The Heart Is Like A Wheel

DARRELL GRANT For seven years, Darrell Grant was the singer - songwriter / guitarist behind the exciting New Brunswick contemporary folk trio, MODABO. Known in the 1990’s for their powerful live performances, heartfelt songs, and a quirky sense of fun, the lads were twice nominated in the East Coast Music Award Category, Group of the Year. Their enduring selt-titled debut cd (produced by Garnet Rogers, penned by Grant) was nominated for an ECMA Album of the Year. After several cross-Canada tours, and one more acclaimed cd - produced in part by Canadian fiddler extraordinaire, Oliver Schroer - MODABO disbanded in 1999. Since then, Darrell’s been working away, creating and recording music at The Digital Pitchfork, his project studio. Here, he's built a large catalogue songs, instrumentals, and experimental soundscapes. His craftsmanship and lyric sense of music lure the listener into the simplicity of the acoustic guitar, and then into colourful splashes of electric and virtual guitar technology. Intricate finger-picking and percussive right hand techniques sometimes explore alternate tunings and partial capo techniques. His verse finds form in sure melodies sung by a strong and distinctive voice, the phrases infused with a “poet’s heart.” Grant is also a summa cum laude graduate of St. Thomas University. In 1985, he was awarded a Special Canada Council Masters of Arts Scholarship for graduating among the Top 100 students in the country. He's also studied at the University of Alberta and the University of London, England. He has scored music for a number of film and other AV projects and loves the process. Darrell lives on an old farm in rural New Brunswick with his wife, son and a small variety of indoor and outdoor animals. He is always working on a new tune and looking for a new joke to share with his boy. For more information on Darrell Grant and his music please visit his website, darrellgrant.ca. You can also find him and Modabo on Facebook. THE HEART IS LIKE A WHEEL "It is "a superb debut album," writes Robert Reid of The Kitchener-Waterloo Record. And from the Fredericton Daily Gleaner: "Listening to Darrell Grant's debut CD, The Heart Is Like A Wheel, is much like being reunited with an old, dear friend after years of separation." Right on and thank-you very much for the kind words! A prestigious Creation Grant from NBArts helped get the project completed and so a big thank-you to you, too!" THE HEART IS LIKE A WHEEL: LYRICS 1. THE SONG OF THE WANDERING AENGUS (Lyrics by William Butler Yeats / Music by Darrell Grant. ℗ & © 2009. All rights reserved. SOCAN.) I went down to the hazel wood, Because a fire was in my head, I cut and peeled a hazel wand, And hooked a berry to a thread; And when white moths were on the wing, And moth-like stars were flickering out, I dropped a berry in a stream And caught a little silver trout. When I laid it on the floor And I went to blow the fire aflame, Something rustled on the floor, And some one called me by my name: It had become a glimmering girl With apple blossom in her hair Who called me by my name and ran And faded in the brightening air. Though I am old with wandering Through hollow lands and hilly lands, I will find out where she has gone, And kiss her lips and hold her hands; And walk among long dappled grass, And pluck till time and times are done The silver apples of the moon, The golden apples of the sun. 2. THE RED WHEELBARROW (Lyrics and Music by Darrell Grant. ℗ & © 2009. All rights reserved. SOCAN.) Once in every lifetime, There comes a ray of sunshine, "Best to keep your eyes wide open," All the old folks say. This sweetest of emotion Might only take one moment, Next you're sailing on the ocean, The ocean of love. Don't worry about tomorrow, Or dwell on yesterday, Drop off your troubles In my red wheelbarrow And we'll be on our way. Once in every lifetime, Comes a ray of sunshine, Best you keep your eyes wide open, Love will find it's way. Don't worry about tomorrow, Or dwell on yesterday, Drop off your troubles In my red wheelbarrow And we'll be on our way, We'll be on our way. 3. MY FAVOURITE PLACE (Lyrics and Music by Darrell Grant. ℗ & © 2009. All rights reserved. SOCAN.) My favourite place Is when I'm right beside you, In your arms warm and safe. The way you hold me close, you know, I've never been so swept away before. For the longest time, I held my head in sorrow. Endless days, lonelier nights, These eyes cast in doubt And forged in the certainty, The kind of life, that kept A lot of sunshine away. Oh, but it's not that way When you take me in your arms, Tell me of your dreams, Even of the shadows that fall in between. Baby, your my favourite place. Oh, there's no other way, Nothing stands between us. Take my hand, touch my face, The way you hold me close, you know, I've never been so swept away before. 4. LASSO THE MOON (Lyrics by Darrell Grant & Anonymous (lines 15-18) / Music by Darrell Grant. ℗ & © 2009. All rights reserved. SOCAN.) Lasso the moon while it's hanging low, And take me for a ride Where the shining river endless flows Into the endless tides. And as I fall into dream tonight, If, from our secret place, You let your love-light shine so bright, I could find the way back home to you. Oh, I am so in love with you. Oh my soul, you fill me up To the top when I'm low. When I'm with you I have everything I've wanted, Everything I've wanted is you. Western wind will you ever blow Warm as springtime rain? If only love you were in my arms In my bed again! Oh, you're in everything I've wanted, Everything I've wanted is you. Oh, I am so in love with you Oh my soul, I'll hold on tight, I won't let go, I lassoed the moon, And found everything I've wanted, Everything I've wanted is you. 5. MOUNTAIN WOMAN (Lyrics and Music by Darrell Grant. ℗ & © 2009. All rights reserved. SOCAN.) "Look here yourself, I'm wide eyed and curious For what you might find. You work like a dog And take things so serious, I take things in stride. Come as you are, fast as you can, I've got my heart set on you," Said my mountain woman. You are the girl of my dreams, The sweetest of angels, I know someone's watching over me. "See for yourself, I'm in a whole new direction, It was time for a change." I said, "It's not that I won't take Good advice when I need it most, I want to go my own way." "Come as you, are fast as you can, I've got my heart set on you." My sweet mountain woman. You are the girl of my dreams, The sweetest of angels, I know someone's watching over me. I know the love, I know the love Of a mountain woman. It's not the kind of thing I'm one to say, When I make love with you, You pick me up higher Than mountains in springtime When the sun's all breakin' through. "Come as you are, fast as you can, I've got my heart set on you." My sweet mountain woman, You are the girl of my dreams, The sweetest of angels, I know someone must be watching over me. I know the love, I know the love Of a mountain woman." 6. THE HEART IS LIKE A WHEEL (Lyrics and Music by Darrell Grant. ℗ & © 2009. All rights reserved. SOCAN.) The heart is like a wheel, A merry go round, Painted horses reel up, Then down. The heart is like a wheel In rhythm with the earth, Moon, sun and stars. The heart is like a wheel born of fire. In the hour of celebration, In the cup of despair, You'll find a heart just like a wheel, It rolls everywhere. The heart is like a wheel In rhythm with the earth, Moon, sun and stars. The heart is like a wheel born of fire. Hold me, touch me, Show me how you feel. Come on, baby, rock me, roll me, The heart is like a wheel. 7. UNDERWORLD (Lyrics and Music by Darrell Grant. ℗ & © 2009. All rights reserved. SOCAN.) Step by step I'll follow you down Into the shadows of the underworld. I'll cross the waters of the River Styx, Through the mists of forgetfulness, Into the heart of the underworld. And note by note I'll sing my song of love, And lift broken souls to harmony. And the Queen of Shades shall weep And set you free, for a love once part Of the darkest heart of the underworld. The sun is bright when it meets the eye, But shadows grow and fill my mind; A cold wind blows, and no birds sing, A man without love has nothing. Hold on, love, Hope against all hope. I'll turn my back to the sun, I'll try my best to carry on To the underworld, Step, by step, by step. The sun is bright when it meets the eye, But shadows grow and fill my mind. A cold wind blows, no birds sing, A man without love has nothing. Hold on, love, Hope against all hope, Turn your face to the sun, Try your best to carry on. 8. FLYING MAN (Lyrics by Darrell Grant and Mother Goose (lines 1-6) / Music by Darrell Grant. ℗ & © 2009. All rights reserved. SOCAN.) Flying Man, Flying Man, Up in the sky, Where are you going to flying so high? Over the mountains, over the sea, Flying Man, Flying Man, Won't you take me? "Oh, I see you there my little one, On the ground. The garden rows, The marigolds, The earth so brown. Oh, I would take you from this town," Said the Flying Man, "But I can't come down! I woke up in the morning, After dreaming all night Of wings and rocket things, And I'm still flying!" Flying Man, Flying man, Wave bye-bye. Wish I were going too, flying so high, Over the mountains, over the sea, Oh, Flying Man, if you could take me... 9. IN A BOX BURIED DEEP (Lyrics and Music by Darrell Grant. ℗ & © 2009. All rights reserved. SOCAN.) I keep under lock, under key, In a box buried deep, Far from this light, Where you cannot see, The darker side of me. Tell me love, tell me love, If there's a place in your heart You are running from? Tell me, love, Are there secrets and skeletons, Shadows that fall on your days? And do they wind and work through in ways Far to strange and absurd to explain? Oh, hope is a light I may never see. 10. THE WEAVER (Lyrics by Grant Colfax Tullar / Music by Darrell Grant. ℗ & © 2009. All rights reserved. SOCAN.) My life is but a weaving Between my Lord and me. I cannot chose the colours nor All the pattern see. Sometimes he chooses sorrow And I in foolish pride, Forget he sees the upper And I the underside. Not till the loom is silent, And the shuttles cease to fly, Will He reveal His pattern or Tell the reason why The dark threads are as needful, In the weaver's skillful hands, As the threads of gold and silver, In the pattern He has planned. 11. THE THING THAT COULDN'T BE DONE (Lyrics by Anonymous (lines 1-10) & Darrell Grant / Music by Darrell Grant. ℗ & © 2009. All rights reserved. SOCAN.) Somebody said that it couldn't be done, But I with a grin replied, "I was never one To say a thing couldn't be done, Leastways, not until I've tried." And so I buckled right in, I worked with a grin, By golly, I went right to it. And I tackled that thing that couldn't be done, And you know, I just couldn't do it. "Oh, it'll never be done, son, Never be done, never in a hundred years. Who would even bother? I'm surprised that you ask, That is such a well-known fact! A lot of women and men Have met their untimely end Tryin' to get the thing on track." And so, I stood back to reflect With new found respect, For the power, and the beauty of this thing. And when I went home that night, I kissed my wife and child goodnight, I had myself a crazy little dream. Yes, I got some new books, I got a lot more tools, I did a series of impressive run-through-its, And I returned to that thing, That thing that couldn't be done, And, you know, I still couldn't do it! "Oh, it'll never be done, son, Never be done, never in a hundred years. Inch away slowly, don't you look into its eyes, That kind of thing will eat you alive! It happens slowly at first And then your in for the worst. Think about your wife and child, Man, the thing just don't fly." The thing that couldn't be done, couldn't be done. Now, I'm on my knees and I'm on the run! Life is just no fun anymore. I'm just a regular guy, Thought I'd give it a try, Now I'm ready to cry. Somebody said that it couldn't be done, And I with chagrin replied, "I was never one to say a thing couldn't be done, Leastways, not until I've tried." LYRICAL GUESTS All the words by Anonymous, William Butler Yeats and Grant Colfax Tullar are now in the Public Domain. In “The Thing That Couldn’t Be Done,” the poem I draw upon, is an old anonymous English piece, and is quite different from a poem of the same name, written by the prolific American author, Edgar A. Guest. His poem defends the notion that The Thing can be done if enough good ol' fashioned hard work and know-how is applied. I say (jokingly of course!), "Get real, buddy!" MUSICAL GUESTS Jon Weaver: Second guitar on Lasso The Moon Tom Easley: Bass guitar on Lasso The Moon All other tracks performed by Old Daddy Grant & His Imaginary Friends. Produced & Mixed by Old Daddy Grant at The Digital Pitchfork. Mastered by Andrew McCrae at Outreach Productions, Fredericton. GRAPHICS Graphic Design: Darrell Grant & Troy Cole. ℗ & © 2009. All rights reserved. (Thanks again, Troy!) A SAMPLE REVIEW "Back in the spotlight" by Laverne Stewart The Fredericton Daily Gleaner, Tuesday May 5th, 2009 Listening to Darrell Grant's debut CD, The Heart Is Like A Wheel, is much like being reunited with an old, dear friend after years of separation. In the 1990s, Grant was a member of the band Modabo and the author of all of its music. The band was twice nominated for the East Coast Music Award's Group of the Year and overall Album of the Year for its first CD. Modabo was together for seven years before it split in 1999 when the guys decided to go their separate ways. ... What's happened in his life over the past decade? Lots. Some of it wonderful, like his marriage (to Melanie) and the birth of their son, Ben. But there have been many hard times as well. The Heart Is Like A Wheel tells a story that begins with loss. There's a period of happiness in it with some love songs. The pivot of the album comes with the title song. "People have good days. People have bad days. You're up. You're down. You're in the middle. It's a great metaphor for the cycle of life." ... After the breakup of Modabo, when he and his wife moved to their farm, Grant says he needed and wanted time to discover himself as an individual after seven years of life as a member of a close-knit group. "After Modabo went south, I wanted some time to be alone to regroup and to think about what to do and to write." It's a rainy May afternoon. Grant is at home with six-year-old Ben on their ... farm. The coffee is brewing and Grant slices some banana bread, which he offers to his company. As Ben entertains the kids who've come to call, Grant leads the way toward his at-home recording studio. This is where he's been working away, prolifically penning somewhere between 300 and 400 songs. Grant is, by nature, a romantic and a storyteller's storyteller. He holds an honours English degree from St. Thomas University and he did his graduate English studies at the University of Alberta. Writing music is what he loves to do the most. In 2001 he created an instrumental CD called Handmade Instrumentals . His parents, Clifford and Shirley Grant, were huge Modabo fans and great supporters of his work. Their favourite of his tunes was a beautiful love song called Hold Tight. One of his proudest moments was when his folks and an audience of 10,000 heard his former band perform it along with the 49-piece Nova Scotia Symphony at the Metro Centre in Halifax during a concert in the round. "If I had been more astute business-wise I would have gone to Nashville, Toronto or Vancouver but I wanted to stay close to my folks." It was the right thing to do. Sadly, both became ill. His father had cancer and his mother's Parkinson's disease worsened. His father passed away in May 2004. Ten days later, his mother had the first of a series of mini strokes. She died in August that year. Grant mourned for them greatly. "After they passed on, I hibernated and I wrote, practiced and dreamed about getting out (performing) again." But that dream had to be put on hold. In January 2005 Grant fell down a flight of stairs at the farmhouse. It took 18 months for doctors to discover how extensive the damage was. In that time, Grant couldn't hold a guitar. He needed surgery on his arm and the injury left him with permanent nerve damage. (Interrupts Darrell: "Two years later, I'm feeling much better, thank-you!") Grant is the type of guy who tries to find the good in everything. All of the hardships, he says, have taught him patience. The time away from his music allowed him more time to form a close bond with his boy and to write. Like a stereo, Grant says, original tunes are always playing in his mind. Once his wife leaves for work and Ben is off to school, he goes into his studio. Sometimes he will write the better part of three or four songs in one day. He will work until it's time to meet Ben at the end of the driveway when the school bus drops him off. His son has inspired him to explore children's music. He's set Robert Louis Stevenson's A Child's Garden of Verses to music. He plans to release that CD ... soon. "I really hope to do gigs for kids in schools or libraries. It may be a novel way to introduce kids to poetry." ... (ps: Where you find an ellipsis in this article, I've edited a little bit out.) Please visit my website at darrellgrant.ca to find out more about me, my music and MODABO. You can also find me and MODABO on facebook. Cheers and Thanks for listening! Darrell Grant