It’s been a while since I wrote so during my little bout with writer’s block I’ve been recording some covers. All of the sudden yesterday out of nowhere I got inspired to write. The lyrics I came up with are below and they make reference to the death of my grandfather. This morning it just occurred to me that today is the anniversary of his death, 15 years ago.
“ICARUS”
I used to be a little afraid, but no – better make that a lot
Of the dark, and sounds like thunder rolling across the sky
Just because I’m a little bit stronger now doesn’t mean that I don’t cry
like the days I watched my kids arrive and when my grandfather died
(chorus)
Can you bring strength to my wings, enough to fly into the sun
Because you know that its up here that we are one
I leave my past behind and look for the future to be bright
No one knows what’s next so with faith we jump with both feet into life. (…a work in progress)
…Dedicated to George Scirrotto. 6/11/1921 – 5/2/1997
Its unnatural to contemplate your own death at such a young age but its common for your average 19 year old Marine. I remember shivering myself to sleep on the banks of a frozen fjord in Norway at minus 15 and coming to the realization that with sunrise another 9 hours out, there’s a distinct possibility that I could die over the course of those 9 hours. Or a year or so later on a CH-46 helicopter in-bound for Mogadishu. Hovering over the streets of the Somali capital in the early 90′s was enough to shake loose those last few, stubborn crystals of 20 year old invincibility. Uncle Sam’s Misguided Children was written from a reflection on those times…
Here’s my second cover so far in 2012. I’m learning that YouTube has different deals with different publishers. It seems that most are allowing covers to be posted to YouTube but the publisher will reserve the right to place an ad for the original version of the song below your video -which is fine with me. Warner Chappell doesn’t allow covers of songs from their catalogue on YT so my cover of Whole Lotta Love (watch) won’t appear there for now. Their agreement could change in the future but for now, here’s my ‘YouTube approved’ acoustic cover of Outshined by Soundgarden.
I decided to try my hand at a few covers this year. I used to play this (…along with many other Zeppelin tunes) in my band when I was in high school and I’ve always loved singing it. Here’s the video and a link to download my rendition of the Led Zeppelin Classic, “Whole Lotta Love” from iTunes.
The end of the year is a great time to take a look at where you are in key areas of your life – Your family, health, spirituality, business, etc. This year I’m adding music to the mix because in 2011 music has taken on a more significant role in my life. Between mp3 sales and more recently, through the YouTube partner program I’ve managed to create an income stream from something that I’ve been doing for the pure love of it since I was a kid.
I’ll keep this brief because the message really is very simple: Do what you love! It doesn’t have to be your primary source of income but whatever you do for a ‘living’ should not be so consuming of your time and energy that you’re left with no room in your life for your passion. Make your music, write your book, climb your mountain …Whatever it is, do it. This time next year another page will have turned and you will be able to look back and be proud of the commitment you made to yourself to share your gift.
Heres a compilation of music that I’ve made in the past year…
This is the first Christmas song I’ve ever written. I wanted write an original Christmas song but one that had a famiar – or even classic vibe to it. Enlisting my brother Dan to do the lead guitar work helped quite a bit. Dan has an excellent feel for just what a song needs and is always able to drop in enough really interesting leads to bring a song to life.
This is one of about a dozen videos that I created this year. My YouTube videos have now been seen well over million times and a few months ago I became a YouTube partner. I’m anxious to see what 2012 will bring…
Merry Christmas!
Lyrics:
Hey Santa, bring me something good this year
Like a smile from a child or a world without fear
Hey Santa, bring me something good this year
Make the clouds go away and our wars disappear
This is all I want. This is all I need this year
Hey Santa, bring me something good this year
Like a soldier coming home, a celebration of tears
Hey Santa, bring me something good this year
Bring us all love and hope, am I being perfectly clear
In the spirit of the season I made a video for “Harvest”. I wrote the song last year around Halloween. My usual formula for a video is a combination of footage that I feel reflects the theme of the song combined with clips of me actually recording the song. In this video I collected footage over the course of a couple of weeks combining images of gasmasks, my daughter’s dolls, the basement of an old home that I own and the creepy church and graveyard down the street from that home. Happy Halloween!
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