Lyrics:

We stand alone where the wind blows on mountains cold
No lady and wand to show us a yellow brick road 
Light refracted by the night 
Every day a constant fight 
No end in sight in the plight to retain our right

Nothing to see here; you folks go on home 
It's over; go and rock no more 
Planting your roots in dry soil 
But God so loved the world 
What the hell you waiting for? 
Good people want to do more for a fallen world

The beasts of the sea wail and moan in the cold and misty darkness 
They know the hour approaches 
They scream for their redeemer as you feel the feeling growing in your soul 
Opening the door to the unknown
Tempted by the snake to take a bite 
Some will only grow to choke by thorn
Some will lay their roots in rocky dirt
Speak your truth; woman thou art loosed
Mama said: "Boy, don't be a fool, This ain't my world, man. Reach for my helping hand!"

Memories fading to light
Running in fear for their lives
Disappointed by the fallen world
Becoming corrupt to keep up
Things not what they seem to be
Wait and see; keep running fast; never looking back
Losing more than all the wars combined
Stretching the ends of time

Hear the word and fall beside the way
Wake up every day with the sun in your face

We stand alone where the wind blows on mountains cold
No lady and wand to show us a yellow brick road
Light refracted by the night
Every day a constant fight
No end in sight in the plight to retain our right
Nothing to see here; you folks go on home
Go and rock no more

Planting your roots in dry soil
Impaled on a cross with nails
Spinning around; slowing down
Solar wind blows though my hair
Nothing left that just a man can do
Dervish whirling under a full moon
Phoenix rising; resurrection
Satan stay away from my 401k
Christmas carols band from radio
Sky high and nowhere to fall
Flabbergasted by what I see

Words & music written and performed by G. Skoch.

Fallen World

For some, the opera can be just too tragic to carry on.

Mezzanine Swan Dive Suicide

This song took much more time than I care to admit. Much due to unrelated circumstances after the process began. It was a logistical audio-engineering nightmare. When a 48Khz processor at 16 bit sample rate is overtaxed, the lower level tracks aren't just quieter, they lose most of their frequency response becoming very flat and often disappear completely. The Korg D1200mkII may say "12-Track", but the processer RAM memory says different. As in the intro verse at the beginning, the tracks sound relatively fat as just two guitar tracks and one voice, but with more arrangements and voices everything thins out and also becomes a mixing problem. The distortion is not from peaked levels, It's from trying to force too much EQ'd sound out of an overwhelmed happy meal of a DAW. It is now 17 years old and time to move on though in the interim I may use it at 24 bit setting to record only sequencing with guitar instrumental type stuff. I will never again record vocal tracks using a dynamic mic, nor will I ever mix with headphones except for subliminal tracks. I hope to get a Mac Mini along with a condenser mic and active monitors, hopefully sooner than later. 

Lyrics:

I told you long ago I'm your man
You're such a kind woman
It's in your smile and everything you do 
The love inside of you

You sat me down and said: "We're together now"
I can feel it, I believe it, I believe it, I can dream it, I believe it

I knew when your brow crinkled down on me
You don't want to be free
You and me that's the way it should be 
Carved into an Oak tree

You sat me down and said: "I love you now"
I can feel it, I believe it, I believe it, I perceive it, I believe it
You don't have to convince me baby 
But you want to, I know you do, I believe you, I can dream it, I believe it

You have seen the change and it won't be long
You were right and I was wrong
Your heart is where I belong
This is my new song

Someone new calling on you and I can't get though
Break my heart in two when you say goodbye
I will not cry, time will heal it, I believe it

With a crinkled brow you cut me down
And spoke of another you have found
It's in your smile and everything you do
You don't have to be so cruel

You say you wanna make-up with make-up sex
Like you mean it, I believe it, I believe it, I believe it

Words, music, performed, and recorded by Gary Skoch Copywrite 2022. 

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Thank you.

Believe It

This was just random 4 bar segments (give or take) stitched together experimenting in hearing what various odd modes sound like in composition specifically melody & harmony. I don't recall any straight Major or Minor scales here. Lots of tritones in those weird modes. I practice approximately 48 modes on my guitars everyday but don't hassle with playing to recorded chords nor know any serious musicians in these parts. Flakey lazy excuses-laiden do-nothings is what the overwhelming majority of Portland craigslist "musicians" is. Something that cannot be said on that site as they assault free speech incessantly. Long live the freedom to speak your mind and the truth. If you see anything online or anywhere else that makes you jealous and hurts your feelings, CLICK OUT AND MOVE ALONG!!! But you DO NOT have a right to silence voices out of jealousy, resentment, or a difference of opinion. If you don't like certain statues, too bad. DON'T LOOK AT IT, and MOVE ALONG!!

Pierian Spring

Words & Music Written By
Gary Skoch.
All Arrangements Performed By 
Gary Skoch.

Lyrics:
Feeling free feeling weak
Sun-baked streets for my tender feet
I run as land gives-way underneath
The golden light I see
Suddenly begins speaking to me:

"Run and not be weary
  Tow the load you carry
  Though your cross is heavy
  Stony road is clearing
  Run and not be weary!"

Give me rest to catch my breath
Losing sleep, I am losing speed
Falling to my knees, my body failing beneath me
The golden light suddenly speaks to me:

"Run and not be weary
  Tow the load you carry
  Though your cross is heavy
  Run and not be weary
  Ain't the time for crying
  Though the cross is heavy
  Tow the load you carry!"

Equipment:
Yamaha Motif ES6 Synthesizer/Sampler/Keyboard Workstation.
Gibson SG Special T Electric Guitar (Rhythm Tracks).
Fender American Standard Stratocaster Electric Guitar (Lead Tracks).
Thomas Organ Co. Original "Cry-Baby" Wah Pedal.
Realistic (Made by Sure) Dual-Impedance, High-Ball, Dynamic Microphone.
Korg D1200mkII Digital Recorder W/CDR & USB.
Sennheiser Close-Back Headphones.

Run and Not Be Weary

Original music by G. Skoch.
If you like the ocean, you can most-likely relate to this piece. I have no personal experience with that so I can only guess. And with that said, I thought the music described the title. And It's more contemporary sounding than Thus Spoke Zarathustra.

All Arrangements Written and Performed by G. Skoch.
Published by Consolidated Recording Co., BMI.

Sea Sick

Back in the day, a music theorist described music with Tritones as "Diablous en Musica", or (Eng: Devil in the Music). This includes linear progression of note or chord: Aug#4 or Dimb5, or in harmony as the distance between the 3rd and the 7th in a Dominant 7 Chord. Diminished Chords contain 2 Tritones in a row. It is called a Tritone interval because it is 3 consecutive whole steps, as in the distance between B and F. It is disputed that in centuries past, choir arrangers and organists were forbidden to play any music containing Tritones in church, as they were considered demonic. The music of Wagner, Debussy, Mussorgsky, Grieg, The Beatles, Black Sabbath, and Fiona Apple to name a few, is laden with Tritones.

Original composition by G. Skoch.

Diabolus en Musica

The drums were sequenced from scratch using a Yamaha Motif ES6. No preset drum patterns were used. All other sounds were created using a 2016 Gibson SG Special T, Including the bass. The guitar run through a Boss ME-50 Harmonizer, 1 octave down & wet. All chorusing, phase, & delay etc were added post recording on the Korg D1200mkII Digital Recorder. The harmony guitar parts were tracked. No harmonizer was used. The lead guitar track, two rhythm guitar tracks, and the bass were recorded live, nonstop, no punching-in as to shoot video. This is also a videosong on YouTube.

Record Release Party

Words & Music by Gary Skoch
All Voices & Instruments Performed by Gary Skoch

Lyrics:
I sit and wonder how you are?
I stare at the sky and all the stars
You know what we have is good forever
And you said we could never be together

I think of all the times just being home
We keep each other company
We care and share each other's hopes
We share the same goals

You said we could never be together
Do you know what you said?
And do you know what you did?
And you hang around to hold me close
To know that you're here...
That's what matters most

I overheard the neighbors say
We go good together
They look me in the eye, then turn away

We will go on and on, there is no end
We've always been the only one there is

I hold your hand and I know how you feel
And God knows you know just how I feel
You know how I feel

You know there's nothing to conceal
You know how I feel
You know you and me keep it real
And you know just how I feel

You said we could never be together
Do you know what you said?
And do you know what you did?
And you hang around to hold me close
To know that you're here...
That's what matters most

That's what matters most
That's what matters most
That's what matters most
That's what matters most

Copyright 2019 Gary Skoch

What Matters Most

Words & Music by Gary. All Voices and Instruments Performed by Gary. Recorded on The Tracks by The Riverside.

Lyrics:
*Going back to the scene of the crime tonight
With eyes all aglazed like ice
One last shot at the American dream
Turning he piles into ice cream

You best better listen and step up to the plate
Cause this is for real ya'll make no mistake
I'm gonna work to attain the things which I deserve
I'm gonna do my research and get my ass in church
I'm a household word, chart my Billboard hits
From Park Place hotels to the slums of Baltic
If I wasn't this pissed they would beseech me
If I was the president they would impeach me
I'm a freaky human being mama Obama
What you wanna do mama cause you know I wanna
*
Making cold ice cream with a burnt wing
It a good thing from the up-and-coming rap king
Make them good times last boy you'll have a blast
Never sinking fast, caught-up in that quicksand man
No time for shuck and jive, just enough to live my life
I got my name painted on my private jet's side
Help me God to fly it in the blue sky
I got that mojo flow cause I don't have to try
I'm a freaky human being mama Obama
What you want to do mama cause you know I wanna
*
They come and get me, I was born a O.G.
My cell phone screen blowin'-up in front of me
Don't get mad when I leave the seats up
Cause you got a fat ass from eating all that pizza
Don't be calling me that and don't be breakin' my rules
The only tool is Peter O'Toole, you fool
Don't be trippin', don't be dissin', cause I'm doin' good
I left my childhood in the broken dirty hood
In the hood...
It my childhood
Hpnotized Hennessy turning green
(For rizzle, playa! Ya'll ready KNOW how WE do it! Yeah!)
* I scream
Ice cream, I scream
Ice cream, I scream 

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Rap King

I was recently reading up on the history of Tin Pan Alley and The Brill Building. Consequently inspiring this song with Carole King & Jerry Goffin, Barry Mann & Cynthia Weil, Paul Simon, and Neil Sedaka in mind. At the same time I wanted it to be hard rock guitar-driven. A fusion I termed: Brill Building Hard Rock, if you will. There are no keyboards in this recording. All tracks including *bass were recorded on the Fender Stratocaster pictured above. *Boss ME-50 harmonizer, octave down & wet. Vintage Yamaha RX-21 drum machine which I hold dear for it's comical stark dry punch. There are some patchwork programing shaved measures to fit the variation in phrasing creating some 7/8 times in the 2nd verse and chorus. The final guitar track demonstrates the distinctive Hendrix and Ulrich Roth tone of a Strat through an original Thomas Organ Co. Cry-Baby Wah pedal, which I have owned since 1976. There's no other guitar tone like it. The very last tremelo sound fading up was discovered while playing electric guitar and pausing to scroll through T.V. channels with the remote. In this recording, I just held the remote to the pickups while scrolling through channels. The multiple guitar tracks taxed the box recorder's lame processor into distortions and lost sounds or "voice stealing". The distortion did not manifest in the CD burn. This reinforces my need for a Mac, Pro-Tools, and Ableton. The box recorder may claim 12-tracks, but the processor and Bit ratio disagrees. It is what it is...
Thanks.

Lyrics:

Music lifts kids up to their feet
She gives me the loving I need
People being mean, it's a bad scene
What you mean, tell me what you mean

She sings my song on a piano
She tells me so, that's all I know

Dancing on the sidewalk in red pants
Smoking cigarettes at the school dance
The look in her eyes cry don't go
Her tears are clear like melted snow

I hide in a hole so I can lay low
She takes me home, that's all I know
That's all I know

She plugged my songs down in Tin Pan
I scoop my food from a tin can
Try like a snowman in July
Get to the end of the finish line

She's gonna reap everything she sows
She tells me so, that's all I know
That's all I know

All I know (repeat) 

Words & Music by Gary Skoch, copyright 2020.
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Gary Skoch

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