Documentary Songwriters

This song is part of the #MeToo Songs project.

In this video:
Nora Willauer – teaching artist, cello, vocals
Will Foote – percussion, vocals
Sophie Davis – violin
Hazel Delehey – guitar, vocals
Malcolm Brooks – guitar, vocals
 
If I spoke up
After 40 years
Does it take away what you’ve done
Does my life get any better
If you spend yours in jail

My father said
Do you have your legs
Do you have your arms
Then you’ll be okay
That is kept me standing
And I’m still here

When I woke up
There were two of them
They held a knife at my throat
They had a necktie tied
Over my eyes
Then they took turns

My father said…
Continue reading “Dina Black – My Father Said”

 
Dancing at Home was Hannah’s birthday song for Jason Bolton. He was her fiancé and is now her husband.
 
You’re flying around the country
Sitting in airports
Thinking of me
Hopefully
And I’m at home alone counting the days
 
Till we’re dancing, dancing
Dancing at home
Till we’re dancing, dancing
Dancing at home
Continue reading “Dancing at Home – Hannah Batley”

This song is part of the  #MeToo Songs project.

Nora Willauer: Teaching Artist
 
Live Recording –
Hazel Delehey: guitar, vocals
Nora Willauer: cello, vocals
 

 

He walked into my room
Put his arms on either side
First I laughed then tried to say
Go away go away
 
Why can’t you sleep downstairs?
On the futon, or the couch
Tried to make it his idea
To leave to leave
 
I want a lock on my bedroom door
He held me down with his hands
Should I call out
Don’t want a scene
 
I want a lock on my bedroom door
He held me down with his hands
I always assumed
It wouldn’t happen to me so
 
He had his hands on my shoulders
He’s really really strong
6 foot 6, over my body
When he’s drunk
He gets angry
 
I want a lock on my bedroom door….
 
I fell off my scooter when I was 8
He made sure i was okay
He was my brother’s best friend
He noticed me
 
I want a lock on my bedroom door….

Melodi Var Öngel – teaching artist, piano and vocal
Hanife Kannur – story source
Serkan Kaya – guitar
 
As part of the Songs Across Boundaries project, Melodi Var Ôngel interviewed Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots and created documentary songs from their spoken words. (Click here for a complete playlist.)

Background to this song:

Hanife Kannur, a Turkish Cypriot, was trapped in the Greek Cypriot Zone. She longed to join her husband on the Turkish side. Then a Greek Cypriot, prizing family over politics, helped Hanife and her baby boy to hide in his potato truck and sneak across the border.

Update on January 7th, 2019

The baby boy in Hanife’s story, Enver Kannur, is now president of the London Rotary Club.
 
(English translation by Üstün Öngel)
 
After the prison camp
My husband stayed on the other side
We, in the Greek Cypriot village
Missing each other a lot
 
There was a Greek Cypriot selling potatoes
My husband asked him
If he can take us to him
Over the green line
 
One day the guy calls us
Be ready tomorrow, he says
We put our things in boxes
Get on the back of the potato truck
 
We hide ourselves between the potato cases
My son one and a half year old
Baby bottle in his mouth
Continue reading “Hanife Kannur – Patates Kamyonunda (On the Potato Truck)”

Richard Fisher – Story Source
Will Foote – Teaching Artist, vocal and guitar
 
A teenager and potential draftee in the ’60s, Richard Fisher rebelled against requirements to graduate from his high school. He wanted to convey what was truly going on inside and around him, not merely what was “finished and shiny.”
 
Every student had to carve a wooden panel
Set into the walls of the school
I carved the scene over a couple of winter months
An alley, two drunks and a wall
Until, I was told you can’t do that
Try again, go do something else
 
They say “You need to show
What’s finished and shiny”
But I need to show
Broken bricks and broken bottles
I need to show
Another side of life
More…

Sometimes all one can do is live moment by moment. And sometimes it’s unclear where each moment will lead. Will Foote works on living with uncertainty.
 
It could be good, it could be bad
But I don’t know
That’s just the way that my life flows
 
Wakin’ up
Goin to School
Wakin’ up, goin’ to school, and comin’ back
Doin’ a lot of work and going to bed
 
I see my breath
I bite my teeth
I see my breath, I bite my teeth, It’s getting cold
I wanna hibernate inside until it’s warm again
 
It could be good, it could be bad
But I don’t know
That’s just the way that my life flows
More…

Chloë Isis – story source, vocals
Chloë Isis tells what it took her to get her license.
 
I took Driver’s Ed, I sat for hours in class
I learn to park and yield and best of all how to pass
 
There were all these questions, I couldn’t answer them all
I missed the one about the legal limit of alcohol
 
I drove with the teacher, he had his own brake
He made me stop at the stop signs, that was his only mistake
 
I drove to Waldoboro and then back again
I was counting the hours, I had to get to ten
 
I love the DMV, you know what I mean
They gave me a number, it was a hundred nineteen
 
Long story short, I got my permit today
Good news for me, but maybe you should consider staying out of my way
Continue reading “Driver’s Ed Blues – Chloë Isis”

Hazel Delehey – story source, vocals

Mia Bertelli, Belfast, Maine
vocals
 
Hazel Delehey finds herself at a camp with strangers, after she thought that friends would be there, too. She longs for even one friend to join her, to help her fend off loneliness and inner turmoil.

Knock, knock, knock,
The wolf is at the door.
I’m too young to meet my maker,
Need an angel and a sword.
 Don’t send me letters.
One rip and they get torn.
I need something stronger,
Need an angel and a sword.
 
Don’t leave me.
Don’t let this be my fate.
Stand by my side,
And tell me that it’s not too late.
 
Please hurry fast,
Faster than this chord.
I’m fighting these devils,
Need an angel and a sword.
Please hurry, I
Can’t take this anymore.
I’m fighting these devils,
Need an angel and a sword.
Continue reading “Angel and a Sword – Hazel Delehey”

Milk Carton
When Nora Willauer’s uncle Peter, who lived in the Maine woods, would come to visit the family farm, his ways challenged the family norms and inspired Nora’s independence.
 
I don’t know if you ever met my uncle
He died nearly four years ago
My mom’s youngest brother, he lived in the woods
In a cabin he built by himself
 
We’d never know when he would be coming
He’d do projects around the house
He’d sleep in a tent in our back yard
Because he wouldn’t sleep inside
He’d never sleep in side
 
Things I hesitate to do
It’s mostly everyday
Like what to wear and what music to listen to
I think of him drinking milk from a carton
And I laugh and say
I don’t care what they thought of him
And what they think of me
No, I don’t care what they thought of him or me
Continue reading “Milk Carton – Nora Willauer”

Chloë Isis – vocals, teaching artist
Will Foote – vocals
 

Ken Goldman– drums
 
Alex Wilder – electric guitar, keyboards, electric bass
Malcolm Brooks – story source
Eliza Cuevas – cover design
Shawn Russell – photography
 

I want to be that way with you.
 
I missed you so much, you moved to Boston
To a new home with new friends
Who fight the dragons you fight, fear the things you fear
Swear to stay together to be strong
 
All this in the week of the Boston Marathon
Runners run, trusting no bombs explode
I want to be that way with you
I want to love and let you walk your own road
More…

Beverly Pacheco – vocal, piano, synthesizer, story source
Will Foote – vocal, shaker, tambourine
Jeb Smereck – guitar
Malcolm Brooks – guitar, teaching artist
Joaquin Contreras – guitar, hand drumming
 
I feel like I’m on automatic,
Holding my breath through the day.
And I’ve been wondering out loud
I don’t even know what I say.
I get up, go to school, I come home.
Everything is the same.
 
Looking for the space of summer,
Looking for the space.
I’m looking for the space of summer,
Looking
More…

Cat Bennett – story source
Canton, New York
Will Foote – teaching artist, vocals
 
Cat Bennett, a farmer in upstate New York, reveals her experience of the changing American dream.
 
What do you do when money fails?
For me, wealth was measured in healthy food
And getting to play outside. I never noticed we were poor,
I had cows to hug and trees to climb.
 
But now, as the whole world falls apart,
As the whole world falls apart,
We band together, keep each other going,
Side by side.
We band together, keep each other going
To survive.
 
My mom is on a medication.
Last night she said to bring some over to Rose.
She needs a bottle, and we have three or four.
We’re family, we’re neighbors, and she could use some more.
 
So now, as the whole world falls apart…
We band together….
 
Throwing cedar posts in the back of the car,
We turn around and see this man.
He’s the type of person who we wouldn’t know,
Lending us a hand.
Continue reading “We Band Together – Cat Bennett”

Frank Dowling – story source
Malcolm Brooks, Hannah Batley – teaching artists
Pauleen MacDougal – historical consultant
 
Hannah Batley and Meredith Batley – vocals
Malcolm Brooks – guitar, bass
Nathan Hillman – viola
Sophie Davis – violin
 
From a recorded interview at the Maine Folklife Center, Orono, Maine
 
I am Francis Dowling, born in 1889
I went picking blueberries in the bright sunshine
That was the last time for me
 
Knowing you won’t ever get back
To the places on the rivers
Is the hardest part of growing old
 
I was a surveyor and I snowshoed every day
I would rise up early and be
Nothing but the rivers and me
 
Knowing you won’t ever get back…
 
I can still see those places in my mind
 
I lumbered in the winters in the days so cold
They landed lumber on the ice and the ice would hold
Oh, that was something to see
 
Knowing you won’t ever get back
To the places on the rivers
Is the hardest part of growing old

 

Chloë Isis – story source
 
Chloë Isis, Alex Wilder – vocals
Malcolm Brooks, Alex Wilder – guitars
Malcolm Brooks – teaching artist
Produced by Alex Wilder
 
Live with the Push Farther Project:

Chloë Isis loses a green necklace near the beach, and then with a storm coming, and no one to help her, she realizes she’s lost more than she thought.

You’re looking for your green necklace
That you lost
It’s on a long chain
When you were climbing trees
In your bare feet
You dropped it on the ground
 
That necklace was more than jewelry
There’s more to something than what you see
Continue reading “Chloë Isis – Necklace”

Androulla Shati, story source, and Melodi Var Öngel, teaching artist and vocalist, at the Home for Cooperation in the buffer zone in Nicosia, Cyprus.
 
As part of the Songs Across Boundaries project, Melodi Var Ôngel interviewed Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots and created documentary songs from their spoken words. (Click here for a complete playlist.)

Suli and I
Androulla Shati tells of a childhood when Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots would play together.
 
Dali, my village
The only one left with people
For centuries
People lived in peace
Together
 
My house was between
A church and a mosque
Sharing each other’s
Joy and sorrow
Every moment
More…

Malcolm Brooks – story source, guitar, bass
Will Foote – musical sherpa, vocals
Chris Finn – musical sherpa

Caleb Edwards – musical sherpa, vocals, percussion, mandolin

 
Malcolm Brooks finds he cannot grasp beauty in its complexity and detail. Especially when the beauty lies in his beloved Barbara.
 
When I walk into the room
I see the glorious rug from Persia
All the whorls and the swirls overwhelm me
It feels so beautiful to see
I never know, never know where my eyes should go
 
When I look out of the window
I see a million trees in sunshine
All the whorls and the swirls overwhelm me
It feels so beautiful to see
I never know, never know where my eyes should go
More…

One night on the boat under the stars, Will Foote watches a seal, who seems to know that he is there.

Will Foote – Story Source, Vocals
 

Chloë Isis – Teaching Artist, Vocals
 

 
On the boat I stayed above
To look at the stars.
Out in the quietness I heard a splash
Close by me.
Little seal came right up to the boat.
I said, Hello, hey what are you doing?
I felt welcomed into his world.
It danced under the water,
Opened up to be seen by everyone,
Especially me.
 
© 2016 Beauchamp Point Music
 

The Push Farther Project:
Alex Wilder – story source, vocals, guitar
Nora Willauer – cello
Will Foote – guitar
Chloë Isis – vocals
 

Heather Kahill – violin
 
Produced by Alex Wilder

Alex Wilder likes how he’s been changing and he knows who’s been the source of that change. But now she’s leaving…
 
In a month or two
She’ll be gone
She’ll be flying to Barcelona
I’m losing a life that feels so easy
When she’s near to me
 
And I guess I’m scared
That I won’t see
The beauty in everyday things
Cause seeing things through Eliza
Is to see them again
 
Like how the rain sounds
Or the view from Beech Hill
She’s got a love of life
That calls to my own
And I don’t want to be with anybody who can’t see
The beauty in everyday things
More…

How do you fully love someone when a painful past holds them back?
Will Foote‘s relationship becomes challenged by memories and difficult ties to past relationships.
 
When we were at the beach,
We put our feet in the water,
And talked for a half an hour.
We got back up and dug a big hole in the sand.
The sun was shining,
And there were no clouds in the sky.
 
And then I can’t believe
I heard you say
He still likes you.
Don’t you know
That was the past.
more…

Chloë Isis makes it through the Maine winters, because the summers are so sweet.
 
I’m tired of winter, I’m tired of snow
I’m tired of the sky weighing me down
I’m tired of waiting for summer
To come around
 
I miss it every winter, I miss it every fall
When it’s here, I wish that it would stay
I wish I could skip ahead
To summer days
 
They say winter has to come for summer to feel sweet
I know it’s the place for me
In the summer in my bare feet (bis)
Continue reading “Summer – Chloë Isis”

Chris Finn–Story Source

Will Foote– Sherpa, Lead Vocal
Prodigal Man
 
Chris Finn remembers his uncle’s homecoming after a sojourn not unlike that told in the Prodigal Son parable.
 
I was seven years old
My dad and I
Went to the airport
Uncle Dave arrived
You were shrouded in mystery
Decorated in war
Disappeared to Las Vegas
 
You’re the prodigal man, appearing like a dream
From a prodigal world I’d never seen
Continue reading “Prodigal Man – Chris Finn”

Will Foote – musical sherpa, vocal

Jeb Smereck – musical sherpa, guitar

Malcolm Brooks – story source, upright bass
 
Produced by Alex Wilder
 

Malcolm Brooks hikes to the ocean believing that the waves will match his own stormy mood. But the seas are calm and seem not to care.
 
I climb over the rocks
Up the cliff on the hill
I cry to the ocean, save me
But the ocean’s almost still
 
I want the ocean to have my back
And drown my enemies
I want the ocean to have my back
But the little waves just laugh at me
 
They don’t smash against the rocks
They don’t roll and reel
They don’t say “I’ll drown your troubles.”
“I feel what you feel.”
 
I want the ocean to have my back
And drown my enemies
I want the ocean to have my back
But the little waves just laugh at me
 
They don’t smash against the shore
What kind of answer is that?
What kind of power is that?
They just come and go
So low, flat and slow
 
I want the ocean to have my back
And drown my enemies
I want the ocean to have my back
But the little waves just laugh at me
 
I want the ocean to have my back
With high winds, raging seas
I want the ocean to have my back
And drown my enemies