CliffSongs 4 You

I was up visiting the in-laws with my wife for Christmas. On this particular morning, The news got turned on the TV in our hotel room. Not sure how that happened as Kat and I never watch the news; some divine intervention, I’m sure.

It was a report on Katrina victims. A family; mom, dad and 2 kids were held up in their home when the storm hit. The roof caved in on top of them all. The shots of the devastated home, in fact the whole block, were enough to make you cry. The good news was the whole family escaped the wreckage unscathed.

A TV news reporter is interviewing the dad. He asks, “What are you going to do now that you’ve lost everything?” The dad answered, “I’ve lost nothing, because my family is safe.” That statement inspired this song. In fact, I pulled out my guitar and started writing right then and there.

I’d like to say I knocked it out that day, but, the truth is I wrote and re-wrote and re-wrote that song for over 2 months before I got it to it’s present form. One of the last lines to fall into place was the first line of the chorus, “Times Like This humble me..” The truth of that statement left me feeling quite vulnerable, so, I’m not surprised it took so long for me to get it.

Continuing on the sound quality and style of “Feels Like A Minute”, I kept the acoustic guitar and drums up front. I’m particularly fond of the bass line throughout and how it pulls the song through it’s changes. My friend, Shamora Duffie played piano, my wife, Kat, is singing the back up harmony.

You can listen here:Times Like This (Rate This Song). Enjoy! I look forward to your comments.

This is the oldest song I still play. 31 years ago, I was invited to a psychic’s house. Instead of predicting our future, she had us write as fast as we could, without thinking about what we were saying. She would help us pose questions, and keep us writing faster and faster until we got out of our own way and could feel our pens being guided by a higher source. I now know this to be stream-of-consciousness writing, which I have used many, many times through the years.

I lived just north of the Bay area in California at the time. Back then, I didn’t have a clue about any of this stuff, and believed in it far less. Still, I went with a very pretty woman, so, i went along with what was happening.

I had asked about furthering my music career and what was up for me to do next. For quite a while, I wrote only gibberish, but at some point, I did feel something outside my own conscious mind take over. I was told to fast for 10 days, then go sit on Mt. Shasta (a place I had never been) and I’d be given 3 songs.

I got to tell you, it was very freaky. the woman I was with insisted I do it, said she’d go with me. Okay, it was the, “she’d go with me”, part that got me to do it. I did say she was pretty and I was in love.

So, I fasted for 10 days, we drove up to Mt. Shasta and walked up the mountain. We arrived at sun up and started meditating. While the sun was still pretty low in the sky, I heard a voice say, “Here is the first song.” The voice sang as I wrote down and played on my guitar what I heard. That song was called “I’m Glad To Be Alive”.

The sun was straight overhead when the voice came again and gave me the second song called “I’m Free To Be”. At sunset, I heard “I Am Beautiful”.

It really wasn’t until I started attending church, about 10 years ago, that I started thinking about that day and those songs. In between, I got lost in the world of sex, drugs and rock and roll, till I found myself in the hospital, almost dead. I guess i had to go through all that to become the person I am today. Rediscovering that higher voice, a higher vision and a spiritual life has been my blessing and saving grace.

“I Am Beautiful, I Am Light, In Everything I do, My Love Shines Bright”. This is the vision of myself I carry today, even if it took 31 years to realize it. Please listen to the new version and compare it to the original here:I Am Beautiful.

The differences in the 2 versions: I updated the drums, beefed up the vocals and acoustic guitar and shortened it. Looking forward to seeing what you think.

Thanks so much for being a part of my journey and allowing me to be a part of yours.
Blessings;
Cliff

Okay, I got a brand new song for folks to listen to.  I want to thank those who have commented and or voted on “Right Now”.  I so appreciate all the feedback.  It’s great fun learning what you’re thinking.  You can see the voting results at Right Now Results .  If this is your first time to my site, you can vote on which version of “Right Now” is better at Vote on Right Now.  Now, on to the new song:

I was freakin’ out about getting older.  Especially after visiting my mom.  Actually, my mom inspired this song. She’s in her 70’s.  One day said to me, “I can’t believe over 70 years have gone by.  Feels like a minute.”  Gave me the jitters thinking about it.  Thus, this song was born.

It’s funny how many of my songs have been inspired by my upset as a way of calming myself down.  This song is no exception.  The style is a little different from what you might be used to from me.  I got a little edgy here.  It was really fun to record.  My wife, Kat, and I did the background vocals and my buddy, Don, played the harmonica.  Listen here at Feels Like A Minute.  You’ll be helping me decide whether this goes on the next CD or not.  Listen, Vote and Enjoy!

This was the first inspirational song I’d written in over 20 years. I’d just started going to church, felt inspired to write something to cheer myself up. I still remember the first time the church band played it. Everyone leaped out of their chairs. Definitely inspired me to write more along these same lines. The most important thing to me was to keep anything I wrote real to my experience.

So, in remixing this one: I switched out the drum machine for real drums, got rid of the strings and beefed up the acoustic guitar and piano. Listen to both and vote here :Vote on Right Now. After you vote you’ll get to download the new version for FREE.

I hope you’ll take the time to come back here to comment as well. I look forward to reading what you have to say.

Blessings;

Cliff

Hi!  This is where we’ll be talking about and critiquing my songs.  I hope to learn about your favorites, what you like about my songs, what you’d like to see me write about.  I’m looking forward to sharing the process of my next CD with all of you. 

At the moment, this site is under construction.  Once I’ve got it up and going, I’ll be posting newly recorded songs for you to listen to and tell me what you think, as well as share ideas about the work I’ve already done.  I look forward to reading what you all have to say.

Blessings;

Cliff