1) carla's never song  -    i fell in love with Carla Ricahardson in the Fall of 1977.  but i was still on the road.  in January i traveled to Seattle for a gig.  then i hitched down the CA coast to SF with a man, Gary Warder, and his 10 year old daughter.  it was during the trip, seeing the devotion of this 'single' father to his child, that i became intensely aware of how much i missed Carla and her 6 year old boy, Joshua, and, more explicitly the family life that i hoped to make for us in my new home in New Hampshire.                           



2) dancin' in the waves  -   all would not go as smoothly as i had planned however.   it would be almost 3 years and a long, painful period of separation before Carla and i would understand each other well enough to marry.  the first enthusiasm of love soon gave way to serious misunderstandings.  this was written during that difficult time.                     



3) psalm 100, 150   -   when we finally tied the knot in '81, our wedding was a perfect picture of bucolic bliss.  we were married outdoors, in Willard and Gert Richardson's apple orchard on a sunny Sunday afternoon with a large crowd of well-wishers.  i wrote the setting of these two Psalms especially for the occasion and played them both as part of the ceremony.                          



4) dandelion  -   by the time i moved to New Hampshire i had realized over time that my 'life' simply could not be planned to follow any predictable course.  neither could the unfolding of events be hurried or shaped at will.  i wrote this song to express the trust i had been compelled to place in a mystery that continued to reveal itself in a marvelous way,  a mystery to which i remained only the grateful observer.

                                  

5) send me an angel  -  another song during the time of separation.  i was desperately lonely and sad then.  this is a prayer from my broken heart.                         



6) one of these days  -  i don't remember quite when i wrote this.  probably my last year in Chicago.  i speaks for itself.                         



7) spring's coming back -    one of a group of songs i wrote with and for the children ar Chesterfield, NH grammar school.  i think this is grade 4.  the sentiments and subjects were all offered by the children.           



8) obadiah  -   at some point i indulged in this reminiscence about my first marriage.  my first wife, Lynne, never was emotionally mature enough to seriously consider having a child.  instead, she created a fantasy in which she had boy she named Obadiah.  inevitably, i was drawn into the life of that imaginary child too.  perhaps,  in this song he is more real to me than he was, even for Lynne.                                    



9) my friends  -   another song for the Chesterfield kids.  this is grade 7.  it's built around the contradictions  and conflicts that emerge in the lives of budding adolescents as they slowly realize that their future life will consist of the relationships they form outside the shelter of family.  it's not an easy transition.                           



10) junk food  -   grade 8.  now the opposite sex looms large, and with it the all consuming preoccupation with ones appearance in this world.  why doesn't she [ he ] like me?  is it this huge pimple?                                



11) handful of rain  -  after only 2 years of marriage with Carla the sad reality is already there.  our life together will not be about the children and family i had dreamed of.  i still love her very much, but already the bittersweet taste of disappointment shows in the color of this song