Songs on this page: 9

Soft Rock Songs

As implied by the title, these songs tend to be softer songs in either soft rock, or jazz, ballad or folk styles.

"Everybody Has a Story That Could Break Your Heart", version 8, 02/17/2008. This is a tune with vocals. The message reminds us that we are not the only person with problems. The title says it all, really. I have completely redone this version from scratch. The first time, I actually spent a fair amount of time getting the vocals right, I even thought I would tweak them withe the autotune to get them perfect, but then they ended up being buried in the mix. Frankly, they also sounded slight OUT of tune after I added in the autotune, so that wasn't doing much good. I had drums, strings, a shaker, even a couple of trumpet parts. I just heard them in the version playing in my head, so I put them in the recorded version. I was thinking of adding in a 12 string to fill out the acoustic body rhythm. Also,I had a 'Heroic lead'. Then I listened to it and decided it just wasn't working that way. It just simply didn't appeal to me as a whole. So I started over. No strings, no trumpets, no bossanova-style beat. Just acoustics, recorded with a mic, non-altered vocals (except a little delay and reverb), and a simple, clean electric guitar lead. The vocals are stronger now, without the autotune tweaking, and the original point of the lyrics is left more intact. So the the theme and point are not lost in the embellishments. This is simpler, and cleaner. Better, I think. I was originally trying to write a song for the band to play, so that was the dynamic I was trying to do, but in this case, it was forcing the song into a form it wasn't suited to. So I relaxed and let it be what it is.

The Boy With The Thousand Year Eyes - This song is about reincarnation. It tells of a little boy, who when you look into his eyes, you see the mark of history. A thousand years of living - deep in his eyes. This is one more lifetime. Yet another chance to learn lessons and get it right. I believe most of us have lived before. I am certain that I have. I had specific memories of living in ancient Delphi, Greece when I visited there in 1989. ahhh - but that's a long story. This is a jazzy piece, somewhat like Johnny A-style chords, with Pink-Floyd-style vocals.

Shiokaze (Sea Breeze) - Shiokaze is the Japanese word for Sea Breeze. I stand on the top of a cliff overlooking the sea and the updraft is so strong, I can literally lean out onto the breeze and it holds me up. I can picture it flying me high into the clouds. The same breeaze that blows around me now is the one that once blew through the world centuries ago. It has seen much of the world and much history, and in those intimate moments, it can tell me its secrets of what it has seen.

The Visions of Nostradamus - I was thinking about Nostradamus one day. I have read books about him. This songs tells of his calling to see the visions of the future and yet the problems he dealt with of the ignorance and power of the church at that time. They could kill him for giving prophesy, yet he feels it is his duty to tell what he knows - you he hides his message in hundreds of quatrains. Poetic constructs that can deliver the messages to those who will have them, but yet allow him a plausible deniability and alternate explanations if the church authorities decide to clamp down on him. Cascading harmonies, and countermelody in this.

A Long Cold Summer - Here is the pain of a love that has been split asunder. A boy and a girl who love each other and, it seems, across the lifetimes. This is a match that feels like destiny. They plan to marry. But inexplicably, she walks away one day. He is in great pain at the loss. This song tells the story of that pain. It colors the wold around him. He knows that the upcoming summer will be a long, cold one, regardless of the temperature. And it will look like rain everyday.

The Long Afternoon of Mrs. Brown - This is a compassionate portrait of a woman, Mrs. Brown, who is lonely and unloved by her husband. She does not work outside the home and so sits alone in a quiet house. The hours pass. Her life bleeds away. Her future dissolves before her very eyes, hour by hour. I understand this pain in excruciating detail and express it to give it form. Once it has form it can be dealt with.

"Yavanna Dreamed" Version 3, 01/05/05 - This song was previously titled "Pillow Full of Dreams", but since this is an instrumental, that meant that I had to give up the words I had written for PFoD, and so I decided to make that into a separate piece with vocals - yet to come. This piece is now re-titled to "Yavana Dreamed". In the universe of J.R.R. Tolkien, Yavanna was the goddess of living things and brought light to the early world by creating two trees. Laurelin (the golden light of day) and Telperion (The silver light of night) similar to the sun and moon which were created later to replace the original trees of light that were destroyed by Melkor and Ungoliant. These trees were the only source of light in the world and brought a time of happiness and the counting of the days. This tune represents the peaceful dream of Yavanna, the goddess that made it possible.

"Sunrise", version 1, 10/27/2007. This is a vocals tune. It moves in a slow, sexy way. Clean guitar tone. Soft. Quiet. Early morning or late night fare. This is about a friend of mine who woke up and left the house before dawn every day for 365 days in a row in order to take pictures of the sunrise in the Colorado Rockies. They are beautiful photos and she is a wonderful photographer. and I am amazed at the perserverence that took to do that every day without fail for an entire year.

The Prisoner Dreams - This is about a man who’s body is in prison, but his mind is free to walk the world when he sleeps and dreams. He can climb to mountain tops, walk deserts, play in the surf. Stand at the edge of an ocean and look up and watch the seagulls swoop and dive. He is trying to taste life to it’s fullest freedoms – but it has to be all in his mind because his body is locked away in prison. This song is the adventure his mind goes on, and underneath it, the semi-hidden realization that he can’t REALLY do those things…