Tom Ciurczak

I got it in my mind to write and record a Christmas song in 2021.  A friend of mine, Doug Suman, had recently written one, and it convinced me that I should have one in my song repertoire as well…

I believe one of the key elements in writing good lyrics is to have a good metaphor. I’ve heard this said by many great song writers. So, when I heard the phrase “I’m going to leave it to the Universe”…

I was purposely trying to come up with a rhyming scheme similar to Bruce Springsteen’s “Blinded by the Light.” It did wind up being significantly different though, as I ended up with a different rhyming pattern.

Guitar wise, I used…

I realized I had a lot of Character driven songs, but I didn’t have any love songs.  So, I sat down to specifically write a couple for the album.  Just before deciding on the songs for the album, I wrote…

I always liked Westerns and decided to write a song with a Western theme.  I was watching “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid” at the time I was writing the lyrics and I kept thinking about it as I developed…

"Mine Torne Road” is a long winding road just north of the Bear Mountain Bridge that connects Rte. 9W, in Fort Montgomery, NY, to the West Point reservation on Rte. 293. I used it along with many other local places…

As I said previously, I realized I didn’t have any love songs for the “Call Me Ishmael” album. So, just before we decided on the songs we would use for the album, I sat down to focus on writing a…

I started writing a collection of themed songs for a Rock Opera back in high school.  We were studying “Jesus Christ Superstar” in High School at the time. “Tommy” by the Who and “Thick as a Brick” by Jethro Tull…

I always was intrigued by the homeless situation in Los Angeles. I never experienced anything like it growing up in upstate New York. In Southern California we have tent cities and encampments under highway overpasses. It’s nearly impossible to come…

As I said previously, I realized I didn’t have any love songs for the “Call Me Ishmael” album.  I had songs about stalkers, drug dealers, arsonists, smugglers and the homeless, but no love songs. So, I consciously sat down to…

“Sunny Came Back” was inspired by Shawn Colvin's song  “Sunny Came Home.”  She won a Grammy for song and record of the year in 1998 for it.  Her song is about a woman named Sunny who basically burns down a…

“Faces in the Crowd”  was the last song we recorded for the Ishmael album. We recorded it live in Perfect Sound Studios and video taped the performance and recording of it. It’s an older song and dates back to the…