Heart Banter/Music Covers & Acoustic Guitar

Gordon Lightfoot wrote this song after his marriage to Brita Ingegerd Olaisson ended in divorce. After the breakup, she took their two young children back to France. “If Children Had Wings” is a beautiful, heartbreaking reflection on the pain Lightfoot felt when he was separated from his children. Lightfoot often flew across the Atlantic on the supersonic Concorde to visit his son, Fred, and daugh...

Gordon Lightfoot wrote this song after his marriage to Brita Ingegerd Olaisson ended in divorce. After the breakup, she took their two young children back to France. “If Children Had Wings” is a beautiful, heartbreaking reflection on the pain Lightfoot felt when he was separated from his children. Lightfoot often flew across the Atlantic on the supersonic Concorde to visit his son, Fred, and daugh...

Everybody’s heard of John Denver. Well, almost everybody. At the risk of dating myself, I’ve known about Denver and his music for decades. Yet, I never took the time to examine or play John’s music. Until now. He inspired me to cover “Jenny Dreamed of Trains” in my last blog. Here, I’m taking on one of John’s favorite and most popular songs: “Poems, Prayers, and Promises.” “Released in 1971, “Poem...

Everybody’s heard of John Denver. Well, almost everybody. At the risk of dating myself, I’ve known about Denver and his music for decades. Yet, I never took the time to examine or play John’s music. Until now. He inspired me to cover “Jenny Dreamed of Trains” in my last blog. Here, I’m taking on one of John’s favorite and most popular songs: “Poems, Prayers, and Promises.” Released in 1971, “Poems...

Everybody’s heard of John Denver. Well, almost everybody. At the risk of dating myself, I’ve known about Denver and his music for decades. Yet, I never took the time to examine or play John’s music. Until now. He inspired me to cover “Jenny Dreamed of Trains” in my last blog. Here, I’m taking on one of John’s favorite and most popular songs: “Poems, Prayers, and Promises.” Released in 1971, “Poems...

Vince Gill wrote “Jenny Dreamed of Trains.” He performs it beautifully, but John Denver’s version caught my attention. The song reminds us what we can create when we hold fast to a dream and work to make it happen. Dreams call to us, despite the many distractions that come between the songs in our hearts. The ordinary necessities of life kept me from pursuing my dreams until I cleared the distract...

Vince Gill wrote “Jenny Dreamed of Trains.” He performs it beautifully, but John Denver’s version caught my attention. The song reminds us what we can create when we hold fast to a dream and work to make it happen. Dreams call to us, despite the many distractions that come between the songs in our hearts. The ordinary necessities of life kept me from pursuing my dreams until I cleared the distract...

I recently changed my music source from Sirius XM to Pandora. As an avid fan of Folk and Country Music, it turned out to be a wise decision. Now, I can listen to my favorite recording artists singing songs from the 60’s through the 90’s. And lately, several of those songs are appearing on this blog. Like the previous song I posted here, “Silver Skies Blue” captured my attention almost immediately....

I recently changed my music source from Sirius XM to Pandora. As an avid fan of Folk and Country Music, it turned out to be a wise decision. Now, I can listen to my favorite recording artists singing songs from the 60s through the 90s. And lately, several of those songs are appearing on this blog. Like the previous song I posted here, “Silver Skies Blue” captured my attention almost immediately. I...

At 82 years young, Judy Collins used poetry that she had written and collected over the years to create an album of original songs named  Spellbound . She used the isolation of the COVID-19 pandemic to write and perfect the music. “Spellbound” broke new ground because it was the first album  Judy Collins  produced in her six-decade career that contained all original songs. This is a remarkable ach...

“When You Say Nothing At All” is a country music song with a storied past. Written by  Paul Overstreet and Don Schlitz,  the song was picked up by  Keith Whitley.  He loved the song when he first heard it, and wasn’t going to let it go to another recording artist. Whitley had learned his lesson after passing on another Overstreet-Schlitz song that became a hit for Randy Travis. This time around, “...

“When You Say Nothing At All” is a country music song with a storied past. Written by  Paul Overstreet and Don Schlitz,  the song was picked up by  Keith Whitley.  He loved the song when he first heard it, and wasn’t going to let it go to another recording artist. Whitley had learned his lesson when he passed on another Overstreet-Schlitz song that became a hit for Randy Travis. This time around,...

“Talking In Your Sleep” is not exactly a happy song. I chose it for the guitar background and the melody, both of which I find quite beautiful. I’m a long-time fan of Gordon Lightfoot, and I’ve covered many of his songs on this blog. However, this song is not as well known as many of Lightfoot’s others, and I hadn’t listened to it in decades. But the song kept popping up on the Pandora stations I’...

“Talking In Your Sleep” is not exactly a happy song. I chose it for the guitar background and the melody, both of which I find quite beautiful. I’m a long-time fan of Gordon Lightfoot, and I’ve covered many of his songs on this blog. However, this song is not as well known as many of Lightfoot’s others, and I hadn’t listened to it in decades. But the song kept popping up on the Pandora stations I’...

Townes Van Zandt’s life touched mine only tangentially until recently. I first heard of Van Zandt through Nanci Griffith’s cover of his song  “Tecumseh Valley.”  Like many Van Zandt ballads, it tells a tragic and beautifully melodic story about a woman named Caroline. “Techumseh Valley” is about a life, a time, and a place far from the life I’ve led. Yet, it’s a song I’ll never forget. Although Va...

Townes Van Zandt’s life touched mine only tangentially until recently. I first heard of Van Zandt through Nanci Griffith’s cover of his song  “Tecumseh Valley.”  Like many Van Zandt ballads, it tells a tragic and beautifully melodic story about a woman named Caroline. “Techumseh Valley” is about a life, a time, and a place far from the life I’ve led. Yet, it’s a song I’ll never forget. Although Va...

The ending of a love relationship is often painful and dramatic. In “Hey, That’s No Way to Say Goodbye,” Leonard Cohen has penned a poetic plea for a graceful, respectful breakup that honors the beauty of a dying connection, rather than dwelling on the pain, anger, and lingering regret of the ending. Cohen wrote the song in 1966 on a decrepit bed in the Penn Terminal Hotel in Midtown Manhattan. In...

The ending of a love relationship is often painful and dramatic. In “Hey, That’s No Way to Say Goodbye,” Leonard Cohen has penned a poetic plea for a graceful, respectful breakup that honors the beauty of a dying connection, rather than dwelling on the pain, anger, and lingering regret of the ending. Cohen wrote the song in 1966 on a decrepit bed in the Penn Terminal Hotel in Midtown Manhattan. In...

In his thirties, Leonard Cohen wrote novels, poetry, and the occasional song. These were his passions, and he hoped to make a living at them. Unfortunately, at this early stage in his career, Cohen realized these passions couldn’t support him. Most people at this point would, with a heavy heart and great disappointment, turn to a more mundane and practical way to make a living. Not Leonard. He dec...

Suzanne: The Lady Of The Harbor In his thirties, Leonard Cohen wrote novels, poetry, and the occasional song. These were his passions, and he hoped to make a living at them. Unfortunately, at this early stage in his career, Cohen realized these passions couldn’t support him. Most people at this point would, with a heavy heart and great disappointment, turn to a more mundane and practical way to ma...

“Eternal Flame” is another song that came into my head from out of nowhere. It just started playing in my mind on its own. I remembered the song, but I had never heard of (or don’t remember) an all-girl band called The Bangles. The group was popular in the 1980s. Susanna Hoff, their lead singer, wrote Eternal Flame with songwriters Billy Steinberg and Tom Kelly. The idea came from a Cyndi Lauper s...

It started out as a poem. Then it turned into a song. Then it became a background song for the movie “Beaches.” After various song covers at home and abroad, in 1988, Bette Midler made “Wind Beneath My Wings” a #1 hit in the USA. A year later, the song won Grammy Awards for both Record of the Year and Song of the Year. Here’s my version. Chapters (00:00:08) - My Hero

It started out as a poem. Then it turned into a song. Then it became a background song for the movie “Beaches.” After various song covers at home and abroad, in 1988, Bette Midler made “Wind Beneath My Wings” a #1 hit in the USA. A year later, the song won Grammy Awards for both Record of the Year and Song of the Year. Here’s my version. Chapters (00:00:09) - When You Were Simply Everything

“Sky Blue and Black” is an emotional roller coaster, looking back on the joys and sorrows of love and its lasting impact. Jackson Browne wrote the song over four years and released it on his album “I’m Alive” in 1992. The source material comes from Jackson’s relationship with a famous actress. However, Browne never wants his songs to be identified with his specific life events, so he rarely speaks...

Cat Stevens wrote “The First Cut Is The Deepest” when he was eighteen. At the time, he had no intention of becoming a worldwide star performer. He sold the song for thirty pounds to P.P. Arnold, a soul singer who lived near him in London. She released “The First Cut Is The Deepest” on her first album. It reached #18 on the U.K. charts in 1967. Eventually, Rod Stewart and Sheryl Crow covered the so...