Cheryl Wheeler

Cheryl Wheeler (born July 10, 1951) is a New England-based singer/songwriter of contemporary folk music. Her songs range from silly to serious. Frequent topics are love relationships, descriptions of places or events, and profiles of people.

Songs

Two songs that represent Wheeler's treatment of love are among her oldest and newest songs. Her song ?Arrow? is probably her best known, most requested, and most covered song. The singer is wanting to fall in love, but knows that doing so usually leads to trouble. The song contains memories of being with a former lover. A more recent song, "Gandhi/Buddha", expresses the thought that the singer must have been Gandhi, or Buddha, someone "really great" to get to have found her lover. This latter song has been used by several fans as the "first dance" at their wedding.

Related Topics:
Gandhi - Buddha

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Weather is another frequent topic for songs. Her song ?When Fall Comes to New England? paints a picture as suggested by the title. She has written several songs about storms, including

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"Act of Nature" where the aftermath of a hurricane, specifically a fallen tree, is compared to the breakup of a relationship, and ?Here Come Floyd?, a humorous song about the hurricane that fizzled out by the time it got to her area.

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Wheeler has written a number of songs that describe a person in such a way that many would love to meet them, and in some cases, they become minor celebrities. For example, the title song on her album Mrs. Pinocci's Guitar tells the story about an evening spent passing around a guitar and singing songs. Once, when Wheeler was performing nearby, Mrs. Pinocci came out on stage and introduced Wheeler. Another song, ?Alice?, is about a woman who managed a motel where Wheeler stayed after one of her shows. The woman was a recent widow ("some surgeon screwed up, there's nothing more to say"). Her children want her to settle down, but she wants to travel ("the more I travel, the more I wanna see"). Within a few days of that song being performed for the first time, Alice received a phone call from someone in the area who had a friend that was in the audience.

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Some of her best-known songs include:

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• ?Arrow? - a song about lost love
• "Seventy-five Septembers" - a song about her father and the passage of time
• "Time Taketh Away" - a song about the effects of old age, particularly on her dad
• "Don't Forget the Guns" - a sarcastic song about guns
• ?If It Were Up to Me? - a serious song about guns
• ?Further and Further Away? - a song about growing older
• ?Gandhi/Buddha? - a song about being blessed with love
• ?His Hometown? - a song about her neighbor that drives a back hoe
• "Piper" - a self-referential song that wouldn't let Wheeler fall asleep until it was written
• ?Quarter Moon? - a song about an elderly couple who were her neighbors
• "Driving Home" - a mellow song about looking forward to a visit home