Welcome

Thanks for visiting. I like to write songs for family and friends, and post them here. The songs usually end up being super-specific to a person, circumstance, or event. And they're sometimes funny, but the humor is mostly inside jokes.

I've been an elementary music teacher, a performing arts teacher, an assistant principal, and now I work at the school district office. My wife's a high school choir teacher, so there's a lot of music and singing in our home. It's a happy place.

-Mike

TOO HOT TO HAVE A WEDDING

My father and his wonderful wife married in July. The evening before the wedding, while considering what I might say as a toast, and after hearing the weather forecast, this song came to be. A draft was written, but I decided the song was dumb and that I would just say a toast like a normal person. Feeling more optimistic the next morning, however, I reworked the lyrics, and then performed it a few hours later. (2016)

POLLINATION STATION

This is an educational R&B song. It was written to meet a requirement for a Graduate School class I took. I was a teacher at the time, and the PE teacher and a bunch of students helped me with the video recording. I missed it in the credits somehow, but my wife sings most of the vocals in the chorus. (2008)

MADDY'S SONG

This song is for my daughter. She was 20-months old when we made the recording. Listen for her at the very end. (2011)

PERFECT LOVE

This song was written to honor the teachers and staff retiring from my school. One of the retirees was my wife's second grade teacher. My wife was the "pretty little girl" in Verse 3. (2012)

YOUR NAME BE PRAISED

This is a Christmas song intended to emphasize the contrasting circumstances of Jesus Christ's birth and life. (2015)

ODE TO THE OLDE

We had a big party for my boss, the school principal, when he turned 50. We roasted him pretty bad. This song was my contribution. (2011)

BREAKUP SONG

The principal of the elementary school where I work became principal of the nearby high school. He's a fantastic leader and we were sad for him to go. This is the song I sang at his going-away party. Unless you work at my school, you probably won't get most of the humor. I joked that it felt like he was dumping us, so I wrote it like a breakup song. (2012)

NINE-FINGERED MAN

A carpenter friend of mine cut off his finger with a miter saw. He was flown to UK Hospital but they lost the finger somewhere between radiology and sewing time. It was never found. I wrote a little song about the event to cheer him up (and to make fun a little). (2010)

MOTORCYCLE MANIAC

Another friend of mine hit mid-life and got a motorcycle. He was riding it home from work and wrecked because he was admiring the weather instead of the road. A couple broken ribs was all he suffered, even though he wasn't wearing a helmet! A couple weeks later he worked up the courage to give it another try (again, no helmet). He wrecked. This time it required an airlift, surgery, rods, pins, and stitches. As soon as we realized he would be all right, we teased him mercilessly. Motorcycle Maniac and the Nine-Fingered Man were both associate pastors at the church I attended. (2010)

HYMN MEDLEY

This is one of the first times we sang together as a family trio in public. These are all hymns that we'd sing before bed, tucking the kids in. (2015)

PROFESSOR WINTHEMALL'S THEME SONG

I was a volunteer in the children's department at church. There were several visiting "characters" who helped the children's pastor teach. One of them was the wacky Professor Winthemall (win-them-all). He always had a crazy experiment or cool illusions to entertain the kids, and help them make connections to the lesson. This was his theme music - the song that was played as he entered children's church. I copied the theme music from CBS's old "Mighty Mouse" cartoon (1955), and changed the lyrics to suit the professor. (2012)

LETTER TO THE NEW GUY (A GOODBYE SONG)

I was a teacher for seven years, then assistant principal for two years, at Pulaski Elementary School. It was a wonderful place to work - I loved the staff, the students, and the job. So when I was asked to fill a position at the district office, it was a difficult decision to leave. I wrote a letter-song to the guy who would replace me, but it's really a thank you song to the staff. (2014)