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YOU FLOW THROUGH ME
A Spiritually Transcendent Soul Odyssey
On their 2021 release, "You Flow Through Me," the funk and soul collective, Acoustic Soul, has crafted an album that is both wildly danceable and profoundly introspective. This 12-track odyssey seamlessly blends powerful, groove-laden rhythms with uplifting lyrics that explore a myriad of deeper perspective themes.
Right from the euphoric opening track "As Bold As Love" it's evident Acoustic Soul approached this album with a passion and purposefulness that elevates it beyond mere funk revivalism. Slick bass lines and punchy horns lay the rhythmic foundation to get your feet moving.
Throughout the album, the socially-conscious poetry and raw emotion in the vocals make the meaning of the songs stick to your bones.
This is an album that celebrates not just musicianship and song craft, but also a connective energy pulsing throughout. Let Acoustic Soul's vibrations wash over you and feel revitalized.
℗ © 2021 Acoustic Soul, Emil Borgir. All rights reserved. Unauthorized duplication is a violation of applicable laws. Written, manufactured and distributed by Acoustic Soul, Emil Borgir. All songs © 2021 Borgir Music (BMI)
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This album is dedicated to Della Mae Henrix, born a sharecropper in Louisiana 1929. Twenty years after her passing, Della remains the best friend I ever had. Through Della’s spirit, this work is also dedicated to all American Black people.
I recognize that as a white man playing soul music, I am a guest in the musical traditions established by the Black artists that came before me. Everything of value that I ever learned in music, I learned from Black people: Stevie Wonder, Ray Charles, Earth Wind and Fire, Aretha Franklin, Bob Marley, and a long list of others.
Likewise, the most valuable lessons I ever learned about love were from the Black people in my life: Della, Ronelle, I.T., Bukkit, Shamazo, Tamatanafor, Neil and Adrian, the list goes on. From no one else have I received a love more open-handed, earnest, and natural.
What I hope to express with this album, and explicitly in this dedication is my gratitude for a people who have every reason to turn their backs on me, but chose instead to enrich American culture and the world at large with the life-giving substance we call soul. This is, to me, a unique opportunity to say to all Black people: you are the heart of this country, you are the heart of the music that has sustained me through the hardest of times. Thank you, Black America, for your grace. You have been a model to me in every aspect of my life and I love you for it.
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Credits
Acknowledgements
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As Bold As Love | Keyboards - Brendan Kersey-Wilson; Trumpet- John Gronberg; Tenor Sax, Baritone Sax- Norbert Stachel
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Human Sexuality | Keyboards- Brendan Kersey-Wilson
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Never, Never | Vocals and instruments - Emil Borgir
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Back Seat | Keyboards - Brendan Kersey-Wilson
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My Name Is The One | Vocals & Instruments - Emil Borgir
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Shackled To His Chains | Keyboards - Tom McClure
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I Wanna Talk To You | Keyboards- Brendan Kersey-Wilson
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Wanna Feel Love | Vocals & Instruments - Emil Borgir
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Tell Somebody | Keyboards- Tom McClure
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May Just Be Losin’ | Keyboards- Brendan Kersey-Wilson
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Don’t Know The Answer | Vocals & Instruments - Emil Borgir
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Freedom To Say | Keyboards - Brendan Kersey-Wilson; Background vocals - Alaya Borgir
Written, arranged, produced, mixed and performed by Emil Borgir, except where indicated.
Mastered by John Greenham Mastering.
The musicians who appeared on this project were remarkably supportive and generous giving more than I could have hoped for in their approach to these tracks.
Brendan (keyboards) was 19 years old when he came in. His main instrument is trombone and he’s a monster jazz player, but,…he’s funky too, and as Della Mae says “ain’t nothin’ wrong with that”.
Tom (keyboards) wouldn’t let me pay him, he just wanted to come in and play, he’d never met me before, and so this all came from his generosity and love of music. I have quite a few additional tracks featuring Tom’s playing, and hope to publish them soon.
My daughter, who is now 13, sang some backups on the last track (while her daddy beamed). Soon she will be providing keyboard tracks as well, seeing as she’s already 10 times the musician I was at her age.
Rob Holland has been a close friend since I was a teenager. He was about a decade older, and so he mentored me in bands, and helped me when he could, just to get through the jungle of life. Rob took time to listen to me, and my mixes on this project. He was the one person whom I could really rely on to guide toward the conclusion that I had to come to, which was that I needed to trust myself as to the sound I was looking for and stop trying to rely on other people to mix this album. I now have one more reason to feel a deep gratitude for your being in my life Rob,…thanks for the love and support over these last 40+ years.
I would also like to acknowledge Holly Larsen, without whom this is just another project sitting on someone’s desk, with nowhere to go, and no one to talk to. It is you Holly who are the reason this is not a brick at the bottom of a lake somewhere, and for that there are no words to express the gratitude and appreciation I feel. May you be filled with all the inspiration the pure fields have to offer.
I am proud to have you all with me on this project and hope to repay your kindness with future work surpassing anything that I have dreamed of to date.
Lyrics
Freedom To Say
Where are your children now, sure nuf plain to see
Children are lost inside the ghetto,
Children are lost behind the wall
Children with gifts beyond believing
This is the freedom that we’re callin’ precious freedom
Freedom to say we don’t need you
Freedom to hide our troubled eyes
Freedom to be an unbeliever,
Freedom to say your you’re gonna be on your own
Don’t you know when somethin’ ain’ right its wrong
Children need love to get them through
Don’t you know when somethin’ ain’ right its wrong
Where are your children now
Someone who has enough is peaceful
Someone who has enough is kind
Someone whose children are well and happy
Does not need to stand and fight
Children with hearts like Stevie Wonder
What’s goin on with and me
Whether or not this nation’s goin under
We could just give a little peace
Bridge We saw it on the evening news
They showed us what they did to you
Everybody knows it’s true
We live in fear of one another
We live in fear of what we see
Where is the pride in holding power
We could just give a little peace
Something is lost inside our nation
Something is lost inside us all
Pushed out of site beyond our vision
This is the freedom that we call
They’re just children, I can see, their eyes their hands
The beating hearts of small ones here
They’re mine, they’re yours’, they’re ours they’re children
You give us your music, you give us your song
Give everybody something to wake up their soul
You give us your heros, you give us your light,
Give every opportunity to make things right
We give you what we have always had to give you every single
day, absolutely nothin that you need
Tow the line, against the wall, two inches small
They’re still children, just children
Don't Know The Answer
In the corner, of my room
There’s a mirror, in the gloom
Nobody wants to, be the one
To stand in reflection, burn in the sun
Like a river, to the sea
I’m flowin’ through you, you flow through me
Keeps getting deeper, what do you see
Change into spirit, does that make me free
I don’t know the answer,
(keeps getting deeper)
I stand on the highway, feel the rain
I often wonder, why the pain
You look into me, I do the same
We see something different, both feel the shame
And I hear the wind blowing in the trees
I can feel the earth turning in my feet
What’s below gets hard to see
Its all part of me,…I wanna do it some more
Everybody knows the rules
It’s your reflection, it’s what you do
People are hungry, hunger is cruel
Some search for power, some search for truth
I keep trying to find the words to say,
I keep trying to understand this thing,
I don’t know the answers
I can’t find, understanding, but I try
See it in the darkness, there’s a mirror, in the gloom
May Just Be Losin'
In the moment that you surrender
When you stand between right and wrong
I understand that you’d wonder
‘Cause what he gave you made you explode
Oh that’s all that I need to know
Someone else to help you grow
And I’ve been here so many times, before
I may just be losin’, interest in the bruising of my heart (3x’s)
From the moment that I first met you
I was torn between right and wrong
You came in my whole body
But I knew you were still so young
Love is changing everyday, people have to find their way
Even though someone erased, my face
That I may just be losin’, interest in the bruisin’ of my heart (3x’s)
I was the one who was talkin’, with an answer for everything
Maybe it’s not so shocking, that you found someone else to feel
I may just be losin’, interest in the bruising of my heart
Even tho’, you found a reason, to let the way of caring go
I may just continue grieving, but I’m tired of all the being alone
Holding onto somethin’ when there ain’t nobody, holdin’ on
Something old need to be set free, in you, and in me
To find love, cause when you’re young you’re going to hurt someone
While you’re searching for the love you need
To be alright, to be whole and then, to be loved, to be understood again
To be free, to touch another kind of friend, touch somebody new again
I don’t know why it’s always, I don’t know why it’s wrong,
Somebody needs to be set free…
Tell Somebody
Cause I wanted you to know that I was lost and on my own
Hung around losing ground, I used to call it living
I never really found a way to tell nobody
Then my mind, so unkind, hardly ever giving
I really wanna find a way to tell somebody
You fall in, crazy grin, never even doubting
Just gotta find a way to tell someone
Everyday I tell you baby I cannot believe
The things I need to tell somebody
Somewhere in this world, crazy little girl
Give her all your love, tell her what you know
Yesterday I found a way to let somebody touch me
Am I ever gonna find a way to tell someone
I did not know where to go, I felt so sad and lonely
I wanna tell somebody yeah
You fall down, crazy clown, laughing and receiving
I really gotta find a way to tell somebody
Every day I tell you baby I cannot believe the things I need to tell somebody
Somewhere in this world, crazy little girl
Give her all your love that’s inside of you,
Tell her what you know
Give love, give love, give love, give love away, everyday
Give love to everyone, give love today
Give love to everyone, give love away
Give love, give love, give love away, everyday
On this day let me say, everybody’s lovely
I really never found a way to tell nobody
Given’ time I had to shine, knew that you would find me
I’ve got to shine on somebody
You fall in crazy grin, never even doubting
I tryin’ to find a way to tell somebody
Everyday I tell you baby I cannot believe the things I
Really gotta find a way to tell somebody
Ohhh yeah everybody knows that they can always be
Everybody, sharing all the things we feel
Everybody knowing that the feeling is real
Holding hands upon the floor
Everybody step this way, and now, everybody step alright and its
Everybody knows their way to be, real ooh ooh ooh real now baby
And I show that love can find, a way to be so deep inside of you… and me
Give love to everyone, give love today, give love to everyone, give love away
Wanna Feel Love
Hide your body, speak the language with your clothes
Play the winner, pretending that it doesn’t show
Lovely moment, hold a stranger while you glow
Business sunset, sparkle is all you show
I—never want to feel so far away
That I never reach the top—
Lonely is the start of every day
I now, I realize, that love just feels this way
Lavish evenings, seen through eyes that never cry
Jungle secret, this morning felt like paradise
Automatic, stick a nickel in the slot
Instant magic, it’s short sweet and it’s hot
I—never want to feel so far away
That I never reach the top—
Lonely is the start of every day
I now, I realize, that love just feels this way
Wanna feel love, when you call my name wanna feel love inside
Wanna feel love hey
Wanna feel love in life, wanna feel love
Wanna feel that love is on my side, seem to spend my time losin
Wanna feel love, my mind is alone-
Wanna feel that love is on my side, you can be alone
Wanna feel that love is on my side, in a crowded world
Wanna feel love, wanna feel love inside, have a heart of stone
Wanna feel love in life, in paradise
I can’t see you, its dark,
Wanna feel that love is on my side
You’ve been runnin for a very long time
Wanna feel that love is in my side
I can feel you, no baby, c’mon
I Wanna Talk To You
I really wanna talk to you,
girl I wanna listen too
I really wanna talk, talk, talk, talk to you
I get a little confused
There is something that I’d like to do
But we need to set some rules
I’d like to learn how to talk to you
I’m tired of feelin’ like, such a fool
Maybe you could tell me what to do
I’m broke up with changes that we’re going through
I really wanna talk to you, girl I wanna listen too
I really wanna talk, talk, talk, talk to you
Must be something in my attitude
Momma said, I could be kinda rude
Something that really, really gets to you
I gotta try to be a better dude
I wish you’d tell me something I could use
Everything I do just makes you lose your cool
I really wanna talk to you, girl I wanna listen too
I really wanna talk, talk, talk, talk to you
There ain’ no reason to pretend we’re through
And if you knew why I want-cha
You’d be talkin’ till the break of day
You can believe that I’m gonna’
Find the right words to say
I really wanna talk to you, girl I wanna listen too
I really wanna talk, talk, talk, talk to you
It’s just somethin’ that, I need to do,
I wanna talk to you
I’m tryin’ to find a way to work it through
Y’ gotta talk to me, sometimes,
if you wanna understand
Gotta say what you feel
You get a little cruel baby
Talk to me, tell me, somethin’ I could use
You just don’t know what to say
You get little bit far away
It hurts more with each passin’ day,
Somethin’ on your mind you wanna say
You get cruel, baby, you get cruel baby yeah
Help,..talk to me, talk to you,
Tired a pretendin’ we’re through
I wanna talk to you, every day, and then hold you
Sing it loud and clear, ooh baby, because, sometimes
Ya get a little cruel baby, ya gotta tell me why
Shackled To His Chains
He came into this world
And he already was shackled to his chains
And in his heart there burned
A fire that would make any man insane
He took a wife and everything he loved
Got burned up by that flame
Now to his joy they brought into this world a
Perfect baby Jane, sweet little Janey Jane
That’s where the story starts and soon it will get strange
Now though a heart of stone he loved his baby
Just like the desert loves the rain
He watched her grow and soon her innocence
Would stab and cause him pain
He did not know that back when he was small
Someone had felt the same
That is why he wanted to put a shadow deep into the girl
Where it grew into a cage
That’s how the nights became a world that would make anyone insane
His wife was beautiful
It seemed her heart had fallen in a well
Cause when that child reached out
It frightened her and oh lord she just kept still
He used to tell the child the strange things
A man can feel
And so this child grew up and like her daddy
Had herself a sweet heart of steel
They burned the world until the morning came
And living seemed unreal,…c’mon now
My Name Is The One
Little bitty baby standing still
He’s been hungry for a lifetime
And the hunger is real
No one knows where it comes from
But they know just how it feels
It gets dark inside my pockets
Where I keep my dreams
I keep my soul beneath my pillow
I try to keep my body clean
No one knows where it came from
But they know just how it feels…
My name is the one who’ll set me free
My name is the one love that I need
My name is a blessing to be real
My name is liberty that I feel…
They say it’s hard to feel it
And it’s impossible to see
Like standing on the corner
Waiting for a fantasy
No one knows where it came from
But they know just how it feels
Ahhoohooh yeah yeah
My name is the one who’ll set me free
My name is the one love that I need
My name is a blessing to be real
My name is liberty that I feel…
Yeah,…I,…I…..well its with me everydayayaya
No one, no one,…nobody knows where its been
Ah ah ah
Back Seat
Talkin about love, talking about love that’ll set you free
Give it to me, give it to me
She’s got a body like a bait shop
A Maserati and a pop top
She cries when they close the bar
But she lives in the back seat of my car
She does her livin’ like a boomerang
You let her go and she’ll come back again
Give it to me, gotta give it, give it to me
She’s fast but she don’t go far ‘
Cause she lives in the back seat of my car
I don’t know why she stays there
She’s tells them that she’s got to ride
She won’t let them touch her
But she loves to watch them try Watch them try
She does her thinkin’ like a hurricane
Somethings just need time to heal
It’s always different but it never changes
She moves burns like a burnin’ star
But she lives in the back seat of my car…
Well she lives in the back, ooh ooh ooh
C’mon, yeah,…
Love will bring you right down to your knees
Don’t you worry, c’mon baby
Give it to me, give it to me, give it to me
Talkin about love that’ll make you see
Never Never
Never never here before
I’ve been knocking down doors
You start to cryin’
I don’t belong
You say your worried, I carry on
Never never here before
There was a time when I called
Called out for someone
Now that seems strange
I had my reasons, maybe I changed
I don’t know where I’m goin’
I run here, and I run overflowin’
I wanted, I wanted to tell someone why
I want you here in my life
Yes I do baby, I never told you that I wanted you, I never understood what love could do I,…
Never,…I’d be lucky to find, someone that mattered
Someone who tries
Well so easily shattered, so much to hide
You never would tell me what I was missing
I don’t even know why I’m sitting alone
But I’m sitting alone, trying to bring you back in my life
Yes I am baby,
I wanted to tell you something that was new
I wanted to show you what my love would do with you
Yeah baby,…that I want to be, in the deepest sea
Just you and me, whoa whoa ohh ohhohh
Can you feel that, energy pouring, through the love that,
This old world’s been storing, and its alright,
If your mind is holding, back the starlight,
That’s inside of your soul
Human Sexuality
Ahhhhahh ooohooohh That’s what I wanna do, I wanna find
The words to say, That’s what I wanna do, I wanna find a way
To pray, That’s what I wanna do, I wanna find the words to say,
kneel down and prayayay with you
When I was young, I asked my momma what am I gonna be
She said my son, you can be whatever you wanna be
So I begun, a search of the world that finally made me see
I can not run, away from the power that has made me be
Full of human, Ah Ah, full of, whoo
Full of human, Sexuality, Full of human,
That is what I wanna full of happiness and vitality
Did not take long, before I lost myself in a fantasy
Makes me not wrong, I wasn’t aware of the opportunity
To make me strong, with all the potential of a tiny seed
The, I,..wanna need sun, grow to be up to be a mighty tree
Full of human, aah oohhooh, oh ow ow ow, full of human, sexuality, full of human,…
That’s what I wanna do, (3x’s) Kneel down and pray with you (2x’s)
That light burn brigh-ter, Until I could see that it was inside of me
Each day I try-to, to open the door into eternity
That day will come, when I’ll be everything I was meant to be
To make me stron-ger, and full of the power that is my destiny
Full of human sexuality,
Ahh Sexuality, full of human ehh, a little bit of what has made me be
Full of human, that is the reason that I came to be giving me everything that I need to be, that is the power that will bring me up,…off-a-my knees
what-ya-need to say, bring me all the way up, off-a-my knees,…ahhh oooohhh Ah ah, ah ha, aah ahh
Ah ah, ah ha, aah ahh
I believe that, on my knees and I, start to pray to you
As Bold As Love
There was never a reason
For the way I used to treat you back then
I acted like I was leavin’, but I just hung around instead
wasn’t foolin’ nobody
But you listened to (all) the things that I said
Your friends told you to leave me
But you jus’ hung around instead
There ain’ nothin’, as bold as love (2x’s)
(and I’m trying to be all things that I need to be)
Now I try to believe it
When she tells me I’m right outta’ my head I even go to see someone
That can help me when I’m feelin’ upset
You were in darkness, cause you carried all the hurt that I did
You fell down and you started to drown,
And still you tried to give me your hand
There ain’ nothin’, as bold as love (2x’s)
And I know that it’s true, I keep runnin’ to you
When I need to be with myself
But you help me you do, when you keep comin’ through
With the love that I need it helps
Love will help me celebrate the way that I feel when I’m lovin’ you
Well its time for me to believe, in all things that you taught me
to say and to feel and to see and to understand, baby thank you
Ooh ooh ooh, ow ow ow owow, ooh ooh ooh, hey hey hey heyehehehay
Nothin (in this world) bold as love (inside of everyone)
Ain’ nothin (somethin’ I know) as bold as love (ahhh in my heart its you)
There really ain’ nothin’, (you give me) bold as love
(Somthin’ I really need ya)
There ain’ nothin’ (I believe)
As bold as love (Its everywhere you wanna be inside of me)
You fell down and love was there for you (oohhooohhh)
Picked you up cause love ain’ never through—Nothin’
(You can believe that) Bold as Love (You give it to this whole wide world)
You fell down and love was there for you
(Baby) picked you up cause love ain’ never through
Nothin’ (All I wanna do is thank you) bold as love
(Thank you, thank you, thank you baby for everything that you give to me)