The Things We Need

Today's songs that I would like to share with you are all about companionship as a basic human need. To be perfectly honest, I didn't realize how many songs I had written like this until I went to compile them here, but let's just say that this is merely a sample of my work that deals with this particular topic. You can find more songs that explore similar themes among my five self-produced solo albums.

The first song that I am sharing today is called We Are All That We Need. It is the last track on Embers (2021). As of right now, it's one of my favorite songs that I've written -- which, of course, changes periodically. I tend to think of this as my soundtrack to being quarantined. I hope you like it, too. 

    Like the water we drink

    And the air that we breathe

    I do believe...

    We are all that we need

Song number two of today's selections is called Wanderlust, from my 2017 album Weather Patterns. It's basically about recognizing the difference between the things we need and the things we want, and the things that really matter versus those that are ephemeral. 

    Sometimes it's hard to see

    That we've got everything we need...

    Is this love or wanderlust?

The last song that I would like to share with you today follows a similar theme. It's called Go It Alone, and it comes from my 2019 album Better Days. Once again, this song dissects the idea that we don't necessarily need a lot of people in our lives, but it is good to have at least one person with whom to share your days. 

    It's funny how these moments disappear

    So tell me all the things you want to hear

    I will hold you near, I hold you dear...

Enjoy the music. Thanks for listening. If you like what I'm doing, please add my songs to your playlists and share them with others. This is how it spreads.

Thank you for supporting independent art. 

Concealed Glock

When recording music, sometimes I like to sneak certain instruments into the background of a song as a way to fill out the sound spectrum. Several tracks from the three albums that I released in 2017 contain a hidden glockenspiel. Here are two of them:

The first is Cold Blooded, on Good Night, Fahrenheit. This song is about how human beings are fundamentally social animals. Thousands of years ago, we figured out that we're all better off together, but every once in a while, some of us forget that. 

Begin on Weather Patterns follows a similar theme. This song is about the need to see our words with action. It also contains some casual swearing. This is one of my favorite songs to end a set with, as I like to believe that the last line gives the audience something to think about: 

    If we don't take care of each other 

    We've only ourselves left to blame...

Plus I like the irony of the last song in my setlist being called Begin. I'll leave it to you to find the hidden glockenspiel in my other songs. 

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Original Miles has now officially surpassed Black Ribbon Day as my most streamed song on Spotify. Thank you to all of my listeners, with a special thanks to the tastemakers out there who are sharing my music. This is how it spreads, and I love you for it. 

Enjoy the music. Take care of each other. 

It is a Good Friday, Isn't It?

Happy Friday. Today's track that I would like to share with you is called Gravity, from my 2019 album Better Days. I wrote it with other corrupt politicians in mind, but I think that it aptly applies to Matt Gaetz and his accomplices as well: 

    They'd better start bracing for impact

    Because it's a long way down

    Don't think they're going to stay intact

    They'll break when they hit the ground

    And they are going down... like gravity

I always imagined the video for this as an elaborate pseudo-Rube Goldberg device that starts with cell phones falling over like dominoes and ends with a certain narcissistic sociopath behind bars. I'll leave it to you to fill in the middle part. This also happens to be one of my favorite songs to perform. 

(If you like that, here is a playlist of other songs of mine that are political in nature... and if that's not your thing, here's a playlist of pretty songs that I wrote.)

As a bonus track, here's a song that I recorded a couple of weeks ago. It's called The Regular. Basically, I wrote a bar song, even though I haven't stepped foot in a bar in well over a year. Let it be the soundtrack for your Friday evening:

    I am the regular

    Just an ordinary guy   

    Wasting my time

    Got nowhere else to be

    I just stopped in to see

    If I could get my usual, oh, oh... 

Enjoy. Share. Hold your elected officials to higher ethical standards. Stay cool always.

Songs with Exclamation Points in the Titles

In most forms of writing, I rarely use exclamation points. In fact, my use of this particular punctuation mark is pretty much limited to dialogue, but even then, I only end a sentence with an exclamation point to indicate that a character is yelling. Beyond that, I tend to believe that the emphasis should be clear in the phrasing. (Did I mention that I teach English to college students?) 

The two songs that I would like to share with you today happen to be my only two tracks with exclamation points in the titles. Wake Up! is the opening track on my 2017 album Mechanical Bull. It is about how an informed and engaged citizenry is a vital component of a functioning democracy. 

    Walk out of that door

    Open up your eyes

    Time is not the measure of a life

My other song with an exclamation point in the title is Make Some Noise! (Summer of '99), from my 2019 album Better Days. It is essentially an ode to power chords, and a nod to one summer in particular where I played a lot of music in dank Michigan basements and sunlit front porches. 

    I played these chords until my fingers hurt

    Screamed at the top of my lungs without saying a word

    Banging on an electric guitar

    I don't need to be a superstar

    All going supernova, it only goes to show that

    No one will ever hear your voice

    Unless you learn to make some noise!

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Thanks to all of my listeners on Spotify for putting Original Miles and Black Ribbon Day on the charts. Both tracks are from my 2021 album Embers and continue to climb in popularity, which is both an honor and a thrill.

If you dig my music, please add it to your playlists and share it with other people who you think might like it as well. As a one-man-band/recording artist, I need and very much appreciate your help in propagating my songs amongst your friends and around the world.

As always, thank you for supporting independent art... and by all means: crank it up!!!

(Consider those bonus exclamation points.)

These Are All Original Miles

Today's song that I'd like to share is the opening track from my newest album, Embers (2021). I've posted about it before, but here it is again. Original Miles is essentially about accepting people, including ourselves, despite our imperfections.

    These are all original miles

    Some city, mostly highway

    You could even say

    I've been around a while... 

As a bonus track, here is my song Be Civilized, from my album Better Days (2019). It is a reminder that human beings need each other; in fact, this is exactly why civilization exists. I've written about this one before, too.

    I hope you realize

    What it means to be civilized

    It's not like they advertise

    You hold the truth behind your eyes

I hope you like my music. If so, please add it to your playlists, share it with your friends and follow me on Spotify and other streaming media platforms. 

Thank you for supporting independent art.