I have always bitten off little chunks of my life, like pieces of thread and sold them to whatever journal, magazine or anthology was handy at the time. Some have been songs. On these pages I’m going to try and get some of them together as well as promote the latest work. Currently it is a memoir called, A Story Of Salterton.
A few months from now I hope to have a video of ‘Salterton’ you can walk through, in case you can’t come to visit. It is a real place in the world, as real to me as it was to Robertson Davies who invented all the names for the places we will visit in the book and soon, here on the web.
Read the rest of this entry »
Tune: (old gospel - Jesus Loves Even Me) Hear tune at video link below:
Shortcut to: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yQAKZGeZOVc
1) O thanks to S & R, they have been here
Fifty long years at the corner, my dear
We wish they would stay but they say they cannot
They sold us good stuff and we like it a lot:
CHORUS
Bathing suits, buns, bath towels and boots
Snacks that went crunch
Something for lunch
Long johns for winter and hats for the sun
They sold us, every one!
2) Memories they’ve left us, the stories are good
We’ll miss it far more than we thought that we would
Going off to the mall’s not the same thing at all
Not just the flavour but such a long haul
CHORUS
Old elevator, four floors that would creak
Straightforward staff
Ready to laugh
New stuff and strange stuff, who knew what you’d find?
Memories left behind
3) What do you say when a landmark goes down?
Sad-ness has been going around
Heritage limestone and built by George Brown
Let’s pay more attention to Kingston’s downtown
CHORUS
It was unique, and now it is gone
Goodbye to this store
Watch out for more
Communities need to keep old things around
Save them from going down
HOW PTSD WORKS - You Can Handle It
(From years of personal experience)
(Tune: They Call The Wind, Moriah)
1) Horror’s picked itself a name
Though it’s been around for ages
Post Trauma Stress Disorder is
Our label for the rages
But it’s normal
It’s normal
When you understand, it’s normal
2)A crisis situation calls
For you to start reacting
When trauma comes
Emotions get
All mixed up in the action
Adrenaline
Adrenaline
Its surge, the biggest faction
3) The body does what bodies do
When they’re in stress and combat
It shoots the energy through you
To give you strength to do it
The body
The body
PTSD’s the body
4) What happens when you’re under stress
You finally learn to figure
And what events you should avoid
Because they’ll be a trigger
You’ll see them
The stressors
Understanding will get bigger
5) There is no shame in readying
To fight a major battle
When all around you, no one else
Has even heard a rattle.
No guilty
Reactions
You learn to handle surges
6) Not just soldiers home from war
But mothers, drivers, family
The beast’s inside us all but we
Can learn to tame it readily
We’re in charge
We’re in charge
Taming the beast will happen
Tune: Country Road
In our childhood
We remember
Trees around us
They were our protectors
Apple, maple
We would climb them
Gather leaves and
Shelter ‘neath their branches
CHORUS For the trees
I will stand
In this place
They belong
Leafy giants
Still protecting
And the trees
Must go on
v2) Now I’m all grown
Still I need them
Trees to shade me
Rustle when the wind blows
Birds find shelter
Home for creatures
Lullabies play
In their stirring branches
CHORUS
v3) Then our landscapes
Finally barren
Water dried up
Grasses brown and gone
Too late knowing
What the trees held
Secrets of our future
In the trees alone
CHORUS
AIDS
Tune: Let The Rest Of The World Go By
AIDS, we used to say
Was a thing far away
Affecting only strangers, (well, maybe Africa)
And now we see
It touches you and me
AIDS is down the street and in our homes
Like polio someday
We’ll see it go away
Healing meds to cure the folks we love
‘Till then we’re here to cheer
Researchers far and near
And help the rest of the world to see!
C-0-N-D-O-M-S
Tune: D-I-V-O-R-C-E
Our C-0-N-D-O-M-S come flavoured today
There’s licorice, peppermint and beer
New taste treats on the way!
A condom’s now a standard thing
Like shoes when out of doors
Protecting you from what I’ve got
Protecting me from yours
2) Those C-O-N-D-O-M-S
I always have near at hand
And you do too and thank you, Babe
I know you understand
It’s being that responsible
That makes me love you so
Don’t have to spell that anymore
Your actions make it show.