Welcome to DJ's "Original Songs" page. She began writing songs in 2018 and here are some of her favorites.

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!

In June, we had the pleasure of staying at the beautiful Eagle Valley Park Campground near Maple Creek, Saskatchewan. The view from our RV window is the backdrop for this episode of DJ’s Music Studio. The book I was reading at the time inspired me to write this humorous country song, “Luck Ran Out.”

While we were camping last month, I thought it would be fun to write a song that could be easily remembered and sung around a campfire. The result is “Travelling on a Train,” which has a simple melody and repeating lines in every verse. The words are on the screen, so you can sing along with me!

I have always loved the poetry of Macbeth’s “tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow” soliloquy. Here, in Act 5, Scene 5, he learns Lady Macbeth has died and laments the futility of his life and the insignificance of his actions. My song, “All Our Tomorrows” envisions a new meaning for the images in this passage, with “all our yesterdays” transformed into the tomorrows which are the light and inspiration that direct us as we move forward in our time upon life’s stage.

In the Foothills, it takes a long time for spring to shake off winter. Several years ago, winter came charging back, late into spring when the trees were in full leaf and the flowers had begun to bloom. I've thought of this image as "angry springtime" and it is the inspiration for my song, “Suzanna in Spring,” which is about taking the first steps into uncertainty with the promise of summer ahead.

Did you know that the Scottish Tartans Authority has an international index with more than 7,000 entries? And no two of these tartans are the same. In addition to all the tartans for Scottish clans and districts, official tartans range from Hilton Hotels, American Express and the Toronto Bluejays; to Britain’s Royal Air Force, the FBI and RCMP; to Scrooge MacDuck (Mickey's Scottish uncle). Canadian provinces have their own tartans … which got me wondering what tartan I would wear. In turn, that inspired me to write this song, “Tartan Dilemma.”

Pearls emerge perfectly formed, with a smooth beauty that requires no polishing. Turquoise gemstones date back to 3000 BC in Egypt and can be found in many hues of blue and green. Neither need sparkly facets to give them depth or make them eye-catching. Together, they are the perfect metaphor for the complex but gentle soul in my song, “Turquoise and Pearls.”

“Advice from the Medium for Mediums” is the last of my “broken ankle” songs. Although the song ended up being both humorous and hopeful, the chorus came to me at a point when I was trying to talk myself out of a deep funk. The storyline emerged later in banter with a friend, when I had the brainwave that “medium” could be both a noun and adjective.

Think the North Pole is all candy canes and jolliness, with everyone whistling while they work? Think again! One of Santa’s reindeer is definitely not feeling the joy of the season. I wrote all about his plight in the song, “Comet the Disgruntled Fifth Reindeer.”

For Remembrance Day 2021, I wrote the song, “Valour Lullaby” to recognize the profound work of the organization, Quilts of Valour, and also to celebrate my father-in-law, who lived a century-long life as an extraordinary husband, father, soldier, entrepreneur, and friend to all.

“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.

“Our Little Secret“

My two-month broken leg “recliner confinement” has been a prolific time for writing songs! “No Place I’d Rather Be At” is my entry in the Music Mile Songwriting Contest, and talks about how the past and present flourish along 9th Avenue SE in Calgary, from Inglewood to Studio Bell (the old King Eddy).

“No Place I'd Rather Be At“

Stampede has begun and I have almost three weeks left of my broken leg “recliner confinement.” I was doing some research into Hank Williams Sr., who wrote some of my favorite country songs. He’s quoted as saying, “Everybody loves a hurtin’ song.” With this inspiration and my great admiration for Hank, I wrote “The Hurtin' Song Song.”

“The Hurtin' Song Song“

What’s the secret for making magic happen in life? It lies in stepping into the unknown and, by force of character, seizing opportunity. The secret can be summed up in the three words that are the title of my song, “Moxie Magic Danger.”

“Moxie Magic Danger“

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.

“Stream Becomes a Trickle.“

The Alpaca is a domesticated species of South American camelid (a humpless camel related to the llama, guanaco and vicuna). It is an unusual looking animal, with a long neck and spindly legs. Alpacas provide luxurious fleeces that, when spun, can be made into soft, warm scarves, shawls and blankets. They have beautiful faces, which I celebrate in my song, "Alpaca Smile."

Debbie Travis had done it all; home decorating guru, television personality, author, entrepreneur, motivational speaker and more. But her lifelong dream was to create a fabulous Tuscan getaway. In an interview on The Marilyn Denis Show, March 3, Debbie tells how she made this dream a reality. And her words inspired me to write this song, "What Would Debbie Travis Say?"

On April 30, 2021, The Marilyn Denis Show on CTV played a clip of me singing my song for Debbie herself!

Several weeks ago, I woke up thinking the line: silver and gold at the end of the day. It stuck with me and took me back many decades to a young age when I loved to run and compete in track and field sports. A particular competition came to mind and, from that, I wrote the song, "Silver and Gold at the End of the Day."

In 2019, the image of tumbling hay bales popped into my mind along with a happy melody line. For the next couple of years, at harvest time, I'd look at the fields of hay bales and smile at my private joke. Last month, after dreams about the landscape and friends in the Millarville area, the quirky line developed into my song, "Millarville Dream."

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.

Feel free to push aside the furniture and settle into a long, slow, old-time waltz with your sweetheart, a cohort buddy, or just by yourself. "Forest John Memory Waltz" is a perfect Valentine's song; written by me, just for you!

For years, Okotoks presented a rich lineup of music, theatre and comedy at the Rotary Performing Arts Centre (RPAC). With Covid, this became the "RPAC@home concert series," live streamed on YouTube. I was part of the recent Emerging Artists Showcase, along with Ethan Collister, on February 3, 2021. Please note, the video starts 11 minutes into the show, due to RPAC technical difficulties.

A couple of years after I'd retired, 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. It brought back all those years of working and inspired me to write "Wine Down!"

This song is about many things - family, creativity, making gifts and the hubbub of the holidays. But mostly, I wrote "The Sweater Song" about my Mom and a special gift she made for me over thirty years ago.

I started writing "Twenty Above and Below" after the first snowfall of 2019 and finished it last month in the summer heat at an RV campground in Drumheller. Most people shudder at the thought of coming winter, but I say, "What's not to love about 20 below?!"