Wonderful tribute to your friend and collaborator. Powerful and beautiful music.

Another dream poppy tune:

Oh come outside
To the open-wide
You can't be denied
You are the door

Was a purple sky
When you caught my eye
And I will not lie
I was shattered

Never seen the like
As it lit up all the night
And I knew that look on your face
You were tattered (and dazzled)

So come outside
Step outside
Throw your arms open wide
You are the door

And wave goodbye
Do not dignify
The lullaby
That calls you back inside

It was a purple sky
That shook out the lie
Blew the alibi
Drew you out

I believe in you
Always will it's true
Just a matter of time for you
I have no doubt

So come outside
There's no need to hide
No you can't be denied
You are the door

Yes come outside
Step outside
Throw your arms open wide
You are the door

You Are The Door

Welcome back to the 80s:

Maybe no one can truly show the way
She wonders what you're thinking
And what can you say?
Could be the last of all the true believers (cue "fade to gray")

Counting all the words lost
Up into the air tossed, scattered
Tempest in a teapot
Everything that we thought mattered
Come watch the sky fall
Kiss goodbye all the chatter

What lies within the heart, no answers?
Now can you name the part that sings to you?
All the angels on a pinhead, the dancers
They look at me and you, and laugh

A thousand dreams of nothing, or something?
Reflections in the mirror, the one thing
And here we go

Counting all the words lost
Up into the air tossed, scattered
Tempest in a teapot
Everything that we thought mattered
The game was hard fought
But we should not flatter
Come watch the sky fall
Kiss goodbye all the chatter

Lost For Words

An outtake from the droplet's first album (https://thedroplets.bandcamp.com/album/the-droplets-2):

Starlight kisses, secret canopy
A million catalysts in the gallery
Blackest velvet, streaked with amethyst
The wonder of a little light

Fingers long and sleek trailing down an arm
A brush across the cheek, a shiver soft and warm
Silent moments speak of something born
The miracle of a little light

All these explosions, moonlit chemistry
Harmonic motions in the circuity
And every notion floats on that silver sea
The magic of a little light

A Little Light

Another outtake from the droplets first album (https://thedroplets.bandcamp.com/album/the-droplets-2):

You've got a merry-go-round
Spinning up inside your brain
And everyone on the ground
Believes the ride is a game
But the fall and the rebound
Can sometimes look the same

You think in dreams
You live too fast
And all your schemes
Just leave you gassed

Your mind's a tilt-a-whirl
Spiraling out of control
You reach out for the pearl
But you dare not let go

Now you're riding so high
Too high to look out below
When you sail through the sky
Is all the world too slow?
Tell me why do you fly?
I'd really like to know

You race through dreams
You breathe too fast
And after all your schemes
You are gassed

Gassed

She wore a garland of daisies
She skipped across the field
The morning sky was hazy
It all seemed a bit unreal

I tried to tell you about her
I cried, "come, come along"
You ran right through the clearing
By then she was gone

All these moments, like memories, slip away
Pretty flowers fading with the day
Silver raindrops that quietly evaporate
Just like time my love, just like time

She seemed a little like changeling
A child of the fey
It was the way she floated
And glided on her way

I really wish you could have seen her
And the daisies in her hair
I turned to you for a second
Then she wasn't there

All these moments, like emotions, melt away
Pretty flowers wilting with the gray
Silver raindrops that softly evaporate
With time my love, with time

Image by Jeanette Ranney

Then She Wasn't There

Light flicker in the distance
Light streaming at the edge
The lost horizon is bleeding red

Joy comes in the morning
Hope at the break of dawn
In the fairy stories or the old, old songs

Now love, we'll be like the flowers
We'll lift our heads again to the sun

Two sparrows for a penny
Still precious in the father's hand
No need to worry (that's hard to understand)

But now love, we'll be like the sparrows
Oh we will fly, we'll soar
And now love, don't fret about tomorrow
The sun will rise once more

A shimmer on the water
Sun-dappled sea
And a ship that sails for you and me

Storm clouds are raging
Covering all the blue
But the light will soon be breaking through

And yes love, we'll be like the flowers
We'll lift our heads again
Now love, we will greet the hour
This is not the end
Oh yes love, we'll rise like the flowers
Once again

Image by Ilya Lix

We'll Be Like The Flowers

Update to an idea from late last year:

So low, what do you know?
Let them go, let them out
No, no domino
They must go, get them out
Slow-mo into the hole
Let them go, cast them out

They are living in your soul
Down, down deep in your ...

Ho ho, the moon is full
Let them go, scream and shout
Tuck and roll, the thing will blow
Oh no, flail about
Why, why do you crawl?
Let them go, cast them out

They are living in your soul
Down, down deep in your sssssss

Oh oh, fairy-o
The impish glow is all about
Go go, got to let them go
Send them home in a rout
No, no domino
They must go, cast them out

They've been living in your soul
Down, down deep in your soul

So low, what do you know?
Let them go, cast them out

They've been living in your soul

Image courtesy of The Cleveland Museum of Art

Cast Them Out (update)

When we broke into the magic within
You asked me, "how can it be?
Can it linger, can it last
In a world of entropy?"
I was thinking of something to say
Some words to reassure
But there is only, only today
And no need to open that door

We when fell into the wonder within
You asked me, "is this real?
Is it a fancy, just a whim?
I don't know how to feel"
I was thinking of something to say
Some wisdom to give you
But there is only, only today
And no other truth

Image by Kier In Sight

The Magic Within

Many listeners will have caught the Nick Drake influence in my music. He was a tremendous inspiration, and directly affected my sound, perhaps especially on earlier albums. In the last decade or so I've listened to Nick less, but he is still in the back of my mind when writing. When composing this guitar part, I thought, "I would not have come up with this without Nick Drake." And then it occurred to me that I had never written a tribute to him. This track is for those who know and appreciate Nick's music, and especially his lyrics:

A song for you, just for you
The palest blue
A song for you, gone too soon

Is this the time of your reply
When we deem you oh so high?

And did you find your place to be
Your second grace
Your fruit tree, your fruit tree?

And did you lie behind the sun
When the day, the day was done?
Day was done

Then a new day dawned from the ground
And now you rise, you're all around

A song for Nick, gone too quick

(The song image is from the label of a Martin 000-28 Custom "Nick Drake Tribute" guitar--only 10 made, of which I am lucky to own #2.)

A Song For Nick

A new one, inspired by the British TV series, "The Detectorists," which I highly recommend if you haven't seen it.  Anyone who has will recognize the lyric here, and the role of the Magpie. 

Oh pretty, pretty Magpie
You nicked all the gold
Oh clever, clever bird
Mischevious and bold

The treasures of the field
Those ancient mysteries
You do not care, you just
Like how they gleam

Oh brilliant, brilliant Magpie
You snatched it all away
The searching must go on now
Another day

The lonely earth is calling
We hear the cries
The Magpie hears them too and
She sails the skies

Oh brilliant, brilliant Magpie
You found all the gold
Your nest is shimmering
Your wealth untold

The Magpie (demo)

The Droplets was a collaboration between myself, Tom Hanson (songs, guitars, drums) and my good friend, Gordon Ranney (guitars, bass, vocals). In 2016, we released our first, self-titled album. Tragically, Gordon passed from cancer the same year. This left behind lots of unfinished songs and outtakes but we had landed on a batch of tunes for a second official release, and agreed that I would work with a mutual friend from New Zealand, John White to complete vocals on them. Slow Morn is about Gordon and his courage in facing the disease.

Slow Morn

The droplets is a little jangly, shoegazey fuzz-pop band, the musical lovechild of longtime friends and collaborators, Tom Hanson and Gordon Ranney.

Slow Morn

the droplets

Recent comments

learningtoplay

Bonetender

Related tracks