Bridge To El Dorado - George McAnthony

The 15 new compositions of the CD "BRIDGE TO EL DORADO" were recorded in the "Telstar Studios" in Holland in April. In June the CD was mixed by Francesco Mattuzzi at "ROTFARB Recording Studios" in Zurich – Switzerland.

Recorded in April 2008 on 48 track analog tape by Ron Lieberton at Telstar Studios in Weert – Netherlands
Edited and mixed by Francesco Mattuzzi on Pro Tools at Rotfarb Recording Studios in Zurich – Switzerland
Mastered by Tarmo Simola at Rotfarb Recording Studios in Zurich – Switzerland
Photography by Gregor Khuen - Photo Xenon, Mirko Avoledo, Andreas Brenner Knoll, Nadia Baldo
Graphics and layout by George McAnthony
Italian translations by Manfred Klotz

Musicians:

Ben Jansen: drums * Ad Welten: bassguitar *  Patrick van Gerven: lead guitar, acoustic guitar, dobro * Jan Bernards: electric rhythm guitar * Johan Jansen: pedal steel guitar * Joost van Es: fiddle * Paul van Vlodrop: banjo, mandolin * Frans Senden: keyboards, accordion * Robi Weger: piano, electric piano, hammond * Helmuth Pircher: tin whistle * Jacqueline van der Griendt: duet & backing vocals * Dick van Altena: acoustic rhythm guitar, duet & backing vocals * Jan Gerrits: backing vocals

LYRICS:

I’M NOT AFRAID (George McAnthony)

I’m not afraid, I’m not afraid / worry and fear I don’t wanna be your slave / I will be alright and I don’t fear to fall / ‘cause I’m not afraid at all

So why do we do what we shouldn’t do? Why do we keep on trembling? With panic inside and a terrified mind, we move along just stumbling / the devil is happy, he can rejoice, to see us drowned in worries / but the Lord is watching over me, He already set me free

My heart is wide open, I’m standing tall, it’s time to be courageous / hello confidence, good bye fear, you better get out of here

A bad voice inside me keeps talking, always trying to put me down / worry and fear take us to despair, are you familiar with that sound

So when fear comes along and tries to lay heavy on my mind / I look it right between the eyes and say, don’t kill time / hello confidence, good bye fear, you better get out of here

BRIDGE TO EL DORADO (George McAnthony)
Duet with Jacqueline van der Griendt

Hey girl, looking for some peace of mind / happy days ain’t easy to rewind / keep moving, leave the past behind

Hey boy, there on Heartbreak Avenue / you’ve been trying hard to break through / you are one of the chosen few

On the bridge to El Dorado is where we gonna find / the missing key to understand the unknown Great Design / the mystic paradise within is what we live for / where happiness will reign forevermore

Hey man, drinking hard to ease your pain / been far too long in the pouring rain / it’s time for you to rise again

Hey world, I speak to whom it may concern / expected that by now we would have learned / but still I see those bridges burn

On the bridge to El Dorado is where we gonna find / the missing key to understand the unknown Great Design / the mystic paradise within is what we live for / where happiness will reign forevermore

TWENTY YEARS ON THE ROAD (George McAnthony)

I’m a freeborn cowboy, just a guitar man / felt that magic when I turned eighteen / I can still recall those early days on tour / it was big fun to move around like a troubadour

Hey everybody, hey out there / in concert halls and at the “open airs” / I’m honored when you sing my songs by heart / it was you who got me going from the start

Twenty years on the road, the One-Man-Band country show / still I’ve gotta long way to go / got no limits when music fills my mind / I’ll stay a dreamer for a long long time

I keep searching for that perfect sound / I keep trying, but have not yet found / I feel the music running through my veins / folks without you it wouldn’t be the same

Time flew by, the good mood remains / learned how to live our hopes and dreams / I’m watching from the stage, what a marvelous scene / It’s a feeling that gets right under my skin

FOLLOW THE STAR (George McAnthony)

I’m watching the purple sky, clouds are passing by / there’s a big star looking at me from the horizon / I ask him to show me the way, ‘cause then I can’t go wrong / child of the sun, just lead me home

Follow the star wherever you are, let it shine over life’s highway / don’t let the past or the future darkenyour today / even if this world’s unjust and mean / go lend a hand whenever you can / and don’t you miss the good vibe in the air

You may need more confidence / so better go and take your chance / as the big star comes your way just follow behind / don’t you feel abandoned now, you don’t have to travel alone / you will be shown, led through the unknown

Follow the star wherever you are, let it shine over life’s highway / don’t let the past or the future darkenyour today / even if this world’s unjust and mean / go lend a hand whenever you can / and don’t you miss the good vibe in the air / follow the star and let him take good care

ITALIAN LINE DANCE CROWD (George McAnthony)

This one is for all the fine line dancers we have here in Italy, especially for the group “Country Whisper” who gave me a lot of confidence to suit for a line dance show.

* * *

Friday night, folks come together, for shaking hips and stomping feet / in the saloon out of the city they’re moving to the cowboy beat / before going out on the floor they have some beer and spaghetti / one very strong espresso just to get ready, get ready

The Italian Line dance crowd likes to move to the country sound / “Tush Push” till Saturday, let the music play / they’ve changed their blue suede shoes for a pair of cowboy boots / on “Two Step” they dance away, singing yippiyayee

You gotta try, take your chance and join the Italian Country ball / someone’s gonna teach you to do some steps up and down the hall / they like to dance just for amusement, it’s not about who’s the best / All night long stepping in line to the music from way out West

The DJ did a good job, now it’s getting hot and sweaty / the country band is getting on stage, so get ready, get ready

Do you wanna dance to the cowboy beat? Do you wanna move your body in good company? That’s life, c’est la vie!

MOTHER NATURE (George McAnthony)
Duet with Dick van Altena

Thanks a lot to Dick van Altena, he is a great singer and songwriter, and first of all, a very nice guy. He arranged the songs with me and organized the musicians and the studio in the Netherlands.

* * *

On highest mountains, quite near to heaven, there’s a place I’m staying now and then / where the green grass is growing on the meadow, where I take a walk in the sand

I smell the air, I feel the cool breeze, and forget about what’s spinning through my mind / as my eyes are reaching the horizon, I sail away through space and time

Let Mother Nature give you shelter from the storm / until the troubled sky turns to blue / let her take you on the wings of her love / I’m pretty sure she’s taking care of you

Hey purple sky, hey crystal raindrops, can you come and fall over me / I’m getting dry just walking in the summer wind, it feels good in nature’s harmony

I’m standing on a rock and perceive God’s mighty power / He doesn’t like to see me sad and alone / as I gain new strength and rest my spirit He asks me to lay my burden down

She’ll provide, I know that she’ll provide

WAITING FOR YOU (George McAnthony)

Michael comes to ring her bell, they’re going out tonight / dancing in the pale moonlight, he really likes to please her

Lisa still has gotta to tell him she’ll be leaving for a while / it will be a heavy trial / is their love gonna make it easier?

I’m waiting for you, waiting till the time is through / thinking about you everyday, miss you more than I can say / I’m out of my head, girl our love’s driving me mad / remember I have promised you that I will be true / and baby, I will be waiting for you

Lisa is doing her studies somewhere in a foreign land / doing all the best she can in all she’s gotta go through

A never-ending year is over, now she’s on the home bound train / soon they finally meet again, Michael’s running down the avenue
 
We may face some stormy weather, but nothing’s ever gonna get us down / let us be there for each other, let our hearts spin round and round

GIVE A MAN WORK (George McAnthony)

This song is dedicated to the Dutch truck drivers Herman and Jaap van den Weerd. Thanks for all the support, for introducing me to Dick van Altena and for the nice weekends we spent together in Barneveld – Netherlands.

* * *

Give a man work if you want him to improve and go on / get him off the street, where he’s feeling incomplete and alone / he’ll recover soon, I am sure it won’t take too long

A woman needs a job, don’t you let her give up this time, one more time / she may lose her pride and what she’s got inside her mind, troubled mind / just another chance for this broken down humankind

Give a man a job, don’t you let him down / the only thing that he needs is just an occupation / won’t you please give him one more chance, don’t force him to start a revolution

He’s getting to the point where he has to choose to go on with crime, silly crime / everybody knows when the cold wind blows that the devil comes right behind / have you ever tried to look him right between the eyes?

Hey, give a man a job, don’t you let him down, he needs an occupation / please give him one more chance / don’t force him to start a revolution

SAILOR BOY (George McAnthony)

He likes to live far across the ocean / going to fish with a tiny boat / every day out there on the water
Where life keeps on moving slow

He’s a sailor boy, greet him with ahoy / he likes to cruise and dream under the sun / rambling free as a dove towards the horizon / life can be so much fun

He grew up in a crowded city where life is fast, where life is gray / he didn’t like to stay there any longer and moved to the sunshine bay

You may ask me why he’s out there on the island and if he’s coming back one day / now he feels the need to time out for a while / to burn out would be a very high price to pay

At the break of dawn he likes to play the banjo / the little dolphins like that sound / Hillie Billie, cowboy of the ocean, play till the sun goes down

Yippitayayee, yippitayayoo, he’s a lonesome rider in the sun / doesn’t know why all those big ships keep on rolling / where they would all come from

THE PROMISE (George McAnthony)

In my mind I still recall, the deal is still alive / somewhere in Africa in 1985 / held that guitar in my hand and raised it to the sky / that promise led me right into another life

I really wanna know how to play and how to sing along / I really wanna know how to strum a guitar and write a country song / please, Lord, teach me how to play, and I’ll promise right away / that I will try to make it Christmas every day

God had to close an eye or two, sometimes I’ve lost direction / His never-ending patience was with me till this very day / I’d like to keep the word I gave and do what I’m here for / so let me keep on singing forever more

I know that I’m unworthy, Lord, to be someone You talk through / but if I can be useful now, then it’s all I really wanna do

I really wanna know how to play and how to sing along / I really wanna know how to strum a guitar and write a country song / please, Lord, teach me how to play, and I’ll promise right away / that I will try to make it Christmas every day

MY DEAR JULIET (George McAnthony)

I went to the ball, at the house of Capulet / where I met a girl called Juliet / she was like a diamond, sparkling all so bright / on that hot Verona summer night

I can hear people telling me I should have never met / the woman of my dreams, my dear Juliet / well, I know that even death can’t separate our hearts / nothing in whole wide world is tearing us apart, oh no

Beneath your balcony I swear my true love by the moon / but you don’t desire this of me so soon / ‘cause love is known to be inconstant over time / I hope we’ll keep it up all down the line

The moon and the stars are watching Romeo, as he sings out loud of what he feels / see the clouds looming, hear the rolling thunder, destiny has yet to reveal

So dear Juliet, as I can see, our love is in danger, it’s not meant to be / just look at us, we’re threatened by our feuding families / but I won’t give up, I’m ready now to fight, and Lord, I’m ready now to die / to save the love we’re having for each other

OLD FRIENDS (George McAnthony)

Can you hear me? I call you on the phone to wish you well / a long time now I wanted you to tell / I still have got in mind our last farewell

We grew up together / invented games, were laughing without end / on the fly we’d always understand / every single day with you was heaven sent

Just like old friends we are running down the meadow / like young kids, right behind the ball
In those days back where we have come from / it has been a long run, can you still recall?

I can tell you, we’re getting older but still didn’t grow / wherever life may take us we will know / we’re still those friends we have been long ago

Just like old friends we are running down the meadow / like young kids, right behind the ball
In those days back where we have come from / it has been a long run, can you still recall?

BE ONESELF  (George McAnthony)

He may hardly fit into any common pattern / likes to walk at his own chosen speed / most of the time he’s pretty sure but when he’s feeling insecure he just snaps his fingers to the beat / aha, mhm, dodododo, aha, oh yeah

Someone’s gotta be oneself / can’t be somebody else / that’s the way to be the best we can be / if we try to imitate it may rather irritate our peace of mind, we never will be free

Why should we pretend to be somebody other / than the person we’re in body and mind / who can tell what’s the norm, a pattern to which we should conform / we better be ourselves all of the time

What has been expected from you through the ages / was not exactly what you had in mind / do yourself a favor and be courageous / what you are should not be left behind

Someone’s gotta be oneself / can’t be somebody else / that’s the way to be the best we can be / if we try to imitate it may rather irritate our peace of mind, we never will be free

ONE MORE RIDE (George McAnthony)

This song was inspired by a poem of my friend Renato Furlani who wrote about his own experience on how to win the cancer battle.

* * *

Working hard and steady, the career ladder still to climb / ‘till one day he got some real bad news, that upset his peaceful mind, it ain’t right

He was a friend of fun and music all in love with natures flow / but it was not enough to spare him from that sudden cancer blow

He’s having one more ride on the way to glory / ‘cause he did survive, a quiet emotion’s getting strong / reborn, with a wonderful smile / he is so glad to be still surrounded by reality / in his second life he really wants to live in a gracious style

Life had a new beginning, it’s even better than before / why do we have to break down first to become conscious ever more? It ain’t right

He didn’t want to surrender, was fighting hard against the grain / now that he knows he’s not unbreakable, he doesn’t wanna complain

ACROSS THE WAVES OF TIME (George McAnthony)

It was a long night comforted by a candle / as the sun is finally rising, smell the air / meet the people to whom I belonged, people I once knew / I can see fulfilled a big desire / I could know the Eternal Light Himself / and I was always right when I said His smile was ringing through

Across the waves of time we gonna find a new tomorrow / unknown ways to go, finally we can grow, released from sorrow / it’s like a miracle, after the dark you’re still beside me / every doubt and fear is gonna disappear in Your company

We’ve seen a brand new morning and recognize now that we have been saved / the Light has promised to shine, all across the waves of time

Heart of mine I’m glad you have endured / until what has been announced is coming true / it is worth the time and worth the pain, we’re coming back to You