Recent Songs
I'm the One to Blame
Lurks the Shark
Stranger Respond
Woman in Blurs
This Always Happens
Father Provides
John Hammond
Nature
New York City
The Brothers Handsome
Mad Love (L'Amour Fou)
You've Got What I Want
Little Hells
I'M THE ONE TO BLAME
I'm so ashamed;
I had a love
But then it went astray.
I'm the one to blame;
I had it all
And let it fall away.
It's funny how sometimes you see so clearly,
But always when it's already too late.
You're blind to the one who wants you dearly,
And only see the one who makes you wait.
And so the pain,
It freezes, numbs me
Like a bath of ice.
I'm the one to blame;
I wouldn't make
The same mistake twice.
It's funny how you get yourself believing
That someone there will somehow always be.
It's as if your whole world takes to leaving:
The sky, the sun, the moon, the deep dark sea.
I'm so ashamed.
It's funny how sometimes you see so clearly,
But always when it's already too late.
You're blind to the one who wants you dearly,
And only see the one who makes you wait.
I'm so ashamed;
I had a love
But then it went astray.
I'm the one to blame;
I had it all
And let it fall away.
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STRANGER RESPOND
Laundromat minds
Spin
Cottonwool stories.
Supermarket ventures
Boast
Coupon glories.
Mute
In the alley
You hide,
All passion
Locked inside.
Stranger Respond
Insurance fears
Scream
Full-time fables.
Subway nightmares
Wire
Mildew cables.
Mute
In the alley
You hide,
All passion
Locked inside.
Stranger respond,
Respond with your heart,
Respond with wrinkles on your forehead,
If you want.
You're strangely familiar,
Stranger respond.
You're strangely familiar,
Stranger respond.
Sunday headaches
Blow
Bank-line breath.
Double-bed binges
Sing
Lazy duets.
Mute
In the alley
You hide,
All passion
Locked inside.
Stranger respond,
Respond with your heart,
Respond with wrinkles on your forehead,
If you want.
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WOMAN IN BLURS
I had my fingers in her purse;
She was spent,
She was nearly gone.
Don't know where
All that time went.
The picture stared down from the wall.
It was hers;
She had painted it.
Woman nude;
Woman in blurs.
She makes me want to feel like traveling.
She makes me want to think of Barcelona.
If I had known her long ago,
Maybe then,
Maybe anything.
I can't say
What might have been.
The picture stared down from the wall.
It was hers;
She had painted it.
Woman nude;
Woman in blurs.
She makes me want to feel like traveling.
She makes me want to think of Barcelona.
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THIS ALWAYS HAPPENS
She says, Oh boy this always happens
She says, Oh boy this always happens
I don't know why
I even try
She says, Promise you won't tell mother
She says, Promise you won't tell mother
Cos you know how
She sometimes gets
She says, One day this will be over
She says, One day this will be over
I think that then
Things will be fine
She says, I suppose I bring it on myself
She says, I suppose I bring it on myself
She says, I suppose I bring it on myself
She says, I suppose I bring it on myself
She says, Oh boy this always happens
She says, Oh boy this always happens
I don't know why
I even try
She says, Come here tomorrow morning
She says, Come here tomorrow morning
Please bring that bread
I like so much
She says, I suppose I bring it on myself
She says, I suppose I bring it on myself
She says, I suppose I bring it on myself
She says, I suppose I bring it on myself
She says, Oh boy this always happens
She says, Oh boy this always happens
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FATHER PROVIDES
China plates clank in a hotel room.
Papers stir on a suburban train.
The smell of chlorine, the hunter's moon.
A dog shivers in the freezing rain.
Mother nurtures.
Sister hides.
Cousin hurts
Your pride.
Brother stumbles.
Auntie confides.
Grandma mumbles
Asides.
Father?
Father provides.
Pencil drops down on a classroom floor.
Bar code scans, the new cellophane pops.
Wing-tip shoes glide on the wall-to-wall.
Mailman hurries to his final stop.
Mother nurtures.
Sister hides.
Cousin hurts
Your pride.
Brother stumbles.
Auntie confides.
Grandma mumbles
Asides.
Father?
Father provides.
Stewardess slams up the seat-back tray.
Nineteen rings from the elevator.
The painters sit in a posh cafe.
The dog nibbles at his dripping fur.
Mother nurtures.
Sister hides.
Cousin hurts
Your pride.
Brother stumbles.
Auntie confides.
Grandma mumbles
Asides.
Father?
Father provides.
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JOHN HAMMOND
John Hammond listens to the servants' Grafanola.
John Hammond asks Springsteen to play something far out.
John Hammond sneaks up to Harlem to see Bessie Smith.
John Hammond rides his open Hudson through the dusty South.
You got it!
John Hammond hears what others don't hear, but should.
John Hammond hears what others don't hear, but should.
John Hammond drinks lemonade, Billie Holiday coos.
John Hammond and Leonard Cohen at the Chelsea Hotel.
John Hammond plays pinball in the Paramount drugstore.
John Hammond says, "I know it's great, don't know if it'll sell."
You got it!
John Hammond hears what others don't hear, but should.
John Hammond hears what others don't hear, but should.
Count Basie, Benny Goodman, Aretha Franklin, Bruce Springsteen
Bob Dylan, Billie Holiday, Leonard Cohen, George Benson
John Hammond signs up Reverend Franklin's daughter.
John Hammond defends his Folly and his bad harp.
John Hammond finds Charlie Christian in Oklahoma City.
John Hammond listens to a few notes, hears the sparks.
You got it!
John Hammond hears what others don't hear, but should.
John Hammond hears what others don't hear, but should.
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NATURE
Across the lake
Across the lake with sunbeams
Floating on its motion
Lies the forest
The mile-high forest
The vegetation ballroom
With blacks and browns
And greens and grays all dancing
In the vegetation ballroom
Ah, nature!
At the beach
At the beach the seagulls sing
Seagull songs
And beneath the surface
The ocean's green surface
Lurks the shark
The turtle walks
The dolphin talks
And the manatee pees
In an underwater jamboree
Ah, nature!
In the desert
In the desert yellow sand
Yells at the sun
And the cacti
The prickly cacti
Hold their water
The coyote's neck is bent
He's watching two mammals
Sleeping in a tent
Ah, nature!
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NEW YORK CITY
The cold shadow of the Empire State's spire.
The burnt stench of the tenement pyre.
The morning may bring wild fantasies
Or just the rent.
Thoughts writhe in glory.
Feet pound sweaty cement.
New York City's got its hands 'round my throat again.
New York City's got its hands 'round my throat again.
New York City's got its hands 'round my throat again.
She's from the prairie, a tumbleweed heart.
She's here now, we're many miles apart.
She says, "This city is a monster with yellow-cab fangs,
And the drug hawkers kill your sleep.
All the dreams here break.
All the dreams here aren't cheap.
New York City's got its hands 'round my throat again.
New York City's got its hands 'round my throat again.
New York City's got its hands 'round my throat again.
At evenfall the cops are all on patrol.
Restless thieves bob and weave near flag poles.
Voices pound at you like the rain,
And send you up the avenue,
Past the bundles of flesh,
Past the tattered edges
Of your curfew.
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THE BROTHERS HANDSOME
Greenwich mansions are lovely
But reek of boredom
When you're young and horny
And a witness to stardom
The two young boys were dutiful
But weird
And got odder still as
Manhood neared
The younger one was frivolous
He liked to purchase
All the trips to Paris with Mother
Just scratched the surface
The older one was ambitious
From birth
He hoped one day to
Rule the earth
They gave them cars
They gave them cash
They gave them all they had to give
And some
But nothing in the world
Nothing at all
Could satisfy
The brothers handsome
Greenwich evenings are lovely
But still there's fear there
Thieves come from Bridgeport and New Haven
To steal what's dear there
The two young boys were dutiful
But weird
And got odder still as
Manhood neared
Mother drove home cos father drank
Too much bourbon
He'd leapt on the riser
And donned the band leader's turban
They opened the door
They saw the turn of the cylinder
Father fell
He thought the hand on the gun looked familiar
They gave them cars
They gave them cash
They gave them all they had to give
And some
But nothing in the world
Nothing at all
Could satisfy
The brothers handsome
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MAD LOVE (L'AMOUR FOU)
My love for you is mad,
My love for you surreal.
No amount of chocolate lightbulbs
Could express how I feel.
My love for you is crazy,
My love for you insane.
Even my television
Calls your name.
My love for you is drastic,
My love for you extreme.
Every waking moment
I'm in a dream.
My love for you is total,
My love for you all.
When I'm with you
I'm standing two feet tall.
It's a mad love,
Mad.
It's a mad love,
Mad.
My love for you is mad,
My love for you surreal.
No amount of chocolate lightbulbs
Could express how I feel.
My love for you is total,
My love for you all.
When I'm with you
I'm standing two feet tall.
It's a mad love,
Mad.
It's a mad love,
Mad.
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YOU'VE GOT WHAT I WANT
I try to break through that wall of dreams.
"The muse is burning," is all you'll scream.
Down the ramble you run with your paper and pen.
And I'm not sure I'll ever see you again.
Honey, don't you see what I'm trying to say
You've got what I want
Honey, don't you hear what I'm trying to show
You've got what I want
Patch quilt thoughts sparkle from your brow.
Your brow sparkles more than should be allowed.
Ideas light up your eyes like fireflies.
Hey: Fireflies to the reasons why.
Honey, don't you see what I'm trying to say
You've got what I want
Honey, don't you hear what I'm trying to show
You've got what I want
Now I went down to the fountain to see it all clear.
I spoke with everyone, everyone who was near.
The doctor said, "It's a strange disease."
The accountant said, "It's a calculated tease."
The lawyer said . . . well, I didn't get that legalese.
But who listens to opinions like these?
You've got what I want.
The moon tonight smiles like a ghost.
The owl tonight stands guard at his post.
The breeze sings just for you.
Mother Nature loves you true.
Honey, don't you see what I'm trying to say
You've got what I want
Honey, don't you hear what I'm trying to show
You've got what I want
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LITTLE HELLS
I keep trying to picture you
With your hand held high
Like you could stop that car.
I confess we were all distressed
To learn of your death
But really not surprised.
Somehow it was not too insane
To think you could die;
You seemed to tempt the end.
Maybe if by an overdose
Or your own sweet hand,
Then we could understand.
Not from some kind of accident -
Almost comical -
Can't question what it meant.
Didn't cry at your funeral -
Don't cry easily -
But it was beautiful.
We all went to your mother's house;
There were sandwiches,
There were photos of you:
Of when you were a little kid,
And a debutante,
And then a party girl.
All those vodka and cocaine nights:
What more could you want
In an expanding world?
You had such pretty long black hair.
When it all fell out,
Well, that just wasn't fair.
Everyone has their little hells
You just had more than most
Mainly, I like to think of you
As one who held on
That time we walked down Fourteenth Street,
You said you would write
And paint and dance and sing.
Thought, Man, I've heard this all before -
All these pixie girls
Gonna do ev'rything.
We fucked once, I blew too fast, it
Was okay, you said,
You didn't need to come.
You were always so sarcastic.
What else to be in
A world so elastic?
We weren't lovers, we were friends.
We were not lovers,
We were always good friends.
Everyone has their little hells
You just had more than most
Mainly, I like to think of you
As one who held on
You had such witty winsome ways;
How many people
Hitch up First Avenue?
The night you tricked that bartender
With those shots of Scotch
Sitting in front of you.
But then you did some ugly things
And, yes, there were times
When I just hated you.
You got us thrown out of that cab,
Yelled at the driver
Such a hip thing to do.
You talked your way into those clubs;
Can't be a club kid
Forever now can you?
Everyone has their little hells
You just had more than most
Mainly, I like to think of you
As one who held on
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