Desert Island playlist: Yesterday's Rain by Spanky and our Gang

What can I say about this song. When I bought this original album and played it on my small turntable in my basement bedroom with my large Koss Headphones  it blew me away.  This song has stuck with me for over 40 years.   The beginning with the bass singing just draws you into the song and the harmonies just take you.  I know that some people do not know Spanky & Our Gang and it is sad not much is left on the internet because they were amazing vocal group.  I count about ten songs of their my favorites and they are not the singles they put out but are songs that they had on their albums.  Songs like The Swinging Gate, Three Ways from Tomorrow, Chicka Ding Ding, And she's Mine, Leopard Skin Phones, 1-3-5-8 (Pedagogical Round #2), Jane, and Since You've Gone are songs that still have an emotional effect on me. Each one of these members are incredible singers.
 The singers were:

Elaine "Spanky" McFarlane vocals

Nigel Pickering (June 15, 1929, – May 5, 2011,) - rhythm guitar, vocals

Paul "Oz" Bach (June 24, 1939, – September 21, 1998) - bass guitar, vocals (1966–67)

Malcolm Hale (May 17, 1941, – October 30, 1968,) - lead guitar, trombone, vocals.

John "The Chief" Seiter (born August 17, 1944,) - drums, vocals (1967–69)

Kenny Hodges (born August 3, 1936,) - bass, vocals (1968–69)

Lefty Baker (January 7, 1939 - August 11, 1971) - lead guitar, banjo, vocals (1968–69)

The group's first album, simply titled Spanky and Our Gang, was released by Mercury Records on August 1, 1967, and included three popular songs that were released as singles. These were "Sunday Will Never Be the Same" (their biggest hit, which reached number #9 on the  Billboard Hot 100 chart in the summer of 1967), followed by "Making Every Minute Count" (reached #31) and "Lazy Day" (reached #14). Both "Sunday Will Never Be The Same" and "Lazy Day" sold over one million copies. "Sunday Will Never Be the Same" was written by Terry Cashman and Gene Pistilli. In an interview by Cashman with the Songfacts website, he revealed that the song was originally written as a ballad. However, Cashman said the group "changed it, and they added the vocal, 'Ba-da-da-da-da,' which was a great hook."
Their second album, Like to Get to Know You, was released in April 1968. Two singles were released: "Sunday Mornin'" in the spring, which reached #30, and "Like to Get to Know You", which reached #17 in the Summer 1968. The single's B-side, "Three Ways From Tomorrow", also received considerable airplay. The album included their rendition of "Stardust", and a version of "Everybody's Talkin'", best known as a hit single for Harry Nilsson and the theme song for the movie Midnight Cowboy.
"Give a Damn" was released as a single in Summer 1968. In spite of not receiving airplay in several markets because of the curse word in its title - and because it was a comment on racial equality that became the theme song for the New York Urban Coalition - the song became a regional hit where released and overall made #43. It was also performed live on an episode of The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour, resulting in CBS Standards and Practices division receiving numerous complaints about the song's title being used during "family viewing hours". One such complaint reportedly came from Richard Nixon (Tom Smothers, 'Geraldo' Interview, 1987). "Give a Damn" would become John Lindsay's campaign song during his successful run for Mayor of New York.
In October 1968, the group's lead guitarist Malcolm Hale died of carbon monoxide poisoning due to a faulty heating system (Hale's death has also been ascribed to bronchopneumonia) This was a devastating blow to the group. The multi-instrumentalist did much of the arranging and pretty well kept the band together. Hale's death, along with the group's satisfaction over what they had achieved already, led to the decision to disband early in 1969. Mercury released a third album, Anything You Choose b/w Without Rhythm or Reason, in January 1969. It contained two popular songs, the previous summer's hit "Give a Damn" and "Yesterday's Rain". The group briefly reformed in 1975 and recorded an album (Change) for the Epic label.
After the band dissolved, McFarlane had some success as a solo artist. She toured with the Mamas & the Papas, largely singing the parts which had been those performed by the late Cass Elliot. She was most recently seen on stage in Ferndale Repertory Theatre's production of South Pacific portraying "Bloody Mary".

Yesterday's Rain
Yesterday's rain brings tomorrow's pain
Going round my head,
those feelings are dread
love has lost, you payed the cost
with a broken dream and still it seems
I can't get out from under my cloud,
and see the light of day.

Yesterday's rain falls again and again,
and makes me feel the worlds not real.

Yesterday came
just to bring me misery
till I can see
over my head,
the darkness spreads
to morning light
that raised from the night.

And all around the tears are falling,
to the earth so hungry.

Yesterday's rain falls again and again,
and makes me feel the worlds not real.

Spin to the ground,
hearing not a sound,
thoughts inside my head
are going round and round.
I got my mind made up,
but I can't never go,
friends all around me,
and I'm still all alone.
Running through the trees,
my hands above my head,
trying to escape the rest.

Yesterday's rain falls again and again,
and makes me feel the worlds not real.
Over my head, the darkness spreads.

Oh! Yesterday's rain brings tomorrow's pain
Going round my head,
those feelings are dread
love has lost, you payed the cost.

Yesterdays Rain...
Yesterdays Rain...
Yesterdays Rain...

Enjoy this incredible song from one of the greatest artists of the sixties

Spanky And Our Gang - Yesterday's Rain

Desert Island Playlist: The Eagle and the Hawk by John Denver

Just got back from a two day workshop on assessing risk and treatment needs for sex offenders.  I put on my earphones and cranked the volume up on this great song by John Denver and just as the guy in the video, my natural reaction was to raise my hands to the sky.  I want to rise above, some days, and this song transports me.  Maybe the fact that one has to take a position sometimes out of what is and get a broader persspective.  Sometimes I feel the need to rise upward to get in touch with the universe and this is what this songs does for me.  Yes it's smaltzy but it gets me emotionally every time I hear it.

 I am the eagle, I live in high country
In rocky cathedrals that reach to the sky
I am the hawk and there's blood on my feathers
But time is still turning they soon will be dry
And all of those who see me, and all who believe in me
Share in the freedom I feel when I fly

Come dance with the west wind and touch on the mountain tops
Sail o'er the canyons and up to the stars
And reach for the heavens and hope for the future
And all that we can be and not what we are

John Denver - "The Eagle and the Hawk"

The Prayer of the Children

Desert Island Playlist: Prayer of the Children

My next selection is one of the most beautiful songs I have heard.  The words reflect a longing to heal from trauma and grief.  They are written by a wonderful musician Kurt Bestor.  Kurt was an LDS misionary in Serbia.  He explained, " Having lived in this war-torn country back in the late 1970's, I grew to love the people with whom I lived. It didn't matter to me their ethnic origin - Serbian, Croatian, Bosnian - they were all just happy fun people to me and I counted as friends people from each region. Of course, I was always aware of the bigotry and ethnic differences that bubbled just below the surface, but I always hoped that the peace this rich country enjoyed would continue indefinitely. Obviously that didn't happen. When Yugoslavian President Josip Broz Tito died, different political factions jockeyed for position and the inevitable happened - civil war. Suddenly my friends were pitted against each other. Serbian brother wouldn't talk to Croatian sister-in-law. Bosnian mother disowned Serbian son-in-law and so it went. Meanwhile, all I could do was stay glued to the TV back in the US and sink deeper in a sense of hopelessness. Finally, one night I began channeling these deep feelings into a wordless melody. Then little by little I added words....Can you hear....? Can you feel......? I started with these feelings - sensations that the children struggling to live in this difficult time might be feeling. Serbian, Croatian, and Bosnian children all felt the same feelings of confusion and sadness and it was for them that I was writing this song."  He added, ""Those children didn't hate anybody," he said. "They didn't care about who owned the land, or who had the power or the money. These are adult neuroses. They just wanted to have a mom and dad and a place to play."

Can you hear the prayer of the children on bended knee, in the shadow of an unknown room? Empty eyes with no more tears to cry turning heavenward toward the light. Crying," Jesus, help me to see the morning light of one more day, but if I should die before I wake, I pray my soul to take." Can you feel the hearts of the children aching for home, for something of their very own. Reaching hands with nothing to hold onto but hope for a better day, a better day. Crying," Jesus, help me to feel the love again in my own land, but if unknown roads lead away from home, give me loving arms, away from harm." (oooooo la la la la etc etc.) Can you hear the voice of the children softly pleading for silence in their shattered world? Angry guns preach a gospel full of hate, blood of the innocent on their hands. Crying," Jesus, help me to feel the sun again upon my face? For when darkness clears, I know you're near, bringing peace again."

Dali čujete sve dječje molitve?

Can you hear the prayer of the children?

Innovators - Prayer of the Children

Desert Island Playlist: Summer Holiday

One of my first favorite tunes as a young teenager was a song that was the theme tune from a British film starring Cliff Richard and the Shadows entitled Summer Holiday.   I can't recall where I saw the film but it was either at the Theatre Royal in Hyde or on the Cunard Liner Sylvania when we emigrated to the USA in 1963.  The film is tale about a group of guys converting a London double decker bus and touring France.  The story concerns Don (Cliff Richard) and his friends (Hayes, Green and Bulloch) who are bus mechanics at the huge London Transport bus overhaul works in Aldenham, Hertfordshire. During a miserably wet British summer lunch break, Don arrives, having persuaded London Transport to lend him and his friends an AEC Regent "RT" double-decker bus (and not a later Routemaster as often quoted). This they convert into a holiday caravan, which they drive across continental Europe, intending to reach the South of France. However, their eventual destination is Athens. On the way, they are joined by a girl trio (Stubbs, Hart and Daryl) and a runaway singer (Lauri Peters), pursued by her mother (Ryan) and agent (Murton). The movie was a huge box-office hit, thus repeating the success of Cliff Richard's earlier film The Young Ones (1961). I just remember how I thought how cool it would be to do the same thing, travelling the same way. 

We're all going on a summer holiday.
No more working for a week or two.
Fun and laughter on a summer holiday.
No more worries for me and you.
For a week or two.

We're going where the sun shines brightly.
We're going where the sea is blue.
We've seen it in the movies.
Now let's see if it's true.

Everybody has a summer holiday
Doing things they always wanted to.
So we're going on a summer holiday
To make our dreams come true
For me and you.

We're going where the sun shines brightly.
We're going where the sea is blue.
We've seen it in the movies.
Now let's see if it's true.

Everybody has a summer holiday
Doing things they always wanted to.
So we're going on a summer holiday
To make our dreams come true
For me and you.
Hmmmmmm, hmmmmmmm...
Hmmmmmm, hmmmmmmm...
Hmmmmmm, hmmmmmmm...

:|:(02) .. CLIFF RICHARD AND THE SHADOWS SUMMER HOLIDAY

Seven Little Girls sitting in the back seat

The first LP I ever bought by myself was an LP by Paul Evans.  I purchased it at a store in Sugarhouse, Utah called Mastercraft a company that employed my Dad, Dennis Grimshaw.  They were a reupholstering company who also carried furniture and washing machines and one day when I went in they had a bin of old records.  Here in this one was and album of Paul Evans who I did not know but I knew one of the songs called Seven Little Girls Sitting in the Back Seat.  I had heard it in England and I loved the melody and I can remember fantasizing as I heard the words of some girls on a double decker bus  like the one I used to ride with Dad to Manchester.  I just talked to my wife Jan and realized that her brother Fred Parkin must have had field day when this song came out in the great metropolis of Nephi, Utah.  She said "he was very popular".   I wonder what tht means



Paul Evans (born March 5, 1938, in Queens, New York^] is an American rock and roll singer  and songwriter, who was most prominent in the 1950s and 1960s. As a performer, he had hits with the songs "Seven Little Girls (Sitting in the Back Seat)" (his biggest hit, reaching #9 on the Billboard Hot 100, "Midnite Special" and "Happy-Go-Lucky Me".  As a songwriter Evans' songs were performed by numerous performers, including Elvis Presley, Jimmy Dean and Pat Boone. His most successful songs were "Roses Are Red (My Love)", which was a number one hit for Bobby Vinton in the U.S. Billboard Hot 100; and "When", a chart topper in the UK Singles Chart and #5 in the U.S. for The Kalin Twins

The song Seven Little Girls was written by the songwriters Lee Pockriss and Bob Hilliard, who Evans was working for at the time. Evans had written the hit "When" for the Kalin Twins, but had not yet performed on a recorded song. Evans explains how he ended up singing this:
"It was a fluke. I came in as a singer/writer. I did sing in school, but I liked writing, and I didn't know if I had enough talent as a singer to make it. I was doing demos for people. I could sing songs for writers who couldn't sing and they needed to hire a singer; I think I got $12 a song at the time. They would take the song around to publishers, and they would tape the demo. Lee Pockriss and Bob Hilliard wrote the song, believe it or not, for Merv Griffin. Which is strange, now that I think back on "Seven Little Girls" sitting in the backseat kissing and a-huggin' with Fred. So they took my demo up to Carlton Records for Merv, who was on the label at the time. And the owner of the company, Joe Carlton, said that he had just started a rock and roll label called Guaranteed Records, and he wanted to put the demo out. So that's how I wound up with my Pop hits. Just doing demos for cheap, enough to pay for my lunch and pay for my rides home. I used to cross paths with Jerry Keller, who had "Here Comes Summer" eventually. He got his start doing demos. And actually, I used to cross paths all the time with Paul Simon, who did the same thing. I think he was Jerry Landis at the time."

Being tapped to perform on a hit song was a mixed blessing, as Evans explains: "Nothing made it without being promoted. They sent me on the road, which bears no resemblance to the road today. The road today is great big concerts and lots of money. They would send me out on the road, and I would do hops, record hops. And for the most part, I guess for all part, I would sing: I would lip-synch in front of these crowds of kids, who would then be dancing to the records. I did The Dick Clark Show by lip-synching. It came out of my royalties, by the way. Any money - anything that was spent by the record company - came out of our royalties. I made very little money at the time. Had a lot of fun, went on the road for 3 solid weeks. I was exhausted after 3 weeks, I didn't really like it. You know, they were all one-nighters and they were bus tours and stuff like that. I wasn't being paid, and I didn't think this was cool, I'd rather have been home writing with my co-writers. That's the way it was, though.

It was uncomfortable. We wound up in a little city called Bluefield, West Virginia. Bluefield is at the bottom of these mountains, and there were churches all over on the side of the road when you get down, because you can't believe this mountainous road. Many people never made it down that mountain, and I didn't like that. So then we did a show in Bluefield, and I got back on the bus and I said to the driver, 'Well, how long will it take us to get back to the hotel?' He said, 'We're not going to the hotel.' I said, 'What are you talking about?' He says, 'We're going back to New York.' I said, 'E-Gods, it's 2 in the morning already. How long is a trip to New York?' Nineteen hours on the bus. I said, 'No, no, I tell you what - drop me off at the hotel.' I went back to the hotel, I made an airline reservation on, I think it was Piedmont Airlines at the time, got home and I called up GAC, which was my agent at the time, and I said, 'Ta-ta, that's it for the road for me. This is not for me. I can do well at home.' Unfortunately, I had my hits, my 3 hits, and I was drafted into the army. And that was really the end of my singing career for then."

Evans: "I eventually sent in my attorney for an audit, or he masterminded an audit, and he came back and he told me, 'Paul, your company hasn't paid you $40,000 in legitimate royalties.' The best I could do was get off the label, because if I tried to fight the company for my money, they would have gone bankrupt, and I would have spent the money on my attorneys and my accountants, and I didn't want to do that.

It was a different day. The joke is we walked into record companies, and then our lawyers followed us in, and today the artist follows the lawyer into the record company. They know how this thing works. When I signed with, I guess it was Epic or Columbia, I don't remember which, I saw their contract. The contract was huge, a tome, it was - I don't' know how many pages. And then my lawyer said, 'Well, here's what we're going to give back to them and then work from here.' They had cut about two-thirds of it off with no argument from the record company, the point being that the record company said, 'If you're not well represented and you sign this contract, you're screwed.' Legally. So, you'd better have an attorney."

Evans other hit songs of the era were "Happy-Go-Lucky Me" and a cover of "Midnight Special," which he came up with out of necessity: "I would do probably 3 or 4 songs. But I wasn't even prepared for that. I got on the bus the first day and the band leader said to me, 'What songs are you planning on performing?' I said, 'Songs?' I had one song prepared: 'Seven Little Girls,' I had a little arrangement written up. And he said, 'Well, you're going to have to do something. What kind of songs do you sing?' I said, 'Well, basically, I sing Folk songs.' And so he asked me to sing a few, I sang him 'Midnight Special' as a Folk song, and he rock and rolled it up. And that really was a blast for me. I didn't expect to go on a bus tour. I was a kid who was doing studio work, and all of a sudden had a hit record, and got sent out on the road."

The female vocals were The Curls - Sue Singleton and Sue Terry.

When Evans performed this song, he lip-synched it, which was customary at the time. He did perform it live on one occasion. Says Evans: "The only live that I ever did was the Arthur Murray Dance Party show. It was a network television show, and it was right before I got drafted. I was excited, I never did live anything, and here I'm doing live television. One shot, no retakes, and I can tell you that that was scary to me. I was so nervous. Finally I sat in the seat, and they had 7 girls behind me and a chimpanzee playing the part of Fred. And by the way, he was a naughty chimpanzee, he broke into the girls' dressing room all the time and lifted up their skirts. He was really a strange monkey, but he was a very big star - as big a star as an ape could be, you know. I sat in the front seat of this car that was on the stage, girls sitting behind me, and I hear the overture, and the overture is the beginning of the song. Now the first part of the song, which is called 'Seven Little Girls Sitting In The Back Seat' is 'Seven little girls, sitting in the back seat.' I should have known it. I couldn't think of it. I could not think of the line. My hair got soaking wet from nervous perspiration. Unbelievable. I was so scared because there was no turning back, the curtains were now opened, the overture was over, and I sang, "Seven little girls..." I mean, it just came to me, it was amazing. It's funny, I've heard this from other people, and they've never missed a beat. They get afraid. I've done that before, I've done it again, and this is just national television. I was so shaken by this. I did a good job, got done, and that's all that matters, I know. My wife says that when she sees me on the stage, I walk out on the stage, I do look a little nervous to her - she knows me. But she says the second I open my mouth and start singing, it's all over for nerves."

Seven Little Girls Sitting In The Back Seat Lyrics
(Dee doody doom doom, dee doody doom doom)
(Dee doody doom doom, DOOM)
Seven little girls sittin' in the back seat
Huggin and a'kissin with Fred
I said "why don't one of you come up and sit beside me?"
And this is what the seven girls said

CHORUS
(All together now, one, two, three)
(Keep you mind on your drivin')
(Keep you hands on the wheel)
Keep your snoopy eyes on the road ahead)
(We're havin' fun sittin' in the back seat kissin' and a'huggin with Fred)

(Dee doody doom doom, dee doody doom doom)(Dee doody doom doom, DOOM)
Drove through the town, drove through the country
Showed 'em how a motor could go
I said "how do you like my triple carburetor?"
And one of them whispered low
CHORUS

Seven little girls smoochin' in the back seat
Every one in love with Fred
I said "you don't need me, I'll get off at my house"
And this is what the seven girls said

(Alltogether now, one, two, three)
(Keep you mind on your drivin')
(Keep you hands on the wheel)
(Keep your snoopy eyes on the road ahead)
(We're havin' fun sittin' in the back seat kissin' and a'huggin with Fred)
All of them in love with Fred

(Dee doody doom doom)
Kissin' and a'huggin with Fred
(Dee doody doom doom)
Wish that I could be like Fred

Seven Little Girls (Sitting in the Back Seat)

Classic BBC Radio Theme ~ Desert Island Discs

I return! My Desert Island Playlist

After exploring the i-pod I got myself an I pad and realized the possibilities of music and writing became a second and third priority and then not at all. A collector is always looking for novelty and that is where my journey took me.  So I have not listened to all my tape collection.  I have created a play list of my favorite recordings of all time and so because one song at a time might be easier to write about over a period of time we will try this because I love to research information about music. 

As a kid growing up in England I used to love a radio show called Desert Island Discs and used to listen to it at my Grandma Grimshaw's house.  The program was based on the premise of getting famous people to decide what eight recordings they would choose to take if they were wrecked on a desert island and the program still exists and is celebrating 70 years of Broadcasting with asking their listeners what their discs would be.  I couldn't decide on eight so I created a Desert Island Play list. It now has a home on Spotify and right now has 768 tracks on it. 

So in order to introduce the process Let us here the theme tune of Desert Island Discs

Skeleton Woman Story

I first heard this story from a tape I taped from a tape in Salt Lake City Library. It was from a book called The Woman who ran with Wolves by Clarissa Pinkola Estes Ph.D.  Here is the original Inuit story followed by a presentation from youtube.

Skeleton Woman

The following is one of my favorite folk tales on the theme of the life, death, rebirth cycle and the presence of Lady Death in all relationships. I think it poetically describes the ebb and flow of all affairs of the heart. This is a modified adaptation of a live version performed by the esteemed Clarissa Pinkola Estes, Ph.D., Jungian psychologist and storyteller of the old tradition.

There once was a hunter fisherman, who was fishing in a cove far from home, that he didn't realize was haunted. Looking around and seeing no other kayaks out in the water, he thought, 'I have this bay all to myself.' He dropped his bone hook over the side of his kayak and waited. And he was so hungry. And he was so lonely. And he had been hunting and fishing for days on end without finding anything to eat. And so his bone hook went down, down, down, into the deep waters.

Beneath the waters was a skeleton woman, and she lay there on the ocean floor, rolling back and forth with the tide. The bone hook, as it drifted down into the deep waters, caught in her ribcage. Although she tried to move with the currents to disengage herself, the bone hook caught all the more tightly. The fisherman above, felt a tug, and pulled a little more, and saw his fishing stick beginning to bend. 'Oh' he thought, 'I've got something really big on the end of this line that's going to keep me fed for a very long time to come.' As he pulled harder, Skeleton Woman began to drift to the surface of the water. And as he turned back around with his net to catch his 'prize', there she was - hanging off the bow of his kayak, with her long yellow front teeth, and her bald head filled with crustaceans, and sea worms dangling from the nose holes and ear holes of her skull. The fisherman was absolutely terrified! So much so that his ears turned a bright red and met each other at the back of his head. He screamed and paddled fast as he could towards shore. But she was still hooked in her ribcage and so when he paddled and looked back over his shoulder, he saw her standing on tippy-toes racing after him, over the tops of the waters. 'Oh no!' he screamed, 'She is chasing me! She is after me!' And he arrived at the shore, not a moment too soon and scrambled out of his kayak, grabbed his fishing stick and ran for his life. He looked over his shoulder every few moments and sure enough, she was still keeping up with him. The poor fisherman was running in terror as fast as he could and finally he came to his little skin house and dove inside, into the darkness.

And he thought, 'At last I am safe.' He became very still and listened...and the only sound he could hear was his own heart pounding. 'I must have out run her', he thought and after a little while just to be certain, he began to make a little fire, because he was so cold. And then, right across from him, flickering in the light there she was! She was still hooked and all in a tangled mess. Her ankles were over her shoulders and one arm was caught in her ribcage and her pelvis was tilted backwards, and her skull was hanging down below her shoulders. He looked at her and something came over him. He looked a little longer, and tried to still his fear. The more he studied her the more he felt sorry for her. She was in such a predicament. Somehow in this tangled mess she didn't look so frightful as she had before. And he contemplated her...and she did not move. The more he thought about it, she had an almost pitiful, pleading expression.

Like a father would to a child, he reached out and took her ankles down from her shoulders cooing, 'There , there, that's better isn't it? Not so uncomfortable.' He straightened and untangled her, as he sang a little song, as a father would. And soon she was all straightened out. And she had an odd little tilt to her skull that almost made her look grateful. And he mused, 'Well, she's just a skeleton hooked by accident. I'll leave her be this night and then give her a proper burial in the morning. I'll try to sleep now, because I'm so very hungry and sleep is my only escape from this hunger. And he fell fast asleep, exhausted by all the excitement and lack of food.

As often happens when we sleep, a little tear escaped from the corner of his eye and began to trickle down his face. Skeleton woman saw this tear glistening there and became very thirsty. And so very quietly, with the slightest of tinkling and rattling of bones, she got on her hands and knees and placed her mouth there and drank deeply. When she saw that he did not awaken, she slid her hand inside his chest and took out his heart. And she raised it like a great drum and began pounding on it. Boom....boom...boom...and she began to sing flesh onto her bones. She sang with the drum of his heart and long, glossy, black hair grew out of her skull and a full, elegant face and fine hips and all the things that a woman needs began to take shape. And when she was done, she slipped the hunter's heart back inside his chest and looked at him ever so tenderly. She lifted the sleeping skins of his bedding and climbed in underneath and pressed her warm body against his. And they tangled all night long. They wound up more tangled then she had been to begin with. With her legs over his shoulders and all those things that happen when people make love.

And when morning broke, they left together hand in hand. Because she was from the water, they never again went hungry for she had a way of calling the creatures of the sea to her. And people say that if you are ever out when the whole land is white with snow and the sky is also stark white and nothing seems to move; if you look out into the horizon, and can see two tiny black dots bobbing gently, that is skeleton woman and her hunter.

Skeleton Woman

October Project by October Project

Sorry About so long between posts but I just got a new toy, an I-pod with 64 GBs and I have been compulsively collecting and loading up my i-pod with tunes.  It takes a lot to fill up 64 GB's and right now it's only half full.

I first came in contact with October Project in 1993 when I overheard a conversation in one of my favorite shops The Golden Braid bookstore in Salt Lake City.  The conversation was between the clerk at the store and a patron and the clerk was raving about this new tape that they had just received in from this new band the October Project.  I immediately bought the cassette from the store and when I listened to it was enthralled by the band. 

October Project is a pop / rock band that was signed to major label Epic Records from March 1993 to June 1996. Their music is often categorized as adult / alternative. The members of the band during that time were Mary Fahl (lead vocals), Marina Belica (keyboard/vocals), David Sabatino (guitar/vocals), Emil Adler (piano/vocals), and Julie Flanders, the band’s lyricist and at the time a non-performing member. Urbano Sanchez, the band’s percussionist, is listed as an additional musician on the two albums released by Epic, appearing in all band photos during that period, but was not an official member of the band.

The sound was just different and the combination of Mary Fahl's strong melodic voice and the lyrics by Julie Flanders along with the ever changing rhythms of the percussionist were something unique and I have not heard anything similar since.  the rhythms were unusual like 5/4 time and were really in counterpoint to a wonderful melody.

October Project was their first album.  Flanders and Adler began writing songs together while still in their teens growing up in Montclair, New Jersey.  Flanders and Belica met as freshmen at Yale University. In their senior year Flanders and Belica collaborated with Adler to write the musical revue, Measure By Measure. In 1981 they were accepted as a team into the BMI Musical Theatre Workshop, studying first with Lehman Engel and then Maury Yeston. Adler and Sabatino met at a jam session in New York City. At the time Adler was finishing his Master’s thesis in music composition at Rutgers University. Together with their friend, Paul Byrne, they started a music production company, Tritone Productions. In 1985 they built a recording studio in a New Jersey garage, which Adler would eventually use to produce the first demo recordings of singer/songwriter Lee Feldman and Sufjan Stevens' college band, Marzuki. October Project would use the studio as its home base during its developmental phase.
Flanders met Mary Faldermeyer (later Fahl) in New York City and introduced her to Adler in the summer of 1989. Plans were immediately made to form a band. The band spent eighteen months in Tritone's garage studio refining their instrumentation and arrangements, and occasionally changing their configuration. The initial lineup (as of October 1989) included Paul Byrne (guitar) and Mark Huntley (drums/vocals). Byrne and Huntley left after a few months. Sanchez was later recruited as percussionist and was invited to join the band, but declined in favor of retaining sideman status.
In June 1996 the band’s contract with Epic was terminated without official explanation from the label. The band members decided to discontinue their mutual involvement.

Since then Lead singer Fahl has been pursuing a career as a solo artist. Her writing collaborators have included Bob Riley, Ramsey McLean and Glenn Patscha. In 2001, she released Lenses of Contact, a four-song EP of her collaborations, produced by Jeffrey Lesser. Signed by Sony Classical, she released a full-length album, The Other Side of Time in 2003, also produced by Lesser. In 2006, Fahl recorded From the Dark Side of the Moon for V2 Records. The album, produced by Mark Doyle and David Werner, is an interpretation of Pink Floyd's The Dark Side of the Moon. Following the restructuring of V2, the album was not released.
Vocalist Belica has been pursuing a career as a solo artist under the name decembergirl. She invited former band mates Flanders, Adler, Sabatino, and Sanchez to participate in recording a version of October Project's single, "Return to Me", sung by Belica and produced by Adler. The cover became the feature track of Belica’s five-song EP, decembergirl, released in 2000. Belica also composed a full-length instrumental album, One Sky, released in 2003, produced by Randy Crafton and Chris Cunningham.
After working together in the studio and performing at several venues as OP(iii), Flanders, Adler, and Belica chose to reunite in 2001 under the name October Project. In March 2003, the trio released a six-song EP, Different Eyes, produced by Adler. In June 2006, a tribute album, October Project Covered, was released, featuring performances by sixteen independent artists of songs by Flanders and Adler.
October Project was inactive from 2006–2010. A new web site was launched in July 2010, wherein it was announced that the recording and production of a full-length studio album is underway.

The Track listing for the tape is as Follows

Bury my Lovely Some say this song is about child abuse and its ramifications.  I can see that

Cover the mirror, Hide in your dreams
Forget what they told you,Forget what it means
A picture worth a thousand lies, The mem'ry and the mirror
Nothing but what came before, Nothing but a closing door

A picture worth a thousand lies,A thousand words,A thousand eyes

Bury my lovely, Hide in your room
Bury my Love, Forget me soon
Forget me, Forget me now
Forget me not

Cover the madness, Cover the fear
No one will ever, Know you were here
A figure in the hallway light, Returning like a ghost
Something that was left behind, Something like a child's mind

Bury my lovely, Bury the lies
Bury me under, A thousand good-byes

A shadow from another time,Is waiting in the night
Something happened long ago, Something that will not let go
Ariel (the name of a prankish spirit in Shakespeare"s the Tempest)

My name is Ariel, And I want to be free
It is your sorrow that has made a slave of me
Forgive me, Forgive me
But you are all I know, Forgive me for leaving

The day is breaking now,It's time to go away
I'm so afraid to leave, But more afraid to stay
Forgive me, For leaving the sadness in your eyes
Forgive me

Let the wind and ocean water wash across your hands
Wash away a thousand footsteps, Wash us all away like sand

The sky has fallen, now the earth is dry and torn
I know you're tired from the violence of the storm
I love you
I love you
But you are all I know
Forgive me let the wind and ocean water
Wash across your hands, wash away a thousand footsteps wash us all away

Let the wind and ocean water, wash across your hands
Wash away a thousand memories Wash us all away like sand

My name is Ariel
Where you are  (I think many of the songs are about the state of modern relationships.  Here is one of separation and after experiencing a couple of long distance relationships I can understand these lyrics.)

Floating in the summer sunshine we are flying
We are blue, falling like a summer raindrop
Like a teardrop like the dew

Nothing but a blue horizon all around us like a glove
Feeling it go on forever, far below us, far above

Where you are do you know I think of you
Where you are do you know
I hope you do

Shining like a summer rainbow we are colors
We are bright vanishing into the sunshine like a river made of light

Floating in a summer memory I can see you in my mind
Knowing it goes on forever far beyond us
Far behind

Where you are, do you know
I think of you where you are
Do you know
I hope you do

Falling in a summer daydream I remember what I knew
Nothing that I can't hold on to or return to
Even you

Where you are do you know I think of you
Where you are do you know
I hope you do

A Lonely Voice

I keep looking back
A lifetime back across the desert
In a desert where no one can explain
You tell me God is dancing in the rain

I can hear the echo in a maze of words
A lonely voice behind a door
Can you hear me calling from a world away
A lonely voice behind a door

I keep looking back,Traditions back across the centuries
In a century where no one can explain
You tell me God is dancing in the rain

I can hear the echo in a maze of words
A lonely voice behind a door
Can you hear me calling
From a world away a  lonely voice behind a door

As I stare ahead, a dream ahead across the ocean
Cross an ocean where there's nothing to explain
You tell me God is laughing in the rain

I can hear the echo in a maze of words
A lonely voice behind a door
Can you hear me calling from a world away
A lonely voice behind a door
Eyes of Mercy (I think in our time there is this constant need for sanctuary and a safe place to land.  Relationships often provide that for us)

Hush, close your eyes and I'll keep you safe
Allow you to weep and sing you to sleep

Don't be afraid remember I'm here
The noise in the street will soon disappear

When the soft face of mercy is lost behind a veil
I will stay with eyes open, stay here with eyes open to watch over you and take away the sadness and the fear

Hide in my arms and dream golden dreams, forgetting the world of men and machines

When the soft eyes of mercy are blinded by the dark
I will stay with eyes open stay here with eyes open to watch over you and take away the sadness and the fear
I'll be here

Return to Me (another separation song.  I wrote a similar song about a relationship in which we were separated for months called Travelling Home.  The Lyrics go: Travelling home, someday you'll be, crossing wide water back home to me) 

You rise like a wave in the ocean and you fall gently back to the sea
Now I want to know how to hold you Return to me
Return to me

You shine like the moon over water and you darken the sky when you leave
Now I want to know how to keep you return to me
Return to me

Turn to me, Return to me

Everything I tell you has been spoken and everything I say was said before
But everything I feel is for the first time and everything I feel, I feel for you

I am here calling the wind
I am here calling your name
I am here calling you back return to me
Return to me

I know what it means to be lonely and I know what it means to be free
Now I want to know how to love you return to me
Return to me

I am here calling the wind
I am here calling your name
I am here calling you back
Return to me,return to me

I am here
Return to me
Wall of Silence (In relationships we often build walls of silence.  One of my favorite paintings is a Pre-Raphaelite painting of a woman smelling roses on a wall.  I often imagine her being kept in by the wall, a wall she built by silence)


I've seen that life touches us with pain
And we change becoming strangers to our friends
Tell me what happens along the way

I thought of us,hard to talk these days
Did we change or were we strangers all along
Tell me what caused us to turn away

There's a wall of silence miles across
A wall between us holding back, holding back our loss

I moved ahead thinking you'd be there but it changed and now we're strangers to our past
How did I lose you along the way


There's a wall of silence miles across
A wall between us, holding back, holding back our loss

I've seen that life touches us with pain
And we change becoming strangers to ourselves
Tell me what happens along the way how did I lose you along the way

Take Me As I Am (There is a yearning for being taken as you are without any questions and complicating factors.  Just the freedom of uncomplicated connection)

Take me as I am, someone you don't know even in the dark you may not be sure
Take me while you can, I can see you standing in the smoky entrance giving up your good intentions

Leave the shadows dancing, dancing on their own
Let the moment free you now and leave it all behind you
I'll know where you've gone, let the world go on

Take me as I am, I may disappear, fade into the night lighter than your thoughts
Take me while you can, never knowing who or what you are until you're living with the unfamiliar

Leave the shadows dancing, dancing on their own
Let the moment free you now and leave it all behind you
I'll know where you've gone

Let the world go, there's a place where fear won't find you, where your secret dreams remind you
This is all you have to know and this is all you have to go on
Everything you have inside you, everything you need to guide you
This is all you have to know and this is all you have to go on

Take me as I am, someone you could know even as we speak you could change your mind
Take me while you can ,even if you shine a light into the mirror you won't see me any clearer

Leave the shadows dancing, dancing on their own
Let the moment free you now and leave it all behind you
I'll know where you've gone
Let the world go on

Now I Laid me Down

Out of the silence into the blue you finally remember where you've been
You finally remember who you are and you remember the light

Out of the spirit into the flesh
The animal heartbeat in the chest, the naked desire, the appetite
But you remember the light

Now I lay me down, now I lay me down
Now I lay me down to dream

Out of the fire into the night
Communion of body into smoke,human and sacred  the sacrifice
You will remember the light

Now I lay me down, now I lay me down
Now I lay me down to dream

Now I lay me down,now I lay me down
Now I lay me down to dream of light
To Dream Of Light

Always  (Ah the joys of modern relationships without Expectation.  Always wanting not to demand but yet yearning for connection and commitment)

I have come to know you over all these years
We've seen many days come and go after all the time we've shared all the secrets told
Will you ever say I love you

If you gave me nothing nothing more than this I would have the mem'ry to keep
Let me make this simple wish as we fall asleep, let me wake with you by my side, always

If you have to leave me, leave me with a kiss, tell me how you feel without words
Are you so afraid to stay,must you be alone
Let me wake with you by my side, always

Paths of Desire (Anther longing song)

I have traveled the paths of desire, gathering flowers and carrying fire, raising a grave to the reasons behind me
Looking for strength as you live to remind me I'm drawn to you, I'm caught in you

I am the fly who dreams of the spider, the path to the web becomes deeper and wider
I dream of the silk that is tangled inside you and know that I want to be somewhere beside you
I'm drawn to you, I'm caught in you

In your eyes, All of the promises, All the lies
Will you keep all the promises in your eyes

I am crossing the bridges of sorrow,empty with yearning and full of tomorrow
The river is high and the bridges are burning
I know I've been hurt but I keep on returning
I'm drawn to you, I'm caught in you

In your eyes, all of the promises, all the lies
Will you keep all of the promises in your eyes

I have traveled the paths of desire, following smoke and remembering fire
The night is falling, the path is receding
I don't need to see it to know where it's leading

In your eyes, all of the promises, all the lies
Will you keep all of the promises in your eyes
Be My Hero ( There's a wonderful tale told by Clarissa Pinkola Estes called the Skeleton Woman about the fear of commitment and she explains the fear of commitment is often a fear of the death of the relationship which is part of the "Life, Death, Life cycle in long term relationships)



Sleep with the window open, sleep till tomorrow, be my hero

Be, without being lonely, try to open
We try to open hoping for a hero

I want something, I want everything, I want nothing
Nothing else
I want someone, not just anyone, be my hero

Keep what is secret, secret
We can believe it, be my hero

I want something, I want everything, I want nothing, nothing else
I want someone, not just anyone be my hero

See how we measure feelings from a distance
See how we measure people into zero

I want something, I want everything, I want nothing, nothing else
I want someone, almost anyone

Bury my lovely - Anastasia and Disney Movies

October Project - Ariel

October Project - Where you are (live)

A Lonely Voice by October Project