Festival Girl

Here’s to the freedom of joy You dressed in your hippy print The wind blowing through you hair Delighted in what the notes hint Well away from the day to day Here among friends you don’t know Your eyes sparkle to strangers And you don’t care what shows Will you remember this for years? Will you return to raise your children? Will you be the old lady in the river? Will you worry about money spent? Here’s to the freedom of now Let the wind blow and hair flow You are the festival girl today And you will reap the smiles you sowed

by Dave Schipper (c) 2023 Rose Riversongs

The word was salacious

To say she was salacious

Under played her depth

Sure her nature, flirtatious

He clung to every breath

And my was she loquacious

Plus addictive as meth

He kept peering into her eyes

The most brilliant blue

All those words could be lies

But he was lost in the view

And then she touched his thighs

He knew this couldn't be true

By God's grace love happens

She did create Rom-Com's

Yes hookups are in fashion

But this touching was calm

Yes, yes, yes there was passion

More words NO! (face palm)

We'll just end it there.

(c) Dave Schipper Roseriversong 2023

Thanks to Sarah Morris who's songwriting group had the word salacious as a prompt.  This is a slighty less wordy version of one I wrote as part of my a page a day for 40 days lent commitment to myself.  I'll be choosy what I share, but I like how this one was so much fun.

Wood Nymph

 Wood Nymph 

Today on the road to the old grind

I spied a wood nymph I was hoping to find

Among the trees smiling warm and kind.

She had me play hooky, controlling my mind.

She radiated in the temped spring air

Wearing green silk and flowers in her hair.

In her spell, I would follow anywhere.

‘Neath an oak, we petted her black hare.

Buds sprang from the new warmth

I was filled with the virility of youth

While the air was with sweet vermouth

Blindly I was led down her silent path.

To call it love would be pallid prose.

A mortal man, a Goddess juxtapose

Then intertwined as the blood flows

Blossoming a rare mountain rose.

Transfixed by green eyes and brown hair

We found ourselves as a motionless pair

The wind shifted to cold blowing sudden tear

And I woke up in my office chair.

Dave Schipper © 2008 Rose Riversongs

I was surprised that this wasn't posted to this musings blog.  I was reminded of it when Lola Kirke posted this photo. She is the saint (and sinner) I first fell in love with on Mozart in the Jungle; but now I follow her also as a musician.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Lola Kirke (@lolakirke)

Thanksgiving

We give thanks for us together, for fair traveling weather

And this bounty we’ll soon share, we give thanks for us today.

For our health, for the wealth

All friends that care

For our meal, For the love we feel

Wrapped in this warm home

We give thanks for the memories, And all of our families

And pray for the alone and forgotten, we give thanks for us today

For  our dreams, for our hopes

And so many goals

For the earth, our land of birth

To the heaven’s stars above

We give thanks to those departed, To them we owe our debt

And pray for their brave souls, we give thanks for them today

For the trees, flowers, bees

And the evening sun

For partners new and old

Through whine or shine

We give thanks for us together, For harvests of treasures  

Now a bounty we can share, we give thanks

we give thanks, we give thanks, today

 Thanksgiving  Co Write- Nick Nichols & Dave Schipper (c) 2022 Rose Riversongs

I was asked to put the following to music, and made the poem into a part A & B with Nick's approval.  I'm pursuing better vocalists to sign the song, but here's what it sounds like.

Here is the original poem.

Thanksgiving 2014 - by Nick Nichols

I give thanks for us together

For fair traveling weather

And this bounty we’re soon to share

I give thanks for our health

I give thanks for the wealth

Of our family and friends that care

I give thanks for our meal

For the love that we feel

Wrapped warm in this good solid home

I give thanks for the memories

And all of the families

And pray no one is forgotten and alone

I give thanks for dreams

And for hope as ethereal as it may seem

And so many unattainable goals

I give thanks to those gone ahead

To them I owe my debt

Those ancestors such brave and wonderful souls

I give thanks to the earth

And the land of my birth

To the stars and the heavens above

I give thanks to the trees

The flowers and the bees

And the warmth of an evening sun

I give thanks for my life

I give thanks for my wife

And try so hard not to whine

I give thanks for a soft shoulder

Even as I grow older

I give thanks for my little bit of time

I give thanks for my devotion

And my extreme emotions

And patience and forgiveness too

I give thanks that I’m here

Freedoms ring is so clear

I give thanks that I’m red, white and blue

I give thanks for I have all I need

I’m blessed so blessed indeed

So I give thanks

I give thanks

I give thanks

Water is Life

 

Mother Earth, now listen to us

We're protectors calling you

Oh our brothers are misguided

They need wisdom to pull us through

Water is life we all know that

Sacred as the morning sun

Still we hide ourselves in sin

Ignoring all that we have done.

Human beings just formed of dust

Would wither in the coming heat

We need to stop and check our actions

For our children to live and breathe

There are choices you can show us

There are actions we must take

We are all in this together

And we know what is at stake.

Mother Earth, guide us forward

Take the plank from in our sight

We pray to stop the greedy bastards

Form a new earth birthright

Water is life be our battle cry

On our lips and mind each day

Mark our journey with your blessings

Let us feel the lake's spray.

To the hymn tune Beach Spring

By Dave Schipper

(c) 2022 Roseriver Songs

This tune is one I love to play instrumentally and knew it belonged to this theme.  Any one who would love to sing, to cover or publish these words, do so as a gift from me to the earth; just give me a byline so that we may have a source for more sharing. 

Added later after original post was published, my singing of the song; p.s. I did tweak some of the words too to make it easier to sign.

Of course retirement and an empty house for a few hours allowed me to record it and make it available for 100% proceeds going to Honor the Earth.

Here is the melody if you aren't familiar and want to sign to it.

To read the Dave's Basement Tracks recap of the festival, Click Here.

Have You Written

Last time I saw you were

Lost in a word devotion

Chopping and choosing

A mixed salad of emotions

Have you written it down?

You are so good with words

I’m sure I’ll be edited out 

You wave that pen as a sword

You looked up with those

Black holes of eyes

Pulling out my sadness 

Leaving me an empty prize

Lady luck was not at my back

You smiled and looked down

For the Five seconds I had

No time to generate a noun

So what have you written

Who have you sliced and diced

Was it from your stash of slights

Bitter words are saved on ice

If you have written down

Your words all velvety

Tell me them quietly

I can be your melody

by Dave Schipper

(c) 2022 Roseriver Songs 

Cooking with Bao

 (first off Bao is pronounced like bow, as in bow and arrow)

From the farmer’s market,

To your kitchen table

Vegetables take the lead

Bao will show what’s able

Hand picked them just for you

Fresh as all can be

Radish, carrots, beets,

Even sugar snap peas

Hmong grown with pride and love

Cabbage and Potatoes, 

peppers, lettuce snd more

even cherry Tomatoes

Sit back and relax friend

She’s a sweet potato

Right from LaCrosse Local

Yes it’s Cooking with Bao

by Dave Schipper 

(c) 2022 Rose Riversongs

Thanks for the inspiration both to cook and to write this little ditty... it has music, and I love how singing it changed it up a bit from the original write. 

Here's one I know I'll be cooking this year, and Bao will show me the way.

The Eyes of Angeline

Her Argentine fam

Fled the dirty war

Escaped with no harm

Not knowing what’s in store

A new home for this teen

With the eyes of Angeline

Far from Buenos Aires

They made a life in LA

Found adversaries

Even made a record label

Yet steeped in Argentine

For the eyes of Angeline

Angeline had no fit

A non-mexican latin

Painted as snooty bitch

And cheered Argentine

Mysteries unforeseen

In the eyes of Angeline

Her jet black flowing hair

Draping a blouse of sheen

Young men would turn to see

A heart bursting at the seams

Beauty decked in blue jeans

With the eyes of Angeline

As they turned into Gringas

once a month they reached

telling tales of guerrillas

feasting upon gnocchi

An American dream

Through the eyes of Angeline.

By Dave Schipper (c) 2022 Rose Riversongs

Inspired by the playlist at : Dave's Basement Tracks. #27 Angeline

With a story line credit from : NBC Story on Sasha Pisterman. 

Follow me over at Dave's Basement Tracks

 As retirement nears, officially April 29th, I KNOW I'm going to find more time to listen to music and write.  My routine of writing each morning on a word will start back up and likely the creative juices will be flowing again.  

As for the music, well the people who might know this blog was an off shoot of the Zemmy Show, know that I've had a running passion to share my music library as a promotion of the people I listen to.  

The Zemmy Show ran for 800 posts, now Dave's Basement Tracks that originally started as a radio show is evolving to a streamable show of Bandcamp embedded links and YouTube videos.  Each post will have a theme or make a good hour radio show; yet of course you are in control as you read and click on the links that interest you.  Hope to see you there.

Get the Vaccine

Parody of "Get Together"

Love is but a song we sing,

Fear's the way we die

You can make your arm sting

Or make the angels cry

Yes the germ is on the wing

And you should know why

Come on, people now

Smile on your brother

Everybody get together

Time to get the vaccine right now

Some may come and some may go

They didn’t need to pass

When the one that left us here

Returns for us at mass

We are but a moment's sunlight

Protected at an impasse.

Come on, people now

Smile on your brother

Everybody get together

Time to get the vaccine right now

(c) Dave Schipper 2021 Rose Riversongs

All my life's a timeline

All my life is a timeline (parody of Circle)

Chorus: 

All my life’s a timeline,

Thumbs up and thumbs down

The trolls scroll through the nightime

Til the day break comes around

All my life’s a timeline,

And it can tell you why,

The stories fade to nothing

The ads go right on by

I liked you 100 times

I guess you’ve done the same

and then we lose each other

It’s an algorithm game

But as I sit alone tonight

your dinner caught my eye

The pork grilled to perfection

The onions piled high

Chorus: 

It seems like I’ve seen that before

I can’t remember when

but I got this funny feeling

that I’ll see it once again

There’s straight friends that make up my line

but most of them have been bends

They have clear cut opinions

And some pretty rear ends

Chorus: 

Parody written of the song "Circle" by Harry Chapin offered by Dave Schipper © 2021 Rose Riversongs

Here's a rough recording of it.

If you never heard the song, here's a classic from his live LP. Now he said anyone can sing the song but it's got a little range to it.

Isolation Row

They're coloring pictures on the table, they’ve painted the carpet brown

The beauty parlor is headed by parents, the circus is in town

Here comes the lying president, He’s got them in a trance

One hand is tied to Vladimir, the other is in his pants

And the congress squad they're restless, they need something to vote

As Lady and I look out tonight, from Isolation Row

Cinderella, she seems so easy, “It’s Disney, it’s not free " she smiles

And puts her hands in your back pockets all gangster style

And in comes Rush, he's moaning. “I say Hoax and you Believe"

And someone says, "You're in the wrong place, my friend, you'd better leave"

And the only sound that's left after the ambulances go

Is Hospital staff sweeping up in Isolation Row

Now the moon is almost hidden, the stars are beginning to hide

The fortune telling lady has even taken all her things inside

All except for Hobby Lobby and a few states insane

Everybody is making due and all expecting pain

And there’s Jimmy Kimmel, he's dressing, he's getting ready for the show

He's ready for Formal Friday tonight in Isolation Row

Amelia, she's inside the window for her I feel so afraid

On her eighty-second birthday she is so utterly dismayed

To her, death is quite romantic she wears an cotton mask

She professes her religion, her sin is her lifelessness

And though her eyes are fixed upon Noah's great rainbow

She spends her time peeking from Isolation Row

Fauci, disguised as Super Man with his memories in a trunk

Passed this way an hour ago with his friend, a pious skunk

Now he looked so immaculately frightful as he palmed his face

And he went off sniffling droplets and looking for breathing space

You would not think to look at him, but he was famous long ago

For playing the electric sars vaccines on Isolation Row

Dr. Desai he keeps his Fox inside of a leather cup

But his Osmisos patients, they're trying to slow it up

Now his nurse, some local winner, she's in charge of the corona hole

And she also keeps the cards that read, "Have Mercy on our Souls”

They all play on the penny whistles, Fox News hears them blow

If you pull your head out far enough from Isolation Row

Across the street they've nailed the coffins, they're getting ready for the end

The Phantom of the Cuomo in a perfect image of a friend

They are spoon feeding Ye Old Orange One to get him to feel more concerned

Then he’ll kill us with self-confidence after poisoning us with words

And the Phantom's shouting to nation mass, "Get outta here if you don't know"

The Orange One is just being punished for ignoring Isolation Row

At midnight all the doctors and the superhuman crew

Come out and rest up everyone for another day with more to do

Then they wish from the factory send more respirator machines

They strap two together cross their fingers and quarantine

None are brought down from the castles by insurance men who go

Check to see that nobody is escaping from Isolation Row

Praise be to Trump’s DeSantis, the Holland sails at dawn

Everybody's shouting, "Which side are you on?!"

Broward County and DeSantis fighting in the captain's tower

While calypso singers die for aboard and fishermen hold flowers

Between the windows of the sea where lovely mermaids flow

And nobody has to think too much about on Isolation Row

by Dave Zeman March 2020 

Ok Boomer

Old dogs can’t be taught new tricks New cliches or politics And when you ask him, He gets mad Give him old song with a story line Smokie bar and jar of moonshine And when you ask him, He gets sad

Ok Boomer, tell me again One ring of fire, how will it end Only the truth, you can defend Ok Boomer, ……tell me again Dad killed guys with swastikas Now kids die in Florida And when you ask him, He gets mad Times did change for the better Now we’re our own worst debtors And when you ask him, He gets sad Chorus Distant drums of discontent No love shown to immigrants And when you ask him, He gets mad He has not given up hope It’s in his nature to vote And when you ask him, He gets sad Chorus
(c) 2019 Dave Schipper Rose Riversongs