Category: video

Where Did All The Water Go?

Timothy Price28 Comments

Less than a week after the multi-agency effort to release 650 million gallons of water into the Rio Grande as a “scientific experiment… to learn how the water flows through the river…”, all 650 million gallons of water have since flowed past Corrales, and the river is back to where it was last Monday before the water was released last Tuesday. I hope the bureaucrats learned how water flows through the river.

It seemed like a good time to post The Drought, that I wrote, recorded, and made a video asking the question, “Where did all the water go?” The song is raw and rough, in the style of what I call “Dry Metal.” The lyrics are at the end of the post.

Spunk: “I can’t believe all the water’s gone!”

Back to the start of the day.

Cracked clay on one side
Green slime on the other side
Dichotomousness?

Daily Doppel

Sunrise

The Drought
By Timothy Price

[Chorus]
Where did all the water go?
Where did all the water go?
Where did all the water go?

[Verse]
Scorched earth, cracked white clay
Fried in dryness, woe
Drought sucks life’s blood away
Where did all the water go?

[Chorus]
Where did all the water go?
Where did all the water go?
Where did all the water go?

[Verse]
Thirsty plants bow their heads
Pray for rain, the watershed
Parched seeds cry die of thirst
How have we earned this curse?

[Bridge]
Sun shines happiness
We frolic in deceptive rays
Encourages us to foolish ways
Water’s precious, so we say
But we waste it anyway
In denial as it dwindles
Less and less from day to day to day

[Chorus]
Where did all the water go?
Where did all the water go?
Where did all the water go?

[Outro]
Where once water flowed clear and cold
Green slime clings to mud
The water’s foul, so the waterfowl
Fly off in search of some
Where did all the water go?
Where did all the water go?
Where did all the water go?

Thoughts Turned Cold

Timothy Price23 Comments

While walking in a dark forest in southern Germany on March 15th, I was caught in a sudden cold and violent storm a mile from home. As I trudged through the trees, my boots sinking into the soggy soil, I heard the faint cries of spirits and the mournful lamentations of ghosts swirling through the trees. The cold wind carried their complaints about a dark and violent past through the forest, still echoing sadness about the state of the world. As I scraped mud from my boots and wrung out the rain from my soaked hair, I bid farewell to the ghosts of the forest’s dark past, leaving them outdoors to their eternal lament.

The lyrics are a mixture of English and archaic Goth (somewhat reminiscent of Latin), which seemed appropriate after getting caught in a violent storm in a dark, ancient forest in southern Germany. The chorus is archaic Goth, and the bridge and outro are the translation of the chorus. The pre-outro, or second bridge, is the translation of the Goth used in the third verse.

Pre-dawn

Sunrise

Sunset

Thoughts Turned Cold
Timothy Price

[Verse 1]
Thoughts turned cold, face stung by frozen rain
Plagent wind lamented years of weltschmerz
Checked the date, indeed, the Ides of March march on

[Verse 2]
Archaic thoughts fall into foggy bottoms
Like dark matter filling ancient voids
Persistent question placed on repeat
Oh my god, what have they done?
What have they done?

[Pre-Chorus]
As steps sank into soggy soil, sad spirits sang

[Chorus – Archaic Goth]
Weltschmerz ululant repline mit plangor keen
Susurrate atrabilious lacrimonias pang
Misosophy atramentous luctiferous ainamma jah allaim

[Bridge -Translation of the chorus]
A melancholic sadness about the state of the world
Let out a loud cry to feel a sorrowful discontent
With a loud lemanting wail for the dead
Whispers meloncholic full of tears reget
Hatred of wisdom black as ink bringing sorrow to one and all

[Verse 3]
Scraped spirits off my boots, ploration in querimonious woe
Wrung Nixie from my hair, Kelpie slid to Undine slabs dispersing under foot
Shut the door leaving gasts outdoors, tenebrific exanclate

[Pre-Chorus]
Steps sank into soggy soil, sad spirits sang

[Chorus]
Weltschmerz ululant repline mit plangor keen
Susurrate atrabilious lacrimosa pang
Misosophy atramentous luctiferous ainamma jah allaim

[Pre-Outro – Translation of verse 3]
Loud weeping with complaints of great sorrow
Water spirits shape-shift to elemental ghosts
Making darkness, struggling through suffering

[Outro]
A melancholic sadness about the state of the world
Let out a loud cry to feel sorrowful discontent
With a loud lemanting wail for the dead
Whispers meloncholic full of tears reget
Hatred of wisdom black as ink bringing sorrow to one and all

Stories Told A Million Times

Timothy Price59 Comments

I was thinking about how the memory of the present is easily lost in the shuffle. The future is unpredictable other than the inevitable, but the past has a certain clarity. Stories from the past want to be told, but as memories from the present become lost, so does that last time the stories were told, creating a new personal paradigm — the stories will be told over and over and over and over again. 

Dawn

pTerodactyl at dawn

Stories Told A Million Times
By Timothy Price

[Verse 1]
Eyes no longer see the glory
Unable to focus on the future
They dwell on the past
Distant memories from years gone by

[Chorus]
Have I ever told you the story…
Yes, dear, you have. A million times…
How about the time I…
Yes, dear, you have!

[Verse 2]
Experiences lived years ago
Are as clear as yesterday
While yesterday seems a distant past
Long forgotten, swallowed by the mist

[Chorus]
Have I ever told you the story…
Yes, my friend. A million times…
How about the time I…
Yes, my friend, you have!

[Bridge]
Mind goes numb
Speech grows dumb
Stories once told
Now on repeat
Played over, and over
And over again

[Chorus]
Have I ever told you the story…
Yes, grandpa. A million times…
How about the time I…
Yes, grandpa, you have!

[Outro]
Will you remember my stories told
When I’ve passed on, dead and gone?
Stories told a million times
Do they get retold or die with the old
Buried and lost to the living
Told and retold among the dead

Sunrise Superman

Timothy Price37 Comments

I was inspired to write and record “Sunrise Superman” from my early morning walks with Jake.

Dawn

Sunrise

Jake and I had walked over a mile south of where I took the first photo of dawn before the sun began to rise.

Sunrise Superman
By Timothy Price

[Verse 1]
Sunrise Superman, twilight’s spy
Captures color with bedazzled eyes
In love, he Kisses Dawn’s pink blue skies
Silence broken by cranes’ cracked cries

[Chorus]
Sunrise Superman in love with dawn
Sunrise Superman twilight’s spawn
Sunrise Superman the day is drawn
Kryptonite clouds, they fade, they’re gone

[Verse 2]
Daybreak’s twighlight starts the day
Consumed by dawn along the way
Passes colors, pink, red, and gray
The light of blue has the final say

[Chorus]
Sunrise Superman in love with dawn
Sunrise Superman twilight’s spawn
Sunrise Superman the day is drawn
Kryptonite clouds, they fade, they’re gone

[Bridge]
Light breaks the darkness
Spawns colors bright
Sun peeks from under covers
Yawns big and stretches
Throwing rays far and wide
Into the the deep blue heavens
The Dead go back to bed
While goodness, forms awakens

[Outro]
Sunrise Superman in love with dawn
Sunrise Superman twilight’s spawn
Sunrise Superman the day is drawn
Kryptonite clouds, they fade, they’re gone

Milk Chocolate Water

Timothy Price42 Comments

Not that we are getting a few thunderstorms in the evenings, the runoff turns the water flowing in the Rio Grande the color of chocolate milk. Inspired by the milk chocolate water flowing in the Rio Grande, I wrote and recorded a song of the same name and made it into the above music video.

The river was higher at dawn from runoff from thunderstorms north and west of us. By dusk, most of the water had receded.

Dawn (water). Dusk (mud).

The Snowy Egret that follows us around most mornings

Dawn

Almost sunrise

Dusk

Eastside Coyotes

Timothy Price39 Comments

Jake and I were walking on the riverbed at South Beach this morning when a couple of coyotes appeared on the east side of the river and started barking at us. They had a lot to say. A few weeks ago, the three coyotes we often see on the west side of the river walked down on the riverbed with us to get a drink of water. They were silent, and did all their business like, “Don’t mind us!” Jake and I were standing about 25 feet from the westside coyotes.

Dawn

Dusk. We’ve had a little rain the past few nights, so the river is up a little from the runoff.

Pilot Light

Timothy Price33 Comments

Dawn

On my way to light a pilot, I saw a pilot light a balloon.

Spunk: “Hey Paparazzo! Hold your stupid camera level! I’m feeling The Moody Blues trying to hold on to this post!”

Paparazzo: “Oh! Are you feeling like ‘Ride My See-Saw’?”

Prickly Pear

Sunset

Teagan’s Storm

Timothy Price105 Comments

Lately, when I write a song, I make a version of the music for me and a version for Teagan. Teagan’s version of The Storm is difficult because it has a wide vocal range and requires a powerful voice. Teagan nailed the range with her powerful vocals.

The Storm
by Timothy Price

[Verse 1]
Riding on the edge of night
Rainbow storms play on left
Sun shines on the right

[Chorus]
Light bounces off gray clouds
Shadows cling to the ground
Dead trees stare at useless rain
Much too late to ease the pain

[Verse 2]
Standing against the wind
Vultures circle overhead
Wishing my demise

[Bridge]
Angels ride
On lightning bolts
The gods argue
Their thunder rolls
Primary colors
Come undone
Trying to calm
The violence
Of the sun

[Outro]
Light bounces off gray clouds
Shadows cling to the ground
Dead trees stare at useless rain
Much too late to ease the pain

Standing

Timothy Price62 Comments

After I finished intensive chemo in 2010, I complained to my oncologist about not having feeling in my fingertips or toes. I asked when the feeling would return. She said probably never. I gave her a disappointed look and grumbled about it. She said, “It’s better than the alternative. Stop complaining, you’re still standing above the ground!” She was right. I had no right to complain. She had saved my life, and following her instructions, I never got sick or had any complications that I’d heard so many people had with chemo. After my second bout with cancer, and even more intense chemo than I had with the first bout, there was no chance of regaining much feeling in my fingertips.

As one might imagine, playing the guitar with numb fingertips is challenging. I started relearning to play the guitar in 2018. I wrote the lyrics to Standing in 2019, but never got a tune or music worked out that I liked. I gave AI Music the lyrics and the parameters for the music, and I finally got a song I liked.

Søren knows what it’s like to be standing!

Standing
By Timothy Price

Verse 1
Numb and swollen fingers
Fumble on the strings
I can’t feel the music
I’m Lost in sonic spaces

Verse 2
My guitar rings in my ears
I struggle with the sound
I’m trying to make some music
A joyful noise is what comes out

Chorus
But I won’t complain
And I won’t shed tears
It’s a miracle
That I’m still here
I won’t go down
Or get torn usunder
Becase I’m still standing
Above the ground

Bridge
Errant notes dangle
Then they Fall
Slipped off strings
And fingerboard
They lie scattered
Across the floor
They’re silenced
Under foot

Otro
Numb and swollen fingers
Still fumble on the strings
I still can’t feel the music
I’m still lost in sonic spaces