Album Credits & Lyrics

Released March 2023. The first single from Doug’s forthcoming album Old Enough to Know Better.

My brother was killed in a motorbike crash when I was 18, and my oldest sister died of cancer when I was 29 – I wrote this song when I was 55 as a way of dealing with that loss. 

People are not always comfortable talking about that kind of tragedy, but not talking about it makes it more difficult.  This is for Bill and Elspeth…

Credits:

Doug MacNaughton – lead and backing vocals, guitars, bass, penny whistle
Jessica Stuart – backing vocals, guitars, bass, percussion
Ryan Granville-Martin – backing vocals, drums, percussion
John Sheard – keyboards
Anh Phung – flute

Video producer, DP, and editor – Scott Bell
Music and lyrics – Doug MacNaughton
Producer – Jessica Stuart
Recorded at the NUCULAR LIBARY in Toronto
Recording and mixing engineer – Ryan Granville-Martin
Mastering – Fedge

Lyrics:

You were here for the best days of my life
Now you’re gone, I don’t know what to say
I lift my eyes, I just see darkness all around
The world was brighter in the days we stood
Together

Fear shouts – but love whispers and is heard
Fear doubts – but love whispers and I’m reassured
Fear’s proud

I’m so lost without you…

I use your spirit as a lantern, your memory lights my way
Lift my eyes to what’s around me, get me through from day to day
Chasing dreams is easy when you’re the dream I’m chasing
I think of you as if we’re still 
Together
Together

Fear shouts
Fear doubts
Fear’s proud
Fear…

Fear shouts – but love whispers and is heard
Fear doubts – but love whispers and I’m reassured
Fear’s proud

I’m so lost without you
But I keep you in my heart
Can’t hold you in my arms
So I hold you in my heart

Listen/Stream:

Released May 2023. The second single from Doug’s forthcoming album Old Enough to Know Better.

From 2018 – the opening riff came to me in a dream, and I grabbed my guitar the minute I got up and figured it out.  Love and friendship are the most important things in our lives, in my humble opinion.

Credits:

Doug MacNaughton – lead and backing vocals, guitars, bass, penny whistle
Jessica Stuart – backing vocals, guitars, bass, percussion
Ryan Granville-Martin – backing vocals, drums, percussion

Music and lyrics – Doug MacNaughton
Producer – Jessica Stuart
Recorded at the NUCULAR LIBARY in Toronto
Recording and mixing engineer – Ryan Granville-Martin
Mastering – Fedge

Video directed by Jessica Stuart and Carlos Coronado
Produced by Jessica Stuart
Filmed and edited by Carlos Coronado

Featuring Protagonist: Alexander MacNaughton
Saddie #1: Grace Rockett
Saddie #2: John D. Huston
Saddie #3: Robyn Grant-Moran
Saddie #4: Katia Valisolalao
Extras: J. Marshall Freeman, Graham Robinson, Donna Garner, Sung Chung, Queen Hezumuryango, Hardish Dhaliwal, William Beauvais, Andrew McIntosh, Ali Camara
Special thanks to Rick Hughes and Donna Garner

Listen/Stream:

Lyrics:

When your dragons and demons are winning
When everything’s been heard before
Words are stale and meaningless
You don’t know what to say anymore

Overwhelmed by the noise and the bustle
Your time is managing you
Lost in your own hustle
You know just what you need to do

Visit the well of friendship
Drink deep of what keeps you sane
Friends have peace, hope, love to share
Forget your worries, forget your pain
Forget your worries, forget your pain

When you’re tired of what you see in the mirror
You’re bored of everything that you eat
Existential ennui is getting nearer
You feel you’re on the edge of defeat

Visit the well of friendship
Drink deep of what keeps you sane
Friends have peace, hope, love to share
Forget your worries, forget your pain
Forget your worries…

You know the well is always refilling
It’s a stream that’ll never run dry
If you can’t find a friend, then be one
To someone looking like they’re ready to cry

Chance meetings with coffee or cocktails
Conversation that never ends
A listening ear to help you work out the details
I’ll get by with a little help from my friends
With a little help from my friends
With a little help from my friends

Visit the well of friendship
Drink deep of what keeps you sane
You friends have peace, hope, love to share
Forget your worries, forget your pain
Visit the well of friendship
Drink deep of what keeps you sane
Your friends have peace, hope, love to share
Forget your worries, forget your pain
Forget your worries, forget your pain

Released June 24, 2023. The third single release from Doug’s forthcoming album Old Enough to Know Better.

I wrote this in 2020, after reading a French environmental article on @radpointca.  This is my first song in French, and it touches on how humans have to pull together and clean up our own mess.  John Sheard’s keyboards were a lovely addition in the studio when we recorded this.

Credits:

Doug MacNaughton – lead and backing vocals, guitars, bass, penny whistle
Jessica Stuart – backing vocals, guitars, bass, percussion
Ryan Granville-Martin – backing vocals, drums, percussion John Sheard – keyboards

Listen/Stream:

Lyrics:

Y’a pas de moi, y’a pas de toi
Y’a pas de gauche, y’a pas de droite
Y’a pas de chasse, y’a pas de proie
C’est seulement nous.

Y’a pas de paix, y’a pas de guerre
Y’a pas de ciel, y’a pas d’enfer
Y’a pas de père, y’a pas de mère
C’est seulement

Nous
Qui pouvons faire n’importe quoi!
Protégerons la terre, la mer
Nous n’avons pas d’autre choix!
Vivons en paix, cessons de détruire, de salir, d’user comme des vampires!
Qui nous sauvera de nous-mêmes?
C’est seulement nous!
C’est seulement nous!

Y’a pas de païen, y’a pas de pieux
Y’a pas de jeunes, y’a pas de vieux
Y’a pas des autres, y’a pas de « eux »
C’est seulement nous!

Y’a pas de fou, y’a pas de sage
Pas de faiblesse, pas de courage
Pas d’sauvage, y’a pas de cage
C’est seulement

Nous
Qui pouvons faire n’importe quoi
Protégerons la terre, la mer
Nous n’avons pas d’autre choix !
Vivons en paix, cessons de détruire, d’salir, d’user comme des vampires
Qui nous sauvera de nous-mêmes ?
C’est seulement nous !

C’est seulement nous !

Released July 21, 2023. The fourth single release from Doug’s forthcoming album Old Enough to Know Better.

I wrote the first complete version of this song in a day in 2018 – that’s really rare for me!  I started with the lyrics, and the idea that in a noisy world, you could connect with your love by following the peace and quite like a dog following a scent.

Credits:

Doug MacNaughton – lead and backing vocals, guitars, bass, penny whistle
Jessica Stuart – backing vocals, guitars, bass, percussion
Ryan Granville-Martin – backing vocals, drums, percussion
John Sheard – keyboards

Listen/Stream:

Lyrics:

Daily life pulls us away
draws us apart, won’t let love be
Weary at the end of the day
follow your silence, come to me

Just out of bed and now I have to run
Everyone wants a piece of me
When their shouting is all done
Follow your silence, come to me

And in the ending of that sound
A subtle, simple note unites us
Within this haven we have found
A single candle glows and lights us

Rent and food sure cost a lot
The stress and noise are too much for me
Our quiet love is all I’ve got
Follow your silence, come to me

And in the ending of that sound
A subtle, simple note unites us
Within this haven we have found
A single candle glows and lights us.

And as the wave is welcomed by the shore
The river welcomed by the sea
We have each other, evermore
Follow your silence, come to me

Follow your silence
Come
Come to me

Released Sept. 22, 2023. The fifth single release from Doug’s forthcoming album Old Enough to Know Better.

I wrote this in 2020 while riding my bike around the back roads near Guelph, Ontario.  The tempo change between the verse and the chorus is like what happens when you keep the same speed as you go from the flats to riding up hill.  It also reflects my love of Celtic music, which was why I invited Jacob, Lauren, and Chris to play. (Chris and I play together in ‘Chroí’, a Celtic quartet.)  You may hear the traditional Scottish fiddle tune ‘To a Rosebud’ in a couple of spots.

Credits:

Doug MacNaughton – lead and backing vocals, guitars, bass, penny whistle
Jessica Stuart – backing vocals, guitars, bass, percussion
Ryan Granville-Martin – backing vocals, drums, percussion
Loren Vidri – fiddle
Jacob McCauley – bodhrán
Christopher Dawes – piano

Listen/Stream:

Lyrics:

When I want to forget, but don’t know how
When my best shot all night also sinks the white
When I’m just another voice in a chorus of noise
When the pens in my desk won’t write

When my t-shirt’s worth more than my music
When my candle flickers in the wind
When I can’t find the conversation in the chaos
When I’m pulled all directions again

I rebound, I retrace
Drink some wine, make some space
Take a break from the race

Rhythms with me all the time –
Breath, heartbeat, soul, and rhyme

When my Sabbath candles burn out early
When my tires have both gone flat
When the world seems out of tune and out of touch
I’ve got something I do about that…

I rebound, try again
Walk the earth, smell the rain
Hear the whistle of a train

All our stories intertwine –
Myths, scripture, dreams, and signs

The sea dances to the waves and the tide
The trees sway to the wind and the rain…

Hear it under your breath –
Birth, loving, life, and death

Hear the music all around –
Notes, silence, noise, and sound