THE CROWD APPEARS

At the top I've been,
and never been so close to falling.
I'm washed up, but still,
I'm hanging on to something.

Fade away,
just move on over to the new generation.
I'll be okay,
commiserating with my own sensation.

Just tell me who are you?
And tell me what it is you do,
that makes you heir to this throne.
You haven't even earned it baby.

I'll step aside and give you one more chance to prove yourself.
The crowd appears as stupid as you want them to be.
They'll find a way to shoot you down.

In the depths, you are
another passing craze who's washed up
on the shore without any kind of protection.

Fade away,
just move on over for the new generation.
I'll be okay,
I'm celebrating with this revelation:
The crowd appears as stupid as you want them to be,
As stupid as they want you to be.

But I'll find a way to take you down...
To a place...(we're there).


MY UPSIDE-DOWN GUITAR

June was her name,
she listened to a box of rain.
And everything slows down.
And an upside-down guitar is playing me.

But she's coin-operated,
and these days spin away too fast.
And if clouds and autumn leaves are all I see, OK.
"If that's what you want, then that's what you need."

Then turn down your mind because here comes sunshine.

Everything's beating out of time.
And nothing around you seems to shine.
Well everybody, it's gonna be OK.
Because everything's fine, yeah everything's fine. Yeah!

So turn down your mind because here comes sunshine.


SPARKLE

You cannot mend a broken heart upon a broken soul.
But I won't have to save the pieces because I found you whole.

Forgive me if I seem too cautious that you seem so nice.
But if I won the lottery, I'd check the number twice (or more than twice).

I have spent ten years just writing letters never sent.
I have spent ten years searching for a love as happy as a friend.

Two words describing my life: also ran.
There's always someone else defining my life.

But Cleopatra's sister, my sparkle-spinning-falling-star,
if I won the School Art Prize you know it's you I'd draw.
You I'd try to draw.

I have spent ten years composing songs I haven't meant.
I have spent ten years searching for a love as happy as a friend.


WHEN THE PLANE TOUCHED DOWN

Trans-Atlantic flight, I was thinking to myself.
Sun is shining through the window pane.
I was almost blinded when the plane touched down;
I'm a stranger coming home.

Going through the motions of a prodigal son.
I am not at all who you think I am.
She was medicated, I can't feel her pain,
feeling sunshine in the rain.

I'm free to go but still you don't know who and what I am.

She was not impressed that I had met the Queen
as she sipped her second lemonade.
She was feeling jaded like a spoiled teen.
I'm alone in this parade.

I'm free to go but still you don't know who and what I am.

Ornaments that filled her rooms
     were nothing more than empty tombs.
          Just books you know she never read;
               she never heard a word I said.

Sapphire Scarsdale turning into shades of grey.
See the storm clouds gather around her head.
As I wave goodbye I see her turn instead.
Feel the sunshine slip away.

I'm free to go but still you don't know who and what I am.


THE STONE IS HALF-THROWN

The stone is half-thrown,
but it don't matter when your house is just a pile of stones.
It's where you want to be.
Even though it's less than you had hoped that it would be
it's good to be back home.

Memories fade and wash away in time.
Broken mirrors and the pieces fallen to the ground
that tell the tale of who you used to be.

Puzzled pieces come together 
even though she's someone that I can't control.

And I think that I still love her,
but changes make me wonder.

You can read my mind
when I start to daze you peel away my thoughts.
I know that you are sorry now.

Puzzled pieces come together 
even though she's someone that I can't control.

And I think that I still love her,
but changes make me wonder.


MOTORCADE

You may not be listening but you'll hear her just the same.
You can't watch the movie while she's shooting down your plane.
Just another brush with fame.

She's got all the crayons but she can't stay in the lanes.
You can wait for hours, but her lights won't ever change.
Just another brush with fame.
Two wheels good, she said two wheels good.

She's a butterfly net,
she can't count the holes:
she don't catch much.

She's got colored lights and coffee crashing through her veins.
She's got friends around the world, if they only knew her name.
Just another brush with fame.
Two wheels good, she said two wheels good.

She's not presidential--
she's the motorcade

She will not remember--
she is innocent.


NEPENTHE

Why did you come here?
Was it just to see what I do with all my free time?
Why did you go there?
Was it just to see the places I can't be, all on your own?

We wandered lonely as a crowd,
through all our days--
a canvas never painted or displayed.
They fall like the stars.

	Never let your life fall in that crack:
	one step forward, 12 steps back,
	when you've got all that you need.
	You lost a giant part but you're still whole,
	and the clock hands have a stranglehold.
	The alarm clock keeps on ringing.

Where do days go, when we don't see them?

"...tea in China", "Grains of sand..."
Words all fail, 
because words can never sum up a loss so grand
we fall through the cracks.
(We're one step forward, two stairs back).

	You always want to start another day.
	You're pleading sanity, but you're still strange.
	And we all get what we take.
	You tell me you're not young, but you're not old,
	but the clockhands have a stranglehold
	and it's coming just like Christmas...

And I can't see her.
I can't see her.


LIZARD

Living like a lizard change your colors everyday,
moving through the reds and blues well on your way to grey.

The darkest of cages you have tried
is seeking approval in their eyes.

Living like a lizard seeking shelter in the dark.
The club stamp ink and numbers on your hands will break your heart.

The darkest of cages you have tried
is seeking approval in their eyes.

Something about your animal walk...


ON MY SIDE

Flowers wither then they fade into black and white
like reflections of a withered old man inside.

I'm the first born, I'm the one who'll be second rate.
I'm a fisher in a vessel about to break.

You were on my side before you changed your mind.

I will never ever take a bold look at you
Then another undone promise just splits in two.

You were on my side before you changed your mind.


BUTTERFLY GIRL

He moved only 4 steps closer
but close enough to know he doesn't own her.
She was home and hardly moving,
floating through another beautiful day.

She wants to be a butterfly girl--
She wants to be her own little world.
She wants to be so fragile and free--
She's just a butterfly girl.

She was stirring from her slumber.
Her face lit up before he turned the light on
with plans that took her from the bed
and through the open window that he left her.

She wants to be a butterfly girl--
She wants to be her own little world.
She wants to be so fragile and free--
She's just a butterfly girl.


SOMA BOOK OF THE DEAD

You know your song could never be
full of light and in a major key.
But I'm still gonna tell you:
that Soma Kid, you're nothing new,
your parents took more drugs than you.

And then they left you in this place
where you could close your eyes again.
We'll all drown in your good name.
Takes 40 days to make real change.

You talk like Huey Newton and Timothy Leary.
But you never walk down Fillmore much past Geary.

Tattooed, pierced in every part.
But no one pierced you to the heart.
Your Marseillaise is on MTV
but, sans culottes, don't speak for me.

I should have known about you:
your credit's dry and you're going home.
Going home.

Just because you've found the answers that you need,
it doesn't mean that they can't cut you,
and when they do, that you won't bleed.
So lay down your pencils.

Forever drown in your good name.
Takes seven days to make real change.

You should have known about me:
we're all the same but we're all alone.
Going home...
(You mean an early clue to the new direction?)


LIFE SLEEPS
[based on Taha Hussein's "Call of the Curlew"]

Here I am, here I am my precious girl,
how sweet is your voice.
When night descends nature's calm.

Life sleeps and souls are freed
into this dark silence, secure, not touched by fear.
Silent and heard no more.

And oh precious girl,
her distant call as it echoes into my heart
and gives it life like bygone thoughts.

Life sleeps and souls are freed
into this dark silence, secure, not touched by fear.
Silent and heard no more.

And there's my sister.
Your voice has not reached her,
or has not come to her
though she can hear you.

And oh precious girl,
your distant call as it echoes
and disappears like bygone thoughts.

Life sleeps and souls are freed
into this dark silence, secure, not touched by fear.


GEORGIE

Charming, bright young thing,
London swings somewhere, but not for you.
And Roman Holiday was better
Than most of your days last week,
Like Georgie Girl...

Flower, sidewalk-bound,
Paint peels from the sun you hoped would shine.
But things in black and white are better
Than all of their shades of grey,
Right Georgie Girl?

Hey there Georgie Girl...

Flower, sidewalk-bound,
London swings somewhere, but just for you...


ONE GLASS

Swimming pools in my mind spilling over--
Tears I've shed and years I've spent just to remember one flower.

I don't like the changes that come after;
just a monograph and empty laughter
is all that I have.

Time slips away...

Waves that crash on the shore growing nearer.
Just one touch would be enough that I could revive her and tell her:

"I don't like the changes that came after;
just your monograph and empty laughter
is all that I have."

Just one page to go.

Afternoons spent waiting for the rising moon
cast shadows on the wall.
Hourglass and shifting sands complete their task,
say hello and then goodbye.

Gentlemen your services have been rendered.
Thank you very much I'll pick up after the drinks we have shared.

Just one glass to go...

Return to a warm, happy place