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Cover photo and concept by Curtis Paul.
Graphic design by Dean Rathje
New Leaf Interactive Media
www.newleafmedia.net
DADGAD
This song just wrote itself one evening - it sounds better sung in 5/4 time than it does read in 2/4!
I have struggled
Many years
In search of my truth
This struggle has taught me
Many things
About what I need to do
I wouldn't change a single thing
Or trade these years away
It's sweeter for the struggle and the pain
When Life Falls Into Place
Once you start to
Reach out
To gather all you need
Coincidence will be
Your guide
Down many a crooked road will lead
It seems the struggle fades away
When action takes its place
It's like a gift sent from above
When Life Falls Into Place
You know exactly
How to start
And everything you need to do
You will find when
You open your eyes
Your path right before you
When you follow your dream
You find help along the way
It's sweeter for the struggle and the pain
When Life Falls Into Place
DADGAD
A song inspired by a muse who became a close friend, and has since provided much inspiration to me.
I keep seeing you in unexpected places
Like we're in orbits converging and breaking
You stir something up in me, no explanation
And I'm caught in this Dharma Dance
This familiar feeling seems so strange
Like there's thunder in the air all around me
Movement slows when we lock our eyes
Who are you? Who are you?
REFRAIN
Dance with me, Dharma Dance with me
I don't want to stop dancing
Dance with me, Dharma Dance with me
I don't want to stop dancing
This is all so crazy I don't know what to do
Should I meet you head-on or run away from you?
Maybe we just go to a lot of the same places
Does everything have to mean something anyway?
Maybe I'm foolish caught up in this thing
Trying to make something of nothing again
It makes me angry to feel this way
I don't like to lose control this way
REFRAIN
BRIDGE
This will all seem crazy, maybe very soon
Maybe after tomorrow I'll never see you again
And then all the unexpected places
Will seem so empty
How can I ignore the message in your eyes
I think you feel exactly as I do
If this is a delusion, it's a sweet one
Take my hand and we'll dance
DADGAD
Pretty much what it sounds like, no levels of metaphor needed...I was so lucky to have Craig Erickson on slide guitar, Marty Christensen on acoustic bass and Kerri Collings on percussion!
You've go the sweetest eyes I've ever seen, baby
And you've got the heart of a child
And I know you a lot better than you think I do
Well the night is full of magic and mystery
And a woman's heart is like the moon
And I'll love you even better than I do in your dreams
In your dreams
REFRAIN
Well, tonight I feel a little wilder than I've felt
In a long, long time
And there's magic in your eyes
Come a little closer
And Let Me Make You Mine
Let Me Make You Mine
Now the wind is coming over the water
And our voices rise on the wind
And I'm calling out your name like I'm dreaming
Well, maybe I am
And my heart is beating louder than thunder
'Cause there's lightning in your hand
And I'm cryin' out your name like I'm dreamin'
Well, maybe I am
Maybe I am
REFRAIN
I got the heart of a woman
I got the soul of the moon
And I'm feeling ready to start something good
Something with you
'Cause you've got the sweetest eyes I've ever seen
And the heart of a child
And I know you much better than you think
I know you
REFRAIN
DADGAD Capo II
(Solo Guitar)
Written for the man who builds the guitars of my dreams. A great luthier and a true friend.
DADGAD Capo V
A song about the struggle to write, and then realizing that this in itself is fodder for a song.
Long have I struggled, searching for the words
Plundering my memory for images that work
Waiting for the words to come pouring from my heart
Madness and inspiration are hard to tell apart
Darkness and uncertainty tearing through my dreams
In my waking hours I am troubled by these things
Music is a teacher and the lesson stays the same
If you want to write your truth you have to face your pain
REFRAIN
And I'm Waiting For The Spark
Spark to set my mind aflame
Waiting for the Spark
To burst to flame
Concentrating on the thought of emptying my mind
Breathing in the silent space that waits behind my eyes
Knowing that the next one is waiting in my hands
Finally my heart begins to understand
REFRAIN
And now it starts to flow like the untangling of knots
Softly now the Muse's silken hands embrace my thoughts
Something in the music touches something in my mind
And inspiration courses through my veins like wine
REFRAIN
DADGAD
John Hartford's inimitable grace on the banjo gives this piece such a bitter-sweet beauty. My bad fiddle is just my bad fiddle. I love the guitar part, though. I keep threatening to write words to this. Written for Camp Bros. Books, a wonderful independent bookstore in my hometown.
Andrew M. Hanson
DADGAD Capo V
Andy Hanson and Curtis Paul go back many years, to elementary school I guess. Andy asked me to record a demo of a bunch of his songs in 1993, and getting into the studio for the first time made me desperately want to record my own songs. Thus the first recording, GDP, was born. Thanks to Andy I'm now writing and recording with much more seriousness and drive than ever before. This is Andy's Buddhist-Country-Western song about getting drunk. The fabulous bluegrass band is the legendary Bob Black on banjo, Craig Erickson on slide and Marty Christensen on acoustic bass.
I see splinters in your wool, ma
'Cause you have been out in the woods
But there ain't gonna be many a more cold morn
'Cause these ole feet are 'bout to pound the dirt
I see water in your eyes, ma
'Cause you have been out in the cold
But there ain't gonna be many a more cold morn
'Cause these ole feet are 'bout to pound the dirt
REFRAIN
I've been thinkin' and I've been drinkin' the whole day through
I've been thinkin' and I've been drinkin' the whole day through
With you
I see the geese flyin' north, ma
Spring is their travelin' time of year
But there ain't gonna be many a more cold morn
'Cause these old feet are 'bout to pound the dirt
I see the paddle wheel turn, ma
Leavin' my friends back on the shore
But there ain't gonna be many a more cold morn
'Cause these ole feet are 'bout to pound the dirt
No, there ain't gonna be many a more cold morn
'Cause these old feet are 'bout to pound the dirt
DADGAD
This started out as a fiddle tune, a waltz, but it was pretty awful. Curtis Paul heard potential, though, and thus was born of great flaming argument one of my most popular songs.
Indian summer came straight out of nowhere
Took my heart by surprise
I woke up to the music of the paddlewheel
I'll lay down to the music tonight
Tie up to an island outside the channel
In the darkening of the evening
Tow boat heading upstream with 15 barges
On the Mississippi tonight
REFRAIN
Rock me gently, take me to my dream
Old River, I call you home
Sweet old memories come softly back to me
I love the Mississippi By Twilight
Trying to remember when I fell for the river
I couldn't have been more than two (or three)
This is a memory I will give my own son
On the Mississippi tonight
Sitting with my dad on the bridge at MacGregor
Watching the towboats come down
Wave to the pilothouse, all is well
On the Mississippi tonight
REFRAIN
BRIDGE
Dreams mix with memories
Twilight brings my heart and my hands together
And time passes slowly now
While I sing my love to the water
Nightfall is suspended by a trick of the moonlight
The stars are bright in my eyes
I'm longing for the day when I can live here
On the Mississippi for life
REFRAIN
DADGAD
Again, backed by the remarkable Craig, this time on nylon string guitar, Marty and Kerri, who add a simmering Brazilian groove to this song of longing and angst.
There's something dangerous, dangerous about you
Maybe the danger is just the way I feel about you
There's something hard to resist in your gentleness
And maybe that's what makes me think you're so dangerous
How can I believe in someone made for me
How can I trust the world that way
When here I am dyin' for the want
Of One Sweet Taste Of You
One Sweet Taste Of You
You are the fire that lights up my dreams
You are the brightest star that I've ever seen
And when I'm with you it feels so right
The hardest thing is having to say good-bye
REFRAIN
There is a sadness here that's hard to explain
It's like I'm parched earth and you're the rain
And there is a hurt here I can't ignore
I just can't find the strength to let go
REFRAIN
DADGAD Capo II
This song had about three sets of words - more longing, but there's the possibility of "requited" love at the end of the song.
It plays under the surface of everything we do
And everytime I reach to touch you I hesitate a while
All the time I've known you I've felt this way
Is it a physical attraction or just music gone wild?
I could sit with you for hours getting lost in the groove
And when our voices rise together I feel electrified
It can be so confusing to separate these things
When emotions rush in and set music on fire
REFRAIN
When you open up The Floodgates
There ain't no turnin' back
When you open up The Floodgates
There ain't no turnin' back
Do we take the chance we're right or do we take the chance we're wrong
'Cause if this isn't where we're going we could lose everything
I hear what you're saying in the notes that you play
And I'm afraid that if I answer we'll both be swept away
REFRAIN
So here we are again trying to avoid the choice
There is so much tension between us you could pluck it like a string
This infatuation isn't fading away
Maybe it's time we opened The Floodgates
DADGAD
An example of what can happen to your mind if you read the entire Lord Of The Rings Trilogy when you have a fever of 103.
REFRAIN
Tonight I'm gonna climb to The Top Of The Tower
Gonna get the answer straight from the lips of the master
I wish I could fly 'cause it's such a long climb
But that's what I'm doin' tonight
I have come over misty mountains, through forest and field
Seeking the answer to a riddle
I have seen a thousand wonders, survived a thousand trials
To get to the place where I'm standing
REFRAIN
After dreaming in the morning I woke up to find
I had been sleeping by a river
With one hand in the water and the other on land
Saying how did I get where I'm dreaming?
REFRAIN
BRIDGE
Everybody thinks they know the answer
>From the Pagans to the priests
I think it's all locked in my mind
And the master sleeps under the Hawthorn bush tonight
I make my prayers and I rouse my spirit, preparing myself
To enter the sacred tower
With my feet on the ground and my head in the clouds
Saying how do I find what I'm seeking?
REFRAIN
Robert Burns
DADGAD Capo V
I found this melody in a book in the library of the Masonic Library in the Grand Lodge of Iowa. It is a beautiful melody, and I sort of had to reconstruct it from memory. Hopefully it does the original justice.
Should auld aquaintance be forgot
And never brought to mind
Should auld aquaintance be forgot
And days o' lang syne
REFRAIN
For Auld Lang Syne, my dear
Auld Lang Syne
We'll tak a cup o' kindness yen
For the sake o' lang syne
We twa ha run abou' the braes
And pu'd the gowans fine
We've waundered many's the weary mile
Sin' Auld Lang Syne
REFRAIN
We twa ha' paddled I' the burn
>From mornin' sun til dyne
But the seas between us braid ha' roared
Sin' Auld Lang syne
RERRAIN
Now here's a han' my trusty friend
And gees a hand o' thine
We'll tak a right guid wally-wacht
For the sake o' lang syne
Aye, surely ye'll be your pint-stoop
And surely I'll be mine
We'll tak a cup o' kindness yen
For the sake o' lang syne
REFRAIN
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