Cover of a song recorded by Genesis as part of the Wind and Wuthering sessions.
No copyright infringement intended. I'm not being paid for this work, nor is it for sale.

Steven Graff: keyboards, guitars, vocals, tambourine

"It's Yourself" (cover)

This composition was part of a set of four I composed using a program that came with the Tandy 2000 computer. I was inspired by the incidental music of Erik Satie. It was written around 1990..
This is a very dry rendition using violin, cello, vibes and flute. It's a demo.
Copyright 2007, Steven Graff
This recording Copyright 2013, Steven Graff

Consolation (inst demo)

Copyright 2014, Steven Graff (BMI)
Lyrics:

The years have all gone by
The memories all abide
The faces set aside
Happily ever after

The big accomplishments
The spotlight come and went
The stages of ascent
Happily ever after

Don't be fooled; it's a fellowship of years
Tugging at your heart and bruising your ego
Don't be ruled by the suggested fears
Of all the lives you've touched and then let go

A path and life once shared
From a distance it looks so bare
Faint recognition of something there
And happily ever after

Some of them were too busy with their dreams
Playing on time and maintaining their features
Others were the ones you chose not to see
While you grew into the current creature

A culminating task
Of all of the questions you cannot ask
"...Whatever became of so and so?"
"...Was it a life spent forever alone?"
"...Married with kids but never at home?"
"...Sick for a long time -- how could you have known?"
...Asleep there beside you, then suddenly gone...

..."Most Likely to Succeed," but an accident won

Or happily ever after (we don't know)
     happily ever after (who CAN know?)
     happily ever after (we hope so)

____________________________________________________________
This is a demo version of a song written and performed by me. All rights reserved.

"Happily Ever After"

An unreleased "bonus track "from the Lost Luggage CD.
Since the CD as a whole was supposed to be a tribute to the immigrant experience in America, i was supposed to finish the meaning of the whole CD with a song distinct in style.
Robbie Rist salvaged the original tracks from my demo, which were done on a mini-disc recorder, and I worked from there.
LYRICS: 
Through the mist I see
A statue of liberty
Why do you frighten me?

Cold and alone
Afraid and vulnerable
At an open door

Right there in front of me
I see my liberty
Why does it frighten me?

Standing on your own
You do not stand alone
There at the open door

You’ll take me as your own
Somehow I’m not alone
I’m given space to call my home

Now here we all have roamed
So we are not alone
Together to this place
Together to this face

To this place we can call home.

We can call home

We can call home

Home

Home


Coda: "The Golden Doorway"

This was part of a number of covers done after the death of my father.  This song always spoke to me, as did the other covers made at the time. Though the guitar and vocals are pitchy, it definitely carries the mood.

I Just Wasn't Made For These Times (Beach Boys cover)

This was the first purely improvised piece I've done in a long time. Definitely the first time since my father died. 
What started out as a happy excursion soon turned into a unsettling melancholic journey that made me feel worse in the end, despite the resolution.

Amb1

This was an earworm for several days, so I thought I'd try to pull it off. 
Not the best vocal, but I'm not in the best situation to record any right now. 
ENJOY!
This is a cover version of an original song by Don MacLean. It is not for sale or hire, and does not violate copyright under Fair Use

"And I Love You So" (Don MacLean cover)

A cover of the My Bloody Valentine track featured on their seminal shoegaze album "Loveless." This was done with one guitar, bass, drums, mellotron flute and synth track. Plus vocals

Lyrics (and yes, these are the right ones)
What I do I say but I can't get far away
Oh, I go back to the memory again
What you want – don't you know that I'm alive?
Then I go back to you 
Don't you know what I feel inside
When you come down blue 
But I do, I do, I do 
Oh I come back to the one who calls my name out
What you want  – don't you know that I can smile?
Couldn't I go back to you 
When you're breaking down inside?
Ohhhh


Turn around and smile
Though they can't see through your eye
Could I fold into the one who comes to mind?
Come back down – what I take will easy my mind
Couldn't I surround you? 
Don't you know that I'll ask why
When you come down new 
But I do, I do, I do 
Oh I come back to the one who calls my name out
What you want – now you  know that I'm alive
Couldn't I go back to you 
When you're breaking down inside?
Ohhh 

What You Want (cover)

This song came to me, complete, about four days ago. Lyrics, music, vocal harmonies....
That hasn't happened in a long time...and it's actually a bad sign.

Lyrics and Music Copyright 2016, Steven Anthony Graff

I Dance When I Want To (version)

A cover of the Bauhaus tune, which used a more conventional form. This version is all keyboard, using delays for rhythmic effect. This is just for kicks and not for profit, so no copyright infringement is intended. More than likely, folks'll check out the Bauhaus version, so I'm sort of promoting them, I guess.


"Too Much 21st Century" (cover)

This is a treatment of two themes from my song, "Abby's Sail." 
What can I say -- I liked Brian Eno's "Discreet Music" experiment.

Enjoy!

"Abby's Sail" Copyright 1997, Steven Graff
This recording, Copyright 2012, Steven Graff

Abby's Phrase

A lot of this stuff is done off the cuff. I've learned a lot since the first upload, and I hope it shows.

Steven Graff

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