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#46:  It's Worked Before (November 13, 2011)

This week's tune is "It's Worked Before". It's a brand new tune and I have to admit, there's something "catchy" about this one. It's a melodic meme that gets in your head (or at least it's gotten into mine). I think there is some quasi-political or sociological theme at work here, but cannot testify to that. Like many of my songs, it sort of showed up on the front porch of my mind, Venus On the Half Shell, fully-bown. I'm just glad I had my guitar and digital recorder handy.

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#47: Summersmoke (November 17, 2011)

This week's tune is "Summersmoke", a song we've been playing for many years. This incarnation is performed by the "power folk trio": me, Clark Williams on drums & Jason Morgan on bass. It's quite a different song without Shelley Heard's distinctive mandolin, maybe a bit spacier. Have to classify this one as another cautionary tale about the perils of miscommunication: "the words between us seem to hover there...". I've always loved the chord progression in this song, it's fun to play.

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#48: Changes (November 29, 2011)

This week's tune is "Changes", a folk song about a wizard wannabe who encounters the existential imperative. It's late getting posted because I was stuck in Florida with a busted water pump and couldn't get back by Sunday night to push it to Youtube. The song is pretty much pure folk song in structure, but I guess most folk songs are about working on the canalboat or your lover leaping into the sea, and not so many of them reference Ourobouros, the universal symbol of the Infinite. Maybe more should.

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#49: Making Up Time (December 4, 2011)

This week's tune is "Making Up Time". I had intended to post a song called Pocatello, which we had recorded, but I wasn't at all satisfied with some of the vocals (okay, my vocals :), so I opted not to post it this week. Those familiar with the vocals I've sung and nevertheless insisted on posting to SAW can draw their own conclusions. As for "Making Up Time", this one is still warm out of the oven. I invented the chords when Jason & Clark were in a SAW session back in February. Just started playing while the tape was running, they joined in, and I saved it away, thinking it might be a decent basis for a song. Having nixed Pocatello, I wrote the words last Friday and recorded it yesterday. If you want to see what raw song-writing sounds like fresh out of the brain, take a listen. I'm kinda drawn to the song myself. But then I would be :).

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#50: Live In the Desert (December 10, 2011)

This week's tune (#50 in the series) is "Live In the Desert". What do you want to call this? Rock Gospel? Blues Gospel? Blues and gospel aren't that far apart in their roots. But it's mainly a song that echoes my long-held conviction about the importance of the desert in all three "Religions of the Book." Something special happened to all three of the seminal figures in these religions, something happened in the privation and vast emptiness of the desert. They either found their God, or their God found them. I believe it works both ways..

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#51:  When the Snow Lies On the Churchyard (December 18, 2011)


This week's tune is "When the Snow Lies On the Churchyard". Appropriately enough, as the penultimate video in the 2011 SAW project, it's a Christmas carol. I wrote this song over 20 years ago. At the time, I was reacting to "modern" Christmas carols; all the new Christmas songs felt somehow too hollow, had too much of a "pop" feel. I wanted to hear something simple, and yet that entailed what I felt (and still do) were the deeper themes in this story that we've celebrated for two millenia. Whether I succeeded or not is for the listener to judge. I had originally planned to gather a good-sized group to record the tune, but things did not work out. Instead, you must endure the "Three Baritones" (not to be confused with the Three Tenors, not that there's much chance of that :). In any case, with this song, I wish you and yours a very Merry Christmas, and I am certain that however you celebrate this ancient festive season, we all share a deep desire for peace and goodwill for all of mankind..

 

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#52: Let Everybody Know (Date, 2011)

This week's tune (the last in the 2011 series) is "Let Everybody Know". This is the last song of the 2011 project, though I know we'll be adding more next year. Just not every week :) Thanks for hanging with me on this endeavor. It's been a little spotty, but the songs are the songs, and I make no excuses for their inception nor their execution. Perfection was not my goal. It's simply a thing I am compelled to do, and I hope some of you have enjoyed at least some of them, for whatever reasons they may have struck you. I especially want to thank Clark Williams and Jason Morgan for their year-long dedication to the project, as well as my daughter Ruthie for her incomparable vocals, and good buddy Shelley Heard for the songs he's contributed mandolin. Also Richard Eade for his technical advice as well as his guitar on a couple of the early SAW videos. It's been a rewarding experience, and a lesson in discipline, to make these weekly videos. As this last song says, I wanted to "Let Everybody Know" this music existed. And to all my good friends, I really would like to take everybody home. And no, never leave you alone. Best of luck to you all, and thanks for listening.

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