Order from CD Baby
If you are an Apple iTunes subscriber, you can download music from
this CD here! 
You can also order music from PayPlay. Click here: 
Cover photo by Terry Rathje
Album cover concept by Gayla and Curtis Paul.
Graphic design by Dean Rathje
New Leaf Interactive Media
www.newleafmedia.net
DADGAD Capo V
This was the first good song I wrote. I think I was about 17 years old at the time. I woke up out of a dream and wrote these words, and the music just fell right in to place. I haven't changed the way I play it in all these years because I like it just how it is.
REFRAIN
There Is A Castle built for you and me
It's roof is the sky, walls are the trees
There's a carpet of grass under your feet
It's built here for you, built here for me
Have mercy on the beasts and the birds in the trees
You know we must live together on this world in peace
They are the apple of Mother Nature's eye
Yet we tear down their homes and leave her children to die
REFRAIN
Have mercy on that farmer, now, steward of the soil
Feeding the world through his love and his toil
He loves the land like a child of his seed
Any wound to the earth makes the farmer's heart bleed
REFRAIN
Have mercy on us, children of the land
We were all born with the soil in our hands
We are the means to our very own ends
Don't mess with the balance of Nature, my friends
REFRAIN
DADGAD Capo II
I wrote this in Jim Post's dining room in Galena very early one morning, many years ago. We had been up very late the night before jamming, but when inspiration strikes you go for it. This is the tune in which I created my "signature" tug-and-slap accompaniment.
Who Knows Why my heart beats for you
It beats in time to the rhythm
Of your turning
Away
Everytime you're near I can never speak my mind
Why do I have to be afraid to tell you how I feel?
I saw you smile and my soul reached for you
I think you saw it
In my downcast eyes
See, everytime you touch me it messes up my mind
Why do I have to be afraid to tell you how I feel?
I wish I had the tongue of a poet
I wish I was a braver soul
When I am alone with music
I have no trouble saying
What I mean
But
Why do I have to be afraid to tell you how I feel?
I wish I had the tongue of a poet
I wish I was braver soul
Who Knows Why my heart beats for you
It beats in time to the rhythm
Of your turning
Away
See, everytime I see you all the words just
Leave me behind
EADGBE
I remember absolutely nothing about writing this song. My theory is that I was abducted by aliens who made me tune my guitar to standard tuning. I have no recollection of that either, but I did get this great song out of the experience...
It's been awhile
But you hesitate because you think you're not ready again
But it does something to you
To see the moonlight dance on her skin
And her eyes fill you with poetry
And her voice takes you away
REFRAIN
Tell Her Tonight
You may never have the chance again
You can hold on to the fire
Only as long as there's something to burn
Tell her, Tell Her Tonight
Somewhere deep inside
You are scared of finding romance
But the feelings you can't hide
It would kill you to lose this chance
And it scares you 'cause it's so wonderful
Holding her close in this dance
REFRAIN
So you brace yourself
It's the challenge of a lifetime keeping your cool
As you walk up to the door
Your hands are shaking, you feel like a fool
But your heart leaps as she meets your eyes
And you know what you're gonna do
REFRAIN
DADGAD Capo V
My dad and I used to walk, any excuse would do. Hey, it's raining, let's go take a walk. Look, it's a blizzard, let's go take a walk. Sometimes I still sense him walking along beside me in the forest.
Look out the window at the leaves come falling down
Looks like the streets are paved with gold
Lets take a walk through the falling leaves
Just you and me
Mother Nature in all her splendor smiles on us
Autumn is my favorite time of year
Look out the window at the snow come falling down
It caresses the trees, it embraces the ground
Lets take a walk through the falling snow
Just me and you
Catch a falling snow flake, watch it melt on your fingers
Come inside to get warm by the fire
Look out the window and watch the falling rain
It cleans the air, it greens the grass again
Lets take a walk through the falling rain
DADGAD Capo II
I wrote this when I was pregnant, and just beginning to FEEL the wonderful things happening to me.
How can I explain what there are no words for
Listen to my voice and try to understand
That what I want to say I have never said before
And without the words I don't know if I can
REFRAIN
When the conversation moves beyond words
What do you say, what do you say?
When words and reality blur
What do you say, what do you say?
Putting into words all the things I'm feeling
I can only hope I'm making sense to you
Cause what I feel inside I have never felt before
How can I describe what's all so strange and new
REFRAIN
BRIDGE
When it comes down to the essence of things
We are tongue tied in the face of our dreams
Maybe we have lost the words, or maybe they must be invented
But sooner or later we'll have to learn to speak of these things
I don't know what to say, so what can I tell you?
Trusting to my soul to bring the words to mind
Cause what I want to say I have never thought before
REFRAIN
DADGAD (tuned down 1/2 step)
I don't like to explain this song because it limits it in the listener's imagination. No definitions, only interpretation!
REFRAIN
He Walks With Me down by the water
He Walks With Me on the hill where poets walk
Truth be told he lights my way tonight
He Walks With Me
In the forest, that's where I conjure you
With your hair iron-grey and your eyes silver blue
I can almost, no -I can believe
I can feel the warm sweet wind like your breath on my cheek
Your breath on my cheek
REFRAIN
In the whisper of the leaves in the wind
I can hear you laughing, I'm enchanted
And the echoes of your poetry
Will haunt every word I sing or I speak
I sing or I speak
REFRAIN
You're so real now, I can see you
All nature invokes you in my mind's eye
And your presence overwhelms me
Truth be told you're all I see tonight
REFRAIN
DADGAD
I wrote this during a flash flood when I was driving home in my little tiny Ford Festiva. While watching the water rise up around me I found myself singing this song.
REFRAIN
Dangerous Water
Floodin' all around my home
It's comin' down like a fury
Dangerous water
I call you storm cloud 'cause your eyes
Are the color of the stormy skies
You called up a storm of desire
Lightnin' set my heart on fire
And if it rains any harder
It just might break my heart
Thunder rolls and lightnin' flashes
And there's nothin' more that I can do
But get ready for some
REFRAIN
After midnight while I sleep
I feel the power of your body touchin' me
I wish I could drown in your eyes
Ride their current straight into paradise
And if that river rises much higher
It just might break my heart
Learn to tumble with the current
Is all that I can do
To get ready for some
REFRAIN
I call you storm cloud 'cause your eyes
Are the color of the stormy skies
And you called up a storm of desire
Lightnin' set my heart and soul on fire
Flood waters rage all around me
It's bound to break my heart
Try to save all that I can, baby
There's nothin' else that I can do
But get ready for some
REFRAIN
DADGAD Capo V
I wrote this shortly after my husband and I started dating, just at the point when I knew this was "The One."
So this is how it all starts,
It seems insane
But looking into your eyes
I understand why
I waited so long for love
Don't ask for a reason,
Don't question my affection
Touch me and make me sing for you
I want to be your songbird
REFRAIN
Bring Me Home to the love I thought was lost
Bring Me Home, I can't wait much longer
Home is simply to sleep in your arms
With your trust to keep me whole
All the emptiness
Rising within
Has been replaced by you
And painted the colors of passion
Drunk with wonder
Mystified by want
I tumbled in
To your waiting arms
Into your waiting heart
REFRAIN
Simply surrender
To honest emotion
Touch me and make me
Sing for you
I wanna sing for you
It's hard to believe this
Dream came true
You really do belong to me
I really do belong here
REFRAIN
DADGAD Capo III
I spent most of one summer in and around Galena, IL, which is in the heart of some of the most gorgeous country in the midwest. To the Native American population this was holy ground, and it still has that vibe.
REFRAIN
The Green Hills of Galena call me,
They're callin' me again
The Green Hills Of Galena call me
They're callin' me
There are people that I love
Lovely people, kindred souls
Living in Galena town
By the river
REFRAIN
Walking by the water side
With a friend I love so dear
I feel time stand still
In the sacred land
REFRAIN
BRIDGE
Hear the whisper from the East
(Oh Galena, sacred land)
There is power in the rocky ground
(Galena, sacred land)
And I could lay me down to sleep
(In Galena, sacred land)
Hear the whisper from the East
Standing on the highest point
Looking over all the town
My heart sweels and leaps for joy
Of Galena
REFRAIN
DADGAD
One week after the terrible murders of three prominent plasma physicists at the University of Iowa there was the most spectacular display of Aurora Borealis ever seen, directly over the state of Iowa. These plasma physicists were some of the only people on the planet to fully understand the physics of the auroras, and their deaths left many of us speechless. It seemed that this aurora display was a tribute to them, put on by the Sun and the Earth as a way of honoring them one last time.
One night in November I never will forget
Four people stand staring speechless at the sky
Aurora Borealis glows all around us
A sight I never dreamed to witness in my life
REFRAIN
It is a miracle that there could be poetry
The Sun reaches out to touch the Earth
It is a prayer sent through space for all to see
Blood Red and Ghostly Green
A curtain of light was pulsing all around us
Straight above us was a window like an eye
Stretching for miles from horizon to horizon
We were encircled by a tapestry of lights
REFRAIN
Through the years I have tried to understand it
Explanation science alone cannot provide
I have no doubt that it changed my life forever
The Northern Lights burned their image in my mind
REFRAIN
DADGAD
My first attempt at Bardic poetry. It seems like a thousand years ago, but it was really only fifteen.
REFRAIN
You will find me in the sacred grove
Riddling riddles with the Ancient Oak
Tree of Wisdom, Tree of Poetry
Tree of Healing, Tree of Life
Riddle Me This Riddle and read it right
If you would learn a lesson from me
I am known as The Inceptor
And I drive evil spirits away
REFRAIN
Riddle Me This Riddle and read it right
If you would learn a lesson from me
Useful am I in the hands of those
Who would learn what is under the surface
REFRAIN
Riddle Me This Riddle and read it right
If you would learn a lesson from me
I was the steed of Gwydion
On the field of Goddeu Brig
DADGAD Capo V
A song in Welsh that I learned for my dad's birthday once when I was broke. It was one of his favorite songs.
DADGAD
This song came to me in one big lump - I was shaking and sweating and could barely catch my breath. The song is about the song itself, set in more accessible imagery.
How strange two souls so close could be so far apart
Like never saying how we really feel
I've seen my heart broken too many times before
I've seen my heart broken
Out on emotion's horizon storm clouds rise
Why do I force myself to stay away?
You reach a part of me that's been neglected too long
You reach a part of me
You and I seem to get so tangled up together
I feel you with me for days after you're gone
Sometimes the power of the very thought of you
Goes through my body like a Firestorm
It's getting harder to pretend there's no attraction here
Especially when we are all alone
I can't help but wonder what would happen if we'd touch
I can't help but wonder
You and I seem to get so tangled up together
I feel you with me for days after you're gone
Sometimes the power of the very thought of you
Goes through my body like a Firestorm
And so we double-speak and dance around each other
Never saying what we really mean
All I want to say is I think you're wonderful
I think you're wonderful
Back to Gayla Drake Paul's Album Page