arlah

1

string quartet and voice with a soaring melody and powerful lyrics

this is one of the string quartet songs that i wrote for playing live, but it meant so much to me that it got recorded and put on the album... i wrote it for my brothers, and for others in the world that are heavy with pressures imposed upon them and are not given enough room or wind to take flight... dreams and far away ideas are what make this life worth liveable, fly!

hush now, go to sleep
for to dream is to believe
anything you can imagine
will be yours you will see

dream my beautiful baby
don't you worry my darling
now we can forget all our worries and fears

let go

no more cares and no more troubles
fly as high as you can
don't you limit yourself to man-made boxes
they will trap you
fly high
free as a bird
don't look down
never look down!

skies as blue as sapphires surround you
stretching far as you can see
freedom racing through your wings
soaring, gliding over everything

dream my beautiful baby
don't you worry my darling
now we can forget all our worries and fears

let go

anything can be ours!

1

melodic rock with strings, hard-edge guitar, and a chorus that sticks in your head

you came to me just like a dream
(just like a ghost) of all the pain you bring me
the bitter-sweetness of your love
a demon in disguise-
of hearts on fire, a burning desire
in one and the same you've got me:
a hell i can't give up tonight

i've fallen (for you)

tease me, taunt me baby
you've got me wrapped around your finger
use and abuse me lover
i'm silly-putty waitin for ya

and i don't know what i'm going to do with myself
all of my defenses are useless with you
my body calls the shots
from here on out
there's no more logical thinking
there's only here and now

fallen
fallen
fallen

you came to me just like a dream
(just like a ghost) of all the pain you bring me
the bitter-sweetness of your love
a demon in disguise-
of hearts on fire, a burning desire
in one and the same you've got me:
a hell i can't give up tonight

i've fallen (for you)

0

electronica with lush strings and a warm human vulnerability pulsing through

how can i be in one and the same
so truly self-sufficient yet totally tame?
you twist me around, you turn me upside down
i thought i was so strong yet now i'm just your pawn

i really have to get myself together
i can't let my dysfunction rear it's ugly head
my needy heart needs to breathe
so
i can remember all the lessons of the past
the times i lost myself, the clarity i lacked
i'm way too smart to play out all the scenes of yesterday
i've already paid my dues so
where's my

release?
enrapt, enchanted
doomed to repeat
love's tragic drama
are ya ready?
i'm not ready for you
better redeem fool cupid's reputation!

i really have to get myself together
i can't let my heart run wild so recklessly
i need you so bad but please
give me time to breathe

bewitched, bothered, bewildered
you have besieged me
broken down my defense
do you believe me?
(from here on out it's do or die me)
beleagured, still i fight
in vain

(i dare you to prove my fears untrue)

0

an imaginative lullably of the sea with string quartet and voice

i drift toward the deep embrace
of slumber
my heavy eyelids close
a gentle breeze blows through my hair
a sailor's cry echoes:

heave ho

the waves roll so languidly
the tide beckons luringly

yet still i cannot go
my anchor's fast' below
the heavy day still weighs upon
my troubled mind (caught up in thought)
i toss and turn and
finally
grow tired

i drift toward the deep embrace
of slumber
my heavy eyelids close

one final call
i set my sails
they billow full
i'm ready

heave ho!

0

sitars, strings, and electronic elements weave through this tale of finding light at the end of a long, dark tunnel

you called it love
a hand in glove
so far above

but it was death to me
i couldn't see
i had no room to breathe

i forgive you
(but not forget)
forgive
(but never forget)

you once told me it would last forever
i blindly believed every word
you lied to me
i once thought that it would last forever
but out of the tears came clarity
now i can see:

it wasn't love
i paid in blood
for strength and wisdom

time is my faithful friend
it lets me mend
the breaks that would not bend

i forgive you
(but never forget)

0

electronica pop with a great beat, catchy chorus, and a whole lotta feminine sensibility

now is the time (we have to)
figure this thing out (you'd better)
love me forever or let me go!
no more cat and mouse (we've done that)
playing hard to get (i'm tired)
now it's time for grown-up play for keeps

'cause i can't pretend-love aymore
my heart's too full for keeping score

so love me or leave me
my heart needs safe-keeping
i can't let you leave me up in the air
i'm out on a limb 'bout to jump
better catch me honey!
or else just let me hit the ground
love me or leave me

don't you think for one (small second)
that i'm not as scared (as you are)
but we've come upon a conundrum:
you love me, and i love you
so what are we to do but join as one?

'cause we can't go back to what we were
and i can't go on as what we are-

so love me or leave me
my heart needs safe-keeping
i can't let you leave me up in the air
i'm out on a limb 'bout to jump
better catch me honey!
or else just let me hit the ground
love me or leave me

0

an uplifiting string quartet and voice song about optimism and pushing through darkness

each night i look up to see the stars
but i can't see anything at all
'cause there's a thick layer of smog between me & them
so i just imagine their silvery beams

shining down on me
and suddenly it seems so
magical to be
living in this moment
galaxies to swim in
and shooting stars to ride on
never ending limits
to possibility

rain may fall and gloomy days may come
but who's to say how every day
i'll get along?
if i look for rainbows and search for pots of gold
then every day will surely hold
new adventures

galaxies to swim in
and shooting stars to ride on
never ending limits
to possibility
that's the trick it seems to me
live with wild abandon
paint your own reality
any way you fancy

every way you fancy

0

heart-broken electronica with choral voices and strings set against back-beats and synths

how scantly i see you anymore
i know it was just a dream i held onto
while you let me go

i knew all along you would go
i tried to make you love me like i
loved you
(love)

but you were weak of heart
(i can't blame you for being a fool)
you ran like a wounded child
so afraid
of something good!

how could i have known how much i'd fall in love with you?

somewhere along the way i forgot
that you didn't deserve my heart
(so i guess that makes me a bigger fool than you ever were)

i knew all along you would go
i tried to make you love me like i

how scantly i see you anymore
i know it was just a dream i held onto
while you let me go

but how could i have known how much i'd fall in love with you?

1

deeply felt and personal, this heavily melodic song speaks to the isolation created by our society

stuck living our lives
selfishly set
so hard to trust each other
bent too many times
trying to care
quickly we build our fortress higher

the world is full of strangers
the world is full of ones
the world is lonely and beautiful
just hold my hand

build we our walls
walls of fear (which feign secure)
isolating, separating
one by one abating
communities are crumbling
our social web unraveling
lean on me
i'll lean on you
together, our walls come tumbling
we only have life
we only have love
let's face this world as two, as three, as four, as five
-we'll go stronger than one-

the world is full of strangers
the world is full of ones
the world is lonely and beautiful
just hold my hand

please hold my hand