This week’s song is one of the two covers on Looking For Buildings: “Love Is Real” by Dave Scarbrough. I’ve loved this song since 1988. Here are the lyrics, short and sweet:

 Were it not for love, oh
 I still would have a friend
 No more am I haunted by 
 The thought that it might end
 I know it’s all behind me now
 but I still feel so insecure
 but I know love is real
 
 I can see the firelight reflecting in your eyes
 And I find I think too much and now I realize
 I'd give my whole self to you
 And you'd give me so much more
 I know, I know love is real
 love is real
 oh, oh 

This week’s song is a hooky little pop song that I wrote in 2016. I honestly didn’t recall anything about what inspired it, but I knew I originally recorded the demo for the Theme Music group on Facebook, so I looked it up. Here’s what I said back then.

“So I felt bad because I didn’t really do anything for a theme that should have been easy. The result? Late Sunday evening, I challenged myself to write a song on the spot for the theme in time to submit it. Achievement unlocked!…

“Song is basically about a relationship falling apart, inspired by my divorce.”

— Facebook, May 2016

Huh, I don’t remember that being the inspiration. In fact, I thought it was a completely different relationship… Anyway, here are the lyrics. I’ll add a link to the song later.

Wonder Whys

You're the kind of guy
Makes me wonder why
But I’m guessing I will never know
There’s a situation starting to grow
More than yesterday

I could never tell
If you wish me well
But I’m guessing and I don’t have a clue
And I have to think that neither do you
Or did you anyway?

I wish that I could understand 
The thoughts behind those eyes
And realize the answer to the Whys

Chorus:
I wonder why you’re not there
And if you care
But it seems to me that you are asking too

You wonder why it’s not right
And why we fight
But inside I know the answer, so do you

Once you were that guy 
Made me wonder why
You were glorious in every way
I wanted you in my life every day
But that’s over now

I wish that I could understand 
The thoughts behind those eyes
And realize the answer to the Whys

Chorus:
I wonder why you’re not there
And if you care
But it seems to me that you are asking too

You wonder why it’s not right
And why we fight
But inside I know the answer, so do you

Bridge:
I could ask you
If I thought it mattered
You could tell me 
If you wanted to

Chorus:
I wonder why you’re not there
And if you care
But it seems to me that you are asking too

You wonder why it’s not right
And why we fight
But inside I know the answer, so do you

Like last week’s song, “You = Spring” is one of the songs I wrote for Learning Not To Be Perfect, a collection of demos written and recorded for NASOALMO (National Solo Album Month). On the last day of the challenge, I was still one song short, so I decided it would be fun to try something synthpoppy. It felt like that would be quick to write for some reason. And it was, and so I finished the “album.” 🙂 Here are the lyrics:

It’s dark but I can’t see it
Winter but I can’t feel it
’Cause you’re better than the sun
 
No cold is gonna reach me
Not when I’ve you to teach me
We two are more than 1 + 1
 
I feel a springtime and it’s coming from the heart
With you any time of year is fine
 
So warm your affection
Now it’s the right direction
For me — I don’t doubt anymore
 
You say we’re gonna make it
This time I believe it’s 
True — I don’t doubt anymore
 
Faith and forgiveness of the past
Makes me sure it’s going to last
Even when we make mistakes
 
I trust the smile in your eyes
’Cause you’ve made me realize
You and me are what it takes
 
I feel a springtime and it’s coming from the heart
With you any time of year is fine
 
So warm your affection
Now it’s the right direction
For me — I don’t doubt anymore
 
You say we’re gonna make it
This time I believe it’s 
True — I don’t doubt anymore 

“Throw Me Away” is one of the songs I wrote for my 2015 collection of demos, Learning Not To Be Perfect. That collection was put together for NASOALMO (National Solo Album Month), in which you write and record a complete album in one month — all by yourself. Here are the lyrics:

 Throw Me Away

 I would do whatever it would take me 
 to pay penance for my sins
 even if the accusations break me
 on my way to breaking in

 Give me just one chance to understand it
 as you watch me spin out of control
 so alone, I must be branded
 help me, bring me back my soul
 
 Chorus:
 This was not what I expected
 when we bought our tickets to the show
 Don’t throw them away
 Don’t throw them away
 
 Maybe there’s an encore to make it better
 Maybe there’s a sequel to this play
 Don’t throw me away
 Don’t throw me away
 
 Waiting for the closing of the season
 trying to find some cover from the rain
 but the forecast gives no reason 
 that the clouds will ever change
 
 And now the curtain call is over
 There’s no delaying this I fear
 It just takes one to end this story
 Just takes one to disappear

 Bridge:
 I’d beg forgiveness if I knew what I had done
 But maybe I should be forgiving you 

“Season of Loss” was written in early 2016, after I read the phrase in an article discussing the death of David Bowie and other celebrities that year. I’d gone through some personal loss as well, and it was the usual grey Seattle late winter weather, so the phrase struck a chord in me. The result? This song. Despite the references to greyness and loss, it’s one of the most cheerful-sounding songs I’ve written, and probably my favorite chorus.

Season of Loss

 spring feels so far away
 right now it’s grey
 and every day I miss your smile
 
 I try to find the joy
 it’s just a ploy
 without the boy and is the wait worthwhile?

 I’m going nowhere fast
 this cannot last
 it’s just our past that blocks the way

 Somehow I still have hope
 that’s how I cope
 a clichéd trope makes sense to me today

 [chorus]
 In this season of loss
 Can I fathom the cost
 of maintaining belief in your love?

 I’m too stubborn to think
 you’d be gone in a blink
 when we had the faith that we had
 or was that love between us
 a strength we could believe or
 something meager?

 I’m told it just takes time
 this uphill climb
 to the sublime, a new lifestyle
 
 spring feels so far away
 right now it’s grey
 and every day I miss your smile

 [chorus]
 In this season of loss
 Can I fathom the cost
 of maintaining belief in your love?
 
 I’m too stubborn to think
 you’d be gone in a blink
 when we had the faith that we had
 or was that love between us
 strength we could believe or
 something meager?
 
 [bridge]
 I swore I’d believe in you
 you swore you’d never break my heart again
 
 [chorus]
 In this season of loss
 Can I fathom the cost
 of maintaining belief in your love?
 I’m too stubborn to think
 you’d be gone in a blink
 when we had such faith 
 
 In this season of loss
 Can I fathom the cost
 of maintaining belief in your love?
 I’m too stubborn to think
 you’d be gone in a blink
 when we had such faith 
 
 spring feels so far away
 right now it’s grey
 and every day I miss your smile 

 © 2016 Wendi Dunlap (BMI)