Youth is Wasted on the Young

I got to school yesterday morning and was in the cafeteria doing my morning duties of making sure mayhem doesn't break out. While I was walking around watching the students this tune popped into my head. I kept humming it over and over to myself while I was walking around. When I finally got my piano in my classroom I sat down and plugged out the chords for it. I worked on the song throughout the day, but I couldn't find an easy title for it. I wanted it to be something that was just a simple phrase - possibly something I had heard people say before. Eventually this phrase came to my head and it was the title of the song and it finished up my song for me.

I know the song is short - that's on purpose. I teach my students a lot of folk music and the one thing I love about these old songs is how short they are, but yet some of them are so cool. This isn't destined to go down in history as a folk song, but I was trying to write something short and I accomplished it. It's just a great little song that is fun to sing and play.

Now here's the kicker - the song is actually about the decay of American society. I don't normally write about things of this nature, but I see so many different things around me that just rub me raw. I thought I'd put it out there in a song. There's just too much fighting, selfishness, and lack of respect in this country anymore. There are subtle hints of this in the song. These are my own personal views, but the more I hear around me I am not alone in this thought. The world is rude and selfish. Let's try and get that fixed.


There’s no reason left to cry
We’re still getting by
All the good has now been undone
On the broken wings of dove
You’ll find shaded love
Youth is wasted on the young

Time has seen this life of mine
I’m still doing time
Now my troubles have begun
The system that I’m in
Is never gonna win
Youth is wasted on the young

Silly as it all may seem
No one’s getting free
No one underneath this old sun
Rebels like to pick their fights
Can’t we all unite?
Youth is wasted on the young

Try to live out your days
In the best of ways
Don’t just run away


Youth is Wasted on the Young.mp3

Die Every Day

I started writing this on Sunday I think. Sometimes I write songs with ideas for it in mind. Other times they just come up and I kind of have to follow them. I literally feel as though I am being pulled around on a leash by the song. That's kind of what happened with this. I just started writing and there were different directions that I thought the song should go, but it wouldn't let me. I had to follow the way it was taking me.

The song ends abruptly - yes I know. I did that on purpose. It was not a mistake. I just felt like that's how it should end. There were two different endings that I thought the song should have. One of them included more singing and then a nice ending. The other was this ending. The other ending was the safer ending - the one that would have been more widely accepted by the public. I completely decided against the traditional ending, strictly because I was more comfortable with it. Sometimes I do it that way.

The chorus of the song is for my wife. I would die every day to be with her if that's what life required. She's my world and I'm mad about her. Love you babe!

If I tried to break the sun to pieces
I’d find happiness within the dark
I’d accept the fact that I’m defeated
And I’ve known that from the start

If I tried to swim the deepest ocean
I know that I couldn’t go alone
I’d be fine just going through the motions
But I’d feel it in my bones
Without you I can’t go home

It’s all on the wire
This love for you
I’m burning a fire I can’t undo
I’ll dig through the rubble
To pull you through
Time and time again I’ll come for you
I’d die every day to be with you

More than once I’ve battled things I can’t see
I’ve got scars with stories of their own
I see things in you that you cannot see in me
All I want is you ‘cause you’re my home
You and I can have things we don’t know

It’s all on the wire
This love for you
I’m burning a fire
I can’t undo
I’ll dig through the rubble
To pull you through
Time and time again I’ll come for you
I’d die every day to be with you




Die Every Day.mp3

Walls

I wrote this song last week. It's one of those songs for me that is just fun to sing. I love the chorus. It was one of those puzzle-piece song. Once the chorus was written it just came together. There is really nothing to the song in terms of meaning. I was just writing. I haven't felt the need to write songs with deep meanings lately. Lyrics are getting harder for me to write. Honestly, these are throw away lyrics. I would love to come up with something better in the future.

I broke down walls for you
You left me black and blue
You throw your stones at me
With hopes to make me bleed

Voices call out the dead
You fill yourself with dread
You push yourself away
But I can’t make you stay

I fall down these broken stairs
You’ve hurt me beyond repair
I hang by a thread for my own sake
And now I have crossed the line
I long for another time
It’s true that I cannot see behind these walls you’ve built for me and you

Hand slid across my eyes
Time to apologize
I know you cannot breathe
You live your life obscene

Swallow me on the breeze
Drown me in violent seas
I’ll wait to hear your song
But I won’t wait that long

I fall down these broken stairs
You’ve hurt me beyond repair
I hang by a thread for my own sake
And now I have crossed the line
I long for another time
It’s true that I cannot see behind these walls you’ve built for me and you


Walls.mp3

Own

I wrote this song a few weeks ago, but I just finished the lyrics earlier today. I wrote this as I was falling asleep one night. I always have my phone on my nightstand and sometimes I'll get an idea and just roll over to grab my phone to record the basis for the song. Sometimes I'll hum a melody, sometimes I'll hum a chord progression. It just depends on what hits me. With this song it was the melody. My problem is that I don't know if this is song that somebody already wrote. It reminds me of another song but I can't tell you for the life of me what song that is!

The same thing happened with Paul McCartney when he wrote "Yesterday". (By the way - I am NOT comparing myself to McCartney or this song to "Yesterday".) He woke up one morning with the song in his head and figured it out quickly on the piano. He said it came to him so quickly and easily that he thought for sure that he hadn't written it. He thought it might be a song that he heard his dad play when he was a kid. Paul's dad was a jazz musician. Paul took the song around London to his musician friends for a while and would play it for them, asking if they could identify the mystery song. None of them could. He didn't even have real words for it yet. The opening line of the song was "Scrambled eggs, oh you've got yourself such lovely legs..." Eventually he realized that the song was his very own creation and he went with it.

So now I put it to you - have you heard this song before? I really want to know because I swear this came from someone else and I don't want to be known as a ripoff. Let me know if you've heard it, or if it sounds like something else you've heard. Even let me know if it sounds like an original, new song. If I did copy this from someone else it was completely unintentional. I appreciate all comments and suggestions!!


Sometimes this pain is the answer
A customized scream for defeat
Heartache is my midnight dancer
A feeling I find bittersweet

It’s been too long since I’ve been home
The face I once knew is long gone
I feel the madness in my bones
I’ve done so much right it feels wrong

Baby, you done me wrong
Left me all on my own
Maybe I’ll run a long
With this pain I now own

I used to think I was special
Much to my dismay I choked
I thought I knew myself so well
Parts of me felt they were broke

I’ve done my best to get by this
It’s hard when I can’t get away
I’m not the person that I’ll miss
But I’ll be the one in my way

Baby, you done me wrong
Left me all on my own
Maybe I’ll run a long
With this pain I now own

I’m such a mess
Inside this flesh

Baby, you done me wrong
Left me all on my own
Maybe I’ll run a long
With this pain I now own



Own.mp3

The Artist

I'm not really sure where this song came from. I started writing the verse for it a litte while before spring break. I had a few choruses that I wrote for it, but nothing seemed to fit with the rest of the song. Yesterday during staff meeting (again!) I was thinking about the song and a new chorus came to me, as well as the rest of the song. I went down to my piano and plugged out the chords to the new chorus. I loved it and finished writing the rest of it.

The song is about being with that one person who you wish was good for you, but is ultimately the most destructive person you've ever had in your life.Thank goodness I don't have to deal with that crap anymore - but I've been through quite a few of those relationships in the past. There's nothing worse than being infatuated with someone and feeling like you're dying when you're not around them, yet when you are around them they just continually dig your grave for you. Some people really have this behavior down to an art, which is where the title of the song came from.

We can’t keep running away
There’s more to all this than we might say
I shouldn’t give in to you
You give no warning for what you do

You’ve got this down to an art
There’s no forgiveness in bleeding hearts
Tomorrow is what we make
But will it be something we will break

Still I’m on fire for you child
Can’t seem to cut myself free
Not quite sure why I’m still going wild
With all the hurt you’ve given me

So with my blood on your hands
Are you still able to understand?
You try to make me forget
But it’s not me who should have regrets

Still I’m on fire for you child
Can’t seem to cut myself free
Not quite sure why I’m still going wild
With all the hurt you’ve given me

I confess
I’m a mess
At the end of this noose
Done my time
Walked the line
I’ve got nothing to lose


The Artist.mp3

Bitter Screw

This one came pretty quick to me. I was on my way over to the church for the general priesthood session of conference when the melody popped into my head. I sat in the car for a minute after I got there and wrote the first couple of lines. By the time I left the church after the session I had it it finished. This song has nothing to do with conference, nor is it religious by any means.

I had been listening to Pearl Jam's new album earlier in the day. (By the way - it is fantastic! Go grab a copy.) The melody came about from do some listening to them. This is not meant to be a Pearl Jam song. In fact, it sounds nothing like Pearl Jam, but somehow or another, Eddie and the guys inspired this song.

Bitter Screw is just a reference to the hard things in life. Sometimes you have to turn that bitter screw, or do those things you really hate doing but know they have to be done. It doesn't mean it's easy by any means. It is in fact harder, but we still do it - still turn it. I really like this song though and I think it has a lot of potential.


You don’t know me
You don’t know me
You don’t know my name
You might see me
Break and beat me
Find in me some shame

Now we’re going round and round
To crash into the ground
All we do is spin in sin
It’s trouble that we’re in

You’re enraging
You’re engaging
Fire in my hand
Unassuming
So confusing
Hard to understand

You cannot provide inside
A calm before the storm
I know that you hate to wait
Your patience has to form

As you hold onto your soul
I know you have to go
As we turn this bitter screw
There’s a light that shines on you
It’s much easier to fail
Than to let the truth prevail
And it’s all that I can do
But I can’t do it all for you

I’m still hurting
Though deserving
Part of kingdom come
You’re a bad dream
Can’t you come clean?
What now have you done?

There’s a part of you – it’s true
That scratches at my mind
There’s a part of me I see
That could only be so kind

As you hold onto your soul
I know you have to go
As we turn this bitter screw
There’s a light that shines on you
It’s much easier to fail
Than to let the truth prevail
And it’s all that I can do
But I can’t do it all for you


Bitter Screw.mp3

Dark Angel

I wrote this song in 1995 - the year after I graduated from high school. I got the title from a book that my mom gave me to read. I don't remember who wrote it or what it was about - it wasn't that good, but I did like the title. About this same time I had met a kid in Yuma that was a fantastic musician. I can't remember what his name was, but he and I had gotten together a few times to work on some music. I do remember how impressed I was with him and his songs that he had written and it was a driving force for me to write better music.

I don't really remember what the song is about. It's been so long since I wrote it. I did play it to a few people back in the day after I had written and they seemed to like it. It should have a lot more to it vocally, but I really don't have the chops. I wish I did, but my voice has worsened through the years. I remember being so pleased with the section that starts out "now it's time to wipe the poison...". For some reason that I cannot remember I loved getting to that part of the song to sing. It was my favorite section. Anyway, here's an oldie for you.


Night is gone, the morning’s come
Good has lost and evil has won
The pains of night time are replaced with morning’s fears
Now the life I live is like a broken mirror

Now it’s time to wipe the poison from my eyes
The spell you cast upon me gave no chance to try
The way you treat me makes me bleed just like a cut
You threw me out your door and now you’ve locked it shut

Dark angel, spread your wings over me
Dark angel, make my dream reality
Please take your poisonous venom from my blood
Keep yourself from my thoughts
Keep me from your love

Anger is gone but depression’s coming fast
Love is lost and joy is in the past
You were my lighthouse guiding me throughout the night
Now you’ve left me all alone without your light

Your sharpened tongue cuts through my soul just like an ax
My feet are cut from walking on your broken glass
The hands that once loved me no threaten me with stones
The voice that sang to me now speaks in darkened tones

Dark angel, spread your wings over me
Dark angel, make my dream reality
Please take your poisonous venom from my blood
Keep yourself from my thoughts
Keep me from your love

Oh the harder that I fall
The less likely I’ll bounce back like a ball
Oh the wretched pain that’s in my soul won’t let me go

Dark angel, spread your wings over me
Dark angel, make my dream reality
Please take your poisonous venom from my blood
Keep yourself from my thoughts
Keep me from your love




Dark Angel.mp3