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

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lyrics for the album Search The Universe

Caswell

You and I walk the same land and road

A different time same rooms long ago

I’ve so many questions-things to know

Did the changes come quickly or was time moving slow

 

Indian fall is upon us now

Haunted cotton fields surrealistic somehow

I know you watched closely

The pulpit called you from the plow

 

Looking back through the years

I know your range of choices now

Fear that rolls with so much loss

You kept the others from sinking down

 

Out West

 

I’ve got dreams to realize

the big sunset opened up my eyes

I know the money flows the best

The train lines run out west (2X)

 

See the Cirrus clouds shaped like candy canes

Thunder so loud hard pounding rain

I can’t sleep I can’t rest

The train lines run out West (2X)

 

The Sun’s going down like a red balloon

Mining town  destination soon

restless rambling  in protest

The train lines run out West (2X)

 

Down in the diamond mine

My pockets full I’m feeling fine

I’ll drink the wine that’s best

The train lines run out West (2X

 

miners’ spirits in a daze

We float underground lost in a maze

I’m Going Home so well dressed

When the train pulls in from out west

When they meet the train at the station from out west

Aw the trains all run, the trains all run out West 

 

Down To It

 

It’s 1889 and it’s a  dreary valentine’s day

There’s 500 pounds of bacon out back and the undertaker’s on his way

With his big black wagon and horses to take my husband away

He’s out in the well house, his two oldest see him, and I can’t look away

[ Don’t know what to say, I hope that wagon gets here today]

 

Pigs are slaughtered, fields plowed, store is stocked for Spring

He’s dead at 38 years old no one can say a thing

What am I supposed to do with this farm, store and land?

My brother in law he’s taking over, meanwhile my youngest three cannot understand

[they’ve never seen a dead man, much less their dad]

 

(Chorus)

When it all comes down to it,  we’re really all alone

Dreams get buried in the ground and life just keeps going on

Life just keeps rolling on

 

I never knew my daddy no picture on the wall

Mama told us so many things, he was so brave and so tall

Dad never came back from the war, his body was never found

In Virginia, where we’ve never been, that’s where the battle went down

[where the civil war battle went down]

 

Momma cried in the dark sometimes, my older sister too

I didn’t cry, I never understood what I should do

How to feel about the first thing taken away when I was born

Since that day seems black is the main color I have worn

[losing everybody since the day I was born]

 

[Chorus]

When it all comes down to it, we’re really all alone

Dreams get buried in the ground and life just keeps going on

Life just keeps rolling on

 

Race With The Devil On US One

 

I have no clue why the devil chases me

On that long cold road with the orange moon hanging in the trees

Spring time  Deep Down South but it’s 27 Degrees

 

Empty produce stands shiver in the moonbeams

Scarecrows guarding nothing but the frozen ground it seems

Pinch myself reminder  this is not a series of dreams

 

A Different sort of demon lurks by the State Line

I have nothing  in the world to hide-but I’m a profilers dream outline

Orange turns to daylight Ice on the Highway signs

 

I have no clue why the devil chases me

On a long cold road with the orange moon hanging in the trees

Spring time deep down South but it’s 17 degrees

 

Spring time deep down South but it’s 14, 12, 10 degrees

 

Ghost Train

 

Thought I heard something in the breeze

Late last night while everybody slept except for me

And I know I heard something moan

When it started to rain  I was outside alone

 

just as real as you and me I saw the ghost train

At the point when the lightning stops and  the thunder remains

then she faded into the slow night breeze

the steam melted into the warm summer rain

My first glimpse of the ghost train

 

Put a chill right up my spine

To see it there just  like a footnote out of time

Even though it’s been here before

Every now and then since before the civil war

 

And the conductor tipped his hat to the sky

No passengers looked back as the train started to fly

Then she faded into the slow night breeze

the steam melted into the warm summer rain

farewell for now to you ghost train

 

Search The Universe

 

My name is Alice Oxendine

I have a baby girl at a very wrong time

1882 is rough on a poor Lumbee

Indian Girl and white baby  like me

sic:  (sure hope she passes for white)

 

I walked from the country  made it to town

Nobody tried to turn us around

I’m eyeing that big porch from the old cattle gate

In the pitch black morning they’re not awake

 

I’m hiding by the tall loblolly pines

So welcoming in daylight,  bright sunshine

But now their limbs look like shaking arms

Like they think I mean this baby harm

sic:  (oh no, I’d never do you any harm little one)

 

Four in the morning there’s a shooting star

we made it to the porch and front door, wasn’t far

Sat her in her blanket, turned the doorbell,  ran away

oil lamps came on with very little delay

 

What have I done, Am I right or wrong?

I Search the Universe, still I don’t know if I’m right or wrong

My heart is full of fear, eyes overrun with tears

I just want you to have a better life, I have nothing they can give you all you need

run, run, keep on running Search the Universe, tell me what I’ve done

Universe tell me what I have done

 

Mystery Jane

 

Grey stone at twilight

As the morning greets the Eastern Sky

We played hide and seek now I play alone

I can’t find you now, you’re just a grey stone

Momma cried and said Jane’s not coming home

 

Grey stone at twilight

I thought of us playing in the magnolia tree that night

a lady watched us from the road

I think I saw her smile then cry, but  I don’t know

I saw her yesterday staring at the Grey Stone

 

Grey stone at twilight

Where did you come from?  A lost Stork in flight?

Yes sister we’re different but we are the same

my eyes softly blue, contrast your golden flames

I wonder so much about you Mystery Jane  Mystery  Jane

 

Last Time Gone

 

The old grey door the paints falling down

Hinges so rusty make a God awful  sound

Paint chips are floating all over the town

Breathing in the lead Rip Van Winkle  lays down

 

sandstone walls wind knocks them all around

Dust mixed with ozone all over the ground

Foundation bricks go from orange to brown

Back to the mud in the rain soaked town

 

Old rusty wires feed a silent telephone

Train track to the past is broken and overgrown

I missed it’s roaring heyday  I was busily alone

Now it’s kind of late to wake up The last time gone

 

The old grey door the paint’s falling down

Chips at the old bus stop from 1950 on the ground

I slept through it all in the silent little town

Just like Rip Van Winkle  I Never heard a sound

 

Atlanta

 

Twelve Peach trees in a row

Doesn’t matter which way I go

Don’t tell them you know me at all

Just some eccentric Uncle’s picture on the wall

 

[chorus}

Don’t tell them you know my name

Nothing about my claim to fame

I disappeared in Atlanta long time ago

I’ve not been here out the backdoor I go

 

In the old days Athens was a bootlegger’s paradise

Fast cars and dirt roads to the state line where it was dry

That’s why the sheriff never forgot my face

I can’t sit still for long  in this place

 

(chorus)

Don’t tell them you know my name

Nothing about my claim to fame

I disappeared in Atlanta long time ago

I’ve not been here out the backdoor I go

 

I visit Mom calls me somebody else

Dad still won’t talk looks at his pistol on the shelf

You’re the niece my first time to see

I’m going away before the blue lights catch up to me

 

(chorus)

Don’t tell them you know my name

Nothing about my main claim to fame

I disappeared in Atlanta long time ago

I’ve not been here out the back door I go

 

I pick a highway from downtown

Ease away without a sound

If bounty hunters do come forth

I elude them in the mountains to the north

I’ll lose ‘em in the mountains to the north

 

(chorus)

Don’t tell them you know my name

Nothing about my main claim to fame

I disappeared in Atlanta long  ago

I’ve not been here out the backdoor I go

I’ve not been here out the backdoor I go

Like A lost ghost in the breeze down the road I go

 

 

Lyrics to the songs on Down To It

 

On A Train Somewhere 

Sitting down in a room full of People 

staring at the fifth wall 

in the middle of a loose conversation 

I’m not there at all 

On A Train Somewhere  winding thru the night 

Lonely as a Russian graveyard cold Siberian fright 

On  a train somewhere rolling across the land 

All the way from Fire Creek to the Sahara’s burning sand 

Looking thru the mirror in the window 

I hear the locomotive call 

Tighten up your mask you can board the train 

or stay frozen to the wall 

 

(repeat chorus one)

 

Moving thru the day like a stranger 

He performs the toil and task 

Still seeing something different in the evening 

out from under the mask 

 

(chorus two ) 

On a train somewhere trying to get back home 

Cruising in to my own space-peaceful time of the gloam 

On a train somewhere natural world (earth) rolling by 

taking it in a personal pleasure from the tracks to the sky 

 

 

Looking around at all these people 

They don’t know me at all 

When they stare because I’m not one of them 

I turn on the elusive protocol 

 

(repeat chorus two)

 

 

Alone In The City

 

I’m alone in the city walking around out in the air 

I’m home it’s just my mind rambling somewhere out there 

So still the traffic lights change and click make such an eerie sound 

Just like a bullet- make you hit the cold hard ground 

 

(chorus) 

Floating down the alley where I cannot go 

Time moves surrealistically so slow 

Hard to imagine no gun no knife around the bend 

Wake up premonitions there’s no time to misspend 

no time left to misspend 

 

I’m alone in the city it’s much too still for the wind 

Wonder when it’s over can I call my long lost friends 

The buildings are like mirrors to the future and the past 

Calm before the next storm I hope these streets can last 

 

(chorus)

 

 

Skin And Bone

 

Well some got a little, some got a lot 

Some are living in the cold, others where it’s hot 

There are people out there that own more buildings 

Than in a lifetime they could possible roam 

People on the street can’t even find a home 

 

(chorus)

Taking it down, taking it down, taking it down to skin and bone 

Taking it down, taking it down down down down down to skin and bone 

You’l never take it with you when your gone 

Taking it down, taking it down taking it down to skin and bone 

 

See the lady walking with her children at her feet 

Thru the city traffic, the back country fields of wheat 

Here today, tomorrow they’ll be gone 

Heading back up the country side to find a place where they do belong 

 

(chorus) 

 

Now I’m taking myself back down to the land 

walk the dusty backroad feel the burning sand 

change my way of living back down to a simpler mode 

take the compost down to the sandy land 

lighten up the load 

 

(chorus) 

 

All I had to eat today was a bowl of butter beans 

Hoping tomorrow for a plate of turnip greens 

I know I should eat more balanced but I’ve got an unbalanced mind 

Thinking about the Highway and the state of the yellow line 

(chorus)

 

 

 Down To The Line

 

I woke up this morning to  political math again 

Forget about science it’s alternative public sin 

Looking for a change tired of the outrageous 

Wing to wing don’t let gullibility be so contagious 

 

 

(chorus) 

I don’t want to go down to the line 

I don’t want to go down there to the line 

Nothing ever seems to quite add up at the line 

 

 

We can’t be together we used to just disagree 

Now they’ve painted a broadband picture of you and me 

Don’t hide all the papers just tell the truth 

Nothing hidden nothing ranted nothing uncouth 

 

(chorus) 

 

You stand around all day line never moves 

They call you crazy for having the gall to disapprove 

Do they even care anymore about what they do? 

End of the line and all they want to talk about is taking it all from you 

 

(chorus)

 

Castle

 

I’ve seen it there before-way back so many dreams 

A day’s worth of breezes-so much wind another planet so it seems 

You don’t have to push or rush no need to rush for the Magical scenes 

Where we are in the beginning from the end- so serene 

 

(chorus) 

 

When the continents roll around and become one 

When the clouds show us heaven with the rising sun 

Build your castle from the Earth where wild herbs grow 

Looking upward to the sky for that wonderful glow   xxxxx 

 

Living where it’s all blue gold and purple Gold and purple and green 

Where darkness has it’s own color has it’s own color so cool and clean 

No time or need here to worry no time to worry-about the material strings 

They use to hold us to the wrong side to the dark side the worthless fling 

 

(chorus) 

 

And when their mission burns it all down 

From the deep fall out never a sound 

They’ll not see us looking or hanging around 

We’ll be where it all rebuilds one little village one little town 

Then the Earth will go back green again 

You’ll hear the birds you’ll hear the frogs right then 

No noisy planes up in the sky 

no reason why for them to fly

 

Clothes Line And Rain

 

Don’t say nothing about the clothes line 

Don’t say nothing about the rain 

Just keep breaking all the rules 

Or they’ll drive you insane 

If conformity is the industry 

linearity is the trade 

keep us lined up on the shelf 

give us a mark down grade 

 

(repeat first verse) 

 

Whatcha gonna do when the farms are gone 

Nothing left for you to eat 

all the people you did away with 

were laying food down at  your feet 

(embellish) 

 

Don’t say nothing about the clothes line 

Don’t say nothing about the rain 

I see things differently than you 

so don’t try to stop the rain 

so don’t drive us all insane 

 

Some see a bad thing 

I see a nice second rinse 

I won’t stay quiet for anyone 

I won’t sit silent by the fence

 

Sunday Has A Soul

 

We’re all in one plane 1/4 second in time 

We felt the Universe give off a low key chime 

Ancient sundials beckon to the stars 

Outlining patterns of the Universe totally unscarred 

 

(chorus) 

No pain today no rush no pending goal 

Whether plate one or seven Sunday has a Soul 

Whether peace comes from the Church yard, a garden or a hedge 

Sunday remains the time to keep us well within the Universe’s edge 

Keep us grounded within the Universe’s edge 

 

 

I wish I could read the stars in the deep night sky 

I see their patterns, but I fail to tell the reason why 

Moonbeams light up in silver on my garden walls 

The message is slow down number seven for us all 

 

 

(chorus)

 

 

Vines Take It Down

  

Haven’t seen you drive by lately in your rusty old  70s vintage  Cadillac 

skipped out on half a payroll I’m guessing you ain’t coming back 

 

(chorus) 

Vines take it down 

Mother nature takes it back 

Trees are gonna pull the  chemical soaked brick down to the ground 

Your old trains will de-rail from the track 

 

That big sprawling factory you and your friends bounced around in late night poker games 

Everybody in four towns around here tried to work in there but they couldn’t it made them sick bent their moral frames 

 

(chorus) 

Vines take it down 

Mother nature takes it back 

trees are gonna pull that nasty brick down to the swampy ground 

your old acid trains are gonna derail from the the tracks 

 

(refrain) 

Your wall were tall, so cold and mean 

more dirty smokestacks than anybody around here has ever seen 

now they’re falling down with the growing trees 

Mother Earth's gonna bring that fortress down to it’s knees 

 

(chorus) 

Vines take it down 

Mother nature takes it back 

trees and vines are gonna pull that big quiet brick to the ground 

your trains are gonna de-rail from their tracks

 

 

 

Crooked Wheel/November Rain

 

(Crooked Wheel) 

Crooked wheel spinning wheel (2X) 

Wobbling all around you regardless of how you feel 

crooked axle, crooked bent axle see how it rolls (2X) 

Warp us all down warp us to the Soul 

 

(November Rain) 

Cold ice hitting the ground 

cold rain take over the town 

I hope it rains and beats the pollution down 

hard rain to turn us back around 

November rain come pouring down 

all day you hear it pound 

November rain steady and slow 

every drop keeping up the flow 

every drop keep up the flow 

we all know how it’s got to go 

 

I don’t mind the icy rain 

break a cycle that’s been insane 

let it flow and make it loud 

say goodbye to the darkest cloud 

say goodbye to the dark dark cloud 

say goodbye to the darkest cloud

 

November Rain come pouring down 

All day and night you hearing it pound 

November Rain steady and slow 

Every drop keep up the flow 

every drop keep a steady flow 

Every drop keep up the flow 

and we know how this is got to go 

We know how it’s got to go

 

 

Four December Poets

 

I find myself with the Eastern Star 

Long nights waiting and traveling so far 

Cold dark night climbing up the hill 

What to say the first thing I feel 

All around me is truth nothing hides 

Stars light up the sea and the cold hillside 

 

I’m an open book so pick a tale 

All thru the Winter the Seas I sail 

Time is nothing to the deep dark night 

A Moon is sleeping for the festive star light 

Frost on the Pumpkin ice in the trees 

December nights keep awakening me 

 

I feel the bustle and I hear those crowds 

My Soul seeks peace where nothing is loud 

December’s my time to meditate 

Commercial World and I separate 

The trees and the stars I understand 

It’s how we’ve roamed all over this land 

 

I pull it together at number four 

Another life rambled like so many before 

A common theme to take away 

Society has killed a true holiday 

I need no lights in my distant trees 

That bright cold sky lights it up for me

 

 

 

Words to songs on the album, "Box full of Rainbows"

Mike bailey acoustic guitar, national steel body guitars (2,3,9), panpipe (7) Electric guitar (5)

all songs copyright 2020 stark forest music, ascap

 

Jupiter's moon dance:

 

so good to see the night sky right here with you no city haze to ruin the lights and your eyes 

reflect the brilliant view

 

chorus:

nothing i'd rather see

nothing i would rather do

nowhere i'd rather be

than watching jupiter's moon dance with you

 

night sky so velvety black against the crisp white stars

neptune often pays a visit along with venus and mars

(repeat chorus)

so many people will never see the crisp winter stars

i get to share it with you constellations look close 

but they are so far away

(repeat chorus)

 

BOX Full of Rainbows

 

I'm on my own like a magician with the oldest tricks

watching the planet waiting for the rain to fall down 

fast and thick

i won't sell out to the other side

the lonely places where they all like to run and hide

let loose the air waves i'm bound to cut through

when the time comes around i will put on my dancing shoes

 

chorus

 

Box full of rainbows all saved up for the massive rains

ready to let those colors shine aging away like the finest wine

ready for the proper sign box full of rainbows

 

secrets of the moon they are like a double ferris wheel

we're looking all around and we're never quite sure how we feel

one day we'll be just some old musty photographs

withered down like the wild weeds out there on the path

for those looking back through the all seeing eye

wanting to know the way wanting to give the same kind of try

(repeat chorus)

 

Where is my home:

 

I stood on the shore watching the waves break

watching the gulls fly against the blue sky

& 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 for evermore

 

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 all with a missing page

the breeze turned cold and the sky turned grey

and i ask where is my home is it here i should stay

 

i turned my attention to the trails heading inland

got tired of tripping all over the cold cold sand

met up with the fishermen and i tried their rough ways

i left that existence after a few scraggly days

so i boarded a train headed 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

 

Hamlet train:

 

should i head back in time to heat up the cold spots on the rail

is there strength to find in opening up a long lost trail

fire up these engines turn the wheels again

don't say i am too old to make it home

to go back home again

 

chorus

i wanna go and ride the hamlet train

life is moving away too fast

see the hobos out in the cold cold rain

kicking around the broken glass

broken whisky bottle glass

they kicked it so long 

they're just about insane

staring up with broken eyes

at the passenger train

<sic: don't stop here no more>

 

life's treasures i hold close

in the present future past

nothing stays around forever

you just let those freight trains roll on past

If i could see through these eyes

without constant pain

then i'll know i am a railway spirit

looking for 

looking for that long lost passenger train

 

(repeat chorus)

<sic tickets tickets tickets tickets!!!!>

 

bridge

 

I've got old photographs

wild stories to make your children laugh

lunches and suppers too

wild nights full of country blues

 

 

 

 

Rocky road home:

 

 

here and there and everywhere

i've been driving this old truck

all along the countryside

on my way to run and hide

from the life i knew before

from the old revolving door

 

chorus

 

hey this  whole era has come down to it's end

so i'm starting on the rocky road back home again

rocky road back home old friends

 

ask me for reasons and more

I ran so far from my past

vietnam was like a vinegar wine

but i came home to a bitter find

from the life  i knew before

and it didn't mix up so well

with orange dreams about that war

 

(repeat chorus)

 

 

 

the mountain:

 

 

well i bought myself a beat up dodge and i filled it up with gas

took the old road out of town and avoided the whole bypass

tried to get back a long gone feeling but you can never go home again

oh it's such a pity the condition this road is in

 

chorus

 

do you remember the mountain

and the spring where the water ran so free

now there's just a big fat managed community

over there where the spring used to be

 

we'd come up from the foothills with our water jugs

get water from that mountain the water that we all loved

then one morning the highway machine showed up and

blasted down the peak

everything is such a pity now the mountain side so bleak

 

 

(repeat chorus)

 

 

that old dodge ran hot and i got lost

outside of gainesville town

finally found a service station

that wasn't boarded up and totally closed down

he patched up the radiator and sold me some cider too

whoa kid come back later for a quart of that mountain dew

 

(repeat chorus)

 

 

 

Ezekiel/valley of the bones

 

 

(Ezekiel section)

 

where are you going tonight you won't be alone for long

some where they are hanging around where nothing is going on

tell me ezekiel where can you go

too old for the playground but much too young to knowe

 

chorus

 

so you breathe fire into the night

but your friends cast no shadows and they fade

listlessly with the early morning light

 

you never had a friend in all your reckless life

now they are all around you cutting into you

with one silver knife

they'll leave you cold and alone pale and dry

first and last things they tell you you know it'll all be lies

 

(repeat chorus)

 

where are you going tonight you won't be alone for long

somewhere they are hanging around with nothing going on

tell me ezekiel where can you go where can you go whoa whoa whoa whoa

 

 

(valley of the bones section)

 

 

as i walk down through the valley where nobody else can go

i walk down there through the valley of the bones

and i see the things around me here that nobody else has known

way down there in the valley of the bones

rise up old souls and go no one will ever know

you are not there in the ashes you're in the sea

you're in the sky in the air and you're everywhere

rise up now from the valley of the bones

 

 

 

old motor inn:

 

 

saw you with your doors wide open 

wrecking ball crashing in the parking lot

so many years gone like a mystery

i try to hold on to the things i'd

forgotten all about

 

 

I went through a wall of old boxes

trying to carve out my own space

you hit me like a crashing helicopter

matchbook and receipt from that 1960s place

 

 

 

hey they want that up on e bay you oughta list it

you might get rich

but i'm looking for a clear way out

a clean departure without a hitch

 

 

 

there's one match left in this matchbook

i've been holding onto it since 1968

a big spooky building that once was a paradise

now eagerly meets it's final fate

 

I light the match it burns kind of slow

that annoying little blue burst and now it's gone

i just let go of what was holding me down

and now i know i was not wrong

 

 

 

First wall of the mule barn:

 

 

Where do i find you along side myself

got my own good nobody else's wealth

just us and the wagon are beating it down the road

the mules are tired and now it's time to unload

 

chorus

 

first wall of the mule barn is going up

working in the dark and i'm drinking from an old clay cup

it's not level not pretty and i don't even care

200 years gone by it might even still be there

200 years gone and somewhere it's still out there

 

I hope the bloody wars are over

don't look back just roll in the cool clover

the pine is fresh the mules are young

my store is busy and my well has sprung

 

(repeat chorus)

 

 

 

b side 45:

 

 

finding the story to make us all dance

around the table what a glorious chance

make it fast make it flow one minute and 59

to please the masters of the radio

time keepers of the radio

 

 

chorus

 

 

 

after my late night dream i feel so alive

i composed a b side 45

with scratches and wobbles and mysterious dark grooves

rca dog in the victrola horn never making a move

never ever made a false move

 

 

 

so capitol with it's orange and yellow swirl

half apple traveled just about around the world

big yellow sun always brightening up the scene

always the b side left on the old machine

always the b side on the old machine b side 45

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

lyrics & more! 

Here are the words to the songs on my first album "Secret Heated Winter Gardens"

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

Hunt on Holy Ground

Living With the Wolves

They Keep Me Around

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

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 collective soul

Living With the Wolves

We never will grow old

Midnight On the Mighty Blue

The Grey Man's Walking

Out there alone in the sand

Watching and waiting

Throwing up his bony hands

Nobody listens to signs anymore

What in the world are we supposed to do?

There's a whole big stream of hurricanes out there

Not just one or two

Deep Woods banshee scary midnight

Hurricanes come to chase you down

All you can do is run for cover

Like a nervous baying walker hound

Running from the mighty blue

Midnight on the Mighty Blue

Midnight on the Mighty Blue

Watching the Shadows from the Moon

My Elevator

The Dream is back again

It never really goes away

You just deal with your hand

The cards you're dealt that day

Life seems to totally stop

A weird stop motion unexplained totally

Like an elevator's bouncy drop

Soon a different floor you'll see

Look quickly soon a sign will say

You are not allowed here go home

A nervous operator argues

Just what can you see or own

Sometimes it's secret elaborate baths

Or dark cold rooms with hard dirt floors

Never finished totally

Like the water glass on the shelf out by the door

The bounce and jolt first floor all off

My eyes open the operator's gone

The half empty water glass the pissing hungry cats

Hiss at the shrill ringing telephone

My floors are cold windows frozen

Gardens outside show a definite chill

The dogs are running with the leaves

Out in the big dog pen out on the hill

The Old Schoolyard

I stood and I looked around the old Schoolyard

the cold clay ground so cracked,rough and hard

wondered about the bullies that played there over the years

Journeyed somewhere back in time and found I had some fears

In the Springtime they always ran us like a Marathon

50 yard dash and the big kids always won

What about their Gold ribbons where are they now?

I know I saw some specs of Gold dust blowing along the ground

All the marathons I never could quite win

Seems they were over when I was trying to begin

I thought I heard somebody talking from back in time

Over where the see saws used to be but maybe it was just some windchimes

What of the kids there from the old Schoolyard

So many years have passed and life has been so hard

how many time travelers have been to the place

Where the wind of reality slaps you in the face

I stood and I looked around the old Schoolyard

The cold clay ground so cracked rough and hard

Wondered about the bullies that played there over the years

Journeyed somewhere back in time and found I had no fear

Lights

Are you the dreamer or are you the dream?

Are you standing by the crossroads are you in the telegraph in between?

When you look in the mirror do you see me?

What is the edge of your reality?

(chorus)

There are lights in the shadows

Lights in the darkest corners of the night

Lights in the brightest stars of midnight

Lights in the deepest of frights

Lights in the heart of the night

I woke up somewhere walking through your time

Borrowed your hat and coat and I sampled your wine

Heard your train Roll down by the Sea

Saddled your horse and I rode him so free

(repeat chorus)

Lights in the Harvest of the night

Lights in the Harvest of the night


Up All Night

Got no socks and I'm Walking with the wind

Feel the big chill so which way should I bend?

I can't throw away all I believe

I'm not a man with tricks  

there is nothing up my sleeve

(chorus)

I can't stop thinking about the dreams I had last night

So I'm up all night wondering how to make things right

Up all night thinking all about yesterday

What's so different about today?

Tell me what's so different about today

Now I'm far away in a long distance town

Doesn't seem quite right when you're no where to be found

Everything I touch just turns into wrong

There's only one thing I'm good at so I sat down and wrote the song

(repeat chorus)

Have You Heard the Wind

Have you Heard the Wind like one resonant voice

Through the sea and the sky and the land of your choice

Through the houses tall and grand in the cities in the towns

To the lonesome pine grove places where the spirits are found

(chorus)

Have you Heard the Wind

Did you listen to the wind

Better listen once again 

Before it's all gone

Better listen once again

To the lonesome wind's song

Have you Heard the Wind In all it's mystery

It speaks of different places of things you will not see

It's the cry from long dead slaves over dreams that would never be

It's the moan from the very first creature on his walk out of the deep blue sea

(repeat chorus)

Blue August Moon

Blue August Moon 

Shine on me down through my rooms

Tell me answers with no reasons

Things that come about change of seasons

Blue August Moon

Turquiose Dog Day Sky

Watch me wherever I fly

Take my mind to a different place

under the ancient glow of your midnight face

Changes come changes scare me

sometimes life is oh so contrary

But in this evergreen tinged World

Each grain of sand is another pearl

Blue August Moon

Such a natural hue

Such a Midnight Blue

From Dark to early morning light

I cannot escape from your stony sights

Blue August Moon

You foreshadow the days of wonder and gloom

Like you know the total Score

September rolled around and you were no more

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

upcoming shows

Previous events

May2

Singer Songwriters in the Round

(EDT, UTC-04) (EDT, UTC-04)

Facebook live

Join me on facebook live for a singer songwriter circle with 3 other songwriters.

Dec29

club Passim virtual open mic

participating in club passim's open mic on Dec. 29th, I am on at approximately 7:40, two songs.