www.michelgriffin.com m i c h e l    g r i f f i n Wednesday 10 March 2010

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To help you find the kind of song you're looking for, the songs on this page are divided into: Romantic    Funny    Sad     Contemplative     Political   and  Other People's    songs. To browse the songs on a particular album, click on the album name. Romantic Songs Children of Circumstance videolyricslo-fi hi-fi Edgy, atmospheric, electric. A lonely man contemplates a past he cannot change: 'It’s not only clowns who play the fool, But it’s only the brave who confront the truth ...' One of the more poignant tracks on the album.   From the album:  Russian Dolls One Way Conversations lyricslo-fi hi-fi It was when she sent me back all my love-letters that I realised that our conversations had been strictly one-way! With the fabulous silky tenor-sax playing of Alexis Van Eeckhout.    From the album:  Who Knows Where the Time Goes ? Who Whips the Cream? lyricslo-fi hi-fi The almost Samba rhythms of 'Who Whips the Cream?', with its delicate spanish guitar accompaniment, make you want to dance, as the singer idly wonders 'What makes you smile? Who is keeping you laughing? Who shares your dreams, now that I’m not there?'   From the album:  Russian Dolls August Morning lyricslo-fi hi-fi Crystal-clear guitars herald the arrival of a new summer's day. 'And I love you in the morning, as a new day coaxes birdsong from the trees; And I love you, and the laughter in your eyes that’s all for me'. The vocal is low and warm, and the smooth vocal harmonies are provided by Maryline Dumont.   From the album:  Russian Dolls The Slipstream of Your Smile lyricslo-fi hi-fi A song to capture the magic of those moments when your lover holds you captive with her eyes. With Alexis Van Eekhout's silky sax and Michel 'Coco' Correch's rhythmic double-bass.   From the album:  Who Knows Where the Time Goes ? True Love videolyricslo-fi hi-fi The album closes with this rhythmic paean to 'True Love', which again features the vocal talents of Maryline Dumont. 'True love's forever, or that's how it seems ...'   From the album:  Russian Dolls Strangers Once Again videolyricslo-fi hi-fi You go on vacation. You meet the love of your life. You return home. And arrange to meet up. But somehow, away from the beach and the rolling surf, the glinting, lilting moonlight, the magic's gone. And you realise that you've just become 'Strangers Once Again'. Fabulous guitar solo by Jean-Paul Piquard.   From the album:  Russian Dolls You and I lyricslo-fi hi-fi A love-song for those who can still feel that Love is an eternal in an ever-changing world.   From the album:  Who Knows Where the Time Goes ? You Crack That Smile lyricslo-fi hi-fi Isn't it amazing how a smile transforms a face ? Here's a little piece of jazz about that ...    From the album:  Who Knows Where the Time Goes ? She lyricslo-fi hi-fi A bouncy love-song which tries to capture the flamboyance of the lady whose life I share 'She's a pirouette, an arabesque/ A swallow's swirl around its nest She's the moment just before the smile/ Breaks into a laugh ...'    From the album:  Echoes, Waves or Ricochets Pour la Premiere Fois lyricslo-fi hi-fi 'When that look of yours first cut through my heart, I wanted so much for that look to last a lifetime ...' A french love-song that starts softly and climaxes with a wild horn solo set against lush strings.   From the album:  Echoes, Waves or Ricochets Funny Songs Walking the Web lyricslo-fi hi-fi 'Time is coming, not so far away, there'll be a Blackberry implant in every brain ...' and we'll all be 'Walking the Web'. A lovely catchy number, with a Django Reinhardt feel to it.   From the album:  Russian Dolls Alice in Dixieland lyricslo-fi hi-fi A light-hearted series of caricatures, with a Dixieland feel.   From the album:  Echoes, Waves or Ricochets Dont Step on my Smile lyricslo-fi hi-fi 'Don't Step on my Smile' changes the mood: a jaunty, upbeat tongue-in-cheek duet. 'When the newscaster casts his news, it's enough to give an optimist a dose of the blues ...'    From the album:  Echoes, Waves or Ricochets Sad Songs Perfumed Letter Blues videolyricslo-fi hi-fi When I was a kid, I was hooked on John Mayall, Eric Clapton and the original Blues men like Howlin' Wolf and Muddy Waters. This is my tribute.   From the album:  Who Knows Where the Time Goes ? Deep Inside the Night lyricslo-fi hi-fi 'Deep Inside the Night' paints a portait of a vulnerable lady looking to the horizon for a better deal. The musical treatment (acoustic guitar, cello and violin) is very spare, and hauntingly beautiful.    From the album:  Echoes, Waves or Ricochets Man and Boy lyricslo-fi hi-fi As every woman knows, there's a boy that walks behind the face of every man. This somewhat dark song summarises some of his more fragile moments ...   From the album:  Echoes, Waves or Ricochets Contemplative Songs Dreams Like Bubbles videolyricslo-fi hi-fi I was inspired to write this jazz piece by reading Don Marquis's comment : 'Publishing a volume of verse is like dropping a rose-petal down the Grand Canyon and waiting for the echo'. Dreams are like bubbles, blown over cobblestones. With Albert Casas's inventive tenor sax.   From the album:  Who Knows Where the Time Goes ? Where the Story Starts videolyricslo-fi hi-fi As the crickets still, and the sun goes down, the wild geese pass overhead in search of pastures new, and we listen in on the singer's reflections on his new found roots, his new-found start in life.   From the album:  Russian Dolls Tree Trunks and Rough Stone lyricslo-fi hi-fi I love the simple honesty of old farm-houses, built of local rough-hewn stone and felled tree-trunks. I chose to live in one, and I imagine that I will die here. With the haunting accordion playing of Gérard Lamolère.   From the album:  Who Knows Where the Time Goes ? Dreamer lyricslo-fi hi-fi An affectionate portrait of someone who is always waiting for someone else to take the initiative. Swirling organ, crystal 12-strings and a gentle beat.    From the album:  Echoes, Waves or Ricochets That Laughter of Conchita's lyricslo-fi hi-fi 'In the hazy middle-distance between the known and the unseen, hovers in uncertainty the ghost of what might have been' - 'That Laughter of Conchita's' paints the portrait of a liberated spirit who left the singer with an indelible memory of her laughter and her easy ways. Nice acoustic guitar-work.   From the album:  Russian Dolls Evensong lyricslo-fi hi-fi A gentle, laid-back song for the end of a perfect day.   From the album:  Echoes, Waves or Ricochets The Poet's Smile lyricslo-fi hi-fi 'The Poet's Smile' speaks of someone who was so concerned with his image that he lost his true self. The sparest song on the album, it came out in the studio in a single take, with Michel accompanying his poignant lyrics with some simple guitar-picking.   From the album:  Russian Dolls Travelling Man lyricslo-fi hi-fi 'Freedom is only for the strong'. A song for everyone who feels the tension between the lure of the open road, and the safety of a loving relationship. Some lovely harmonies, too.    From the album:  Echoes, Waves or Ricochets The Valley Time Forgot lyricslo-fi hi-fi A lilting hymn of praise for the lovely Lot valley in France. Musically, it's a cross-fertilisation between country-folk and baroque, with soaring strings, and even a hint of harpsichord.    From the album:  Echoes, Waves or Ricochets Freeze the Moment videolyricslo-fi hi-fi I wanted to write a song which captured the preciousness of that tiny slice we have of the endless continuum we call Time. Which noted that when we look at the face of a lover or friend, we don't see them just in the present, we see also the past we have shared. And which noted too the fragility of our existence, and how slender are the threads that bind us .....    From the album:  Echoes, Waves or Ricochets Echoes, Waves or Ricochets lyricslo-fi hi-fi A driving beat underpins a narrative that evokes turning-points in the passage from 'the long grass of our childhood, to the loneliness of our end'. Perhaps our real legacy is the effect we have on other people.    From the album:  Echoes, Waves or Ricochets Political Songs America, Come Weep videolyricslo-fi hi-fi A country ballad about a waitress in a diner, who is longing for the open highway, and lamenting the missed turnings on the country's road toward the American Dream.   From the album:  Echoes, Waves or Ricochets Russian Dolls videolyricslo-fi hi-fi With the title track, 'Russian Dolls', Michel has found a worthy successor to his popular 'America, Come Weep'. Although in a very different style, both songs talk in their own way of the hypocrisy of power: 'It's all a game of Russian dolls, every motive neatly sheathed; Painted faces & frozen smiles cloak the daggers and the greed'. Plangent electric guitar and more lovely vocal harmonies by Maryline Dumont.   From the album:  Russian Dolls Other People's Songs Me and Bobby McGee lo-fi hi-fi One of my all-time favourite country songs. The treatment here is nearer to Kris Kristofferson's original version than Janis Joplin's rocker ...   From the album:  Who Knows Where the Time Goes ? The Rose lo-fi hi-fi Maybe it was because it was the day before Valentine's Day, but I heard Bette Midler's version of this on the radio as I was putting the album together, and was blown away by it. It seemed only natural to include it on an album which was themed on Love and the passage of Time.   From the album:  Who Knows Where the Time Goes ? One Too Many Mornings videolo-fi hi-fi I often used to start my folk-club sets with this evocative, less well-known Dylan song. The photo was taken by Richard M. Sintchak, of www.lightshadowandtone.com   From the album:  Who Knows Where the Time Goes ? Bird on the Wire videolo-fi hi-fi One of my favourite Cohen songs, arranged for two guitars. I've been playing this for so long, and yet it always moves me.    From the album:  Who Knows Where the Time Goes ? Who Knows Where the Time Goes ? videolo-fi hi-fi Sandy Denny's immortal classic is the final song on the album, and is sung as a duet with the delightful Amy 'Sugarbee' Caldwell, whom I've never met. (We collaborated on the song via the 'net). One of the finest songs ever written about the fragility of Love in the face of Time.   From the album:  Who Knows Where the Time Goes ?

This site describes and contains Michel Griffin's songs, piano, orchestral, New Age and guitar music in MP3 format. The site and all the music it contains and describes are copyright © M.J.C. Griffin. All rights reserved. Booking agent: Mick Gardiner