Friend of All Creatures
February 14, 2025
1. Future Perfect World
2. Another Holy grail
3. Down the Darkest Road
4. In My Dying Days
5. The Seventh Sleeper
6. Days We'll Remember
7. Words of Love Evermore
Produced by John Boegehold / Engineered, mixed and mastered by Frank Rosato at Woodcliff Studio, Los Angeles, CA
Ted Leonard – vocals and guitar
Jimmy Keegan – drums and percussion
Dave Meros – basses and organ (In My Dying Days)
John Boegehold – synths, programming, mellotron, guitars, ronrocco and vocals
with:
Diane Boothby – vocals
Eliza James – violin
Cover artwork by Inge Schuster (IG: @inge.schuster)
Graphic design by Thomas Ewerhard
Future Perfect World
John Boegehold
Time was moving fast and I had little left to lose
I fled the shadows of my yesterdays
Mapless on my journey trailing stardust from my shoes
Seeking nature’s clues to find my way
Birds are flocking ‘round the trees
Colors splashed across the leaves
Painted by a master’s hand
Sunlight warms the land
Now I walk through fields of clover
Clover rocks and thorns
Straightaway into forever
Toward the place the future’s born
Winding back the clock when I looked inward to explore
By hidden rivers of my life I found
Long-forgotten memories all washed up on the shore
I made my way back to a higher ground
Finding flowers in the weeds
Grateful for this moment’s peace
Longing echoes shape my soul
Life closer to whole
Then one day
He left home
Dreams to chase
Worlds to roam
What if this is heaven
What if this is all there is he cried
I can’t go back
I can’t go back home
What if I’m already
Living life beyond the other side
And can’t go back
Late at night
He counts stars
Some burn bright
Some turn dark
-----
© 2025 Brainforest Music (BMI)
All rights administered worldwide by
Reservoir Media Management, Inc.
_________________________
Another Holy Grail
John Boegehold
There are things that we can’t see
Like oxygen like gravity
And as we breathe we’re swayed by hidden forces
See the horses in the sky
I knew one day they’d learn to fly
Riders take the reins we’re leaving soon
Down the road the dogs run free
Faithful aging gracefully
We raise our glasses high and toast the moon
I missed the forest for the trees
But when the seasons changed
The reasons finally came to be
Old-time religion’s failing me
We live in stranger times
With none so blind as those who will not see
And if the stars rain down around us
Hold the line my friend
It’s not the end
If one by one the wolves surround us
Hold the line my friend
It’s not the end
And when the sun shines down on me
I’ll wake into the day
And make my way in reverie
I’ll face the landmines stoically
With visions realigned
I’ll open up my mind perchance to dream
Life plays out in endless dreams
A film with ever-changing scenes
We’re actors reading scripts with missing pages
From on high a clarion call
The last train’s come to board us all
It’s crowded but I’m sure they’ll make some room
Tickets punched so off we go
We’re cued up for the final show
The orchestra begins in perfect tune
-----
© 2025 Brainforest Music (BMI)
All rights administered worldwide by
Reservoir Media Management, Inc.
_________________________
Down the Darkest Road
John Boegehold
I met a traveler late one night
He said you know I know you
We’re of the ones who’ve never found the light
Well I have something to show you
Follow me
Follow me
Down the darkest road
Follow me
Follow me
It’s time for us to go
He met a fate he’d never choose
He watched the world through gray eyes
While walking endless miles in hell-bound shoes
Through endless nights 'neath cold skies
All souls return unto the earth
Some bloom he said like flowers
Still others dread the day of their rebirth
To live through sunless hours
-----
© 2025 Brainforest Music (BMI)
All rights administered worldwide by
Reservoir Media Management, Inc.
_________________________
In My Dying Days
John Boegehold
I never knew what not to do
Downcast dark troubled thoughts
My world in disarray
If someone asked what I’d been going through
I’d tip my cap and slouch away
My words have failed me now with no one left to listen
I’ll flee perdition for the golden open skies
And hang on for the ride
In my dying days
Will I rise to pierce the veil of night
My ashes scattered on the waves
In my dying days
I was a madman at the edge
Forever haunted
By the wasted moments lost
And as I walked along the ever-crumbling ledge
I faced the last bridge to be crossed
I’ll shed this vessel when I leave its mortal mooring
Beyond the morning where the earthbound hope to fly
And hang on for the ride
In my dying days
Will I find my way up to the light
Or fall back dropping down
Into the dooming haze
In my dying days
-----
© 2025 Brainforest Music (BMI)
All rights administered worldwide by
Reservoir Media Management, Inc.
The Seventh Sleeper
John Boegehold
We ran the race
We crossed the miles
We kept our pace
Watching all the while
Along the way
We tripped the wire
That stopped the rain
That quenched the fire
These extraordinary times
Grow from ordinary lives
We climbed as high
As we could go
Prepared to face
The looming grand unknown
Outside the wall
We hoped we’d find
The land of all
The dreams left behind
The fools who ruled the world
The sainted sinners
Ignored the storm clouds growing near
And as the day unfurled
Defenses splintered
The chosen found the path was clear
Seems they danced to the rhythm of life
Music of the spheres
Soon they disappeared into the night
We breathed the mountain air
Our eyes now focused
The seventh sleeper aimed his gun
Six others standing there
We finally noticed
Their shadows cast long by the sun
Seems they danced to the rhythm of life
Music of the spheres
Seems they disappear into the night
-----
© 2025 Brainforest Music (BMI)
All rights administered worldwide by
Reservoir Media Management, Inc.
_________________________
Days We'll Remember
John Boegehold
We turned our backs to the wind
Thickened our skin
Sins long forgiven
We won’t ask why anymore
We won the war
Standing our ground
We found our way
On roads we've never been down
Homeward we’re bound
Gold skies and green fields
We’ll stop and drink from the well
Stories to tell
Ascending our souls
So onward we go
Hoping to find what we left behind
These are days we’ll remember
When the pictures and words fade
Touched by times that drew us together
They will live in us always
We built the will to let go
All that we know
Flows like a river
Our hearts fly high in the clouds
Laughing out loud
Bound by our promises
Onward we go
Hoping to find what we left behind
One day we'll look back on
Worlds that we traveled through
Tracing our steps right back to the start
Answers to questions
We'll find that we always knew
All hidden down deep in every heart
-----
© 2018 All Rights Reserved. Used by Permission
Reservoir 416 (BMI) All rights administered worldwide by Reservoir Media Management, Inc.
_________________________
Words of Love Evermore
John Boegehold
One day I’m gonna stare into the sun
Till it burns out all these
Cobwebs and muddy water that
Clouds my thoughts about you
Maybe I’ll drift out on the ocean
So far out I can’t see land
Maybe then you’ll understand
Talked up torn down
I handed you the rope that you wrapped around me
Inside the truth lies
Quietly starving barely breathing
Hope’s a ghost in chains behind me
You’re the blood that floods my veins
Close to touch but worlds away
I will hold these dreams forever
I will find that open door
Darkened hearts from words of war
We pass the gate of long goodbyes
Yearning for a path out of the gray
To open every closing door
We’ll never know until we try
To find our voices
Find the words to say
Words of love evermore
Words of love never war
-----
© 2025 Brainforest Music (BMI)
All rights administered worldwide by
Reservoir Media Management, Inc.