Copyright Erin Wolf 2024
Fearless Songwriter Challenge - August 2024
(one song, seven prompts)

Photo: Fire with some colorful reactions - Hartford, WI - September 2024
--
like paint on a wall
the perfect design
ember and ash
intertwined

you've heard it before
promises broken
small as an apple 
big as a mountain

but it doesn't matter
ain't worth the cost
lost a friend
your whole house

too hard to love
that's what they say
these demons inside
you're trying to hide

don't quit now...

hold fast and strong
those voices, love,
they're all wrong
all the lies you've been sold
will be breaking down in time
you are not alone
you are not alone

the cracks are breaking
within your heart
thought you could fight
but it's just so hard

when everything's burning
all that you'd made
the dreams are crumbling
and fading away

don't quit now...

hold fast and strong
those voices, love,
they're all wrong
all the lies you've been sold
will be breaking down in time
you are not alone
you are not alone
you are not alone

Hold Fast - You Are Not Alone

Copyright Erin Wolf 2024
Song A Week - Week 37

Photo by Pixabay: https://www.pexels.com/photo/purple-crocus-in-bloom-during-daytime-161280/

--

come to the garden
find the lights inside
hear the music swelling
all around tonight

leave your inhibitions
locked away outside
into the premonitions
see how they tantalize

you can wonder if it's
real or not
just give it a whirl 
what have you got
to lose in the garden tonight
tonight

tell the stories
of past loves long ago
they'll leave you wondering
if anyone has hope

they will make you feel
like you are falling down
but they will help you up
once again

you will sway and
you will dance
you will fall under their 
trance, so powerful and enticing
oh, it feels so inviting

everyone will be swept away
in this cacophony
and everyone won't even know
it's been coming all along

come to the garden
make your bed
a blanket of roses
and daisies for your head

Come to the Garden

Copyright Erin Wolf 2024

Song A Week - Week 39
Photo: Sunrise at Camp Mokulē'ia on the North Shore of O'ahu, Hawai'i, April 2024

--

driving home, eastward bound
in the morning
blinded by the sunrise

i'm travel-worn
feel it in my bones, yet my spirit
feels adventure close at hand

oooh
oh woah

before take off, i took a 
leap of faith
that somehow landed me with you

too early to tell if you'll
be my heaven or hell
or should i cut my losses now

oooh
oh woah
oooh
oh woah

standing on the edge of 
what is yet to come
letting go of all that is to pass

please forgive my hesitations 
as i step on the ledge
i'm terrified to fly again

oooh
oh woah
oooh 
oh woah
oooh 
oh woah

all the uncertainties and
enigmatic allurings
have kept me up through the night

now i lay me down to sleep
and pray that you will keep me
when the sun awakes again

When the Sun Wakes Again

Copyright Erin Wolf 2024
Song A Week - Week 40

Photo: Last of the sunset over a darkened Camp Mitchell in Morrilton, AR, September 2024

--

sitting here by the fireside
on a random tuesday night
never thought we'd be here
after merely a humble fortnight

we were swapping stories 
as we planned our dreams
not sure how we got this far
yet it's going well, or so it seems

i don't know what to say or do
guess we can ride it out a while or two
whatever comes of this, 
i'll tell ya the truth
wherever the road is headed
i'm glad to be going it with you

the night was hanging real low
singing digging deep
an insect autumn symphony
in their encore just for you and me

i don't know what to say or do
guess we can ride it out a while or two
whatever comes of this, 
i'll tell ya the truth
wherever the road is headed
i'm glad to be going it with you

whatever comes of this,
i'll tell ya the truth
wherever the road is headed
i'm glad to be going it with you
glad to be going it with you

Glad to Be Going It With You

Copyright Isiah Driessen & Erin Wolf 2024
Song A Week - Week 41
"Sunflowers on a Rainy Day"

Guitar: Isiah Driessen
Vocals: Erin Wolf 
Getting the last word(s) in: Isiah Driessen
Music/Arrangment: Isiah Driessen & Erin Wolf
Lyrics: Erin Wolf, with prompt contributions from Mark Anderson; Tricia Duffy; David Easterling; Laurie Easterling; Nik Newark via the SAW Community Chest

Photo credit: ID 121456959 © Milen Mladenov | Dreamstime.com

--

mourning skies
grey as the day is long
longing for a light
trying to find a way home
trying to find a way
home

my next memory
is halfway out the door
i thought you knew
this was the way home
this was the way 
home

then you turn to me
that damn look on your face
what are we to do
are we gonna find our way home
are we gonna find our way
home

should we call it a day
when it's anything but...
got nothing left to say
guess we lost the way home
guess we lost the way
home


..."that's the only" (Isiah)

Sunflowers On A Rainy Day (with Isiah Driessen)

Copyright Erin Wolf 2024
Song A Week - Week 42
Photo: Long Lake in Clintonville, WI 
October 2024
Played with my original guitar, G Baby

Song Note - May have missed a few lyrics - apparently I don't enunciate well (& struggle to focus) when knackered. Whoops!

--

started out before the sun
the moon, 
he wakes for me
heading north, 
so far from home
but it's where i'm meant to be

traveling through a sea of forests
in their autumn-colored chorus
the birch's starting to
lay herself bare
it's almost like everything, 
i can see you there

i'm not sure which road we have
found ourselves on
is it one that'll keep going or one
that will dead end on us
are we gonna be okay 
will we find out way back to 
the place we call home

it's hard when our pain is stripped down 
and grief laid bare
exposed like a raw nerve 
in this open air
cause the hurt that we don't intend
but do we know how the impact will land
do we know how the impact will land

i don't know which road we found ourselves on 
we'll just keep going or will it dead end on us
coming in at the final point to turn around
and get back to a place we can call
home

can we ever get back home?
can we get back home?

Can We Get Back Home

Copyright Erin Wolf 2024
Song A Week - Week 46
feat. Siobhan the Guitar

Photo: Sunset on Lake Winnebago at High Cliff State Park, Sherwood, WI July 2024

push me away
and tell me 
i'm the problem 
in everything

so used to being
cut down,  put out
now you're beating
me to the punch

oh woah
beating me to the punch

testing me to see
if i will leave
then you'd be
justified in your pain

try to tear me down 
promise it won't 
work out the way
you think it will

oh woah
the way you think it will

can't tear me down
or make me forget
who i am or
what i'm about 

'cuz i know my worth
healed from the hurt
and i won't bleed
for you

no woah
i won't bleed for you
no woah

i don't know how 
to make you care
and no,
i wouldn't dare

tell me, please
what i've done to 
sow these seeds
of distrust

what is it i'm
triggering, that
tender spot, is this
the best you got

oh woah
the best you got

can't tear me down
or make me forget
who i am or
what i'm about 

'cuz i know my worth
healed from the hurt
and i won't bleed
for you

can't tear me down
or make me forget
who i am or
what i'm about 

'cuz i know my worth
healed from the hurt
and i won't bleed
for you

no woah
i won't bleed for you
no woah
no i won't bleed for you



I Won't Bleed For You

Copyright Erin Wolf 2024
Fearless Songwriters Challenge 7in7
Prompts 4-7:
4: Be the Death of Me
5: When the Bluebirds Sing
6: Out on the Job
7: Picked Up a Hammer

Photo credit: Pine Lake from Pine Lake Camp, Waupaca, WI - November 2024
--

waking up in the woods
early morning's come again
when the bluebirds sing their song

miss your laugh & missed your call
out on the job, coming home
when the bluebirds sing their song

ooooh

it's been a long & rocky road
thought it was over
when the bluebirds sang their song

seemed the pain would be the death of me 
so i picked up a hammer & got to work
when the bluebirds sang their song

ooooh

be the death out on the job
thought it was over, coming home
when the bluebirds sang their song

be the death out on the job
thought it was over, coming home
when the bluebirds sang their song

waking up in the woods
early morning's come again
when the bluebirds sing their song

When the Bluebirds Sing Their Song

“What We Needed All Along” ©℗ Erin Wolf 2024 || Week 51 for @songaweekorg 2024 

It’s out of character for me to share such a stripped down draft of a new song, and I quite like how this turned out. It’s both deeply personal and intentionally vague while playing on themes of duality and wrestling with our light & shadow sides. Also a little lyrical Easter egg in here from my 2020 song, “The Flame and Balm”.

-
Lyrics:

i know being vulnerable’s not your strength
being quiet and reserved ain’t mine
something weird and fiercely strange
when we hit them at the same time

i am midnight, you are dawn 
yet we both bring chaos and calm 
like mirrors somehow reflecting back 
all the good and all the bad 

maybe this is what we need to heal 
all the agitation is the real 
balm we’ve needed all along 
we’ve needed all along  

funny how it took a tragedy 
to see everyone’s true colors 
the time we learn if we’ll sink or swim 
come together to win

maybe this is what we need to heal 
all the agitation is the real 
balm we’ve needed all along 
we’ve needed all along

www.songaweek.org (link in bio) - Join us for the 2025 songwriting season!

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What We Needed All Along

Copyright Erin Wolf 2024
Song A Week - Week 52

Song note: Stream of consciousness song written as I was falling asleep - this can only end the way it's meant to. 

-Lyrics coming soon!-

How We Would Grow

Official account of Erin Wolf for Song A Week 2019-present. • For 2016-2018 Song A Week archives, follow @erniwolf or click the link below.

New tracks tagged #SongAWeek2024