Album FATHER

(Deutsche Version weiter unten …)

The most important man in life is the father. Or is he? Apparently, this topic has been on my mind for quite some time, as it wasn’t consciously planned to make an album on this subject. But at some point, I realized that many of the songs I wrote were about me as a father, my father, and other fathers. About love, security, freedom and attachment, the gift and responsibility of being a father, acceptance, forgiveness, understanding, or at least benevolent perception of the other.

The song “Within” shows the way. What we are all looking for is not outside. We all know this… and yet we keep looking there. It is art and, in this case, music that leads us there, to the center of being. To the place where we are free to be ourselves. Accepted and loved just as we are.

Within

When the day starts, you hide yourself under the blankets
When the world is calling, you’re pretending not to hear

When words remain unspoken and a touch remains a thought
When it all feels wrong and you seem to disappear

Oh when they’re pulling and pushing, trying to make you run
You want to fly away to a secret place far from anger, far from fear

When the sunset’s drowning in your eyes and shadows are rising
When the darkness whispers as it reaches out for you

Oh, when you need someone to hold your hand and fight against
Nightmares and ghosts, never sure how to win, how to get through

Oh, you might think
That you’re not strong
You might think that I have always been
But there is summer
In the midst of winter
Within me, within you, within

When times get hard and people act as if they don’t care
When friends turn away and don’t know you anymore

Oh when the whole world is tumbling and running down
Look inside yourself, that’s where you’ll find
the missing piece you’re looking for

Oh you might think
That you’re not strong
You might think that I have always been
But there’s love
In the midst of hate
Within me, within you
Well, there’s a smile
In the midst of tears
Within me, within you
Oh within me, within you, within

Is it really so? Do we as fathers also give our best? Let’s assume it is so. Let’s presume the good – we would see our own fathers and grandfathers with different eyes. We would suddenly see the laughing child in them, the irrepressible zest for life of a newborn, a magical being that has experienced things on its path that have changed, shaped, and influenced it. “The Best We Can” lets light fall through murky water. Perhaps to the bottom of the lake.

The Best We Can

I’ve come to tell you, mother
I’m going to leave this town today
These skies of endless grey
Can’t make me change my mind
Heading south to find my way
What can I say?

I’ve come to tell you, father
I missed your warm and tender arms
Someone to keep me from the cold
Cold pain of feeling lost and lonely
So lonely, man, I swear

It took me half a life to understand
It’s not your fault, you’re not to blame
A boy needs love but anyway becomes a man
I guess we’re all just trying to do the best we can

I’ve come to tell you, son
Before you leave this town today
That I love you more than anything
And I pray that you will always stay
The way you are

I’ve come to tell you, son, I’m sorry
It was less than I’d promised you I’d give
There are things I wish that I had never said
And I’ll regret them so much as long as I live
But I hope

That after some time you will understand
It’s not your old man’s fault, he’s not to blame
Every boy needs love but anyway becomes a man
I guess we’re all just trying to do the best we can

Trees of green and red roses too
Clouds of white and skies of blue
Everyone needs love and a sad song now and then
What a wonderful world if we try the best we can
What a wonderful world if we try the very best we can

“Shed Light” turns to the “father” in dark moments. Often, father and mother remain protectors for the rest of one’s life, whom one calls upon, like in a prayer, even in their absence, asking them to dispel the cold, dissolve fears, and flood the darkness with light. And why not? Suddenly, the world appears bright, warm, and wonderful again.

Shed Light

When darkness falls on these misty mountains
And my weary soul is filled with homeless night
Reach out to me and give me shelter
Shed light on my ways, oh, shed light

When shadows whisper with tempting voices of the gone
And it’s so dim you can’t tell wrong from right
Reach out to me and send me strength
And shed light on my path, oh, shed light
Shed light on my path, oh, shed light

When times get gloomy and even friends turn away
And there’s no one left to stay bravely at your side
Reach out to me and hold my hand
Shed light on those days, oh, shed light

I’ve never been religious
But yes I do believe
Life is full of wonders and it’s wonderful
It’s wonderful being so naive

When the song is over and the story’s end has been told
When all the colours disappear and turn to white
Reach out to me and guide me home
Shed light on my soul, oh shed light
Shed light on my love, oh shed light
And shed light on my boys

The dialogue between girl and bird, inspired by a Banksy graffiti, represents for me what parents and all people must protect: The childlike immediacy of feelings, openness to everything, including or even especially to the unfamiliar. We can learn from each other and find better solutions together. Look at the children: “The Girl And The Bird”.

The Girl And The Bird

Would you mind, if I sit here
Girl with the tears rolling down her cheek?
I could stay and rest just for a while
Both of us sad, lonely and weak

We’re speaking different languages
And can’t embrace each other as we should
But, anyway, sharing this precious moment
Makes me feel deeply understood

A painting on a wall
A story told without a word
You may have seen it somewhere
The girl and the bird

Nobody loves me, the girl she sighs
I wonder if they’d cry if I was dead
If I had wings like you, I’d fly away as
Far as I could I’d never turn my head

There’s only one safe place for me
Replies the bird, it’s up there in the sky
I’m a prisoner in a cage called freedom
It’s a cursed gift to fly or die

A painting on a wall
A story told without a word
You may have seen it somewhere
The girl and the bird

If you love a flower that lives on a star
You look at the stars with your heart alight
All the stars are abloom with flowers
Flourishing in the very night

A painting on a wall
A story told without a word
You may have seen it somewhere
The girl and the bird
Oh, the sad girl and the blue bird

The title “Let Love Set You Free” is clear: After many years of my own searching… Even if it doesn’t always feel that way; only the love for oneself – and consequently also for one’s own children and others – is the key to freedom. Yes, love cannot be shackled or chained; it is never really secure. But who would want security when freedom is possible?

Let Love Set You Free

Love is blind, a father told his son
Someday it’s going to hurt you, baby, said that anxious man

But love never asks, it’s the answer to it all
It will light your way on your darkest day, you’ll see clearly and stand tall
A ship out on the waters of a fear that can’t be named
This love can’t be tamed
It’s wonderful and wild, my beautiful child

Love comes to meet you like a river meets the sea
And you might seem to stumble or to fall
That’s just the river learning to let go
As it becomes a part of what it was always meant to be
So let love, let love set you free

Love is not an option but a choice you should make
It will guide you, give you shelter, a caring hand that’s yours to take
The colours of a flower on a cold winter’s day
But don’t forget that love can’t be chained
It’s wonderful and wild, my beautiful child

Love comes to meet you like a river meets the sea
And you might seem to stumble or to fall
That’s just the river learning to let go
As it becomes a part of what it was always meant to be
So let love, let love

The old man thought he knew
But the old man he was wrong
Haunted by his past
Blaming love that never lasted
Believing the lie would make him strong

If love is blind then I have seen it
Turn me into the one I always should have been

Love comes to meet you like a river meets the sea
And you might seem to stumble or to fall
That’s just the river learning to let go
As it becomes a part of what it was always meant to be
So let love, let love set you free

I have never really understood the concept of a “birthday.” So it surprised me all the more that the “Birthday Song” suddenly came to me. And more than that: Through the song, I realized how beautiful it can be to celebrate the circumstances of a good start in life with music, in peace and freedom.

Birthday Song

Happy birthday to you
Happy birthday to you

Born in the land of freedom
Born at the right time
Born in the land of freedom
Born at the right time

Born with the right to speak
Born with the right to speak
Born at the right time

Born near the silver creek
Near golden fields of work and wheat
Born at the right time
Baby, you were born at the right time

Happy birthday to you

In stark contrast stands the song “Lullaby In Times Of War,” inspired by the poem “Nana de Gaza” by Carlos Piera. The song was created long before the violent excesses of the Israeli army in the Gaza Strip that began in October 2023. A father sings his child to sleep while bombs fall. What was originally a poetic exaggeration has now been cruelly made reality by a criminal regime and some Western politicians.

Lullaby In Times Of War

Hush my little child in the cradle
I’m here for you, don’t be sad
So when death comes here to find you
Will find you peaceful in your bed

Close your eyes, my pretty darling
Soon it’s over, don’t you weep
So when death comes here to find you
Will find you asleep

Dream a little dream
So when death comes here in the morning
Careful it shall be

Sleep, fly far away
When you find dead cats among the ruins
With them you will play

Sleep, my love, oh sleep
So maybe when death comes here to take you
Will take me

“Broken” is about breaking down, both internally and externally. Families are suddenly no longer whole. Children experience their parents’ separation as a loss of basic trust in the world and the people closest to them. Parents may feel they have failed. We all do our best (see above), and to do that, we should also be allowed to be sad when something breaks. Even if we might believe that tears are a waste of time. Farewell is sad.

Broken

I left you with your beauty
I left you with your lies
I left you with a thousand tears
behind my weary eyes

I left you with your treasure
I left you with your gifts
I left you with a thousand songs
behind my frozen lips

I left you at the break of day
I left you at nightfall

I left you with a broken wing
I left you lost at sea
I left you a thousand miles from home
in a cage of blood and steel

I left you with your anger
but you didn’t really care
I left you at least a thousand times
but in the end … I was there

Broken – broken all these years
Broken – wasted all those tears
Broken
Broken

At first, it was just words that wouldn’t come, then everyday life became difficult, and in the end, she recognized her own partner and children only in bright moments. “For You” sings of love that is stronger than dementia. Nature and music as sources of strength and places of deep, intimate connection.

For You

Summer’s going by
the leaves are turning red
autumn’s falling, minor tunes
are swirling in my head

It’s been so long since we first kissed
under this weeping willow tree
neath shallow river’s shady murmur
rolling to the sea

carry on, mmh, carry on
carry on, uh, carry on

Rain and snow and stormy skies
might leave me sad and blue
but still I keep on singing, singing for you

For you

The silent winter spreads its wings
the willow now a wedding dress
brightens up the dark of night
and still you’ll hear me whispering Yes

You ask me who I am
From time to time you seem to know
then spring moves sparkling in your eyes
and long since dried out rivers flow

carry on, mmh, carry on
carry on, oh, carry on

Rain and snow and stormy skies
might leave me kind of blue
but still I keep on singing, singing for you

For you

The message was unmistakable. It wasn’t about my own father, but of course, it was a shocking reminder of life’s fragility. How often do we ask ourselves: What would I do if I only had a short time to live? Suddenly it becomes real. “My Blue Piano” is a poem by Else Lasker-Schüler… and the image of the blue piano became “Blue Piano.”

Blue Piano

The waves keep rolling to the shore
Mumbling words of things that could have been
Wrinkled dreams tattooed on craving skin
What are we waiting for?

Sunlight’s gleaming through the trees
Let’s take a walk down where the river flows
Through willows‘ leaves the light and warm wind blows
This is our last summer breeze

Don’t hesitate
There’s no time to sit and wait
So let us play our favourite songs
On this blue piano all night long
On this blue piano

Clouds are wrapped around the moon
The fire’s fading and the house is quiet
It feels so good to have you by my side
And we’ll be as one together soon

Don’t hesitate
There’s no time to sit and wait
So let us play our favourite songs
On this blue piano all night long
Oh let us sing our favourite songs
On this blue piano all night long
Blue piano
On this blue piano

Being a father has changed my view of everything. A different perspective… The term “responsibility,” often mentioned in this context, sometimes feels heavy, although it basically demands something quite natural: finding answers for one’s own actions. I find answers only where questions are allowed to grow. And these grow only where the perception of the world has a place. And suddenly, it doesn’t seem so heavy anymore.

“One” is – as a kind of encore sung together live – the optimistic vision of a world in which we once again perceive each other and the wonderful world around us, where we are there for each other across generations and differences, where we are whole again. Healed, full of love. One.

One

The world’s gone crazy now
It seems it slipped off track
Mothers far from home walking with their children on a highway
Carrying broken homes and broken dreams on their backs

Choose freedom over security
Or we’ll lose both in the end
An overcrowded boat in the middle of the sea
Full of prayers, tears and drowning dreams of the promised land
Of the promised land

Sisters and brothers
On the highway and the sea
I feel so small, but listen
Wherever you might be

If you can hear me now
I think of you when everything seems lost
Know that someone’s reaching out to take your hand
Trying to take your hand

All I know is singing
All I know is playing this guitar
Hoping that this music’s gonna help to change the way
people treat each other no matter who they are

Cause we are all born innocent
Openhearted, wild and free
Have a little faith, your soul will guide you and the love you give
will be the love that will come back to you and me
To you and me

Sisters and brothers
Come and sing along with me
For all the scattered souls in need
Wherever you might be

If you can hear me now
I think of you when everything seems lost
Know that someone’s reaching out to take your hand
Trying to take your hand

The clouds will disappear
And then we, we will be one, we’ll be one

If you can hear me now
I think of you when everything seems lost
Know that someone’s reaching out to take your hand
Trying to take, to take your hand

 

Album FATHER

Der wichtigste Mann im Leben ist der Vater. Oder? Mich hat das Thema offenbar schon seit längerer Zeit beschäftigt, denn es war nicht bewusst von mir geplant, ein Album zu diesem Thema zu machen. Doch irgendwann wurde mir klar, dass es bei vielen der Songs, die ich schrieb, um mich als Vater, meinen Vater, andere Väter ging. Um Liebe, um Geborgenheit, Freiheit und Gebundenheit, um das Geschenk und die Verantwortung, Vater zu sein, um das Annehmen, das Verzeihen, das Verstehen oder zumindest das wohlwollende Wahrnehmen des Anderen.

Der Song „Within“ zeigt den Weg. Nicht im Außen liegt das, was wir alle suchen. Wir alle wissen das … und suchen doch immer weiter dort. Es ist die Kunst und in diesem Fall die Musik, die uns dorthin, in die Mitte des Seins führt. Dorthin, wo wir frei sind, wir zu sein. Angenommen und geliebt, so wie wir sind.

Ist es wirklich so? Geben wir auch als Väter unser Bestes? Nehmen wir an, es wäre so. Unterstellen wir das Gute – wir würden auch unsere eigenen Väter und Großväter mit anderen Augen sehen. Wir sähen plötzlich das lachende Kind in ihnen, die unbändige Lebenslust eines Neugeborenen, eines zauberhaften Wesens, das auf seinem Weg Dinge erlebt hat, die es verändert, geprägt, beeinflusst haben. „The Best We Can“ lässt Licht durch trübes Wasser fallen. Vielleicht bis auf den Grund des Sees.

„Shed Light“ wendet sich in den dunklen Momenten an den „Vater“. Oft bleiben Vater und Mutter für den Rest des Lebens die Beschützer, die man auch in ihrer Abwesenheit wie in einem Gebet anruft und sie bittet, die Kälte zu vertreiben, die Ängste zu lösen und das Dunkel mit Licht zu fluten. Und, warum nicht? Plötzlich erscheint die Welt wieder hell, warm und wunderbar.

Der Dialog zwischen Mädchen und Vogel, inspiriert von einem Banksy-Graffito, zeigt für mich das, was es für Eltern und alle Menschen zu beschützen gilt: Die kindliche Unmittelbarkeit von Gefühlen, die Offenheit gegenüber allem, auch oder sogar gerade gegenüber dem Fremden. Wir können voneinander lernen und gemeinsam bessere Lösungen finden. Schaut auf die Kinder: „The Girl And The Bird“.

Der Titel „Let Love Set You Free“ ist deutlich: Nach vielen Jahren der eigenen Suche … Auch wenn es sich vielleicht nicht immer so anfühlt; nur die Liebe zu sich selbst – und in der Folge auch zu den eigenen Kindern und anderen – ist der Schlüssel zur Freiheit. Ja, Liebe lässt sich nicht fesseln oder in Ketten legen, sie ist niemals wirklich sicher. Aber wer möchte schon Sicherheit, wenn Freiheit möglich wäre?

Ich konnte mit dem Konzept des „Geburtstags“ noch nie viel anfangen. Umso mehr hat es mich überrascht, dass sich plötzlich der „Birthday Song“ bei mir einfand. Und mehr noch: Durch den Song wurde mir klar, wie schön es sein kann, die Umstände eines guten Lebensstarts in Frieden und Freiheit mit Musik zu feiern.

Im krassen Kontrast dazu steht der Song „Lullaby In Times Of War“, der vom Gedicht „Nana de Gaza“ von Carlos Piera inspiriert wurde. Der Song entstand lange vor den Gewaltexzessen der israelischen Armee im Gazastreifen, die im Oktober 2023 begannen. Ein Vater singt sein Kind in den Schlaf während die Bomben fallen. Was ursprünglich eine poetische Überzeichnung war, wurde von einem verbrecherischen Regime und einigen westlichen Politikern nun auf grausame Weise zur Wirklichkeit.

In „Broken“ geht es um das innerliche und äußerliche Zerbrechen. Familien sind plötzlich kein Ganzes mehr. Kinder erleben die Trennung der Eltern als Verlust von Urvertrauen in die Welt und die ihnen allernächsten Menschen. Eltern haben eventuell das Gefühl, versagt zu haben. Wir alle tun unser Bestes (s.o.) und um das zu tun, sollten wir auch traurig sein dürfen, wenn etwas zerbrochen ist. Auch wenn wir glauben sollten, dass Tränen Zeitverschwendung sind. Abschied ist traurig.

Am Anfang waren es nur Worte, die nicht mehr einfielen, dann wurde der Alltag schwierig und am Ende erkannte sie den eigenen Partner und die eigenen Kinder nur noch in lichten Momenten. „For You“ besingt die Liebe, die stärker ist als die Demenz. Natur und Musik als Kraftquelle und Ort tiefer, inniger Verbindung.

Die Nachricht war unmissverständlich. Es ging nicht um meinen eigenen Vater, aber natürlich war es eine schockierende Erinnerung an die Zerbrechlichkeit des Lebens. Wie oft stellt man sich die Frage: Was würde ich machen, wenn ich nur noch kurze Zeit zu leben hätte? Plötzlich ist das real. „Mein blaues Klavier“ ist ein Gedicht von Else-Lasker Schüler … und das Bild vom blauen Klavier wurde zu „Blue Piano“.

Vater zu sein, hat meine Sicht auf alles verändert. Eine andere Perspektive … Der Begriff „Verantwortung“, der in diesem Zusammenhang häufig fällt, wiegt manchmal schwer, obwohl er eigentlich im Grunde etwas ganz Selbstverständliches fordert: Antworten für das eigene Handeln zu finden. Antworten finde ich natürlich nur dort, wo auch Fragen wachsen dürfen. Und diese wachsen nur dort, wo das Wahrnehmen der Welt einen Platz hat. Und das wiegt plötzlich gar nicht mehr so schwer.

„One“ ist – quasi als gemeinsam live gesungene Zugabe – die optimistische Vision einer Welt, in der wir uns gegenseitig und die wunderbare Welt um uns herum wieder wahrnehmen, über Generationen und Unterschiede hinweg füreinander da sind, in der wir wieder ein Ganzes sind. Gesundet, voller Liebe. Eins.