Barbara Murrin | SongU.com Member Website

About

I have a special interest in instrumental compositions and am currently working with Randy Klein on honing my skills. I've written and arranged Christian music (mostly choral), and co-written pop, rock, adult contemporary, and country songs.

Certificates:
- Master Certificate, Orchestration for Film and TV (Berklee Online)
- Specialist Certificate, Orchestrating and Producing Music for Film and Game (Berklee Online)
- Certified Lyricist (SongU.com)

Awards:
- One-course scholarship, Berklee Online, for Orchestration I final project, "Gethsemane"
- Song of the Year Category Finalist: "Wash Me Now (Christian/Gospel),
"Gethsemane" (Instrumental), "Tired of this Charade"
- John Lennon Songwriting Contest, "Gentle Spirit" (Christian/Gospel)

Competitions:
- Songs chosen for the Advent Praise CD: "Soli Deo Gloria" (co-writer Mitch Townley) & "Only You" (co-writer Eva Wilson)

Influences I grew up with Christian and classical music. (And I don't know that I can be defined by genres.)

Genres Instrumental, Adult Contemporary, Christian

Instruments Piano/Keyboard

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Songs

9 songs

Where Do You Go?

Plays: 1

Backstory

When I attended the 2007 TAXI convention in California, I shared a hotel room with another songwriter, Jacque Morgan. We decided we'd try to co-write a song while we were there. We got the lyrics hammered out (with subsequent tweaks) and tackled the music. That was less successful, though we did get it to the point where it could be critiqued by SongU.com coach, Randy Klein. We finally circled back to this song after 18 years. I dug out my handwritten lead sheet (done with mechanical pencil while I sat on my hotel bed and checked later on a hotel piano). I made some revisions to the music, with Jacque's input, but it is close to what I wrote in 2007. Jacque and I tackled the lyrics again, guided by Randy's helpful comments, which mostly surrounded the bridge. (Too many pronouns confusing the story and changing the point of view, and "Now what?") The lyrics specifically addressed were the last two lines of verse two and the bridge (plus two other tweaks of our own). This is an AI cover of the song.

Lyrics

Verse 1:
Smoke from scented candles slowly floats across our room
Mingling with your perfume, while I'm lying next to you
Trying to rekindle the love we used to know
But as I pull you closer, I feel the distance grow

Chorus:
Where do you go when shadows touch your eyes?
Where do you go when you're right here by my side?
What secrets do you hide when I feel you slip away?
What can I do to make you want to stay?
Where do you go?

Verse 2:
Tomorrow we'll pretend our world is how it used to be
I'll pour my morning coffee, and you'll steep your lemon tea
You'll stare into the distance as I watch you disappear
And wonder what you're longing for that I can't give you here

Chorus:
Where do you go when shadows touch your eyes?
Where do you go when you're right here by my side?
What secrets do you hide when I feel you slip away?
What can I do to make you want to stay?
Where do you go?

Bridge:
I don't want to be the one to say you've got to choose
Just take my hand or walk away, I've nothing left to lose
But I've got to know

Chorus:
When shadows touch your eyes,
Where do you go when you're right here by my side?
What secrets do you hide when I feel you slip away?
What can I do to make you want to stay?
Where do you go?

Tag:
Where do you go?

How Can I Say Goodbye?

Plays: 2

Backstory

My sister's husband was killed in an airplane crash in Papua New Guinea two weeks before they were to return to the U.S. on permanent return from mission service. After the memorial service back in the States, she wrapped her arms around me and said into my ear, "What am I going to do now?"

Those words stuck with me and got me to thinking about their lives together, her memories, and how she must feel now that she was on her own. "How Can I Say Goodbye?" was the result. I don't know the exact date I finished the song, but I believe it was in 2005.

I paid to get a demo of the song, but the singer's diction made some words indistinct. This is an extensively edited AI cover to fix that issue.

Lyrics

Verse 1:
I cling to my pillow and whisper your name
While midnight shadows linger
Surrounded by memories of a love that is gone
Like sand that has slipped through my fingers
A dream that has fled with the dawn

Chorus:
Oh, what I'd give for another day
One more kiss, one more night
To hear your voice, to touch your face
Feel your warm embrace
How can I say goodbye?

Verse 2:
Oh, how will I manage to go on alone?
My hopes and dreams cruelly shattered
I long for those golden days when our hearts beat as one
The nights filled with love and laughter
The hours when we played in the sun

Chorus:
Oh, what I'd give for another day
One more kiss, one more night
To hear your voice, to touch your face
Feel your warm embrace
How can I say goodbye?

Bridge:
How easily we promised on that summer afternoon
To have and hold each other forever
We didn't know forever would end so soon
Didn't know the loving would break my heart
Tear my world apart

Chorus:
Oh, what I'd give for another day
One more kiss, one more night
To hear your voice, to touch your face
Feel your warm embrace
How can I say goodbye?

Gethsemane

Plays: 0

Backstory

I composed, scored, and sequenced this piece for my final Orchestration I project (Berklee Online, instructor Ben Newhouse) in August of 2008. I was thrilled when it won me a scholarship for another course. I chose Orchestration II, also from Ben.

This music expresses the emotions and forces at work the night Jesus was crucified: his solitary prayer vigil, his struggle to accept death on the cross, his feelings of abandonment by his Father, God, the evil forces lurking in the darkness, the sins of all mankind hanging on his shoulders, his cry to his Father to take the cup of suffering and death from him, and his eventual acceptance of his sacrificial death to make salvation for mankind possible.

The dynamics have been flattened too much in this file! After I work with Randy Klein some more, I intend to re-sequence it and get it mastered.

Lyrics

Music only

Farewell to Summer

Plays: 0

Backstory

This was my final project for Orchestration II (Berklee Online) in March, 2010. I wanted to capture the melancholy I experience every year as summer comes to an end. (This is especially pertinent to Alberta, where our winters are so long.)

In an online review, Randy Klein commented, "This is sophisticated stuff you are writing, Barb," but also said he'd like to see the composition "go somewhere." My GASC comments received in April of this year said the song started and ended in the same place.

Bottom line: I want to re-sequence this piece with better sound samples, reverbs, etc., but first I want to learn how to improve its bones.

Lyrics

Music only

Loving on Borrowed Time

Plays: 0

Lyric only

Backstory

I wrote these lyrics years ago for a SongU lyric assignment. I believe the title was one provided. I recently had the music generated by AI.

I’m looking for lyric-only feedback, so it’s okay to look at just them and not play the song.

Lyrics

Verse 1:
Seems like yesterday we were walking in moonlight on the beach
Talking and laughing and holding the world at bay
When you hugged me and told me you loved me
And we were suddenly more than best friends
But you were headed off on tour
And I was headed off for school
And we'd pro'bly never meet again.
We were

Chorus:
Loving on borrowed time
Willing the moon to hold still
Trying to make the most of the night
Stealing a bit of infinity
Loving on borrowed time

Verse 2:
Couldn't believe when you came back to settle down with me
Trading the lights and applause for a picket fence
You've been with me through fevers and teething
And serenaded us all with your songs
And when the kids drift off to sleep
We rush upstairs to our retreat
'Cause they'll pro'bly be awake at dawn
And we're

Chorus:
Loving on borrowed time
Willing the moon to hold still
Trying to make the most of the night
Stealing a bit of infinity
Loving on borrowed time

Bridge:
Did you hear about Bill down the street?
He was only forty-eight
His widow thinks she'll stay
It made me realize all we have is today
So, let's keep

Chorus:
Loving on borrowed time
Willing the moon to hold still
Making the most of the rest of our lives
Stealing a bit of infinity
Loving on borrowed time

Always, Only You

Plays: 0

Backstory

I wrote the lyrics for "Always, Only You" in December of 2004. They captured my attention when I came across them recently and made extensive revisions.

I also made revisions to this AI version and manipulated it in Studio Pro.

Lyrics

Verse 1:
I never expected this harmony
Your honor that casts a sweet net
Binding our heartstrings so charmingly
Blending our lives in duet

Chorus:
Standing side by side
With love and trust grounded in truth
Living each day to honor our vows
Always, only you

Verse 2:
Together, devotion unwavering
Still focused, though time dims our eyes
Steadfast, though footsteps grow faltering
Until that final goodbye

Chorus:
Standing side by side
With love and trust grounded in truth
Living each day to honor our vows
Always, only you

Bridge:
There's no way of knowing what awaits us tomorrow
How today's hopes and joy may move
Into sunshine or heartache and sorrow
But relying on each other, we'll get through

Chorus:
Standing side by side
With love and trust grounded in truth
Living each day to honor our vows
Always, only you

Outro:
Always, only you

She's Beautiful

Plays: 0

Backstory

I wrote "She's Beautiful" as a musical tribute to my mother in December of 2010, with my first demo created the beginning of 2011 (backing track by me, vocals by my brother). I'm aware that this isn't a "commercially viable" song, but it describes my mother perfectly. In July of 2026, I made one tweak to the lyrics, then generated this contemporary Christian pop-rock AI cover. AI made some changes to the original melody, but the song is essentially the same.

Lyrics

Chorus:
She's beautiful, with her gentle ways
Never mind the lines on her face.
Look at her...although her eyes are dim
Love and laughter shine from within.

She's beautiful 'though her back is bent.
So beautiful. She must be heaven sent
To share with those in need
And show what kindness means.
She's beautiful.

Bridge 1:
People stop and talk to her
Because they know she cares.
When they hurt, she finds the perfect words
Then she lifts them to the Lord in prayer.

Chorus:
She's beautiful, with her gentle ways
Never mind the lines on her face.
Look at her...although her eyes are dim
Love and laughter shine from within.

She's beautiful 'though her back is bent.
So beautiful. She must be heaven sent
To share with those in need
And show what kindness means.
She's beautiful.

Bridge 2:
Nature is a living book, she's read ev'ry page,
Calls each tree and flower by its name.
Ev'ry spring she waits for birds to fly from southern skies,
And I swear her feathered friends show off to make her smile.

Chorus:
She's beautiful, with her gentle ways
Never mind the lines on her face.
Look at her...although her eyes are dim
Love and laughter shine from within.

She's beautiful 'though her back is bent.
So beautiful. She must be heaven sent
To share with those in need
And show what kindness means.
She's beautiful.

Outro:
She's beautiful.
In ev'ry single way that counts, she's beautiful.

Over Here (Am I Invisible?)

Plays: 0

Backstory

This song was written in January 2016 for Music Composition for Film & TV (Berklee Online).
The assignment was to write underscore music for the ferry accident episode of Gray's Anatomy, where emergency personnel were trying to rescue people in the harbor.

Lyrics

Verse 1:
Over here, can't you see that I need help?
Over here, I can't make it by myself
Lift your head up, look around with open eyes
Stop your talking long enough to hear my cries

Chorus:
Time is racing through the glass
Running out and I can't last
Am I invisible?

Verse 2:
Over here, ev'ry breath is coming hard
Over here, veins are full of icy shards
Ev'ry second finds me sinking farther down
Someone help me get my feet back on the ground

Outro:
Am I invisible?
Invisible?

If I'd Known

Plays: 0

Backstory

"If I'd Known" is a Denmark-Canada co-write by Jorgen and me while we were both members of SongU.com. It took a great deal of wrangling to finalize the lyrics. The music came more easily. We finished it May 29, 2008. This is an AI cover of our original demo. The only melody tweaks were to the bridge.

Lyrics

Verse 1:
Fell in love and married, still wet behind my ears
Didn't have a single clue what it meant to be a man
Took your love for granted as though you'd always be right here
When you said you needed more I didn't understand

Pre-Chorus:
Beautiful, special girl, you took my breath away
But you couldn't hear words I didn't say

Chorus:
If I'd known that love needed tenderness to grow
If I'd known how to let my feelings show
We might have touched the sky if only I had tried
All you asked of me was time
Would you still be with me if I'd known?

Verse 2:
Stopped at our old hangout, you were there with your new guy
You were dancing cheek to cheek and were cradled in his arms
Saw the way he listened, I heard you laugh at his reply
Saw the way you looked at him as though he hung the stars

Pre-Chorus:
Beautiful, special girl, you take his breath away
And he clearly hears every word you say

Chorus:
If I'd known that love needed tenderness to grow
If I'd known how to let my feelings show
We might have touched the sky if only I had tried
All you asked of me was time
Would you still be with me if I'd known?

Bridge:
Oh, what I'd give for a chance to share the things I finally learned
To cherish you the way you deserve
But it's too late

Chorus:
If I'd known that love needed tenderness to grow
If I'd known how to let my feelings show
We might have touched the sky if only I had tried
All you asked of me was time
Would you still be with me if I'd known?

Tag:
If I'd known

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