Wind-Up Canary

Doctor Monroe

Years ago the phone rang off the hook for Dr. Monroe
But he's erased the names in his little black book, he's living alone
Oh, you might have seen him chain-smoking on national TV
Drinking scotch on the rocks and flipping through playboy magazines
He will not hello, invite you to his chateau in the Pyrenees
He's a real sharp shooter, good looker, smooth talker with the ladies

He's running on high speed trains seeing visions of what he used to have
Like a choir boy in the wings it's the death of a ladies man

Ten years ago he quit the material world
He started speaking to the sixth dimension through public urinals
Oh, her got curious and started wearing some of Helen’s clothes
He quit the firm and set up practice in his bathtub
Helen said "darling, I’m concerned, do you think that  you'll pull through
Or should I call the doctor?"
He said "that's what I am, you fool."

He's running on high speed trains seeing visions of  what he used to have
Like a choir boy in the wings it's the death of a ladies man

He's got his hair slicked back and his boots laced tight and shined
He makes a killer first impression 'cause he smells like turpentine
Oh, he'll slide beside you and ask you for his name
He extinguishes his cigarette in your water and then gives it a swig
"when is your stop? Where are you getting off?"
Gee, I can't be so sure, maybe Berlin, or maybe not

He's running on high speed trains seeing visions of what he used to have
Like a choir boy in the wings it's the death of a ladies man

When he comes in to see you he will look you straight in the eye
When he says "voulez-vous coucher avec moi?"
Run for you life

Cause he's running on high speed trains seeing visions of what he used to have
Like a choir boy in the wings it's the death of a ladies man

Everything

Since I was a child I could read the tides by the colours of the clouds
When I grew I left in the spring and took only my piano and some gin

But when I’m awake and I feel my head is swinning
Then when I sleep I begin to think of
Everything
Everything
Everything
Oh everything

When I was only four I found my lonely ivories and we became fast friends
I moved to the city but I can still hear waves
I’m a break-wall and the moon is tugging my feet

But when I’m awake and I feel my head is swinning
Then when I sleep I begin to think of
Everything
Everything
Everything
Oh everything

When I’m in my baby's arms
I can still feel the pulse
Do I stay, do I go
I don't know, I don't know

But when I’m awake and I feel my head is swinning
Then when I sleep I begin to think of
Everything
Everything
Everything
Oh everything
Everything
Everything
Everything
Everything...

Baby James

My first lover was real sweet, he made a woman out of me
But he left as quick as he came, my baby James
Mama said I was naive
'Said one day he'd pick up and leave me
But 'till then I swore I’d stay for my baby Jame

My baby's gone and I can't seem to find him
He never calls and he's real bad at writing
Oh where's my baby James

My first lover was real cruel and he knew what he was doing
He loved so good I had to stay for my baby James
Mama said I was naive
'Said one day he'd pick up and leave me.
But 'till that day I best be strong for my baby James

He's as cold as an ice box, there's nothing inside him
Just crack him open, hear the echoes holler
Where's my baby James

Oh I begged him not to go
But nothing would move him
He said he'd women to meet
And countries to topple
Before you cart me away
Tell him I’m real sorry
Oh, I love him just the same, my baby Jame

Call of f the search party there's nobody coming
My baby's gone where you never will find him
Where's my baby
Where's my baby
Bye bye baby James

Cabin fever

Autumn's coming in through the yard,
Marching like a grandfather clock
The badges he wears are tattered and old
Like shredded ribbons of bright read and gold
His arms are stiff and they're sure they're in time
'Cause you can't slow a man with a pendulum down
No, you can't slow a man with a pendulum down

In autumn it's hard to keep the mood light
The puddles get deep and my umbrella was swiped
You'll find him in the strangest of places
Jangling a coffee cup outside store twenty-four
But he's not a beggar 'till the cold settles in
And he swears there's an Indian summer in him
Oh, he swears there's an Indian summer in him

Drink from this flask to put warmth in your chest and sing around my piano
I'm settling in for the long winter months with all of the friends I can handle
And we'll toast this death of summer months
And summer warmth
And summer love

If your heart starts feeling slow, there's a refrain I know and I’ll teach you, it goes
"when we've come down with cabin fever,
And everyone's wearing sweaters
And talking about leaving, we'll know it's time."

Pack the car
Head out to Vermont
I'm trading Boston concrete for foliage
It always feels like I’m on my way out
Chasing seasons down but they never do budge
Oh, as soon as you're used to one season it moves
And that's all that you can count on
That's all that you can count on

When we've come down with cabin fever
And everyone's wearing sweaters
And talking about leaving we'll know it's time

Frankie and Annette

Frankie and Annette ran off at sixteen and it all started at a red sox ball game
In a cracker jack box, Frankie found a ring and said "how's about making me a man?"
Frankie was just laid off at the store, they said
"Kid, you've got some shit to learn about selling cheese to customers."
If you're not wrapping it in cellophane you're writing it

It's all about your fifteen seconds
And it's all about walking away from the wreck
It's all about assembling a life from what's left on the streets
Hubcap coffee cups and broken love seats

They took off on the road in fraudulent car
Held a cashier at gunpoint in a Cumberland farms
Got married by a guy who was impersonating a judge
And for twenty-five dollars did house-calls

It's all about your fifteen seconds
And it's all about walking away from the wreck
It's all about assembling a life from what's left on the streets
Hubcap coffee cups and broken love seats

Maybe I’ll buy you a little house down on Grasshopper Street
Nine to five behind a pavoni machine
Then I’ll know you up with a little baby
And we'll name him Martinez

They got caught by the cops when they got to Columbus
"Kids, who is it that put you up to this?"
Frankie said it was fate, Annette said it was love
"Book 'em danno, we got our front page

It's all about your fifteen seconds
And it's all about walking away from the wreck
It's all about assembling a life from what's left on the streets
Hubcap coffee cups and broken love seats
Hubcap coffee cups and broken love seats
Oh, hubcap coffee cups and broken love seats

The coffee beanery

The coffee beanery was about to explode
Or was it a field
Nobody knows
Nobody saw it coming
But for days
The forecast predicted frost
The TV's radiated ice

The Toyota became a baked Alaska
And if we took out our spoons
The windshield wipers scraping beneath
A little work for dessert
If every course would put up a good fight first

All that you build will probably fall someday
Then you'll be left with only Polaroids
So, what I want to know is when the sky caves in
Who's gonna pick up the pieces then

The signs, they were all there before
A blink of barrette the waves crashing down on the colonials
Everybody said "don't get caught, darling, you gonna end up in a Folgers tin"
But even they liked the storm
And they drive me batty when they say things like that
'Cause you know I’ve heard the stories, too
Oh I’ve heard the wives' tale
Where Polly at a load of stale reunion bread
And got killed by one of her seven Siamese cats
Never did want an American short-hair 'cause they've got bones to pick

All that you build will probably fall someday
Then you'll be left with only Polaroids
So, what I want to know is when the sky caves in
Who's gonna pick up the pieces then

I had a dream about Helena where she was strumming her cello like it was a banjo
We got drunk and danced in the sand dunes 'till she said
"Why don't we go and see about that parade?"

And James with his beard which is down to his knees, is
Probably in Asia chewing on a coil of ginseng and he's
Writing me every week about the big beautiful world
I kind of want to be a part of it.

All that you build will probably fall someday
Then you'll be left with only Polaroids
So, what I want to know is when the sky caves in
Who's gonna pick up the pieces then

Embroidery

Since I was a girl, I’ve been good at embroidery
I finished up my finishing school in Switzerland
Then I escaped to Evian, wound my car down the alps, lived only on apricots
Picked by the side of the road

In vevey I lived with two spinsters who spoke only french
But mostly bickered
They fed me strawberry wine
I sat in my room writing you lines on doilies
They all said the same thing
I wish you were here

The lights on Lake Geneva are a sight for sore eyes
They turn the water into glass
I could step on it and be in Lausanne
Then I’d be just miles from you, maybe I’d see you in line at the shooting booths
Maybe you'd buy me an ice cream cone

But if you look you'll see my initials stitched inside your left breast pocket
The one you keep your handkerchief in
The one closest to you heart

Since I was a girl I’ve been good at embroidery
Since I was a girl I’ve been good at embroidery
But no needlepoint will bring you
Across this continental divide
Across the Atlantic ocean to where I am now

Fat Old Man

You’ve moved off to Seattle
You go down yo the bar every day
This morning you woke up in the park
Wearing only a tiny straw hat
You’ve got a mad dog with a bad leg
And a comb full of rotten teeth
But the days get longer you don’t get no younger
And nobody’s calling for you
Keep moving on

You’re chewing aspirin like M&Ms
Anything to dull the pain
But the doctor says it’s nothing that a little courage wouldn’t fix.
So they put you up on morphine and they strap you to the bed
Saying “Darling, it’s just a bad dream, it’ll be over soon”
Keeps moving on

Oh nobody
Nobody feels like fighting

You’ve unplugged all the phone lines
And changed the locks on the doors
You’ve been wearing suits and collared shirts
And you’ve changed your name to Carlos
You take up with a lady
The kind that wears perfume
And she likes the sound of your name
When it's following after hers
Keep moving on

Then she tells you there’s a child
And he’s three months along
She’s been dying to tell you
‘Cause she thinks he’ll have your nose
You call her up the next day
It was St. valentine’s
And you wanted to know about the hometown
And see if it was standing
And it keeps moving on

‘Cause nobody
Nobody feels like fighting

The LeCalire boy died in a fire
The town gathered by the harbor’s edge
And sure enough when the flames died down the boat almost sunk
The next day the sea was quiet
The tide came in, then moved out
That’s just one way of saying
Nothing changes when you’re gone
It keeps moving on

*** Thanx a lot to Valeria for this one ***

Stationary

I've tried writing letters
Tried reading paperback novels, too
I've made changes in my morning routine
Because they don't include you
All of the love I will call mine and no longer
'Seems like someone misaligned my heart
Sitting in taverns with a whiskey grin
You want me but you won't take me home.

I can't shake you off
No matter how hard I try
I can't just pick up my pen
And write about something else
I can't shake you off
But, baby, I want to

I've tried writing about the weather
But all of the patterns seemed the same
No one wants to hear songs about the wind
Or the clouds when the weekly
Outlook always predicts rain
Since you left the world went on spinning
There were no clouds, nor screams, nor heart attacks
But when you returned you still looked pretty
So I dropped all of the belongings I was holding in my hands

I can't shake you off
No matter how hard I try
I can't just pick up my pen
And write about something else
I can't shake you off
But, baby, I want to

Douse me in cold water
Hang me out to dry when the nightmare's over
'Cause I'll be ready, oh you gotta be ready to fall

I've tried writing about footprints
How funny it is they follow you wherever you go
We're invisible when we are running away from the scene of the crime
But the evidence still stays in the yard
I've tried meeting strangers
Listened to them murmur their secrets in the dark
But none of them gave me a thrill quite like you do
So really, what is the point

When I can't shake you off
No matter how hard I try
I can't just pick up my pen
And write about something else
I can't shake you off
But, baby, I want to
I want to, I want to

Douse me in cold water
Hang me out to dry when the nightmare's over
'Cause I'll be ready, oh you gotta be ready to fall

*** Thanx a lot to Emily for this one ***

Tundra

I called in sick to the bathtub today
Somebody pulled the plug on me
So I gathered up my skirts half way to the sink
Made a bubble bath towel
I bought at Jo–Ann Fabrics

Oh you held me like a tundra
Shifting blocks of ice
Pulling us under
Come a little closer
You're in for a long haul
Because the water gets deeper the further we drift out

I used to watch the weather channel twice a week
Make visually, calculations of the water levels rising
But since my basin emptied
I can't bear to look at it.
Disaster is as disaster does
And it doesn't like forecasting

Oh you held me like a tundra
Shifting blocks of ice
Pulling us under
Come a little closer
You're in for a long haul
Because the water gets deeper the further we drift out.

You didn't have to tell me,
Or even say her name
The evidence was plainly written by the expression on your face
It ain't intuition, it ain't ESP
I could even tell when you were making love to me.

Oh you held me like a tundra
Shifting blocks of ice
Pulling us under
Come a little closer
You're in for a long haul
Because the water gets deeper the further we drift out
The water gets deeper the further we drift out
And it's too bad, it's too bad
It's too bad 'cause we knew it all along

Oh you held me like a tundra
Shifting blocks of ice
Pulling us under
Come a little closer
You're in for a long haul
Because the water gets deeper the further we drift out
The water gets deeper the further we drift out
The water gets deeper and soon our love will drown

*** Thanx a lot to Matthew for this one ***

All or Nothing

Love, why did you run
And call my body poison
I wanted a love that would keep
It was all or nothing

In a poplar tree my hopes got caught
And then you broke my heart
And the branches bent just out of reach
It was all or nothing.

I'm going to be just fine
I'll travel down my crooked line
With these images in my head
Of you lying beside me

I still have your old t-shirt
It's starting to smell like dust
And I barely remember your name
It was all or nothing

I'm going to be just fine
I'll travel down my crooked line
With these images in my head
Of you lying beside me

Walking down Huntington Avenue
Since you've gone my steps have turned heavy
Yet I don't regret a thing
As long as there is spring I'll love again
So when the crowd gathered to see the holy end
I loved so hard I broke in half
And my heart shrivelled to potpourri
But it was all or nothing
All or nothing, all or nothing…

I'm going to be just fine
I'll travel down my crooked line
With these images in my head
Of you lying beside me

*** Thanx a lot to Emily for this one ***

The la la song

Knowing you makes all the difference
Don't it darling
Knowing all your if's and why's
Your when's and how's

December comes in as a short procession
A little punctured, a little heartbroken
But not forever and not for long

In New York, the vagabonds have fled
To your dusty wings
The play bill tramps are
Starving for a little warmth

It seems I’ve help my arms like this for ages
But I am done waiting, I am lowering them down
Like a white flag, like a sail

It's Clementine season, my peach, my little
You are gone, but now I like all my parts

It's funny how when we're whole, we feel hollow
It's funny, I like me best with a broken heart

So, when winter started to thaw
You may be tempted to come around
And it's likely to be too late

La la la...

Phylactery Factory

Destruction Of The Art Deco House

They’re knocking down that Art Deco house
The clawfoot tub is cracked and crushed
The mattress springs and the telephone wires
Gnash now through the air like crocodiles

Everything is coming up in 2 x 4’s
Concrete walls and concrete floors
High rise homes, high rising rent
The atmosphere is closing in

There’s no stars up above when you tilt your head
Though the night is blank and black as pitch
It is not what it seems
What it seems

The polymaths around the town
Yield and shift their weight around
On a new boy, a young wunderkind
He’ll give us hope and cure the blind

It’s you they’ve chosen, my favorite son
To heal the sick and cure the blind
Your path is paved, you look terrified
You are not what you seem
Oh what you seem

Oh, what I see when I’m dreaming
Oh, what I see when I’m dreaming
Oh, am I dreaming
Oh, am I dreaming

You’re just sinews and bones, smiley faces and frowns
There’s a series of numbers that dictate your wiles
Green at the wick, you are still a child
And you stumble when you walk

The guileless cavalry in their brass-buttoned coats
Can’t they see no men of pith
Are going to come to lift them from the fuselage
So let’s skip town, you and I
Far from where the hemlock lies
Through the beryline hills, like ezekial’s wheels
Cradling the clouds that hold our view

Let’s pass the cities and their neon lights
Their copper-tops and steely spires
Let’s trade them for the simple life
For they’re not what they seem
What they seem

Oh, what I see when I’m dreaming
When I'm dreaming
Oh, what I see when I’m dreaming
Oh, am I dreaming
Oh, am I dreaming

Our days back east are done in numbers
Our days back east are done and over
Our days back east are done and numbered
I’ll test the weights and weigh the odds
You’ll want for nothing even when we’ve got nothing
Nothing, nothing at all

Dreaming of the Plum Trees

Upstairs the neighbors are moving in
Hammering nails into their beds
You can hear them falling in love again
Three times this evening

While we were asleep in bed
Jealous of how they were so content
Jealous of the money they spent
Three times this evening

She was born in New Orleans
He made his money on Long Island
Out on Montauk
Sold used cars and paved parking lots

They bought a cigarette boat
And then they bought a truck
To pull the cigarette boat
From lot to lot, lot to lot

Oh, but I saw their girl Ruthie
She was running through the streets in her bare feet
Someone ought to be ashamed
Someone ought to
Someone ought to be ashamed

Their daughter stepped on glass again
Her foot bled red as dye
Through the floorboards
Through the floor, through the floor
Through the floorboards

You could hear her crying
You could hear his hand drop
They split the estate up
It was against the law
It was against the law

Oh, but I saw their girl Ruthie
She was running through the streets in her bare feet
Someone ought to be ashamed
Someone ought to
Someone ought to be ashamed

But we were dreaming of the plum trees
We were just dreaming of getting by
Getting by, getting by, getting by

We were dreaming of making ends meet
We were just dreaming of just getting by
Getting by, getting by, getting by

I fell in love again tonight
My heart bled red as dye through the floorboards
Through the floor, through the floor
Through the floorboards

While they tried to sleep in bed
Jealous of how they were so content
Jealous of the money they spent
Three times this evening
Three times this evening

Oh, and I saw their girl Ruthie
She was running through the streets in her bare feet
Someone ought to be ashamed
Someone ought to
Someone ought to be ashamed

But we were dreaming of the plum trees
We were just dreaming of getting by

Oh we were dreaming of making ends meet
Oh we were just dreaming of just getting by
Getting by, getting by, getting by

Calliope

Calliope
I can hear your voice
As clear as a bell
As a bell ringing through the night
Through the night

O Calliope
Your tablets of wax
And your golden crown
So wise, so wise

O Calliope
I need your impartial eye
To guide me
My love is gone to another

O Calliope
Your archaic smile
What lurks behind
And makes your lips look alive
Look alive

O Calliope
I fear I’m growing cold
As the marble stone
That you lie in
That you lie in

O Calliope
I need your impartial eye
To guide me when my love is gone
He is gone, gone for good

Tell him to return
Tell him to return
Tell him to return...

Hometown Hooray

Down by the old stone church
Where the joe-pye weed and the mallows grow
Those petals bigger then my fist
Watch them bob and bow when the wind does blow

There grows a cypress tree
And in its trunk I carved you name
And right beside it I carved mine

They’ll give you the hometown hooray
When you come home, baby
Bronze your combat boots
And set your bones in clay
Write down every word you ever had to say
No one wants to believe you died in vain

The first spring that you were gone
The women who lived on the flat roof-tops
Had sherds sewn with quickly germinating seeds of greens

In all of their Sapphic celebrations
They held fires and dances, chanted your name
Tied yellow ribbons round the trunks of trees in town

They’ll give you the hometown hooray
When you come home, baby
Bronze your combat boots
And set your bones in clay
Write down every word you ever had to say
With Homeric undertones and half the length

But the skies held a collusion of their own
And on the sunniest day there ever was
You died at the tusk of a bayonet
And Aphrodite found your body
Sprinkled nectar in your wounds
And you blood dripped red anemones
That shimmered just like precious stones

And they floated down the riverbank
To the tributary that now shares your name
And the rapids from then on ran red
They run red to this day

They’ll give you the hometown hooray
When you come home, baby
Oh bronze your combat boots
And set your bones in clay
Write down every word you ever had to say
With Homeric undertones and half the length

We used to walk past the blue schoolhouse
We wore our love like it was a crown
And our skin was a map we knew by heart
We never once got lost
We never once got lost
No one wants to believe you died in vain

The Sapphic women who love you so
Still cry every spring when the fennel goes
And the wheat and the barley and the hardy rye
Wither and go to seed

I walk down to the old stone church
where the joe-pye weed and the mallows grow
Those petals droop now heavy with rain
watch them bob and bow when the wind does blow

There, my favorite cypress tree
As tall as the steeples I can see
They’ve tied a yellow-ribbon ‘round its trunk
that covers your name where I carved it twice

I rip that ribbon off the tree
Burn it down by the river that now shares your name
Place the ash where the water ravenously licks the riverbank

We used to walk past the blue schoolhouse
We wore our love like it was a crown
And our skin was a map I knew by heart
We never once got lost
We never once got lost
No one wants to believe you died in vain

Lindberghs & Metal Birds

Coming through the mitrailleuse
A Howitzer cannon and a Thompson gun
Oh you’re a slovenly bunch
Lousy with sin

You’re no better than those altruists
And the eagle scouts you belong
With the haemophiliacs
Out on the front line
Out on the front line...

We’ve got the straw in the wind
To fill your belly with buckshot
It’s a minor detail
That we furbished with white-out

You want something concrete
But your city is sinking,
It was built on sand
You should have planned ahead
Oh leave it up to the Lindberghs and the Metal Birds
Leave it up to the Lindberghs and the Metal Birds
Leave it up to the Lindberghs and the Metal Birds
Keep your head out of the clouds

Coming down, your victory towers
The sepals to the citadel have been hulled with flames
Oh you’ve been unveiled
The manifest is writ with dread
And you’re no better than those altruists
And eagle scouts you belong
With the convalescents who couldn’t make it on the front line
Out on the front line
Out on the front line...

We’ve got the straw in the wind
To fill your belly with buckshot
It’s a minor detail
That we furbished with white-out

And you want something concrete
But your city is sinking,
It was built on sand
You should have planned ahead
Oh leave it up to the Lindberghs and the Metal Birds
Leave it up to the Lindberghs and the Metal Birds
Leave it up to the Lindberghs and the Metal Birds
And keep, keep, keep, keep your head out of the clouds

A Beast Washed Ashore

‘Neath the leaden lid
I saw your face
Ashen and pale as you walked away
And I stayed behind
Oh Where’d you go
Dearest friend of mine

Can you recall the lurid scene of savagery
The sea beast belly-up and beached
Twice as long as a seven mast ship

They took him apart with pliers and a crane
Oh they took him apart, though it took several days
And they took him apart and the townspeople came
And chit-chattered away

The sky that night seemed lacerated
Each cloud a con- contusion
Some wade in the water to wash his bones off
I wade in the water and I watch ‘em
Then they stack him up on a pushcart
Haul him off to the maritime museum

The horizon boasts a widowed light
That punches pinholes ‘tween the sycamores and pines
And through the sodden bogs I make my way back home

The biddies of the town can chew this tale down
And gnaw it into skeletal scraps ‘til fiction is fact
See the truckling trees, bare in the air
But for struggling kites
Oh! His bones are bleached, laid out on the truck
His teeth are brushed and his mouth is shut
His bones are tied with twine and screws
Put on poles, hoisted up in a room

I recall looking once ‘neath your lids
To a universe full of starts
And the days drag on awfully long
When you’re not one who can carry on
Chit-chattering away
Chit-chattering away...

Napoleon at Waterloo

He holds us all in his hands
He is the one who’s in command
He leads us down to the knoll
The skies begin to fill with smoke

But do not falter, nor stand afraid
He is the one who holds us all
No, do not falter nor stand afraid
He is the one who holds us all

As one by one we fall
There goes now another man down
There goes now another man down
There goes now another man down...

They put their trust in his hands
And a medal on his chest
And the ladies who swoon say
That’s the place where his purple heart is
Where his purple heart is
Where his purple heart is
Where his purple heart is
Where his purple heart is

There goes now another man down
There goes now another man down
There goes now another man down...

The lights light up the backsides
Of all the soldiers on their guard who are waiting
And the captain of the battalion shouts
Fire...
There goes now another man down...

Hung On a Thin Thread

Come along in my mackinaw
I’ll point you where you need to go
Though our path may bend and yaw
You won’t get lost

With my pointed prow and square stern
We’ll use our arms for oars
To spoor little schools of fish
Make festoon-shaped grooves in the fickle waves
‘Til the howling wind ushers us to leave

Out at sea for days
I sleep most afternoons away
And you anxiously compass us
‘Til we see land

But the land we knew
Was now a new landscape
And the howling wind ushered us to leave
But you wanted a closer look

Then gripped to the rail, how our cheeks turned pale
To see the flying machines near clip the houses
And throw kisses to the sandbar

Little tendrils of smoke trailing out of the exhaust
In parabolic wakes, swooping low like gulls
Causing the town to tremor and to shake
It was clear that city was nothing
But an aluminium piece of junk

Oh, and the howling wind ushered us to leave
But we couldn’t move we stood forever changed
When something ends, something has to begin

When the filaments of fiber
From their flares caught afire
Your hair looked like spark on a wire
I would have paid my last dollar
To see you lambent like that
Lit by the light of ten thousand shackled suns
Being hung on a thin thread

Sift amongst the debris for half-hearted dreams
Remnants of pocket change
Pretty, frilly, thrown-away things

Gauze and dust and shards of glass
Bricks and bended straws and greyhounds’ teeth
And the howling wind ushered us to leave

Vessels

Those wending ships
That sailed in May
Vessels that carried me
From one place to the next

Were fated just for me
Oh they were fated just for me
In my time I’ve made mistakes
That made all of the difference

Each bough and plank
Each mast and sail
No matter how old
Or how decrepit

In my time I’ve made mistakes
That made all of the difference
Those vessels that brought me here
Have made all of the difference
Yes all of the difference

Kairos

Icarus

Let the sun rain down on me
'Til covered in dew all pink and new and newborn
Cut past the grey and countless forms
Condemned to kill or be conquered

Slender as a carp you are
Your skin defiantly silver and so sure
As for me, I am not so sure
I watch you skate like a knife beneath the water

Though I can see clearly ahead of me
I cannot stop it once I'm set a-spinning
And oh what can it mean, why must I always see
The ending at the beginning

Together going arm and arm
To meet our solitude, to meet it head on
I'll meet you where the water's warm
To meet my solitude, to meet it head on

Though I can see clearly ahead of me
I cannot stop it once I'm set a-spinning
And oh what can it mean, why must I always see
The ending at the beginning

Moon Jam

I went swimming in a black and silent sea
While I was in between
Waking and dreaming
In my mind a knot was gathering
I am afraid of so many things

And I cannot control myself
I cannot control myself

The water moved around me
Like a cloud of ink
'Til I came upon a lake
The sun has never seen

And I cannot control myself
I cannot control myself

The fish went wild
Their eyes aglow and seeking heat
Like shards of glass
Fitting on past me in the lake below
Life without a moon and stars
Is no life at all
I am afraid of so many things

I am afraid of so many things
But I do not fear the future
What lies ahead is between
Me and the universe

No Logic

There is no logic
No reason
No logic at all
To keep holding on
To the hope
You'll turn into
The man I thought you were

I can't sit still
I can't stay in one place too long
Are you comfortable
Are you comfortable
I'm moving along

Your voice, though stentorian
Cannot hide the shadow of a doubt
Your thoughts may seem golden now
Give them time, time to sort them out

How do you know the name
The name of the one you love
The name of the one you love
What does it feel like
Can it make a sound
What does it sound like

Begin Again

I have seen the sun at dawn
Glisten like a marble
I have seen the golden light
That your love has to offer
I can feel the strength of your power
Through the prism of your laughter
There is so much that I have to learn
There is so much that I'm after

Begin again
The everyday and the ordinary
Take the light out of the window
Put it down on the page
Hardwood chair, foot of the bed
Spliced in half, make them new again
It was you who found the silver thread
But it was me who did the mending

Let it go, let it roll right off your shoulder
Just like the rain
Let it go, let it roll right off your shoulder
Start again, begin again

Bow + Arrow

There are some things better kept to yourself
Some people are better left to themselves
You're one of those better left to themselves
I never know what might set you off.

You want to kiss me, but you don't know how
I want to hold you, but I can't right now
You want to love me, but you don't know how
You never know what might set me off

I want a house of stone set out in the woods
I want a house of stone surrounded by birches
I want a house of stone set out in the woods

Pull up the bone, draw out the marrow
I am the bow, you are the arrow

Amsterdam

In the rain in Amsterdam
I thought I saw you
In a window looking back
Over your shoulder

In the rain in Amsterdam
I was writing to you
On a postcard
That I never bothered to send

There were doves
Circling above me
And tulips all around
What were you trying to tell me
I could not make it out

In the rain in Amsterdam
I caught you
Bent down by the canals
Gazing at your own reflection

In the rain in Amsterdam
I saw little of the city
Only water, only water
Only water, falling in a veil around me

There were doves
Circling above me
And tulips all around
What were you trying to tell me
I could not make it out

Who's to say how long
'Til this rain is done
Who's to say how long
'Til this rain is done

Who's to say how long
'Til this rain is done
Who's to say how long
'Til this rain is done...

Thunderbird

In the morning
While you're sleeping
Barely moving, heavy breathing
In the morning
I am leaving, the horizon
My undoing

Different cities, bigger cities
Through it all, we were drifting
You cannot keep me
Keep me steady
The horizon
Always floating

Through the walls now, I can hear you
Hear you moving, barely breathing
Through the walls now, I can feel you
If that's not you, it must be thunder

Cataract

On our bed the curtain's falling
Against the din
Of a descending hush
And though the night
Bent to kiss my bare shoulders
I could not keep out the dark

Without any warning
Without any warning
Without any warning

Is there no good news I can tell you
Is there nothing that'll shake you
From your blackest moods
And your spells of mercury

Is there nothing you can tell me
Is there nothing that will shake me
When my temper starts to unfurl
Who was the first to fail

Without any warning
Without any warning
Without any warning

Even though you may be
Out of the picture, baby
You can still call on me
From time to time
Even though I may be
Out of your picture, darling
You can rely on me
From time to time

Huron

Where do we go from here on
Where's home if you are gone

With you, I'm home

Where do we go from here on
When home can be such an unsettling though

With you, I'm home
Yes I am

Magnolias

There are some days
Alive in me
More alive than me
In those days

Bleeding into the lake
Is a blood-red paper corsage
Once you said that you hated all flowers
But for magnolias

You never cared
For the finer things, for linen or fancy cars
And the sweet summer hymn of violins
Played in your ear like nails on a chalkboard

I never could understand your words
Though we shared our fair share of blood
When you said you looked forward to death
Who were you putting on

Oh Heaven
I've dreamed you
For such a long time
Heaven is a lake
Inside a crystal bowl
With tea lights and magnolias
Floating on the water
Forever and ever
As far as the eye can wander

Non Albums Tracks

Better in Manhattan

( Casey Dienel Live )

Put on my lipstick, I know it's gonna get me tips
Step into the costume so I can give my patrons kicks
Step outside for a cigarette and it’s starting to snow
Every time it gets cold I begin to think of you

Hold on a minute they're calling me
Sugar, sugar, sugar come here
Dance a little close I can almost feel you
Sugar, sugar come here, you're all i got to keep me....warm

I'll admit it, it's cliché but I’m still writing you letters
My room here is cosy and sparsely decorated with posters of Big Sur
I've never been there, but I want you to take me
Though i think that paradise is a place you visit and not a place you live

That's why everything is better in Manhattan
Oh people aren't hungry, they aren't starving in Manhattan
And the buildings are tall and the sky is something you search for
In Manhattan..

And in my spare time I'm making a garden on my fire escape
I can't wait to watch my seedlings find the sun
It won't be easy, 'cause nothing ever is
That's why everything tastes so good

So my love, I've got all my ropes and chains
I'm gonna give them to you for your birthday
You can do with them what you want, but I hope you're gonna tie me up
You can do with them what you want, but I hope you're gonna tie me up, and sing

Oh, Sugar, sugar, sugar come here
Dance a little close I can almost feel you
Sugar, sugar come here, you're all I got to keep me warm
Sugar, Sugar come here, oh I can almost taste you
I'm gonna put you out on the street and watch you grow
In the concrete

Oh my love this time you've gone too far
How many times must I repeat myself?
I love you, there I said it, and I meant it
I love you, there I said it and I meant every word
I love you, there I said it, no you take it
Oh will you put it out on the street and watch it grow in the concrete

Everything is better in Manhattan
Oh Spoons aren't silver, they're gold in Manhattan
And the Buildings are tall and the sky is something you reach for
In Manhattan, oh
In Manhattan, oh
In Manhattan, In Manhattan

*** Thanx a lot to Lucy for this one ***

J'ai 26 Ans

( Brigitte Fontaine Cover - White HInterland "Luniculaire EP" )

J'ai vingt-six ans
Mais seulement quatre d'utiles
Je ne comprends rien à rien
J'ai peur des papillons
Mon père est mort à la guerre

Quand j'étais petite
J'avais un gilet en angora rose
Qui s'arrêtait avant les côtes flottantes
Les vieux messieurs m'aimaient beaucoup

Je ne crois pas l'expérience
Je me méfie des endroits clos
Je ressens la paresse comme une maladie
J'aime les rivières jaunes

Il faut te dire que j'ai derrière l'oreille
Un coin de peau extraordinairement doux
Que j'aime les laitages et les bananes très mûres
Je souhaite toujours qu'un ouragan m'emporte
C'est pourquoi je me suis attachée sur ce fauteuil avec des sangles de vélo.

J'aime toutes les histoires qui commencent par "il était une fois"
Je hais le café au lait
Avant, les garçons me frottaient toujours les oreilles
Une fois j'ai vu les chars blindés sur l'avenue d'Orléans
J'aime les rengaines d'amour et les frites me font pleurer
Sur l'eau, les bateaux me suivent toujours
Ils me font peur, ils me font peur

J'ai vécu très longtemps ici ou là, chez des amies
Un jour, j'ai cassé une table en marbre
J'aime les hommes pas rasés
J'ai souvent mal aux dents
J'ai faim quand il ne faut pas
Voilà, voilà tu sais tout

Mon amie la rose

( Françoise Hardy Cover - White HInterland "Luniculaire EP" )

On est bien peu de chose
Et mon amie la rose
Me l'a dit ce matin

À l'aurore, je suis née
Baptisée de rosée
Je me suis épanouie
Heureuse et amoureuse
Aux rayons du soleil
Je me suis fermé la nuit
Je me suis réveillée vieille

Pourtant j'étais très belle
Oui j'étais la plus belle
Des fleurs de ton jardin

On est bien peu de chose
Et mon amie la rose
Me l'a dit ce matin

Vois le dieu qui m'a fait
Me fait courber la tête
Et je sens que je tombe
Je sens que je tombe
Mon cœur est presque nu
J'ai le pied dans la tombe
Déjà je ne suis plus

Tu m'admirais hier
Et je serai poussière
Pour toujours demain

On est bien peu de chose
Et mon amie la rose
Est morte ce matin

La lune cette nuit
A veillé mon amie
Moi en rêve j'ai vu
Éblouissante et nue
Son âme qui dansait
Bien au-delà des nues
Et qui me souriait

Crois celui qui peut croire
Moi, j'ai besoin d'espoir
Sinon je ne suis rien

Ou bien si peu de chose
C'est mon amie la rose
Qui l'a dit hier matin

Vois le dieu qui m'a fait
Me fait courber la tête
Et je sens que je tombe
Et je sens que je tombe
Mon cœur est presque nu
J'ai le pied dans la tombe
Déjà je ne suis plus

Tu m'admirais hier
Et je serai poussière
Pour toujours demain
Toujours demain
Toujours demain

My Love

(Justin Timberlake cover)

Oh oh oh
Oh oh oh
Oh oh oh
Oh oh oh

Ain't another woman that can take your spot, my love
Ain't another woman that can take your spot, my love

If I wrote you a symphony
Just to say how much you mean to me, what would you do
If I told you were beautiful
Would you date me on the regular, would you
Well, baby I've been around the world
I ain't seen myself another girl like you
This ring here represents my heart
And everything that you've been waiting for

Yeah, because
I can see us holding hands
Walking on the beach, our toes in the sand
I can see us on the countryside
Sitting on the grass, laying side by side
You could be my baby, let me make you my lady
Boy, you amaze me
Ain't gotta do nothing crazy
See, all I want you to do is be my love
My love
My love
My love

Oh oh oh
Oh oh oh
Oh oh oh
Oh oh oh

Now if I wrote you a love note
And made you smile with every word I wrote, what would you do
Would that make you want to change your scene
And wanna be the one on my team
What's the point of waiting anymore
Boy, I've never been more sure, it's you
This ring here represents my heart
Just one thing that I need from you, say "I do"

Yeah, because
I can see us holding hands
Walking on the beach, our toes in the sand
I can see us on the countryside
Sitting on the grass, laying side by side
You could be my baby, let me make you my lady
Boy, you amaze me
Ain't gotta do nothing crazy
See, all I want you to do is be my love
My love
My love
My love
My love
My love
My love
My love
My love
My love
My love
My love

*** Thanx a lot to Jose for this one ***

Requiem pour un con

( Serge Gainsbourg Cover - White HInterland "Luniculaire EP" )

Écoute les orgues
Elles jouent pour toi
Il est terrible cet air-là
J'espère que tu aimes
C'est assez beau non
C'est le requiem pour un con

Je l'ai composé spécialement pour toi
À ta mémoire de scélérat
C'est un joli thème
Tu ne trouves pas
Semblable à toi-même
Pauvre con

Voici les orgues qui remettent ça
Faut que t'apprennes par coeur cet air-là
Que tu n'aies pas même une hésitation
Sur le requiem pour un con

Quoi tu me regardes
Tu n'apprécies pas
Mais qu'est-ce qu'y a là dedans
Qui te plaît pas
Pour moi c'est idem
Que ça te plaise ou non
Je te le rejoue quand même
Pauvre con

Écoute les orgues
Elles jouent pour toi
Il est terrible cet air-là
J'espère que tu aimes
C'est assez beau non
C'est le requiem pour un con

Je l'ai composé spécialement pour toi
A ta mémoire de scélérat
Sur ta figure blême
Aux murs des prisons
J'inscrirai moi-même : " Pauvre con "