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Play My New Solo Album "For The Sake Of The Dead" (read the backstory and liner notes below)

New Solo Album 'For The Sake Of The Dead' (Album Backstory):

For The Sake Of The Dead is an idea formed from Walt Whitman's poem "Hymn Of Dead Soldiers". It is in memoriam to loved ones who have passed away. It's a plea to release love, urgently for my own sake, and for the sake of the dead who can no longer love here on Earth. The songs were written and recorded from 2021-2024, though the origins of some songs date back much further. These songs travel through grief and loss, and touch on vulnerabilities as I struggle to be open hearted. They represent the peace, joy, and meaning that come from making music each day. I hope you enjoy listening to them as much as I enjoyed creating them.

All songs were engineered, recorded, mixed, and mastered at my home studio in Raleigh, NC. Auto-tuning and other vocal correction effects were not used on any of the songs. This comes from my belief that the human ear has evolved to best enjoy music when it is produced naturally. Like most natural things, imperfections are integral. They bring out character and enhance the object. I believe this is also true for music. For similar reasons, some of these songs were also recorded "off grid" in dynamic time, meaning that they were played naturally, without a digital click track to keep tempo. This makes drumming harder, especially for me, since I am new to drumming, but it allows for timing changes and mid-song retards that are rare in our current digital music age. I like the many advantages of digital recording, but some things have been lost from the days of analog recording. One of them is the deeper expression that comes from the natural slowing or speeding of tempo at inflection points. Rigid digital clock timing always keeps the groove, but it also constrains expression. No human ever made music to a perfectly synchronized beat until very recently. My sense is that our ears still long to hear organic timing and grooves, made with the subtle nuance of natural tempos. Just as storytelling and comedy rely heavily on pauses and timing changes, music is fully expressed when tempo is organic and free. I believe the extra work involved is worth the trouble and I hope you can hear it in songs like "Wichita" and "After She's Gone".

This album would not exist without the love of my family and friends. They supported me through the many iterations of these songs. I'm deeply thankful for their insights and encouragement. I'm grateful for their patience with me as I sent them early song drafts and requests for advice. Special thanks to Taylor O'Connor who wrote and played the incredible piano improvisation on "After She's Gone". And to Rich Spangenberg for writing the music for "Saturn" and playing the guitars on "Float". Thanks to George Varani who wrote the lyrics to "I Feel Love". I was pleased to discover his lyrics when I was sorting through old papers. Thanks to Adam Cave and George Varani for their collaboration on "This Young", which came out of a jam session we had in January. All other songs are written and performed by myself. My wife got me a drum set for Christmas in 2021 and I eagerly set out to learn how to play them so I could write drum parts and record them on this album. In 2022 my in-laws gave me harmonicas in every key and I was excited to learn how to play them and to add harmonica to 'Wichita". Thanks to my wife, Heather for giving me her understanding, empathy, and love. She has always sparked so much creative energy in me and given me grace and space to make music. Thanks to my daughter, Kate for the song art. She is a generous and beautiful soul. I love her interpretations for these songs.

Patrick Williams, May 2024

Song Descriptions, Lyrics, and Chords

Free Enough is a longing for answers during a time of uncertainty.

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'Free Enough' Lyrics

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Goin’ where the snow don’t blind me

It’s enough to make me lose my way

Kind of feel like giving up

I’m free enough to break my own heart

Looking East I feel like a cowboy

Travel West, I feel like a wannabe

I thought I had it figured out

I’ve had about enough of the free-way

Oh if I could be myself

I’d let this weary body sleep

I’d climb this heep of sorrow

I’d buy a little peace

Won’t you tell me what I wanna to know (Oh love of mine)

Won’t you tell me what I need to know (Oh peace of mind)

Please be kind, I’m dying (Oh love of mine)

Won’t you tell me what I wanna to know (Oh love of mine)

Won’t you tell me what I need to know (Oh peace of mind)

Please be kind, I’m dying (Oh love of mine)

Met a woman and she told me that she loved me

Gave my all, gave into my misery

But then I saw that my love was

Just the way she wanted to see herself

Oh if I could be myself

I’d let this weary body sleep

I’d climb this heep of sorrow

I’d buy a little peace

Won’t you tell me what I wanna to know (Oh love of mine)

Won’t you tell me what I need to know (Oh peace of mind)

Please be kind, I’m dying (Oh love of mine)

Won’t you tell me what I wanna to know (Oh love of mine)

Won’t you tell me what I need to know (Oh peace of mind)

Please. Please. (Oh love of mine)

Father will you please, don’t know what I need

Mother will you please, don’t know what I need

Brother will you please don’t know what I need

Father will you please, don’t know what I need

Won’t you tell me what I wanna to know (Oh love of mine)

Won’t you tell me what I need to know (Oh peace of mind)

Please be kind, I’m dying (Oh love of mine)

Won’t you tell me what I wanna to know (Oh love of mine)

Won’t you tell me what I need to know (Oh peace of mind)

Please be kind, I’m dying (Oh love of mine)

Please be kind, I’m dying, dyin’ (Oh love of mine)

I’m dyin’, I’m dyin’, I’m dyin’, I’m dyin’ babe

Leaving touches the void left from loss

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'Leaving' Lyrics

(click here for chords)

When I leave this world

I’ll call you friend

When I touch the sky tonight

I’ll call you my friend

Where I go, here you are

And all I do is feel

Leaving (baby)

Babe

Leaving (baby)

Babe

When I leave this world

I’ll call you my friend

When I touch the sky tonight

I’ll understand

Where you go, here I am

And all I do is feel

Wandering lost in place

Wake my heart again

Leaving (baby)

Babe

Leaving (baby)

Babe

Turn The Page expresses the stages of grief

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'Turn The Page' Lyrics

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Autumn leaves upon me

Dying down around me, falling faster now

No more laughter from the eyes

No more tears to drown the skies

Where angels walk and spill the wine of passion

This rain is falling on my skin

Falling hard and taken in

Oh, it stains me deeply

This rain is falling on my skin

Falling hard and taken in

Oh, it stains so deeply

I’ll cry, you turn the page

We’ll stage a laugh and pass the rage

I’ll cry, you hold me tight

We’ll fight the blame and kick the night

I’ll cry, you turn the page

We’ll stage a laugh and pass the rage

I’ll cry, you hold me tight

We’ll fight the blame and kick the night

Freedom grinds the meek

For that which they don’t seek

It gives me causes

But I’d say it’s like a crumb

Beneath the weighted heel of some lost tyranny

While all around is madness,

all around is madness

This rain is falling on my skin

Falling hard and taken in

Oh, it stains me deeply

This rain is falling on my skin

Falling hard and taken in

Oh, it stains so deeply

I’ll cry, you turn the page

We’ll stage a laugh and pass the rage

I’ll cry, you hold me tight

We’ll fight the blame and kick the night

I’ll cry, you turn the page

We’ll stage a laugh and pass the rage

I’ll cry, you hold me tight

We’ll fight the blame and kick the night

I’ll cry, you turn the page

We’ll stage a laugh and pass the rage

I’ll cry, you hold me tight

We’ll fight the blame and kick the night

Me playing electric guitar and singing into mic

This Young came out of a jam session with George Varani and Adam Cave. It's a rumination on valuing today since I will never be younger than I am today and will never experience the uniqueness of this day again. It's a carpe diem, memento mori sentiment to keep me engaged with the present.

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'This Young' Lyrics

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I’ll never be this young again

Only to pretend

This young again

I’ll never see this day again

The beauty in the sands

To comprehend

Once gone, slipping out of hand

Pointless to demand

To be this young again

I’ll never see this day again

Embrace the sand, shifting lands

This will never come again

Once gone, slipping out of hand

Pointless to demand

To be this young again

Oh, this young again

Once I was that man

Fallen friend

Striving just to want again

Lost inside the crushing din

Once gone, slipping out of hand

Pointless to demand

To be this young again

Once gone, slipping out of hand

Pointless to demand

To be this young again

Oh, this young again

Sweet Anna is a vision of how love resolves.

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'Sweet Anna' Lyrics

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She laid it down. Cold as stone

Open as a voice on water.

And hollow to the bone

Now it was for this that I so boldly traveled on

(I traveled on)

Now I howl at moons

While all that is above me falls. It falls.

I need you, sweet Anna

I need you…sweet Anna

Sweet Anna’s got me opened up

My heart sails on the breeze

Sweet Anna’s gonna share with me

Come laugh with me again.

Faught, oh man

Fingers scrape along this wall

Call so we can dig together

Scratching for that bone

I need you, sweet Anna

Sweet Anna’s got me opened up

My heart sails on the breeze

Sweet Anna’s gonna share with me

Come laugh with me again.

Sweet Anna’s got me opened up

My heart sails on the breeze

Sweet Anna’s gonna share with me

Come laugh with me again

Wichita is a prayer for openness. “Throughout all these Human Lands, Tools were made & Born were hands, Every Farmer Understands” –Auguries of Innocence by William Blake

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'Wichita' Lyrics

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I’m a Wichita man

Empty as this open land

Dust to bone

Flesh to stone

I am six feet down

Grab another six and drown

Alive, alone

Never known, hmm

Ahh

Fill —what I have opened

Fill —what I lay down

Till the land, open up

Turn it over, understand

Till the land, open up

Turn it over, understand

I’m closing down

Falling into hallowed ground

I’m overrun

Oh I’m undone…hmm

Ahh

Fill —what I have opened

Fill —what I lay down

Till the land, open up

Turn it over, understand

Till the land, open up

Turn it over, understand

Love's The Rule was inspired from lesson 2 of a piano course I was taking during the COVID pandemic. It is also Jesus' 2nd most important lesson: to love your neighbor as yourself -- pondering the many obstacles to love.

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'Love's The Rule' Lyrics

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Little is more. All is nothing

Here am I, this offering

Defying entropy

I Feel the sting breathe into me

To make me sing

Lesson 2, I cycle through

This thirst to love. To rise above

Just as you are. To reach your heart

Just as I am, I start again

First, love. Lesson 2 again

Love’s the rule. The measure of all

Resisting all that I desire

Fight my soul. All I aspire

Drown what I covet, down to the wire

Lesson 2, I cycle through

This thirst to love. To rise above

Just as you are. To reach your heart

Just as I am, I start again

First, love. Lesson 2 again

Love’s the rule. The measure of all

Just as I am, I start again

First, love. Lesson 2 again

Love’s the rule. The measure of all

The measure of all

Breakfast With Dalai is my gratitude for learning to quit the things that don't bring meaning and how it awakens and restores power to life. Lyrics are derrived from Paul Dunbar's poem "The Paradox"

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'Breakfast With Dalai' Lyrics

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Over easy, over now

Awake and all alone

I don’t wanna feel

I don’t wanna fight

“…[I’m your] fool in…morning,

[you’re] my slave at…night.” **

“Down [in] the grave [I’ll] take [you]

Out [of] the noise of the strife

Then [you will] see me, and know me

Death…no longer, but life”**

Crush the snare, escape the toll

Heavy on my soul…now

What is gonna save me

I have let you go

Liberty revealing

Shining in a glow

Life’s what I’m stealing

“Down [in] the grave [I’ll] take [you]

Out [of] the noise of the strife

Then [you will] see me, and know me

Death…no longer, but life” **

“[I’m] the mother of sorrows (oh)

[I’m] the ender of grief” **

**quoted lyrics are adapted from Paul Dunbar's "The Paradox"

For The Sake Of The Dead is my interpretation of Walt Whitman's poem, "Hymn Of Dead Soldiers". It's dedicated to my dad, Bob Williams, who was a gifted singer and music lover.

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'For The Sake Of The Dead' Lyrics

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All is over, and love is over me

In this fallen Earth

Deep and sound, my will bound

And passed its worth to you

I tarry here with you

Where love renews again

Exhaustless love, immortal love

For my sake as for your own. Pleading…

(Love) for the sake of the dead

(Now) as I think of you

(Where) there is breath

(You Are) love immortal

(Love) for the sake of the dead

(Here) in this grieving heart

(Now) there is peace

(Forever) in this…

(love) love

I gave up my breath, my will

To love as I once had

To you it has fallen, all of this love

I wish I could tell you how urgent it is

To love immortal love

(Love) for the sake of the dead

(Now) as I think of you

(Where) there is breath

(You Are) love immortal

(Love) for the sake of the dead

(Here) in this grieving heart

(Now) there is peace

(Forever) love immortal

(love) love

(Love) for the sake of the dead

(Now) as I think of you

(Where) there is breath

(You Are) love immortal

(Love) for the sake of the dead

(Here) in this grieving heart

(Now) there is peace

(Forever) in this fountain

(love) love

Float (feat. Rich Spangenberg) was written during a solo backpacking trip in the Shining Rock Wilderness of North Carolina. It was inspired by observations and meditations within the Appalachian Mountains

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'Float' Lyrics

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In this space the stillness slips below me

And I am open everywhere now

She gave me hope to speak —

Lent me grace to breathe, now

Spent of grief, and mercy —

I still resist, I do exist from here

Escape, I escape. Unfound, unbound

Floating, lifting I escape

Float. Insular and out of time

Forgotten like the moss, soft and fine

Like the air, with breath to spare

To float, and float

Lift before the weight. Exhilarated, notable

In the present, absent time

Flowers attract, the spider’s catch, the bird’s tap

Oh patient circle of death, of life

Escape, I escape

Amplified emotion, pride

Poised on the edge of this cascade

Float. In and out of time

Awoken like the moss, soft and fine

Feel the air, the breath to spare.

And float. Float

The rim of my vision

Clear for my attention

Blurred by what is before me

To focus and never see. Beyond my belief

Stealing my vision as a thief

…Float

Second Sleep is a requiem for humanity as we take our next evolutionary leap. What does humanity look like once we integrate artificial intelligence and tech hardware into ourselves? The most probable path is for AI to become part of us, and not some separate entity apart from us. A glimpse into the future comes from how we treat our mobile devices, our dependance on them, and the lonely interconnectedness of everything. We will continue to find new ways to integrate our beloved tech so that it is not a separate teather, but a physical part of us. We're already doing this in medicine.

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'Second Sleep' Lyrics

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Bounded by this Earth

I wander into dreams

I wonder what it means

To be real, this rebirth

Eyes closing, opened up

Darkness clearing what I glean

Expecting nothing give me all

Floating in this ether stall

How can I resist its call

Falling into the second sleep

Falling as I start to weep

Humanity now asleep

In this machinery that I seek

Inherited and meek

My soul to keep

As I fall

Escaping now, forever

Never finding home

Deceived and all alone

In this crowded room

Expecting nothing give me all

Floating in this ether stall

How can I resist its call

Falling into the second sleep

Falling as I start to weep

Humanity now asleep

In this machinery that I seek

My soul to keep

Falling into the second sleep

Falling as I start to weep

Humanity now asleep

In this machinery that I seek

Inherited and meek

My soul to keep

As I fall

I Feel Love is my attempt to emulate the musical style of my great friend George Varani, who wrote the lyrics for this song many years ago. I was happy to discover them when sorting old papers and took it as a sign that these lyrics wanted to be made into a song.

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'I Feel Love' Lyrics

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I feel love (love)

In your eyes (why)

I feel love

I’m so surprised

In my life

Love shines bright

But never

Feels right

I feel love

In your eyes

I feel love

I’m so surprised

Surprised

And when it’s dark

In my life

Your love carries me

Makes it right

al-right

Light

You are my light

Forever bright

I feel love

In your eyes

I feel love

I’m so surprised

I feel love

In your eyes

I feel love

I’m so surprised

Saturn was written for my mom, Nancy Williams, who died of dementia shortly after the initial demo track was recorded in November 2022. It expresses my experience helping to care for her aside what I imagined her experience to be.

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'Saturn' Lyrics

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I was trying to remember

I forgot to say goodbye

Leaving me to tremble

Leaving me to die

Alone, alone, alone all alone

Saturn (sadder),

Taken all for granted

Lost, in this abandon

Saturn (sadder),

Who will rescue me?

What will set this free?

Ever since I could remember

You gave me who I am

You taught me to surrender

To be better than I am

Alone, alone, all alone all alone

Saturn (sadder),

Taken all for granted

Lost, in this abandon

Saturn (sadder),

Who will rescue me?

What will set this free?

I remember who you are

I still know your soul

I remember you and me

I won’t let it go

Saturn (sadder),

Taken all for granted

Lost, in this abandon

Saturn (sadder),

Who will rescue me?

What will set this free?

Who will rescue me?

After She's Gone (feat. Taylor O'Connor) was written from one of Taylor O'Connor's piano improv tracks. I spent 12 hours at the microphone improvising lyrics and vocal melodies to emulate the improvosational style of the piece. It was a new experience for me over a long and rewarding day.

Listen to 'After She's Gone'

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'After She's Gone' Lyrics

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I’ve gone away

Everywhere

In my head

Out of time

After she’s gone

Gone

So alone

Empty of death, oh

Empty of life

All I ever wanted

Is to love

All I ever wanted

Is you

It’s only time

‘Till we go away

I can’t see the end

It’s only a matter of mind

To stay

Go all alone. Go all alone

After she’s gone

I know it’s better

By your side. By your side. By your side

It’s far beneath

It’s wide above

All I know is we’ll reach it

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