Wheel of Fortune by David Lenander

This was a song that I wrote originally back when I lived with Jim Rogers, more than 30 years ago. I remember that he expressed some kindly feeling towards it, something like "that actually sounds like a real song." Which may or may not have implied something about his opinion of my other songs. I may have written the second verse since then, I'm not sure when that happened. In the meantime, the song was lost. I never forgot the words or melody, but I forgot about its existence, and I've totally lost how I used to play it, which may have been in another key and probably quite different chords. I'm not the player that I was then, but I think I probably sing better--I make several errors, but if I wait to find time for a perfect take I'll miss Jim's 56th, too. In the last year I've recovered the song to this point. Happy Birthday Jim, I always think of you on November 4, even if you never hear about it.

Lyrics:
chorus
refrain
The cycle circles round, spinning to a stop:
The Wheel of Fortune brings you down from sitting at the top.
The last will be first as the first must be last,
the future rushes through till it mingles with the past.
The tears fall without a sound, whatever you pretend.
You wonder as things circle around, where will it all end?
[repeat refrain]

verse 1
Grief in crystal moments
Falls as solitary tears.
They fall into a silent well
the surface remains undisturbed.
[repeat refrain}

verse 2
Joy is spattered laughter
sung by a sky full of birds.
But when the sky is empty,
the song has gone unheard.
[repeat entire chorus]

Category:

Music

Tags:

• folk
• original

[davidlenander]

Are you thinking of his "Full Circle" song? I knew it from the BYRDS album, but I think he'd released it on an album I don't have, ROADMASTER. The songs are dealing with a somewhat similar theme, as are Joni Mitchell's "Circle Game," which I knew from Ian & Sylvia's and Buffy Ste-Marie's covers, and probably a number of other songs. I'll have to relisten to both to see if I can find any melodic debt. I certainly thought of it as an original song, based upon the idea of the Wheel of Fortune.

[davidlenander]

I forgot to say thanks for the kind words. I've always thought of the song as kind of falling into two pieces, with the chorus and the verses seeming musically unrelated, though the thematic unity was clear to me. Probably only when I was in my early twenties would I have written such depressing songs, like this one and some others. Now that I've recorded this with my lovely Autumn day out the window (which doesn't show up as well as I'd hoped) I think it should've been a lot lighter.

[niobisis]

what a great great song!

and nice performance too.

is this variation of song that gram parsons sings on anotherside of this life ?

melody is very alike, but the lyrics are different.

[davidlenander]

Something clicked in my brain today, and I realized that in my reply above I was confusing Gene Clark and Gram Parsons, both of whom played as members of the Byrds, of course. Do I feel stupid. Actually, I have never heard the Gram Parsons "Wheel of Fortune," before today. I found a listing of the album with a 30 second snippet. I may try to buy this song at least, and the rest of the album is mostly made up of songs I know and love and have sung. Did Parsons write his "Wheel" or cover it?

[ChrisUnblizz]

This is indeed a great song! I haven't noticed it before. It sounds very random and I love when things are a bit different. I like your singing too.

Behind the lyrics is such a wisdom. I wish I could write such poetic songs. Very well done, David!

[liselenander]

love your last name :D