Chiharu Konno


Beautiful actress and fashion model who also happens to put out CDs. I got the opportunity to write some lyrics for her album titled “Evening Train”.
http://konnochiharu.seesaa.net

Evening Train

When I first met Chiharu I saw a sadness in her eyes. She wasn’t sad at all but that first impression inspired me to write about someone pining for a love long gone.
 
I was thinking of how much hate some jilted lovers seem to hold inside. Nothing that is said will sway them.
 
I was riding a train on my way back from a meeting with Chiharu one rainy day and I saw tow women sitting across from me. One was very old and she looked like life had worn her out, but next to her was a very young girl with her whole life ahead of her.

Lyric by George Cockle
 
2012 Powerhouse

 
 

Coast Groovers


This was a new unit put together by Mr. Pekelo Yamauchi, formerly of the Japanese Hawaiian Pop band Pupule Boys.

Merry Christmas in Honolulu

Mr. Pekelo Yamauchi formerly from the Hawaiian Pop band Hoopers asked me to write a song about what Christmas is like in Honolulu. It always seemed nice to me that Christmas, a traditionally wintry event can be celebrated under warm sunny skies. 

Lyric by George Cockle
 
2007 Coast Groover Records

Hoopers


The Hoopers were a local Japanese band that was playing traditional Hawaiian hula music along with contemporary Hawaiian music in the vein of Kalpana and Cecilio & Kamono.

Admiration for Mokupuni Style

A got the opportunity to write lyrics for four of the songs on this album. The ocean was in the back of my mind on all of these.
 
They asked me to write some lyrics about surfing. I thought back on how young surfers get so jacked up and party too hard the night before a good swell that they end up missing the waves in the morning.
 
Having lived in California for over twenty years it was easy writing about taking surf trips down to Mexico. Driving down for a few weeks of sun and surf.
 
A song about running into your old lover, someone that you thought you would always be with. Never knowing why you split up in the first place.
 
I had a lady friend who was so charming and beautiful but never seemed to meet the right guy. Maybe she just could not open up her heart to anyone.

Lyric by George Cockle
 
2009 Ocean Tramp Records
Gyro Compass

The band stretched out a little on this second offering. A little more rock and even some rap. But they still kept their island spirit intact.
 
A song about just feeling mad about bad love. Feeling mean and walking around in the middle of the night.
 
Looking for a place across the sea where everything will be all right. Where you will never have to leave your perfect love.
 
Always believing that the heavens will send us true love and happiness. So we can never have to ever hurt anyone again.
 
Looking for a lover, trying to get something going with someone you just met.

Lyric by George Cockle
 
2010 Ocean Tramp Records

Kai


Kai, just like me is a half Japanese half American from Kamakura. I met him when he was still in high school, and once he returned to Japan after attending the Berklee School Of Music he got signed to a management agency and Record Label. We wrote three songs together for his three albums.

Harbor Lights

I think I was just thinking of breaking up with someone and going to revisit those placed that gave us great memories. The owner of the Piccolo Cafe that is in the lyrics wanted me to say Piccolo Vaso, but I couldn’t get it to rhyme.

Lyric by George Cockle
 
2009 Teichiku Entertainment
Feelin’ This Way

Love on a sailboat, using nautical terms to try to convey my thoughts.

Lyric by George Cockle
 
2010 Teichiku Entertainment
A Night Flight

A forbidden love that was never supposed to happen and its aftermath. A heart that didn’t belong to you, that wasn’t yours to break. A very selfish song.

Lyric by George Cockle
 
2011 Teichiku Entertainment

Maacho


A forbidden love that was never supposed to happen and its aftermath. A heart that didn’t belong to you, that wasn’t yours to break. A very selfish song.

Hail Up

This might have been one of the first lyrics I ever wrote. It is a story about all the races in Hawaii mixing and creating a new world order.

Lyric by George Cockle
 
1993 Victor Entertainment

 

Madoka (Hawaiian Music Artist)


A Japanese artists very popular in the Japanese Hawaiian Music and Hula scene.

Island Breezin’

I was asked to write the lyrics to this song for her. I thought about how time could be your friend or be your enemy. It ended up being on two of her albums.

Lyric by George Cockle
 
2005 Pryaid Records
お疲れさま〜Yutarefre〜 

Another series from Hawaii. This time we had some great Hawaiian Ukulele players cover songs from Bob Marley, Beach Boys, Eagles, and would you believe it? The Grateful Dead.


Lyric by George Cockle
 
2009Wonderful Street
Madoka was a geisha from Kyoto who covered “Garden Of Love”, which was a song I originally wrote the lyrics for the singer Sunway.

Lyric by George Cockle
 

Nobuhiko Shinohara


Nobuhiko Shinohara was a member of the Japanese Rock band Flower Travelin’ Band. I was asked to do the lyrics for two of the songs on this album, a soundtrack for a television special. One of the other lyricists was Alan Merrill from Vodka Collins who happened to write “I Love Rock & Roll”, the Joan Jett mega hit.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flower_Travellin%27_Band

世界の街道をゆく

The deal we make with the spirit of the road. It traps you in and won’t let you go.
 
A lover who you meet on the road, until you realize your real lover is the road.

Lyric by George Cockle
 
2012 Pony Canyon

Sincere


Japanese R & B singer covered “Garden Of Love” and also released a Japanese version.

Garden Of Love

Japanese R&B singer covered “Garden Of Love” too. She is the mother of Superstar Crystal Kay.

Lyric by George Cockle
 
1996 Victor Entertainment
おんなは負けない

She also did a cover version in Japanese.


Lyric by George Cockle
 
1995 Victor Entertainment

Sunway


Hawaiian singer Sunway recorded five songs that I wrote the lyrics for. Some were co writing projects.

I’m Your Good Friend

A song of true friendship between two people.
 
Looking for your long lost lover that you just can’t forget.

Lyric by George Cockle
 
1994 Victor Entertainment
Exact

A study in what a woman might feel working in a house of ill repute. A man’s point of view?
 
There was a place in san Francisco that you could watch Pelicans fly just a few feet about your car in the evenings. That is when you realize how big these birds are.

Lyric by George Cockle
 
1995 Victor Entertainment
Sunway

I once saw an ambulance bring a friend of mine from the hospital so he could die in his own home. He passed away from AIDS. I tried to find some solace in his passing with this song.

Lyric by George Cockle
 
1995 Victor Entertainment

Yasuko Agawa


Jazz singer Yasuko Agawa made several non Jazz albums with original material written just for her. I got the opportunity to work with her not only as a recording coordinator but also as her lyricist for some songs on two albums, Meu Romance and Other World.

Other World/Yasuko Agawa

Finding someone you want to communicate and to have them ignore you for some reason. Please just take a chance.
 
A breakup song, where neither of you no longer understand or trust each other.
 
Looking for guidance once we have lost our way, through a mystical creature the unicorn.
 
What has come and gone is not something we should dwell on. We must move on.

Lyric by George Cockle
 
2001 Columbia
Meu Romance

Love will find you when you least expect it. Don’t go looking for love, it will arrive in due time.

Lyric by George Cockle
 
2008 Victor Entertainment

Youki Kudoh


Japanese actor and singer who also worked in America for many years, even appearing in “Mystery Train” by Jim Jarmusch.

Picture Bride

Youki covered “Winston O’Reilly” originally written for Maacho and also recorded two new lyrics of mine, “Talk To Me” and “Thank You Baby”.
 
Looking to the gods to give us the answer.
 
A love song. Love shows up and changes the world when you least expect it.
 
Youki covered this song originally written for Maacho.

Lyric by George Cockle
 
1995 Victor Entertainment