Category: Song for Today

Song for Today · Songwriting

Just Listen To Your Heart

Jonnyfun.ELeave a comment

I had some notes in the notebook where I keep scraps of lyrics.

I’m not sure if they really fit together, but I have the music all sorted and it might be a song. You never know.

I had the chorus somewhere in my notes – I couldn’t remember where it came from …

The verses are all about a guy called Sam. I saw him one day, and was struck by his serene face. He is someone who has known great suffering and difficulty, yet has a still centre. I was prompted to speak with him and tell him what I saw in his face. He seemed ok for me to have said that to him. He seemed happy to hear it. I don’t know if he would now remember that I had said it to him ?

The chorus is about darkness and light, and that sometimes we have to embrace the darkness. In the Hebrew Scriptures, God is sometimes hidden, or wrapped in darkness.

‘Rather than provide us with a neon sign in the sky, he envelopes himself in hosek and waits for us to search. Perhaps those who find are only those who notice his absence’ https://skipmoen.com/2015/12/the-hidden-god-2/https://skipmoen.com/2015/12/the-hidden-god-2/

I’m still not sure if it works as a song. I might save the two parts and use them another way ?

Chorus

When the night falls
Don’t be afraid of the dark
Some nights
the way is clear to me

When the day calls
Just listen to your heart
Some days
The light’s too bright to see

Verse 1

I see you in the crowd
When everything is loud
There’s a ring around you now
A place without a sound

Chorus

You have a special gift
I don’t know what it is
I seek you out to tell you what I see
You grip my arm and smile at me
You understand

Chorus

Bridge

Your face is shining
In this space in time
Your face is shining
In this space in time

Chorus

community · Song for Today · Songwriting

Breaking Bread Around The Table

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This is another song from the last year or so.

I had a riff on the guitar, and pretty much the tune for a whole song, but no words. It’s interesting because the song changes speed from slowish to fast within each verse, and then goes back to the slower speed for the beginning of each new verse.

Words wise, it came from something I read or heard somewhere that was to do with how our environment in part shapes who we are. I think the song is a plea for knowing who we are and being willing to engage with others, especially those with whom we have disagreements.

I realise that is a tall order. It’s hard enough resolving differences within a family setting, let alone a community or nation.

But in the end, we have to learn to break bread with people with whom we disagree if we are to get anywhere.

The title comes from the Linden (Lime) Tree being a symbol of peace.

The Linden Tree

We are who we are,
We are who we are,
We are who we are,
Because of where we come from.
Because of where we come from.
Will you come and eat with me around the table?

Where we are going,
Where we are going,
Where we are going,
Is something we can shape together.
Will you come and sit with me under the Linden tree ?

Who will come with me ?
Who will come ?
Who will come with me ?
Though we do not know the way.
Will you come and walk with me along the road?

Song for Today · Songwriting

I Am On A Roll

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I haven’t posted for so long, but I just have a backlog of songs that need to be out there somewhere.

The band I am in did a gig back in February, and the same weekend I did a gig with my wife and tried out some of my newer songs.

This is one of the newer ones that seems to have gone down well.
It strikes me that these are just the lyrics. I will have to do some recordings, but I’m never happy enough with them to put them out there. (Yet)

At the songwriters circle that I go to. We were given a challenge.

This was to write a song with four lines in each verse, lines one, two and four were to be the same but with a different third line. (A bit like a country blues)

A
A
B
A

Pity the refugee without a home
Pity the refugee without a home
Her past is behind her for future unknown
Won’t you pity the refugee without a home

Pity a world without any respect
Pity a world without any respect
I’m sitting here, wondering, whatever next
Please pity a world without any respect

A life with no reason is no life at all.
Won’t you carry me down to rest in the soil?

(The word pity can be changed as required as lib to: Think of, Remember, etc).

September 2025.

Activism · Persecution · Political · Song for Today

All Under The Same Sky

Jonnyfun.E2 Comments

We support a small human rights charity called Amos Trust. One focus of their work for many years has been support for Palestinians in Gaza and The West Bank.

Every Tuesday they have a Zoom call with interviews and other news about the projects they are involved with.

One of the Zoom calls was with two Palestinian women.

One of them talked about all the things that she used to love about living in Gaza. The sky and the stars; the sea, and meeting with friends at seaside cafes; the flowers and the fruits that grow abundantly; her home.

All of that is now gone. So much so, that the things she used to love, she almost now hates.

There is a paradox – that the dispossessed and persecuted live under the same sky as those who are the cause of their pain and suffering.

After listening to her talk, I wrote this song.
It’s always a tricky thing writing a song from someone else’s perspective. Do I really have the right to do that?

But I used her words as much as I could to stay faithful to what she was expressing.

The Same Sky

I hate this sky
For what it means to me.
The lightning flashes by
The stars have ceased to be.

All that I knew before
And loved and daily saw
Is now a horror show
A constant and fearful glow.

Please take this beach away
The peril of the sea
Once beautiful has changed
Is now a threat to me

I hate this house I love
Destroyed from up above
By thunder and by rain
Can we ever build again

Everywhere I search
To look for flowers in the dirt
With rubbish lying all around
I run for cover from the sound.

Birds that scream across the sky
Send down death on every side.
We wait for what we had and lost
Never can we know the cost

And when we talk together now
Of treasures hidden in our past,
Or speak with dread at how things are,
We share the pain of broken hearts

We are all under the same sky.
We are all under the same sky.
We are all under the same sky.
We are all under the same sky.

February 2026

Song for Today · Songwriting

This Moment We Are In

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Another song.

I realised how long it is since I’d posted very much, in spite of having things I would have to say …

Maybe now the best thing I can do is post lyrics of new songs as I write them. That is a pretty constant feature of life for me at the moment.

I’m grateful to be a part of two songwriting circles where we have an opportunity to try out songs that we are working on and get some feedback from other songwriters

This one is called ‘I’m Just Saying’ and was written in February 2026.

I had a couple of phrases in my notebook that I had gone back to several times but not used. As it turned out, they seemed to work with this song.

Verse 1

Met with some old friends yesterday.
Talked about the people we all knew.
The times we shared, both the good and the bad.
The crimson and the blue.

Chorus.

This is a waiting game.
Everyone is playing.
We are all the same.
I’m just saying.
I’m just saying

Verse 2

One decision I’ve yet to make
Is whether to be buried or burned?
And the past to heaven
Is always round the bend.

Chorus.

The only thing I’m really afraid of, it’s not dying.
The only thing I’m afraid of, is not dying.
The only thing I’m afraid of it’s not dying.
The only thing I’m really afraid of is not living

Chorus II

The only certain thing
Is this moment we are in
We are all the same.
I’m just saying.
I’m just saying.

February 2026.

Activism · community · Political · Song for Today · Songwriting

We’ve Got A Big House

Jonnyfun.E2 Comments

My wife and I were walking back from feeding chickens for some friends who were away on holiday, and on the way home we passed a big house, with a tall hedge in front.

I immediately felt a rhythm in the words … We’ve got a big house, behind a tall hedge …

It made me think of TV programmes like Escape to the Country where someone looks round a selection of properties with a view to buying … One recurring theme is a requirement for the property to be secluded with no near neighbours.

Writing the song made me think about the rats’ nest that is world politics. It is very tempting sometimes to ignore everything that’s going on and just get on with life …. But …

Here’s the song

Verse 1

We’ve got a big house
Behind a tall hedge
Nobody’s lookin’ in
No-one’s making friends
And that’s the way we live
In these troubled times
Holding on so tight
To everything

Chorus

Do you know what I mean
Do you know what I mean
Can I get some sympathy
Do you know what I mean

Verse 2

We’ve got a big house
Behind a tall hedge
Nobody’s lookin’ in
No-one’s making friends
’Cos we’re not quite sure
If we can let it go
Open up the door
And let you in

Chorus

Verse 3

We’ve got a big house
Behind a tall hedge
Nobody’s lookin’ in
No-one’s making friends
We don’t want to live in feat
So we hide away
From everything

Chorus

Bridge

There are days
when I might make a change
Get a bigger heart
I’ll need a safe space
To make a start

Chorus

A Prayer For This Day · Song for Today · World Affairs

I Pray We Not Fear

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I’m posting today lyrics of a song by Bruce Cockburn. It’s from his latest album, ‘O Sun O Moon.’

I’ve been listening to this album non-stop since seeing him perform live at the Greenbelt Festival back in August.

It’s partly lament, but remembering also the good of which we are capable when we are at our best.

Truth, Justice, Mercy and Peace.

Us All

Here we are, faced with choice
Shutters and walls or open embrace
Like it or not, the human race
Is us all

History is what it is
Scars we inflict on each other don’t die
But slowly soak into the DNA
Of us all

Us all

I pray we not fear to love
I pray we be free of judgement and shame
Open the vein, let kindness rain
O’er us all

Us all
Us all

Song for Today

I Almost Cut My Hair

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This morning, I cut my hair and tidied up my beard.

The words of a song came into my head, so I went to my wife and said:

I almost cut my hair
It happened just the other day
It was gettin’ kinda long
I could-a said, it was in my way
But I didn’t and I wonder why
I feel like letting my freak flag fly
And I feel like I owe it to someone

She said … they’re great words – you should turn them into a song.

I broke it to her … sadly they’re not my words. They’re David Crosby’s from his song “Almost Cut My Hair” on the CSNY album ‘Deja Vu’

I almost cut my hair
It happened just the other day
It was gettin’ kinda long
I could-a said, it was in my way
But I didn’t and I wonder why
I feel like letting my freak flag fly
And I feel like I owe it to someone

Must be because I had the flu for Christmas
And I’m not feelin’ up to par
It increases my paranoia
Like lookin’ at my mirror and seein’ a police car
But I’m not givin’ in an inch to fear
Cause I promised myself this year
I feel like I owe it to someone

When I finally get myself together
I’m gonna get down in that sunny southern weather
And I find a place inside to laugh
Separate the wheat from the chaff
I feel like I owe it to someone

I wish I had written it, or even arranged it – the guitar work by Stephen Stills and Neil Young is exquisite.

Jesus · Song for Today

Resurrection Morning On Robinswood Hill

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It’s 8.20 am on Easter Day.
We’re not long back from our Easter Dawn gathering on Robinswood Hill.
Our practice over many years has been to wake before dawn on Easter Day to meet with other Christians and proclaim Christ’s Resurrection.

The traditional ‘Easter Shout’ says it all:
Alleluia, Christ is risen
He is risen indeed, Alleluia.
Praise the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.
He has given us new life and hope
by raising Jesus from the dead.
Alleluia. Christ is risen.
He is risen indeed. Alleluia.

We sang a song as the sun rose … Beautiful Things, by Gungor.

All this pain
I wonder if I’ll ever find my way
I wonder if my life could really change at all
All this earth
Could all that is lost ever be found
Could a garden come up from this ground at all

You make beautiful things
You make beautiful things out of the dust
You make beautiful things
You make beautiful things out of us

All around
Hope is springing up from this old ground
Out of chaos life is being found in You

You make beautiful things …
You make me new, You are making me new
You make me new, You are making me new

Ecology · Song for Today

Song For Today # 27

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This song came to mind yesterday. It seems more and more relevant as the days go by. It’s written by Spirit’s lead guitarist, Randy California. Other songs of his indicate a sensitivity to a world beyond the materialistic and a desire to be guided by a higher power. The song appears on Spirit’s 1970 album, ‘The Twelve Dreams of Doctor Sardonicus.’ If you’re into rock music, give the album a listen. They are a band from the late 60’s and early 70’s who didn’t achieve the superstar status of some other bands, but their music has stood the test of time.

Here’s a live version with Randy California on guitar and vocal, Ed Cassidy on drums and Mike Nile on bass. It’s a beatiful version with an exquisite harmony vocal and a brief example of Randy California’s understated lead guitar playing.

Nature’s Way

It’s nature’s way of telling you something’s wrong
It’s nature’s way of telling you in a song
It’s nature’s way of receiving you
It’s nature’s way of retrieving you
It’s nature’s way of telling you something’s wrong

It’s nature’s way of telling you, it’s in the breeze
It’s nature’s way of telling you, dying trees
It’s nature’s way of receiving you
It’s nature’s way of retrieving you
It’s nature’s way of telling you something’s wrong

It’s nature’s way, it’s nature’s way
It’s nature’s way, it’s nature’s way

It’s nature’s way of telling you something’s wrong
It’s nature’s way of telling you in a song, oh
It’s nature’s way of receiving you (it’s nature’s way)
It’s nature’s way of retrieving you (it’s nature’s way)
It’s nature’s way of telling you something’s wrong
Something’s wrong
Something’s wrong

Grace and Peace.