...ya never forget yer first...

taken the day i turned 18 and the day i bought and insured my first car - then, it was already 12 years old, a '75 Chev Caprice (350 cubic-inch V8) - to this day, i remain a ragtop man...

124 (Bluestone Road) - song for Toni Morrison

words and music: larry nicholson


bare feet and chamomile sap, call all your sons and daughters
kick off your shoes take off your hat, i'm a-keep you warm
this ain't no story for passing round - it's just me and black water
diamonds float and she'll bring you down into forever land

see dixie fires burning sweet home men, that's what they call "The Union"
ohio river up around the bend, it ain't no promised land
losing everything then losing more - that's what the hell we're doing
same old spite knocking at my door, the one we left behind

come out come out on bluestone road, where fireflies are dying,
mother's milk and mother's blood, a-body's misery
away away from bluestone road, somewhere a baby's crying
lay me down in the velvet woods, forever's calling me

chokecherry tree painted on my back, lips across the branches
like smoking steel on a railroad track, the echoes of a soul
the war ain't over it's just moved inside me, i've taken too may chances
i'll show the scars but you gotta remind me what the living's for

come out come out on bluestone road where fireflies are dying
mother's milk and mother's blood, a-body's misery
away away from bluestone road, somewhere a baby's crying
lay me down in the velvet woods, forever's calling me...



© 2010 Champsteen Publishing

...A Story About: Story...(or keeping up w/ the Robinsons)...

...it is so much fun to try and put these things together - songs, that is, blog posts too, for that matter - doesn't matter what the song is about, it's still like trying to wrestle something out of your own hands, it's still like something eats at you, challenging you, daring you to try and bring it along - i won't comment on the quality (and i'm not foisting material on anyone, remember, it's a blog...you're here by choice) it's just that when i listen to singer songwriter types, it makes me wanna do it (it moves me to act, which is such a powerful phenomenon in our lives) i'm embarrassed because i still constantly air-guitar a motion as if i was strumming a guitar, unconsciously aaaalllll the time (oh well, beats suckin' my thumb)...

this is a ten year old song - I'm cereal!!! i made my first one when i was 19 (that's 20 YEARS, man! - yi-i-i-kes!!!) - - for this one, a really dear friend was getting married, we had known each other for years, a chicklet when i met her through her sister - we all worked at Lake Louise (early 90's- both girls made a profound impression on me)- we stayed connected and eventually wound up classmates together at UBC's Creative Writing Department, where Rebecca met Tim when he directed her play for a festival, she and i were pretty tight then, real pals and i remember watching it all go down and when they announced their engagement i knew i wanted to get something special for them...i was loathe to get the kinda gift that everybody else usually gets for weddings (my theory: if EVERYBODY's doing something...it CAN'T be that good - LOL - what does THAT imply?!?!)...anyway...they have 3 kids now (their youngest born on my birthday, very sporting of them)- this one was from the heart, has no expiry date...i'm giving this background because it, in part, explains songwriting process (in theory), it touches on inspiration and creativity and i love both topics as much as i love the Schaap girls and their dear family - i've witnessed both their weddings and now both have a gang of their own (Jess, recently had her first baby, whoo-hoo!) and i dig "here from there" stories....for me, it's a good story and a trip - and i always say: it's good have some company when you're going on a long ride...

STORY

words and music: larry nicholson


well they say that love’s dying
i can’t stand the news
they want all the heroes to lose
i’ve been to the mountain
seen wide open skies
i know the secrets in your eyes

i’ll sing you my story
it ain’t full of glory
it’s all that I know and it’s all that i am
i can’t promise tomorrow that we won’t know sorrow
but if you want it from me I can get it
can get love for you
get love for you
i can get love for you...

i can see shadows falling
in the light of this fire
it’s turning and burning
burning higher
follow me to the ocean
follow me to the sea
follow me to the morning
follow me, oh follow me…

when you think that the best of me
is so far behind
that’s when you’ll see the rest of me
and you’ll find all the love of this heart
this heart that can shine,
this heart that can shine…

will I see you at midnight?
when your tears fall like rain
mother father before me
they might say, they might say…

i won’t say that I’m sorry
for this kind of glory
it’s small but like all the rest in the sense
that it takes my breath from me to think you might love me
to know everything that I’ve done
has led me to you
led me to you
led me here to you

if it’s true and love’s dyin’
we won’t turn away
we’ll keep each other’s story
night and day...



© 2010 Champsteen Publishing

Peace Hills (song)

words and music: larry nicholson



peace hills gave life and breath to me
in these fields low on the plains
i am running with the river
till the peace hills call me again

across the way the far-off mountains
they say beyond lies the sea
if i never cross those mountains
kiss those ocean shores for me

this stony life took my family
i’m told they wait on a distant shore
so i’m going cross those mountains
and i’ll search again no more

it’s this torch i hold above me
all who pass will know my face
in the storm that ever greets me
i take shelter i find grace

when the last wind comes a-blowin’
and that plain is all you see
peace hills call me from forever
storm and grace and is all there be



© 2010 Champsteen Publishing

Peace Hills (song)

words and music: larry nicholson



peace hills gave life and breath to me
in these fields low on the plains
i am running with the river
till the peace hills call me again

across the way the far-off mountains
they say beyond lies the sea
if i never cross those mountains
kiss those ocean shores for me

this stony life took my family
i’m told they wait on a distant shore
so i’m going cross those mountains
and i’ll search again no more

it’s this torch i hold above me
all who pass will know my face
in the storm that ever greets me
i take shelter i find grace

when the last wind comes a-blowin’
and that plain is all you see
peace hills call me from forever
storm and grace and is all there be



© 2010 Champsteen Publishing

As The Crow Flies (song)

words and music: larry nicholson


will you still be my love when i cross the sea?
with a heavy heart or triumphantly
i'll come back to you with the world on the rise
looking for you steady as the crow flies

this road is less traveled this path made of thorns
my raging heart lives on while you go chasing storms
beside ancient mountains where ocean meets the sky
i'll meet you there ready as the crow flies

down near the eddy there’s a river of tears
she cuts like that water marking cold hopes and fears
on knees bruised and bent the woman prays while she cries
over some half-remembered lost shore as the crow flies

bridge 1
some use broken wheels and sail leaky boats
spend half our days all our nights just to float
it's like floating forever, forever caught up high
we'll get on with the journey as the crow flies

on ragged wings i sailed lonely nights east
they painted me with false colors like a kind of cruel beast
the city blurs my vision and puts smoke in my eyes
tonight i still see you as the crow flies

false-hearted lovers - jagged sense of romance
back into ashes and dust we will dance
the heart that's gone weary is the heart that dies
watching forever for you as the crow flies

bridge 2
black wings beat through this city tonight
is this flesh and blood or a trick of the light?
when my bones have turned pale and the flames have all died
the silence will keep us as the crow flies

can you save the best part of your beautiful soul?
does your mother remember you young strong and whole?
you paid for your freedom with loss and goodbyes
with nothing left to haunt you as the crow flies

when your friends ain't your friends when the world is unkind
you've read all the books and you've been left behind
i put it all down for you, i'm putting down all the lies
tonight i still need you as the crow flies...


© 2010 Champsteen Publishing