My Music CD

Dave Ives CD cover frontI have been playing the guitar, singing, performing and writing songs for many years.  It’s another passion of mine.

I used to sing and perform at the Date Farm in Alice Springs, Australia.  This was about the 2003 time frame.  Every other Sunday afternoon, I’d set up and play before a relatively small but receptive audience.

I loved this gig because it allowed me to showcase my original songs. After a while, folks started asking me if I had a CD.

I didn’t.

They’d ask, “When are you going to make one?”

Good question.

Well, in early 2005, we moved to the United Kingdom.  We stayed for two years.  It was here, in a little upstairs bedroom, in North Yorkshire, I spent several evenings a week for about 6 months, recording my original songs.

I called this group of 11 original songs, “The Date Farm Collection”, as these were all songs I played during my Sunday afternoon gigs.  They’re here for your listening enjoyment.  Just click on the song titles below to have a listen!

Dave Ives  CD cover back

1.  Real Time:  This song is about living in the present.  People talk about the old days … they talk about the future.  What about now?  After all, the present moment is all we really have!

2.  Dreams of the Philippines:  Like many song ideas, I had the music but needed a story.  Then I remembered the magical experience I had back in 1989 during a military flight from Guam to Clark Air Base in the Philippines.  I met a lady named Peaches.  She was flying home to her mother’s funeral.  She was distraught.  By the time we landed at Clark she was upbeat and strong and ready to face the unhappy situation.  The song tells the story of this remarkable transformation.

3.  Simon Brain:  This song is the result of a request to write a song as a birthday gift.  The deadline was Simon’s upcoming birthday party where I was to perform the completed song.  I agreed to this hairball scheme and within a few days came up with this song.

4.  I’ll be Satisfied:  I wrote this song while in Hawaii on military reserve duty in late 2004.  I’d had the music for a long time but the words wouldn’t come.  Then one evening, while looking out my 8th floor hotel window I quickly came up with these words.  It took me maybe an hour.  The view over Waikiki is very inspirational!

5.  Work it Out:  This is my throwback to high school rock and roll days.  I like the words to this one.  Keep on truckin no matter what!

6.  Alice Springs:  After living in “The Alice” for a while, the same story keeps coming up again and again.  The one where this guy comes to town for just a few days, weeks, or months and ends up staying for years!  I should know, I’m one of them!  I figured, there’s got to be a song in there somewhere … hence this recording!

7.  Chasing a Dream:  This is a tribute to local personality Mark Bunting.  He hired me to do the Date Farm gigs.  He was a fair dinkum Aussie who seemed to always have an encouraging word.  Unfortunately, Mark met an untimely death in late 2003.  I performed this song in Jan 2005 at a tribute celebration for Mark at the Date Farm.

8.  I Know What it Feels Like:  This is a story of a man talking to his son.  Encouraging his son to press on despite setbacks and difficulties.  I wrote this song with my Dad in mind; encouraging me along the way.

9.  Alice Springs to Darwin Line:  This song commemorates the completion of the rail connecting Alice Springs and Darwin.  The completion of the rail was all the rage in 2004.  I felt a song was appropriate.  The information is fairly accurate – over 1400 km of track and over 1 million sleepers!

10.  Make a Stand Today:  I was having some issues at work and this is the song that resulted.

11.  On the Road to Baguio:  Have you every taken the bus to Baguio City in the Philippines? If so, you’ll relate to this song. If not, you may have to look up words like “balut”, “jeepney”, “Ifugao”, and a bunch of other Filipino words! This is the story of my bus trip back in 1989 from Clark Air Base up to Baguio City. What an amazing journey!