My first business card for Looking West Music designed by a local graphic artist.
This photo was taken Looking West from the balcony at 1206- 711 Broughton in 1972.
I Thought It Was Worth A Song
VANCOUVER 1972
I Thought It Was Worth A Song
Vancouver 1973C
San Francisco 1975
My first place to "land"; the beginning of me. This was a time of unprecedented creativity. I was 25 and thanks to Gerry Lacoursiere, I had a record deal with a great label, (something I had been striving for for years). I was writing every day all day long and in most of the songs I can hear myself working my way through questions about love and life that I had not had before. Years later, I have had time to go back and collect all the ideas from the papers I managed to keep with song titles or lyrics.It was probably the most extended, emotionally charged time in my life that I was able to capture in song. In the same way that a photograph of good times can put the viewer in the picture; Perhaps a recording of discovered moments can do the same thing for the listener. Vancouver in 1972 was a magical place in a magical time and I was lucky to be there and in love.
LYRICS
Then and Now
Who You Are
February 1972
Some girls wear jeans
Poor boys and patchouli
They're groovy babies
Others sit and type at a desk
Hopin' they'll get a raise maybe
But that doesn't mean
That you have to be
One or the other
There's lots of things
That make up a dream
So take some time
And discover
Who you are
The Life Men Lead
2:00 am December 26, 1972
Leaning in the Broadway doorway
Living life in such a poor way
Always thinking about the wine
What a bitter life their tasting
Standing on the corner
Down on East Hastings
Askin' each other
"Can you spare a dime"
Oh lord
The life men lead
It's sad enough
To make a jade stone bleen
And make those beautiful mountains
Start to cry
Why lord why
My woman's in the next room sleepin'
It's two in the mornin' and I'm still up thinkin'
Why aren't those men
Lucky like me
I've got a home that I can come to
And I've got a good woman
That I can run to
But all that they have
Is wine and the street.
Crazy Man (The Blue Dress Song)
July 1972
Oh the beat of life
Turned into a song
To the rhythm of a word
Left hanging there
Another golden sight
Suddenly gone wrong
Cashing in upon the bank
Of deep despair.
There's so much to say
About what went down today
And I don't think that I understand
Anyway
There's too many dreams
Wrapped up in this scene
And I don't think that I could explain
Except to say
I'm a crazy man
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Vancouver 1971
Melville Street Symphony....
November 1971
Wind on the window
Wind through the trees
Don't blow so lonely
On people I need
Rain on the rooftop
Rain in the night
Don't fall so sadly
On people I like
Don't give her dreams
Cause dreams make her lonely
Don't ask her questions
That would be a mistake
She don't want answers
Or even suggestions
She just needs time
Cause time's what it takes
Time on the table
Time on her wrist
Don't pass so slowly
Through sad times like this
Girl softly sleeping
Boy on the floor
Wind on the window
Raining some more
That's All That Love Can Do
May 1972
I can't solve your problems
I can't make things right
If you gave me twenty years
Or only overnight
I can't erase the memories
You've had through the years
But what I can do
Is be there for you
When the memories
Give you tears
That's all that love can do
That's what I'd like to do for you
Take all of your old dream
Replace them with brand new
Take your bad times
Make them all mine
That's what I'd do
FOR SARAH (2020)
Feel that wind a blowin cross the prairies
It feels just like it felt those years ago
When you and I were still the young ones Sarah
With miles ahead and many dreams to know
I took you from the place you were intended
And brought you to the east along with me
You lost the big sky and your appaloosa
And you almost lost the girl you were meant to be
But there were nights when we both were dreamers
And almost caught the stars as they flew by
We loved each other in those youthful hours
The sun came up and I knew you had to ride
And here’s the song I always meant to write you
And though it’s late I hope that you can tell
I never lost my love in all the sadness
And I hope your heart is kind to me as well
I remember the first time I saw you ridin
You were up on Doc he was all of 16 2
Then you took off like you both were flyin
And I think that’s when I fell in love with you
Forgive me for that thoughtless complication
I should have seen the Western girl in you
But now upon a lifetime of reflection
Things worked out the way they were meant to
This guitar is the gift you gave me
Now it’s more that 50 years ago
I can’t count how many times it saved me
So you were always here but didn’t know.
I’m asking you to do me one more favor
Some prairie night as the sun goes down
Ride your horse to someplace that feels lonely
And call my name as if I’m close around
I’ll be a star in your deep dark heaven
I’ll be the wind you feel on a summer days
I’ll be a song some cowboy might be singing
About a boy and girl who loved and went their ways