Feb 21, 2021
Hellooooo Team!
Thanks so much for being here. I have some MAJOR decisions coming up fast, and need your help!
Assignment:
For Assignment 1, I am looking for your help to decide which 3 out of 7 unreleased songs are the BEST. I will tally up the scores in the survey, and record those 3 songs in my next studio session (HAPPENING THIS SATURDAY 😱) Hence why there’ is a tight deadline for assignment 1. I apologize for the deadline – in the future, I will definitely allot two weeks to work on the assignment. But for now we have a bit of a time crunch because of my quickly approaching studio session!
Once the top 3 songs are decided by the Team and recorded in the studio, I will be pitching them Sirius XM. That’s a BIG DEAL because I usually only submit music to my contact twice a year, and more times than not, the songs get rejected.
We don’t want that to happen this time around! So let’s hope my songs are good enough… and maybe JUST maybe, one of the top three songs we choose collectively will earn a spot on the coffeehouse. 🙂
Please listen to the songs while reading the lyrics below and then complete the poll.
Each song must be ranked in 5 different categories: Relatable, Catchy, Fresh, Simplicity and Overall Feeling When Listening.
RELATABLE – think about how you relate to the song in your own life. Does it make you think of your loved ones? Does it make you day dream a little?
CATCHY – Is it memorable? During the listen, can you sing a long a little?
FRESH – Is it different? Light? Does it make you stop and listen? Does this song have pizzazz?
SIMPLICITY – Is the song easy to digest and leave you wanting more?
OVERALL FEELING – Check in with your emotions and thoughts… Does it make you feel good? Calm, at peace? Relaxed?
** Also, please be VERY HONEST with your answers, and don’t mark every song with a 5 star rating, just because you won’t want to hurt my feelings. You are on the Team because I value and need your honest opinion! So please only rate something with 5 stars if you really truly feel it in your heart (like ‘I’ll Let You Go’ feels level!)
😀 LET’S BEGIN!
Alone at the lake house (lyrics)
Leaves are falling from the trees
Birds are singin to me
The water is warm when I dip my feet
Alone at the lake house is where I wanna be
Cause it’s the only place I know I can be free
To be me, alone and unseen
There’s nowhere else I’d rather be
Alone, Alone, Alone, Alone, Alone
Alone at the lake house
There’s a stillness in the air
As the morning sun bares
The smell of pine is in the atmosphere
Alone at the lake house is where I am
Cause I love the way it makes me feel within
Free to be me, alone and unseen
There’s nowhere else I’d rather be
Alone, Alone, Alone, Alone, Alone
Alone at the lake house
Alone at the lake house
Alone at the Lake House
Alone with the breeze
Forever I’ll wonder
If this is all a dream
___________________________________________________
Somewhere near the sea with my baby (lyrics)
Can we get away
To a sunny place
Where there’s ocean waves
Come with me, let’s spice up the day
I’m gonna turn up the bass
And cruise in the slow lane
Taking everything at slow pace
I don’t know much but I know
I don’t know much but I know
All I know, is where I wanna be
Somewhere near the the sea
With you next to me
All I know, is that I wanna go
Somewhere on the coast
With my baby
It’s just me and you, you’re my baby
Now we’re sitting in the shade
With a pink lemonade
And a sweet serenade
Come with me as I move and sway
Take my hand
Let’s sing and dance
Cause we’ve got no other plans
I don’t know much but I know
I love it when we are close
All I know, is where I wanna be
Somewhere near the the sea
With you next to me ohh
All I know, is that I wanna go
Somewhere on the coast
With my baby
Do do do
do do do-do do
It’s just me and you
You’re my baby x 2
There’s no where
I’d rather be
Than singin’ my song
With my baby x2
All I know, is where I wanna be
Somewhere near the the sea
With you next to me ohh
All I know, is that I wanna go
Somewhere on the coast
With my baby
__________________________________________________
I Promise (lyrics)
They say, love will find you
When you’re ready for it to come
They say, you will feel it
When you know you’ve
Found the one
Take my hand, under this sky
Cause it’s just you and me tonight
As all your dreams, turn into mine
I’ll be forever by your side
When we met I could see
Deep in your blue eyes, a place that was meant for me
Now I believe
Everything everything will always be alright
Cause I, have you by my side
To know that I am yours and you are mine
Is the greatest gift
The greatest gift of my life
I promise to love you
I promise to love you
I promise to love you
All of my days, I do
All the, years of waiting
They were worth it, in the end
Cause I, found my partner
I found my person, and best friend
Every day we’ve spent
Laughing and growing and facing this world
Hand in hand
Now I understand
Everything everything will always be alright
Cause I, have you by my side
To know that I am yours and you are mine
Is the greatest gift
The greatest gift of my life
I promise to love you
I promise to love you
I promise to love you
All of my days, I do
They say, love will find you
And you found me
Now can we say “I do”
__________________________________________________
Make this house a home (lyrics)
We’re gonna make this house a home
Babe with you, I know
We’re gonna make this house a home
Cause home is where the heart is and my heart is
Wherever you go
First day we got the key
Kissed under the big oak tree gotta
Celebrate the little victories
We got the perfect home
Fixer upper with a great big lawn
Let the new year bring it onnnnn
We’re gonna make this house a home
Babe with you, I know
We’re gonna make this house a home
Cause home is where the heart is and my heart is
Wherever you go
Oh oh oh oh oh
Home home home
First month has come and gone
Time flies when we’re having fun but it
Feels like it just begun
One year has flown by with
All the changes in our lives
I love it that your by my side
We’re gonna make this house a home
Babe with you I know
We’re gonna make this house a home
Cause home is where the heart is and my heart is
Wherever you go
In the country or by the sea
In the mountains or the city
Life is better when you’re next to me
When we got each other to lean on
Through the good times and the bad ones
It really doesn’t take too long
To make this house a home
Babe with you, we’ve made it our own
We have made this house a home
Cause home is where the heart is and my heart is
We’re gonna make this house a home
Babe with you, we’re made it our own
We have made this house a home
Cause home is where the heart is and my heart is
Yeah home is where the heart is and my heart is
Home is where the heart is and my heart is
Wherever you go
__________________________________________________
A Sign (lyrics)
It’s been a year
Since you’ve been gone
The hardest part is
Feeling so alone
And the knowing
That you’re missing out
On all of the milestones
So if there’s one thing you could do
I’d like to leave this up to you
I need a sign
Show me a sign
Show me a sign
That you’re alright
I need a sign
Of any kind
In your own time
Show me that you’re alright
(everything’s alright, everything’s alright)
Without you
Life hasn’t been easy
But it taught me to believe
But I know you
Wouldn’t want me
To crumble down and
fall to my knees
So if there’s one thing you could do
I’d like to leave this up to you
I need a sign
Show me a sign
Show me a sign
That you’re alright
I need a sign
Of any kind
In your own time
Show me that you’re alright
Everything’s alright
Everything’s alright
Every night I
Leave on a light
Leave it on for you
To light up the sky as
Life passes by I’ll
Never leave you behind
I need a sign
Show me a sign
Show me a sign
That you’re alright
I need a sign
Of any kind
In your own time
Show me that you’re alright
Show me a sign
Show me a sign
Everything’s alright
Everything’s alright
Everything’s alright
And that you’re always by my side
__________________________________________________
Exactly where you need to be (lyrics)
All along
This road called life
I’ve always had a feeling
That everything would be alright
There’s some things
I can’t explain
But when I take it all in
Good things come my way
There’s nothing to do
But just be here
So take your time
And enjoy the ride
If you keep your
heart open
Eventually you’ll see
You’re exactly where you need to be
Exactly where you need to be
If you keep on
Mooovin
Soon you will believe
You’re exactly where you need to be
Exactly where you need to be
Right here
When I was younger
I made some plans
That I’d get married young and
Live from off the land
Then I realized
It’s not up to me
Cause there is something out there
Making me believe
There’s nothing to do
But just be here
So take your time
And enjoy the ride
If you keep your
heart open
Eventually you’ll see
You’re exactly where you need to be
Exactly where you need to be
If you keep on
Mooovin
Soon you will believe
You’re exactly where you need to be
Exactly where you need to be
I’ve had lows in my life
Confusion out of my mind
But with the lows come the highhhhhhs
And I turned out fine
If you keep your
heart open
Eventually you’ll see
You’re exactly where you need to be
Exactly where you need to be
If you keep on
Mooovin
Soon you will believe
You’re exactly where you need to be
Exactly where you need to be
Right here
(((((****This second chorus will be omitted******
If you keep your
heart open
Eventually you’ll see
You’re exactly where you need to be
Exactly where you need to be
If you keep on
Mooovin
Soon you will believe
You’re exactly where you need to be
Exactly where you need to be
Right here ******)))))
__________________________________________________
Fly Away (lyrics)
If I could I’d follow you
In the day and into the night
Just to make sure that you’d feel safe
And know that I’m nearby
But you’re like a bird, flying the nest
It’s time to let you go
I need you to know, wherever you roam
You’ll always have a home
But you’ve gotta fly away
Fly fly away
Fly fly away
Now’s your time to go
Fly fly away
I won’t get in the way
To let you go tonight
Do you know how much you mean
How much you mean to me
The words in this song, are just a small piece
Barely what I feel
It pains me to know that it’s your time to go
I wish that you could stay
Stay with me, help me to believe
That you’ll always be OK
You’ve gotta fly away
Fly fly away
Fly fly away
Now’s your time to go
Fly fly away
I won’t get in the way
To let you go tonight
Do do do do
Do do do do
Do do do do do
Do do do do
Do do do do
Do do do do do
Fly fly away
Fly fly away
Now’s you’re time to go
Fly fly away
And if you lose your way
I’ll find you any day
__________________________________________________
FINAL QUESTION!
For the final question of the survey, I’d like to know what your favourite songs are, ranked from 1 (favourite) to 7 (least favourite). You can drag and drop or choose from the drop down for your response below.
Create your own user feedback surveySURVEY COMPLETE!
Thank you for your help – results will be posted with the next assignment!

Jessica, I enjoyed all the songs and listened to them a few times before building my list, but my top three were Make This House a Home, Somewhere Near the Sea with My Baby and Fly Away with Exactly Where You Need to Be a close 4th. I remember the first time I heard you on the Coffee House and just Loved I’ll Let You Go, and a few years ago my Daughter and I had our Father Daughter dance at her wedding. It was beautiful ( Thank You ) and everyone asked, ” who did that song, we have not heard it”, so we were able to get you some new listeners. I am glad to be on the team and will continue to help where I can. I live in Woodstock NY and know a few musicians, so I wish you the best of luck in the studio and I am interested in the stats and rankings.
All the Best
John
Thank you so much John! Polls are now closed but I’ll be updating the Team in a few weeks with the final studio recorded acoustic versions of the 3 winning songs!
Great lyrics in relation to the theme of the songs. Your solo guitar is great, but I think adding more instruments eg drum machine to some of the songs and increasing the tempo would definitely be a big plus.
Thanks so much Philip! More instrumentation is definitely on the radar for my next album release 🙂 More to come on that later. For now, I’m just looking for advice on these simple acoustic tunes for my pitch to the coffeehouse. Thanks for your participation my friend!
Great songs….love the messages. Congratulations on all the wedding and successes. Thanks for the previews!
Thank you Larry! Good to have you aboard the Team! 🙂 Thanks so much for your input!
Hi. It was fun going thr0ugh the songs – its a fine selection 🙂 I had a thought that Make This House A Home might work with an up tempo arrangement with electric guitar, bass (I could feel a nice bass line coming!) and drums – and maybe keyboard. Of course I might be wrong! Anyway best wishes and good luck in the studio.
Hey Mr. Star! 🙂 Thanks so much for your input, love the idea about an arrangement for Make This House a Home! Probably for the full length album release – we will see, shall we!?
Honestly, I love all of your songs. You are a very talented and relatable artist. I have respect for your writing and singing. I love the way that you play the guitar. I first heard your music on Sirius XM coffee shop. I’ll Let You Go caught my attention. I gave higher scores to the songs that I liked best. I enjoyed all of them! Thank you! Robyn
Thank you Robyn for joining the team! I appreciate your feedback so much!
Hey there! I have been thinking of you every day and sending you well wishes, congratulations, and all my love. It has been a really hard year for us and I have been out of touch. Listening to your music just now has just been the big beautiful buoy that I needed! 🙂 You bring and spread such joy! ALL of your songs are just simply joy set to music. 🙂 My 2 favoritest songs of the songs above are Somewhere Near the Sea with My Baby and Exactly Where You Need to Be. Both are super catchy and relatable. I felt so happy and I found myself tapping my foot and grooving a bit in my chair as I listened to those 2. Somewhere Near the Sea is very summery and makes me want to be on the beach in Puerto Rico with Josh. 🙂 And I love the message so much in Exactly Where You Need to Be. I Promise is just such a precious illustration of your love for Greg. It is the song from your wedding, yes? Again, all of the songs are wonderful, but those are my favorite 3. I hope that you and Greg and Walter are doing well! It is lovely to think that you have had so many wonderful things this past year. Much love to you! ~ Quay
Quay it’s SO good to hear from you! I think about you and the fam so often, and wonder how you’re doing!! Thank you so much for your input and sharing openly about your favourite songs and why. It’s all been so very helpful thus far. I Promise IS the song from our wedding, and I can’t wait to share the fully produced version, and the video that goes with it! It will likely be one of the singles on my next album, so that’s very exciting. Anyway Quay, thank you again for joining the team and giving your valuable feedback. Can’t wait to share progress here with the TEAM as everything unfolds!
I enjoyed listening to these new songs Jess. It was hard to rank number 2-4, but I would say “Fly Away” hit me with the elements for the Coffee House. However, they all have merit for sure, and maybe tweaking some. You know how it goes, tomorrow I might be influenced a little differently, and I usually have to hear songs over and over, but I went with my first or second impressions in this exercise.
It is nice to see you have new songs and ones that come from you as it appears, from your life!
Thanks for allowing me to be a part of the “TEAM”
Toddley
Oh Todd, I just loved this message! Ranking songs is ALWAYS hard and I feel for everyone taking part in this assignment because even I find it extremely difficult to choose! But I’m so thankful for you and everyone else who is here to help decide for me! Your feedback is so appreciated!