ANA MARIA’S SONG
Wayne Shorter’s Ana Maria
LISTEN 
You are a night time shadow
Cast by the light of moon glow
Stars shine the light of a million dark skies in your eyes
Then when the night is gone
You are the light of morning
Painting the dawn with red and yellow hues at sunrise
Pure as an April morning
Sure as the new day dawning
Wind whispering low what the trees know
When leaves blow, that love comes lightly
Copyright on lyrics Tessa Souter, 2005. Wayne Shorter granted Tessa shared writing on this one in 2018. Kurt Elling requested to collaborate on it and recorded it on his Wildflowers Volume 1 album with additional lyrics.
A song for you
erik satie’s gnossienne no. 1
From a dark and starless sky
When the earth was still round you came
Promising the sun and moon and stars above
In a hold of flesh and bone
Blinded by the dark of your soul
Buried in the coldness of your heart, my love
You came to me in camoflage of black and blue
I saw your face but I did not see you
The gentle beauty of your sweet disguise
Belied the icy brink of your horizon
An inescapable abyss of lies
Of light-devouring dark sans rime ni raison
You came to me I only saw your smile
Belying what was really there hiding in full view all the while
From a dark and starless sky
When the earth was still round you came
Turning off the sun turning off the stars
Tu es venu a moi masque de noir et bleu
J’ai vu ton visage mais je ne t’ai pas vu
The gentle beauty of your sweet disguise
Belied the icy brink of your horizon
An inescapable abyss of lies
Of light-devouring dark sans rime ni raison
You came to me and tore the world apart
I saw your face, I didn’t see your heart
Your heart, how could I see in the rain and dark, your heart
Copyright Tessa Souter, 2023
mood (musica universalis)
by ron carter and miles davis
Mood is a feather
Just floating wherever
Like change in the weather
And clouds in the sky
Only passing by
Drifting like a bird
Now waits for no man
It’s gone in a moment
Belonging to no one
It is singing to songs
Humming in the air
Waiting to be heard
Beauty surrounds us
Within and without us
Resounding to music
That is played in the spheres
And sounded in the soul
Glorious to behold
Lyrics : copyright Tessa Souter, 2023
HOLDING ON TO BEAUTY
ERIK SATIE’S GNOSSIENNE NO. 3
Dreaming in the darkness
You were silver in the moonlight
Lying in your arms is like I’m holding on to sunlight
Your lips are as soft as petals
Your eyes, they are darker than the deepest midnight sea
And you are turning in my arms and you are dancing with me
In the glowing embers of the days since I first met you
Trying to remember all the ways I won’t forget you
Your mouth, soft and warm and tender
In the blurring of our boundaries
Your caressing hands are gentle as our bodies intertwine
And you surround me
Holding on to beauty melting snow on distant mountains
And the velvet of the darkness and the warmness of your love
Is all around me
Your smile, your heart
The darkness of your eyes is so exciting
Your touch
When I hear your voice it makes my heart sing
Your kiss
Wishing I could always feel your loving around me
Lonely as a tear is I was lost until you found me
But you found me
Lyrics : copyright Tessa Souter, 2023
D’ou venons-nous
erik satie’s gymnopedie no. 3
You, dearly beloved to have and to hold
You are here, so am I, my dear
We appeared at the same time
And just as I knew you then
I will know you again
You, leaving behind all the things of this earth
To embrace what is peace and beauty
All there is, is much more than we know, dear
So ‘til you come back to me
Live a beautiful life
Copyright Tessa Souter, 2023
peace
erik satie’s gnossienne no. 2
Floating in the turquoise up above me
Lonely drifter can you see me
Soaring through the misty clouds serenely
Are you coming to redeem me
As you circle the sky are you dreaming of heaven
Looking down from on high does it seem that it even exists
As my life goes tumbling by
I’m wondering whether you are near me
Lying here under the sky I wonder if even you
Can hear me
Can feel me
In the bright yellow glow of the crackling firelight
In the flickering fireflies dancing at twilight
There is peace
It is sleeping in the stars above us
Quiet canopy of oneness
Copyright Tessa Souter, 2023
rayga’s song
erik satie’s gymnopedie no. 1
From the shadows and silence of morning
When the glow of a new day was dawning
You came
Invited by love you have come here to be
A beautiful song from the heavens to me
And round we spin in a stairway of stars
Called the Milky Way, dear
When you opened your eyes for the first time
To the beautiful world that was waiting for you
Silently, tenderly falling to earth
A snowstorm had made on the day of your birth
A playground softer than feathers
Where one day together
We’ll play
Copyright Tessa Souter, 2023
BEYOND THE BLUE
Chopin’s Prelude in E Minor
LIVE VIDEO
Thanks to you, I know that love comes true
That love, exists, it’s real and I can feel it now
Love doesn’t only live in dreams. It’s here. It’s you
Out of a dark and cold starless sky beyond the blue
Believe that love just like a half forgotten song
That we both almost knew will return, to sing in me and you
Copyright Tessa Souter, 2011
YOU DON’T HAVE TO BELIEVE
Song by Tessa Souter
LISTEN
You say you don’t believe in spring
But spring is love and love is in everything
Within the bare branches of December trees
Live the red leaves of fall. You don’t have to believe at all
A skylark rises up from the ground
It is singing but you don’t hear the sound
But that does not mean the lark’s not there
Just ’cause you’re not aware. It doesn’t need you to care
Warmth comes from the sun, wind blows on everyone
And the rivers wind even though you’re not mine
In the dark you don’t see me at all
When it is raining you don’t hear me call
But above the clouds of gray and the dark the sky is always blue
That doesn’t depend on you
Copyright Tessa Souter, 2001
WILLOW
Pat Martino’s Willow. Lyrics Tessa Souter
LISTEN
What if I became a willow tree on the banks of you, a wild river
What would you do if I fell into the dark of you?
Would that be too deep? And if I touched the very heart of you
Would you let me keep the tender moment when a part of you loved me too
I’m yearning for a deeper blue please let me run away with you to the sea
And if I should let a tender leaf go floating over you, a pale green dancer
Would I just sink or would you hold me while you danced with me
Lead me to the brink of falling deeper in romance with me
Would you let me drink of you until you were entranced with me. Dance with me
I’m yearning for a deeper blue please let me run away with you to the sea
Copyright Tessa Souter, 2002
CHIAROSCURO
Tomaso Albinoni’s Adagio in G Minor. Lyrics Tessa Souter
LISTEN
Touched by the light that love makes I find you in the darkness
Knowing the soft of your skin, feeling your heartbeat within
I’m moved by the hold of your hand, the warmth of a woman and man together
Wrapped in the quiet of your embrace, touched by the softness of your face
Watching the deep of your sleep, hoping that you’re mine to keep
Holding the love that’s been born up to the light of the dawn
Copyright Tessa Souter, 2011
PRELUDE TO THE SUN
Ludwig Van Beethoven’s 7th Symphony, 2nd Movement. Lyrics Tessa Souter
LISTEN
Out of the darkness, shining above me, brighter than morning, you are the sun
Naked as music, gentle as rain is, you are the song that wakes up my heart
Prelude to the morning sun, you are the chorus bringing in the dawn again
Love is shining in the glorious morning singing in my heart
Copyright Tessa Souter, 2011
DANCE WITH ME
Borodin’s Plovetsian Dances. Lyrics Tessa Souter
LISTEN
Would you come if I asked you to dance with me
To put on your dancing shoes and share a romance with me
We will move in time to our beating hearts
To a song that once it starts I know will forever entrance me
Swept away on silver-lined clouds with you
We’ll bend the rain to purple, orange and lilac from blue
In your arms I will follow you to the end of time
And then I’ll dance with you again
So please say you’re ready to dance with me
To take a chance with me on our romance
Copyright Tessa Souter, 2011
CONCIERTO DE ARANJUEZ
Joaquin Rodrigo’s Conciert de Aranjuez
LISTEN (duo version with Freddie Byrant)
LISTEN (full band version arr. by Joe Locke)
Come with me to a time that might have been
And all those moments that should have been
But never were to be
And words unspoken of what you were to me
And almost memories of nowhere scenes
Return, sing to me once more in a breeze
Come back, even if it’s only in a dream
And take a hand un-held in life of a girl
Of a girl with a dream of what might have been
Copyright Tessa Souter, 2000. The official lyric of the Rodrigo estate
NARA’S SONG (LITTLE SUNFLOWER)
Freddie Hubbard’s Little Sunflower. Lyrics Tessa Souter
LISTEN
Your beauty’s like the sun, it shines on everyone, little sunflower
A new life just begun, it glows in you, little one, little sunflower
Show the sun your smile, let its light guide us all
Let the love within you grow until you’re ten feet tall
You are a child of love sent from the stars above, little sunflower
A love beyond compare will show you how to care, little sunflower
Copyright Tessa Souter, 1999
USHA’S WEDDING
Words and melody by Tessa Souter
LISTEN (ALBUM) featuring Ansel Matthews
WATCH (LIVE) with Winston Clifford at Pizza on the Park
Flow into my heart, your love is a river
Endless as the sea, is my love for you
Love is forever
Mirrored in your eyes, I see my soul in you
Bless me with your body, hold me in your heart
Love is forever Love is forever
Join me in my journey, I give to you my hand
Share with me your beauty for a thousand lives
Love is forever Love is forever Love is forever
Copyright Tessa Souter, 2000
PICTURE IN BLACK AND WHITE
Words and melody by Tessa Souter
LISTEN
All I knew, or thought I knew about you
How I paid love’s due without you
A picture in black and white of you
Another thing, you didn’t mean
Within two worlds I fell between
A secret that you kept from all you knew of what I was to you
A child of love you once embraced
A tenderness I can’t erase
A Blueprint for a love that can’t be true
The song of you still sings in me
A sad and lonely melody of all you were
And never were to me
Copyright Tessa Souter, 2001
THE DARKNESS OF YOUR EYES
Gabriel Faure’s Pavane. Lyrics Tessa Souter
LISTEN
Reflected in the darkness of your eyes
I feel that I belong to you
Within the tender shelter of your arms
I’ll always love and long for you
Lost within the deepness of your kiss
A wordless song of love in blue
I’m drowning in an endless sea of bliss
Where you are me and I am you
Copyright Tessa Souter, 2011
SUNRISE
Brahm’s Third Symphony, Movement 4. Lyrics Tessa Souter
LISTEN
Winter brings spring to me, nightingale sings to me
From the dark of the night comes the light of the fire
And the warmth of a new day to light up the dawn
Summer brings fall to you, hear my song call to you
In the blush of the morning the hush of the evening that’s fated
Has waited to bring me to you
It’s sunrise, the morning
A new love is dawning
Copyright Tessa Souter, 2011
NOA’S DREAM
Schubert’s Serenade. Lyrics by Tessa Souter
LISTEN
Beautiful dreamer your heart is a skylark serenading the dawn
Taking you higher than you ever dared to dream of flying before
Reaching to the moon and stars the clouds go tumbling by
Leaving the rain behind
As you fly toward the sun the song of your heart is strong
A poem of love just made your beautiful serenade
Copyright Tessa Souter, 2011
BRAND NEW DAY
Gabriel Faure’s Elegy. Lyrics by Tessa Souter
LISTEN
In the midst of every storm when all around you is cold and gray
In the deepest dark of night believe in the promise of a brand new day
It may be out of sight but keep holding tight today will turn to yesterday
Out of the sorrow will come tomorrow’s new life, new love, a new day
Then again by the grace of light we’ll dance in the bright of a brand new day
Copyright Tessa Souter, 2011
WISE ONE
John Coltrane’s Wise One. Lyrics by Tessa Souter
Here you are at last
You without a past, I hold you fast
There’s so much I want to tell you
To guide and love you as you go on your way
You are wise, you love without any ties or disguise
But as we grow we unlearn
All the things that we know when we are born
Even though you’re small
You remind us all to heed the call
There’s so much you’ve come to show me
To guide and love me as I go on my way
It’s a beautiful world of which we are a part
But at moments it’s dark
And eyes can be blind
But you know how to see with your heart
Copyright Tessa Souter, 2001
MORNING SONG
Lyrics by Tessa Souter
Love came stealing into my song
Dancing reeling, all at once
Just when I thought you had gone
There you were shining in the dawn
It’s a feeling, a touch of the sun
Warming, healing
Now the long night is done
Here you are, you are my morning song
It’s the break of day, the promise of dawn
It’s a new beginning, all the birds are singing
And the bells are ringing it’s the morning, the morning
It’s the glorious morning, glad to be here
Warm and tenderly bathed in your love my dear
Copyright Tessa Souter, 2011
BLUE AND GREEN
Lyrics by Tessa Souter
Blue and green, you turn so serene
In a universe of stars and other worlds we’ve never seen
Around you spin; the stillness within
Ever pulling me to the green and blue
The world of you
Copyright Tessa Souter, 2008
I KNOW WITH TIME
Lyrics by Tessa Souter
I know with time, I know with time I will forget
I’ll forget how you taste, and I’ll forget your touch
The way it felt to be in your embrace
Your beating heart against my face. I will forget
I know with time, I know with time I won’t regret
I will feel no remorse at tasting your first kiss
The one that led to this, the closed fist of your heart
I will not miss, I won’t regret, I will forget
How it was at the start before hello and goodbye
I know with time, I won’t regret
I know with time, I know with time, I know – not yet
I’ll be glad to be free, to be free of your hands
And the smell of your skin and the hold of your arms
And of your love: the cage you kept me in
I know with time, I know with time I will not wait
For your touch on my hips or the brush of your lips
Or the soft of your hands, your welcome fingertips
Your sleeping back against my heart, my naked heart
Before you closed the door that was closed from the start
I know with time I will not wait
I know with time, I know with time I will forgive
And my life without you will be my life to live
And I will find a love that knows how to be true
And there will be a day without one thought of you
I know with time, I know with time I will forget
That the taste of your love was of hunger unmet
That the poem of your love was only in my head
And that love rhymed with glove and bed with dead
That the song of your love was a requiem instead
I know with time I will forget
Copyright Tessa Souter, 2008