Category Archives: Acoustic Music

Don’t Fade Away

22 Friday Jan 2021

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by Peter Banker

Band Website: https://www.wendydarlingandthelostboy.org/

I like this song for a lot of reasons and the message, I’m certain, is up for grabs, but I see it, at least now, as a song about the contract we make to one another, as friends, as family, as lovers to keep on–not to fade.  It’s a melancholy tune, true, but also a vibrant call to confront those who are fading–in any sense–to make them remember how much they are loved, how much they mean and how you miss them when they fade.  These are not easy conversations, of course, but we all know when we are fading and sometimes we just want someone to notice….to help us get back on track.  The lyric, “Don’t Fade” is drawn out, a plea to come back, and it’s followed by another one “Don’t fade on me,” which, in my view, is the real truth–that we need each other…and sometimes desperately.

Another reason I like the song is because I get to put my guitar down and listen to Wendy play so beautifully on the tune.  Sometimes it is she who brings me back to the music when I begin to fade and to sit next to her, to sing alongside her playing is one of my greatest joys.  We keep each other honest in this pursuit and, while we are not sure where it is leading, we know we are fully alive when we are doing the work required to be the best we can be.

Wendy and Peter perform “Don’t Fade on Me,” a Tom Petty cover. Thanks for watching.

Unknown Legend

04 Friday Dec 2020

Posted by in Acoustic Music, Cover Song, Music, Singer Songwriter, Video

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Band Website: https://www.wendydarlingandthelostboy.org/

By Peter Banker

This song, Unknown Legend, written by Neil Young, was recommended by my brother Philip awhile ago and it’s only right that it came from a sibling of mine because my brothers and sister, their spouses, are the unknown legends in my life;  we are apart, but they are with me every day and I call upon them in my mind when I am looking for reserve strength.  They are legendary in that they’ve made me desire to always move to higher ground, to be at my best.

We all came together for a portion of the summer in helping our brother Patrick back to his feet, back to living, as he has been ill for the last few years.  The time had come for action and we all showed up, we all played our part, we all gave Patrick another start, a chance to reclaim his life, and it was because of the deep love we share, the blood we keep, the unspoken promises to be each other’s rock through this life.  These weeks were some of the most profound in my existence and testament to the power of family.

My brother Patrick, you should know, is also an unknown legend and has turned it around.  I’m not sure where he found the strength….perhaps it was religion, the memory of my mother, his awakening to all that he stood to lose or a combination of each in addition to the extraordinary love and support he received from all of us— but he’s back and everyday I am thankful for it, thankful for him certainly, and also thankful for the unrecognized people in life, the unknown legends, who lift and carry us when we need them the most.

Write a Letter Home

20 Friday Nov 2020

Posted by in Acoustic Music, Cover Song, Music, Video

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By Wendy Saydah

Band Website: https://www.wendydarlingandthelostboy.org/

The holidays are approaching and I am struggling with ways to celebrate, given the current pandemic conditions. I will miss the easy social interactions, the extensive hugs, the numerous toasts, the indulgent feasts, and the ongoing conversation with family and friends I don’t see that often. Connecting with others is a big part of the festivities and this year it will be greatly reduced if not non-existent. 

I chose the song Write a Letter Home by Jackie Greene for this week’s blog because it speaks to the current climate and the way I am feeling at times. “The TV says nothin’, nothin’ to me, and I feel so low in the highest degree.”

It also reminds me how much comfort I find in writing. Jotting my sentiments down on paper has always been a preferred way for me to connect with others.  When Jackie sings, “There’s no use for me to sit here and moan. Many a man has been more alone. I might feel better if I write a letter, if I write a letter home,” it urges me to pull out some paper and send a letter to everyone I will miss this year. Maybe you will try it too.

Best wishes for a peaceful and safe Thanksgiving holiday.

On the Coastline

13 Friday Nov 2020

Posted by in Acoustic Music, Music

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by Peter Banker

Band Website: https://www.wendydarlingandthelostboy.org/

The song Coastline came to Wendy by way of….I can’t even tell you, though she’d say that the Universe brought it our way, so I am learning to embrace that idea…slowly.   We spent a lot of time on the Northeast Coastline this summer/fall meandering from town to town, beach to beach, bar to bar–enjoying each other’s company, our many blessings, the sun, the tides and the infinity of the ocean.  And then this song just came into the house.  It’s a lovely tune, I must say, written and performed by a band called the Hollow Coves and covered on a late Saturday night by Peter and Wendy.   

I’m not sure where our musical journey will end up, but when I play with Wendy, as the song says so well, I “lose all sense of time” and know that “this life will keep us young.”  That I know.  In a culture where we overvalue time, where we keep such precise track of it,  try to rush it, want it to go by, want it to stop, I find that when I play music with Wendy the aspect of time disappears into intervals of verses, choruses and chords, melodies and harmonies.  I am not young, nor am I old; I am simply a man trying very hard to eke out the best music I can in this moment and I am where I should be.

Flowers – revisited

06 Friday Nov 2020

Posted by in Acoustic Music, Music, Singer Songwriter, Video

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by Wendy Saydah

My father died in 1966, the year that Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. made his first public speech on the Vietnam War ushering in an era of protests. The year that Cleveland, Ohio saw its first race riot. Actor Ronald Reagan was elected Gov. of California. John Lennon claimed the Beatles had become more popular than Jesus. Gemini 9 completed the second U.S. spacewalk, and Bobbi Gibb was the first woman to run the Boston Marathon.  

I was two years old.

The unrest and change that categorized this era has found its way back to the forefront of my mind recently as unsettling world events resurface. My memories are deep and vague, flashes of experience too difficult to grasp in any significant way.

I wrote Flowers in 2006 as a tribute to my father who passed before I had a chance to know him. It speaks to the desire for connection and the difficulty of holding onto memories over time. I often wonder what our relationship would have been like had he lived and how the void has shaped my path.

This version was recorded in 2015 for the NPR Tiny Desk Competition with Andy Bollman (on bass) in the halls of Weston High School (MA) where Peter is a teacher.

Flowers, Weston High School, 2015

Band Website: https://www.wendydarlingandthelostboy.org/

The Writing of Ghosts

28 Wednesday Oct 2020

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by Peter Banker

band website: https://www.wendydarlingandthelostboy.org/

I wrote Ghosts awhile back and it has been sitting there waiting for the right time to share and it is now.  Initially, it was a tune about the past, the things that haunt, will never go away, the ideas and ruminations that invade your mind, latch on, keep you up at night, weigh on you, slow you down, impede a courageous life.  These are ghosts that haunt us all, are part of the fabric of our lives and thereby can be and must be turned into positive.  These are the ghosts that, if tamed, can bring us forward; they are lessons learned, the scars that post in our souls and we are made stronger by them if we choose.  When I wrote this song, the ghosts had me by the neck, but a lot has changed since then.

 My mother always encouraged us to listen to the damaged ones, those who, as she would say, “have been through it,” as she had been.  They are emissaries, material ghosts, haunted themselves. She said. “Listen to them.”  My mother believed in the ghosts, claimed to have cavorted with them, claimed to have asked for them to leave her, claimed that they did.  She knew who they were, knew where they were and learned to hold them at bay.  

They’re around.  What are you going to do about it?