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

I can't see the future anymore
No far horizons, no distant shore
And now the last act begins
The stage is set, the lights now are dimmed

I feel the walls here closing in
And every step I take reminds me where I've been
Somebody lift me to the clouds
Oh I need a hand, I will not be proud
'Cause I'm still a child

And I need love now
Yes I need your love now

I feel the cold more every year
I dream of suns but the light is not so clear
And everything I think I know
Is nothing, or something to let go

So come now all you, gather 'round
Bring your treasures all, lay them down
'Cause time is a knife, it cuts both ways
I've been every clown on this parade
But I hold them all, each and every day
'Cause I'm just a child

And I need love
Yes I need, I need your love
So come, come to me and help me believe

The Last Act

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

https://www.loc.gov/item/2016655162
Underscored with music starting at :40
Not the whole speech, just some choice passages that are relevant today.

Americanism/Franklin D. Roosevelt (1920)

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)

I will assume that most will no know this tune because it is from one of Bowie's later LPs called "Heathen" (2002), but I am so here is my take.....

"Slow Burn," the David Bowie song, explores the themes of societal collapse and a dystopian future, particularly in the context of a gradual, almost biblical, decline. It depicts a world plagued by fear and spies, set in a "terrible town," and touches upon the idea of a "slow burn" leading humanity towards its end. 
The song paints a picture of a world on the brink, with societal decay and an atmosphere of dread. 
It evokes a sense of an impending apocalypse, drawing parallels to the "end of times" described in religious texts. 
The lyrics suggest a gradual, rather than sudden, downfall, implying a slow, insidious deterioration of society. 
The line "At the center of it all" is seen by some as a precursor to Bowie's later album, "Blackstar," and its exploration of similar themes. 
The song fits within the overall theme of "Heathen," an album dealing with spiritual decay and a perceived decline in 21st-century values. "               Google Generative AI
Image: Merlin Lightpainting

Slow Burn-David Bowie (Cover)

Music: Little Man & Janne Hennie
Lyrics & Vocals: Janne Hennie
Instruments & Mix: Little Man

Lyrics

1
Raining outside
What the hell are you going to do?
This is your life
The one to decide is you!

Chorus x 2:
Live it well, don't make a fool of yourself
Your decision will affect your day
Imagine you have wings, fly through the rain
Keep it honest and real along the way...

2
Storming inside
What the hell are you going to do?
This is your life
The one to decide is you!

Chorus x 2:
Live it well, don't make a fool of yourself
Your decision will affect your day
Imagine you have wings, fly through the storm
Keep it honest and real along the way..

3
Dirt on your mind
What the hell are you going to do?
Well, this is your life
The one to decide is you!

Chorus x 2
Live it well, don't make a fool of yourself
Your decision will affect your day
Imagine you have wings, fly through your life
Keep it honest and real along the way...

4
Living your life
What the hell are you going to do?
Well, this is your life!
The one to decide is you!

Chorus 
Live it well, don't make a fool of yourself
Your decision will affect your day
Imagine you have wings, fly through your life
Keep it honest and real along the way...

This Is Your Life

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)

Early demo, just 12 string acoustic and one vocal at this point.  The plan is to give this a sort of 1966-68 treatment (think "Nights in White Satin" or something like that), so stay tuned:

I tried to answer the call today
Tried to jump in, tried to ride the wave
But soon I wandered, I began to stray

Now all of these jokers call out to me
"Better beware, you are breaking free
Grab the rope, it's an endless, frightening sea"

I feel the pull of so many things
The light of the moon, all the magic it brings
Oh how sweetly, sweetly it sings

Now the tide's rolling out
Lonely stars all about, about
Conjures faith from the doubt, a turnabout

My invitation, ride with me
Adrift, afloat on this sea
And what lies ahead: our mystery

Now we're over our heads
Always over our heads, oh yes
And we fear to tread, in the wave

Oh come, come with me
Come drift with me
Yes come, come with me
We'll float away

I tried to play along, I could not
I suppose someone will take my spot
It's ok, this is my lot

And my invitation, come with me
Adrift, afloat on the sea
And where will it lead: somewhere free

Oh come, come with me
Come drift with me
Yes come, come with me
We'll float away

Oh come, come with me
Come drift with me
Yes come, come with me
We'll sail away

Image by Hai Nguyen (Unsplash)

The Invitation (early demo)

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.

The Invitation (early demo)

Tom Hanson

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