writing

Lyrics - Brave

These lyrics were inspired by the Native American story, during our journey across the USA:

20150919 Brave


BRAVE

You are young, your fear finds my eyes,
I can taste it,
You have come, your gun in your belt,
And I pity

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Lyrics - You and Me Together

I was looking through my old journals while I was in Seattle, and I realised that I had so many lyric ideas that hadn’t been developed into songs. So I gave this one a shot. Wish I could share a recording... will have to post it later!

21050815 You and Me Together

If I met you all over again, what would be the first line in my head?
What emotion would spring out of me, would we cross paths uneventfully?
But no, how I’m certain, that certain things would surely come to be.
Your smile, your conversing would hit the target oh so accurately...

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Lyrics - Ten Days in June

IMG_6447

My little girl has grown up fast,
The make up and the high heels and the glass,
Remember her first day of school,
The steps she took, her joy in all the rules?
She learned and grew and thrived and laughed,
Her braided hair fell long into her lap,
Miss curious they said of her,
She sought the question as much as its answer...

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Lyrics - The Badlands

20150711 Badlands

Rattle snake down by the lake,
Sound and size, subtle alarm,
Turning and seizing your prey,
Venomous, venomous...

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Lyrics - Lush

Lyrics - Lush

IMG_5828


Lush green lush 
Rich raindrops
Fat gold sun
Bright stream run. 

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Lyrics - Ants

20150610 Ants

Just one, one of the ants in the hill,
One of the steps on the treadmill,
One of the tiles in the elevating wall.

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Lyrics - The Pioneers

As we have been driving down the East coast of the USA, I have been struck by what it must have been like to be among the explorers who first came across this land. The joy, the fear, the unknowns as they landed on her shores and started to chart out the land, started to build roads, not knowing how far or long or wide this land was. This song is about a young man on the ship.

Light comes to us, it lifts our heads.
We’re awake, we are ready, the waves are calm and steady.
But on this fair morning there’s a difference
Land ahoy, oh what inexplicable joy.
Land ahead, so they’re true - all the legends they said.

No port at which to land, our boots are wet with salty sand, there’s a newness to the pebbles.
Deserted to our eyes, but rich in all between the sea and sky.
And what lies inside?

We made it, we made it here.
There’s far to walk, but the seas are conquered.
Now mount your horse, go forth.

We set our compass, heading West.
How far could it be until we reach the Eastern edge?
I walk where no man has ever walked before.
Breathe the air, how it whispers through my hair,
Breathe it in deep, expectation in my feet.

No road for us to follow, we’re forgers blazing a hopeful trail, long and quiet and strong.
How could this land be here, waiting for us for all these years,
And what lies beneath?

We made it, we made it here.
There’s far to walk, but the seas are conquered,
Now mouth your horse, go forth.

Dare I go, dare I connect my soul with yours?
Dare I land upon the banks of your foreign shores?
For I am ill equipped, afraid, perhaps ashamed that you might not let me through your door,
And I’ll be left here in the wasteland,
But I long to cross your threshold,
Could I ever be so near, so bold?



Lyrics - Sail On

Sail On - I wrote this song sort of by accident! It was Valentine’s Day last year, and I didn’t have a present for Michal... so I sat down at the piano and thought I would record him a little verse and chorus.

But, of course, as soon as I sat down and started to try to sum up my Valentine’s Day emotions, it got deep... and it got intense!

So Sail On is the song that came out... it has become the title track of the album, a beautiful metaphor for love through the thick and thin.

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I love it when you laugh, golden cheeks, golden sound.
Black pearl eyes, lights to all.
I love seeing what you see,
You hold my hands and gently guide me on to the sea.

Love is sailing on an ocean of trust and truth and tears and turning round.
And I will sail with you when it’s dark,
When my compass is stuck, when I’m all out of luck,
Sail on, sail on my sweet one.

I love it when we fight together for the same cause, winning wars,
Bringing light to what’s right.
I love it when we climb together to a new height,
Breathing in the sights we see.

Love is sailing on an ocean of trust and truth and tears and turning round.
And I will sail with you when it’s dark,
When my compass is stuck, when I’m all out of luck,
Sail on, sail on my sweet one.

Lyrics - Make It Right

“Make It Right” is the song from the album that I had never played to an audience before! It was a gamble as to whether I should include it on the album since it was so fresh to me and I felt like I was still getting to know it. But now I am so glad that I did.

I wrote the first part of the lyrics for this in January 2014 when we were in the mountains in Poland and were walking by the light of the moon, along the crest of a mountain between Poland and the Czech Republic. I had never known the moon to be so bright; it created the perfect light for our midnight walk and set the scene for a song that I would write months later. This song is about a couple who are fighting to save their relationship...

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Song of the Week

Stay Gold - First Aid Kit

This song is a little bit of an oxymoron. I have another favourite song by Sting that is this kind of oxymoron - it’s one of the saddest songs about failing as a father, but set to a deceptively uptempo country lilt.

Stay Gold is also wonderfully uplifting and upbeat. But it is about that one of the hardest questions that artists often face:

“What if our hard work ends in despair,
What if the road won’t take me there?”

The challenge is to stay gold. Stay true.

20150427 Stay Gold

www.thisisfirstaidkit.com