And HERE are the entries

[up-fiddler]

Please keep in mind that these are all rough drafts in varying degrees of readiness. Now they are laid bare for the cyber world to constructively critique them. Offer your honest opinions and we will see where this leads. For their parts the entrants have this month to rewrite to their heart's content AND put it to music by midnight of January 31st. The purpose of each and every Challenge is to make each us better writers. In the end that is what matters most. Thanks in advance for your help and participation. Dave aka up-fiddler

Heart and Home
Whatmysay c.2009
1
The first house where we first kissed
We shared with a saxophonist
The rooms were small the walls were thin
And could not hold our dreams within

2
The first house where we first loved
We lived beneath a mad landlord
The bed was big the carpet torn
Our dreams and shadows kept us warm

CH
My heart your home
My arms are walls to keep you safe
This home is yours in our embrace
Though time will wear on castle stone
My heart is here always your home

3
The first house where you first dreamt
Was the last house where we paid rent
It looked out on a crystal sea
Then your sister made our family

CH

MID-8
When rain drops fall, you just call, and we will open our heart
Shelter within, till you begin, to feel the warmth of our love

CH

Our first house
FrankieRage c.2009

I took your picture off the wall
it doesn't fit there anymore
although your smile is still the same
it's not for me and now the frame
is lying broken on the floor

I smashed a glass and cut my hand
and while I'm trying to deal with that
another bill lands on the mat
reminding me that's all that's left
and that you're never coming home

We broke our hearts in this old house
you the North, me the South
'Uptown Girl' was the song
if you'd like to sing along
I can teach you all the words

My First Car
up-fiddler c.2009

My first car was a 59 Chevrolet
It had a little bondo on the right hand side
I installed an AM radio
That 59 Chevy was a hell of a ride.
Chs
It didn’t go fast. We never went far.
But we were captains of the road
In my first car.

WLS the voice of Chicago
Just poured out the rock and roll that we all loved
Volume way up, the muffler was a bit too loud
That four inch speaker was really getting shoved
Chs
Three on the tree, the standard way to drive a car.
"Easy on the clutch." The girls are watching now.
Let it out too fast, you ride yourself a shootin' star.
Jerkin’ through the light Like a three legged cow.
Chs
Empty our pockets, we all chip in for gas.
Forty cents a gallon and we had no cares
Sometimes we’d splurge and put three dollars in
Sails full of wind we could go anywhere.
Chs
One summer day in 1968
I sold her for 30. (But I’d paid a hundred five!)
I held back the tears as I watched them drive away
That light blue Chevy had taught me how to drive.
Chs

Your Home
Words and music by Joseph Spain
Created with Jamstudio.com 2.3 and Acoustica Mixcraft 4.1
Produced by Joseph Spain
CD: none (challenge entry)
Copyright: Joseph Spain 2008, 2009

verse 1
Yesterdays are faded gray
The mirrors never show
Within these walls are memories
of love I'll never know
Every year I celebrate your birthday all alone
Your pictures smile in every room
and shine in my first home

chorus
I know someday you'll find the truth
I'm waiting here alone for you
and everything I'll ever do
will bring you safely home
We share the moon above the sea
While we're apart I'll always be
the light beyond your darkest need
to guide you to your home

verse 2
You said you'd always live for me
We promised that we'd die
to live inside each other's hearts
in vows we made for life
Now every day I pray to see
your hands I used to hold
These timeless gifts within in your reach
are waiting in your home

chorus
I know someday you'll find the truth
I'm waiting here alone for you
and everything I'll ever do
will bring you safely home
We share the moon above the sea
While we're apart I'll always be
the light beyond your darkest need
to guide you to your home

bridge
There's emptiness in my first home
I crossed the threshold all alone
Across the fields that bear your name
I'm everything you own

chorus
I know someday you'll find the truth
I'm waiting here alone for you
and everything I'll ever do
will bring you safely home
We share the moon above the sea
While we're apart I'll always be
the light beyond your darkest need
to guide you to your home

chorus
I know someday you'll find the truth
I'm waiting here alone for you
and everything I'll ever do
will bring you safely home
We share the moon above the sea
While we're apart I'll always be
the light beyond your darkest need
to guide you to your home

(repeat chorus through fade out)

Somewhere
Gecko zzed c.2009

Leather, rubber, oil and dust
Machine Chanel beneath the rust
A carcass rusting in the grass
Silent eyes reflect the past

In satin black I drove the streets
Master of this four-wheeled steed
Proud I sat, so high in seat
A windscreen world in front of me

You were a friend to me
But time got in the way
On the outskirts of importance
The threads began to fray
Somewhere the spark went missing
Somewhere the lights grew dim
Though I recall the surge before
Somewhere I just gave in.

Abandoned in a lonely field
Overgrown with tangled weed
A metal hulk that's now a home
To other creatures more in need

In chariot I crossed the map
The miles slipped by beneath my feet
I drove for love, I drove too far
The boundaries disappeared

You were a friend to me
But time got in the way
On the outskirts of importance
The threads began to fray
Somewhere the spark went missing
Somewhere the lights grew dim
Though I recall the surge before
Somewhere I just gave in.

Nifty 50
Nightfire c.2009

VERSE
Fast cars, and cigarettes
No I never understood the rest
Of the folks of my age, and the folks running cool
A time and place for my soul

When I was only 17,
I set out looking for a beauty queen
A crown of thorns in an old rusted field
Sat the old wreck ‘neath a willowing tree


CHORUS
She’s a nifty 50, with a four on the floor
Runnin on empty down I94
She’ll do no more than 60
And she’s all rusted up
But my old 50 is one fine looking truck


VERSE
I dragged her home, and gave her a wash
I never knew she’d loose paint this fast
Well there wasn’t much to begin with, and not much left
After I pressure washed that old pile of mess

She had a flathead six, and a three on the tree
A life of her own, running wild and free
Well I changed out the draglink, and I changed the transmission
Soon I was driving, a young man on a mission

[Frankie Rage]

A fine bunch of lyrics - all different!

I'm a great one for pulling out the killer line. These were the lines I liked best (there wasn't one in mine, though!)

It looked out on a crystal sea,

Jerkin' through the light like a three legged cow!

The light beyond your darkest need,

Though I recall the surge before somehow I just gave in (very poignant, I felt and my favourite line in all the lyrics)

But my old 50 is one fine looking truck!

------------------------------------------

A point of note, it seems to me that only you *Americans can write songs about cars and roads! It doesn't work anywhere else in the World, somehow!

Yer pal,

Fx

*When I say 'Americans' I'm including Canadians, Australians & Tasmanians in that! One thing's for sure, singing a song about a Morris Minor travelling on the A1 in the UK from Doncaster to Letchworth, is not very romantic in terms of imagery!

[up-fiddler]

...to chime in. I have started writing down my thoughts for each song and should have them finished and posted by Monday night or Tuesday morning. When this is all done I will cut and paste each review into separate documents for the individual authors' songs. (As I have done in the past.) That way the authors will get a copy of ALL of the comments relating to their particular song entry. Remember that ANYONE may comment on the Challenge entries at this point in time - in fact, the more the merrier. (So to speak)