EGJ Songs
Most people don’t know this, but I’ve been not only a writer but also a musician and songwriter most of my life.
Since music has been such an important part of my life, I thought I would share some of it with you here. My older tunes are toward the bottom of this page, and more recent tunes, including Grey Matter, will appear closer to the top.
Keep in mind that nothing on this page is a finished product. All these tracks are "DEMOS," some a bit more raw than others.
PS: I will be adding more songs here in the future.
Most people don’t know this, but I’ve been not only a writer but also a musician and songwriter most of my life.
Since music has been such an important part of my life, I thought I would share some of it with you here. My older tunes are toward the bottom of this page, and more recent tunes, including Grey Matter, will appear closer to the top.
Keep in mind that nothing on this page is a finished product. All these tracks are "DEMOS," some a bit more raw than others.
PS: I will be adding more songs here in the future.
I am currently writing and recording music for a project called Juniper House. We released our first song in Jan 2022. You can LISTEN HERE
I am currently writing and recording music for a project called Juniper House. We released our first song in Jan 2022. I included the track at the bottom of a blog post entitled A MUSICAL LEGACY. You can LISTEN HERE
♫ RECENT CREATIONS ♫
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L Y R I C S
The Longing and the Letting Go Colors fade to shades of grey No more words between us Still the touch of memory Rushes over me Everything remains the same but everything has changed A moonlight trace illuminates a photograph of you It’s all that’s left, it’s all I have I cannot hold you now 🎵🎵🎵 guitar solo #1 Anger comes like pounding drums Drowning out the pain Still the empty lingers In the shape of you All the rest is meaningless There’s nothing for me here I’d give all my tomorrows For one more dream with you 🎵🎵🎵 guitar solo #2 My heart grieves In spite of me I cannot hold you now A momentary glimpse The truth in my reflection Faded echoes ripple through my world My feet upon the ground, unbound A walking contradiction The longing and the letting go The ebb and flow 🎵🎵🎵 guitar solo #3 Morning sun, a dream undone Sorrow comes to wake me The scent of you still haunts the room It comforts me. Something here Something gone I cannot hold you now. 🎵🎵🎵 Daylight breaks The world waits I cannot hold you. |
♫ PAST CREATIONS ♫
Below are demos for some of the songs I wrote and recorded in my teens and early 20s. These recordings are not perfect, but they are heartfelt. Below each song is the story behind it...what inspired the song.
If I Write You A Song
The Story Behind “If I Write You A Song”
I have a friend–Greg Conway– who has been there for me throughout my life–from grade school into adulthood. I would go around the world for him, and he for me, yet I never told him how much I respected, admired, and loved him. I just assume, because we had been friends for so long, that he already knew. But when I realized I’d never properly conveyed my feelings and it seemed awkward to do so after 20 years of friendship, the desire to finally speak the words came out in a song one evening as I sat outside on the balcony playing my guitar, and watching the scene inside, framed by French doors, as he sat talking and laughing with mutual friends.
This was one of those rare moments where the time that it took to write the song was the same amount of time it took to play the song. It just came out of me completely done and this recording is very close to how it sounded that night when I first wrote it.
It has been nearly 30 years since I wrote this song and we are still the best of friends.
PS: The third to the last photo in this slideshow is of my older brother Grant who died last year. As I was making this video, he popped into my mind, and I realized I felt much the same about him, but rarely said so. I just felt the need to include him here. The last two pix are of the “heavens” because I am sure he is up there somewhere, watching over me as he always did when we were children.
L Y R I C S
“A Million Miles Too Far”
The Story Behind “A Million Miles Too Far”
I wrote this song for Hanz and Heidi, a father and daughter separated by an entire ocean. I was there on one of their rare reunions and their hearts touched me in such a deep way, I had to express it through music. I will never forget the look in their eyes, of love and pain, happiness and sorrow in equal proportions. They loved being together, but their eventual separation hung over them like a looming grey cloud.
The human heart is so brave. Despite the pain that was to come, they were able to let go of their circumstances, and just BE with each other. Love. Laughter. Joy. To look at them from afar, you’d never know they were about to lose each other again. But I knew, and it broke my heart. It still, to this day, brings tears to my eyes when I think about it.
When they asked for a copy, I pushed record on my little cassette recorder and played/sang the song once through (this was the late 70s), and then gave it to a friend to give to them. They were so moved by the gift that they never forgot me even though I had only met them once.
The reason I know this is because, decades later, I got a message from Heidi on FB. She reached out to me over distance and time to let me know her father was in the hospital and dying. When they asked him if he wanted anything, he said he wanted to hear “A Million Miles Too Far” one last time. His cassette version had disintegrated years ago (as cassettes often do). So I made them a CD copy (crying all the way through the transfer) and sent them this recording… a version they had never heard before… a duet I did with my musical partner Russel Taylor, back in the early 80s.
In my new Christmas book, THE SAINT OF CARRINGTON coming out in November 2017 St. Nick says, “Love transcends all boundaries including time and space.” I know this to be true from personal experience. What separates Hanz and Heidi now are not a continent and ocean, but heaven and earth, yet somehow I know their hearts are as connected now as they ever were.
L Y R I C S
