10000 Maniacs Complete Lyrics Archive

B i o g r a p h y
(by William Ruhlmann)

10,000 Maniacs (named after the low-budget horror movie 2,000 Maniacs) were formed in Jamestown, New York, in 1981 by singer Natalie Merchant and guitarist John Lombardo. Other members of the sextet were Robert Buck (guitar), Steven Gustafson (bass), Dennis Drew (keyboards), and Jerry Augustyniak (drums). The group gigged extensively and recorded independently before signing with Elektra and making The Wishing Chair in 1985. Co-founder Lombardo left the band in 1986, and they continued as a quintet, releasing their second album, In My Tribe, in 1987. This album broke into the charts, where it stayed 77 weeks, peaking at number 37. Blind Man's Zoo, the 1989 follow-up, hit number 13 and went gold.

After 1992's Our Time in Eden had finished its run on the charts, Merchant announced that she was leaving for a solo career. MTV Unplugged was released a few months after her departure. The remaining 10,000 Maniacs decided to continue performing, adding the folk-rock duo John & Mary (original member Lombardo and violinist/vocalist Mary Ramsey). The new lineup released Love Among the Ruins. Merchant released her first solo album, Tigerlily, in the summer of 1995 and a follow-up, Ophelia, in 1998. In 1999, the remaining Maniacs released The Earth Pressed Flat on Bar/None. Sadly, a year later lead guitarist and founding member Robert Buck, who co-wrote some of the band's classics like "Hey Jack Kerouac," "What's the Matter Here?," and "These Are Days," died of liver failure on December 19, 2000. He was 42.

Following Buck's death, 10,0000 Maniacs took a yearlong hiatus, reconvening in December 2001 to play a benefit concert with Jeff Erickson now playing guitar. After this concert, Gustafson, Drew, and Augustyniak assembled a new lineup of 10,000 Maniacs featuring guitarist Erickson and vocalist Oskar Saville, who previously sang with Rubygrass. Over the next four years, this version of the Maniacs toured regularly -- their profile was raised somewhat in 2004 when Rhino released the career retrospective Campfire Songs: The Popular, Obscure & Unknown Recordings -- and in 2006, Mary Ramsey began playing the occasional concert with the band. Saville left the band in 2007 and Ramsey returned to her role as frontwoman.

10,000 Maniacs remained a staple on the folk-rock circuit right into the new decade, and in 2011 they released their first new recording in a decade: an EP called Triangles, which appeared on their label, Ruby Wristwatch. That year, the group also played two 30th anniversary concerts in their hometown of Jamestown, New York, then set out to record a new album in 2012. The resulting Music from the Motion Picture -- the first new 10,000 Maniacs album in 14 years -- appeared in February 2013. Not long after its release, Bob Wachter (who had played drums with the group back in 1981 before Augustyniak joined on a full-time basis) died at the age of 49. John Lombardo rejoined the band in 2014 as they were recording the album that became Twice Told Tales, a 2015 collection of British folk covers.

Grey Victory

There was light and atomic fission
Swelling wind
Rising ash
Tide of black rain
Cement seared shawdow traces
Reminiscent of their last commands

Instantly one thousand flames arising
Ill scent the burning hides surrounding
A settlement debased entirely
Enola gay had made a casual delivery

Please build a future, darling
With our bomb
Cherish and love it
For the sake of
Earth bound kingdom come

The undersides of fallen metal trusses
Evil debris of human bodies
Each window's glass shards pelted
Secure confines
Brittle collapse

Neighbors lay beside
Each other unknowing
Faces scorched of all familiar bearing
Too few hands
Many wounds for closing
Marred by
Thirsting
Anguish
Fear lamenting

Here we stand
At the door to gold atomic age
Don't spoil your face with worry
Trust in
Earth bound kingdom come

Pour De Chirico

Oh my dear friend
My dear friend giorgio
How has this time breton
Discouraged your liaison with the
Eye styled metaphysical
Incongruous scenarios
Dauntly jaunt about through nostalgic despair
Within childlike renderings
Of a nightmarish recall
"all my images
Fragments i've shored upon my ruins
Pictor classicus sum
I am pure"

Step solemn with the
Air of reluctant manes
As rod and hoop shadow children
Scatter through a henna arcade
Figures indentured to a windless landscape
Enduring silence and flame

Da
Da da
No loyalty to the nonsensical
Scorned their nihilist pageantry

Death Of Manolete

There were women holding rosaries
On the day manolete died
Teenage girls in soft white dresses
Standing silent peace respecting
Groups of boys held in their hands
The fragments of a shattered idol
The old men with their traditions challenged
Refrained from tears

Neck neck hook
Poles of wood
The picadores stood eyes ablaze
To view brutal contest
In the vale of years

Courage unfailing
Agility exhausted
Youth entered challenge
Reached for title shelved

Patrons in attendance
To disarm a common myth
Homage played to the victor of immortality
Cloaked in bold tones

In the stockyard the beasts
Did climb their barriers
Bid by a frenzied ring

Bred for one purpose only
To die in man's sport
Dash against his spindle

An instant fell to wounding
On the day
Swords penetrating
On the day
Torches igniting
On the day
Flower wreaths encircling
The day
On the day

Tension

Frail hinges pivot
On a case's door
Commemorative
Souvenirs from places
Containers change with occasion

Cellophane encased
Displaying paper
Certificate
Credit years of service
A tool of central enterprises

The early hope
For permanence
The words the rings
Consistency
And social security
The miracles high tragedy

A thought mistaken for a memory
Dress lengths assassinations
Fractured family ties and christenings

Local posts will list your friends
In order of disappearance
Lawn scattered tins feed birds
The portion baked
For absent guests

The mass edition icon
God sent comfort
Your salvation
But who grants absolution
For sins that never were committed

Tension makes a tangle
Of each thought becomes
Inconvenience
Sound never penetrates
The servile edges break and faint

A thought mistaken for a memory
Clear the dust
From smiles in boxes
Pass the patterned wall
Recall their voices

Daktari

Like a weasel in the clover
You tilt toss pop turn over
Sit down!
Tremble and weave like a moth
By flame deceived
Sit down!
Spill with your words caught up
Dance in your room
Slide like you're buttered up
Roll back the tomb
Sit down!

Bolt scuff jilt chase circle riddle
Shake in haste
Sit down!

When the thunderclouds sound
Ants scatter to high ground

Pit Viper

In the cruel garrison of affection
If worth of lore is true
You know the face of a temptress
Pit viper

A witch or enchantress
Pit viper

With the malign venom of conceit
She tries
Civil men
Conceal fear
Misgivings
When night entreats them
A greater chill sustains
Stains her
Darkness
Shall not inhibit death blow

Know this skin does not restrict her
Tear and shed the coil
Fall of garland leaves
Below the soil

Katrina's Fair

Greta's cedar hope chest
Is full of pamphlets
Glass shelves of romantic vignettes
A journal laced with sedimentary prose

Norma gathers and collects vintage photoplays
Hair combs valentines

Lillian allows the animals to scratch
Leather crack
Mail collect in the box coatings peel

Agnes veiled cathedral dweller
Smiles with benevolent pain
It's katrina's fair tuesday morning
As she with caution unlatches the flat door
She alone cascades to the basement
Careful not to spoil her
Calico printed pinafore
Composite traits mannerists
All others dissipate

Margauritte vigilant dwells upon frigid casements

Sarah's thoughts in the velocity
Accusations always pierce and pass

Clara abandons her passions for distastes
Miss lenora p. Sinclair
Early for coffee in the pool
"i'm resituating all your words"
Capital
Space
Colon
Paragraph

Sylvia keeps beasts in jars labeled
Kingdom phylum class order family genus species

The Latin One

Bent double like old beggars in sacks
Knockkneed and cursing or coughing like hags
Men marched on sleeping some without boots
Fatigue drunken deaf still to the hoots
Of breaking gas shells
Dropping softly behind
But limped on bloodshod
All went lame all went blind

Gas gas quick boys fumbling helmets in time
Someone still screaming a man in fire or lime
Under a grey cloud dim dark through green light
In all my dreaming before my helpless sight
He plunges at me
Choking guttering drowning
Put in a wagon he had to keep pace
As his eyes melt to his face

If you could hear blood
Gurgling from ruptured lungs
If you could witness
Vile sores on innocent tongues
You would not tell me
Not with such pride and such zest
The lies of history
Dulce et decorum est
Pro patria mori
Some desperate glory
Pro patria mori
As witness disturbs the story
Pro patria mori
Stand firm boys breathe the glory

National Education Week

Honor salute and speak
To the corner standing flag
Do you remember how the days of school were
Indivisible separate worlds
Compare contrast
These dreams absurd
Placid classroom faces
Breathe in the features
Of a demographics death map trilogy
Children read them well
Not to bury 3 of 4 sons
As the likes of chivalry
Not to take 6 of 30 bills
To manufacture corpus christi
And so you think it can be so serene
History's most intolerable famine
Has clutched our global tranquility
Reaped the lives of children
Maladies collaborate
With cyclic despair
Infanticide clamors to 20 times more
In 4th and 5th worlds
The poor have always been
Beside us
Amid us
Death has always been
As million cease 15 million that's an annual reap
Add divide multiply sum 41 thousand!

My Mother The War

She borders the pavement
Flanks avenues
Parades pass white glove attended by
My mother the war

She'll raise a shaft
Lift a banner
Toss a rose
My mother the war

She's made every effort
To salvage the few
Bought fourteen liberty bonds
My mother the war

Mother the war

She knows every neighbor
Chats at their doors
Compare econosize electric appliances
My mother the war

Share tea and a seat
By my craddle with
My mother the war

Mother the war

Caressing the globe
Touch on his isle
She wrings hands in pensive waiting
My mother the war

Haunts her doorway
Begs her postman
Is there word for
My mother the war

Momentos of distant vigil
Three years each tour
"hands of god enfold him" prayed
My mother the war

Mother the war

In bitter defiance
She's spiting the corps
She's wet a brood short league for combat
My mother the war

Well aquainted with sorrow
Left millions in grief
My mother the war

Fold
Laced
Carrion
Blood
Soaked
Robes

Mother the war

Steep is the water tower
Painted off blue to match the sky

Can't ignore the train

Night walks in the valley silent
You could swear the earth just moved

Can't ignore the train

Dust to be kicked up
In the crack faced
Idle sinister town
Screen door to the rail station
Devil in her shoe

Ran along side the wasted tracks
Hem pins darted her calves

Can't ignore the train

One spoiled girl with the tidiest apology
Some how wedged inside her throat

Can't ignore the train

Patience their virtue
But I never could abide by that
Dungeon life with electric light
A clean towel and a basin
Mantle figures mind their place
Laughs where they belong

Through adventure we are not adventuresome

Rage to share with a wardrobe mirror
In a room so beige and cold

Can't ignore the train

Window days saw the children pick their
Street games on thirty afternoons

Molly the boys are
Starting in the rhymic again
Teasing more and more....

The second daughter
How she fell
Young locked in Some Folk's Prison
Made to dwell
Til they're braiding
Her grey hair

Sitting in the wishing chair
Sitting in the wishing chair
Sitting in the wishing chair

Power
Dizzy with it stumble
Detail
A chance for us to quarrel
Anger
My head is shaken violent

If i could calm or restrain you
For the sake of pity
Save the pistol
Save the cynics tongue
Save the cool white stare
And treat me to an honest face sometime

Amaze me now

Trust is
The greatest human error
Empty
Used me as a vessel
Ruthless
You're not known for subtlety

If i could calm or restrain you
For the sake of pity
Save the pistol
Save the cynic's tongue
Save the cool white stare
And treat me to an honest face sometime

Amaze me now

Artful
Well there's quite a skill to torture
Half smile
Was it all you could deliver
Token
So hard to be pleasant

If you could calm or restrain it
For the sake of pity
Save the pistol
Save the cynic's tongue
Save the cool white stare
And treat me to an honest face sometime

Amaze me now

Just As The Tide Was A Flowing

Just As The Tide Was A Flowing
On one morning
In the month of May
When all the birds
Were singing

I saw a lovely maiden stray
Across the fields at break of day
She softly sung her roundelay

The tide flows in
The tide flows out
Twice every day returning

Her cheeks were red
Her eyes were brown
Her hair in ringlets hanging down
Upon her face to hide the frown

Just as the tide was a flowing
The tide flows in
The tide flows out
Twice everyday returning

A sailor's wife at home must bide
She halted heavily she sighed
"he parted from poor me , a bride
I'm widowed by the sea" she cried

Just as the tide was a flowing

The tide flows in
The tide flows out
Twice every day returning

Lilydale

Come as we go far away
From the noise of the street
Walk a path so narrow
To a place where we feel at ease

Some think it is haunting
To be drawn to the cemetery ground
As we
There's a stillness here
Thankful found

Child's pose angelic
A stone lamb at her feet
Part the matted overgrowth
To read the carven elegy

Some think it so haunting
To be drawn to the cemetery ground
As we
There's a stillness here
Thankful found

Born in New Albion
Of Rice family elite
Wed to Myron Bilowe
Thrice with sons
Blessed was she
Some think it so haunting
To be drawn to the cemetery ground
As we
God's acre is a fenced in
Hollow ground

Here soon to rise up
Amelia tender and sweet
Her last words spoke
All is well
All is peace

Some think it so haunting
To be drawn to the cemetery ground
As we
God's acre is a fenced in
Hollow ground

Back O' The Moon

Jenny

Jenny you don't know the nights I hide
Below a second story room
To whistle you down
The man who's let to divvy up
Time is a miser
He's got a silver coin
Only lets it shine for hours
While you sleep it away

There's one rare and odd style of living
Part only known to the everybody Jenny
A comical where's the end parade
Of the sort people here would think unusual

Jenny

Tonight upon the mock brine of a Luna Sea
Far off we sail on to Back O' The Moon

Jenny

Jenny you don't know the days i've tried
Telling backyard tales
So to maybe amuse
O your mood is never giddy
If you smile I'm delighted
But you'd rather pout
Such a lazy child
You dare fold your arms
Tisk and say that I lie

There's one rare and odd style of thinking
Part only known to the everybody Jenny
The small step and giant leap takers
Got the head start in the race toward it

Jenny

Tonight upon the mock brine of a Luna Sea
Far off we sail on to the Back O' The Moon

That was a sigh
But not meant to envy you
When your age was mine
Some things were sworn true
Morning would come

And calendar pages had
New printed seasons on
Their opposite sides

Jenny

Jenny you don't know the nights I hide
Below a second story room
To whistle you down
O the man who's let to divvy up
Time is a miser
He's got a silver coin
Lets it shine for hours
While you sleep it away

There's one rare and odd style of living

Part only known to the everybody Jenny
Out of tin ships jump the bubble head boys
To push their flags into powdered soils and cry
No second placers

No smart looking geese in bonnets
Dance with pigs in high button trousers
No milk pail for the farmer's daughter
No merry towns of sweet walled houses

Here i've found
Back O' the Moon
Not here
I've found
Back O' the Moon

Maddox Table

The legs of Maddox kitchen tables
My whole life twisted on a lathe
In a foreman's torrent
My first English was
"faster boy if you want your pay"
Barking commands
Loud and simple
We could all obey

Then I was forever pulling silvers
Rubbed the sawdust always
Deeper in my eye
Varnish vapor that could linger
On my skin
It held tight
The whine of spinning blades
Still echoes to bother my sleep at night

See that ox
Stamped dead center
On the letter head of the company mail
Four decades a spitting image
Of the animal I portrayed
At Maddox Table a yoke was carved
For my neck

Sun through the window oil spattered
And in mason jars
Tricked plenty seeds thrive
The standing joke
Around the shop was
With my green thumb
Anything'd grow
My part was to laugh
Show and ornery jig had
Cut it at the knuckle bone

See that ox
Trade mark burned
Into every stick of furniture
From horn to tail
Four decades a spitting image
Of the animal I portrayed
At Maddox Table a yoke was carved
For my neck

Was tailor made

O my Dolly was a weak
Not a burdened girl
Treat her to a piece of vaudville
A Wintergarden moving picture show
Bemus Point on July Sundays
By trolley we'd go

To your benefit we's strike or bargain
With the waving fist a union man
Not just for
Smokes spirits candy and cologne
But for
Automobile keys
Cash in the bank
And the deed
On a place called home

The Colonial Wing

Here is the store house of Her Majesty
Well guarded by sentry
But looks are free

Call this the rayless and benighted age
Witches by tallow candles shifted
Shifted their shapes
Here is the pestle and mortar
That ground the poison seed
A lute, a suit for jousting
And the poems of a balladeer
When all the Latin books were copied off
In golden script
Well hoarded away in
A monastery crypt

Superstition
Superstition beyond belief

Over mountain, over dune and over sea
Crude map and compass lead the caravan
And lead the fleet
Here's the loot and plunder
They bore home
Ivory tusk inlaid with precious stone
Raw silk and spices by the barrel load
A soft skin drum with mallets
Of human bone

A world wide rampage
Rampage of greed

So here the tour concludes
The Colonial Wing
The rooms of the most refined
Museum property
An early pair of spectacles
A claw footed divan
Ornate clocks with birds that strut
On the half hours and quarter hours

Hear them chime

Grey Victory

There was light
And atomic fission
Swelling wind and
Rising ash
Tide of black rain
Cement seared shadow traces
Reminiscent of their
Last commands

Instantly one thousand
Flames arising
Ill scent of
Burning hides surrounding
A settlement
Debased entirely

Enola Gay had made a casual delivery

Please build a future darling
With our bomb
Cherish and love it
For the sake of
Earth bound kingdom come

The undersides of
Fallen metal trusses
Evil debris of
Human bodies
Each window's glass
Shards pelted
Secure confines
Brittle collapse
Neighbors lay beside
Each other unknowing
Faces scorched
Of all familiar bearing
Too few hands
Wounds for closing
Marred by thirsting
Anguish
Fear
Lamenting

Here we stand
At the door to
Gold Atomic Age
Don't spoil your faces with worry
Trust in earth bound kingdom come

Among The Americans

Among The Americans
Dance to the sun
A kiss to the earth
Embrace a stone

Come the small black book
Come the brandy cask
One strange disease
The well worded paper
Signed by the drunken
Hands of thieves

And suddenly
They were told to leave

As the snake uncoiled on a road
The length was eighty miles
Wagons' weary horses
Lead the feverish exiles
Barefoot in the early snow
On a ridge
Where they beheld their home
Coarse and barren
Not the haven
Promised by the Father

Jaksa Chula Harjo * X3

The Red Sticks first and
The Dancing Ghosts were
Pierced with arms of fire
And the weeping widows
Left could not avenge
So the Western Star manifest its will
Drove them clear into the Pacific O

Gone the way of flesh
Turned pale and died
By your god's decree

For he hated me

* Cherokee name for Andrew Jackson the 7th president of the U.S.A.

Everyone A Puzzle Lover

Why are some men born
With minds that earn degrees
The loving cups
Gilded plaques
Grace their study walls
Hide the cracks
While their genius is turned
To works of tyranny then
Off to market to market
Go selling these

With words so fiery and persuasive
They steal cunningly
Riches no one can exceed

And why are some men born
With a fate of poverty
One firm bed
For a swollen back
Year by year
The bodies wracked while
Their obedience is had
With gradual defeat
By the pace by the pace
And the urgency

Through a muddled thought
They phrase it
God knows we're deceived
Barter for
What they need

And where they go
Disdain and jeering
For fools to call
The noble peasantry

O how it puzzles me

I pressed flat the accordion pleats
That had gathered in his cotton sleeves
While he thumbed
Yes thumbed I wouldn't say caressed

The final piece
A mountain's crest
Soon to reply assuredly

O for man aged ninety years
No words to waste on sermons
He'd be pleased to answer
Short and sincere

Girl there's a nonsense
In all these heaven measures
It's a heathen creed
So your grandma says
But better to live by...
Drink it all in before it's dry

He ended there with a rattle
Cough cough
I took away the long gone cold coffee cup
As a trail of Camel ashes fell
On the floor

Cotton Alley

One time
You made me cry
Be proud that I
Remember

My chin is sore
The bruise is gone
But the spot is tender

Gave my hand a sister coy
To Cotton Alley where
You did enjoy
Your wicked games
You curious boy

Tied my laces up together
When I fell
You laughed
Until your belly was sore

In the brick laid aisle behind
The five and dime store

That's how
I made you blush
But doubt if you
Remember

Were my tears genuine
Or those of a skilled
Pretender

Nothing precious
Plain to see
Don't make a fuss over me
Not loud
Not soft
But somewhere in between
Say sorry
Let it be
The word you mean

I was a little pest who
Never took a hint
Could never
Take a hint

You pinched my fingers
In a door
Tossed my coloring book in a
Rusty barrel

Pulled spiders from my hair
Fingers in the door

My favorite blue blouse
Stained on the back
Running from a berry war

Can you hear me scream
In Cotton Alley
Scream in Cotton Alley
In Cotton Alley

Daktari

Like a weasel in the clover
Tilt, toss, pop, turn over
Sit down
Tremble, weave like a moth by flame deceived
Sit down

Like a weasel in the clover
Tilt, toss, pop, turn over
Sit down
Tremble, weave like a moth by flame deceived
Sit down

Spill with your words caught
Dance in your room
Slide like you're buttered up
Roll back the tomb
Sit down
Sit down
Sit down

When the thunder clouds sound
Ants all scatter to high ground
Sit down

Bolt scuff jilt chase
Circle riddle shake in haste
Sit down
Bolt scuff jilt chase
Circle riddle shake in haste
Sit down
Sit down

When the thunder clouds sound
Ants all scatter to high ground
Sit down

Like a weasel in the clover
Tilt, toss, pop, turn over
Sit down
Tremble, weave like a moth by flame deceived
Sit down

Spill with your words caught
Dance in your room
Slide like you're buttered up
Roll back the tomb
Sit down
Sit down
Sit down

When the thunder clouds sound
Ants all scatter to high ground

Bolt scuff jilt chase
Circle riddle shake in haste
Sit down
Sit down
Sit down

Like a weasel and
Like a weasel and
Sit down

She borders the pavement
Flanks avenues
The parades pass
White glove attended by

My mother the war

She'll raise a shaft
Lift a banner
Toss a rose

My mother the war

She knows every neighbor
Chats at their doors
Compare
Econosize electric appliances
Come share tea
And a seat by my
Cradle with

My mother the war

Forsaken vigil
Three years each tour
Hands of God enfold him
Prayed mother of the war
Haunt a doorway
Beg a postman
Is there word
For mother the war

5 black stars

In bitter defiance
She's spitting the corps
Wet a brood
Short league for combat

My mother the war

Well acquainted
With sorrow
With grief

My mother the war

Folded lace
Carrion and
Blood soaked robes
Folded lace
Carrion
Blood soaked
Shroud

My mother the war

Tension Makes a Tangle

As frail hinges
Pivot on a case's door
Commemorative
Souvenirs from places
Containers change
With each occasion

A cellophane encased
Display of paper
Certificate
To credit years of service
A tool of central enterprises
The early hope
For permanence
The words
The rings
Consistency
The social security
A miracle is high tragedy

Thought mistaken
For a memory
Clear the dust from
Smiles in boxes
Pass a patterned wall
Recall their voices

A local post
Will list your friends
In order of
Disappearance
The lawn scattered

Tins feed birds
A portion baked for
Absent guests
And the mass edition icon
God sent comfort
Your salvation
But who grants absolution
For sins that
Never were committed

Tension makes a tangle
Of each thought
Becomes an inconvenience
Sound as it never penetrates
As servile edges
Break and
Feint

Thought mistaken
For a memory
A dress length
Assassination
A fractured family tie
Another christening

Christening
Christening
Christening

Arbor Day

Wide open falsehood
The clan destine truths
Rival till the end
In a series of duels
Pardon the drapery language I choose

Waltz in Vienna has taught me to use
Every tall room a fiction
Leather bound treasure books
Up to the ceiling
Gold spine upon spine

The guile and the treason
The faith and allegiance

Wide open falsehood
The clan destine truths
Rival till the end
In a series of duels
Pardon the drapery language I choose

The author grew fat to imagine
His lead pen careening
Gave voice to the scheming
An Aryan cabale to dethrone

The guile and the treason
The faith and allegiance
To the empire unknown

The baron and his mistress
Dine in fine banquet hall
As rebel insurgents plot in
The attic space crawl

Wide open falsehood
The clan destine truths
Rival till the end
In a series of duels
Pardon the drapery language I choose

His small hand did strive
To explain all the
Rants and raves of
A people enslaved

By the cant of the shrewdest
Capable men

The guile and the treason
The faith and allegiance
Now lie in my hand

The guile and the treason
The faith and allegiance
Now lie in my hand

That young boy without a name I'd know his face.
In this city the kid's my favorite.
I've seen him. I see him every day.
Seen him run outside looking for a place to hide from his father,
The kid half naked and said to myself "O, what's the matter here?"
I'm tired of the excuses everbody uses, he's their kid I stay out of it,
But who gave you the right to do this?

We live on Morgan Street;
Just ten feet between and his mother, I never see her,
But her screams and cussing, I hear them every day.
Threats like: "If you don't mind I will beat on your behind,"
"Slap you, slap you silly."
Made me say, "O, what's the matter here?"
I'm tired of the excuses everybody uses, he's your kid, do as you see fit,
But get this through that I don't approve of what you did to you own flesh and blood.

"If you don't sit on this chair straight
I'll take this belt from around my waist and don't think that I won't use it!"

Answer me and take your time,
What could be the awful crime he could do at such young an age?
If I'm the only witness to your madness offer me some words to balance out what I see and what I hear.
All these cold and rude things that you do I suppose you do because he belongs to you
And instead of love, the feel of warmth you've given him these cuts and sores won't heal with time or age.

I want to say "What's the Matter here?"
But I don't dare say.

Hey Jack Kerouac, I think of your mother
And the tears she cried, she cried for none other
Than her little boy lost in our little world that hated
And that dared to drag him down. Her little boy courageous
Who chose his words from mouths of babes got lost in the wood.
Hip flask slinging madman, steaming cafe flirts,
They all spoke through you.

Hey Jack, now for the tricky part,
When you were the brightest star who were the shadows?
Of the San Francisco beat boys you were the favorite.
Now they sit and rattle their bones and think of their blood stoned days.
You chose your words from mouths of babes got lost in the wood.
The hip flask slinging madman, steaming cafe flirts,
Nights in Chinatown howling at night.

Allen baby, why so jaded?
Have the boys all grown up and their beauty faded?
Billy, what a saint they've made you,
Just like Mary down in Mexico on All Souls' Day.

You chose your words from mouths of babes got lost in the wood.
Cool junk booting madmen, street minded girls
In Harlem howling at night.
What a tear stained shock of the world,
You've gone away without saying goodbye.

The color of the sky as far as I can see is coal grey.
Lift my head from the pillow and then fall again.
With a shiver in my bones just thinking about the weather.
A quiver in my lips as if I might cry.

Well by the force of will my lungs are filled and so I breathe.
Lately it seems this big bed is where I never leave.
Shiver in my bones just thinking about the weather.
Quiver in my voice as I cry,

"What a cold and rainy day. Where on earth is the sun hid away."

I hear the sound of a noon bell chime.
Now I'm far behind.
You've put in 'bout half a day
While here I lie
With a shiver in my bones just thinking about the weather.
A quiver in my lip as if I might cry,

"What a cold and rainy day. Where on earth is the sun hid away?"

Do I need someone here to scold me
Or do I need someone who'll grab and pull me out of this four poster dull torpor pulling downward.
For it is such a long time since my better days.
I say my prayers nightly this will pass away.

The color of the sky is grey as I can see through the blinds.
Lift my head from the pillow and then fall again
With a shiver in my bones just thinking about the weather.
A quiver in my voice as I cry,

"What a cold and rainy day. Where on earth is the sun hid away?"
I shiver, quiver, and try to wake.

Over your shoulder, please don't mind me
if my eyes have fallen onto your magazine
For I've been watching and wondering
Why your face is changing with every line you read.

All those lines and circles, to me, a mystery.
Eve pull down the apple and give taste to me.
If she would be wonderful, but my pride is in the way.
I cannot read to save my life, I'm so ashamed to say.

I live in silence, afraid to speak
Of my life of darkness because I cannot read.

For all those lines and circles, to me, a mystery.
Eve pull down the apple and give taste to me.
If she could it would be wonderful.
Then I wouldn't need someone else's eyes to see what's in front of me.
No one guiding me.

It makes me humble to be so green
At what every kid can do when he learns A to Z,

But all those lines and circles just frighten me
And I fear that I'll be trampled if you don't reach for me.
Before I run I'll have to take a fall.
And then pick myself up, so slowly I'll devour every one of those books in the Tower of Knowledge.

The Painted Desert can wait till summer.
We've played this game of just imagine long enough.
Wait till summer?
When I'm sure the rains have ended, the blooms have gone,
Everyone killed by the morning frost.
Is a cactus blooming there in every roadside stand
where the big deal is cowboy gear won in Japan?

The Painted Desert can wait till summer.
We've played this game of just imagine long enough.
Wait till summer?
When I'm sure the rains have ended and the blooms have gone,
Everyone killed by the morning frost.
Is a cactus blooming there upon the Northern rim
Or in the ruins of the Hopi mesa dens?

You met a new friend in the Canyon, or so you wrote.
On a blanket in the cooling sand you and your friend agreed that
The stars were so many there they seemed to overlap.

The Painted Desert can wait till summer.
We've played this game of just imagine long enough.
Wait till summer?
When I am sure the rain has ended, the blooms have gone,
Everyone killed by the morning frost.
Was a cactus blooming there as you watched the Native boy?
In Flagstaff trailer court, you wrote the line:
"He kicked a tumbleweed and his mother called him home where the Arizona moon met the Arizona sun."

I wanted to be there by May at the latest time.
Isn't that the plan we had or have you changed your mind?
I haven't read a word from you since Phoenix or Tucson.
April is over will you tell me how long before I can be there?

Don't talk, I will listen.
Don't talk, you keep your distance
For I'd rather hear some truth tonight than entertain your lies,
So take you poison silently.
Let me be. Let me close my eyes.

Don't talk, I'll believe it.
Don't talk, listen to me instead,
I know that if you think of it, both long enough and hard
The drink you drown your troubles in is the trouble you're in now.

Talk talk talk about it, if you talk as if you care
But when your talk is over tilt that bottle in the air,
Tossing back more than your share.

Don't talk, I can guess it.
Don't talk, well now your restless
And you need somewhere to put the blame for how you feel inside.
You'll look for a close and easy mark and you'll see me as fair game.

Talk talk talk about it, talk as if you care
But when your talk is over tilt that bottle in the air
Tossing back more than your share.
You talk talk talk about it, you talk as if you care.
I'm marking every word and can tell this time for sure,
Your talk is the finest I have heard.

So don't talk, let me go on dreaming.
How your eyes they glow so fiercely I can tell your inspired
By the name you chose for me. Now what was it? O, never mind it.
We will talk talk talk about this when your head is clear.
I'll discuss this in the morning, but until then you may talk but I won't hear.

Peace Train

( Cat Stevens )

Now I've been happy lately, thinking about the good things to come
And I believe it could be, something good has begun

Oh I've been smiling lately, dreaming about the world as one
And I believe it could be, some day it's going to come

Cos out on the edge of darkness, there rides a peace train
Oh peace train take this country, come take me home again

Now I've been smiling lately, thinking about the good things to come
And I believe it could be, something good has begun

Oh peace train sounding louder
Glide on the peace train oh ah ee ah oh ah
Come on now peace train
Yes, peace train holy roller
Everyone jump on the peace train oh ah ee ah oh ah
Come on now peace train

Get your bags together, go bring your good friends too
Cos it's getting nearer, it soon will be with you

Now come and join the living, it's not so far from you
And it's getting nearer, soon it will all be true

Oh peace train sounding louder
Glide on the peace train oh ah ee ah oh ah
Come on now peace train, peace train

Now I've been crying lately, thinking about the world as it is
Why must we go on hating, why can't we live in bliss

Cos out on the edge of darkness, there rides a peace train
Oh peace train take this country, come take me home again

Oh peace train sounding louder
Glide on the peace train oh ah ee ah oh ah
Come on now the peace train
Yes peace train holy roller
Everyone jump on the peace train oh ah ee ah oh ah
Come on, come on, come on
Yes come on peace train
Yes it's the peace train
Oh ah ee ah oh ah
Come on now peace train
Oh peace train

I always knew that you would take yourself far from home
As soon as, as far as you could go.
By the 1/4 inch cut of your hair and the Army issue green,
For the past eight weeks I can tell where you've been.
For I knew, I could see, it was all cut and dried to me
There was soldier's blue blood streaming inside your veins.
There is a world outside of this room and when you meet it promise me
You won't meet it with your gun.

So now you are one of the brave few, it's awful sad we need boys like you.
I hope the day never comes for
"Here's your live round son. Stock and barrel, safety, trigger, here's your gun."
Well I knew, I could see, it was all cut and dried to me
There was soldiers blue blood streaming inside your veins.
There is a world outside of this room and when you meet it promise me
You won't meet it with your gun taking aim.
For I don't mean to argue, they've made a decent boy of you
And I don't mean to spoil your home coming,
But baby brother you should expect me to.

"Stock and barrel, safety, trigger, here's your gun."

So now does your heart pitter pat with a patriotic song
When you see the stripes of Old Glory waving?
Well I knew, I could see, it was all cut and dried to me
There was soldier's blue blood streaming inside your veins.
There is a world outside of this room and when you meet it promise me
you won't meet it with your gun taking aim.
I don't mean to argue, they've made a decent boy of you
And I don't mean to spoil your homecoming my baby brother Jude
And I don't mean to hurt you by saying this again,
they're so good at making soldiers but they're not so good at making men.

Big plans are being made for my sisters wedding day.
We'll have a ball at the Sons of Roma Hall.
Family, friends come one and all.
First the best man makes a toast to Rocky and my sister Rose,
"A life of years free of tears. Bottoms up and lots of luck!"

Polka, tango everyone, cha-cha, mambo Rose and Rock alone.
Frankie Rizzo and his Combo play on.

Single girls all hear the call from a crowd at the back wall
And when the bouquet flies each one tries to be the best catch and next years bride.
Uncle Sam and Uncle Joe take their places in the row.
They're standing by side to side for dollar dances with the bride.

Polka, tango everyone, cha-cha, mambo, Rose and Rock alone.
"He's a banker, she'll be well off now."

Sister Rose take your mother's place.
Trade your home and your maiden name.
For a list of vows and a veil of lace made a wife of you today.

Now they cut the five tier cake, "That Colucci, he can bake."
A frosted tower of sugar and flour for the couple of the hour.

Polka, tango everyone, cha-cha, mambo Rose and Rock alone.
She was born to wear that gown.

Sister Rose take your mother's place.
Trade your home and your maiden name.
For a list of vows and a veil of lace made a wife of you today,
But you're my sister Rose the same.

A lie to say, "o, my mountain has coal veins and beds to dig
500 men with axes and they all dig for me"

A lie to say, "o, my river where many fish do swim
Half of the catch is mine when you haul your nets in" never will he believe
That his greed is a blinding ray
No devil or redeemer will cheat him
He'll take his gold to where he's lying cold

A lie to say, "o, my mine gave a diamond as big as a fist"
But with every gem in his pocket, the jewels he has missed

A lie to say, "o, my garden is growing taller by the day"
He only eats the best and tosses the rest away

Never will he be believe that his greed is a blinding ray
No devil or redeemer can cheat him
He'll take his gold to where he's lying cold
Six deep in the grave

Something is out of reach
Something he wanted
Something is out of reach
He's being taunted
Something is out of reach
That he can' beg or steal nor can he buy

His oldest pain
And fear in life

There'll not be time
His oldest pain
And fear in life
There'll not be time

A lie to say "o, my forest has trees that block the sun
And when i cut them down i don't answer to anyone"
No, no, never will he believe that his greed is a blinding ray
No devil or redeemer can cheat him
He'll take his gold where he's lying cold
Six deep in the grave

Heaven, is this heaven where we are?
See them walking, if you dare, if you call that walking.
Stumble, stagger, fall and drag themselves along the streets of heaven.

Where is the blessed table to feed all who hunger on earth,
Welcomed and seated each one joyfully served?
See them walking, if you dare, if you call that walking.
Stumble, stagger, fall and drag themselves along the streets of heaven.

Where is the halo that should glow 'round your face,
And where are the wings that should grow from your shoulder blades?
Show them to me.
These are sobering sights I've seen in the City of Angels
Have all been one rude awakening that was dues to me in heaven.

There would have been heavenly music I was convinced before.
A host of the dearly to meet me with Hosannas sung at the door,
But these are sobering sights I've seen in the City of Angels
Have all been one rude awakening that was dues to me in heaven.
In this city of fallen angels.

The man in 119 takes his tea all alone.
Mornings we all rise to wireless Verdi cries.
I'm hearing opera through the door.
The souls of men and women, impassioned all.
Their voices climb and fall; battle trumpets call.
I fill the bath and climb inside, singing.

He will not touch their pastry
But every day they bring him more.
Gold from the breakfast tray, I steal them all away
And then go and eat them on the shore.

I draw a jackal-headed woman in the sand,
Sing of a lover's fate sealed by jealous hate
Then wash my hand in the sea.
With just three days more I'd have just about learned the entire score to Aida.

Holidays must end as you know.
All is memory taken home with me:
The opera, the stolen tea, the sand drawing, the verging sea, all years ago.

O, Baby blankets and baby shoes, baby slippers, baby spoons, walls of baby blue.
Dream child in my head is a nightmare born in a borrowed bed.
Now I know lightning strikes again.
It struck me once, then struck me dead.
My folly grows inside of me.
I eat for two, walk for two, breathe for two now.

Well, the egg man fell down off his shelf.
All the good king's men with all their help struggled 'til the end for a shell they couldn't mend.
You know where this will lead, to hush and rock in the nursery for the kicking one inside of me.
I eat for two, walk for two, breathe for two now.

When the boy was a boy, the girl was a girl, they found each other in a wicked world.
Strong in some respects, but she couldn't stand for the way he begged and gave in.
Pride is for men; young girls should run and hide instead.
Risk the game by taking dares with "yes".
Eat for two, walk for two, breathe for two now.

Walk for two? I'm stumbling.
Breathe for two? I can't breathe.
Five months , how it grows.
Five months now, I begin to show.

"Mercy, mercy," why didn't we hear it?
"Mercy, mercy," why did we read it buried on the last page of our morning papers?
The plan was drafted, drafted in secret.
Gunboats met the red tide, driven to the rum trade for the army that they created.
But the bullets were bought by us, it was dollars that paid them.

Please forgive us, we don't know what was done in our name.
There'll be more trials like this in mercenary heydays.
When they're so apt to wrap themselves up in the stripes and stars
and find that they are able to call themselves heroes
and to justify murder by their fighters for freedom.

Please forgive us, we don't know what was done.
Please forgive us, we didn't know.
Could you ever forgive us?
I don't know how you could.
I know this is no consolation.

Please forgive us, we didn't know.
Could you ever believe that we didn't know?
Please forgive us, we didn't know.
I wouldn't blame you if you never could, and you never will.

Detroit to D.C. night train, Capitol, parts East.
Lone young man takes a seat.
And by the rhythm of the rails, reading all his mother's mail from a city boy in a jungle town postmarked Saigon.
He'll go live his mother's dream, join the slowest parade he'll ever see.
Her weight of sorrows carried long and carried far.
"Take these, Tommy, to The Wall."

Metro line to the Mall site with a tour of Japanese.
He's wandering and lost until a vet in worn fatigues takes him down to where they belong.
Near a soldier, an ex-Marine with a tattooed dagger and eagle trembling, he bites his lip beside a widow breaking down.
She takes her Purple Heart, makes a fist, strikes The Wall.
All come to live a dream, to join the slowest parade they'll ever see.
Their weight of sorrows carried long and carried far, taken to The Wall.

It's 40 paces to the year that he was slain.
His hand's slipping down The Wall for it's slick with rain.
How would life have ever been the same if this wall had carved in it one less name?
But for Christ's sake, he's been dead over 20 years.
He leaves the letters asking, "Who caused my mother's tears, was it Washington or the Viet Cong?"
Slow deliberate steps are involved.
He takes them away from the black granite wall toward the other monuments so white and clean.

O, Potomac, what you've seen.
Abraham had his war too, but an honest war.
Or so it's taught in school.

Trouble me, disturb me with all your cares and you worries.
Trouble me on the days when you feel spent.
Why let your shoulders bend underneath this burden when my back is sturdy and strong?
Trouble me.

Speak to me, don't mislead me, the calm I feel means a storm is swelling;
there's no telling where it starts or how it ends.
Speak to me, why are you building this thick brick wall to defend me when your silence is my greatest fear?
Why let your shoulders bend underneath this burden when my back is sturdy and strong?
Speak to me.

Let me have a look inside these eyes while I'm learning.
Please don't hide them just because of tears.
Let me send you off to sleep with a "There, there, now stop your turning and tossing."
Let me know where the hurt is and how to heal.

Spare me? Don't spare me anything troubling.
Trouble me, disturb me with all your cares and you worries.
Speak to me and let our words build a shelter from the storm.
Lastly, let me know what I can mend.
There's more, honestly, than my sweet friend, you can see.
Trust is what I'm offering if you trouble me.

How did they teach you to be just a happy puppet dancing on a string?
How did you learn everything that comes along with slavish funnery?
Tell me something, if the world is so insane,
is it making you sane again to let another man tug at the thread that pulls up your nodding head?

How did they teach you to be just a happy puppet dancing on a string?
How do you manage to live inside this tiny stage you can't leave?
Tell me something, if the world is so insane,
is it making you sane again to let another man tug at the thread that pulls up your nodding head?

A dullard strung on the wire.
When the master's gone you hang there with your eyes and your limbs so lifeless.

How did they teach you to be just a happy puppet dancing on a string?
How do you manage to speak, your mouth a frozen grin?

A dullard strung on the wire.
When the master's gone you hang there with your eyes and your limbs so lifeless.

Tell me something, if the world is so insane,
is it making you sane again to let another man tug at the thread that pulls up your empty wooden head?

Your hollow head, your marble eyes, your wooden hands and your metal jaw pins
All wait in limbo for the man who knows how to move you this way.

To your common sense firm arguments
I won't listen to your voice of reason trying to change my mind.
I mind my feelings and not your words.
Didn't you notice I'm so headstrong even when I know I'm wrong?
Take this to your heart and into your head now:
Before you waste your time, call a truce and call a draw.

What's the use in mapping your views out in orderly form
When it does nothing but confuse and anger me more?
I mind my feelings and not your words.
Didn't you notice I'm so headstrong.
You're talking to a deaf stone wall.
Take this to your heart and into your head now:
The old wives' tale is true, I'll repeat it.
All is fair in love and war, that's how the famous saying goes.

Open up your eyes, see me for what I am:
Cast in iron, I won't break and I won't bend.
Take this to your heart and into your head now:
the old wives' tale is true, I'll repeat it.
All is fair in love and war, that's how the famous saying goes.

If I told you we were out to sea in a bottomless boat,
You'd try anything to save us, you'd try anything to keep us afloat.
And if we were living in a house afire,
I don't believe that you could rush out and escape it and not rescue me.
Take this to your heart and into your head now:
The old wives' tale is true, I'll repeat it.
All is fair in love and war, that's how the famous saying goes.
Listen, I think they were talking to you.

Tell me what's gone wrong.
I tilt my head there
Under the faucet
But when I turn it on -- dry as paper.
Call the neighbors.
Who's to blame for what's going on?
In the dark without a clue I'm just the same as you.

O, they tell us there's poison in the well,
That someone's been a bit untidy and there's been a small spill.
Not a lot, no, just a drop.
But there you are mistaken, you know you are.
I wonder just how long they knew our well was poisoned but they let us just drink on.

O, they tell us there's poison in the well,
That someone's been a bit untidy and there's been a small spill.
All that it amounts to is a tear in a salted sea.
Someone's been a bit untidy, they'll have it cleaned up in a week.
But the week is over and now it's grown into years since I was told that I should be calm, there's nothing to fear here.
But I drank that water for years, my wife and my children.

Tell me, where to now, if your fight for a bearable life can be fought and lost in you backyard?

O, don't tell us there's poison in the well,
That someone's been a bit untidy, that there's been a small spill.
All that it amounts to is a tear in a salted sea.
Someone's been a bit untidy, they'll have it cleaned up in a week.

I should know to leave them home.
They follow me through the store with these toys I can't afford.
"Kids, take them back, you know better than that."
Dolls that talk, astronauts, T.V. games, airplanes, they don't understand and how can I explain?
I try and try but I can't save.
Pennies, nickels, dollars slip away.
I've tried and tried but I can't save.

My youngest girl has bad fever, sure.
All night with alcohol to cool and rub her down.
Ruby, I'm tired, try and get some sleep.
I'm adding doctor's fees to remedies with the cost of three day's work lost.
I try and try but I can't save.
Pennies, nickels, dollars slip away.
I've tried and tried but I can't save.
The hole in my pocketbook is growing.

There's a new wind blowing they say, it's gonna be a cold, cold one.
So brace yourselves my darlings, it won't bring anything much our way but more dust bowl days.

I played a card in this weeks game.
Took the first and the last letters in three of their names.
This lottery's been building up for weeks.
I could be lucky me with the five million prize, tears of disbelief spilling out of my eyes.
I try and try but I can't save.
Pennies, nickels, dollars slip away.
I've tried and tried but I can't save.
The hole in my pocketbook is growing.

There's a new wind blowing they say, it's gonna be a cold, cold one.
So brace yourselves my darlings, it won't bring anything much our way but more dust bowl days.

Can I be unhappy?
Look at what I see: a beast in furs and crowned in luxury.
He's a wealthy man in the poorest land, a self-appointed king,
and there's no complaining while he's reigning.
The lambs are bare of fleece and cold; the lion has stolen that, I'm told.
There must be some creature mighty as you are.
The lambs go hungry (not fair), the biggest portion is the lion's share.
There must be some creature mighty as you are.

Can I be unhappy?
Listen and agree, no words can shame him or tame him.
The lambs are bare of fleece and cold; the lion has stolen that, I'm told.
There must be some creature mighty as you are.
The lambs go hungry (not fair), the biggest portion is the lion's share.
There must be some creature mighty as you are, as you are.

Razor claws in velvet paws, you dunce in your guarded home,
'til a stronger beast will call on you and pounce upon your throne.

Do we pay? Dearly, for the lion takes so greedily
and he knows that what he's taken, it is ours.
That's how the wealth's divided among the lambs and king of the beasts, it is so one-sided.
Until the lamb is king of the beasts we live so one-sided.

In the dark night a giant slumbered untouched for centuries
'Til awakened by a white man's cry: "This is the Eden I was to find."
There were lands to be charted and to be claimed for a crown,
When a hero was made by the length he could stay in this dangerous land of hateful hate.

Curiosity filled the heads of these, there was an upper room they had to see.
Curiosity killed the best of these for a hero's hometown welcoming.
Still they moved on and on.

Who came building missions?
Unswerving men of the cloth who gave their lives in numbers untold so that black sheep entered the fold.
Captured like human livestock, destined for slavery.
Naked, walked to the shore where great ships moored for the hellbound journies.
Bought and sold with a hateful hate.

Curiosity filled the breasts of these with some strange ecstasy.
Curiosity killed the best of these by robbing their lives of dignity.
Still they moved on and on.

Calling men of adventure for a jungle bush safari.
Come conquer the, his claws and teeth.
See death in his eyes to know you're alive.
European homesteads grew up in the colonies with civilized plans for wild hinterlands, their guns and God willing.
Such a hateful hate.

Curiosity spilled the blood of these for their spotted skins and ivory.
Curiosity filled the heads of these madmen with the lies of destiny.
Curiosity spilled the blood of these, then blotted their lives from history.
Curiosity filled the heads of these, one man claimed all that he could see.
Curiosity still entices these madmen with a lusting and a greed
Their legacy, legacy, legacy...

He fills the flower vases, trims the candle bases, takes small change from the poor box.
Tyler has the key.
He takes nail and hammer to tack up the banner of felt scraps glued together reading,
"Jesus Lives In Me."
Alone in the night he mocks the words of the preacher: "God is feeling your every pain."
Repair the Christmas stable, restore the plaster angel.
Her lips begin to crumble and her robes begin to peel.
For Bible study in the church basement, hear children Gospel citing, Matthew 17:15.
Alone in the night he mocks the arms of the preacher raised to the ceiling,
"Tell God your pain."

To him the world's defiled.
In Lot he sees a likeness there;
he swears this Sodom will burn down.
Near Sacred Blood there's a dance hall where Tyler Glen saw a black girl and a white boy kissing shamelessly.
Black hands on white shoulders, white hands on black shoulders, dancing, and you know what's more.
He's God's mad disciple, a righteous title, for the Word he heard he so misunderstood.
Though simple minded, a crippled man, to know this man is to fear this man, to shake when he comes.
Wasn't it God that let Puritans in Salem do what they did to the unfaithful?

Boys at the Jubilee slowly sink into brown bag whiskey drinking and reeling on their feet.
Girls at the Jubilee in low-cut dresses yield to the caresses and the man-handling.
Black hands on white shoulders, white hands on black shoulders, dancing, and you know what's more.

Through the tall blades of grass he heads for the Jubilee with a bucket in his right hand full of rags soaked in gasoline.
He lifts the shingles in the dark and slips the rags there underneath.
He strikes a matchstick on the box side and watches the rags ignite.
He climbs the bell tower of the Sacred Blood to watch the flames rising higher toward the trees.
Sirens wailing now toward the scene.

-- Matthew 17:15 --
-- Lord have mercy on my son
-- for he is a lunatic, and
-- sore vexed: for oftimes he
-- falleth into the fire and
-- oftimes into the water

Science is truth for life
Watch religion fall obsolete
Science Will be truth for life
Technology as nature
Science Truth for life
In fortran tongue the Answer
With wealth and prominence
Man so near perfection
Possession
It's an absence of interim
Secure no demurer
Defense against divine
Defense against his true Image
Human conflict number five
Discovery
Dissolved all illusion
Mystery
Destroyed with conclusion
And illusion never restored
Any modern man can see
That religion is
Obsolete
Piety Obsolete
Ritual Obsolete
Martyrdom Obsolete
Prophetic vision Obsolete
Mysticism Obsolete
Commitment Obsolete
Sacrament Obsolete
Revelation Obsolete

Bent double like old beggars in sacks
Knockkneed and cursing or coughing like hags
Men marched on sleeping some without boots
Fatigue drunken deaf still to the hoots
Of breaking gas shells
Dropping softly behind
But limped on bloodshod
All went lame all went blind
Gas quick boys fumbling helmets in time
Someone still screaming a man in fire or lime
Under a grey cloud dim dark through green light
In all my dreaming before my helpless sight
He plunges at me
Choking guttering drowning
Put in a wagon he had to keep pace
As his eyes melt to his face
If you could hear blood
Gurgling from ruptured lungs
If you could witness
Vile sores on innocent tongues
You would not tell me
Not with such pride and such zest
The lies of history
Dulce et decorum est
Pro patria mori
Some desperate glory
Pro patria mori
As witness disturbs the story
Pro patria mori
Stand firm boys breathe the glory

Greta's cedar hope chest
Is full of pamphlets
Glass shelves of romantic vignettes
A journal laced with sedimentary prose
Norma gathers and collects vintage photoplays
Hair combs valentines
Lillian allows the animals to scratch
Leather crack
Mail collect in the box coatings peel
Agnes veiled cathedral dweller
Smiles with benevolent pain

It's Katrina's fair
Tuesday morning
As she with caution unlatches the flat door
She alone cascades to the basement
Careful not to spoil her
Calico printed pinafore
Composite traits mannerists
All others dissipate

Margauritte vigilant dwells upon frigid casements
Sarah's thoughts in the velocity
Accusations always pierce and pass
Clara abandons her passions for distastes
Miss Lenora P. Sinclair
Early for coffee in the pool
"I'm resituating all your words"
Capital Space Colon Paragraph
Sylvia keeps beasts in jars labeled
Kingdom phylum class order family genus species

Oh my dear friend
My dear friend Giorgio
How has this time Breton
Discouraged your liaison with the
Eye styled metaphysical
Incongruous scenarios
Dauntly jaunt about through nostalgic despair
Within childlike renderings
Of a nightmarish recall
"All my images Fragments
I've shored upon my ruins
Pictor classicus sum
I am pure"
Step solemn with the
Air of reluctant manes
As rod and hoop shadow children
Scatter through a henna arcade
Figures indentured to a windless landscape
Enduring silence and flame
Da Da da
No loyalty to the nonsensical
Scorned their nihilist pageantry

There was light and atomic fission
Swelling wind
Rising ash
Tide of Black
Rain
Cement seared shadow traces
Reminiscent of their last commands
Instantly one thousand flames arising
Ill scent the burning hides surrounding
A settlement debased entirely
Enola Gay had made a casual delivery
Please build a future, darling
With our bomb
Cherish and love it
For the sake of
Earth bound kingdom come
The undersides of fallen metal trusses
Evil debris of human bodies
Each window's glass shards pelted
Secure confines
Brittle collapse
Neighbors lay beside
Each other unknowing
Faces scorched of all familiar bearing,
Too few hands
Many wounds for closing
Marred by
Thirsting
Anguish
Fear lamenting
Here we stand
At the door to gold atomic age
Don't spoil your face with worry
Trust in
Earth bound kingdom come

Honor salute and speak
To the corner standing flag
Do you remember how the days of school were
Indivisible separate worlds
Compare contrast
These dreams absurd
Placid classroom faces
Breathe in the features
Of a demographics death map trilogy
Children read them well
Not to bury 3 of 4 sons
As the likes of chivalry
Not to take 6 of 30 bills
To manufacture Corpus Christi
And so you think it can be so serene
History's most intolerable famine
Has clutched our global tranquility
Reaped the lives of children
Maladies collaborate
With cyclic despair
Infanticide clamors to 20 times more
In 4th and 5th Worlds
The poor have always been
Beside us
Amid us
Death has always been
As million cease 15 million that's an annual reap
Add divide multiply sum 41 thousand!

There were women holding rosaries
On the day Manolete died
Teenage girls in soft white dresses
Standing silent peace respecting
Groups of boys held in their hands
The fragments of a shattered idol
The old men with their traditions challenged
Refrained from tears
Neck neck hook
Poles of wood
The Picadores stood eyes ablaze
To view brutal contest
In the vale of years
Courage unfailing
Agility exhausted
Youth entered challenge
Reached for title shelved
Patrons in attendance
To disarm a common myth
Homage played to the victor of immortality
Cloaked in bold tones
In the stockyard the beasts
Did climb their barriers
Bid by a frenzied ring
Bred for one purpose only
To die in man's sport
Dash against his spindle
An instant fell to wounding
On the day
Swords penetrating
On the day
Torches igniting
On the day
Flower wreaths encircling
The day
On the day

Lineage closed
Dissolved In its birth
Tragedy
Prelude a balance Is a synergy
Of reason
Malicious hope
As techno atrocities
Lapse their effects
Associate these ends
Their clarity
Demands your revenge
Please compensate
Not
Deny
Jungle
Revenge
Infanticide
Crosses
Very thin walls
Latent casualties
Arrive
From fatal initiation
No longer recessive
Genetic aliens abandoned
Plain deceit
IN the mirage of
A just one time cause
We'd all changed
The clocks
No ladies auxiliary to kiss
Their blistered cheeks
Gone

Frail hinges pivot
On a case's door
Commemorative
Souvenirs from places
Containers change with occasion
Cellophane encased
Displaying paper
Certificate
Credit years of service
A tool of central enterprises
The early hope
For permanence
The words the rings
Consistency
And
Social security
The miracles high tragedy
A thought mistaken for a memory
Dress lengths assassinations
Fractured family ties and christenings
Local posts will list your friends
In order of disappearance
Lawn scattered tins feed birds
The portion baked
For absent guests
The mass edition icon
God sent comfort
Your salvation
But who grants absolution
For sins that never were committed
Tension makes a tangle
Of each thought becomes
Inconvenience
Sound never penetrates
The servile edges break and faint
A thought mistaken for a memory
Clear the dust
From smiles in boxes
Pass the patterned wall
Recall their voices

For whom do the bells toll
When sentenced to die
The stuttering rifles
Will stifle the cry
The monstrous anger
The fear's rapid rattle
A desert inferno
Kids dying like cattle
Don't tell me
We're not prepared
I've seen today's marine
He's eighteen and he's eager
He can be quite mean
No mock'ries for them
No prayers or bells
The demented choirs
The wailing of shells
The boys holding candles
On untraveled roads
The fear spreads like fire
As shrapnel explodes
I think it's wrong
To conscript our youth
Against their will
When plenty of our citizenry
Really like to kill
What sign posts will lead
To armageddon's fires
What bugles will call them
From crowded grey shires
The women sit quiet
With death on their minds
A slow dusk descending
The drawing of blinds
Make the hunters all line up
It's their idea of fun
And let those be forgiven
Who never owned a gun
Was it him or me
Or the wailing of the dead
The laughing soldiers
Cast their lots
And you can cut the dread

Imitate that soured old song

There is no individuality
Only guises
Shades of
Nonconformity
There is no individuality
Selling vantage points
Low rate
There is no individuality
Questions ancient
No words claimed
Perform motions borrowed
Thoughts following
Ima tima ima tima intima
Dation
Respected
Head-he-go-round-men
Gesture display
Customer
Limits appeal
Media dictates the latest
Role
Totalitarian
Motions borrowed
Selling vantage points
Low rate
For you
Media begged
Suffered
Numbers
Pain

In the cruel garrison of affection
If worth of lore is true
You know the face of a temptress
Pit viper

A witch or enchantress
Pit viper

With the malign venom of conceit
She tries
Civil men
Conceal fear
Misgivings
When night entreats them
A greater chill sustains
Stains her
Darkness
Shall not inhibit death blow

Know this skin does not restrict her
Tear and shed the coil
Fall of garland leaves
Below the soil

She borders the pavement
Flanks avenues
Parades pass white glove attended by
My mother the war

She'll raise a shaft
Lift a banner
Toss a rose
My mother the war

She's made every effort
To salvage the few
Bought fourteen liberty bonds
My mother the war

Mother the war

She knows every neighbor
Chats at their doors
Compare econosize electric appliances
My mother the war

Share tea and a seat
By my craddle with
My mother the war

Mother the war

Caressing the globe
Touch on his isle
She wrings hands in pensive waiting
My mother the war

Haunts her doorway
Begs her postman
Is there word for
My mother the war

Momentos of distant vigil
Three years each tour
"Hands of god enfold him" prayed
My mother the war

Mother the war

In bitter defiance
She's spiting the corps
She's wet a brood short league for combat
My mother the war

Well aquainted with sorrow
Left millions in grief
My mother the war

Fold
Laced
Carrion
Blood
Soaked
Robes

Mother the war

You won a prize for that, for telling lies like that so well that I believed it.
I never felt cheated.
You were the chosen one, the pure eyes of Noah's dove.
Choir boys and angles stole your lips and your halo.

In your reckless mind, you act as if you've got more lives.
In your reckless eyes, you only have time and your love of danger--to it your no stranger.

In that August breeze of those forgotten trees, your time was set for leaving, come a colder season.
In your reckless eyes, it's never too late for a chance to seize some final breath of freedom.
Very, so very wise.
Don't reveal it.
I'm tired, tired of knowing where it is you're going.

In your reckless mind, you act as if you've got more lives.
In your reckless eyes, you only have time and your love of danger--to it you're no stranger.
In your reckless mind, you act as if you've got more lives.
In your reckless eyes, it's never too late for a chance to seize some final breath of freedom.

These are the days you'll remember.
Never before and never since, I promise, will the whole world be warm as this.
And as you feel it, you'll know it's true that you are blessed and lucky.
It's true that you are touched by something that will grow and bloom in you.

These are the days you'll remember.
When May is rushing over you with desire to be part of the miracles you see in every hour.
You'll know it's true that you are blessed and lucky.
It's true that you are touched by something that will grow and bloom in you.

These are days.

These are the days you might fill with laughter until you break.
These days you might feel a shaft of light make its way across your face.
And when you do you'll know how it was meant to be.
See the signs and know their meaning.
It's true, you'll know how it was meant to be.
Hear the signs and know they're speaking to you, to you.

We are the roses in the garden, beauty with thorns among our leaves.
To pick a rose you ask your hands to bleed.
What is the reason for having roses when your blood is shed carelessly?
It must be for something more than vanity.

Believe me, the truth is we're not honest, not the people that we dream.
We're not as close as we could be.
Willing to grow but rains are shallow.
Barren and wind-scattered seed on stone and dry land, we will be.
Waiting for the light arisen to flood inside the prison.
And in that time kind words alone will teach us, no bitterness will reach us.
Reason will be guided another way.

All in time, but the clock is another demon that devours our time in Eden, in our Paradise.
Will our eyes see well beneath us, flowers all divine?
Is there still time?
If we wake and discover in life a precious love, will that waking become more heavenly?

Times are far between, and few I bet, when we can look upon our lives without regret.
Of all the things I have done, you think I'm proud of everyone without exception?

'Till you make your peace with yesterday, you'll never build a future.
I swear by what I say.
Whatever penance you do, decide what it's worth to you and then respect it.
However long it will take to weather your mistakes, why not accept it?

My hands, for now, are tied.
I'm a body frozen.
I'm a will that's paralyzed.
When will you ever set aside your pain and misery?
No matter how I beg, no matter how I wish or plead, you'll never be more than alive.
You'll never do more than survive until you expect it.
Do you want to build a world with our lives?
You better soon decide or you can forget it.

My hands, for now, are tied.
I'm a body frozen.
I'm a will that's paralyzed.
'Till you drop that heavy baggage you're dragging behind, there won't be room for us to both go this ride.

That summer fields grew high with foxglove stalks and ivy.
Wild apple blossoms everywhere.
Emerald green like none I have seen apart from dreams that escape me.
There was no girl as warm as you.

How I've learned to please, to doubt myself in need,
you'll never, you'll never know.

The summer fields grow high.
We made garland crowns in hiding, pulled stems of flowers from my hair.
Blue in the stream like none I have seen apart from dreams that escape me.
There was no girl as bold as you.

How I've learned to please, to doubt myself in need,
you'll never, you'll never know.
You'll never know.

Violet serene like none I have set apart from dreams that escape me.
There was no girl as warm as you.

How I've learned to please, to doubt myself in need.
You'll never, you'll never know.
You'll never know.

That summer fields grow high.
We had wildflower fever.
We had to lay down where they grow.

How I've learned to hide, how I've locked inside, you'd be surprised if shown.
But you'll never, you'll never know.

Follow the typical signs, the hand-painted lines, down prairie roads.
Pass the lone church spire.
Pass the talking wire from where to who knows?
There's no way to divide the beauty of the sky from the wild western plains.
Where a man could drift, in legendary myth, by roaming over spaces.
The land was free and the price was right.

Dakota on the wall is a white-robed woman, broad yet maidenly.
Such power in her hand as she hails the wagon man's family.
I see Indians that crawl through this mural that recalls our history.

Who were the homestead wives?
Who were the gold rush brides?
Does anybody know?
Do their works survive their yellow fever lives in the pages they wrote?
The land was free, yet it cost their lives.

In miner's lust for gold.
A family's house was bought and sold, piece by piece.
A widow staked her claim on a dollar and his name, so painfully.
In letters mailed back home her Eastern sisters they would moan
as they would read accounts of madness, childbirth, loneliness and grief.

To think of my task is chilling.
To know I was carefully building the mask I was wearing for two years, swearing I'd tear it off.
I've sat in the dark explaining to myself that I'm straining too hard for feelings I ought to find easily.
Called myself Jezebel.
I don't believe.

Before I say that the vows we made weigh like a stone in my heart.
Family is family, don't let this tear us apart.

You lie there, an innocent baby.
I feel like the thief who is raiding your home, entering and breaking and taking in every room.
I know your feelings are tender and that inside you the embers still glow.
But I'm a shadow, I'm only a bed of blackened coal.
Call myself Jezebel for wanting to leave.

I'm not saying I'm replacing love for some other word to describe the sacred tie that bound me to you.
I'm just saying we've mistaken one for thousands of words.
And for that mistake, I've caused you such pain that I damn that word.
I've no more ways to hide that I'm a desolate and empty, hollow place inside.

I'm not saying I'm replacing love for some other word to describe the sacred tie that bound me to you.
I'm not saying love's a plaything.
No, it's a powerful word, inspired by strong desire to bind myself to you.
How I wish that we never had tried to be man and his wife, to weave our lives into a blindfold over both our eyes.

"My, how you've grown."
I remember that phrase from my childhood days too.
"Just wait and see."
I remember those words and how they chided me, when patient was the hardest thing to be.
Because we can't make up for the time that we've lost, I must let these memories provide.
No little girl can stop her world to wait for me.

I should have known.
At your age, in a string of days the year is gone.
But in that space of time, it takes so long.
Because we can't make up for the time that we've lost, I must let those memories provide.
No little girl can stop her world to wait for me.

Every time we say goodbye you're frozen in my mind as the child that you never will be, you never will be again.
I'll never be more to you than a stranger could be.

Every time we say goodbye you're frozen in my mind as a child that you never will be, will be again.

If lust and hate is the candy,
if blood and love tastes so sweet,
then we give 'em what they want.
Hey, hey, give 'em what they want.

So their eyes are growing hazy 'cos they wanna turn it on,
so their minds are soft and lazy.
Well, hey, give 'em what they want.

If lust and hate is the candy,
if blood and love tastes so sweet,
then we give 'em what they want.

So their eyes are growing hazy 'cos they wanna turn it on,
so their minds are soft and lazy.
Well... who do you wanna blame?

Hey, hey, give 'em what they want.

If lust and hate is the candy,
if blood and love tastes so sweet,
then we give 'em what they want.

So their eyes are growing hazy 'cos they wanna turn it on,
so their minds are soft and lazy.

Well... who do you wanna blame?

The still and silence is torn with violence.
A loud breaking sound in the night is made.
Hear it grow, hear it fade.
The sound you're hearing, the sound you're fearing
is the hate that parades up and down our streets, coming within bounds and within reach.

Now, inside the place we hide away, we hear it near and hope it turns away.
Turn away...

There's something seething in the air we're breathing.
We learn slash and burn is the method to use.
Set a flame, burn it new.
We're overpowered.
We kneel, we cower, we cover our heads.
Feel the threat of blows that will come and the damage that will be done in its wake.

Now, inside this place we hide away, we hear it near although it's miles away.
We hear it near and hope it turns away.
Turn away...

This house divided, we live inside it.
Hate's dwelling place is behind our door in fitful nights.
Hear it walk the floor and hear it rave as it moans and drags along its ball and chain,
as it moves through this house it can't escape.

Now inside this place we hide away.
We hear it near and hope it turns away.
Turn away....

I dreamed of a circle, I dreamed of a circle round.
And in that circle I had made were all the worlds unformed and unborn yet.
A volume, a sphere that was the earth, that was the moon, that did revolve around my room.

I dreamed of a circle, I dreamed of a circle round.
And in that circle was a maze, a terrible spiral to be lost in.
Blind in my fear, I was escaping just by feel.
But at every turn my way was sealed.

I dreamed of a circle, I dreamed of a circle round.
And in that circle was a face.
Her eyes looked upon me with fondness.
Her warmth coming near, calling me "sweetness," calling me "dear."
But I whispered, "no, I can't rest here."

I dreamed of a circle, I dreamed of a circle round.

If you intend to live again,
then open your eyes and don't pretend you're feeling there's nothing worth believing.

God, if you persist you'll die like this,
and wither in the midst of your first season,
cut down with no reason.
How can you be so near and not see everything?

If you intend to live again,
then take the outstreched hand of the one that needs you.
It's been so long, we've missed you.
Why do you intend to speed your end?
Lie in the dark and let your limbs grow weaker, sinking low then deeper.
How can you be so near and not see everything?

Feel what might be. See what I see.
Again and again and again and again say you don't.
You say you don't, but you will.
How can you be so near and not see?

It crawls on his back, won't ever let him be.
Stares at the walls until the cinder blocks can breathe.
His eyes have gone away, escaping over time.
He rules a crowded nation inside his mind.

He knows that night like his hand.
He knows every move he made.
Late shift, the bell that rang, a time card won't fade.
10:05 his truck pulled home.
10:05 he climbed his stair, about the time he was accused of being there.

But I'm not the man.
He goes free as I wait on the row for the man to test the rope he'll slip around my throat...
and silence me.

On the day he was tried no witnesses testified.
Nothing but evidence, not hard to falsify.
His own confession was a prosecutor's prize,
made up of fear, of rage and of outright lies.

But I'm not the man.
He goes free as the candle vigil glows, as they burn my clothes.
As the crowd cries, "Hang him slow!" and I feel my blood go cold, he goes free.

Call out the KKK, they're wild after me.
And with that frenzied look of half-demented zeal,
they'd love to serve me up my final meal.
Who'll read my final rite and hear my last appeal?
Who struck this devil's deal?

Love among the ruins

Rainy day

On bended knee
I've looked through every window then.
Touched the bottom,
the night a sleepless day instead;

A day when love came,
came easy like what's lost now found.
Beneath a blinding light
that would surround.

We were without, in doubt,
(and now) we were about saving for a rainy day.

I crashed through mirrors,
I crashed through floors of laughter then.
In a blind scene,
no ties would moor us to this room.

A day when love came,
came easy like what's lost now found.
And you would save me,
and I held you like you were my child.

If I were you, defiant you,
alone upon a troubled way.
I would send my heart to you
to save it for a rainy day.

Love among the ruins

The sky was falling, heaven was calling.
When danger crashes, rose from the ashes.

Like two statues hidden inside ancient rock,
We were praying for the secrets to unlock.
And when the sun had turned its back on us,
In the dark our love kept track of us,
Pushed together by the lack of love.

We held each other tightly
through our hell of dreams.
I still hear the never-ending
echo of those screams.

But it's a life not made for reliving,
Its a life that makes your soul forgiving.
We sealed our bond from the beginning.

Aching, affection, vulnerable protection;
Falling, captured, crawling, rapture.

Even with my eyes closed

Even with my eyes closed
Funny how I know it's harder, it's harder now.
Young girl in my
young girl days, thinking I could live for always.

But like an ocean tide
I'm drawn back inside and I know.

Seasons pass like sand inside a glass
and nothing, nothing returns.
Standing with the friends I've made,
I'll race them to the grave.
Well who won, won the extra days?

When you take away the years toll
on the waters wide, shallow high and low.
In the autumn sky,
happy to know I'm going home.

Even with my eyes closed,
funny how I know it s finally,
has it finally begun?

Girl on a train

Waking on a train dreaming,
charmed alone they started speaking.
Captured in his artist way
before the memories fade away.

To remember a face,
and you're home or want to.

Certain they would meet soon,
paint a portrait of a family.

Single light on, single way,
single light away.

The night fell.
Saw a painting on the stairwell
to mourn the passing of a daughter dear.
Her soul upon the train
so far so near.
Just close your eyes and you're home.

Green children

An August day in the hills of Spain,
a pair of children emerged from a cave.
The strangest sight there alone they stood,
with skin of green and words no one had heard.

The girl was stronger, the boy was weak,
with her new mother she learned to speak.
And wove a tale of a dying sun,
they left the darkness,
a dark world come undone.

They travelled so far.
Believing they came from a star.
She fell through life, through time,
(through parallel lives)

The men of science, the men of fame,
the men of letters tried to explain:
Was it parallel worlds or a twist of time
to make her think she'd fallen from the sky?

A whirlwind spun them all alone,
took them from their twilight home.

Believing they came from a star

A room for everything

You were looking away from me,
western skies calling you.
Colors spilling, running
dazzling you.

I was looking the other way
voices call from the east
I saw my roots of the trees
there planted at my feet.

It could be I'm searching
for a place so small
with room for everything
where worlds on worlds revolve.
But how can we wait?

I wouldn't hold you back.

Suppose I was the clever one
And words came easy to me
I could say I was writing a song about you
(you) and me.

Maybe that verse is yet to be found,
but waits inside of me,
a secret room a tangled web to unweave.

But how can we wait
knowing our ways,
how can we hold on,
still you know
its not too late.

More than this

( Brian Ferry )

I could feel at the time
There was no way of knowing
Fallen leaves in the night
Who can say where they´re blowing
As free as the wind
And hopefully learning
Why the sea on the tide
Has no way of turning

More than this - there is nothing
More than this - tell me one thing
More than this - there is nothing

It was fun for a while
There was no way of knowing
Like dream in the night
Who can say where we´re going
No care in the world
Maybe I´m learning

Why the sea on the tide
Has no way of turning

More than this - there is nothing
More than this - tell me one thing
More than this - there is nothing

Big star

I saw a big star running from me,
a world from a record on my bed.
Turn the tables on me,
what would happen if I fell
to the tune of a dreamer,
to the tune of my heart?

A big star running from me,
I saw a world out sunning on my head.
Turn the tables on me now
I would fall from heaven
and ring your bell.

Baby, catch me
n the middle of a lie
The boys are out tonight,
yeah the boys are out tonight.
The big shots singin' from me,
I saw a world out sunning on my head.
Pity my heart signals:
center of a storm inside my head.
Center of my heart,
center of my out of time simple mind.

From the moon out my window
a wink and a blink and a nod.
Had a wish on a star but now it's falling.

The boys are out tonight,
big skies above me signal
in my horoscope it said:
never heed a caution,
never fought a lover,
never cross a street alone
in the middle of a signal red,
middle of a drinker's heart,
middle of a big parade,
a signal in my horoscope.

You won't find me there

I'd like to know
What makes you stay
While your eyes still search for escape.

You think that I
Don't feel the cold (babe),
But I wait while confessions unfold.

You'll never make a living from reading minds
Or from getting your direction from exit signs.
Look into your heart
And you won't find me there.

You won't find
Me where you hide
And that makes us a matter of time.
Like trees exposed by fall,
Time reveals it all.

Tell me you want to do everything
But you're stuck up to your knees.
And I'm less likely pushed forward
By ambition than a breeze.

But there's a flame
That must be fanned,
And it appears as a beckoning hand.

Don't think cause you're not,
Talking you're being kind,
You've been getting there
Tolls your direction from exit signs.
Look into your heart
And you won find me there.

All that never happens

She walks alone on the brick lane,
The breeze is blowing.
A year had changed her forever,
Just like her gray home.

He used to live so close here,
We'd look for places I can't remember
The world was safe when she knew him,
She tried to hold him, hold on forever.

For all that never happens
And all that never will be,
A candle burning for the love we seldom keep.

The earth was raw in her fingers,
She overturned it.
Considered planting some flowers,
They wouldn't last long, no one to tend them.

It's funny how these things go,
You were the answer to all the questions.
The memories made her weary,
She shuddered slowly, she didn't want to.

As a distant summer he began to whisper,
And threw a smile her way
She looked into the glass,
Liquid surface showing
That they were melding, together present past.

So where can I go from here?
The color fading, he didn't answer
She felt him slip from her vision.
She tried to hold him, hold on forever.
So close forever, in a silent frozen sleep.

Shining light

Something was pulling me
Without knowing what was leading me on:
Your shining light.

In my darkest hour the only way
To bring the dawn was
Your shining light.

But you're unaware
Your shining light is even on.
Like with a little glance
When you take me by surprise
And I take a chance
And I see it all through your eyes.

Free me from my history
And show me where to draw the line,
By lighting up the mystery,
And you don't even know that it shines.

I'm not worried now
About flying too close to the sun.
Your shining light.

When December skies are cold,
You know I will always run to
Your shining light.

I won't abuse it
So please just let it glow behind your smile.
Let me use it,
Let me feel the warmth like a little child

Who understands your glance,
Though it takes me by surprise.
And I take a chance
And I see it all through your eyes
It's your shining light.

Across the fields

Well they left then in the morning,
A hundred pairs of wings
In the light moved together
In the colors of the morning
I looked to the clouds
In the cirrus sky and they'd gone.

Across the marshes,
Across the fields below.
I fell through the vines
And I hoped they would catch me below.

If only to take me with them there,
Tell me the part that shines
In your heart on the wind.

And the reeds blew in the morning.
Take me along to the places
You've gone when my eyes looked away.
Tell me the song that you sing
In the trees in the dawning.
Tell me the part that shines
In your heart and the rays of love forever,
Please take me there.

The earth pressed flat

The Earth Pressed Flat

Detroit, L.A.,Boston, San Francisco,
First time over the ocean on a plane
A billion stars below me lay,
Circle slowly JFK,
So much there to see inside of a week
They came looking for something new
Try to press it flat inside of a few days
Old Dominion Saturday, Arlington's eternal flame
Sunday tour Niagara Falls in the mist.
Monday I'll be heading south
New Orleans the Cajun sound
Tuesday's Tupelo Elvis's home . . .
Try to press it flat inside of a few days
What a wonderful stay,
On a mule Grand Canyon ride on Wednesday,
Hope to get to Denver in a day Friday
Ride to Washington, in the glacial mountain sun
Hop a train for Canada to the east
They came looking for something new
Try to press it flat inside of a few days
What a wonderful stay.

Ellen

Eager to please was just the way that he was
Though his attempts there falling short,
Expectation
See he would tell of all his conquests,
Was he bragging?
But in the evening all alone
Ellen unplanned delays
Saving for someone who really cared about you
Invincible they say
Married to your name
She was the kind between a child and a lady,
Quick was her temper
Like a blaze from an ember
No one had measured to her standard,
So in the evening all alone all alone
How do I tell them to open their minds
And to take a chance
Maybe on finding life's treasure stubborn they stay set
In their ways really not wanting to be lonely not alone.

Once a city

This was once a city
Harmony a common theme
But these complications
Now make life a bit uneasy
Hallowed buildings scrape the sky
Voices ride the airwaves
Once a city years gone by
Will they still be standing in thecenturies ahead
Going underground little children hiding,
Bullets never meant for them
Must there be such bloodshed in our hearts, our homes, ourheads?
Will I be walking, walking so free?
This was a city once
This was once a city
Harmony a common theme but these complications
Once a city, once a dream.

Glow

In the coolness of the morning
Sparing moments here in magical tide
I would meet you without question
To share a starry gaze a look through the sky
From the start
There was this kind of glow
The start when it's right
You'll know,
Fascinating love's a secret
An ancient riddle with no reason or rhyme
Unpredictable the muses they play
Never knowing whether teasing or shy.

On & on

Out through the foggy window there
Just to see the eyes of my future children
Looking back at me
Back through the foggy window
On and on
Miles pass years turn over
On and on
There from that rolled down window
Ponies run free cradled protectively
There in the greenery somewhere
I keep this picture
On and on
Miles pass years turn over
On and on
For all the roads we've travelled
And all the bridges burned
I was thinking out loud the ways of the world
That all seem so constant
How few of the lessons we really have learned.
Out through the foggy window frozen in frame
Capturing passing pictures life's lastrefrain,
Memories ashes scatter
On and on
Miles pass years turn over
On and on.

Somebody's heaven

There like a feather you fell someone's heaven above me
Floating so fickle tempting me teasing my ways
Thrown from its clutches I struggle to free what escapes me
Absalom hanging like you I'm caught in between
Heaven then earth then heaven between you
Release me untangle my hair
Absalom hanging like you I'm caught in between
Heaven then earth heaven between you
Patient I wait as I hold a small feather
That floated from somebody's heaven.

Cabaret

Shards of glass cut through my gaze
Broken streamers hanging at my legs
Drunk and giddy full of fate
At the cabaret
Smokey stares from the bar
Do stray bottles tumble
I feel the misty spray
What a perfect, perfect day for the cabaret
From afar he sees
Venus rise overwhelmingly beautiful
He sighs the look of love was in her eyes
Puts his hand upon her leg
Looking closer his lust begins to fade
What a drag the queen did say.
Could this be a dream I'm in? ( Fellini would be proud )
Gluttony enfolds the scene
Give them one last round ,
Shining faces dance away
Swinging skirts between the panted legs
Kaleidescoping
Then shassez in a blink the glasses fly
Suddenly joy becomes a fight
There they tossed and turned a sight.

Beyond the blue

I was thinking today
If you would remember
You choose to remember
What you left me out there
In the cold days fading away
I see you so near
I hear your voice calling
It calls me from these pages to you
Beyond the blue,
So sudden too soon
The secrets we knew
I was thinking today
If you would surrender
To feelings that you tried deserting
And if given the choice
I'd still wait for the moment
Still wait for the moment
When I could have
A hero like you
Days fading away
But I see you so clear
I hear your voice calling
It calls me from these pages to you
Beyond the blue.

Smallest step

When the day ends
And church bells are ringing
When the valley is shroudedin snow,
When you're feeling that hope somewhere vanished
And there's no poetry left to console you,
With the smallest step you'll find a way
Oh of fate borne and life is a jewel
But stone will tarnish as dust will descend
Take a minute and wipe free the lustre,
It'll mirror a day without end
With the smallest step you'll feel
It starts a journey your way.
Oh they tried to tell me
But I'll learn for myself
And when they tried to tell me
You know the words disappeared on the wind
I was running away
And when the laughter echoes through you
In a pale beaming ray and you'll know always
And ever within you anyway.

In the quiet morning

In the quiet morning
There was much despair
And in the hours that followed
No one could repair

That poor girl
Tossed by the tides of misfortune
Barely here to tell her tale
Rolled in on a sea of disaster
Rolled out on a mainline rail
She once walked tight by my side
I'm sure she walked by you
Her striding steps could not deny
Torment from a child who knew

That in the quiet morning
There would be despair
And in the hour that followed
No one could repair

That poor girl
She cried out her song so loud
It was heard the whole world round
[ A symphony of violence
The great southwest unbound ]
In the quiet morning
There was much despair
And in the hour that followed
No one could repair

That poor girl
Tossed by the tides of misfortune
Barely here to tell her tale
Rolled in on a sea of disaster
Rolled out on a mainline rail

Time turns

I saw time turn
So much there to unlearn,
You were envy you wouldn't say
You tore heart strings that sorry day
Dark light hid the tears one
For each of the years
Love has reasons
Reason never knows
Time turns over
Love overflows
I should have spoken
Sooner on that sorry day
Your arms are open
And I wondered why
Wondered why
Five years passed to the day
Time heals some people
Say when you hurt the ones
I love you're also hurting
Me and time turns over
Turning you from me
I thought you'd never reach me
On that sorry day
Your arms were open wide
And I wondered why

Hidden in my heart

I see the leaves of autumn
Changing, falling , turning what was green
I see a door standing open,
Open to curiosity
We could be together
Tear it all apart
Would you ever notice
What was hidden in my heart
Heartstrong
Do we ever listen
Closely as willows start to weep
There as we stood upon the threshold
Who said forever was for keeps?
Would you ever notice what
Was hidden in my heart,
My deep heart is reeling forward
And steady on to keep,
Who made me miss the last ferry?
Who made this river so deep?

Who knows where the time goes

Across the evening sky, all the birds are leaving
But how can they know it's time for them to go?
Before the winter fire, I will still be dreaming
I have no thought of time

For who knows where the time goes?
Who knows where the time goes?

Sad, deserted shore, your fickle friends are leaving
Ah, but then you know it's time for them to go
But I will still be here, I have no thought of leaving
I do not count the time

For who knows where the time goes?
Who knows where the time goes?

And I am not alone while my love is near me
I know it will be so until it's time to go
So come the storms of winter and then the birds in spring again
I have no fear of time

For who knows how my love grows?
And who knows where the time goes?

Music from the Motion Picture

I don't Love you too

Yesterday a little bird came to say that you don't love me
No way, I never thought I hear you say that you don't care
Okay, I've got a little something to say now that you don't love me

I don't love you too
another copy paste you stupid robot
Hey, hey, the world wide web today said that you don't love me
No way, I never thought I'd see the day that you don't care
Okay, I'd like to take a minute to say now that you don't love me

I don't love you too

Can we separate these lives that became so intertwined
I'm not about to say I really don't think it's over
Can we separate the lies from all the better times
It's not so hard to say goodbye
It's over

When We Walked On Clouds

Have you heard
Have you heard all about love from her
All about love

Have you heard
Have you heard all about love from her
All about love

Those were the days when we walked on clouds
Those were the days when we walked on clouds
Those days are over now
another copy paste you stupid robot
Have you learned
Have you learned all about love from her

Those were the days when we walked on clouds
Those days are over now
Those were the days when we walked on clouds
Those days are over now

I don't want to break your heart
I just want to change your mind
I don't want to tear you apart
But I will if I have to

Those were the days when we walked on clouds

Gold

A moment's like a piece of gold
Don't spend it on the wrong thing
Every moment's something you should hold
Don't spend it on the wrong thing
another copy paste you stupid robot
How can you go, can you go
How can you go, can you go
How can you go, can you go, go away

You're caught in the moment
It feels like a day
The fight's just beginning
Don't give it away

A breath's like an ocean
Your mind starts to stray
The motive's forgotten
It all goes away

You're real in protection
Your shield is what
Conceals imperfection
By giving it up

Come on and give it all or give it up
Give it all or give it up
Give it all or give it up
Give it all or give it up
Give it all or give it up
Give it all or give it up

How can you go, can you go
How can you go, can you go
How can you go, can you go, go away

A moment is a piece of gold
Don't spend it on the wrong thing
Every moment's something you should hold
Don't spend it on the wrong thing

How can you go, can you go
How can you go, can you go
How can you go, can you go, go away

Triangles

Somewhere hidden in the depth of story
How to find the day to keep from holding you back again over yonder
You can see us lying under trees
We're breathless wind is crying
We watch them soar into your arms I rise

I could weave the words of a poem
True circling around the angles of your heart
Which to choose you two both so beautiful
But only room for one
another copy paste you stupid robot
Mother pulls the arm her daughter follows father beckons for his child
His sorrow which way to turn how to find the words to tell you sorry in the middle
Caught between I'm lying I want to soar into your arms I cry

Angels heaven blue sing that golden chord circling 'round the angles of your heart
What to say to you I could choose you both give me more than one

Fly and breathe in peace again fly alone with you my friend
Fly into my heart again forever and a day

Into the air we rise blush of love so true
A golden chord circling 'round the angles of my heart
Which to choose you two both so beautiful
But only room for one

Fly and please come back again
Fly and meet me there my friends
Fly into my arms again forever and a day
Fly just breathe and be again
I rise and I fly away

Live for the time of Your Life

On a cold and blustery day running through the snow
We played holding palms
Yes we were together outlaws and maiden ties going up that mountainside
We were there on our own I could say the words to you
You could say you heard them true
We could say we're in it together out laws and maiden ties
Yes we lived our lives so high we had the time of our lives

One year growing older two you're growing older living for the time of your life
Any type of weather whether we're together in the dawn of time

Tick tock yes I'm with you shiver at the thrill of you ebullient
I won't deny another french oui oui
Your reckless love you see you really are here alive
I said I love you you said we work we do
We said we'll level together regrets secrets lies
Yes we lived our lives so high but we had the time of our lives

One you're growing older two you're growing older
Living for the time of your life
Any type of weather whether we're together in a song
Oh a song and are you lonely

For the time of your life
Live for the time of your life
Living for the time of your life
Your life but are you lonely

Whippoorwill

Beyond understanding we met there a day you followed me
You sniffed in your special way a teardrop a sparkle
And oh how my feelings sighed you not bashful though me so shy

I hear you in the whippoorwill
I see you in my morning coffee ruby slippers
Should I wish to fill holy holy now I'm leaving it all behind
Leaving it all behind

It was over my head as the great sage would say
Say so silly well here I am again what happens when you're wrong
Wrong most everytime it was over my head

I hear you in the whippoorwill
I see you in my morning coffee ruby slippers
Should I wish to fill holy holy now I'm leaving it all behind
Leaving it all behind
another copy paste you stupid robot
If I click my heels come on take me away silver saucers fly in the sky so high
Won't you ask me to stay again happy endings to wish upon a star
To those of little faith we've come so far

I hear you in the whippoorwill
I see you in my morning coffee ruby slippers
Should I wish to fill holy holy now I'm leaving it all behind
Leaving it all behind

It's a beautiful Life

In the big rock candy mountain
There's a land that's fair and bright
Where the candy grows on bushes
And you sleep out every night

Where the box cars all are empty
And the sun shines everyday
I'm bound to go where there ain't no snow
Where the rain don't fall
And the winds don't blow
another copy paste you stupid robot
Oh it's a beautiful life
In the big rock candy mountains
You never have to change your socks
And little streams of lemonade come
Tumbling down those mighty rocks
Boys and girls there all friendly
And their fires they burn all night
There's a lake of stew and soda too
You can paddle 'round it all in a big canoe

Oh it's a beautiful life
You might not find a way to get around these circumstances
You just have to say I'm ready
Lord, for those second chances

Oh it's a beautiful life
The buzzing of the bees in the peppermint tree
And the soda water fountain
Where lemonade springs and the bluebird sing
In the big rock candy mountain

Oh it's a beautiful life

Fine Line

It's such a fine line that you walk
When you talk about the future
And you can't hide
With a disguise
Who you are deep inside
another copy paste you stupid robot
It's such a fine line that you walk
When we talk about this confusion
And you can't hide
You realize
It was the spies' fault
All the time

It's such a fine line that you walk
When you talk about the future

Tiny Arrows

Here comes the tiny arrow
Bent from the start
It flies through the air with great speed
Straight to the heart
Penetrating, devastating
It tears you apart

Sing me a song
Of love that's gone wrong
Love that's gone terribly wrong
another copy paste you stupid robot
Right now I'm stuck in the middle of this
Small town begging for little bits of love
Right now I'm stuck in the middle of this
Long fight with alcohol
I know that you know I'm gone

Here comes the empty battle
Won from the heart
Bloody, unbowed and grateful
You're falling apart
Inspiration, dedication
Where do we start

Sing me a song
Of love that's gone wrong
Love that's gone terribly wrong

Right now I'm stuck in the middle of this
Small town begging for little bits of love
Right now I'm stuck in the middle of this
Long fight with alcohol
I know that you know I'm gone

Here comes the final arrow
Into your flesh
Piercing the skin exposing
Your tenderness
Mystifying, glorifying
This sentence of death

Sing me a song
Of love that's gone wrong
Love that's gone terribly wrong

Right now I'm stuck in the middle of this
Small town begging for little bits of love
Right now I'm stuck in the middle of this
Long fight with alcohol is it my right to die alone

I know that you know I'm gone
I know that I know I'm gone

Downhill

Running as fast as I can
But it's just downhill
Catch me if you can
I'm running downhill

Learning about your uncluttered house
And your heart attack
Digging around in your drawers
Stealing your photographs

Downhill, downhill

Rooting around behind doors
The stores of your books and life
Looking around on the floor
Finding your pocket knife
another copy paste you stupid robot
Downhill, downhill

Running as fast as I can
But it's all downhill
Catch me if you can
I'm running downhill

Downhill

The Song Of Wandering Aengus

I went out to the hazel wood,
Because a fire was in my head,
And cut and peeled a hazel wand,
And hooked a berry to a thread;
And when white moths were on the wing,
And moth-like stars were flickering out,
I dropped the berry in a stream
And caught a little silver trout.
another copy paste you stupid robot
When I had laid it on the floor
I went to blow the fire a-flame,
But something rustled on the floor,
And someone called me by my name:
It had become a glimmering girl
With apple blossom in her hair
Who called me by my name and ran
And faded through the brightening air.

Though I am old with wandering
Through hollow lands and hilly lands,
I will find out where she has gone,
And kiss her lips and take her hands;
And walk among long dappled grass,
And pluck till time and times are done,
The silver apples of the moon,
The golden apples of the sun.

She Moved Through The Fair

My young love said to me, "My mother won't mind
And my father won't slight you for your lack of kind."
And he stepped away from me and this he did say
"It will not be long, love, till our wedding day."

He stepped away from me and he moved through the fair
And so fondly I watched him move here and move there
Then he made his way homeward with one star awake
As the swan in the evening moves over the lake.

Well I dreamt last night that my dead love came in
And so softly he moved that his feet made no din
Then he came close beside me and this he did say
"It will not be long, love, till our wedding day."
Till our wedding day
Till our wedding day
Day, day, day, day...

Dark Eyed Sailor

As I roved out one evening fair
It bein' the summertime to take the air
I spied a sailor and a lady gay
And I stood to listen
And I stood to listen to hear what they would say.
another copy paste you stupid robot
He said "Fair lady, why do you roam
For the day is spent and the night is on"
She heaved a sigh while the tears did roll
"For my dark-eyed sailor
For my dark-eyed sailor, so young and stout and bold."

"'Tis seven long years since he left this land
A ring he took from off his lily-white hand
One half of the ring is still here with me
But the other's rollin'
But the other's rollin' at the bottom of the sea."

He said "You may drive him out of your mind
Some other young man you will surely find
Love turns aside and soon cold has grown
Like the winter's morning
Like the winter's morning, the hills are white with snow."

She said "I'll never forsake my dear
Although we're parted this many a year
Genteel he was and a rake like you
To induce a maiden
To induce a maiden to slight the jacket blue."

One half of the ring did young William show
She ran distracted in grief and woe
Sayin' "William, William, I have gold in store
For my dark-eyed sailor
For my dark-eyed sailor has proved his honour long"

And there is a cottage by yonder lea
This couple's married and does agree
So maids be loyal when your love's at sea
For a cloudy morning
For a cloudy morning brings in a sunny day.

Misty Moisty Morning

One misty moisty morning when cloudy was the weather
I met with an old man a-clothed all in leather
He was clothed all in leather with a cap beneath his chin
Singing how do you do and how do you do and how do you do again
another copy paste you stupid robot
This rustic was a thresher as on his way he hied
And with a leather bottle fast buckled by his side
He wore no shirt upon his back but wool unto his skin
Singing how do you do and how do you do and how do you do again

I went a little further and there I met a maid
A-going a-milking, a-milking Sir she said
Then I began to compliment and she began to sing
Saying how do you do and how do you do and how do you do again

This maid her name was Dolly clothed in a gown of grey
I being somewhat jolly persuaded her to stay
And straight I fell a-courting her in hopes her love to win
Singing how do you do and how do you do and how do you do again

I having time and leisure, I spent a vacant hour
A-telling of my treasure while sitting in the bower
With many kind embraces I stroke her double chin
Singing how do you do and how do you do and how do you do again

I said that I would married be and she would be my bride
And long we should not tarry and twenty things beside
I'll plough and sow and reap and mow and you shall sit and spin
Singing how do you do and how do you do and how do you do again

Her parents then consented, all parties were agreed
Her portion thirty shillings, we married were with speed
Then Will the piper he did play whilst others dance and sing
Saying how do you do and how do you do and how do you do again

Then lusty Ralph and Robin with many damsels gay
Did ride on Roan and Dobbin to celebrate the day
And when they met together their caps they off did fling
Singing how do you do and how do you do and how do you do
And how do you do again

Bonny May

Bonny May a-shepherding has gone
To call the sheep to the fold
And as she sang, her bonny voice it rang
Right over the tops of the downs, downs,
Right over the tops of the downs.
another copy paste you stupid robot
There came a troop of gentlemen
As they were riding by
And one of them has lighted down
And he's asked of her the way, way,
And he's asked of her the way.

”Ride on, ride on, you rank riders,
Your steeds are stout and strong,
For it's out of the fold I will not go
For fear you do me wrong, wrong,
For fear you do me wrong.”

Now he's taken her by the middle jimp
And by the green gown sleeve,
And there he's had his will of her
And he's asked of her no leave, leave,
And he's asked of her no leave.

Now he's mounted on his berry brown steed,
He soon o'erta'en his men
And one and all cried out to him,
”Oh, master, you tarried long, long,
Oh, master, you tarried long.”

”Oh, I've ridden East and I've ridden West,
And I've ridden o'er the downs,
But the bonniest lass that ever I saw
She was calling her sheep to the fold, fold.”

She's taken the milk pail on her head
And she's gone lingering home.
And all her father said to her
Was, ”Daughter, you tarried long, long,
Oh, daughter, you tarried long.”

”Oh, woe betide your shepherd, father,
He takes no care of the sheep,
For he's builded the fold at the back of the down
And the fox has frightened me, me,
And the fox has frightened me.”

”Oh, there came a fox to the fold door
With twinkling eye so bold,
And ere he'd taken the lamb that he did
I'd rather he'd taken them all, all.”

Now twenty weeks were gone and past,
Twenty weeks and three,
The lassie began to fret and to frown
And to long for the twinkling eye, bright eye,
And to long for the twinkling eye.

Now it fell on a day, on a bonnie summer's day
That she walked out alone.
That self-same troop of gentlemen
Come a-riding over the down, down,
Come a-riding over the down.

”Who got the babe with thee, Bonny May,
Who got the babe in thy arms?”
For shame, she blushed, and aye, she said,
Was ”I've a good man of my own, own.”

”You lie, you lie, you Bonny, Bonny May,
So loud I hear you lie.
Remember the misty murky night
I lay in the fold with thee, thee,
I lay in the fold with thee.

Now he's mounted off his berry brown steed,
He's sat the fair May on.
”Go call out your kye, father, yourself,
She'll ne'er call them again, again,
She'll ne'er call them again.”

Oh, he's Lord of twenty plough of land,
Twenty plough and three,
And he's taken away the bonniest lass
In all the South country,
In all the South country.

Canadee-I-O

It's of a fair and handsome girl, she's all in her tender years
She fell in love with a sailor boy and it's true that she loved him well
For to go off to sea with him, like she did not know how,
She longed to see that seaport town, called Canadee-I-O.

So she bargained with a young sailor boy, it's all for a piece of gold
Straighway he led her all down into the hold
Saying I'll dress you up in sailor's clothes, your jacket shall be blue,
You'll see that seaport town, called Canadee-I-O.
another copy paste you stupid robot
Now, when the other sailors heard the news, they fell into a rage,
And with all the whole ship's company, they were willing to engage,
Saying "We'll tie her hands and feet me boys, overboard we'll throw her
And she'll never see that seaport town, called Canadee-I-O."

Now, when the captain he's heard the news, well he too fell into a rage,
And with his whole ship's company he was willing to engage,
Saying "She'll stay all in sailor's clothes, her collar shall be blue,
She'll see that seaport town, called Canadee-I-O."

Now when they came down to Canada, scarcely above half a year,
She's married this bold captain, who calls her his dear,
She's dressed in silks and satins now, and she cuts a gallant show
She's the finest of the ladies down in Canadee-I-O.

Come all you fair and tender girls, wheresoever you may be,
I'd have you to follow your own love when he goes out on the sea,
For if the sailors prove false to you, well the captain he might prove true,
To see the honour I have gained by the wearing of the blue.

Do You Love An Apple

Do you love an apple? Do you love a pear?
Do you love a laddie with bonnie brown hair?

But still I love him, I can't deny him
I'll be with him wherever he goes

He works at the pier for nine bob a week
Come Saturday night, he comes rolling home drunk

But still I love him, I can't deny him
I'll be with him wherever he goes

He stood at the corner, a fag in his mouth
Two hands in his pockets, he whistled me out
another copy paste you stupid robot
But still I love him, I can't deny him
I'll be with him wherever he goes

Before I got married I wore a black shawl
But since I got married I wore coveralls

But still I love him, I can't deny him
I'll be with him wherever he goes

Before I got married I'd sport and I'd play
But now, the cradle, it gets in me way

But still I love him, I can't deny him
I'll be with him wherever he goes

Do you love an apple? Do you love a pear?
Do you love a laddie with bonnie brown hair?

But still I love him, I can't deny him
I'll be with him wherever he goes

Greenwood Sidey

There was a lady lived in York - all the lee and loney
Fell in love with her father's clerk - down by the greenwood sidey-o

She loved him up, she loved him down - all the lee and loney
Loved him 'til he filled her arms - down by the greenwood sidey-o

She leant her back against an oak - all the lee and loney
First it bent and then it broke - down by the greenwood sidey-o
another copy paste you stupid robot
She leant her back against a thorn - all the lee and loney
There she had two fine babes born - down by the greenwood sidey-o

She took out her reaping knife - all the lee and loney
There she took those sweet babes' lives - down by the greenwood sidey-o

She wiped the blade against her shoe - all the lee and loney
The more she rubbed, the redder it grew - down by the greenwood sidey-o

She went back to her father's hall - all the lee and loney
Saw two babes a-playing at ball - down by the greenwood sidey-o

'Oh babes oh babes if you were mine' - all the lee and loney
'I'd dress you up in scarlet fine' - down by the greenwood sidey-o

'Oh Mother oh Mother if we were yours' - all the lee and loney
'Scarlet was our own hearts' blood' - down by the greenwood sidey-o

'Oh babes oh babes it's Heaven for you' - all the lee and loney
'Oh Mother oh Mother it's Hell for you' - down by the greenwood sidey-o

Carrickfergus

I wish I was in Carrickfergus
Only for nights in Ballygrand
I would swim over the deepest ocean
Only to be there, to be by your side

But the sea is wide and I cannot swim over
And neither have I the wings to fly
I wish I had a handsome boatsman
To ferry me over to my love and die

My childhood days bring back sad reflections
Of happy days spent so long ago
My boyhood friends and my own relations
Have all passed on now like a melting of snow

So I'll spend my days in endless roaming
Soft is the grass, and my bed is free
Ah, to be home now in Carrickfergus
On that long road down to the salty sea

And in Kilkenny it is reported
On marble stone there as black as ink
With gold and silver I did support her
But I'll sing no more now til I get a drink

And I'm drunk today and I'm seldom sober
A handsome rover from town to town
Oh but I'm sick now and my days are numbered
Come all me young men and lay me down
another copy paste you stupid robot
I wish I had you in Carrickfergus
Only for nights in Ballygrand
I would swim over the deepest ocean
Only to be there, to be by your side

Death Of Queen Jane

Queen Jane lay in labour
Full nine days or more
Till her women were so tired
They could no longer bare
They could no longer bare

Good women, good women
Good women as ye be
Will you open my right side
And find my baby
And find my baby

Oh no cried the women
That's a thing that never can be
We will send for King Henry
And hear what he may say
And hear what he may say

King Henry was sent for
King Henry did appear
Saying, "What are ail you making?
Your eyes they look so dim
Your eyes they look so dim"

King Henry, King Henry
Will you do one thing for me?
That's to open my right side
And find my baby
And find my baby
another copy paste you stupid robot
"Oh no," cried King Henry
"That's a thing I'll never could do
If I lose the flower of England
I shall lose the branch too
I shall lose the branch too"

There was fiddling and dancing
On the day the babe was born
But poor Queen Jane beloved
Lay cold as the stone
Lay cold as the stone

Wild Mountain Thyme

Oh the summer time is coming
And the leaves are sweetly turning
And the wild mountain thyme
Blooms across the blooming heather
Will you go lassie go

And we'll all go together
To pull wild mountain thyme
All across the purple heather
Will you go lassie go

I will build my love a bower
Near yon pure and crystal fountain
And on it I will lay
All the flowers of the mountain
Will you go lassie go
another copy paste you stupid robot
And we'll all go together
To pull wild mountain thyme
All across the purple heather
Will you go lassie go

If you will not go with me
I will surely find another
To pull wild mountain thyme
Across the purple heather
Will you go lassie go

And we'll all go together
To pull wild mountain thyme
All around the purple heather
Will you go lassie go

Marie's Wedding

Step we gaily on we go,
Heel for heel
And toe for toe,
Arm and arm
And row and row,
All for Marie's wedding.

Over hillways, up and down,
Myrtle green and bracken brown,
Past the sheilings through the town
All for the sake of Marie.
another copy paste you stupid robot
Step we gaily on we go,
Heel for heel
And toe for toe,
Arm and arm
And row and row,
All for Marie's wedding.

Red her cheeks as Rowan's are,
Bright her eyes as any star.
Fairest of them all by far,
Is our darlin' Marie.

Step we gaily on we go,
Heel for heel
And toe for toe,
Arm and arm
And row and row,
All for Marie's wedding.

Plenty herring, plenty meal,
Plenty peat to fill her kreel.
Plenty bonnie bairns as well,
That's the toast for Marie.

Miscellaneous songs

Because The Night

(Springsteen/Smith)

Take me now, baby, here as I am
Hold me close, try and understand
Desire is hunger is the fire I breathe
Love is a banquet on which we feed

Come on now, try and understand
The way I feel under your command
Take my hand, come under cover
They can't hurt you now

Because the night belongs to lovers
Because the night belongs to lust
Because the night belongs to lovers
Because the night belongs to us

Have I doubt, baby, when I'm alone
Love is a ring on the telephone
Love is an angel, disguised as lust
Here in our bed 'til the morning comes

Come on now, try and understand
The way I feel under your command
Take my hand, come under cover
They can't hurt you now

Because the night belongs to lovers
Because the night belongs to lust
Because the night belongs to lovers
Because the night belongs to us

With love we sleep, with doubt the vicious circle turns, and burns
Without you, I cannot live, forgive the yearning burning
I believe in love too real to feel, take me now, take me now, take me now

Because the night belongs to lovers
Because the night belongs to lust
Because the night belongs to lovers
Because the night belongs to us

More Than This

I could feel at the time
There was no way of knowing
Fallen leaves in the night
Who can say where they're blowing
As free as the wind
And hopefully learning
Why the sea on the tide
Has no way of turning

More than this
You know there is nothing
More than this
Tell me one thing
More than this
You know there is nothing

It was fun for a while
There was no way of knowing
Like a dream in the night
Who can say where we're going
No care in the world
Maybe I'm learning
Why the sea on the tide
Has no way of turning

More than this
You know there is nothing
More than this
Tell me one thing
More than this
You know there is nothing

oooh aaaah

More than this
You know there is nothing
More than this
Tell me one thing
More than this
There is nothing

Ooooh Ooooh Ooooooh Aaaaaaah Ooooooh

Those schoolgirl days of telling tales and biting nails are gone.
But in my mind I know they will still live on and on.
But how do you thank someone who's taken you from crayons to perfume?
It isn't easy, but I'll try.
      If you wanted the sky I would write across the sky in letters that would soar a thousand feet high, 'To Sir, With Love'.
      Those awkward years have hurried by, why did they fly away?
Why is it, sir children grow up to be people one day?
What takes the place of climbing trees and dirty knees in the world outside?
What is there for you I can buy?
      If you wanted the world I'd surround it with a wall.
I'd scrawl these words with letters ten feet tall, 'To Sir, With Love'.
      The time has come for closing books and long last looks must end.
And as I leave I know that I am leaving my best friend.
A friend who taught me right from wrong, weak from strong, that's a lot to learn.
What can I give you in return?
      If you wanted the moon I would try to make a start.
But I would rather you let me give my heart, 'To Sir, With Love'.

Let The Mystery Be

(Written by Iris Dement)

Everybody's wondering what and where they all came from
Everybody's worrying 'bout where they're gonna go when the whole thing's done
Nobody knows for certain, so it's all the same to me
Think I'll just let the mystery be

Some say once gone, you're gone forever
Some say they're gonna come back
Some say you rest in the arms of the Savior
if in sinful ways you lack
Some say that they're comin' back in a garden
Bunch of carrots and little sweet peas
Think I'll just let the mystery be

Some say they're going to place called "Glory"
And I ain't sayin' it ain't a fact
But I've heard that I'm on the road to purgatory
And I don't like the sound of that
I believe in love and I live my life accordingly
But I choose to let the mystery be