The way I choose to show my feelings is through my songs. – Marianne Faithfull
Whenever I travel, I come home with ideas for songs. Sometimes they make their way to music. Sometimes they make their way to paper.
This week, I wrote 10 songs: 10 stream-of-consciuosness songs. These songs are just lyrical ideas and still need to be set to music. This gives me a musical project for the coming year.
The Making Of 10 Songs
I wrote these 10 songs quickly and uncritically. I’d like to keep the lyrics as close to their original form as possible when I put them to music. I’ll keep you updated on my progress. In the meantime, here are the lyrics in their original form.
1. The View
Driving through the night
Up the hill, up the hill, up the hill, up the hill
I am winding with the river
Into something grander
Than I’ve ever known before
Suddenly
All my senses blend together
And my spirit starts to soar
I am up on the top of the world
Oh, I am up on the top of the world
With you by my side
With you by my side
Oh, when I look out the window
As the sun begins to rise
You’re sleeping like an angel
Forever in your eyes
And this old road stretches on and on and on
Like the memories we create
And God either is or isn’t with us
As we take that leap of faith
I am up on the top of the world
Oh, I am up on the top of the world
I am up on the top of the world
With you by my side
And it’s a long, long, long, long, long, long, long ride
2. Overexposed
The city
Looks beautiful
In the night
With the lights so bright
Green and red and blue
And every other color of the rainbow
Shining, shining, shining
Everywhere
But when the day comes
You see the thorns upon the rose
Everything, everything
Is overexposed
Isn’t it funny
How every town looks better
With darkness upon it
But oh, in the light of day
Everything, every little thing
Is overexposed
Like a picture of your faith
The paint is fading and flaking and falling away
Oh, but that’s just the way it goes
Everything, everything
Is overexposed
Everything, every little thing
Is overexposed
3. To Be The Wave
Walking with you along the shoreline
I realized that life is just a wave
The tide pulls us out
And then back into the grave
Oh, life is just a wave
Or maybe Jesus saves
But either way
It’s okay
Because we are here and now
And nothing can take that away
Oh, we are here and now
And it’s beautiful
So, so beautiful
To be the wave
Some people fight over such silly things
Like houses and cars and diamond rings
Hearts all out of joint
They miss the greater point
They’re blind to the mountains
They’re blind to the rivers
Blind to the harbors
Blind to the eagle
Flying over the sea
But we are here and now
And nothing can take that away
Oh, we are here and now
And it’s beautiful
So, so beautiful
To be the wave
4. Rolled On Slow
I remember last winter
When the world was white
I drove along the river
Through the snow and ice
My life in my own hands
You were far away
But your life was in my hands too
So I rolled on slow
Yeah, I rolled on slow
Around every twist and turn
‘Round every twist and turn
Oh, I rolled on slow
To get back home to you
We’re all living for something
Even on the days we want to die
And it would be so easy
To just hit the gas
And fly off the pass
And leave you all behind to cry
But I’ve always been
More of a cowboy than a coward
So I rolled on slow
Yeah, I rolled on slow
Around every twist and turn
There is a lesson learned
Oh, I rolled on slow
Yeah, I rolled on slow
And I’ll keep rolling on and on and on
Just to get back home to you
5. Earth Song
If these walls could talk
They wouldn’t say a lot
Maybe a “god damn”
And an “I love you”
But if these walls could sing
They’d croon and wail and ring
Like the rain and the wind
On a stormy afternoon
With a ping, ping, ping
Rattle, rattle, boom
This house of music
Is always playing an Earth song
This house of music
Is always playing an Earth song
And it’s your song
And it’s my song
Yeah, It’s our song
To sing
With drones and wars on the horizon
We can make our own explosions
Like a volcano of melody
Chaotic notes set us free
Into the mystery
With a bang, bang, bang
Of empathy
This house of music
Is always playing an Earth song
This house of music
Is always playing an Earth song
And it’s your song
And it’s my song
Yeah, it’s our song
To sing
6. My Eye The Camera
My eye the camera
Is panning the crowd
With the architecture and sky
Spinning in the background
Oh the world, the whole world,
The whole wide world
Like a film
Like a film
From an ancient time
My eye the camera
It doesn’t like zoom
Cause I might see a little too much
Getting too close might lead to a touch
And I like to watch from afar
The whole wide world from afar
Like a film
Like a film
Where the hero walks alone
My eye the camera
It studies the angles
Searching for lines and horizons
Where ocean meets sky
All the sadness and love
To laugh and to cry
To live and to die
Like a film
Like a film
From an ancient time
7. The Autumn Wind
Autumn is here
The leaves are all falling
The seeds are all flying
Out on the wind again
To impregnate the Earth again
And it gives me that feeling
That great swelling feeling
Oh, I feel it reeling you in
And I’ve been saving all my seeds of love
Yeah, I’ve been saving all my seeds of love
Oh, I’ve been saving all my seeds of love
For your barren ground
Life is a circle
The offspring are rising
While your ocean is dying
Trade the womb for the heart
To impregnate the heart again
Just a little bit longer
Autumn winds blowing stronger
And my pure naked hunger
Sings a song for your body
And I’ve been saving all my seeds of love
Yeah, I’ve been saving all my seeds of love
Oh, I’ve been saving all my seeds of love
For your barren ground
Oh, I love your barren ground
Let me love your barren ground
Spill my seeds in your barren ground
8. Clock Tower
I walk around the campus
My home away from home
With my mind like a canvas
I compose another poem
Middle age is upon me
Endless knowledge to scour
I hear the tick-tock, tick-tock
As I wander
Out by the clock tower
And if time is an illusion
To spin us into confusion
That’s alright
Yeah, it’s alright
As long as I can spend it with you
I wake up another morning
Whistling a song without a name
I hear a murder of crows
Repeating the refrain
Tick-tock, tick-tock
Then the bells start to ringing
And the whole world is singing
Oh, it’s eight o’clock
Yeah, it’s eight o’clock
We still have a few hours
According to the clock tower
And if time is an illusion
To spin us into confusion
That’s alright
Yeah, it’s alright
As long as I can spend it with you
Just want to spend it with you
Please don’t shoot me too soon
9. The Man Who Rides Trains
When I was a boy
I used to walk upstream
My feet got wet and cold
Oh, my feet, so cold
My mother never noticed
It made me want to scream
My feet were so cold
Whenever I came home
And so I became
The man who rides trains
Across valleys and plains
The man who rides trains
Just to keep my feet warm
And the click-clack of the rails
Overpowered the wedding bells
And when I stood up at the alter
I could not remain still
And my mother would imply
That I would go to hell
If I didn’t settle down
If I didn’t settle down
And so I became
The man who rides trains
Across valleys and plains
The man who rides trains
Just to keep my feet warm
Just to try to beat the fury and the storm
To find a place to keep myself warm
10. Flying Spear
The mountains stand before me
Towering like an obstacle
To everything I long to do
Oh, I long to find my way across to you
Find my way across to you
Even though I don’t know
Who or where you are
Like a long-lost lover
I’m going find my way to you
I’ll strap myself to the eagle’s back
And through his eyes I’ll search every crack
To give you everything that you lack
I am a flying spear
Coming straight for your heart
Oh, I’m a flying spear
Moving straight to your heart
To pierce you with my mark
Well, I know how it is to be branded
And cut and slashed by things unwanted
And I can see how he did that to you
From way up here from my eagle’s view
The point of my spear is covered in ointment
To pierce and to heal and to hypnotize
All at the same time
All at the same time
And I believe we have an appointment
To run from the shadows into the light
Whoosh
I am your flying spear
Coming straight for your heart
Oh, I’m a flying spear
Moving straight to your heart
To pierce you with my mark
I’m going to pierce you with my mark
Copyright 2016 by Dan Erickson