For Your Listening Pleasure!

Robert Adam Plant Esq. has just released a new version of Alabama Boy sung by Sarah Warren. In addition to doing the production work, Robert wrote the music and made a few improvements to my lyrics. The song will be available for purchase soon, but you can have a free preview of it here.

Listen to Alabama Boy

Sung by Sarah Warren,

Music by Robert Adam Plant

Lyrics by Katrina Boguski

The Sounds Before the Sound of Music

Several years ago I went on a train trip across North America. Beginning in Vancouver, down to Seattle, across the northern United States, down south as far as Florida then back up the east coast into Montreal and back west through Canada. It was an amazing solo trip lasting a month. Along the way I met many people and saw many sights, memories of which often come to mind when I am writing lyrics. The constant "chick-a-dee, chick-a-dee, chick-a-dee..." sound of the train on the tracks also comes back when working on certain rhythms. The train has a series of unique percussion sounds that start to influence the timing of conversation while on board. The noise is inescapable, and for those who like train travel, ever so pleasant.

A few days ago I was on a model steam railway at Burnaby's Confederation Park. This experience brought back the memory of the sound of a real train and the realization of how much the sound of trains are part of my life. Much of my life has been lived within earshot of the trains and their sound has always been a comforting one in my life. My proximity to trains no doubt influences why their imagery and sound so often seep into my work. The realization of their influence caused me to ponder what frequent external sounds impact the music of other musicians. Do train sounds influence your music? Is it the sound of crashing waves or certain birds that act as the accompaniment to your words? I'd love to know what influences your work so please leave a comment or send me an e-mail (katrinaboguski(at) hotmail.ca to chime in on this discussion.

Crocodile River

Crocodile, river, crocodile, run,

I've had enough of your crocodile fun

Petty little lies, stupid little fears

I've had enough of your crocodile tears

I'm on the river ridin a raft,

Sun on my face, wind on my back

Heading right down to the rum runner's shack

I'm gone for good won't never come back

You didn't call to see I was fine,

You just called hear to yourself wine
Dropped me a note, I dropped you for good
I drew a line and that's where I stood.

Sitting on the porch in this shanty dig,

Cellar full of rum and plenty to swig
Rock n' and a rollin in my rocking chair
Sweet smell of summer, fillin the air.

Crocodile river, crocodile run,

Crocodile gun and bootleg rum
Crocodile river, crocodile tears,
A shabby old shack and nothing to fear.

Crocodile river, crocodile rock

Just gotta fix me the hole in my sock
Patched up my jeans and I'm looking sweet,
Just gotta get me some shoes for my feet

You called me vindictive, you called me a swine

From my new perspective I'm doing just fine
You keep away you crocodile fool
Or you'll learn a lesson they don't teach in school

I've got a gun, loaded and cocked

Ready to shoot at the next crying croc
Come here again and I'm gonna shoot,
Skin me a croc for some crocodile boots.

Crocodile, river, crocodile, run

dee, da, dee, dee, da dee, dee da, dee dum...

Katrina Boguski January 10, 2014

Appalachian Moonlit Night

Like a scene from some young boy’s dreams

She just appeared in those cut off jeans,

Like a page from a magazine,

She walked by like a beauty queen

Thumping heart and a nervous smile,

He looked up and he stared a while

She had the walk and she had the style

Had the look of a girl gone wild

She was Appalachian dynamite

Just one spark and she’d light the night

He was home from mining coal

Night like that there was just one goal

He’d sold his soul for that old black rock

He’d say hello but he could not talk

She walked by and she smiled at him

He felt the surge of a deadly sin

Virginia born and mountain grown

He got a whiff of that sweet cologne

He was getting ready to make his mark

Circling her like a hungry shark

Just as he was about to speak

Felt the hairs on his neck rise high

An old green Ford and her redneck pa,

Just drove in with his shotgun cocked

He took a breath and he stepped aside

He sipped his beer and he swallowed pride

He lost his chance but he saved his skin

Tempting moment but saved from sin

Her pa walked through that old bar door

He dragged her straight across the floor

Girl in left hand, gun in right,

Ain’t no boy gonna win that fight

The miner played some games of pool

It gave his heart some time to cool

It seems that night he played real well

Into his hands the bets just fell

Feeling strong and feeling fine,

Courage gained from sweet moonshine

He drove out to that girl divine

Picked her up in his beat up Chev

High octane and his engine revved

They drove that night to the county line

An old tin ring and some cheap red wine

He married her and he loved her so

They had some kids and they watched them grow

The years go fast and time just flies

They grow up before your eyes

Then ‘fore too long on a moonlit night

His own girl dressed in blue jeans tight

She struts in to some miners’ bar

He jumps in to his beat up car

He gets to the place and he knows the game

Every boy knows why he came

He’ll save her this time ‘n one time more

By dragging her across the floor

Girl in left hand, gun in right,

Ain’t no pa gonna win that fight

Appalachian dynamite

Will find a way to light the night

Miner boy you’d better run

Or that’ll be you with that cocked shot gun

You Be My Village

YOU BE MY VILLAGE

(July 28, 2011)

by Katrina Boguski

You be my village

So I be a kid

You be my village as long as we live.

Africa, Africa dance in the sun

Africa, Africa your moment come

Children of Africa dance with me now

Children of Africa you show us how.

My weak granny mind me as long as she could

My mother she dead now, my papa be gone.

I sing to my village so they’d hear my song

But my village, my village it is all torn apart.

There only be fear now a pounding my heart.

Oh the guns and disease and the drought and no rain

I run to the next place looking for aid

But the sight of my body it make them afraid

So I run and run and I nowhere to go

I still be a child, I still need to grow

Africa, Africa dance in the sun

Africa, Africa your moment come

Children of Africa dance with me now

Children of Africa you show us how.

You be my village

So I be a kid

You be my village as long as we live.

So you be my village wherever you are

My days as child are already few,

How I do spend them is all up to you.

The white dove do tell me

You, run you no more

The white dove do tell me

It be different than before

Whom do you speak of?

Who is the dove?

I don’t know, I don’t know

I only know his love

The white dove he come to me

I lay on the ground

The white dove he say me

your village be found

Africa, Africa dance in the sun

Africa, Africa your moment come

Children of Africa dance with me now

Children of Africa you show us how.

You be my village

So I be a kid

You be my village as long as we live.

He sent me his village

To be my village too

He told me to play and to laugh in sun

He told me to smile child the village is come

He told me, he told me my village is you

He told me, he told me that you know what to do

He told me, he told me his village had it all

He told me, he told me you answered the call

I give you my hope now

I give you my smile

I give you my love now

It’s been here all the while.

Come, now, come one and come all

Come now, come answer the call

Come now, come near and come far

Come now, come play your part

Oh Liberia

October 5^th, 2011

Katrina Boguski

Oh Liberia!

I too feel your pain,

Different story but the same refrain

Right here, right next to you

Oh Liberia!

I saw your house and it set me free,

No roof and growing trees

Some might see a hanging post

But I met up with another ghost

Two small boys and a chimpanzee,

Oh you set me free,

You seemed so much like me

You showed me too what I had been

You reminded me what I had seen

Oh you set me free,

You seemed so much like me

Some have dogs and some have cats

Some have chimps but we all have pets

Right here, right next to you

Oh what could I do?

Photos took me to my own home,

The one where I had grown

My home lost its roof like yours

We all live through different wars

The mad man came to my home too,

Right here, right next to you

Oh Liberia!

Your summer is hot my winter is cold;

When Winters came the roof didn’t hold!

Oh Liberia!

Oh Liberia! Oh, Oh Liberia!!!

Winters came and he killed my cat

For years I couldn’t go back

Different blood; different ground

Same heart beating the same sad sound

Oh Liberia! Right here right next to you

Oh what can one child do?

The naked truth and the naked lie,

Right here, right next to you

Oh Liberia! Oh what could one man do?

Right here, right next to you

Oh, you set me free

When I discovered you were just like me

Right here, right next to you

Oh Liberia! Oh what could one girl do?

Right here, right next to you

They can take my house

And destroy my home,

They can burn my photos

And can break my bones

Right here right next to you

Oh what could we do?

One’s shots taken with different eyes

More important than he realized

Other shots drunken with blood shot eyes

So destructive and he agonized

Some sad stories just harmonize

Some worlds closer when the sun does rise

War shots fired from a different gun

Fly out faster than a child can run

Oh Liberia, we are just like you

Different bars in the same big zoo

Your sun shines the whole day through

We place eyes between the rails

The same big prison just different jails

Different cells the same big block

Different times the same big clock

Different skin some white some black

Oh we all go back

Two cells at the very start

Same sad sorrow in a different heart

Winters came and damage did

Oh we were only kids

Oh Liberia! Oh what did they do?

Oh to me, to you?

He’d kill for nothing; he’d kill for more

Same devil fighting in a different war

Same child crying in a different room

Same child lying in a different tomb

The same bad sorrow the bad fight

The same bad dream just a different night

Some burn photos, some a bridge

Same young soldier just a different badge

Same bad baggage just a different bag

Same old journey just a different leg

Same young traveller with a different pack

Oh we all go back

All of us get cast adrift

Same kid jumping off a different cliff

I anchor you, you anchor me

Same raft floating in a different sea

I see your house and I see those trees

I smell the surf I feel the breeze

Right here right next to me

Oh you set me free

Same old ruins in the same old spot

Oh we have grown a lot

We grew up and the trees grew tall

Oh I could hear your call

Oh, Oh Liberia!

Monkey see, and monkey do

Monkey tree grew at my ruins too

Same old puzzle the same old plot

Same old story I had forgot

Same old shadow was chasing me

Oh Liberia! Oh you set it free

No roof means the stars shine in

Some day soon we might begin

Seeing things that still could be

Living dreams that wake in me

Hanging in a jungle with a chimpanzee

Oh Liberia!

Some foundations are set in stone

Oh Liberia!

Some old photos just can’t be torn

Oh Liberia!

Some old memories just can’t get burned

Oh Liberia!

Some old lessons can still be learned

Oh, Oh Liberia!

Some old secrets just can’t be told

Oh Liberia!

Some old Winters are still too cold

Some cats don’t get all nine lives

Some dads see through different eyes

Some kids die and some kids live

Some folks take and some folks give

Oh Liberia, oh what could you see?

Oh what could you be? Oh Liberia!

Freedom starts with a different gaze

Living comes in different ways

Writing stories on a different page

Waking up in a novel age

Oh Liberia, oh what could you see?

Oh what could you be?

Oh Liberia! Freedom still lives on in me

The only difference between death and life

The only difference between peace and strife

Between being kept and being free

And the kind of being that we might be

It’s what we see in a different place

Within the space between the bars, 

Between the homes with only stars

Between the worlds, between the wars

Between the worlds between the words

Between the notes

Between the hopes

Oh Liberia!

See no evil only peace

Boat still drifting in a far off sea

See the smile upon my face

Walk a mile in a tiny space

Between the meaning in the lines

Between the memories in our minds

Between the space between you to me

Chimp still swinging in a jungle tree

Talmida

Katrina Boguski

October 5 2011

Talmida and tell me true

What more meaning could I take from you?

Ketuvim and a coat of arms

Kettle drums and no more harm

Kettle boiling for a cup tea

All still learning what to see

Senseless words from senseless fright

Senseless lines and a whole new life

Sentence writ and sentence gone

Whole new life gets carried on

Whole new work and a whole new way

Whole new page gets wrote today

Tell me Talmid tell me too

What more meaning could I take from you?

Learning meanings and living songs

Leaving lines and leaving wrongs

Leaving lines upon my face

Some still learning fall from grace

Simple meanings simple lines

Simple chords and simple rhymes

Simply written in simple time

Working purpose and wanted sign

Working well and making sense

Working soon to pay the rent

Talmida and tell me true

What more meaning could I take from you?

Kitchen parties and kitchen sink

Catching thoughts for you to think

Kesef, coin and copper line

All still working for a different kind

Tell me Talmid tell me too

What more meaning could I take from you?

Understanding hope, in folk

Whole new meaning to invoke

Under siege and overcast

Some still hurting from a tortured past

Hope can move your thoughts from pain

Taking you toward different gain

Give out more than you take back

Hope can give you what you lack

All still learning how to feel

All things turning in a great big wheel

All still walking in different shoes

All still learning different news

Tell me Talmid, Talmida

Tell me truly what you saw

Tell me everything you know

Tell me how the future goes

Some Come Together

Katrina Boguski

October 5^th, 2011

Some come together some fall apart

Some come loving with a different heart

Some go over some come back

Some bring peace and some attack

Some live mourning all their dead

Some bleed blue and some bleed red

Some have hunger some have bread

Some come lying in a different bed

Sun comes up and sun goes down

Some start losing what they have found

Some lose heart and some lose minds

Some lose dollars some just dimes

Each one betting on a different game

Each war ending much the same

Moonlit night and a midnight dream

Tender moments with another being

All bring memories of another scream

Projected on to a different screen

Some come together some fall apart

Some come loving with a different heart

Some stories end and some never start

Some notes flat and some notes sharp

Some keys black some keys white

Some come together for another fight

Some sing songs and some fight fright

Some shoot guns and cry at night

Some hold arms and some hold hands

Some come together from different lands

Some shed tears and some shed blood

Some tears flow and some tears flood

Some taste life and some taste death

Some breathe spirit, some just breath

Each wave breaking on a different shore

Each song bringing out another chord

Each foot walking on a different floor

Each spirit walking through a different door

Each priest preaching out a different word

Each soul praising the same old Lord

Each one calling him a different name

Each knee bending just the same

Some tracks lie on different lines

Some truths revealed in different times

Some arrows fly and some just fall

Some friends write but some don’t call

Some get up and some get down

Some guys smile and some guys frown

Some have rhythm some have words

Some come crashing into different worlds

Some have more and some have less

Some conceal and some confess

Some have the excess others lack

Some men working on a different track

Some work breaking on a different back

Some kids will and some kids won’t

Some kid do and some just don’t

Some skip rope and some skip bail

Some be the hammer some be the nail

Some arrows swinging on a different rail

Some bars keeping us in different jails

Some play games and some play songs

Some write words and some right wrongs

Some folks teach and some folks learn

One bridge built another burned

Some graves cry and some graves turn

Some money stolen some gets earned

Some soldiers marching to a different drum

Some cry out for what they’ve done

Some drummers drumming to a different beat

Some soldiers marching home on different feet

Some fights begin with a fleeting need

Some wars started from a different creed

Some take a shot some shoot drugs

Some men hanging out with different thugs

Kandahar and Iraq

Some fall forward some fall back

Some come home Making Waves

Some got lost and some got saved

Some come together some fall apart

Some come loving with a different heart

Some come together…

Words to Mulholland

October, 8^th, 2011

Katrina Boguski

Oh hey, hey Mulholland,

Oh hey, hey, old man

You’re a complex hero

I’m a complicated fan

Oh hey, hey Mulholland,

Oh hey, hey old man

You’re a California dreamer,

Born in Ireland

From school, to digging ditches

At the start of your career

Working hard each day,

Rose to chief engineer

You did change one city’s luck

Bringing water through that duct

Taking drought and doubt away

Became the father of L.A

You worked when clipper ships

Still sailed the sea

Though you couldn’t walk on water

You brought life to me

You took a group of hard rock miners

You rocked them night and day

And no matter what they say

You brought the water to L.A.

They could bring L.A. to the water

Or the water to the town

So you took mules, men and whiskey

And you brought that water down

Now I do know there’s more to say,

That your story ain’t all grand

The folks of Owens’ Valley

Lost the water in their land

It was a pretty big diversion,

You know I’ve had my digressions too

But every time I raise a cup

I still think about you

Oh hey, hey Mulholland,

Oh hey, hey old man

Water pipes ‘n heavy drinking

Is how that water run began

Then of course there was that day

At St. Francis dam

When water breached wall

Flooding all the land

Now I know you hung your head

When you thought about that day

I know you envied dead men

In the graves where they did lay

Being father of the city

Couldn’t take the pain away

Oh it wasn’t very pretty

Yeah we’ve all had bad days

Now they blamed you at first

Said ‘cause of you the wall did burst

The fields below immersed,

But they still quenched their thirst

Now hey, hey Mulholland you listen to me

There was something beneath the dam

That you simply could not see

Deep beneath the rock, well below the wall

There was a great big fault

And when that crack let loose

Dam opened like a vault

Oh hey, hey Mulholland,

Oh hey, hey old man

When mother earth is fractured

You don’t stand a chance

So go back to that victory day

When water flowed at will

Go back to that grand cascade

Roaring down that hill

You go back and say

I am the father of L.A.

“There it is; take it”

It flows out everyday

I’ll take my tin cup running

All the way back to you

It started with a vision

One I did have too

Oh hey, hey Mullholland

You ain’t all that bad

Days when I was crying

You were all I had

And now my words are flowing

Gushing like your steam

Oh hey, hey Mullholland

We have all got dreams!

Lullaby Revolution

Lullaby Revolution

Katrina Boguski

October 7^th 2011

Oh child soldier lay down gun

Oh child soldier evening’s come

Oh child soldier lay down head

Oh child soldier sleep in your bed

Where do you sing from? I hear you clear

Where do you hail from? I feel you near

Bullets still hailing fast overhead

I cannot sleep now I might wake up dead

Oh child soldier close up your eyes

Oh child soldier I hear your cries

Oh child soldier bullets will cease

Oh child soldier sleep now in peace

What do you mean ma’am? The bullets still fly

What do you mean ma’am? How do you hear me cry?

I cannot see you amongst all this smoke

Day’s worth of killing in blood I am soaked

Oh child soldier I’ll wash it out

Oh child soldier don’t ever doubt

Oh child soldier please sleep in peace

Oh child soldier stain and fear release  

Why do you sing to me? Why do you care?

Why be your sweet words sounding my ear?

Maybe this killing was all I could take

Maybe I’m dreaming while I am awake

Oh child, no child really I care

Oh child, sleep, soon sunrise be here

Oh child rest now others rising too

Oh child slumber they’re rising for you

Who are these people you say rise up?

Who are they fighting? Will more war erupt?

Where do I run now? Where do I hide?

I’m so tired of killing and God knows I tried

Oh child no child they rise up calm

Oh child no child they don’t carry bomb

Oh child they rise up singing instead

Oh child, sleep now peaceful in your bed

I’m too tired to run off too tired to fight

I’m too tired to shoot back and still filled with fright

I am too young to die now I just want to weep

I am too young to die and your song makes me sleep

Yes child, yes child I know your fright

Yes child, yes child still sleep all night

Yes child, yes child I sing you to sleep

Yes child, yes child feel free to weep

O ma’am I hear you my arms growing tired

I can’t hold this gun up but still shots are fired

Enemy surrounds me; please sing to them as well

Maybe they hear you and sleep for a spell

Yes child yes child we sing to them all

Yes child yes child soon all guns do fall

Yes child yes child they hear too

Yes child yes child they’re tired just like you

Children now; enemy no more,

Just another sleepy child starting to snore

Shh! Child Shh! Child do you hear the sound?

Arms are getting heavy arms are falling down

Shh! Child Shh! Child do you hear that noise?

Eyes are getting heavy responding to our voice

 

Oh child turn now turning in your bed

A new revolution fought with song instead

Oh child wars start first with brutal words

Oh child long before a bullet is ever heard

Bullets fly by now, but words fly out too

Oh child peace words fly in lullabies to you  

Tuck in your head now, tight in your bed

Try to sleep softly remembering what I said

Take in the sweet air wafting from the sea

Turn in tonight child listening to me

Ahh I do hear you and hear guns no more

Ahh I do breathe the air wafting from the shore

Ahh I do close my eyes and start now to sleep

Ahh I do thank you for hearing us weep

Good night child, Good night child

Good night children all

Thank you for sleeping and hearing our call

The lullaby revolt has started tonight

The lullaby revolt will win without fight

The lullaby revolt keeps children in bed

The lullaby revolt keeps them living not dead

Sing now! Sing now! Sing now all!

Raise up your voices join in the call

Sing out a lullaby to some child tonight

Lullabies at bedtime are every child’s right

They’re our children now; enemy no more,

Just another sleepy child starting to snore

Shh! Child Shh! Child do you hear the sound?

Arms are getting heavy arms are falling down

Shh! Child Shh! Child do you hear that noise?

Eyes are getting heavy responding to our voice

Shh! Child, Shh! Child Shh! Child Shh!