Hello Folks,

Here I am working the Torch Song genre again. But, there's a good catch to this one. I'll be putting a copy of my demo with this so you'll be able to hear what it sounds like. I find writing any lyric is personal. But, with Torch Songs it's even more so. A bit of peeping in a look at the usually protected emotional insides. so here it is. I hope you enjoy it.

The Moment You Loved Me

I never knew my future could be
The wonderful moments you share with me
I never knew all past heartache would flee
Till the moment you loved me
The moment you loved me

I never knew a life lived so bright
Beautiful days and soft tender nights
I never knew how a child feels delight
Till the moment you loved
The moment you loved me

I've been through storms and the deserts of pain
Heartache so raw, how could I love again
Alone as an orphan, what good to complain
Then you came to me... and everything changed

I never knew loves promise to keep
We're now the dream I'd just seen in my sleep
I never knew I could feel so deep
Till the moment you loved me
The moment you loved me

Jack T. Leyton
2009

I guess I could say that much of my writing is my own dreams and desires being projected out. 
Like having been in a sad place and trying to work my way out of it. Such is poetry, and music.
I hope this finds you in a better place. And, if you can, take a listen to my demo.

Cheers, 
?✌️

Hello Folks,

A Loving Dream is central to my Torch Song album. This is a true Helen Morgan, Edith Piaf chanteuse kind of song. A down and outer in love... with hope. I tried to craft it in a George and Ira Gershwin type of Tin Pan Alley genre kind of song. This goes back to the 1920's and 1930's. Gritty, but with heart. Also, I tried to craft the introduction into the way that the Gershwin's worked the intro of Someone to Watch Over Me. I hope to have a demo of this soon. We'll see.

A Loving Dream

Long were we enthralled
More than most we've known
So content with all
Such a happy home
When did we start 
To grow apart, dear
When did your heart roam 

Life has changed
The world's seeped through the seams
With its mundane everyday hue
Can't resolve, how our once so loving dream 
Grew still, and shrill, and lost you

Care and pain
Burrowed deep in new schemes
As I aim for someone who's true
Yet, recall, our once so loving dream
Loves thrills, and chills, now turned blue

Shunned kisses didn't shake my trust
Small wonder that I'm again fooled
Bright as hope clings to stardust
I will see my way past this, too

Can't explain
Sorrows steeped in moonbeams
Who will claim this slightly used jewell?
Then to fall, for an, oh so loving dream
When I'll feel like a loving dream come true

Jack T. Leyton
2005

In my writings I've always tried to find the basic core feelings and emotions that people deal with in their lives. Even in their dreams. I don't know if I've found it here, but I think it's close. There's more to come. Stay tuned.
​
Stay Safe and Well.
Jack T. Leyton
🖖✌️

Hello Folks,

The first thing I wrote that I held onto for posterity was in 1967, the summer I graduated from high school. 

It is in one sentence of only seven small lines, 22 words. But it carried meaning for me for the rest of my life.

                         To Wander:

                        Is a state in which
                        time and space 
                        are in equally
                        limitless distances
                        from the destination 
                        of one's own dreams.

I guess one could get whatever meaning one wants from that. And maybe that's the point.

And maybe it's all a question of goal setting. To stay on a particular course til completed.
Or a question of deep uncertainty and confusion. The question of having further questions. 
A basic soul searching for one's true goals in life. That are always pushed beyond one's reach.
As Rod Serling would say, "There is the signpost up ahead...." You know the rest. 
Or having the poet's gift. The destination of having no destination. A lifetime of searching.
Always looking for something on the outside, when the true destination is on the inside.
And the signpost is actually... always, at the very end.

Stay Well, Be Safe
Jack T. Leyton
🖖✌️

Hello Folks

This is about the whole idea of being retired. I wrote it back in 2006. I didn't retire until the end of 2015. So after I wrote this, I had a lot of time to consider the prospect. As it is now well into 2021 in the age of Covid-19, It's not exactly working out the way I'd hoped. But, then, we're all in that boat.

Retire, Retired, Retiring

It has such a lovely ring
Oh, what a marvelous thing
To live solely at one's ease
A quiet veranda built to please

To sip a julep, or, some icy freeze
Watching birds wing through the trees
Feeling just the hint of a breeze
The mere slight rustle of the leaves

And not to work on one's knees
Feel the world's fast pace cease
Breathing soft as dreams release
A new life composed of these

Retire, Retired, Retiring

A lovely lady or two, how swell
A luncheon butler ringing his bell
To have any choice, like a magic spell
All for me.... no bloody hell!

Jack T. Leyton
2006


Oh well, I'm still looking for that butler with the bell. As for the lady's.... 
Nothing's as it's dreamed even without the age of Covid. But I still do have a few very good friends that I'm most thankful for.
Till next time.

Jack, out.
✌️🙂🖖

Hello Folks,

​The lyric I'm putting out today is called How Can You Do What You Do. I got the idea from a couple of fun Johnny Mercer songs. One was called Strip Polka. It's just a case of playing with melody and with the rhymes and progressions. The demo of this isn't up yet but I hope to have a few up before summer. It's just the usual "How can you do that to me!" kind of thing. I tend to just get wrapped up into the poetry of it. I hope you enjoy it.

How Can You Do What You Do

How can you do what you do to me, truly?
How can you do what you do? 
How can you do what you do, and stay true to me?
How can you say that you're true?

When love we'd choose
Seemed no way to lose
Yet, you choose you would use and confuse
I get the news there's another you choose
Comes on cue, while I haven't a clue

How can you do what you do to me, truly?
How can you do what you do?
I've been a fool
What a tool of me, you've made
I see it's true, and we're through
Better this fool's without you

Jack T. Leyton
2005

I had fun playing with the back and forth of the word rhymes. It all just seemed to fall together, so I ran with it. I have a couple more like this that are similar but I think I'll space them out for later on. 

Thanks for dropping by.
Jack

Hello Folks,

As my blog is principally about my poetry and lyrics, here is a poem I hope one day to turn into a song. All Heaven Allows is meant to go into my TORCH SONG album/folder. Initially written from a male point of view, I found it has more standing from the point of view of a gal carrying a torch. I find it lyrical in a general sense and rather openly personal in the particular view of the speaker or singer. I have a tune for it, but that will have to wait for better funding. So here it is.   

All Heaven Allows

He'd miss me. he'd kiss me
Up in his arms, he'd twist me
And sit me down in a cloud

He'd nudge me, he'd hug me
I'm thanking God above me
Love him with all Heaven allows

Believes me, completely
Sees me as more than I am
I try to be what he sees

I couldn't a lie be
He wouldn't understand
Sadly, our fondest dreams would cease

The past is never quite over
Stray shadows haunting my mind
Sudden bad dreams that wake me as I scream
Fearing that this tender love won't survive

He'd hold me, he'd know me
Like no one else he'd show me
What precious love's all about

None other, discovered
Just him, my guy, my lover
Lovin' him forever, and now
Love him with all Heaven allows

Jack T. Leyton
2007

This is a Torch Song I view as an old Helen Morgan '30's Depression era type song where the gal is sitting on the piano with a drink in one hand and a cigarette in the other, praying she doesn't screw up something she wants very much. In the bridge of the poem is a section based on her forebodings of the past. The singer is "all in" emotionally with her lover and is fearful that illumination of her past could end what seems to be a perfect relationship. This lyric was initially meant to fill a broader story line, but as a set piece I wanted to keep the foreboding bridge as listener relatable, since there's none of us that doesn't have some past episodes that we'd rather not bring up. Yet honesty is the best policy and she speaks of that in the fourth stanza, hoping for understanding and maybe forgiveness.

I'd like to lay out more of my Torch Song selections in following blog posts. Most have tunes to go with them, but some don't. As with most of you, I'm waiting for my Lotto number to come in, to finish it all up. For me Torch Song lyrics were a natural evolution from a loner adolescence to adulthood. If I was happy about an event or relationship, I didn't have time to sit and write it down. It's so much easier to write when one is depressed or from a loss. Luckily, this didn't affect my health. I've been too cheap for the usual addictions, so there's not much gritty if any sensationalism there. I figure pasta and sweets are my biggest enemies. And I've been standing way back in that line.

In order to not get too far ahead of myself with my product, I've decided to only blog on Tuesdays and Thursdays. That may prove to be excessive. I hope to use one of those days for new poetry, but right now that's not a given. I'm still going over what I have. Most of my past poetry is in a book of about 140 pages, so I'll be having to shore up the blog with more current creations. As is usual with new projects, I'm flying by the seat of my pants. So there will be hiccups now and again. I hope you can bare with me in those instances as I will try to explain things as I go. So that's it for now. As we still in Pandemicville, Be Well and Stay Safe.    

Hello, this is Jack T. Leyton with my first official blog post. Thanks for tuning in. After racking my head about all the contrivances of how to shape and fill the page, I've decided to just write about myself and the poetry I've accumulated over the years. 

Since we have now just begun the second year of our Covid-19 Pandemic, I thought I would reflect on a poem that I wrote in April of 2020 when the fear was just starting to roll. Nobody knew anything, and the bodies were being stacked up all over the world. It was a scary time and I'm so glad that you are able to be here to read this now. And so, here it is.

"Hear the voices in the shadows" 

For weeks and months we hear it's coming
Word spreads like the dreaded thing we fear
Where to hide, no place safe for running
Now the hidden silent ghost is here

Word says it's just like all the others
Yet, so many fall, like nothing has before
All alone, can we trust one another?
Fear is already at the door

Hear the voices in the shadows
In our dreams of those we love
Seeking strength through all our sorrows
With just the will to carry on

We're all separate in isolation
Watch true heroes on the screen
Overwhelmed, our hearts and nation
Must find strength where it's never been

The world's now so very different
From all that we've ever known
We must build on what we were sent
And make it every bit our own

Hear the voices in the shadows
In our dreams of those we love
Seeking strength through all our sorrows
With just the will to carry on.

Jack T. Leyton
2020.04.29/17:00

Though this was originally written a year ago, even with the new vaccines out, to me it feels just as dangerous. Being a retiree with medical issues, I'm always feeling like the grim reaper is standing right behind me looking over my shoulder. Even now that I have gotten my two Pfizer shots I still feel the same. As for the poem, it's very hard for me to look forward from lockdown. I feel that with the new variants roaming around we may still all be on borrowed time. 

In the writing of this poem/lyric, what impressed me most was the fact of the unseen danger, and how to project it. That, and the prospect that we could acquire the virus from anyone and anywhere, with no one could really protect us except ourselves. It's a bit of a downer, but it reflects the 2020 mood of most of the world. We all have our tricks to stay safe. I hope we can all stay safe. 
Jack out.

🖖😊✌

The idea for Sparky’s Burgers came to me while I had stopped off for lunch at a local burger franchise. It was early and there weren’t very many people in the place. The floor had a black and white checker pattern, and I imagined the same for table covers. Then my mind wandered to singing waiters and carhops on roller skates. Before I knew it, standing there before me, in my imagination, were the Andrews Sisters singing in three part harmony. And then the words just started flowing from my brain. A famous writer in a TV interview once stated, “When it is difficult to come up with an idea, let the characters in the story tell you which way to go. They know far better than we do.” So I did, and my dream Andrews Sisters sang the song to me. Luckily I had a pen and paper with me and the lyrics just flowed. After a few minutes I had a song. I started working on the pacing, beats per measure per line. Tightened up the rhyme sequence. Moved stanzas around for better story progression. Added to stand out ideas. And after a few days I had a stand up song. That was in the early 2000’s. Around 2014 I recorded it as a solo with a bunch of my other songs. But it needed a full Andrews Sisters treatment. 
I have a young coffee shop friend named Steven Leavitt, who happens to be a music producer. About a couple of years or so ago we had started work on a few of my singles and a duet I sang with my friend, the wonderful blues singer, Desiree de la O-Marr. I finally came to realize it was time for Sparky’s Burgers as it was meant to be sung, with three part harmony. Steven said he could take care of the management of the production and put together the live band. But we needed a music arranger, and I suggested Chris Glik who had done a yeoman’s bit of work for me over the years on my earlier albums of songs. Between Steven and Chris the band was put together and the choice of The Satin Dollz was made for the trio. Then on a lovely evening this past March it all came together at Clearlake Studios in North Hollywood, CA. It was a dream come true. Everything was pure magic. I couldn’t have asked for better or more. The names of all the contributing individuals is on the video. Once again I want to thank everyone of these wonderful individuals, who made Sparky’s Burgers really stand out. Thank you all so much for a dream come true. 

​