Damn man.. this is beautiful. Really well written, lyrically and instrumentally... love the ride the vocals take you on, this is really f’n good bro. Beautiful guitar work.

Love the guitar playing in your song and the beautiful vocals sitting perfectly over it.  Although the true meaning behind your song seems open the passion you feel comes through loud and clear with this moving performance you captured.

This is some beautiful, lyrical picking and it supports the narrator's horror at the destruction of natural beauty. I like how the mournful playing implicitly questions whether living things can ever be made into pretty trophies.

you said this fell short of the production quality you wanted? how?  Its crisp, clean, beautifully performed and picked, I cant think of a way to improve the quality.  its beautiful.  the passion is visceral - soft subtle tasteful flowing engaging on an on.  a total keeper.  transfixed by your guitar chops and playing.  just beautiful man.  bravo.  the change at 2:09 made me melt.

I love this! The guitar, the progression, the vibe and your voice. Great!

PS - I want to live in the last chord that you strum =)

Really nice. Guitar playing  is phenominal 

Came back to listen again... really love this one man, one of my favorites so far this semester.

Yummy guitaring and wow thats intense and hurt my heart a little...

Tell me why I didn't even make it 2 minutes in, and the onions seemed to have appeared. Such a beautifully heavy song-- well done. 

This week's prompt was "by night", which gave me a couple of ideas initially but this is what came most naturally. This one is a little more personal than last week's song, so I'm not as eager to demystify the meaning behind the lyrics. I had originally wanted to write a short story about a character that lived a split life by day/night, which may be a good premise for another song down the line. 

Lyrics:

alarms are sounding somewhere in a dream
it's you and me taking up the scene
but when I looked into your eyes all I saw 
was teardrops of waterfalls

i took my things inside the house 
and tried to find a strong enough shelf 
for all the garbage that i'd accumulated 
but all I found 
were heads decapitated

and i get your daddy's proud of his accomplishments
but is it worth birthing the departed?
a flame choked out, there's no apparent reason
and this he says, "don't you know the season boy?

now run off and feed with the horses
avert your eyes from the landmarks of their mouths
instincts born of nature
just like
the barrel of this gun"

i won't be a witness to 
these crimes of unnatural disaster
i'll still be a loser in the morning
but by night
the bloodstains will be white

SWU Spring '21 Week 2: Bloodstains

[Verse 1]
You wore a blazer under the moon
Prom kings and queens shiver and swoon
Cold breath and cigarettes, whispers and lies
Cut only once or twice if by night

[Chorus]
I'll be your tailor but all I measure
Disappears under my thumb
I'll be your tailor but all I measure
Disappears
Disappears

[Verse 2]
Nothing seems weird when you hold me close
Dancing with me can't be any worse
Than heels in the hallway when they come for you
They cut only once, floods into the room

[Chorus]
I'll be your tailor but all I measure
Disappears under my thumb
I'll be your tailor but all I measure
Disappears
Disappears

This week's SWU prompt is "By Night." The lyrics must include this phrase.

Disappears

She want to climb a mountain in Peru,
Want to lay on a beach down in Tulum.
Anywhere but here if she could choose.
But anywhere with her and I'd go too.

If not by day then for sure by night.
If not by train she'll board a red-eye flight.
She might even try to catch a satellite.
Makes no difference to me if I'm by her side.

She could be my señorita on a Sayulita beach.
She could be my mademoiselle in the Marseilles streets.
Anywhere she wants to go and let down her hair,
I'd stamp my passport and be there.

She want to hear the waves crash in Kehei.
Play in the Costa Rican rivers all day.
Anywhere that she could sail away...
Anywhere with her you know I'd stray.

She could be my donna down in Sicily.
She could be my senhora in the Amazon trees.
Anywhere she wants to get some fresh air..
I'd stamp my passport and be there.

She's always looking for a change of scenery.
But anywhere we go, she's all I see.
Maybe one day, she'll stop and think..
Everything she's looking for, she'll find in me...

She could be my señorita on a Sayulita beach.
She could be my mademoiselle in the Marseilles streets.
Anywhere she wants to go and let down her hair,
I'd stamp my passport and be there.

I'd stamp my passport and be there.

I'd stamp my passport and be there.

2021 SWU Week 2 Passport

she steals a glance up at the clock ‘tween idle lines of conversation, am I talking to myself, feels like I’m talking to myself

another failure to engage, another train stuck at the station, but it’s probably just as well, probably just as well

cause even if the stars say not this time, something in my heart, tells me I’ll be fine
that someday soon somebody special will come walking through my door

and that is what I’m waiting for, what I’m waiting for, that is what I’m waiting for

seems like everywhere I turn I see another happy couple, smiling laughing and care free, exactly how I want to be

But I know that my sun is on the rise, clouds are making way, for cerulean skies
and someday soon somebody special will come walking through my door

and that is what I’m waiting for, what I’m waiting for, that is what I’m waiting for

my friends say I set my sights too high, but I don’t know what that is
settling for less is not my style, I’m looking for bliss and I won’t stop until I find it

even if the stars say not this time, something in my heart, tells me I’ll be fine
that someday soon somebody special will come walking through my door

and that is what I’m waiting for, what I’m waiting for, that is what I’m waiting for

What I'm Waiting For

Unrealized Regrets
Music and Words by Mark Magram (2023)

No one leaves alive
There's only one way out of here
Sentenced to survive
An unintended prisoner

(ch)
Whoah oh oh
If you're among the lucky ones
Who hasn't left the planet yet
Whoah oh oh
You'll leave behind a mountain of
Unrealized regrets

Through your newborn eyes
You're thrown into reality
Never given any choice
Through your newborn cries
You're only given sympathy
You were born without a voice

(ch)
(solo)

(ch x 2)

Unrealized Regrets

East Coast Homeboy
Music and Words by Mark Magram

Start in San Fransisco
gotta run away
Burnin asphalt across the USA.
How I ended up out here
I'll never know
I'm headed eastbound
Cuz I miss the ice and snow

Grip that wheel curb appeal hi test gas slip thru every speed trap..... I'm gaining ground
Skip that stop gotta clock a lot of time on the road a thousand miles to go to the east coast. 

(chorus)
Ride cross country
Wind behind me
East coast home boy
New York city
Got no time for
Dead end life's so
Take me where the city never sleeps
it's all goin down in New York.

(verse2)
Madison Wisconsin
Around 4pm. 
Stop for a beer and a brat and a night at a holiday inn
Had to make a detour
Stop and see a friend
Let em know Im headed back and I won't be round here again

Roll through Chi town seat back top down midway midday ride until the sun comes up coffee in My Cup.
State by state feeling great making good time.  Good food good friends waiting for me at the end of this cross country beeline I'm in a new York state of mind

(chorus)
Ride cross country
Wind behind me
East coast home boy
New York city
Got no time for
Dead end life's so
Take me where the city never sleeps
it's all goin down in New York.

(bridge)
im headin back
im aiming where the sun rises
where life is full of surprises
I pack my bags and I'm on my way back to new york
where the action is

(chorus)

East Coast Homeboy

V1
Warm sand under your feet
Watching the ocean beat the shore		
Again and again with a force		
You can’t ignore								
V2
The sun enters your soul		
You’ve lost all control to the wind	 
Pushing you to lift, and to live		
What’s left to give		
Chorus
You look to the east where the horizon ends	  
And this is where it all begins	
On a beach, in Delaware	
Thursday morning 11 AM     
V3
Eyes closed and dreams creep in		
Your thoughts scramble and spin around	
As the crashing waves pound	
You live for that sound	
V4
You cry with the seagulls	
Piercing the giant ocean roars		
A lonely call warns		
What you can’t ignore	
Bridge
The end can send	
You back to start again
To turn and learn	 
And move			
When you change your view

Thursday Morning 11 AM

[Verse 1]
G											C 
I once found a wallet, had more money than I ever seen
G												C
I tracked down the owner we met on the corner and we shot the shit 
D											C
He gave me a hundo, said "good luck" and he got out of there
			G
That seemed fair


[Subverse 1]
C
I gave that guy directions
G
Right down paradise road
C
Just keep driving past the high school 
			G
Until you hit Highway 99
D									C
Well I wish I'd taken my own good advice
D
But I drove southeast down to Shiloh
		C
And I married my ex-wife
A					D	
Modesto High School Class of 75


[Verse 2]
Woke up early, finished my coffee by 11 am  

Old school mother, work my ass don't hardly make a cent

I read a New York Paper, spend a little money onr the lottery

But I never win


[Subverse 2]
C
I kept growing marijuana
G
Long after I quit smoking
C
When I pull the graveyard double
			G
Still can't sleep past 11
D									C
Well I never changed the light bulbs in this room
D
They still tell the time 
		C
and show the phases of the moon
A					D	
Science Fair Project from 1972
G
(woo hoo hoo)

This is entry #1 for Soulwriter University Spring Semester 2021. My prompt was Modesto, California. 11 am. Facing Southeast. I borrowed the key and some chords from Beck's song "Modesto" (off his Stereopathetic SoulManure Album) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bmeldcqzgbY.

Modesto High School

Reno (Losing My Mind) Demo - Original Song by Tommy Donahue - Live in the Studio at O'Donahue's

Another year gone by out in Modesto, and this old stool has hardly had a break.
It shares the weight of desolation, we've had about all we can take
As another double shot of bourbon begins to saturate my bones
Supposed to drive away the memories, but it tastes too much like home
Aching in my heart, dreams gone bitter cold, loneliness like nothin I have ever known
Darkness and despair, I found the motherlode, gave up everything I ever loved
Chasin California gold, chasin California gold.
How many nights, staring to the east, wishing it was nothing, nothing but a dream.
How many times have I played it through? I should not have left you, I never should have left you.
I guess I got no love for California, sure seems she got no love for me.
She took the best that I could offer, and she drove me to my knees.
With an aching in my heart, dreams gone bitter cold, loneliness like nothin I have ever known
Darkness and despair, I found the motherlode, gave up everything I ever loved
Chasin California gold, chasin California gold, chasin California gold, chasin California gold

California Gold

AlieNation
Music and Words by Mark Magram

(Verse 1)
Okay
here comes another lonely day
ive been in quarrantine for
fifty weeks and counting and I'm drowning in the smell of myself
living in a cage and slowly aging in my peronal hell
the death of socialization
living in AlieNation

(Verse 2)
all day
locked down inside these same four walls
just me, myself and I got
cabin fever never leave or else I might come down with the flu
im going stir crazy trying to think up something different to do
its been a year of stagnation
living in AlieNation

(Verse 3)
by night
I've wasted every drop of daylight
inside this bubble if you
talk about the weather it will probably will go over my head
I wouldnt know the situation never even got out of bed
cant generate motivation
living in AlieNation

but I'm okay

AlieNation

In an age of loneliness, Caledon-based folk singer-songwriter Zack Elliott seeks answers
to his mind’s questions, in an effort to make listeners feel less isolated in their own
questioning. With his thoughtfully composed guitar accompaniment and honest voice,
Zack’s songs will transport you to a place where you can be at ease and connect with
your inner curiousness, whether that be through a story, rhapsodic confessional, or
audial painting. He independently released his debut EP “Caught Half Alive” in March
2021.

SWU Spring '21 Week 2: Bloodstains

Zackery Wilson Elliott

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