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Sometimes the things you gotta do to feed your family
aren’t perfectly aligned with that which feeds your soul.
Page down for lyrics and recordings of a bunch of songs.
 

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    D.P. Knudten
    Press Kit


     
     
     
     
     
     
    tattered family quilt CD cover
     
     
     
     
     
     
     

    tattered family quilt 

    now available at CDBaby.comBandCamp • iTunes/Apple Music
     
    “D.P. makes his words&music records debut with an extremely personal look at life. As he explains in the CD’s liner notes “What started out as an attempt to finally document some of the songs I’ve written over the past 20 years turned into something entirely more personal. After recording a number of tracks with no grand album concept in mind, a pattern began to emerge: a patchwork of songs about family, places we lived (and events we lived through), and some of the people we met on the way.”

    Recorded throughout 2001 at Raven Recording in Englewood, Colorado, tattered family quilt is a heartfelt, funny, and personally quirky document of what it’s like to be father and part-time poet in the early years of the 21st Century.

     

    tattered family quilt / track #1

    WALKING YOU HOME

    ©2002 D.P. Knudten – all rights reserved

    Sorry GBS, but youth isn’t wasted on the young.
    They just don’t always know what to do with it.

    There’s no time for talking between bells
    Hallway’s too crowded with rude boy yells
    Thank God we live the same part of town
    Can’t help but see you walking around

    chorus
    ‘Cause I’m kind of shy, in a loud way
    But I made a vow I’m keeping today
    You don’t have to go, but would you say yes
    To me walking you home

    I like your smile, I like your eyes
    Not too tall or skinny, you’re just the right size
    I like your hair, even your shoes
    If I could have any girl, you’re the one that I’d choose

    chorus
    But I’m kind of shy, in a loud way…

    bridge
    There’s just so much I’d like to say
    Been practicing hard, most of the day

    I’ve known you since third grade
    Loved you since fifth
    Hearing you say my name my favorite gift
    Went by your house ‘bout five times today
    Wherever I go, it’s right on the way

    chorus
    But I’m kind of shy, in a loud way…

    tattered family quilt / track #2

    MAY 20

    ©1997 D.P. Knudten – All rights reserved

    Some dates mean just a little bit more than others.


    Crowded doorway, awkward stances
    He brushes past her, stolen glances
    Her hand on shoulder, change the balance
    It’s got him thinking about her talents

    chorus
    Hold on, tightly, bumpy road tonight
    Not sure, maybe, it’ll turn out right
    Careful, caution, no need to jump the gun
    Patience, slow down, the game’s just begun

    Out for dinner, calamari
    Ravioli, shared Chianti
    No decisions quite advanced yet
    Still uncertain, haven’t danced yet

    chorus

    One year later, same companions
    Walk the lakeside, his her hand in
    He acts nervous, but she’s unwary
    He asks a question…

    chorus

    tattered family quilt / track #3

    18 BELOW LOWER WACKER

    words and music © 1997 D.P. Knudten – all rights reserved

    Chicago can be incredibly cold—and not just in February.

    I told you once take your hand off my collar
    This country’s free so just leave me alone
    I know why you’re here so stop lying
    Take your help, shove it hard, and go home

    All I need from you is a quarter
    But most times that’s just too much to give
    Ain’t you read what it says in the bible
    Do unto others? Then just let me live

    chorus
    18 below, Lower Wacker
    No rent, with a view, trouble free
    I am the king off this jungle
    I can live of the crumbs in your cans
    Below zero means more than just weather
    Say you care? Well, I don’t give a damn

    Pigeons talk if you know how to listen
    They warn of terrors you can’t understand
    Just prepare for the next conflagration
    Wait and see what the devil has planned

    chorus

    For 2 weeks I took the pills that they gave me
    Twice a day, but now I just won’t
    Better fighting off demons you can see
    Than to live among those that you don’t

    Goddamn you I said I don’t want your coffee
    But leave it there, it won’t go to waste
    Yeah, I staying, I don’t care ’bout this weather
    Think I’d just leave and give up my place?

    chorus

    tattered family quilt / track #4

    Liza Jo

    ©2002 D.P. Knudten – all rights reserved

    Yeah, you know who this is for Elizabeth.

    Come on baby, turn over for daddy

    Now I got it started
    Time to hit the road
    Head for the highway
    Got to ease my load

    chorus
    ‘Cause I’m going up country
    Gots to see my Liza Jo
    Will I be welcome?
    Tell the truth I don’t know

    Last time I saw her
    Had a little fight
    She said “Boy you’re banished
    to the cold and lonely night”

    chorus

    So fill my tank up
    Check oil too
    Grab me a Snickers
    And a good ol’ Mountain Dew

    chorus

    This old four-banger
    Better make this pass
    Got to see my baby
    Got to make it last

    chorus

    tattered family quilt / track #5

    Right Wrong Thing

    ©1997 D.P. Knudten – all rights reserved

    Life is all about choices. Some aren’t so easy.

    One moment, she calms
    Eyes closed to the world
    Her lips grow a frown
    Her brow starts to furrow
    She captures a breath
    Holds it hard against its will
    She smothers her cry
    And wonders still

    It’s a question of potential
    That never has a chance
    She wonders what would happen
    If she took a different stance
    She curls up in silence
    And tries to hide the guilt
    And accepts the warm-armed offer
    Of a tattered family quilt

    When built for love it hurts too much
    To drive that love away
    And now a late night shadow
    Follows hard at height of day
    But trust tomorrow’s coming
    And wait for hope to spring
    From the bittersweet regret/relief
    Of the right wrong thing

    tattered family quilt / track #6

    Temperance & Grace

    ©1997 D.P. Knudten – all rights reserved

    Geography as destiny? There’s a little more to it than that.

    Greystones stand empty
    Burnt brownstones beside
    A rusted used car lot
    Of windowless rides
    Anonymous neighbors
    Spend lives ‘gainst the wall
    And seek their relief
    In an unlighted hall

    Tondra is clenching
    The spine of her book
    And walks unaware
    Of her trigger tight look
    Unafraid on the outside
    Fear festers inside
    And though a child by years
    She’s got a grown woman’s pride

    chorus
    The greystones were once golden mansions
    The brownstones kept whole families safe
    Tell me, when did things change
    And hope give over to pain
    At the corner of Temperance & Grace

    Will Henry is learning
    The way to play dumb
    When anger barks hard
    From the end of a gun
    Smarter than most
    He still needs help to survive
    He’s got big plans providing
    He sees 18 alive

    Will Henry is fighting
    Some real long odds
    That he can escape
    Colorfast bonds
    And Tondra just might raise a child
    On her own
    For a man’s love can grow
    Long after he’s gone

    chorus
    The greystones were once golden mansions
    The brownstones kept whole families safe
    Tell me, when did things change
    And hope give over to pain
    At the corner of Temperance & Grace

    Greystones stand empty
    Burnt brownstones beside
    A rusted used car lot
    Of windowless rides

    tattered family quilt / track #7

    Cornflower Blue

    ©2002 D.P. Knudten – all rights reserved

    They really are. And she really is.

    Well, I’m facing an awful tough question
    Maybe you got a suggestion why
    Heaven has chosen to bless me
    It’s certainly out to impress me
    She, hair of golden spun sunlight
    Me, waking up from a dark night
    Eyes, burning bright of cornflower blue

    I feel stupid, I feel giddy
    How’d I get a girl so pretty to look
    With such love and attention
    There’s really so much I could mention
    Smile, a full contact expression
    Mild, milk and honey complexion
    Wild, how her eyes are cornflower blue

    chorus
    What a headache
    Makes my heartache
    Just how much mess
    Can one girl make
    See her finger, that’s me around it
    I’ll never give up this love
    Now I’ve found it

    Extra verse (unrecorded)
    I’m her daddy, she’s my baby
    Old man to this little lady
    Hugs from her are worth more
    Than diamond
    Can’t find the right word for rhyming
    Girl got my heart in detention
    World takes on whole new dimension
    All ‘cause I love a girl with eyes
    Of cornflower blue

    chorus

    tattered family quilt / track #8

    Father Daughter Dance

    ©2002 D.P. Knudten – all rights reserved

    Yeah, I’m not going to like this at all.

    You arrive all ruddy and red
    Barely the size of my hand
    I can’t do much, stand next to your mom
    And hold on her hand
    Then they pass you, wrapped up in white
    To a home in the crook of my arm
    Life just got simple, my only job
    Keep this baby from harm

    One sudden cry, heart in my mouth
    Scare your daddy to death
    Sneak in late, put my hand on your back
    Feel soft for your breath
    A night light low, bend over the crib
    Kiss the side of your head
    A smile grows, a thank you to God
    Wander barefoot to bed

    chorus
    You pull away the harder I hold
    That’s only a natural thing
    To me, you’ll never ever grow old
    Your life a perpetual spring
    Then one day, you’ll get in a car
    And start a life by moving away
    Will you promise me
    To always save a father/daughter dance

    Can’t even walk yet, and I can see
    A ballerina in pink
    Or a tomboy at the top of a tree
    Which one do you think?
    It doesn’t matter as long as you’re whole
    And as happy as a girl can be
    (I wonder)
    Will you act just like your mom
    Or will you be more like me?

    chorus
    You pull away the harder I hold
    That’s only a natural thing
    To me, you’ll never ever grow old
    Your life a perpetual spring
    Then one day, you’ll find room
    In your heart for another man
    Will you promise me
    To always save a father/daughter dance

    Sleepy girl, put your head on my shoulder
    I will always be here

    tattered family quilt / track #9

    Out of the Blue

    ©2002 D.P. Knudten – all rights reserved

    Plan all you want. Then watch life happen.


    It happened once a summer
    Both of them just walking
    No destination
    Best friends long as they can remember
    Always sat together
    When eating crackers

    Then there come something
    Right out of the blue
    Friends turn into lovers
    Bride and groom

    It happened in September
    A regular appointment
    Just hop up here, m’am
    I’d say you’re carrying another
    You’re going to be a mother
    And you a daddy

    chorus
    Always come something
    Right out of the blue
    I guess we made a baby
    Looks like you

    It happened much too sudden
    Pavement wet with water
    A crunch of metal
    One moment both of them were talking
    The next a shocking silence
    Please say you can hear me

    Always come something
    Right out of the blue
    Once two together
    Then just you

    tattered family quilt / track #9

    Color of Love

    ©2002 D.P. Knudten – all rights reserved

    She’s a little older now, but still my angel.


    Let me sing you a story in rhythm & rhyme
    Of a pearl most precious and rare
    A princess in waiting, a star barely born
    I sing of the beauty, Bay Claire

    She came of a sudden just past evensong
    Unexpected but well welcome there
    A gift from her mother to this blessed man
    A girl we christened Bay Claire

    chorus
    Oh, how I wish you could feel
    How she smiles at me
    Growing warm like the sun escaping a cloud
    And oh, how I wish you could learn
    What she’s taught me
    All the tints, shades and colors of love

    But she’s got a sister thinks mischief
    The greatest game to play
    Can’t wait to enlist her
    To help turn her daddy’s hair gray

    chorus

    But for now she’s an angel
    That fell from a cloud
    And landed right in my arms
    As for me it’s all over,
    She’s captured my heart
    I surrender to her many charms

    tattered family quilt / track #11

    Ten Feet Away

    ©2002 D.P. Knudten – all rights reserved

    A little perspective goes a long way.


    Sittin’ watchin’, my baby talkin’
    As she climbs up your dress
    Now don’t you start stoppin’
    I just thought I’d drop in
    And found you both a mess
    Well, your still my flower
    Who ain’t seen a shower
    Since this baby was born
    Well, don’t you once worry
    There’s no kind of hurry today
    So both you keep playing
    ‘Cause I’m happy staying
    And watching here ten feet away

    chorus
    There’s only one problem
    With being so close
    Sometimes you’re just too close to see
    All you’ve done, all you do,
    How good you are to me
    Is perfectly clear, from ten feet away

    It took a while for me to ask out
    The woman who now is my wife
    But just one dinner and I found the friend
    To join me to share the same life
    Most times it’s charming
    But others alarming
    When I got nothing to say
    But anger turns softer
    And then into laughter and play
    When I take a breather
    Give my blessings a count,
    From ten feet away

    chorus

    I know I’m your shoulder, but I’m seven years older
    Besides that I am a man
    Seems we tire early from holding things in
    And doing best as we can
    If I should pass on I want you to go on
    And live a full life everyday
    But if something happens
    You’re not sure you can handle, just pray
    And know I’ll be with you, the same as before
    But ten feet away

    chorus
    But I’m kind of shy, in a loud way…

    Hidden track on my 2002 CD, tattered family quilt

    Before He Dies

    ©2002 D.P. Knudten – all rights reserved

    I tried.


    He says I’m just like him
    More sensitive than most
    I think the old man’s gone insane
    As words choke in my throat
    Try to remember a day
    I didn’t fear his voice
    That I was ever good enough
    That I had made the right choice

    chorus
    Before he dies
    Before he’s gone
    Before I cry
    Before we’re done
    chorus

    I guess I’ve got a lot to say
    Held sour in my soul
    And claim he wouldn’t understand
    Even if I told
    But time is going way too fast
    While he goes gray
    So help me find the perfect words
    And grace inside, I pray

    chorus

    I am so much older now
    A family of my own
    Now I can start to understand
    The pressure’s of a home
    I’ve got my own mouth’s to feed
    Our own dreams to live
    I hope to tell him someday
    I found the strength to forgive

    chorus