Roads Go Ever Ever On

June 29, 2023 — Leave a comment

June is nearly gone but once again I’m getting my monthly song posted in time! Wish I had more time to do a better recording of this one but my summer is full of distractions, interruptions and plenty of fun that gives me little time to spare for recording.

Reading, though – I’ve been enjoying rereading The Hobbit and the Lord of the Rings trilogy, and this is the first but may not be the last of the songs I’ve come across in the books that I set to music. Bilbo speaks these words towards the very end of The Hobbit, as he is returning home to the Shire.

Roads go ever ever on,
Over rock and under tree,
By caves where never sun has shone,
By streams that never find the sea;
Over snow by winter sown,
And through the merry flowers of June,
Over grass and over stone,
And under mountains in the moon.

Roads go ever ever on
Under cloud and under star,
Yet feet that wandering have gone
Turn at last to home afar.
Eyes that fire and sword have seen
And horror in the halls of stone
Look at last on meadows green
And trees and hills they long have known.

Love is Always Beginning

May 31, 2023 — 5 Comments

So I write a song a month this year instead of a song a week, and May’s two-minute song makes it in on the last day of the month! Busy times but love is always beginning and life starts over again (that’s about a third of the lyrics right there). In May I celebrated my 25th wedding anniversary with my beloved Nathan, who also celebrated his 50th birthday. This song does feel apropos for those things.

Love is always beginning
Love embraces the end
Life is constantly spinning
Life starts over again

Hold on to the truth that’s holding you
Make friends with the ever-changing view

Another Spring Unfolds

April 26, 2023 — 2 Comments

Here’s my song for April, a meteorological rollercoaster ride in Minnesota.

Green returns tender and true
April dawns ancient and new
I remember how this goes, another spring unfolds

Shoots break through, blossoms open
Skin drinks in warmth of the sun
I remember how this goes, another spring unfolds

Nothing’s new under the sun
Still I thrill once again

Snow recedes, snow falls again
We hold on, we know we can
We remember how this goes, another spring unfolds

And the river will rise and the flood will wash us clean again

Tonight the Light

March 29, 2023 — 1 Comment

February often feels like the longest month. And then comes March. Here’s my song for March 2023.

Let’s take it easy, take a deep breath, let it go
We’re gonna make it, we can take it, I just know we will

Tonight the light feels cold and blue
Hello my love oh how are you?

I lost the feeling in my fingers, in my heart
Winter is leaving, guess that might mean we can start again

Tonight the light is breaking through
Hello my love oh how are you?

March through the snow, through the mud, through the tears
Till spring brings us songbirds, brings us flowers, brings us here once more

Tonight the light is warm and new
Hello my love oh how are you?

Tonight the light shines in your smile
Hello my love it’s been a while

February Breakup

February 28, 2023 — 3 Comments

I’m squeezing in my song for February on the last day of this shortest longest month. It’s a breakup song and if you, like me, have ever lived up north from October through February, I think you’ll know what I’m getting at here. Played on a backup guitar because my beautiful Lucinda Taylor is undergoing repairs (three cracks from a previous winter’s cold spell reopened this year – I have learned my lesson and will keep her in her case with a regularly-moistened dampit in the winter!).

You and me I think we’re through
I think I’ve had enough of you
So take yourself somewhere else
They might just welcome you in hell

Oh, just go

You looked so good months ago
Pristine, glistening starlit glow
But lately you’re just cold hard light
And you don’t keep me warm at night

Oh, just go

No one here wants you around

I’m sick of wearing all these clothes
And losing feeling in my toes
Can’t wait to bare my arms and legs
When you’re finally gone away

Oh, just go

No one here wants you around

You had your time, now move along
I’m done with you and this song