1. |
Mom Life
03:25
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Mom Life
© Erika Olson & Jonny Wright 2022
Verse 1
I show up late again
They're clucking in the car park like a pack of hens
I hate my face for smiling like we're friends
The smiley one peels away
To tell me they need something from the PTA
I nod and fumble kids through the school gate
Chorus
On the outside it looks nice
Just look out for the land mines
We sharpen up our knives
For another day in Mom Life
So pass me down the wine
I've been up all day and night
Just trying
to survive
Another day in Mom Life
Verse 2
All sugar sweet like cherry aide
Lining up their cars for the light brigade
Am I the only school run renegade
I look just like I haven't slept
I can feel them clutch their pearls like an amulet
How the hell does anyone look so perfect
Chorus
On the outside it looks nice
Just look out for the land mines
We sharpen up our knives
For another day in Mom Life
So pass me down the wine
I've been up all day and night
Just trying
to survive
Another day in Mom Life
Bridge
It's only fair you know
We never really grow
Past the adolescent horror show
Chorus
On the outside it looks nice
Just look out for the land mines
We sharpen up our knives
For another day in Mom Life
So pass me down the wine
I've been up all day and night
Just trying
to survive
On the outside it looks nice
Just look out for the land mines
We sharpen up our knives
For another day in Mom Life
So pass me down the wine
I've been up all day and night
Just trying
to survive
Just trying
to survive
Another day in Mom Life
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2. |
Hungry Little Bird
03:09
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Hungry Little Bird
© 2021 Erika Olson
Verse 1
Left home, seventeen
So much to learn, so much to see
Midwest, a sea of grain
Debutants, football games
Chorus
Starving to be seen, to be seen
Dying to be known, to be known
Weightless all alone, all alone
Hungry little bird
Hungry hungry little bird
Hungry little bird
Hungry hungry little bird
Verse 2
Sent home a wisp of gold
Hollow bones, baggy clothes
Daddy gasped, momma cried
At the darkness in your eyes
How on earth did it get so bad
Can’t you feel the love you have
Chorus
Starving to be seen, to be seen
Dying to be known, to be known
Weightless all alone, all alone
Hungry little bird
Hungry hungry little bird
Hungry little bird
Hungry hungry little bird
Bridge
Free your famished heart
Fill yourself with wonder
Dance among the stars
Chorus
(you belong, you belong)
Starving to be seen, to be seen
Dying to be known, to be known
Weightless all alone, all alone
Hungry little bird
Hungry hungry little bird
Hungry little bird
Hungry hungry little bird
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3. |
This Is How I Pray
03:54
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This is How I Pray
©2021 Erika Olson
Verse 1
Momma sang her prayers
As a little girl
To God, the father and the son
She begged for grace
but never heard
Back from anyone
Pre-chorus
The skylark and redstart sing to her at dawn
The wind taught her all the words to its song
Chorus
Put her hands down in the dirt
Walk barefoot on the earth
Savor the air her babies breathe
Let her tears fall with the rain
Follow sunbeams and her faith
To the cathedral in the trees
This is how she prays
Verse 2
Daddy left at sunrise
To tend to his garden
Of tees, greens, and sand
Out on a fairway
He prays to a father
Who died too young of a man
Pre-chorus
No Sunday singin’ or sermon or schoolin’
Or bread are needed for a fairway communion
Chorus
Put his hands down in the dirt
Walk barefoot on the earth
Savor the air his babies breathe
Let his tears fall with the rain
Follow sunbeams ad his faith
To the cathedral in the trees
This is how he prays
Verse 3
I forged my heart
With carbon and iron
No preacher could break through
My baby’s voice
Shattered my armor with
Mommy I love you
Pre-chorus
Love is the prayer I was meant to receive
If I can feel, I can believe
Chorus
Put my hands down in the dirt
Walk barefoot on the earth
Savor the air my babies breathe
Let my tears fall with the rain
Follow sunbeams and my faith
To the cathedral in the trees
This is how I pray
This is how I pray
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4. |
Benefit Of The Doubt
04:44
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Benefit of the Doubt
©2021 Erika Olson
Verse 1
Moved to a new school when I was 8
Boys called me four eyes pulled out my braids
But it wasn’t long before we’d all hangout
I always got the benefit of the doubt
Only 5 girls in that 3rd grade class
The boys had a favorite they liked to harass
Mixed in with pale kids her dark skin stood out
Charity never got the benefit of the doubt
Chorus
Silently, I would watch, the torment begin
Pick at her hair, point at her hips
Told the lies the lies the lies the lies
That it wasn’t about the color of her skin
Verse 2
5th grade Carolyn called me a cheat
For looking at answers under my feet
I stood up strait and lied with a shout
I always got the benefit of the doubt
Another day another test eyes peaking around
Somebody’s cheat sheet fell to the ground
Kids pointed their fingers, the teacher screamed out
Charity never got the benefit of the doubt
Chorus
Silently, I would watch, the torment begin
Pick at her clothes, point at her lips
Told the lies the lies the lies the lies
That it wasn’t about the color of her skin
Bridge
We were kids in the 80’s
With Pop tarts and The A team
Freedom was wind on a bike
We were told to be colorblind
Because we’d left behind
All that history of black and white
Even though the wars on drugs
And welfare and thugs
Played on the news every night
Verse 3
Charity left in 8th grade, she’s pregnant we joked
Thoughtless cruelty haunts me like a ghost
If only I’d seen as child what I see now
To break these chains, I proceed without
The benefit
Oh the benefit of the doubt
Ooo
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5. |
Wreckage
03:26
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Wreckage
© 2021 Erika Olson
Verse 1
I never thought I'd be the one
before the one
when I was your someone
We would dream tomorrows held
a child or two
a mountain view
Then her face
Shattered that picture
I lost my future, you picked her
Chorus
From the wreckage of your love
Gotta find the happiness I have lost
From the wreckage of your love
Gotta ditch the what ifs and the why nots
the wreckage
oh the wreckage
From the wreckage I will climb
Verse 2
I never thought I’d be the one
tossed and used
Lost and bruised
In daylight I live again
touch solid ground
Put sorrow down, but
In midnight flashbacks
I beg and plead, what’s
it like to be, loved more than me
Chorus
From the wreckage of your love
Gotta find the happiness I have lost
From the wreckage of your love
Gotta ditch the what ifs and the why nots
the wreckage
oh the wreckage
From the wreckage I will climb
the wreckage
the wreckage
From the wreckage I fly
Bridge
I watched you crash at the end
When rumors said
She’d left you
Battered, broken
Covered in wounds
Crushed by a choice you didn’t choose
Chorus
From the wreckage of your love
I found the happiness I have lost
From the wreckage of your love
I ditched the what ifs and the why nots
From the wreckage
From the wreckage
From the wreckage I will climb
From the wreckage
From the wreckage
From the wreckage I will fly
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6. |
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I Don’t Feel Like Fighting
© 2021 Erika Olson
Verse 1
I want to know what the mountain says
To stop the earthquake
I want to know how the birch tree bends
And does not break, ‘Cause
Angry words explode from my mouth
Shattered truce lays at our feet
We’ve blasted another day to the ground
And show no signs of retreat
Chorus
I don’t feel like fighting
Anymore
I’m giving up counting
And keeping score
I don’t feel like fighting
Anymore
I don’t feel, no I don’t feel like fighting
Anymore
Verse 2
I watched the pain twist in your eyes
And knew I’d gone too far
I felt my rage evaporate, as I
Crashed back to my heart
Who talks sense to the ocean
so it stops beating the shore
What’s it like on the battle field
if we just don’t have the war
Chorus
I don’t feel like fighting
Anymore
I’m giving up counting
And keeping score
I don’t feel like fighting
Anymore
I don’t feel, no I don’t feel like fighting
Anymore
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7. |
Albuquerque Nights
04:12
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Albuquerque Nights
© Erika Olson 2020
Verse 1
The Sun went down, the desert sighed
You cracked a grin, it was time to fly
Too young to care what tomorrows bring
Or to know what love really means
But that night it meant
Chorus:
Driving through a dream with you
On an Albuquerque night
Lifting off the ground with you
On an Albuquerque night
Verse 2:
You held my body beneath the Cotton wood
Your fingers tracing every line they could
‘till our fire dimmed like a distant star
The devil winds finally blew us apart
Leaving the memory of
Chorus:
Driving through a dream with you
On an Albuquerque night
Lifting off the ground with you
On an Albuquerque night
Bridge
A lifetime’s passed since you cast your spell
And I’ve kept your magic to myself
When I need a break from this crazy life
I take a ride in the desert night
Chorus:
Driving through a dream with you
On an Albuquerque night
Lifting off the ground with you
On an Albuquerque night
On an Albuquerque night
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8. |
As I Am (feat. Dan Raza)
03:49
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As I am
©2021 Erika Olson
Verse 1
Put on my lipstick
Suit up for war
Practicing law, before
Dawn hits the door
You loved me before
pinstripes and pearls
waiting tables and
saving the world
Chorus
Do you still see me
Just as I am
Between lost and found
With a prayer close at hand
When the day’s finally over
And I’ve done all I can
Do you still see me
Just as I am
Do you still see me
Just
as I am
Verse 2
Work follows me home, trashing
Plans that we made
Makin’ a baby, will
Again have to wait
Remember when nights
Were for whispers and dreams
Now you find me passed out
Between spreadsheets and screens
Chorus
Do you still see me
Just as I am
Between lost and found
With a prayer close at hand
When the day’s finally over
And I’ve done all I can
Do you still see me
Just as I am
Do you still see me
Just
as I am
Bridge
I’m still the girl
With my spirit on fire
I have dreams that’d go on for days
When you hold me tight
You remind me of
All that I was and can still be
Chorus
Do you still see me
Just as I am
When the day’s finally over
And I’ve done all I can
Do you still see me
Just as I am
I need you to see me
Just
as I am
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9. |
Momma Ain't Got No Time
03:49
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Momma Ain’t Got No Time
©2021 Erika Olson
Verse 1
You leave for work at 6
I’m still in bed
Pinned between a toddler
and a baby being fed
Praying I can brush my teeth
Before the day begins
And that I’ll find clean clothes to wear
I can still fit in
Then its, bags to pack, meals to make
Cuts and bruises to mend
Diapers to change, monsters to tame
And the mound of dishes never end
Chorus 1
Momma aint got no time
Writing this song in the car pool line
momma aint got no time
momma aint got no time
Verse 2
When I was a lawyer
I’d slip on some kitten heel shoes
Now I rock my holy socks and this
half-baked tune
Back then it was the two of us and
lots of time
now if you want to get that kiss
you stand in line
At 8 o’clock on the nose
we start to yawn
By 9 o’clock we’re both asleep
with our clothes on
Chorus 2
When momma ain’t got not time
Daddy gets his love from wine
‘cause he ain’t getting none of mine
momma aint got no time
Verse 3
Look how things have changed
and it ain’t bad
You’re a bona fide baby wearing
Co-sleeping dad
And being a mom is something
I’m really proud of
It ain’t pretty, it ain’t easy
But it’s real
And it’s love
Chorus 3
So momma aint got not time
to waste this life of mine
Momma aint got no time, no
Momma aint got no time
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10. |
Little Shoulders
03:39
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Little shoulders
© 2021 Erika Olson
Verse 1
She floats into the kitchen jeans hugging on her 4-foot frame
a sleepy stare, a mop of craves my embrace
Grateful to pull her close, close the latest news
Plastic oceans and raging fires, a world she’d never choose
My arms fold ‘round her shoulders and hug her bird like bones
Tender wings will carry her in a future so unknown
Chorus
Little shoulders
Are stronger than they look
They’ll move the mountains
we never could
Little shoulders will
save the world
The little shoulders
of my little girl
The little shoulders
of my little girl
Verse 2
You’re a girl who knows her mind and stands for what is fair
On the playground with skipping ropes and teddy bears
Right now, I’ll hold you close and keep you steady
The fight will soon be yours and you’ll be ready
Chorus
Little shoulders
Are stronger than they look
They’ll move the mountains
we never could
Little shoulders will
save the world
The little shoulders
of my little girl
The little shoulders
of my little girl
Bridge
If the storm swallows you like Daddy’s shirts today
Close your eyes, feel your faith, love will guide the way
Sing, dance, be one with joy, play the lost and sacred chords
Catch the moon in your wings as you soar
Chorus
Little shoulders
Are stronger than they look
They’ll move the mountains
we never could
Little shoulders will
save the world
The little shoulders
of my little girl
The little shoulders
of our little girls
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Erika Olson England, UK
hi! My name is Erika. I'm a singer-songwriter, recovering attorney, and mother to three amazing humans. I try to make sense of my very human experience through song and self discovery. Food and snuggles are my love language. I hope these songs bring you as much comfort in hearing them as they brought me in writing them. xoxo erika ... more
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