Tales of Love – Micah Gilbert

Micah’s second CD was recorded, mixed, and mastered on the Isle of Skye, Scotland, in 2017.

Find Tales of Love at Spotify, here,

or at Apple Music, here.

You can also find Tales of Love at other streaming services.

Album notes:

All songs written, produced, recorded, and mastered in 2017 by Micah Gilbert, Isle of Skye, Scotland.

Micah Gilbert – Vocals and instruments (acoustic, electric, and slide guitar; piano; bass; drums; miscellaneous percussion; mandolin), joined by:

Fiona Macdonald – Backing vocals on ‘Get to You’, ‘Next Stop’, and ‘Garden’; bodhrán on ‘Garden’

Laura Harrington: Fiddle on ‘Garden’

Scott Forsyth: Drums on ‘Deep Sleep’

Lydia Eloff: Artwork

Special thanks go to the following:

Lydia Eloff for the beautiful cover artwork. The original painting “Kindred Spirits”, hangs in my studio as inspiration.

Steve Leah, a constant sounding board I could call on when I finished a mix. Always willing to give a listen. Thanks go to Steve as well for his technical support.

Kevyn Smith, a songwriter and good friend who was kind enough to help me know when it was time to push this thing out the door. Thanks to Kevyn as well for his helpful feedback.

Carolyn Leah, Don Mason, Gail McGregor-Mason for lending their ears, pre-release.

The Uig session for providing a space to try out new material.

The musicians who joined me, so willingly, in the making of this music. Much gratitude goes to Scott Forsyth, Fiona Macdonald, and Laura Harrington. Tales of Love was a labour of love.

Last but not least, Suzanne Gilbert, my loving partner. None of this would be possible without her.

The lyrics:

Get to You

Outside, standing looking in
It’s plain to see the shape you’re in
These walls tell a little tale
Your fingerprints have left a trail
And it’s clear and well defined
And still we’re caught surprised

Sift the ashes
Catch the starlight
Clutch the moonlight too
Hear the wind sing
Feel it linger
Trying to get to you
Get to you

Desire, standing in the wings
Wears the hat of a million things
This glass hanging on the wall
Reflects our fevered calls
Like we’re howling in the night
Reaching for the light

Sift the ashes
Catch the starlight
Clutch the moonlight too
Hear the wind sing
Feel it linger
Trying to get to you
Get to you

Living in a giant’s shoes
On the edge of a crater too
But this night is like a kiss
Didn’t know it could be like this

Sift the ashes
Catch the starlight
Clutch the moonlight too
Hear the wind sing
Feel it linger
Trying to get to you
Get to you

Coming Down

The mirror’s face was broken
One bulb hung on a wire to offer light
Outside the oak tree branches
Scratched the window pane from side to side

The rain on the roof, the loneliest sound
Storm moving through, the rain coming down
I still recall the feeling I had
The way that you looked at me made me so sad
Coming down

Another awkward silence
Dangles like a traffic light
Another disconnection
Breaking like a lightning strike, bold as night

The rain on the roof, the loneliest sound
Storm moving through, the rain coming down
I still recall the feeling I had
The way that you looked at me made me so sad
Coming down

Every word that echoed fell like shadows on the room
I was thinking I had come too far too soon
There’s a moment your reflection fails to match the myth
Which is which, which is which

Through a door and up a stairway
Into a hall with empty rooms
Pictures on the walls
Hung on rusty nails, telling tales

The rain on the roof, the loneliest sound
Storm moving through, the rain coming down
I still recall the feeling I had
The way that you looked at me made me so sad
Coming down

Low Water

So you lost your way
You got a little bruised
You’re not the first to say
There’s nothing left to lose
So the road you walked was covered
In the stones you kicked away
You never were the one
Who liked to play it safe

Low water, the tide is changing
Watch for the signs appearing
Cold shiver, your heart is racing
Sweet water is flowing underground

Well, you learned to fall
You can pick up the pieces too
And so after all
You were only playing cool
You had the part all figured out
But you couldn’t play it true
I’m not surprised
It was a thin disguise

Low water, the tide is changing
Watch for the signs appearing
Cold shiver, your heart is racing
Sweet water is flowing underground

When the rain will fall
Let it wash right over you
When the sun is shining too
Let it shine on through
On winter’s silver horses
Ride out into blue

Wipe those tears away
There’s more for you to do
Don’t go hide away
Like there’s nothing left for you
Some things are bound to fall apart
And it’s sad you feel alone
But you’re much stronger than
You’ve ever really known

Low water, the tide is changing
Watch for the signs appearing
Cold shiver, your heart is racing
Sweet water is flowing underground

Low water, the tide is changing
Watch for the signs appearing
Cold shiver, your heart is racing
Sweet water is flowing underground
Sweet water is flowing underground
Sweet water is flowing underground

Long Slow Road

Long slow road
It’s a long long way to home
Take it slow
When you don’t know where to go

On your way you’ll think
About the world you knew
How it turned so differently
Standing by the side
You may feel satisfied
That everything is meant to be

Long slow road
No one knows where this road goes
Stepping stones
Scattered on this lonesome road

Every twist and turn
Holds a memory
The fabric of a dream
And around the corner
You may see the signs
That this time now is your time

Carry me away
Oh, carry me
Carry me into another day
Carry me away
Oh, carry me
Carry me into another day

Long slow road
Which way will you go
Let it flow
Down this lonesome road
No one knows where this road goes
It’s a long long way to home

Carry me away
Oh, carry me
Carry me into another day
Carry me away
Oh, carry me
Carry me into another day
Carry me into another day
Carry me into another day

Next Stop

Picking pieces off the ground
I never found
A place to lay them down
Trying hard to find a sign
Where the road would rise
Where the sun would shine

Hollow sounds were ringing in my ears
The whistle blows now on a new frontier

Hard times, hard to let them go
New box, tie it up in a bow
Next stop, everything shades of gold

Everything gets turned around
When you’re walking proud
It can wear you out
And then you’re broken down
Stuck in time
Left with no disguise

The train is coming down these tracks right here
The whistle blowing on a new frontier

Hard times, hard to let them go
New box, tie it up in a bow
Next stop, everything shades of gold

A letter in a box
A smile with deadly looks
A line crossed from a book
These things they had their hooks in me

Hard times, hard to let them go
New box, tie it up in a bow
Next stop, everything shades of gold

Hard times, hard to let them go
New box, tie it up in a bow
Next stop, everything shades of gold
Everything shades of gold

Garden

Call me to your haunting place
Take me to your garden wall
Take me to a place I’ve known
Take me through your garden door

All have known the passing age
When all that now are free were slaves
When all that now are slaves are free
We’ll light the fires and bang our drums

Your garden bears the thorny rose
That bleeds you when you take the flower
And twisted oaks have risen there
Have seen the things that stood before

Take me to your garden wall
Take me through your garden door
Take me to your garden wall
Take me through your garden door

Call you to your haunting place
Follow any path you will
Take you to a place you’ve known
Take you to your garden door

All that lives has died before
All have known the passing age
When all the dying learn to live
We’ll light the fires and bang our drums

Take me to your garden wall
Take me through your garden door
Take me to your garden wall
Take me through your garden door

Tales of Love

Tales of love, a broken image
A photograph was never taken
She cut her hair, she took the ferry
The winter sky was never darker

The city streets alive with noises
Carefree boys and girls were playing
A graying man stood on a doorstep
He used to have a wife who lived there

Mr. Lacey‘s come unglued
His house has fallen on his head
And Jackie knows a thing or two
But Jackie can‘t get out of bed

Four am, the city‘s sleeping
A taxi driver reads the dailies
He spills some coffee on a story
He turns the page and reads the weather

Harbour the sky, it knows no outsider
Cherish the moon, it holds a secret
Follow the sun towards the horizon
Heard in the wind a faithful reminder

Mr. Lacey‘s come unglued
His house has fallen on his head
And Jackie knows a thing or two
But Jackie can‘t get out of bed

Mr. Lacey‘s got the blues
Jackie’s up and got them too
The ferry‘s shut down for the day
The taxi slowly pulls away
Looking for the tales of love

Meet me in the Morning Light

Meet me on the calmer side
Of the water’s edge
Meet me in the morning light
We’ll talk about the troubles
Weighing heavy on our chest
Meet me in the morning light

Rumours and falsehood
Have kept us apart
I knew when it started
We were headed for the rocks
And you have used my name
In ways I do regret
But can’t we let it go
Before the sun sets

Meet me on the calmer side
Of this water’s edge
Meet me in the morning light
We’ll talk about the troubles
Weighing heavy on our chest
Meet me in the morning light

There was a distance
We both failed to cross
Looked in your direction
And knew that I was lost
And now we’re facing
All the same old sad regrets
But can’t we let it go
Before the sun sets

Meet me on the calmer side
Of this water’s edge
Meet me in the morning light
We’ll talk about the troubles
Weighing heavy on our chest
Meet me in the morning light
We’ll talk about the troubles weighing heavy on our chest
Meet me in the morning light

Meet me in the morning, morning, morning
Meet me in the morning light
Meet me in the morning, morning, morning
Meet me in the morning light
Meet me in the morning, morning, morning
Meet me in the morning light
Meet me in the morning light

Deep Sleep

Did you have a vision in your sleep
Did the world you know begin to break down
To those things you wish to be
Did you lose your way home in the dark
Were you left to look for something
Vague and yet familiar you had lost

Hello hello hello
Who are you and who am I
Keep talking, keep talking
I’m about to fade away
Keep whispering, keep whispering,
I think I’ll close my eyes and sleep
Deep sleep

Did you wander far from what you know
Was there anything there you can show me
That I’ve never seen before
What did you see that took you by surprise
Did you see yourself but wearing
Someone else’s colourful disguise

Hello hello hello
Who are you and who am I
Keep talking, keep talking
I’m about to fade away
Keep whispering, keep whispering,
I think I’ll close my eyes and sleep
Deep sleep

All along you said nothing here can stay the same
I guess you know by now
And if I didn’t see the way things change are meant to be
I guess I know by now

Hello hello hello
Who are you and who am I
Keep talking, keep talking
I’m about to fade away
Keep whispering, keep whispering,
I think I’ll close my eyes . . .

Hello hello hello
Who are you and who am I
Keep talking, keep talking
I’m about to fade away
Keep whispering, keep whispering,
I think I’ll close my eyes and sleep
Deep sleep
Deep sleep
Deep sleep

Ghost Songs

The blue horizon sees another sun
Rising slow, from ashes into dawn
The pink and the grey marching on the day
The humbling wind blows across your face

Go on and sing your ghost songs
If they help you make your pain subside
Feel the earth beneath your fingers
As you holler at the sky
Tell your haunted dreams to the trees
Share them with the wind
Let your burdens go and fall away
You can’t carry them

The hour here has finally come undone
What is it now that keeps you on the run
A tumbling weed that cannot find its place
Let the horses run, let go of the reins

Phantom Rider

These city lights
Burning so bright light up the sky
These streets of stone
Feel too cold to walk down alone

This paradise
Brought to its knees
Through broken glass
A dreamer sees
The face of dawn
Moves in like a phantom rider

These haunted walls
Of rivets and steel, what can they reveal
These towers of glass
Hiding the sun, shunning the moon

In the darkest night
The thief claims his place
With empty hands
And a covered face
Comes strolling in
And he’s taking all that he wants

And morning crawls
In like a stranger
Watching the sparrows
And sunlight shows
And silence is broken
While new words are spoken
And some are forgotten
And stillness grows
On the strength of the shadows
Like petals on flowers
Whose stems aren’t yet broken

These city lights
Burning so bright light up the sky
These towers of glass
Hiding the moon, close in the sky

In the long shadows
The thief hides his face
His dirty hands
Cover his disgrace
He steals away
When there’s nothing left worth taking

Watch for the Sun

Here we are, here we wait
A stranger passes by us
And we notice we are late
A man in black tips his hat
He smiles and slowly turns away
And leaves us sitting here . . .

All alone as the rain has begun
Here as we watch for the sun
Here with the rain pouring down
Here with our head in the clouds

I was speaking, you never heard a word
I watch you watch your red umbrella
Falling to the ground
One by one the buses come
Over from another place
They’re weaving in and weaving out

Here as the rain has begun
Here as we watch for the sun
Here with the rain pouring down
Here with our head in the clouds

One more call for Sol
To take the morning away
One more time for Sol
To call the clouds all away
For the day

Here we are, here we wait
Someone stops to say hello
And then they’re on their way
The man in black, stepping back
It looks as if he wishes he could sit
And watch the world through windows

Here as the rain has begun
Here as we watch for the sun
Here with the rain pouring down
Here with our head in the clouds

Won’t Turn Away

How does the time fall away
Where does it go
It’s just like yesterday
But different I know
The change in atmosphere
You feel it too
I’m sure I saw it written
On the face of you

And here I’m by your side
I know it when you say
You see it in my eyes
I won’t turn away

The centre of gravity
Is where you stand
If I reached for you
I’d find a hand
If the centre holds
Then we never fall
There’s nothing here
But the magic of it all

And here I’m by your side
I know it when you say
You see it in my eyes
I won’t turn away

And here you’re by my side
I know it when you say
I see it in your eyes
You won’t turn away

See it in my eyes
I won’t turn away