Why Jukebox Cloister?

The world has been in the grip of a pandemic since the start of 2020, with many countries instituting lockdowns to prevent the spread of Covid-19. For much of the year, consequently, many of us have been living like monks in cloisters, unable to go to work, forced into closer communion with members of our families than we might otherwise have been. Many others living alone no longer had outside activities that could bring human contact.

This album represents a jukebox of song vignettes of how many people may have felt, acted and reacted to this unusual situation, at least unusual for 21st century humanity.

Jukebox Cloister Song Cycle

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#PowerPop #IndieRock

Last song in the Jukebox Cloister Song Cycle. Beach Boys meet U2 could be the vibe of this song!

"When your sanity’s assailed ...", what can you do?

The protagonists of the previous 4 songs have each in their own way sought to avoid the reality of the situation (in Take me to the Ocean, the singer seeks spiritual salvation, in All I Have, alcoholic oblivion) in order to cope with the problems of 2020.

But is going to the beach also just a short-lived panacea, not a realistic solution to the existential problems afflicting humanity in the wake of a world-wide pandemic and economic, political, and social upheaval?

Then again, if a break, however short, is all we can get, maybe our sanity depends on taking these opportunities!

My thanks to Erik Veira for inspiring the first line of the song, which helped me get the ball rolling.

Lyrics
Forget that bonfire in the rain
The soggy canapés, the flat champagne
Don’t be buffaloed, come and hit the road
Make your way to where fine things align

To Sunset & Wine

Forget the circus at sunrise
The manic ringmasters, their endless lies
When your sanity’s assailed
It’s time that you hightailed
Out of here to where good things combine

To Sunset & Wine
Sunset & Wine
Blood-red skyline
Down on Sunset & Wine

No, don’t be circumspect, time to reconnect
With the place that needs no redesign

On Sunset & Wine
Sunset & Wine
Blood-red skyline
Down on Sunset & Wine x3

Coda
Sunset & Wine, Sunset & Wine
Tranquility down by the shoreline
Sunset & Wine, Sunset & Wine
Cool breeze divine on through the nighttime

Sunset … Sunset … & Wine
Sunset & Wine

Sunset & Wine #1 (white wine version)

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Sunset And Wine #1 (White Wine Version)

Hear more on https://michaelfirthsellers.bandcamp.com/
#IndieFolk #FolkBallad

What gets you through these crazy, frightening times?

“Even now it comes as a shock if by chance I notice in the street a face resembling someone I know however slightly, and I am at once seized by a shivering violent enough to make me dizzy.”
 -- Osamu Dazai, No Longer Human

"Wine hath drowned more men than the sea."
-- Thomas Fuller

lyrics
Can’t watch the news on Monday morning
Tuesday, Wednesday and the rest
What’s happening just scares me witless
While you just say you don’t care less

Call me paranoid if you choose to
I have to wonder ‘bout myself
But I have faith in every bottle
That I take down from the shelf

Easy for you to laugh the blues away
And whistle fey against prevailing winds
Behind the sofa seems the place for me
To cower from evil currents blowing in

Faith in the bottle 
Is all I have

Just can’t be near my friends and neighbors
It’s like they’ve become my enemy
And in the lives of many people
I’m one sad and wasted absentee

So easy for you to laugh the blues away
And whistle fey against prevailing winds
But I place faith in every bottle
To help me find some strength within

Faith in the bottle 
Is all I have … to pull me through

All I Have

All I Have 4 Stars/Commended rating in the UK Songwriting Contest, 2021

Hear more on https://michaelfirthsellers.bandcamp.com/
When you are confined to your home, unable to see anyone, especially the one (or ones!) you love, things can get a little bit frustrating! A theme very much influenced by successive Covid-19 lockdowns during 2020. 

lyrics
Rainy day, hey but I’m dry
Shoes unused, gather dust where they lie
Stuck inside 40 days and nights
One step outside would set me to rights! But there’s a …

Chorus
Glass window between me and you
‘tween a walk together in the morning dew
or your company in a café bijou
Glass window between me and you

Bored with eating mince and mash
Could do with a spliff, where’d I hide my stash?
Stuck inside 40 days and nights
Nothing better to do but be high as a kite! But there’s a …

Chorus
Glass window between you and me
‘tween holding hands as we stroll by the sea
or kissing to the love songs of Katy Perry
Glass window between you and me
A glass window between you and me

Bridge
Glass window’s getting dirty
Just picking at my acne
Missed out on the last "Love Boat"
So watching reruns of “Murder She Wrote”!

Run out of beer, last can in the bin
Glass window in the way of sin
Stuck inside 40 days and nights
Will she, my love, still requite? But there’s a …

Chorus
Glass window between me and the world
I’m hugging a cushion, not my sweet girl
I want to count the stars as her hair uncurls
Glass window between me and the world
A glass window between me and the world
A glass window between me and my girl

Credits
Music and lyrics: Michael Sellers
Vocals: Michael Sellers
Guitars, musical arrangement, & production: Sergio Aguilar
Drums: Rodrigo Uribe
Cover design: Loretta Sellers Fortuny
Track cover photo: Ishbel Alderman
Extra lyric advice & comment: Jan Alderman, Gerry Verdier

Glass Window

First song in the Covid-19 inspired Jukebox Cloister Song Cycle. A soul-inspired song with a cry for personal redemption in the face of personal loss and crisis amid mass societal quarantine.

lyrics
Locked down in a motel
Nothin’ much to do
Gone through all of Netflix
Yeah … YouTube too

Chorus
Take me to a canyon
Leave me on a hill
Let me plunge into the jungles
Of Thailand or Brazil

Take me to a river
Lead me to a lake
I’ll swim in gin-cold waters
Feel my spirit reawake

Talked to Mom the other night
She said Father passed away
Couldn’t make it to the funeral
No farewells to mark the day
Drinking 24 hours plus
TV, porn, junk food
Oh God! Here comes the misery
Of a howling, black-dog mood

Chorus
Take me to the mountain
Roll me down the slope
Stone me to oblivion
Or let me live in hope

Take me to the desert
Set me down and let me roam
Then take me over Jordan
So I’ll know I’m going home

Bridge
Her face shone like the sun
Her clothes were white as light
She moved about the ocean
From the dawn until midnight
You gotta, gotta, gotta …

Chorus
Take me to the ocean
Cast me in the sea
Strip me of my raiments
Let the waves roll over me

Take me to the ocean
Let me glimpse the Seven Seas
I will cleanse my tainted body
Be renewed upon the breeze

Take me to the ocean
Cast me in the sea
Leave me with my vision
Let the waves envelop me

Music & Lyrics: Michael Sellers
Vocals: Michael Sellers
Instrumentation, musical arrangement, & production: Sergio Aguilar
Photograph: Ana Paula Castro
Cover design; Loretta Sellers Fortuny

Take me to the Ocean

Take Me To The Ocean (Semi-finalist, Crisis Song Category, in the 2021 UK Songwriting Contest)

How the fear of Covid-19 can affect relationships

I’ve seen you
Stark naked
Now you just walk on by
No eyeballing
No sweet talking
And a face that could petrify!

Chorus
But I don’t care, no
No I don’t care, no
No I don’t care, anymore
But I don’t care, no
No I don’t care, no, guess it’s all fair in love and war!

You’ve seen me
Butt naked
So why your eyes just vacant lots?
No hand holding
Keep on walking
You act like it’s the plague I’ve got!
A cold, cold comfort forget-me-not!

Chorus
But I don’t care, no
No I don’t care, no
No I don’t care, very much
But I don’t care, no
No I don’t care, no, if you think that mine’s a lethal touch!

Bridge
Though I never needed you as some kind of crutch
We could’ve been friends, maybe stayed lovers
But you just walk by me like an agent undercover
Why is mine a lethal touch?!

Chorus
But I don’t care, no
No I don’t care, no
No I don’t care, all that much
But I don’t care, no
No I don’t care, no, if you think that I’ve a lethal touch!

Chorus
I shouldn’t worry, no
I shouldn’t worry, no
You're not my Juliet as such
I shouldn’t worry, no
I shouldn’t worry, no,
Cos you think that I’ve a lethal touch!

I mustn’t worry, no
I mustn’t worry, no
I’m not your Romeo as such
I mustn’t worry, no
I mustn’t worry, no
Cos you think that mine’s a lethal touch!
Though it hits me like a boxer's punch!

credits
from Jukebox Cloister Song Cycle, released October 10, 2020
Music: Michael Sellers
Lyrics: Michael Sellers & Gerry Verdier
Vocals: Michael Sellers
Instrumentation, musical arrangement, & production: Sergio Aguilar
Photo: Michael Sellers
Cover design; Loretta Sellers Fortuny

Lethal Touch

Michael Sellers is a guitar playing singer-songwriter from England, now living and recording songs in Merida, Mexico. 

Landing page: https://linktr.ee/michaelfirthsellers