Your First song

Subject: RE: Your First song
From: sharyn
Date: 23 Feb 06 - 12:53 PM

O.K. Here's the first one, written when I was twelve, I think. My best friend titled it for me: The melody is pretty, minor.

A Companion Remains

I come to you in sore need of a friend.
The summer's turned to autumn and everyone is gone again.
Fearfully I come, as you'll soon travel too.

Your absence will surely break me
Though I'm strong, so you must take me
With you.

I want the road, if you would live that way.
For perhaps I will sling my guitar and go alone someday.
But I'm not ready for anything that new:

Your absence will surely break me
Though I'm strong, so you must take me
With you.

When all have left I'll stay behind in woe --
I wanted so to travel too, but you are the last to go.
Yet you stayed so long I wonder if you knew:

Your absence will surely break me,
Though I'm strong, so you must take me
With you.

___________

Great thread, Jerry! It's really fun to read all of these first songs.

Subject: RE: Your First song
From: GUEST,Boab
Date: 23 Feb 06 - 01:58 AM

'Way back in the late forties,fifties and sixties I was down there wi' the lads who were diggin' coal.Wrote the following mainly in a fit of reminiscence after I had been an "ex-miner" for some years. I was involved in the epic rescue of 116 trapped men from Knockshinnoch Colliery, Sepember 1950. My memories inspired my first composition--

Coal and Afton Glen

" Foregather Bairns, aroond by me,
So I can tell the Tale tae ye
O'when the Afton's bonnie Glen
Was kenn't as hame by minin' men.

" Now tak' heed weans, list' weel tae me,
The dungeon depths ye'll never see;
The gates tae Hell are closed lang syne,
May ye never see anither mine!

"Noo, listen Son, yer Da was born
In earshot o' yon pithead horn,
That blared alike for fire or flood,
Or the spillin' o' a man's life blood.

"Ye, Bonnie Lass, yer Da's lang gone,
depairted in a bonnie dawn
That wasna bonnie where he lay,
Pinned underground'mid smoth'rin'clay.

"Sae weel I mind yon Lammas eve
That gave sae many cause to grieve;
Mud, deadly, slid, and thirteen men
Forever sleep in Afton Glen.

"Sae many mair, my Bonnie Bairns,
Lie sleepin' 'neath memorial cairns;
Amindin' o' the debt ye owe
Tae the Lads who lost their lives below.

"So tak' heed, Bairns, set high yer sight;
Ne'er bow the knee tae belted knight,
And ever bear yer names wi' pride;
You're Minin' stock, frae Afton Side!

"And now lang syne, the Lord be praised,
The final tow at last's been raised;
King Coal's nae mair in Afton Glen
Where forever sleep the Minin' Men!


I use the tune of "the Dying Ploughboy" in occasional performance of this--very similar to the tune for "Barbara Allen'.

Subject: RE: Your First song
From: Marion
Date: 23 Feb 06 - 01:23 AM

Other than a few silly parodies, this was my first song (actually co-written with St. Fransis of Assisi: his first draft is here.

Canticle of the Sun

Lyrics and music © 1998 Marion Parsons

Through sun my brother, praised be you my Lord
He is our day and our hope through the night
In splendour, radiance, beauty, and majesty
Portrays to us the one in whom is all light.

Through moon my sister, praised be you my Lord
Until the morning may she her vigil keep
Through stars my sisters, bright, fair, and ancient
The children of the one in whom is all sleep.



Bridge:
To the most high Lord, the all-powerful, the good one
Belongs all the praise of the Earth and above
Hallelujah! No mortal lips can say
The name of the one in whom is all love.

Through wind my brother, praised be you my Lord
In calm, in storm, in nature's every face
Through air my brother, all things living
Are cherished by the one in whom is all grace.

Through water my sister, praised be you my Lord
Humble and useful in purity sweet
Through fire my brother, strong and playful
The good gift of the one in whom is all heat.

Through Earth my sister, praised be you my Lord
Our home and provider of fruit and seed and wood
Sustains and governs us, shelters and mothers us
Beloved of the one in whom is all good.


Bridge:

Through all my brothers who for the love of you
Forgive and endure though their sufferings increase
Through all my sisters whose mercy and humility
Are blessed by the one in whom is all peace.


Through all your creatures, praised be you my Lord
Through all things living, and through my sister death
Though none escape her, blessed are they she finds doing
The will of the one in whom is all breath.

Subject: RE: Your First song
From: Suffet
Date: 22 Feb 06 - 11:21 PM

Greetings:

I wrote my first song when I was about 17. It was for Roberta [last name withheld] who had moved with her family from Queens, New York, to the Virginia suburbs of Washington, DC. I took a Trailways bus to to visit her once, then came back to New York and wrote this song. I had just discovered modal chord progressions. I wrote a meoldy, but rather than my trying to notate it here, please make up whatever melody you would like as long as it fits the chord structure. Use the same tune for the chorus, unless you you want to make up a different one.


GOODBYE, ROBERTA
Words and music by Stephen L. Suffet ©2006
Bouncy 4/4. Very earnest.

A                         G                A
I'm riding on the highway down through Delaware,

                      C               E7
It's been a long time since I've been here.

       A                     G               A
Should I go on to Dixie, or back to New York City?

                     G                  A
Either way I've got nothing to lose or fear.


I'm riding on the highway down through Delaware,
It's been a long time since I've been here.
Should I go on to Dixie, or back to New York City?
Either way I've got nothing to lose or fear.

   So farewell, Roberta; Roberta, don't you cry.
   I'll be coming back again.
   Farewell, honey child; farewell is not goodbye,
   I'll see you, although I can't say when.

I ain't seen my Roberta in more than two years time,
I've been rambling way up north.
But two years ain't so long beneath the Mason-Dixon Line,
Roberta says the time has been too short.

   So farewell, Roberta; Roberta, don't you cry.
   I'll be coming back again.
   Farewell, honey child; farewell is not goodbye,
   I'll see you, although I can't say when.

So I'll keep on heading southbound till I see my love Roberta,
Maybe the time has dried her tears,
But if she tells me no, back to New York I will go,
And maybe try again in two more years.

   So farewell, Roberta; Roberta, don't you cry.
   I'll be coming back again.
   Farewell, honey child; farewell is not goodbye,
   I'll see you, although I can't say when.

Now, isn't that just adorable?

--- Steve

Subject: RE: Your First song
From: Scoville
Date: 22 Feb 06 - 11:05 PM

No, really--that was the first one. Except a one-line tune I made up on the piano when I was six and can no longer remember. I swear.


I've written a couple of others since but they were even worse. Ha ha. I do a little better at tunes but mostly, it's clearly not my biggest talent.

Subject: RE: Your First song
From: Jerry Rasmussen
Date: 22 Feb 06 - 10:50 PM

Not a bad idea, Bert... but maybe we'll come up with a theme (Thieme) where Catters could tribute work that they feel is more repesentative.

(I'm having a great time by the way, putting together a couple of CDs of older tapes of my songs, and things I did with other people. I did put Drunkard's Last Advice on it.. See the thread about burning tapes to CDS..)

Jerry

Subject: RE: Your First song
From: Bert
Date: 22 Feb 06 - 09:41 PM

Wow what great songs. Now Jerry you'll have to produce a CD of Mudcatters' first songs.

Subject: RE: Your First song
From: Jerry Rasmussen
Date: 22 Feb 06 - 08:46 PM

My first couple of songs weren't exactly garbage. They were just too self-conscious... "Look at me, Ma.. I'm writing a song." They also were about experiences that weren't mine. The first two real songs I wrote were about a gunfight and an escaped slave. They were as shallow as I was when I wrote them. Not that I'm necessarily any deeper. I just try not to get in beyond my depth when it comes to writing songs.

Jerry

Subject: RE: Your First song
From: Don(Wyziwyg)T
Date: 22 Feb 06 - 06:58 PM

Posted without comment, except apologies to Scottish, Irish, and Welsh people everywhere.


TRUE BRIT.

The almighty set out with the best of goodwill,
Mankind, in his image, to make,
And, with the result, he'd be satisfied still,
Had he not made one minor mistake.
        
Four races there were, with peculiar traits,
They're the reason why God rarely smiles,
He put them together, well out of the way,
In a place that he called British Isles.

Now, complete isolation has had it's effect,
If you look at them now, you will find,
That, apart from the fact that they all walk erect,
They're different from most of mankind.

The Welsh all have voices, most certain to please,
At song, the perennial purists,
At Chapel, on Sunday, they pray on their knees,
And on weekdays, they prey on the tourists.

The Scots all wear skirts, and their knees turn bright blue,
In cold weather, their lives must be drab,
But they all keep the Sabbath, they keep the faith too,
And anything else they can grab.

The Irish back horses, drink Guiness and such,
Till they're drunk, and they never regret it,
They don't know what they want, but that don't matter much,
They'll still fight like the devil to get it.

The Englishman, always, must lead the parade,
His self confidence beggars belief,
When he says "I'm successful because I'm self made",
God heaves a great sigh of relief.

Now you might think that God had a very bad day,
And after this lapse of attensh - on
it semms that the whole thing went further downhil,
'Cos next he created the French.


Strange......I have rarely performed this over the years, and reading it now I wonder why.

Don T.

Subject: RE: Your First song
From: The Fooles Troupe
Date: 22 Feb 06 - 05:58 PM

The first song you ever wrote - or the first song that you didn't trash cause it wasn't real garbage on further and quiet recollection? There is a difference... ;-)

(The voice of experience)
Robin

Subject: RE: Your First song
From: Alaska Mike
Date: 22 Feb 06 - 01:11 PM

My first real song came to me in 1993. Yes I started late in life, but I've been trying to make amends. I wrote this one after reading a "Manual for Whaling" by a nineteenth century whaling captain named Charles Melville Scammon. Scammon Bay in western Alaska is named for this guy. The song goes like this.

First Kill by Mike Campbell

Subject: RE: Your First song
From: Rustic Rebel
Date: 22 Feb 06 - 01:09 PM

Great thread Jerry. Great 1st's everyone! I read the thread below that got me thinking about my first song. Written in 1986. It's strange for me because it's kind of a country twang to it, me being the blues lovin' type.

                                                                        
                                                                                  3-2    Blues

   G                                    C                G       D             G            C                D               G
1. Well people I want to sing you a little song. I tell that It ain't gonna' take very long.
   G             C       G               D                            G                            C            D                G
    This is a song about the blues. And if your bettin' it's about lost love, your gonna' lose.
   G                                  C                  G                   D
    'cuz, I didn't lose my baby and I didn't lose my job
   G                C                D             G
    I didn't go broke and I ain't no slob.

             G                         C               G               D         G                            C                D    G
Chorus: I'm singing the blues and this is the point. I gotta' get myself out of this 3-2 joint.

          G                         C             G         D                                 G
Break: I'm singing the three-two blues. I must have lost my mind.
            G                      C                      G             D                   G                   C                         D             G
            This three-two beer is gonna make me blind. And I know in the morning I won't feel very kind.
            D                G
            Three-two blues.

2. Well I live right down the road from this little gin mill,
    So it ain't so far to go, when I get my fill.
    But when I wake in the morning, the world won't stay still.
    And a million brain cells, that shit did kill.

Chorus

3. It's a sad situation I got myself in.
   Drinkin' this stuff should be a sin.
   But it works on my head, till I can't see
   So, why do they tell me I'm drinking skunk pee?

Chorus

Break

4. Well my story is over,
    what more can I say?
    Except this little gin mill is takin' all my pay
    And this three-two beer is gonna' take me away!

Chorus

I gotta get myself out of this three-two joint   (fade out)

Subject: RE: Your First song
From: Scoville
Date: 22 Feb 06 - 12:28 PM

Holy Hannah, we're a talented bunch.


I love the Davy Crockett parody! Ha ha!

Subject: RE: Your First song
From: Uncle_DaveO
Date: 22 Feb 06 - 10:02 AM

Fifty-five years or so ago, when I was attending the University of Minnesota, I worked summers in a canning factory. (I couldn't eat creamed corn for MANY years thereafter, for memories of ground-up corn borers!)

One day I found the following immortal quatrain scrawled on the men's room wall at the factory:

I knew a little girl, and she wore red shoes
She smoked my cigarettes, and she drank all my booze
She didn't have a cherry, but that's no sin
For she still had the box that the cherry came in!

Sez I to myself, "There's a song there somewhere!"

So this is my first song:

I knew a little girl, and she wore red shoes
She smoked my cigarettes, and she drank all my booze
She didn't have a cherry, but that's no sin
For she still had the box that the cherry came in!

Howdy dowdy, dill di day
Howdy dowdy, dill di day
She didn't have a cherry, but that's no sin
For she still had the box that the cherry came in!

She swore and drank, and went to the bad
Till no more money was what she had!
She couldn't pay the rent, but the landlord took her in
For the sake of the box that the cherry came in!

Howdy, dowdy, dill di day
Howdy dowdy, dill di day
She couldn't pay the rent, but the landlord took her in
For the sake of the box that the cherry came in!

Now girls, if you'll listen, the moral I'll tell
If in this world you'd get along well
You can throw away the cherry, but if you want to win
Keep hold of the box that the cherry came in!

Howdy dowdy, dill di day
Howdy dowdy, dill di day
You can throw away the cherry, but if you want to win
Keep hold of the box that the cherry came in!

I can't post the tune, but it was mine, not adopted from something else. Nice little song, which I still sing occasionally, but even in this day of greater permissiveness I don't find too many audiences to whom I can sing it. And it's too durn short!

Dave Oesterreich

Subject: RE: Your First song
From: Jerry Rasmussen
Date: 22 Feb 06 - 08:59 AM

It's interesting how many "first" songs are parodies. People who claim that they have never written a song often have made up parodies as a kid. I usually think of parodies where, as the dictionary says, the words are ridiculously different. Kids write songs that folkies might call parodies for a whole variety of reasons... just for fun being an important one.

My nephews wrote their own Davy Crockett when they were kids, not to make fun of the original, but more in the spirit of it:

Borned on a mountain top in Tennessee
Ripped my pants on a Christmas tree
Patched it up with some bubble gum
Along come a bear and he asked for some
Davy, Davy Crockett, king of the wild frontier

Slept on a table top in Joe's Cafe
Greasiest joint in the USA
Ordered a griddly and that ain't all
Next thing I knew I was in City Hall

And I added a third verse, just because I liked singing it:

I went to the Mayor just to set it straight
Found him swinging on the Pearly Gates
Charged me a dollar and he let me go
So I headed down to the Alamo.

I asked them what a "griddly" was and they said that they had no idea.. they just liked the sound of the word. Now that's song-writing in it's purest form.. just enjoying the sound of words and a melody.

Dylan perfected that later..

Jerry

Subject: RE: Your First song
From: sinpelo
Date: 22 Feb 06 - 05:02 AM

First song?? My God! I hope archeologists never find that!

My first (and only) protest song was a rewrite of Feed The World. Never been performed though (and never likely to be)

Feed the World (parody)

(Paul Young)
Business is fine
There's no need to be afraid
What's yours is mine
We monopolise Global trade
(Boy George)
And in our world of plenty
We can sow the seeds of joy
And patent them around the world
'Cos business is just fine

(George Michael)
So buy our seed
And sow them in your fields
We know life can be hard
(Simon LeBon)
So we give you bigger yields
The Winds of Change are blowing
(George Michael) And the time is drawing near
When the only stuff that's growing is
(Bono joins in)
Is from seeds you buy each year
And the business tills that are ringing
Are singing "Monsanto"
(Bono only) And they ring, thank God, for us instead of you.


(Everyone)
And the only crops in Africa that they can grow.
Will be from seeds they have to buy from Monsanto
It's just the way it goes
And the money flows and flows
Don't they know that it's just business after all?

Feed the world
Come on now! It's just business. We can
Feed the world
Don't they know that it's just business after all?

(Paul Young)
Here's to patents
Biotech's doing fine
Shove your morals
Where that burning sun don't shine
Don't they know that it's just business after all?

Chorus (Everyone)
Feed the world
Come on now! It's just business. We can
Feed the world
Don't they know that it's just business after all?

Feed the world
Come on now! It's just business. We can
Feed the world
Don't they know that it's just business after all?

Repeat

Subject: RE: Your First song
From: stallion
Date: 22 Feb 06 - 05:02 AM

don't do tunes but i wrote, to the tune of "new york girls" before the iraqi fiasco

It was said in texas a couple of years ago
Were running out of oil me boys
There's no more down belo-o-ow

chorus (between each verse)

And awa-y you liar
the worlds great periah
stuff the war it's against the law
the french will use the veto

The oil barons said to Bush, we must search far and wide
So In your tanks and planes me boys
Lets go for a ri-ide
ch
Well they holidayed in Grenada by way of Panama
Then on to Bosnia Afghan,
And Bogota-a
ch
They didn't find any oil there, they were in a state
Bush says never mind me boys
There's plenty in Kuwa-ait
ch.
They were good and ready with the mighty dollar in hand
To bribe the politicians
and buy up all the land
ch
Well Saddam beat 'em to it, and for it he shall pay
were going to march on in there
And give him his judgement day
ch
They got the Un sanction to cut bite and bleed
So they could march on in there
and satisfy there greed
ch
With Blairs promise of Blo-ood tears sweat and toil
And Bush's promise of glory
and free Iaqi oil
ch
It's the politicians, we are not to blame
but when they march on in there
It'll be done in our name

And awa-y you liar the worlds great periah
Stuff the war it's against the law
Don't you know I'm a voter?

Subject: RE: Your First song
From: Jeanie
Date: 22 Feb 06 - 04:29 AM

My first song, written in my late teens, was definitely not in the least bit poetic. It was written in honour of a now long-gone (and then dying) "breed" - the lavatory attendants, who used to sit all day in their little room in the under-ground public toilets, polishing, washing the floors, chatting to the "customers". They often had a very well-fed and pampered cat. In those days you paid penny in the slot to use the loo. [For Americans: "spend a penny" = go to the toilet/bathroom (loo)"] Euston Station had just had a grand opening of its "Super Loo", the first in the country, which cost a lot more to use, but did NOT have a full-time attendant. Lavatory attendants could see that their days were numbered.

Sung to a "diddly diddly" Irish tune, but with a Cockney London accent:

Oh, me name is Elsie Watkins, and I come from Bethnal Green,
And I keep the best convenience that you have ever seen,
If you're down at Stratford Market and you've got some change to spare,
Come and see me in the High Street, 'cos you'll always find me there.
Just go down the street and down the steps and through the little door,
And join the queue of customers who're coming back for more,
When it comes round to your turn just put your penny in the slot,
Just one P, no V.A.T., to spend a penny.

Well, I paid ten pence at Euston just to SEE the Superloo,
And I told the Station Master what he really ought to do
Is go down to Stratford Market, see the value that I give,
The inflation at the station is just not the way to live,
Cos I clean the tiles and basins, give the floor a daily scrub,
And I'm always in attendance: never sneak off down the pub,
And the seat is polished personally before you take your pew,
Just one P, no V.A.T., to spend a penny !
Just one P, no V.A.T., to spend a penny !

          ---------------------------------
At the time, I was having to read the likes of Sartre, Brecht and so on for my studies, so writing this kind of nonsense was my escape route !

- jeanie

Subject: RE: Your First song
From: Amos
Date: 22 Feb 06 - 12:20 AM

Those are very fine songs, indeed. My hat's off to youse.

A

Subject: RE: Your First song
From: Jeremiah McCaw
Date: 21 Feb 06 - 11:55 PM

On the other hand (triv time) . . .

First song Ian Tyson ever wrote: "Four Strong Winds".

First song Sylvia (Fricker) Tyson ever wrote: "You Were on my Mind".

Over-achievers like that just make my ass tired!   :-)



First thing I ever wrote was just plain wretched. ('Nuff said, believe me.)

Subject: RE: Your First song
From: Jerry Rasmussen
Date: 21 Feb 06 - 10:38 PM

Man, there are some pretty good songs in here for the first, or earliest songs you people have written. It's interesting that there aren't an over-abundance of navel-gazing songs.

Darned near angst-free..

Jerry

Subject: RE: Your First song
From: Scoville
Date: 21 Feb 06 - 09:55 PM

I think I picked out a couple of little tunes on the piano when I was very little, but this is the first one I'll admit to making up. I was supposed to be writing a paper for my Civil Rights seminar and parts of some of the verse wouldn't go out of my head, so I took a study break, wrote them down, and then wrote down the rest a line a time as it came to me. It was weird. I normally cannot write lyrics to save my life (not that these are literature, of course, but they're a lot better than the drivel I normally come up with when I'm forced to put words to something). It has a slow, minor-key melody, along the lines of "Buffalo Skinners" in mood, though not literally. The idea came from some older songs, including "Hills of Mexico", "Good-Bye, Old Paint", and, in some odd way, "Spanish is the Loving Tongue". It's way too long to sing, ever, but I'm just glad I wrote something once that wasn't total crap. I submitted it once to an online magazine of cowboy poetry but they turned it down because "partial rhymes" violate the laws of cowboy poetry, apparently. Whatever.


CINNAMON BLUE
1) I rode [Am]out of Chihuahua so early one morning,
[C]Bound once a[G]gain for the [Em]home of my [Am]youth,
With [Am]twelve months' of [C]gold in the [E]pack of my [Am]saddle,
And a [C]good sorrel* [G]pony to c[Em]arry me [Am]north.

2) The Mexican desert is not kind to strangers,
An ocean of sand with no water in sight,
With miles left behind us and miles yet to travel,
And no sign of shelter as the sun reached its height.

3) Then, I saw in the distance a small hacienda**,
Its house and corrales were plain in the sun,
I thought to ask there for a meal and a pallet,
And water and rest for my poor alazan***.

4) The old caballero, he greeted me kindly,
And asked me to stay for a rest at his home,
He brought me cold water to drink from his kitchen,
And turned out my pony to feed with his own.

5) His remuda**** was made up of good native horses,
Both sturdy and fast, the best that are known,
But one, above all, held fast my attention,
So perfect was she in her spirit and form.

6) She had legs straight and clean and a broad Spanish forehead,
And hooves strong as iron with no need of shoes,
To run like a deer and turn like a rabbit,
And ride o'er the sand till the long day was through.

7) My lips dry as clay in spite of the water,
I turned to my host and then I spoke true,
"Senor, me encanta la yegua canela—*****
What price must I pay for your cinnamon blue?"

8) "Se llamo 'Aloncha'," he told me,******
"For she [C]runs like a [Em]bird on the [Am]wing,
Swift as the arrows made by your Comanches,
Strong as the rivers that flood in the spring."

9) "I never have thought to sell her for money,
Not silver nor gold nor the finest of jewels,
Three years on my ranch is the price I am asking,
Three years of your life for the cinnamon blue.*******"

10) I reached for his hand and we made our agreement,
Three years on the range with his cow-punching crew,
In the heat of the sun and the cold of the starlight,
And all for the love of the cinnamon blue.

11) So I gave up my home and I gave up my journey,
Surrendered my freedom and liberty, too,
Three years of my life I rode in the desert,
But I never regretted my cinnamon blue,
The lovely Aloncha, the cinnamon blue.

*bright chestnut
** ranch
*** "sorrel" in Spanish
**** herd of saddle horses
***** "Sir, I am enchanted by your cinnamon-blue roan mare,"
****** "I call her 'Skylark'"
******* cinnamon blue roan. A blue roan horse is black with white hair mixed in so it looks "frosted" or bluish in color, usually with dark lower legs and a dark face. Cinnamon blue, or 'canela', is blue roan with red hairs sprinkled in.   Thanks to J. Frank Dobie for his listings of Spanish color terms for horses.

Subject: RE: Your First song
From: Kaleea
Date: 21 Feb 06 - 09:42 PM

I first wrote the song when I was 7, first piano piece at 8. My mother said I really wowed the relatives.

Subject: RE: Your First song
From: khandu
Date: 21 Feb 06 - 09:40 PM

"Perhaps it would have been better had he died at birth
Never seen the sunrise, never walked on earth.
But I'm sad to say he happened at the cost of his mother's life
Sad to say, for you must know, his mother was my wife"

That is, thankfully, all I choose to remember of my first song. Written in 1970, it stank all the way into 1972 when I played it for the last time.

ken

Subject: RE: Your First song
From: GUEST,KT
Date: 21 Feb 06 - 09:36 PM

First song I ever wrote was after the death of a friend. I kept having dreams which would have me awaken with tears streaming down my face. The song was about those dreams. I never sang it much, and never any more. It's very sad, huh, Ebbie?

KT

Subject: RE: Your First song
From: Bert
Date: 21 Feb 06 - 07:20 PM

Ah yes Natalie, it reads MUCH better now we know how it is supposed to be performed. Good one.

Subject: RE: Your First song
From: Ebbie
Date: 21 Feb 06 - 07:13 PM

I never did finish my first song- and I remember only that it was about the ashes of romance. (Not that I had ever heard the song 'Ashes of Love'. 'Course not.)

My next one I have sung on occasion and it goes:

"Forever and ever my heart will be true
You know that I'll never lose my dreams about you
I will always remember, for the rest of my life,
When you were beside me and I was your wife.

There are so many memories from all through the years
There were hours of laughter for each moment of tears
I refuse to believe, dear, that it's all in the past
Your presence around me is all that I ask.

Forever and ever my heart will be true
You know that I'll never lose my dreams about you
I will always remember, for the rest of my life,
When you were beside me and I was your wife."

I am not a widow.

Subject: RE: Your First song
From: DannyC
Date: 21 Feb 06 - 06:45 PM

Jerry, Here's the only one I ever did any good with. It came to me on the Monday following the 2004 KY Derby, and got on the radio (via a quick "homespun" demo) by the Saturday. Even got on the TV by the end of the run, but Smarty's last furlong in the grueling Belmont stretch instantly turned the song into a historical piece. Best, Danny


Lyrics to "Runnin' Like a River" - By Danny Cummins

Gotten by Elusive Quality
From a solid, speedy Smile mare came he.
Nearly broke it all in at the gate,
But a champion's heart you never can negate
In his maiden he ran early - he ran late.
In the Nursery Stakes he left them in his wake.
When a Philadelphia shipper to New York,
He buttered them like lobster on his fork.

** CHORUS **

Smarty Jones, Smarty Jones
Runnin' like a river to the Churchill Downs
Smarty Jones, Smarty Jones
Runnin' to get over to the Triple Crown
Shippin' o'er the Schuykill into Hot Springs Town
He's a good one - Smarty Jones!

To Oaklawn Park they traveled as a team.
Bold John Servis chasing Someday's dream
With steady Stewart Elliott on his back
To test them on that sultry, southern track.
He needed every jump in The Southwest,
In the Rebel Stakes he clearly was the best,
"The Arkansas" was graded company,
Twas there he showed us how good he could be.

** CHORUS **

Smarty Jones, Smarty Jones
Runnin' like a river to the Churchill Downs
Smarty Jones, Smarty Jones
Runnin' to get over to the Triple Crown
An undefeated runner onto Louavul Town
He's the hero - Smarty Jones!

On a Kentucky morn he breezed a :58,
Still the wise men said he never would run late.
Was he fading to Borrego in his last?
Wasn't Tapit's final quarter very fast?
Was The Cliff's Edge final quarter faster still?
Or did the Irish in "The Castle" fit the bill?
Would the Gone West speed in Limehouse match his fire,
And douse him down before he found the wire?

** CHORUS **

(Not) Smarty Jones, Smarty Jones
Runnin' like a river through the Churchill Downs
Smarty Jones, Smarty Jones
Now he's gotten over to the Triple Crown
'Midst the juleps and the hats and the fancy gowns
He's the favorite - Smarty Jones!

Lion Heart went straight out looking bright
And Smarty got stuck early and in tight
Then Elliott showed he'd earned his Derby ride
Pressing forwardly with courage and with pride
On the backstretch Lion Heart relaxed the pace
With Smarty Jones still looming there in place
"The Lion" tried to steal it on the turn
But the Master, Stewart, loosened - and they surged

*** A BLAST OF THE FOXHUNTERS (REEL) ***

And now into the Great Lane they took stride,
Where "The Grey Ghost" and Damascus failed to thrive,
Where Forty Niner missed in his bold chase,
And Point Given really never got his race.
But Smarty quickly showed he had command.
That he's the Best in this or any land.
Drew away like they were painted to the rail.
Like a Champion he decisively prevailed.

** CHORUS **

Smarty Jones, Smarty Jones
Runnin' like the river that was Churchill Downs
Smarty Jones, Smarty Jones
Now he's gotten over to the Triple Crown
Like the undefeated Slew of high renown
He's the champion - Smarty Jones
Smarty Jones, Smarty Jones
Runnin' like a River over Churchill Downs
Smarty Jones, Smarty Jones
'Midst the juleps and the hats and the fancy gowns
And now the Roses - Smarty Jones

Gotten by Elusive Quality
From a light-regarded Smile mare came he...

Subject: RE: Your First song
From: Elmer Fudd
Date: 21 Feb 06 - 06:18 PM

My first effort, at age ten, to the tune of "Shall We Dance?" from "My Fair Lady"
(inspired by Mad Magazine's black humor and the unbearable fear created by the nuclear bomb testing being done by the USA and USSR):

SHALL WE BOMB?

Shall we bomb? (boom boom boom)
Shall we blast bad ol' Khruschev to the sky? (boom boom boom)

Shall we bomb? (boom boom boom)
Shall we kiss all our friends and foes good bye? (boom boom boom)

On a chance, shall we make sure that we shall all die?

On a clear understanding that this kind of thing can happen
Shall we bomb, shall we bomb shall we bomb?

Subject: RE: Your First song
From: Jerry Rasmussen
Date: 21 Feb 06 - 06:00 PM

Good one, BWL.

I like those kind of songs... have written a couple, myself..

Jerry

Subject: RE: Your First song
From: Liz the Squeak
Date: 21 Feb 06 - 05:56 PM

I found a whole pile of lyrics I'd written for someone else to put tunes to, whilst looking for important stuff..... he never did put tunes to them because he thought they were a 'bit too close for comfort'.

I've only ever written one song and tune, and that was 3 years ago. Only ever sung it the once, but there we go... it's mine. It was called 'The Journey' and it was about the contrasts between my life and the life of an older man who became a friend.

LTS

Subject: RE: Your First song
From: Bee-dubya-ell
Date: 21 Feb 06 - 05:07 PM

Okay, I'll play. I wrote this thirty years ago and I haven't sung it in years, but I still remember the words.

A little background... I'd only been playing guitar for about a year. My best friend, who had pretty much taught me what I knew on guitar to that point had moved several states away. He came home for a visit, we stayed up the whole night playing music and I wrote this a few days later.


GOOD TO SEE YOUR FACE AGAIN

Sing to me your song my friend, and I'll sing one of mine
Tell me about the times you've had, and the friends you've left behind
What is it you've been doing, what roads have you been down
Sit with me and talk a while, it's good you're back in town

CHORUS:
Well, it's good to see your face again, my friend
I don't yet know where you're going, but I'll be there when you reach the end
Yes, it's good to see your face again, my friend
Though I know come early morning you'll be on that road again

Well things have sure been different since you've been gone away
And it sure is good to have you back if only for today
Now do one more thing for me before you move along
Please pick up that old guitar and play just one more song

REPEAT CHORUS

Well I see the sun is rising, and it's time for you to go
Just think about me now and then if you're ever feeling low
'Cause you know when I start feeling down I always think of you
And the times we'll have together next time you're passing through

REPEAT CHORUS

Subject: RE: Your First song
From: TheBigPinkLad
Date: 21 Feb 06 - 04:51 PM

My first song will be hard to beat for yeeukkiness!:

Yesterday's papers blowing around
Up in the air and down
I cannot see you for the trees
And the whisp'ring grass on the ground ... (it actually goes downhill from there!)

First song performed to a paying public: In the Summertime (Mungo Jerry)

Subject: RE: Your First song
From: GUEST,Natalie
Date: 21 Feb 06 - 04:46 PM

This is my first song, written today.
It has to be sung with a Dolly Parton-style-swing-of-the-bust at the end of each line, accompanied by lots of emphasis on the eeeeeeeee in memorieeees / happeeeee etc.

It was inspired by "Poop in a Jar", a charming little number which was in another thread.


Here Goes:



I've got a silver box of memories
Choc-a-block with mementos of you and me
Wedding photos, romantic notes you sent to tease
And lots of lovely things you brought me just to please

Now she's got a golden box of memories                              
I sneaked a look inside and guess what I did see
Photos of December, hey in December weren't you with me?
Well that's a rotten thing to do, don't you agree ?

I wrapped some thoughts of yours and placed them with my memories
That box began to stink and I began to see
Honey, that ain't no way to thank me for all these years
But now my mind is clear, and I am finally free.

For your future little box of memories
I hope that money for you, it grows on trees
As for loving; curse or blessing, I am not sure;
I hope you get what you deserve, no less, no more

I had to throw away that box of memories
Cos it was smelling of your negativity
Now my smile it shines, my time is mine, my love's for me
And if I get what I deserve I'll be happy

Subject: RE: Your First song
From: Jerry Rasmussen
Date: 21 Feb 06 - 04:10 PM

Nice song, Bert:

Why don't you fly over here and sing it for me?

Jerry

Subject: RE: Your First song
From: Phil Cooper
Date: 21 Feb 06 - 03:53 PM

When I was in high school and hearing the songs of Chicago singer/songwriters like Steve Goodman and John Prine (besides the earlier great songs by the likes of Tom Paxton, Phil Ochs, and Eric Andersen), I took it upon myself to write some songs as well. I wrote reams of world weary adolescent stuff. A couple aren't bad, but some others are. An ex-high school girlfriend came to one of our gigs a couple years back and wanted to hear one of my old songs. I begged off, citing not remembering the words. I guess she hears what I was like when I was eighteen. I think of the words and think derivative. My words weren't having the impact that the words by the above mentioned writers had on me. I knew I was not hitting the standard for which I was stiving.

The first song I ever performed in public at an open mic, when I was 17 was "Violets of Dawn."

Subject: RE: Your First song
From: Bert
Date: 21 Feb 06 - 03:42 PM

Apart frowm a few stupid parodies my first real song was.


A                E7            A
Sitting alone in a one room log shack
                                 E7
The mountains are carrying the clouds on their backs
      A                            E7         A
The clouds they are nearer, it's starting to snow.
                                              E7       A
Are there more stars than snowflakes? I guess I don't know.



I look through the window at a storm getting near
There's often a blizzard this time of the year
Tomorrow it's Christmas, there's nowhere to go
Are there more stars than snowflakes? I guess I don't know.

A woman is riding alone in the storm
She sees the light shining and rides where it's warm
I open the door and I shout out 'Hello,
Are there more stars than snowflakes?' She yells I don't know

Come in for some coffee and stop for a while
I take her coat and she says with a smile
'I'll give you the answer you're wanting to know
Are there more stars than snowflakes? And then I must go'

We look through the window at a storm getting near
I ask the same question this time every year
She says she will answer and then she must go
Are there more stars than snowflakes? But she never does know.

Subject: RE: Your First song
From: Jerry Rasmussen
Date: 21 Feb 06 - 03:11 PM

I empathize with you, Alan:

One of my earliest songs was really DEEP: Words Of A Bum. I wanted to be a serious song writer. Dead serious. Three weeks in the well dead serious. I made the mistake of singing it at a sing around in Pittsburgh and just when I thought that it was dead and buried, grubby little fingers started thrusting their way up through the soil, and someone who'd heard me and loved the song was performing it! I think I've pretty successfully forgotten it now except for the line "The difference between a bum and a good man is like the line on the beach between water and sand." Kinda precious, and that was the BEST line in the song.

Jerry

Subject: RE: Your First song
From: alanabit
Date: 21 Feb 06 - 02:59 PM

My first song was so bad that I cringe at the memory thirty four years later. It had one verse and it was called "Seventy-two". I still recall the words, but I wish I didn't!

Subject: RE: Your First song
From: Jerry Rasmussen
Date: 21 Feb 06 - 02:15 PM

Good one, muppitz: Sounds like The Outback swiped your song for their radio commercials around Mother's Day.

Jerry

Subject: RE: Your First song
From: muppitz
Date: 21 Feb 06 - 01:27 PM

I was just two weeks shy of my 17th birthday when I wrote a song about my Mum and in the words of Vin Garbutt, "It's only a throw away song this, but it'll probably be the one I'm remembered for"

The chorus runs thus:

Mums, Mums, how can you live without them?
They'll pick you up when you get stuck and they'll always do your washing up
Mums, Mums, we know we really love 'em
They've smacked our bums, filled our tums
So I'll sing this for our Mums

muppitz x

Subject: RE: Your First song
From: Leadfingers
Date: 21 Feb 06 - 01:12 PM

Nice one Jerry ! So YOU were a slow starter as well then ? I shouldnt be posting here as my first song is still waiting to written ! I can fake tunes , but get NOwhere with words !

Subject: Your First song
From: Jerry Rasmussen
Date: 21 Feb 06 - 12:52 PM

Reading the thread about a first song made me wonder what other songwriter's first song was. My first one was a doo-wop song back in the late 50's... Foam Rubber Dice. I don't remember any of the words anymore, except the melody for the bass singing "Foam rubber dice."

I still occasional do one of the earliest songs I wrote back in the early 60's:

DRUNKARD'S LAST ADVICE

Well, I come back home on a Saturday night
And I opened the door and turned on the light
There stands the old lady with a rollin' pin
She says "You're drunk, and you can't come in"
Well I work all week and when the week is done
The weekend comes I want to have my fun
And I'd rather drunk on a Saturday night
Than stay home and fight with my wife

Aw, come on honey, be nice I said
It's three o'clock I want to go to bed
And if you be nice and you let me in
I swear to God I won't drink again
Well she didn't believe a word I said
She lands me a crack on the side of the head
Ans she sends me a flyin' out through the door
She say's "don't you come back no more"

Well about that time I was getting sore
I grabbed the handle, give a shove on the door
And I sends the old lady flying for a spin
I walked through the door with a great big grin
Now get in the kitchen, and get there fast
The next word you say is going to be your last
And the next time you try to kick me around
I'm going to put you underground

She was standing in the kitchen, didn't say a word
And About that time I began to lose my nerve
Her eyes light up and her face gets red
And I began to regret what I said
She blacked my eyes and she bust my jaw
She dragged me across the bedroom floor
And she kicked me underneath the bed
And she left me there for dead

Now if you got a woman and she does you wrong
You're short and skinny and she's big and strong
Makes no difference what they say
You better let her have her way
When You're down at the bar you can flap your chin
But when you get back home you better tiptoe in
And if she meets you at the door you better treat her nice
That's a drunkard's last advice... be nice
That's a drunkard's last advice.

Written when I was about 27, wasn't married and had never been drunk..

Jerry