Books by Dale Harris

Books by Dale Harris
A Feast of Epiphanies

Though I Walk, A Novel

Daytime Moons and Other Celestial Anomalies, a book of poems

Second Wind

Second Wind
An album of songs both old and new. Recorded in 2021, a year of major transition for me, these songs explore the many vicissitudes of the spiritual life,. It's about the mountaintop moments and the Holy Saturday sunrises, the doors He opens that no one can close, and those doors He's closed that will never open again. You can click the image above to give it a listen.

The Song Became a Child

The Song Became a Child
A collection of Christmas songs I wrote and recorded during the early days of the pandemic lockdown in the spring of 2020. Click the image to listen.

There's a Trick of the Light I'm Learning to Do

This is a collection of songs I wrote and recorded in January - March, 2020 while on sabbatical from ministry. They each deal with a different aspect or expression of the Gospel. Click on the image above to listen.

Three Hands Clapping

This is my latest recording project (released May 27, 2019). It is a double album of 22 songs, which very roughly track the story of my life... a sort of musical autobiography, so to speak. Click the album image to listen.

Ghost Notes

Ghost Notes
A collections of original songs I wrote in 2015, and recorded with the FreeWay Musical Collective. Click the album image to listen.

inversions

Recorded in 2014, these songs are sort of a chronicle of my journey through a pastoral burn-out last winter. They deal with themes of mental-health, spiritual burn-out and depression, but also with the inexorable presence of God in the midst of darkness. Click the album art to download.

soundings

soundings
click image to download
"soundings" is a collection of songs I recorded in September/October of 2013. Dealing with themes of hope, ache, trust and spiritual loss, the songs on this album express various facets of my journey with God.

bridges

bridges
Click to download.
"Bridges" is a collection of original songs I wrote in the summer of 2011, during a soul-searching trip I took out to Alberta; a sort of long twilight in the dark night of the soul. I share it here in hopes these musical reflections on my own spiritual journey might be an encouragement to others: the sun does rise, blood-red but beautiful.

echoes

echoes
Prayers, poems and songs (2005-2009). Click to download
"echoes" is a collection of songs I wrote during my time studying at Briercrest Seminary (2004-2009). It's called "echoes" partly because these songs are "echoes" of times spent with God from my songwriting past, but also because there are musical "echoes" of hymns, songs or poems sprinkled throughout the album. Listen closely and you'll hear them.

Accidentals

This collection of mostly blues/rock/folk inspired songs was recorded in the spring and summer of 2015. I call it "accidentals" because all of the songs on this project were tunes I have had kicking around in my notebooks for many years but had never found a "home" for on previous albums. You can click the image to download the whole album.

random reads

Caedmon's Hymn, a song

Diamond in the Rough (a song)



I didn’t know that the day that I sat down beside you
I was sitting down next to my destiny
And I didn’t know that the day you smiled at me the first time
I was meeting a long lost piece of me
And I’m so glad you didn’t let the disguise fool you
I’m so glad you didn’t fall for my bluff
Cause if you had we might have never learned the truth about us (that)
Whatever else we had together
Together we had a diamond in the rough

I didn’t know the first time I felt your breath upon me
How much grace was breathing over me
I didn’t know the first time I held you in my arms
How strong a heart was beating next to me
And I’m so glad all my mistakes never deterred you
I’m so glad that we held on when the going got tough
Cause if we never had we might have never learned the truth about us (that)
Whatever else we had together,
Together we had a diamond in the rough

So place me as a seal upon the hinges of your heart
Like a lover’s seal engraved upon your arm
Cause love is strong as death, more jealous than the grave
And its flame burns with the fire of the Lord

I do not know all the ups and downs that lie before us
And where we’ll be when its all said and done
And I do not know what we’ll see there in the rear-view mirror
When we look back after its all said and done
But I hope it’s true we’ll say we savored every moment
I hope it’s true they’ll say we left a trail of love
Cause if we do that’s how we’ll finally know the truth about us (that)
Whatever else we had together,
Together we had a diamond in the rough

A Thousand Words, a Song



They say the Inuit up north
Have got a thousand words for snow
And well, honey, I just don’t know if that’s true
But if you need a thousand words
For the stuff of life you need the most
Then I guess I ought to have a thousand words for you

They say that Earnest Hemmingway
Could write a thousand words a day
Well he must have had a most prolific muse
But if you give a thousand words
To the thing that most inspires you
Then I guess I ought to have a thousand words for you

And I remember how they say
That a picture’s worth a thousand words
Well honey, give or take a word or two
But a thousand pictures won’t suffice
To tell you just a single thing
Out of the thousand words I want to say to you

A thousand words could never contain
The one thing I most want you to know
A thousand words could never describe the beat of my heart
I know its not much, I know it’s absurd
And I’ll never say something you haven’t heard
I know it falls short, but it’s all I’ve got
A thousand words, a thousand words

It’s better to be thought a fool
They say than open up your mouth
And prove to the whole world that its true
And if brevity’s the soul of wit
Then maybe all I have to do
Is just hold my tongue and let the silence speak to you

Your Faded Blue Jeans, a song



Every eye in the place
Is fixed on you
You can feel their gaze
Following you
And they’re sizing you up
And they’re weighing your soul
And you can’t get away
No matter where you go

Everybody’s watching you
As you’re walking down the street
(you can feel it)
Shining like the sun in your faded blue jeans
With your hair done up and your defenses down
And the world at your feet (and you know)
You’re the most magnetic thing they’ve ever seen
You in your faded blue jeans

You were breaking their hearts
But they just didn’t know
While you’re playing your part
We can’t stop the show
And you’re turning their heads
We can’t look away
And you’re knocking them dead
To live another day

Everybody’s watching you
As you’re walking down the street
(you can feel it)
Shining like the sun in your faded blue jeans
With your hair done up and your defenses down
And the world at your feet (and you know)
You’re the most magnetic thing they’ve ever seen
You in your faded blue jeans

You’re more beautiful than you could ever know.
You’re more beautiful than you could ever know, you never know, you never know

Everybody’s watching you
As you’re walking down the street
(you can feel it)
Shining like the sun in your faded blue jeans
With your hair done up and your defenses down
And the world at your feet (and you know)
You’re the most magnetic thing they’ve ever seen
You in your faded blue jeans