She wants to slip away
Away from the fear and the fray
Her journey a passion play
And she says, "I'm gone for the day"

She's waiting for something to break
The sun or her own heartache
So much sorrow to shake
And she is gone for a day

Oh, oh my dear
I will wait right here
I, I will stay while you
Are gone for the day

She hides her feelings, she holds them close
Disappears like a ghost
No one knows where she goes
When she is gone for the day

I am missing her, I am standing by
When she returns I will try
To listen, to understand why
She is gone for a day

Oh, oh my dear
I am always waiting here
I, I will stay while you
Oh yes, yes my dear
I am still right here
And I, I will stay while you
Are gone for the day

Image by Brian Kermichal

Gone For A Day

Early demo:

In the deepest, darkest madness, their saturnalia
They flash you, crash you, trash you, try to derail 'ya
All the wicked, winding, blinding soulless lies: oh euthanasia

Always slipping, minds are skipping, looking for some reason
What the hell (now who can tell?), so many acts of treason
They will sell our broken bell for nothing, we can't appease them

Open up for the bitter cup, they think that we will swallow
The things they cheer all disappear, you know that they are hollow
All we get are pirouettes and buckets full of sorrow

In their deepest, darkest revels, their bacchanalia
If I spun out every one ... oh, I won't regale 'ya
With all the wicked, winding lies, their aim: euthanasia

Image by The HIDDEN

Euthanasia

After a month of vocal practise and studying music production, I definitely feel like I've improved since End of an Era but still have a long way to go. I'm still getting the hang of mixing but mastering is still something I need to study. Regardless I felt satisfied enough to release the song so I can move on to other projects.

I wrote this song late last year. It's a bit of a difficult one to fully explain. The lyrics are a bit messy but kind of make sense in my head. It's based on the emotions that come from the anticipation of someone who's going to leave you who you don't have the strength to leave yourself.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Gone in a flash
Like somehow I'd imagined a ghost
I saw through your act
And denied all the facts when you showed

I saw through the cracks 
In your invisibility cloak
So you can pretend all you like
Oh but darling, you know

That it's true 
All I can do is stay beside you
Playing along till you're long gone
I'll wait beside you

Don't say goodbye when you go
Leave me here with the lies that you told 
'Cause I've seen all the signs 
And I said my goodbye long ago
'Cause I've known all this time
And I said my goodbye long ago

War with your mask
I'm outnumbered ten thousand to one
I can't counteract your relentless attacks anymore

Caught in a web
Inescapable threads that you wrought
So you can pretend I'm a fly 
For you darling, you know

That it's true 
All I can do is stay beside you
Playing along till you're long gone
I'll wait beside you

Don't say goodbye when you go
Leave me here with the lies that you told 
'Cause I've seen all the signs 
And I said my goodbye long ago 

Don't tell me I'm not enough 
I know I can't provide what you want
Only here on the side for you
Don't say goodbye when you go 
Don't say goodbye when you go

Don't say goodbye when you go
Leave me here with the lies that you told 
'Cause I've seen all the signs 
And I said my goodbye long ago 

Don't tell me I'm not enough 
I know I can't provide what you want
Only here on the side for you
Don't say goodbye when you go 
Don't say goodbye when you go


When You Go

Variation on an earlier upload: slower, mellower, with modified lyrics and arrangement.  Demo only at this point:

Old dreams gone
Sad, sad song
Will you sing it with me?
A long, long fall
Can you recall the melody?

The speed of change comes crashing in
Turns my head around
The wheel of time, a frantic spin
A battleground

I think about my younger days
When there was less of this and that
When the world was small
And we didn't hold it in our hands

When the songs were on the radio
And the phones were on the wall
When old folks said, "son, good day to you"
It seems so strange now, after all

I remember wandering 'round, questions in my head
No quick answers, no remedies
No computers on the table, or in my pocket
Was I free?

When the films were in the theater
And the flights were to the moon
Can't say for sure if life was sweeter then
But those times went by too soon

Old dreams gone
Sad, sad song
Come and sing it with me

Nostalgia's lame, but even so you find
You are all the eras of your life
I hear the past, those echoes in my mind
Breaking like glass

When the songs were on the radio
And the books were on the shelf
When the young were a little bit radical
Or at least thought for themselves

When the stars were on the big screen
When things were made to last
Can't say for sure if life was sweeter then
But those days went by too fast

Image by Tamim Arafat (Unsplash)

When The Songs Were On The Radio (alternate)

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

Slight reworking and update of an idea from a couple of weeks back:

I had a bad, bad dream
I wasn't sleeping
Take it from me
It's just a bad, a bad, a bad dream

Now look, look all around
As the shadows cross the ground
See it all falling down
Hear the haunting sound

Oh I'm caught up in the waves
Of emotion hard to name
Fear, disillusionment
And shame

Yes it's a bad, bad dream
Can't shake it, can't break free
A sad, sad scene
I think you know what I mean
Just a bad, a bad, bad dream

Image by Alexandre Dinaut (Unsplash)

A Bad Dream (updated)

When I look back at my youth, I am shocked at how shy and frightened I was with girls.  I just couldn't take a risk ... or a hint!:

You blew me a kiss on the Ferris Wheel
Drove me mad with your sex appeal
Were you looking for a heart to steal?
Oh look, oh look, oh look this way again

You threw me a smile at the old arcade
I was transfixed, I was amazed
You came on like a tidal wave
Oh look, oh look, oh look at me again

Did I miss my chance, my only chance
Was it happenstance
Or fear of you, fear to play the fool?
I don't know, it's hard to say for sure

You winked at me at the swimming pool
Those baby blues, beautiful
Now I don't want to be uncool
But look, oh look, oh look this way again

Did I miss my chance, my only chance
Was it circumstance
Or simply fear?
Did I miss my time, was that my crime
Did I miss the sign
Was it fear of you, or fear to play the fool?
I don't know, it's hard to say from here

You blew me a kiss, I couldn't believe
Lost my chance

Image by Melody Hanson

Blew Me A Kiss

All rights reserved 9/25/2025

We used to know how to read a room
Knew exactly what to say…
Now we’re divin in too deep
Never losing any sleep
in the bed we made

We used to take the time 
To see another point of view 
Now we toe another line
Like a party to a crime
In the bed we made…

Driving home
so alone
the streets on fire
Winding down
to the sound
it seems so dire

Why did you have to come around
as if you’ve made some kind of grade
My ears don't want to hear 
Now would you please just disappear
in the bed we made

Driving home
so alone
the streets on fire
Winding down
to the sound
it seems so dire

The Bed We Made

Oh my blue, how are you?
Or should I say, I hope you make it through?

Oh my blue, how I long for you
To find some joy, or peace on this day

Hey my blue, it could be true

Now, now my blue, I will fall for you
And I trust that you will not misconstrue

Oh my blue, I'll be there for you
And when you need me, just call, I'll come to you

Oh my blue, it could be true, I'll see it thorugh

Oh my blue, I know it's hard for you
To pull out of the whirlpool

But oh my blue, whatever you do
I will be right here, close

Oh my blue, you know it's true, I'm here for you
Hey my blue, we'll see it through, 'cause I love you

Image by Marcus Spiske (Unsplash)

Oh My Blue

Is it a mystery to you
When the Fates collude?
When they step out of the shadows
And you're pursued?

Three sisters from on high
Light up your sky, you want to fly
But now you are the apple
Of their eye

Like waking from a dream
And floating down a stream
A moment without warning
Oh unforseen

Gone the anonymity
The sweet obscurity, you plead
But for now the Fates are calling
For now it feels like falling

It's a mystery and more
Three sisters at the door
Is that your destiny crawling
Across the floor?

And where are you now?
Under a cloud?
Is it a shroud?
Oh now, you are their apple
Yes now, you must grapple
With what is coming

Image from The Art Institute of Chicago

Three Sisters

Reworking of an earlier song ("Gaslighter"), to turn it in a less angry, more hopeful direction:

My friends, this is my message
This is my song of hope for you
If you are there, if you're listening
Do not play the fool

Now if you feel like you can't take it
If you feel like you're alone
I'm here to tell you, we can make it
And you are not, not alone

So be strong, do not falter
A heart's not something they can own
Tell them, "this soul will not be altered
So you may as well go"

You guard your mind, and they can't have it
All they've got are sticks and stones
They will fail, and they will wither
And they will fall, one more domino

So stay strong, do not falter
A heart's not something they can own
Tell them, "this soul will not be altered
So you may as well  ...

Be strong, do not falter
And that's not something they would know
When these hearts cannot be altered
Then they, they will go

Image by k8-fheXQD4s61Y (Unsplash)

A Song of Hope

Here you will find little acoustic pop songs; melancholy, dreamy-folk things. Sometimes some jangly, fuzzy rock tunes or ambient pieces as well. Work-in-progress demos to finished tracks, informal playlists to official album releases. Enjoy.

A Song of Hope

Tom Hanson