Purple City, a song

Diana, do you wanna come on out and play?
I’ll show ya a little bit of homemade ecstasy
I know ya, that you’re bored and you got nowhere to be
We’ll go there together

Diana, do you wanna come along for a ride?
I’ll take ya to a place where you’ve never felt more alive
It’ll wake ya to all the emptiness inside
We can chase it forever

Purple City, just keep staring into the lights
Looking for Purple City, trying not to lose your sight
Cause the night is young
And the truth still hasn’t hit me
That we’ll lose it when we find it, Purple City

And Tommy, do you wanna head out for a run
On a highway that takes us past the setting sun?
The lights are sparkling on the horizon
We’ll go there together

And Tommy, I think I’m ready to take the leap
Cause falling is better than dying in your sleep
They’re calling, all the things we know we just can’t keep
We’ll lose them together in …

Purple City, just keep staring into the lights
Looking for Purple City, trying not to lose your sight
Cause the night is young
And the truth still hasn’t hit me
That we’ll lose it when we find it, Purple City

Diana, I guess it’s time we headed home
The sunrise is gonna find us both alone
But your heartbeat is still aching in my bones
I’ll always remember ….

Purple City, just keep staring into the lights
Looking for Purple City, trying not to lose your sight
Cause the night is young
And the truth still hasn’t hit me
That we’ll lose it when we find it, Purple City

This Town, a song

I grew up in the small town of Gibbons, Alberta.  Set on the prairies with a population of 5000 and open farmland in every direction, it was not an especially cosmopolitan community to grow up in. It never felt small to me, though, or especially provincial. 

I had the good fortune to go home a couple of summers ago and spend a full day wandering my hometown, some 35 years after the fact, reminiscing and reuniting and rediscovering how truly remarkable this small town was.  I had no clue, for instance, that the freedom to explore the Sturgeon River valley unsupervised for hours on end was a great gift to a growing child's psyche, or that living a stones-throw from every good friend you had gave you a profound feeling of connectedness and belonging.  Growing up in little old Gibbons, I realized, was a beautiful gift from God. 

A year or so later, I wrote this song as a tribute to the Town of Gibbons, and a word of thanks to God for having given it to me, and me to it.  I hope you enjoy, and I hope it inspires you to reflect on your own childhood, and all the things you never knew at the time were shaping you into the grown-up you've become.



We were chasing dragons
With our homemade wooden swords
There in your river valley
At the edges of our world

We were making legends
Out of never ending days
On your forbidden rooftops
In your back alleys

You don’t always know how who you were
Is who you are today
Or how the man that you’ve become was born
In child’s play (oh)

This town was big enough
For the three of us to run around in
Till we were tall enough to ride
With fireworks on the summer nights
While lightning played across the sky
It wasn’t much but it’ll last me till I die

We were chasing lovers
When all the dragons had been tamed
The mystery discovered
And all the heroes had been named

We were forging friendships
Under never-ending skies
Out on your open highways
Under your watchful eyes

You can never say how wounds
Will grow up into dreams
Or how the ground beneath your feet
Is firmer than it seems (cause)

This town was big enough
For the three of us to run around in
Till we were tall enough to ride
With fireworks on the summer nights
While lightning played across the sky
It wasn’t much but it’ll last me till I die

If nature’s brightest gold is our first green
This town will always hold a special place
In the treasury, of my memory (oh)

This town was big enough
For the three of us to run around in
Till we were tall enough to ride
With fireworks on the summer nights
While lightning played across the sky
It wasn’t much but it’ll last me till I die

Warrior Poet, a song

This song started vaguely as a riff on the idea that being a preacher is sometimes like being a warrior-poet, carrying the paradoxical double duty of both comforting the afflicted and afflicting the comfortable. It morphed in the writing (as most songs do), and became a much more general anthem for anyone who has been knocked down and kicked around because they didn't feel they could do what it takes to fit in.  Well: whatever it means to you to stand your ground like a Warrior Poet, may it speak to you today.



Oh, you don’t have to hide your scars
You can wear them like a soldier’s silver star
That he brought home from the war
For an act of uncommon valor
And when it’s all been said and done
When every battle’s lost and won
And when the victory’s begun
They will make you beautiful

Cause just when you thought that you were
Down for the count
You turned your cheek
And raised your glass
With perfect nonchalance (and you)

You stared them down like a warrior poet
If you felt fear, you didn’t show it
Through blood and tears you found
The fight was coursing in your veins and you
You stood your ground like a warrior poet
At a loss for words but you didn’t show it
They knocked you down but you will rise again
You’re a warrior poet

So keep your heart upon your sleeve
Don’t let them steal what you believe
And you’ll bring this world to its knees
If you don’t give up the good fight
And somehow you’ll beat the odds
Breaking through glittering façades
While the host of heaven all applauds
As you take it up, your last stand

You ran the gauntlet when you
Threw the gauntlet down
You toed the line
And raised your voice
And took the fight to them

You stared them down like a warrior poet
If you felt fear, you didn’t show it
Through blood and tears you found
The fight was coursing in your veins
You stood your ground like a warrior poet
At a loss for words but you didn’t show it
They knocked you down but you will rise again
You’re a warrior poet