Presents

the 2023 Album Release

“Enter Louis Rosen…with an intriguing collection of originals... Mellow in the good sense and fervent in the even better sense. A new minstrel of the dawn.” (Jazz Weekly, Nov. 6, 2023)

“Rosen’s music is what singer/songwriters use to write, full of blues riffs, uplifting swing, folk melodies, jazz cadences and soulful powerful lyrics. It is like an old soul left their words to impart. This night so made me want to hear his newest album “Love and Ashes”. Rosen is a musicians musician.” (Times Square Chronicle, May 16, 2023)

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MUSICIANS 

Louis Rosen – Vocals, Acoustic Guitars, Nylon String Guitar, Arrangements and Orchestrations

Dick Sarpola – Acoustic and Electric Bass 

Gary Seligson – Drums 

Max Moston – Violin 

Anja Wood – Cello 

Susan Rotholz – Flute 

Andrew Sterman – Clarinet and Bass Clarinet 

C. J. Camerieri – Trumpet 

Bruce Williamson – Alto and Tenor Sax 

Zohar Schondorf – French Horn 

David Mansfield – Acoustic Lead Guitar (Tracks 5, 9, 11)

PRODUCTION 

Produced by Louis Rosen and Scott Lehrer  

Recording and Mixing Engineer: Scott Lehrer

Mastering Engineer: Oscar Zambrano 

Art Direction & Design: Derek Bishop 

Cover Photo: Charlotte Maier

To Joan, Scott, Oscar, Derek, Charlotte, Dick, Gary, Max, Anja, Susan, Andrew, C. J., Bruce, Zohar, David, Thom (for reading along the way), Jay and Teddy (for listening along the way) and to all who keep listening – THANK YOU.

All Songs © 2023 by Louis Rosen/Lullwater Music, ASCAP. All Rights Reserved. 

™ DT–260 ℗ & © 2023 by Louis Rosen. Distributed by Di-tone Records. All Rights Reserved. Unauthorized Duplication is a violation of applicable law.

INTRODUCTION

Allow me to announce a new album, my 12th on Di-tone Records. The title: LOVE AND ASHES – the subject, well… love and ashes, or a particular perspective on living from a “seasoned” songwriter offered through eleven new songs, with music that walks further down the road that my music has been traveling for a long while: the synthesis of folk, jazz and popular styles filtered through a chamber music-inspired arranging lens, splendidly played by a first-class crew of musicians and brilliantly engineered and co-produced by my colleague of almost 35 years, the Grammy and Tony Award-winning Scott Lehrer. 

LOVE AND ASHES speaks both from and to today. As a line from the title song sings, "The beauty of life and the heartbreak of living are one." I hope you enjoy listening.

LR

5/12/23

All Songs Music and Lyrics by Louis Rosen

LYRICS

1. PRISONER OF HOPE AND DESIRE
(Music & Lyric by Louis Rosen)

A prisoner of hope – isn’t she?
She thinks she’s the marrying kind
A weaver of schemes
She fecklessly dreams that
One day he might change his mind
She’s betting he might change his mind

A prisoner of hope – isn’t he?
He’s learned to survive on his own
He dreams of a life
A husband and wife
Together they’d feel less alone
He’s longing to feel less alone

Time moves on
Lost are moments each
Missed before
Unmapped roads or an
Open door
Pathways leading to
Places unknown

Two prisoners of hope – aren’t they?
Caught between truth and desire
The calendar turns
The emptiness burns
And neither can put out the fire
Two prisoners of hope and desire
Prisoners of hope and desire
Prisoners of hope and desire
Prisoners of hope and desire

2. LOVE AND ASHES

Everywhere I look
I see love and ashes
Every breath I take
I breathe love and ashes
I look in the mirror
What do I see?
Looks like love and ashes to me

Anywhere I touch
I feel love and ashes
Everything I taste
Always love and ashes
The song I keep singing
What can it be?
Sounds like love and ashes to me

You try to meet each morning with love and compassion
Infuse it with some joy ‘till the day at last is done
The beauty of life and the heartbreak of living are one
They are one

[Instrumental Break]

You try to meet each moment with love and compassion
Infuse it with some joy ‘till the day at last is done
The beauty of life and the heartbreak of living are one
They are one
Always one

Every night asleep
I dream love and ashes
The promises we keep
Always love and ashes
Some understand this
Some disagree
It’s all love and ashes to me
I look in the mirror
What do I see?
It’s all love and ashes
Love and ashes
To me

3. LAST CHANCE, MARIE

Last chance, Marie
Time is now to leave this town
Out on the curve
The road bends to the sky
Plan as we must
Life happens by happenstance
Say your goodbye
Marie, it’s our last chance

It’s our last chance, Marie
You know it’s our last chance
Last chance, Marie

Stay too long
Brain goes soft, desires fade
Soon we forget
To paint outside the lines
Choices we make
Get lost somehow in circumstance
We know the signs
Marie, it’s our last chance

It’s our last chance, Marie
You know it’s our last chance
Last chance, Marie

[Instrumental Break]

Somewhere ahead
The curve climbs to the open sky
Stumble or fly
Marie, it’s our last chance

It’s our last chance, Marie
You know it’s our last chance
Last chance, Marie
You know it’s our last chance
Last chance, Marie

4. HE’D RATHER NOT THINK ABOUT HER

In the morning when he rises
Puts the coffee on the stove
Does he think about the way things were?
He’d rather not think about her
He’d rather not think about her

He works more now than ever
Sees friends most every night
His plate’s so full that life’s a blur
He’d rather not think about her
He’d rather not think about her

He says, “Oh, my love
A dream of you has control of me
Oh, oh, my love
You lie so deep in the soul of me
There’s no consoling me”

When he lies awake at midnight
When he falls asleep at dawn
When he feels that hopeless yearning stir
He’d rather not think about her
He’d rather not think about her

Ooh, love
A dream of her has control of him
Ooh, ooh, love
She lies so deep in the soul of him
There’s no consoling him

In the morning when he rises
Puts the coffee on the stove
Does he think about the way things were?
He’d rather not think about her
He’d rather not think about her
When he feels that hopeless yearning stir
He’d rather not think about her
He’d rather not think about her
Ooh, ooh
He’d rather not think…
About her

5. THE DAY AFTER CHRISTMAS DAY
(for Charlotte on our 38th)

An old gray suit
A homemade dress
And soon they’ll be on their way
The church bells ring
They both say yes
The day after Christmas Day
The day after Christmas Day

Miles to drive before they sleep
A secondhand Chevrolet
They’re Brooklyn bound
With vows to keep
The day after Christmas Day
The day after Christmas Day

Honeymoon in Youngstown
Not the end of the world
But you can see it from there
They found a barroom dance floor
Where they tumbled and twirled
They could have been anywhere
Alone with love to spare
This young and clueless pair

Cozy and soft, this motel bed
But home is still hours away
They think about the vows they said
The day after Christmas Day
The day after Christmas Day

The city in the distance
The skyscrapers loom
They plan to make a life there
The past is all prelude
For this bride and this groom
The future is everywhere
Alive in what they dare
This young and nervous pair

An old gray suit
A homemade dress
For years they’ve been stowed away
The ancient proof they both said yes
The day after Christmas Day
The day after Christmas Day
The ancient proof they both said yes
The day after Christmas Day
The day after Christmas Day
The day after Christmas Day
The day after Christmas Day

6. DINNERTIME AT JIMMY’S

Darkness where the future should be
One COVID night
Darkness where the future should be
Waiting for the light
That cool and healing light

Silence where the voices should be
Lives lost and found
Silence where the voices should be
Hear that silent sound
That lost, familiar sound

Dinnertime at Jimmy’s
Families at the tables
The house band plays a fiddle tune
And Jimmy sings the call
I look back now and wonder at the
Ordinary beauty of it all
Dinnertime at Jimmy’s
Dinnertime in the Garden
Before the fall

Darkness where the future should be
Flow, run or fight
Midnight where the morning should be
Waiting for the light
That warm, embracing light
Waiting for… the light.

7. NOTRE DAME IS BURNING

Notre Dame is burning
Flames consume the air
Gargoyles shake and
Timbers quake and
Hearts break everywhere
Heartbreak everywhere

Bangladesh is drowning
Rains flood silt and sand
Earth walls fail and
Cyclones wail and
Heartache fills the land
Heartache in the land

Roma once was burning
Nero fanned the flame
Large and small, all empires fall
With just themselves to blame
No one else to blame

Atlantis once was drowning
Seaquakes shook the air
All went under
Now we wonder
Were those islands there?
Were those people really there?

America is burning
Arson from within
Through the mire we’ll
Fight the fire, but
Where do we begin?
Where do we begin - begin?
Where do we begin?

Notre Dame is burning
Flames consume the air
Heartbreak everywhere

8. TENDER EYES

One day souls meet
Heads turn, hearts beat
Lost in warm, sweet, tender eyes

All night light sleep
Hearts race, thoughts leap
Dreams of dark, deep, tender eyes

Day comes – sunlight –
Fevers break
Night comes – moonlight –
Longings hold fast
While two hearts ache

Earth spins, hearts bind
Love’s true, love’s blind
Seen through wise, kind, tender eyes

[Instrumental verse]

Doubts come – old fear
Starts to quake
Skies change – fears pass
Love brings new songs
That two hearts make

One day souls meet
Heads turn, hearts beat
Lost in warm, sweet, tender eyes

Earth spins. . .
Love’s true. . .
Seen through. . .
Tender eyes
Tender eyes
Tender eyes

 

9. NOT FOR THE FAINT OF HEART

They knew where they were going ‘till they didn’t know
They knew with every choice you pay a price
They never had imagined a scenario
Getting caught in the undertow
Between perdition and paradise

Love – not for the faint of heart
Love – not for the faint of heart

She tells herself she’ll love again some other day
He tells himself, “Go on, what’s done is done”
But the dream of life together will not fade away
They know there’d be hell to pay
The odds of redemption – next to none

Love – not for the faint of heart
Love – not for the faint of heart
Love – not for the faint of heart
Love – not for the faint of heart

Timing is everything
Timing is everything
Timing is everything
Timing is everything

[Instrumental chorus]

Some nights he still yearns for her company
She might even call him now and then
They don’t discuss the future that they hoped would be
Or dwell on the mystery
Of why they couldn’t make it way back when

Love – not for the faint of heart
Love – not for the faint of heart
Love – not for the faint of heart
Love – not for the faint of heart

Timing is everything
Timing is everything
Timing is everything
Timing is everything
Timing is everything
Timing is everything
Timing is everything
Timing is everything…

10. JUST A SUMMER RAIN

Watch the clouds
In the sky
Watch the dragon-fly outside my window pane
Watching the day float by
Just a summer rain

Watch the road
Life zooms past
All too fast, just like the thought-dreams in my brain
Watching the day float by
Just a summer rain

There are those passersby
Who never mind
Being caught in a downpour
While I’m more inclined to stay behind
Let the storm pass by my door
What do I need a storm for?

Watch the clouds
Drift away
Yet I feel today a nagging, quiet pain
Over things undone and dreams that still remain
As the hours fly – a swift, unbroken chain
Watching the day float by
Just a summer rain
Watching the day float by
Just a summer rain
Just a summer rain

11. A HOLE AT THE EDGE OF TIME

Mother’s in the kitchen
Daddy mows the lawn
Brother’s with his friends after school
There’s my Grandma Fanny
There’s my Cousin Jim
Now we’re all at Uncle Ted’s pool

Though it can’t be expressed in reason or rhyme
There’s a hole at the edge of time
There’s no road you can take
No mountain to climb
Just a hole at the edge of time

There’s my Grandpa Louie
Holding out his hand
We never got to meet until now
All those things that happened
All our years on Earth
Are happening all at once here somehow

Though it can’t be expressed in reason or rhyme
There’s a hole at the edge of time
There’s no map you can draw
No bell that will chime
Just a hole at the edge of time

There’s a world between sleep and awakening
When visions seem true as can be
There are creatures on the ceiling
Spirits in the dark
I hear my father calling to me
My mother’s voice calling to me

Many are the stories
We’re taught when we are young
Some we don’t believe, some we do
Some believe in magic
Other’s trust in fate
Some believe that wishes come true

Though it can’t be expressed in
Reason or rhyme
There’s a hole at the edge of time
There’s no road you can take
No mountain to climb
Just a hole at the edge of time
There’s no road you can take
No mountain to climb
Just a hole,
A hole at the edge of time

© & ℗ 2023 Louis Rosen, Lullwater Music, ASCAP