ADELE
A song inspired by the Wisconsin farm-girl Adele Brice, who on her way to church in 1859 had a vision of the Virgin Mary. Adele told others that Mary instructed her to start a school, which Adele did. Then during the great Peshtigo Fire of 1872 (the deadliest in American history), Adele's followers came to the school site and prayed to Mary. Unlike thousands of others, they were spared. The site, which includes a church and chapel, is now the National Shrine of Our Lady of Champion north of Green Bay and hosts an annual Catholic pilgrimage.
Momma, tell me the story of the girl Adele
Who in a crown of stars saw the Queen of Heaven
And how Holy Mary gave her shelter on that dark October day
When every desperate creature came in terror from the raging flame
Until the Virgin by her grace compelled the flame to turn its face
Daughter, when you are older you will know too well
There is no crown of stars, nor a Queen of Heaven
Soon the burdens of the world dispel the fantasies of childhood days
I would spare you from the fears that prowl across this vale of tears
Still you will learn that no grace compels the flame to turn its face
Momma, I know that many doubt the girl Adele
Who in a crown of stars saw the Queen of Heaven
And that Holy Mary gave her shelter on that dark October day
But if drought or war or hate or fear sweep down like flame upon us here
Then may Mary by her grace compel the flame to turn its face
HOLLY FELDMAN: Lead vocal (Daughter)
KAREN MAL: Lead vocal (Mother)
DOC HEIDE: Acoustic guitar
JAMES KAPLAN: Piano
HANS CHRISTIAN: Bass, cello
ALL SHALL BE WELL
Inspired by the life of Julian of Norwich, a 14th Century British mystic who is believed to be the first woman to write a book in the English language. Julian chose to live most of her adult life in one room inside a church devoting herself to prayer. Developing a life-threatening condition, she was administered last rites and then had a near-death experience where she reported that the ultimate nature of reality was revealed to her. Her famous pronouncement from this experience was that, despite appearances to the contrary, "All shall be well, and all shall be well, and all manner of things shall be well."
Born in a time of sorrow, you longed to live alone
A room within an old stone church would be your home
At the hour of death, the Prince of Heaven came to you
To reveal the sacred path to all that’s true
Sixteen revelations from the Prince of Heaven came
You wrote down how he told you we are not to blame
God is never angry and longs to make us whole And is always here within our soul
Love is forever, it stretches like a boundless sea
Without beginning, without ending shall it be
Go forth together and welcome love into your heart to dwell
All shall be well, in the end all shall be well
All shall be well, in the end all shall be well
What did her show you? (Love)
Why did he show you? (Love)
In the garden of your soul tend the seed
What was his meaning? (Love)
And our redeeming? (Love)
Know this and nothing more you’ll ever need
He did not say in this lifetime we’’ll find freedom from travail
Or evade the temper of the howling gale
He did not say our troubles end before our days are done
But he did say we shall not be overcome
CHORUS
KAREN MAL: Lead vocal
MATT ZEMBROWSKI: Piano, harmony vocal
DOC HEIDE: Acoustic guitar, harmony vocal
HANS CHRISTIAN: Bass, cello “
ALL SHALL BE WELL CHOIR”: AMY CHAFFEE DEB FETT DOC HEIDE CRAIG KONOWALSKI ERIC LEWIS TIM McNURLEN KELLY MESSER
FISHER GOES TO THE SKYWORLD
This song weaves together an Anishinaabe tale about the origin of the Fisher constellation (aka The Big Dipper) with an imagined conversation with a heroic friend who departed this world too young. The song was derived from a project developed in consultation with the great Ojibway spiritual leader Eddie Benton-Banai.
There was a time when summer lay beyond the sky captured by the thieves of Heaven
And from their lonely cages you could hear the cry of birds yellow as the sun
And so old friend, you said that we would have to try to free the warm wind from its prison
“Let us go, it doesn’t matter when we die but how we’re living ‘til we’re done”
I give my soul to the morning, my dreams to the evening
May I long know the beauty
I take my life from the dawning, see my end in the setting
May my feet walk in starlight and my pathway be sacred
You always said that we are here upon the Earth to fan the spark within each other
And so, my friend, you chose to use your precious birth to free the summer sweet and long
Now Ojiig, all who gaze can see your worth bright within the stars, my brother
Evermore you’ll dwell where you have found rebirth and sing your blessed vision song
STEVE KOEHLER: Lead vocal
KAREN MAL: Harmony vocal
DOC HEIDE: Acoustic guitar
ERIC LEWIS: B3, electric guitar, acoustic guitar
JAMES KAPLAN: Piano HANS CHRISTIAN: Bass, cello
PAUL TAYLOR: Drums
JOANNE
A song about Doc's parents, who met on a double date in college after the Second World War.
You always said that “Careful” was your middle name
It got you through the war that set half the world aflame
You let your light burn low like the red glow of the coal
Until you met the girl with the bonfire in her soul
On that double date, you tried not to gaze
At the gal your friend had brought who had set your heart ablaze
You could not be careful now, you would have to leave your shell
To call and ask somehow if she felt the spark as well
You said, Joanne, I have no way with words
My tongue is like a string you’ve wrapped around your finger
But I would like to know you, maybe I could show you
I’m your man, would you be with me, Joanne?
You always listened well, you always were polite
You worked hard at your job and watched Gunsmoke Monday night
But she was drawn to dance to the weeping willow’s tune
To walk beside the saints and to kiss beneath the moon
CHORUS
Contemplating Carl Jung and carving Venus figurines
She sought to snare the Mystery with her art
Her life was an experiment to find out what it means
To build a stained-glass window in the heart
You always thought that she would be the one to carry on
She’d read psalms in her garden long after you had gone
But the Fates would not agree with what you both had planned
And would leave you helplessly to caress her tender hand
You said, Joanne, I have no way to know
But if there is a place we go and finally linger
Then I’ll be right behind you, I will surely find you
If I can, I will be with you, Joanne
Yes, I’ll be right behind you, I will surely find you If I can
I will be with you, Joanne
DOC HEIDE: Lead vocal, acoustic guitar, virtual English horn
KAREN MAL: Harmony vocal
JAMES KAPLAN: Piano
HANS CHRISTIAN: Bass, cello
MOONLIGHT AND MARSHMALLOWS
I had to write a theme song for a musical revue about the history of the Wisconsin state parks during a period of emotional distress. But I didn't want it to be a campfire song, and found that it evolved into a plea for help from my friend Fred, who sang the song in the show.
Lift me up sailor, I’m drowning, lift me before I am gone
We’re taking water and I can’t remember my song
Those billows blew high, high, high, swallowed the sky, sky, sky
I cling to this rudder not ready to die a’ dreaming
How in heaven, heaven after our troubles are through
We’ll sit and we’ll sing 'round an old campfire ring with moonlight and marshmallows, too
I’ve been a black-hearted hero, I’ve been the angel of love
Lost in the wilderness stumbling by starlight above
Those canyons go down, down, down, you’ll sink in the cold dark ground
But sailor, there’s a place better we’re bound I’m dreaming
How in heaven, heaven after our troubles are through
We’ll sit and we’ll sing 'round an old campfire ring with moonlight and marshmallows, too
Long long time I’ve been riding this rolling sea, no tether to anchor me to reason
But sailor, now that you’re here I know we will ride out this stormy season
This ship is bound for the morning, let’s roust her my boys and be gone
Hoist up her topsail and steer for the light of the dawn
Though the billows blow high, high, high, on the will of the wind we’ll fly
Chart a course, boys, from the sea to the sky, we’re sailing
Together to heaven, heaven, where after our troubles are through
We’ll sit and we’ll sing round an old campfire ring with moonlight and marshmallows too (2)
MATT ZEMBROWSKI: Lead vocal
STEVE KOEHLER: Harmonica
KAREN MAL: Harmony vocal
DOC HEIDE: Acoustic guitar
ERIC LEWIS: 6 and 12 string acoustic guitars
JAMES KAPLAN: Piano
HANS CHRISTIAN: Bass, cello
PAUL TAYLOR: Drums
NORTH BY NIGHT
Under the blazing stars on the night before Easter, this song began to emerge as an ode to the many meanings of North: realm of mystery, refuge, metaphor for constancy in a troubled time.
Lordy me, my soul ain’t free I can’t catch my breath
Got a heavy load on a midnight road Dark as death
They say the wise won’t compromise with what don’t feel right
All I know is I wanna go North by night
I was far too young when I turned my tongue to what should not be spoke
To bluff and fake ‘til I would break what should not be broke
Up there far is the constant star burning silver bright
All I know is it’s time to go North by night
Has the world gone mad, has the deal gone bad, has the earth flown off its track?
Sailing on and so far gone will it still come back?
By the sugar moon the red-eyed loon begins his rowdy flight
Under heaven’s dome he’s headed home North by night
The good and true retreat from view cloaked in clouds of dust
While the would-be king is conjuring rubies out of rust
Still the white loon sings of sacred things from her windy height
She says “All I know is it’s time to go North by night
"All I know is it's time to go North by night
North by night
North by night"
DOC HEIDE: Lead vocal, acoustic guitar
ERIC LEWIS: 6 & 12 string acoustic guitars, mandolin, harmony vocal
HANS CHRISTIAN: Bass, nyckelharpa
MIKE FORDNEY: French horn
PAUL TAYLOR: Drums
JAMES KAPLAN: Piano
HANS CHRISTIAN: Bass, cello
NOTHING BUT A SONG
Inspired by a quote by Maimonides, a 12th Century Torah scholar, which is the first line of the song.
Teach your tongue to say “I do not know”
Teach your mind to dwell on nothing long
Teach your thoughts to fly like birds across the sky
And know this life is nothing but a song
Teach your ears to hear what is not said
Teach your eyes to pierce beyond the veil
They alone are free who judge not what they see
And can die yet live to tell the tale
Be wary of the ones who say they know
Be careful what you claim is right or wrong
When your fears return remember what you came to learn
And this life is nothing but a song
And this life is nothing but a song
DOC HEIDE: Acoustic guitar, vocals
OUR ROOTS SHALL TWINE
A wedding song based on a metaphor from the natural world. This songs imagines one tree talking with another.
Like two trees beneath one star
Silent on a hill we stood alone until
The dawn came streaming from afar
To prophesy that for all time
Our roots shall twine
When the winds of autumn send
Our leaves to dance a tune conducted by the moon
Then like strong trees we shall bend
Striving always to be kind
Our roots shall twine
We’ll reach for the heavens together, drink the wine of sunshine together
Show our colors bold burgundy to gold
REPEAT FIRST VERSE
KAREN MAL: Lead vocal
DOC HEIDE: Harmony vocal
ERIC LEWIS: Acoustic guitar
HANS CHRISTIAN: Bass, cello, twinkling star
JAMES KAPLAN: Piano
PURE HEART GUITAR
Fred Alley, one of my closest friends, passed away while jogging at age 38 near the farm that he and his brother and I owned together. He was scheduled to fly to New York in a few days to receive a $100,000 check from Stephen Sondheim for winning the Richard Rodgers Award. Fred had co-written "The Spitfire Grill", an Off-Broadway hit which has now had 700 productions worldwide. His loss stunned our entire community. After Fred passed, his Mom asked me to have his guitar appraised. Seven years later, I was finally able to write this song about him and that guitar. The song incorporates multiple references to his songs and musicals as well as the theater we built together.
In Gibraltar town there lived a man
With the voice of an archangel and the soul of Peter Pan
The boy who wished upon a star
Would disappear and leave me here with his pure-heart guitar
You were the fisherman who set your fishes free
The brawling burly lumberjack in love with every tree
Who captured couplets in a jar
How could it be that you’d leave me with your pure-heart guitar?
With fifty cents between us we took passage to the pines
Bachelors like brothers all along
Determined to construct our rude cathedral out of rhymes
And sanctify the summer with our song
But you pulled the grand surprise, you left too soon
Now you’re rigging Northern Lights and fishing for the moon
It was just like you to go too far
Leave me behind to mend my mind with your pure-heart guitar
You longed to ride the wind and follow where the white bird flies
You knew you could soar too close to the sun
But you told me, “Never fear, on golden wings I will arise
We will meet when day is done”
REPEAT THIRD VERSE
KAREN MAL: Harmony vocal
DOC HEIDE: Acoustic guitar
HANS CHRISTIAN: Bass, cello, harmonium
ERIC LEWIS: 12 string acoustic guitar
SUN THROUGH A SUMMER RAIN
A song about a woman who is not what she seems. Inspired by my first date with my wife.
Even if you don’t believe this story I got here
I guarantee you’re gonna agree it was worth this beer
In a bar south of Chicago she was singing her lonesome song
Looked like the girl been around the world--- turned out I was wrong
She was not of this earth, she was not of this plane
You could tell at night when her heart shone like the sun through a summer rain
I told her ‘bout the storms that go rumblin’ through my head
And how all I need is one good deed to point to ‘fore I’m dead
The stars looked just like silver dust as I poured out my soul
She said, “Give to me your misery, I will make you whole.”
REPEAT CHORUS
She said she’d seen the birthplace of the thunder
She’d seen where the prophets’ dreams arise
She told of a coming time of wonder
When the veil is lifted from our eyes
I can tell from your crooked smile that you think that I don’t know
I’m a hopeless drunk who’s finally sunk as deep as he can go
Well, this drink here is my last beer, I’m off to find the one
Whose sweet refrain was soft as rain, whose heart glowed like the sun
DOC HEIDE: Lead vocal, acoustic guitar, virtual English horn
AMY CHAFFEE: Harmony vocal
HANS CHRISTIAN: Bass
JAMES KAPLAN: Piano
ERIC LEWIS: 12 string acoustic guitar
THE LANTERN
What began as a song about the Greek philosopher Diogenes turned into a meditation on the unquenchable light inside us.
You may wander through the wasteland, hold your lantern high
Clear your mind to try and find your soul before you die
Investigate the darkness to learn what it’s about
Just remember friend, until the end don’t let that lamp go out
You may live among the mad ones, listen to their tales
Stop and wonder if you’ve done enough to save the whales
Build a shrine to silence while all the others shout
But while ya do just make sure you don’t let that lamp go out
You may roam without a compass through the forest of your fears
Agonize and realize that you’ve been lost for years
Contemplate that at this rate you may not find the route
Don’t despair, your lantern’s there, don’t let your lamp go out
You may balance all your troubles like a boulder on your back
Stagger with your burden ‘til your spine’s about to crack
Trip and curse the universe, fold your arms and pout
Life is cruel, there’s just one rule: Don’t let the lamp go out
You may dance among the demons, seek the serpent’s kiss
Stumble wild and drunken to the brink of the abyss
Dip your lantern low to see the consequence of doubt
That’s all fine, just toe the line, don’t let the lamp go out
There are thunderclouds across the plains rolling from the West
Crops will fall before the rains, the floods will take the rest
When the Raven speaks in tongues, then shall come the drought
The time’s at hand to take a stand, don’t let your lamp go out
The tablets have been shattered, the crucible is cracked
The Constitution teeters like a turtle on its back
Now’s the hour for all good hands to bring this ship about
The lantern’s ray shall guide the way, don’t let your lamp go out
The sequoias need the winter snows, fishes need the sea
Lovers need each other like the blossom needs the bee
But the perfect jewel, the only tool that none can live without
Is the work of art that lights the heart, don’t let that lamp go out (2X)
DOC HEIDE: Lead vocal, acoustic guitar
HANS CHRISTIAN: Bass, cello
JAMES KAPLAN: Piano
ERIC LEWIS: Nashville high tuning acoustic guitar, acoustic guitar, additional piano, electric guitar, harmony vocal
MIKE FORDNEY: French horn
RORY HOFFMAN: Irish whistle
PAUL TAYLOR: Drums
THE MAN WHO COULD FLY
Inspired by the life of Saint Joseph of Cupertino, a devout 17th Century Italian monk who was reported to levitate on multiple occasions over decades. What makes his story especially compelling is that these reports were thoroughly documented by both the Italian Inquisition and the Church's canonization proceedings. A recent book by historian Carlos Eire examines his life in depth ("They Flew": Yale University Press, 2023).
Pillars of kindness crumble and fall
Crushed by the weight of hunger and hate and the pain of it all
Could it be true? Is it a lie
In Heaven’s name that you became
The man who could fly?
Scorned by your mother, considered a fool
Humble and meek, ailing and weak, forced out of school
Seized by your visions you found a home
With ones who ordained you to pray alone
And they say you were lifted in the quivering air
Touched by the kiss of immaculate bliss, you hovered there
Paupers and princes all testify
That they would see what cannot be:
A man who could fly
Skeptics denounced you a dissolute priest
Calling your skill an omen of ill, the mark of the beast
Sent into exile in a cell far away
They never knew all you wanted to do was continue to pray
In a daze of devotion, drunken with love
Taken unplanned, as if by a hand to realms up above
How did it happen? None could explain
Your soul was ablaze like flowers will praise the coming of the rain
Sing Hallelujah, sing to the skies
Sing to console the desperate soul With suffering eyes
The stormy black ocean will return to the blue
Hope shall not die for if one can fly
Any dream can come true
Was it all a delusion of a gullible age?
Were they fooled for awhile by the cunning and guile of a counterfeit sage?
Or did heaven adore you and raise you on high
And by decree declare you to be
The man who could fly?
Did heaven adore you and raise you on high
And by its decree declare you to be
The man who could fly?
STEVE KOEHLER: Lead vocal
KAREN MAL: Harmony vocal
DOC HEIDE: Acoustic guitar
ERIC LEWIS: 12 string acoustic guitar
JAMES KAPLAN: Piano
HANS CHRISTIAN: Bass, cello
THE WORLD AS I FOUND IT
It took over a decade to write this song, which contemplates the experience of finally leaving grad school and driving a rickety car across the plains to teach in Berkeley, CA.
I packed up my old Ford and headed west from Pennsylvania
I was free from the ivy-covered years
A back seat packed with books---William James, the poems of Whitman
Brilliant minds insisting life is not how it appears
Rolled across the prairies like a creaking horse-drawn wagon
Up beyond the Rockies to find the golden fields
Kicked off my shoes and ran down to where the sun sank in the water
‘Til the evening star came shining like a dream the day conceals
Will you take this world as you find it?
A castle crafted by your mother’s hand?
I would be a wave upon the ocean
Tumble down to break upon the sand
The trees in California are still green in late October
I remember hot clove cider on a frosty autumn morn
I call home every Sunday, I say, “There’s no ice on the water here
“It just rolls on like summer, or the day the world was born”
DOC HEIDE: Lead vocal, acoustic guitar
AMY CHAFFEE: Harmony vocal
HANS CHRISTIAN: Bass, cello, drum programing
ERIC LEWIS: Nashville high tuning acoustic guitar, harmony vocal
WELCOME PILGRIM
A celebration of the ancient spiritual tradition of offering hospitality toward the stranger.
Welcome pilgrim, please find yourself a seat
Welcome pilgrim, take a load off of your feet
It don’t matter where you come from, it don’t matter why
Welcome pilgrim, we’re so grateful you stopped by
Tell us of your travels and the lessons that you learned
The times you fanned the flames of love, the times that you got burned
Times you had to rise up from the ashes of your pain
We’re born to love the sunshine but must learn to love the rain
REPEAT CHORUS
Tell us of your troubles and the burdens that you bear
Did you have to don a grand disguise to stifle your despair?
Everybody here has known the devastating cost
If you don’t turn over every stone to find the hope you lost
Some among us search for pleasure, some for simple joys
Some seek the sacred isle of silence in the sea of noise
Some seek answers that reside beyond the reach of mind
Where cruelty bows down before the splendor of the kind
Tell us why you chose to take the road that you are on
Are you runnin’, are you hidin’, do you fear to face the dawn?
Did you have to leave your family, did you toil to keep them near?
Welcome pilgrim, you are safe among us here
DOC HEIDE: Acoustic guitar, lead vocal
ERIC LEWIS: Harmony vocal, electric guitar, 12-string acoustic guitar, lap steel, percussion
AMY CHAFFEE: Harmony vocal
LEE BECKER: Harmony vocal
HANS CHRISTIAN: Cello, bass
PAUL TAYLOR: Drums
WHIPPOORWILL
Inspired by the British ballad tradition in which a wise bird offers sage advice.
The Milky Way shines on this road through the pines
That runs past the hill with that sad whippoorwill
Venus and Mars hold hands in the stars
And croon right along with that whippoorwill’s song
He sings, “Lovers, be kinder, be closer to each other
Heed my reminder: never let a lover grow far from you”
The stars spin around, they don’t make a sound
The whole world is still, then that sad whippoorwill sings:
“You made a mess, go on and confess
What you did was wrong”, goes that whippoorwill’s song
“She will forgive you, but you should have known
She was born to be with you, that girl’s the only star for you”
La da da da, la da da da
“Come away on my wings”, the whippoorwill sings
La da da da, la da da da
“With her you belong”, goes the whippoorwill’s song
“She will forgive you, but you should have known
“She was born to be with you, that girl’s the only star for you
Only star for you"
DOC HEIDE: Lead vocal, acoustic guitar, virtual English horn
AMY CHAFFEE: Harmony vocal
ERIC LEWIS: Nashville high tuning acoustic guitar, harmony vocal
HANS CHRISTIAN: Bass