Crushed By A Flower

I've taken a turn into folk music as a result of reconnecting with an old friend from high school, Chris Styles.
As we parted ways, a 100 years ago, he was playing traditional celtic music on a Cittern, a beautiful chiming octave MANdolin thing, evocative and rich sounding....
We're both rusty in folk, Chris and I, but listen to what we've done. I think it's amazing.
The lyrics were inspired by my daughter's leaving for school. I felt so wistful...
Anyway, here it is..."Crushed By A Flower"
A haunting Neo-Folk love song with a Nick Drake feel, featuring Irish Cittern and uilleann pipes.


I lay asleep in a field... 

and awoke to the first drops of rain on my lips like a prayer
with the clouds marching off in their columns to heaven
if I could, i would gladly have followed them there
From their ranks streaked with red --I was turned in mid-air
and the last thing i recall was the smell of her hair

I was crushed by a flower
the beauty and the power
in the hour of remembering our love
yes, I was crushed by a flower
the sweetness and the sour
what remains is the girl and the April shower.

and i have shaken off blows-
that i know would have taken a hundred other men down.
but when the winter comes by...to a prisoner's eye,
any color in the yard takes a man to the ground

Hypnotized

"Hypnotized" is not an official SOTGD entry but it continues the theme.

I've always been into original (& "neo") soul & R&B songs and arrangements, and I wanted to write something else in that vein.

Ball And Chain

Ball And Chain comes from a love of obscure 70's power-pop...There's a vibe there, redolent of dry bonus rooms, shag carpets, lava rock mantles, super 8 movies and records going 'round....an in-between spot in the church of rock and roll occupied by groups like the Guess Who, Badfinger and the early solo Beatles, human scaled, full of "exotic" friendly and lo-key charm....So here's "Ball And Chain", with a Soul School beat, a post-Specter/pre-Ramones melody, siren and frogs:

Happy Days Are Here Again

"Happy Days Are Here Again" came from a reverie I had after the Market crash in 2008...for some reason I flashed on a super 8mm scene of a bus full of economic refugees winding it's way through the trees to Portland, a scene of diminished expectations and a rolling back of our "standard of living" to come. The height of post WWII middle class aspirations used to involve a single car, a 1000 square foot house, occasional trips to Yellowstone and a steady manufacturing job until retirement. How ever did we come to rate McMansions, boats, RV's, exotic vacations and six figure salaries in "Corporate Event Party Planning"?
A Debt/Credit bacchanale, the likes of which the world has never seen.
The Party's over however and I don't know a single person who hasn't been or won't be effected by that fact.

Lazy Jane

"Lazy Jane" is now on SOTGD...

It's a gothic little alt rock morality story of how we give birth to our own tragedies.

(The current Depression being a case in point)

There Is A Reason For Everything

"There Is A Reason For Everything" is one of my favorites on "Songs Of The Great Depression". It too has a 70's vibe and is meant as a statement of Hope.
I've personally found that even the darkest moments of my life have led, step by step, into an inevitable blessing or revelation of some kind...That if i could go back in time to remove one horrible thing the blessing too, disappears...

the future

My blog header says "Vaughn Trapp's blog, Music, Economics, Politics, Songwriting, Songwriters and Gear"...a strange mix.... 
Money is a subject that underlies all others. Just ask a homeless man how high up on his list of concerns "Gay Marriage" is, or the wars in Iraq, Afghanistan (and soon Iran(?)), his thoughts on gun control, school vouchers or affirmative action. Ask a church in bankruptcy or a University or City Manager faced with 30% budget cuts....