Welcome to DJ's "Original Songs" page. She began writing songs in 2018 and here are some of her favorites. |
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Many people find a creative passion that gives them great satisfaction. They go after it with everything they have, but then for some reason, it falls by the wayside. Somewhere down the road they rediscover their love of this creative pursuit, and off they go again. That’s the story of my lifelong on-again/off-again relationship with music, and it inspired me to write “Still in My Dreams.” |
I wrote “Evidence Blues” back in 2021. It’s a cheeky, cynical love song with a fun and easy feel, in 12-bar blues. It’s my second single, available on streaming services and on my other website, www.diannejoy.com |
Some days I need a kick in the behind. Some days I want to kick up my heels. I wrote “Keep Kickin” as a lighthearted prayer for support and direction in life to be positive and adventurous. It’s a song for anyone, at any age, who strives to live every day with purpose and energy. |
Spring weather in the Foothills is a bit like Forest Gump’s box of chocolates - from day to day, you never know what you’ll get. However, one persistent feature is the white-grey cloud ceiling which often brings wind, rain, swings in temperature and often a spring blizzard. Someone new to the area referred to it as a “Dishwater Sky” and, since I love an interesting metaphor, I wrote a song with that title in mind. |
After I retired a few years ago, I was strolling down a dock in Sidney by the Sea, admiring the boats and chuckling at some of the names. One boat in particular caught my eye. Its name brought back memories of my years of working and inspired me to write “Wine Down.” |
Awhile back, I woke up thinking about the image of a voice on the wind, which led me to reflect on all the important people in my life who have passed on. I recalled the summers in Saskatchewan with my grandmothers. They were very different, but each had an important impact on my life. From these memories, I wrote the song, “On the Wind, I Hear Your Voice,” dedicated to grandmothers everywhere. |
Ideas for songs can come from the strangest places. For example, my parents had a cute little refrigerator magnet with a saying that often made me chuckle. When they moved, I nabbed it. For a long time, I thought the saying would make an amusing song. Last month, I wrote that song, called “Refrigerator Wisdom.” |
Facing down a milestone birthday had me muttering about the things that constantly confound me in the world and the frustrations that go with being “a certain age.” And, every time I turned on the news, I felt hopeless and angry with those who are ostensibly in charge. For mental therapy, I started writing a list of some of the things that just make me crazy. I didn’t plan on writing a rant, but that’s what it turned into in the song, “I Don’t Know (So Many Things).” |
Who wouldn’t want a hobgoblin that cleans house in the night? Sometimes known as sprites or brownies, hobgoblins are happy and helpful, but also very sensitive. They love to play practical jokes and their feelings are easily hurt if you find their pranks annoying. So, beware! When that happens, they transform into an evil Bogart that can only be banished with profuse apologies and begging. It seemed appropriate on Halloween to write about this experience in my song, “Hobgoblin in the House.” |
The Town of Okotoks and the Okotoks Arts Council co-host a twice-monthly open mic called Acoustic Nights at the Rotary Performing Arts Center, which is a refurbished 1906 church with amazing acoustics and a professional stage. It is a thrill to perform under the same floodlights as prominent musicians from Canada and beyond. At the end of last year’s season, we were challenged to write a song using “Acoustic Nights” and chords drawn from a hat. My song won in the category of Best Use of the Phrase, Acoustic Nights. |
The tea towels pictured behind me are handwoven by me or other weavers. In giving a tea towel as a gift, I have a strict rule that it must be used for a practical purpose and never relegated to the “too good to use” drawer. There is joy in using a handwoven tea towel, not only for the individual, but also for the tea towel itself, as expressed in my song, “Tea Towel Tango.” |
On July 3, I was the featured performer in an eight-week outdoor lunchtime concert series in Calgary’s Harmony Park. The weekly “Music Matters YYC” series is sponsored by Downtown Calgary, and produced by Joal Kamps of Sojourner Music. In this video, Joal introduces the second set of my 90-minute show, which begins with my original song, “Luck Ran Out.” |
Cheese is my favourite food group. And puns are my favourite style of humor. So, it was inevitable that I would eventually be lured into writing the "Cheesy Love Song" based on some of the worst cheese puns you are ever likely to hear. Any way you slice it, this song could be an embarrassment to my Kraft. However, Colby sad if you don’t love it! You’ve had fair warning. |
Do some expressions ever strike you as strange? One day I heard someone say they would keep something in the back of their mind, and I had a mental picture of all the faces, items, sounds and so forth that might be jostling for space in the back of their cranium. This led me to imagine a story of a man haunted by regret over a wrong choice. His story is my song, “Dancing in the Back of His Mind.” |
I was inspired to write “Delicious Bittersweet” by a recent conversation about downsizing, and the challenge of deciding what to keep and what to let go. It’s often said that the only constant in life is change, and this song reflects on how the flavour of life develops as people and things come, go, and remain with us over time. |
I hadn’t planned to write a song for New Years, but “The New Leaf” fits the occasion. It’s a song inspired by procrastination and seems appropriate for this time of year when so many people are setting goals and making resolutions for the year ahead. |
Every year at this time, the Okotoks Art Gallery has a gingerbread house competition. Last year, I admired a gingerbread ranch house and this year, when I was thinking of a Christmas song to write, it came to mind. I pictured ponies in the corral, and from that came the inspiration for a song about a party where children were decorating “Gingerbread Ponies.” |
A few weeks ago I found myself sitting on a hard chair for a rather lengthy presentation. At one point, I found myself thinking I should write a song called “Bony Butt Blues” - and here it is! |
“Our Little Secret” is a metaphorical song about my ankle trauma. The idea came to me in hospital, while thinking about all the things I was holding on to for dear life - the paramedics, bed rails, grab bars and most of all, my dear Bear who has supported me through this ordeal. And yes, the song also includes the villain wind I was racing against when I slipped and crashed. |
This song, “Stream Becomes a Trickle,” tells the story of a David and Goliath battle over water rights in a rural community. I wrote it as part protest song and part anthem, with the firm belief that community will prevail. This is an audio only song as DJ has another six weeks of no weightbearing on her broken ankle and six more weeks of house husbanding for Bear. |
I wrote "Winter Moon" in 2018 – the fantasy of a young skater flying across the ice on a cold, clear winter night, feeling wild exhilaration as she is bewitched by the spell of the full moon. |
Please note: original songs by DJ are copyright and registered with the Government of Canada's CIPO (Canadian Intellectual Property Office) and SOCAN.
This is a non-commercial site intended solely for the enjoyment of friends, family and anyone interested in DJ's music. Site created and maintained by The Bear.