Classic rock with some acoustic combining the word-rich, street-smart tradition of Dylan, Springsteen, et al. with literary poetics to produce songs as tightly crafted as poetry despite being born "in the foul rag and bone shop of the heart."

13 MP3 Songs
ROCK: Classic Rock, ROCK: Folk Rock



Details:
SINGER IN THE RYE COMPANION

ROAD AMERICA (rock)

Its title inspired by a race track in Wisconsin, this tune in the road song tradition takes a wry look at the great American dream for a house in the sticks & a life on cruise control with conveniently located shopping malls and golden-arched restaurants.

EASTERTIME (acoustic)

In the vein of artists ranging from T.S. Eliot, Wallace Stevens, & Martin Scorcese to Jerry Lee Lewis, Patti Smith, & Bob Dylan, this song explores the central Christian conflict between the flesh & the spirit, inverting Christian symbols in conveying its provocative theme.

SONG OF CHAPMAN (rock)

A dramatic monologue set to the opening theme of Beethovenâs 5th, this song was inspired by a Frontline documentary on Mark Chapmanâs invocation of Catcher in the Rye as a rationale for the assassination. While killing in the name of Christ to save children from phonies is obviously a perverse contradiction, Chapmanâs alienation itself is widespread enough to make the novel a perennial best-seller.

POSTCARDS (folk-rock)

A song for those cold winter days when an ex-lover is enjoying tropical bliss with someone else or for those lonely spring days when winter lingers in the spirit despite the blossoming earth.

DAMNATION (rock)

In a style reminiscent of the Doors, this song involves a defiant fall from grace, the twist being that the protagonistâs forbidden love evolves into a spiritual kinship with his lover that âendures the decay of her flesh.â

PANDEMONIUM RAINS (acoustic)

A traveling song about the relentless but futile pursuit of joys that canât last in a world of toppled gods, shamed heroes, and masquerading lovers always in search of the next best thing.

A FALLING AWAY (rock)

A life-cycle song whose use of biblical allusions, nursery rhymes, & fragmentary passages is loosely patterned after T.S. Eliotâs style in âThe Waste Land. â Unlike âDamnation,â the challenge to God here ends not in defiance but in the recognition that life is an irredeemable process of falling away.

A BURDEN TO DREAM (acoustic)

A song about waking prematurely from a dream of paradise. The inspiration comes from Caliban, the deformed slave of Shakespeareâs âThe Tempest,â who was afflicted with dreams so enchanting he wished to curl back up and dream them again.

TO A CHAMPION (folk-rock)

A take-off on Housmanâs elegy, âTo an Athlete Dying Young,â this song is part ode, part elegy, celebrating an athlete who quits on top while at the same time expressing the sadness that attends the end of a golden era. Any connection between the song & one Michael Jordan is purely regrettable in light of his misguided return to the court as a Wizard . . .

BLOOD IN THE HILLS (rock)

A song where the protagonist thief suffers from the modern predicament of being plagued by Christian guilt even though God might be dead & âthe only sinâs getting caught when your pleasure isnât spent.â

THE PRINCE OF FOLLY (rock)

A âSeize the Dayâ song in the tradition of âMy Generation,â âHey, Hey, My, My,â âProve It All Night,â âGet It While You Canâ and countless others, but with a twistâfrom the standpoint of one whose heeding of the wildcard voice in his head has brought only misfortune.

THE LATIN KING (acoustic)

A dramatic monologue that might be subtitled âKurtzâs Letter to the Gringosâ because it basically recasts (ala Apocalypse Now) Joseph Conradâs âHeart of Darknessâ with the slums replacing the jungle & a corrupt narc replacing Kurtz. The narcâs argument for making himself a god is one Kurtz might have made if he hadnât succumbed to âthe horror, the horror!â

ALREADY IT IS DUSK (acoustic)

The title & theme of this song were sparked by the cover of Henryk Goreckiâs CD, Already It Is Dusk, which features a quartet of the same name. The brownish cover is of two veiled nuns walking among the ruins of a bombed city that could just as easily be Sarejevo, Beirut, or Baghdad as one from World War II.