Years ago, one of my brothers offered some practical advice that has become for me a comforting metaphor and prompted me to write this song, “How to Fall.”
Some years ago I wrote a song titled When I Wanted Warm. We need to show the Earth the warmth of our love rather than the coldness of our neglect and abuse of her bounty. We need to protect our planet and stop global warming.
This is a song I wrote back in the 1960s. It incorporates a lot of story motifs that I recalled from my favorite fairytale collection, East o' the Sun and West o' the Moon.
When I was a child, my grandmother lived next door to us, and I remember bringing her a small basket of flowers (usually wild violets and dandelions) on the first day of May.
I wrote the song “The First One” for my mother. After attending college, she married and had five children. I was the fourth. My life has been immensely blessed by having her as my mother and guiding light.
Some years ago I wrote a song called simply "Daughter."
He has betrayed us, our nation, and the world. In the biblical phrase, he has sown discord and an ill wind, and we are left in sorrow to reap little beyond a damaging whirlwind.
This video includes a song I wrote based on the opening line of Psalm 130. I believe we can expect to find peace only if and when we ensure justice for all our people.
Here is a song I wrote when I was around 20 years old, still in college, unmarried, wondering what life held in store.
Some years ago I wrote a song about this melancholy experience of letting a relationship melt away from the intensity of a powerful, burning love to that instead of a treasured, remembered love. Mementos keep them in my life, and now, in my more mature years, I do indeed hold their love in my heart like gold.
Valentine’s Day always makes me think of the various stories, movies, and songs I associate with love relationships—and also simply ones that make me feel glad to be here. May you have a Happy Valentine’s Day and remember fondly your own list of things that you enjoy.
Some years ago I wrote a song celebrating some of the outstanding graduate students who chose to study folklore, a relatively small field of research and ethnography that grew in part from the early efforts of the Grimm Brothers. Folklorists attend to and value what ordinary people create and treasure.
Please join me in steering clear of the wind.
It is so sad that we lost her much, much too soon. Missing you as always, dear Shelley. Love, Sandy
I wrote the song "Man of No Dreams" with many of Violet Moore Higgins's images in my head.
“How To Fall”—a song I wrote for my brother Steve’s birthday many years ago. He was the middle child in our piano bench line-up—the sweet and funny one, all his life. Sadly, we lost him to cancer long, long before we should have. Steve—much loved and sorely missed.
That is life’s gift to us—the treasure of that enduring connection. This song is for our friends and teachers—wherever we find them.
I created this song when the Twin towers were struck in 2001. I feel equal dismay now as Putin’s Russia attacks Ukraine. We need peace, not war, democracy, not tyrants.
I really hate the prospect of war anywhere. I admire the Ukrainian resistance to Putin’s invasion of their nation. I hope their leaders and people are able to push back the invaders. Here is my song supporting that leadership.
Winters here in Indiana have become milder as climate change has affected the seasons, but when I was young and living in northern Indiana, you could still find ponds to skate on part of the year. My middle brother, Steve, taught me to ice skate and gave me some good, practical advice—try to relax as you fall. I regard his advice as a good metaphor for life in general, so a few years ago I wrote this song highlighting that advice. I hope you enjoy it.
