Download: Stuck.mp3 (written and produced by lodge)
This fever is a lantern
We see it in our bedroom
You can’t escape what’s meant to be
Oh darling what’s your answer?
Just say that this will pass soon
You were the man I hoped I’d never meet
Love comes
And so it goes
I’ve been told
Chorus:
Where do you go, where do you go when you’re stuck
It’s just a little dust on that aging book
And when will your friends, when will your friends all discover
What they call real is made up
I accept this indecision
You pay, I pay, we listen
We cannot change what we haven’t seen
But lack of any vision
Brings lovers to collision
I start, you start, but we’re amputees
Love comes
And so it goes
I’ve been told
Our fever was opinion
Debated in the bedroom
We can’t escape what’s meant to be
Oh darling, now you’re winning
Raise a glass for the beginning
Here’s to the man I hoped I’d never meet
Love comes
And so it goes
I’ve been told
I have been working with a new singer, Brandy Parker. She started singing last April and had never sang before, other than along with the radio and in the shower. In the past 11 months I have written and recorded over 30 songs for her to sing. We have also filmed a series of videos called “Story Behind the Song” that documents her story, from song to song. Check out her website: http://www.brandyparker.com
Paint my memories
In colors not shades
‘cause I tend to flee
When I’m faced with escape
And you’re lovely
But I’m done involving
My friends in the matters
That matter to me
Oh, complications
Love company
The day, same as before
As the echos sprout wings
Then they come back for more
Yeah, look he just sings…
As he falters
And it doesn’t amount yet to much
When he closes the last door
Oh, complications
Sprawled across the floor
I hold my breath
As I tell her the rest
So, paint these memories
In colors not shades
‘cause I’ll always be
Lost and amazed
And you’re lovely
But I’m done involving
My friends in the matters
That matter to me
Wait
I won’t play by those rules
It’s all part of this game
Don’t you feel it too?
The height
Much to high to tell
If this is heaven or hell
We never made it through
Chorus:
Hold me baby, tonight
Make me say this well
We climbed that one and only
But we fell
Face
Me and tell the truth
It’s all part of your game
Lets just press on through
Contest
That you never made
My name, my heart, my shade
I know you wanted this too
I’ll start looking for
The best in you
And get right lost in what is real
And i’ll start to stop to feel
SIng
Even if it hurts
Even if you’re unsure
I know you feel this too
Press
Upon the those things and close
Your heart to other ghosts
That won’t remember you
She said –
Hi. Remember me?
The girl of your dreams
The one who got lost in the sea
And oh, our night on the pier
When we took off our clothes
And you said that you’d always be near
Chorus:
Hold me
Love me
The best that you can
’til life beats the boy
And needs the man
Oh, oh consequence
Of loving so pure
Is met with a lifetime expense
And you’ll ask…”that baby inside…
Is it yours, is it mine?”
’cause you know we’re still young
We’ll be fine
Run away if you must
It’s not like I need
Your money, acceptance, or trust
But please stay
And make me believe
That something was real
That we can survive on the sea
Lyrics:
Heart attack in your eyes every time we say goodbye
Goodbye, goodbye, I tried
Every touch of your lips tastes like sweet to my mouth…mmm
So the fracture and cast they grow harder now
While the wreckage just buries the pain
Chorus:
If I fail to rest
Or be there by your side
Don’t blame this on faith
And never recognize
That if I fail to impress
All your friends and rely
On selfish ways to forget
How to apologize
Conversations in trust show a lack of refrain,
To blame…I’m so ashamed
But complications to us feel so warm to the touch…ah
So these flashes of light they grow sharper now
Then all but vanish…in a shower of pain
We’re cramped in corners of brand new apartments
We’re cramped in life cause we savor too much
Save our love for the promise of progress
But saving means saving too much
Pale whites of your eyes every time we say goodbye,
Goodbye, goodbye, I tried
Every kiss from your mouth turns sets a story on fire…uh huh
So the shadows in mirrors grow older now
While all the wreckage just buries the pain
She dances ballet
In New York City
Critics say that she’s great
Audience says that she’s pretty
Celebrate her with our open arms
While we fill up our empty hearts
10 million colors that resolve in perfect dark
Up on the stage the lights slowly fade
But she’ll never stop
Turning love into rage
‘Til her figure it fades into naught
She dances ballet
With perfect posture
Boston to LA
Envy of wives and their daughters
With every movement we must contemplate
A perfect body or poetic fate
It’s not a choice that we should ever have to make
Up on the stage the lights slowly fade
But she’ll never stop
Turning love into rage
‘Til her figure it fades into naught
While thrashing about
With beauty inside and out
See it’s no mistake
That your heart will break
She dances ballet
In New York City
Signs up to play
Both Athena and kitty
From simple villains who would curse the mud
To current lovers who just won’t give up
Plots in stories that are open and they’re shut
Up on the stage the lights slowly fade
But she’ll never stop
Turning love into rage
‘Til her figure it fades into naught
While thrashing about
With beauty inside and out
See there’s no mistake
That your heart will break
She makes me feel like I’m 13
It’s just the best I’ve ever seen
Under the mask, under her petty coat
It gives a man his fresh start
She’ll beat electric in my heart
It’s a shock, but here it goes
Chorus:
Ya she deserves to hold me
While she resolves to tame
This wild man
This would-be prodigy
I’m a kid alone at a bus stop
She gives me shelter and a thought
That I’m in need when the storm gets cold
She takes me straight into town
When I’m tired, she lays me down
Without a crease, without a fold
Hold me ’til I can’t remember
Lay with me all of the time
Be in my life, leave me never
Turn the dark into light
LYRICS:
Are you here by my side
Your conscience arrives
To whisper the truths
With the judgment applied
These stories don’t ever
Compliment effort
I’m always behind
Chorus:
I need you like I need water like rain
Needs a reason to fall
And then drain
You drain my veins of their blood
Now I’m starting to change
It’s such a shame
Right, Hallelujah
You’re off to the club
And when you get back
You start to pack up
You leave me with riddles
No facts and no figures
Just toilets to scrub
LYRICS:
I have a hard time believing
You don’t love me anymore
Though I was never really perfect
My real flaws would rarely show
You’d stand around here forever
Waiting on me go
But I was scared to take the message
So scared to be alone
Chorus:
Waking up with an aching heart
In the throws of being completely torn apart
This life, this dance, it’s sad and it is dark
All this making love is way too tough
And when it doesn’t take you far
It rips who you were
and shatters who you are
I have a hard time pretending
I don’t hear you anymore
There are fingers on these light switches
Soft footsteps at the door
A smell is in the laundry
Washed away but faintly yours
I’ve been so scared to change the pillows
So scared I’ll be alone
A new song called “New Jeans.” Mom and Christen on the violins. Dad on the xylophone and bell tree. Lodge on the piano and lead vocal.
Lyrics:
Hold please
We’re trying to find something in your size
Oh jeez
Under the surface there’s a bigger surprise
That looks like false teeth
But nobody told me
That we’d be laughing so carelessly
Looking for people to tease
Chorus:
Now we’re getting to know
That we’re getting too old
To claim that nobody told me
It’d be important to us
To be perfect and tough
Well enough is enough
I would never have bought that stuff
Looking back
It was alll the rage when it was on the rack
Well, scratch that
Just flipping a page, it’s sharp and it’s flat
Such a lot to teach
When nobody told me
That they’d be laughing so carelessly
Looking for people to tease
New jeans
Freshly boxed but they unraveled the sides
Well, no one told me
Looking old would be new that’s the biggest surprise
This is a live version of a new song called Breakable. My Mom on violin, Dad on vocals and tambourine, and me on vocals and piano.
Here is another version. Mom is on the violin and bell. Lodge is playing piano, singing, and the left foot is on the tambourine.
Lyrics:
I cannot tell lies
It makes perfect sense
My stories change more lives
When they’re changing tense
Everything is ok
As long as we’ll be friends
For truth we’re searching like
We search for rent
Chorus:
This carnival
Is magical
But the bond we’ve made
Is breakable
I cannot make sense
Out of what you need
It’s a problem now
Potentially
Everything is going great
Maybe perfectly
Then the story turns
And so do we
Been a poor dirt farmer for all of my life
I can’t afford to make you my wife
For I’ve got no money to buy you a ring
I have only labor my arms can still bring
A richer man can dress you in gold
And sanctify it until you get old
We can tame the fires through most of our days
And conceal this passion our essence it craves
Chorus:
When you take off all of your clothes – oh
Heaven will know - oh
I’ll be forgiven, I suppose
Your father wrote saying he disapproves
A finer match he commands that you choose
For my family’s blood lacks in noble breeding
And no advancement can my promise bring
We could live together many years from now
You’d tend the cattle and I guide the plow
‘tis so foolish to dream of impossible things
We have only moments ‘til life tugs the strings
We vow in darkness to never part
In life or thereafter we’ll savor the heart
It’s a half day journey to the cliffs by the sea
Where we fall together our souls ever free
If you take off all of your clothes – oh
Whether fiction or prose oh
I’ll be forgiven, I suppose
Identify a problem in the community
Have your students solve it and soon they will be
Ready to collaborate and able to communicate
Using science, tech, engineering and math
With a group of our peers, yea we react
Giving solutions that are making sense
To this global audience
Chorus:
STEM is a method of teaching
Yea engaging all across the curriculum
Challenge-based,and an authentic way
Of having inquiry instruction
Yea, problems for real life that we simulate
To prepare our students for the workplace
Prepare us for jobs of the 21st century
We’re working together, thinking - critically
To solve problems and make decisions
With our creative intuition
Using science, tech, engineering and math
We use modern tools to document
And prepare for high tech careers
Like creative engineers
Lance: And, what would you think about creating a DEN anthem? If this is too big of an ask, just let me know.
Lodge: I think a DEN anthem would be interesting. What would you like it to say?
Lance: I hate to keep asking about songs but the DEN anthem would be fantastic to have. Here is a presentation that contains the key words and ideas, but I’d love to chat with you about it: DEN
Lodge: Sounds great, all around. When do you have a few minutes to chat DEN repeaters?
Lance: Right now? Or pretty much any time today or tomorrow.
Don’t you want to be a Star
Known along the boulevard
For passing on how you believe
In educational technology
Be the support system
For using digital media
That’s our community
It’s no mystery
Chorus:
We are the DEN
We’re standing together
State of the art as we share with each other
A community connecting teacher to teacher
Online, in person, we’ll hear the call
We are the DEN
Yea, stronger than ever
The valuable resources are each other
My personal network binds us together
All for good, and good for all
You can be a DEN Star
Get free PD and webinars
Host a training on technology
Help us expand this community
Be the support system
For teachers old and young
Join up and you will see
The possibilities
Share what you know
Start those ideas and see them go
Plant best practices and watch them grow