MUSIC & LYRICS
I enjoy the challenge of writing songs: setting up a story or situation, exploring it in each verse, finding that great hook for a chorus...some songs come more easily than others.
Most often, in my writing, I hear a melody or pattern in my mind's ear first. If I don't try too hard, the rhythms will become syllables, words, phrases, almost as if the song exists somewhere already, and it is being transmitted to me.
Sometimes when I want to get a great idea for a song, I will walk through a library's fiction section. The titles that are really startling and imaginative are the ones that inspire me to write. If the title of a book is so great that it makes you want to read it, then why wouldn't it make a great song?
SONGS
LYRICS
Not Enough Road
I don’t know how long I’ve been running
Or if I looked back to see where I’ve been
Would I see my past closing in on the distance?
One day I might stop, but I can’t tell you when
There’s not enough road for a restless heart
And when I was ten, I knew what I loved
I’ll tell you now what I didn’t know then
There’s Not Enough Road from where I’ve been
Looking ahead I see mountains
It’s for my survival that I’ll take them in stride
The cost of retreat outweighs my tired spirit
I’ve gotta push on to the other side (chorus)
I’ve been told that my pride is too strong
To allow myself to admit I wasn’t wrong
to say ‘I love you’
It’s one step away from the thrilling summit
And one step away from the dark abyss
But if I must fall on this road to nowhere
My life was sweeter for tasting your kiss (chorus)
Separated By Words
I said, you said, he said, she said
A line was drawn in the sand
They said, we said, East said West said
Our future lies at hand
We bow our heads and turn away
It seems there’s nothing left to say
We’re Separated By Words, Separated By Words
And I can’t speak anymore
Red sky, war cry, bombs fly, more die
A truce is out of reach
Losses mounting, who is counting
The tears of the bereaved?
There are no accidents of birth:
The book of life records your worth
We’re Separated By Words, Separated By Words
And I can’t speak anymore-so I’ll sing
The sun is a two-sided coin
That spends itself on our wounded world
Picasso
He walked the streets at night, looking for signs of mercy In a world gone wild
A nearby olive tree sheltered the old guitarist
He listened awhile and he cried but then he smiled
A solitary sight captured in one small window was a moment so real
He felt the shades of shadows mix with bread and sorrow
He painted it all, as the blind man ate his meal
(chorus) And that blue river, that blue river,that blue river: It flowed from his soul
He wandered toward the light of an open doorway
of a sidewalk cafe
He sketched the sad betrayal in a harlequin’s eyes
And thought of his friend, who was buried that day (chorus)
The blue filled up the white ‘til he had signs of mercy
In a world gone wild
This conjurer of color with a visionary style
Painted in free verse, like the song of a child (chorus)
Blue Tango
It’s time to go home, the lights are down low
The last call was made an hour ago
But a couple remains on the floor lost in a dance
They move in a trance
The music has stopped and all you can hear
Are two pairs of feet, whose rhythm is clear
In an intimate game of destruction that only they know
It’s their blue, Blue Tango
See how he sweeps her down to the floor
Just as she’s about to break
He pulls her up for more….
She is willing to stay, but there’s no time to pray
So they dance the refrain in a dragnet for their pain….
They can’t seem to stop, they’ve been dancing for years
Denying their love, embracing their fears
See the shadows advance and retreat
While they sway to and fro in their blue, Blue Tango
Tillman’s Tale
He marched to the beat of a different drum
A legend in the making, as handsome as they come
Everybody knew he was destined to rise
When he turned down fame and fortune, it came as no surprise
They cut off all his hair and gave him a gun
Cuz the war in Afghanistan had to be won
Everybody knew he was destined to win
The paparazzi chased him but he faced ‘em with a grin (chorus)
Over there, over there-send the word, send the word over there
That Hollywood is comin’, Hollywood is comin’
And they won’t be stopped ‘til there’s no one left to care
He was killed one day crossing the sand
By the friendly fire from a comrade’s hand
No one ever knew, cuz Hollywood stepped in
The legend they created made a hero out of him (chorus)
The football games go one while the cheerleaders scream
Televisions flash the American Dream
The hero’s statue looks on with jaded eyes:
The truth is never lost, it just goes unrecognized (chorus)
Dream by Dream
I was out walking alone
The sudden scent of a man’s cologne
Brought me to the threshold of a time zone
And I stepped on through to you
You-and your 5 o’clock shadow
Against my...you know…
All night long
Dream by dream you come back to me
Kiss by kiss in my memory
In a play by play of the day we met
And I can’t move on, ‘cause I can’t forget
It was so magic, surreal
The way you touched me made me feel
Crazy, thinking I was lost in you
You and the music that you played me
A Kind of Blue that saved me
All night long
Dream by dream you come back to me
Kiss by kiss in my memory
In a play by play of the day we met
And I can’t move on, ‘cause I can’t forget
Temporary Suicide
How can Iexplain
What goes on in my brain?
It’s not really myself
That reaches up to the medicine shelf
I’m like a kid at the fair who decided to try a fast ride
And got hooked on the feeling
Of a Temporary Suicide
I’d strap myself in the chair
Lift my hands in the air
And I’d scream in delight
As I was dropped from a glorious height
But then once I got off
I felt empty and unsatisfied
I was chained to the rapture
Of a Temporary Suicide
Over and over and over and over I’d ride
Over and over and over and over I died
God must want me to suffer so much that my prayers are denied
For a final solution to this Temporary Suicide
Well did I take enough pills? Did I have enough thrills?
Is the Angel of Death standing by to take my last breath? Or will that kid at the fair try to wake me before I have tried
To come home from the fairground, beyond a Temporary Suicide?
I wanna go home….I just wanna go home….
Mary, Do You Love?
You’re the self appointed queen
Of the neighborhood cafe´
You sit outside on your little bench
And watch the world go by each day
And you’re always on the scene
Should anyone fall down
You’re a puzzle to me,
With your cross words and angry frown
(chorus) Mary, now do you love?
Mary, now do you love?
Mary, now do you love yourself?
Well I heard you got a man,
That he works in iron and steel
There’s a lesson to be learned in this
But it’s not my place to reveal
Who knows how to bend your pride
Without breaking you-
God knows how many others tried (chorus)
(Bridge):When the sun goes down
On the neighborhood cafe´
The queen must leave her kingdom for a day
As you make your way back home
A chill is in the air
The summer seems so far away
Soon the trees will all be bare
Lost inside your thoughts
You scarcely recognize
Your face in the glass
Is crying teardrops from its eyes
Mary, now do you love, Mary, now-do you love?
Mary now: do you love yourself?
Transitional Girl
I listen patiently to stories of your latest ex
I hold your hand, I dry your tears, I give ya great sex
I know you’re not in love with me and that ya can’t commit
I wonder how long it will take before we both admit (chorus)
Oohh! In your ever-changing world: I’m your Transitional Girl
Although I won the right to keep my toothbrush at your place
We see each other once a week, I give ya your space
It’s been a year and I don’t even know your family
I get the feelin’ I’m not part of your reality (chorus)
(Bridge)And I’m too fragile to hear the answers
To those questions in my head-
So I won’t ask you for now, I’ll just plan to see you next week
In your bed (instrumental solo)
There’s still a part of me that thinks that fairy tales come true
And that some day you’ll feel the same way that I feel for you
But now ya got me where ya want me, and it’s killin’ me
I walk the line between a girlfriend and a f’k buddy (chorus)
Still Dangerous
A voice on the phone, a face in the crowd
Can catch me by surprise
I find myself suddenly drowning
In the memory of your brown eyes
If I’m alone, I take a deep breath
And give in to the tears
It feels like the same day I lost you
After all these years
Like some kind of addict, I go through your pictures
‘Til I find the one
That one where you body’s so smooth and so tan
That I can feel the sun
I look at the time, an hour’s gone by
But I don’t try to move
It feels like the same day I lost you
And it just goes to prove-just goes to prove
That (chorus) It’s Still Dangerous to wonder where you are
It’s Still Dangerous to even wish upon a star
I guess time will tell me when it’s safe to speak your name
But it’s Still Dangerous to think I’ll ever be the same
Without you.
Life keeps movin’on, I get pulled along,
And there are some good days
If I can’t eat or sleep, I make up for it in other ways
The house has been emptied, everything sold, but
Memories remain
They ache for the one that is missing, just like a phantom pain
And it’s Still Dangerous to think about your touch
Still Dangerous, when I miss you so much
I guess time will tell me when it’s safe to speak your name
But it’s Still Dangerous to think I’ll ever be the same
Without you…
Until Next Time
(co-written with Maryah Thomas)
Until next time, when you think of me
May your heart be light and your spirit, free
May all things lucky, great and small
Bless your life, but most of all
May angels come to whisper in your ear
“Next time is almost here”
Until Next Time may you trust in fate
You know good things come to those who wait
Just like the ocean reaches for the shore
My thoughts can touch you just like before
Until Next Time is written in the sand
I know you’ll understand (instrumental solo)
Until Next Time, if you hear my name
Blow the world a kiss and I”ll do the same
And keep on loving, openly
Keep on believing and you will see that
Memories outshine the darkest days
I’m with you always
Until Next Time