Pongs and Soems: Poem-Like Songs and Song-Like Poems

By Frederick Mundle

PONGS ‘N SOEMS
Pongs: Could be Songs and Soems: Could be Poems

PONGS ‘N SOEMS is a 60-year collection of PONGS (could be songs) and SOEMS (could-be poems) but all are lyrics. This work is aimed at the individual looking for material his/her next million seller. As well, this compilation will speak to songwriting/poem writing hobbyists.It endeavours to encourage journaling thoughts, ideas, notions no matter how initially insignificant they seem. Yes, perhaps the multi-million seller song awaits you, the reader, to pen it. If not that, then one may ignite a flair for writing anything from simple lyrics to free verse poetry of the loftiest kind. Herein between the covers lie several melodies which the guitarist can play. On youtube (type in Frederick Mundle youtube) you can see and hear how some PONGS became studio recorded songs and how some SOEMS ended up being set to music. This author’s pastime netted him some incredible collaborating connections
musically from Chicago, to Detroit, Windsor and Toronto, ON, Montreal, PQ, as well as from Eastern NB and Gaspe, PQ.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Dec 22, 2020
• ISBN: 9781664148437

Frederick Mundle

Frederick Mundle adds his third book of poetry entitled Naked Christians to his list of Christian publications with Xlibris. He addresses elements within the body of professing Christians which require being called out. His hope is to awaken the naked who do not realize that they walk about without the clothing of Christ. His desire combines the alerting and converting the otherwise spiritually dead to awaken them to eternal life in Christ. Most self-professing Christians do not realize that they parade around spiritually naked, not being clothed with Christ. It is Frederick's hope to through the power of the Holy Spirit in Jesus name to raise the spiritually dead before they actually physically die. There is no eternal life with Christ unless the foregoing occurs.

Book preview

Copyright © 2021 by Frederick Mundle.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Getty Images.

Rev. date: 12/19/2020

Xlibris

844-714-8691

www.Xlibris.com

815469

CONTENTS

i. Introduction

ii. Acknowledgements

iii. Youtube Addresses for Several Songs

iv. Other Publications by The Author

v. Preview

PART I

i. Pongs and Soems: Poem-Like Songs and Song-Like Poems can Lead to Songwriting for Pleasure

ii. A Time with Miller Brisker

iii. My Audition with Billy Davis, Jr. (Mid 60’s)

iv. A Sit-Down with Ronnie Hawkins

v. The Time I Met A.E Houseman 55 Years after His Death

PART II

1. An Act of Mercy

2. Any Way, Any How

3. Alcoholic’s Son

4. Alcoholic’s Son (Chords)

5. All for the Children

6. All Mine

7. All My Friends

8. All My Friends (Chords)

9. Angel of Death

10. Annie

11. Another Love Like Me

12. Apply the Blood

13. Apply the Blood (Chords)

14. Ask Your New Lover

15. Baby, My Life Is All Music

16. Bad with You

17. Be Careful, Be Cautious

18. Because His Skin’s Dark and My Skin’s White

19. Behind the Mask

20. Between Tides

21. Between Tides (Chords)

22. The Birth

23. The Birth (Chords)

24. Bitterness

25. Black and White Ain’t Socially Right

26. The Bridge Is Gone

27. Bright and Warm

28. Burn

29. The Canadian Fair

30. The Candy or the Rose

31. Cape Breton

32. Cape Breton (Chords)

33. Carelessly, Endlessly

34. Caught on Fire

35. The Chain Is Gone

36. Cherry Beach

37. Cherry Beach (Chords)

38. Children of the Lord

39. Children of the Lord (Chords)

40. Children of the Rain

41. Choose Your Mate

42. The Christians Are Gone

43. The Christians Are Gone (Chords)

44. Cocaine Girl

45. Come Back Again

46. Come Down

47. Come Out of Babylon

48. Come Out of Babylon (Chords)

49. Come to Salvation

50. Come to Salvation (Chords)

51. Covid 19

52. The Cross in the Star

53. The Cross in the Star (Chords)

54. The Crowd

55. Cry, Sax, Cry

56. Did I Hide My Love from You Well?

57. Did Jesus Die for You?

58. Did Jesus Die for You? (Chords)

59. Don’t Fret, Just Forget

60. Don’t Hold It Against Me

61. Don’t Let Go of Me

62. Don’t Let It Show

63. Downtown Montreal

64. Dubë, This Day Is Yours

65. Dubë, This Day Is Yours (Chords)

66. Dummy - L – E—N

67. Ebola Comin’

68. Ecstasy and Pain

69. Eventually

70. Eventually (Chords)

71. Ever Again

72. Ever Again (Chords)

73. Everybody Is a Song (New Title: You’re a Song)

74. Excess Love’s Like Too Much Sweet

75. Fallen Angel

76. Feel the Blues a-Comin’

77. A Feeling

78. Fields of Clover

79. Fields of Clover (Chords)

80. 50 000 Watts

81. Finding My Way

82. Finding My Way (Chords)

83. Fish on the Line

84. For You Another Man

85. Free Will

86. Frost on the Sun

87. Frost on the Sun (Chords)

88. Futile Feeling

89. Ghost in My Wallet

90. A Girl Too Demanding

91. Good-byes Can Linger On

92. Hang On

93. Hang Tough

94. Happy Girl

95. Happy Girl (Chords)

96. Harbour

97. Harvest Time

98. Harvest Time (Chords)

99. Hear Me, Jesus

100. Hear Me, Jesus (Chords)

101. Holding Back

102. HOW THICK THE BLOOD OF JESUS

103. I Can Live Without You

104. I Can’t Take You Back

105. I Don’t Know you, You Don’t Know Me

106. I Got the Rockies

107. I Know

108. I Set the Past on Fire

109. I Will Always Wonder

110. If Jesus Had a Christmas List

111. If My People

112. If My People (Chords)

113. If You Didn’t Say Hi

114. If You Gamble for Love

115. I’ll Always Love Her

116. I’ll Be All You Need

117. I’ll Carry on Somehow

118. I’ll Look for You in Paradise

119. I’ll Look for You in Paradise (Chords)

120. In Praise of Aretha

121. Infallible Guy

122. Iraq-a-Tac

123. It Takes a Lot to Please Me

124. It Takes a Lot to Please Me (Chords)

125. I’ve Got a Friend on the Other Side

126. The Jake

127. Jane

128. Jesus, I love you; Jesus I Need You

129. Just Pretend You Don’t See Me

130. Just Turn Around

131. Kathie’s Lines

132. Kinda Weird, Kinda Wild

133. The Latter Rain

134. The Latter Rain (Chords)

135. Leave Us Alone

136. Left on Fire

137. Les Fantasies D’Amour

138. Let Love Grow

139. Let Muddy Waters Be Muddy

140. Let Your Housecleaning Start with Me

141. Let Your Holy Spirit Fall

142. Let Your Holy Spirit Fall (Chords)

143. Let’s Go Back

144. Lie to Me

145. Life Can Be a Beach

146. The Long Arms of the Cross

147. The Love of My Life Is You

148. Make Them Short

149. A Man Obsessed

150. Moth and Fire

151. Mount Cashel

152. Multicoloured Soul

153. My Last Call

154. Never

155. Never Share

156. Night Flyin’ Man

157. Nobody Wants to Hang Around with God Any More

158. No More Coffles

159. On a Faraway Planet in a Faraway Time

160. On the Run

161. The Only Thing That Hurts Me Is the Pain

162. The Orange of Florida

163. Outlawed from Love

164. Parity Place

165. The Path

166. Pizza Parlour Blues

167. Pizza Parlour Blues (Chords)

168. Play That Oldie Again

169. Prolonged Suspense

170. Psycho-Surgery

171. Public Domain

172. Quebexodus

173. The Rapture

174. River or Pond

175. Roads

176. The Rock Maple

177. The Rockies

178. Roman Candle

179. Roses of Freedom

180. The Rumour Mill

181. A Running Dame

182. A Running Dame (Chords)

183. Sail on the Meech

184. The Shadow of Otis Redding

185. She Don’t Know

186. Should I Freeze in Canada or Starve in F.L.A.?

187. Show No Mercy, Feel No Shame

188. Silver or Sand

189. Sleepin’ with the Devil

190. Smoked Meat and Ale

191. Smoked Meat and Ale (Chords)

192. So Sweet. So Complete

193. Somehow

194. Some Like You

195. Something Bright

196. Something Bright (Chords)

197. Something’s Not In Practice

198. Sometimes

199. Songs for My Sons

200. Sorry to Be Free

201. Soul 67

202. Stephen’s Prayer

203. Stone Fever

204. Sugarloaf Mountain

205. Sugarloaf Mountain (Chords)

206. The Sun Is Shining on You

207. The Sun Is Shining on You (Chords)

208. A Sweet Girl’s Kisses

209. Sweeter the Rose

210. Sweeter the Rose (Chords)

211. Tell Me (I Have to Know)

212. Tell My Sons

213. Terrorist attack

214. Test Tube Baby

215. Thank You Lord

216. Thank You Lord (Chords)

217. Thanks Again

218. Thanks Again (Chords)

219. That Is Love

220. They Tried

221. A Thousand Years, a Million Tears

222. Time Go Slow

223. Time in a Day

224. Time Travellers

225. Tinsel

226. Tinsel (Chords)

227. Tinsel Talk

228. To Tommy Douglas

229. Traces

230. Transplant My Brain

231. The Truth Hurts

232. Watch Out

233. The Way to Go

234. We Are the Children of the World

235. We Are the Children of the World (Chords)

236. We Haven’t Come Far

237. Wendy

238. What Are You Waiting For

239. What Are You Waiting For? (Chords)

240. What Can I Give You, Jesus

241. What Can I Give You Jesus (Chords)

242. What Nails Had Done

243. What’s It Like?

244. What You Do for Light

245. When Can We Expect You Again?

246. When I Get Over You

247. When I’m Gone

248. When I’m Gone (Chords)

249. When Love Soars with the Eagle

250. When She Touches Me

251. When There’s Frost on the Sun

252. Who’s Going to Uganda

253. The White Rose

254. White Satin

255. Who Was This Man Called Christ

256. Who Was This Man Called Christ? (Chords)

257. The Wind

258. The Wind (Chords)

259. With Her Words

260. With You

261. With You (Chords)

262. Without a Dime, Without Penny

263. Won’t Let Myself Go

264. Words Without Heart

265. Words Without Heart (Chords)

266. You Take Away

267. You’ll Walk Forever

268. Your Word

269. Your Word (Chords)

270. You’re a Token

INTRODUCTION

As an amateur writer, I am appealing to anyone who has a predisposition to just write. Not only that, but I encourage that person to keep an idea box or journal of their thoughts. Don’t get me wrong. Although I have won The Edwin Flaherty Award at STU for Creative Writing, The Alfred G. Bailey Award for best poetry manuscript in 2014, got into the Startrak Songwriting Regionals, published two books of poetry and numerous children’s stories, I have no claim to fame. My collection began with the storing away of a first lyric at age 14.

To date, I have been writing and storing scraps of paper and pieces of ideas for 60+ years as a pastime. Approaching the horizon of my life I can say that poetry has been an awesome friend, songwriting has been a rewarding companion, and writing children’s stories and inventing children’s games has kept my mind challenged. This book represents a compilation of songs and want-to-be songs currently causing me to focus like never before. Next on the list will be a collection of children’s stories. After that I could gather up some 1,000 sermons I’ve written or assemble a number of children’s games into a book form. In the meantime, during all of that time I’ve written what ended up being songs in their completed form. In their unfinished state they are micro stories or mini narratives which make up the title of this book: Pongs and Soems.

All songs herein found their roots and rootlets in what you will see to have been initially Pongs and Soems. That is what I call them until they actually become songs which could be radio-ready. Several of the songs herein presented have found air time on a smaller scale than a dreamer might hope for. The sum total of 60+ years has simply been a hobby or pastime. And I do say that it has been a cathartic pastime, a healing hobby, an exciting means of expression. So too can it be for a beginner who might become an amateur who might become an accomplished songwriter in his/her own right who might one day get a break with a truly great Pong or Soem which becomes a song and a hit song at that.

While you read through each and all of the following Pongs and Soems you will discover that each one has a story however long or short. Each Pong remains a Pong and each Soem remains a Soem only so long as it doesn’t have music. Whereupon, as you will see, some inclusions have chord progressions to them, they have become songs. Some structurally may replicate a Pong (poem on it way to becoming a song) while others may present themselves as a Soem (a song with its roots very much in the poetic).

Is one so different than the other, you might ask? Well, you decide, but actually some without changes and adaptations will have a hard time to shake their poemy appearance. For instance, a sonnet is a sonnet is a sonnet. Set it to music and its interior structure and design will be defined by the form of a sonnet, whether Shakespearean, Italian or Petrarchan. Boil it in sounds or not, it will remain a sonnet, a sonnet set to music. On the other hand, another writing may not resemble anything which can be described as a poem of any type or kind. Although it may possess a rhyme of two, within its structure there will appear something that works as a hook. A song needs a hook. The hook may be repeated time and again so that if and when set to music, a listener easily takes the bait. Subsequently, that sets the hook in the listener’s heart and mind. Years ago like any listener after I got hooked on a song, I rushed to the closest record store.

Things I did not save but would give a lot to retrieve from the depths of my memory would be a perfect paragraph on how to play hockey. The teacher raved about it. I even saved it for a time but lost it over time. Another had to do with an essay I had written back in the ’60’s entitled How to Transplant a Brain. I can only remember that I wrote it; however, at some point I began to store away what I thought might be treasures. No matter that they were not, I still kept them and some of them appear in this book.

With the foregoing in mind, I encourage anybody at any age to begin saving what your mind produces. If we do not appreciate the value of thought and especially original thoughts, why might the brain bother to give you and me a harvest which we will just let go to waste. Think of it. Why waste our most valuable asset. Just keep panning your stream of consciousness, Eventually you will strike some thoughts worth more than gold. Consider what Einstein discovered in his stream of thought: E = mc². That has changed the world.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

No matter what, this book embodies a collection of verses written over a period of 60 plus years. Some pongs or soems contain a theme or story line. Some stand complete within themselves, others may yet be works in progress. That is to say, another person from some other town or city may set any one of these pongs or soems to music. That could happen. If and when that does occur, we will become co-writers. Of course, many of these pieces herein have been set to music by me while others have been set to music by others. Those others you will never know. As you can see, this book includes primarily the lyrics to some pongs or soems which became alive as songs. They were brought to life with chord progressions. In fact they have become songy poems or poemy songs.

I must state that this collection or one like it (the collection you begin today or have already begun) could become yours regardless as to whether another person if not yourself could set anything to music. But what has made 50 plus years more interesting to me is that after a time I found musicians to partner with. That is until I leaned to pick out a tune on the guitar myself. Even after that I continued to collaborate with an interested person every now and then.

At this time I hereby acknowledge that I have met a few extremely great people in the music world. As well, I have sat with some of the greatest unrecognized talent in the same world. You will not see names mentioned, for the most part, as all lyrics herein viewed are mine alone, except for those cited as being partnered with by my wife or my son. From these few I have obtained their permission to use their names as cowriters.

Indeed, I thank God for his extended mercies. He kept me alive until 47 years of age, at which time I got saved. Subsequent to that I prayed that I might write a song worthy of Him. A few of those songs do appear between these covers.

People at Xlibris have played a key role, even though it is their job, in facilitating this project. My wife of the last 30 years has stayed with me and supported me morally and encouraged me at all times. She even ended up having a song about her in this collection.

My apologies are extended with all of those who must go unmentioned in this book, primarily because their music to any lyric, be it pong or soem, does not herein appear. Many have gone on to their eternal rests while others have not been spotted for more than 50 plus years. It is with deep regret that I have not been permitted to acknowledge them any more than I have due to copyright laws. Besides, how can I obtain a dead man’s signature or find heirs to a dead man’s estate after 50 years. By the way, the copyright duration of composed music is the author’s lifetime + 70 years in the event that you need that news item for yourself.

All in all, I pray that you may find a bit of delight in reading this book. Perhaps you may now have interest enough to begin a compilation of your own pongs and soems. My next project will entail a compilation of 30 to 40 children’s stories or collection of poetry or even a part of over one thousand sermons I’ve written. Let the reading begin.

YOUTUBE ADDRESSES

FOR SEVERAL SONGS

Feel the Blues Comin’

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7l1cIF1LquE

Multicoloured Soul

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YND2CDAZAIU&t=3s

Cocaine Girl - YouTube

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MKYpOTb8W4k

Public Domain

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ff_1nwdZqn8

Dummy L. E. N.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w-i4fvOuQMM

Frederick Mundle Lie To Me -

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UKxne0H1mAY

Moth and Fire - YouTube

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1cRw5vVBPzw

Sugarloaf Mountain - YouTube

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MN7KGYpypIE

Quebexodus - YouTube

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v7-4Qomu80Y

Terrorist Attack

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=pVvyJeWlBxE&list=UU0KRe5z6iRXD8PeU_TkrPxw&index=4&t=0s

Your Word

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aeBBGWYlLWw&t=4s

The Christians are Gone - Fred Mundle - YouTube

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RdxFNOU3XUQ

Apply The Blood - YouTube

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0JOLL4JNEm8

I’ll Look for You in Paradise

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCGJzTdskVoVdYe3UOS9f25w

If My People

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ltJQwQCv0Hk

The Latter Rain

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CLIw1Jzq9MA

OTHER PUBLICATIONS

BY THE AUTHOR

Poetry

Faithwalkers (Christian Poetry) Xlibris

Children’s

Atlantic Salmon: Salty, The Bright Salmon (Children’s)

Sugarloaf Mountain: The Legend of the Sweet-Tooth Rascals (Children’s)

Les Ratoureux a la Dent Sucre (Children’s)

Poetry (Secular)

views from apartment 301 (Poetry)

Adult: Spiritual: Catch the Light Series

The Valley Walker

While You Have the Light

Let Angels Rejoice

Two Kinds of Light

Where Will You Be in a Thousand Years

Children’s Storybooks to Colour

The Sounds of Orange

Please Don’t Eat the Pages

Santa’s Elves Are on Strike

Little Duke

26 Alliterations

The Lies of King Wise

Les Mensonges du Roi Sage

PREVIEW

This book entitled Pongs (Writings more suggestive of a song) and Soems (writings more suggestive of a poem) has been at least 50 + years in the making. The P in PONG can be representative of a truth, that truth being a generalization, if you will, that all songs and poems speak to the root state of being a lyric of some sort. The S in SOEM speaks to the possibility that a poem of any type may be set to music, but some poems at a glance (that glance being in the eye of the beholder) seem to be songy in terms of possibility.

Many a writer has penned a poem which at the outset may have had a mind of its own. It could have taken on the character of a sonnet type writing. That it did, whereupon the shape continued as a sonnet, at some point the author would determine which type of sonnet seemed to fit it best. That would be classified as a SOEM. Yes, it could be set to music but its shape and structure would keep it more POEMY. Sure, keep the S in it for SOEM which might one day be set to music as it is or as it takes on more SONGY proportions.

All in all, either of these two categories may produce a song whenever set to music. Actually, one can set just about anything to music regardless of their initial structures. I have known musicians who could set a lawn mower manual to music. Just saying!

One instructional objective of this work endeavors to encourage people to keep a journal of their original thoughts and ideas. A thought as in a multi-word expression can become the germ idea for a one-line word of wisdom, the first line in a four-line stanza, an idea for a children’s story, a concept for a series of booklets, the plot for a novel, a theme around which to write the novel. and just about anything else a person could imagine.

Another objective for this book may very well be as follows. Any readers of this book may already range from tyros in lyric writing, song writing, poetry, to artists who have already been published. In as much as iron sharpens iron, one mind can lead to the sharpening of another with one simple, original idea. If you are already an established song writer, you might find the raw material for the next one of your songs. If you have already been published in the field of poetry at whatever level, you might find the gold nugget herein for what might become your most successful poem. The sky does not have to be your limit.

A third hope of this manuscript wishes to spark a person into exploring some concepts herein provided to develop any one of them into a song. Many of these Pongs and Soems do not have music. Many may be added on to or expanded upon in order for them to be developed into a song. The realm of possibilities is without limit.

Somewhat related to the foregoing paragraph, a fourth possibility is, should you incorporate the greater part of any Pong or Soem found here into a song, that would make us partners. Your music to any Pong or Soem along with more lines would take us into a collaboration on one which would become a song. Therein lies a great treasure. As you will see throughout this book, I partnered with many musicians and lyricists. Either someone set one of my Pongs to music and it became a song or I wrote lyrics to someone’s music which together would have begun like a pong and ended up as a song. Whatever else might happen, your union with either a Pong or Soem writer or an instrumentalist can become a most rewarding pastime.

Within the pages of this collection you will be able to look to a fifth dimension in the availability of going on to youtube to listen to some of these Pongs or Soems which became demos. There is within the covers of this book a page dedicated to the youtube sites where some Pongs and Soems are available for listening. You can go to any one of them to appreciate how from out of an initial idea, a song can be grown out of a Pong or Soem.

A sixth seed which I will plant in your psyche will be this one to follow. Though you may not ever be interested in having your Pongs or Soems become actual songs, something as great or even greater may be out there for you. My off and on yet persistent efforts saw me switching back and forth from Pong and Soem writing to writing free verse poetry. In that domain I managed to become published in numerous university and literary journals. As well, I had won the Alfred G. Bailey Award for the best poetry manuscript in 2014 through The Writers’ Federation of New Brunswick, Canada. I must warn you here. Do not let anybody deter you from your interest in writing, given that you begin to write or have already been writing. Although there might be the occasional mean-spirited editor out there, most of them try to give a hand up rather than a backhander. I personally have the greatest collection of rejection slips, many which had a morsel of encouragement to keep me going on to the next submission to whatever journal.

Might I dare to include a seventh consideration for you and your newfound interest in writing as a consequence of reading this book. Consider the idea as it is coming to mind and as you are documenting it. Is it an idea