Forever

Love Song (4:10)

(words and music by Lesley Duncan)

A cover of an early 70’s song by British singer-songwriter Lesley Duncan, Love Song was made popular by Elton John, and discovered by us on a great YouTube video of David Bowie performing it. It’s a song we love to sing and we typically open our live performances with it, as we open our album with it. We’ve sung it at weddings and memorial services. The chorus contains one of our favorite lyrics:  “Love is the opening door. Love is what we came here for.”

And Yet (4:37)

(words and music by ODNT)

This song is a response to the world we’re all living in, but it is also a response to the hardships and challenges of life at any time. Yes, there is suffering, war, political madness, climate uncertainty, disease … and yet there are all the small joys that keep us going. And there is always music. The song ends hopefully with the words, “And yet … let’s sing!

I walked into the changing light
Tall grasses swaying in the breeze
Gazed at the river through the trees
As it moved along its banks
Met my friend along the path
We talked of books and our kids
Our dogs dug holes and ate dirt
And the birds sang in their many different tongues

And yet
And yet there is sorrow everywhere
And yet there is fear and there’s greed
And yet people are lonely
And yet

I played guitar on the front porch
Old song I struggled to recall
Singing softly to not disturb
The neighborhood.
Sam, the boy from down the street
Walked by and did a double take
“Hey that’s a guitar”
“I play the harmonica. Let’s sing together sometime.”
 I said, “you bet.”

And yet
And yet there are madmen in power
And yet there is disease
And yet our neighbor’s husband died a month ago
She now sits on her porch alone
And yet

At the kitchen table
Changing light through the window
My husband next to me
We drank wine, ate olives and cheese
We talked about the weather
The news of the day
Church bells rang in the distance
While our dog snored at our feet

And yet
And yet
Loneliness
Tyranny
Struggle, illness, suffering
And yet
And yet
And yet
We cannot ignore, we cannot forget
And yet, here comes Sam, his harmonica in hand
I call out “let’s sing.”

Step to the Right (4:29)

(words and music by ODNT)

We were inspired by neuroscientist Jill Bolte Taylor’s widely viewed Ted Talk about her experience having a stroke that caused her to be temporarily cut off from the left side of her brain. She describes how being almost exclusively in the right side of her brain was Nirvana-like: living completely in the present moment, without ego, and with a strong sense of connection to the universe. In encouraging us to seek to access the right side of our brains, she uses the words, “step to the right.” Mark said, “That’s a song!”

Our response is our most theatrical song, a blend of Kurt Weill and Stephen Sondheim, moving musically and lyrically from the frenetic left brain to the serene and dreamlike right brain. With its dramatically shifting melodies and political twist at the end, this song has been a real crowd pleaser when we perform it.

When your left brain’s clogged and about to overflow
And you’ve run out of solutions and being in the know
When your threads are all unraveling, your chest is getting tight
Now’s the time, to let go of time
And step to the right
And step, my friend, to the right

Step to the right
Move to the light
No beginning no end
Just colors and shapes
And the sounds that sounds make
Where being is doing
There’s no more pursuing
And life feels right, my friend
And life feels right again

When the last chip’s gone from the bottom of the bag
But you’re still feeling hungry and empty and sad
You’ve accomplished a lot but your spirit is shot
Step aside, hitch a ride, float or glide
Just slide on over to the right
Just slide, my friend, to the right

[Repeat Chorus]

Remember my friend
Vote to the left
But step to the right.

I Had This Friend (5:29)

(words and music by ODNT)

For Deborah

On our first album, the song “Ode to Harold and Maude” paid tribute to a fictional character who changed Mark’s life. In “I Had This Friend” we pay tribute to a real person who changed both of our lives. Deborah died of cancer in 2021, leaving behind many who loved her fiercely. The song speaks to the power of friendship and the serendipity of crossing paths with the right person at the right time.

I had this friend
She found me
Didn’t know I was lost
She rescued me
From a time of drudgery
I, young, naïve, and shy
She, worldly, bold, and wise
So was I, So was I
So was I, in her eyes

I had this friend
So at home in the world
The world was her home
Hers to roam
Intellect, lion’s heart
Her soul, a work of art
So alive, So alive
So alive, she took my breath away        

O my friend,
If we could talk again
About the play when the curtain went down
Which Jane Austen to reread
Why David Bowie made you sing
And how our gardens fed our souls
And how this life would never grow old

I had this friend
She wasn’t always easy
She set the bar high        
I didn’t always comply
She suffered no fools
And had her own rules
But her mind was open as her heart
Open wide as her heart

I had this friend
She was my guide
Kept her on my shoulder
With her I was bolder
Sometimes we got lost
Together we’d get lost
We laughed until we cried
And together we’d find our way home

[Repeat Chorus]

I had this friend
She loved birthdays
We got the news
On her fifty-seventh birthday
She would die
As she had lived
Thankful for the life she’d lived
Her lion’s heart open wide
Her soul a work of art
She took my breath away

Your soul remains my guide

A Robin or a Wren (3:00)

(music and lyrics by Jeff Tweedy)

This song by Jeff Tweedy is one we wish we had written. It feels like a song we could have written as it so speaks to us in its celebration of life in the face of mortality. We are drawn to the inventive and fanciful way Tweedy frames the story. And it’s so damn much fun to sing and play!

What Saves Me (4:12)

(words and music by ODNT)

Inspired by two poems – “Aimless Love” by Billy Collins and “The Patience of Ordinary Things” by Pat Schneider – we wrote this song to celebrate the small things that save us “when the world spins too wildly, when life makes no sense.”

What saves me
What catches my fall
What save me
Almost nothing at all
An ordinary day
No ordinary thing
Almost nothing at all
Almost nothing at all

The song of the sparrow
The key in the door
The slant of the rooftop
Worn rugs on old floors
Bare branches in winter
The heartbreaking sax
The bass’s deep pulsing
Light slipping through cracks
Light slipping through cracks

When the world spins too wildly
When life makes no sense
What saves me, what holds me
What catches my fall
Almost nothing …
Almost nothing at all

The drooping hydrangeas
In their taffeta gowns
What saves me
Friends goofing around
The clouds in the puddle
That soon will be gone
What saves me
How a good novel ends
How a good novel ends

The car wiper’s thrum
In the rain in the night
What saves me
Squirrels eating in prayer
The cushion behind
The small of my back
What saves me
My porkpie hats
My porkpie hats

[Repeat Chorus]

What saves me
What catches my fall
What save me
Almost nothing at all
An ordinary day
No ordinary thing
Almost nothing at all