I would call this stuff I write and play old time contemporary folk/blues:"Old time" because my aim is to play live acoustic music without a lot of fanfare."Contemporary folk" because the themes regard everyday people and what they face day to day."Blues" because I value emotion and ad lib style in what I write and play. My main focus is usually on the lyrics, which lend themselves to small groups interested in listening to them. My two greatest musical influences have to be Russell Rigden and my father. Russ Rigden was a late night, live radio, trumpet player in St. Louis and also my elementary school band instructor. I learned from him that I could be a decent musician if I worked at it, and that there is a joy in performing that is second to none. My father steered me away from music when I told him I wanted to be a music teacher and performer upon graduating from high school, convincing me that the social and financial limitations I would experience would not be worth it. He may have been right, but forty years later, here I am making music and that's a big deal to me.I will continue to teach guitar, write new songs, and promote my stuff. I have a collection of Christmas songs,"Oh! These Christmas Times", available at this site. Contact me at edwardphill@juno.com...ALBUM LYRICSCOLORADO WEATHER by Ed HillWell the war is done for me, I hope forever.Hope everyone else has gotten home.But I can't go back and I can't move on:When your moods change like the weatherIs it right to head back home?Such little things fried my brain up in Denver,But by Monument they froze me to the bone.In Colorado Springs I did get by--a Rocky Mountain high--Just to tumble down by PinonLike these tumbleweeds are blown.And the Colorado weather, it's changing once again:Clearing skies now in Grand Junction, heavy snow in Burlington.No I can't go back and I can't move on.Can't see her till I'm really sureThat I won't bring some world wind to her door.Well sometimes just a change of perspectiveCan give a man the strength to try again.And the words that she said in the text I readChanged my forecast in fifteen minutesLike sunshine breaking through the rain.The Colorado weather, it's changing once again:Now it's snowing in Grand Junction, crystal clear in Burlington.But I'm pulling into Pueblo feeling that I'm free.She said she'd come to love Colorado weather.If she handled that she'd surely handle me.YELLOW BIRD by Ed HillThere was a blue parrot. He lived in the canyon.Though he didn’t know, he sought a companionTo preen o’er his flume, to lighten his gloom,And satisfy his core.One fateful day he got a glimpse of her color,As brilliant as lightning (but a little bit duller),She was silly of name. The result was the same:She made his heart soar!Yellow Bird! You have taken me wholeFrom the tip of my beak to the back of my soul.No being on earth, from the time of my birth,Could move my heart more.Yellow Bird! How I love you! Yellow Bird! How I love you!Yellow Bird! How I love you! And from that day forth, the two were together,Regardless the distance, in spite of the weather:Cackles and jeers for twenty-three years,Lovebirds as before.But time has it’s way, for nothing is lasting.And if he finds the strength through his mourning, through his fasting,He’ll be searching the skies till the day that he diesFor a glimpse once more.Yellow Bird! You have taken me wholeFrom the tip of my beak to the back of my soul.No being on earth, from the time of my birth,Could move my heart more.Yellow Bird! How I love you! Yellow Bird! How I love you!Yellow Bird! How I love you! EVA by Ed HillEva! Oh Eva! You’re breaking my heart, that these little things keep us apart.I told you I’d change, and I’m trying to start, But Eva! Oh Eva…When you’re high in the mountains in wintertimeAnd you feel that snow coming down,There’s a calm and peace as it sifts through the trees:The feeling I had when you were around.When you’re deep in the desert on a summer nightAnd millions of stars fill the sky,There’s a sadness and wrong in the coyote’s song:The feeling I had when you said goodbye.In the spring when the buds are all burstingIn the fall when the trees are all bare,I remember our days as a year slips awayAnd I cry to myself. Oh! I sob to myself. You’ve been so unfair.Eva! Oh Eva! It’s breaking my heart, how these little things can keep us apart.I told you I’d change, and I’m trying to start. But Eva! Oh Eva! Oh! Oh Eva! You’re not doing it. You’re not doing your part.NEW MEXICO LOVER by Ed HillMy New Mexico lover has the night sky above her.The moon and the twinkling stars are alive in her eyes.And when she gazes at me no one else can I beBut the one to come to attend her and soften her sighs.And when I look at the setting sun atop her mountainsAnd down through her canyon Oh! as I rise to the west,I see the red of her lips. I feel the pull of her kisses,And I’m off to that place of enchantment I love best.My New Mexico lover—how could there be another—My New Mexico lover often has things to say to me.With her wind in my face blessed by mist from the rain, She brings me her wishes of comfort from the heat of the day.And as I smell the sweet scent of sage, and the musk of the rain,And the lightning bursts in the sky,I hear her calling to me, saying “Come to me please.Come again and be my lover, one more time.”LOST AT LOVE by Ed HillHeartache and hurtin’ will be yours for certainWhen love comes sniffing, scratching at your door.You’ll be believing, while your lover’s deceiving. You will be the last to know.Yes! Lovers love you at the start,And leave you with the broken fragments of That that plastic toy that was your heart.I had lost at love before, but never had I given up on love.I’d lost at love before, but never pleaded to the skies above.These burning teardrops in my eyes,Match the bleeding skyline ofThese dreary, crying, cold, December skies.Heartache and hurting will be yours for certainWhen love comes scratching, sniffing at your door.You’ll be believing, while your lover’s deceiving, You will be the last to know.Lovers love you at the start,And leave you with the broken fragments of That that plastic toy that was your heart.I had lost at love before, but never had I given up on love.I’d lost at love before, but never pleaded to the skies above.These burning teardrops in my eyes,Match the bleeding skyline ofThese dreary, crying, cold, December skies.ARIEL by Ed Hill Ariel, when you call out my name, I ignite like a match to a flame. In my life there is no otherBurns in my heart like you do.And although you find it amusing,I am never quite sure you're refusing.Ariel, won't you give me a tryBefore I flame out. Before I smolder and die.In my life there is no otherBurns in my heart like you do.And although you were told a match cannot burn twiceRemember where there is smoke there is fire.Ariel, won't you give me a tryBefore I flame out, before I smolder and die?In my life there is no otherBurns in my heart like you do.And although you were told a match cannot burn twiceRemember where there is smoke there is fire.So what can I do to kindle desire in you, as well, my Ariel?MEDIUM BLUE by Ed HillWhen it comes to love for you color me passion red.And when it comes to loyalty color me truest blue instead.And when it comes to honesty color my word solid gold.But when it comes to patience a fading purple must be showed.And when it comes to me and you, color me medium blue.Lately you do drink so much I’m calling you sh*t-faced brown.And you are seen eight shades of green the next day when you’re coming round.And you have been so feisty, you really should be black and blue.And the hot wet pink of love is gone since I’m avoiding you.When it comes to me and you, color me medium blue.I can’t say its over yet. Darling that’s not quite true,But as for disappointment, I’m deeper and darker blue.For you have as snippy as a great white shark attack.And this neglect and disrespect is turning my heart black.The road to love is littered with many colored stones.We should walk that road together. Feel it in my bones.And though you think I’m yellow and walking out on you,Orange you glad for one more chance to shine your colors true.When it comes to me and you, call me medium blue.OCTOBER FROST by Ed HillVera said these words to her Garcia,"My husband I do fear for you this day.The March wind blows, and so I knowYou’re headed North. You chase the snow,To tend the fields and send us home your pay."He said,"Verita, what is a man to do?I have no love for leaving you,But this family needs the dollars that I provide.And though there’s danger where I go,I’ll soon return to Mexico, and I will See you when October frost arrives,When October frost arrives.Vera spoke these words to her Garcia,"The dollars that you send arrive again todayFrom sugar beets of Idaho, and chile up in Colorado.Vaya con Dios I pray.""And yes, yes you do what a man must do,And I will do my best for you, too,To try to keep this loneliness inside.But serpent's strike, the coyote’s call,The eagle's talons most of all:I will fear these till you’re safely at my side,When October frost arrives."Vera spoke these words to her Garcia,"October frost again does come and go.And with rumors of another loveAnd that you’re with the angels up above,The worst of it is I may never know.An yet, here in my heart I know you are true,So I will keep on loving you.And all these days I will think of you with pride,And hope someday you find the roadThat leads you back to MexicoMaybe one day when October frost arrives,When the October frost arrives."SPECIAL By Ed HillWe walk in the park after church every Sunday,We still hold hands watching her favorite show.And though it’s not macho it’s a memory for one day,And from her perspective it is special I know.We seek out my mother-in-law.Mothers-in-law surely always know best.Whether I’m doing dishes or mowing the lawnI’m far better off than most of the rest.And the most special thing of allIs window shopping with my wife at the mall.I used to fear becoming too sentimental.Things got too sweet, and I’d start to puke.Now maybe it’s aging or just developmental,But I’m changing my ways, and I deserve some rebuke:I know of many out there who would give their right arm (nut)Just for one extra day,Busy the daytime attempting to cover theLonging at night for that special one gone away.So we walk the park every Sunday,And we still hold hands just watching TV.I can't imagine it without her for one day,So what’s special to her is now special to me.And the most special thing of allIs window shopping with my wife at the mall.NATALIE by Ed Hill Natalie! Natalie! Just as cute as you can be.If I was a boy of ten, I’d surely want you for my girlfriend.Natalie! Natalie! Tomboy poster child you be,With your pigtail braids, golden gloveAnd fancy footwork at first base.Little genius, little star, little brat according to your sister,Blessing and surprise,Growing up before my middle-aged eyes.Oh Natalie! Natalie! Will you still remember meOne day when you go far.That one day when you learn to say the /r/.