Vancouver 1972
This photo was taken Looking West from the balcony at 1206- 711 Broughton in 1972.
My first business card for Looking West Music designed by a local graphic artist.
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.
Snippets! Bits and pieces of finished and unfinished songs
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
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.
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
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
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
Long Time Done
August 1972
Something's telling me this love
Is going to be
A long time done
Saturday
You're still away
And I guess you must be thinkin
To yourself
That I'm not the one
I'm thinking too
About you
Long time done
I remember in the summer
When I saw you
In a yellow dress
Long red hair
I just stared
Cause I never thought a girl
Who looked so pretty
Could even exist
Or love me
Or love me
Long time done
Did I say
How I feel
I can tell
When love's not real
So you ask
If I doubt
I say "Yes"
You walk out
Long time done
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