After my first bout with poetry when I was eighteen, I started playing acoustic guitar and writing songs. I taught myself finger-style and I had the same Alvarez lefty I bought in 1987 for 13 years. I now have a factory-made lefty Fender cut-out. My comments on being a lefty were published in the June 1988 issue of Frets  magazine, in an article by Susan Barton called "Southpaws and Strings" (pg. 26):

A few months ago, Frets publisher Jim Crockett asked the lefthanders among Frets' readership to share some of their expereinces with him. A flood of letters poured in. . . above all, the writers displayed a rock-solid determination to overcome whatever barriers a right-handed world puts in their way. Being left-handed is a handicap only if you think it is, most of them say. In the words of John Jenkins of Lombard, Illinois, "An aspiring musician who will be stopped by frustration will not aspire very high."

I've selected a few of the song lyrics I've written over the years:

Deep Inside Us (1986)

Some people ask me - "What do you think?"
Some people tell me I don't know
She can't conceal that Love is real-
She's the only person who knows just how I feel

Guideposts throught the lonely nights
with angel wings
She sings her song, you know she can't be wrong
there on your shoulder rides your destiny
She reveals the path, and soon you will be free

She's deep inside us all
she'll hear you if you call
she'll help you if you play the game
her name's the same as nothing at all

Letters filled with memories and starry skies
Dream birds tell me sories with their eyes
You're in my heart forever now, we'll both agree
You're the only person who sees the things I see

She's deep inside us all
She'll hear you if you call
She'll help you if you play the game
Her name's the same as everything

(Optional addition from first version):

And she's our Grandmother, my sisters and brothers
let's get together and tell her we love her, 'cause
Grandmothers, my sisters and brothers-
They pray for us, so show you care

This song was written in October of 1986, in the interim between my first year in Boulder and the first trip to Central America. (Oct. 2nd to Dec. 8th 1986.) I was working at Woodline, cutting frames on the loud miter saws and this beautiful melody came to me. I wanted to write a simple, nice song, along the lines of Gabriel's "Here Comes the Flood." That evening I sat on the grass in the back yard of my father's house and composed most of the words- a song of love for my Grandmother, and also, a universal song praising the feminine guiding force deep inside of everyone- our spritual "Grandmothers" in the Native American sense. She is our essence, our fundamental Chi energy of consciousness. This energy can manifest as sexual energy or higher creative intelligence. In the Hindu sense of the divine Goddess Shakti, she is everything and nothing, everywhere and nowhere. Her guidance can be invoked if we call in a sincere and heartfelt manner, as in the case of my Appalachicola vision.


Emergency Liquid Gas Explosion Blues (1988)

This is one of my favorites, the second of the travel songs. It is based on the trip to Central America that Jeff Rudnik and I made in Jan./Feb of '88. It was written in Feb. '88. This is the first time I used the unfretted fingering of the E major chord on the fifth fret (to make an A) and the seventh fret fret ( to make a B). This is later used on "Pollution Song" as well as my version of "The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway" (Genesis), "You Might Recall" (Phil Collins), "Pinball Wizard" (The Who), and "Dusk" (Genesis on Trespass). Pat klippel pointed out this possibility around X-mas of '87, and I worked out the picked intro to "E.L.G.E Blues" as a two guitar accompany to the 3 strummed chords (E, A, and B, played on the open, fifth, and seventh fret). Similar to that "Yes" riff of yore which I don't remember the name of. Anyway, the song details our adventures: All the hours on buses (220+), then Greyhound lost Jeff's backback for two days (See The Month- my first attempt at travel writing). Then we cruised to Veracruz, met Ben Hur and Antonio who took us to a Mexican disco and Vega del Sol. Then to Oaxaca where we met Val and Zoe from North Carolina. We sang songs and drove through foggy mountains until they dropped us off near Palenque. Then to Guatemala, where we climbed San Pedro on Lake Atitlan, endured a jam packed Dodge Van (34 people) and finally Jeff got the E. L. G. E. Blues in Honduras at the ruins of Copan. Ahhh! But let the song speak:

On a Greyhound bus
thirty hours down, twenty more to go
and do you know where Jeff's backpack was?
Lost in San Antonio- stupid lazy jerks-
took 'em two days!
and then we cruised to Veracruz

Got a hotel on the Zocalo
Tuxtepec the next day in a pizza place
we met Ben Hur and the owner
his name was Antonio
Vega del Sol and the Mexican disco
Do you really wanna go? To Mexico

You and I don't know
it doesn't really matter to me
where we go
as long as you and I are free

Val and Zoe- singin' in a fog, drivin' all night long
by daybreak we were in Palenque
Into Central America
those Guatemalan girls really knock me out
and there are Puercos everywhere
Caught a sardine can to Atitlan-
thirty-four people in a jam-packed Dodge van
We climbed San Pedro Volcano
The food ain't so spectacular
makes me kinda sick, but we're payin' our dues
we've got the emergency liquid gas explosion blues

You and I don't know
it doesn't really matter to me
where we go
as long as you and I can see
what it really means to be free- Oh!

A ride on the bus
two hundred hours down, twenty more to go
So you wanna go south of the line
where the weather's so fine
then let's go, Mexico


Yes We Will (1989)

I never knew that the things we do could return
When will I ever learn?
I've been living a lie
How do I know when the way I choose is the way?
Should I learn how to pray?
Will I ever know why?

Just remember that your heart knows what to do
although it may be dark, the way is known
Do not fear what is not clear
for it will come to you
Your friends are here, so you won't be alone
we're going home-

Yes we will- Oh!
Pray to God above
Open our hearts and show our love and we
will be a happy family

People are all different- no one is the same
like the jungles trees we fight for a piece of sun
But islands up above the sea
are joined beneath the waves
and we will see the day our Kingdon Come-
we all are one!

Yes we will- Oh!
Pray to God above
Open our hearts and show our love and we
will be a happy family

Written end of May, 1989.


Pollution Song (1990)

We all live in a consumer time
plastic bags and soda cans aren't worth a dime
Do the ends justify the means?
Mother Earth is being clawed by big machines

Why is the sky and the ocean blue?
And the grass is so green?
Do you know what I mean?

Can you see when the sky is brown
and the grass is all dead-
We are in the red?
It's gone to our head

The sun is high and the earth is low
Which way do I go?
I don't really know
Do you really know?
I don't really know

So now, let's take a look at our future
on this planet earth
Our children will live in that future
what will it be worth?

Yes, let's look at our future
on this planet earth
Our children will live in that future
what will it be worth?

The sky above sends water down
the Tree of Life springs from the ground
Is the earth a living creature?
Does she touch eternity?

If we waste our chance to see the future-
How can we be free?
Without the tree-
How can we be free

This song also expresses the Tree of Life concept covered in the book I had just completed- "Journey to the Mayan Underworld".


Sailor's Dream (1990)

I went down to the barrio town
lookin' for a girl
Cobblestone streets and the tinker's shops
lookin' for a girl like you

On the bay where the ships all sway
waitin' till my pay comes through
I grew up as a sailor's pup
and I am what I am what I am what I am

I am twenty years without a crew
waiting till my dream comes true
And I'll take my pay and sail her away
into the heaven of the ocean
I am lookin' for a girl- lookin' for a girl like you

"Well that may be," said the drinkards three,
"But now you can not stand!"
"Yes, true is that," so I'll chew the fat:
"I was a young deck hand -
I won my scars and my sea dog legs
stayed with me on dry land
I was a good mate but it seems my fate
to die a lonely man."

Time will sail away
So give your vow today
'Cause I sailed this world for gold and pearls
and now I got nothin' but a moldy oldy-
waitin' for a girl- prayin' for a girl like you

So tell this tale to your sons today
so's they can steer away
I drownt my dream in a drunkards tea
Oh! Whoas me

Time will sail away
So give your vow today
'Cause I wandered low and I wandered high
the longer I live the deeper I will lie
Waitin' for a girl- prayin' for a girl like you

Time will sail away
So give your vow today
When I'm stuck in a pickle and I don't give a damn
the more I cry, the deeper I am what I am what I am

I am waiting-
praying for a girl like
You

This song was written in May of '90. It has an unusual origin. I came home from work at the Daily Camera mail room at 4:00 am. I was really wound up, irritable, and tired. I sat down and played the high E string: open/3rd/7th. From this congealed a swaggering sea chanty melody- then that catchy Em mechanism came out of nowhere- a combination of picking and strumming. "I went down to the barrio town" came full and formed and set the tone. I like to joke that this song was channeled from an ancestor who sailed the high seas in the 1830s - my middle namesake Major Jenkins. I really had that feeling- the verses came complete with puns and rhymes without reworking. In an hour it was virtually complete and the dogs upstairs were barking. I think what enabled this to happen was the fact that I had been mulling over a song idea. I had worked out "John Barleycorn" and liked the Old English Folk feel. Also, I wanted to write a song that really expressed my heart towards a close friend - but in a way that was not soapy or direct. I am happy with this song- it filled a need. Also, the lyrics weave double meanings and irony into a neat package of rhymes. Neptune rules music and the oceans, as well as drugs and alcohol, so to Neptune, ruler of Pisces, credit for this song goes. "Yes true is that so I'll chew the fat."- fluid and unencumbered rhyme images. "Now I got nothin' but a moldy oldy."- The song itself is a moldy oldy? or his shriveled and unused love organ? "drownt my dream", "and my sea dog legs stayed with me on dry land." "I grew up as a sailor's pup and I am what I am what I am what I am." (famous Popeye quote.) "I wandered low and I wandered high the longer I live, the deeper I will lie." The deeper he will lie in illusion? In his mistruths? In the ground? And the final line, my favorite, "When I'm stuck in a pickle and I don't give a damn, the more I cry the deeper I am what I am what I am."- this captures the poetry of the English language.


Song #11 Heloise and Abelard (1990)

Heloise danced in the garden
Abelard sat in a tree
She looked away, he begged her to stay
The rest is history

Sunday in church, the people could see
something inside them had grown
Heloise blushed shyly
Abelard's heart was no longer stone
A feeling of love

What she means to him, what he means to her
they only know

In the church of their day eros is dead
passionate love has no right
You pay all your dues and then you are wed
you need permission to put out the light
and go to bed

What she means to him, what he means to her
was misunderstood by the people of God

They sent Heloise to a convent
Abelard's lifeline was cut
It seems a decree from Rome was sent
to break up their blossoming love

Now Heloise sits in the courtyard
Abelard can't hardly see
She's lost her way, he's nothing to say
the rest is history- History

What she meant to him, what he meant to her
They only know
What she meant to him, what he meant to her
Was misunderstood by the people of God

This song was written a few days after returning from the two month WSSC trip to Guatemala. (August 20th) I was playing with a Ralph McTell fingerstyle riff (Grande Affaire) in 3/4 time. An intresting base line developed. Then my father came through town and he told me about the story of Heloise and Abelard. It struck a chord- it was a metaphor for taking responsibility for one's loves, even if one is damned by a powerful governing institution, or one's own friends. First song in 3/4- nice waltz rhythm.


Song #12 Rat Race (1990)

If you win the rat race
you're still a rat
trying hard to save face
I work all day until I don't give a damn
And all I wanna do
is be who I am

Now, I am on my way
Left my job, singin' a new song today
Got my pay, now I don't make a dime
And all I'm gonna do
is rhyme in time with you

They can take their benefits and overtime
We've got a lot to do
We're doing fine

(Twice)

This is a happy song, written on the afternoon I walked off my bullshit job at Celestial Seasonings (10/31/90) It uses a flatpicking upstroke technique I had mastered a few days before, and a G major / G major sus4 / G major add D mechanism I developed the same afternoon. I left during lunch and returned to the apartment, sat down, and out came the song. It uses only 3 chords, essentially. Arlo Guthrie said, "If you use more than 3 chords, you're showing off." Well I finally wrote a song using only 3 chords, but I'm still showing off.


Freedom Song (1991)

Pack on my back with a guitar
and I'll pick a song from the musical garden
We can be kings, we could be queens
and the wizard will see that the jocker is free
and a hey ho, the garden will grow and a
hey ho! the magic will show us
what we can say to the people today:
Sing a song of freedom, sing a song of freedom with me
Till we are free

Dancing around all around the town
to the tune of the pipes and the muse of fire
we can see blues, we can see greens
and the world of sound is a field of dreams
Hey ho, the higher we go and a
Hey ho, the deeper we know it
joined at the hip for the rest of this trip
sing a song of freedom, sing a song of freedom with me
Angels dance and angels sing
with a candle flame in their golden wings
touch the stars with the petals of a flower
leave the nest at our finest hour
Sing

(repeat)

I think this was written May of 1992. I had sat down on a rock near a stream in Chautauqua park in Boulder and was invited by an elfin / faery spirit to sing a melody. The chorus part came first ("angels dance and angels sing...") because the previous night I had stared into a candle flame and saw an angelic figure of ethereal otherworldly beauty emerge. The main part followed naturally enough, and I recorded the melody as soon as I got home. Nature, song, love, rebirth of spring, beauty...


Some additional songs:

1985: Light of the Earth
1987: Weightless Dreams
1987: Colorado (Fear and Loathing In)
1992: Java Jules
1991: Power of Love
1992: Sweat Lodge
1995: The Center
1992: Trailblazer
1992: Lily, Kieran and Sean
1992: Where Are You Now?

Where Are You Now?

You were a friend to me when
the sky was falling in
where are you now?

You were a friend to me
when the sky was falling in
where are you now?

(chorus) Where are you now -
It was a little hazy and a little crazy
but it was so amazing
Where are you now?
Felonious, my old friend
Where are you now?

We walked the streets at night then
We'll never be that way again
Where are you now?
A friend in need is a friend indeed
you were a friend to me

(chorus)

Just a little joke with a little smoke
we were friends for free
just a little con, then you be gone
where - where are you now?

1993: Patrick Lee

We have thought about the future that has come to be
we can feel the loss of someone we no longer see
and we know that you are free
we must let go
we will always remember you

You gave to us a precious lifetime full of memories
we remember how you always kept us smiling
you will fly eternally
through the sky
wonder why...
We will always remember you, Patrick Lee

My friend Patrick died suddenly in March 1993, days after visiting me in Colorado.

1994: Grama's Uncluttered Ceiling

Grama's got an uncluttered ceiling
she's got a happy feeling
She's got a clean clean ceiling

Grama's got some boxes in the hall
It makes you want to climb the wall
to find a clean clean ceiling

Grama's got some struff on the floor
but that don't matter any more
'cause she's got a clean clean ceiling
she's gonna show it to you

(chorus) How do you keep it so clean?
I don't know
You must be working night and day
You must spend all of your time
on the go
I guess there is no other way
clean, clean, ceiling
oh oh it's clean clean, it's so clean
She's got a clean clean ceiling
She's gonna show it to you

Is the cup half full or half empty?
That depends on if you're lookin' up
to find a clean clean ceiling -
she's gonna show it to you.

My Grandmother, Alice, asked me to write a funny song about her uncluttered ceiling. And so I did.

1996: 10,000 years (February 1996):

We've been gone ten thousands years
through many lives, through many tears
we've been gone for a million days
down many roads, down many ways

Eternity is not a very long time
Though we've been gone for ages and ages
and they say that we've been living a lie
climbing the walls and leaving our cages
climbing the walls and leaving our cages
climbing the walls and leaving our cages

What do you say, we get out of here?
Open the door and stop feeding our fear
take a journey around the moon?

We've been gone ten thousand years
through many lives, through many tears
We've been gone for a million days
down many roads, down many ways

I have sailed a thousand oceans
but I could not find that sea of emotion
but when I knew I was looking for you
that's when I found my heading was true

Looking for love, tripping, taking chances, finding long lost soul mate.

1997: Ellie's Song

We want to be free together
so we go down by the sea
time knows what the ocean conceals
and I feel the sun today
You, you and me
everything, everything will be

We want to be here forever
and so we play down by the sea
Now we know what the ocean reveals:
Love is here to stay
You, You and me
Everything, everything will come to be here
by the ocean side
looking in your eyes
as sure as the sky is blue
our love is true

For my Ellie, six months before we got engaged.

-------------------------------------

Feb 1999: We Love You Clarie
May 1999: Guiding Star (Willy's Song)
May 2000: All the Seasons (They Go 'Round)
Feb 2001: When There's Nowhere Left to Go

These last four are all good songs - I should record them all before my fingers give out!

December 2002. Great Big Shadow
April 2, 2003. V. M. : You Made the Mystery
June 15-18, 2004 On My Way Home