Play clip Forgotten Songs
The deep, crooning baritone you hear at the beginning and end of “Forgotten Songs” is actually a 1993 recording of my father, Philip Brourman singing one of his own tunes, “Gambler’s Blues”; a song he wrote during his time as a P.O.W. in Germany during World War II. (He is accompanied by my sister, Michele Brourman, a brilliant songwriter herself). Daddy used to say that songwriting was only one of several strategies he and his buddies came up with to keep their sanity during that awful time. (They also formed a men’s chorus and gambled trading cigarettes and Red Cross rations. Daddy was an avid card player throughout his life). 
Soon after Daddy came home from the war, he put away his songwriting, opting instead to go into business with his brothers to support his family. But he sang all his life, and it is not an exaggeration
to say that he sang “to drown out sorrow in melody and verse”. Daddy had a real gift, not only for
singing, but for writing, but like so many of his generation, he could never see music as a serious career path.
“Forgotten Songs” is a tribute to my father and to the gift of music he passed down to his children and even to his grandchildren. In the end, every song matters, whether it finds an audience of millions or an audience of one, and everyone in their own way has their own song to sing — the light they carry to “make the world a better place, line by line by line”.
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FORGOTTEN SONGS
FAR FROM HOME, ACROSS THE SEA, A PENCIL IN HIS HAND,
A SOLDIER WAGED HIS BATTLE WITH DESPAIR
FINALLY SOMEONE SAID THE WAR WAS OVER,
BUT HE LEFT HIS NOTEBOOKS THERE. . .
SOMEWHERE ALONG THE WINDING PATH, HIS ROAD DROPPED OUT OF SIGHT
AND HE HAD TO MAKE HIS WAY BACK HOME, WITH JUST THE FAINTEST LIGHT
MY FATHER WROTE FORGOTTEN SONGS THAT NO ONE EVER HEARD
HE SANG TO DROWN OUT SORROW IN MELODY AND WORD
I AM MY FATHER’S DAUGHTER – I HAVE MUSIC IN MY VEINS
MY BONES ARE MADE OF VERSES
AND MY HEART BEATS – MY REFRAIN.
I PUT MY LYRICS IN A BOOK AND I KEEP THEM OUT OF SIGHT
AFRAID I’LL FIND OUT WHAT THEY REALLY MEAN
THE DEVIL’S IN THESE ADVERBS AND THESE ADJECTIVES
BUT THERE’S SALVATION IN BETWEEN. . .
SOMEWHERE ALONG THE WINDING PATH MY ROAD DROPS OUT OF SIGHT
BUT I’M BOUND TO MAKE MY WAY BACK HOME CARRYING THIS LIGHT.
MY FATHER WROTE FORGOTTEN SONGS THAT NO ONE EVER HEARD
HE SANG TO DROWN OUT SORROW IN MELODY AND WORD
I AM MY FATHER’S DAUGHTER – I HAVE MUSIC IN MY VEINS
MY BONES ARE MADE OF VERSES
AND MY HEART BEATS – MY REFRAIN.
AND EVEN IF IT’S ONLY FOR A TINY BIT OF TIME
WE MAKE THE WORLD A BETTER PLACE
LINE BY LINE BY LINE. . .
MY FATHER WROTE FORGOTTEN SONGS THAT NO ONE EVER HEARD
HE SANG TO DROWN OUT SORROW IN MELODY AND WORD
AND I AM MY FATHER’S DAUGHTER – I HAVE MUSIC IN MY VEINS
MY BONES ARE MADE OF VERSES
AND MY HEART BEATS – MY REFRAIN
(SKIP THIS LINE)
MY BONES ARE MADE OF VERSES
AND MY HEART BEATS MY REFRAIN.
© ART & ROBIN’S MUSIC, 2008