Bliss Bowen - Ghost Trees: Lyrics & Credits

LYRICS & CREDITS FROM GHOST TREES

EMISSARIES
(Bliss Bowen and Amilia K Spicer)

Tuning in to this world of Ghost Trees …

Bliss Bowen: radio voice
Christopher Allis: radio voice, reading from Marcus Aurelius' Meditations; drums
Carl Byron: organ
Chris Lawrence: pedal steel
John "Juke" Logan: radio voice, comments from talk with Bliss Bowen
David Raven: dumbek
Aubrey Richmond: violin
Amilia K Spicer: radio voice, reading from her “Words for the Dreamer”; oohs
Jeff Turmes: tenor saxophone

GHOST TREES
(Bliss Bowen)

The seed of it all.

Last night I dreamed again of ghost trees
They stood tall, swayed like dresses in a summer breeze
We were riding Highway 1
The sun was high, the road was long
Somewhere a violin was moaning a bayou song

’Cross the delta parish bells tolled through ghost trees
Terns and blood-winged emissaries burned in blue seas
Salt tide slowed, came to a crest
Black oil rolled, claimed the rest
Grampaw's headstone sank like old pirogues facing west

We shared vows here, carved our names in those ghost trees
Fished this coastline, said novenas by the broke levees
Light candles, our nets are cast
Pray for the Gulf erased our past
Like lover's knots, I thought these things … would last …

© Bliss Bowen 2024 / Soul Sea Music (BMI)

Bliss Bowen: lead vocals, acoustic guitar
Ted Russell Kamp: electric bass
David Raven: drums, percussion
Aubrey Richmond: violin
Amilia K Spicer: harmony, raindrop piano
Dan Wistrom: electric guitar

HEY
(Bliss Bowen)

Traveling down the road.

Hey … Hey
I’m tryin’ to say
That I’m listenin’ to you
Talk like you used to

Makin’ good time, eastbound 210
Windows down to JT
Signal droppin’, no distraction
Man, connect now with me
They caught the last wolf in ’22 here
Some callin’, “Bring ’em back home”
So what’s it take to realign, dear
Our natural state — heart, blood and bone

BRIDGE:
Dancin’ close, car radio
Twilight stars spinnin’ down
Like fire flyin’ ’round the ranch meadow
Nothin’ ’tween us then we didn’t do or know

Hey … Hey
What do those signs say
What’re they doin’ here
Give me truth, no more fear

Inky dusk spills down the ridge line
Cloaking white wind turbines
Hear that choir of coyotes
Wary, hopeful and wild
Shiftin’ gears hard off the freeway
Smellin’ sage, sand and pine
Wonderin’ which road we got lost then
Your calloused fingers slip into mine

BRIDGE x2

Hey … Hey
What I’m tryin’ to say … hey … hey

Bliss Bowen: lead vocals, acoustic guitar
Ted Russell Kamp: electric bass, acoustic guitar
Claire Holley: harmony
Chris Lawrence: electric guitar, Fender bass VI
David Raven: drums, dumbed
Dan Wistrom: electric guitar, Weissenborn

DOWN IN THE REEDS
(Bliss Bowen)

Hella haunted.

I was 11 when I learned how not to breathe
Just will yourself invisible till your muscles freeze
Riding my bike, took a shortcut, felt strange hands
He slammed me down onto the ground like a concrete slab

PRE-CHORUS:
If you need you bleed
Couldn’t run to no one
Red-winged blackbird
Crying to the sun

CHORUS:
Down, down, down, down
Down in the reeds

Trouble was waiting for me when I made it home
Slapped on silent smiles to please: Survival 101
“No one will love you ever like your family”
Tried not to breathe, my rage seethed, dreamed of being free

PRE-CHORUS
CHORUS x2

My tale’s got chapters that no one has ever read
Maybe I’ll open up and share … maybe when I’m dead
Drove by that poison meadow, swear I caught a chill
They say the past will drag us back — damn me if it will

PRE-CHORUS
CHORUS x3

Bliss Bowen: lead vocals
Ted Russell Kamp: electric bass, acoustic guitar, harmony arrangement
Christopher Allis: drums, percussion
Carl Byron: organ
Gia Ciambotti: harmony vocal & arrangement
Dan Wistrom: slide guitar

SLEEPIN'
(Bliss Bowen)

Insomniac anthem.

Ohh
Kitchen faucet’s drippin’
Clock says three-oh-seven … oh
Not again

Turn
I’m tossin’ and I’m turnin’
Bone tired of dream discernin’
Still my mind

CHORUS 1:
I’ve counted stars, I’ve counted sheep, I’ve counted all my bills
I’ve taken stock, I’ve taken time, I’ve taken pills
There just ain’t any sleepin’
Just ain’t any sleepin’, mm hmm
No sleepin’

Words
By day they lift and gird me
By night they’re knives that herd me … oh
On and on

How
Do dreams become devils
Been livin’ on the level … oh why
One more time

CHORUS 1

CHORUS 2:
I’ve counted stars, I’ve counted sheep, I’ve counted all my bills
I’ve taken stock, I’ve taken time, I’ve taken pills
I read a while, I ride this Nile of my anxiety
Taste salty tears, rue blue my fears, curse my sobriety
I try and try to say goodbye to wakin’ but
There just ain’t any sleepin’
No damn sleepin’
No sleepin’ no sleepin’, no …

Is this the sign I’ve lost my mind… No sleepin’

© Bliss Bowen 2024 / Soul Sea Music (BMI)

Bliss Bowen: lead vocals
Ted Russell Kamp: electric bass
Carl Byron: organ
Gia Ciambotti: harmony vocal & arrangement
Dan Wistrom: slide guitar

HAVE YOU SEEN ME LATELY
(Lyric: Bliss Bowen | Music: Bliss Bowen and Ted Russell Kamp)

Reckoning.

Have you seen me lately
Such a funny thing to say
Hope you don’t mind me asking
When we started we were heading the same way
Have you seen me lately
Working at this desk all night
Lord have mercy on the soul
Who goes wrong by doing what’s right

CHORUS:
Thought I knew you, thought you knew me
Thought we’d never ever let each other down
Truth has maimed me, truth has claimed me
Truth’s a siren on this road I’ve lost & found

Have you seen me lately
That’s what I used to ask
Wanting you to hear my song
Then I slipped behind necessity’s mask
Have you seen me lately
Not the woman I swore I’d be
There’s a heart here still dreaming
There’s more than weight mistakes & scars to me

CHORUS

Have you seen me lately
I’ve been searching all around
This face staring back at me’s
A stranger cashing my checks in town
Have you seen me lately
Seems I’m wasting your sweet night
Lord have mercy on the soul
Who goes wrong by doing what’s right
Who goes wrong by doing what’s right

Bliss Bowen: lead vocals & harmony
Ted Russell Kamp: electric bass, acoustic guitar
Christopher Allis: Loota/drums
Carl Byron: piano
Dan Wistrom: electric guitar

LYRICS & CREDITS FROM GHOST TREES (cont'd)

TROUBLE
(Lyric: Bliss Bowen | Music: Bliss Bowen and Ted Russell Kamp)

Time to groove.

CHORUS 1:
Trouble
I’ve got trouble
So much trouble
Trouble on the line

I’ve got trouble on my left, trouble on my right
Trouble at blue dawn, trouble at night
Trouble fills my dance card, laughs ‘n’ whispers in my ear
“Have another cold one, hon, let’s slip on outta here”

CHORUS 2:
Trouble
I’ve seen trouble
A world of trouble
Trouble on my mind

I hear trouble call my name, I look no one is there
Trouble’s haunting me like footfalls on a stair
Praying for some space ‘n’ grace but trouble’s what I find
Reaching for redemption, got just one thing on my mind

CHORUS 1 x 2

Trouble … (vamp)

Bliss Bowen: lead vocals
Ted Russell Kamp: electric bass, harmony arrangement
Christopher Allis: drums
Carl Byron: organ
Gia Ciambotti: harmony vocal & arrangement
David Raven: percussion
Jeff Turmes: baritone and tenor saxophones
Dan Wistrom: electric guitar

A WHOLE LOT OF YOU AND ME
(Lyric & music: Dylan Altman and Ted Russell Kamp)

There are many great, meaningful songs by other songwriters that I love to sing, especially when the songwriters in question are my friends. This beauty was composed by my good friend Ted Russell Kamp and Dylan Altman. Ted and I have been performing it at shows for years and I'm delighted he not only gave me the green light to record it, but also agreed to sing it with me.

I got a little bit of money   and little bit of gas in my car
I got an old dirt road   and it don't have to take me too far
Because I know where I'm going  & I'm rolling right to your door
Because a little bit of you is all I'm looking for

A little bit of sunshine   a little bit of shade
A whole lot of glad that you came my way
Just a lazy old looking at the blue sky kind of day
In the whole wide world   there's not a lot that I need
Just a little bit of time   for a whole lot of you and me

I’m gonna steal me a kiss   as we listen to the blue birds sing
Maybe jump in the river   grab a hold of an old rope swing
'Cause there ain't nothing better than   seeing you smile all day
I want to hold you tight    till the daylight slips away

A little bit of sunshine   a little bit of shade
A whole lot of glad that you came my way
Just a lazy old looking at the blue sky kind of day
In the whole wide world   there's not a lot that I need
Just a little bit of time   for a whole lot of you and me
Just a little bit of time   for a whole lot of you and me

Bliss Bowen: lead vocal
Ted Russell Kamp: duet vocal, electric bass, Wurlitzer

THIS TOO SHALL PASS
(Bliss Bowen)

A prayerful reminder. The title phrase is some gentle wisdom my mom's been offering all my life.

CHORUS:
This too shall pass
This too shall pass
This too shall pass
Have faith that day will show

Look there’s blood upon the water
Greed and darkness are leeching this land
What once was bedrock foundation
Now feels like angry ’quakes and wet sand

Family will know your weakness
True blue friends know just where you are strong
Some may try to break and bleed you
But believe no matter how long

CHORUS

All we have is in this moment
All we are’s in this shadow and light
All we crave defines our limits
Like the seasons our loss turns to sight

So wake up — we’re a long way from Eden
Meditate on what seems so unfair
Feast your eyes on the wider horizon
Unpack fearful baggage in prayer

CHORUS 3x

TAG:
Have faith that truth
Have faith that love
Have faith that light will show…

Bliss Bowen: lead vocal, acoustic guitar
Ted Russell Kamp: electric bass, organ, harmony
Claire Holley: harmony
Dan Wistrom: acoustic and electric guitars, harmony

DEPRESSION BRINGS ME FLOWERS
(Jake La Botz)

I knew I needed to sing this song the first time I heard it — which happened to be in my backyard, when Jake La Botz was giving a house concert at my place. It felt like someone was reading my mental mail. I was thrilled he gave his blessing for me to record it. When Jeff Turmes and I sat down for the session at Dave Raven’s Honky Abbey studio, we took a few stabs at it with just vocal and slide guitar that sounded good but were too close to Jake’s original. Striving for something that respected the integrity of the lyric while honoring the song with a different approach, Jeff pulled out his standup bass and cooked up this soulful arrangement. Dave set us up in the hallway and the warm ambiance of that space was so present, it was almost like another instrument.

Depression brings me flowers every morning
It leaves them in a jar beside my bed
It’s hard to lift my head and smell their sweetness
Every morning when depression comes my way
Every morning when depression comes my way

I was dreaming that I had finally become somebody
And everywhere I went they noticed me
I was flying high and I left my burden dangling
And then I hear the fragrant beauties calling
Every morning when depression comes my way

CHORUS:
Every morning
Every morning
Depression brings me flowers
Every morning

I accept an invitation to do nothin’
And feel the strength of my voice chokin’ me
I burn it with a tank of hot black coffee
And pray to God today I’ll set it free
Every morning when depression comes my way

CHORUS

The bad news is I don’t believe in happiness
The good news is I know the ground quite well
I go to hell and back with eyes wide open
And come up to smell the flowers by my bed
Every morning when depression comes my way
Every morning when depression comes my way

Bliss Bowen: vocal
Jeff Turmes: standup bass

CANDLES AND COLTRANE
(Lyric: Bliss Bowen | Music: Bliss Bowen and Ted Russell Kamp)

Some memories never let you go.

Woke up naked and surprised, whispering your name
Mem’ries spreading ’cross my pillow like a bleeding stain
It’s been years since we were through, years since dreams like these of you
Years since we pas de deuxed with candles and Coltrane

That night whiskey fired your fingers playing guitar from Spain
Clouds were spitting in a chill wind at your windowpane
We were tasting chance and sin, tasting songs unlaced within
Tasting salt on skin with candles and Coltrane
Candles and Coltrane

BRIDGE 1:
We’d drive down to the beach and dance real close by candlelight
So drunk on dreams, Coltrane blowing benediction at midnight
That ruby star shot past the moon, low-hanging diamond ’bove the dunes
We kissed like gamblers no damn clue and misread that sign

BRIDGE 2:
I’m thinking ’bout that beach and how those nights were filled with grace
My face turned soft into your neck, your hard arms ’round my waist
That ruby star shooting past the moon, low-hanging diamond ’bove the dunes
Blue Trane sweet that memory I’ll never erase

Roses bloom no less sweetly for ashing in flame
You’ve got family now to carry on your pride and your name
We’re both wiser for love’s blade, wiser for mistakes we made
Wise for betrayal’s shade and candles and Coltrane
Candles and Coltrane
Thankful for candles and Coltrane
Candles and Coltrane x3

Bliss Bowen: vocal, electric guitar
Ted Russell Kamp: electric bass, acoustic guitar
Christopher Allis: Loota/drums, percussion
Jeff Turmes: tenor saxophone

FLOATING
(Dafni Amirsakis)

A simply gorgeous song by the late Dafni Amirsakis, an effervescent soul who was an unfailingly kind and supportive friend. We recorded this at Ted Russell Kamp’s studio when Dafni's husband, Peter Glick, invited me to contribute a track to a compilation he produced after her tragic death (2017's Silhouette: Dafni's Songs Recorded by Her Friends). I was honored to be included. Listening to this song (from her 2010 album Sweet Time), I had a vision of floating in the ocean and hearing musicians jamming on the beach that suggested a different feel for our track. Chris Lawrence dreamed up shimmering, vibey guitar parts that set the sonic tone for that vision; Dave Raven's dumbek cast fittingly hypnotic spells; and Ted steered us all with his sensitive bass playing and inspired arrangement ideas (like handclap percussion on a sheet of paper on his lap — subtle but effective). The session was charged with electric creativity and we all felt a beautiful, light spirit in the room as we sought to do our best for Dafni. I’m very grateful to Pete for graciously giving his blessing for “Floating” to be included on my album. We tweaked it a bit from the Silhouette version and it's a fitting close for Ghost Trees.

Floating (floating) through the air (through the air)
Why don't you take me there? (Why don’t you take me there?)
A place where there's not a care in the world

Staring (staring) at nothin’ (at nothin’)
Nothin’ but empty skies (Nothin’ but empty skies)
A place without any lies — I could be free

Wandering, foolishly runnin’ in search of distant stars
Wandering, secretly sinking
I'll slowly disappear into nothing … nothing at all

Floating (floating) out to sea …

Bliss Bowen: lead & harmony vocals
Ted Russell Kamp: electric bass, handclaps on paper
Chris Lawrence: electric guitar
David Raven: dumbek, percussion

GHOST TREES
Produced by Ted Russell Kamp with Bliss Bowen
Executive Producer: John Antich

Producing, engineering and mixing: Ted Russell Kamp.
All tracks recorded at The Den in Highland Park, CA, by Ted Russell Kamp except:
Engineering on “Emissaries,” additional engineering of piano and harmony vocals for “Ghost Trees” at Free Range Studios in Valley Village, CA: Amilia K Spicer.
“Ghost Trees” basic tracks and “Depression Brings Me Flowers” recorded at Honky Abbey in L.A., CA, by David Raven (with additional engineering on “Depression Brings Me Flowers” by Ted Russell Kamp).
“Depression Brings Me Flowers” co-produced by David Raven, Jeff Turmes and Bliss Bowen.
Mastering: Alex McCollough/True East Mastering in Nashville, TN.
Manufacturing: Atomic Disc in Salem, OR.

Rilke's Roadhouse Records

Cover photo: Richard Lewis, "Life Among the Ghosts 5" (richardlewisphotography.com)