Thoughts About Everything Without The Small Talk

“Eternal Flame” is another song that came into my head from out of nowhere. It just started playing in my mind on its own. I remembered the song, but I had never heard of (or don’t remember) an all-girl band called The Bangles. The group was popular in the 1980s. Susanna Hoff, their lead singer, wrote Eternal Flame with songwriters Billy Steinberg and Tom Kelly. The idea came from a Cyndi Lauper…

It started out as a poem. Then it turned into a song. Then it became a background song for the movie “Beaches.” After various song covers at home and abroad, in 1988, Bette Midler made “Wind Beneath My Wings” a #1 hit in the USA. A year later, the song won Grammy Awards for both Record of the Year and Song of the Year. Here’s my version.

“Sky Blue and Black” is an emotional roller coaster, looking back on the joys and sorrows of love and its lasting impact. Jackson Browne wrote the song over a four-year period and released it on his album “I’m Alive” in 1992. The source material comes from Jackson’s relationship with a famous actress. However, Browne never wants his songs to be identified with his specific life events, so he…

Cat Stevens wrote “The First Cut Is The Deepest” when he was eighteen. At the time, he had no intention of becoming a worldwide star performer. He sold the song for thirty pounds to P.P. Arnold, a soul singer who lived near him in London. She released “The First Cut Is The Deepest” on her first album. It reached #18 on the U.K. charts in 1967. Eventually, Rod Stewart and Sheryl Crow covered the…

The Seekers are an Australian band formed in 1962. The Folk and Gospel group achieved the zenith of their popularity in the mid ’60’s with several hit songs. Their most memorable chart-topper is a song titled “I’ll Never Find Another You.” It reached #1 on the UK charts in 1965, making the Seekers the only Australian band with a #1 hit song outside of Australia. The song reached #97 in the United…

“True Colors” is a song with legs. It started out as a song written for a mother in a traditional ballad format. Billy Steinberg and Tom Kelly wrote the song in 1986 and offered it to Anne Murray, a popular singer at the time. Murray passed on the song. Cyndi Lauper took it and creatively revamped the format into a stark and breathtaking version. The song became a hit worldwide because of its…

Like all of the Silver Sphere Novellas, “Return of the Visitor” opens with a life-threatening event. The sixth book in the series finds Amy and Jacob Casell joined by their alien and android friends, attempting to evade a swarm of supersonic fighter jets determined to blow their Starship, the Dauntless 2, out of the sky unless the crew can identify themselves adequately. The situation is grimly…

Like all of the Silver Sphere Novellas, “Return of the Visitor” opens with a life-threatening event. The sixth book in the series finds Amy and Jacob Casell joined by their alien and android friends, attempting to evade a swarm of supersonic fighter jets determined to blow their Starship, the Dauntless 2, out of the sky unless the crew can identify themselves adequately. The situation is grimly…

In this song, Cat Stevens is singing to a woman he yearns for in a Human form. On another level, he may be singing, aware or unaware, to the Divine Feminine. In either case, the object of Stevens’ love is unattainable in the present. Yet, I believe, that the admirer (Stevens) continues to yearn for his beloved in the hope that he will, one day, meet his perfect love, in either or both Human and…

Have you heard of Steve Gillette? If you were alive in the 1960s and liked folk music, there’s a chance the name rings a bell. Gillette never reached the top of the charts, but he’s a very talented singer/songwriter. Many of his songs have been performed by artists you have heard of, including John Denver, Gordon Lightfoot, Ian and Sylvia, Nanci Griffith, and Linda Ronstadt. “The Bells in the…

A movie studio commissioned a composer to write “Everything I Do” for Kevin Costner’s Film, “Prince of Thieves.” Bryan Adams, with his producer Mutt Lange, wrote the lyrics, bridge, arrangement, and outro. Adams used a line from the movie for the song title. The studio did not like the instrumentation in the finished product. They buried it midway in the credits, not anticipating what a huge hit…

The Silver Sphere Series Silenna, the Scientist/Warrior from the planet Aneleya, returns to Earth to begin her long-awaited Humanitarian work. From the start, her promise to the people of Earth gets off on the wrong foot when Air Force fighter jets come within a hair’s breadth of blowing the Dauntless 2 and its crew out of the sky. After an uneasy landing at an Air Force base in Washington,…

The Silver Sphere Series Silenna, the Scientist/Warrior from the planet Aneleya, returns to Earth to begin her long-awaited Humanitarian work. From the start, her promise to the people of Earth gets off on the wrong foot when Air Force fighter jets come within a hair’s breadth of blowing the Dauntless 2 and its crew out of the sky. After an uneasy landing at an Air Force base in Washington,…

Here’s my cover, produced with an incredible guy I’m working with to create unique recordings of beautiful music written by masterful artists of the past 60 years.

Previous to this writing, I had never heard of Bryan Adams. I am in the minority because Adams has created a number of beautiful, chart-topping hits that most people besides me are familiar with. “Heaven” is another song that came into my mind from someplace I can’t define. When I heard Boyce Avenue’s stirring performance of it, I fell in love with the song immediately. On July 15, 1985, “Heaven”…

Despite its somewhat foreboding title and subject matter, this Nanci Griffith song is upbeat and fun to play. “I Wish It Would Rain” was released by MCA in 1988 on Nanci’s 6th album titled “Little Love Affairs.” I hope you enjoy listening to the song as much as I enjoy playing it. I’m including a video of Nanci Performing in the late 1980’s. Just look at her beautiful smile. Here’s my cover.

Here’s another song, written by Paul Kennerly and made famous by Emmylou Harris, called “Heaven Only Knows.” The song was released on Emmylou’s 1989 album, “Bluebird.” The song reached #16 on the Hot Country Music Chart. Since I’m a newcomer to the Country Music Scene, I’d never heard of Paul Kennerly before. He’s an Englishman who has written 30 published Country Music songs. (I guess there are…