The Matter of A Heart

1. Well, there’s just no way, to make this easy.
So I’ll just come out and say what’s on my mind.
I’ve lately built a wall to hide my feelings.
My indifference though contrived, has been unkind.

2. We’ve always been polite, we’ve kept our distance.
We speak of thing benign, like this morning’s rain.
But now that small talk seems a trifle weary,
But here, I do digress, let me explain.

R1 Early every day, you take the red train.
At the other end of town, I take the blue.
When we close each business day,
There’s one thing left for me.
The matter of a heart that longs for you.

3. The saying goes that true love lasts forever.
But beginnings can be lost in a moment’s pause.
So if you feel the same of things as I do,
Would you trade forever, for what never was.

4. And just in case you’ve never noticed,
In every crowded room, you’re all I see.
I look for you in every little corner,
Sometimes even where you’d never be.

5. Is our story done, or still to find it’s ending?
Either way it goes, I’ll be discreet.
And now that you know all about my secret,
Can you tell me, if you feel the same for me.

R2 Early every day, you take the red train.
At the other end of town, I take the blue.
When we close each business day,
There’s one thing left for me.
The matter of a heart that longs for you.
The matter of this heart that longs for you.

Emily

R. Emily.
Hung herself down on the Gold Brook Bridge.
One night, she went to meet a man.
Said he’d show, but then he never did.
Emily.
She’s there today, and just won’t let it go.
Oh, Emily,
No one has put to rest her tortured soul.

1. Emily of Stowe,
She had some big, big plans.
Took her new beau home to meet her Daddy.
But things didn’t really go her way. She never had a chance.
It started poor, got worse, and ended badly.
So off she ran …
So off she ran …

2. Her parents didn’t like him,
Didn’t even know his name.
Told her there would not be any union.
She looked toward her lover. Then hung her head in shame.
She saw no hope, no chance for resolution.

R2 She ran away from her Mom and Dad, to live her life with a lover-man.

3. Embarrassed by her parents,
Rejected by her man.
No one would see the tears she shed.
How could things start out so well, then turn so upside down?
How did it all end up with someone dead?

4. In 18 and 49,
By the Gold Brook riverbed.
Her own hand would beat the reaper’s drum.
A ghost still haunts that bridge, today. Or so it’s said.
Each night she awaits a love that never comes.
So off she ran,
So off she ran.

My Northern Home

1. If a painter’s brush from God’s own hand
Were guided from on high,
And cast it’s mighty canvass down below.
It would be just like a winter night,
Awash in starlit fields.
In the land built on skins and rails and bows.

R1 You see it near the wheat fields in every Prairie town.
And on the eastern rock, where big water crashes down.
It’s feel is so familiar, no matter where you go.
Up by forty nine, my northern home.

2. Si le pinceau tenue par la main meme de Dieu
Etait guide de la haut.
Et projetait un puissant tableau sur la terre.
Cela serait comme une nuit d’hiver,
Dans des champs illumines d’etoiles.
Sur une terre batie de peaux de rails et d’arcs.

R2 Vous le voyez pres des champs de ble dans chaque ville des prairie.
Et sur les roches de’lest ou les eaux coulent.
C’est une sensation si familiere n’importe ou vous allez.
Ma maison, ma maison du nord.

3. On frozen ponds and dingy sheets,
A childhood dream is born.
A dream that fits just like a worn old shoe.
Outlasting Kings, and wars, it lives
In streets and fisher’s huts.
And on those rigs, with weather beaten crews.

Pine Pond Place

1. He wasn’t tall, maybe 5 foot 9. His voice was soft. He had empty eyes.
He was a man of certain grace. Dressed to kill, with a rich man’s taste.
Reggie Birchall, master thief, he’d take your money for a broken dream.
For months now he had stalled and lied.
He joked, cajoled and mystified.
He’d sell you land that wasn’t there,
He’d help you be a millionaire

2. An Englishman, a man named Fred, had realized he’d been misled.
He came to Reg with this demand: “I need to go and see all of my my land!”
Reggie said “hey it’s okay. We’ll go and see your farm one day.”
But when Fred scoffed, Reg then replied.
Backing off “Let’s ease your mind”.
“It’s just an hour from Niagara Falls.
As the crow flies, that’s not far at all.”

3. “Your farm is big and rich, it lays west of here. It’s called Pine Pond Place”.
“A field of dreams it’s been described. Don’t worry none”, Reggie sighed.
He sat back lit a big cigar, waiting for young Fred’s reply.
Freddie’s face grew white and pale.
“I’ll see it now or surely bail.
I need to see my farm that lays
West of here, called Pine Pond Place.”

3. Off they went to the misty bog, trippin’ along through the mush and logs.
Mixed up in his own charade, Reggie had nothin’ left to say.
Reggie Birchall master thief, he’d take your money for a broken dream.
Down a broken path went both,
Pushin’ aside the overgrowth.
“We’re getting close” Reg revealed.
But the swamp would be his killing field.
Fred pushed on, when Reggie sighed.
“We need to stay this trail, and keep this line.”
A revolver came from Reggie’s coat,
Two bullets rang, two puffs of smoke.

4. The murder done, days flew by. Reggie worked on his alibi.
Finally when police came callin’, Reggie knew his luck had fallen.
Reggie Birchall came apart. His cool all gone, no big cigars.
The judge slammed that gavel down.
He spit his judgment with a frown.
“You’ll swing” said he “you killed a man.
On the gallows scaffold you will stand.”
A while ago that place became
A testament to Freddie’s name.
A dream that turned into disgrace.
A swamp once known as Pine Pond Place.

Hey, Cabbie

1. I just touched down an hour ago.
Can still hear that jet plane’s constant groan.
Take me to The House of Blues, or where they bring the pain.
Blue is how I feel and all alone.

R1 Hey, cabbie! My troubles run so deep.
Mine’s a story of a fool,
And his lover’s cold deceit.

2. You see my baby left me yesterday. She said our time is done.
It’s strange though, I never saw it comin’.
She told me that the fire was gone. She needed someone new.
It’s so cliché, it’s almost funny.

RA A cliché that’s as old as time
But this time the pain is mine.
Frozen dreams and disbelief,
It’s hard sometimes to even breathe

R2 Hey, cabbie! Do you know of passion’s rain?
Love turned bad, can be so strong.
Tears the heart like a hurricane.

3. The trip here was 2,000 miles. And you’d think by now,
My problems would seem so far away.
But they’ve dogged me over streams and roads, ‘cross snowy peaks and plains.
So here I am in an awful way.

4. So, thanks for listening to my tale. Don’t mean to bring you down.
Forget about The House of Blues.
It’s late now, and I’m really tired. So take me back to my hotel,
Jack Daniels waits up in my room.

R3 Hey, cabbie! Have you ever played the fool?
Do you see a cure for me,
Or is my future black and cruel?

Seabird

1. Up in the sky, with wings of light grey,
I watched as a seabird came floating my way.
He set on the sand, and shook off his flight,
Then moved down the beach, for a moment’s respite.
2. You saw in his eyes, this bird would be king.
He picked and he poked at a small wooden stick.
With interest he grabbed it, in hopes of a meal,
Then dropped it again when it’s content revealed.

R1 Look all around, and soon you will see
A treasures not always
Where it looks to be.
If you let go, and seek out new ground,
A feast will await you.
And those all around.

3. That seabird chased any bird that would dare
Come near his stick. It was his not to share.
A faux-food treasure with honeycomb holes.
It may not be real, but it’s his piece of gold.

R2 The other birds wanted to share in his gain,
But the seabird’s mirage
Let none to attain.
One morsel of secrets he held in that beak.
They wandered away,
To leave him in peace.

5. Then one gull began shrieking and chirping.
He jumped to the air, his discovery circling.
To show the whole flock where to look for some food,
Trumpeting loudly, so all’d be included.

R3 When all of those birds arrived at the spot,
The seabird came by
Now seeking his lot.
The others turned on him, and sent him away.
And followed the gull
That shared his fine prey.

R4 False to himself, and the others around,
Protecting his status
No treasure he found.
A king without vision, is a king on his own.
The one that will lead
Would inherit the throne.

Daniel Finn’s Demise

1. It was a night down on The Delta,
All God’s creatures ran
Through the shadows and far away.
Two men slowly walked along,
On down a broken path.
One would move on. The other stayed.
Daniel sighed to his friend “it’s time for me to go”.
A guitar slung behind his back, the night cut to his bones.

2. His friend then turned, and shook his head,
Dan Finn would not be swayed.
“At midnight, I make the trade”.
It seemed just like the perfect plan
To Daniel’s state of mind.
“Just wait. Wait and hear me play.”
The Crossroads stood before him, now peeking from in between the trees.
“Hey Tommy Johnson” he laughed “you aint got nuthin’ on me”.

3. In a clearing straight ahead,
There calmly lay a deer
Watching his every move.
“I’m lookin’ for the hoodoo trade”
Came Daniel’s feeble words.
“It’s one that Satan must approve”.
The deer stood up, and cast it’s empty, hollow gaze.
That same piercing burn, the one that set poor Faust’s soul ablaze.

4. The deer took on a serpent’s look,
Not speaking, but understood.
It’s tail filled with Hell’s own sting.
“I’ve taken what I need from you”,
And now you have your trade.
“Funny”, Daniel thought “didn’t feel a thing”.
Come with me now, beckoned Satan with a grin,
That night in Mississippi was the last for young Dan Finn.

5. Daniel cried and argued
For his gift would go unused.
Cryin’ “hey, we have no deal”.
But he knew those pleas were hopeless,
And he’d never get to play.
A pact without repeal.
The dance with the devil, he hoped would take him far,
Daniel gave his soul, to play a mean guitar.

Highway 101

1. Driving on a turquoise day where easy never sets.
Miles from the city lights and the fast girls I once met.
It looks just like a picture-card, the kind you send back home.
It’s melancholy takes your heart,
And plays upon your soul.

R Down near the border washed in mid-day sun.
Movin’ past the gushing waves, my shadow to out-run.
Far away from all that’s gray to beat a fast retreat.
Lost somewhere on Highway 101.

2. I rolled on by the coffee shops my troubles far behind.
Seeking answers deep within, all buried and inclined
To burrow deep and shy away, hiding from the truth.
Away from Encinitas light,
On Highway 101.

3. Somewhere on that ocean road you cross a narrow line.
You leave behind a darkened blight into a state of mind.
Making problems bittersweet, it pulls you til it’s done.
Once familiar, now exposed.
They die on 101.

I Don’t Brake For Squirrels

1. I was headin’ east on County Two,
Takin’ in the day.
Miles passed and flowers bloomed,
The blacktop freshly painted.

2. From the trees, a bushy tail,
Came flying to the road.
He stopped right there in front of me,
There was nowhere I could go.

3. One car swerved toward the left,
The rodent never flinched.
I veered and missed but my airbag popped,
And I drove into the ditch.

R I don’t brake for squirrels, not anymore.
All those zig-zags, stops and twirls,
One fur ball seems like four.
Far too many panic stops,
Not fit for man or car.
Naw, I don’t break for squirrels
Anymore.

4. I squeezed out from the driver’s door,
And fell to someone’s lawn.
My little friend just came and stared,
As if to ask “what’s wrong?”

5. Some folks like those bushy tails,
And those beady eyes are cute.
But I’m not fond of those tree-climbing,
Chestnut spittin’ shrews.

6. If I had a nickel for
Each screaming skid-mark point.
I’d have enough to fix that car,
Up on a mechanic’s hoist.

7. Think I’ll have my license plates
Say in squirrel talk.
Look out fluffy, here I come.
Tsk tsk …**/// ic tok tok.

Walk Away

1. Like a dream car, when the engine blows.
It’s a love gone bad, when it’s lost it’s glow.
Sometimes that guitar, it won’t play.
You’ve got to know when to walk away.

2. It’s time I looked you straight in the eye
And took a pass on all your schemes and lies.
Yes, we’re done, and I’m out the door.
Your tears don’t work here, anymore.

R All those times I’ve looked away, and all those times I’ve tried.
Now it’s time to move along, like driftwood on the tide.

3. It’s come to this, yeah you’ve pushed too far.
This time I guess, I just got smart.
So many times I’ve been betrayed.
And now I know when to walk away.

4. No more waiting by the door.
No more pacing back and forth.
You spent your nights just like a stray.
And now it’s time to walk away.

5. Don’t look at me with those baby blues.
In case my smile gets misconstrued,
There’s nothing left, nothing you can say.
I’ll turn my back and walk away.

6. Before your tears begin to pour,
That dog don’t hunt here, anymore.
Tomorrow brings a brand new day.
You’ve got to know when to walk away.

Dotcom Diva

1. Her sleepy eyes snapped open, upon the sudden sound.
A dusty bedside radio blared out some painful song.
As she came around, she recalled the hours before
Another night, another bar, when too many drinks were poured

R There’s something wrong with Sally Hayes, Queen of Silicon Road,
An independent woman, businesslike and cold.
But in her heart it’s Groundhog Day, it’s a secret no one knows.
She dreams of picket fences and Sunday strolls.

2. She grabbed a Starbuck’s small, and read the mornin’ news,
Then pushed on through her office door, into a cluttered room.
A picture of efficiency, the envy of her peers,
Her days are filled with pixel screens, her nights with books and tears.

3. She glared at the computer screen, and fumbled for the phone.
So cool, so smart so in control. So able but all alone.
She’d trade it all for just one kiss, that meant more than a lie,
But she can’t seem to keep a man, no matter how hard she tries.

Old Moon

1. How high you seem tonight, old moon,
How bright your steely glow.
I’d like to tell you of my day,
But it’s quite a long story, of struggles and pulls.
I’m stuck in the middle, and losin’ all control.

2. My tale is one I’m very sure
You’ve heard many times before.
But as for me I can’t get past
Open hopes, without restore.
Tonight old moon, my troubles I shall pour.

R Round and round you go ‘til the new month comes.
Each night you’re lookin’ down as you sail above.

3. On one hand, weekly pay checks wait,
My future’s well-secured.
The other choice involves the soul,
And a dream’s lofty steps unsure.
It’s for this cosmic tug, I need a cure.

4. Should I simply join the grind,
Nine to five, as the boss commands.
It means artistic dreams must surely die,
But money would be well in hand.
To survive or starve the soul, this choice demands

5. If wishing-well whispers are sent your way,
Can you hear one quiet plea.
Can you make a musical wish come true,
And help a restless soul break free
From a sleepless night’s ruthless clarity.

Big Old Eight

1. Sometimes on the open road,
I give a little push.
On a highway out of town,
Where all you see is brush.
I see a vacant stretch of road
Where no one seems to go.
I gently press the pedal down,
And the old girl just explodes.

R She’s a big old eight, with rust and miles, and a well-worn heart of gold.
She’s been my ride through summer heat, and nights of ten below.
Not a fancy beauty queen,
But none compare to that old Marquis.

2. The finest cars I’ve had the best
From Porsche to Cadillac.
Rag-tops, imports, beaters too,
I’ve taken to the track.
I’ve had the lap of luxury
And shiny new clear coat.
But I prefer the dents and rust
Of that big old boat.

3. Lately Betsy’s been run-down
With funny sounds it seems.
And I fear the end is near,
One day I will concede.
For now it’s to the wrecker’s lot,
To find some healthy part.
But nothing there can quite replace
That old girl’s giant heart

Winner’s Ring

1. The Sunday showdown finally here, an hour or so away.
Week eighteen and no retreat, there was a game to play.
The big man walked across the chalk. He pawed his sharp cleats in.
Down into the tired grass, now bending in the wind.

2. So many times he tried to leave this unforgiving game,
But like some small pathetic moth keeps running for flames.
He watched his teammates jog on by, as they took to the field in two’s.
He’d guard his boys the best he could, then spring the runner loose.

R All the game balls, hits and years wore thin his safe veneer.
Lately he’d been barely hangin’ on.
All the times he’d suffered some reporter’s naive zeal,
But now he wants to shout how he really feels.

3. He shuffled past the coach’s sneer “go get me ten” he cried.
At the set, he glanced across, into the monster’s eyes.
A frothing, grim, and angry mass. No doubt this must be him.
The word had spread throughout the league, “you don’t mess around with Slim”.

4. At the snap, the monster pounced, the lineman staked his mark.
Each second seemed to pass so slow, his grip would come apart.
He panted, huffed, and tried his best but couldn’t hold his ground.
The monster’s strength was just too much, with chaos all around.

5. At fourth & one, his thoughts would turn to all the old clichés.
His move was quick, in a moment’s blink, he took the game away.
He pushed and shoved and led his man in safely for the score,
Then fell into a pile of joy, he’d take not one hit more.

6. As he lay there in a heap, his thoughts turned way inside.
He lived to fight another week, with sweat, and hurt, and pride.
One more time he’d have a chance to feel just like a King.
One more time to try again to wear the winner’s ring.

The Road Less Traveled

… I took the road less traveled,
Took no detours on the way ...

1. There comes a time for every soul, the time to make a choice.
To move on with a lion’s roar, or speak in a whispered voice.
To dream a stoic vision, clear, and bright.
It’s embrace might take a moment. To touch it takes a life.

R. When all is said and done, I wouldn’t change one thing.
Wouldn’t change one friend, or yearn the wealth of kings.
I took the road less traveled.
Took no detours on the way.

2. I’ve walked alone in unmapped worlds where soil lays unbroken.
I left no unspent wishes, no hopes went unspoken.
Higher ground seems never high enough,
But each card I played was from the heart, not some blind man’s bluff.

3. You who have the burden of your very own big dream.
No one can truly share your joy, or hear your lonely screams,
And yet you reach once for that star and sometimes twice.
You also know for such a journey, convention won’t suffice.

4. Sometimes the path ahead comes easy into view.
Sometimes it’s hard to see what’s right in front of you.
This much I know - when my time is wearing thin,
I won’t be leaving with regrets, or ask “what might have been”.