Local music group contest to get a producer. I wrote the lyrics and the melody and it was picked to be produced.

The invitation to a special someone

This is a song I wrote for my Daughter.

I think I picked up the title from a movie scene and instantly felt that it could be worth developing further. As I have two brothers of my own it as easy to imagine how it woul feel if one of them was in trouble and went missing. The lyrics are cowritten with a friend of mine (Ida Sköld).

Got this song on in my car
But I know we needed more
Shoulda never let it get this far
It's shoots across like a shooting star

Well this is not goodbye
I've just been spending way too much time
The world is mine
And that'll be my lullaby

Well I'm not sleeping
I'm awake but I keep dreaming
Hold the hands of time
I hold em tight cause it keeps leaving

We were young
Like loaded guns
You came in like the morning sun
You don't have to run

We only say a word or two
But there's a million thoughts from me to you
The words they must be skewed
And we've both had a drink or two

Well I'm not sleeping
I'm awake but I keep dreaming
Hold the hands of time
I hold em tight cause it keeps leaving

And while you're sleeping in your bed
And all those thoughts run through your head
Just realise how this ends
But we can fix it all instead

Don't let your pride turn it red
And just reject what we're all fed
The tide keeps moving straight ahead
But I'll move the earth for it instead

Well I'm not sleeping
I'm awake but I keep dreaming
Hold the hands of time
I hold em tight cause it keeps leaving

I was driving home from a festival in Taranaki. The summer had been very dry and the landscape was parched. Then came the storm and the road turned into a river. It got me thinking about the extremes of climate, how they are becoming more extreme, more often.
And I wrote this song. I hope somehow, somewhere, it makes a difference (special demo recording for Climate Change LSC Songwriting Challenge.

For me, the song is about; yes, there is climate change and things are getting worse; yes, we as human beings are responsible; the challenge is, can we make things better or will we die off before the planet improves again?

When the rain comes

The paddocks red dust and the animals suffer
Grass bone white but the earth will recover
When the rain comes, this land will be green once again

The water’s too deep in the storm without end
Red wounds run freely cut deep in the land
As the rain fades, these hills will be green once again

Chasing dark gold is not feeding the famished
Mining the deep 'til the hunger has vanished
When the tide turns, will the waters run clear once again?

Soft gentle breeze and the warmth of the ocean
Are thrown into turmoil by our generation
When our lights fade, will the air be clean once again?

When our lights fade, will the air be clean once again?
When the tide turns, will the waters run clear once again?
As the rain fades, these hills will be green once again?
When the rain comes, this land will be green once again?
When the rain comes….

Copyright Nigel Parry (Nigel Lloyd Parry) 2014, APRA member number 787999.

It's about being there for the ones you love.

This song was inspired by songs such as "Everybody Get Together" from the Sixties and also by a performance of "The Way of the Waters" by the Perpetual Peace Project which may be seen on YouTube.

It's easy to blame time for things, I suppose...