Songs
Synopsis
Back:
 Back
is about our dreams and the places that we have been. Facing certain
insecurities is par for the course of following our dreams, but
it is important to pursue them. Sometimes they take us back to a
place we once knew, other times to a place to be discovered. What
is our purpose here on earth if not to explore the frontiers of
what is possible within the boundaries of kindness and compassion.
Our dreams are the seeds of possibility and our gardens are who
we are.
Hard To Find:
This is about the stages of letting go. Phase one, two and three.
I do really feel that way about my main life partners. I don’t
understand what wheel of time would need to turn back to give us
back the conditions of togetherness that we had but I still feel
the love that I always had for them. I love the imagery in this
song. It was written in Southern Spain, in Andalucia, in a little
wooden house with a view of the Atlas mountains in Africa (one of
my favorite places in the world). My Spanish audience would sing
along; mimicking the words; without really knowing what the song
is about. Although on another level, they did know. This song was
not written with sweat, it was written with tears.
Beso Fino:
In our quest for understanding the atrocities of the world in which
we live, we need to remember a couple of things. One is that we
have always had troubled times and that we always seem to come out
the other side. We need to take the time to enjoy the life we have
been given the opportunity to live. Blow me a kiss, have a sip of
fine wine and try not to forget what is precious. It’s just
the way it is,… black on white,…
Dance away:
The history of this song is interesting because I wrote it after
undergoing laser surgery on my eyes. I was sitting in the living
room experiencing how it is to be totally blind. I was in fact blind
for a couple of days. In my minds eye I saw the woman I loved. The
only company for that 48-hour period or so was my memories, my guitar
and my voice. The imagery was beautiful…
top
Friendly Fire:
This song was inspired by an event that happened during the Gulf
War. In one of the alliances’ ‘surgical hits’,
as they called them, one of their smart bombs killed two soldiers
from the alliance. This was admittedly a mistake,... a mystery.
That night in the news, the president of the United States held
a news conference and said that they had died in Friendly Fire.
I remember the words tearing through me and wondering if the mothers
of the dead soldiers were finding any comfort in those words. Then
I thought of all the innocent civilians; the sons and daughters,
mothers and fathers and so on who were dying in those targets...
The song is not attached to the Gulf war though; the words were
carefully chosen to make the song timeless. Perhaps we have events
in our not to distant future that will give the song strong meaning
once again. I wrote this before 9/11.
Desire:
Curiosity is embodied in desire. The desire to find new ways of
doing things is a powerful driver for the human computer. And curiosity
is a hunger that must be kept alive or else we go numb; tired of
normal. We are creatures of habit but whoever said that it was to
be the same habit until the end of time. The streetcar is a neat
ride the first time around, but after a long ride it’s nice
to ring the bell.
top
Ironman:
In my time as corporate president, I felt the strain of responsibility.
It gets difficult to be your true self when you are at the mercy
of the banking system, governmental regulations, codes, people’s
distresses, complaints, fatherhood,… We are forced to develop
a thicker skin with the multitude of problems sent our way on a
daily basis. Higher decisions need to be made, regardless of the
inconveniences or small injustices. The weight of blame, accountability,
guilt in leadership; can drag down the strongest. Vision and the
road to results, requires an Armour; an Armour that can hopefully
be taken off when the destination is reached.
Permanent Affair:
This was inspired by a friend who was going through the pain of
lost love. The French word ‘Affair’ literally means
‘thing’. The love that we have with someone is a permanent
thing. Sounds better in French; doesn’t it. The circumstances,
which take us apart, do not erase the love that existed or exists.
I’ve always been impressed at how powerful feelings can be
for a person who you haven’t seen for years. It all comes
back at the drop of a hat. It is also about how incredibly natural
some people feel together…almost as if there is a continuation
of a relation that might have started in some other time. That is
the sense of permanence that wrote this song.
Hello:
How does one start a new life after years of being surrounded by
the familiar? Many people are unsure as to how to establish new
relationships after leaping into a new adventure. We can be overwhelmed
by loneliness. It doesn’t help that with all the horrible
crimes that are graphically shown to us on the evening news makes
all new friendships a little suspect for the first moments.
It makes it more difficult still to muster up the nerve to say hello
to somebody new. The fact remains that the way it all begins is
with that word… ‘hello’.
top
Let it Show:
This song questions as well as encourages the power that drives
us. It questions, yet it puts forward the idea that although we
may not know what drives us, it is still important for us to take
the ride. We may encounter angels along the way who can offer plausible
answers to the mystery but we are ultimately on our own. We come
back time and time again and hopefully, at some point, we come around
as some higher spirit and get to observe the bumbling idiots we
once were.
Strong:
Just another lonely love song.
My Mind is Racing:
The classic crossroads. We are asked the question; Which way do
I go? I was faced with an intersection of choices not so long ago
and I dug this song out of my piles of paper. As I read it I realized
that I had captured the feeling I was having in the present moment.
At one point I thought I had written the song ten years before the
actual moment happened, but the more I thought about it, the more
I realized that I actually had been faced with the same dilemma
ten years earlier. Then I began to remember the many times that
I had to make hard choices. Then I was filled with the feeling and
the thought that I am not alone.
top
|
