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A Shade of Reason

by Roland Digh

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1.
Bound To Go 04:14
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Bound To Go Take me by the hand and lead me far off to the land where you belong Show me to a vision where you made a bold incision on my song Stand before the golden door And tell me if you stood there once before You see I’m lonely and I wonder where I came from and to where I’m bound to go Stumble through the ruined rubble wasting there so humble but yet glowing Reap the soil of wastelands as the painters sleep while pasting in your knowing Find the shackles burning On the withered souls still learning of their minds Each time I’m lonely then I wonder where I came from and to where I’m bound to go What misfortunes lead your hastened worry when your whisper murmurs slowly Sweetly as the moonlight tingle-jingles to the strangers eyes for warning Lightly trips two stealing slippers Sliding on a carpet velvet warm For when I’m lonely I may wonder where I came from and to where I’m bound to go As the melodies will linger tenderly in shadows that you’re holding Peer into the shroud beyond the fragrance you remembered from your scolding Softly sleeps the Princess As you skip on by her tower to your fold And tell me kindly why I wonder where I came from and to where I’m bound to go
2.
I'm Your Guy 03:37
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I’m Your Guy Can’t buy you furs and satins, give you weekends in Manhattan Or a carat diamond ring from DeBeers Can’t buy emeralds or rubies, a new cream coloured Mazarutti Or nice gold earrings for your ears But I can give you a smile when you’re angry, a little tickle when you’re mad A squeeze just for being friendly, some understanding when you’re sad I got a fresh rose for your table, the best lovin’ you ever had Now ain’t you glad, that I’m our guy Don’t have a sailboat for the weekend, a lodge in Jasper just for skiing No fancy health club membership key Don’t have a video recorder, a brand new chesterfield suite for you Don’t even have a black and white t.v. But I got a long walk in the moonlight when you find that you can’t sleep I make you supper in the evening, maybe even rub your feet And I always do remember to put the lid down on the seat Don’t you think it’s neat that I’m your guy This ain’t no Robert Redford profile, pearl white Michael Jackson smile No Arnold Schwarzenegger-like physique I got no stocks of bonds or mining futures, a microwave or a home computer Or a string of pearls to make you look unique But I try and visit with your family every second month or so And you know I think you’re pretty ‘cause I always tell you so And when you really need attention I try and love you extra slow By now you know, that I’m your guy I know I hardly ever take you dancin’ to four-star restaurants for romancing No journeys off to Honolulu No silk nightgowns or visa card, a picket fence or a second car I don’t really seem to have too much for you But I don’t get drunk and beat your body, you hardly ever hear me swear And I sing those songs that I wrote for you just to show I really care I could run into a perfect ten and though I might want to stop and stare You know I wouldn’t dare, as long as you were there, ‘cause I’m your guy
3.
Sandra 03:32
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Sandra She came from the lowlands In the month of the fall With her dowry of nothing but love For the lowlands hold nothing The highlands contain And this was her first trip above But she traveled so surely So set in her ways For she dreamed of the hills as her home And her name it was Sandra Her age it was nine And the lowlands had left her alone Then onto a farmland She did happen to stray Though her shoes they were ragged and torn Yet the hard working couple Were seeking a child And young Sandra was seeking a home Then the wife of the farmer Fell to her and wept And the child did give also to cry And she soon was their daughter And she lived on their farm ‘Tween the lands of the low and the high
4.
The First Gardenia 04:05
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The First Gardenia I know that angels sing and what sorrow love can bring These things are taught to me by folks like you who help me see That each journey has it’s end and just as soon begins again You’re goin’ home much too soon that first gardenia’s just in bloom But I know you got a home back north to go to A family that’ll be there when you land Just hold on girl ‘till April ‘till the Snow has left that Maple Leaf And you can see those prairies once again Full moon reachin’ for the night just o’er the hill with all its might Becomes a streetlight in the sky for songs we sing of days gone by You’ve been my home you’ve brought me songs, a feeling that I might belong Oh how I’ll hate to leave this land the ocean breeze that endless sand Those lovely treetop flyers who have been my midnight choir And the natives with their lovely eyes that somehow make you realize Just why the sun is always here, I love you all, and if I dared I’d let you know most every day, I wish that we could really stay
5.
A Shade of Reason 05:25
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A Shade Of Reason While a mist was on a damp and softly cobbled street alone A young man quickly hurried by in haste to reach his home But as he passed an aged door a sight beheld his eye For a young girl there was shivering, and crying He paused, but only briefly and then turned to take her hand As he noticed that she was with child and asked, “Where is your man?” She said, “I am a wayward girl, unwed, without a home.” So he gave his coat to warm her from the cold. Shhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh, Then taking her into his home, a small but quiet room He fed her soup to warm her and the child within her womb “How long before the baby comes?”, she said, “Most any day.” “It’s too cold outside the window, you’d better stay.” And as he shunned her meek protest her eyes began to close The weariness of waking hours at last began to show He laid her in his own soft bed as gently as he dare And he stayed the night beside her, in a chair And even as his eyes did close the morning air did yawn The girl did waken from the rays of an early searching sun Her eyes gazed on his body but they could not reach his mind For the reasons of a good man, are hard to find Shhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh, baby’s dreamin’ Through the days that ventured slowly he did treat her as his own He did not even know her name or where she had come from For seldom did she ever speak, so shy but unafraid Then she screamed in pain one evening, ‘twas the babe He took her to the hospital, they wheeled her through the door For fourteen lonely troubled hours he tensely paced the floor Then a nurse said, “It’s an eight pound boy, the mother’s doing fine and the baby’s doing well sir, and crying” He tiptoed through the doorway where the girl lay with her child He did not step into her view, for he saw she wore a smile He knew that she’d be happy now, her son would make her strong With a soft prayer and a teardrop, he was gone And sometimes as he’s standing on a cobbled street alone He thinks about a wayward girl he once had taken home Will she recall the moments that he nursed her faithfully? Will her mind think of the sorrow, and me Shhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh, baby’s dreamin’
6.
Isle of Never 04:19
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Isle of Never In the years of my youth when I chanced for to stray In search of my fortune from Wonderment Bay As I set on my journey not knowing my way In my mind was a vision of longing With my duffel of dreamings and wallet of fears I set sail for my Isle of Never After decades of voyage through hardships and pain Passing by from the swelling of Neptune’s domain I was cursed by a storm of dimensioned unnamed And my float I tried valiantly saving I was soon overcome by the wake of the waves Nearly ending my Isle of Never Through the gloom and the smoke and the fog crashing down I was tossed from the bridge through the breakage of sound And in falling to nowhere I struck to the ground I could not understand where it came from In the heart of the ocean, uncharted, unclaimed Could I be at my Isle of Never I was close to my dying but later survived And I set out in search of another alive One to walk with, or swim with, or even to fly I was left all alone ‘neath a rainbow And the sun through the clouds set the jungle a-fire So majestic, my Isle of Never There was beauty in everything, truth unforeseen From the coral still breaking the hard angry sea To the mountain, a summit my eyes could not see And the radiant colours unnumbered There was fruit in abundance on trees of the land So fulfilling, my Isle of Never And I fell to my knees and I worshipped the soil Vowing ever to harbour amidst my own toil And I promised myself that the land would not spoil I would change nothing, nothing would change me I was part of this vision and it part of me Here I was on my Isle of Never As the years soon adjourned and I prospered within Finding hope for the future, my past growing dim My abode was the mountain, my dwelling its rim And from there I could see all the glory Here the new me was born and the old one would die How I loved my Isle of Never Then in dawn of a living my sun settled down As I lay on the rim of the mountain I’d found And I watched on the waters still lapping their sound My lifeblood began in its ebbing And my eyes softly closed and my breath slowly waned There I died on my Isle of Never
7.
Some Kind of Hypocrite 04:39
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Some Kind of Hypocrite I wish I was drunk, as drunk as a skunk, on the side of the road Sweet smellin’ striped tuxedo movin’ ever so slow He seems so unique lyin’ there on the street, but he’s getting’ too old To remember if he ever knew how to do his tie in a bow I’m some kind of hypocrite, the more that I think of it, the more I’m ashamed I sing, “Sweet Jesus”, ooh, I love the sound of his name It’s good to get stoned on what you grow on your own when you’re out on the farm A little bit of thc never did you no harm It’s nice to get high, always helps you get by when there’s not much to do Just lay back, play a whole lot of pretty good tunes I tried me some coke, it sort of made me go broke, didn’t leave me dime But my sinuses cleared and I had a good time You gotta beware, better take care, don’t go catching a cold Each sneeze costs more than forty-seven dollars a blow, (oh no) You gotta like sex, I say what the heck, always have a good time Late nights with that sweet little lady of mine I know it’s a sin to live the way that we’ve been, sort of danglin’ the string I got no knot, she got no diamond ring, (pretty thing) There’s always a war, it’s getting’ me bored, can’t you see it’s the end Forget about who gonna lose, who gonna win? It’s not very smart to blow each other apart, some politician can say “Gee kids, we got just a little carried away”, (hey, hey)
8.
Horizon 03:46
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Horizon How many hours must I walk in the shadows Not turning my head ‘round to see if I’m followed Not knowing the reasons why all this is questioned Still somehow I know that although it’s not mentioned There’s someone I can’t see who walks there beside me And if I’d allow they’d be somewhere inside me Felt something so strong as I happened upon you Just stopped for a moment, such a feeling came from you And I want to stay with you, take me away with you just for awhile And I want to pray with you all of the way to your home in the sky I know when you died you were younger than I am So pure and so humble, a life made for loving You showed me the doorway and held it wide open The light shining through from the words that were spoken I know you’d forgive me, it’s there for the asking But wishing alone here cannot make it happen This life that I’m living brings all kinds of sorrow But I’m turning around now, I’ll be home tomorrow I’d sure like to know you through some understanding Of love and devotion, it’s all so demanding But I’ve seen your children, you spoke to me through them Put new life within me, showed me what I could do and I’m Much closer now can’t you feel that I’m trying To be as you want me, I’m so close to crying I’m now writing songs of the love you have for us You gave me the words and the tunes and the chorus
9.
Once of a Pattern 04:22
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Once of a Pattern I remember once to days as a child, of a frolic alone to a stream With silent fascination on a wounded dying bird a helpless but courageous young being For who but a child would sense ‘naught of guilt and do homage to nature divine While brushing a tear out of pity in the rain Could quietly kill him and then suffer the pain and then run to his mother and cry, and he cried And once as a boy if I serve my recall in an angry and foolish young way To argue and conquer a true friend for long caused a battle of which he must pay For in matching his sorrow against a true tie as sudden the start came the end For only a young boy who seems to know all Can repute at his anger, despise his own fall and can stretch out his hand to a friend, to his friend And young men are wise so they tell us each day, I remember of being that kind With all as their servant to bow at their knees with the world of their knowledge sublime But young men can weaken far swifter than most by the turn of a young woman’s eye And from kings who have reigned and have conquered all foes Who have scarred tens of thousands, left widows to morn but in the arms of a young girl they cry, and they lie And now as a grown man, in body not soul, for the soul ages slowly over time Having been through my visions, my dreams and my prayers and the memories we’ve all left behind But what of an elder, would all this be lost would the past seem to fade from his mind For who could foretell of an elderly man When the life of a child, still unlived, still unplanned Was helping a young bird to die, and he died
10.
A Masterful Conspiracy 03:10
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A Masterful Conspiracy The moon still shone at a quarter of dawn When Sorley made it back from the jungle But some rat squealed, the plan got peeled And the telephone made everyone mumble Was almost one when the job got done No one saw him slip from the room But Draco smiled with those evil eyes And Satan howlin’ out at the moon Sorley did a number in the thirties Spent some time in prison down and dirty Draco tried to set him free, A masterful conspiracy A foolproof alibi, (don’t look at me) ‘Cause you’re never gonna hang that rope on me An elegant score, about a hundred or more The odds were that they’d never be found Then Draco turned and Sorley learned To memorize the faces around him Come back stage, it was a hell of a rage You could see them do it there in the hall It just can’t wait, was the hand of fate And money never really mattered at all Sorley did a number in the thirties Spent some time in prison down and dirty Now he has his memories Of all the things he meant to be And never was, (don’t look at me) ‘Cause you’re never gonna hang that rope on me Now legend tells how Sorley fell In a dungeon full of pirates and thieves Said don’t look back to the point of attack If religion’s really what you believe in Such a masterful conspiracy Could have worked, but somebody lied Just one rule, it’s a bottle of booze And a mystery that nobody died Someone said that Draco’s back in town And no one wants to lay their weapons down Sorley’s suspect number one And he’s accusing everyone You made that rope a shade too long for me And surely now old Satan’s set him free
11.
The Slide 03:59
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The Slide Early on one Friday morn in the town of Aberfan Where children played and miners slaved their tired and weary hands Two hundred young had left their homes to learn their eager minds And as they smiled of days to come two million tons came down And even all the warnings Could never save their lives Why did we send our children To die beneath the slide One hundred years the mountain loomed a killer cold and still Could man not see his fate to be one day that slide would kill They felt the fear but all their calls were cast aside to die And as the slide came rumbling down they wept and wondered why And lying in their tomb of coal the children’s silent cries While worried fathers side by side would fling the slag aside And as they pulled the bodies free so climbs the soaring toll A miner finds his broken son and cries for evermore And after seven sorrow days a tear in every home For as they died they were returned beneath the blackened coal And as we stand and wonder why we did not heed their call Oh can’t we see that soon again another slide may fall
12.
Ode To An Island 05:45
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Ode To An Island ‘Twas an island of rainbows as the morn stretched in yawning While the waves silent ripples brought the glow of the dawning And the lawn was made from summer blades still twinkling from the dewfall As a ray of sunlight kissed them all the ecstasy they knew of Made them shiver in excitement of delusions of the morning But the virgin hour was waning as a breath of life was forming On an island of rainbows of love Then a tender eye would sparkle to anticipate a reason For to jump into the open and then run beneath the trees and Then to lay before the sunlight and to worship all the glory Of the visions deep in grandeur cast on alters fed from worry That a cloud might mar the picture in a pastel shade of dreaming On a canvas of a summer wind and framed within the trees Upon an island of rainbows of love In a scene of flowered beauty a mirage in desert shadows As the prey of stronger moments seems to seep out from the gallows Of a cascade form of caverns from the womb of Mother Nature As her arms seek out enfolding all the warm still not recaptured As a war in torment raging near across the silkened waters But the sound is ever silent for the wars are all forgotten On an island of rainbows of love Then the leaves softly rustled in a sigh faintly calling For to freshen a weeping and to cushion their falling To a down of mossy fragrance sheltered only by a shadow Where they rested in a dreaming of today but not tomorrow For the beauty is prevailing o’er the wrong and the evil As the past is honed and withered where a lesser love was feeble To an island of rainbows of love And the sun traveled slowly through a haven of kindness From the soft glowing radiance that may still cure mens’ blindness From the blue sky a’smilin’ to the soft waters foaming And a thought hovered slightly from the ebb of the morning When the minds of the weary would relax all the worry And remember the good times and the now dormant glory Of an island of rainbows of love On an island of rainbows by the roll of the water Mother Nature is waiting as I gaze on her daughter For her shy but flowing wisdom tends to carry me in motion And I know I’m almost crazy with my longing and devotion For I now can find a freedom in the sparkle of the colour Of the rainbow from the heavens who will watch me as I love her On an island of rainbows of love

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The third in a set of five albums of original music

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released January 1, 2014

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Roland Digh British Columbia

A British writer now living on Vancouver Island. Loves writing songs in different genres and hearing them through other artists. After playing on six continents in some fifty-eight countries he is settling down to write another album.

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