LYRICS FOR THE ALBUM NOMAD LANDS

COASTLINE HIGHWAY

Coastline highway not a highway at all

More like a trail put there for those that heed the call

If I had four uncashed paychecks in my hand

I'd hit the bank and take that road totally without a plan

(Chorus)

Just take me to the red light stop and watch the steering wheel

Go whichever way it leans go for just how it feels

Coastline highway it's to the right so I'm heading your way

Coastline Highway I'm heading East so I'll be there early morning today

I don't know how far I'm going I'm not sure where I'm gonna stay

I'll work it out down the road a little later on in the day

I know it's North or South while I'm soaking up the late fall sun

I see them putting out the big nets getting ready for the spot run

(Repeat chorus)

THE TOURIST

Ex brother in law has his doublewide

Right next to the state prison across from the backside

His wife was working in there for the longest time

Last I heard she got fired she was a victim of the warden's crimes

Now she can't find work anywhere

She stares at the prison tower she rightly doesn't care

He fell off a combine now he can barely walk

They watch the bills pile high by the bong nobody wants to talk

Me I got out of there I coudn't deal with the place

Now I just go from farm to farm for less than ninety days (sic: at a time ya'll)

People on the beach they think they've seen it all

They haven't seen much just brochures by the motel lobby wall

Maybe I'll get that job tricking them into time shares

Let them own it for a week then kick them the hell on out of there

They'd freak out if they knew what was a few miles away

The other kind of tourist is dodging canebreak rattlesnakes

You see I'm the real tourist I've seen lots of things

Like muddy cotton fields peanuts and soybeans

I get a little money and then I leave the place

Go hustle at the ocean side and leave without a trace

{note the next four songs are the SANSPIRELA SUITE}

SANSPIRELA FROM THE FAIR

Sanspirela is my name and I came from the fair

An old Romanian name but I'm not from there

Born to work in the carnival my roots are kind of unknown

Born in a trailer somewhere way down a country road

Mahala with her crystal ball the fair's fortune teller

Told me that life would change for me for the better

That Saturday I was running rides and a young man caught my eye

His name was Jack Lawler and soon I knew I'd leave the carnival world behind

Jack's father was a doctor with numerous degrees

A very controlling man Jack was longing to be free

So he came back for me at 3:00 A.M. and we drove far away

One last glance in the rearview mirror such a great escape

Dusty and dirty town after town build the rides just to tear them down

It's constant moving never getting anywhere they cannot be pleased and they just don't care

They're never pleased and they just don't care

JACK LAWLER

Once I thought Jack Lawler would change

If it wasn't Jehovah witnesses it was his mother taking him away

After a few years go by it's so hard to keep hanging on

Everybody but me thought Jack was so strong

We roamed and we rambled North South East and West

In the back of my mind I knew I was basically second best

When it came to his family and the occasional phone call

Well money talks plays tricks on us all

What the hell kind of person am I anyway

Running from my own world maybe I just didn't see

Jack playing my way was just a convenient fantasy

He's back home with his inheritance and I ramble all alone

Following the dead around with this tape recorder and microphone

Trucking oh trucking trucking here they come again trucking

FULL CIRCLE

So many years came and went since I made my getaway

From the fake gypsies and mean clowns and other cruel entities

I chanced upon a carnival and I strolled down the fairway

It was a bright fall day just to see what I could see

Could it be coincidentally the one I left behind

One chance in a million probably nothing to worry about

Just my luck what I saw next totally blew my mind

There's my half brother and younger sister I gaze upon them there is no doubt

They don't recognize me no need to tuck my face in

It's the same old booths and rides I left over 30 years ago

I took the long fairway all the way down to the end

There's that knowing nod from Mahala I've been expecting you old friend

THE LAST CRYSTAL BALL

Mahala came from very old stock from across the ocean wide

From a time when the Romani were on the run looking for a place to hide

This land is full of fortune tellers a dime a dozen for most of them all

But Mahala was the real deal the last one left with the last real crystal ball

Things she could see always came about as time faded away

Some were scared of her and they called her a witch for the things she'd say

It wasn't always the kind of readings they all wanted to hear

She hadn't aged much in over 30 years but she knew her time was near

(sic: and then she told me she said)

Takes time to learn what to see and what to ignore

In a few days they'll find me in my trailer cold and dead on the floor

They'll dump my body in some field just before the carnival leaves town

Some randomly selected mortician will lose money putting me in the ground

My things will land in some flea market mostly not worth anything

A pawn shop will get my jewels except for my favorite ring

She put that ring right on my finger then she went behind the front wall

The box she brought out and entrusted only to me held the last real crystal ball

(note end of Sanspirela suite)

WHERE IS MY HOME

I stood on the shore watching the waves break

Watching the gulls fly against the blue sky

And I tasted the salt in the cool ocean air

While the sun went down like it was descending some stairs

And I looked into the darkness and out came the moon

And the stars with their mission to lighten up all the gloom

And I saw the pattern silhouette with the shore

And I asked where is my home is it here forever more 

I read all about your famous melting pot

The books failed to mention the haves and have nots

Your statue of liberty stands so tall and green

I wish I could tell half the stories she's seen

Your factories hum with the industrial age

They turn out books with a deep missing page

The breeze turned cold and the sky turned grey

And I asked where is my home is it here I should stay

I turned my attention to the trails headed inland

Got tired of tripping all over the cold cold sand

Met up with the fishermen and tried their rough ways

I left that existence after a few scraggly days

So I boarded a train heading away from the coast

Life on the homestead so many good points to boast

And the sun turned red and the sky turned green

And I asked where is my home this is just like a dream

SUN CHASING THE MOON

I can't sleep won't be still

Sun is chasing the moon

Over the trees it's baking the hill

And sun is chasing the moon

They're bound to meet up soon

Sun is rising brilliant red and chasing the blood moon

Another hot morning deja vu

Sun keeps chasing the moon

It's getting busy here but it's too hot to move

Sun keeps chasing the moon

They're bound to meet up soon

Sun keeps rising brilliant red and chasing the blood moon

One sure constant every day

Sun keeps chasing the moon

I have to roam but I sure wanna stay here

Sun keeps chasing the moon

They're bound to meet up soon

Sun is rising brilliant red and chasing the blood moon

Time runs out too soon

Sun is rising brilliant red and chasing the blood moon

WHEN WE ALL GO HOME II

When we all go home to the hole in the cloudy sky

Leaving the lush forest to the birds bye and bye

So many long windy days and nights

We rambled under the sun and the bright starlight

When we all go home to the universe's open door

We can look back and realize we've been here before

Back in the times when the world was green and simple

The air was clean and the planet was our temple

We roamed to gather food from the land

Watching the birds pull the clams right out of the sand

When we all go home to the universe's open door

We can look back and realize we've been here before

THREE MILES DOWN THE HIGHWAY

Three miles down the highway and 2000 more to go

Long cold highway loose boulders ice and snow

I'm not sure where I'm going but it's not like where I've been

Something's gotta happen to break this mood I'm in

I'm going for a change from the dead end town I've lived in

(chorus)

I'm not looking over my shouder anymore I'm going far away

Straight up though the curves ahead never the other way

There's nobody left back home I even want to know

Now I'm three miles down the highway and 2000 more to go

Three miles down the highway and the curves are coming on strong

I've gotta get this mountain range behind me but the time getting through here is long

I'll keep on moving till midnight long as I possibly can

I feel like I've been here before but I've never seen this land

Feel like I've been here before but I've never been this far upland

(repeat chorus)

Three miles down the highway and am I lost already

No I'm not this old Buick is holding the curves tight and steady

So called friends back home they robbed me of my whole bankroll

How can they smile and lie to me as if they have no souls

No conscience no regrets just totally devoid of souls

LIVING WITH THE WOLVES

Ask me where I'm going ask me where I've been

Wonder how the time flies before the day can end

I walk through secret gardens and I hunt on holy ground

Living with the wolves they keep me around

So late at night we're hunting under moon and stars

In touch collective consciousness with those that lived on Mars

Many times we've been here so many times we're gone

Living with the wolves forever and for so long

I'm learning of the changes secrets of the globe

Learning when to howl and when I should lay low

Running with my own tribe with a collective soul

Living with the wolves we never will grow old

NOMAD LANDS

We roam the countryside like wild birds in flight

From early morning sunrise till the last rays of light

The smell of a ghost campfire still smoldering in the sand

That's us still moving through flat nomad lands

Crows strut around remnants of old battlefields

Calling the vultures with cries sharp and shrill

Too flat for peaceful borders landscapes wide and grand

That's us still moving through flat nomad lands

You may see hitchhikers on a back country road

Figures seem to be there not fully composed

Then back to the fog like so many waving hands

That's us still moving through flat nomad lands

Lyrics for the album Tower To The Moon

Tower To The Moon

As I build it up come and climb it with me

Away from broken pieces on the ground

Up there with the view we can be free

Of the toxins that can pull us down

I was walking on chunks of broken green glass

Put together in a random way

I walked and I stumbled a bit too fast

Fell to the ground to my dismay

Tower to the moon 

Tower to the moon

Takes a dose of old and new

To build that tower to the moon

Build that tower up to the moon

It took some time but now we know

More than one good way to fly

We rise up from the old ways and go

Look down from the starry sky

Tower to the moon

Tower to the moon

Takes a dose of old and new

To build that tower to the moon

Build that tower up to the moon

Nothing is impossible to do

When I build that tower up with you

Pieces of our world are coming together

When we build that tower together

Tower to the moon

Tower to the moon

Tower to the moon

Lost And Found

By the old safe I'm the lost and found

Big dusty box where the maids never came around

Tonight's the night they close this old hotel down

Don't mind me I'm in the corner I'm the lost and found

I've watched her working usually late at night

She's taking inventory herer and her man had a terrible fight

She's playing with my view masters when the owner's not around

Don't mind me I'm in the corner I'm the lost and found

Hey I've got view masters polaroid cameras eight track tapes

Not counted in inventory she just hid me behind the dirty drapes

This time next month they'll knock this old hotel to the ground

Don't mind me I'm going with her I'm the lost and found

Unemployed now on the wrong side of town

She told that man to cease his coming around

It's time for change and my goods are flea market bound

She needs changes too after her choices from the lost and found

He's blocked from the phone no more messages no hate

No begging for dope money no crashing kitchen plates

She has a better life on the outskirts of town

No rear view mirror for the lost and found

Bright Winter Star -- Instrumental

Underdog

Away from the stagecoaches the dark railroad

Forgotten deer trails where the runaways go

I'll cover their tracks while they sleep under logs

I'm the keeper of the lantern the unnamed underdog

Unseen underdog

It's a world of danger right under the feet

Of slave drivers that kill over cotton and wheat

I know I'm right but the world around me stays wrong

I'm the keeper of the lantern the unnamed underdog

Unseen underdog

I can't say much about where I've been

Not in your history books imagine the trouble I'd be in

Just let them think it's distant leaves shaking at dawn

I'm the keeper of the lantern the unnamed underdog

Unseen underdog

You may see symbols a forgotten language

Very few can understand

Found where the shallow ones are not likely to impinge

Say hello when you cross into the fringe

In a deep south state it's mighty dangerous to disagree

With wealthy overlords of the land and the sea

But I know the forest even better than the wild hogs

I'm the keeper of the lantern the unnamed underdog

Unseen Underdog

Winter Okra

There's nothing colder or more alone

Forgotten and neglected deep in the overgrowth

Than winter okra hanging out in the field

Shriveled dark and worthless

Stiff pods like steel

I feel like winter okra in a frozen field

Laying low under the ice hoping soon to heal

But as I spring across the floor

I'll come back from the edge

Ready to live some more

I woke up feeling like a discarded rag

In the cold dark hours with a damaged tag

But when the springtime comes around again

Seeds sprout fresh and new

For summer pods blackened in the pan

There's nothing colder or more alone

Forgotten and neglected deep in the overgrowth

Than winter okra hanging out there in the field

Shriveled dark and worthless

Stiff pods like steel

Shriveled dark and worthless

Stiff pods like steel

When We All Go Home  Ⅰ

Is the soul forever traveling through the night

When we all go home

Or is it just a one time flash of light

When we all go home

Will time stand still or roll like the wind

When we all go home

Will we see nothing or everywhere we've been

When we all go home

Will we gather together are there rivers there

When we all go home

Will the sun dissolve the rocks into the air

When we all go home

Will we meet the ones that we've never known

When we all go home

Or are we scattered like new seeds are sown

When we all go home

Risen Phoenix Bird

Rise on risen phoenix bird

Up high in parallel winds

Something rustled all the trees stirred

Up from the land rise again

Once a fiery dinosaur

Later on a graceful gull

Time here means so much more

Gliding in your flock's central lull

Rise on risen phoenix bird

After a long hibernation

Following the sun say the word

Flying with a new generation

Swaying up and down with the breezes

Lighting up the orange sky

In motion before the land all freezes

The wind calls out to you and I

The wind calls out to you and I

Rise on risen phoenix bird

This is not the first time you were burned

When your right to this world is blurred

You are back to make sure the tide is turned

When they take you down

You always rise again

Like the mockingbird following me around

Singing all your songs my old friend

Singing all your songs my old friend

Singing all your songs old friend

Cold Distance

They taught me from childhood always hide that face

Bottle up your feelings keep your guards in place

When I think I've broken free emotion in a trace

I'm suddenly in cold distance suddenly up in space

Yesterday I took your call social challenge for me and you

Saw the caller ID and my fingers felt like glue

Pick it up and say hello the right thing to do

A short conversation then cold distance all around me grew

I feel a cold spot in the wall right where my hand lays

It's cold distance that's all all I can tell you at least for today

It's not that I can't talk I just run out of knowing what to say

I find a cold distance that makes me drift so far away

They taught me from childhood always stay alone

Keep to yourself your boundaries well known

When I think I've broken free all the pain is gone

I find the cold distance something I've not outgrown

Jittery Hourglass

Drops in a waterfall sand in the hourglass

The falls have run dry along with the past

I stood on these rocks over twenty years ago

Nothing's left currents cease to flow

There's a cool flea market up this mountain road

At the Georgia/Carolina line it's huge it stretches on and on

I know my map is right but everybody here is gone

Fallen down stands and buildings feels so cold and alone

It's a jittery hourglass living in the moment there's no time for fear

I can't trick the hourglass or turn back those years

That's the way it goes down that's what I have found

I know if I take a right well I'm kind of sure about where it'll go

Think i'll take the left fork I'm sort of lost you know

If I've hugged these mountain curves before I sure don't remember

A good way to ride out the blues that comes with November

Here's a nice new scenic overlook well it's new to me

Smokey mountain sunset looks like a distant sea

Time to find a place to crash up old highway eleven

Early morning campsites are gonna smell like coffee heaven

Jittery hourglass living in the moment there's no time for fear

I can't trick the hourglass or turn back those years

That's the way it goes down and that's what I've found

Sandcastles In Rain

I see lightning flash as the high tide's coming in

And I hear new rain swirling with the west wind

So from every direction comes the end for

Sandcastles in rain

Sandcastles in rain

My first time alone in the old motel got my key in the door

Had no idea I'd almost faint I nearly hit the floor

My legs were locked I couldn't move anymore

Sandcastles in rain

Sandcastles in rain

Picked myself up went out on the balcony

There were children and dogs playing by the sea

Then the rain rolled in the gulls moved nervously around the

Sandcastles in rain 

Sandcastles in rain

Carry on carry on again

I get knocked down by the rain and the wind

We all go to the sand in the end we're just

Sandcastles in rain

Sandcastles in rain

I see lightning flash as the high tide's rolling in

And I hear new rain swirling with the west wind

So from every direction comes the end for

Sandcastles in rain

Sandcastles in rain

Mirror In The Dark 

When I left here the mirrors were turned to the wall

Back home after twenty two  years nothing's changed at all

Daddy died suddenly when I was only ten

Mirrors to the wall or souls get trapped within

It's the same way I left it here in 1901

No different than the day the funeral was done

I'm staring at the mirror sitting in the dark

Outside the children play while neighborhood dogs all bark

Nothing in the darkness scares me anymore

Not even unexplained footsteps echoing up through the floor

I'm staring at myself in the mirror in the dark

My brother stayed behind with mom to run this farm

Now I'm widowed just like mother got child hanging on each arm

We've no where else to go I hope they're up for change

Once again children's voices fill up the range

All thru the walls of this house

That sat like a forgotten lighthouse beckoning me back home

I'm staring at the mirror sitting in the dark

Outside the children play while neighborhood dogs all bark

Nothing in the darkness scares me anymore

Not even unexplained footsteps echoing up through the floor

I'm staring at myself in the mirror in the dark