Welcome to CJ Smith’s song page. This is part of CJ’s catalogue from 2004 to 2010.
Feel free to listen to the mp3 samples and view additional song information where it is provided.
On this page you’ll find over 100 songs. Some are fully produced, some are live recordings and some are produced to a demo standard. Some of these songs are planned for upcoming albums and single release. You’ll find a huge cross section of music genres, from the screaming rock guitars of Ringstone Round, to the cruisey jazz/blues tones of Monsoon Moon. Raw urban blues is well represented by the dark city scapes of Fortitude Valleyand Peninsular Drive, and protest songs appear under the titles America The Brave, Enough is Enough and If Peace Is Coming. There’s fantasy in Dark Eyed Madonna and dark, searching introspection in Afraid Of The Darkand The Day My Father Died…. and so it goes, on and on. Many of these songs are available for single sale download at Broadjam.com. & iTunes.
Simply pass the cursor over the song title, if the title glows blue,
click on it for more song information. If there is a play button,
click that for a sample of the song.
#
2005
This song is an un-released demo, written as a ‘spacey’ end of days film track.
It describes the world as nuclear wasteland.
“Sandman come in softly, slumber take me back,
The drums recall your heartbeat and the rhumba starts to sway.
I’m watching from the harbour wall, as the city burns away”
Words & music CJ Smith. Length 3.06. Copyright CJ Smith July 2004.
3 Blind Girls
7 Deadly Sins
Appearing as track number four on the album “Missing Chapters From The Book Of Blues”,
7 DEADLY SINS is really a political commentary that offers an interesting look
at a whole new set of ‘deadly sins’.
“I saw 7 fat magicians doing card tricks by the door
There were 7 U.S. Presidents passed out around the floor
There were 7 despots dining on the spoils of foreign aid,
7 undertakers leaning on their spades
There were 7 kinds of envy bringing 7 kinds of grief
There were 7 wise men bearing gifts of worth beyond belief
There were 7 ways of dying, there were 7 ways to live
but no way to forget or to forgive”
Words & music CJ Smith. Length 3.01 Copyright CJ Smith August 2007.
A
A Matter Of Time
A MATTER OF TIME was written in 2008, and is now planned for release on the
forthcoming album “Don’t Look Down”.
It’s a slow to mid-tempo blues song about lost love and recovery.
“Ain’t got nothing left now, here’s my heart and there’s the door
I can’t even remember, what you came here for.
Take your suitcase full of trinkets, and your pictures off the wall,
Just remember when you leave this house, this time you leave it all.”
Words & music; CJ Smith. Length 4.56. Copyright CJ Smith July 2008.
Adeline
Track number six on the Album “Modern Nursery Rhymes”, ADELINE is a fantasy
song with acoustic guitars and strings adding depth!
Words & music; CJ Smith. Length 3.12. Copyright CJ Smith May 2004.
Afraid Of The Dark
AFRAID OF THE DARK was written in 2004 and recorded with just guitar & fender rhodes.
It has recently been re-recorded with a full band and is planned for release n the forthcoming
album “Don’t Look Down”.
It’s a sad, slow song that is played in strat ‘chop’ style and is accented by sad, faraway
lead lines. When played live, it has evoked very strong emotions from those who best
relate to the story.
“If you close your eyes and block your ears you can pretend
If you hum a song and pray that it will end
If your father isn’t there and your mother doesn’t care
You can turn on all the lights and start again…
Place your hand in mine and tell me one more time
Its okay to be afraid of the dark
Sunshine turns to gray at the end of everyday
It’s okay to be afraid of the dark”
Words & music; CJ Smith. Length 4.15. Copyright CJ Smith March 2004.
Alive Inside My Mind
Released in 2007 as track number 2 on the album “Cold Outside” , ALIVE INSIDE MY MIND’ is is a
haunting indie/folk song dealing with the fine line between fantasy and insanity.
“And every night they lock the door, fear scattered in the hall
Inhabits separate places on the bed and up the wall
But that’s alright… you’re alive inside my mind”
Words & music CJ Smith. Length 4.35. Copyright CJ Smith April 2006.
America The Brave
AMERICA THE BRAVE is a folk/protest song that deals with the plight of immigrants in
big American cities such as New York.
” Now take me down to Liberty, so I can call her name
She promised me salvation, but all I got was shame
I was tired and I was poor, and yearning to be free
I put my future in your hands, and you deserted me
Take me from this city now, and take me from this land
Take me to the ocean, and lay me on the sand
Cover me in roses, or cover me in mud
And lay my body in the ground, this ground that’s stained with blood”
Words & music; CJ Smith. Length 4.26. Copyright CJ Smith September 2009.
This slow piano song is based on a true story and starts with a lengthy monologue
describing how the song was born. It was written and recorded in one short
afternoon following a harrowing episode where the writer realizes that certain
friendships are based on his value in dollar terms. Smith’s vocal reaches way
back into the depths.
“You can’t change the world and you can’t turn back time
You might move mountains, but they just move back….”
Words & music; CJ Smith. Length 6.01. Copyright CJ Smith September 2009.
Big Sky
Birds Flying Backwards
BIRDS FLYING BACKWARDS is a mid paced blues/jazz number.
Words & music; CJ Smith. Length 4.07. Copyright CJ Smith April 2008.
Body In The River
BODY IN THE RIVER was the bonus track on the album “Cold Outside”.
It features steel dobro guitar delivered in the manner of a body rolling
by in a fast current and is accompanied by metallic hammer blows.
Based on a true story. Smith was having breakfast by the water at his
riverside home when he noticed a body floating by.
“… just a rolling in the current covered in delta mud
… deep river, deep deep river don’t mind”
There is a video clip of this song on the video page
Appearing as track number one on the album “Missing Chapters From The Book Of Blues”,
CHEAP HOTELS is a mid to up-tempo blues song that looks at what happens to those
lost souls that ‘fall through the cracks’.
Words & music CJ Smith. Length 3.36 Copyright CJ Smith May 2004
Cicilia
Clancy
This song is a wide ‘Australian’ bush ballad that captures the spirit of the Australian Outback.
It is based around the poem ‘Clancy of the Overflow’ by AB Banjo Paterson, and was written as
the title track for a feature film.
Words & music CJ Smith. Length 4.40. Copyright CJ Smith June 2004
Cold Outside
COLD OUTSIDE is the first track on the album of the same name, “Cold Outside”.
It deals with the bitterness of a breakup after a guy catches his wife in bed with his best friend.
Words & music CJ Smith. Length 4.35. Copyright CJ Smith May 2006.
Crash Of ’89
Crossroads (Chapter 7)
MISSING CHAPTER (Chapter 7) THE CROSSROADS is the final song on the
album and in the Missing Chapters trilogy. It is a full blown original blues number.
“Times have never been so bad, stories never been so sad
But whatever path you choose it’s written in the book of blues
And that’s the only book I’ve ever had…
So take me to the crossroads, tell my momma I won’t be home
Read me chapters as I trade away my soul…
Standing at the crossroads, demons in the dull glow
Devil’s at the ready and he’s calling,
Turn and face the twilight, won’t be coming home tonight
Can’t nobody catch me I’m falling”
Words & music; CJ Smith. Length 4.22. Copyright CJ Smith January 2008.
D
Dance
Dark Eyed Madonna
Track number three on the Album “Modern Nursery Rhymes”, Dark Eyed Madonna is a song
about fantasy and seduction. Did it really happen???
Words & music CJ Smith. Length 6.18. Copyright CJ Smith May 2005.
Day My Father Died (The)
THE DAY MY FATHER DIED is a recently written, unreleased song
in the vein of a funeral dirge.
“Take me away from this graveside
Take me away from this man
Free me at last from his judgement
I’m doing the best that I can…
The day my father died
Something stirred inside
But the man at the grave never cried
For the man in the box by his side”
Words & music; CJ Smith. Length 5.47. Copyright CJ Smith May 2010.
Daybreak
Dead Man Walking
DEAD MAN WALKING was a single and track five on the album “Cold Outside”.
“Dead man walking in my shoes
Got a whole lot of memories I can’t use
And I’m looking for a woman
Can sing me the blues tonight
I gather no moss like a rolling stone
Like to settle down, find a home
But the woman that I’m looking for
Ain’t looking for a man like me”
Words & music; CJ Smith. Length 4.06. Copyright CJ Smith April 2006.
Do Not Forget Me
DO NOT FORGET ME is a lighthearted look at the last wishes of a
dying man to an indifferent lover. It features slide guitar played
on a Gibson J190 Super Fusion. It is destined for release on a
forthcoming album.
“Please… do not forget me when I’m gone
Do me a favour Honey and leave my music on
And please don’t throw my paintings in a pile
Cos they may have some value… in a while
And please… don’t give my clothing to the poor
Cos I may need it when I’m knocking on heaven’s door
Remember I’ll be watching from wherever I may be
So please don’t do those mean things that you used to do to me”
Words & music; CJ Smith. Length 4.15. Copyright CJ Smith January 2009.
Domenique
Don’t Look Down
Don’t Want To Love You Baby
Down The Mississippi
Dust To Dust
Track number two on the Album “Modern Nursery Rhymes”, DUST TO DUST is a song
about just getting on with your life because after all, we’re all gonna die!
Words & music; CJ Smith. Length 4.19. Copyright CJ Smith January 2005.
E
Enough Is Enough
ENOUGH IS ENOUGH is track number three from the album “Cold Outside”.
It is a commentary on the state of the world today. It starts off sounding like a folk song, then builds to a full rock crescendo.
Words & music CJ Smith. Length 4.51. Copyright CJ Smith June 2005.
F
Feels Like Love
FEELS LIKE LOVE is a song of love and loss. This version is a straight
live cut with just Smith and his guitar.
“Yours was the first face that I saw
When you stepped down from the train
I saw you standing there, your levis old and worn
And your suitcase in your hand“
Words & music; CJ Smith. Length 5.39. Copyright CJ Smith January 2006.
First Night In Nirvana
Fortitude Valley
FORTITUDE VALLEY is a down & dirty city scape. Heavy on both irony and percussion,
it paints a picture of the seedier side of life in the infamous Fortitude Valley in Brisbane
Australia. It captures the late night desperation that echoes down a dark alley.
“In an alley running by the railway there’s a dude with a needle in his arm
Well he coulda been a man and he coulda had a life
If he’d just stayed working on the farm”
Words & music; CJ Smith. Length 4.03. Copyright CJ Smith September 2009.
G
Georgie
GEORGIE started life as an acoustic guitar balled based on real life, and is
always a popular live number. It has recently been expanded and
re-recorded as a full blown ballad and may make an appearance on
a future album. It’s about a guy who just doesn’t seem to fit: but there’s
something not quite right here. We read about these episodes on a daily basis.
So as Smith says to his audience…. Beware, Georgie could be the guy living right
next to you… even sitting next to you right now!
“Georgie left the office and he stopped off at a bar
He bought a quart of whiskey and he drank it in his car
Then he drove out to the suburbs anger pounding in his head
And there was Myra, underneath a salesman on the bed.
Well he shot that salesman in the arse, Myra screaming with the fright
Then he knelt and kissed her on the lips, more shots echoed through the night
Then he walked out through the front door, never even looked around
And he climbed into his Mazda and he headed out of town”
Words & music; CJ Smith. Length 9.48. Copyright CJ Smith January 2005.
Girl From Cato Avenue (The)
Great American Novel
Originally written for “Modern Nursery Rhymes”, GREAT AMERICAN NOVEL
finally appeared as track number four on the album “Cold Outside”.
It wraps a story of tragedy, loss and ultimately failure and suicide
in the cadence of a child’s nursery rhyme.
“Then he took a shiny gun… and a picture of my mum
And he died with her memory in his brain
And all the King’s horses and all the King’s men
Couldn’t put him back together again”
Words & music CJ Smith. Length 2.29. Copyright CJ Smith April 2005.
H
Hello Australia
Help Me Please
I
I Am The Man
If Peace Is Coming
Into The Void
It’s Just Life
IT’S JUST LIFE. This is the first cut demo of the song that appeared on the
album “Modern Nursery Rhymes”. .
“Grew up kinda fast, forgot about the past
Living like I please, made a lot of enemies
Pump that iron, carry that stone
Pick a bale of cotton, there’s another where it came from
Working for the company, woulda’ been the death of me
Wasn’t worth the pay, so I took the easy way.”
Words & music; CJ Smith. Length 3.59. Copyright CJ Smith November 2005 .
I’ll Be Gone
J
Jealousy
Just A Man
K
Kelly St
KELLY ST. is a true story of the writer’s early childhood. It tells the
story of growing up by the famous Kelly Steps on the Hobart
docklands. It name checks two of Smith’s close childhood
friends, Paddy F. & ‘Top Cat’ Terry C. and probably
goes a long way to explaining CJ’s affinity with
“life below street level” and the people
who inhabit the shadowland.
The song is part of an ongoing anthology of Smith’s life, which will
eventually be published as “The Bottom Of The World”
“But now that I was older those painted ladies weren’t so nice
You can still come in for biscuits, but you’ll have to pay the price”
Words & music CJ Smith. Length 4.26. Copyright CJ Smith February 2010.
L
Late In The Evening
Lay Down
Leaving On Her Mind
Left Behind
Love Is A Strange Thing
Lynn
M
Masochistica
Matchmaker
MATCHMAKER is perhaps one of CJ Smith’s most requested song and yet these days,
still a truly great song, it throws up an interesting contrast with both his current writing
and performance styles. MATCHMAKER was written in 2004 shortly after Smith’s
return to the business of songwriting after a very long absence that he describes as “traveling, raising a family and making a buck”.
It is an out and out love song written as a waltz for guitar & piano and is available
for single purchase right now at Broadjam.com. along with lots of his other songs.
“I looked at the sounds, I listened to sights I spoke with my ears not my mouth
I walked on my hands, thinking the world was the other way up north was south”
Words & music CJ Smith. Length 5.58. Copyright CJ Smith February 2004.
Mean Street Blues
Midnight In The Asylum
Midnight Rain
Missing Chapters Chapter 5 (The Palladium)
MISSING CHAPTERS (chapter 5) THE PALLADIUM is track number
eight on the Album “Missing Chapters From The Book Of Blues”.
It is the first song in the chapters trilogy and sets the scene for the
audition at the Palladium. It is a monologue delivered over a chunky
blues riff.
Words & music; CJ Smith. Length 2.14. Copyright CJ Smith January 2008.
Missing Chapters Chapter 6 (The Audition)
MISSING CHAPTERS (Chapter 6) THE AUDITION is track nine on
the album “Missing Chapters From The Book Of Blues”. It is a hot blues
instrumental featuring great guitar & solos by CJ, James North (hammond),
Steve Pope (drums) and Jimmy Z (blues harmonica.
Words & music; CJ Smith. Length4.09. Copyright CJ Smith January 2008.
Missing Chapters Chapter 7 (The Crossroads)
MISSING CHAPTER (Chapter 7) THE CROSSROADS is the final song on the
album and in the Missing Chapters trilogy. It is a full blown original blues number.
“Times have never been so bad, stories never been so sad
But whatever path you choose it’s written in the book of blues
And that’s the only book I’ve ever had…
So take me to the crossroads, tell my momma I won’t be home
Read me chapters as I trade away my soul…
Standing at the crossroads, demons in the dull glow
Devil’s at the ready and he’s calling,
Turn and face the twilight, won’t be coming home tonight
Can’t nobody catch me I’m falling”
Words & music; CJ Smith. Length 4.22. Copyright CJ Smith January 2008.
Appearing as track number four on the album “Missing Chapters From The Book Of Blues”,
7 DEADLY SINS is really a political commentary that offers an interesting look
at a whole new set of ‘deadly sins’.
“I saw 7 fat magicians doing card tricks by the door
There were 7 U.S. Presidents passed out around the floor
There were 7 despots dining on the spoils of foreign aid,
7 undertakers leaning on their spades
There were 7 kinds of envy bringing 7 kinds of grief
There were 7 wise men bearing gifts of worth beyond belief
There were 7 ways of dying, there were 7 ways to live
but no way to forget or to forgive”
Words & music CJ Smith. Length 3.01 Copyright CJ Smith August 2007.
Simple Man
Small Talk In A Large Village
Some Of My Friends
Song X
Spanish Days
Sticks & Stones
Suburbia
SUBURBIA is a slow introspective ballad dealing with the many issues of coming off the road from touring with a band and trying to settle down to normal life in suburbia.
It was released as track 6 on the album “Missing Chapter From The Book of Blues”. The realism of a stage performance is maintained by the squeaking of the piano pedal (listen for it). The piano was played by James North and the backing vocals sung by Caroline Hammond and Emma Dean.
“Cause I’m trapped inside suburbia and I’m living in my mind
I’m mowing lawns on weekends and I’m working nine to five
And that’s alright if blind ambition, doesn’t hold you in its sway
But I dreamed the dreams a young man dreams and pissed them all away
So please… one day will do, don’t leave me stranded in suburbia
and gasping for the life that I once knew
Went by too fast… let’s share a laugh
Just an hour or two to talk about the past”
Words & music; CJ Smith. Length 6.17. Copyright CJ Smith July 2006.
Superman Blues
Sweet Johanna
T
Take A Chance
The Band Are Animals
There’s A Band
There’s A Place
THERE’S A PLACE was written and played by CJ Smith and recorded by
Japanese singer Aki Takomae. It’s a ‘feel good’ song with a big brass finish.
Words & music; CJ Smith. Length 4.10. Copyright CJ Smith May 2009.
Three Blind Girls
Tradewinds Blow
Tree Of Life
Tropical Dream
V
Valley Of Lost Dreams
W
Waterfront
The song WATERFRONT is an unreleased song about living rough in Sydney.
“Underneath the harbour bridge, where wise men fear to tread
the noises that the winos make, like the waking of the dead
And all along the riverbank, I can see those city lights
It’s the other side of nowhere man, dirty desperate city nights
At the diners down on Dixon Street, the greasy neon blinks
The losers lounges, peepshow bars where they water down the drinks
The upstairs rooms hide history and the basements hide the sin
God don’t come to Chinatown ‘cos they wouldn’t let him in
A young boy by the markets, selling trips to outer space
The salesmen from the suburbs pick like vultures through the waste
And down along the waterfront, the ferries creak and groan
On the greasy swell of darkness… I’m so far away from home”
Words & music; CJ Smith. Length 5.59. Copyright CJ Smith January 2008.
Waterworld
When You Were Susan
WHEN YOU WERE SUSAN is a tragedy of dealing with the death of innocence.
“I used to know you, when you were Susan
When innocence still dripped like honey from a spoon
I saw you dancing, in a chorus line in Paris
and I bartered a deal, with the devil for your soul
And now we stand at the gates, of Constantinople
and face the future looking back, along the past
I cut myself, and I bleed for your forgiveness
To feel your breath on my cheek and the violence of your love”
Words & music; CJ Smith. Length 3.14.. Copyright CJ Smith June 2008.
Who You Been Talking To
WHO YOU BEEN TALKING TO was track seven on the album “Missing Chapters From The Book Of Blues”.
It name checks a few old Greenwich Village (NY) music venues. It is mid to heavy blues rock.
“It’s Friday night in Freedomland and I’m cruising Seven South
Music spilling from the Vanguard, poison spilling from her mouth
Said I know you’re angry woman, but sweet Miranda , play it cool
I’m not the one you’re looking for, so please don’t take me for no fool”
Words & music; CJ Smith. Length 4.53. Copyright CJ Smith June 2007.
