Love Conquers All (song #91)

Love Conquers All (song#91)

Love conquers all

If you let it in

Love conquers all

If you just begin

Let down your guard

Break through the walls

And chase always these (my? your?) sins

Love conquers all

Love always wins

You forget and I forgive

You moved on but I need (want?) to live

I wonder if you really how how this feels

I recall and you deny

I want more than truth inside a lie

You wonder how much of this is real

(Yet) love conquers all

If you let it in

Love conquers all

If you just begin

Let down your guard

Break through the walls

And chase always these (my? your?) sins

Love conquers all

Love always wins

You reach out I pull away

You let go I grab away

The back and forth and all the ups and downs

I open up and you hold back

So many times we've both lost track

Reach so high falling back to the ground

(Yet) love conquers all

If you let it in

Love conquers all

If you just begin

Let down your guard

Break through the walls

And chase always these (my? your?) sins

Love conquers all

Love always wins

I can't win 

A game you won't play

You can't begin

To feel the same

Deep within

Time's to blame

Stretched so thin

Pride turns to shame

(Yet) love conquers all

If you let it in

Love conquers all

If you just begin

Let down your guard

Break through the walls

And chase always these (my? your?) sins

Love conquers all

Love always wins

© 2013 by Richard Maxwell

any unauthorized use,  duplication, distribution, or broadcast is a violation of applicable laws

How Many (song #90)

How Many (song #90)

Every memory's 

A reminder that you're gone

(and) I know (that) these things take time

But how long will this go on?

All these days

Linger in my past

I know I will need to let go

But how long will this last?

How many days will sun shine down

On everything I knew?

How many times will I fall down

Still missing, still missing you?

Every single time

I let my heart just drift

I wonder if you see me

Can you give my heart a lift?

All these (passing) moments

That you can't come along

I feel you in the simplest things

Going on and on and on 

How many days will sun shine down

On everything I knew?

How many times will I fall down

Still missing, still missing you?

This can't be our last goodbye

This can't be our one last try

This can't be my darkened sky

This can't be the end of you or I 

How many days will sun shine down

On everything I knew?

How many times will I fall down

Still missing, still missing you?

How many ways can I look around

And still not see what's true?

How many loves can I rebound

Still missing, still missing you?

© 2013 by Richard Maxwell

any unauthorized use,  duplication, distribution, or broadcast is a violation of applicable laws

Pick Me Up (song #89)

Pick Me Up (song #89)

Sometimes I get so down

(I) just need your pride to pick me up

The truth is that I never knew

How much I'd need your love

The ups and downs

The ins and outs

My pain (fear) I can't outrun

Don't shake me loose if I let go

Pick me up - pick me up

Stepping back

I can't believe the things I said

On the attack

You must think I'm out of my head

In the end

I blur the lines until their red

The knife wasn't mine to twist

My grasp can't hold all I'm gonna miss

Sometimes I get so down

(I) just need your pride to pick me up

The truth is that I never knew

How much I'd need your love

The ups and downs

The ins and outs

My pain (fear) I can't outrun

Don't shake me loose if I let go

Pick me up - pick me up

Overkill

I can't (seem) to let anything go

Had your fill

Can't say I blame you for saying no

Until now

I couldn't tell - it didn't show

Hanging on to the past

Should have know it couldn't last

Sometimes I get so down

(I) just need your pride to pick me up

The truth is that I never knew

How much I'd need your love

The ups and downs

The ins and outs

My pain (fear) I can't outrun

Don't shake me loose if I let go

Pick me up - pick me up

I block myself then break your walls all the time

I lose myself then make you go and find

My peace of mind

I've been so blind

Every time

Sometimes I get so down

(I) just need your pride to pick me up

The truth is that I never knew

How much I'd need your love

The ups and downs

The ins and outs

My pain (fear) I can't outrun

Don't shake me loose if I let go

Pick me up - pick me up

© 2013 by Richard Maxwell

any unauthorized use,  duplication, distribution, or broadcast is a violation of applicable laws

Not Enough (song #88)

Not Enough (song #88)

Sometimes sorry is not enough

When words only hurt the ones you love

When promise after promise gets broken in the dark

And all you're left with is your broken heart 

Sorry's... just not enough

Changes

Don't excuse the past

Moments don't return

And they don't last

Patience

Won't end the rush

Hope can't replace

(Even) as it rises above

Sometimes sorry is not enough

When words only hurt the ones you love

When promise after promise gets broken in the dark

And all you're left with is your broken heart 

Sorry's... just not enough

Anger 

Won't lessen the load

Burning so bright

It's only overload

Distance 

Can't bridge the gap

Where you've been

Is never where you're at

Sometimes sorry is not enough

When words only hurt the ones you love

When promise after promise gets broken in the dark

And all you're left with is your broken heart 

Sorry's... just not enough

Hit that switch

It all still remains

Change it all up

It all stays the same

Every new line's

Just an old refrain

Again and again and again and again

Sometimes sorry is not enough

When words only hurt the ones you love

When promise after promise gets broken in the dark

And all you're left with is your broken heart 

Sorry's... just not enough

© 2013 by Richard Maxwell

any unauthorized use,  duplication, distribution, or broadcast is a violation of applicable laws

What If All Eighty Eight Songs I've Written Recently Are Actually Just One?

One a week.  Every week.  Without fail.  That's been my songwriting experiment since January 1 of 2012.  (Song #88 "Not Enough" just needs the middle 8 completed...) I've written about it a bit in some earlier posts, and it has been a really great experience for me.  Some of the songs I'm quite happy with, others have elements that work better than others and may need some more time to reach their full potential, but all of them have given me some insight into my creative process, and that means all of them are quite valuable to me.

The process itself has gotten easier each week too.  Somewhere along the way - I could not say exactly when, but for at least the last few months - possibly longer - I find I can tap far more easily into a flow of viable ideas.  It's been quite freeing for me in many ways.

In truth I have not recorded any of them - though I have been - in an attempt to be more open with myself - been posting the lyrics for the last many weeks.  And I am working towards a live performance rig that should allow me to merge the writing process with the recording and performing process into a more musically fulfilling overall creative process, but as it's just not quite there yet, I do not feel rushing will serve any real purpose.  In fact I believe it would actually move me backward in the long run, so for now patience (and diligence?) is the rule....

In any case, one of the things that became clear over time was that as I found myself writing songs that were mostly making use of simpler chord progressions and more direct musical lines, I began to see that the songs might all be connected somehow.

I cannot quite place it yet, and I'm not even sure it really matters in the bigger picture, but I feel like there is a sense of continuity across them all.  Maybe it's just something I am projecting into the songs, but there really does seem to be a line.

I would not be the first person to work within this premise.  Not even close.  But regardless, the notion of a single, continuous musical line has a very strong appeal to me.  There is something about the notion of another level of musical connection that I want to keep exploring....

Pick Me Up (song #87)

Pick Me Up (song #87)

Every step forward is one you can't go back

On the defensive you can't attack

But all the years still roll by

A new path charted on travelled ground

A new oath taken - a sacred sound

Still, you and I

When I'm falling to pieces

You pick me up - pick me up

A piece of a puzzle left behind

A lock for a key - yours and mine

Soft sounds still shout

Every answer narrows the view

Doing nothing is still something to do

Day in and day out

When I'm falling to pieces

You pick me up - pick me up

The water may rise  but this storm will pass

The flood may come but this tide won't last

When I'm falling to pieces

You pick me up - pick me up

© 2013 by Richard Maxwell

any unauthorized use,  duplication, distribution, or broadcast is a violation of applicable laws