This 80s pop has been rescued from a low quality FERRIC tape for that authentic "recorded it off the radio" feel! (oops!)

Featuring Debra Charles & Prakash Daryani with extra mixing help & classic Roland D50 by Dave Robinson ..and yes, recorded in 1989 :)

Pic by Javier Martínez on Unsplash
Copyright Simon Walters 1989/2021

Love Is The Way (We Work It Out)

Co-written with Michael Gray Griffith.

GOODBYE ROAD

CHUNG WAS A RICE QUEEN
WITH AN EXQUISITE FACE
THAT YOU COULD SOIL FOR THREE HUNDRED
DOWN GOODBYE ROAD

FLEW DOWN FROM DARWIN
HIS LIFE IN ONE CASE
SAT IN MY OFFICE, SAID
I’M LOOKING FOR A HOME


SOMETIMES YOU HAVE TO HEAD OUT ON YOUR OWN
BECAUSE YOU CAN DIE OF HUNGER 
SUCKING BLOOD FROM A STONE
SOMETIMES YOU HAVE TO GO BUILD YOUR DREAM HOME
FROM THE ORPHANS HAUNTING GOODBYE ROAD

HATE ON ONE HAND,
LOVE SMUDGED ON THE OTHER
GINO WAS A RIGGER
WITH HIS FATHER AND HIS BROTHERS

SAW CHUNG GLOWING UNDER A NEON LIGHT
DID A U-TURN AND BOOKED HIM FOR THE NIGHT

DON’T YOU HAVE SOMEONE, SOMEWHERE TO GO
HERE IS SOMEWHERE,
YOU’RE CUTE DON’T YOU KNOW
CLOSE YOUR EYES GINO,
AND YOU WILL SEE
ORPHANS CAN BUILD HOMES ON GOODBYE ROAD

GINO CAME BACK
NIGHT AFTER NIGHT
CHUNG STOPPED CHARGING SAID
"LET’S BUILD A LIFE"

THEN THE BROTHERS FOUND OUT,
AND WITH THEIR FATHER BY THEIR SIDE
THEY BEAT UP CHUNG
TO WITHIN AN INCH OF HIS LIFE

DON’T YOU HAVE SOMEONE
SOMEWHERE TO GO
DON’T WORRY JOHN
I’M IN LOVE, DON’T YOU KNOW

MY BONES MAY BE BROKEN,
MY JAW MAY BE WIRED
BUT INSIDE MY CHEST
MY HEART IS ON FIRE

SOMETIMES YOU HAVE TO HEAD OUT ON YOUR OWN
BECAUSE YOU CAN DIE OF HUNGER
SUCKING BLOOD  FROM A STONE
SOMETIMES YOU HAVE TO GO BUILD YOUR DREAM HOME
FROM THE ORPHANS HAUNTING GOODBYE ROAD

AFTER SCRAPING OFF HATE,
GINO LEFT THAT LIFE
HE'S HEADING UP TO SYDNEY
CHUNG'S ALONG FOR THE RIDE
HE SENT ME A SNAP CHAT
SAID DON’T WORRY JOHN
FOR GINO AND I ARE NOW HEADING HOME

SOMETIMES YOU HAVE TO HEAD OUT ON YOUR OWN
BECAUSE YOU CAN DIE IN THE LIE
SUCKING BLOOD FROM A STONE
SOMETIMES YOU HAVE TO BUILD YOUR DREAM HOME
FROM THE LOVE THAT IS WAITING
DOWN GOODBYE ROAD

Goodbye Road Triple J Edit

A flowing pop/folk ballad asking a partner to open up.... if the relationship is to have a future...

How many have been lost through lack of communication ?

"Keep nothing from me: it's no use keeping secrets, can't you see?
If we are to continue then we need to talk things through: 
keep nothing from me...
Why can't you set me free....?"

This song is suitable for most female voices with a range of A below middle C to C above middle C.  

The score has been entered in a Sheet Music Plus competition and is available for purchase at https://www.sheetmusicplus.com/title/21758916 

Singer:  Chrissy Neaves  (https://soundcloud.com/user-416342934)
Copyright Simon Walters 2020 (registered to APRA). 

Photo by Etienne Boulanger on Unsplash

Keep Nothing From Me

Can you keep a good rock ballad down ? We don't think so -especially this meaty radio mix!

Featuring the much appreciated talent and input of:
Andy Grant- Vocals
Adam Roach- Guitars
Christian Nativo- Drums

Recorded and mixed in isolation May/June 2020
Words and Music copyright Simon Walters 2020

Image by Taylor Young on Unsplash.

For those who will soon rock again...we salute you...

If you've enjoyed this track, please share :)

You Don't Know What You've Got  (Until It's Gone) {Radio Mix}

Featuring
Adam Roach- guitars
Christian Nativo- drums
based on the version with Andy Grant on vocals.

copyright Simon Walters 2020 (recorded/mixed in isolation)
Imagine by Taylor on Unsplash.

You Don't Know What You've Got (Until It's Gone) {Guitar Instrumental}

Copyright Simon Walters 2020 and featuring Chrissy Neaves.

We will prevail no matter what what we have to go through if we stay true to ourselves: 
"throughout our imprisonment we remembered our name."

 Written in 1994 and recorded and produced in lockdown in Melbourne 2020.

This number can be performed by choir, small group, and as this recording with flexible solo parts throughout: sheet music is available at https://www.sheetmusicplus.com/title/21834736 

Mine is a spirit out of control 
To live for the moment is far from my soul 
I spin through directions: can't see my goal
And where is the courage to live it?

I'm using the power of what I have been:
I'm using the most that I've been given 
But doubts they still haunt me and make me their home 
So when I am home I hope I live it

For mine is a spirit not content with this space 
Got time and material but it ain't got no face 
Drifting in obscurity, we can all be slaves 
But if we're all enslaved how can we live it?

I'm sighing my sorrows at being someone else
 I'm crying that there's something of me left up on the shelf 
What is occupation: what's a soul's career?
If you're not really here how can you live it?

Gone is the ocean, gone is the world 
If you step off a bridge into the ocean 
The truth is we're imperfect, we've lost each other's song 
And a perfect place to stay has been long gone 

So ours is a spirit that lives through pain 
Throughout our imprisonment we remembered our name 
And if ours all are spirits out of control 
At least we still have substance 
We still have our soul 

We're breathing the power of what what we we have have been been
 We're using the most that we've been given
 But doubts they still haunt us and make us their home
 So when we are home I pray we live it.

Photo by Hadis Safari on Unsplash

Spiritual

Featuring the creative talents of:  
Michael O'Loughlin - vocals
Salvatore Salvo - violin
Adam Roach- guitar

Written by Michael Gray Griffith & Simon Walters copyright 2020 (registered to APRA). 

Photo by Michael Gray Griffith.

from my cardboard bed
i’m watching you heading home
rushing and locked into your mobile phones.
tomorrow i’ll be even easier to ignore
i can feel the darkness
knocking on my bones.

I'm lonelier here
than i ever was on the road,
where if i made the times
i was left alone,
i told several woman
don’t build your dreams upon
a man who's sewn his soul to the road.

the steady growl of the diesel,
the long nights with quiet stars,
eighteen wheels rolling me forward
to Johnny Cash singing lullabies

how far would you go to stay in a dream ?
after they squeezed the times.
i took amphetamines.
if i'd hit a car in the city, who knows?
but out here on the highway
i can still hear her silence,
. . . even now

Oh lord , i know i can't come home
but in your mercy
couldn't you let me roam ?
like a lonesome breeze
i’d  travel back and forth
and i’d never . . .
no, i'd never hurt no one

the sleepy town waiting for me
the city fading behind
the highway writes its poetry
for her lover's eyes

but now god is quiet
and my bottle is dry
and i can feel the darkness
rattling in my bones
i guess i was right when i sang before
tomorrow i'll be even easier to ignore
tomorrow i'll be even easier to ignore

The Homeless Truck Driver's Prayer

Featuring the creative talents of:  
Salvatore Salvo - violin
Adam Roach- guitar

Written by Michael Gray Griffith & Simon Walters copyright 2020 (registered to APRA). 

Photo by Michael Gray Griffith.

The Homeless Truck Driver's Prayer (Instrumental Version)

copyright Michael Gray Griffith & Simon Walters 2020.
Registered to Apra.

"When he was a tram driver Michael used to see a guy sleeping rough outside Kew Park Library. One night he brought him a camp bed and they chatted about the guy’s life and how he ended up homeless.

The man told Michael about a car that pulled up one night and a dog got out and guarded it. Turned out it was a young mum and her two kids sleeping in the car.

It’s taken time to turn this into a song that still told the story and celebrated the strength of this young mum.

Michael and Simon have been tinkering with writing palatable songs that also shine a light on the issues of the day and tell a story. This is their latest."

Kew Library Lullaby

COMPASS
Lyrics by Michael Gray Griffith
Music by Michael Gray Griffith & Simon Walters (registered to Apra 2020)
A duet with Chrissy Neaves.

I was lost without a trace, so ashamed I couldn’t show my face.
I was drifting through the dark inside my mother’s broken heart.
But then as I was falling: as low as you can fall.
Instead of the end, I found a light….

Are you the compass for my soul?
Are you the mirror to the best I can be?
Is it only through your love that I can be me?

For they claimed you love me, and I grew to feel it deep inside.
So for all of these years, it turns out I was the one truly blind.
Where I had strayed, I almost went out of my mind.
But then here you were for me and being the guide I need.

You’re the compass for my soul,
You’re the mirror to the best I can be.
For it’s only through your love that I can be free…

Has life left you alone just like a sailor lost at sea?
Do you look at your phone, still hoping to find some clarity?
Well the love here is real, it’s the path to your eternal spring.
All you have to do to be free is open your heart and sing….

Be the compass for our souls
Be the mirror to the best we can be.
For it’s only through our love that we can be free

Be the compass for our souls
Be the mirror to the best we can be.
For it’s only through our love that we can be free

Copyright Michael Gray Griffith & Simon Walters 2020.

Image by Natalie Rhea on Unsplash

Compass (Duet Version)

COMPASS
Lyrics by Michael Gray Griffith
Music by Michael Gray Griffith & Simon Walters (registered to Apra 2020)
featuring Chrissy Neaves.

I was lost without a trace, so ashamed I couldn’t show my face.
I was drifting through the dark inside my mother’s broken heart.
But then as I was falling: as low as you can fall.
Instead of the end, I found a light….

Are you the compass for my soul?
Are you the mirror to the best I can be?
Is it only through your love that I can be me?

For they claimed you love me, and I grew to feel it deep inside.
So for all of these years, it turns out I was the one truly blind.
Where I had strayed, I almost went out of my mind.
But then here you were for me and being the guide I need.

You’re the compass for my soul,
You’re the mirror to the best I can be.
For it’s only through your love that I can be free…

Has life left you alone just like a sailor lost at sea?
Do you look at your phone, still hoping to find some clarity?
Well the love here is real, it’s the path to your eternal spring.
All you have to do to be free is open your heart and sing….

Be the compass for our souls
Be the mirror to the best we can be.
For it’s only through our love that we can be free

Be the compass for our souls
Be the mirror to the best we can be.
For it’s only through our love that we can be free

Copyright Michael Gray Griffith & Simon Walters 2020.

Image by Natalie Rhea on Unsplash

Compass (feat. Chrissy Neaves)

COMPASS featuring John Langley
Lyrics by Michael Gray Griffith
Music by Michael Gray Griffith & Simon Walters 
Copyright Michael Gray Griffith & Simon Walters 2020
(registered to APRA)

Image by Natalie Rhea on Unsplash

Compass feat. John Langley

Written for a good friend's milestone birthday in 2009. 
copyright Simon Walters 2021 registered to APRA.

Image by Aron Visuals on Unsplash

Zeit

Professional musician, arranger & composer
Transcription expert for over 25 years! (perfect pitch)
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Simon Walters

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