Circles
By Harvey Reid
Lyrics:
I throw a stone into the water and I watch the circles as they grow
While holidays and birthdays leave footprints like soldiers in the snow
The flowers and the icicles are spokes in a wheel that has no end
And the passing of the seasons makes me think about circles again
The sun and the moon, circles tracing circles in the sky
While old people and children look at each other in the mirror in the eye
Like the turning of a waterwheel like the voice of a long lost friend
When I think about my old friends I think about circles again
Round and round and round in circles we spin
Over and over we end up right where we begin
Those things that never change, those things that are never the same
Though it looks like a straight road I’m traveling in circles again
These round coins in my hand there’s so much I do that they ask me
What goes around will come around; there are wheels turning night & day right past me
I had a dream long ago I was hiding but a clock always found me
And now everywhere I look I see circles all around me
1991 by Harvey Reid (Quahog Music BMI) Used with permission.
Biography:
Songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Harvey Reid has honed his craft since the 1970s in countless clubs, festivals, streetcorners, cafes, schools and concert halls across the nation. He has been called a “giant of the steel strings” and “one of the true treasures of American acoustic music,: and is considered to be one of the modern masters and innovators of the acoustic guitar, autoharp and 6-string banjo. He has absorbed a vast repertoire of American contemporary and roots music and woven it into his own colorful, personal and distinctive style. His 32 recordings on Woodpeckers Records showcase his mastery of many instruments and styles of acoustic music, from hip folk to slashing slide guitar blues to bluegrass, old-time, Celtic, ragtime, and even classical.
Reid is also the author of dozens of music education books as well as an important visionary and pioneer in modern troubadour education. He is the creator of the Liberty Guitar Method, a ground-breaking advance in beginning guitar.
Reid’s skills and versatility on the guitar alone mark him as an important new voice and one of the deepest artists in acoustic music.
He won the 1981 National Fingerpicking Guitar Competition and the 1982 International Autoharp competition. Yet he’s also a veteran musician with a long list of studio and band credits, a strong flatpicker who has won Bill Monroe’s Beanblossom bluegrass guitar contest, a versatile and engaging singer, a powerful lyricist, prolific composer, arranger and songwriter, a solid mandolin, mandocello and bouzouki player, and a seasoned performer and captivating entertainer.
Harvey Reid maintains an extensive website that has the lyrics, liner notes, guitar tunings and more for all of his songs.