Wings

Skip Birongin
More music
4 years

Here’s a little lost-love-in-the-springtime tune I came up with a long time ago. I wonder who I was thinking of? Oh well, I hope you enjoy it. I call it Wings.

Wings

By Skip Birong

I wish I had wings so I could fly
High up in the sky
And see all the love down below
That I used to know
A long time ago

I wish I had wings so I could see
The hill where she would always be
Standing waiting impatiently
For me just for me.

I wish I had wings so I could fly
And se once again

The time we walked through springtime in May
And stopped to see a robin along the way
And she blushed when I kissed her
In front of the summer day
A long time ago
A long time ago in May

Bridge

I wish I had wings so I
Could see once again

I wish I had wings
So I could fly
High up in the sky
And see all the love down below
That I used to know
A long time ago

Bridge

©1974 by Skip Birong. All rights reserved.

Red Bud City

Skip Birongin
More music
4 years

Here’s a little musical ode to my idyllic hometown of Buchanan, Michigan, also known as Red Bud City. Hope you like it.

Hometown

By Skip Birong

There’re hills above the valley
Where the big, green oaks grow
There’s a shiny silver sun
That shines when it don’t snow

I hear there’s fish in McCoy’s Creek
When the summer comes around
And you can see a robin
On the first day he’s in town

Chorus
Red Bud City on the St. Joe River
Brings memories to my mind
Home town, home town
Home town on my mind

The Bucks beat Niles on Friday night
There’s a snowflake in your hair
The kids are in the Sweet Shop
Let’s all go to the fair.

Frozen lakes and knee-deep snow
Bring Christmas to the hills
There’s an amber glow out on the snow
From candle on windowsills

(Chorus)

You can see the early signs of spring
With the blooms on Red Bud Trail
White lilies in the forest
And a new fawn’s tall white tail

It’s a short walk down to the St. Joe River
Where my grandfather used to swim
But it doesn’t look as clear to me
As it probably did to him

(Chorus)

©2020 by Skip Birong. All rights reserved.

The Songs

Skip Birongin
Music
·
Skip Birong Album
13 years
3

1- A Tear Falls
(Skip Birong: BMI)
Bass: Larry Nader
Drums: Renaldo Stefanel
Acoustic guitar: Larry Lafferty
Violins: Larry Simpson, Sybil Vernon and Linda McDill
Horns: Camp Kirkland
Lead vocal: Skip Birong

2 - Sunshine
(Skip Birong: BMI)
Bass: Glen Harper
Drums: Derrick Hess
Lead acoustic guitar: Skip Birong
Vocal: Skip Birong

3 - Odyssey of a Camel Driver
(Skip Birong: BMI)
Acoustic guitars: Skip Birong and Chuck Anderson

4 - Dreamin’
(Skip Birong; Doug Pike: BMI)
Bass: Glen Harper
Drums: Derrick Hess
Electric guitar: Larry Lafferty
Acoustic guitar: Skip Birong and Doug Pike
Harp: Doug Pike
Tambourine: Ray Lynn
Lead vocal: Skip Birong
Background vocal: Ray Lynn

5 - Sportin’ Life Blues
(Sebastian, Yahowsky and Butler: Hudson Bay Music: BMI)
Acoustic guitar: Skip Birong
Harp: Doug Pike
Vocal: Skip Birong

6 - The Waffle House Blues
(Skip Birong: BMI)
Bass: Larry Nader
Drums: Renaldo Stefanel
Acoustic guitar: Skip Birong
Electric guitar: Larry Lafferty
Steel guitar: Jim Brown
Violins: Larry Simpson, Sybil Vernon and Linda McDill
Horns: Camp Kirkland
Lead vocal: Skip Birong
Background vocals: Ray Lynn and Leanne Hodges

7 - Sweet Georgia Blossom
(Skip Birong: BMI)
Bass: Glen Harper
Acoustic guitars: Skip Birong and Doug Pike
Banjo: Mike Peyton
Dobro: Pat Ogilvie
Lead vocal: Skip Birong
Background vocals: Ray Lynn

8 - Dammit
(Mike Peyton: BMI)
Bass: Larry Nader
Drums: Derrick Hess
Acoustic guitar: Skip Birong
Vocal: Skip Birong

9 - Find Me a Home
(Skip Birong: BMI)
Bass: Glen Harper
Drums: Derrick Hess
Lead acoustic guitar: Skip Birong
Rhythm acoustic guitar: Doug Pike
Mandolin: Lee Peyton
Banjo: Mike Peyton
Lead vocal: Skip Birong
Background vocal: Ray Lynn

10 - Dream on Me
(Skip Birong: BMI)
Bass: Larry Nader
Acoustic guitar: Skip Birong
Harp: Doug Pike
Vocal: Skip Birong

Continue “The Songs”

The Album

Skip Birongin
Music
·
Skip Birong Album
13 years

[The following is excerpted from “Friday – Skip Birong’s Musical Story”, which may be found in its entirety on the Bookshelf in Days Seven.]

The “Skip Birong” album cover was created in pen and ink by Terry Barckholtz from the publicity photo above. Terry, who is the founder and current president and CEO of the Barckholtz Group in Saginaw, Michigan, was part owner of PDM Design in that same city back in the mid-seventies when I played a really posh restaurant there. He and his partner needed an instrumental soundtrack for a marketing film they were producing, and I needed an album cover. Thus, my first “trade-out.” And the cover ended up being printed in black and white, whereas the original artwork included green and yellow print for the name. Couldn’t afford the color print.

The album was produced by Ray Lynn and me at the Warehouse Studio in Jacksonville, Florida in 1976, and took about two months to complete. All of the songs are registered with BMI and are originals by me except Dammit (Mike Peyton), Sportin’ Life Blues (Sebastian, Yahowski and Butler), and Dreamin‘ (which I co-wrote with Doug Pike). The first cut of each side was fully produced, including strings and brass. Side A was contemporary, pop-oriented, and side B was country-oriented. I had intended to use the album not only to sell off the “back of the truck,” as it was called in those days, in order to earn the money to repay the loan I had to get in order to produce it, but also as a demo album for other opportunities which I hoped might come up from time to time. The songs can be downloaded from the “The Songs” link on the post  above.

Continue “The Album”