1. |
Pretty As She Please
03:23
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Pretty As She Please
Maybe it’s something that I learned, of no concern,
To those who have yet to awaken.
There’s not but this little spark of light, at night,
A glint of something, lingering in the corner of my eye.
I hear the color red descending like a flock of bees,
In search of all the roses that lean up against her knees.
I’ve had my fill and had to face, with no lack of grace,
The ne’er do wells who set their sights higher.
Each acid comment seemed to seek me out, and pin me down,
Until I lost my way and opened up my eyes.
I saw the sound of sunlight chase away the breeze,
And felt her silvery footsteps as they pace what’s left of me.
Pretty as she please.
I smell the brightness of a smile aimed at me,
An affectionate assassin set on resurrecting me,
And saw the sound of sunlight chase away the breeze,
I felt her silvery footsteps as they pace what’s left of me,
Pretty as she please.
credits
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2. |
All The While
04:22
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All The While
There’s Amelie with her five, fine kids,
And the neighbor’s boy she watches afterschool.
Finds herself in a big, box store, short on cash,
Knowing though her family needs the food.
So she puts a can in each coat pocket,
Of her children gathered ‘round,
Hopes that it’s Him, above her head,
That’s looking down.
Someone’s dad who hates the thought,
Of showing up without something on Christmas Eve,
Walks the breadth and length of Aisle Ten, sees a socket set,
It’s just what his nephew needs.
So he slips it under his old down jacket,
And then he takes his leave,
Thinking nothing’s wrong,
If there’s no one there to see.
All the while I sat there,
Watching each and every single furtive move.
They felt it too.
Cameras trained on each secret shopper,
My long arm reaching each thieving shoulder,
It’s true...
Young love must be rewarded,
Even though they both had lost their jobs.
She models the 18 karat gold necklace, he grins,
And the saleslady looks on.
“Distract her,” his love says as she hides the trinket.
It’s an early wedding gift.
Then blows him a kiss, heads out the door,
Before she’s missed.
All the while I sat there,
Watching each and every single furtive move.
They felt it too.
Cameras trained on each secret shopper,
My long arm reaching each thieving shoulder,
It’s true...
It’s near my shifts end and I’ve found,
That I’ve lost the will to care,
‘bout a job that hardly pays the cost in gas,
Of getting from home to here.
So at closing time, when there’s no one here,
I steal myself a can of beer, and drink,
While I contemplate,
A change in career.
All the while I sat there,
Watching each and every single furtive move.
They felt it too.
Cameras trained on each secret shopper,
My long arm reaching each thieving shoulder,
It’s true...
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3. |
Henry Henrietta
03:45
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Henry I lied when I declaimed, “Our love’s died!”
It was tempting I admit I’m inclined to make you cry.
Much as it grieved me to ask you please leave me,
Nothing feels more than having you by my side, by my side...
Henrietta I’ve known you, since the sixth grade I’ve honed you,
Till the fine thing you are outshone the sun and the stars.
Converted believers, with their head feints and fevers,
Till she held court in the King’s X, like a queen of them all, yes you were.
Some of us,
Make a mess,
When all we want to do,
Is make it through.
Oh Henry this might take just the rest of our lives,
Park the car there come Sunday and I’ll pretend you’re mine.
This summer I think on, the plane rides to my southside,
This progression of missteps that hurts me more each time, yes they do.
Some of us,
Make a mess,
When all we want to do,
Is make it through.
Some of us,
Make a mess,
When all we want to do,
Is make it through.
Henrietta, I’d be lying if I swore you weren’t mine.
And feeling so possessive I confess I’ve been dying,
To understand where your mind goes, with your eyes and your heart closed,
I tend towards confusing my “yes-es” for your “no’s.”
Some of us,
Make a mess,
When all we want to do,
Is make it through.
Some of us,
Make a mess,
When all we want to do,
Is make it through.
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4. |
Birds Redux
02:59
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It was last Thursday
When I think I heard her say,
“That avian cacophony,
Dear God, I’d love to make em pay.
I love to catch each one,
Put em in a pie to bake,
Inside the oven hot,
For about an hour.”
And so she sent me to the roof
I got quite high,
Up above I saw a landing strip
For birds drop from the sky.
There were some turkeys roosting,
Robins run around the finches gold
And hummingbirds
Flew in circles above the crows.
Next door Nada needs to know
Where each feathered footstep falls.
I waved my arms I felt the fool
Alone upon my perch.
Suddenly I’m eye to eye,
This raptor glares,
I feel the ladder lurch.
I’m left to dance upon the air...
Without a care,
Wind riffling through my hair.
Next door Nada needs to know
Where each feathered footstep falls.
She sweeps step by step, inch by inch,
Until I feel her sachet breath upon my neck.
High above our heads the birds
Still frolic in the trees,
While we draw the drapes,
And hunker down,
Sunlight warms their wings.
From way up high,
A foolish caw comes circling down
To disrespect those of us stuck on the ground.
Next door Nada needs to know
Where each feathered footstep falls.
She sweeps step by step, inch by inch,
Until I felt her sachet breath upon my neck.
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5. |
I Think of Her
03:01
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You know, when you’re around her,
Her life force so strong it’s astounding,
Saint-like some say as they surround her,
Patch up themselves with the bits left behind.
I think of her,
When I think of things I love
To do.
I think of her,
On sunny days, with cloudless skies
In June.
She’ll tell you she’s not what she seems,
Describes herself as shy without seeming
To hide what she’s got takes a lot,
One in a million she’s the one.
I think of her,
When I think of where I used
To be.
I think of her,
As I hold her hand and slowly
Breath.
Smile like Dialing for Dollars,
Her mind tight like Shakespeare humming sonnets.
I love this girl ‘cause she laughs like a long
Shoreman and man can she show them.
I think of her,
Like Bonnie Parker thought of Clyde.
I think of her,
If I lost her I would rather die.
One in a million,
She’s the one, she’s the one.
I think of her,
When I think of things I love
To do.
I think of her,
On sunny days with cloudless skies
In June.
I think of her.
I think of her.
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6. |
Just As Long
02:21
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Just As Long
Right now every last bit of my strength, wax and wanes,
Like sunlight trickles through old window panes.
Nobody knows.
Darling I beg you, put all of this behind you.
My mistake, I never should have taken so long.
But what could I do?
What could I do?
Right now you won’t admit you was wrong.
Stubborn I’ll be you’ll see with you all night long.
But we can’t allow this to go on too long,
Just as long, just as long, just as long.
A whirrin’ hurlin’ mind like hers,
A blur of gears, we’ve been
Best friends for years,
With laughter and all of the tears.
Right now the sound of us quiets down,
Night-time depends on a lack of light, you say that’s right.
I close my eyes before each kiss, imagining what I might have missed,
Just as long.
Humble though our dreams may seem to be,
We save and save and save each glimpse of hope,
You know it’s so.
Right now it’s felt down low in my bones.
Somewhere there’s a porch light on for me all night long.
I believe that you’d agree that I’’ve learned to take my lumps.
I believe that you’d agree that I’ve learned to take my lumps.
Just as long, just as long, just as long.
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7. |
Drop Dee Dew
00:45
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8. |
Some Days
03:54
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I had a friend loved to drink,
Claimed with his first taste his two eyes seen God.
He tried to convince me with whiskey like the white man
Conned the native but it all was for nought.
Some days you think then you are,
And then you are, some days.
Cribbage for four hands he dealt like a king,
And through the night all the cards fell his way.
His luck with the game from his father had come,
And his love for the drink too I'd say.
Some days you think then you are,
And then you are, some days.
Mistook for love, a motel, a girl,
A storm one New Year's Eve down in Texas.
Everything changed when she made him a father,
But his drinking which stayed just the same.
Some days you think then you are,
And then you are, some days.
Some days you cry then you keen,
And wish you were something, some days.
Thirty years of drink sent him down,
To the rocks at the bottom of the well.
All those times I watched him climb when hope
Was abandoned into the well once more he just fall.
Some days you think then you are,
And then you are, some days...
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9. |
Counting On Her
02:55
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She laughs out loud, the joke that I just told,
Made no sense unless your mind’s inclined to work that way.
Like dividing 17 into 72. What’s the point in doing that you ask?
Just something that I’d like you to do.
Starlight moves so slow from world to world.
Not like these thoughts spring up fully formed inside my mind.
She feels almost before I form the words.
These silent declarations, I spill into her ears.
Counting on her like I do,
To sit her quietly and think it through, and I do.
Her simple acts of kindness, a balm upon my soul,
And so I asked her what part of me she thought of as her own?
No hesitation... She indicates my heart. On and on
She goes, she knows.
Counting on her like I do,
To sit her quietly and think it through.
Be forewarned, she storms, it’s true,
But still she sees it through.
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10. |
Oh, Darling!
02:32
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Oh, darling!
Put the dingle in the dangle that's right!
Oh, darling!
Just one word from you would be so nice!
Oh, darling!
Clack your big doll-eyes once if its yes.
Oh, darling!
Any time would be find I admit.
We ride the wave each Wednesday - hey.
Some salt, some skin in fins,
And your boats always sailing my way.
Oh, darling!
The precipice is another word for the edge.
Oh, darling!
Cast me off, I won't stop, I confess.
We ride the waves each Wednesday - oh,
Some salt, some sun, some skin and then,
We ride the waves most every day,
Some salt, some sun, some skin,
And your boats always sailing my way.
And your boats always sailing my way.
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11. |
These Bits and Pieces
04:12
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12. |
I Wouldn't Even Try
03:32
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Outside the train, the tracklight shown,
A necklace of low-watt incandescence and gloom.
I wend my way unseen and gently, push then prod,
I swear to God I’ll take that seat there if you let me.
I wouldn’t even try,
To get off this train.
Call me “Insane,”
But I’m having a good time.
Lose me till I’m found,
I might just yell,
Without a sound,
As I keep it all between,
I and me.
Across from me, her jaws kept time,
The pop and snap of gum the rustle of old newsprint down the line.
This sweet and sour stench keeps some seats empty, as a homeless man reclines,
And reads the Times while we speed on past Berkeley.
I wouldn’t even try,
To get off this train.
Call me “Insane,”
But I’m having a good time.
Lose me till I’m found,
I might just yell,
Without a sound,
As I keep it all between,
I and me.
I always find I notice something,
I keep my eyes wide open.
Each time the trains pulls into Oakland,
It goes below ground and rolls on downtown.
I wouldn’t even try,
To get off this train.
Call me “Insane,”
But I’m having a good time.
Lose me till I’m found,
I might just yell,
Without a sound,
As I keep it all between,
I and me.
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13. |
Prelude To Love
03:45
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Prelude To Love
Living a life on the edge like we do,
It’s no wonder I fell in with you.
I’ve a confession to make,
Without you, oh, my state of mind,
Well, I’d had such a time.
Living without her, it’s not living at all.
Being with her, it’s a prelude to love.
Sitting here thinking like a bear in the zoo,
While the people keep staring they do.
Relaxing on Friday, my hand on her thigh,
Oh so soft and so warm my heart thunders.
She turns and she laughs as I say something sly,
Something so strange, a prelude to love.
A prelude to love...
Sweet friend who raised me up high off the ground,
She’s the closest to Heaven I’ve found.
I’ve loved her in glasses and gym shorts and none,
And I’ve had her for breakfast then some.
I’ve watched her take classes, her mind fit to burst,
Still she makes time, a prelude to love.
A prelude to love...
I’ve confessions to make,
Without you oh my state of mind,
Well I’ve had such a time.
But living without her is not living at all.
Living with her is a prelude to love.
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