How can I describe Shy River? A rocker both colorful and complex with roots in folk, blues, jazz, and fusion. The title brings to mind the book Harpo Speaks. After years of being mostly non verbal, Mr. Marx is said to have become quite garrulous. The levy has broken and Shy River is flooding in and none of its tracks are instrumental. It flows in many directions. Inspired by films, family, heroes, emotions and thoughts, the thirteen songs reflect the influence of his father, Dave Guard who wrote the album's country-style ballad, Above and Beyond. Another song proudly covered is See Emily Play. Backed up vocally by his kids, Tara and Pascal and sister, Catherine, Tom mixes the Syd Barrett classic with tabla, bagpipes and banjo. Tom's song, Between You and Me shares diverse spiritual nudgings from slack key master, Gabby Pahinui, Pete Seeger and Pete Townsend.-----------------------------About the SongsLyrics and History-----Crossing Over the Roadlyrics and music by Tom Guard © 2008They'd been told about himcrossing over the roadHe's the good samaritanThrough time his words echoedchorusThey knew who he wasHe wore no disguiseThough they were younghe told them no liesHe ran with the windCold night, then the day beginsSo he hid a wayin their barnsleeping in hayShe snuck out and woke the manFrightened she she be cameShe asked"Who is it?"In vain he said his nameWhat if he's come back?He'd see things have changedNo more anecdotesThe subject remainsThere are still bad folksDon't ignore the liesKathy thought"No, really!Let's open our eyes."chorusThey knew who he wasHe wore no disguiseThough they were younghe told them no liesThis was the first song I wrote for Shy River and it is followed respectively. I thought I'd rather start a song with a vocal melody than develop a catchy riff. There was a movie I'd seen as a kid called Whistle Down the Wind. It was about an escaped convict who hides on a farm and is found by a girl who believes he is Christ. Soon rumors get out but the secret only lasts until the adults catch on and Blakey is captured. He never claimed to be Jesus but the kids were convinced having been reminded repeatedly about the good samaritan himself.The twelve string's tone provided a great theme. I'd begun creating MIDI files at home and actually produced a few we were able to use at R Productions, Peter Rubbo's studio. Peter was very taken by the uniqueness of the song and urged me to sing more harmony tracks. My sister Catherine's husband Leonice was in town so we recorded some tabla as well. There were quite a few tracks for a first song but it felt right. At one point I wanted some cymbal crashes to resemble thunder at the onset of some verses. Peter took a sound byte of a cymbal, copied it, reversed it and combined it and we had thunder. I tried tin whistles and it added an even newer tone to the song.The track list became so full that the song was discovered by musician/producer friend of Peter's who was needing a photo of his mixer in action with lots of meters ablaze. Quick thinking brought Crossing Over the Road to mind. When the guy heard it, he loved it. Peter emailed me to share what he'd said,"This is good stuff. you don't hear songs like this. Hat's off to him." That vote of confidence pushed me to really get some more ideas out without hesitation. Peter still thinks it's the best song. George Dussault, another producer who drummed on the record later, had also singled out the tune from several others and said"I like this. My band needs more tunes like this." Hopefully more than just producers will like it but it but that's not a bad group to have on your side.------------------------------------------------Shy Riverlyrics and music by Tom Guard © 2008One day when I'd gone aroundone last town and there I foundyou holding all those golden reasonsand so I visit that town a lotchorusGet up and dance tonightlose your fear and feel alrightNo one can criticizethe love on which we base our livesI've been aroundjust long enough by nowto know my mindand learned just howto set things rightWaves are like words you knowSome of the get lost belowHere come those creepy sinking feelingsof reaching deeper than words describeBecause you helped me through the towerNow I can laugh and enjoy every hourOh yeahI watch the waves roll bynow and then on the River ShyI always leave with a good feelingthat there's a meaning in what I gotLooking back I can tell youI found out what love can doSeeing now what we been throughmakes me feel close to youchorusGet up and dance tonightlose your fear and feel alrightNo one can criticizethe love on which we base our livesWaves are like words you knowchoppy talk just runs shallowCome tell me all about still watersand when they disappearDeveloped from a chord progression and freestyling vocals onto a cassette, this song gradually grew into a myriad of verses, choruses, two bridges and an outro. Keeping it simple to start would have been wise but something said,"Make it whatever it needs to be." I brought in Andy Solberg, a fellow music teacher who could really play. He said exactly what my sister, Catherine said about it,"It's all over the place." but I convinced them both it had gravity and they could do it and they did. Andy did a great job of putting a Duanne Allmanish feel all around by playing responses after vocal lines. We ended up letting all of his three passes play loud simultaneously and it worked. Catherine advised me that certain harmonies like some on Crossing Over the Road could be improved upon. She re-iterated my father's advice by stating that harmony lines should rise or remain if the main vocal is falling. So we managed to do some fast changes before recording her backing vocals. Peter offered to both drum and record so we chose to take four songs-in-progress and see what would result. His abilities really added to the jazzier aspects of Crossing Over the Road and especially Shy River which has a bright bridge towards its ending. I Have It In Mind, was not so jazzy but a common musical influence of ours made it a good match as well.In 2001 my younger sister, Sally passed away after battling the same form of cancer that took our father's life ten years before. I moved from California to Massachusetts to help her family and co-parent my kids. After months of getting settled I met a woman named Karen and any feelings of loneliness disappeared. We both had kids we loved and we were working hard to keep it together. Neither of us had been in a relationship for a long time since we were working and co-parenting. Something had said to me in my trying moments,"Hold on. Something wonderful is coming" and that was Karen. I often draw from the symbolism in Pamela Eakin's book, Tarot of the Spirit. In the chapter about the Tower card she shares Allan Watts' WW2 experience of feeling Satori despite bombs exploding around him. Everything we ever build, know and love can crumble at any time. Karen helped me through my tower of sadness and change. The song is there to thank her by saying,"Maybe I say too much but being shy can pass for being shallow and my love runs deep." Ironically, this is among the longest of the song descriptions. Karen and I are very happily married now. Enough said!-------------------------------------------------------I Have It In Mindlyrics and music by Tom Guard © 2008What have you done about it?What have you done about it?About the things that never sat with you too welland everything you kept inside but couldn't tellYeah yeah... yeah yeah... yeah yeahIf I see through a mask I won't knowto leave it behind when I goand I know I'll have to cry when I wanna cryIt's something that I have in mindYes I have it in mindjust to cry if I want towhen I have it in mindAnd if you keep these sticky things aroundThey'll only weigh your soul downand when... when you come aroundIt's time to let go of your pride.Things will improve... you decide AhhhhhhYes I have it in mindYes I have it in mind...Yes I have it in mindto cry if I want towhen I have it in mind'have it in mindFor this one I made use of one of those riffs I couldn't ever get out of my head. It started as an angry lyric,"Cry if you want. Nothing's going to make me hang around." Lots had to change there. The vocal line was too closely matched to the riff. I freestyled a vocal over just the bass line and came up with,"What have you done about it? ... about the things that never sat with you too well" I was never one to tell someone I didn't care about their crying so I followed with,"I'll cry if I wanna' cry, 'cause I have it in mind" ... about the things that never sat with me too well ... that is.Peter loved the lyric and, with only the bass track to go by, managed to play some astonishing drums. We both like the band Tool. They play in odd meters and write great lyrics. Their densely compressed songs physically grab you. Tara and Pascal's singing on the song comes through clearly thanks to a welcome addition to Peter's RProductions studio six months before the project wrapped. That being a Yamaha DM2000 mixing console. If the record hadn't taken a long time to make that beautiful machine wouldn't have been involved in the mixing.top or TomGuard.com home page---------------------------------------------------------When the Shock Wears Offlyrics and music by Tom Guard © 2008You are someone I don't even knowtelling me the way it all should goIn the sea when the shock wears offyou swim real' hard, it's not enoughAnd the mast that's supporting youit's soon going to capsize tooOne last gasp and you give up hopeand you're getting set to meet the ghostand the scary monsters rescue youRemember you're not, not alonefull circle never far from homeOh my young lad how you have grownYou better eat, you look like skin and bonesDoes it seem the monsters are contrivedthere to keep your interest aliveIn a day when the shock wears offthings come to terms, you're not so toughAnything that you suffer throughlies there on the path for youAnd the movies in your mindtake you to another timewhere the hero sometimes has to loseBoth the riff and chorus were stewing in my mind for a long time. There was only one lyric so far where the chorus breaks,"In a day when the Shock Wears off, things come to terms..." I just had to elaborate on that. Joseph Campbell's mythical heroes were the basis for my story of a guy who walks the plank as pirate's jeer him on. After being marooned the lad is saved by the dragon from his nightmares only to find it was all just a dream after all.I'd met a guy named George Weissinger through the Kingston Trio grapevine who offered to help on the track. I asked for banjo but he also sent twelve string tracks which I used instead because they worked so well. I thought my $200 Yamaha twelve string sounded as good as any but when I heard his Martin twelve I was floored. I'd liked playing them at the store but didn't think they would record so well ... and they do. That was the first try at farming out work remotely and it really worked. Peter told me it poses problems with the mastering since it varies things but I took his advice and created lots of head room on the tracks recorded at places other than his R Productions.We recorded Peter's drumming on this and the previous songs. He'd done this cracking Salsa-style thing that inspired a jazzy piano piece at the end. The piano was created in Finale with my Alesis keyboard. I'd bought a MIDI/USB cable and received with it, Cubase, the same recording program Peter uses, . That helped me realize how much I could create from home. The piano part was recorded to MIDI at half tempo and later brought to speed. The song is very short and the last half is instrumental so I'm hoping to extend a lengthy jam from that danceable groove when we play it live. It's the last track on the record so I'm glad it ends in a very"ending" way with a big chord at the end.---------------------------------------------------------Pascallyrics and music by Tom Guard © 2008Pascal was born on a Summer morn'in nineteen hundred and ninety-fourThe Virgo boy with his pale blue eyestook a look out his window at the open skyHe felt out of place there in Shangri Laso he drafted a plan for a coup'détatsHe was named for a mystic manwith practical thoughts his life beganbut the ways he used to measuredidn't apply to love and pleasure.His name is PascalNow he's a man and we're alive todaybecause he thought another wayWe call him Pascaland he's so full of loveIt helped this living legend rise above.He said,"Along with fate are certain thingsthat come with what tomorrow bringsThe answer came with an obvious clueIt won't sound too harsh if we call it a coup!"His name is PascalNow he's a man and we're alive todaybecause he thought another wayHe must have reached deep down insideafter seeing other peoples livesgoing up in flames not knowingthat their fuel was overflowingah yeahI while ago my sister's husband, Leonice and I had jammed to a bass sequence I wrote. The whole thing turned out wonderfully and there was a hook right at the end before our tape ran out. I used it throughout Pascal. I tuned my bass to EBEA so I could easily make chords and Peter used a Cowboy Direct In Box through a Focusrite Pre-amp. Even that was astounding. We used that setup on every bass track. I had a click track but it helped to have Peter conduct it as well. Karen liked the raw sound of just the bass, vocal and harmonica but the riff is so repetitive that added a lot of guitar.I was getting impatient about Shy River. I'd pushed the ETA back several times and anxiety was crawling in . Gearge runs his Galilee Productions out of his home in Rhode Island. He's an ace guitarist, engineer and teacher at White's Music where we met. Although he was young he knew all about my dad's work and that of his colleagues. I felt it right that George should share those influences by drumming on eight of the more retro-sounding tunes.In writing songs , I wanted to chose from the most ernest passions and Pascal, my son came to mind. His evolution turned out to be fairly similar to a historic figure with whom he shares a name. Blaise Pascal was a seventeenth century mathematician turned mystic. Early on my son showed a lot of skill in math and, though he hasn't become a mystic yet, he has become a great musician and social nexus. I thought I'd paste together a collage of the two. The improvised bass line was already down and it was complex so writing the lyrics and arrangement around it was tough. I must have re-written this one twenty times over the course of two years. I think this song, if any, got me to commit to smart and final arrangements and stop speculating with thoughts like,"What if we did this instead?" I owe Pascal a more personal song because there's a lot I'd like to him still. He turned fourteen recently.-------------------------------------------------------Tara Shaktilyrics and music by Tom Guard © 2008Move on up to theplaces you've not beenGo explore and live some moreand the points betweenDon't back downfrom a the ladders that you climbKeep a bead on the black full moonin a mad bull's eyeBefore you grow upand you leave that kid behindpaint a picture of your life so faruse your own designI like youYou're a little bit like meWatching flicks on Saturdayalways sets us freeThere were timeswe'd live our lives inside a dreamWe'd regret if we forgetwhat the symbols meanThank you girlI'll be back with you once moreThink of me in eternityswimming at the shoreA while back I was jamming with a pianist on a four chord progression. I used a bottle neck slide on my six string Guild D40 open tuned to CGCGCE. I'd free-styled some words as we recorded onto a cassette and I knew it was worth developing. On the harmonica track I used a separate harp for each chord. A G harp where the G chord went etc.I asked Cameron Greenlee to come over and make a MIDI piano recording. He did a great job of sight reading. It was good to know the chart could be read and performed with such feeling. George drummed on this one too. He managed to take the two songs about my kids up five notches. The song is about my daughter and, like Pascal, it wasn't great until those drums came to be. Geworge recorded his tracks when time alloed and I'd received a daley MP3 sent via email from Galilee. I hadn't really needed to be present when he was recording the tracks because he'd done a great job with just listening to a few ideas. Still, I wanted to be a fly on the wall for a session and Pascal and Tara Shakti turned out to be the songs that day. Something about the lead in fill at Tara Shakti's start just ignites the song. It makes me want to dance like I'm one of the Specials wearing a Pork Pie hat.---------------------------------------------------------Aloha Mr. Guardlyrics and music by Tom Guard © 2008chorusHow can each day beginwithout you Mister Dawn?Awake and alone and aliveI'm standing, wondering where to goWith empty hands again my friendI ask you what I knowA change and the pain it bringsChange and the pain it bringsI remember you nowI remember everythingchorusHow can each day beginwithout you Mister Dawn?A riddle would drive us insaneand we'd go hunting for the cluesWith all of the choices we hadthe answer likely came from youA change and the pain it bringsswollen with venom and thingsstill you would put yourself firstafter years of denying the worstAnd seldom a notion of you being down,out of sorts, or all confusedThe dreams and the positive plans that you hadwould keep us up, in step, and on the moveI forget the lonely place I've beenwhen I think of the"Joyful" kingI remember you nowand all the songs you would singand the possibilityforever ringsHow can each day beginwithout you Mister Dawn?My dad's family and friends wandered around tidepools at Maka-pu'u Beach, Hawaii in 1991 debating over where to spread his ashes. His closest friend, Cyrus Faryar said it all when he remarked,"We could really use someone like Dave right now." I realized then that Cyrus knew him well. Outspoken yet trusted and rarely one to fail, Dad seldom lost an arguement. At my last hospital visit with him he described his younger self as being hyperactive. Despite his success and the smugness it implied, he still seemed to seek people's approval by sharing the knowledge from his steel-trap memory. I was touching to see him in the role of a carried-away conversationalist at a party.Dad would often roam around the house improvising lines like the one I wrote for the song,"Awake and alone and alive ..." It seemed an appropriate sentiment for one who has gone through another trying endeaver. In my case, it was his early passing. Another line,"still you would put yourself first after years of denying the worst" is a reflection on his only child persona. I never had a brother so it was good to have him as a friend and I hope he felt the same having never had a sibling. He once told me," It's funny our birthdays are exactly six months apart, but we seem to get along fine."The title came from a thank-you letter a kid had sent him after a talk he gave on his book, the Hawaiin Legend of Hale Mano. The third grader's letter included a drawing of Dad sitting on a desk speaking to a classroom of kids. It came at a very healing time that followed a rocky period in his life that I shared a large part in.Dad told me salesmen, with phonebook in hand, would often call and begin with ,"Hi Don ..." Dave was actually his middle name and Donald, his first. He always knew when it wasn't a dear old friend touching base. So I made the play on words with that fond memory in mind;"How can each day begin without you Mr. Dawn?"This is my oldest song. At seventeen I loved John McGlaughlin's work so I composed a similar chord progression to some of his songs and put it to a friend's poem. Often Dad would interupt my playing to share a word of advice; A frustrating but useful thing. I was playing it once and he gave me a," sounds good!" I knew a song was worth pursuing. After years of lyric and arrangement revisions I recorded it with Peter Rubbo on drums. I'd asked George to drum it but he had no time so it's fortunate the cards fell that way because the song is, like Peter, on the jazzy side.It was an honor to have my kids sing on the song. They were born shortly after his passing but they have a good idea of who he is by hearing his songs and my stories. My daughter, Tara was born five days shy of his birthday only seven months after his death. She shares his grace and insightful intellect so I'm sure it's him visiting in a new form. I'm told Aloha serves as hello and goodbye in Hawaii so,"Aloha Mr. Guard"-------------------------------------------------------Mama Sanlyrics and music by Tom Guard © 2008Mama SanTell me the things that you've doneA storyfor your little sleepy grandsonchorusYou are the wise old croneliving so long on your ownLet's lookback on our lives and compareMama Santhe wonderful things that we sharedYou are the wise old croneliving so long on your ownYou are the wise old cronePapa San's gonebut you get by just fineon your own.Time healsall of the wounds and the scarslike remediespassed along down from the starsSounds like your old man was meanpunishing you for those innocent things.Tell meabout all of the jobs that you had,Papa-San,and all of the pranks by my dad.'wish I could live in those daysCall it impossibleWho's to say?So Mama-SanThank You for all that you've doneBeing therethe warmth and the light of the sunYou are the wise old croneliving so long on your own.I love youand the soul of your grace.We're on the phonebut you know there's a smile on my faceThe voices in my head were saying,"What about that 'song-a-week' you promised?" I grabbed the twelve string and soon a verse, chorus and bridge came along. Finally I'd found a key that was great vocally as well. Mama San, my grandmother who died in 2007, lived most of her ninety-five years in Hawaii. Papa San died in 1970 and she lived in a beautiful valley near Honolulu since then on her own. Despite a lot of incidents that would point to chosing a rest home, she chose to stay there and be independent. She was truly smart and strong enough to succeed and she did just that. Taking Karen and our kids to visit her in 2004 an celebrate her ninety-second birthday was great. We remember it well. She lived in a beautiful place. Mama San and I spent a lot of time on the phone. She was lucid as anyone and equally a pleasure to talk to until the end.George Dussault suggested he do some hand drumming on the track. During a vocal run-through I added whistling over the bridge and it stuck. A Bb harp was paired for an overdub with an Eb harp for the ending. The E string on the bass was tuned down to Eb so that low note could be reached which was good but it was easy to forget and then hit a sour note. I made it through but I'd hate to have to tune that way all the time.Around that time Bob Shane had contacted me about arrangements with Martin Guitars for a Kingston Trio fiftieth anniversary issue of the model 00-21 Dad had used in the band. I received the second of four prototypes on behalf of my family. The sound was beautiful, rich and deep. I even tuned it down two whole steps more to record it on the song. I'm told the track sounds like a barritone twelve string with the 00-21 in combination with the bass. It came at a good time. I am very grateful to Dick Boak of Martin Guitars and to Bob Shane for that. It's used on other songs but, for this one, it was especially well suited.-------------------------------------------------------Above and Beyondlyrics and music by Dave Guard © 1976 and 2008I found a stranger and my wife in OklahomaI took a razor and my rifle and the road to Arizona.It's been a dangerous survivalDon't know why I don't dieBut I seem to keep lingerin' onlike a dream of a mystical songwith a meaning above and beyondThey said I"stole" that ride outside Sedona.I call it what I call myself,"A temporary loner."I was never one to ever not return a favorkeep in mind, I was losing timeStill I seem to keep lingerin' onlike a dream of a mystical songwith a meaning above and beyondBecause it's all right, it's all over nowI said it's all right, it's all over nowIt's done and she's goneand there's no use in hangin' onSo longRunning desperate through the Indian nationSomething in this desert does confuse my imaginationEverywhere I go I hear her calling to me,"Do you love me too?"Well I seem to keep lingerin' onlike a dream of a mystical songwith a meaning above and beyond.I said it's all right, it's all over nowI said it's all right, it's all over nowIt's done and she's goneand there's no use in hangin' onSo longBetween You and Melyrics and music by Tom Guard © 2008'been dragging my healsdown a watery roadMy spirit's on fireand it's time to explodeThe future looks brightstill I'm keeping a candle litI don't know what's aheadbut I think I can handle itI breathe in the airand I look out on the oceanThere's a strong silent earthunder all of that emotionIt's your life, you call the shotsNo one needs to Approve itYou can be alive, aware and always feeling goodliving your life as you see fitSometimes your thoughts like the winds only showwhen they push hard enough to move youFollow the wheels as they roll down the roadturning on the axis of this ball of blueI breathe in the airand I look out on the oceanThere's a strong silent earthunder all of that emotionIt's something worthwhileI won't spoil the surprise'can't give it awayIt must show in my eyesI'd stay and explainstill you know it's alrightWhen the hay truck arrivesI may be out of sightThe source of the goalis the goal at the source.Between you and methere's a mountain of courseI breathe in the airand I look out on the oceanThere's a strong silent earthunder all of that emotion-------------------------------------------------------The Oasislyrics and music by Tom Guard © 2008I'll climb the mountain to see all the facesNothing will matter 'til I reach the oasisHeaven is a placewhere we all meet againlike an oasis where our worries fade awayThe love flows inlike coffee in the morningand the cool breeze leaves our minds at easeI'll climb the mountain to see all the facesNothing will matter 'til I reach the oasisBare it in mindthere's no guaranteeI feel this desertwill soon set us freeI hope my sister and all who are goneare waiting for me as I sing you this songI climb the mountain to see all the facesNothing will matter 'til I reach the oasisAll I can ask is that we can go onafter our souls move alongMaybe I'll seethe truth so easilyhoping that's not all there isIf it made no differencethat we'd been friendsand strangely it all disappearedA cognizant play that we had a part inA mysterious dream full of loveI'll climb the mountain to see all the facesNothing will matter 'til I reach the oasisI've learned a lot from the things that I've donebut I won't complete 'til I'm there in the sun------------------------------------------------------See Emily Playlyrics and music by Syd Barrett © 1967------------------------------------------------------Plutolyrics and music by Tom Guard © 2008I've been through the asteroid belts and space junkI've opened time capsules and Davie Jones trunkI saw the Dog Star, Leo and TaurusMy life is this song, too bad there's no chorusWhat can be said for all I have lostbut,"Lover, you've got a lot!"Loneliness was the source of my troubleI'd no second mind or oxygen bubbleI took every turn that the universe sharedbut with all that came commitment and careLike a rat in a maze I had to be strongknowing we'd meet all alongI found you on Pluto at just past elevenThey say,"That's no planet." But either is HeavenI guess then a flower's not really a roseand a dozen just equals eleven of thoseI may have gone lost searching every sun spotStill I found you and you've got a lot