Still a Mystery
IN THE MID-1990s, songs began streaming in from nowhere. This was both unexpected and confounding as I had no idea why or what they were for. Although writing generally comes easy, I discovered in the ’60s that I have no ability to intentionally write a song. And I was fine with that. I can’t read music anyway.
Then they continued, one after another, writing themselves while I watched. And, from my vantage point, they were pretty good—some far more musically sophisticated than I was, me being mostly a three-chord folkie.
I recorded a few of them, starting with Slip Away—as a musical meditation for hospice patients. Not much of a market there. Then I recorded a CD—like I was going to hit the road as a middle-aged singer-songwriter with a mortgage. That also went nowhere. Then I discovered chaplaincy and set aside everything else to pursue that.
So here we are now. Along the way, I acquired a digital studio and learned how to record and mix music—specifically an album of harp compositions, also for hospice patients. Came out well but then that was that.
Twenty years later? May as well use that studio to make my own demos—recorded songs really do reveal more dimensions than written lyrics in a notebook!—and share them online.
Within my limitations, I’ve done my best to make the messages shine through. Maybe more gifted musicians will pick them up and take them to the next level? Who knows? For now, give a listen and see if they speak to you as they are.
MATTIE’S SONG: An Anthem for Kindness
MATTIE STEPANEK was a child prodigy poet and peace advocate. Born with a rare form of muscular dystrophy, Mattie lived most of his life wheelchair-bound and tethered to oxygen before dying in 2004, a month short of his 14th birthday.
Yet in his brief life he wrote six bestselling books of poetry, and deeply touched millions—including me—on videos, TV and radio, sharing the uplifting power of his “Heartsongs.”
Mattie’s Song is my tribute to this amazing child and his vision of peace, kindness, hope and joy in a world filled with chaos, cruelty, pain, sorrow and heartbreak.
For more information on his life, work, and vision, go to Mattie’s Peace Foundation or Mattie Matters.
TIME MACHINE: An Album of My Best Songs
A COLLECTION of 30 years of occasional inspiration, capturing spirituality in real life, while I was busy doing other things. I’ve recently recorded them as part of my legacy project, what with that far distant shore fast approaching. I hope they provide some measure of meaning and solace in these distressing, dystopian times.
— Click on SONG TITLES for individual YouTube links.
- Album Sample Track. A 3-minute intro. See what I mean by “Songs for the Spiritually Curious.”
- Tracks 1 + 2: DIAMONDS of SONG + ROCKIN’ to the GRAVE. An old man’s reflection followed by a rollicking ode to never growing up. Usually played together, they’re combined a single track.
- Track 3: SEARCHING for SOMETHING. The seeker’s paradox.
- Track 4: LITTLE HEART. Human heart meets Universal heart.
- Track 5: JACK. The janitor who came to stay. All true.
- Track 6: SLIP AWAY. A gentle affirmation for my mother when she was dying of cancer.
- Track 7: GERRIT. A mostly true story about a lovable village idiot in Holland during the WWII era.
- Track 8: WILL I FIND YOU. A love song about yearning.
- Track 9: THE PRIZE FIGHT. An emotional breakdown and mystical revival.
- Track 10: INTO FOREVER. Honoring the enchanted daydream.
- Track 11: BIRTHDAY CAKEWALK. A rocking replacement for the traditional happy birthday song.
- Track 12: HEAVENLY. Inspired by a transcendent beach walk at dawn.
- Track 13: SITTIN’ HERE. A “full disclosure” grand finale and exit song. A perfect note to end on.
ON A DREAM: A Satirical Video on Consumerism
A SATIRICAL music-video about mindless consumerism and its irrational but compelling promise of lasting happiness, relentlessly promoted by capitalism’s insatiable hunger for money and power.
How we escape its grip as a culture, I don’t know, as the media is now primarily owned and operated by the same captains of industry who profit from the destruction of our global home.
So, it is up to us to awaken individually to the underlying spiritual truth that possessing flashy stuff does not bring happiness—only meaningful relationships, moral practices, personal integrity and a purposeful living do.
Written in the mid-1990s, the central metaphor is a bit dated (who saw digital streaming coming?) but the message remains as urgent as ever.
Maybe this video will help inspire actions that foster true happiness? That’s my hope.
AND MORE: All the Songs on my YouTube Channel
