It’s About the Kids

23 original theocratic songs especially for children of Jehovah’s Witnesses, from toddlers to teens, but friends of all ages will enjoy them. Over 70 minutes of music covering a variety of musical styles.

Read Complete Lyrics Here

Sometimes a song can be inspired by a guitar chord or two. This one’s sweet and simple, because it’s mainly based on just two chords I just liked the sound of. 

This song, as well as Into the Ark!, Don’t Look Back!, and a few others not included on this CD, were written around the time our oldest daughter, Lindsay, was born, in 1984. I wrote them to include in a book designed to teach her the piano, using pictures from My Book of Bible Stories.

A bit of reggae, sung by our youngest daughter, Nicole.

The singer, Austin Block, is a nine year old member of our congregation in Sussex, NJ. His dad, Ted, who is from SE Texas, sings on I’m Gonna Be On Time, (and conducts our Watchtower study, and does a lot of other things...)

Based on the principles found at 1 Corinthians 12:12-31. I wish I could have included lyrics about every indispensable person in the congregation, from single parents to dear older ones, etc... You can add your own lyrics and sing it any way you like!

I first fell in love with Spanish music listening to Chick Corea in my teens, later discovering Bizet’s great opera Carmen. This is just a small introduction to Spanish music for the young ones.

I first wrote the music to this song in the 1970’s, when I was a teenager. Being totally immersed in The Beatles, this song is heavily influenced by Paul McCartney’s vaudeville style pop songs. Over the years, First Things First has had at least four different titles and sets of lyrics; I think I’ve finally settled on the final product.

No, neither of my grandfather’s were in the truth. But somebody’s were. This is for them. And for everybody who has ever lost anybody.

A winsome look at some of the positive viewpoints our wonderful hope can engender in us.

This one just came to me one evening while I was staring at my drum set during our congregation book study. Yes, I do pay attention to the meetings, but when an idea comes...

The Grange

Written in my teenage years. The name only came recently when I played it for the first time in public at a going-away get-together held at the Sussex Grange.

Sometimes a title comes to mind, and a song starts to develop in my head. This title was actually said by an elderly woman when I visited her and her husband as part of my secular work. She was describing her multitudinous problems, and said she just “prays them away.”

No, this is not a typo. We all want the PEACE of the new world. On the other hand, I don’t care how simple life may get; maybe I’ll just grow tomatoes for 1000 years or so. It won’t take much to make us happy in Jehovah’s new world; just give me a small piece of it!

My favorite song on the CD, because it’s so personal. No human can ever really understand what motivates us; sometimes we even condemn ourselves needlessly. Only Jehovah knows the REAL person.

Oyster Bay Cove

Another one from my teenage years. Inspired by a spot on Long Island called Centre Island Beach, overlooking West Harbor near Oyster Bay Cove, where my friends and I spent many memorable evenings singing songs and barbecuing. Originally called North Shore Ocean Breeze, although it’s the south shore of Long Island that faces the ocean!

A little rocking ditty. Could have been called Bethel Bound, but Brooklyn Bound has a better ring to it. Besides, that’s where my wife Rose and I served in the early 1980’s.

Brooklyn Bound
Extra Guitar Solo Clip!

Leonard Cohen meets CSNY. Definitely one for the older ‘kids’. This world has NOTHING to offer; why find out the hard way?

There’s no end to the positive things we have to talk about with our brothers and sisters.

NOTE: The portion of this song that was recorded at the Kingdom Hall was simply background chatter captured on a standard cassette tape, later mixed into the song after the idea of making the CD was conceived. No commercial activities were ever carried on at the Kingdom Hall.

Something that’s hard for young people to see is that ‘friends’ in this world who ridicule us and pressure us into doing things that are wrong are not really friends at all. Hope this helps.

A composite of Habakkuk 2:3 and Zephaniah 1:14.

Why indeed. Maybe someday there will be an Awake! article extolling the virtues of the pesky mosquito. I’m not holding my breath.

Based on Ephesian 6:14-20. The Bible sure does provide endless fodder for songs and poetry!

Actually a fairly popular expression I first heard in a marketing class at work, which actually goes “If it is to be it is up to ME”. But the really important things in life are not up to ME, they are up to JEHOVAH. (It’s all about ‘me’ in this world, isn’t it?)