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

Top Ten Opening Song Lyrics

This was supposed to be a ten item list, but I had trouble finding two last songs worthy of nomination. The trick here is that I'm not actually thinking of the top ten best songs, or my top ten favorite, or even just the top ten best song lyrics. I'm only thinking of great opening lines. The rest of the song may bomb (though in the case of the eight on my list so far, they all stand pretty strong as songs in their own right), but the opening lines have a strange evocative power, resonating deeply in the imagination for years. Sometimes I find myself muttering these lines to myself in moments of sadness or joy, and somehow the haze of my heart starts to dissipate.

Anyways, here's my list so far. Any suggestions for the two missing songs?

1. “I want to run, I want to hide/I want to tear down the walls that hold me inside” Where the Streets Have No Name, U2

2. “In the days of my youth I was told what it means to be a man/Now I’ve reached that age I try to do all those things the best I can” Good Times/Bad Times, Led Zeppelin

3. “I read the news today, O boy/About a lucky man who made the grade/And though the news was rather sad/Well I just had to laugh/I saw the photograph” A Day in the Life, The Beatles

4. “Now I’ve heard there was a secret chord /That David played and it pleased the Lord/But you don’t really care for music, do ya?” Hallelujah¸ Leonard Cohen

5. “There must be some way out of here, said the joker to the thief / There’s too much confusion here, I cant get no relief” All Along the Watchtower, Bob Dylan

6. “You thought the leaden winter would bring you down forever / But you rode upon a steamer to the violence of the sun” Tales of Brave Ulysses, Cream

7. “You get to feel so guilty / You got so much for so little /Then you find that feeling just won't go away” Gone, U2

8. “Pour un instant, j'ai oublié mon nom / Ça m'a permis enfin d'écrire cette chanson" Pour un instant, Harmonium

9. ??

10. ??

3 comments:

Jon Coutts said...

Those are good ones indeed. How about a translation on the French one?

Two that come to mind for me are from Hurt by Nine Inch Nails, although it is Cash whose voice I hear: "Tried to hurt myself today/To see if I still feel/I focus on the pain/the only thing that's real." It sticks with me because it just cuts to the chase.

The other one that springs to mind is one I've been listening to lately, from U2, Wake up Dead Man: "Jesus, Jesus help me/I'm alone in this world/And a ****** up world it is too/Tell me, tell me the story/The one about eternity/And the way its all gonna be. . ."

Dale Harris said...

Both great suggestions, esp. Hurt. I've never forgotten when you spoke about it in Media Chapel way back. Very powerful.

The Harmonium song means something like: "For a moment I've forgotten my name/That's allowed me finally to write this song"

OB1 said...

I only have one.
Hello darkness my old friend.
I've come to talk to you again.
Simon & Garfunkel
When I was young, it talked to me where I was at.
No0w. it talks to me about where our society is.
OB1