2021

A Return To SongLand

If you like to read the lyrics as you listen, click “Play The Songs Of Songland” (above). This should open a new browser tab. Returning to this tab as the song plays will let you read and listen.

The time has come to start turning my inventions into full-fledged songs again. I will call on my Muses to help me get back to writing lyrics.

NV in the online song list means No Vocal. Sing the lyrics yourself of write new lyrics and use the music to sing to.

Old Blue

This is a traditional folk song. Spirit performed it on stage. My version has tricky tempo. The lines of the verses switch from 3/4 time to 4/4 time and back. If you count the beats, you’ll see.

I had a dog hand his name was (3/4)

Blue (4/4)

I bet you five dollars he’s a good ‘un (3/4)

Too (4/4)

I had a dog and his name was Blue

I bet you five dollars he’s a good ‘un too

Oh oh Blue

You good dog you

I shouldered my gun and and I tooted my horn

Gonna’ find me a possum in the new grown corn

Old Blue barked and he went to see

He cornered me a possum up in a tree

Oh oh Blue

You good dog you

When Old Blue died he died so hard

He shook the ground in my back yard

I lowered him down with links of chain

And every link I called his name

Oh oh Blue

You good dog you

Tara’s Snowy Waltzing Canon In D

This song comes from:

Tara’s theme from Gone With The Wind

Jessica’s falling in love practice piano piece from The Man From Snowy River

Waltzing Matilda (Australia’s unofficial national song)

Johann Pachelbel’s Cannon in D Major

I put all the lyrics of Waltzing Matilda into English. For example:

Swagman = hobo (traveling laborer)

Coolabah tree = Eucaliptus tree

Billy boiled = bringing tea water to a boil

Jumbuck = a male sheep

Billabong = a small lake formed when a river changes course

Once a jolly hobo camped by a river bank

Under the shade of a eucalyptus tree

And he sang as he watched and waited for his tea to boil

I just need a woman to hobo with me

Down came a fine sheep to drink at the river bank

Up jumped the hobo and grabbed it with glee

And he sang as he stuffed that sheep into his duffle bag

I just need a woman to hobo with me

Waltzing Matilda, Waltzing Matilda

I just need a woman to hobo with me

And he sang as he stuffed that sheep into his duffle bag

I just need a woman to hobo with me

Up road the rancher mounted on his Thoroughbred

Down came policemen one, two and three

Saying whose is that sheep that you’ve got in your duffle bag

You’ll never catch me alive said he

Up jumped the hobo and sprang into the river wild

Shot by policemen one, two and three

And his ghost may be heard as you pass by that river bank

I just need a woman to hobo with me

The Grand Blasé

Blasé: apathetic to pleasure or excitement as a result of excessive exposure, indulgence or enjoyment.

A good old-fashioned protest song. The notation (,) means to start the verse with a pause before the first word.

C Am

Long time back I dreamed a lot

F G

Didn’t turn out right, it’s not what I got

Like stars above, we spread apart

(,)We’re the people that time forgot

Whatever happened to the friends we had

They all grew up and now they’re so sad

It’s all I can do, to greet each day

(,)Now that my friends have gone away

MUSICAL BRIDGE

[whole note feel]

Em, Am, Dm, G, C, F, Dm-G, C

Whatever happened to the girl next door

She got hurt and then she got hurt some more

So many women, join the fight

Settle every score to make things all right

P.F.A.S. in drinking water found

In soaps and food, you know it’s all around

The time is coming around the world

Men can’t father any more boys and girls

CHORUS

F G

We used to be a lot smarter then

We missed the turn

I don’t re-member when

Dm G C

I just don’t re-member it at all

Whatever happened to the health we had

Toxins from the sky, are really really bad

Chemtrail sprayers up so high

Rain down death on us from the sky

Look up and see ‘em every day

Long white streaks that never fade away

Spray every poison that they can

To hide the global warming made by man

CHORUS

Whatever happened to the dreams we had

Dreams of our future made us so glad

We let the bad guys steer the bus

Now look what they’ve done to all of us

Looking back I dreamed a lot

Didn’t turn out right, it’s not what I got

Like stars above, we spread apart

(,)We’re the people that time forgot

A Thousand Dreams

Here is a beautiful poem the Muses gave to me that I have not yet written music for. With the help of my Muses, I am hoping to re-enter SongLand. That’s what the challenge of this year will be.

A Thousand Dreams

by Sherman Barry

And though I dream a thousand dreams

I only think of those of you

Where you are is safe and sound

Great Peace and Joy your heart has found

Night sky and morning Sun

Each chases just the other One

Day dreams only of the Night

Night only of the Morning Light

As long as time goes on and on

Days and Nights long for the other One

Only in the twilight and the dawn

Are the times they can be one

So in my Days and in my Nights

As I sit and dream of Thee

I wish much more love for you

Than can be told in an eternity

When I dream of horses flying

That find me here in my dark Nights

A gift from you I think is trying

To remind me of your sweet delights

As long and long as time goes on

Are we longing for the other One?

As I sleep and dream of Thee

Do you sleep and dream of me?