Story

Royal Wood had a river to cross. On one side was the critically acclaimed full-length A Good Enough Day, which featured songs smooth as pebbles polished by water's caress. Over and above the rave reviews the album received, Royal's efforts earned invitations to tour nationally with the likes of songstresses Sarah Slean, Kathleen Edwards, Jill Barber and Serena Ryder.

On the other bank awaited the much-anticipated full-length follow-up, when Royal would build on the experience gained in so many trips across Canada, Europe and the US honing songs old and new for appreciative audiences. New material had been heard in recent shows, including several sold-out sets and a stellar night at the Mod Club in Toronto that was recorded for national radio on CBC Canada Live.

To bridge these albums, on March 24th 2009 Royal released The Lost and Found EP - a "message in a bottle" collection that would assure fans and critics that Royal is not lost at sea, adrift on an ocean of highway on tour.

Royal had only one rule to apply to the equation. "To do something unlike anything I had done. I wanted to base the entire recording on the lyrics and the string arrangements. Those had to be the defining measurements".

The result was exactly that - a collection of songs taken directly from his heart and perched upon his emotive orchestra.

Credits

Produced by Royal Wood and Dean Drouillard
Written, arranged and performed by Royal Wood
Strings arranged by Royal Wood

The guest players included:
Adam Warner - drums
Chris Banks - upright bass
Sandy Baron - 1st violin
Chris Church - 2nd violin
Johann Lotter - viola
Kevin Fox - cello

Recorded at Canterbury Sound by Jeremy Darby
Vocals and strings recorded at BoomBox by Jeff Elliott
Mixed by Royal Wood and Dean Drouillard
Mastered by Fedge

Lyrics

DON’T FALL APART

Its with a veil she gives her heart
Is she afraid that they’ll fall apart?

It’s with a word whispered alive
The depths of his heart
There it confides
Swallowed in fear and handled in doubt
Afraid that he can’t go on without

Will they miss the rose if blind to the bloom?
Darkness for light and shadows to lose
The beacons for them
The calling of stars
A pleading for two
Don’t fall apart

They met at the gate late afternoon
The mouths of the trees whispered the news
Shoes underfoot and souls lit alive
Unsure of themselves but feeling the tide

Will they miss the rose if blind to the bloom?
Darkness for light and shadows to lose
The beacons for them
The calling of stars
A pleading for two
Don’t fall apart

Do…

It’s with a lock they offer their souls
Guarding the ghosts from so long ago

Will they miss the rose if blind to the bloom?
Darkness for light and shadows to lose
Yes will they miss the rose if blind to the bloom?
Darkness for light and shadows to lose
The beacons for them
The calling of stars
A pleading for two
Don’t fall apart

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

WISH TO PAINT

Fiddle-De-De
Fiddle-De-Dum
I will not be the sadder one
Hi-De-Hi
Hi-De-Ho
Well there’s more to this
You should know

If I’m the one you wish to paint
You cannot brush away my mistakes
If I’m the muse for amusements sake
Then I will bid farewell

Fiddle-De-De
Fiddle be done
I’m no savior
Just a son
Hi-De-Hi
Hi-De-Ho
If you pray for this
You should know

If I’m the one you wish to paint
You cannot brush away my mistakes
No good will come from measuring up
This glass just isn’t full
No…

If I’m the one you wish to paint
Please know I’m a man
But not a saint
No good will come from measuring up
This glass isn’t full
But it’s full enough to love
Love…

If I’m the one you wish to paint
Please take what I am
O Eden and snake
No good will come from measuring up
This glass isn’t full
But it’s full enough to love
Love…

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

THINKING ABOUT

Carving her name in the tree wood
Like a schoolboy I’d return to where I found her
Like a sleeping cat in the door way
I arouse the suspicion of the neighbors
“What could he be thinking about?”

I’m recalling a girl in a city
Far away she won my truth over the ocean
And how these words are to reach her
Like a kite to pull the strings and then retrieve her
That is what I’m thinking about

Do do do do…

And if she returns will I tremble?
Like a fall leaf on a tree left in November
Please if she does may I join her?
And we’ll make sweet lasting music of the weather
That is what I’m thinking about
Yes that is what I’m thinking about

Do do do do,,,
Do do do do…

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

IT WEIGHS ON ME

How this evening madness won me
An arrow to its home
Dead to mark
A true assailant
Silently I’m stoned

Oh how this night the sadness hung me
A noose around my bones
Fighting for a breath to draw on
And desperately alone

It weighs on me
It weighs on me
It weighs on me now

Oh how this room the shadows blind me
And drape across my eyes
Windowless
No spark to find me
And no way from my mind

Oh I don’t know if I will make it out again
I’m kneeling for the shelter from a storm
With your lips please offer me an olive branch
A dear relief of sounding off alarms

It weighs on me
It weighs on me
It weighs on me now
It weighs on me
It weighs on me
It weighs on me now

How this evening madness won me
An arrow to its home

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

POOR LITTLE WORLD

Open the bow
You ought to know
That all of your life
Is waiting inside

Pull on the string
A marvelous thing
Awaiting alight
Is all of your life

Yet you hide away with barricades
I’m sad to say you poor little world

It is a gift
But sands they will shift
And scenery dies
For all that survives
Is the pain that exists
From all that you missed
Bathing in fire
Is all you desire

But you hide away with barricades
I’m sad to say you poor little world

I think it’s time
Cast your eyes to the signs
Let them teach you
And shine on the truth
You have to hold
All the glory and know
That it’s love that will carry you through

But your constant escape
Is planning your fate
You’ve set your plate
So dine in alone

While you hide away with barricades
I’m sad to say you poor little world…
Yes you hide away with barricades
I’m sad to say you poor little world…

Do do do…

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

ALL OF MY LIFE

May you always be my dearest
Till the end of all is near us
Eye to eye and truest faith of two

May love ever be our purpose
Never lost or once desert us
On your finger is a star that’s shown

I will be the one to hold on
When the walls around are undone
And waters pacing over rivers edge

For I will breathe to be your lover
Many layers of us uncovered
A moth escapes to be a better man

Stone on stone and breaking bread
We build a house of us ahead
And talk of all our good and many plans

I will last when all is lost
And never once a worried cost
I’ll gladly offer you my final bow
I will be the one to hold on
When the walls around are undone
And waters pacing over rivers edge

This I promise you all of my life
This I promise all of my life
This I promise you all of my life
This I promise all of my life