Don’t regret another’s suffering

Don’t regret another’s suffering for two reasons, both for how it may be necessary, and for how it opens doors. As people learn how they will and won’t allow others to treat them, and thus what they will demand of themselves regarding how they will and won’t treat their fellows, suffering is frequently an absolute necessary ingredient in cooking the sauce of growth. And like a 350 degree oven on eggs, batter, butter, and sugar the exposure to the heat of suffering may indeed bake something later delicious, but there is no way to fully combine these ingredients without that last step.

This song takes a similar journey in how the last minute can’t really express itself unless and until one has taken the simple ingredients of the first 3:30 and allowed them to coagulate a bit. I.E. one has to listen and relax into it a bit. I don’t expect many will make or take that time, but hopefully those who do will be adequately pleased. You may listen in a new window (3 weeks ahead of its official release) at: CLICK HERE TO LISTEN

And if any reading this feel overwhelmingly urged to make me suffer your criticism of it for my personal growth, you may find me on social media and indulge yourself.

And now just to add some meaningless words in the effort to make this blog post needlessly longer when, really, I’ve already said what my original thought was, I am simply prattling to increase the searchability of this mostly impotent endeavor at getting my song noticed. 🙂 But then again, about a year ago one of my songs that I didn’t push at all got tens of thousands of “spins” on spotify for no reason I can imagine… like the African man says to Meryl Streep in “Out Of Africa”… “The Gods are happy Bo-poo, they play with us.” Please don’t take that as an encouragement or personal endorsement towards monotheism. 🙂

Types of people who generally dont like me and I’m ok with it.

Types of people who generally dont like me and I’m ok with it. A Lyrics, Logic and Lullabies Blog.

Types of people who generally dont like me. Here we go.

I was in discussion recently with someone and was providing them with some historical perspective about my hometown. And while going through the years of progress and reliving some of the pertinent issues I’ve been involved with along the way, there were of course a few moments to recount that involved personal drama.

And on the two moments when an honest recounting of past events came around towards persons who have shown an active dislike for me, I honestly reported the fact along with the needed history lesson.

However, going through the recollections of the two or three main detractors I’ve had along the way, I decided to really sit back and think about what were the characteristics I showed at that time in my life, and what were the main traits revealed in the character of my detractors back then. I observed an interesting pattern.

Types of people who generally dont like me. Don’t get me wrong.

Now it is not to say that I’m perfect, by any stretch of the word. I’ll readily admit to being stubborn, logical to a fault sometimes as regards keeping compassion alive, impatient when it comes to putting up with bull crap no matter how much BBQ sauce one might attempt to disguise it with, and I can be impatient when it comes to people with an overwhelming urge to steal the work, or image, or credit of another.

In addition, I have a modestly hard spot of bark on my tree trunk when it comes to modern day Pharisees who want the robes and the crown of authority, but forget all about that humility and pride stuff the good book often speaks towards.

Type of people who generally dont like me. My top four.

Yet when I looked long and hard at the few, (thankfully very few) people who have taken great effort to cause me harm or to impugn my personal character; when I really considered each of them with a detached and time tested review, I found some solace in realizing that they possess at least 1 of 4 general traits – in one case all 3 were present.

Generally speaking out of my few outspoken past critics and the types of people who generally don’t like me; one will find them to be: Liars – Posers – Bullies – Windbags

Even so, I think it worth noting how they did indeed teach me something worthwhile, and in the end I remain glad they came into my life. I’m more grateful that we each have moved on, yet I hope they have done so with grace and happiness.

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Lyrics, Logic, and Lullabies are delivered from baby boomer singer songwriter Ed Verner. Weaving together lyrics from personal experiences and tales from a life of people watching, these Lyrics, Logic, and Lullabies present contemporary younger songs from a salty renaissance man.

For more information on Ed and his Lyrics, Logic and Lullabies, visit:
http://lyricslogicandlullabies.com/
https://twitter.com/Lyrics_Logic_an/
https://facebook.com/edvernermusic/
https://youtube.com/WindKetcher/
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Types of people who generally don’t like me and I’m ok with it.

Why wait when it comes to Christmas and the New Year’s Resolutions

Why wait when it comes to Christmas and the New Year’s Resolutions? A Lyrics, Logic and Lullabies Blog.

Why wait when it comes to Christmas?

I love Christmas time, and yet it always begs the question for me about ‘why wait’? The same goes with the whole New Year’s celebration and the idea of resolutions. I’m pretty bad about not always having the perfect gift for someone at Christmas time.

And yet, the other side of that coin is how if I stumble upon a perfect gift for them in September I will buy it and give it to them. Even if it is not their birthday. Why wait when it comes to Christmas if I found it months earlier? And sad but true, it often feels as though many gifts really wind up feeling like trinkets of clutter that some poor soul had to agonize over purchasing “on schedule”.

But the real tragedy is how the clutter and the business of it all can sap the very spirit of love and giving that it was supposed to remind us of. (who says you shouldn’t end a sentence with a preposition?)

Why wait when it comes to Christmas or the resolutions?

As for New Year’s Eve and the concept of resolutions, I gave them up somewhere along my teen years long ago upon further consideration of how I shouldn’t wait to begin any worthy goal until a seemingly arbitrary moment of the planet’s orbit around our Sun. My father says, tongue in cheek, how “Time is a convenient assumption, made to explain an apparent succession of supposed events.” Sometimes I feel that many holidays are likewise full of puff and bravado.

If you have a goal that needs to wait until “new year’s eve” before you will commit to achieving it, then perhaps the goal itself is a bit thin. Likewise, if you need for Christmas to arrive before allowing the spirit of love and celebration of the Messiah to motivate you to cherish your loved ones then perhaps you should double-check yourself and your habit of giving to those in your closest circles.

And, why wait when it comes to Christmas… to pick up one of my songs?

So, if your goal is to start supporting mellow indy songwriter/singers or giving good music to baby boomer friends who are sick and tired of waiting for “new” stuff on the radio to enjoy listening to, then by all means buy my music, and have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year too.

For more information on Ed and his Lyrics, Logic and Lullabies, visit:
http://lyricslogicandlullabies.com/
https://twitter.com/Lyrics_Logic_an/
https://facebook.com/edvernermusic/
https://youtube.com/WindKetcher/
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Why wait when it comes to Christmas and the New Year’s Resolutions

Songwriter Singer with an odd voice. Here are a few examples

Songwriter Singer with an odd voice. Here are a few examples. A Lyrics, Logic and Lullabies Blog.

Songwriter Singer. In some cases, it should be this way.

“Singer Songwriter” is generally the order that these two words are most often paired. And it is a brutal truth that the general public, desperately seeking live performances to feed an addiction to energy found nowhere else, more greatly prizes the singer/songwriter combination in that order. Some of my musical inspirations, like Dan Fogelberg, James Taylor, Marc Cohn, and more recently Jamie Cullum all fit into that order of things. They have excellent voices which can transport any song, one of their own or another’s, to a place where any songwriter would be proud to have their song go.

The Songwriter Singer… Songs first, vocals next?

Yet, there is another… the “Songwriter Singer”. The Randy Newman, or Jimmy Webb, or Keith Whitley. And though they can sing (for me even I prefer to hear them sing their songs rather than others at times), still they swim first and foremost in the pool of songwriting and leave their vocal performance to bring up a second place finish as far as priorities go.

I am a songwriter singer!

It’s not to say that I can’t or won’t perform, because I will and I have, and I enjoy it. But it is rather to say I acknowledge how I won’t ever be considered a singer. Yes, I can lend authenticity and voice to a song of mine, especially if it is a song that will never be heard otherwise. And there are many who greatly enjoy hearing my song voice. But, I am not blind, nor deaf when I critically watch my performance or listen to my recordings. There is meat on the bone and a genuine song when I’ve given it my best, and I remain proud. But part of me still wishes that if I live long enough, and work diligently enough, that one day a song of mine may be done by a “real” singer.

I’ve paid “real” singers a time or two to reinterpret the vocals on a studio recording of my songs. But it is just not the same as when a performing singer WANTS to sing the song from their gut; from that place where music bubbles up in mysterious wanderlust. And the odds of a “real” performance singer finding my songs and enjoying the wellspring of a collaboration like Webb and Cambell, or Newman and Three Dog Night or Chantal did are slim.

I don’t do it because I’m sure it will work out. I write them because I must, and such is the life of a Songwriter Singer. Perhaps I should write a song about it.

For more information on Ed and his Lyrics, Logic and Lullabies, visit:
http://lyricslogicandlullabies.com/
https://twitter.com/Lyrics_Logic_an/
https://facebook.com/edvernermusic/
https://youtube.com/WindKetcher/
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How do you debate Religion vs Atheism? My logic on the topic.

How do you debate Religion vs Atheism? My logic on the topic. A Lyrics, Logic and Lullabies Blog.

How do you debate religion vs atheism? My take on the topic.

There are several dangers in espousing meaningful thought and debate about spiritual matters. The most logical of which is how by its nature the subject will put you in a minority. Whether you are a Hindu, Muslim, Christian, Jew, Buddhist, atheist, or any of several other lesser-known contenders, you become a minority if you “declare” yourself any one or the other. That being said, allow me to offer a point to ponder anyway.

How do you debate religion vs atheism? The battlegrounds of the discussion.

If you are debating the merit of any monotheistic religion to an atheist, the battleground is entirely different than if you are discussing one mono-theistic religion in contrast to another. For if one side of the debate comes from the perspective of someone who believes there is NO higher being who all-knowingly sees over, created, and/or has concern over the actions of mankind, and the other side of the debate starts from such a place; the two parties cannot find middle ground – and this is why. The atheist actually worships mankind itself as both the problem and the answer to the problems of the past and the future. Whereas competing mono-theistic religious believers worship differing Gods, and/or their prophets and scriptures.

How do you debate religion vs atheism? Is it possible between a religious person and an atheist?

To an atheist, all adherents of a religion are to some level or another participating in the ridiculous – and often this belief takes on (oddly enough) a holier than though conceit. One who worships mankind is unable to engage in debate regarding a morality outside of man. Thence all historical evidence or precedent is simply the vagaries of mankind writing or creating his own history. To him, any scriptures become simply an artifice of manipulation by really smart men of old (or really evil ones) whose aim it was to gain or transfer power over the “masses” who by definition must be somewhat dim and beneath the authors thereof.

How do you debate religion vs atheism? Will it always turn to arrogance vs intellect?

If you attempt to argue with an atheist from the perspective of a man of faith, be prepared to be assumed beneath them in intellect. And expect the defense of their ‘religion’ (which they generally deny exists) to be an impenetrable force field of arrogance.

It begs the question: If you know that you know more than I, how is it profitable for us to debate anything?
How do you debate Religion vs Atheism? My logic on the topic.

For more information on Ed and his Lyrics, Logic and Lullabies, visit:
http://lyricslogicandlullabies.com/
https://twitter.com/Lyrics_Logic_an/
https://facebook.com/edvernermusic/
https://youtube.com/WindKetcher/
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How do you debate Religion vs Atheism? My logic on the topic.

International Literacy Day! How about a grammar and punctuation day?

International Literacy Day! How about a grammar and punctuation day? A Lyrics, Logic and Lullabies Blog

International Literacy Day! How about a grammar and punctuation day?

I’m told that today is International Literacy Day. Well I certainly can hardly imagine the horror of not being able to read. It is one of those things we take for granted that impacts our lives nearly every second that we are awake. And I absolutely love reading, both for pleasure, and for the quest for knowledge.

International Literacy Day… How I am honoring the day…

So what am I reading these days, in honor of National Literacy Day? Operation Jedburgh D-Day and America’s First Shadow War by Colin Beavan – I have been blown away by how I did not know anything of this aspect of the pre-D-Day activities and how essential they were to the Allied landing’s success. Were it not for this book, despite my having seen movies about the time period, and despite my having watched the History Channel, and despite my having attended lectures on WWII history, ad infinitum, I would not be learning about this. The book, and the ability to read it at my convenience is the essence of a personal reminder of how important literacy is to me.

International Literacy Day and adding another day or two?

However, I’m afraid that as the cell phone and personal device revolution overtakes us all, we will be in much more need of an International Grammar & Punctuation Day in addition to International Literacy Day.

So let’s add Grammar and Punctuation Days along with International Literacy Day

I love those memes that point out the proper use of words that are often misused, such as “they’re” versus “there” versus “their” etc. And even I get lazy sometimes when texting and find myself working to reapply proper capitalization to a text that I created using voice recognition.

Or worse yet, when the voice recognition doesn’t know what to do with a word I say like “red” — was it “read” or “red” or did I stutter a bit and instead it prints “dread” such that I “drove that dread car”. Ugh, and Happy International Literacy Day.

For more information on Ed and his Lyrics, Logic and Lullabies, visit:
http://lyricslogicandlullabies.com/
https://twitter.com/Lyrics_Logic_an/
https://facebook.com/edvernermusic/
https://youtube.com/WindKetcher/
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International Literacy Day! How about a grammar and punctuation day?

What does being a baby boomer mean to me? Part One of Two

What does being a baby boomer mean to me?

When answering the question recently ‘what does being a baby boomer mean to me?’, I found myself quickly wandering down memory lane a bit. Sure, we’ve all seen some memes that hit on it with glancing blows…

the picture of the little battery operated red transistor radio like the one I had when I was in elementary school. Can anyone say “Season’s in the Sun” by Terry Jacks – or “Put the Lime in the Coconut” by Harry Nilssonn.
Matchbox cars and Schwinn bicycles.
the picture of the cast of Star Trek or Gilligan’s Island.
the picture of kids riding in the back of a pickup truck.

Yet as I contemplate my aspects and retrospectives on it, I find myself spooling around in my head about a great many things.

So, what does being a baby boomer mean to me? Themes.

One of the themes inside my growing up, when I compare-contrast to my parents and grandparents’ generations is a general feeling of security. My parents grew up with active memories of the Great Depression (surely an oxymoron), financial uncertainty, illiteracy, ignorance, and a clear memory of a real all-encompassing World War that involved horror, sacrifice, and evil at a global level. And it always put in them a fear of the outcome if one were not busy working.

They saved when eventually they began to have ANYTHING left over. And when they had children they gave to them like no generation before them as regards education, comfort, and a feeling of security. I grew up with little fear when compared to them.

Sure I was afraid of a bully, or afraid to jump off of the roof, but I was not afraid like them when a young cousin got a fever that she might die. I wasn’t afraid if an uncle lost a job that he might perish in poverty. I didn’t grow up afraid of polio. It’s not that they were systemically afraid, but rather that abiding sense of security was mine at a young age, and not necessarily experienced by them at theirs.

What does being a baby boomer mean to me?

Well, I look back and remember also, a systemic change in the fabric of America that I lived through and understood more than they (parents and grandparents) can truly “get” other than to simply say they are saddened by it, etc. And that is not only the rise of divorce in families, but also the widespread acceptance and sympathy for it. Prior to the 1950s, divorce was rare, but in addition it was a deeply shameful thing only barely tolerated in extreme situations. Separate bedrooms, and even extramarital romances were a preferred method of dealing with a broken marriage rather than outright divorce.

As a baby boomer I grew up in a time of divorce changing from being the exception to being the norm. Like that inexplicable feeling of security that is unique to boomers, I feel boomers had to chart new waters in family drama as regards broken homes in ways that grandma or mom and dad could give no meaningful insight about; other than the time tested biblical principles which now are helping to return a balance to that pendulum so far swung.

Part two of What does being a baby boomer mean to me
coming next week.

What does being a baby boomer mean to me?
Part One of Two

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Lyrics, Logic, and Lullabies are delivered from baby boomer singer songwriter Ed Verner. Weaving together lyrics from personal experiences and tales from a life of people watching, these Lyrics, Logic, and Lullabies present contemporary younger songs from a salty renaissance man.

For more information on Ed and his Lyrics, Logic and Lullabies, visit:
http://lyricslogicandlullabies.com/
https://twitter.com/Lyrics_Logic_an/
https://facebook.com/edvernermusic/
https://youtube.com/WindKetcher/
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What does being a baby boomer mean to me? Part One of Two

Mutiny on the Bounty or in the recording studio

Mutiny on the Bounty or in the recording studio – Metaphorically speaking of course…

Mutiny on the Bounty or in the studio…

Now not long ago, I posted a thought attacking the glorifying of pirates. And now I learn that today is the anniversary of the Mutiny on the Bounty. While not an act of piracy, mutiny is another nautical event that can occur metaphorically inside the music studio.

Mutiny on the Bounty: Captain Bligh… not the nicest guy?

Several film adaptations of the story regarding the Bounty have been made over the years, and historians have disagreed over time as to whether or not Captain Bligh was a cruel tyrant who deserved being cast off of his command or not. So too, there has been debate as to whether or not the acting Lieutenant Fletcher Christian who seized command was justified. But there is little disagreement how, in the end, it was a miserable affair for all concerned.

Mutiny on the Bounty or mutiny in the studio…comparisons.

Now while one might argue that making music is not near so serious as captaining and piloting a 90 foot long 230 ton armed full rigged ship with a crew of 45 across the oceans, but one would be wrong… bah hah. But indeed making music is VERY serious to the one who wrote it, and generally very serious to those involved in bringing it to life in a studio. As a singer songwriter there must be a bit of the captain in me when I take a song into a studio, and yet some of the best work on my songs comes out because of the producer, and/or due to the talent of someone totally unexpected. Conversely, if I am a butt-wipe with a bad attitude any one of those people who have something brilliant to contribute might simply “mutiny” by withholding their idea or by simply packing up their instrument and telling me to piss off.

In a recording studio the price for mutiny is not hanging, and the stakes may not be life and death, but for the unborn song or the song taken to partial term, the results may indeed be the same as those of the poor Bounty and her crew; loss of the ship, division and suffering of the crew, casting aside of the merchandise so carefully gathered and stored before the disagreement exploded, and other sad losses are still a shame.

Most common symptoms that will lead to the Mutiny on the bounty scenario.

Any mutiny, be it aboard a ship, or in a music studio is ultimately a fatal disease whose symptoms of bad communication, inappropriate loyalty and inappropriate leadership in concert, and poorly handled anxiety have been ignored one moment too long.

Final Note:

“Dancing With The Wind” is the perfect backdrop to listen to while at work and wasting time looking up the Mutiny on the Bounty story on the internet instead of doing your real job. Just sayin…
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Lyrics Logic & Lullabies
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Lyrics, Logic, and Lullabies are delivered from baby boomer singer songwriter Ed Verner. Weaving together lyrics from personal experiences and tales from a life of people watching, these Lyrics, Logic, and Lullabies present contemporary younger songs from a salty renaissance man.
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For more information on Ed and his Lyrics, Logic and Lullabies, visit:
http://lyricslogicandlullabies.com/
https://instagram.com/lyrics_logic_and_lullabies/
https://twitter.com/Lyrics_Logic_an/
https://facebook.com/edvernermusic/
https://youtube.com/WindKetcher/
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Mutiny on the Bounty or in the recording studio

Celebrity Bullying & Broken Promises. My take on it.

Celebrity bullying & broken promises. My take on it.

Now some notable celebrities are canceling concerts to call attention to their preferences regarding human “rights” or political issues. And yet these same celebrities are often quoted as saying how they are against bullying. They fail to see or have any acknowledgement of the similarities between an elementary school bully and their own behaviors. This seems like celebrity bullying to me. Basically their pitch is something along the lines of, “Do as I say, now, and believe as I believe now, or I will punish you.” Or “bring your opinion to bear on this subject in agreement with me, or I will punish you.”

Celebrity Bullying with aggressive opinions.

Sometimes people of great fame have also taken to threatening to leave their country of origin unless a certain outcome occurs… really? How patriotic of you. If the country by and large doesn’t agree with your SOLITARY opinion and/or a majority opposes you then you won’t consider their view or consider the fact that YOU may be wrong, but rather you will pick up your toys and go “home” to another location?

Now don’t get me wrong, I applaud people who have strong convictions and who are willing to alter their life to stand up for something they believe. I applaud people who are willing to attempt to foster positive change and/or to shine a light upon an issue – I even applaud those convictions and actions when I may personally disagree because at least the person is willing to sacrifice a portion of their fame to amplify their message.

Celebrity bullying through concert cancellations?

BUT – to cancel a concert for all of your fans in an area is to break a promise you made to them – it is to breach a trust they placed in you regarding your art and your ability to entertain or bring joy, and to replace it instead with political discourse and a broken promise. Forgetting for the moment the arrogance and pride-gone-awry at the source of the breach, just focus on the fact of a broken promise.

To be an artist is to desire to have your art create a bridge between you and someone out there (unknowable to you) and the bridge requires trust (sometimes misplaced indeed). Don’t burn that bridge! If you are lucky enough to have a fan base of any kind based on music or the arts and you choose to bully them with withdrawal, I hope you get what bullies on the playground deserve.

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Lyrics Logic & Lullabies
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Lyrics, Logic, and Lullabies are delivered from baby boomer singer songwriter Ed Verner. Weaving together lyrics from personal experiences and tales from a life of people watching, these Lyrics, Logic, and Lullabies present contemporary younger songs from a salty renaissance man.
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For more information on Ed and his Lyrics, Logic and Lullabies, visit:
http://lyricslogicandlullabies.com/
https://instagram.com/lyrics_logic_and_lullabies/
https://twitter.com/Lyrics_Logic_an/
https://facebook.com/edvernermusic/
https://youtube.com/WindKetcher/
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Celebrity Bullying & Broken Promises. My take on it.

Beauty and warmth of Bass. How it adds magic to music.

Beauty and warmth of Bass. The magic, the musicality and the depth.

Beauty and warmth of Bass. The Cello Neighbor.

The 3^rd instrument I ever learned to play was the cello – and I loved it. The tonal range and the position of the cello generally in front of the double-bass players in an orchestra allowed me to wallow in the lower tones from an early age. And that swimming in the deep end feeling of the music down there immediately translated into my piano playing and style; taking my hands an octave lower to find a sweet spot in my music there.

Beauty and warmth of Bass. A different approach than drums.

Now recently I wrote on the subject of drummers and percussion and my respect for how they add unexpected and wonderful things to many of my singer-songwriter style songs. So much better too in how it actually changes a creation sometimes. And while this may be true as regards bass and really good bass players, for me what these players more often do to a song is sometimes to give it EXACTLY what I expected. I say that not because a good bass player doesn’t create something fresh and talented in ways that I don’t or can’t, but rather in how good bass playing in a singer-songwriter song is like blood in a mammal.

It just is – and to a point, the more the better. When bass gets added to a song of mine, it frequently just adds balls, power, and subliminal rhythms which are already ghost notes in the ear of a listener. Frequently it feels like the song was just coming through an old tiny battery powered transistor AM radio and suddenly after the bass is added it sounds like it is live players 12 feet away in a nice wooden room.

Beauty and warmth of bass… and those rare moments…

Now the contrary is rare, but every now and then it happens that a bass player botches it and brings not the guts and ghost notes, but rather jams a bookend not on the end of the books in line, but rather between them and thus makes a hell of a mess on the bookshelf.

But this is rare.

Most times, the bass is like the curve of a beautiful woman’s hind end. Yeah she may have a beautiful face, nice smile, long hair, and a lovely sleeveless dress, but the picture may be incomplete if it doesn’t end well (smile). So too a good song that lacks good work from a bass player and possible bad choices, that is not fully ready for the spotlight.
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Lyrics Logic & Lullabies
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Lyrics, Logic, and Lullabies are delivered from baby boomer singer songwriter Ed Verner. Weaving together lyrics from personal experiences and tales from a life of people watching, these Lyrics, Logic, and Lullabies present contemporary younger songs from a salty renaissance man.
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For more information on Ed and his Lyrics, Logic and Lullabies, visit:
http://lyricslogicandlullabies.com/
https://instagram.com/lyrics_logic_and_lullabies/
https://twitter.com/Lyrics_Logic_an/
https://facebook.com/edvernermusic/
https://youtube.com/WindKetcher/
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Beauty and warmth of Bass. How it adds magic to music.