NOTE: THIS TRACK HASN'T BEEN MASTERED YET, AND SO YOU'LL NEED TO TURN YOUR SPEAKERS UP A BIT.

This will be the title track to my next album. In these Orwellian times, I think it best that I just let you read the lyrics (below).....that will clue you in to what this one is about :-)

As I was writing the lyrics, I Googled "Active volcanos in 2025," and immediately got a very handy list. Isn't the inter-webs something ;-)

Many thanks to mi amiga excelente Edy Rizo for the vocals on the chorus sections!

Walter Ehresman: vocals & vocoder vocals; guitar, 5 & 8-string electric basses, keyboards, vocoder, drum machine programming. Special Guest--Edy Rizo: vocals.

Into the Volcano! (© 2026 Walter Ehresman)

Etna hungers for the cosplay Barbie;

While Popo drools over the bug-eyed fool;

Bagana set its sights on the drunk toy soldier;

While Ibu licks its lips for the blonde-haired tool.

[chorus]

The Orange-Head Cabal—tossed in the fiery maw;

The Earth observing from the side no more;

This igneous solution surely lightens the planet’s load—

return their carbon atoms to the core.

Stromboli says its feeling quite ambitious—

and has signed up to digest the Nazi ghoul;

All hoping that the lava won’t reject him

and spit him out to keep his shadow rule.

The Red Hats stand there, aghast, while the magma asks “Now….what do we do with you….?”

For solo and band official releases for Walter Ehresman, please click here: https://walterehresman.bandcamp.com/

p. 2026 Walter Ehresman. All rights reserved.

NOTE: THIS TRACK HASN'T BEEN MASTERED YET, AND SO YOU'LL NEED TO TURN YOUR SPEAKERS UP A BIT.

Like 99% of my songs over the last 3-4 years, I dreamed this one. As far as I can recall, this is my first attempt at a true punk rock song. Great fun, singing and playing this one :-) The lyrics are of no great import.....just a series of metaphors and puns drawn from chess and trigonometry, all overlaid with the obligatory sexual innuendo. Good times.....

Diagonal Music (© 2025 Walter Ehresman)

My words don’t follow the dotted lines, baby;

They just throw a wrench into your eye;

Your barricades got the same old blah-blah,

but full-frontal tactics just ain’t my style.

[chorus #1]

’cause I write diagonal music, baby;

Always comin’ at ya from the side;

Movin’ on ya like a sneakin’ bishop, baby;

With all those angles hangin’ on for the ride.

Acute ploy, trying to act obtuse;

But I know you know what I’m layin’ down;

Scooch that protractor right off the table, baby;

No need to plot our course when we go downtown.

[chorus #2]

’cause I play diagonal music, baby;

Always comin’ at ya from the side;

Movin’ on ya like a sneakin’ bishop, baby;

With all those angles hangin’ on for the ride.

[chorus #3]

’cause I sing diagonal music, baby;

Always comin’ at ya from the side;

Movin’ on ya like a sneakin’ bishop, baby;

With all those angles hangin’ on for the ride;

With all those angles hangin’ on for the ride;

With all those angles hangin’ on for the ride.

Walter Ehresman: vocals, guitars, 5-string electric bass, key percussion, drum machine programming.

For my official releases, please click here: https://walterehresman.bandcamp.com/

p. 2026 Walter Ehresman. All rights reserved.

NOTE: THIS TRACK HASN'T BEEN MASTERED YET, AND SO YOU'LL NEED TO TURN YOUR SPEAKERS UP A BIT.

Well, this one is some pretty "Zappa level" satire, lyrically, while being more Steely Dan-ish, musically. Like all my songs the last few years, this one came in a dream. I think it was prompted the night before, when I was scrolling through YouTube (as one will) and saw a video titled "Female Nashville Songwriter Reacts to Iggy & the Stooges." So I thought, "Yeah, ok, I'll click on that," and it was not anything special except at the end, where she said "I liked that it was provocative for real.....everything now would be provocative by committee."

The song is about how image consultants, PR flacks and management teams script every word and move for maximum profit, all but ensuring a total absence of authenticity in popular culture. And no worries about who gets exploited along the way.

Many thanks to my (ex)Nashville friend Mike Duncan for the background vocals!

Provocative By Committee (© 2025 Walter Ehresman)

We counted 27 gasps of outrage;

That’s three more than the previous focus group;

And so Young Missy’s costume will be altered

to keep that nipple even more in view.

Our polling shows misogyny ascendant,

and so we’ve drafted phrases he can use

while opening for the orange head headliner

to keep the yahoos’ minds off of the news.

[chorus]

There’s too much money here to be unscripted;

The shareholders are not served by ad libs;

--contrivance ups the bottom line;

--lip-syncing keeps the sound so fine

with no room for what might flow from your id.

[bridge]

Studies show this is the way to go.

The woman on the dog-leash sold like hot cakes—

the merch was simply flying off the shelves;

So our team suggests the cover for the new one

show a teenage girl’s fellatio in Hell.

For the tour, we’ve hired very special dancers

who all look much (MUCH!) younger than they are;

All trained to stand the bullwhip from the singer,

and to scream in key beneath the lead guitar.

--stick with us, boys, and you’ll go far!

Walter Ehresman: lead and vocoder vocals, guitars, 4-string acoustic/electric fretless bass, keyboards & key percussion, electric percussion pad, drum machine programming. Special guest--Mike Duncan: background vocals.

For official solo and band releases from Walter Ehresman, please click here: https://walterehresman.bandcamp.com/

p. 2025 Walter Ehresman. All rights reserved.

NOTE: THIS TRACK HASN'T BEEN MASTERED YET, AND SO YOU'LL NEED TO TURN YOU SPEAKERS UP A BIT.

Well, those of y'all that know me know that this isn't the kind of song that you would expect me to write. Believe me....I get it. But for the last few years, all my songs have been coming to me in dreams, and this one came to me with an old school country twang in it. And so I felt like that's the way I needed to record it.

And so I thought....."hmmm, I'm not a country guitar player and while I could do something that would work, it would be better if I just got Mike in to do the main electric guitar rhythm track." I think this is the first time in my over 250 songs that I've written and recorded that I've brought someone else in to do the main guitar track.....so I had to do a little ego surrender here. But that's what the song wanted, and you always have to serve the song.

And so I talked to my good friend Mike Duncan, who is a retired Nashvile super-picker who lives down the street from me here in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico, and he suggested that he'd be glad to trade some studio time for a bottle of tequila. Sounded more than fair to me, so we did it last Saturday. He plays the electric guitar (rhythm and first solo), and I play the acoustic guitars (rhythm and second solo) as well as the bass, key percussion and drum machine programming. I sing lead vocals and Mike sings the backing vocals.

As for the lyrical content of the song, consider it my manifesto for 2026 :-)

(I Still Want) The Big Love

(© 2025 Walter Ehresman)

Is it more than I should hope for?

Is it much more than my share?

Do we each have just a finite sum

divided up by love affair?

‘cause I refuse to see things that way—

I’d like to think we all have time;

And so, despite my so-called peculiar ways,

I’m gonna lay my heart out on the line….

‘cause I still want the big love;

I wanna dive deep into her eyes;

I wanna tune my mind to her desires,

and feel her do the same right back to mine;

I want to hold hands ‘cause we want to;

Laugh in bed ‘til our guts are sore;

I want to be a team ‘til our final days—

be that safety net that let’s my partner soar.

--I know it’s been a long time lookin’;

They say it happens when you look no more;

I can’t pretend to know the answer,

but at least I know what I’m waiting for…..

‘cause I still want the big love;

I wanna dive deep into her eyes;

I wanna tune my mind to her desires,

and feel her do the same right back to mine;

I want to hold hands ‘cause we want to;

Laugh in bed ‘til our guts are sore;

I want to be a team ‘til our final days—

be that safety net that let’s my partner soar.

…and they’ll say “Damn, that man could not have loved her more.”

Walter Ehresman: lead vocals, acoustic guitar, Godin Acousticaster (solo no. 2), 5-string electric bass, key percussion, drum machine programming. Special guest--Mike Duncan: electric guitars, background vocals.

Click here for Walter's catalogue: https://walterehresman.bandcamp.com/

p. 2025 Walter Ehresman. All rights reserved.

This last summer, I enjoyed many Saturday nights watching a top-notch flamenco group play at a local cantina here in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico, where I live. The Spanish singer, Esther Asulito, is simply phenomenal, and I had brought her in last year to sing on a hard rock track with me in my studio (which she knocked out of the park). As I heard her astonishing voice in a true flamenco setting, I got the idea to see if I could write and record something along those lines. I knew it wouldn't be authentic flamenco ("nuevo flamenco"?......."gringo flamenco".....?), but I thought I could try something that would really try to catch the flavor, and be composed with respect for the real thing.

And so here is the result. It's the second song I've written from scratch in Spanish (albeit with the help of translator programs and some subsequent reality-checking from native Spanish speakers). I've always loved Spanish guitar (and actually got to see Paco de Lucia live a couple of times back in the day), and it's a style that I have fun attempting. And so, here, I played the nylon-string acoustic guitar, then added in fretless bass and a cajon part (played on my octa-pads) at the choruses, and Esther came in and ripped the roof off with her vocals (and also added three tracks of palmas). I'm really happy with the result. She's a professional flamenco singer (although I think she can basically sing anything), and so I very much appreciate that she took my song seriously and saw that I was approaching the project with humility and respect.

Thank you, Esther!

Rompí La Cáscara de Mi Corazón (I Broke the Shell of My Heart)

(© 2025 Walter Ehresman)

[voz de mujer; woman’s voice]

Rompí la cáscara de mi corazón por ti;

(I cracked the shell of my heart for you);

Ahora expuesto a la luz y la sal;

(Now exposed to light and salt);

Sostienes desnudo en tu mano

(You hold naked in your hand)

lo que yo pasé años protegiendo.

(what I spent years barricading.)

Así que mi pregunta para ti

(And so my question for you)

es fundamental e inmediata--

(is fundamental and immediate--)

¿Cuáles son tus intenciones con respecto

(What are your intentions for)

a esta nueva y frágil ave que sostienes?

(this fragile new bird you hold?)

[chorus]

Porque ardo por amar de verdad—

(Because I burn to love fully--)

tal vez por primera vez en mi vida;

(Maybe for the first time in my life)

pero no hasta quemarme,;

(But not until I burn)

no hasta quedar en cenizas.

(Not until I turn into ashes)

Apostarlo todo—

(To take the biggest chance of all--)

desnudar mi alma ante ti…….

(to lay my soul bare to you……)

ha sido lo más difícil que he hecho;

(is the hardest thing I have ever done);

Por favor... que también valga la pena.

(Please make it also the best).

Walter Ehresman: nylon-string acoustic guitars, 4-string acoustic/electric fretless bass, electronic percussion pads. Special guest--Esther Asulito: vocals, palmas.

For official releases from Walter Ehresman, please click here: https://walterehresman.bandcamp.com/

p. 2025 Walter Ehresman. All rights reserved.

NOTE: THIS TRACK HASN'T BEEN MASTERED YET AND SO YOU'LL NEED TO TURN YOUR SPEAKERS UP A BIT.

Last month, I wrote four songs in two days.....two each night came as dreams, and then I had to get up early in the morning to write everything down. This one is the 3rd of the batch, and is about what it means to be a US expatriate who still cares very much about fighting the right wing fascist take-over of the country. I spent my whole career in very-stressful (and low paying.....) government service for the State of Texas....trying to do the people's business in a state where those who run things very much don't want the people's business to be done. So on the one hand, I feel like I have made my good faith contritutions to making things better and so it's ok that I left the country to live in Central Mexico back in 2015. But on the other hand, watching the good people at the No Kings protests, I sure wish I'd been there for that.

Like the first two songs of this batch of 4 that I'm recording, I was in a mindset where I was feeling particularly strongly about trying to make the music fresh, new and different from what I've done before. And since I've written and recorded around 250 songs in my lifetime, that's a lot to try to not be repetitive when there's only 12 notes in the western scale :-) And so for this particular song, I used a crazy guitar tuning that I saw online: F-A-C-G-C-E (for those of you playing at home). The YouTube channel video I stumbled on had the clickbait title of "Try this tuning...beautiful chords just fall into your hands!"

Needless to say, "beautiful chords" did not just "fall into my hands," but after fooling around with this tuning for a few minutes, I saw how I could make it work for this song. I also used a lot of exotic vocal harmonies for this one....all in the name of trying to break new ground. I'll leave it to the listeners to say whether it works musically.

Expatriate (But Patriot Still)

(© 2025 Walter Ehresman)

Just because I left doesn’t mean that I don’t care,

but I think I’ve earned my rest, having long-since done my share;

And in truth I couldn’t stay there as I watched the things you do;

To stay just helps to normalize the darkness that ensues.

[chorus]

‘cause I don’t share your values, or your violent blank-eyed stare;

And I don’t respect the careless way you boast that you don’t care;

And we cannot share the same space, so I left there when I could;

But my fight is still for principles for which the country stood

(at least the ones I’d like to think for which the country stood).

Before I left, I felt detached from what I saw around—

frantic misplaced intensity for things morally unsound;

Or else immerse in games so deep all fun has been leached dry,

while denigrating women while out hangin’ with the guys;

And hatred for “the other” as the blame flies everywhere

(except, of course, the mirror—you won’t ever put it there);

While nobles and their purchased politicians pull the strings

by ginning up your bigotries as you vote for bloody kings.

[bridge]

I’m gone, but I still follow news of all the things you do;

Some people say I shouldn’t, but my heart gapes at the view,

as it breaks to watch the suffering of all but greedy few.

Walter Ehresman: vocals, acoustic six-string guitar, acoustic/electric fretless bass, key percussion, electric mandola.

Engineered and produced by Walter Ehresman at Snipe Bog Studios, San Miguel de Allende, Mexico.

For my official releases, please click here: https://walterehresman.bandcamp.com/

p. 2025 Walter Ehresman. All rights reserved. Snipe Bog Records

NOTE: THIS TRACK HASN'T BEEN MASTERED YET AND SO YOU'LL NEED TO TURN YOUR SPEAKERS UP A BIT.

Musically, this song is what happens whey you consciously try to write and record something that fights against all your self-perceived tendencies. Over the years, I've written and recorded around 250 songs, and--given that I'm completely self-taught and don't know any music theory at all--I'm very conscious of trying not to repeat myself while, at the same time, having a limited musical knowledge to draw from. As I was writing the music for this one, I started to have conversations with myself like "man, this particular chord progression wants to resolve with a 'G', but haven't I done that before?.....", and so I made a very-conscious effort on this one to try to write chord progressions, etc. that DON'T sound like what I've done before (at least, as best as I can remember it....). The challenge was to try to make sure I was doing something really new, without having some of those musical decisions be gratuitous......in other words, whatever I came up with had to "work" musically.

The problem with this is I went so against my instincts all through this song that I'm not sure I like it :-) I fear it comes dangerously close (musically, not lyrically) to two genres of music which I really don't like.......theater music, and religous hymns.

I went so far as to use effects in the studio that I rarely have ever used. I chose a "cathedral" reverb for everything, and the lead vocal is running through an effect that duplicates my voice 6x over. And then there's the electric bass solo, in a song that otherwise doesn't have any bass in it.

And so it may be that I've completely lost perspective on this one......you guys will have to be the judge.

Lyrically, it seems I'm writing more and more apocalyptic love songs. Gee, I wonder why.......?

This Late Gift

(© 2025 Walter Ehresman)

From left field comes the heart’s grace;

Just past the end of hope;

Her eyes, with sparkle toward me;

Her open book, my rope.

I’d ceased to think it possible

to find each other here;

Cast away on endless seas……

these endless stretching years.

[chorus #1]

(I will accept) this late gift;

(So thankful for) this late gift;

(My heart soars with) this late gift.

As the world all chooses darkness,

and the last sands run on down;

All that’s left is holding tighter

to this last love I’ve found.

We’ll give each other comfort,

and create moments of joy;

Then hold hands at the last sunset

as greed and hate destroy………….everything.

[chorus #2]

(Still waiting for) that late gift;

(Still reaching for) that late gift;

(Still aching for) that late gift.

Walter Ehresman: vocals & vocoder vocals; keyboards; 5-string electric bass; sequencing.

For official releases from Walter Ehresman, please click here: https://walterehresman.bandcamp.com/

p. 2025 Walter Ehresman. All rights reserved. Snipe Bog Records.

NOTE: THIS TRACK HASN'T BEEN MASTERED YET AND SO YOU'LL NEED TO TURN YOUR SPEAKERS UP A BIT.

Just a little ditty I wrote and recorded in August of 2025, thinking about how people retreat into gaming and virtual reality when we have real world fights they're needed for, beating back fasciam in the US, etc.

Back to the Bytes (© 2025 Walter Ehresman)

Rushing through the daily meat to put the goggles on;

Antiseptic gatherings where fantasies can spawn;

No need for touching others, and no need to look in eyes;

No need for real relationships—no need to empathize.

You seek invisibility when forced to go outside;

You hate that you must speak while earning money for the ride;

You wish you could discard this heavy flesh that ties you down,

and rule upon the virtual—forever wear the crown.

[chorus #1]

You must know that this Soma is a way to blind your sight;

A way to dodge your duty now to join us in this fight;

How can the “real” get better when you check out every night,

and flee from messy friendships as you run back to the bytes?

You think you have a loyal team while creeping through the lair,

when all you have is scattered souls sweating in gamer chairs;

No real human relations, and no real skin in the game;

No friends, no love, no unity, no chance of inner flame.

[chorus #2]

What do you think would happen if most all did just like you,

and hid away in digital distraction out of view?

How can the “real” get better when you check out every night,

and let the real world villains plunder everything in sight,

while you flee from messy friendships as you run back to the bytes?

Walter Ehresman: vocals; keyboards; key loop triggering.

For Walter Ehresman releases, please click here: https://walterehresman.bandcamp.com/

p. 2025 Walter Ehresman. All rights reserved.

From Walter's 23rd solo album, "Collapse, Cha Cha Cha," released on August 13, 2025.

Written, perfomed and produced by Walter Ehresman, San Miguel de Allende, Mexico.

Click here to purchase downloads/unlimited streaming of the song/album: https://walterehresman.bandcamp.com/album/collapse-cha-cha-cha

c., p. 2025 Walter Ehresman. All rights reserved. Snipe Bog Records

NOTE: THIS TRACK HASN'T BEEN MASTERED YET, AND SO YOU'LL NEED TO TURN YOUR SPEAKERS UP A BIT.

I've been thinking for a while about testosterone poisoning in the US and how it affects voting patterns and, after reading a good article by Heather Cox Richardson on how the GOP exploits the American cowboy myth (since Reagan in 1980), I wrote this song.

I sent the lyrics to my friend Gary, who said "I like it, but it's not exactly 'hearts and minds' material." To which I responded "True, but at this point I think all a songwriter can do is use his lyrics like a scalpel to record truth in a time of lies." And right now in America, we're seeing what it means to have a government the people in Idaho, etc. are comfortable with.......

This track will come out on my next solo album, "Collapse, Cha Cha Cha," later this summer. This was the last song to be recorded for the project, and it goes off for digital mastering tonight.

Special thanks to Ron Van Dyke for the background vocals!

Only The Progress Those “Cowboys” Can Stand

(© 2025 Walter Ehresman)

You say you don’t need nothin’ from nobody in this life,

and your woman better know what you’re expectin’ from a wife;

And you think yourself a cowboy, ridin’ tall out on the range,

when—in truth—you’re stockin’ groceries at the local Pik-N-Save;

And you rage that government does nothin’ more than keep you down,

yet you want there to be sewers and electric in your town;

And—of course—you want good water, but no taxes for The Man;

So we can only have the progress that you “cowboys” can stand.

And your manhood is so fragile that all men must be like you;

And your faith so full of doubt that you can’t stand a different view;

And your deepest joy is cruelty from the safety of the herd;

And you’re diggin’ this new fascism (though can’t define the word);

And you’re just a struttin’ bully boy, too scared to stand alone,

as you troll across the internet, death threats by burner phone;

And your red hats are a pox upon the bedrock of this land;

So we can only have the progress that you “cowboys” can stand.

And rural people struggle with their new identity—

the only thing they’re certain of is hating you and me;

Generations voting only for the ones who drive them down…..

still they wonder why the rest cannot respect their little town;

Caught up in macho fantasies that never did ring true;

Wrapped up in tribal schisms of the cross and whiter hue……

while Taylor Sheridan shovels all the horseshit of Ayn Rand,

we can only have the progress that those “cowboys” can stand;

we can only have the progress that you “cowboys” can stand.

Walter Ehresman: lead vocals, electric and acoustic guitars, 5-string electric bass, keyboards & key percussion, electronic percussion pads, drum machine programming. Special Guest--Ron Van Dyke: background vocals.

For my official releases, please click here: https://walterehresman.bandcamp.com/

p. 2025 Walter Ehresman. Snipe Bog Records. All rights reserved.