Coming Home

(Bader) SOCAN

I wrote this song as a send-off present for our girl leaving Children's Hospital following over a year of cancer treatment.

It features Jeremy Bader on drums and Jessica Bader on additional vocals.

You are the bright light of day when all I can see is night
You are my oxygen when I’m frozen, paralyzed with fright
You are the sycamore that holds me high above
You are the reason that my life is filled with so much love
So much time has passed
Today is here at last

I’ve been here stuck in slow gear now for so damn long
Can’t wait to get back to the place where I know I belong
Even though the cold winds blow and toss us both around
We’ve got a love that push or shove can’t budge this solid ground
So much time has passed
Today is here at last

I’m coming home
Coming home to you
I’m coming home
Coming home to you

Some may say we’ll fade away get lost or drift apart
We both know we fit just so and we have from the start
Reach out your hands you understand me grab and pull me in
I’m on my way I don’t have to stay any longer...

I’m coming home
Coming home to you
I’m coming home
Coming home to you
(And my home is you)

This Must Be Love

(Bader, Buller, Warchol) SOCAN

My friends and I wrote this duet to fit the storyline for a live play back in 2007.

It features Jeremy Bader on drums, Tim Boulter on bass, Jon Buller on piano, and Jessica Bader on lead vocals.

I saw you there, and all of my thoughts and cares just went away
You spoke to me, how could this be on the very same day

Can I walk with you
Just us two in the middle of a winter afternoon
Can I talk with you
About the things that nobody else would care about

I’m head over heels
Funny how it feels
I may never recover

When I look at you
Time stands still
This must be love

Nice meeting you. Now what do we do
Do we have to say goodbye
Before you go, I just gotta know
Will I see you one more time

When I can walk with you
Just us two in the middle of a winter afternoon
And I can talk with you
About the things that nobody else would care about

I’m head over heels
Funny how it feels
I may never recover

When I look at you
Time stands still
This must be love

 

Footprints

(Bader, Herzog) SOCAN

My cousin (and fellow teacher) Mallory Herzog started this song by writing about her Papa. I moulded that poem into rhyming lyrics and wrote the music, hiring "The Beach Boys" for their additional vocals.

Your bear hugs used to be so tight
When you’d squeeze me til it almost hurt
but I was safe inside
When I look at the world I am inspired
all the wonder and the majesty
And you lit that fire

With the footprints that you left behind I’ll follow you
The footprints that you left behind are your life

You lived your dash in spite of the pain
You taught me the power of happiness
While running my own race
I haven’t always been right but it’s not so bad
You’re still proud, I know, when I’d let it out
Those were some of the best we had

With the footprints that you left behind I’ll follow you
The footprints that you left behind are your life

I wanted to talk today
Cuz life has thrown me some more
So I tried to laugh
Cuz I know you’ve been here before

I make the best grilled cheese around
And they go so well with the Beach Boys that you gave me
I Get Around came around and around

With the footprints that you left behind I’ll follow you
The footprints that you left behind are your life

 

I'll be By Your Side

(Bader) SOCAN

Another oldie, written in 1992. This was one of my earliest attempts at songwriting but I think it still has a bit of simple appeal.

Thanks to Spencer Capier on violin.

She met him in the summer
She moved in three houses away
He thought she his only best friend
They's sure laugh and oh they'd play

He would walk her to the schoolyard
Everyday for all those years
And when he left for the city
He softly kissed away her tears and said

When the mountains come between us
When the dark clouds fill the sky
When shadows come and you see the rainbow
I’ll be by your side

By himself he came to realize
A truer love he’d never find
And once a week he’d dial her number
And say I’m calling to remind you…

When the mountains come between us
When the dark clouds fill the sky
When shadows come and you see the rainbow
I’ll be by your side

God soon brought them back together
Where they stayed til death did part
Now she sits in the dim light
Hold his picture to her heart and hears…

When the mountains come between us
When the dark clouds fill the sky
When shadows come and you see the rainbow
I’ll be by your side

Charlie Brown

(Bader/Carle) SOCAN

My old songwriting buddy from the 90's, Shawn Carle, gave me these lyrics a looong time ago. They sat and sat. I completed a fourth verse through COVID and finally got around to recording.

Jeremy is playing drums and students from my grade 7 class form the choir: Kallie Bailey, Blake Davel, Lillie Doucette, Riley Gauthier, Samantha Lester, Azara, M., Maiya Oberkirsch, Madison Puffalt, Kayla Ralph, Jillian Thompson, & Daisy Wilson.

I'’ve never seen your parents. I’ll bet they’re never home
Just you, Chuck, and Sally, sitting there alone    
Your dog, Snoopy, he's kinda cool with his goggles and his hat
But the way he snubs you, Charlie, you'd think you were a cat

The other kids should have listened to you right from the start
When they laughed about your tree, I think it broke my heart
And Lucy she's really something, treating you so cruel
Holding the ball, making you fall, and laughing like a fool

It's good you're a little bit different
That’s why we love you, Charlie Brown
Though your friends treat you badly
You help them when they're down
You really are a good man, Charlie Brown

Even though you’ve never… got one single valentine
If we were to meet…on my street, you’d be a friend of mine
You’re a loner; you’re a misfit…fifty years I’ve watched you be
You’ll go down, dear Charlie Brown, a hero to people like me.

I think it's good you're a little bit different
That’s why we love you, Charlie Brown
Though your friends treat you badly
You help them when they're down
You really are a good man, Charlie Brown

I can’t sleep at night; the cold cold world’s got me feeling like I should put on some flannel
Maybe yellow with a zig zag black stripe
A nd change the channel…but I can’t

Because I'm glad you're a little bit different
That’s why we love you, Charlie Brown
Though your friends treat you badly
You help them when they're down
You really are a good man, Charlie Brown

The Calling

(Bader) SOCAN

I wrote this song after watching The Underground Railroad on Prime.

Jessica and I are singing as different characters.

Waited a lifetime to see you again
But no way was ever found
Day after day after week and season
My hands and feet were bound

How much sadness can one life live
How much longer can I
Have you looked around; have you seen
And you never said goodbye

I've been calling...calling
I've been calling...calling

Then I knew I left you there
I turned around, had to turn around
I was on my way to you, my love
I was on my way...I was on my way

Now I'm falling...falling
Now I'm falling...falling

How could you leave; you left me here
I couldn't see, I couldn't breathe
I've tried, I've tried to get you out of here
I couldn't set you free

Now I'm calling...calling
Now I'm calling...calling

 

 

 

 

 

 

You and I

(Bader) SOCAN

I wrote this song back in 1995 and simply haven't managed to record it until now.

Yes, I know the way the title lyrics are used it's grammatically incorrect...but sometimes subjects and objects must bend for songwriting.

Jeremy is on drums.

I know you enough to know you're lonely
Even though you've acted from the start
I know it's a long shot but I'm trying
Trying to get this message to your heart

Babe, you look at me and I
See the shooting stars go by
Until forever, I would never compromise
You and I

Remember when I drove you home that evening
You wondered if I had something to ask
I wanted oh so much to kiss you
I wish nights like that would last and last

Babe, you look at me and I
See the shooting stars go by
Until forever, I would never compromise
You and I

I'm tired of tossing and turning
I wanna hold you
I wanna hold you

I'll keep looking for some way to tell you
Maybe you've been looking for the same
Hope will always keep me moving forward
Knowing you'll be just beyond the rain

Babe, you look at me and I
See the shooting stars go by
Until forever, I would never compromise
You and I