This song from 2009 was written to our youngest child, a gift to her when she was leaving home for a year abroad and college.

Time To Say Good-Bye

This song, written in 2002, comes from my social-ills and pathologies period of song writing. Hope you enjoy!

The Real Truth - Songs for Adults

Au Revoir or Adieu

Adon Olam sung to the melody of Go Down Moses, in honor of reading those chapters in Exodus this week and next where Moses utters these famous words, "Thus says the Lord. Let My People Go!"

Adon Olam - Go Down Moses

This song is about trying to rebuild a relationship after a difficult trauma. 

Healing Bones

I was on the phone with my BFF while the circus surrounding the very real  personal family trauma of Terry Schiavo's euthanasia was transpiring. Brian asked me then, as he had asked me several times before and has since, "If I turn into a helpless drooling idiot, promise me you'll pull the plug!" In truth, I don't know if I would risk going to jail for such an act of kindness, but at the very least, I wrote him this song.
The other night, I sang this to a "younger" crowd at a coffee house. They all looked puzzled when I sang "DNR". So I stopped and explained it to them. 
I love you, Brian! (And yes, he's still alive, and happy as all get out.)

Brian's Wish

The liturgical basis for this song is Exodus, the passage just after the Israelites cross the Sea and are certain of their liberation. Miriam takes her drum and the women follow her dancing. Moses leads the men in singing. 

Freedom - Mi Chamocha

When I was in my twenties, I looked for someone to live with.
Now, as a widower in my sixties, I'm looking for someone to die with.
Fortunate to have the beautiful and authentic voice of Jessica Guinness to sing this with me. Thank you, Jes!

Let Me Die In Your Arms

This song is a story about an accidental encounter that turned into a profound and life affirming love. Tragedy only serves to recreate the love in the form of a beautiful child. 

Dura Lei

By Sam Asher and Lou Sweigman
Performance by Sam Asher
This song sets before you, a moment of paradise - the edge of the beautiful Indian Lake in upstate New York's Adirondack Park. On a crisp frosty morning, the fog constantly changes shape as it slowly lifts, as if it were some kind of mystical mask. All of it reminds you of the magic in a painting by the master of form and illusion, Pablo Picasso.

Pablo Picasso And Me

Picture the end of a hard week of labor. Everything you've done for the last six days has been to bring you to this gift of a day of rest, of calm, of answering to no one, of a peace that is your right, not because any man or government said so, but because it is granted by the Creator of the universe. You welcome the Sabbath as you would your betrothed, walking down the aisle. This is a love poem that uses the mystical tradition and imagery of Kabbala.
It is a love poem that welcomes the Shabbat. The music is original, the Hebrew words are by Elazar ben Moshe Azikri, a 16th century liturgist.
Translation from Congregation B'nai Jeshurun:
Beloved of my soul, Merciful Father / draw your servant after your will
Your servant would run swift as a deer / to kneel before Your splendor
For Your love is sweeter to him / than honey nectar and all pleasing savor
Exalted Glorious Beautiful Light of the World / my soul is love-sick for You
Please, My God, please heal her / by showing her the beauty of Your radiance
Then she will be strengthened and healed / and be Your maidservant forever
Ancient One arouse Your mercy / spare the son of Your beloved friend
For he has a long time longed to behold / the magnificence Your might
Please, My God, My Heart’s Delight, / oh come quickly do not forsake me
Reveal Yourself my dearest / and spread over me Your canopy of peace
Let the earth be illuminated with Your glory / let us be delighted and rejoice in You
Make haste my beloved for the time has come / show me Your favor as in the days of old.

Yedid Nefesh

Lecha Dodi means "come, my beloved". The words of this liturgical poem were written in the 16th century by Rabbi Shlomo HaLevi Alkabetz, a Jewish Kabbalist (mystic). It joyously welcomes the Sabbath like a bride. It speaks of the day of rest as the pinnacle of creation itself.
I felt this song needed a joyous setting, and so created this about 10 years ago. We sing it frequently at Ohel Avraham. I present the first 3 and last 3 verses.
For more info about the poetry, see Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lekhah_Dodi).

Lecha Dodi

This is a 3 part fugue I wrote decades ago, as a final project in counterpoint. Loving the way it sounds on the Korg M3!

Fugue

Hodu. The Great Hallel. Psalm 136.
I wrote this setting of Hodu in the mid 1980's, when Rabbi Sue Gulack was the spiritual leader at Temple Beth Am in Rochester. Since then, people have told me they have heard it sung this way from Boston to LA.

Hodu

This is the second prayer in the Amida, perhaps the most ancient of non-Biblical Jewish liturgy. It refers to resurrection, for if God is all that was, is, and will be, then God must transcend life and death. A translation:

"Sustainer of the living with loving kindness, gives life to the dead with compassion, supports the falling, heals the sick, frees the bound, and fulfills ultimate faithfulness to those in their nameless final sleep. Who is like You, master of greatness! And who can be compared to You, Sovereign of the dead and the living, and source of salvation.'

Refer to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amidah to learn more about it.

Mechalkel Hayim

This is a prayer from the Jewish High Holiday liturgy. It comes from one of the most awe filling and mesmerizing prayers, the Une Taneh Tokef. This part of the prayer uses the imagery of God as a shepherd, and each of us passing under the Shepherd's staff.

Kevakarat Ro'eh Edro

This is a blessing, a wish of enough love and good to overcome the inevitable difficulties in life. 

As long as there's a breath in me
I’ll raise a prayer for you
As long as I have memories
I’ll still be there for you
 
Your place is at my table
In seasons foul and fair
As long as I am able
your soul is in my prayer
 
May your sorrows turn to sunshine
and draw your tears away
May you ever find a reason
to be happy every day
 
May your children always feel your love
like a warm and gentle rain
And may you always feel the love
their gentle hearts contain
 
I long to be the one you love
as long as we’re alive
I want to be your number one
and two, three, four, and five
 
I need to feel you dearly
as every morning comes
and hold you close near me
as every day is done


May your sorrows turn to sunshine
and draw your tears away
May you ever find a reason
to be happy every day
 
May your children always feel your love
like a warm and gentle rain
And may you always feel the love
their gentle hearts contain
 
When your world is full of darkness
may your Goddess shed her light
And may you feel protected
every morning, noon, and night
 
May you sow your seeds by moonlight
And be guided by a star
For the blessing that you live by
is the blessing that you are
 
May your sorrows turn to sunshine
And dry your tears away
May you ever find a reason
To smile every day
 
May your children always feel your love
Like a warm and gentle rain
And may you always feel the love
their gentle hearts contain


My Prayer

Lyrics:
I’m tainted goods, you better believe it’s true
I’m tainted goods, coming as-is, don’t claim to be new
I’m lost and found. Call me tried and true.
A little bit used
but good as new
and I’m just for you

I’ve been a tramp, drinking low cost gin
I’ve been a tramp, just over the line called sin
There’s times a woke up, didn’t know where I’d been
A little bit used
but good as new
and I’m just for you

You may think I’m washed up, but that just ain’t the case
Heaven don’t mean a thing unless you started by falling from grace

Take me as I am, ‘cause I can treat you right
Take me as I am, and I’ll please you every night
I ain’t good at talking, but I can be your delight
A little bit used
but good as new
and I’m just for you

Tainted Goods

This is a calypso take on one of the great psalms, #136, also called the great Hallel. It is sung in the morning of each sabbath, festival, and holy day (e.g. Yom Kippur). It subject covers the whole godly experience, from the creation to Redemption. 

Hodu - Psalm 136

Al Kol Eileh, for all these things, by Naomi Shemer

This is a beautiful song of acceptance. For the bitter and for the sweet. Life is complicated. What is painful today may turn to be a blessing years from now. And our abundance can vanish overnight. Stepping back, we must be thankful to God for anything and everything, for the bitter and for the sweat.

Disclaimer on the quality of this recording. It's an audience recording of a concert my band Farah performed for the Rochester Yom Ha'atzma'ut (Israel Independence Day) concert in 2010. The many native Israelis in attendance were not shy of singing (and occasionally talking), which I think adds some authenticity.

Singers are Max Steiner (lead) and Angie Lenzo (harmony). Ben Markowitz (bass). Sam Asher (piano).

Al Kol Eileh

Jewish liturgical music. All original recordings. Mostly original melodies. Some traditional Sephardic music. All traditional words.

Haneirot Halalu

In the beginning of God's creation of the universe, a breath swept across the firmament. God breathed life into all flesh. 
The soul of all life blesses Your Name, God our God. The breath of all flesh glorifies and exalts Your remembrance, our Ruler, always. From this world to the last world, You are God, and without You, we have no guidance, no redemption, no salvation.

Nishmat Kol Hai

They stood at the edge of the sea and Israel witnessed the utter defeat of the army that had enslaved them for 400 years. Miriam and the women broke into dance, while her brother, Moses and the men broke into song. God is a warrior, my Rock, my Savior. God is forever, in space and time, God is forever.
This is the song they sang.
The melody is based on one my father taught me, from the Jews of Egypt. Notice how some measures seem to lose a beat. That is intentional, a remnant of the abrupt way, in Sefaredi synagogue music from North Africa, the melody is abridged to fit the words.
Cover picture is courtesy of Joyce Donsky

Az Yashir Moshe - Sefarad

Thank God for Close Calls
                                                                                             -Samuel Asher, 2015
Denise PurpleDays Reese - Lead Guitar
Sam Asher - Vocal, Rhythm

Sometimes I don’t try, sometimes I move too fast
I like to take it to the edge and … make it last 
In times of trouble, I pray it will pass
And: Thank God for close calls.

I heard sirens near the scene of the crime
A near miss, I got out in the nick of time
Caught a lucky break and was happy to survive
Dodged a bullet, and made it out alive

It was a near-death experience, but you slipped through a crack
You’re thinking, “Anyone can do it,” but, baby, you’ve got the nack.
You cheated death, and now you’ve come back
Thank God for close calls

Many circumstances fall on your lap, and
It’s your job to separate wheat from the chaff, and, yet
We are products of accidents that never happened
Thank God for close calls.

No time for atonement, when you’re dancing on the wall!
Live in the moment. And: Thank God for close calls.

I first glimpsed paradise in my girlfriend's bed
She was happy to take it anywhere it led
But her old man surprised us and I ran away instead 
Thank God for close calls

The road was slick with ice and I hit a patch
I saw my whole life pass before me in a flash
An inch from heaven, but I didn’t get a scratch
Thank God for close calls.

No time for atonement, when you’re dancing on the wall!
Live in the moment. And: Thank God for close calls.

Of all my memories, the ones I cherish most
are ones that didn’t break me ... but they sure came close
You haven't lived until you've seen your own ghost.
Thank God for close calls

Close Calls

Yaaleh - This liturgical poem is sung only once in synagogue, during the entire Jewish year, and that is after the Silent Amidah during Kol Nidre 'eve

The melody is an Israeli song (citation needed).

This translation from Chabad.org:
May our supplications ascend at eventide; our pleas come [before You] in the morning; and our prayer be favorably accepted until evening.
May our voice ascend at eventide; our righteousness come [before You] in the morning; and our [prayer for] redemption be favorably accepted until evening.
May our affliction ascend at eventide; our pardon come forth in the morning; and our cry be favorably accepted until evening.
May [the merit of] our trust ascend at eventide; come [before Him] for His sake, in the morning; and our [petition for] atonement be favorably accepted until evening.
May our salvation ascend at eventide; our purity come [before You] in the morning; and our entreaty be favorably accepted until evening.
May our remembrance ascend at eventide; our assemblage come [before You] in the morning; and our glorification [of God] be favorably accepted until evening.
May our knocking [at the gates of repentance and prayer] ascend at eventide; our rejoicing come [before You] in the morning; and our request be favorably accepted until evening.
May our cry ascend at eventide; come before You in the morning; and may it be favorably accepted for us until evening.

Yaaleh

Yerushalayim Shel Zahav

This is a musical setting of "Yigdal" - the medieval liturgical poem that alludes to the 13 articles of faith proposed by Maimonides.

Yigdal - Sefardi

This is a story of a trip to a home I never realized I had.
Ta'alah ya ibni, khosh fibetek
Ille endi, kemen bta'ak
Kol, w'ishrub, w'istarayeh
Ish w'tifrah, Rabinnah ma'ak.

Khosh Fibetek

A Song of Ascents.
When the Lord brought back those who returned to Zion,
we were like dreamers!
Our mouth filled with laughter, and our tongue with singing;
Other nations proclaimed:
   'The Lord has done great things with these.'
Indeed, God has done great things with us;
We are rejoiced.
Turn our captivity, O Lord, as a stream in a desert.
They that sow in tears shall reap in joy.
Though she goes on her way weeping, who bears the measure of seed,
She shall come home with joy, bearing her sheaves.

-Psalm 126

For Nadia, A Psalm

Sung by the incredibly gifted Shaya Greathouse, this musical setting of Psalm 23 was composed by Gerald Cohen.
Guitar and vocal harmony by Samuel Asher
For information on Gerald Cohen’s compositions:  www.geraldcohenmusic.com.

Adonai Roi - Psalm 23 - Shaya Greathouse

From "Nishmat"
Ilu finu malei shira kayam...
Were our mouths filled with song 
As water fills the sea
And our tongues flooded with joy
We could not thank You,
for even a fraction of a fraction,
of the blessings You give us.

Ilu Finu

This is a hopeful and exultant song, an original piece, and a departure from my edgy music and lyrics. Hope you like.

I Believe

A lullaby written for our children, and now, for our children's children.
Words by Shelli Asher. Music by Sam Asher.

Little Fingers

This children's song has a beautiful sentiment.

We All Sing With The Same Voice

This is a new take on a Zionist song from the early days of the State of Israel. It's a "worker" song, written as a children's round, but conveying the message of the importance of our labor.

Kum Bachur

The Entertainer

Like what you hear? Click Share!
All the music on this account is original, either words and music, or just music. If my songs speak to you, either making you laugh or cry or just think, then I've done my job.
You may not have come to this site to learn about my philosophy, but my songs will tell you that, with or without explanation. They contain many personal experiences, mine and those of others, from the craziest carefree fun, to beautiful love that has prevailed over much pain, to profound grief that has no comparison. It's all here. 

I also have here some of my Jewish music, mostly in the form of prayers which I have put to new settings. Many of these pieces are ones that we sing at Shabbat, Festival, or High Holiday services at my worship group, Ohel Avraham. The Hebrew songs come from traditional liturgy or the Bible.

Feel free to copy, repost, share with friends and family and sing them yourself. If you need lyrics or chords, just ask. To me, that is the highest compliment.

Sam Asher

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