Songs

Robert met Benjamin Dudley in 2011.

In February of 2020, they wrote the first of some thirty songs together.

Here are rough demos of four of them.


I Would

verse 1a:
if I could go back
and undo some things about my past
I wouldn’t have had to
say I’m sorry to you

verse 1b:
I don’t know
what I was thinkin’
can’t even blame it
on my drinkin’

chorus:
and even if I could
that wouldn’t do any good
if I could go back
I would

verse 2a:
you deserved
nothin' less than my best
how much I gave you
I would hate to guess

verse 2b:
I wanna reach out
and call you
just to say
how much I miss you

chorus:
and even if I could
that wouldn’t do any good
if I could go back
I would

outro:
if I could go back
I would

(C) Benjamin Dudley and Robert Grant


Everything Is Alright with Me

verse 1:
everything is alright with me
you’re a fool if that’s what you believe
’cause I’ve got my share of troubles you can’t see
I keep ’em in this heart that I carry with me

verse 2:
people ask how is your day?
we both know what I’m s’posed to say
I lie, say it’s good, then I go on my way
so silly, so sad, these games that we play

chorus:
don’t wanna go through this life
denying the pain
viewing heartache and heartbreak
as always in vain

don’t wanna shut the world out
or close myself in
don’t wanna feel like a hostage
in my own skin

don’t wanna look in the mirror
and not like what I see
don’t wanna believe the lies
even I’m tellin’ me

don’t wanna drown in regret
or give in to despair
don’t wanna yield to my demons
this is my prayer

verse 3:
it’s more common than you’d know
yes, I am by no means alone
most people you meet and most people you know
are battling things that they never let show

chorus x2

(C) Benjamin Dudley and Robert Grant


Letter to My Kids

I was out tryin’-a forget about Anita
when into the bar walked a señorita
with a couple of friends
I swore I’d never seen her
but she called my name

she was twenty-one in her third year of college
which didn’t cost a dime
’cause she was on scholarship
to save even more money on rent
she was livin’ at home

I didn’t know that she had a curfew
so we didn’t go back to Albuquerque
instead I took her home
to my place up in Santa Fe

the stereo was up so loud
we didn’t hear her phone
we were in the dark—yeah we didn’t know
her gun-totin’ daddy was on his way

he turned his lights off down the block
and cut his engine one house away
yeah I was in for quite the shock
when I heard him say

open up this door right now
or I’ll use the key on my hip
yeah I’m packin’ heat
you don’t want that piece of me

I said I didn’t know that she had a curfew
or I woulda drove her back to Albuquerque
after the show
and asked when I could see her again

yeah your daughter is
someone I would like to get to better know
maybe right now ain’t the best time though
I should prob’ly check with her
and see ’bout when

that was how I met your mother
and your teddy bear granddad
I know you think my rules are strict
but you don’t have it half as bad

as your mama did
bein’ a young adult treated like a kid
she knew her daddy loved her
but they didn’t fit: his intentions
with the crazy things that he did

all that to say, no parent is perfect
no how no way
just know that I’d doin’ my best each day
even on the days when I step in it

(C) Benjamin Dudley and Robert Grant


No One Else But You

verse 1a:
why can’t it be that you love me
the same as I, I love you
then things would be
so easy for us two

verse 1b:
but we have been bruised and cursed
to forever hunger and thirst
for a peace that
our weak hearts can’t undo

chorus:
when we were young and dreamin’ of
a life where all of our dreams came true
no one ever said
go on back to bed
that’s where dreams belong
where they can’t break your heart in two

verse 2a:
all those fairy tales we were fed
big screen romances, they misled
expectations so out of reach
left us blue

instrumental bridge

chorus:
when we were young and dreamin’ of
a life where all of our dreams came true
no one ever said
go on back to bed
that’s where dreams belong
where they can’t break your heart in two

verse 3a:
still I come to you, no one else
you have walked with me
through heavens and hells
somehow we keep
finding our way through

outro:
no one else but you…
we will make it through…
no one else but you…
we will make it through…
no one else but you...

(C) Benjamin Dudley, Robert Grant