I added a new original video for my song “From Start To Stop”. My wife Ellen does the vocals and Greg Stern wrote most of the music and plays guitar. Ellen and I wrote the lyrics.
I have mentioned Spring Grove Cemetery in past articles and posts and that is where I shot the video. There was very heavy fog that day and Ellen suggested we take some pictures there. I will post some of those in the near future, and I also shot a video using my phone that became the background for the video. There is a small mound with tombstones all around the center. You can drive all around it so I shot the video as Ellen drove around the mound. Most of the pictures in the video are mine, but I had a bit of help from my friends over the years!
When I wrote the lyrics to This Moment, I had been thinking about my younger brother. He died from throat cancer a while back. He was the funniest and kindest person I have ever known. Even in the last few weeks of his battle you would never know he was losing. I spoke with his doctor and stated my brother was exhausted; no money or resources, no physical or emotional strength reserves, no medical options left. I was told others that were in a better state might be able to hold out longer. Soon my wife and I got a call and rushed to the hospital as we had a number of times before. He was in ICU this time and there was nothing to be done. The next expectation was the cancer would eat through the main artery in his neck. I will spare you the rest.
As he woke up and looked around, he was puzzled and almost excited at the same time. He could not talk, so he wrote something on a piece of paper and handed it to me. “Is this real?” was written at the top of the page. Between the medications and his state of mind, he was not sure if he was dreaming or not. He had been in hospital rooms many times, but he knew this was different. I told him that we are in the hospital. I confirmed he was dying and there was little time left. His artery would rupture soon. A moment difficult to prepare for.
The lyrics worked their way from my thoughts to the paper as I recalled that time in the hospital. How I felt: how he must have felt. My thoughts wandered to the many times I have talked and laughed with him over the years.
Your thoughts and comments were truly appreciated. I put the lyrics to music recently. This is not a perfect recording. This is as far as it goes for me. Please accept it as it is. For all of us that have lost loved ones and friends, sometimes we just need to share the loss. Maybe it makes it easier to turn the pain into great memories.
“Single Desire” is one of my favorite original lyrics. I think a number of my songs get too “preachy” and sound like I know all the answers. I usually don’t know all the answers, but I sure have made a lot of mistakes to learn from. Single Desire takes another path. With fewer words than many of my songs it tries to paint images using sights from our normal day to day lives. I like using the sunset comparison as sunsets are one of the most beautiful things we get to enjoy on this planet. Yet in this analogy, they can be burned permanently into our hearts and minds. Sometimes the loss of beauty is the worst experience of all.
I wrote this song many years ago. It reflects ideas I had for a long time before they became lyrics to a song. I can’t tell you how many times I have been interrupted by people coming into a dark room I was in and immediately tuning on all the lights. Even early in my life I was concerned about so many city lights that I could not see the stars on an otherwise clear night. There seemed to be no end to this trend. Now I have to travel miles and miles to find a dark place outside the city lights.
MSK Ohio River 1
I only have this one recording of the song. This happened when I introduced the song for the first time to my band mates. We ran through this tune a couple times in the living room. As far as I know this is the only time the song was performed, so I was lucky to get it recorded……
Though that is not strictly true as I recorded everything back then! My friends used to give me a hard time for being so weird about that. I always had the mics out and ready to record. Even if we just sat around and talked, I had the reels rolling.
So while this is not a great recording and you can hear me give arrangement directions as we ran through the song, I am glad to have this copy of Brighter and Brighter. I will have to look in my archives to find out when the lyrics were written. At the time, my young son would want to keep his bedroom lights on at night. Not for fear of something under the bed. Just because he preferred it that way. So these lyrics and the song they inspired are for him.
“Brighter and Brighter” (C) MSK
Some people get off on those neon lights
Keep the sun burning to hold back the night.
Won’t give it a chance and set the darkness free
So much going on that they have to see
That they have to see.
Not me!
I Dig the Dark
I Dig the Dark
I Dig the Dark
Sign posts, traffic lights and red laser beams
Brighter and Brighter that’s the way it seems
I don’t turn yours out so don’t turn mine on
Just leave it where it is until I am gone
Until I am gone.
I Dig the Dark
I Dig the Dark
I Dig the Dark
Hide in the closet and close my eyes
It won’t help to look when the spirt flies
It’s people like you who learn to believe
Through large mushroom clouds and your big bight ideas
Written 8-27-1982 by MSK and I recorded it around 4-1983.
The main melodic themes for this song were inspired by my Yamaha DX7 ‘tine’ sound. That sound (or patch) has been used in many professional recordings since the keyboard was introduced. The guitars and vocals are real-time of course, and everything else was sequenced.
Ann Ellis from my band The Personal Touch does the vocals on this one. I would play the main piano part and she would sing the lyrics until we got the timing and the feel the way we wanted it. From that point I sequenced the main piano part. Every time I play this song I play it as you hear it in this recording, but I play a different last chord. No two versions have the same ending, and I never know what the last chord will be. My wife Ellen and I worked on the backing sounds like the strings, brass and pads to make this a full sounding production. Once I had the basic piano parts and drums done, I don’t think we ever added a dedicated bass line as the song ended up sounding very full.
My buddy Shawn David Anderson plays lead guitar on this one and really drives home with the power and tone I was hoping for. The lyrics are one of my favorites. Not necessarily by themselves, but when reflecting on the emotions and events of the time. True multi-track recording capabilities gave me the option to create complex instrumental layers as opposed to the limited recordings I had been able to achieve from a four-track cassette deck!
I even sent this song to be evaluated by professionals. Among some of the comments it was suggested that the song was too long and that the intro went too long before the vocal lines were introduced. I have a version that starts when the vocals kick in, but this is my favorite version. I hope you agree.
Fortunately, when I have too many things on my plate and never seem to get to putting some of my best lyrics to music, I have many talented friends that bail me out. Often I write poems – but almost as often I begin writing lyrics intending to put music to them at some point. Today I will share the lyrics and the original live recording to one of my favorites.
I found myself thinking of musical relationships and what, to some, becomes a long path that never gets close to ‘stardom’, whatever that is. The late-night conversations with many friends – musicians reflecting on the efforts and rewards involved in the lifestyle we have chosen – became metaphors in these lyrics.
The title “Stainless Steel” refers to one type of guitar strings. I also use silk and stainless steel strings on my Ovation 12 string guitar, but Stainless Steel captured the feeling I was surrounded by when writing the lyrics. There is a certain pride creative people get when sacrificing for their art. So many things are put on the back-burner or postponed indefinitely to accomplish turning a dream or idea into a treasure; even if it is only for a select few to enjoy. No one else may ever know what gems were created, and it appears to many that you have nothing to show for your time and talent. Only a few will understand the trade-offs you have made; those sitting around with you late at night, year after year.
In this recording my good friend, the late Mark Kelsey, plays guitar and sings. He is accompanied by Ann Ellis from my band “The Personal Touch”. Mark has worked through the arrangement a few times and I believe this is the first time Ann had heard the song. He quickly recorded for me to listen to and was later to record a final version in a professional studio where he lived. This is my favorite recording and I will always think fondly of him when I hear this recording. While the living room quality is easy to hear, the mood and inspiration comes through clearly.
In our busy lives, it is all too easy for us to overlook the efforts our friends and loved ones make for us. Sometimes it takes far too long for us to fully appreciate those acts of love. I have let many go unrecognized – unappreciated – unacknowledged until it was too late. Looking back I find myself humbled to realize how much my life would have been uplifted and how many friends deserved my – – – I do not know the correct words, but ‘praise’ seems as close as any I can think of. It may also have uplifted their lives in a time when they needed it most. It can be sad and joyous when time finally reveals the reflections of our lives.
MidiMike 