Tag Archives: new release

Albums, Evensong, music, new release, New Single, Newsletter, Podcast, Poetry

How Well Do You Know Za?

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

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Albums, music, new album, new release, New Single, Poetry, Video

How Well Do You Know ‘Za?

‘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

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music, new release, New Single, Newsletter, Poetry, Video

What If

Video

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

music, new release, New Single, Newsletter, Poetry, Video

Someday

Video

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

Mannerism, new release, New Single, Newsletter, Video

We Live To Love, but…

Waking to a beautiful day just inspires me to no end. I can feel the energy rushing through my body as I rise to face the dawning light. It’s with great excitement that I prepare to begin the first steps in my continuing journey. I grab a large glass of water and my bible and dig in for some worship, praise and prayer. I savor that first cup of coffee as i check the morning emails (staying away from any social media traps) and then I prepare a light breakfast while carefully choosing my news source of the day. It’s a wonderful life’ someone once said, and after all we live to love so why wouldn’t it be? So you’re asking, ‘What’s with the but?’

Well let me explain. Up until this point I’m within the confines of my home, there’s no outside contact, but what waits for me outside my front door, or on our social media platforms are… other people. It’s not until someone cuts me off driving that my anger is tested. It’s not until someone hurls a less that complimentary opinion in my face that my confidence is tested. It’s not until I watch a loveless parent abuse a child on the sidewalk that my self-control is tested. It’s not until the clamor of the world surrounds me in such a way that my quiet peace is tested. You see it’s not until I interact with other human beings that my faith is truly tested, and a faith that doesn’t do anybody any good isn’t any good (thank you Andy Stanley).

So yes, we live to love, but don’t kid yourself, you’ve got to connect with the world and be apart of the answer by overcoming all the challenges. And it’s okay to be less than perfect from time to time. After all we’re all broken and only doing the best we can. But then God already knows that doesn’t he?

He is risen!

Pray on,
Eddy

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Pray on,
Eddy

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Albums, Gifts, new album, new release, New Single, Newsletter, Poetry

The Great Dance Realized on ‘IHS’

Believing on the promise
Denying all happenstance
Prayerfully among the Three
Banding in the great dance
~ E.M.

With the release of ‘IHS,’ my eighteenth album, I’m overwhelmed with the journey I’ve been blessed to partake in. One never knows when life will unexpectedly create a turnabout, and all things common become the stranger, but as I realize this project coming to life, I’m resting in a niche that feels like favor.

Excitedly, I’m looking forward to seeing how these songs resonate with the world. Often in life we are asked to wait on His word, and this venture will no doubt require some patience on my part. So I take a deep breath and relish in the moment of quiet, because there’s still work to be done.

The great dance continues as this period of downtime has been abundantly fruitful. There are a number of projects in various forms of completion that are beckoning my time, and so as I return to my Loft sessions I pray you’ll be enlightened, energized, and entertained by ‘IHS.’

Moving about through the dawn of light
A ghostly luminary
Dancin’ around my stumbling tongue
Shuffling through the dictionary
Framing the flow in perfect love
The poetry of romance
Invited to coalesce the divine
Converging in the great dance
~ E.M.

Pray on,
Eddy

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Albums, music, new album, new release, New Single, Video

Sons and Daughters

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
Beyond the wind and waters
Redemption is his final work
When in Christ we’re all sons and daughters’

E.M.

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
Surrender your life
Surrender your bark
Surrendered your bite
Peace released from the heavens above
Misery ceased
In the arms of love’

E.M.

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

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Albums, music

IHS

In His Service (IHS) will mean something different to each of us. Naturally there will be some over lapping, but the actual act of serving will look and sound different just as each of us look and sound different. That being said, a life of servanthood is the backdrop for this particular project. The songs within were written from a grateful place of giving. A realization of what has been called my life, and what my participation can bring in return.

In doing some soul searching I found my most pleasant experiences in life were of the giving sense.

E.M.

In doing some soul searching I found my most pleasant experiences in life were of the giving sense. They were times and places where I stepped out of the crowd and gave something of myself. It didn’t have to be financial, in fact I believe the acts of personal involvement and the offering of time and place were of greater reward.

When I say reward I’m referring to the feeling of contentment that surrounds one’s self when they help someone out in some manner. Sacrificing my time and gifts has never been anything less than enjoyable. Especially in hindsight when I see the response on the recipients faces.

So this album took root as a season of reflection. It took hold of me and led me down a path of reminiscing with friends, looking back through photos, and prayerful discernment. The actual writing and recording went by very quickly without much re-writing and distraction. Being cooped up and isolated for the past year made for an abundance of time to create, so I can’t believe I’m saying this, but I found something positive in the experience.

The album drops Friday, February 19, 2021. It’s my hope that it’ll bring some color to what often has become a very black and white world. In His Service (IHS) means getting involved on your level whatever that may be. Being IHS means serving those around you whatever their needs may be. You have the ability to change a life with very little effort, with very little time , and with very little inconvenience. I challenge you to do your part. I know you’ll feel good about it in the afterglow.

Pray on,
Eddy

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Albums, Gifts, Video

‘Love Strands’ Drops Today!

Love Strands is truth for the soul. It’s a collection of gospel tinged songs that live in a blues neighborhood. All twelve tracks are culturally inspired and prayerfully spiritually uplifting. Recorded over the past year in the comforts of my hometown of Philly, this release speaks of peace, and brotherly love.

Stream or Purchase at –
eddymann.com
iTunes
Spotify
pandora
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