Songs for 2019

You Hold Me Hostage Song #99 Yes, only one more song to go in my write 100 songs before I turn 60 challenge.  Three days to finish the task, as I'll be on the road on the 14th. This song is about my noisy neighbour who thinks it's OK to play his music as loud as he wants for as long as he wants, whenever he wants. This ridiculous behaviour also extends to having parties, either in the back yard or on his side deck, and playing music with a light show inside his fucking tacky mansion. OK, there is so much more I could say about the fuck-wit asshole, but I'll leave it at that, cause this is about the song!! The reason I wrote this song is because I often feel like a hostage in my own home, and there is no way to escape the music and noise, even inside my own home. I can close all the windows and doors, and put in ear plugs, and sometimes that's enough to block it out. There's no guarantee that I'll be able to sit on the deck, work in the garden, or go to be...

Song #98: Looking Out On Nature I went back through my binder of lyric ideas and found some lyrics about nature. The song turned into a description of what I see when I look out my front window - over my garden, Georgia Straight, the deer in the yard, the dragon flies hovering, the eagles floating on the thermals, the clouds in the sky. All the amazing wonders of nature I can see right from where I live. This song is in the "cutesy" category, that seems to work well on ukulele. I tried guitar first, but it just didn't fit. Alas, all my ukulele songs are in the same key, and they all have a sameness about them. Oh well, doubtful I'd ever sing them one after the other, so who will ever know? Ukulele in D Looking Out On Nature Sun rides high o'er Georgia Straight Ocean glittering light of day Clouds are building, full of rain Bless the garden once again. Looking out on nature, this is what I see All her wondrous beauty, and calm serenity. Dragon fli...

Waging War on Paradise Song #97 in my "write 100 songs" project. This one was a tough one. I had some words written down in my little black book and was working to put them into lyric form. I had just checked out a book of Joni Mitchell's song lyrics and was reading "Big Yellow Taxi" and saw that I could use some of her ideas in my song, as inspiration and as a tribute. Big Yellow Taxi They paved paradise and put up a parking lot With a pink hotel, a boutique and a swinging hotspot. Don't it always seem to go that you don't know what you'e got till it's gone. They paved paradise and put up a parking lot. They took all the trees, put 'em in a tree museum And they charged the people a dollar and a half to see 'em. Don't it always seem to go that you don't know what you'e got till it's gone. They paved paradise and put up a parking lot. Hey farmer farmer put away that DDT now Give me spots on apples but lea...

Alas, I just looked at my list of songs and discovered that I had numbered a song for 2010 that doesn't exist, meaning that I was no longer at 98 songs, but 97. Then, going down the list and re-numbering to correct that mistake, I found another mistake in my numbering. So, I'm actually only at 96 songs right now, rather than 98. That means I have to write four more songs instead of two!! :( So disappointed. The goal is now a little farther away than I had thought.

Cast Away Song #98!! These were some lyrics I had written in my little black book, lyrics about traveling across Canada once again to visit family. The song describes the journey, by ferry and plane, visiting friends and family on the other side of the country, and it brings in some ideas about what "home" means. I've had a lot of "homes" in my day, physical homes, I've probably moved 30 times in my life, though many times in the same city. In Bella Coola I moved four times, in Courtenay, two times. Now I've lived in one "home" in Halfmoon Bay for 5 years, the longest I've ever lived in one physical home. I can't even remember how many different places I lived in Vancouver. Many. But home can also mean wherever you find your personal, private and safe place. It doesn't matter where you are, there's always a sense of "home" wherever you find yourself. Maybe a hotel room when you're on a trip, maybe a ten...

April 2019 - Old Flame Song #97!! I was reading a novel, and there was a scene where this woman met up with an "old flame" after many years. They had had so much shared history, but now, many years had gone by. When she met him again after all those years, she couldn't say anything. That short scene was the inspiration for this song, aptly titled, "Old Flame". It had a jazz song kind of feel, so I found some jazz chords and wrote the lyrics. Of course, we probably all have an "old flame" in our past who we'd love to meet again. How would I react? There are two who I would like to meet again, but it's not very likely to happen, and I have no idea how I'd react. One would be very positive, the other would be tinged with anger, yes, even after so many years. Old Flame Old flame, old flame, so good to see you again. All of a sudden I'm way back when, Longing to hear you say, "I love you" again. We were so young, in...