Karen Hammarstrand
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Music and Lyrics


From my CD release on June 25 where I debuted my song Fool's Heart:
Fool's Heart

Verse 1
I thought love was all about the tryin’                                                                       
Tryin’ to be kind and to be true
I just never figured on the lyin’
I just never figured on you.
All this time while I was chasing sunbeams
You were out there playin’ by your own rules
Now you’ve trampled all my dreams
A voice inside my head is screaming “fool”
You fool       


Chorus:
I’m a fool for trusting in my heart
It put the horse behind the cart
By blindly leading me to you
The way it always seems to do
Played your game and walked away
Then you left my heart to pay
There you go to hurt somebody new
This fool’s heart no longer hurts for you

Verse 3
Hope you’re proud of yourself little darlin’
Now you’ve tripped me up and watched me fall
I was nothing to you but a plaything
Just another notch upon your wall
Someday you are going to meet your match dear
Somebody who plays by her own rules
You’ll hear words you never thought you’d hear
That voice in your ear sayin “fool” 
You fool     mmm mmm

Chorus:
I’m a fool for trusting in my heart
It put the horse behind the cart
By blindly leading me to you
The way it always seems to do
Played your game and walked away
Then you left my heart to pay
There you go to hurt somebody new
But this fool’s heart no longer hurts for you
Played your game and walked away
Then you left my heart to pay
There you go to hurt somebody new
But this fool’s heart no longer hurts for you

               Karen Hammarstrand  ©  2011 SOCAN


The Fall

Here we're sitting like two people do
I think I'm smitten, smitten with you
because I've never felt like this that I can recall
Like being on a tightrope and waiting to fall

High wire walking is all new to me
Makes me light-headed and weak in the knees
And I keep telling myself to look straight ahead at the wall
So I won’t see how far it is I could fall

I could fall

I could fall
How far I could fall

Up too high and in too deep
I’m fighting this panic that’s come over me
While the lights and the music below hold me enthralled
Pull me towards that fateful fall 

I could fall
I could fall
How far I could fall

Here we’re sitting like two people do
I think I’m smitten…smitten with you
Because I’ve never felt like this that I can recall, no no...
Like being on a tightrope waiting to fall.
Like being on a tightrope waiting to fall.
   Like being on a tightrope and waiting to fall.



Karen Hammarstrand © 2013  SOCAN



Days Between

Days between the hours
Keep taking their time
Days that were ours
Turned unkind
Clocks keep on tickin' 
But time is a lie
Since the day
The hour you said good-bye

I'll formulate a plan of action
To fill my lonely days
Maybe drive to distraction
With stops along the way
I need to fill my empty time
Keep myself occupied
Walk that line
Be damned the rivers I've cried

Time to give up the ghost of you
Walk out of these dreams
‘Cause I can't seem to
Forget what has been

And these daydreams I create
Just take away my power
To accelerate
Days between the hours
Days between the hours
These lonely day between

 

Karen Hammarstrand  © 2012  SOCAN



Mystery’s Alive

I’ve often brought my lonely tales to this lonely place
Spirits here lend me solace in their embrace
Now colours golden, scarlet, flame take my breath away
I listen to the earth and trees whispering today

Lately there has been a cold wind blowing through my heart
Taken hold and dried my tears before they can start
Frozen brittle feelings are a mainstay these days
I’m waiting for an angel’s voice to melt them away

And now, the secret’s out, the mystery’s alive in a grand parade
Where sadness brings the beauty of season’s glorious change
Glorious change, glorious change

Some day I will meet you here again, my heart at peace
Burden’s gone, and like a song, you’ll touch me with ease
So many times I’ve longed to walk these roads with you again
And dreamed the day our youthful ways would join us hand in hand
Hand in hand, hand in hand

All the secrets grand and small, I’m catching secrets as they fall
Floating freely on the wind, I reach for them and take them in

Because, the secret’s out, the mystery’s alive in a grand parade
Where sadness brings the beauty of season’s glorious change
Yes, the secret’s out, the mystery’s alive in a grand parade
Where sadness brings the beauty of season’s glorious change
Glorious change, glorious change

Karen Hammarstrand  © 2013    SOCAN

Learning to Fly

Standing at a bus stop in the rain and the cold
Remembering when her life was still unfolding
When everything brand new could not grow old
And dreams were so real she could hold them
When truth was just something that you told

They said don’t hold so tight, you might lose it now
So she opened her fist and lost it anyhow
Now she sees in the streetlight’s glare
Her coat is worn threadbare
And truth is just the coat that you wear

Hold on, Hold on now, Hold, hold on
Sometimes the word love comes after wouldn’t
And the words “hold on” come after couldn’t
Sometimes truth is what has made you cry
Some days it’s kept you strong inside
Some day it’s going to let you fly
Hold on
Let you fly, hold on now
Let you fly


Karen Hammarstrand © 2013 SOCAN

Gentle Flowers

Gentle flowers taken by the breeze
Start by bending then break at the knees
Taken high into skies above
Say good-bye to life, good-bye to love
To life and love

Over distant lands, drifting free
Always longing for the symmetry
Of the patchwork fields in perfect rows below
How they’ll get down, they don’t know
Will they be found, they don’t know
They don’t know

Will the gentle ones survive a fall
Might a softer wind hear their call
Trying to make some sense of life and love
Surely this can’t be an act of God above
Surely this can’t be an act of God above
A God of love

Lifted high into skies above
Say good-bye to life, good-bye to love

Karen Hammarstrand © 2013  SOCAN

Disappoint You

Fever's come and gone and your touch has grown cold
Seems I've done something wrong but what, I don't know
Now I'm waiting every day for you to drop the other shoe
Don't know what debt I have to pay or how I ever disappointed you

I used to be your queen held so high
Now I live in this dream where all I do is sigh
Need loving words to carry me 'cause I'm feeling so confused
With words as cold as charity tell me how did I ever disappoint you

Fever's come and gone and your touch has grown cold
Seems I've done something wrong but what, I don't know
Now I'm waiting every day for you to drop the other shoe
Don't know what debt I have to pay or how I ever disappointed you
Disappointed you
How I ever disappointed you




Karen Hammarstrand ©  2013  SOCAN
The Turning

I see a break in the clouds
An
d with the spring melt frost-heavy branches unbow
I cast off my hurt as wintertime casts off her shroud


They say easy come easy go
That’s never come close to touching the truth that I know
Leaving’s as empty as darkess and cold as the snow

Life turns a circle
It follows itself around.
Sometimes seems lost before being found

What can I say to the sun
Except that I knew if I waited I’d see her again
And one day be turning my back on the pain

Life turns a circle
It follows itself around.
Sometimes seems lost before being found

All good things come to an end
While that might be true it also means something begins
New life will rise from the wounds of life’s arrows and slings


What can I say to the sun
Except that I knew if I waited I’d see her again
And one day be turning my back on the pain
Yes, one day be turning my back on the pain


Karen Hammarstrand  © 2013