[ Kites Are Fun | Make the Madness Stop | When Love is Young | The Proper Ornaments | My Brother Woody | Don't Turn Away | Umbrellas | Never Tell the World | Stay Another Season ]
Only original Free Design songs are listed. Lyrics kindly provided by Chris and Moira Dedrick.
Notes on the songs are reproduced from the original liner notes.
In addition to notes on the original Free Design songs, the liner notes also describe Chris Dedrick's arrangements of the cover versions on this album. These are reproduced at the foot of this page via these links:
[ 59th Street Bridge Song | Michelle | A Man And A Woman |
This bright, gay song was, literally, the beginning of The Free Design. It was Chris Dedrick's first song - and first chart hit. "It's a song to cheer you up," says Chris. "I wrote it on a rainy day when I was feeling kind of lonely. I was thinking about a girl whose initials were K.A.F., and out of the initials popped Kites Are Fun. It says, 'Whatever it is you like, go ahead and do your thing.'" Russ Savakus plays the introduction on Fender bass and Chris adds a jaunty recorder solo to the group's singing.
I like flying, flying kites. Flying kites, flying kites. Kites are fun. See my kite it’s fun, See my kite, it’s green and white Laughing in its distant flight All that’s between us is a little yellow string, But we like each other more than anything And we run along together through the field behind my house And the little drops of rain caress her face and wash my blouse And we’d like to be a zillion miles away from everyone ‘Cause Mom and Dad and Uncle Bill don’t realize: Kites are fun. See my kite, it’s green and white Laughing in its distant flight All that’s between us is a little yellow string, But we like each other more than anything And we run along together through the field behind my house And the little drops of rain caress her face and wash my blouse And we’d like to be a zillion miles away from everyone ‘Cause Mom and Dad and Uncle Bill don’t realize: I like flying, flying kites. Flying kites, flying kites. Kites are fun.
Come along, come along- Follow the way that leads between madness and madness Flowers on both sides, each side has weeds and gladness and sadness Whoa, whoa, walk the way of love, eyes open fly the skies above with hope and heart and sense Whoa, whoa, blow your mind but not completely make the madness stop Deplete we must the store of hate immense and men grouping groping nonsense Pathways are green and black and white and yellow and crimson Walk on the rainbow flooded by boths sides truths and opinions Whoa, whoa, walk the way of love, eyes open fly the skies above with hope and heart and sense Whoa, whoa, blow your mind but not completely make the madness stop Deplete we must the store of hate immense and mens grouping groping nonsense Honesty and purity, beauty and sincerity Doesn’t that sound corny Wish that I were corny Whoa, whoa, walk the way of love, eyes open fly the skies above with hope and heart and sense Whoa, whoa, blow your mind but not completely make the madness stop Deplete we must the store of hate immense and men grouping groping nonsense Whoa, whoa, walk the way of love, eyes open fly the skies above with hope and heart and sense Whoa, whoa, blow your mind but not completely make the madness stop.
When love is young, as fresh as dew A song is sung, so warm and new, It winds its way, bursts into blue An April day turned into June Summer is born. I walk the fields, there’s warmth above The thought it yields is of my love A lazy stream, its solitude A summer dream, a quiet mood Plays on my mind. The summer of a young girl’s life Is meant for love not pain or strife a time for change, a time to stay to rearrange for another day Another day.
Ba Ba Ba... Ornaments of Life, ornaments of life There’s your brand new car, sir, here’s your hat and gloves There’s your pretty wife, sir, whom you almost love There’s your color TV set and your impressive pad There’s your little baby girl you’re almost glad you had Such a pretty dress, miss, such a graceful walk Bubbling femininity, authoritative talk There’s your man he’s prominent; treats you like a queen All your little secrets kept, your reputations clean The proper ornaments of life. Gotta have status have a paid vacation, have an intellectual education ornaments of life proper ornaments of life fur coats, jewels and laces, bright red lipstick, big cars, money, tuxes and top hats hide behind the mask of clothes and makeup: ornaments There’s your brand new car, sir, here’s your hat and gloves There’s your pretty wife, sir, whom you almost love There’s your color TV set and your impressive pad There’s your little baby girl you’re almost glad you had What’s behind that countenance What’s behind the lace, What is in your mind and heart Thats hidden by your face Behind the ornaments in your life? Ba, ba, ba.
Hikin’ a football between his knees runnin’ to catch a pass Climbing up the friendly trees, fallin’ in the grass My brother Woody. Singin’ a song and playin’ guitar laughin’ at every goof Tryin’ to touch the morning star from the toolshed roof My brother Woody Don’t go away and leave the lights on Curtain strings don’t get yanked Gotta watch out for Mom "the Bomb" Be good enough not to get spanked My brother Woody
If we have a troubled time, do you stop admiring me? When we see that we aren’t perfect, do you stop desiring me? I could keep your eyes from crying Please don’t turn your back on me; You could keep my heart from dying. Let me hold you, tenderly. Don’t turn away from me, don’t increase the distance between us when things aren’t right. I love you truly so help me, oh Please let me bury my face in your hair and my hopes in your care, My love in your body, my life in your heart beating sadly on nights such as this- Dissolved in one kiss. I could keep your eyes from crying Please don’t turn your back on me; You could keep my heart from dying. Let me hold you, tenderly. Don’t turn away from me, don’t increase the distance between us when things aren’t right. I love you truly so help me, oh Please let me bury my face in your hair and my hopes in your care, My love in your body, my life in your heart beating sadly on nights such as this- Dissolved in one warm, wet, willing kiss.
I’m walking down the street in the rain, my umbrella high above my head, High above my head. Puddles along the wet sidewalks and gutters, (pitter patter) Rain lightly falling from the sky (pitter patter) Rain lightly falling from the sky. Red and green and free design, Umbrellas are in bloom, nourished by the rain. I’m walking down the street in the rain, my umbrella high above my head, High above my head. Though the clouds, the blackness and rain I see the lightning strike as though it were pain. Rain falling hard on a sea of umbrellas, A colorful bottomless ocean. Then the wind it blows and it blows, I see the umbrellas bend, they creak and they groan. Gusting down alleys and through streets of cars Causing unbottled unspent commotion. I spy a patch of blue through a cloud, A patch of blue through a shroud. Hopefully umbrellas hide and shrink and close As the noonday sun peeks through the clouds.
Never tell the world, no, no, no. Never tell the world, never give it reason To mock a love like ours; never sing our song. Keep it locked inside, keep it just between us. Keep it secret, never confide until they all have seen us. Never has the world complied with a love that seems to reproach it; And every wrong-spoken word that we’ve ever heard....warns us: We better keep our cool, our love’s too precious, People hate a broken rule, people won’t accept us. But someday the world might change and a love like ours might belong, But until that day comes along...never tell.
Stay, stay another season, wait, wait before we cry, The wrong is outside us. You’re right my friend as always, You’re right in what you think. You’re wise my love, I know it; The wine of truth we drink. For all that’s pure must perish someday; the ship of warmth must surely sink. You’re right my friend as always; you’re right in what you think. But stay, stay; wait, wait. Stay another season, wait before we cry, The wrong is outside us, but inside us our love can never die. Each spring that ripens to fruitful summertime Comes after that cold winter when tenderness is crime. No one can believe in love or conceive in love like ours. Some other season they’ll get their way, regret their way, But let’s be colorblind and numb to time while we may. You’re right my friend as always, yet before our hearts we rend Lets love while love is in us; consider not the end. ‘Tis best we love the sun, noonday sun, forget the frightful night. Accept the winter’s coming, yet bask in summer’s light. But stay, stay; wait, wait. Stay another season, wait before we cry, The wrong is outside us, but inside us our love can never die. But stay, stay; wait, wait. Stay another season, wait before we cry, The wrong is outside us.
Additional liner notes for non-original songs:
59th BRIDGE STREET SONG (FEELIN' GROOVY): The Free Design have reached out to another source for this song - to Paul Simon of Simon and Garfunkel. Chris' arrangement catches the easy, groovy feeling of the song. Starting with Bill Lavorgna's gentle cymbal and Russ Savakus' bass, the instrumentation builds behind the singers, along with Paul Griffin's organ and two trumpets played by Joe Wilder and Uncle Rusty Dedrick; the brass murmuring at first, then throwing in crisp punctuations and finally coming right out in the open. The mood is wrapped with a bubbling vocal riff over a soft curtain of brass. [ top ]
MICHELLE: The challenge of creating a fresh approach to as well established a success as the Beatles' Michelle led Chris Dedrick to a treatment that is rhythmically stronger and musically more broadly developed than usual. With Stan Freeman's harpsichord, George Ricci's cello and a woodwind quartet made up of Romeo Penque, Ray Beckenstein, Phil Bodner and Stanley Webb throwing in warm dashes of colour into the background, Chris takes the singers through some forthright ensemble singing that leads to an expansive cathedral tone for an ending. [ top ]
A MAN AND A WOMAN: Like 59th Street Bridge Song and Michelle, this is an example of The Free Design going to other sources. This warmly rhythmic song, written by Francis Lai for the film A Man and A Woman, puts The Free Design in a more traditional vocal pattern than they usually use. It is interesting to find that, even in this style, their vocal blend has a dinstinctive depth and richness. A four-flute team and Bob Rosengarden's vibraphone weave their way behind the singers most of the way, with Phil Bodner throwing in a solo flute obbligato at a couple of judicious points. [ top ]