A standard of songs that most writers can only dream about and admire in drop-jawed silence."
— Folk Roots Magazine
Unlike many singer-songwriters, Franke has never quested after commercial success as much as an honest hearing of his songs and message."
— Rich Warren, Sing Out! Magazine
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Bob Franke (rhymes with Yankee) writes big songs. The kind of songs that folk singers choose to sing with the audience at the end of their concerts. The kind of songs that sound so much of the tradition that they are accidentally credited as traditional. High honors for a songwriter.
As a songwriting teacher, Bob is known for bringing out the best in other writers. Many, many amazing songs are introduced with the words, “I wrote this song in a class I took with Bob Franke.” High praise for a songwriting teacher.
Bob writes songs that make you think and his songs have the power to challenge the way you think about things. The songs of his that I love are not simple songs at all. They are complex, deep, and full of warm-hearted spirituality.
I’m going to be quoting a little from some of the songs that I am featuring. I don’t think I can say anything about these songs that will give you more than simply quoting the lyrics. He is a brilliant songwriter and I am happy to be sharing his songs with you for Thanksgiving.
Happy Thanksgiving to you all.
I hope you share it with someone you love.
Thanksgiving Eve
It’s a hard thing to think of the times to come
But the grace to accept every moment as a gift
Is a gift that is given to some
What can you do with your days but work & hope
Let your dreams bind your work to your play
What can you do with each moment of your life
But love til you’ve loved it away
Love til you’ve loved it away
A Healing in This Night
For the love you leave within their lives
And there are friends to hear if you should cry
To pray if you should die
And there are songs that sing us all
There’s a pain here that slowly slips away
There’s a love here that’s leading us from darkness into day
There are stars here that fade against the light
They fall but it’s all right
There is a healing in this night
The Silence of Parting
And the songs we have sung here have changed us I know
For the one who hears music is moved to the core
And the one who makes music is changed ever more
But to leave here in friendship – it cannot be wrong
For the silence of parting is but a rest in our song
For Real
In the Pacific back in World War Two
He said he’d rather go down in familiar flames
Than get lost in that endless blue
And some of that blue got into my eyes
And we never stopped fighting that war
Until I first understood about endlessness
And I loved him like never before
There’s a hole in the middle of the prettiest life
So the lawyers and the prophets say
Not your father nor your mother nor your lover’s
Gonna ever make it go away
And there’s too much darkness in an endless night
To be afraid of the way we feel
Let’s be kind to each other, not forever but for real
