If All the World Were Right

Artist: Andrew Reed

·   Title of the CD: If All the World Were Right

·   Track Listing:

  1. Sailed Away
  2. Cure My Mind 
  3. Life In the City
  4. Putting Things In Order
  5. If All the World Were Right
  6. Carolina In the Morning
  7. Where She Goes
  8. The Ghost of Robert Johnson
  9. Open Road
  10. All of My Life
  11. Hourglass
  12. Sailed Away (Reprise)
  13. All the World is Right (Poem)

Credits

Copyright ©2018 Artists International Incorporated www.artistsii.com

All songs written by Andrew Reed.

All songs published by Artists International Publishing (SESAC)

Produced by Andrew Reed

 

Recorded at Sedgwick Studios, Flat Rock, NC in the Green River Reserve

(The Big Hungry)

Engineered by Jim Georgeson and Wayne Redden 

Mixed by Jim Georgeson and Wayne Redden

Mastered by Stephan Smith at SoundSmiths

Graphic Design: Josh Rhinehart

Manufactured under license by Artists International Incorporated

© 2018 Artists International Inc./ ℗ Artists International Inc. / Manufactured authorized by Artists International Inc. All Rights Reserved. WARNING:  Unauthorized reproduction of this recording is prohibited by Federal law, but share it if you want! Music belongs to the world… 89762-25 www.artistsii.com.  

 

·       Liner Notes

6.4.17 Sunday Morning

The 3rd terrorist attack in recent days happened in London… People here and abroad are up in arms…marching and breaking things…even though they are quite well-fed, have warm places to sleep and drink Starbucks… Celebrities voice opinions as well as celebrity talking heads, often that perhaps lack sufficient background/consciousness/experience to merit broadcast time, all desirous of the moral high ground…the stock market is at record highs…the earth warms and cools... It seems the world is in disarray….or is it not?

Yet, as I walk in Nature…I see the Truth about Life and how the world actually works… It is not a “made up world” but a system of mutual reliance. A world of patterns with zero random events or happenings… In the quiet, there is a prompting…a peaceful and calming feeling beyond our primitive language (near-English in my case) of approximately 600,000 words developed over the last 5,000 years…but who’s counting! Could it be, perhaps, that all is functioning the way it is supposed to? That it is just “unfolding” as we progress with time? That there really is no loss, waste or death and that we are perhaps caught up in a rather convincing illusion, all designed for our personal and collective experiential benefit? To me, there is little doubt that all is a manifestation of greater Intelligence beyond our 5 senses… How could it not be so? Humility is difficult for humankind… Lack of it is the basis for most human conflict… People would rather die or even kill millions of others for the sake of being right… Such conflict has existed for 93% of our existence (perhaps our natural/predominate state?)…

Perhaps Schopenhauer had it right… “…the world is my idea…” If this statement has some truth, it might be a good practice to, at least periodically, reconsider our thinking, positions and beliefs… I find it freeing as I certainly am questioning my beliefs all the time as it is utterly silly not to… I certainly don’t have the same beliefs now as I had when I was 7…or even last year for that matter… Anyway, some thoughts to consider… 

I cannot say for sure, the Truth about anything… I simply perceive that “I am…” And that I struggle in what seems to be “dense matter…” However, it seems that in this resistance, I am slowly developing a sense of “surrender” and “release” – as it is a pattern that reoccurs in all things…characterized in an overall trust in Life/God/Nature… All is as it is… All will be as it will be…without any need to resist… Life is beyond intellect… We are not our thoughts…we are perhaps something more essential than that…

This concept album (like almost every record I make) is a journey of thoughts, ideas and above all, feelings…in the context of the commonalities of Life in the contemporary world…a world that functions (in the large, but not in detail) pretty much like all that came before us who gave us such advantages and comforts previously almost unimaginable…. We owe a great debt to our predecessors! And may we contribute another layer to the overall upward momentum of Life! I hope you like this record and that you embrace your journey! Inserting yourself into your own theatrical production starring the one and only, essential, one-of-a-kind YOU! In a story you write, filled with high-drama as well as peaceful interludes of contemplation and tenderness…

From a place of Love for all expressions of Life,

~ Andrew

 

Sailed Away

Drums: Jim Arrendell

Bass: Rob Geisler

Piano: Aaron Price

Percussion:  Paul Babelay

Guitars: Andrew Reed

 

This is a song of a prodigal son. The Prodigal being ME in this case…

We all have to leave our beginnings at some point…to explore and experience the world in our own way… And sometimes you return home… Home, hopefully a warm place filled with memories and the support of family… It is one thing to have some success, but the most powerful learning does not come from victories but rather from defeats and pain… As bizarre as it may sound, it is a wonderful thing to be humbled by Life… It offers a point to re-focus on what is important! It is a point of surrender…

 

I’m sailing on the wings of a prayer

Sending all my pleas into the air

And in my eyes, I have not quite measured up

To the dreams I had, nor for the ones I love

 

I was hoping that my best is good enough

‘Cause I’m not the man perhaps I thought I was

 

I’m sailing home on a shoestring and a prayer

My jeans are torn and my (guitar) case shows signs of wear

My pack is on with the few things I still own

And the coins I have will not quite roll me home

 

Perhaps I’ll meet with kindness on the way

Perhaps someday, my debts I can repay

 

I’m sailing home on the wind of a prayer

Hoping that the ones I love still care

I’ll exchange a kind word and help out all I can

And not complain or find fault from where I stand

 

I never meant to cause others pain

And in return I politely ask the same

Your consideration, I do appreciate

‘Cause I’m on this sea that I can’t navigate

 

I sailed away, sailed away

I sailed away

ã2010 Andrew Reed – Artists International Publishing Inc.

 

Cure My Mind

Drums: Wayne Redden

Bass: Trevor Walker

Hammond: Aaron Price

Percussion:  Paul Babelay

Acoustic Guitars: Andrew Reed

 

The Prodigal, having been humbled, has a Mind full of self-doubt… 

I have been beaten down many times in my Life… I have (at this point) had 4 breakdowns from exhaustion and deep emotional losses… I think we totally underestimate the impact of our emotions on our lives… I have had losses so devastating, I have been bedbound…forgetting to eat and only sleeping…sleep of unceasing nightmares… In all of these cases, it is not my Body (directly) or Spirit that took the hit, but my Mind… I don’t know what the Mind is…but it impacts me a great deal… But I am more than my Mind…and I recognize so many of my perceived troubles are a direct result of my thinking… Is there a cure? Yes, there is!

 

Can you help me cure my mind?

Can you help me rest easy?

For I am lost in this world and this time?

 

Can you know, can you tell, can you see it all so well?

Can you see through this shadow I call mine?

  

Because I don’t, pretend

To know how this will end

Or if it does? Must I disclose my doubts?

 

Oh you will quickly see

That the mastermind ain’t me

‘Cause I’m a fool for chasing lovely dreams

 

Can you help me cure my mind?

Can you help me see clearly?

Can you help me once again to believe?

 

Can you take away my pain?

Or the troubled soul within?

Can you make a broken column stand again?

 

In a Life of subtleties

There’s an earthquake beneath my feet

That somehow, somehow I failed to feel

 

With courage, I hit the world

Now the sad joke’s I’m unfurled

Like a flag you can’t refold even if you tried

 

Can you help me cure my mind?

Can you help me rest easy?

Can you help me once again to believe?

 

Can you know, can you tell, can you see it all so well?

Can you find me, when I can’t find myself?

Can you find me, when I can’t find myself?

How can you find me, when I can’t find myself?

ã2011 Andrew Reed – Artists International Publishing Inc

 

  

Life in the City

Drums: Jim Arrendell

Bass: Rob Geisler

Trumpet: Alex Bradley

Sax: Joseph Dowdy

Trombone: Kyle Snuffer

Percussion:  Paul Babelay

Guitars: Andrew Reed

 

The Prodigal again, after recuperating, tries his luck in the world…

This song came from my frequent experiences in New York City and while I lived in Bondi Beach outside of Sydney, Australia, for a few years. I love New York and Sydney! I love it all! But I can’t help but think that other people feel as I do at times…very small and isolated… The truth may be that we are never really alone or separate… Much of the cultural world, and commercial shapers of such, try to manipulate us into feeling incomplete or lacking in order to get us to buy stuff…so we can feel accepted and perhaps loved… A city is an environmental exaggeration of human-ness… Exciting, interactive and complex with perpetual social coercion which is a good thing to be aware of!

 

Life in the city

It glistens and gleams

Everyone is so pretty

It’s just how it seems

 

Me and my friends go out for drinks some days

Coffee and tea just the same

The circles that I run with, around this circle that I call myself… 

 

Life in the city

Buildings glisten and glean

Everyone is so busy

And I am unseen

 

Me and my friends go out on sprees some days

Shopping for things to take up space

These circles that I draw, the circles around my eyes I draw myself…

 

Life in the city

Where nothing is green

Everything is so gritty

And I am unseen (unclean)

 

Me and my friends go out for drinks some days

Coffee and tea just the same

The circles that I run with, around this circles that I call myself…

I call myself…

 

I draw myself…

 ã2011 Andrew Reed – Artists International Publishing Inc

 

 

Putting Things in Order

Drums: Wayne Redden

Bass: Trevor Walker

Piano: Aaron Price

Backing Vocals: Courtney Hodges

Viola: Kara Poorbaugh

Cello: Franklin Keel

Percussion:  Paul Babelay

Synths: Andrew Reed

Guitars: Andrew Reed

 

The Prodigal, having put his full force and effort into work and providing for his family, finds himself exhausted and feeling quite empty…

I have traveled so much in my Life… It seems no matter what I have done as an occupation, travel was in the cards whether as a musician, CPA or teacher…  I have been to so many cities and places that they blur together… This song is one of the most relevant struggles of my Life as it captures how I really feel and what I experience when I come home… I am an introvert… It takes great Energy for me to travel and do events… It is important work to interact and hopefully help others…as well as myself in the process! But there is a price… And the price is ultimately worth it!    

 

I push through the jam, of my front door

Of the long lost place, I call home

The lawn is, so overgrown

And there’s dust on, everything I own

 

A mailbox full, and the milk’s went bad

And the lights burned out, from neglect

And this disarray, it won’t stop my feet

‘Cause all I want, is my own bed

 

Can I put things in order?

Is there an order…for my Life (my friends)

And yes… in my confusion

In my delusions…Will my soul catch up?

 

There are bills to pay, and correspondence late

And too many things, that broke my plate

And in doing good, I forgot to breathe

Not forgetful, of my loved ones’ needs

 

My Life…is out of order

Is there an order…for my Life (my friends)

And yes… in my confusion

In my delusions…Will my soul catch up?

 

I rise in time, and greet the day

With my mind, still far away

Clear the counters, and I sweep the floor

Tighten the hinge, on that old door

 

In a short time, you know I’ll leave this peace

To resume my place…in the world

To repeat these scenes, as far as I see

And wonder why, I ever leave…

 

And I’ll…put things in order

Make my list shorter, give things their proper place

And yes…I’ll give You attention

In my reflection, I wonder why I ever leave?

 ã2012 Andrew Reed – Artists International Publishing Inc. – Written in Madrid, Spain

 

 

If All the World Were Right

Drums: Wayne Redden

Bass: Trevor Walker

Hammond: Aaron Price

Backing Vocals: Courtney Hodges

Viola: Kara Poorbaugh

Cello: Franklin Keel

Percussion:  Paul Babelay

Synths: Aaron Price & Andrew Reed

Guitars: Andrew Reed

 

The Prodigal seeks moral high-ground and complains about “social injustice” and the perceived “woes of humanity”… He sees “the world” as the problem instead of the “world within” as the cause of his suffering… 

This song is a bit of a deception… It reflects the way most people view the world… We tend to look to the external world as evidence to support our views of Life…or even self-worth…  The world is a perception… And we each have a choice in shaping this perception… I look to Nature as a guide as it seems to be the Truth of how the world actually works rather than a “made up” world projected onto us by the Herd… When we get really honest with ourselves, we find we are responsible for our lives…and that most of our pain and suffering is based on our own egos and positons - the “desire to be right” or a “victim.” When a person discovers Humility, one can never really be hurt again…let alone be angry… This is an extremely helpful thought that normally takes a bit of time to digest…

 

If all the world were right

There’d be no monsters in my dreams at night

No phantoms in the air

Or famished faces on my stairs

 

If all the world were right

There’d be no shadows in my room tonight

If all the world were right

I’d know who to hold and who to fight

 

If all the world were right there’d be no isolation or confusion

There’d be no darkness in my mind

I’d see beyond this grand illusion

Come to some distinct conclusion

And I might feel alright

If all the world were right

 

If all the world were right

All the cannons would fall quiet tonight

If all the world were right

There’d be no jokes to take my Life

 

If all the world were right

There’d be no sadness just the shine of Life

There’d be no tears to stain my eyes

I’d see the world without conclusions

I’d see my fears as illusions

And I’d feel so light

If all the world were right

 

If all the world were right

There’d be no monsters in my sights tonight

No phantoms in my crosshairs

I’d see the bombs I make are my own cares

 

If all the world were right

I’d see no sadness just the shine of this Life

There’d be no tears to stain my eyes

I’d see beyond this grand illusion

I’d look at you without conclusion

And I might feel alright

If all the world were right

 

I would feel alright if all the world were right

I might feel alright,

If I start with my own Life…

 ã2009 Andrew Reed – Artists International Publishing Inc.

 

 

Carolina in the Morning

Drums: Wayne Redden

Bass: Trevor Walker

Backing Vocals: Courtney Hodges

Steel Guitar: Matthew Smith

Piano: Aaron Price

Percussion:  Paul Babelay

Acoustic Guitars: Andrew Reed

 

The Prodigal finds romantic love…

This song came together as a result of Courtney Hodges in my Life… It expresses exactly how I felt and still feel about her…  I am so grateful for her… We thought we would marry but unexplainably, we just couldn’t come together after trying for a few years… Maybe we still will?  I surrender to God/Life and relinquish control of all… It is best not to resist…  Life teaches…and this includes times of sheer happiness as well as points of despair… This is a high point in my Life! I was almost bedbound for 40 days because of the emotional impact of this relationship…a physical result of suppressed feelings… Her backing vocals on so many tracks are breathtaking… I have never worked with such a gifted backing vocal talent… Her gift for harmony is mindboggling as witnessed by all engineers, musicians and listeners when this project was being created and mixed…. She should be on thousands of records…  

 

Carolina in the Morning

Never met a finer woman in my Life

I’m gonna make her my wife

 

Carolina greets the sunrise

In the pines or by the sea tides

It’s heaven where she goes

 

Carolina nothing finer

Than to wake up there beside her

I’ll never let her go

 

Carolina in the Morning

Never met a finer woman in my Life

I’m gotta make her my wife

 

Gonna maker her mine

Gonna show her how to spend her time

She’s the kind a girl, you’ve got to know

 

Carolina in the Morning

Never met a finer woman in my Life

I’m gonna make her my wife

 

Gonna maker her mine

Gonna show her how to spend her time

She’s the kind a girl, you’ve got to know

 

Carolina in the Morning

Never met a finer woman in my Life

I’m gonna make her my wife

I’m gotta make her my wife

I’m gonna make her my Life…

ã2015 Andrew Reed – Artists International Publishing Inc. – Courtney’s place and Nice, France

 

 

Where She Goes

Drums: Wayne Redden

Bass: Trevor Walker

Piano: Aaron Price

Backing Vocals: Courtney Hodges

Steel Guitar: Matthew Smith

Viola: Kara Poorbaugh

Cello: Franklin Keel

Percussion:  Paul Babelay

Synths: Andrew Reed

Acoustic Guitars: Andrew Reed

 

The Prodigal has deep, deep compassion for others, with children being the easiest to have these feelings about… He is troubled by the perceived horrendous conditions and circumstances many children face…

I find myself emotional when I visualize this song… It took me 20 years to complete it…  It is about kids being abused… Sometimes Life can seem to start out so badly for people… My own kids were born into a horrible storm that impacted them profoundly… I think it is the idea of innocence and being “dealt” this pain without apparent cause that troubles us…at least most of us…  But even when dealt a “bad hand,” one can choose how to use it and how to experience it ultimately… All things can “become” positive eventually if you see them from this perspective! When coping with extreme pain, such as in the case of early abuse, a person often “goes” mentally to a distant place to escape… That is what this song is about… The escape and repression of thoughts that cause deep, deep emotions…

 

I knew a young girl, who lived down the road

Couldn’t have been 10 years old

And she had a smile that would last a country mile

But then one day her smile was broke

 

Where’d it go?

Where’d it go?

Where’d it go, nobody knows…but it’s gone I know

 

I saw this young woman, a few years had passed

Off in a world that moves so fast

A faded smile fashioned in the latest style

She looked right through me and walked on past

 

Where she goes?

Where she goes?

Where she goes, nobody knows…but it’s far I know

 

Why are there broken ones

Without a voice, without a sun

To walk in at the dawn of their day?

 

Back in those fields of green

A sea it seemed of everything

A girl, a road, a dream, and something –

Lost…

 

I knew a young girl

Who lived down the road

In her eyes, a story untold

Hidden thoughts, encased in cement n’ block

She’d stare to somewhere, who knows where?

 

Where she goes?

Where she goes?

Where she goes, nobody knows…but it’s far I know…

ã2016 Andrew Reed – Artists International Publishing Inc.

 

 

The Ghost of Robert Johnson

Drums: Wayne Redden

Bass: Trevor Walker

Dirty Electric Piano: Aaron Price

Percussion:  Paul Babelay

Acoustic Guitars: Andrew Reed

 

The Prodigal considers those that preceded him and their contributions… He is sad about those that were not recognized in their lifetimes… This seems unfair to him, but he is grateful for them...

The truth is, when people find out the state of consciousness I find myself so often when writing…it freaks them out…  This song “came through” from nowhere…  Regrettably, there is no retro-compensatory mechanism for the likes of Melvin, Van Gogh or Johnson. They lived, created and died…leaving behind legacies of work that would later be deemed “masterpieces” by critics and then subsequently filtered to the pedestrian level. Though not recognized in their respective lifetimes, from what we know of them, they sensed that what they were doing was somehow worthwhile… It is this notion which drives most of us…for we are all contributing… How many significant works of Melvins, Van Goghs and Johnsons are in trunks, notebooks, closets and storage units…never to be known…or will we? Never confuse popularity or acceptance for significance!  Too often, the most significant people and works are never recognized by the Herd!

 

When I walked on the earth, I was known as Johnson

Just a common name, like any ol’ one

Yea they made me great, but I never won

 

The dark hand of man, plays this guitar

The lines on my palms, said I wouldn’t run far

Yea they made me great, they made me a star  

 

I spun my songs wherever I was

Out late and in trouble maybe just because

The restless sort runs short…cause that’s what we does

  

A bad deal in the dark, an unmarked grave

I played for my meals and my women the same

On the night that I left, nobody came

  

Well I lost my bet for good

When I stepped out where no man should

I caught the train, but I never paid

You see your rent is already spent when your beds never made

 

When I walked on the earth, I was known as Johnson

Just a common name like any ol’ one

Yea, they made me great, but I never won

Yea, they made me great, but I never won

Yea, they made me great…the name was Johnson

 ã2011 Andrew Reed – Artists International Publishing Inc.

 

 

Open Road

Drums: Wayne Redden

Bass: Trevor Walker

Steel Guitar: Matthew Smith

Viola: Kara Poorbaugh

Cello: Franklin Keel

Percussion: Paul Babelay

Synths: Andrew Reed

Guitars: Andrew Reed

 

The Prodigal remembers growing up, before he set out into the world, and recalls how he viewed it then…

When I was a boy in Winthrop, Iowa, I vividly remember riding our bikes to the North edge of town (which was on a hill). There, on a dusty gravel road guarded by cattails with choruses of grasshoppers and frogs on hot summer days, seeing the patchwork of fresh fields of corn or beans, I felt the warmth of Life. I remember feeling “Life is wide open! I love being alive! I have an exciting future in front of me!” Of course, as we try our best to “grow up,” we hit rough patches and sometimes become jaded over time… We can question ourselves and even doubt our worth in some chapters of our lives…  However, that Open Road is always there! We just have to get on our bikes and see it again!   

 

Open Road, I’ve seen you before

When the world seemed so much more

Open Road as far as I could see

Is there an Open Road for me?

 

Just past the houses on the edge of town

Our bikes of summer touched ground

Green fields with red barns arranged so orderly

A gravel road, the sun on me  

 

Open Road, I’ve seen you before

When I was young, no summer bored

Open Road, you were there for me

 

Open Road, I’ve walked you before

When I thought I knew so much more

Open Road, I could see what I could be

There was an Open Road for me

 

Oh how my chores are so different now

Traffic lights and late nights on the prowl

Sold my dreams of glory long ago

Traded in for? I don’t know

 

Open Road, I’ve seen you before

The world I knew was so much more

An Open Road as far as I could see

 

Open Road, I’ve walked you before

When I knew oh so much more

Open Road, what was I to be? 

Is there an Open Road for me?

 

Ending Double Chorus

Open Road, I’ve seen you before

As I pick myself up off the floor

I catch a glimpse

Of something I could be

 

Open Road, I’ve seen walked before

Long before this heavy load

Open Road, are you still there for me?

Is that an Open Road I see?

 ã2011 Andrew Reed – Artists International Publishing Inc.

 

 

All of My Life

Drums: Wayne Redden

Bass: Trevor Walker

Piano: Aaron Price

Percussion:  Paul Babelay

Acoustic Guitars: Andrew Reed

 

The Prodigal reviews his Life, yet again after many years of struggle through dense matter… He is in a low-Energy state, so his thoughts drift toward sadness… He seeks relief from contemplation through which he hopes to find answers that could settle his Mind… He finds such contemplation extremely valuable… However, the truth is he really can’t help himself from doing this…

I started this song in Madrid Spain (after viewing some of the works of Goya) and finished it in a snowstorm at the cabin in January 2016. This song is a cousin of Putting Things In Order… It comes from a low-Energy state where I was really questioning how I was living…  Then after contemplating everything that has happened and with some rest… I came to a place of acceptance…a spiritual conclusion, realizing all that “stuff” was absolutely necessary and essential…even personalized for my benefit and growth! I prefer to believe that God/Life knows what we need to experience and feel! And these “conditions for growth” are being provided automatically with ZERO effort on our part! Just flow with it! All will be OK in the end! Even if you have to “walk the plank” into a swirling pool of sharks! It might hurt for a bit to have your leg snapped off, but you’ll be ok again shortly!

 

All of my Life

Has just slipped away it seems

All of my time

Spent on dreams

 

A field of green

A city scene

Always a place to be

 

A walk in the woods

Oh I’d be there if I could

But just one more thing

That I should

 

Tomorrow and the next and extended out in time

Not a moment, can I claim as mine

  

Sometimes the things I see are far beyond my reach

A ghost that I can’t hold and must release

 

All of my Life

Has just slipped away it seems

All of my time

Spent on dreams

 

But I’m not afraid

I’m here to greet the day

There’s not a thing

I would change…

ã2016 Andrew Reed – Artists International Publishing Inc.

 

 

Hourglass

Drums: Wayne Redden

Bass: Trevor Walker

Piano: Aaron Price

Backing Vocals: Courtney Hodges

Viola: Kara Poorbaugh

Cello: Franklin Keel

Percussion: Paul Babelay

Synths: Aaron Price & Andrew Reed

Acoustic Guitars: Andrew Reed

 

When the Prodigal accepts Life as it is and settles down mentally and emotionally, he sees things differently… He sees this Life as a temporary container in the context of time….and God/Life as a friend rather than a punisher or judge… 

This song was an afterthought for the album. I don’t know why it struck me to include it…but that seems to be the nature of guidance…it is non-verbal/beyond language…  When we tracked it, it seemed anointed!  We hardly even needed to mix it! I felt very connected to God/Life at the moment of the recording… There was really no planning for this song except a basic outline… No parts worked out… Mistakes were magical… When Courtney put down the backing vocals, it was as if a “Chorus of Angels” opened up…and of course, perfect harmonies just flow out of her anyway…

This Life is like an hourglass…an environmental constraint which we find ourselves… Constraints are great motivators of creativity as a perceived “limit” or “deadline” fuels us to “get on with it!” A similar thing happens with an artist who has to tell his or her story in a 3-minute song, 2-hour film or a 24x36 inch frame! It is a type of challenge!

I like to think of God as my friend, benign and sympathetic to my concerns…supportive in all…     

 

Gaze through an hourglass as the sand passes by

I find my mind, lost in time as my body slowly dies

I rise in the morning and I focus on the day

Attend to details of Life as my mind slips away

 

And I’m waiting for the day in my Life

When I can see, I hear you

For you are my Friend

 

Raised in an hourglass, the sand is so fine

All the world is perfect, all things in their time

Bookends where I begin and when this Life will end

Only to rest awhile, to journey on again

 

And I’m waiting for that day in my Life

When I can see you, I know you

For you are my Friend

 

Gazed through an hourglass as the sand passes by

In find my mind, beyond all time as my body slowly dies

I rise in the morning and focus on the day

Attend to details of Life as my I drift away (as I am not my thoughts – I am beyond thought)

 

And I’m waiting for the day in my Life

When I can see, I hear you

For you are my Friend

 

Yes I’m waiting for that day in my Life

When I can thank you, I thank you

For you are my Friend…

 

Forever and ever…

Forever and ever…

Forever and ever…

ã1986 Andrew Reed – Artists International Publishing Inc.

 

 

Sailed Away (Reprise)

Drums: Wayne Redden

Bass: Trevor Walker

Piano: Aaron Price

Trumpet: Alex Bradley

Sax: Joseph Dowdy

Trombone: Kyle Snuffer

Guitars: Andrew Reed

 

The Prodigal comes nearer an end…at least in physical form… He is again, humble… Death is a humbling thing where the clutter of life often falls away… It brings marvelous focus to introspection… Home is different now… Home is in a different dimension…where he knows he will meet many of those that went before him…

 

I’m sailing on the winds of a prayer

Hoping that the ones I love still care

And in my eyes, I have not quite measured up

To the dreams I had, nor for the ones I love

 

I was hoping that my best is good enough

‘Cause I’m not the man perhaps I thought I was

Your consideration, I do appreciate

‘Cause I’m on this sea that I can’t navigate

 

I sailed away, I sailed away

I sailed away, I sailed away, I sailed away…

 ã2010 Andrew Reed – Artists International Publishing Inc.

 

 

All the World is Right (Poem)

Trumpet: Alex Bradley

Piano: Aaron Price

Viola: Kara Poorbaugh

Cello: Franklin Keel

 

The Prodigal sees things differently… The convincing illusion has dissipated…

There is no Prodigal son here… It’s just me… This is the last piece to come together for this record…a fitting culmination…  This idea certainly makes Life lighter! Anything which upsets or makes us angry is evidence of fear…fear of loss or pain… There is really, in my humble opinion (and this is just that), nothing to fear…but with that said, fear and even negative emotions, have their place and utility or they wouldn’t exist! Even hitting “rock bottom” with all its associated pain is of great value! It gets our attention!  All Life is working as it should…  Life appears to be a natural system of mutual reliance… And all “parts” are essential or they would not exist…meaning YOU exist because you are necessary, whether you are a hero or a villain! When you leave the Body, you may look back and say “That was a wild ride!” and laugh! We may be thrill-seekers and drama addicts! We love it! And if drama doesn’t exist, we’ll create it! Perhaps the point is, we get to live in a place where we get to experience a lot and create things that appear to be tangible! Maybe there is really nothing that needs to be changed…except perhaps ourselves…going from perfect to perfect…with each iteration of you being interesting and great! It seems change is the order of things…and all changes naturally without any effort… I surrender to this idea… It certainly feels better than the alternative!  Be well my friends! ~ Andrew 

 

As Nature makes it self-evident…

In Humility, I submit my vast ignorance...

I have traveled some distance through this grand hall…

Only to find, it was not me at all…

 

“Oh Bright One, “Where are you now?””

“You see the world, but see not how…”

“You think all is out there to be gained…”

“When it is the world within that must be changed…”

 

“Life is perfect…always…”   

“Both day…and night…”

 

“For All the World is Right…”

 ã2017 Andrew Reed – Artists International Publishing Inc. 

AI

Artists International

Sedgwick Studios