Download Rickie Lee Jones’ ‘His Jeweled Floor’

Posted on March 1, 2010
Filed Under Song of the Month | 21 Comments

Download this song for free. Right click on link.

From the 2009 album Balm in Gilead, a title heavily implying healing at work, a once Grammy Award New Artist, Rickie Lee Jones collaborates this month with the Franciscan Sisters of Christian Charity to offer His Jeweled Floor. Enjoy the gorgeous ambience of this inspirational song calling to mind John’s Gospel “in my Father’s house there are many dwelling places” (Jn 14:2). Rickie, artist, songwriter and producer plays all the instruments except bass and accordian with an inner fire that is burning brightly with the light of faith. She is a musical genius fearlessly comfortable sharing intensely personal songs. (Photo: Fred Graber, Fred Graber Photography, Madison, WI) Click here for further Franciscan Sisters of Christian Charity comments.

About Rickie Lee Jones

Rickie Lee Jones is the second of three daughters and one son who are of Welsh and Irish ancestry. She was born in Chicago, Illinois. Her parents, Richard Loris Jones and Bettye Jane Jones, both had peripatetic childhoods: her father lived from hand to mouth in a number of transient hotels, and rode the rails, wandering the country. Her mother was an orphan. She has described her family as “lower-middle-class-hillbilly-hipster.

Rickie Lee says:

I believe that heaven, as Christ said, is inside of us. Words are imprecise; any sentence can mean many things, and I suppose that is the nature of our existence here; we cannot seem to get a true meaning from anything. It could be this or that. That is as the Buddhists discovered, the illusionary aspect of life in this dimension.

The Hindus express God correctly too, suggesting that it is a multi-faceted expression of heads that have different personalities and jobs. That helps bring order to the whole supreme being thing. I rather think all these ideas are interpretations of limited language, for there are no words to describe what God is, God exists outside this realm.

But for the part that is aware of God, inside of us, and only inside of us, God can be said to be us, because we are aware of God, and we are the only beings at the train station taking down his telegraph message. So we interpret signals, then we speak the dots into a language, and we deliver the message. But all of this is only symbolic of the true nature of God. Once we understand that faith means we cannot interpret the message, ever, in its true language, that we trust that we have at least heard the telegraph machine, and that everyone all over the world is trying to deliver messages, and that this in itself is a great thing, then we can feel that we are a part of God manifesting here. But to say we have the answer and only we know, this is not faith. To say we have heard the music of the wires, and although you have not heard it, I cannot make you hear it, but I know that it is, and hope that I bring you solace and joy, this is a message of compassion that we can deliver to others.

I think all the rules set up by the humans about how to run a church is just that, and the church has its place. But the greatest thing is the quiet moment inside each of us, when we are soothed by God’s loving hand, missing our dead parents, hurt by our friends, betrayed by our actions or emotions. Psychiatrists say we have created our own parent to sooth us. And why not? That is the interpretation of miraculous events, a language that cannot interpret God cannot find a way to include God in its interpretation. But we know that this is God’s work, the creation of evolution, the timeless space, the gift of concept of Genesis, what an incredible book, in which someone tries to explain to us that creation took place, first of all, and second, that how amazing it is that first there was nothing, and then here was something. That says it all.

For me, the more I learn, the more evidence of God, of the incredible intricacy is more proof of a point of origin. To me, God is not an human personality playing hide n seek with mankind. Why did you let these bad things happen? God creates a framework, and is the framework, and experiences the framework, just as we do, are.

He (God) creates every action has an equal and opposite reaction, but then he creates a bit of chaos or it would all be a clock, and nothing would ever change. We can lean in any direction to discover the workings of things, but we cannot ever understand.

To read Rickie Lee’s complete comments click here.

Lyrics: His Jeweled Floor

And when you arrive
shining and new
Forgotten by the fear and pain
you put your body through

On His Jeweled Floor
We are every one
Laying in His starry arms,
On His Jeweled Floor we are standing now
See me as I am…You’ll come in the afternoon
of a hard travelin’ day
Blown by a stormy sky
that finally passes away

On His Jeweled Floor
We will meet again
He holds us all in His starry arms
On His Jeweled Floor I am standing now
Can you see me as I am?

There are no demons, only angels
Life will surely fade
Spend it loving tenderly
Or Shiva at your grave,
Sit shiva at your grave,

On His Jeweled Floor
we will all be there
He holds us all in His starry arms
On His Jeweled Floor no one ever falls
Can you see me as I am,
as we dance a thousand suns?

Websites:http://www.greatbigisland.com/rickie_sales.htm http://www.rickieleejones.com/

Move ‘Beyond the Blues’ with Peter Case

Posted on February 1, 2010
Filed Under Song of the Month | 24 Comments

Amid important conscious-raising causes and significant celebrations during the month of February, the Franciscan Sisters of Christian Charity offer singer-songwriter-author-guitarist Peter Case’s truth-seeking Beyond the Blues.

About Peter Case

Ever since he grabbed on to rock’s roots as a teenaged street singer, Peter used his guitar to tell it as he sees it reported from the margins and outskirts of society for 30 years. Eventually working his way up, after countless nights of roadwork, Case has met not only the ghosts of a thousand truck drivers but plenty of real people, from Mississippi to Montana who appreciate a true song when they hear one, folks who treasure the words of a writer who speaks truth and directly to their dashed hopes, deferred dreams and the promise of a some bright morning on the horizon. Read his new book As Far As You Can Get Without a Passport.

Debuting in 1986 with a T-Bone Burnett-produced solo album (featuring contributions from Ry Cooder, David Hidalgo and Jim Keltner) he earned a Grammy nomination for its songs detailing the failure of the American Dream. Set to a tribal folk percussive blend of blues, country and rock’n'roll, echoes of its theme and sound run through his entire songbook.

Over the next two decades he would release the highly acclaimed and influential the man with the Blue post-modern fragmented neo-traditionalist Guitar, the dreamscape Torn Again and the rock solid Case classics Full Service No Waiting and Flying Saucer Blues. His own label, Travellin’ Light, released two beloved collections of stripped-down roots music: Peter Case Sings Like Hell and Thank You St. Jude. The 21st Century has seen the psycho-Delhi-blues of Beeline, and 2004’s politically motivated tracks, Wake up Call and My Generation’s Golden Handcuff Blues, compiled on his best of the Vanguard years set, Who’s Gonna Go Your Crooked Mile. The 2007 Yep Roc Records release, Let Us Now Praise Sleepy John, earned Case another Grammy nomination in the Best Traditional Folk Album category. Sleepy John is Case at his most direct: a straight shot from the frontlines of our times, delivered by one man, a guitar (and a handful of friends).

Peter’s Comment:

Vinyl records playing in the sunrise or late at night on teenage apartment phonographs, also heard on the sacred Sunday evening ‘Folkscene’ broadcast that’s what this music started as, for me: a key to the highway, an opening of the doors on the world. It’s a sound that left my heart room to grow and a connection from today’s world to a past that’s vanished, but never that far away.

Lyrics: Beyond the Blues

The old man on the corner, he’s singing my life
He’s playing guitar with a frosty old knife
And each line that he sings rhymes with the truth
And the promise of something beyond the blues, beyond the blues

Now you and me darling took the long way around
Across the wide open country, past the heart attack town
We hit the fork in the road where we all have to choose
Between darkness and light, beyond the blues
Beyond the blues, beyond the shadows, and the rain
Beyond the darkness beyond the pain
When you know in your heart there’s no way out but through’
Take a walk with me darlin’ beyond the blues

That old man on the corner he’s been gone for years
His guitar and his knife are all rusty with tears
But there is a song that he gave us that we’ll never have to lose
About another life waiting beyond the blues
Beyond the blues, beyond the shadows, and the rain
Beyond the darkness, beyond the pain
When you know in your heart there’s no way out but through’
Take a walk with me darlin’ beyond the blues, Beyond the blues Love is the road beyond the blues

Websites: http://www.petercase.comMy Space: http://www.myspace.com/petercase Any comments?

Download ‘Don’t Look Down, Pollyanna’ by Steve Forbert

Posted on January 1, 2010
Filed Under Franciscanized World, Song of the Month | 65 Comments

Offering insightful poetic lyrics at a time when some families are facing a winter season with escalating needs, the Franciscan Sisters of Christian Charity feature folk-rock singer/songwriter Steve Forbert’s ‘Don’t Look Down, Pollyanna’.

Comments from Steve Forbert

“Don’t Look Down, Pollyanna” is clearly a song about America today—all of the foreclosures taking place and the people out of (what were) their homes. One reads the statistics—the numbers coming out of government monitoring agencies and the financial institutions, but where are all of the people going? Everyone knows we’re not still talking about secondary residences and failed attempts at flipping condos in Miami. Are we talking about the waiting list for a tent village near Tampa? As far as the song’s title, anyone familiar with the (underrated) Disney film will recall Hayley Mills (literally out on a limb) sneaking out of her upstairs window in order to attend the town bazaar. Of course the peak scene is the one where the town preacher ’sees the light’ thanks to that wonderfully wise little girl and a quote from Abraham Lincoln (but I still prefer Mrs. Snow beside the fishing booth making sure Pollyanna wins a doll!)

About Steve Forbert

Earning wide acclaim as the “new (Bob) Dylan in the seventies, Steve Forbert was born in Meridian, MS. After learning to play the guitar/harmonica at an early age he eventually made steps to become a professional musician in New York City. Since his debut, Steve has released twelve albums, all of which exemplify his lasting originality in a blend of folk and rock music.

In 2010 he is a songwriter who not only appears comfortable with his place in life, but who also still rejects a nine-to-five existence in favor of following his own road-less-traveled.“Music should be truthful and real,” Forbert once said, “but it should also be uplifting and healing.” That’s a philosophy he’ll be honoring throughout this new year as he continues to share a rare creative talent that is ever new not only with a loyal fan base but with us here at Franciscanized World. Help us spread his uniquely-personalized world view with others.

Websites

Official Website: http://www.steveforbert.com/
My Space: http://www.myspace.com/steveforbert

Lyrics: Don’t Look Down, Pollyanna

The sidewalk spiel, it’s no big deal,

The traffic lights are blinking just the same;

The church bell tolls for hearts and souls,

And ev’ry moth is flapping toward a flame.

Don’t look down, Pollyanna,

Don’t look down at all;

Shreveport, Louisiana

Is just as high as Niag’ra Falls.

You feel as if you’re over a barrel,

You think you might be close to the edge,

You’re hopin’ there’ll be somebody there who’ll

Get you back in tact off the ledge.

Your west side home they foreclosed on

Is someone else’s dream come true today;

At near half price it must feel nice

To wake up with a mortgage one can pay.

Don’t look down, Pollyanna,

Don’t look down at all,

Shreveport, Louisiana

Is just as high as Niag’ra Falls.

You feel as if you’re over a barrel,

You think you might go straight down the drain,

You’re hopin’ there’ll be somebody there who’ll

Zap you back t’ Hackberry Lane.

The World And How To Work It

Is a book you should’ve read,

There should’ve been a copy on the night stand by your bed;

Life And How To Live It

Is another good choice as well–

The new large print edition and a fairly clean hotel…

A sweet soul blast from days gone past

Is bouncing off the Greyhound station wall;

A safe past tense that makes good sense

And now is somewhat painful to recall.

Don’t look down, Pollyanna,

Don’t look down at all; Shreveport, Louisiana

Is just as high as Nia’gra Falls.

You feel as if you’re over a barrel,

You think you might be close to the end,

You’re hopin’ there’ll be somebody there who’ll

Get you back on track once again.

(c) S. Forbert 2009

credits from Don’t Look Down, Pollyanna,

released 28 October 2009

Written by Steve Forbert

Any comments on the song?

Ponder ‘O Come Emmanuel’ a Franciscan Sisters’ Advent Podcast

Posted on December 1, 2009
Filed Under Franciscanized World, Image of the Month, Podcasts, Song of the Month | 79 Comments

In this month of liturgical seasons that anticipate and celebrate the birth of Jesus, rejoice and enjoy O Come Emmanuel, a podcast featuring the Franciscan Sisters of Christian Charity’s rendition of the medieval Catholic hymn “O Come, O Come Emmanuel” (Veni Emmanuel) with its beautiful, haunting melody and collection of titles ascribed to the Savior from Scripture. Reflect on stunning Incarnational stained glass windows found in one of the Franciscan Sisters’ Motherhouse chapels and other Northeastern Wisconsin churches. Made from the most ordinary materials, this stained glass is sand transformed by fire into a jeweled beauty that stirs souls and moves them closer to God.

Sisters Caritas Strodthoff,OSF (xylophone and vocals), Sister Chiara LaValley, OSF (flute), Sister Myra Jean Sweigart, OSF (vocals) and Sister Winifred Crevier, OSF (organ) blend their musical gifts to perform this traditional hymn translated into English by John Mason Neale (1818-1866).

The stained glass windows highlighted in this podcast are from these places of Catholic worship:

St. Francis Chapel, Holy Family Convent, Manitowoc, WI

St. Gabriel Church, Neenah, WI

Nativity Church, Cudahy, WI

St. Mary Church, Appleton, WI

Sacred Heart Church, Sherwood, WI

St. Paul Church, Combined Locks, WI

St. Patrick Church, Menasha, WI

How does this podcast move your heart?

Relish Carloyn Arends’ ‘I Am A Soul’ This Thanksgiving

Posted on November 23, 2009
Filed Under Franciscanized World, Song of the Month | 11 Comments

If you enjoy the abundance of God’s encompassing love and have an appetite for wonder and reverence about the nature of the human person, we, the Franciscan Sisters of Christian Charity, invite you to savour Carolyn Arend’s ‘I Am A Soul’ this Thanksgiving season.

Invitation: see Carolyn ‘live’ at Cup O Joy, Green Bay, WI on December 5, 2009.

Carolyn and Arlan Feiles’ ‘I Wonder’ unite this month on Franciscanized World to provide a menu of timely thoughtfulness. You’ll want to listen to both artists.

Carolyn’s Notes on I AM A SOUL

My duo partner Spencer and I were sandwiched into a window and middle seat on a flight across Canada. In the coveted aisle seat was a man heartily enjoying a book by one of the “New Atheists” – I can’t remember if it was by Dawkins or maybe Hitchens. (Let’s call it “Ditchkins”.)

Spencer is never one to turn down a good conversation so he started chatting this fellow up. It turned out he was a thoughtful professor of something or another who was convinced that no case could be made for any existence beyond this material world. Pretty soon all three of us were in a lively discussion about synapses and neurons and whether there was any reality beyond that which can be built from molecules.

I found myself stymied. How does one argue for Transcendence without just sort of mumbling about beauty and art and hunches and instincts?

You know how, when you lose an argument, a thought comes into your head an hour or a day later and you think THAT’S what I should have said? “I Am a Soul” is what I should have said. I wrote it a few days after the airplane conversation, and if I can ever track that professor down, I’ll thank him for the inspiration!

Biography

Carolyn Arends is releasing her 10th album and is the author of 2 critically-acclaimed books. 15 of Arends’ songs have become top 10 radio singles on the Canadian pop and US Christian charts. Arends has earned 2 Dove Awards, 3 Juno Nominations, and was recognized as the West Coast Music Awards’ Songwriter of the Year.

Carolyn’s newest project, Love Was Here First, features 10 new Carolyn originals and a reinterpretation of the classic gospel tune “Standing in the Need of Prayer.” New musical twists like vocals from the 3-man gospel group The Sojourners and a crackling horn section surprise and delight, but what’s really on display here is the lyrical prowess of a master songwriter passionate about her subject–the encompassing love of God.

Website: http://carolynarends.com

Invitation: See Carolyn ‘live’ at Cup O Joy, Green Bay, WI on December 5, 2009.

I Am A Soul Lyrics

Molecules and atoms, just like Eve and Adam

Ashes to ashes, dust to dust

Even still I wonder – when we are six feet under

Will that truly be the end of us

‘Cause why beauty, why poetry

Why “no! no! no!” to every tragedy

Why laughter, why lullabies

And why this asking why

I have a body, but I am a soul

I see a fraction, it’s not the whole

I cannot prove it, but still I know

I have a body … I am a soul

A sculpture or a canvas can speak a private language

Telling secrets hidden in the heart

About a world of spirit – I swear sometimes I hear it

Playing like a piper in the dark

It’s in love songs, in symphonies

In funeral marches and in liturgies

It’s in whispers, in rally cries

In dreams that won’t say die

You have a body but you are a soul

You see a fraction, it’s not the whole

I cannot prove it, but still I know

You have a body … you are a soul

World without end, amen

Chorus

Phil Robertson: drums

Adrian Walther: bass

Roy Salmond: electric guitar, organ, keybords, tambourine, backing vocals

Spencer Capier: electric and archtop guitars

Carolyn Arends: acoustic guitar, backing vocals

Word Without End: The Not Bad Singers

——————————————-

Any comments on ‘I Am A Soul’?

Enjoy Feasting on Arlan Feiles’ ‘I Wonder’

Posted on November 16, 2009
Filed Under Franciscanized World, Song of the Month, Vocations / Discernment | 16 Comments

Celebrating an abundance of God’s goodness this harvest season, the Franciscan Sisters of Christian Charity invite you to feast on Arlan Feiles’ powerful, reflective song, ‘I Wonder’. Contemplate wonderful, insightful lyrics, a singer songwriter compared to Dylan or Simon, with a flair for majestic, yet simple melodies. His music is shaped with the Thanksgiving spirit of a strong sense of justice and love. (Photo credit: Kyra Kverno) Arlan and Carolyn Arends’ I Am A Soul’ unite this month on Franciscanized World to provide a menu of timely thoughtfulness. You’ll want to listen to both artists.

Arlan Feiles Reflects on ‘I Wonder’:

I wonder

The possibilities that life puts before us at every minute are limitless.

Left Turn, right turn? Up, down? Forward, backward?

Each choice wholly personal to our faith;

The faith to make a decision; right or wrong

Sometimes we are pleased with the result, and sometimes we are not.

And sometime we wonder ….was that this the right decision? Is it wrong to even ask?

To wonder is the most human of expressions.

We question each moment, and we value the answers we receive.

We move forward with determination and pause.

We appreciate the importance of every choice.

We should always strive to make the right decisions, but not be a victim to failure if we do not.

We hope for an answer from one’s heart and follow it to its road’s end.

“We are building something larger than those mountains”

Each choice is a mountain to climb,

Then we look out from the summit and embrace the view it in all its beauty and wonder.

Arlan Feiles - Nov. 2009

Listen to More of Arlan’s Music

Dramatic in refreshing the acoustic style of Ryan Adams, Neil Young, Woody Guthrie and in the Big band traditions of Roy Orbison, Pete Seeger, The Band, and The Country Bear Jamboree, Arlan Feiles is a Jewish songwriter inspired and ‘fueled by a fierce compassion’. His band, Gift Horse, grew into the 14-piece Lone Orchestra, which plays upbeat Americana at venues along the Jersey shore, most regularly in Asbury Park. His albums include Come Sunday Morning and his rereleased album, Razing the Nation. (Photo credit: Kyra Kverno)

Websites:

www.arlanfeiles.com www.myspace.com/arlanfeiles

“I Wonder “- Lyrics copyright 2007

You could see things your way but I feel it both ways

So I never take sides I just learn to listen

People stop in wonder, people stop in wonder

Cause I always find the time

Time to breathe, time to try

There’s an icy windbreak rolling off the prairie

It’s a storm a frontin’ we best look for safety

And we’ll sit in wonder, yes we’ll sit in wonder

Cause we always find the time

Time to feel, time to cry

And I often wonder ‘bout you

Could your love be true

When I know it must be wrong to even wonder

But I wonder

We are building something larger than those mountains

And I’m racing to you over foot and fountain

And we’ll sit in wonder, yes we’ll sit in wonder

Cause we always find the time

Time to heel, time to fly

—————————————————————–

How does ‘I Wonder’ move your heart?

Listen to ‘Wanderer’s Paean’ by Kim Beggs

Posted on October 1, 2009
Filed Under Song of the Month | 33 Comments

While celebrating saintly itinerant Francis of Assisi during the month of October, the Franciscan Sisters of Christian Charity invite you to immerse yourself in Kim Beggs‘ culturally rich Yukon ballad ‘Wanderer’s Paean’.

A few words from Kim about the song Wanderer’s Paean:

“When I was young, I traveled far from home and loved ones, guided by the wandering spirit song. This wanderer’s paean, sang through my blood until I was embraced by strangers and made a new home. My home is now the Yukon, Canada.”

Biography

Whitehorse, Yukon may be a long way from the American south, but it’s notable for the same sort of hardscrabble lifestyle and unshakable sense of community that influenced early Appalachian music over a century ago.

It was that very sense of community that prompted Toronto transplant Kim Beggs to make her home there almost 18 years ago, and it’s that same sense of banding together in the face of adversity that has inspired her distinctive “sweet dark” old-time tinged roots music - a style that draws inspiration from old country and bluegrass, but which is unmistakably influenced by the expansiveness and desolation of the North.

Combining delightful acoustic arrangements with a voice that’s been described by Acoustic Live in NYC as a “cross between Nanci Griffith and Iris DeMent” Beggs reflects on the journey through life and death, the wanderer’s spirit and the loss of loved ones. Closer to home, she sings of the destruction of the Whitehorse shipyards and the struggles of a family member with fetal alcohol spectrum disorder. Yet for all the allusions to tragedy, the songs never sound “heavy” thanks to Beggs’ uplifting melodies. On her sophomore CD, Wanderer’s Paean, a who’s who of fine acoustic players fleshes out the delightful old-time sound. They include Handy Award-winning bluesman Rick Fines on guitar, Shania Twain accompanist Burke Carroll on pedal steel, The Creaking Tree String Quartet’s John Showman on violin, and another Yukon starlet Kim Barlow on banjo.

Beggs’ sophomore album Wanderer’s Paean earned a 2007 Western Canadian Music Award for Outstanding Roots Recording and a 2007 Canadian Folk Music Award nomination for Best New/Emerging Artist. Rambles.net called it the “full-bodied, fully realized statement of a major artist.” Her song “Lips Stained Red with Wine” and “Walking Down to the Station” were winners in the International Songwriting Contest, and Beggs was booked to play Canada Day celebrations this year in London’s Trafalgar Square. While there, she also appeared on the BBC Radio program Bob Harris Country, listened to by over 14 million people.

Kim has sung this song, Wanderer’s Paean, on national public radio in Canada and the US. It has been played on the radio all over the world.

Her albums have been nominated for music awards in Canada and the US. If you like this song you might enjoy hearing her other songs. Visit Kim’s website. Both her albums, Wanderer’s Paean and Streetcar Heart are available in CD format as well as digital downloads from her website store. Her third album, Mama’s Dress, will be released in April, 2010.

Website: http://www.kimbeggs.com

Store: https://p10.secure.hostingprod.com/@www.kimbeggs.com/ssl/store/gc/

Lyrics:

One cup of tea in the morning for me

A kiss while you sleep

The sun rising up brings a tear to my eye

My heart tells me get along my way

I heard the train last night, whistle refrain

Hooo hooo hooo, wanderer’s paean

I heard the train last night, whistle refrain

Hooo hooo hooo, get along my way

I’m the one from my kin whose blood won’t stop burnin’

Wandering bones and skin

The saddle round my heart it cinches at night

When I start to thinkin’ I’m home

You shone your love in this stone that ain’t true

And my skies are heavy and blue

But with the clothes on my back,

grub and coins in my sack

My heart tells me get along my way

Hand clasping hand, pull me up from the tracks

By strangers won’t never look back

Boxcar my freedom, railroad my bath

Sundown by clickity clack

Download ‘Through the Mystery’ by Martha’s Trouble

Posted on September 1, 2009
Filed Under Song of the Month | 58 Comments

Realizing September often brings new encounters and experiences whether in school or work environments, the Franciscan Sisters of Christian Charity’s Song of the Month features “Through the Mystery’ performed by Martha’s Trouble and also written by Rob and Jennifer Slocumb.”Forget October’ , the cd from which this musical selection is taken, is ‘a mix of songs about honest experiences and real people, a contemporary music production with some edge.’

About Martha’s Trouble

‘‘The pop/rock duo Martha’s Trouble were formed by the husband-and-wife team of singer Jennifer Slocumb and guitarist Rob Slocumb, Ontario, Canada in 1994. The duo later relocated to Auburn, AL and thereafter spit their time between Auburn and their former Canada home. They released their debut album, Tale of a Foreigner, on their own Aisling label in 1998. It was followed by The Road Ahead (February 5, 2000), the holiday EP Christmas Lights (November 2002), Sleeping Dogs (2003), Still (April 2003), Forget October (2005), and the EP EP (February 2008). For their second holiday recording, This Christmas, released November 11, 2008, the Slocumbs added guitarist Jacob Blount as a bandmember.

Title: Through the Mystery

Written By: Rob & Jen Slocumb

Length: 3:29

Published By: ManyMilesMusic, ASCAP 2004

Lyrics:

The water feels cool on my face

As it falls from above

Telling me I belong

Telling me that the sky won’t fall

I’m waiting for something greater

And I’m trying to be strong

I just feel so small

Sometime so unable

So come and take these chains that surround me

Help me find my way through the mystery

I just don’t know why

I am feeling so blue

I’ll just close my eyes

And all I see is you

So come and take these chains that surround me

Help me find my way through the mystery

And when I am cold You warm my heart

You pick me up to the place where I needed to be

So come and take these chains that surround me

Help me find my way through the mystery

Website: http://www.marthastrouble.com/

Now You Can Tune into ‘Pages’ by Tom Kimmel and Jenny Yates

Posted on August 1, 2009
Filed Under Song of the Month | 34 Comments

The Franciscanized World’s August song of the month is Pages performed by Tom Kimmel and written by Tom Kimmel and Jenny Yates, “a song responsible for changing people’s lives”.The Franciscan Sisters of Christian Charity applaud Tom Kimmel a sought after teacher and songwriter who has led workshops around the US and in Europe.

Captivating audiences by winning fans and garnering critical acclaim in the worlds of folk, rock and spiritual music, Tom is a soulful and unique singer and performer.

Tom’s award winning songs have been featured in film and television and recorded by the likes of Johnny Cash, Linda Ronstadt, Nanci Griffith, Randy Travis, Shawn Colvin, Dianne Reeves and many, many others.

Tom Kimmel is a poet and spoken word artist whose poems are featured in poetry and literary journals, and who is a frequent guest author at book festivals and book stores in the South and around the country.Tom is also a street minister and social activist, performing and teaching from coast to coast in traditional and New Thought churches, in therapy and healing retreats, and for those in need, including hospital patients and prison inmates.

Tom’s Comments:

This song, by contrast, was a slow birthing. The first verse came all at once, as I recall? I loved it and sang it over and over? Then there were some more pieces? and a long pause. At some point there was a chorus with several variations. I felt like a blind man feeling my way alng trying this and that sure I was on the right track. One day I showed what I had of it to Jenny Yates and she jumped in, had strong ideas about what was missing, what to keep and what to leave out, and we finished it together. Andrea Zonn did a beautiful job with this on her debut album ‘Love Goes On’.

Lyrics: Pages

Yesterday’s wars

Stack up like old papers on the floor

Pounded like old knocks upon my door

Breaking like the ocean

Washing through my hands

Changing this ol’ mountain into sand

You know me

By the stories I have made

You know me looking out through boxes and cages

And it’s hard to clearly see what’s right

In ordinary light

Does the truth filter down

Through the ages

We can not see the end

So here we must begin

Tell me what will we write on these pages

Disciplined road

Showing only what it wants to show

Calling when it’s time for us to go

Driven by emotion

Pushing from the past

Running till the spirit’s free at last

You know me

By the stories I have made

You know me looking out through boxes and cages

And it’s hard to clearly see what’s right

In ordinary light

Does the truth filter down

Through the ages

We can not see the end

So here we must begin

Tell me what will we write on these pages

Down through history we race

Across borders and to empty space

We write a chapter, a fable, a line, a trace

Another heart may follow

You know me

By the stories I have made

You know me looking out through boxes and cages

And it’s hard to clearly see what’s right

In ordinary light

Does the truth filter down

Through the ages

We can not see the end

So here we must begin

Tell me what will we write on these pages

For more information see Tom Kimmel’s and Jenny Yates’ websites.

Find Out from Chuck E. Costa ‘Where the Songs Come From’

Posted on July 1, 2009
Filed Under Song of the Month | 7 Comments

The Franciscan Sisters of Christian Charity’s July-featured songwriter is modern day troubadour, Charles E. Costa in Where the Songs Come From.

About Chuck…

Chuck was raised in New York City, part of an Italian family with a mother from Norway, which may be partly responsible for the creative breadth of Chuck’s musical expression.

After receiving a degree in philosophy from the University of Colorado and studying with poet Lorna Dee Cervantes, Chuck left Colorado to play music in the Northeast.

With his dulcet voice and emotive lyrics, Chuck has grown into a singer/songwriter with a unique and honest voice without any pretentious static. He is recognized as the 2009 Falcon Ridge Emerging Artist Showcaser, 2008 Rocky Mountain Folks Fest Winner; 2007 Kerrville NewFolk Finalist (TX); 2007 Telluride Troubadour 3rd place (CO); and 2007 Solarfest Winner (VT).

He has shared the stage with such diverse nationally touring acts as: Rosanne Cash, The Weepies, Pete Seeger, Josh Ritter, Dar Williams, Peter Case, The Samples, Andrew Bird to name a few.

Offering songwriting workshops for kids, Chuck taps into the incredible creative minds of kids and co-writes songs with all of their help and some quite amazing results.

Chuck has released three albums to date. Where the Songs Come From was recorded at Signature Sounds Studio and released in 2008. His latest ‘At the Drawing Board’ was released May 25, 2009.

Lyrics

Where the Song Comes From

I’m gliding through a tunnel of sycamore trees.

Somehow they seem more alive with no leaves.

The street was named Rose.

It’s off to Grandma’s house I go.

I’ve got a book of paperbacks

a suitcase of photographs

Get me from there to here

They’re the train

I’m the engineer.

I swallowed a red lego when I was 5.

I prayed. “Please God don’t let me die.”

At least not ’till they come home I don’t want to go alone.

I survived. Learned to play the saxaphone,

the piano and the baritone

and after Grandpa died,

I searched the basement for his old baseball cards

Instead I found this great big red guitar

And learned how to play

I’ve got a bookcase of paperbacks

a suitcase of photographs

Get me from there to here

They’re the train. I’m the engineer.

Gonna suck the marrow from the bone

Squeeze the blood from a stone

Be patient & I won’t run to find where the songs come from

keep looking »

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Peter’s Comment:

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Comments from Steve Forbert

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Listen to More of Arlan’s Music

Websites:

“I Wonder “- Lyrics copyright 2007

A few words from Kim about the song Wanderer’s Paean:

Biography

Lyrics:

About Martha’s Trouble

Title: Through the Mystery

Written By: Rob & Jen Slocumb

Length: 3:29

Published By: ManyMilesMusic, ASCAP 2004

Lyrics:

The water feels cool on my face

As it falls from above

Telling me I belong

Telling me that the sky won’t fall

I’m waiting for something greater

And I’m trying to be strong

I just feel so small

Sometime so unable

So come and take these chains that surround me

Help me find my way through the mystery

I just don’t know why

I am feeling so blue

I’ll just close my eyes

And all I see is you

So come and take these chains that surround me

Help me find my way through the mystery

And when I am cold You warm my heart

You pick me up to the place where I needed to be

So come and take these chains that surround me

Help me find my way through the mystery

Website: http://www.marthastrouble.com/

Tom’s Comments:

Lyrics: Pages

About Chuck…

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