Chalkbrook Music
Bruce S Cridlebaugh - Leaves of Paper / Gustfront (featuring Paula Tuttle)
updated
youtube.com/playlist?list=PLZoJKtnncEYGMx4ugumB9bsvnyesNn4Ka
LINER NOTES:
"Overture: Blanc et Noir"
Music: ©2026 Bruce S. Cridlebaugh
Bruce Cridlebaugh - Piano and all other instruments
Audio and Video Production: Bruce Cridlebaugh
Additional Video: pexels.com
A song in many parts. Like walking from room to room. From straight to swing. From light to dark. "Blanc" to "Noir". A black and white video with the mystery of the red shoes. Why "red shoes"? I hear Paula practicing cello parts often. Recently it was Rossini's (red) La Danza and Schumann's (shoes) Cello Concerto in A minor. While I only paraphrase short bits, if you know you know. But the thing is: I usually change things enough that I think it becomes a challenge for PT to adjust from what she has been so diligently practicing.
youtube.com/playlist?list=PLZoJKtnncEYE9EjBUoPDzKyrXU3CX2Gjd
LINER NOTES:
"Time Has Changed"
Music: ©1980/2026 Bruce S. Cridlebaugh
Bruce Cridlebaugh - Acoustic Guitar, Electric Guitar, and all other instruments
Audio and Video Production: Bruce Cridlebaugh
You used to play those games with me
You'd try to put me down
But I don't care if you care for me
It doesn't matter now
Makes no difference what you say
I'll get by alright
Never thought I'd feel this way
I'll be alright tonight
There was a time when I
Could believe
That we
Were as one
But that time is gone
Like the feeling once strong
Like you, I have changed
Like time, I have changed
Time Has Changed
I won't look back to yesterday
The past is far behind
No more time to turn around
The future's on my mind
There was a time...
Your time and my time
Time Has Changed
Won't know my name when
Time Has Changed
Won't be the same when
Time Has Changed
It all fades away like a song
youtube.com/playlist?list=PLZoJKtnncEYFKSXI7-IEejtkQcSsYrOak
LINER NOTES:
"Wiser Later"
Music: ©2026 Bruce S. Cridlebaugh
Bruce Cridlebaugh - Piano, guitars, and all other instruments
Audio and Video Production: Bruce Cridlebaugh
Additional Video: pexels.com
A rock instrumental with a flavor of Alan Parson Project (and a nod to DEVO). A video with the insidious hazards of AI and social media.
youtube.com/playlist?list=PLZoJKtnncEYE9EjBUoPDzKyrXU3CX2Gjd
LINER NOTES:
"Soaring"
Music: ©1979/2026 Bruce S. Cridlebaugh
Bruce Cridlebaugh - Acoustic Guitar, Piano, and all other instruments
Audio and Video Production: Bruce Cridlebaugh
Additional Clouds: pexels.com
Like a summer wind
Like a spirit flying free
I'm rising in love with you
Laced between mist and clouds
Riding on waves of dreams
I'm flying in love with you
Once so uncertain and so unsure
Of how you were thinking of me
I was falling in love
Verses and lines
And countless rhymes
Have played on the notion
That falling was emotion
But out of the blue
You came and you caught me
And kept me from falling
Falling in love with you
Moving effortlessly
In the ways of Icarus
I'm soaring in love with you
Changing but remaining
Constant in my devotion to you
I'm moving in love
Once so uncertain and so unsure
Of how you were thinking of me
I was falling in love
All of my life I'll remember
The way that you remade me
I'm living in love with you
I'm giving in love with you
I'm soaring in love with you
youtube.com/playlist?list=PLZoJKtnncEYGMx4ugumB9bsvnyesNn4Ka
LINER NOTES:
"MCS02: Vulcan & Psyche"
Music: ©2026 Bruce S. Cridlebaugh
Bruce Cridlebaugh - Piano and all other instruments
Audio and Video Production: Bruce Cridlebaugh
Additional Video: pexels.com
Another in the MCS series, this song started as a step-entry project (one note at a time) on an Apple IIgs computer in 1986. As an experiment in what was possible, it was very dense and synth-heavy; the computer couldn't keep up. Now I've rearranged and expanded it with more traditional instrumentation. Something like putting Robbie Steinhardt (violin - Kansas) in front of an orchestra.
In updating the piece, it came to have a heavy half and a lighter half. A challenge in instrumental music: a title...and these days: a subject for video imagery.
The dichotomy of the music led me to consider Science versus Humanities. Tech does great things to advance our lives, but as we've seen lately, the power can be abused with Greed and Waste. The Humanities can be inspiring as we search for Meaning, but can send us into a ditch of Tribalism and Superstition.
We can look at the Pale Blue Dot we call home and think that either: it's an insignificant mote of dust on the vast cosmos -- or we truly are special, if not divinely, but just for the fact that here we have life and awareness. We know of nowhere else that is so special in the observable universe (nothing more complex out there beyond chemistry and maybe microbes of a sort). We make our own Meaning. We can each harbor Vulcan and Psyche. We can do great things together, or we can fight over scraps. No one is coming to save us.
youtube.com/playlist?list=PLZoJKtnncEYE9EjBUoPDzKyrXU3CX2Gjd
LINER NOTES:
"The Stage Torn Down"
Music: ©1980/2026 Bruce S. Cridlebaugh
Bruce Cridlebaugh - Acoustic Guitar, Electric Guitar, Piano, and all other instruments
Audio and Video Production: Bruce Cridlebaugh
I'll never understand the changes
Or the colors in your eyes
I don't know the reasons
And I can not ask you why
You never seem the same
Turning differently each day
A fresh, new face
Another phase
Like actors in a play
The stage torn down
The sun is set
Dark replaces light
And through the night I think of you
I dream with all my might
The places in my life
Are just a change of scenery
People and objects
Sometimes mean that much to me
And it falls apart
Just like my heart
Each time you speak my name
You can see
What it does to me
And I wish you felt the same.
The stage torn down...
youtube.com/playlist?list=PLZoJKtnncEYFKSXI7-IEejtkQcSsYrOak
LINER NOTES:
"Joe Goes to Town (Joe Who?)"
Music: ©2026 Bruce S. Cridlebaugh
Bruce Cridlebaugh - Piano and all other instruments
Audio and Video Production: Bruce Cridlebaugh
This video is all Pittsburgh. (Extra points if you can identify all the places; extra points if you can guess who Joe is…though the points aren’t redeemable for anything really.)
About the music: I was recently watching a movie (Whiplash) about a jazz drummer and his intense (and abusive) teacher. The teacher gives them music that says a quarter note is 300…then of course, counts it in at half that. So, I set my metronome to 150 beats per minute and went at it. The bass gets to wail on a couple places (even if it really is me on the keyboard). Here we go!
youtube.com/playlist?list=PLZoJKtnncEYGMx4ugumB9bsvnyesNn4Ka
LINER NOTES:
"Praying For Rain"
Music: ©2026 Bruce S. Cridlebaugh
Bruce Cridlebaugh - Piano and all other instruments
Audio and Video Production: Bruce Cridlebaugh
Additional Video: pexels.com
Showing some influence of Mark Isham (Group 87 -- and later prolific in soundtracks), especially since Mark plays trumpet as well as keyboards. I didn't set out to write program music, but once the recording was complete and I had to think of a title and create a video, the piece suggested a distant storm...just add water.
In this instance, I wanted to keep the instrumentation minimal: piano, solo trumpet, and distant horns.
youtube.com/playlist?list=PLZoJKtnncEYE9EjBUoPDzKyrXU3CX2Gjd
LINER NOTES:
"Pushing Through"
Music: ©2005/2026 Bruce S. Cridlebaugh
Bruce Cridlebaugh - Piano, Electric Guitar, and all other instruments
Audio and Video Production: Bruce Cridlebaugh
Additional Video: pexels.com
I reached the point where I was sure
All love was in the past
Or maybe saved for someone else
And nothing ever lasts
But against it all, I took the chance
That's when I found you
A perfect Match, so unexpected
Dreams somehow come true
You are every love song written
An unending happy ending
Every dream ever dear to me
For every pain that I've endured
For every step that felt unsure
For all I've worked to be
You are my reward
I never believed in silly love songs
I though the words cliche
And even those that seemed sincere
Surely fade away
And through all my life those songs of mine
Played in minor key
Now you've opened up your heart and brought
My voice back to me
You are every love song written...
So I stumbled over words unspoken
To tell you I Love You
And though filled with words, I've not enough
The feeling still is true
Now I think of you; I smile aloud
How can we be blessed?
You hold me close and I am sure
Life saved the best for last.
You are every love song written...
youtube.com/playlist?list=PLZoJKtnncEYFKSXI7-IEejtkQcSsYrOak
LINER NOTES:
"Pushing Through"
Music: ©2026 Bruce S. Cridlebaugh
Bruce Cridlebaugh - Piano, Electric Guitar, and all other instruments
Audio and Video Production: Bruce Cridlebaugh
“Pushing Through” is a rock instrumental with some jazzy bits. Someone said they can hear some Vince Guaraldi piano influence (alot of us remember the Peanuts music). So, I’ll add that I like melodic/singable guitar leads like Andy Latimer from Camel, not just noodling and scales. But everything on the channel so far is original…except for that time I quoted Tchaikovsky and that time I quoted 7 notes from Beethoven.
This song could easily be a road trip song, but the background of the video is from a trail-free trek through 11 inches of snow – 20 minutes compressed into just under 3 minutes. Bruce-whacking!
youtube.com/playlist?list=PLZoJKtnncEYE9EjBUoPDzKyrXU3CX2Gjd
LINER NOTES:
"Voices Empty Echoing"
Words & Music: ©1981/2026 Bruce Cridlebaugh
Bruce Cridlebaugh - Piano, Guitars, and all other instruments
Audio and Video Production: Bruce Cridlebaugh
Additional Video: pexels.com
Voices
Empty echoing
From another room
Oh, how it feels to be alone
Emptiness
Grey hanging mist
Withered leaves fall free
Feather snow
On sleeping grass
And melting on my face
Oh, how it feels to be alone
I miss the sunrise
The nights never end
Oh, how it feels to be alone
youtube.com/playlist?list=PLZoJKtnncEYGMx4ugumB9bsvnyesNn4Ka
LINER NOTES:
"The Function of Ornament"
Music: ©1980/2026 Bruce S. Cridlebaugh
Bruce Cridlebaugh - Piano, and all other instruments
Audio and Video Production: Bruce Cridlebaugh
Additional Video: pexels.com
Featuring the Cloisters at University of Glasgow, Scotland
youtube.com/playlist?list=PLZoJKtnncEYE9EjBUoPDzKyrXU3CX2Gjd
LINER NOTES:
"CEO Quotes Machiavelli"
Words & Music: ©2025 Bruce Cridlebaugh
Bruce Cridlebaugh - Piano, Guitars, and all other instruments
Audio and Video Production: Bruce Cridlebaugh
Additional Video: pexels.com
There’s a hum beneath the argument
A whisper in the wire
We’re talking past each other
While they calculate desire
Screen light paints our faces
We amuse ourselves to death
Auctioning attention
They know what you like best
The CEO quotes Machiavelli
While he cashes in
We get shown the door
And he takes the win
The night, it feels like forever
Empathy, it doesn’t make us weak
Things that should be said
But there’s a pause, before we speak
We build our walls of certainty
And lock ourselves inside
Data becomes identity
The algorithm divides
Trading on our weaknesses
Pretend to be profound
Between the loudest of extremes
Wisdom seeks the middle ground
The CEO quotes Machiavelli
While he cashes in
Outsource and offshore
It’s millions more for him
We’re just living on junk food
Whether in a box or served online
The more claims on the outside
The more suspect what’s there to hide
The CEO quotes Machiavelli
While he cashes in
The system serves the system
And loyalty runs thin
The top makes the middle hate the bottom
Loudest in the room rules the day
We can't unsubscribe
Dark patterns make us stay
youtube.com/playlist?list=PLZoJKtnncEYGMx4ugumB9bsvnyesNn4Ka
LINER NOTES:
"Circling"
Words & Music: ©1980/2025 Bruce S. Cridlebaugh
Bruce Cridlebaugh - Piano, and all other instruments
Audio and Video Production: Bruce Cridlebaugh
Filmed in New Zealand during a two-week trek around the South Island
Dark Sky Video: pexels.com
youtube.com/playlist?list=PLZoJKtnncEYE9EjBUoPDzKyrXU3CX2Gjd
LINER NOTES:
"Drops of Rain"
Words: ©1981 Jeanne Anton & Bruce Cridlebaugh
Music: ©1981/2025 Bruce Cridlebaugh
Bruce Cridlebaugh - Piano, Electric Guitar, and all other instruments
Audio and Video Production: Bruce Cridlebaugh
Additional Video: pexels.com
Drops of rain bead down the glass
People and things so quickly pass
Hushed is a moment, thoughts all my own
What will it be like when I get home?
Time is so hectic; they're so many changes
I've seen all new things and so many places
Love right now takes a new meaning
For short intervals of time
Let it only be
Temporary
Sometimes I sad, most times I happy
Controlled as it is, fear finds its way
Only at night when all is quiet
I lay wishing
And I close my eyes
To dreams of mine
Drops of rain bead down the glass
People and things so quickly pass
I've been so long and far on my own
What will it be like when I get home?
youtube.com/playlist?list=PLZoJKtnncEYGMx4ugumB9bsvnyesNn4Ka
LINER NOTES:
"Our Love Has Made Us Sure"
Words & Music: ©1981/2025 Bruce S. Cridlebaugh
Bruce Cridlebaugh - Piano, and all other instruments
Paula Tuttle - Cello
Audio and Video Production: Bruce Cridlebaugh
Additional Video: pexels.com
(This song was originally written with lyrics, but I chose to release here as an instrumental.)
Oh my love
We come together now
Our lives as one
Interlocked we're joined
By grace and truth and faith
In our hearts
Love through the years will live
Thankful for
Every day
The life that we will share
Should any pain appear
By strength, we will endure
Our love has made us sure
youtube.com/playlist?list=PLZoJKtnncEYFKSXI7-IEejtkQcSsYrOak
LINER NOTES:
"Rising"
Music: ©2025 Bruce S. Cridlebaugh
Bruce Cridlebaugh - Piano, and all other instruments
Audio and Video Production: Bruce Cridlebaugh
The video concept follows a river from its outlet at the ocean, upstream and growing wilder through hills, to its mountain source -- with the music changing through each geographic "room".
youtube.com/playlist?list=PLZoJKtnncEYE9EjBUoPDzKyrXU3CX2Gjd
LINER NOTES:
"Sign of Leaving"
Words & Music: ©1981/2025 Bruce S Cridlebaugh
Bruce Cridlebaugh - Acoustic Guitar, Piano, all vocals, and all other instruments
Audio and Video Production: Bruce Cridlebaugh
Additional Video: pexels.com
I tell myself it's not supposed to happen
This feeling coming on
I tell myself I might not have the time
Still, I stand on this other end
And I look into you
For a mirror of myself I hope to find
I won't try to tell
All the things you think
I try to leave it all for you
All your thoughts deep inside
And the words you're about to say
I wait for a blink, a whisper, a sigh
A sign of things to come
You always say you're leaving
And someday I will too
But why do we always have to know it?
I'm living past imperfect and future tense
Waiting, now watching for a sign
A sign of leaving
I won't try to tell...
I'll stay here still reaching out
Arms outstretched to you
Hoping you'll come back and stay this time
I've been afraid to show my feelings
But this time that's all changed
I'm straining to see
A sign
A sign of returning
I won't try to tell...
youtube.com/playlist?list=PLZoJKtnncEYFKSXI7-IEejtkQcSsYrOak
LINER NOTES:
"Sixteenth"
Music: ©2025 Bruce S. Cridlebaugh
Bruce Cridlebaugh - Piano, and all other instruments
Paula Tuttle - Cello
Audio and Video Production: Bruce Cridlebaugh
Featuring the Sixteenth Street Bridge (1923) over the Allegheny River, Pittsburgh, PA
youtube.com/playlist?list=PLZoJKtnncEYE9EjBUoPDzKyrXU3CX2Gjd
LINER NOTES:
"Seed of Hope"
Words & Music: ©2000/2025 Bruce S Cridlebaugh
Bruce Cridlebaugh - Acoustic Guitar, Piano, and all other instruments
Tom Godfrey - Electric Guitars, Flute
Audio and Video Production: Bruce Cridlebaugh
Additional Video: pexels.com
From deep inside
From Hell itself
A frightening tumult builds
Pristine mountain
Now ashen shell
The life once lushed is killed
Rushing down canyon streams
Choking desolation
There is no Hope
There is no chance
Darkened resignation
But given time
The light returns
Persistence of a seed
Patient for
The Love and Care
A tiny sprouting tree
Seed Of Hope
Trampled beneath
Foot and wheel
Falling to the saw
Forest thick
So dark; surreal
Soon forever gone
Parking lots
And mini-malls
A blanket built of stone
Boxes made
For selling boxes
A hazy setting sun
Yet struggling through
A sidewalk crack
Persistence of a weed
And soon below
In tangled leaves
Others drop their seed
Seed Of Hope
False starts
In innocence
Blindly reaching out
Risks rewarded
In simple embrace
A tiny flash; a spark
Growing passions
Turn commonplace
Just another day
Laziness
Forgetfulness
Promises betrayed
Yet cowered under
Real Life
A persevering need
Crushed beneath
Oppressive shadows
A frozen heart won't bleed
No Seed...
No Hope
youtube.com/playlist?list=PLZoJKtnncEYGMx4ugumB9bsvnyesNn4Ka
LINER NOTES:
"MCS 10: Contention"
Music: ©1986/2025 Bruce S. Cridlebaugh
Bruce Cridlebaugh - Piano, and all other instruments
Audio and Video Production: Bruce Cridlebaugh
Additional Video: Pexels.com & Pixabay.com
youtube.com/playlist?list=PLZoJKtnncEYE9EjBUoPDzKyrXU3CX2Gjd
LINER NOTES:
"OK"
Words & Music: ©1981/2025 Bruce S Cridlebaugh
Bruce Cridlebaugh - Guitars, Piano, and all other instruments
Audio and Video Production: Bruce Cridlebaugh
Additional Video: pexels.com
Painful memories
Come to me
Ooh, you can feel I care
And the past returns
From the darkness burns
But now, we've got love to share
Let me help you wash away
The things that trouble you
If it turns out O.K.
I know it's all for you
I do
The daylight comes
The pain is gone
Now, it you and me
Lose the bad for good
Cause it's understood
The way that we feel
Through the night into the day
You keep me close to you
If it turns out O.K.
I know it's all for you
I do
Now like all the rest
For the worst or best
Comes the time to leave
The winter's coming
It's got you running
Far beyond my reach
The things I meant to say
The things I didn't do
If it turns out O.K.
I know it's all for you
I do
youtube.com/playlist?list=PLZoJKtnncEYFKSXI7-IEejtkQcSsYrOak
LINER NOTES:
"Turquoise"
Music: ©1979/2025 Bruce S. Cridlebaugh
Bruce Cridlebaugh - 6-String and 12-String Acoustic Guitars, Piano, and all other instruments
Stephen Weiss - Violin
Audio and Video Production: Bruce Cridlebaugh
youtube.com/playlist?list=PLZoJKtnncEYE9EjBUoPDzKyrXU3CX2Gjd
LINER NOTES:
"My Most Special Friend"
Words & Music: ©1981/2025 Bruce S Cridlebaugh
Bruce Cridlebaugh - Guitars, Piano, and all other instruments
Darcy - Backing Vocals
Audio and Video Production: Bruce Cridlebaugh
Additional Video: pexels.com and pixabay.com
I taught myself how to play piano by sneaking into any music room, church, or auditorium stage with a piano. After a college art class, I gave one of the girls a ride home. I said, “This looks like the kind of a house that would have a piano.” She said, “It’s in the garage under a bunch of boxes. If you can get it out of there, you can take it home.” A few days later in a light drizzle, I pushed it up into my brother’s pickup truck. After sliding the old upright into my mother‘s basement, I roughly tuned it with Vice-Grips pliers. I just wanted to play all the time…and now I could. I recorded some of my first piano songs on a crude Dictaphone secretarial recorder.
The sun climbs up
Clouds move to obscure
A beginning becomes an end
We draw together
We're forced apart
It's happening again
I don't want to lose the things I've done
Don't want to forget what we have begun
The time that we share seems destined to end
I don't want to lose you
My most special friend
When something starts
And soon falls apart
I lose a little hope and faith
Does it have to end?
Do we have to give in?
I need to feel a friend's embrace
I don't want to lose the things I've done...
We drift away
I still feel you here
Seems more words could only leave us blind
Can we rebuild
What’s torn apart?
Or are we just left behind?
youtube.com/playlist?list=PLZoJKtnncEYGMx4ugumB9bsvnyesNn4Ka
LINER NOTES:
"I Have No Memory Of Time"
Music: ©2025 Bruce S. Cridlebaugh
Bruce Cridlebaugh - Piano and all other instruments
Audio and Video Production: Bruce Cridlebaugh
Additional Video: pexels.com and pixabay.com
Can't change what came before.
Don't know what's coming after.
There's only Now.
I Have No Memory Of Time.
youtube.com/playlist?list=PLZoJKtnncEYE9EjBUoPDzKyrXU3CX2Gjd
LINER NOTES:
"You Smiled"
Words & Music: ©1979/2025 Bruce S Cridlebaugh
Bruce Cridlebaugh - Guitars, Piano, and all other instruments
Audio and Video Production: Bruce Cridlebaugh
I saw you last night
More beautiful than I imagined
Only a few feet away
You were there
And you smiled
Soft in the light
Captured by the moment
Oh, what you could say
Cause you were there
And you smiled
In your smile you seemed to say
Words I needed to take me away
From my lonely night
Way down inside
I think that I understand
And I'll love you always
Cause you were there
And you smiled
In your smile you seemed to say
Words I needed to take me away
From my lonely night
Never lonely...you're the only
You're the only one
When you're near me...you can hear me
You can hear me tonight
Somehow I've tried
Just to be your friend
To live in the things I say
If you'd stay here I know you'd smile
In your smile you seemed to say
Words I needed to take me away
From my lonely night
Never lonely...you're the only
You're the only one
I saw you last night
More beautiful than I imagined
youtube.com/playlist?list=PLZoJKtnncEYFKSXI7-IEejtkQcSsYrOak
LINER NOTES:
"Another Day, Another Night"
Music: ©2025 Bruce S. Cridlebaugh
Bruce Cridlebaugh - Piano, Guitars, and all other instruments
Tom Godfrey - Flute
Audio and Video Production: Bruce Cridlebaugh
Additional Video: pexels.com and pixabay.com
A multipart musical journey from the quiet of morning, into the bustle of the day, and ending with a relaxed evening.
youtube.com/playlist?list=PLZoJKtnncEYE9EjBUoPDzKyrXU3CX2Gjd
LINER NOTES:
"Travelin Shoes"
Words & Music: ©1979/2025 Bruce S Cridlebaugh
Bruce Cridlebaugh - Guitars, Piano, and all other instruments
Audio and Video Production: Bruce Cridlebaugh
Got my travelin' shoes
On my feet
It's all I can do
Just passing through
She knows when
I know where
I’m never lost
It’s just my first time there
I want to find
What’s hidden from view
I’m looking for sign
She says “It’s pretty, too”
Discover a way
To connect where we are
Pull back the map
It’s only this far
They say the road is long
They say we go astray
I say we walk the path
To lighten the way
Got my travelin' shoes…
A fallen tree across the path
Will we go on or just turn back?
The way beyond begins to fade
The forest hides the trail again
youtube.com/playlist?list=PLZoJKtnncEYGMx4ugumB9bsvnyesNn4Ka
LINER NOTES:
"Bachinaire"
Music: ©2006 Bruce S. Cridlebaugh
Bruce Cridlebaugh - Piano and all other instruments
Audio and Video Production: Bruce Cridlebaugh
Filmed at Carnegie Music Hall, Pittsburgh, PA
youtube.com/playlist?list=PLZoJKtnncEYE9EjBUoPDzKyrXU3CX2Gjd
LINER NOTES:
"And Lost"
Words & Music: ©2005 Bruce S Cridlebaugh
Bruce Cridlebaugh - Piano, Guitar, and all other instruments
Audio and Video Production: Bruce Cridlebaugh
Camera Op: Kate Cridlebaugh
I don't believe it's better
To have loved and lost.
It only reminds
What the love has cost.
This is where all the good ones have gone.
Beaten down by love that’s gone wrong.
There's the thing and how you feel about it.
Emotions only cloud the issue, sure.
Strip away all of the passion.
It is what it is and nothing more.
I don't believe it's better
To have loved and lost.
It only reminds
What the love has cost.
This is where all the good ones have gone.
Beaten down by love that’s gone wrong.
Oh, I give you credit
for leaving when you did.
Consider how it hurts now
It's better than it might have been.
You save yourself by leaving me behind.
I hate it when they ask me how I'm doing.
I don't think they really care to know.
It seems they're only asking out of habit.
They don't see their apathy's exposed.
No one’s waiting round for the answers.
They’ve all got other things to do.
Everything you feel on the way up
Is what you pass on the way back down.
youtube.com/playlist?list=PLZoJKtnncEYGMx4ugumB9bsvnyesNn4Ka
LINER NOTES:
"Let Me Hold This Moment"
Music: ©2006 Bruce S. Cridlebaugh
Bruce Cridlebaugh - Piano and all other instruments
Carolina Wren - bird song
Audio and Video Production: Bruce Cridlebaugh
youtube.com/playlist?list=PLZoJKtnncEYE9EjBUoPDzKyrXU3CX2Gjd
LINER NOTES:
"Words For Someone I Lost"
Words & Music: ©1980 Bruce S Cridlebaugh
Bruce Cridlebaugh - Guitar & Vocal
Audio and Video Production: Bruce Cridlebaugh
I won't say I love you
Not this time
It can't mean the same thing it always has
The feelings appear
And vanish
Every time I remember you
And what you meant to me
Maybe the stars I saw
Were only falling stars
A sign that nothing ever lasts
And permanence is just a dream
But if I close my eyes
To relive a dream
A dream I once shared with you
Will I only then see
How quickly dreams fade
Beyond the smallest memory
Of a feeling once strong
I wish your heart a portion of happiness
On love's anniversary
youtube.com/playlist?list=PLZoJKtnncEYFKSXI7-IEejtkQcSsYrOak
LINER NOTES:
"One Track Mind"
Music: ©2025 Bruce S. Cridlebaugh
Bruce Cridlebaugh - Piano and all other instruments
Audio and Video Production: Bruce Cridlebaugh
Additional Video: pexels.com
A piano jam with Strat guitar and Hammond B-3. While out hiking, I found that televison in a old worn out tire. It had to be in the video.
youtube.com/playlist?list=PLZoJKtnncEYE9EjBUoPDzKyrXU3CX2Gjd
LINER NOTES:
"Middle Ground"
Words & Music: ©1981 Bruce S. Cridlebaugh
Bruce Cridlebaugh - Guitars, Piano, and all other instruments
Audio and Video Production: Bruce Cridlebaugh
Additional Video: Pexels.com
Whether running too fast or moving too slow
We're drifting apart and away
From each other
You come to me with the look of love
But you know I'll soon turn away
Maybe you know we tried to make it work
Gave away more than we took
Maybe the road of compromise is dark
And middle ground is shaky ground
You argue with me
You say it's not fair
You say I don't understand
I can quote all your words to me
But you can't recall the things I say
Yeah, you can't recall the things I say
When the smoke clears away from embers of love
The fire that burned itself out
You come to me wit the look of love
But you know I'll soon turn away
Maybe you know we tried to make it work...
Sinking down in middle ground
youtube.com/playlist?list=PLZoJKtnncEYFKSXI7-IEejtkQcSsYrOak
LINER NOTES:
"How I've Loved You"
Music: ©2006/2025 Bruce S. Cridlebaugh
Bruce Cridlebaugh - Piano and all other instruments
Paula Tuttle - Cello
Audio and Video Production: Bruce Cridlebaugh
Additional Video: pexels.com
I've played that exact upright piano in the lobby at Lake McDonald Lodge at Glacier National Park in Montana. But it took some fancy video editing to make this shot happen.
youtube.com/playlist?list=PLZoJKtnncEYE9EjBUoPDzKyrXU3CX2Gjd
LINER NOTES:
"Barren Trees / Windswept"
Words & Music: ©1979/2024 Bruce S. Cridlebaugh
Bruce Cridlebaugh - Piano, Guitars, and all other instruments
Paula Tuttle - Cello
Audio and Video Production: Bruce Cridlebaugh
Additional Video: Pexels.com
Barren Trees was the first song I ever wrote (February 1979, I didn’t get the girl). Windswept is an extended instrumental featuring a piano/cello conversation (I did get the girl!).
I've watched the sky darken
A tthousand times too many
Without you
Though I believe it's getting lighter
Please don't make me wait
Without you
Barren trees in silhouette
Turned with the seasons
Without me
And every night when no one sees
They reach out for the wind
Without me
I'll close my eyes and wait for you
I'll never close my heart
Without you
Sometimes it seems the only trace I'll leave
Is footprints in snow
Without you
There's nothing but emptiness
Within me -- without you
youtube.com/playlist?list=PLZoJKtnncEYFKSXI7-IEejtkQcSsYrOak
LINER NOTES:
"Sleepwalking Beauty"
Music: ©2020 Bruce S. Cridlebaugh
Bruce Cridlebaugh - Piano, Guitars, and all other instruments
Paula Tuttle - Cello
Ralph Guzzi - Trumpet
Audio and Video Production: Bruce Cridlebaugh
There's an important solo in Tchaikovsky's ballet "The Sleeping Beauty". In Act II, the Pas D'Action (Dance of Action) is a piece of choreography that tells a story through movement rather than just being decorative. And in this instance, it is the first time Princess Aurora and Prince Désiré dance together to show the beginning of their romance.
Cello is always the most romantic instrument. I hear Paula practicing in the next room. Sometimes it gets into my head and I play along to myself. As she works through the Pas D'Action theme, I decide to quote a passage in my own song. But since my song is much faster and has completely different timing...Aurora can't be Sleeping. She must be at least "Sleepwalking Beauty".
The cello solo starts: youtu.be/w7qLg1lOfrw?t=3929
The section I quote: youtu.be/w7qLg1lOfrw?t=4061
youtube.com/playlist?list=PLZoJKtnncEYE9EjBUoPDzKyrXU3CX2Gjd
LINER NOTES:
"Sleep"
Music & Lyrics: ©2000 Bruce S. Cridlebaugh
Bruce Cridlebaugh - Guitars, piano, and all other instruments
Audio and Video Production: Bruce Cridlebaugh
Additional video: pexels.com and pixabay.com
Satellite Aerial: PEMA
Ring around the moon, he stepped outside
A gentle breath sounded the chimes
And the emptiness that filled the sky
Gave perspective to the emptiness inside
And he thought he'd face the challenge of it all
Withstanding every storm and never fall
And soon, but not today
He'd feel the ice melt away
Wondering where and when he finally got some sleep
Resentful of movies and of sports
Following a script and following a course
The conflict helps to move them along
Not to bury those who suffer on
And he thought he'd face the challenge of it all
Withstanding every storm and never fall
And soon, but not today
He'd feel the ice melt away
Wondering where and when he finally got some sleep
Aimed between the lines of the parking lot
His restless wheels rolled to a stop
And with touches on the radio
He fell into a song romantic and low
And he dreamed that he was living every word
And every lilting note was meant for him
And for the first in many days
He felt the ice melt away
And there and then he finally got some sleep
youtube.com/playlist?list=PLZoJKtnncEYGMx4ugumB9bsvnyesNn4Ka
"Leaves Left"
Music: ©2020 Bruce S. Cridlebaugh
Bruce Cridlebaugh - Piano and all other instruments
Audio and Video Production: Bruce Cridlebaugh
youtube.com/playlist?list=PLZoJKtnncEYE9EjBUoPDzKyrXU3CX2Gjd
LINER NOTES:
"Win The Game"
Music & Lyrics: ©1996 Bruce S. Cridlebaugh
Bruce Cridlebaugh - Guitars, piano, and all other instruments
Audio and Video Production: Bruce Cridlebaugh
Additional video: pexels.com and pixabay.com
Into the sun
Into the cold
Everything a child needs
Was given to me.
As I learned to trust
And I learned to care
Somehow I thought
More would feel like me.
They said to play fair
Be good to each other
Play by the rules
And you can win the game
We're taught that we're strange.
It turns out we're normal.
We're told that things change
But it's hard to be sure.
Everything's a defense.
There are no straight answers.
So we hope for the best
And then, we're outta here.
I thought it was fair.
I thought it would matter.
I thought it was possible to
Win the game.
Now here I am, yeah,
I'm getting older.
All the hopes and the dreams
Are catching up to me.
Mediocrity.
Complacency.
All the things that I say
Will never happen to me.
youtube.com/playlist?list=PLZoJKtnncEYGMx4ugumB9bsvnyesNn4Ka
"Opening"
©2006, 2024 Bruce S. Cridlebaugh
Bruce Cridlebaugh - Piano and all other instruments
Paula Tuttle - Cello
Audio and Video Production: Bruce Cridlebaugh
Additional Video: Pexels.com and Pixabay.com
This mesmerizing piece started as a one-take piano improv. Almost 20 years later, I wrote a piano line for Paula and it grew.
youtube.com/playlist?list=PLZoJKtnncEYE9EjBUoPDzKyrXU3CX2Gjd
LINER NOTES:
"If I Did Believe In Angels"
Music & Lyrics: ©2024 Bruce S. Cridlebaugh
Bruce Cridlebaugh - Piano and all other instruments
Audio and Video Production: Bruce Cridlebaugh
There’s no mystery
Hush-hush history
Everything makes sense
All is plain to see
Forget fantasy
Living present tense
Then I look up
You are waiting
Finally something true
If I did believe in angels
They would be like you
Some old movie
Instant chemistry
Music starts to rise
Words flow easily
On first meeting
Mirrored steps, they dance
When I look up
You are waiting
Finally something true
If I did believe in angels
They would be like you
We don’t need all
We just need one
Losing faith in
All that’s tempting
Hardening a shell
Warm and caring
But not daring
Feelings not to tell
When I look up
You are waiting
Finally something true
If I did believe in angels
They would be like you
We don’t need all
We just need one
youtube.com/playlist?list=PLZoJKtnncEYE9EjBUoPDzKyrXU3CX2Gjd
LINER NOTES:
"All That We Have Left"
Music & Lyrics: ©1998 Bruce S. Cridlebaugh
Bruce Cridlebaugh - Guitars, Piano, and all other instruments
Audio and Video Production: Bruce Cridlebaugh
Words cascade and linger
They must not make a sound
Every one I offer
Just makes it worse
All that's in the past
All that's gone before
All that still remains
All that we have left
Lay down beside me
Forgive or forget
Choose the one you
Haven't tired of yet
We try to reconcile
But when we say
Always - every - never
We know were wrong
All that's in the past
All that's gone before
All that still remains
All that we have left
It's like we're watching a movie
So hard to believe
There's a happy ending
There's a reprise
It's like we're stuck in the jailhouse
But someone believes
In the story of innocence
There's a reprieve
What you allow to happen
Is what you have done
No one takes the blame
When none is laid
All that's in the past...
youtube.com/playlist?list=PLZoJKtnncEYFKSXI7-IEejtkQcSsYrOak
"Inside The Lines"
©2024 Bruce S. Cridlebaugh
Bruce Cridlebaugh - Guitar, Piano and all other instruments
Audio and Video Production: Bruce Cridlebaugh
Additional Video: Pexels.com and Pixabay.com
This road trip song wants you to roll down the car windows and crank up the music. Even if it's winter and you have to turn up the heater.
The initial seed of this song started as a dramatic bumper/intro for Paula Tuttle's "Accelerando" podcast: accelerandocast.com
youtube.com/playlist?list=PLZoJKtnncEYE9EjBUoPDzKyrXU3CX2Gjd
LINER NOTES:
"Driving"
Music & Lyrics: ©1998 Bruce S. Cridlebaugh
Bruce Cridlebaugh - Guitar, Piano, and all other instruments
Audio and Video Production: Bruce Cridlebaugh
Additional Video: Pexels.com
Driving through the night
The rain is streaming off the glass
And we don't have a single thing to say
Another silent night
Of trying hard to be polite
It seems that anything could start it up again
If I could give you anything
I wouldn't give you trouble
If everything were right
There'd be no pain
All the years together
We would talk about forever
Now we just turn and look our separate ways
You insist that I am angry
Til at last I become angry
You're mystified at would could start the fight
One insists and one resists
It just keeps grinding
Nothing melts
And nothing blows away
Insulted you move away
Do I follow; do I stay?
Do I set aside my pride to prove my love?
Time upon a time, I said
We're forever intertwined. You should
Only expect the best there is from me
If you could see the effort
I'd ask you, "Be patient"
It all works out
It only takes some time
youtube.com/playlist?list=PLZoJKtnncEYFKSXI7-IEejtkQcSsYrOak
LINER NOTES:
"Returns & Exchanges"
Music: ©2000 Bruce S. Cridlebaugh
Bruce Cridlebaugh - Piano, Guitars, and all other instruments
Audio and Video Production: Bruce Cridlebaugh
Additional Video: Pexels.com
I appreciate songs that need to get alot done in a short amount of time -- like TV themes and bumper music.
I had just purchased a Roland D-5 synth and the piano sound lent itself to the creation of this song. That seems to be a common mode of inspiration for alot of music: a sound/timbre/patch leads in a direction and a whole song gets built around it.
But one problem with naming an instrumental piece is that they don't always sound like a particular thing. Does "La Mer" sound like The Sea or have we just been conditioned to think that? I'm thinking of parallels of "program music" to the visual shortcuts we use in graphic design. A heart shape does not really look like a heart, but everyone knows what it is.
Anyway...I was standing in line at an Old Navy retail store...with this new wordless song in my head...and I needed a name to remember and differentiate from other songs. There on the wall: "Returns & Exchanges". In time, it seemed to fit. A phrase, answered by another phrase, a conversation. And now this video makes it all a bit more literal.
youtube.com/playlist?list=PLZoJKtnncEYE9EjBUoPDzKyrXU3CX2Gjd
LINER NOTES:
"Right Again"
Music & Lyrics: ©2001 Bruce S. Cridlebaugh
Bruce Cridlebaugh - Guitar, Piano, and all other instruments
Audio and Video Production: Bruce Cridlebaugh
Additional Video: Pexels.com
He's working at the factory
Makes the parts you throw away
Sure the effort isn't wasted
And he works late every day
Tries to join in conversation
There's two kinds of polite:
Some folks are politely social
Ah, but some won't put up a fight
Maybe we're both a little lazy
Maybe a little is too much
Oh, you're right again
Really wants to say he loves you
But he doesn't have the touch
And the feeling won't be coming
'Til her heart's been filled enough
Radio narrates his life
Is it just coincidence?
Driving home he's late again
He can't proffer a defense
Maybe we're both a little lazy
Maybe a little is too much
Oh, you're right again
Walking through the darkened house now
Locking doors and closing blinds
Cleaning while eating from a tin can
He pretends he doesn't mind
Each child receives a light kiss
They stir but do not wake
His wife's been long time sleeping
It's been far too late to wait
Maybe we're both a little lazy
Maybe a little is too much
Oh, you're right again
youtube.com/playlist?list=PLZoJKtnncEYGMx4ugumB9bsvnyesNn4Ka
"Waiting"
©2022 Bruce S. Cridlebaugh
Bruce Cridlebaugh - Piano and all other instruments
Audio and Video Production: Bruce Cridlebaugh
As featured on Paula Tuttle's "Accelerando" podcast
accelerandocast.com
youtube.com/playlist?list=PLZoJKtnncEYE9EjBUoPDzKyrXU3CX2Gjd
LINER NOTES:
"Get It At Home"
Music & Lyrics: ©2000 Bruce S. Cridlebaugh
Bruce Cridlebaugh - Guitar, Piano, and all other instruments
Audio and Video Production: Bruce Cridlebaugh
Additional Video: Pexels.com and Pixabay.com
Gotta make a living
Gotta make a killing
Hurry up!
The first - the best - the most
Feel the pressure mounting
Building up
All of the fantasies
The things left undone
All of the things you need
You can get it at home
If there were only one more day
Would it still turn out this way?
The inviting package
The turn of a phrase
Can't wait for tomorrow
Gotta have it today
The only present we care for
Is the one with a bow
Out hunting and gathering
We forget about home
Right Here
Right Now
Is passing you by
When you wake up
You're wondering why
I was flipping through some photos
Conjured up some feelings
From the past
Pretending it was perfect
Learning all too soon it
Wouldn't last
All that you think you've missed
The Perfect One
You can remember this
You can get it at home
youtube.com/playlist?list=PLZoJKtnncEYE9EjBUoPDzKyrXU3CX2Gjd
LINER NOTES:
"Something's Got To Change"
©1981, 2024 Bruce S. Cridlebaugh
Bruce Cridlebaugh - Guitars, Piano and all other instruments
Additional Vocal - Nina W.
Audio and Video Production: Bruce Cridlebaugh
In the style of Jackson Browne, a song about listening without hearing.
My first graphic design position was creating all of the on-air artwork for Warner Cable. They had a slate of local programming; one of the shows was a kind of a Gong Show (like America's Got Talent but more brutal) where the people at home could press the buttons on their interactive QUBE remote and vote up or down. Too many downs and the act got pulled. I performed this song live/solo and was one of only two acts that made it the whole way through. The other surviving act was my first exposure to breakdancing.
I try to look into your eyes
But you turn them away
They're your disguise
Won't you ever show me who you are?
Oh, it's gone too far
I know you told me how you feel
But I can't believe
I know that words aren't always real
I'd rather hear the things locked in your heart
But I can't take
And you won't give
I can't pretend I like to live this way
Something's got to change
Something's got to change (how I feel)
Something's got to change
Just another one in line
That's how it feels sometimes
Like I'm losing time
I am not afraid I'll give too much to you
The change I fear is losing you
I know you told me how you feel...
Somewhere in a song
You tried to tell me something was wrong
It had to change
My eyes aren't hiding anything
My words are true
The change, my love, must come from you
I know you told me how you feel...


