LOOK AWAY

Look away then
think of her
Are you master
or prisoner?

Look away and
here she comes
Humdrum problems,
but you succumb.

When you have to choose,
just what will you do?
If you lose it all,
will I still love you?

Look away when
she departs
Hold me so close,
so we touch hearts

But all my fear
won’t disappear
Look away and sigh…
You don’t say why

 

BAD DREAM BLUES

All these bad sad dreams of you
All night long in black and blue
On that road, outside town
Rain so hard we nearly drowned 

Cut me open to watch me bleed
Night was dark, no one could see
Ya smiled at me, I tried to scream
Then I woke up from the dream

Running down, falling down
Drag me down that road again!
Damn the rain’s coming down again

So long ago but I can’t forget
You and our life of death
Suicide to love you so
Now that I’m dead it’s time to go!

 

FAMILY ALBUM

We were a family of pain,
Dad was mad, Mom was strange
All night long, yells and screams,
monsters deep in our dreams
Dad left us for a puppeteer,
pulling strings, new career
Mom found love on her rebound,
Cowboy Joe, party clown
Hard cut to their bad divorce,
both at fault with no remorse

Slip the glove on your foot,
put a sock on your head,
Crash a boat, sail a plane,
freeze the gun, shoot your pain,
Drive the wreck, eat the road,
burn a bed, rub your toad,
Go to work, get to school,
lose your way, find you’re cool.

Oo wah, oo wah, oo wah—ah!
Oo wah, oo wah, oo wah—ah!

We were a family at war,
Mom and Dad, aren’t you bored?
Forty years gone by like that,
Daddy has a heart attack
Strangest thing, Mom is sad,
bakes a cake for our Dad
Gas line blow-out at the main,
house explodes into flames!
Dad invites Mom to stay
at his place any day

Have you seen that photo of us,
standing by the old bus?
I had that straw hat on.

 

VAMPIRE DADDY

Vampire Daddy, come up my road
Song he sings me, in a mode
Don’t need no key, crack my entry code

Vampire Daddy, goes to sleep at dawn
4 am, don’t even yawn
clock’s tick-tockin’ strong, all night long

Vampire Daddy ate up all my bread
Loaf bigger than his handsome head
Ask that man, this is what he said

“Knew ‘bout the chicken, didn’t know ‘bout the bread
I knew about the chicken, I did not know ‘bout that bread− baby!
Sorry I ate it, love to be well fed.”

 

Listen baby, this can’t go on!
I need my rest, honey, my mind is gone!
1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, sheep! Get the picture!
1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, sheep! Sweet little sheep!
1, 2, 3, 4... Shhh…

Dream all night, beautiful snore
Vampire Daddy, come through my door
Lovin’ mornin’ like you just been born!

 

READ THE SIGNS

Sore eyes try to see
one more smoggy day
No plot twists in this
dead end city
Where was the way?

Read the signs, turn again
Draw the lines,
passing through
Where is something true?
Coming back to begin

Yard sale, Goodwill drop
Friends say, “You’ll be back”
“Can’t go home again”
“Never reach the top”
Don’t let me pack

Last night I had a dream
Stranded out at sea,
you gave a cup to me
Sweetest honey tea

See the signs, turn again
Towns and trees going by
On the new highway!

Count the miles with a sigh
Smell the sea on the bridge
Above, it’s a full August moon
Pink for me, pink for me, pink for me!

 

ENCHANTÉ MONSIEUR

Enchanté Monsieur
Enchanté Monsieur
Enchanté Monsieur

Hardly know a language,
Spanish in high school
So how can I speak in French to you?

Destiny’s magnetic
wave upon my shore
Might we have met some years before?

Golden spiral stairways
daze and mystify
All in the sky of your eye!

Am I all alone in this?
How cruel could you be?
Or, could you possibly
feel the same as me?

Take my hand and feel
the electricity
Stand a little closer to me!

 

THE WAITING SONG

Coming in the door,
cold and wet and sore,
Now hope falls on the floor
Said you’d have things going,
but none of that is showing…

Don’t know what I’m doing,
waiting for you
You–oo–oo,
waiting for you

… Guess you had some other things to do

Get the Vegas tray, 
take your plate away,

Hey, it should keep a day
Said you’d come by seven,
but now it’s past eleven…

… How you got important things to do

Waking up alone, 
couldn’t see the phone
My dream was full of bones
Said I was your queen then, yeah, 
that was how the dream ends

… Well, I got some bloody things to do.

 

THE PERAMBULATOR

Got to move now carefully
Keys, cash, phone, got my ID
Right foot, left foot, time for fun
Into the park and under the sun

Boats on remote, bird on the wing
Time to think of everything
Bumps on a log, ducks in a row
On the pond you never know

Found a shopping bag,
Sole of some old shoe
Doll’s head cut in two

Wing Hung dim sum bakery
So delicious, no MSG
Can’t forget my custard tart
Get a few napkins− did that old man fart?

He’s an old friend, stop and say hi
Onion steeples in the sky…

I left this town long time ago
But in the end, I came home

Get to Land’s End path and stop
Doctor won’t let me go to the top
White hospital by the shore
Ultra-modern, where I was born

Cotton ball clouds, mud on the ground,
Here’s the spring I’ll go around

Won’t you come and walk with me?
We’ll do a daffodil waltz
down the steps in the square
Be seduced by the sidewalks,
kissed by some fog,
Taught by the sea

La da da da…

 

MELT

It’s so late in the day
to stay in bed
I watch a shaft of light
You wake up,
wrap your arms around me tight
I wish my fear would die

Like the sun on snow,
like a fire to ice,
Your love comes in
Who else could melt
that last cold place inside?

Too much stuff going down
first time around
I was so unkind
When you said you would try
to change your mind
It felt kind of divine