Elizabeth Shepherd Lyrics, Photos, Pictures, Paroles, Letras, Text for every songs

B i o g r a p h y
(by official site)

Elizabeth Shepherd pushes the boundaries of what is considered conventional jazz, all the while creating a sound completely her own. From London to Tokyo, Elizabeth has captivated audiences and critics on both sides of the pond. Her Juno nominated debut album, Start To Move continues to receive critical acclaim, and was voted the Top 3 Jazz Albums of the Year by the listeners of the Gilles Peterson show on BBC Radio 1 UK in 2006.

Raised by ministers of the Salvation Army, an early exposure to the brass band sounds mixed with her love for classical and house music, disco and hip hop, lay the foundations for one soulful musician. Trained extensively in conservatories from across Canada to France, Elizabeth completed a degree in jazz piano from McGill University, Montreal. Initially entering the music program to pursue a career in music therapy she quickly discovered her extensive talent in songwriting and performing. She returned to Toronto in 2004 and worked as a server at a piano bar. Her serving job proved an asset to her musical career- once management realized Elizabeth’s talent, she quickly became the restaurant’s key entertainer. Organically and innocently enough, the Elizabeth Shepherd Trio was formed with Scott Kemp on bass, Colin Kingsmore on drums and Elizabeth Shepherd on piano and vocals.

The Elizabeth Shepherd Trio became a staple group in Toronto’s soul jazz scene, performing all over town in jazz and other concert venues alike. Upon joining forces with Do Right! label owner John Kong, the Trio was invited into the studio to record a demo. But what was supposed to be a demo turned into a jam session resulting in the album Start To Move. The following few years established the EST locally and saw them gain recognition internationally, performing on BBC Radio 1, sold out shows at London’s Jazz Café, and a week long residency at the prestigious Cotton Club in Tokyo, Japan the summer of 2007.

Her follow-up full-length album Parkdale is an older, wiser Shepherd teamed with her ever youthful, graceful soul. The mood of Parkdale tracks the emotional whirlwind of human experience. The album explores what everyone fears the most: total openness, divulging your innermost humanity. "Parkdale," the title track, explores the nuances of brokeness within the community. The album leads the listener through it all with stories of personal growth alongside the evolution of a neighbourhood in transition. "I've always found strange the massive discrepancy between the highly emotional events that shape our personal lives, that we generally don't share, and the completely mundane events that insidiously make their way into conversation.

As far as being a “jazz performer”, Elizabeth does not count herself as one to be defined by a particular genre; her music comes straight from the soul, and is more than just what she does, but what she loves and who she is.

Start to Move

Gotta be the next Herbie in virtuosity
Make that fill with Bill Evans’ musicality
Simplify like Miles Davis in note frugality
Move a crowd like Dave Brubeck and force them to their feet
Feel the song like Sarah Vaughn dee bee dee and swingin’
Ground the sound like Clifford Brown blowin’ from his heart within
Try to match that call with half the soul of Cannonball
Is it me, or does this order seem too tall?

I can’t live up
Should I give up
This mad love affair with music

No, you really shouldn’t try so hard
Cause no one’s forcing you to play their part
If you stick with what is in your heart
Well maybe then you would see things start to move

Don’t have to be a jazz diva by age twenty three
There’s no decree that’s claiming fame’s what defines if I succeed
To simply be and let my soul speak freely as it needs
Is all it takes for me to make this music thing complete

Start to live up
Just can’t give up
This mad love affair with music

You know, you really shouldn’t try so hard
Cause no one’s forcing you to play their part
If you stick with what is in your heart
Well maybe then you would see things start to move

George’s Dilemma

He’s never satisfied
He’s never had his fill
While others are enjoying
George just can’t sit still

He wants to have it all
At nothing will he stop
He’s missing out on life while
Climbing to the top

Watch out George ‘cause you will find
Life’s got a way
Of handing to each one in kind
His or her own pay
And you won’t expect it

So take a tip from me
Quit scaling up that hill
Cause rich or poor there’s no one
Dodging life’s little bill

So why slave for all this money, my friend
Your life’s passing quicker than you think
Time’s not something you can buy
Money won’t speak for you when you’re gone

How ‘bout human relations
That take time to build
When death comes to find you
Leave this life fulfilled

You know, you’re not immune to tragedy
Could come any day
And when it does, who’ll be around
To help you back on your way, my friend

Crisp bills, no passion buy
Nor happiness
So while you swim in wealth, my dear friend
Life puts you to the test

Roots

Near thirty years of shedding these skins
Homes have come and gone
My memories, like a sailor wander
With no jealous place to claim them for its own

Now folks may ask
Just where it is that I come from
I’m at a loss for words
My heart’s been pulled in so many directions
This patchwork self’s a quilt still in the works

Born for reminiscing, always I’ll be missing
Places that I felt were snatched away
Yet it’s all I’ve known, I can’t seem to settle down
Guess I’m taken with the impulse of this way

A roaming spirit and a vagabond heart
A restless soul am I
I walk these streets like a stranger at ease
That’s life inside a body with no home

Four

Of the wonderful things that you get out of life there are four
And there needn’t be many but nobody needs anymore
Of the many facts making the list of life, truth takes the lead
And to relax, flow in the gist of life, it’s truth you need

Then the second is honour and happiness makes number three
When you put them together you know what the last one must be
Baby so to truth, honour and happiness add one thing more
Meaning only wonderful wonderful love that’ll make it four

Circles

Haven’t found a way to stop spinning round in circles
Since you came my way to weave your magic spell
It’s only been a couple days and I’m spinning round in circles
Feet high off the ground wondering if you’ll let me love you

My bruised heart’s no fool for love
So why this game, you fates above

We could spend our days spinning round and round in circles
Moving with the earth as we’d watch the world go
Let’s spin a new love, weave it round til we’re encircled
What a lovely way this dance of life could be

But I guess I’ll be alone spinning round inside this circle
Hoping for a day when you’ll start spinning too
I’m woven in this love and can’t seem to break the circle
What a lovely way this dance life could be

Reversed

In a world of simple wonders don't be fooled by what you see
While being taken in by glamour you could miss reality
Nothing matches expectation so look twice before deciding what's important.

There's not much that's necessary when you're in it for the ride
And it's in the ordinary that life's givings usually hide
Time will take and time will borrow so look twice before deciding what's important.

'Cause the last wind up first
All we know seems reversed
So start planting while it's early, nurse your life the whole way through
When the sun sets on your last day you'll be happy that you knew
That everything worth holding takes time to grow into its own

Melon

How now that the future
Looks brighter than ever
Sweeter than a melon

Fate, how could I doubt you
Come swiftly, I’m ready
Riper than a melon

No more will I fear it
Change is breaking this shell of mine
Open like a melon

Ton visage

( Lyrics : Jean-Pierre Ferland, Music : Paul de Margerie )

Des yeux bruns pour le jour, des yeux verts pour l'amour, ton visage
Des yeux que j'aimerai pour deux éternités, ton visage
Une bouche à jamais douce comme un secret, ton visage
Il est beau, il est chaud, il est ma fleur de peau, ton visage
En me fermant les yeux, je le devine au creux d'un nuage

J'ai dû fermer les yeux, j'aurais dû faire un noeud aux nuages
Le vent s'est retourné et la vie m'a soufflé ton visage
Et puis j'ai voyagé pour tâcher d'oublier ton visage
Mais il reste collé, dressé sur mon passé, qui s'ennuie mon passé
Et je le redessine et le vent le ressouffle, ton visage

Je suis capitaine d'un bateau de peine qui ne coulera jamais
J'ai deux fois la peine de son capitaine qui ne s'embarqueront plus

Et je me suis saoulé pour tâcher d'oublier ton visage
Et je me saoule encore à jeun et à tribord, quel voyage
Hier c'était demain, demain ce sera toujours ton visage
Qui s'entête à coller comme un drapeau mouillé en retraite
Et je le redessine et le vent le ressouffle, ton visage

Et je me suis saoulé pour tâcher d'oublier ton visage
Et je me saoule encore à jeun et à tribord, quel voyage
Hier c'était demain, demain ce sera toujours ton visage
Qui s'entête à coller comme un drapeau mouillé en retraite
Et je le redessine et le vent le ressouffle, ton visage

Des yeux bruns pour le jour, des yeux verts pour l'amour, ton visage
Des yeux que j'aimerai pour deux éternités, ton visage
Il est beau, il est chaud, il est ma fleur de peau, ton visage
En me fermant les yeux, je le devine au creux d'un nuage
Des yeux bruns pour le jour, des yeux verts pour l'amour, ton visage

Just Getting By

Four years in school, was I a fool
To think that somehow all this music would pay
I’ve got skills and tools, but I’m still sensing
The disillusionment is on its way

Now I might think that I’ve got what it takes
But who is gonna take just what it is that I’ve got
So for now, you can find me just getting by

I wait tables for bread, it’s hard not thinking
Instead I should have done a different degree
With nothing to show, I’m growing tired of
Claiming music’s my profession to be

Too young just to give up and pack it in
But bills and debts keep me in check seems there’s no way to win
So for now, I’ll make do with just getting by

If time levels all then I’m confident
These bumps are nothing more than landscape décor
And if it’s true that good things come to those who wait
I’ll test my patience and pray for some more

Now pardon this tortoise mentality but
Who can rush the rising sun or hurry up the tide
So for now I’ll make do with just getting by

I wanna thank Mom, Dad, Joan, Chris, Andy
Kris, Ron Davis, James B. & The R.JO
The St Tropez Jazz FM
Frank Nagy, Keith White, Wilkey
And all the jazzers who came before for the real deal
Danny Wilkinson, Adam Olver, John Cong, The Dooright Family
All establishments who actually make their places wheelchair accessible
Jean and Young at Gate 403, Rick Washburn, The Salvation Army
And my boys
Did I thank Jamison

Midnight Sun

( Lionel Hampton )

Your lips were like a red and ruby chalice
Warmer than the summer night
The clouds were like an alabaster palace
Rising to a snowy height

Each star its own aurora borealis
Suddenly you held me tight
And I could see the midnight sun
The midnight sun

I can't explain the silver rain that found me
Or was that a moonlit veil
The music of the universe around me
Or was that a nightingale

And then your arms miraculously found me
Suddenly the sky turned pale
And I could see the midnight sun

Was there such a night
It's a thrill I still don't quite believe
'Cause after you were gone
There was still some stardust on my sleeve

The flame of it may dwindle to an ember
And the stars forget to shine
And we may see the meadow in December
Icy white and crystalline

But oh my darling always I'll remember
When your lips were close to mine
And I saw the midnight sun

Open Your Eyes

( Flora Purim )

Never be afraid to love
Never be afraid to just be
Just catch away, the change, the doubt
Have a courage to be free

Don't gaud your eyes with others lies
See only what you want to see
Just duplicate this simple truth
Have the courage to be free

Open your eyes, you can fly
Open your eyes, you can fly
You can fly
You can fly

Never be afraid to love
Never be afraid to just be
Just catch away, the change, the doubt
Have a courage to be free

Don't gaud your eyes with others lies
See only what You want to see
Just duplicate the simple truth
Have a courage to be free

Open your eyes, you can fly
Open your eyes, you can fly
You can fly
You can fly

Parkdale

Shining Tear of the Sun

Sun once knew no fire
And like the wind was free
To roam through the night
With moon her company

'Til love came her way
With heartache on his heels
To set her aflame
Now after all these years

It's the fire of a broken heart
That makes the day
It's the fire of a broken heart
That sent me on my way

Days speak of her longing
At night she may well hide
But moon tells of her ache
That's hidden from the skies

Love lost is the burning
And I the shining tear
The sum of her longing
After all these years

It's the fire of a broken heart...

Parkdale

Chalk hearts on broken streets
Smoking, sweet relief
His soul knows no defeat
You just can't stop him

Neighbour chokes her sound
He's knocked her to the ground
Never seen her 'round
I just can't stop it

Shredded hearts in paper shacks
Know only love through lack,
Each day back
Looking hard to find it
Keep on looking, never stop

Dog barking loud at dawn
He knows his master's gone
Got shot, the dog's alone
And couldn't stop it

The girl in twenty eight
Lights fire in the night
To prove she's still alive
I just can't stop it

Shredded hearts...

The moon's watchful eye
May see how hard we try
But living for this high
You just can't stop it

Another night is done
We've lived to greet the sun
Though small, this battle's won
You just can't stop us

Shredded hearts...

Let Me Be

Let me be just what you need
Let me prove what we both know
Let me match your love's ferocity
Hidden tamed and still it shows

Easily...

I can taste your heart's unease
Let me be your remedy

Higher Ground

Green eyes, soft fingertips
Smile spreads on velvet lips
Breathing so warm and low
Never before has this heart of mine known higher ground

Aching, you pull me so
Making my heart to grow
Stretching this sense of self
Tearing me, only to build up again on higher ground

I can't see this future clearly
Something's got ahold of me
I'm trapped inside a past
That won't let go and so simply love you
Can't allow myself to fall albeit
Oh so gently into you
So this fear of loss could cost me more than i could know

Love me in spite of this
Hear me, this pain exists
Hold me, and I’ll come 'round
'Cause while there's still a ways we're on our way to higher ground

Long As You're Living

Forgive me if I seem to preach
But there is something that I want to say
A message that I hope will reach
People who are throwing life away
I call it my philosophy
And that is why I pass it on to you
Because it works so well for me
And helps me get away from strife
I hope you listen carefully
They say the truth will make you free
And that's the way you want to be 'cause brother, this is your life

Long as you're living, always remember
Time is for spending, but there's an ending
While you are sleeping, lifetime's a-creeping
Wake up and taste it, foolish to waste it
Sample and savour all of life's flavour
Long as you're living

Long as you're living, always remember
Folks who are lazy are playing crazy
Better keep moving, keep on improving
You won't be hurried after you're buried
Live every minute, put yourself in it
Long as you're living

Long as you're living, always remember
You'll never beat life, so don't try to cheat life
Sisters and brother, do unto others
Love's for enjoying, hate's for destroying
Never forget it, or you'll regret it
Long as you're living

Forgive if I seem to preach....

Sicilienne

The very one for whom my heart sings
Is burying me alive
And here, I’m left with two broken wings
Too heavy and weary to fly

How soon it seems for love to fade
How quickly it's over and done
And I who thought it was here to stay
Believing it finally had come

Long as the morning dew clings to the grasses
Long as the noonday sun graces the sky
Long as the evening winds brush through the meadows
Whispering your name like an echoing sigh

Longing, my heart will call for you
Wandering under the sun
Aching, my lips will burn for you
Longing, under the moon...

Con Alma

Please don't think I want to be this way
If i could only compromise and still maintain
We could boast a love that's here to stay
But instead I just insist on my own way

So just chaulk up my gaming to a heart still youthful while aging
Give me a chance to sort out my balance

Don't be fooled by words that time has yet to mould
Many moons will show the love that's in my soul

Just One Song

Hey sister what's this I hear
Your good deeds are in arrears
By now you surely know
Of earth's aches and backwards flow

Some bank on just one more war
Hide behind faith to settle scores
And in all this righteous zeal
Seems we've lost our will to feel

Well if i die before I create
Please don't ask me 'bout the world's fate
My time is short and my path so long
It feels like too much for just one song

Guilt's never been good to me
Far be it for me to preach
This heart's a lifetime's task
To change another's too much to ask

When dust settles to the ground
I'll take stock, see what seems most sound
'Til then, storms will come and go
So I stick with these things I know

And place my faith in these here three
In compassion and simplicity
And hope to help each other along
When maybe it takes just one more song...

Next Time Around

I was once asked to choose between love and art
It could have been the nature of the love I had at the time, but I opted for art
And while my answer might be different now, it's really not so black and white
It's safe to say that our identity is wrapped up in those who share our heart
And equally in that which brings us joy
It seems an incredibly difficult mandate to try and balance that all sometimes
And if there's anything I know with certainty about life
It's that every way in which I spend my time means having a little less time for something else

So that question remains, what'll it be

One life this time 'round two voices loud and clear
Both may speak of love and both I might hold dear
Maybe next time round it's you who'll be the one
But for now the sound of the other calls me on

Oh it says, oh I hear
For you my heart so true

One life this time 'round two loves my soul divide
But this heart can't give itself fully to both sides
Same way next time 'round you'll find me here again
Waiting for the sound of your voice to call my name

Oh it says

Mirror Living

In these mirror lives that we lead
While we try to hide the bleeding,
If you read between the lines
Etched upon our faces
Each life line's what graces us
With our sweet fragility

Silent, we walk these streets
Our stories hidden, deep i disguise
But in our eyes
Our lives will betray us
Conveying our tales

( appears on Modal Jazz Loves Disney, 2008 | originally by Angela Lansbury )

Tale as old as time
True as it can be
Barely even friends
Than somebody bends
Unexpectedly

Just a little change
Small, to say the least
Both a little scared
Neither one prepared
Beauty and the Beast

Ever just the same
Ever a surprise
Ever as before
Ever just as sure
As the sun will rise

Tale as old as time
Tune as old as song
Bitter-sweet and strange
Finding you can change
Learning you were wrong

Certain as the sun
That's rising in the east
Tale as old as time
Song as old as rhyme

Certain as the sun
That's rising in the east
Tale as old as time
Song as old as rhyme

Certain as the sun
That's rising in the east
Tale as old as time
Song as old as rhyme

Tale as old as time
Song as old as rhyme
Beauty and the beast