ALICIA

 

I’m the paint brush, not the painter

I just want to entertain her

Please my new friend Alicia & make her stay

I am just the singer, not the song

& all I really did was sing along

She said it made her day

 

I went to see the child in the manger

I was one in a million of strangers

& they made me stand in a long & winding line

This is just another tourist town

Even the rain is watered down

Not just the wine

 

She’s just a face in the congregation

Scattered in the dead of night

Now  Alicia is moving on

To remain in light

 

There’s not one thing for certain

Not even the color of the curtain

Not even the promise of the great obscure

Oh Alicia is there anybody out there

Who will listen to our prayers

She says “for sure”

 

 

 

SOLITARY COMPANY

 

It’s been a long & bumpy plane ride

But I made it down alive

Feel like a lonely honey bee

Returning to the hive

 

Here come the wallpaper ghosts again

& I’m falling under their spell

I see a man and a woman making love

At the Carlton Arms Hotel

 

Solitary Company

 

Green blanket on the queen-bed

Blood stain on the frame

Voices coming through the sink

I thought I heard your name

 

Raindrops on the window pane

I hope they never dry

This is the first of many days

The first of many nights

 

Solitary Company

 

 

 

STARDUST

 

Slow me down before it’s now or never

Break the hands of time before I’m old

Hold me when I want to sleep forever

Let me lie beside you when I’m cold

 

Strike a match & light another candle

See the wick playing with the flame

It’s a game that only love can handle

It’s a phantom only love can tame

 

You are stardust

I’m just staying alive in a combat zone

You are stardust

I’m just flesh & bone

 

No need for enemies or allies

No need for ties to higher ground

Too far away to be on my side

Too close to try & come around

 

 

 

WHEN THE LIGHTS GO DOWN

 

I’m gonna take Avalon

To Landers Brew

Find a companion

For a drink or 2

Among the blind & the lame

The lost & the found

& we’re all the same when the lights go down

 

Build me a cabin

When it starts to rain

Wait for the flood

On the desert plain

Stake your claim

But you’re nowhere bound

& we’re all the same when the lights go down

 

Papa did you really try hard enough

Mama did you hold on to your dream when the ride got rough

Did you try hard enough

 

Wash the blood away

From your fingernails

Get rid of the gun

On Sunflower Trail

No one to blame

But the black-eyed hound

& we’re all the same when the lights go down

 

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BEAUTIFUL DISARRAY

 

There’s a lonely spirit at the heart of every crowd

& a secret parallel world behind the clouds

& the darkness like the shadow of a manta ray

Hovering above our heads on a summer day

 

Beautiful disarray

 

There’s a soft & very gentle twist in my reality

Comfort in the black & bare branches of the apple tree

Consolation in the eye of a bird of prey

& my bird of paradise won’t fly away

 

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THE WATERLILY & THE DRAGONFLY

 

I see the pond come alive in the moonlight now

In a sweet midsummer night’s dream

I see the willow bend & the black reeds bow

& the emerald water gleam

 

I’ve been listening to the fairies ‘til my ears were ringing

& I had to wash them in the sand

I would listen with my tired eyelids if you’re singing

Listen with the palm of my hand

 

 & you go

I’ll be your lovely waterlily

You’ll be my dragonfly

Can’t you see it’s surely gonna kill me

If the pond runs dry

 

Tonight I’m gonna give in to the clatter of the crickets

& the gentle sting of desire

One step away from the shelter of the thicket

One step away from the mire

 

I can’t compete with you

& I can’t fly

I’m gonna wither in the heat

Wither & die

 

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11 & 9

 

Lay with me by the levee

On a blanket under the pines

I know your dreams

& you know mine

 

Lay with me by the levee

We’ll be watching the boats go by

& the wandering shadows

Of the clouds in the sky

 

We’re gonna gamble

We’re gonna lay it all on 11 & 9

We’re gonna lose our money for love

& it’s gonna be fine

Spending the rest on a meal

& a bottle of wine

Keeping the devil in limbo

Beyond the waterline

 

You make me a better man

 

Lay with me by the levee

Until the end of day

Everything changes

Please don’t go away

 

 

 

THE ONLY CHILD

 

I’m an only child

You’re lonely too

Lonely & wild

She said & she smiled

But only a child

 

I came so far

For your broken tunes

Diamonds & tar

Birthmarks & scars

Is what they are

 

Whatever specters are doing after midnight

They don’t want to do it all alone

Helicopters drowning out the moonlight

& the statues in my garden fall asleep

& turn to stone

 

I’m a fireman’s pride

A firebug’s dream

Liquor & light

There’s no wrong & right

In the long long night

 

The spell is tied

To the lead colored

High & wide

Solid sky

 

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​

THE FERRIS WHEEL

​

The Ferris wheel is spinning round

Going up & going down

In a place where you never see the sunshine

Somewhere deep down underground

 

& the skeleton will take your hand

You’ll be dancing to the marching band

You’ll be walking down the alley with the dragon

In a cotton candy – wonderland

 

Just another shot of Maker’s Mark

Makes the German shepherd bark

& the steam trains rolling after midnight

& the tracks are shining in the dark

 

& the Ferris wheel is spinning round

Round & round & round & round

Going up & going down

Somewhere deep down underground

The Ferris wheel is spinning round

 

& the sky is liquefied

Satin steel & cyanide

There’s a long line for the rollercoaster

& the rain is falling from my eyes

 

See the white feathered pretty dove

Fight the magpies up above

You may want to cross your fingers

& send her all your love

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REMEMBER ME

 

Memory lane is just a dirt road on the Mesa

When the daytime moon-reverie makes you relive

Another man’s life in a little house by the seaside

Where the waves will make you forget if you forgive

 

All of that dust in the air just adds to the beauty

& the sun’s going down behind a pink velvet veil

The fisherman’s daughter & son now live in the valley

Sending family photographs by the mail

 

A handful of sand for my son

& a seashell for my daughter

& a song from down in the deep blue sea

Remember me

 

Their voices still echo in the cry of the seagull

Their toys are still out there in the autumn rain

I still hear their little feet on the staircase

& I know in my heart I will see them again