Evergreen

 

I saw your face before you came

Hope upon hope day after day

Now that you're here I'll keep you safe

No one will take you away

Year after year it's all the same

Criminals win and widows pay

A pile of sand form shattered pearls

Beauty will not save the word

 

But won't you walk with me

Underneath the pine trees

Promise that we can be

Evergreen

 

Won't you tread softly in my home

We have a child trying to grow

It's dark outside but light in here

Why can't it shine just one more year

Maybe the time has finally come

When hope has died and fear has won

A snowy dream covered in stains

Everyone slowly goes grey

 

So won't you walk with me

Underneath the pine trees

Promise that we can be

Evergreen

 

All your friends and lovers

Sisters and your brothers

Flowers in the summer sun

Bright for a day

 

Won't you walk with me

Underneath the pine trees

Promise that we can be

Evergreen 

 

----------------------

Front Door

Another day in Carolina, pickin on a tune
Another night in California, in a hotel room
Another week in Chicago, just another day or two
You know I'm always gonna find a way to get back home to you

Singin leave the front door open
I'll be coming over with stories to tell
When the leaves appearing on the lonely oak trees
I'll return to the sound of church bells
When life was going so well
When life was going so well

I can almost smell the candles, burning in your room
I can almost taste the dinner I'll be cookin up for you
I can hear Nina, Johnny, Ray, and Buddy coming through
From that suitcase stacker, hanging by the window

Singin leave the front door open
I'll be coming over with stories to tell
When the leaves appearing on the lonely oak trees
I'll return to the sound of church bells
When life was going so well
When life was going so well

One day you're gonna say to me, baby I gotta move
Gotta spend some time and go further down that road
You'll sit down and tell me that you need some time alone
But I know you'll be coming back around

You'll be singin leave the front door open
You'll be coming over with stories to tell
When the leaves appearing on the lonely oak trees
You'll return to the sound of church bells
When life was going so well
When life was going so well

 

----------------------

 

Slow Lights

 

Last night

wandering home

I saw ghosts from a past the we know

 

Slow lights

fluttering on

in the parking lot after the show

 

but the shame 

kept me from following them

to you

 

One thing

I can't forget

is the way that we lost what we had

 

Like the long 

stereo moan

of the brakes of a faraway cab

 

I succumb 

to that sound

I don't know why

I do

 

Help me now, honey

make me feel better

I lost myself here on my own

 

I think it's so funny

I wrote you that letter

and now I just want to go home

 

I know

I was the one

who said that he made up his mind

 

Sometimes 

it can be strange

when it's love that we don't want to find

 

I gave up

on myself 

but I'm alright

I know

 

Help me now, honey

Make me feel better

I lost myself here on my own

 

I think it's so funny 

I wrote you that letter

and now I just want to go home

 

What will sustain us,

my childhood friend?

Should we re-read all those books

already read?

I don't mind

Give yourself a long time

Give yourself away

I can take the front line

I would like to stay on

in Avalon

when all hope is gone

from your heart

 

Last night

wandering home

I saw ghosts from a past the we know

 

Slow lights

fluttering on

in the parking lot after the show

 

but the shame 

kept me from following them

to you

 

Help me now, honey

Make me feel better

I lost myself here on my own

 

I think it's so funny 

I wrote you that letter

and now I just want to go home

 

Help me now, honey

Make me feel better

I lost myself here on my own

 

I think it's so funny 

I wrote you that letter

and now I just want to go home

 

----------------------

 

Winter Waltz 

 

way up and overhead

the breaking snow

way off and far away

the things you should know 

 

about how you hang around my heart

about how you hang around my heart 

 

look back then look again

sometimes that’s how it ends

nearby the kids all sled

they’re flung down the hill

and then uphill they

      (like when we)

we tried and tried again

but some words are too much

and the snow settled in

      (and the snow settled in)

but this morning a bird

I heard it - a bird

      (but but but)

but for now, it’s only 

 

about how you hang around my heart

about how you hang around my heart

 

----------------------

 

Flyover State

Looks like I'm running late again
As the wingtips on concrete keep the beat
Always somewhere to go
Nowhere to be

I'm looking for my flyover state
Those backyards and great lakes
I gotta take it easy now
You can't bring me down

Kentucky, Missouri, Illinois, Ohio
The red ones and blue ones, the places that I know
Look up to where you're going, where you've been, and where you're from
I'm in a flyover state I've found
I'm in a flyover state and I'm proud

Cherry blossoms raining down
On distilleries and dry towns
Gentleman's farms and open roads
That's my flyover state
When I close my eyes and think
Then it rocks me to sleep
A little clearer now

Kentucky, Missouri, Illinois, Ohio
The red ones and blue ones, the places that I know
Look up to where you're going, where you've been, and where you're from
I'm in a flyover state I've found
I'm in a flyover state and I'm proud

In a flyover state, just a lovely flyover state
I'm in a flyover state, you can't bring me down
Living in my flyover state, just a lovely flyover state
I'm in a flyover state, don't bring me down.

Kentucky, Missouri, Illinois, Ohio
The red ones and blue ones, the places that I know
Look up to where you're going, where you've been, and where you're from
I'm in a flyover state I've found
I'm in a flyover state and I'm proud

----------------------

Neville

 

Pack of wolves closing In

Smell your heart through your skin

Hold your breath

Cover your eyes

Bury your head

It should be all right

 

Pack of lies from a band of thieves

Who stack the deck and play for keeps

Clasp your hands

Look to the sky

Down on your knees

It should work out fine

 

But then the game's still the same

Just less and less left to gain

And a shadow lies behind each polished smile

You can hide hope and pray

For it all to go away

But it won't, not that way

But it won't, not that way

 

Crocodiles open wide

Push your friends deep inside

Hedge your bets

Climb up the mast

Maybe then

They''ll eat you last

 

Abandon ship

Flee for your lives

The sea's pouring in

We're all going to die

 

Unless you stop and turn around to fight

Stare and face the dark of night

When friends of hope refuse to hide and unite!

 

----------------------

 

They Just Keep Disappearing on Me 

well I wonder where you go

well I wonder where you go 

 

the first time I saw you by the washing machine

with your lacy black drawers and your eyes come clean

      well I wonder where you go

the spin cycle spins and the night it unites

we took the long way home with the short moon bright

      now I wonder where you go

but now it’s one two three four I’m losing every thumb war

I’m calling up your mama and she’s giving me the cold war

and I just want to know where you are

      and I wonder where 

 

well I wonder where you go

well I wonder where you go 

 

paris and beijing and new orleans

did you run to all the places that I’ve never been

      well I wonder where you go

yellowwood, sherwood, crying’ll do me no good

I checked the corner store and I’m scoping out the tree fort

I took the A to canal where I think you’re doing

      chinatown fishman palm reading research

rattle got the rattle got the rattlesnake blues

I put a PI on your tail who put a tracer in your shoe

but he lost you in the fog

      and I wonder where 

 

well I wonder where you go

well I wonder where you go 

 

and I don’t mean to drive you away

and I don’t mean to drive you away 

 

well I wonder where you go

well I wonder where you go

 

----------------------

 

Favor

 

I can see the whole island

down below

shining red and blue and yellow

in the falling snow

we drop through the clouds

and slowly touch down

under tall boxy buildings

growing up from the ground

 

and I go 

in and out

in and out

of favor

with you 

my love

 

I go 

in and out

in and out

of favor

with you

my love

 

the weeks become months

and the months become years

got to retune the heart strings

for you there and me here

another stolen season

a spring inside the fall

suspended in each other's arms

until the wake-up call

 

I go

in and out

in and out

of favor 

with you 

my love

 

I go 

in and out

in and out

of favor

with you

my love

 

in the back seat of a taxi

that speeds through the snow

rub the frost from the window

and dial the phone

 

back safe and sound

no, the traffic's not so bad

great seeing you too

be back soon again

the bulb above the front porch

is no match for the night

turn the key inside the lock

and walk inside

 

I go

in and out

in and out 

of favor 

with you 

my love

 

I go 

in and out

in and out

of favor 

with you

my love

 

----------------------

 

Open 

I don’t know where the door goes when you are open

I don’t know where the door goes when you are open 

 

      it’s the same

      but it always feels new

a man first meets a woman

she knows from his eyes

then their starting gets stuck

like a deer caught at night

and they hold very still

while the mystery arrives

      it’s the same

      but it always feels new 

 

I don’t know where the door goes when you are open

I don’t know where the door goes when you are open 

 

      it’s the same

      but it always feels new

I sing out your body

electric and long

like the hills of my town

but I call you my home

and you’re breathing so evenly

the mystery lives on

      it’s the same

      but it always feels new 

 

I don’t know where the door goes when you are open

I don’t know where the door goes when you are open 

 

the sun shines upon us, upon you, upon us

and grids made of shadow draped on the floor

the sun shines upon us, upon you, upon us

and grids made of shadow draped on the floor 

 

            and I woke up

            feeling so sad

            this morning

            because I realized

            that you could not

            as much as I love you dear heart

            cure my loneliness 

 

I don’t aim to hurt you

with this truth

but sometimes

I can see so clear

      you’re the same

      and you feel that way too 

 

I don’t know where the door goes when you are open

I don’t know where the door goes when you are open 

 

the sun shines upon us, upon you, upon us

and grids made of shadow draped on the floor

the sun shines upon us, upon you, upon us

and grids made of shadow draped on the floor

 

----------------------

 

 

Oh Victoria

 

You read my mind

you read it wrong

 

Better face your trials 

On your own

 

Although your heart

is very strong

still you are afraid

 

A fear of the unknown

 

And you're lost again

Now, make believe

the same way 

when you kiss

 

You close your eyes

close your eyes

close your eyes

 

close your eyes

close your eyes

close your eyes

 

In the morning

What you see

 

"Marmalite" and BBC

 

On an old stereo

A record starts to spin

 

The room is moving too

And you're

 

Lost again

Now, make believe

the same way

When you kiss

 

You close your eyes

close your eyes

close your eyes

 

Close your eyes

close your eyes

 

Close your mind

And then

You limit yourself 

to the everyday

Again

And nothing seems 

worth fighting for

A way 

to end

the misery

A remedy...

 

When you kiss

You close your eyes

close your eyes

close your eyes

close your eyes

close your eyes

close your eyes

Oh, Victoria

 

----------------------

 

 

Engram

 

Stone after stone in a row

Smashed into rubble in one perfect blow

Out goes the rug from your feet

Torn in to shreds and left in the street

 

Can you please tell me when the clock stopped?

Shine a candle on before the hammer drop?

 

Millions of seeds come unsown

Lost puff of air and the queen's overthrown

Who what where when why and how

Slip through the net, can't remember now

 

Can you please tell me when the clock stopped?

Shine a candle on before the hammer drop?

 

Where have I been?

We're you my friend?

Tell me again

 

Scratching from start

Deep the sand

Dark dark a spark

Fading out my hand

 

Can you please tell me when the clock stopped?

Shine a candle on before the hammer drop?

 

----------------------

 

 

Customs (Bonus Track – Itunes Release)

Microscopes scan photographs

A million miles in an inch of glass

One quick stamp or a long goodbye

Where are you going?

Where have you been?

Where are you staying?

Are you coming again?

 

Ten feet from the border baby

Third degree and I'm going crazy

No place no thing woman or man

I won't let them take you because I know

I can't go home

No I can't go home

 

Buy a jeep drive it to the sea

Eat the fruit straight off the trees

One quick stamp or long goodbye

When will you be here?

How much more time?

How can I help you

If they won't let me try?

 

Ten feet from the border baby

Third degree and I'm going crazy

No place no thing woman or man

I won't let them take you because I know

I can't go home

No I can't go home

 

 

----------------------

 

 

Desdemona (Bonus Track – Itunes Release)

Don't you know what's mine is yours that nothing's changed

There's no damage done

If you had eyes to see it right you wouldn't find

Fault where there's none

I know the way back home

I know the way back home

 

I must confess I never guessed that you'd possess

A mind so unsure

That I'd be tried without a crime for aching that

Your heart cannot cure

I know the way back home

I know the way back home

 

If you could lose what's eating you and come around

To what you once knew

Then you could send the jury back remember that

My eyes chose you.

Instead of crying by the willows

Sighing dark green and blue.

I know the way back home

By the boughs of the willow trees