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.

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Snippets! Bits and pieces of Vancouver songs

Melville Street Symphony....

November 1971

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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

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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

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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

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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.

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Who You Are

February 1972

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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

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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

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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.

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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

Sundown...Star Beach (Goodbye)

February/ March 1973

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Sundown

Star Beach

Your kiss

Reaches through the years

So glad to meet you here

I love

So much

Your kiss

Touches in my soul

Finally I'm whole

Tonight

I'll love you forever

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I know

Your heart

It is a

Part of who I am

Don't you understand

These dreams

This place

This love

Always meant to be

Just for you and me

Tonight

I'll love you forever

And ever and ever

That's All That Love Can Do

May 1972

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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