Writing Challenge entries - Mississippi Moon - Minnesota Association of Songwriters

Mississippi Moon

By: Greg Connor,
Copyright info: 2020

Lyrics sheet: https://mnsongwriters.org/wp-content/uploads/formidable/8/Mississippi-Moon-Lyrics-Gregory-A-Connor.rtf

I was here when the moon broke that horizon
And the sunset was still in the sky
Now that lunar light brightly shines on
The river as it gently goes by

Mississippi Moon shimmer on the water
As the river glides to the sea
Mississippi Moon help me consider
Something more than me, Mississippi Moon

So I watch the eddies as they mesmerize
Reflecting the moon and the stars
I conclude as I finally surmise
What a small part we really are

The river runs willfully
Reflecting the heavens above
I’m right here where I should be
Pondering purpose and love

Comments:

Brad, I'm at the limit of my Neanderthal brain power converting the lyrics to single space. My Word Program is 2003 (maybe updated to 2010) and your suggestion was a little too modern. I think I got it. If not let me know and I'll give it another try.

Greg

Mississippi Moon

By: Chad Shank,
Copyright info: 2020

Lyrics sheet: https://mnsongwriters.org/wp-content/uploads/formidable/8/Chad-Shank-Mississippi-Moon.rtf

Mississippi Moon
By Chad Shank

We were getting high and drinking cheapo wine
Somewhere in the weeds out by that riverside
We were teenage kids just chasing summer life
Started making out under the moonlit sky

We learned about love there that night

CHORUS:
Kissing you feeling your hands go up my T shirt
Feel the soft part of your lips
Bending our innocence finding the passion
A magical night of bliss
The riverbank crickets sang chorus in the distance
Serenaded our first time
Something got us in the mood
It’s the Mississippi Moon

We were growing up and learning as we went
Propped our blue jeans up so we could rest our heads
Watched stars go by wishing it would never end
Then we asked ourselves about what would happen next

That night we would never forget

CHORUS

We keep counting the years off
And that night never leaves my mind
Cuz when the moon is way up in the sky
It’s like no time has gone
And I’m back….

CHORUS

Comments:

Written, produced and performed by Chad Shank
(c)2020 Chad Shank Music

Mississippi Moon

By: Vicki Morrison Goble,
Copyright info: Copyright 2020 Vicki Morrison Goble

Lyrics sheet: https://mnsongwriters.org/wp-content/uploads/formidable/8/Vicki-Morrison-Goble-Mississippi-Moon-Solo-Challenge.rtf

Mississippi Moon
Writer: Vicki Morrison Goble

“Come with me,” he said; “let’s go to Mississippi.”
His eyes were bright; his smile tight with hope
“You can even leave me when we get there.
I just need someone to help me go.

If I don’t go now,” he said, “I never will.
I’ll have a wife and kids; I’ll use an office key.
My hopes and dreams will never be fulfilled.
I really want to go, come with me please.

CHORUS
Let’s go down to Mississippi;
We’ll watch the stars at night and share a point of view
Let’s go down to Mississippi,
Where we can dance beneath the Mississippi Moon.”

I shook my head; “What would my mama say
if I took off and ran away with you?
And what about your bride; what about your wedding day?
And me, I really need to stay in school.”

Repeat Pre-Chorus

Repeat Chorus

What if I had gone, what would I have seen?
I’d like to peek into that fantasy.
Would things be diff’rent? I don’t know.
If I had dared to follow my Romeo?

Repeat Chorus

Comments:

I made it!

Mississippi Moon

By: Mike Rudquist,
Copyright info: 2020

Lyrics sheet: https://mnsongwriters.org/wp-content/uploads/formidable/8/MikeRudquist-MississippiMoon-SoloChallenge-1.rtf

Mississippi Moon

Way down south
Sixty one highway
Where the Georgia Pines shade
And the alligators play
I met my best girl, Ella
Who plays the guitar
Out of tune
Mississippi Moon, Mississippi Moon

The Bulldogs play
the Alabama Crimson Tide
We all cheer and stomp
On Saturday night
Touchdowns and pigskins
Are all that we wanna do
Mississippi Moon, Mississippi Moon

Chorus
So lets go
To those river banks
Where It feels so right
Where the moon sneaks in
On those southern nights
Mississippi Moon, Mississippi Moon

I've travelled all around the world
Paris to Tokyo
Seen the Broadway lights
Desert Island ocean glow
But I always come back
To the place worth coming back to
Mississippi Moon, Mississippi Moon

So lets go
To those river banks
Where It feels so right
Where the moon sneaks in
On those southern nights
Mississippi Moon, Mississippi Moon

Comments:

Mississippi Moon

By: Grant Ruckheim,
Copyright info: 2020

Lyrics sheet: https://mnsongwriters.org/wp-content/uploads/formidable/8/GrantRuckheim_MississippiMoon_SoloSongwritingChallenge.rtf

Mississippi Moon

I saw the Mississippi moon
She shined upon the water and up back at you
And We laid back against the wooden canoe
In darkness, I shared a secret nobody knew

Refrain:
Sometimes a friend can help you bear the load
Sometimes a friend will teach you more than you know
I’ve spend the last 8 months on my own
But It feels good to share the moonlight with you.

You listened patiently as I shared the news
And empathized how you’ve also been bruised
Told me that it could take a long time to heal
Unless I let the moonlight in and trust myself

It would take a lifetime
But now you'll be my lifeline

[Repeat refrain]

Now it has been 12 months since that Mississippi Moon
And I still here your worlds echo back at me
“Don’t listen to what he said. You’re worth much more than that.
You'll find someone to trust once you trust yourself”

[Repeat refrain]

Grant Ruckheim – grantruckheim@gmail.com – 612 708 8766

Comments:

Mississippi Moon

By: Douglas Millaway,
Copyright info: 2020

Lyrics sheet: https://mnsongwriters.org/wp-content/uploads/formidable/8/Mississippi-Moon-.rtf

Mississippi Moon –
Doug Millaway Copyright 2020

I'm traveling down the Mississippi
The bright crescent moon overhead
There's a wat going all around me
Can't believe I'm not dead
Moonlight don't know the difference
Between peace and a bullet of lead

My job seems pretty simple
The railroad that runs underground
We sail from light into darkness
Careful to not make a sound
Moonlight don't know the difference
Between being lost or being found

Mississippi moon, what do you see?
Mississippi moon, help us be free

The blue and the gray all look the same
On a summer night lit by the moon
I'll take the chance to find all the stolen
We'll be heading up north really soon
Moonlight don't know the difference
Between Cairo and Saskatoon

Float past the lights of St Louis
I hear sounds of unrest on the shore
One man should not own another
Whether he be rich or be poor
Moonlight don't know the difference
Between flowers and manure

Comments:

Fun project

Mississippi Moon

By: Paul Beckermann,
Copyright info: 2020

Lyrics sheet: https://mnsongwriters.org/wp-content/uploads/formidable/8/Paul-Beckermann-Mississippi-Moon-Solo-Challenge.rtf

Mississippi Moon

Sitting by the river on a slippery rock
Probably should have given it a little more thought
We made the long climb to the top of the bridge
It was 60 feet up to the jumpin’ ledge

And we did it. Yes we did it.

Chorus:
And we’ll blame it on the moon
We’ll blame it all on the Mississippi Moon
Together in the night with the full moon bright
We’re gonna take a little ride on a risky side
We’ll dive in and blame it on the moon
We’re gonna blame it all on the Mississippi Moon

And when I jumped my pants caught hold
On a rusty old nail, that’s what I’m told
It twisted and it pulled me and it spun me around
It sent me tumblin’ down my world upside down

Toward the water, toward the water.

Chorus:
And we blamed it on the moon
We blamed it all on the Mississippi Moon
Together in the night with the full moon bright
We’re gonna take a little ride on a risky side
We’ll dive in and blame it on the moon
We’re gonna blame it all on the Mississippi Moon

We did it, yes we did it

And I landed by a rock that was three feet wide
I was terrified, but I didn’t die, now we think of that night
Whenever we’re lost, don’t know what to do
I’ll take that leap, and I’ll take it with you

With you and the moon

Chorus:
And we’ll blame it on the moon
We’ll blame it all on the Mississippi Moon
Together in the night with the full moon bright
We’re gonna take a little ride on a risky side
We’ll dive in and we’ll blame it on the moon
We’re gonna blame it all on the Mississippi Moon
We’re gonna blame it all on the Mississippi Moon

©Paul Beckermann | paulandpambeckermann@gmail.com | 320-455-7420

Comments:

Mississippi Moon

By: Brad Dunsé,
Copyright info: 2020

Lyrics sheet: https://mnsongwriters.org/wp-content/uploads/formidable/8/Brad-Dunse-Mississippi-Moon-Summer2020.rtf

Mississippi Moon

I’m Towboat Toby out’a Baton Rouge
Pushing 40 barges with a triple screw
Headed north for Cairo Illinois
Flankin’ banks at 10,000 horse
Dodging skiffs and bars of course
Smell that river… man it’s a beautiful night
And look right there, ain’t that quite a view
That’s my Mississippi, Mississippi moon

[Chorus]
No matter where I roam in this old world
My pilot house and crew are always here
Back here on the river
Pushing 46,000 ton
And to get back here all I got to do
Is see my Mississippi, Mississippi moon

Wilkerson Point’s lyin’ dead ahead
That’s one wicked piece of riverbed
It’ll throw your tow when the river’s flooding high
It pulled us under in a massive fit
My crew got out, some say I didn’t
Somethin’ ‘bout that story ain’t quite right
I’m doing fine aboard The Déjà Vu
‘Neath my Mississippi … Mississippi moon

[Repeat chorus]

They say old river pilots never die
When they go down with their tow
I reckon there’s a bit
Of truth to that old myth
Guess that one’s best left up to you
‘Neath my Mississippi … Mississippi moon

[Repeat chorus]

I come back to the river
Every time they make this run
To get me here all they got to do
Is see that Mississippi… Mississippi moon
To get me here all they got to do
Is see that Mississippi… Mississippi moon

Comments:

Mississippi Moon

By: Ann Thompson,
Copyright info: 2020

Lyrics sheet: https://mnsongwriters.org/wp-content/uploads/formidable/8/ALThompson.Mississippi-Moon.SoloChallenge.rtf

Mississippi Moon

There’s a carpet of light on the river tonight.
I am thinking that it is magic.
Sirens’ songs igniting, the forest delighting
Passions I fear could be tragic.

Mississippi Moon, Mississippi Moon,
Mississippi Moon, are you crying?

A union is coming. A dance of becoming.
Fast, clear water is running high.
Mother earth is drumming. Oaks and willows humming.
All is one water, earth, and sky.

Mississippi Moon, Mississippi Moon,
Mississippi Moon, are you smiling?

The Corn Moon is calling. A new day is dawning.
Ancient eyes are drawing me in.
I’m feeling surrender, bewitched in night splendor.
There’s a turning about to begin.

Mississippi Moon, Mississippi Moon, Mississippi Moon
You are laughing!

As the sun rises and my dream starts to fade
One thing I remember Mississippi Moon is alive.

Ann L. Thompson, ©9/14/15

Comments:

Mississippi Moon

By: Leslee McKee-Perry,
Copyright info: 2020

Lyrics sheet: https://mnsongwriters.org/wp-content/uploads/formidable/8/Mississippi-Moon-lyrics.rtf

Mississippi Moon

I've travelled the country
Seen a good bit of the world
Looking for a place I could belong
And I've seen some beauty
Made some life-long friends
But mostly what I felt like was alone

Chorus:
Doesn't matter where I go
This will always be my home
I couldn't get back here too soon
To bathe in her light
Where everything's right
I missed my Mississippi Moon

Growing up in Minnesota
With the winter's stifling cold
Spent frozen to the core half of my days
What I've realized now that I didn't see before
When it comes to love, the River has her ways

[Chorus]

Instrumental Bridge

[Chorus]

©Leslee McKee-Perry 2020

Comments:

Solo written, recorded with a little help from some friends

Schletty-Mississippi Moon-Summer Solo Challenge

By: Richard Schletty,
Copyright info: 2020

Lyrics sheet: https://mnsongwriters.org/wp-content/uploads/formidable/8/Schletty-Mississippi-Moon-Summer-Solo-Challenge.rtf

Mississippi Moon
Richard Schletty

     C        G           Am    C 
I'll hammer a beat with a rusty spoon
    Dm       G         Dm       G
I'm takin' a ride on a drifting log
     C       G                  Am       C 
The night is clear, cause there ain't no fog
     Dm     G         C
I'll drop a line as I carry a tune

Am     G         F        G
When I hear that lonesome loon
Am     G     F       G 
I just wanna cry out loud
Am   Dm      F      G      
Underneath a starry shroud
          F     G     C
Under the Mississippi Moon

Comments:

MISSISSIPPI MOON

By: JOHN BENNETT,
Copyright info: ©2020 John Bennett

Lyrics sheet: https://mnsongwriters.org/wp-content/uploads/formidable/8/MISSISSIPPI-MOON-John-Bennett.rtf

MISSISSIPPI MOON

She said meet me tonight beneath the Mississippi moon
We arranged to stay late for a midnight rendezvous
Romance was in the air
We laid our souls bare

Underneath the Mississippi Mississippi moon
We wouldn't let the night to end too soon
We fell in love under the Mississippi moon

Buttermilk orb shining on two shadows bellow
While on the veranda we danced the Tango
You peaked under my mask
Love’s spell on us was cast

Underneath the Mississippi Mississippi moon
Basking in the glow of the night’s solitude
We made in love under the Mississippi moon

Stars scattered like sequins on your black velvet dress
Love shines in your eyes my words hardly can express
It’s impossible to keep
Both feet on the ground

Underneath the Mississippi Mississippi moon
We wouldn't let the night to end too soon
We fell in love under the Mississippi moon

Light shines from above and the water below
Like a rocket to the stars that keeps our hearts aglow
We wrote our love song
It took us all night long

Underneath the Mississippi Mississippi moon
My whole world now orbits around you
Since we fell in love under the Mississippi moon

Comments:

It's better not to rhyme the word overused word moon but to put a word after it Like Moondance Moon River Moon ice cream whatever.

Mississippi Moon

By: Doyle Turner,
Copyright info: 2020

Lyrics sheet: https://mnsongwriters.org/wp-content/uploads/formidable/8/Doyle-Turner-Mississippi-Moon-Solo-Challenge.rtf

Mississippi Moon

Verse 1
current pulled and curved
through the reds and yellows
fall brought a knowing
you were more than I deserved

Verse 2
sunlight fell away
to my pulse gone rising
like the seasons flyin
put my heart in play

Chorus
we lost track of time, lost track of ourselves
lost to the current, overwhelmed
by the light of that
Mississippi Moon, Mississippi Moon

Verse 3
Like a fierce spring flood
in a rush we’re carried
over the levee
you are settled in my mud

Chorus

Bridge:
rising full right were we are
orbit slow round this new star

Mississippi Moon, Mississippi Moon

Chorus

Comments:

I would like to credit Chad Shank for his help mixing and mastering the final draft of the song.

Mississippi Moon

Lyrics sheet: https://mnsongwriters.org/wp-content/uploads/formidable/8/Mississippi-Moon-Paula-Wilson.rtf

Mississippi Moon

Walked this bridge ‘bout a hundred times
Came here tonight, to clear my mind, and my
Steps are slow cuz I walk alone
I feel this hole, inside my soul

But the light reflecting on the river, brings a message for me

Mississippi Moon, filled my heart with hope, that night in June
Mississippi moon, you’re my sign, my love is coming soon
Mississippi moon, Mississippi moon

Walk this bridge with my lover new
Looking for clues, willl he be true, and he
Holds me tight this cool summer night
There in his eyes I see the sky

And the light reflecting on the river brings a message for me

Walk this bridge it’s our wedding night
I’m his he’s mine, our hearts combined, and our
Steps are slow cuz we walk alone
He fills that hole, inside my soul

And the light reflecting on the river brings a message for us

Mississippi Moon, filled our hearts with hope, that night in June
Mississippi moon, you’re our sign, we’ll grow a family soon
Mississippi moon, Mississippi moon

Comments:

Mississippi Moon

Lyrics sheet: https://mnsongwriters.org/wp-content/uploads/formidable/8/Steve-Cassavant-Mississippi-Moon-Solo-Challenge.rtf

Mississippi Moon

Emmitt Till was just 14 when he walked into the country store
In the town of Money Mississippi on that fateful day
He was accused of the crime of being friendly, that and nothing more
For flirting with a white woman, so they say
The men folk grabbed him, tortured and shot him and dragged him down to the shore
Into the muddy Tallahatchie they just threw him away
His precious life was taken too soon
‘Neath the ghostly glow of the Mississippi Moon

I pray to God that someday we’ll know
That peace will be coming soon
No more to be haunted by the ghostly glow
Of the Mississippi Moon

To help the good folks of Neshoba County register to vote
In ‘64 the Freedom Riders came to town
Cheny, Goodman, and Schwerner were the three who brought them hope
They were there to spread democracy all around
But then the KKK came and snatched them away and tied them up with rope
Then shot them in the head and chucked them in the ground
Each life was gone with a flash and a boom
‘Neath the ghostly glow of the Mississippi Moon

I pray to God that someday we’ll know
That peace will be coming soon
No more to be haunted by the ghostly glow
Of the Mississippi Moon

What will it take before we learn?
How can we heal while crosses burn?
We must work together to lift this shroud of gloom
To end the ghostly glow of the Mississippi Moon

Emmitt Till, Cheny, Goodman, and Schwerner – say their names
Martin Luther King Jr and Medgar Evers – say their names
Trayvon Martin and Tamir Rice – say their names
Ahmaud Arbery and Philando Castille – say their names
George Floyd and Breonna Taylor – say their names
And the thousands more forgotten souls – say their names

I pray to God that someday we’ll know
That peace will be coming soon
No more to be haunted by the ghostly glow
Of the Mississippi Moon

No more to be haunted by the ghostly glow
Of the Mississippi Moon

Comments:

Mississippi Moon

Lyrics sheet: https://mnsongwriters.org/wp-content/uploads/formidable/8/Mary-Kealy-Falk-Mississippi-Moon-Solo-Challenge.rtf

Mississippi Moon

I was sitting on the bank of the Mississippi River
On the day my Daddy died, watching the water flowing down the way
Well, he left us way too young and he left me way too soon
I looked up at the sky and I started to pray

I said Daddy, please tell me, what am I supposed to do
As the moon shined above so silently
Then I saw my Daddy’s smile, and I knew I wasn’t alone
I knew where my Daddy would always be

Chorus:
Well I saw my Daddy’s smile in the Mississippi Moon
Shining down on me from the place that he calls home
And when I see my Daddy’s smile in the Mississippi Moon
I know I will never be alone

Verse 2
Now when I ‘m sad and lonely sitting by the Mississippi River
Watching the river flowing and letting it take me wherever it goes
And when the sun goes down and the evening stars are shining
And the sky lights up and shows the full moon’s glow
I say Daddy, please tell me what am I supposed to do
As the moon looks down on me so silently
But then I see my Daddy’s smile in the Mississippi Moon
And I know that’s where Daddy will always be

Repeat Chorus

I asked again, oh Daddy, please tell me what to do
And I hear my Daddy’s voice say tenderly
Be everything you are and when it comes to pass
Become everything you were meant to be

Repeat Chorus

Comments:

Mississippi Moon

Lyrics sheet: https://mnsongwriters.org/wp-content/uploads/formidable/8/Steve-Cassavant-Mississippi-Moon-Challenge-2.rtf

Mississippi Moon
Mississippi Moon, Mississippi Moon
This is my song called Mississippi Moon

As a songwriting challenge I had to come up with a tune
And the title had be Mississippi Moon
When I first saw the theme I thought “oh great,
Now here’s something of which I cannot relate”
What am I supposed to do with this?
I’ve never even been to ‘Ol Miss

At first I wrote about a couple In June
Who fell in love ‘neath the Mississippi Moon
By and by, she passed away, and still after twenty years
Every time he looks up at the moon his eyes are filled with tears
The more I wrote, the sappier it got,
I just abandoned it … at least I gave it a shot

Mississippi Moon, Mississippi Moon
This is my song called Mississippi Moon

What gives Mississippi the right the claim the moon as their own?
There are lots of other places where it’s been known to have shown
Who said it was theirs? Was there a public notice?
Are there any documents signed by POTUS
Who designated it Mississippi moon? Was it Galileo or just some random guy
Or someone on the Wabasha bridge flashing his butt to the boats going by

Mississippi Moon, Mississippi Moon
This is my song called Mississippi Moon

I decided I’d look out on the net
To see what other ideas I could get
But every Google search gave me the same old hit:
“Oh Black Water keep on rollin’ Mississippi Moon won’t you keep on shinin’ on me”
But that didn’t help me a bit

Now it’s time for the obligatory chord progression:
One, Five, Six, One, Two
I said One, Five, Six, One, Two

Mississippi Moon, Mississippi Moon
This is my song called Mississippi Moon

Mississippi Moon, Mississippi Moon
Here’s the end of my song called Mississippi Moon

Comments:

This is the second song. This one was kinda spontaneous just for fun. I wanted to call it "Mississippi Moon – The Sequel", but you were pretty adamant about the title.