Songwriting Scratchpad from Brian Spahr Music

Faith and Science

New song: “Faith and Science” What if science and faith aren’t enemies?What if the closer we look, the deeper we magnify, the more mystery and wonder we find? This week’s @wildwoodrecordingstudio song challenge pushed me to explore microscopes, and chemistry experiments as metaphors for doubt, discovery, and grace. Would love to hear what you think!LYRICS:VERSE 1:I gather up a specimen and place it on the glassTo magnify and measure all the elements and massIn the subatomic universe, between my faith and doubtI’m looking for the answers, but the mystery wins out CHORUS:Sometimes faith is more like theory, then theology or creedsWith deterministic rules that lead to unpredictabilityBut maybe faith and science don’t have to be at odds|Faith can’t explain the science, science will never explain God VERSE 2:I find a Bunsen burner and an Erlenmeyer flaskA chemistry experiment might be up to the taskMixing up the chemicals of certainty and sureA synthesis of faith both confident and insecure VERSE 3:Magnified or multiplied, I still can’t pin it downThe formula keeps changing every time I turn aroundBut something pulls me deeper, it's a force I can’t escapeThe Spirit holds like gravity, with unrelenting grace Get full access to Brian Spahr at brianspahr.substack.com/subscribe [https://brianspahr.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_4]

Childlike

A megaphone-wielding street preacher, Welcome to the Jungle on the radio, missed appointments, and construction that won’t move. Sigh. Such is life sometimes.So, I wrote a song that slips out of the grind and into the wild chaos of childhood. A nod back to when Saturday mornings when Sid and Marty Krofft spun weird and wonderful worlds like Sigmund and the Sea Monsters, The Bugaloos, and Land of the Lost, plus a little nod to Ozzy at the end (Bet you didn't expect that one!)This one is for the love of paper airplanes, Atari joysticks, youth group games, and yellow number 5. It’s a litany of what I miss, and a reminder that maybe the childlike part of me isn’t lost at all.Let me know what you think. This is a weird one. LOL. LYRICS:Stuck here at the traffic light at Washington and BarrA man here with a megaphone keeps shouting at my carAnother roadside prophet spewing messages of hate.I don't have the time for this. I honk my horn. I'm running late. There must be construction; traffic hasn’t moved a bitThis isn’t how I planned today. Man, I’m so over it.I fidget in my seat and wonder when my luck will changeI think of missed appointments and now all I have to rearrange Tune in to the radio, needing musical reliefBut Axl Rose sings Welcome to the Jungle with a screechI wonder if I’ve missed it; is there more than this to lifeThen carrying this heavy load, I long to be more child-like I miss coloring and comic books and cereal for dinnerRiding bikes, Atari, having hair and being thinnerI miss walkie-talkies, camping trips, and wandering the mallStar Wars cards and swimming pools, and backyard wiffle ballI miss sleep-overs and lock-ins, playing stupid youth-group gamesTaping shows on VHS, and flying paper planesI miss phones that hang up on the wall and even busy signalsPaper wads in plastic straws, and launching them like missilesI miss Sigmund and the Sea Monsters, Bugaloos, Land of the LostAnd all the twisted children’s shows by Sid and Marty KrofftI miss little league and Space Invaders, trick-or-treat on HalloweenPaper footballs, Ninja stars, and skateboard magazinesBigfoot, Loch Ness, UFOs, other mysteries unknownLearning to love music, playing alto saxophoneI miss popsicles and model cars, and yellow number 5Wearing flip-flops on my feet and feeling so alive I'm stuck here at this traffic light where life’s a bitter shameAnd I’m going off the rails on a crazy train I share all of my work freely. If you want to support my writing it’s always helpful to share it with a friend, re-stack, reccomend, and subscribe. I also welcome your paid subscriptions. Paid subscriptions help me publish books and support other writers. Thanks for your support in any way you offer it. Get full access to Brian Spahr at brianspahr.substack.com/subscribe [https://brianspahr.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_4]

Orphans Easter

The prompt this week was Celebration. I thought of the “Orphans Easter” dinners we used to host for friends without local family. No fancy china, no seating chart, just paper plates, too much dessert, card games and stories that stretched late into the night. It’s a reminder that sometimes the holiest communion isn’t in a sanctuary, but in a crowded living room where grace pulls up a chair and calls us beautiful. Verse 1No need for fancy chinaPaper plates will do just fineIt’ll be alrightIt’ll be alright Everybody’s bringing somethingThere’s no menu, there’s no planIt’ll be alrightIt’ll be alright ChorusWhen we gather ‘round this tableA bunch of orphans far from homeIt’s the holiest communionIt’s a place where we belongWe’re all misfits, weirdos, exiled, brokenWelcome, wanted stillHere at Orphan’s EasterWith the family we have built Verse 2There’s no drunken disagreementsThough the wine flows fast and freeIt’ll be alrightIt’ll be alright We play a wicked game of Skip-BoAnd there’s dessert on every plateIt’ll be alrightIt’ll be alright BridgeSome of us are lost and lonelySome are mostly fineOthers moved too far awaySome just like the wineHere there’s bread and laughterAnd every chair is fullGrace pulls up a seat with usAnd calls the broken beautiful Final Chorus When we gather ‘round this tableA bunch of orphans far from homeIt’s the holiest communionIt’s a place where we belongWe’re all misfits, weirdos, exiled, brokenWelcome, wanted stillHere at Orphan’s Easter With the family we have built Get full access to Brian Spahr at brianspahr.substack.com/subscribe [https://brianspahr.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_4]

Dashboard Altar

This is song #31 in my attempt to write and share a new song every Monday in 2025. The prompt this week was “Vacation” To listen to the other 30 Songs (plus a few extras) CLICK HERE [https://threadbarecreative.com/album/3430887/threadbare-songs] I’d love to know what you think if you have time to listen. https://threadbarecreative.com/track/4394662/dashboard-altar-wildwood-week-31 [https://threadbarecreative.com/track/4394662/dashboard-altar-wildwood-week-31] The best vacations for me involve loading up for a long drive to somewhere wonderfully ordinary. Give me an audible book, coffee and some snacks and I’m good to go… wherever. Fingerpicking is not my strong suit, so after countless takes, my fingers died, and I gave up doing anything but letting chords ring out in the chorus. Hopefully my poor playing doesn’t get in the way of the song. LYRICS: Verse 1Never sailed up the Amalfi Coast; Haven't zip-lined in Costa Ricaor watched the sun in Santorini; or seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa Mount Everest is way too tall; it's so expensive in Dubai But I’ve been to Minnesota, north on Highway 29 Verse 2I’ve never seen the cherry blossoms that line the streets of KyotoOr gazed at rainbow northern lights dancing in the sky in TromsøNo hot dogs up in Reykjavik, I haven’t skied the Highlands Bowl But I’ve driven for twelve hours straight in my little Kia Soul ChorusI sit behind my dashboard altarOn cloth-covered bucket seatsListening to AudibleAnd eating truck stop treatsI don’t need to go to Parisor float down the river Seine I just like the drivingIt doesn’t matter where it ends Verse 3I haven’t hiked to Machu Picchu; never snorkeled coral reefsOff the coast of Zanzibar; I’ve never heard of the MaldivesI always thought that Patagonia was just a clothing brandBut I’ve been up to Lake Michigan; walked barefoot in the sand BridgeRoad signs pray like rosaries; GPS speaks the liturgyI don’t need a destination; I just need you and me Final ChorusLet's sit behind my dashboard altarOn cloth-covered bucket seatsListening to AudibleAnd eating truck stop treatsWe don’t need to go to Parisor float down the river Seine We just like the drivingSo, let’s hit the road again TagWe just like the drivingIt doesn’t matter where it ends I share all of my work freely. If you want to support my work, it’s always helpful to share it with a friend, re-stack, recommend, and subscribe. Or just send me a note of encouragement! Those are the best. I also welcome your paid subscriptions. Paid subscriptions help me publish books and support other writers. Thanks for your support in any way you offer it! Get full access to Brian Spahr at brianspahr.substack.com/subscribe [https://brianspahr.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_4]

Confluence

"Confluence” is a love song for Fort Wayne. Not the postcard version. This one is for the muddy waters and mismatched sidewalks, the collision of past and future, the sacred ordinary of rivers that refuse to flow alone.I wrote this song around the image of our city’s three rivers, especially the place where the St. Joe and St. Mary meet to become the Maumee. They come from different places, with different stories, but they don’t fight to stay separate. They merge. They flow on. That felt like a metaphor worth singing about.This song is my offering to the city I call home, where resurrection feels possible, even when hope feels like a long shot. VERSE 1St. Joe and St. Mary—different rivers, different namesFrom Ohio and from Michigan, they meet up in Fort WayneThey flow with separate currents, carving stories on their banksUntil colliding at a confluence, a whirlpool of graceMuddy waters join in dissonance, but leave in harmonyAnd the two become one river, as the Maumee when they leave CHORUS 1I stand here at the confluence Where the waters reconcile Making something beautiful Where death gives way to life VERSE 2Through concrete-covered cobblestones and asphalt tributariesTo the coffee bar slash barbershop on Lafayette and BerryOld ideals still crash like accidents, claiming right of wayThinking we're a dying rust-belt town, one that's long-since had its dayBut I believe in resurrection, even in this Midwest townMuddy waters sing in harmony, and my hope will never drown CHORUS 2So meet me at the confluence Where the waters reconcile Let’s make something beautiful Where death gives way to lifeTAGI believe in resurrection, even in this Midwest town Get full access to Brian Spahr at brianspahr.substack.com/subscribe [https://brianspahr.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_4]