What change, big or small, would you like your blog to make in the world?
Wow! I’ve been championing a world that embraces diversity for some time now. So that would be the greatest change that I could ever hope for.
I in them and you in me and we in kind can change the world together
May we experience a unity like never before
A neighborhood of brotherhood and sisterhood as one together
How deep and broad we flow from shore to shore
~ E.M.
Describe your life in an alternate universe.
Haha, most of the time I actually feel like I’m living in an alternate universe. I don’t adhere to so many of this world’s ways. I find it hard to wrap my mind around the changing social, political and economic landscape. And since I’m willing to do the will of God, I’m constantly challenged to live in what feels like an an alternate universe.
I’m willing to do your will
I’m living to live your love
I’m serving the son to hear you one day say well done
I’m willing to do your will
~ E.M.
I’m dropping another single from the Trio album this month and wanted to share a little background on it’s conception.
The song has a metaphorically smiling lyric that prayerfully will challenge the listener a bit. The title was actually from a magazine article that I had stumbled upon. When I first saw it, I immediately recognized a lyrical idea that could be light in a comical sense, but at the same time thoughtfully spiritual. History has demonstrated to me on more than a few occasions how wonderfully guard-dropping this approach can be.
I’m always looking for a way to stir up the listener’s imagination, and hopefully conjure up some emotional response from them. In this case, maybe even some abstract thinking.
Musically the composition was once again a reaction to the Blicher, Hemmer, Gadd album called Omara, which dominated my playlist throughout the early months of 2022.
Lyrics:
Early in the morning, any time of day
Any time’s a good time, any kind of way
I can take it cold, any time at all
It goes down easy, in the local church hall
So tell me?
Tell me, please?
Won’t you tell me?
How well do you know ‘Za?
If I had my way, I’d always have more
More than may be normal, a note of folklore
Some cry, ‘oh no!, you can’t do that!’
Preaching to the misfit, like some green-eyed cat
So tell me?
Tell me, please?
Oh won’t you tell me?
How well do you know ‘Za?
Don’t give me substitutes, don’t give me theories
No hypothetical miniseries
Just give me a slice, a verse or two
Yeah, I’m a greek guy, but any version will do
I go traditional, I go New York
I go with fold it, or a knife and fork
I don’t go judging, so don’t judge me
Just offer me a bite, and let my manna be
So tell me?
Tell me, please?
Won’t you tell me?
How well do you know ‘Za?
© 2022 Eddy Mann
Hissongs | ASCAP
Album: Trio
Video Credit: E.M. | Pizza by Alfredo (dafont.com)
Available on the platform of your choice.
YouTube Link
‘Za is the fourth single release from December’s Trio album. A sparse reimagining of the tradition trio setting.
This song has a metaphorically smiling lyric that should challenge the listener a bit. The title was actually from a magazine article that I had stumbled upon. I immediately recognized what I wanted to say, or maybe play with is a better explanation. I’m always looking for a way to stir up a listener’s imagination, and hopefully conjure up some emotional response from them. In this case, maybe even some abstract thinking.
Lyrics:
Early in the morning, any time of day
Any time’s a good time, any kind of way
I can take it cold, any time at all
It goes down easy, in the local church hall
So tell me?
Tell me, please?
Won’t you tell me?
How well do you know ‘Za?
If I had my way, I’d always have more
More than may be normal, a note of folklore
Some cry, ‘oh no!, you can’t do that!’
Preaching to the misfit, like some green-eyed cat
So tell me?
Tell me, please?
Oh won’t you tell me?
How well do you know ‘Za?
Don’t give me substitutes, don’t give me theories
No hypothetical miniseries
Just give me a slice, a verse or two
Yeah, I’m a greek guy, but any version will do
I go traditional, I go New York
I go with fold it, or a knife and fork
I don’t go judging, so don’t judge me
Just offer me a bite, and let my manna be
So tell me?
Tell me, please?
Won’t you tell me?
How well do you know ‘Za?
© 2022 Eddy Mann
Hissongs | ASCAP
Album: Trio
Video Credits: EM | Pizza by Alfredo (Dafont.com)
YouTube Link
Website
The question is… Your will, my will, or His?
~ E.M.
Album: Stars Under My Feet
Video Credit: Yaroslav Shuraev | E.M.
Available at http://www.eddymann.com
© 2017 Eddy Mann
Hissongs | ASCAP
Lyrics:
I’d like to believe it’s just you and me
And the tiny little world we’ve carved out
But I can’t deceive what my eyes perceive
That there’s always a speckle of doubt
In your playful dreams it’s just you and me
In a 5 Below novella
But in my prayerful mind I sense a plan that’s divine
And there’s no prince or Cinderella
What if this?
What if that?
What you gonna rhyme if I drop my hat?
I can’t promise you more than the hippest cat
What if it comes down to that?
Will you be mine?
Will you be my sunshine?
Whose will provides the fizz
Will I be yours?
Will there be tempting doors?
Your will, my will, or His?
In the beginning we swore against sinning
And said we’d be pure until ashes
But words won’t protect us from life’s unexpected
Only perfect love’s cancels out crashes
©️ 2017 Eddy Mann
Hissongs | ASCAP
The future is a very fragile and unpredictable thing. We have no way of assuring how each day, let alone our week, or year, will turn out with any certainty. I was reflecting on this and the use of the word someday when I wrote this song. I was thinking about how we often refer to someday in describing our future dreams and endeavors. My parents always spoke of someday as in my future, down the road, and spiritually God also does, but life has an uncanny way of sneaking up on us when we least expect it.
Someday was oh so later
Someday was down the road
But someday just happened to me now ~ E.M.
Album: Stars Under My Feet
(Release Date 5/20/22)
Video Credit: E.M.
Available at http://www.eddymann.com
© 2017 Eddy Mann
Hissongs | ASCAP
Lyrics:
I went to bed a child
and woke a lifetime later
A silhouette of who I used to be
A scattered rush of moments
Missed or worse forgotten
An epitaph of frittered diggity
I sense my mother’s worry
I hear my father’s words
I see my back walking away
You can cry, stormy Monday
You can thank God for Friday
But blink and it’ll be someday
Walking the beach when the surf’s out
Pining your mountain away
Sleeping til noon on a weekday
Someday could happen today
I wandered without purpose
And tuned a stone deaf ear
I figured someday, somehow
Someday was oh so later
Someday was down the road
But someday just happened to me now
©️ 2017 Eddy Mann
Hissongs | ASCAP
The quest to live a loving and compassionate life can be challenging at times. Each day’s ups and downs are different, but the power of love is unmatched, and therein lies our journey.
It’s so gray when I look out my window
Silhouettes upon the hill
I’ve come to expect a winter’s night
Even her kiss brings a chill
There in my mind rests a sight serene
Misty green eyes that say yes
The wind in her hair and the scent of spring
Flowing down her dress
Dree, the sameness overtakes me
Dree, the world’s a tired gray
Dree, I long for something different
I long for yesterday
I can recall when the faces were glowing
Smiles that beckoned us near
The expressions excited with all the unknown
Before there was ever a tear
© 2016 Eddy Mann
Hissongs | ASCAP
Album: The Consequence
#Wordprompt #Green #April
There is nothing that replaces family. We have an inherent need for kindredship. Our earthly tribe offers us comfort, understanding, and security. It’s the one place that we prayerfully are excepted just the way we are. But lost in our limited worldly existence, is the truth that we actually share in a much larger spiritual brother and sisterhood. The Author of all we know calls us sons and daughters. The Creator of the universe knows each of us by name and we are his children.
‘Creation’s not His final act
E.M.
Beyond the wind and waters
Redemption is his final work
When in Christ we’re all sons and daughters’
The inspiration for this song was from a meditation on 2 Corinthians 6:18 where we hear God saying, ‘… I will be your Father, and you will be my sons and daughters.’ This is actually a quote from 2 Samuel 7:14, and Isaiah 43:6.
My mother never knew her earthly father, but very early on she was blessed to embraced her heavenly one. Over the years that relationship grew to be unbelievably strong. She found in her earthly brokenness, a healing bond, a heavenly Father that she would never be separated from. She really was going home as her life here came to an end. She was going home to be with her ever loving Father in heaven.
It’s that kind of love that we’re all invited into. It’s that kind of endless love that our Father pours out on us each day. It’s that kind of unimaginable love that we’re capable of as his children, made in his image, created as family here and for eternity.
‘Surrender your heart
E.M.
Surrender your life
Surrender your bark
Surrendered your bite
Peace released from the heavens above
Misery ceased
In the arms of love’
I wanted the soundscape to be a driving force. To negotiate through this life requires a deep spiritual strength. The darkness that surround us can be daunting if not downright demanding. So I stepped into a different sonic space to create what I felt was a strong supporting platform for this timeless message.
It’s certainly a return to some of my early roots, and it was actually quite a bit of fun to crank up the volume again. The early response has been very favorable and I’m looking forward to the moment when we can bring it to life in a live setting.
Until that time please feel free to share your thoughts on the song and on the entire album which is dropping February 19, 2021.
Pray on,
Eddy
Works 