's still music inside of me
Does it even matter if I try?
If no one really cares to ask me why?

 Where do I find meaning you may ask
 Life between the pages turning fast
 It's not the numbers flying by until you reach the end
 But the stories with your family and your friends

Staring at the mountain range before me
Testifying to eternal glory
What if it is just another place to be?
Would it even matter if I wasn't here to see?
Maybe all that matters
Is it matters to me

Life Between the Pages (Original)

Phil Leith, M. L. Benoit, Jimmy Buffett & Deborah McColl 

Full songwriting credit since I used the refrain and coda of "Incommunicado" at the end.  It's a perfect farewell.

The other line that's a great farewell is one I refer to from "One Particular Harbor"

"I can see the day when my hair's full gray, and I finally disappear"

Bonus points if you can identify all of the other song references.

A Pirate Sails Away
A Tribute to Jimmy Buffett (Phil Leith 9/2023)

There's an old red bike by a lone palm 
It's a riddle in the sand 
Faint false echoes of a troubadour
From an old familiar band

He's got a twelve-volt blender and a ragtop
Somewhere along A1-A
With his shaker of salt and a blown-out flip-flop
Soon he'll be sailin' away

Headed for one particular harbor 
A Pirate switching back from steam to sails
With his head full gray he'll be fading away
And raising a boat cocktail

With a tin cup for a chalice
Playin' simple six-string music songs
He'll be incommunicado
Unless we keep singing along

Now he's incommunicado
Leavin' such a hole in a world that believed
That a life with such bravado   
Was takin' the right way home

Tryin' to make it, tryin' to fake it 
tryin' to take it home; (x2)

Now he's incommunicado

Singles

A Pirate Sails Away (A Tribute to Jimmy Buffett)

Santa Claus is Coming to Town

Headbanger Phil. Or at least as close to it as I'll likely ever get.

Here's a song about 40 years in the making.  It's also my first try at collaborating with someone else on a song - my woodcarving friend Dominick Giarraputo joins me on the recording. (his channel is https://soundcloud.com/user-296202890)

I know it'll come as a shock ;-) but I was not exactly a hit with the young ladies in my life when I was young.  Certainly not in the way I wanted to be with a few of them over those years.  And I invariably got this line back from the ones I was interested in.  "You're a nice guy, BUT ...."  "Don't ever change no matter what, BUT ..." as they proceeded to unload on me the details of how badly they were being treated by whomever they were interested in at the time.  I used to joke that just once I wanted to be the "nice butt guy" instead.  Alas, I was the "Nice guy, BUT!"

40 years later (as one would hope) I've gained wisdom and some insight on what I was lacking back then, through no fault of my own (just the way I developed under my circumstances) ... but I still remember it.  And long before I ever wrote my first song I always wanted to do a song about it.

Note this song, then, is not advice to all the nice guys (and gals out there -- a lot of my lady friends tell  me they experienced something very similar) -- it's more of an "I feel ya" song.  Hopefully you can hear the angst and frustration.

I used to actually think that maybe that's what I should do.... just be an a**hole because that's what seemed to be the allure, to me, at the time.  But my vow to myself would last less than 5 minutes - not even enough to make it to my next encounter.  I just didn't have it in me.  I have too much of my Mom in me for that.  And by "too much" I mean a wonderfully healthy amount.

Turns out these girls were right, I did eventually find that someone who would appreciate me enough to find out who I really am.  It just took 10 or 15 years - which was no comfort to me at the time.

(No More) Mister Nice Guy
Phil Leith 11/2023

He's done it again, and you needed a friend
And once again that friend is me
'Cause you can rely on my shoulder to cry on
And take you seriously

You know damned well there wouldn't be this hell
If you'd've put me in his place
I'm a nice guy -BUT- and don't change no matter what
But you just don't feel that way

Well I've made a decision
There'll be some revision
There's somethin' I've just gotta try...

No more Mister Nice Guy
(Missed but nice try
He's been bled dry
Gonna see him die)

(No More) Mr Nice Guy

I wrote this song about my favorite place in the world ... anywhere in the mountains above the tree line. I'm a tundra junkie. 

It's a simple song. It's a big song. It's a big simple song for a big simple feeling.

This was my first serious, heartfelt attempt at songwriting. I wrote it probably 6 years ago. I recorded it on the BOSS 600 with the condenser mics and bad processing. It sounded "OK" compared to other things I'd done back then. But it didn't sound like I wanted it to sound.

Today it gets the love it deserved in the beginning. Used Reaper and my real mics. Native American Flute. I programmed the drums myself. And the harmonies turned out ... well let's just say I'm very happy with it.

Ghosts

Above the Tree Line

Alive is now a single!  Spotify, iTunes, and others.

The idea for this song literally came to me in a dream.  I woke up singing the first part of the first line of the refrain, which the whole song was built on.

Alive
Phil Leith 4/2018

It ain't always been such a smooth road (it)
Seemed heartache and sorrow were all I'd know
Livin' the blues but I always pulled through when it counted, o-oh
I always imagined that in the end
A new day was comin' around the next bend
Kept hopin' and drivin', it turned out I wasn't wrong

I'm alive, I'm alive and I know what it's like to be free
With the wind in my hair 'tween the sun and the sand and the sea
When trouble comes I can take it
I know that I've got what it takes to make it
As long as I keep movin' life is a breeze

Just when I thought it would all break down
You came along and turned it around
Singin' new songs the radio just wouldn't stop playin', mmm-mmm
Good times and bad times all blow by
Long as we keep lookin' up to the sky
And workin' on keepin' our love strong

I'm alive, I'm alive and I know what it's like to be free
With the lines on the road flashing by to a casual beat
When trouble comes I can take it
I know that I've got what it takes to make it
As long as I keep movin' life is a breeze

I'm alive, I'm alive and I know what it's like to be free
Like the rivers that flow from the mountains down to the sea
When trouble comes I can take it
I know that I've got what it takes to make it
As long as I keep movin' life is a breeze

As long as I keep movin' life is a breeze
As long as I can keep movin' life is a breeze
If I can keep on movin' life is a breeze

Alive (Original) [ The Single]

This song is about a 30+ year old relationship that, looking back, had a significant impact on my life. If you're familiar with the Life of Phil back then, you might have an inkling what this meant. It was a Pretty Big Deal™.

She was the first girl who ever loved me back. Her name is Anne, or Annie to me, but her first name is actually Elizabeth. I don't know that anybody really ever called her that.I was going through old photos a while ago and ran across the few snapshots I have of her.

I have thought about her off and on over the years. I smile when I think of her. I remember her as a very sweet girl with a big, big heart. 

Of course, ultimately it's looking back at a failed relationship. As I was sitting "writing" this song on the guitar one night I couldn't remember right off why we broke up. I eventually did remember ... I had a knack for upsetting her even when upsetting her was the farthest thing from my mind. When you fight all the time, that does not bode well for a relationship. So I moved on. That said... I *did* actually love her. 

Looked her up to see how she's doing. Well she's aged well, I can say that. Hope the rest of her life has gone that well.

****** Song Summary *************
Title: Elizabeth Anne
File:Elizabeth Anne.SGU
Key=D , Tempo 130, Length (m:s)=4:09
No intro. 133 bar chorus, from bar 1 to bar 133. Repeat x1 chorus
No Melody
Soloist track has 1953 notes, Soloist harmony is < no harmony >(0)
Song is saved with Volume, Pan, Reverb, Chorus, Bank0,
Style is _RESOLVE.STY (Resolve Steady Driving Country)

RealTracks in style: ~684:Bass, Electric, PopHalfNotesSync Ev 120
RealTracks in style: 2719:Guitar, Nylon, Fingerpicking CountryBrent Ev 120
RealTracks in style: ~405:Guitar, Acoustic, Strumming Ev 120
RealTracks in song: 1729:Piano, Acoustic, Solo-Accompaniment PopBalladJohn Ev 110
RealDrums in style: NashvilleEven8^5-a:Snare, HiHat , b:Snare, Ride 

*******************

Elizabeth Anne
PGL 12/2015

Elizabeth Anne, Elizabeth Anne
I'd like to sing to you if I can
It's been so many years since we spoke last
Long enough for pain to turn to ash

Still recall the day that we met
Your winter cape, your boots and hat
When you ran your fingers through my part
You burst the dam in my heart

Your lips were sweet blackberry wine
And I could not believe that you were mine
A rainy afternoon, a freezing winter walk on Broadway
Are joys forever etched in my mind

We fought about stupid things
Death by a thousand little stings
But you know I can't forget you
The things we did won't ever let you 
Pass from your corner of my heart

The decades pass, our lives unwind
I hope the time has been as kind
To your heart as it has been to your sweet face
I hope that you have found a better place

Elizabeth Anne, Elizabeth Anne
We were nearly kids back then 
There's no sense in livin' in the past
But you're a part of me and that's a fact

Elizabeth Anne

Re-do of my first Original done with Band in a Box.  I've learned some things since the first try.

Ghost

Front Range Sunrise

Over the holidays I was sitting watching our baby granddaughter, trying to entertain her with my guitar, and this little pattern picking ditty came out of my noodling. It had no words. I just called it "Evelyn's Song".

But a week or so later I did come up with some words. 

A week or so ago I had a solo babysitting gig with Trenton and Evelyn and I got to sing her to sleep with this at bedtime, standing in their dimly lit living room, just rocking back and forth. So she's heard it. :-)

Took me a while to get around to putting it all together. For one thing, it's one thing to play a ditty on a guitar, it's another one to get it squared away and played in time so that we can add other instruments. Turns out you have to be, you know ... good -- to do stuff like that. So I had to get better at the ditty.

I did. And I figured maybe I ought to record it while she's still a baby. :-) The other two have grown grand kids have grown so fast.

I may just stick it at the end of my CD. This is my first crack at producing it, so it'll likely get tweaked between now and then. But here it is.

Lullaby for Evelyn

Alive

This song got started when a friend of mine, after relaying an autobiographical story of tragic humor, sighed and said "face it, I'm broken".

And I got to thinking about it.  She is.  And I don't think she knows where to start fixing herself.  When your subconscious solutions actually create an environment in which what's broken thrives, it will never get any better.

Ghosts (draft)

Broken

(Phil Leith 7/2020)

Have you heard the people
Who talk of love but tell the same old lies?
Can you see the evil?
Your vision helps you see through the disguise

     The Newspeak Mafia (hypochondria)
     Burning down history in the streets [to bring a]
     New Utopia (narco-euphoria)
     Where no one can ever disagree

Can you feel the chill?
The cold wind brings a darkness here to fight
Smell the decay
The crumbling of two thousand years of light

     A new triumphant vision (substitute religion)
     The social justice warrior creed
     Is based on division (intentional incision)
     Opening wounds just to watch them bleed

[Break (full verse and bridge)]

Have you tasted freedom?
To do your thing and say what's on your mind?
Do you know the lies
That promise peace and bliss but rob you blind?

[Break 2 (bridge only)]

Have you heard the people
Who talk of love but tell the same old lies?

Senses (Original)

A "commissioned" parody for the Williams' 25th annual float trip celebration

Williams' 25th Annual Float Trip Celebration

It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year (Float Trip Parody)

Just a guy who loves music, always wanted to play it, and started late.  Mainly do it to share with friends and family. 

Videos at http://www.youtube.com/leithp

Phil Leith

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