I wrote the songs in this group (A). They all reflect incidences in my life.  One is about Mom. Another is a very long banjo improvisation. And another about a dream.  The rest are about the women. I cannot write a song on demand.  I've tried but it doesn't work.  Sometimes the NEED for song will generate the muse, but that is no guarantee.  I don't know where my songs come from.  But once I've got the hook (the basic idea that makes the song different from any other), the song usually follows quickly.

 
           
  1.  Bees to My Honey

 

Too many people hangin' around my lover's place. Her name was  Paula. From Chile.


  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
  2. Jig Saw Puzzle I had already written this song when she dumped me for being so possessive. But it certainly reflects my feelings when she did.  Her two little girls loved to sing the chorus with me.  But sadly, they forgot all about it when they grew up.

 

  

 

 

 

 
  3. Actions Speak Louder than Words This fits a number of situations in my life. Live and Learn.  

 

 
  4. Ten Times Around Too much smoke. Not enough love.  

 

 
  5. When You Have Found Your Superman She wants a lot more than I got.  

 

 
  6. Great Big Number Telling myself the truth.  

 

 
  7. Wild Substance After knowing her for a long time, I suddenly see how beautiful she is.  

 

 
  8. I Can Tell That You Love Me Communication difficulties.  

 

 
  9. Daddy, I Had a Dream Twelve year old telling her father about a sexy dream she had.  

 

 
  10. In Each Other's Arms Barely a song.  

 

 
  11. Good Time Mary

Mary was a slender, tall, dark  haired beauty, a hippy, and a devout Catholic. I only knew her for a few hours. No sex.  I asked her if she really believed that the Virgin Mary ascended bodily into heaven, which all Catholics must believe on pain of ex-communication.  She answered,

"I don't know, Billy. But wouldn't it be a GAS if she did?

 

  

 
  12. Funniest Thing  This song started out to be a song about an acid trip.  But somehow or other Mom got into it.  The banjo accompaniment, which includes percussion on the banjo head, is in 11/8 time.

 

  

 

 
  13. A#1 Whoop De Doo Banjo Thing and Waltz Jo Ellen was making dinner for us in my house in Lake Hill, New York. I set up the tape recorder and played stuff into it I had been working on.  It all came together that time and I played about twenty minutes of pure banjo beauty.  That tape disappeared and I could never completely recapture what I had done. This is the best of many attempts to do so.

 

  

 

 

 

 

 

 
  14. Mary Morrison Robert Burns wrote the poem.  I don't know who wrote the music.  Woody Wachtel taught me the song.  I include it here because of the banjo accompaniment which is  different from any other thing I have ever done on the five string banjo. In fact, when I heard it while auditing my old tapes at the University of North Carolina it was very difficult to believe it was me playing because I had absolutely no memory of doing it. It is obviously an experiment. I seem to be following no set pattern with the banjo.  The style of the accompaniment is harsh and arhythmic;  totally inappropriate for the song, which is a tender, deeply felt statement of the poet's love for Mary Morrison. And yet, there is something wonderful about it.  I don't know what that something is, but I love it. 

 

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
  15. Baby, You Opened My Heart Peyote opened my eyes.  The Beatles opened my ears.  And Baby-------------  

 

 

 
   

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