How It's Supposed to Be

This is the first song that I wrote solely on the Mandolin. While in the past I've mainly used it to add color and depth, this one came about from a simple strumming pattern that I came up with while starring out the window on a rainy night a couple of weeks ago. It starts out simple and spare, with just the muted mandolin and a plucked banjo...the vocals come in after a measure and the melody floats along with the chord changes for the opening verses. The bass and guitar come in as the chorus starts, lifting the song up to the hook at the end of the chorus. If you listen closely, you may even hear a hint of auto-tune goodness in one of the vocal tracks.

Download Here or listen:

How It's Supposed to Be

Lyrics:
Rain on my window
sunshine on my hair
she told me that it's over
but i can't seem to care

My friends ask me if Im ok
i don't know what to say
it may seem like i lost something
but it was just in my way

I don't regret a minute
or how it meant to me
i only wish that she could see
how it's supposed to be

Sand in my shoes
salt water in my eyes
I swam out to the edge of the world
and said my goodbyes

And as i drifted down
to the ocean floor
i thought i saw your face
looking on from the shore

And even if it wasn't meant to be
you still helped me to see
everything that surrounds me
and how it's supposed to be

Beneath the Willow Tree

I won't lie - my latest song definitely has a Country vibe to it. Starting with the plucked guitar riff and simple melody and ending with mandolin and banjo parts for flavor, this one has the laid back, open air feel to it that I've been trying to capture these past few months. The harmony is strong and basic and the chorus lifts the melody to a nice refrain. Nothing earth-shattering, just a nice, simple structure.

When writing the lyrics, I started to think back to some of the places that I've lived in the past 10 years and all of the different people that I knew. Each place seemed like "Home" while I was living there - the friends, colleagues, familiar places, sights, sounds, smells. Yet each time, the things that really made it seem like a home started to fade away (friends leaving, jobs ending, relationships coming apart) and eventually I took my cue to move on as well. Although I still idealize those places (and that time in my life), I still get the feeling that I may still be a long way from finding that final place I want to call home.

Download here or listen:

Beneath the Willow Tree

Lyrics:
There was a place I had a home
among the leaves, among the snow
and I still go there in my dreams
even though its not as perfect as it seems

and all my friends they moved on
and I couldn't figure out where I belonged
but luck and fate they always knew
that I'd always just come right back to you

Because where you are is never where you thought you'd be
and I can't seem to make myself believe
that in the end I'll find the place I was meant to be
fast asleep beneath the willow tree

The way we were it breaks my heart
because I couldn't imagine being apart
but then we were, and life went on
and I think of us each time I hear that song

And when the rain began to fall
and the sun began to call
I packed my things and drove away
and I haven't been back to this day

Because where you are is never where you thought you'd be
and I can't seem to make myself believe
that in the end I'll find the place I was meant to be
fast asleep beneath the willow tree

Cook to Bang

Alright, this is so great I just have to post it. Last Friday night, my girlfriend and I spent an hour or so writing a birthday song for our good friend Spencer, whose blog Cook to Bang details his culinary and sexual exploits - with tons of great recipes. Using my newly purchased Autotune iphone app (thanks T-Pain!), we sang and rapped over a smooth beat and came up with this little gem. If I'd known R&B was this easy to make, I'd have been doing it long ago.

Download here or listen:

Cook to Bang

Lyrics:

This is for all you hungry lovers out there
looking to have a gourmet affair
spencer will show you what you need
to have her down on her knees

It's a little thing he likes to call Cook to Bang
giving you sexy new ways to entertain
his recipes drive the ladies insane
and you may have to clean up a stain

If you wanna get her in the sack
and make her lips smack
all you have to do is pull out your spice rack
and whip her up a tasty snack

You too can be the boom king
you'll make her taste buds sing
They'll say foo de fa fa
as they show you their fritatas

You can Cook to Bang
Aww Yeah
Everybody Cook to Bang
Even You

It's the latest sensation
Cook to Bang is sweeping the nation
take a sip of his libation lubrication
Get ready for a culinary home invasion

He's a lecherous leprechaun
Trying to help you get your groove on
so don't be afraid of your stove and oven
they'll help you get some good good lovin

So slip on your apron and put on your mits
and go grab your pots and pans
and give her something to put in her mouth
it'll make you feel like a man

Mushroom Cloud

Here is my contribution to the numerous amazing pictures that have been taken of the great Los Angeles fires of 2009:

Levity

This is a song that I recorded in the first few months after moving to LA - inspired by a poem written by my friend Colin McCrudden that I found while browsing his blog:

Download here or listen:

Levity

Lyrics (by Colin McCrudden):
I've carried these stones
across rivers
through forests of your broken heart

She told me her story
with blistered lips
under the silk night sky the worst untold

And if this empty room fills with sound
if the windows crack, stories unfold
lightness in my feet will fade
levity will light my way.......back home

I've carried these stones
across rivers
through forests of your broken heart

I'm tied to this chair
want to run away
dissolve in the atmosphere like the secret i am

And if this empty room fills with sound
if the windows crack, stories unfold
lightness in my feet will fade
levity will light my way.......back home

Summer in the city

Summer in the city...

A False History

I know it's a little out of order, but this is actually my first experiment with the harmonica. This one is pretty laid back as well, although the added banjo on the chorus section gives it a little bouncier feel than the other two. The lyrics to this one come directly from a poem I wrote a long time ago (no idea when - but I could probably date it from the notebook I found it in). It's a pretty solemn poem, and I'm not sure how well it translated into song form, but I think it serves its purpose well.

Download here or listen:

A False History

Lyrics:
The World that we know
Is a tale often told
Around the dinner table
Or in the church of old

A history of valiant men
and tyrants who deceive
of empires that triumph
and women kneeling greive

Its written in the blood of many
for the few who learn to read
and the business of editing
is left to those that breathe

But what lays buried in the deep
beneath the sands and deserts creep
stories that were never told
bodies that were bought and sold

Heroes who were later framed
witnesses who'd gone insane
sightings people didn't see
and books which tell a false history.

The Scientists they tell us
that only the strong survive
and by that very reason
that some should turn and die

But in their death they speak to us
of a future never known
events that didn't happen
outside an epic poem

And with the written word
a reformation bloomed
armies of the lower class
were brutally consumed

Books were burned, and stories lost
Empires fallen, Left to dust
And out of that, we learned to trust
the stories that we're told

But what could have happened, always did
and what once was small, now is big
and It doesn't matter how far you dig
you'll only find the trail cold