LukeD

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I am a huge fan of this band.

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This is the last song of the goal I made to write a song on Monday,
track on Tuesday and release via Youtube on Wednesday for the first 8 weeks on 2013.
I really wanted to share these with you. I can tell you that it was a difficult goal.
It was difficult to force myself to finish a thought and record it decently enough for other people
to listen. Shoot a video, all in 3 days. I am writing a blog or two on the process and songwriting.
So more on that later.

this song is a painting and a metaphor. Van Gogh is one of my favorite artists. I can’t explain why I have
the emotional response I do to his work, but I love it. I had the idea to write this song as if I was
a painter. And in some ways this song is my 3 day audio attempt of something like his Cafe at Night.

as cliche as it sounds….I think People spend thier whole life looking for love. and we like to chase after strange
half loves. As you get older shit can pile up on you.  That can leave you feeling like real
love is far off and settling for the temporary. But I dont think real love is ever far off.
The heart of God is for people to be living freely and powerfully which won’t happen until they know the real love that burns like a fire. and The fire still burns…..

HUGE DEBT of Gratitude to Mike Murray who helped by offering sweet ideas and playing the best chair I have ever heard. Go buy his CD!!

the video features none other than the Australian Workout Instructor – Overton Smiggles
check out his myspace and friend him here: http://www.myspace.com/195165781

FIREWATER REVELATION

a pilgrim in the alley
a prophet on the street
signs and wonders follow
all those who believe
sometimes you feel like David
who danced before the Lord
sometimes you find a lover
and you pass out on her floor
the neon sign blinks her eyes
and calls in all her converts
travelling hearts become baptized
here your free to wander

Firewater Revelation
In the temple of temptation
the fire still burns
but not so big and bright
Used to be young in another life

the drama and the beauty queens
are taking offers for their company
the bar rats seem to take their shot
as if it might be the last one they got
the invitation always stands
as the weary hearted pile in
the jukebox cancels out the pain
until tomorrow you’re unrestrained

grace faith sex and love
underneath the midnight sun
any virtue you might want
until tomorrow comes

but the fire still burns……..

Firewater Revelation
looking for some sweet salvation
the fire still burns but not so big and bright
Used to be young in another life
Firewater Revelation
Looking for some sweet salvation
the fire still burns but not so big and bright
used to have love in another life

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Week 7

“Halfway”

You can watch Week 1-6 here. http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLbBi0LtMSM6-pXSEkEgBBQ8_S_oC6KHJ2&feature=view_all

This is a song about heaven. This song came about after years of hearing preachers talk about heaven as some far off place in the distance, in the by and by.  Honestly, I don’t know exactly what it’s going to be or look like when I die but any ideas that encourage me to focus my life solely on the day when I check out; misses the point IMO.     So rather than saying we are almost there  and one day everything will be better or even looking at the world as being one misstep from damnation, I wanted to say something about how we are here, right now – and that means the opportunity for heaven to be here, right now exists too. 

My name is Luke Dowler and each Monday I write a song on Tuesday I record it and on Wednesday I slap together a video and tweak a mix. This is week 7′s effort.Thanks for paying attention. There is a lot of music these days so it means alot to me that you have included mine on your menu. It would help so much if you would SUBSCRIBE to the Youtube channel, or SHARE it on your facebook page. The more love you guys show, the further we can take this thing, and the less Macaroni we have to eat.

Halfway

I know the outcome

I got it outrun

I saw the spilled blood and 

oh my God.

I ran to the top floor

give me something new born, unworn

oh my God

but I can’t walk around in handcuffs, eyelids stapled half shut

waiting for the end to come

with all that we have tasted, how could we just waste it

Like oh my God.

CHORUS:

only halfway

we’re only halfway here

V2. look into the future

cell phones and computers

everybody wants the voice of God

looking for prescription

cigarettes and aspirin

everybody wants the hand of God

you ask existential questions, like how to get to heaven

 you’re chasing down the technique

but spinning on this axis, everyone still asking

if heaven was here, if heaven is here, heaven is here

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You can watch Week 1-5 here. http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLbBi0LtMSM6-pXSEkEgBBQ8_S_oC6KHJ2&feature=view_all

8in8

Week 6

“College Towns” 

First of all, thanks so much to those of you who have been watching weekly. Thanks for paying attention.  There is a lot of music these days so it means alot to me that you have included mine on your menu.  It would help so much if you would SUBSCRIBE to the Youtube channel, or SHARE it on your facebook page. The more love you guys show, the further we can take this thing, and the less Macaroni we have to eat.

I was only able to make this video because of my friends Dave and Phil who thought my spur of the moment desicion to film this weeks grainy video for an electropop acoustic song in a club might work. Thanks to them, we are coming at you from somewhere other than my studio. p.s. I stayed up until 5 am finishing the lyrics and the mix on Monday night.

I really like this song. I wrote it with Missoula and Bozeman Montana in mind, but it’s also metaphorical.   I love hanging in those towns when I can, and we love playing at colleges when we our on tour. A saturday night in a college town can be electric. Street corner prophets, pilgrims, temples filled up with people looking for the grace of god.  Generally speaking, The next morning home is the only place that anyone wants to be.

I hope that you enjoy iy as much as I did making it.

LD

“College Towns”

The night is young

The future bright

Looking for a miracle

on the streets tonight

Take a chance in this economy

Take my hand

follow me

We’ve been living underground

I think its time to get around

Isn’t it nice

to finally feel

You’re not alone

Isn’t it nice

to know that you

could come back home

We’ll head down south

to college towns

park the car

and join the crowds

streetlights act

as tourguides

we’ll stay up late

and crow all night

We’re Poets on the promenade

asking for a little change

When we shut it down

say goodnight

to the college towns

everbody needs to go home

once in awhile

Isn’t it nice to finally feel

You’re not alone

Isn’t it nice to know that you

could come back home

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Hold Up The Sky

My name is Luke Dowler and each Monday I write a song on Tuesday I record it and on Wednesday I slap together a video and tweak a mix. This is week 5′s effort.

You can watch Week 1-4 here.    http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLbBi0LtMSM6-pXSEkEgBBQ8_S_oC6KHJ2&feature=view_all

Week 4 is feeling a bit left out, you should pay him a visit.

Hold Up the Sky is a ballad. Its acoustic. And its an early Valentines Day song for my wife. too sappy? oh well.

the idea is simple. A man will try to hold the sky up for a woman who keeps him in suspense.
Commitment and mystery, failure and risk, faith and hope all wrapped into the mudane everyday stuff of earth. That’s love. Sometimes you look at it and wonder how the heck does this thing even survive and it becomes even more beautiful.

Maybe you can slow dance to it on your 100th wedding anniverssary:)

HOLD UP THE SKY

 Some people want everything explained
someone to tell em what to think
They’re so scared to make a mistake
They never do a damn thing

I need a mystery, give me some suspense
A balcony with a Capulet
If we take a risk and we make a mess
that’s all right

CH: I don’t know why you stayed
But here we are
I’ll hold up the sky
you keep me in suspense

V2 Most people want the best things in life
but they don’t want to watch em grow
But all the good things in life take time
The best things come gradual
I need discovery, a new frontier
I have both of them with you right here
I’ll be your peasant or a prince,
I don’t really care

BR: Those people who got all the pictures to prove it
they always have their angles right
but in the pictures, they never show you
what they’re hiding in real life
baby we ain’t gonna hide
no we ain’t gonna hide

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“Summer Sun”

Listen to 8in8 Week 1 thru Week 3 : CLICK HERE

So this is a departure from the usual. That is really all I can say about that.
. and since I have a huge production budget from all the records that EVERYONE is buying I put the band back together for this one and shot in full HD. We spent all of last weekend rehearsing the dance routine. I hope that you enjoy it as much as we did dancing it.
I hope you enjoy.

Andrew suggested a theme of summer and the ocean….I didnt write a bridge so I just sang one.
I’ve been listeing to too much frank ocean probably.
Lyrically its more simplified and poppy, but I challenged myself to try to stay in that realm on this song.

Let me know what you like or don’t like about this one.
LD

Summer Sun

V1. Sailing on to summer, an endless july

when we’re together everything is alright

cuz good love is hard to find

harder to leave in the summertime

We can throw our worries out into the ocean

watch the sun set like a golden explosion

blue water, is where we both belong

I’ll bring my guitar and sing you Katy Perry songs

V2. Let’s spend our time like we are millionaires

maybe one day we won’t have to pretend

we’ll look back at where it all began

The summer you and me, we are permanent

We can build a boat sail around the coast

see all the places we’ve never got to go

when the blue sky turns to a late night

Like a Van Gogh we’ll navigate by starlite

CH

No matter what comes

We still have the summer sun

So let’s live it up

Who knows

what tomorrow holds

so hold onto the summer sun

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“GOOD ENOUGH”

Hi. I’m Luke. This is the third week in my 8 songs in 8 weeks.  I have been writing a song on Monday,  tracking it on Tuesday and releasing it on Wednesday. This song is the 3rd of the self-imposed 8in8 challenge.  To listen into the first two weeks, click here:

8in8 WEEK 1 

8in8 WEEK 2

Good Enough is a song that came together in one day (one very long day) and with the help of my friend Mike Murray.  He asked me to come to his studio space and track this week’s installment.  I showed up on Tuesday without having really worked on anything since I have been immersed in writing dance pop tunes. No I really have been. And he engineered and offered some cool ideas that turned out really well on this song.

I think most people have had a time when they feel like they were giving the very best of themselves but still unable to please someone else. Lyrically  I wrote the song within the context of a relationship because I wanted to put a face on trying to please everyone all the time. I think the fear of letting someone down or simply not liking you can hijack your life. So the chorus starts off as a question almost apologetically, but ends the song in a giant rhetorical exit scene.

My favorite part is the bidge and the last chorus.  Mike had the idea that I push my vocals on the bridge rather than only falcetto.  and the end chorus turned out really cool.

As for the video.. I wish I had a camera and a little more time, but this is what you get when you have a flip cam with a piece of tape over it for a lens and tour driving footage.  One day hopefully I will get ahold of something to do the 8in8 videos justice.

Thanks for listening in and I would love to hear your thoughts, comments, and if you like it – please share!  You all are the main way these songs can get out there.

GOOD ENOUGH

V1. Your taking me for a ride

But I’m doing all the driving

I can’t do anything right

But that don’t mean ‘m not trying

CH. So let me know when it’s good enough

when it’s good enough

when it’s good enough for you

Let me know if it’s good enough for you

Let me know if it’s good enough

if I’m good enough

If I’m good enough for you

Let me know if it’s good enough for you

V2. I’d do anything you asked me to

swim across the ocean to Japan

How was I supposed to know that

You’d want to change the things I am

I try to do my best for you

throw myself upon the flames for you

You can’t love someone if you can’t love yourself

so maybe I’m the one to blame

BR: If you won’t set me free

Then I’ll just have to leave

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“Darker Days”

Well this one was laborous. I couldn’t get the lyric, I couldn’t get the take, I couldn’t get the mix. I wrote the chorus first and then struggled to find the verse, but when I found it I decided the verse didn’t vibe with the chorus. oh well. and the video may make some of you queasy with its movement… this is my desired effect. I want you to equate the feeling of nausea with my music. just kidding.

In Montana the days are pretty short through-out December and January. As I was thinking about the winter season, I started thinking about current events and the hovering and impending shadow of “dark days” that some people spend so much time talking about.

And then I thought about two lovers seperated for a time. And what the one would say to the other as the day approached when they would be brought together.

So this song is sort of a love letter..

the second chorus has a little vibe..not perfect, but I like where it could go. It’s not finished in my mind, but regardless here is the second song in my 8in8 challenge.

DARKER DAYS

V. 1 The days are getting darker

It’s getting hard to see

The wolves outside your window

Keep asking you to bleed

They’ll stone your til you’re broken

And then hate you like a stray

But you can’t make everyone love you

Baby you’ll  die out that way

CH. In darker days

Don’t have a reason To play it safe

So light up the dark honey and shine away

You’re so beautiful in darker days, darker days

In darker days

Don’t have a reason for heartbreak

So start the clock honey and make the change

You’re so beautiful in these darker days, darker days

V.2 So if you’re feeling shaken

you’re scared the sun is dying out

and the wolves out in the shadows

wait until your guard is let down

Honey our love is a fire

Lighting a harbour by the sea

When darker days are showing

Our love will lead you home me

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1-8-2013

“Sorry”

I wrote this song on Monday and tracked it on Tuesday. Today is wednesday and…wait a minute,  we may have ourselves a new Rebecca Black song…but I digress.  I realized just howlittle time that is this first week.  With all of the stuff in life…creating something and putting it in a listenable format because I know I am going to share in two days is a lot of pressure. And then I have to make it video, because Youtube is where you people go to find new music:) So here are my thoughts on this song..I would love to hear yours.

well Its not a happy song. and its a horrible 8in8title screen, but you can either be good at one thing or mediocre at a bunch of things. so in 2 days, to create a title screen, video, write and track a song – the title screen suffered the most.

I wrote this song about addiction. My favorite part is the chorus…so you have to at least listen until the first one.  The chorus sings the regret of ever opening up the thing in the first place along with the regret of what was missed out on up to that point of life. In the bridge there is this question of, can what started out as ‘relief’ can be let go of completely in the future.

I was going to title this song repentance, but the word has been so overly defined that it would have only served to stereotype the song and what I wanted to write about.  Listening back I will probably change lyrics in a number of places, but this is the 8 in 8 song challenge and I have one day to write lyrics so here she is. Hope you enjoy. lukedowler.com

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