Steve Low: Recent Episodes
Steve Low
Playing live and writing & recording in Nelson New Zealand - began recording in 2004 once technology was available to make CDs using industry standard equipment at home. Radio airplay on Fresh FM and the TLC network from 2005. The track IS THIS WHO I THINK IT IS was a finalist in the 2009 NZ MLT songwriting contest. In Dec 2012 DUNEDIN SOUND reached no. 26 on NZ on Air "The Audience" chart. In December 2015, RIP OFF THE SCAB and DREAM DESTINATION were selected by a US A&R agent for promotion to artists, In July 2017 - HIGHEST ROOM also picked up by a US agent for promotion. July 2018 DON'T YOU TURN AWAY selected by NY agent to promote to a London soul singer. August 2018 LOVE MY LIFE assigned to BuyNZ audiovisual advertising. December 2018 WHERE CIGARETTES FALL forwarded by Taxi.com to US TV music director.
Got the chance to re-record this song (I originally posted 4 years ago) with Scott Seabright in Auckland who has worked with many NZ acts including Neil Finn (crowded House). With Vince the multi instrument session man chiming in, the end result reminds me a bit of a Quincy Jones production and it's a totally real recording with actual drums, bass and everything else all recorded in 1 and 1/4 days..
Minimalist approach to JEALOUS with Guitar, bass, KB, vocals to click track. Also out on SPOTIFY a rerecording of POKER FACE with pro Auckland engineer Scot Seabight and session man VinceNot Bothering to be JealousHad my eye on the half chanceThough half would be exaggerating no?Cause she’s with that guy I hearAnd they’re really quite the pairBut I’m not bothering. I’m not bothering, I’m not botheringTo be jealousSuffering daily through her fragrance trailAnd her laugh behind - the office wallThat guy she’s with must cavitateWhen she’s at his doorThank God I think at 5pmMy reflection in the window of the tramWon’t think of her tonightI got songs I’m gonna writeYes I’m not bothering. I’m not bothering, I’m not botheringTo be jealousGotta go pour myself a heavy doseThat calming thingTrouble is that’s when those big ideasCome flooding inYeah I tell you what, I’ll text her nowLet it all come out, this sacred cowThat there is but one true love In this universe of lustSo I’m not bothering. I’m not bothering, I’m not botheringTo be jealousYeah cause I know you and meAre the soul of ecstasySo I’m not bothering. I’m not bothering, I’m not botheringTo be jealous
This is not my song or my voice - it's the work of Marc Steyn who I was in a duo with many years ago. Unfortunately Marc contracted a terminal illness a few years ago. He was such a perfectionist he only released songs reluctantly. I don't think this song has seen the light of day yet - A song Marc was working on in the latter years and which we extracted from his computer. I remember jamming on it when we met up to share songs at that time. Amazing memory. The photo was in the Nelson Evening Mail highlighting a house concert we put on in 2005.Also this week - out on SPOTIFY a rerecording of POKER FACE with pro Auckland engineer Scot Seabight and session man Vince
Anonymous as CloudWhere are you?I haven’t heard a soundThere’s perversion of sensibilitySince fools released the houndIt wouldn’t take all that muchTo populate streets tonightBring traffic to a standstillLike Prague in 89We don’t need guns just numbers and belief oh yeah beliefTo flaunt the moral high-ground and get it on the streetsThere must be millions of us here With body and soul inflamedHey where you all gone hiding You’re anonymous as cloudThere’s urgencyDon’t let the train leave the stationThe minds of the armyCan be bought by mere orationCitizensHeld hostage by a deranged fewThink about thatDon’t let it all come true
UNITED STATES Waking up to frosty landscapesWaiting on a desert sunStopped into Nepali’s teahouse Looking down Milano’s lawnThe scent of London’s summer Piquant whiff of chanel on a trainEverywhere I look it’s United StatesEverything I hear it’s United StatesWhere’s it going to end the United StatesLike their fathers before themThey’re prone to crossing swordsShooting off their biggest mouthAnd prancing ‘round like LordsInternationals recoilTalking ‘bout the weather of their livesMet a Yankee couple at the old train stationHe was wringing his hands about that nationSemi comatose in TehranPaper thin the walls around meStatic and announcer’s parlanceCreeping into conscious thoughtCrackling the searing baconEvery now and then a free man’s fate
Keeping it natural with the bass driving the rhythm and everything played and sung largely into a mic - the theme is rather self explanatory.Friend of the FabulousTouched you are by latent hands of GodsYour face is bloated by the friend you’ve gotYou’ve always got the news of their stuffSomeone’s elevated by their lateset bit of statusYou’re a friend of the fabulousIt’s so good you’re almost tremulousYou think that we’re hanging on your wordsBut what’s she really like that piece of workOh she’s just so normal and such funEveryday’s a party oh if only we could comeYou’re a friend of the fabulousIt’s so good you’re almost tremulousYou’re a friend of the fabulousLet me bathe in your perspectiveYou’re a friend of the fabulousIf she knew us we’d be so blessedEveryday you’re locked away In your love of adulationSo you’re a limpet clinging onTo that associationYou’re a friend of the fabulousIt’s the fundamental anchor of your lifeLike bees on speed they’re buzzing you a lotMust be more today who will feed another high
Re-recording of this 2003 song with Ted Key (Organ) and Adrian Secker (Piano). Adrian has played live with us a couple of times this year so it was a project to recreate the live sound in the studio. Back in 2003 there was no streaming and the original recording (song title 'Jack Johnson' ) was on CD and received local radio airplay for a few weeks. Spotify wouldn't accept a song titled with another artists name - hence the title change.Jack JohnsonDriving up the Kawera gorge to QueenstownLooking out the windows at the carsThen you go and make a small commotionPointing out the V-dub that went pastDid you think you saw Jack JohnsonDid you see a surfboard and guitarI think you’ve had way to much my friendCause everybody here looks like a starCoronet is lovely as an ice creamWe’re carving up the snow having a ballThen you go and make a small commotionPointing out a cool dude on a boardSunday and we’re on the beach hung overRecalling when the Eichardts was a barI feel like some kiwifruit pavlovaYou’re still musing bout that V-dub car
The first version of this in 2005 was a reaction to nationalism as exhibited via plane hijackings. This time the US border politics triggered a rewrite with a different chord structure and words. Just acoustic guitar and bass: back to basics!INTERNATIONAL NATIONALITY 2025I woke up to face the day Acapulco HiltonI knew I had to catch a train to the USAI should be excited but I know I’m notI’m feeling all the fears that America’s got There are borders and a national guardThere are people who are living so hardI think it’s time to make us all the sameAn international nationalityOut of the xray beam to the border gateWho’s got a false passport are they here today?I’m looking around for a sweaty browHas the guard gotta grudge and a sacred cow?Let’s get something underwayTake away the borders of todayI think it’s time to make us all the sameAn international nationalityFree them . . . and you’ll be halfway humanThe children . . . let them be in arms tomorrowI’m looking out through the glass at the other’s worldSeeing them through the fence where they’re all being heldWho’s that getting up and walking aroundAre we just gonna leave without making a sound?
I was struck by an article in the Guardian 10 years ago about a woman who used to hang out and work with the Rolling Stones in the 60s and the article was about adapting to old age while having nostalgia for such a potent time in her life. For this recording I had to change one word - 70 to 80. Musically it needed to be rhythmic but melancholic: something you got from major and minor seventh songs in the mid 70s as disco kicked inYESTERDAY’S PEOPLEYesterday’s people used to party, party, partyYesterday’s people were so cool so cool so coolThere was a girl her skin so fresh and fineThere was a guy as smooth as a dark red wineThey were out there in a happening eraFace to face so close and nearerPhotogenic and oh so boldBut that generation has all grown oldIn 69 it was crazy zany timeIn London town all that music going downYoung people travelling - free love happeningBeautiful people philosophizingMary Jane twilight in the MediterraneanThat generation they’ve all grown oldIf you’re talking to an 80 year old guyRemember he - was Mr cool way back in timeTry to imagine the face much youngerThe yearning soul hormonal hungerSuite Judy blue eyes young people dancingThat generation they’ve all grown old
A complete re-recording in the key played live. It was one of those recordings that sounded really messy. Dropping the fader on the acoustic guitar I'd started the whole thing off with revealed a different direction highlighting case and drums. It's about females who stand up for the community against arrogance and male chauvinism and I see them in my work environment - this song is about them..Miss Rocket LauncherHey hey you this Joan of Arc - Miss Rocket LauncherLove you sending into space – those flying saucersYour eyes they dart and sense corrosionYou’re leaning forward in silky motionYou know who is fit to governFor those who aren’t they get concussionYour elbows dent the seats of powerYour rocket roars it’s getting louderHey hey you Sister of Mercy – Miss Rocket LauncherLove it that they’re on your mind – the poor and poorerWhen you sense their exploitationYour voice it cracks and lips are brazenI’d hate to be your target right thenA volley gone to crack their headsWe’re hungry like Cohen’s PartisanWe’ll force ‘em to the stones and hear the doors slam Room dust scatters as your strident voice risesTables go silent as you render the kaisersHey hey you this Mother Theresa – Miss Rocket LauncherCan feel the warmth inside of you – and getting warmerWhen they wallow in their greedYou let one go and make em all fleeI’m feeling for the hem of your gownThe reverent touch the best to be foundI know that you will win in the endAnd sharing it with you – what a send
A twist on the 'Appearance Medicine' phrase.APPEARANCE MEDICINETripping round some corridorsNothing but neon lightsFloor polish and hidden voicesThere you are before my eyesIt’s appearance medicineLike a hormone injects in a veinIt’s appearance medicineA face that lights a flameS O B and tachy heart when lightning seeds a body startThat jumps a gate to permeate my actual need For you with me - todayThis hospital’s a restaurantMedicine is the menuGod’s own surgeon shaped the faceThat walks me to the moonIt’s appearance medicine . . .Ah-huh Ah Huh da da da da da da da daIt’s appearance medicineIt’s appearance medicineEveryday it’s much the sameGoing on that ward roundFloor polish and hidden voicesSoon my heart it’s on the pound
New start after finishing SC and Spotify Album - Eccentricity so Beautiful.This title jumped off a page and lately in the live act we've been doing some 80s songs: I think that influenced the approach here. Decarbonizing AviationDecarbonizing Aviation It’s a new concsiousnessVapor trails gone WestSometimes you got to make a changeTo keep love on forever’s pathYour shaking trees are exhausting meBetter a sundown heart to heart Decarbonizing Aviation – night swimming and seeing it sparkDecarbonizing Aviation – going steady yeah not too fast Glaciers and shrinkingHabitats and mourningCan we glide the plane back homeGotta give up on bad bad stuffSeven days of denial nightsI think we know that enough’s enough
Written 11 years ago: recalls the days when music was vinyl only and a magical retreat from matters of the heart33 RPM NIRVANAFlattened faces pressed up against the glassIt’s well known no-one needs to askPeople talking ‘bout how I’m feelingIf they were me yes they’d be reelingThey’d need time and recuperationBut at night I take up stationHanging around in 33 RPM NirvanaGetting away to 33 RPM Nirvana She’s a stranger that’s her right to chooseWho can blame her she don’t like old newsYou might say she’s one go getterAnd why did she not treat me betterI admit I loved her deeplyBut right now I’m kind of sleepyHanging around in 33 RPM NirvanaGetting away in 33 RPM Nirvana I’m pulling the curtains and switching it onWatching the tone arm lower onto my black vinylDrifting away now the music is my riverNot analyzing I’m seeking separationThrough the mists of time I wanderWhat is life I’m bound to ponderGonna get to shrug my shouldersMoving on and getting bolderHanging around in 33 RPM NirvanaGetting away in 33 RPM Nirvana
Wrote the title phrase on a birthday card and immediately thought that's a 'song title'. The first take of the vocal was a loose ramble but I just left it in - it seemed to fit.Love Our Together LifeThat cliché thick and thin about loving all the timeWe’re not vascillating over always gotta rhymeDoubling up in laughter keeps an even keelAnd getting to a sweet spot finally it’s realWe drove out to the cliff and backNow it’s all about giving backIt’s life upon a road with little jobs to doAnd a race across the sand to share the viewIt’s pouring out the drinks as the sun dips down And talking ‘bout the people who we see around Love our together lifeLove our together lifeBack in days of war it was tight in the lipAnd the putting up of walls with a face half litCause expectations could never be metAnd it takes a lot of years to wind it back to less Yeah giving up on hurt and feeling how it wasIn the years embryonic burning hotAnd the psyche bathed in the songs of the timeBut transplanting now to a wiser kind of rhyme
GREATEST HITSI’m blowin’ notes streetside in a horn section Blown garbage and coppered boots all gone tangling. You’re Bixby’s Bridge above Kerouac’s canyon. Way above the ruts in your trending fashion You’ve been playin’ me your greatest hits. But I need from you something ordinary (Like) Falling vacant down a slip What capture’s me is the fragmentary - humanityYou’re all coiff n pressed jeans uber-reachingGripping to a scene and about it beseechingYou’re jetting over Miller’s Big Sur resident shackHistory is nothing but a scratch on your backYou’ve been playin’ me your greatest hits. . . But I need from you something ordinary (Like) A eureka moment guilt trip What capture’s me is the fragmentary – humanityWhat was I just a birthright the right side of the tracksBut egalitarian ideas caught you in a trapTrying to show a social conscience don’t come naturallySuch a handbrake on life’s beckoning verdant tapestryYou’ve been playin’ me your greatest hits. . . You’ve been playin’ me your greatest hits. . .
Harmony laden lyrical acoustic rhythmic soulBetween Abstraction and RepresentationYou don’t know which way to standIs the light favorable?Or is black now passeI guess it’s all debatableI’m trailing in your scentYou’re LA then New YorkGhosting like the Zephyr TrainMaking sure you walk the walkYou’re caught there in between abstraction and representationThey watch you in between abstraction and representationThough you deny you seek to impressIt’s other women for whom you get dressedIn and out of the closet you floatStrapping and weave – girdle and hoseDelaunay or Cassatt?Hey honey bring it all backHome . . . I could be jealously madSeeing all that attention you grabBut bedroom’s night is painting your curvesAnd only I will get to observe
Thunder PantsToo bad I was your Rembrandt in waitingThough you sensed you were Ms ConvenienceSo many days in a chamber debatingInstead of between sheets of SalinasThere you go again Mount Vesuvius – in your handsManufacturing painEmphatically – Thunder Pants(your cross you bear is burning dangerously near)(Here seeking comfort from anxiety wizened)So soon the ejector seat after the thrillBrings the acid to the back of your teethYou can’t let it go like a Janice girlSo it’s almost time to lay a wreathA rational man would cut you deadBut testosterone makes fools of the bestSometimes it seems that you’re talking niceBut I know it’s the crack end of the benchIt’s a midday roast and my tongue is dryAnticipating that rapier sledge
WHEN YOU FINALLY L:EAVEFuture sunset OmaramaKnowing only you will seeIt’s a low brow shrinking ceilingA contract without wordsIt’s the thick of familyHarbinger of lonely heartsThe fate of you and meAnd when you finally leaveWe gotta face it courageouslyWhen you finally leaveWe gonna have to suck it up – it’s the right thing to doWe gonna have to draw down on memory Fate is born by trajectoryAttraction mangles fencesLeaving snow grass blowing freeAnd how the years were kind to usYearning for the workplaceThe weekends oh so bleakAnd when you finally leave . . .InstrumentalYou got a date stamp – a black hole in the sky - And I got to make wayYou and your Omarama – we’ll both be conscience freeBut how will we feel? . . . Cause when you finally . .
There's a fantastic 70s leaning pop-rock album Ticket to Shangri-La released in 2023 (Young Gun Silver Fox) with a song called Starting Wars. I miss heard and mis-read the title as Starling Wars which seemed a great metaphor for something. It could have applied to a relationship - but the 2 wars going on became the themeStarling WarsYou fly in to foul my nest Seeing red I puff out my chestAiming at your catacombsDropping all my guano bombsFlit across and I peck at youCause my beliefs are the only truthStarling wars it’s about pecking order Starling wars gonna bomb your son and daughterI ruffle your feathersYou think that you’re betterEthnically superiorThe plumage of an emperorGonna peck my eye’s right outSquawk about it loud and proudStarling wars it’s about pecking order Starling wars gonna bomb your son and daughterEm7 Dma7 Ami7 G Bb/C F F#m7 BUnderneath there’s the dove of peacePeeking out at the busy streetsI Wrap your eggs neath protective wingsDrop a flower confess my sinsFleeting thought it just flies awayRevenge is sweet gonna make you payStarling wars it’s about pecking order Starling wars gonna bomb your son and daughter
I saw this headline in The Guardian and thought 'song title'. It gives us humans something else bizarre to wrestle with. AI FAKE NUDES ARE BOOMING THIS YEARShe comes up from harborside. Anchor orange and rusty grindFlanks of friends - jaded eyesCurve and laugh make me decideShe spins a deft Utopia Now I’m starving Ethiopia. But AI fake nudes are booming this year. Look em in the eye there’s a smiling stareAI fake nudes are booming this yearSay what you like and they won’t careSummer winds they soon abateWhile the hooks are steel and barbedNow the quips ingratiateAnd the bedroom falls apartShe spins a deft Utopia Now I’m starving Ethiopia. But AI fake nudes are booming this year. . . Wallowing into internetChained by fingers’ ringsHow something grew from nothingAnd finished less than thatShe spins a deft Utopia . . . AI fake nudes are booming this year. . .
Aside from musical satisfaction and $$$ - the motivations for artists to keeping going can be an addiction to the love from the audience.SCREAMING AND THROWING UNDIESTake my time with plug-insConnection satisfactionWaving arms like a summonsPointy introductionsAnd soon I’m ridin’ minor seventhsEndorphins in my canalI’m like a godly presenceAs music funks it’s way aroundBut the pessimist inside – says shoot me your lovin’ arrowsCause the deficit is – oh - the needing of something so shallowGimme screaming and throwing undies (love me love me love me)Gimme screaming and throwing undiesCareer or labour of loveTry and define itEyeing up those at the frontIs anyone buyin’ itI’m phrasing out the words I wroteLooking for misty eyes Reaching for a soulful noteInto clover wrap me tight Nature’s opium rideMusicalityBathing up here in spotlightDopamine alchemy Yeah I’m riding . . .
Taking only about 30 min to write this seemed a bit of a throw away but had 'live' potential and so it proved. Looking back through life there's moments you would change if you could . . . See Yourself as YourselfLook back - go back - look in the rear view mirrorAnd see yourself as yourself and shudder ‘Bout decisions and actionsThinking ‘bout her, flood the mind And hormone’s, long slow tortureShock of her face, hair in a state Can I just go, walk with herNo no no – verboten – society thick in the air – claustrophobiaLook back - go back - look in the rear view mirrorAnd see yourself as yourself and shudder ‘Bout decisions and actionsSeeing that, ‘out for myself’ thing Yeah, that gotta go, grab that pleasure Could’ve done that man, some real good But instead, closed up shop early Grim effort – rode a wave – he’ll be back tomorrow – ok!Get back look back, look in the rear view mirrorAnd see yourself as yourself and shudder ‘Bout decisions and actionsYeah yeah yeah. Wo ho a couple of memoriesThere’s so many moreYeah yeah yeah, so many more, try to bury them yeah
When that title slipped into my mind it was all go and the early verse work felt bluesy with certainly blue notes to sing. The chorus wrote itself around the title with jazz chords. Changing key to the variation was natural enough but quite a long journey back to the verse again.Art in her BonesOut on the left - she’s made it her homeSome think she’s weird – and likely getting’ stoned aloneBut I’m on the hook - just reel me inIt’s the art in her bones - that makes her what she seems to beThe art in her bones - makes a thrill inside of me Sometimes at night- she wakes from a dreamShe runs to her paint – got to liberate that sceneThen after an hour - she’s layin’ back downIt’s the art in her bones . . .She don’t deal with accounts and rates and supermarketsShe’s driftin’ through hazy lanes and blocks of colourAnd something someone said three nights agoShe put that friend in embargoGotta work it through on canvas - then they’ll thaw in a trystThey’ll work it out – those ladies of rhymeThey just need the moon – to tell them when the time is rightAnd me I can wait – for that special nightWhen she gives she’s layin over us Starlight curves across her body real – we’re playin’ sealsLazy floppy as the sunlight growsWe talk of us as forever – and after that still togetherNeath the door’s a gentle zephyrHey let us rise – it’s quarter to oneIn the café - love our whacky talkie funThe way she sees things – my soul it just sings
3rd recording of this song which an African American producer contracted off Broadjam for a year but nothing was delivered. In the last few years I changed the structure of it to suit playing live - with the 2 chords in the chorus on repeat we can drag the ending out in an extended jam - easy money! So this is that version recorded as a studio track this week
Dream Destination 3
Dudes are asking where to go If you gotta choice to go Where to go where to go Somewhere funky with ya beau
Hey wait up doll n tell me honey What is your dream destination? Where in the world you wanna go? We’ll I’ll tell you babe just what I know My dream destination it’s you right here My dream destination it’s you – anywhere
Some are junkies for the city London Paris they’re not picky I say nah I’m gonna park it In a wasteland like the arctic
Chorus
Mate he say oh come on please It’s Amsterdam and find the sleaze Not for him that lovin armpit He wanna have a lovin junket
Me I wanna go dig deep Find your soul and feel the heat Be taken on a dreamy ride I don’t care where we reside
Kind of musical irony in a way with a horror theme immersed in a jaunty beat: an unintentional result where so often a song writes itself and you decide not to change it.
Caught up in a War
Hear the words why me See fiery horizons Eating up ground are black caterpillars We’re shrinking near the door They hardly gave a reason Sleeping is acid raw Forever is the ceiling
And everything we made Will be shattered by the day of reckoning All the icons of love Will be broken on the grass just weathering We’re caught up in a war
Thinkin’ bout religion The randomness of Gods What’s it about us that’s undeserving? We’re watching on the news The march of our dementors We’re lying close and squeezing Neath fragility of walls
And everything we made Will be shattered by the day of reckoning All the icons of love Will be broken on the grass just weathering We’re caught up in a war
If we could turn back time to days of peace and laughter
Modern Artists like Leon Bridges and Son Little marry hip hop or RnB rhythms often to acoustic based songs. Its an opportunity to blend elements that you love from 2 generations of music into one song - some lyrical bite, sweetened by 60s vocal harmonies.
FAKING IRONY
I see your troubles start from within And she is prickling cause you’re so wooden Look at her sparkle like the lemon Floating on her pour of bubbly gin
Life is serious but only at certain times of day Where’s the gazelle leap to release your mind to play
It’s a hard road when you take everything literally If only you could take a course in faking irony But here you are your face is pinched and spidery If only you could take a course in faking irony
For you gravity and time operate differently You’re drowning in the history of epiphany Will you ever get to feel for the other side Letting go that crippling brainy ultra-pride
She needs a belly laugh that drops her to the ground Nothing sexy ‘bout your analysing head up in the clouds
It’s a hard road . . . faking irony
Your birth blueprint and childhood pricked you like a thorn But your conscience can’t be faulted and you’re always doing good You probably can’t be changed and that’s an awful thought Cause things I’m advocating - they probably can’t be taught
She needs a belly laugh that drops her to the ground Nothing sexy ‘bout your analysing head up in the clouds
It’s a hard road . . . faking irony
Combining childhood and later relationship memories with the early sounds of electric piano: first heard on Help! "Chalking up belief" references 'Chalking up the Hurt" in the great Michael McDonald song 'Real Love' from the time when he created amazing piano based pop-rock, now termed Yacht Rock. And the song title 'Your Gold Teeth ii is of coursed piano based from the highly influential Steely Dan and makes a nice rhyme with 'room.'
ELECTRIC PIANO
Out of the womb into a musical reign Feeling it grab like the first light of day Bro old enough to procure some Help! Takes to my soul like the face of the girl
Electric Piano you are chalking up belief A silly emotion walking you down the street Electric Piano you are black and white devine Your sound is forever it’s the girl in the back of my mind
Song of first strike is ‘Tell me what you See’ While I yearn for the girls who are awaking a dream Sometimes the song is then a soundtrack to pain When desire returns it’s a permanent state
Electric Piano . . . back of my mind
I hear she’s quit Uni left a ghost in her room Now I bury my soul in Your Gold Teeth part 2
Now she has an aura in 1975 This is my soul being eaten alive Her face a portrail of a red Cilla Black Electric Piano you do leave me so bad
Electric Piano . . . back of my mind
Behaviours are so important going forward. Going to have to be some selfless work from everyone - be exemplary. ExemplaryWe look out the window and we see it’s our turnWe want to, we need toThe river is rising and grass is burntIt’s a headache, it’s a heart acheSo we’re walking through the streets so purposefullyWe’re marching, some are runningWe’re shoveling sand, we’re hosing the landWe’re a commune, to the rescueBa da ba da - We’re exemplaryBa da ba da - We’re exemplaryChildren are leaving their classes in drovesThey’re frightened and enlightenedThey’ve worked it all out, they actually knowThey can see it, they’re not stupidIt’s everywhere they look, vapid posturingIt’s so obvious, it’s so odiousIt’s all about ownership and total controlThey detest it, they reject itBa da ba da - They’re exemplaryMother and daughter father and sonBy the 60s we could be gypsiesEveryone a nomad everywhere a land grabFight it – be unitedBa da ba da - Be exemplary
Alexander King parachuted into our town from New Orleans via Brisbane and set up recording studio. We combined on this song 'Collect the Moment' which I'd just written on piano.Alex: rhythm track, bass, some guitar, recording, production, mixingSteve: Vocals, keyboards, guitarCollect the MomentYou in sintered glass buildings - trapped in recycled airAnd I the frequent advisor - holding a too long stareDo hormones control decisions – I ruminate in silenceWhile you the puppet’s mistress - are still non-compliantAs a gaggle collects - a space encroachment And I brush your arm to collect the moment Is it just I who’s a physical poet?Did you brush my arm to collect the moment?Now here’s the start of something - a fomenting act twoA party has erupted and lava like here’s youThe music creates a wall – an easy place to hideTo move the chess pieces – silently they glideRandomly dancing – it’s I the proponentAnd I brush your arm to collect the momentIs it just I who’s a physical poet?Did you brush my arm to collect the moment?What do they mean these tactile encountersJust a small hill or a range of mountainsAnd naked by proximity – alone in a liftThis accident of timing – embarrassment or gift?We blurt it out together – something about todayAnd then an awkward silence – my courage gone astrayBut we’re squeezed together through the door’s openingAnd I brush your arm to collect the momentIs it just I who’s a physical poet?Did you brush my arm to collect the moment?
Better do some Good. Hey I don’t mind complicity in drinking all that wineIt’s good to get the wheels up, but just from time to timeBut dwelling on this comfort food is brewing up a blood red sky You lapsing into navel gaze is goading kharma’s battle cry Better do some good oh darlin’ Make a start tonightYou never know who’s out there watchingKnow your wrong from rightDo do do do do do do doIt’s no good you walking round as tho it’s you who’s missing outWith lips so taught and victim eyes You’re looking like a sour krautYou’re always going to lose the war living in this ugly mess If Gods don’t see u clean the floor The frontline beckons to the WestIt’s a round and a round you’re swirling downConsumed and jealousYou’re wanting needing ‘n nursing greedIn a sump of trench warfareAaah ooooh Nothing but the best Everyone at your behest Better do some good tonight Better do some good tonight
New recording of this song that was in the finals of the NZ MLT songwriting awards 2010Is This Who I Think It Is Another tumble ‘cross the dance floorA tender hold onto someone I call my own A look into her eyes that lingersAnother drink that goes from loving hand to handIs this who I think it isA touch and a blown kissI look at herI look at himIs this who I think it isA frozen minute in a lifetimeI lurch and stumble to the dancers of the night As I push myself between them My life with her is playing out in black and whiteI wonder at the blind manWho was missing all the cluesOnce a happy go lucky guyNow with leaden shoesI am dancing in a wastelandShe is speaking but I cannot hear a soundHer face resigned to do to her dutyI can see him and his eyes are shifting round
HEY LOVE YOU!
Hey love you More than LC would’ve craved for Marianne No manuscript could sing with more devotion A paper chain enough to fill an ocean I’m always up so close and being dutiful. Yeah I fix your hair and say you’re beautiful. Yeah I fix your hair and say you’re beautiful Mmmm breath you in ‘til I’m insensible
Hey love you Like we’re barefoot down a street in Hydra It’s feet on top of feet in café’s shadows I hear applause and faintly drifting cello In sticky heat our limbs are stuck like glue And I kiss your brow and murmur hey I love you Yeah I kiss your brow and murmur hey love you Mmmm taste your cheek ‘til I’m insensible
Hey love you Taste your flashin’ teeth and tangerine The last of breezes scurry into hiding Nights are satin sheets with harbour lighting I’m layin’ out your silk across the dresser I hold you close knowing it’s forever Yeah I hold you close knowing it’s forever Mmmm moving slow ‘til I’m insensible
Not really alt rock but the guitar solo at the end is fairly anarchic
To Fly or not to Fly
To fly or not to fly YES! To fly or not to fly NO!
To fly or not to fly that is the question. It’s a no brainer in existential terms. There’s kilos of carbon coming from engines. While the earth below - floods and burns
M’lady says she’s gotta fly yeah it’s in the blood She’s gotta have exotica - it’s there for the taking Even though people of the world - are under the pump Down there in the wheat fields – the crops are baking
To fly or not to fly YES! To fly or not to fly NO!
Hate being a gloomy carrier pigeon But the writings there on the internet The forecast for earth - it’s grim and turgid Makes it dumb to fly airliner jets
M’lady says the scientists - will find a solution There’s no need to live - like a peasant farmer She don’t need to feel shame - about her vapor trail Hey she’s never been - to West Estonia
Miss Rocket Launcher
Hey hey you this Joan of Arc - Miss Rocket Launcher Love you sending into space – those flying saucers Your eyes they dart and sense corrosion You’re leaning forward in silky motion You know who is fit to govern For those who aren’t they get concussion Your elbows dent the seats of power Your rocket roars it’s getting louder
Hey hey you Sister of Mercy – Miss Rocket Launcher Love it that they’re on your mind – the poor and poorer When you sense their exploitation Your voice it cracks and lips are brazen I’d hate to be your target right then A volley gone to crack their heads We’re hungry like Cohen’s Partisan We’ll force ‘em to the stones and hear the doors slam
Room dust scatters as your strident voice rises Tables go silent as you render the kaiser
Hey hey you this Mother Theresa – Miss Rocket Launcher Can feel the warmth inside of you – and getting warmer When they wallow in their greed You let one go and make em all flee I’m feeling for the hem of your gown The reverent touch the best to be found I know that you will win in the end And sharing it with you – what a send
In so Deep
I'm carryin' weight – beast of burden streets of Ankara My feet they hurt – my saddle gonna wrench apart My hunger never stops – the wave it never crests I’m drowning in consequence
I’m in so deep – and I won’t let you down a bit It’s history – I made you all these promises Our worlds depart – the continents divide I’m in so deep – I can look you in the eye
Haven’t felt a falter – never told you a lie Is it in the realm – that the others will survive When I see you in the door – I’m clutching a sea wall In the Bosphorous
Long ago – she had my full devotion I changed her name – as did Constantinople I felt the streets go dead All the hawkers they had fled - Into armament
Behind a curtain – breathing incense and a huffin’ pipe Mural on the wall – the mountains of Antolia If I have to pick and choose I can’t crawl away from you - You’re in my heart
I’m in so deep – and I won’t let you down a bit It’s history – I made you all these promises Our world’s depart – the continents divide I’m in so deep – I can look you in the eye
Sleeps on Fire
I’m dwelling on rocket fire Piano fragments and twisted strings Lady rag doll dead at the door Dementor soldier with lips so thin
Sleep Killer’s messing with my head Gotta rise up get a change of thought Find a codeine and a TV show My feet are cold and my tongues like chalk
Back in bed and it’s Mr Psycho Ugly boss gotta face him away And lady friend of the underground We’ll be busted yeah maybe today
Sleeps on fire yeah Sleeps on fire yeah
All the news is existential Who’s going to go have kids today? I’m rolling round my sheets are tenting The latest vaccine is a throat spray
Sleeps on fire yeah Sleeps on fire yeah
Hazy Ocean
I see you at the break of day A flash of gold across a bay I watch you you’re a dolphin riding rail And then it comes the perfect wave And balancing you show the way Your love of life it’s written in your trail
Hazy Ocean - you wash all over me And I’m diving after you Like the tide follows the moon Hazy Ocean - your spirit’s phosphorent And your colour’s vivid blue While my love is all for you
You’re always wanting cosmic rhymes To come and take us for a ride And when they do it’s reason to believe There’s trust in nature’s open door It lets you know why you were born Your real life’s the script of other’s dreams
And when you paddle to the shore You’re reaching out to one and all You know the truth that happiness is laughter And across the night your flame is warm Your star is up and all adore They’re crowding round They’re hanging from the rafters
What a couple of years we’ve been through with the Covid viruses. In my day jobs of anaesthesiologist and surgical director it’s been all consuming. With the original virus in 2020, before vaccination there was a real personal mortality risk to consider when going to work, but as it turned out, working in hospitals wearing PPE and other infection protection measures was probably one of the safest places to be. Most health care workers caught the virus at home or elsewhere. The fascinating human part of it was the small group of health workers who rejected vaccination and even debated the existence of the virus. Of course across a range of people there will always be conspiracy theorists, and the world is rife with conspiracies, but a virus that can be seen under the electron microscope, that can be sequenced genetically and is a relation of other coronaviruses such the common cold isn’t a conspiracy. I had this title – 'come back to real' – lying around unused and thought it would work with a lyric about an imaginary couple with different views on the topic . . .
Come Back to Real
You’re the one who found revision History’s just a false depiction you say The government’s trolling all our messages But it seems to me – not reality.
Hey, I know the world ain’t perfect But you could make your life much more easy yeah Don’t buy virus is fiction claims Cause I’ve been to see and I know what’s real
Come back to real Come back to real and free your mind - free your mind Come back to real Come back to real and love re-find - love re-find Come back to real – Come back to real – mmm mmm yeah
I get up in morning n seek out the sunshine But you meet agents with a war to fight Cause RNA gonna claim your body What a shame you’re lost to conspiracy
You’re a hell of lady and I’m always wanting you If only you could reason like the majority There’s a warm breeze off the ocean - come and cruise with me Flick the switch – and come to real
Love in the House
You want to move me down to that ritzy neighbourhood Where there’s black cars by the stables And the grass is hissing gently & you know that starchy lady there might give U half a minute If she thinks you come from money & our star is still ascending But what’s the point of that unless there’s love in the house Yeah what’s the point of that – gotta be love in the house Love in the house
And you’d love to travel Europe get a rental by the water And be dining out on tapas while the Spanish waiters hover And the wine it tastes sabrosa and it feels like Casablanca As the house is warm and dreamy and the sheet is softly under But what’s the point of that unless there’s love in the house Yeah what’s the point of that – gotta be love in the house Love in the house
Now my music pours from fingers upon a restless pavement As a lady figure lingers in the memory of encounters And I have her number with me but it’s war again in Israel So I wander to the kitchen where there’s vases full of flowers But what’s the point of that unless there’s love in the house Yeah what’s the point of that – gotta be love in the house Love in the house, bodies alive, moving in rhyme, love in our eyes, lighting the sky
UR7 Final Flight
The tail of aviation dies, As engines roar and cough. Vapor trails once crossed the skies But here’s the last take off I stare out of my window And my heart sinks like the moon I grab your hand so tightly While the cabin’s like a tomb UR7 final flight
We know the skies are danger now They had to legislate The flights are full of terror gusts So wings they bend and break But let’s remember odysseys Romantic wanderlust As engines start their shrieking now As though they speak for us UR7 final flight
And which asylum beckons me Now that we are broke A girl on Spanish beaches taunts Those years were full of hope Now feel the nose start dipping down Towards an aerodrome We’ll walk to different taxi’s now Love’s no longer home. UR7 final flight
Last of the Summer Flies
At last you have left - my insecticide is spent Though your screw driver voice is reverberating Your tongue it got bent - drilling holes in my head Now I’m smoothing hurts by restorative ironing And though they must have a role in ecosystems I’m so glad to see the last of the summer flies I’m so glad to see the last of the summer flies
I guess you’ll find a niche – with some human who can reach To find that tiny star behind the grating Your sun first shone so bright – enough to launch a kite But that superficial wind was soon deflating And though . . . .
It’s in the news each day Insects will fade away Unless we realise Every living thing has a vital place
I wish you the very best – maybe both of us are blessed We were counting down our days so surely numbered Hey you’re not to blame – I’m dreamy and often vague And for the earth I’ll pray for flies now just departed
Can Our Souls Stay Together
Hey girl that was really something – truly unforgettable I’m staring right up at the ceiling – the air is perfectly still Cause I realise you’re not from here And your train gonna leave to your God out there
Can our souls stay together Can your soul sleep another night Can our souls stay together Cause I fell in love at first sight But I know you You have to go Back to the keeper of the fire
Feels like you’re going forever Feels like the end of my life I’m opening up my mind to the universe Will I find you out there tonight Cause I realise you’re not from here And your train gonna leave to your God out there
Chorus
You’re in the thick of that it’s all you ever had Wrap your fingers around The speaking stone You’ll never leave your spiritual home
Chorus
You Don’t Talk Easy
Yeah, I’m all over you Coming by your room Faking accidental - as if you didn't know These small steps up a mountain climb And nothing’s going to turn back time, hey you
I’m crawling cross this chasm that I find I’m trying to talk my way into your eyes In real life you’re quick to speak your mind But you don’t talk easy here tonight You don’t talk easy here tonight
So fate has brought you here You could have moved anywhere But now we got these workdays to share With my turn of phrase suggestible Your face it stays imperceptible, hey you
Chorus
A woman like you is surely spoken for And who am I to dare to come between Warm blood is going to make me stay the course Like the river flows from mountain to the sea
Exhaust Pipe
In the shadow of a smokestack rising eating up the air Kinda gritty look you give me on this street to God knows where We’re ducking under extrusions in the face of water walls At least we got each other ‘neath this sky that’s like a war
Eye brows on the ceiling even though we got the word Imagining is one thing but reality’s absurd
Part of me is chill And part of you is screaming Now that we got choked in earth’s exhaust pipe I can pull you closer You can stare me out It’s getting hard to breath in earth’s exhaust pipe
Creating scenes a hotel room the balm of bodies close And bricks so thick to hide the world is all that we can hope Nose in flesh the best to hide like puppies suckling mums And after rain the swollen streets be scorching in the sun
How did it come to this . . . I just want to love you . . .
Floating into Wonder
Now that the border’s open - she’s on the overnighter Up near the universe so vivid as it’s shining brighter So long in isolation – We living on our phones But what a torture that is - needing flesh n bone
And I’m waiting near the runway’s end Watching descending lights And that final roar overhead – hey I’m lifted so high
And we’ll be floating into wonder (mm mm mm) Gifted this new path Cause she is out the other side of it (now we can be) Floating into wonder
This kiss is never ending - senses remember her Flooding skin in waves - how to find the words? We walking tied together – in love with baggage claim In love with everybody – and I just say her name
And how we’ll sing - and the car will sing As I bring this girl back home And all who love her wait in clover at the end of the golden road
And we’ll be floating into wonder . . .
Yeah I’m chosen one tonight ‘cause I got my lady home
F Chord makes my Fingers Bleed
All across the plain there’s a heavy kind of drone And the picking has cleared the fields And every one’s talkin’ bout where to go next Some with scars on hearts to keep
But me I ain’t gonna be running anywhere I got land here to put on ice And I’m saying it to you there’s a song to sing But I sense you know you gonna take flight
Want your breath upon my face Neath the still of the trees And feel the edging of your lace But there’s rot in the leaves I been playing long and loud But you haven’t come around Now F chord makes my fingers bleed F chord makes my fingers bleed
I know you’re gonna rev up your car one night Yeah my bones fear the ebb of your heat And lonely be the grip of the ice breaker days And the strength of the clime to beat
Yes the warmth of your body ‘n flickering flames Has fled to the universe And nothing but pain ‘til the end of time As the season stiffens up the earth
Sad to hear Rusty Young of Poco passed. Great band and I'm sure all good souls
Good Souls
When is this heart beat Going to be under skin I got my guard up Don’t know what dark you’ll bring You got something mmm That triggered a landslide But I never sensed The dead inside your eyes
Hey good souls should be with good souls And bad smoke should drift away Yeah good souls should live with good souls And bad folk should make the break
Oh sure I’ve hung on Wouldn’t drop you when you’re down Whatever bugs you It will always hang around Yeah I got a heart so I feel for you But the prison of your hurt I can’t steel from you
Hey good souls should be with good souls And bad smoke should drift away Yeah good souls should live with good souls And bad folk should make the break
When you find my closet’s empty hangers You’ll know that I cracked and abandoned. Hey . . .
Poker Face
Seeing as light is fading from the centre of your eyes And the blog that I been posting Don’t change your face design I find I got no knowledge of the ways inside your mind Any feelings you have gathered are hidden by disguise
How will I know you How do I get there What will I feel inside Will I be nowhere I’ve never seen or felt some kind of sign But I’m wishin’ for that magic kind of ride How will I know you How do I get there What will I feel inside Will you be elsewhere I’m seeing but I may as well be blind Your poker face is killing me inside
I’m so ever hopeful I got sensors in my teeth If you favour me with meeting eyes I’m flushing red as beet And dissecting every phrase of yours and liberating nothing I got to get to you or else I’ll shrink away to stuffing
Scorched Earth
I know how to blacken out the sun I can make the air weigh heavy My heartbeat smashes like a drum You’ve had to learn to be ready
I’m forever not one to die wondering Gonna let you know when I see you bad Cause my spirit does shudder and drain away Just you having fun can make me crack
I nail you to a cross on fire Blame you but it’s me who’s the liar How long ‘til I put this scorched earth right
I put it on you you’re a sinner But that’s a lie - a fabrication My hang ups squirm inside a vice What’s going to be my salvation?
Gotta face up to my growing up A family life in a hideaway I’s a little guy staring up at a roof How come I never got to laugh and play
Yes I nail you to a cross on fire Blame you but it’s me who’s the liar How long ‘til I put this scorched earth right
I got to lay it all out – got to apologise – love you – need you
ABOUT YOU BIG BIRD
There’s a smoky trail across the sky Behind you big bird as you fly I’m running waving both hands free But my mommas come to capture me
My mom she’s got this thing you see About you bird we don’t agree She don’t like your fiery tail She’s gonna capture me and hide away
Big bird flying across the sky I don’t know you or your reasons why Big bird do you come to play Mommas got bad things to say About you Big Bird
We been here a thousand years Momma says that you don’t care Your fireworks that light the streets Make houses fall to dust and heat
The baker man went yesterday A puff of smoke, an empty tray I kind of liked your flashing bomb But Momma ranted all night long
Loose Togetherness
It don’t matter even if we fight Roll away and kick Talking ‘bout a split Tuggin’ at the duvet through the night Leave you in the cold Call you Mrs Troll Nothin’ like that can make a dent In this faithful heart Never not once been wavering I’m so much in love You can spend the night away and I’ll not fall apart Our loose togetherness is what we want And I can take a chill pill n go AWOL and all that stuff Our loose togetherness is oh so strong
Think about you lots when you’re away Fall into a dream Holdin’ you to me Messaging to you my gorgeous babe What is that you wear Bet you make them stare And I can’t wait for your taxi lights Stoppin’ right outside I’m runnin’ on down those steps to kiss Mmmmm those thirsty eyes
Nice nice nice that you got away But I’m so glad we’re together Nice nice nice that you got away - But I’m so glad we’re together
Think about me differently
Yeah I know I been a hurricane Tearing at your fabric – you had to hold on tight But now there’s better weather Gonna make my momma proud And God knows that I love you Gonna anchor me to the ground Yeah think about me differently Wellin’ up in generosity Mmmm mm think about me differently Cause I love you girl and I love my family
Wanna work with my job so hard Build us a foundation – mmm roots that are oh so strong You will see your momma smile That boy he goes the extra mile And love’s gonna be a happy place Sun gonna set on a sparkling face Yeah think about me differently Wellin’ up in generosity Mmmm mm yeah think about me differently Cause I love you girl and I love my family
Arms Wrapped Around
Often it’s so lonely – even in a pair When darkness strikes and streets are full of fear It’s as though love’s gone to ground And we steel ourselves again To faces set like masks in silent stare
But even though I’m hollow You’ll warm me up inside With your arms wrapped around, With your arms wrapped around
And even though you’re empty I’ll lift you up tonight With my arms wrapped around, With my arms wrapped around
Yes we’re on the streets tonight – marching with a sign Cause love is the very thing we’re living for And when the fight will dissipate The anarchy has fled We’ll crawl between the sheets and bolt the door
Yes even though I’m hollow . . . my arms wrapped around
You’re wrapped around me – I’m so glad you’re here Squeezing me tighter – I’m never gonna you let go
Heart In The Room
Across the room oblivious You dance like when you kiss In that moment impetuous Freeform and meaningless You are in outer space - juiced by rocket fuel An actress on a stage - just for the thrill
And here I am silently craving Behind my eyes I’m going crazy Cause I’m connecting With a runaway downhill train Who don’t know what she does I’m tied to the tracks - depending on you To open your mind - and hear the heart in the room
I know that there’s a part of you That syncs with the whole of me But I need your full attention Give your mind that liberty Cause you might find that you - feel just like I do And all that synchrony - can fly us to the moon
Yes here I am silently craving . . .
Nothing like connection A coupling eye to eye Hearts beating one on one
Only You (Can make up my world)
I got high ideals to follow Have to change the world I pick at bones of society And ring those sacred bells
And you who I met in a twist of fate Are from the other tribe But trying to do right and look the other way It’s like an elbow in the side
Yeah I can’t seem to be Mr anarchy Cause of you mesmerising girl I’m a slap to the great ideology ‘Cause only you make up my world only you - only you – only you – only you Can make up my world
I don’t think about your origins Don’t care if you’re left or right Won’t ask you about democracy Or dissect human rights
I just want to lie all night with you And bathe in desire’s hurting The warmth of the earth is our room As outside streets are flaring
Personal Stuff
You’re a way out there - And I love you as you are You got my attention - You grab at my heart
There’s no doubt - the thoughts you have - will come out You’re a book - laid wide open - to read aloud
Love your personal stuff Let it all out Let me get inside your mind I’m crazy ‘bout what I might find This guy’s madly in love Don’t hide your personal stuff no no
It’s complicated - The friends that you keep Everyone’s a story - And you dive in way too deep
You slide into - peoples’ minds - easily And it’s theatre - close to you - and being me
Love your personal stuff Stand up and shout Let me get inside your mind I’m crazy ‘bout what I might find This guy’s madly in love Don’t hide your personal stuff no no
Who needs a counsellor – we got you – I got you – let it all out
So much sadness for Susa family and friends with losing Marc recently. The photo is Marc performing in a house concert at our place in 2005. Water On Stone has always been a real favorite of Marc's songs and we set about recording it about 10 years ago. Marc being a perfectionist - it look ages just to record his guitar and vocal and I added the 2nd guitar and vocal later. This is much like how we performed it as a duo. Farewell Marc - such a huge personality in our lives.
Catch Up Lady
My catchup lady she’s so good to me She was born to please Like a summer squeeze My catchup lady she just calls it fun She’s a real temptation There’s no obligation
She’s happy in herself she don’t hunt me on her phone I just let her know and she opens up her home It’s fresh mint mmmm and coffee in the pot She’s a black skirt lady cool and boiling hot Yeah she gives little bit of her afternoon to me She’s an Oasis and a kind of mystery Cause she don’t reveal anything of her life As I drop off her step to the dust and the vice
Hey she’s so pretty and she’s older than me The crossing of our paths a kind of symmetry Causes I got a busy life and I’m running for the door But back on the street I’m feeling good and tall It’s that feeling that you get when you’re winning every race While looking all around there’s people in a state And I know that she’s always got time enough for me And it works both ways hey I love her she’s a dream
My catchup lady she’s so good to me – don’t hunt me on her phone My catchup lady she’s so good to me – Got coffee in the pot My catchup lady she’s so good to me - Opens up her home My catchup lady she’s so good to me – She’s and boiling hot
I’ll Want You Later
Seeing change in purple fields Like a snaking new-born creek And all the guys play bubble gum In three four time it’s such a stunt But I’ll want you later (I’ll want you, I’ll want you) Yes I’ll want you later (I’ll want you, I’ll want you) And as we lurch from slope to flat I know you’re more than just a bag Right now it’s just conceptualize But wait until you see my eyes Cause I’ll want you later (I’ll want you, I’ll want you) Yes I’ll want you later (I’ll want you, I’ll want you) I’ll want you cause you’re fragrant and I see your curves I’ll want you ‘til the river flows with words to learn And you may lie an empty hollow As the sun returns tomorrow Who can say today what’s kind I’m sure one day you’ll feel so right So I’ll want you later (I’ll want you, I’ll want you) Yes I’ll want you later (I’ll want you, I’ll want you)
Get What You Wish For
I sense from you Just what I been wanting Yeah I been ill from all of my needing Car exhaust and your perfume Spikes this fever itch of anticipation
Cause there’s flame in your softest eyes I think we’re gonna drink from us this time
And I’m here willing and crawling ‘cross the floor I’m grabbing at your shoe cause I’m making sure that you Get what you wish for You get what you wish for Your body speak is running races in my blood I’m hanging from the roof cause I’m making sure that you You get what you wish for You get what you wish for
This taxi cab it crawls You and I in the back Drop down a window and show the world our want and love Exploding Exploding A lovin’ launchpad of oh such power
It’s there in you - Can you taste the heat It’s written on your urgent face
I’m here for U – mmm mmm – Want to see you get – that you get love
Art These Days
I see her close and she does rhyme With everything I have in mind Glory is her curves and lines Euphoric volume drawing sighs
I’m the painter brushes clean Relive her movements when I please When she returns I live the dream That’s art these days That’s art these days (oooooh) That’s art these days That’s art these days (oooooh)
And of course there’s time travel Conjuring up her younger days Though I wasn’t with her then I recreate her frame by frame
Night Table
Pull the summer from the night Let the window float about Light the lamp but not too bright Slip in here without a sound
Love me like a zephyr loves the trees Rustle softly in between the sheets
Lay for me your linen cloth Smooth it out upon the night table Pour for us the sweetest wine Lie yourself on top if you’re able Wanna take exotic you Taste your oregano and basil Gonna find your honey in A loving cup upon the night table
Hear the waves out in the bay Softly rolling to the land Bundle with me in the hay Clutching tight with our two hands
Hold me close so I can drink you in The moon will rise and massage through the room
You’re a field of purple flowers Making dreams like opium I’m an actor in your film Black and white utopian
Kids on Bikes
Hey you don’t live you agonise Sifting the flour looking for lies I know in the high jump I’ll hit the bar Trying too hard not to do you harm (do you harm) You don’t love you analyse I wanna see trust in your eyes
Look out the window and see the fun in the park The twisting and turning of kids flying past Let go the blame in the stories you write Let’s love with the freedom of kids on bikes
Don’t you remember those care free days Kids seeking out the latest speed craze But you’re on the sideline your mind in a funk Questioning me ‘bout the warmth in my blood You don’t love you analyse I Wanna see trust in your eyes
Look out the window and see the fun in the park The twisting and turning of kids flying past Girl let go the blame in the stories you write Let’s love with the freedom of kids on bikes
Life is for living Love is for breathing There’s beauty inside you Send it revealing
Change For
Hey I’m sent so tumbling just the sight of you And underground we’ve only got a time or two I’m watching what you do The windows start to move
Change for another line Change for electric nights Change for start-up hearts Change for floaty love
This rocking carriage‘s sparking on the line And you aware of nothing but your life You’re bag you’re grabbing tight Hiding you inside
Change for another line Change for electric nights Change for start-up hearts Change for floaty love
Those automatic doors They’ll take you in one bite Going to keep you in my sight Cause love is on the line
Play it Live
We’re too long practicing phrasing F#m7 Abm7 Dbm7 Wondering whether we’ll be tight F#m7 Ab7+5 Dbm7 We don’t know if we’ll find a rhythm To get it grooving and make us rhyme
So let’s just do it E Let’s make music A Put it out there E And play tonight A Sing those high notes Ama7 Ab7+5 Up to heaven Dbm7 Gb6 Let’s put it out there F#m7 Play it live – play it live Abm7 Let’s put it out there F#m7 Play it live – play it live Abm7 Let’s put it out there F#m7 Play it live Ab7+5 Dbm7
Can you sing me the opening lines Cause I’ll be there with harmony You be soulful in the right places Don’t you hesitate with me
So let’s just do it . . . . and play it live – play it live (Gb6)
Let’s not leave it to fate D Bm There’s so much beauty in you D Bm Hey release it be insane D Bm Lovin’ energy in bloom D Bm
Swollen Lip
No doubts in mind - you the one for me It’s carved in hot - it’s a raw belief I don’t have to think – it’s autopilot me And you come willin’- for ecstacy You layin’ on top - you crushing me I gotta be the boss - but you’re controlling me
I - gotta be breathing you Squeeze me black and blue I - want your endless kiss - wanna swollen lip
You wrap me in thighs – you gym junkie I drown in y’ sweat – it’s wild and free You look through my eyes – you’re hypnotizing me You a red scream – I’m loving all the pain You biting my lip – your breath is flame I’m on the rocking floor of a rattling runaway train
I - gotta be breathing you Squeeze me black and blue I - want your endless kiss - wanna swollen lip
I’m Mr Suggestible and hey you babe you’re so digestible Can’t stop devouring your taste babe I’m at it and there ain’t going to be no waste I’m lovin’ you face to face For sure we ain’t leaving any intervening space It’s gotta be close close close close close Give me the most most most most most most
Tattoo Tribute
Been a long time since you put that mark on your skin A black n ink gesture faded and oh so thin When you did that thing – my heart was pounding my chest I felt we were forever – I was drunk on a love obsessed
Yes it’s been a long time now and our bond is torn tissue Yes it’s been a long time now Since you showed your tattoo tribute Since you showed your tattoo tribute
Why’d you do that arty thing – don’t make any sense right now Cause you became a blue shadow walking with eyes cast down When you made your mark – I guess it was your stage show You thrilled your friends - so zany whacky and stoned
Now you’re on your phone – and I got the silent scream Those days of the gesture – buried in the grave of dreams
Steamy
In this car in the dark anonymous We like to think we are It’s all talk and philosophies Or is it about beating hearts? It’s a black and white movie Facing each other across the seat divide In a moment coming up - we could make the move When the signs align
And darling don’t drop the windows will you no Let it get steamy – let it get steamy Don’t drop the windows will you no Let it get steamy – let it get steamy
We’re just sitting here in limbo Ah platonic friends But this eating up attraction So bohemian But hey this car seat will drop you know I can lie with you and kiss n talk the night away And inside it’s getting very hot and foggy Window’s steaming up because of love ablaze
And I’ll see you right up close And what matters here the most Is fulfilling what we’re dreaming From ruminating on life We live a moment the most With windows dark and steaming
Sacred Fire
Girl you are a coiled spring and I trigger you easily Cause I’m forever such a roadie And it makes you have doubt in me But what’s an angry flame - don’t it mean that feeling’s on a hi You turn me round Your passion down the phone - stops me in my tracks I’m on a U turn - cause I never can stay away From your heat - scorching me tonight I’m driving down the road to you - into the flames Into your sacred fire
You radiate like a sun and I wanna be closer than close Yeah I can no show for one night The stage where the music would flow Cause your voice on the phone Spikes a thought of skin touching skin
With a bottle of wine I’m coming to be close - to feel you glowin’ I’ve done a U turn - cause I never can stay away From your heat - scorch me tonight I’m driving down the road to you - into the flames Into your sacred fire
Loving eyes and arms and elbows Will hold us in this cradle warm It’s gonna feel icy lonely when I’m back on the road at dawn With a bottle of wine I’m coming to be close - to feel you glowin’
A Woman Loved
Fire all your border guards Open up the windows A warm wind is flowing in A butterfly roams
You work so hard to hide your soul Chalking up some victories Seems it’s all a smokescreen though Clouding loving dreams
You don’t need your old black dress The power isn’t needed You don’t have to wade right in You can leave them bleeding
Cause you can live a life free and random As I come to you with gifts from on high You’ll be wrapped in tight embrace with loving arms You will know you are a woman loved You will know you are a woman loved
A woman needs to know by now She is soft and beautiful Filling someone’s daytime thoughts With music oh so fanciful
You don’t need your old black dress The power isn’t needed You don’t have to wade right in - you can leave them bleeding
Thanks to Jeff Roberts for seeing different possibilities for this song - adding a different rhythm track, keyboard flourishes and a total remix
https://soundcloud.com/jeff_roberts
Watered Down
This time apart I notice your messaging Only seems to be you answering back Nothing from you with spice Everything nice nice nice When I need you to scream
Yeah don’t come back watered down I want the force of you to pin me down I want all of your potency Cause a watered down you I cannot believe
Been diving so deep into the ocean That sticky salt spray burning our eyes Been licking the salt off your skin You feeling me flood right in We burst at the seams
Please don’t come back watered down . . .
Day paralysed clutching my phone Picking out holes in things you don’t say Feeling the tide ebb away I’m living a grey rainy day Down on a knee
Please . . . So . . .
In Black and White
She is charm she is anger She doesn’t seem to notice the shades of grey There will only ever be the right thing to say Oh I’m in trouble cause I’m a bubble flying To burst with a shot in a quick gunfight She can only see in black and white She can only see in black and white
Me I see in many colours A pink and a mauve and a green sunset A tawny sort of brown and a russet gold So I’m a double crossing violet To burn with a torch in a fire fight She can only see in black and white She can only see in black and white
Aching life yes I need her It’s written on my brain and the skin around the heart I can’t shake off this damning past So I’m a walking talking target To shoot in the blood with a poison dart She can only see in black and white She can only see in black and white She can only see in black and white She can only see in black and white
LOVE ISN’T DUMB
I been unfolding the map too many times G C D The way to your heart it’s elusive, there ain’t many signs You’re like a mirage you flicker and then you go hide Am F C I’m left to suck up the pain right through the night Am F D D7
Love isn’t dumb it’s a sting C It’s a spin off the road to a ditch G It’s a car driving by and leaving you there Bm D To the sun that burns a hole in your head Am C
If I could just bury your image and walk proud away Lay a false trail and go play you at your own game But no I’m the pilgrim bent down kissing your feet Wanting to call out your name to the whole of the street
Yeah all of the day you’re a stake in my brain F And I’m wanting your scent in a basic way Am Do I have to break like a rolling car G Soaking down pain in gasoline balm Bm D
Love isn’t dumb it’s a sting (single strum) It’s a spin off the road to a ditch It’s a car driving by and leaving you there To the sun that burns a hole in your head
Love isn’t dumb it’s a sting It’s a spin off the road to a ditch It’s a car driving by and leaving you there To the sun that burns a hole in your head
A&R company Taxi is one of the hardest to crack so to have this song accepted and forwarded to the music director of a new TV series in the US was a good moment.
Where Cigarettes Fall
You wanted a rendezvous For the consignment I said I’d let you see We gotta be murmuring Behind the hands – the voice of righteous felony So I said I’d meet you – and I did – in the dark In the place – where cigarettes fall Where the gutter’s strewn with stems n ash And the talk is all just threats n trash Out the back door steamy kitchen blue hotel Where cigarettes fall
Then there’s your girl you see Pretty one - she on the take in multiple ways She’s going to purgatory You’d have to think cause she’s there right in my face Yeah I’d often meet her – as one does – in the dark In the place – where cigarettes fall Where the touch is imperceptible And kiss n talk a silent thrill Out the back door steamy kitchen Blue hotel Where cigarettes fall
Won’t be long before I cut and run To where the road meets the sky and the world curves down Mr Unsavory - you got burned But as they say - the wheel comes round And she’s beside me – in the car – cause she hungered For me – where cigarettes fall Where the gutter’s . . .
alt-country
Wrote this, Hamish changed a word for a 1/3 and then sang it yahoo.
Working Shoes
I like it that you toil away D Use your hands to scrub all day C You’re not afraid to lift a load You don’t give up and hit the road (hit the road hit the road) While I’ve been laying out in the warming sun C9b7 Fma7 Soaking it all up and getting nothing done I gotta lift my game to get your heart Bm7 E
And put my working shoes on A And go head out to the vine Dbm Sweat it out and take me to the wire F#m D I’ll put my working shoes on A Gonna give up all my time Dbm And lay it out n catch your eye Bm D
Girl I see you’re organized You don’t run out of your supplies A South bound train with a belly laugh Nothing gonna stop your river raft (river raft river raft) So I’ll be your stoker or your anchor man Pullin’ on my shoes gonna lend a hand I gotta lift my game to reach your heart
I’ll put my working shoes on . . . Put my working shoes on . . .
Unbundle You
You’re all bound up Like a mummy in a tomb A coat of many layers Does anyone get you But you’re hot and I want ya Get you into bed Lay you in my arms And get inside your head
You’re wired to max and you’re hard to penetrate You never lie down and you gotta dominate Wanna unbundle you Then we can love a night away Then we can love a night away
All your energy Going round circuits Making up problems That really don’t exist You gotta take a chill pill Lie around with me I’ll loosen up your layers And I’ll set you free
You’re spaghetti junction – but hey you gotta function Gonna peel u like an onion – mmm I really need your lovin’
Nothing But Silence
Need you from that first sight moment I lay it on you a reckless showman I carry you everywhere It really does hurt to care I tell you that you shine so bright And me I won’t sleep tonight I’m hungry for things you’d say But there’s nothing, nothing, nothing nothing but silence
I sense you don’t trust my ramblings You think I’m hooked on craven play things You don’t get the first sight thing That love was born - a wave came in I tell you that you shine so bright And me I won’t sleep tonight I’m hungry for things you’d say But there’s nothing, nothing, nothing nothing but silence
Nothing but silence Nothing but silence Nothing but silence
I’m going to make you see I’m true You’re like a seed it grew and grew I can wait for time to pass Of what you think I’ll never ask I tell you that you shine so bright And me I won’t sleep tonight . . . . . . Nothing but silence
Lonely Road
Oh yes I’m driving down this lonely lonely road Yeah and it’s bustling with everyone you’d know Out on the weekend With street lights a fiery glow And the night a promised land For pilgrims in party hats
Oh yes I’m driving down this lonely lonely road I know that you’re out there talking the talk I know Falling down laughing While your friends go count out the beat To the freedom of the street While I’m a guy you used to know
I feel like an alien from yesterday Looking through the glass as the people play Craving for your scent somewhere in the night Somewhere in the night
Why don’t you call me I’ve left you agony on your phone Yeah my heart has been ripped from its home Oh Baby come back to me
Police On You
A heart breaker smile And rollin’ with your eyes I’m faking Mr Casual but choking as you play your game You who loves to talk You really are a wall
Gonna put Police on you Give me a clue About who you are The one I love They’ll hold you down Your hands be bound With Police on you I’ll get the truth They’re armed to starve Dissect your heart And interrogate I just can’t wait Get the Police on you Police on you
Hey you make a play - Innuendo too But then you pull away and you are righteous lady Like it’s wrong for you And your book of truth
Aching down that living highway seeing a jet stream and hoping for release Give me something - a minor victory Give me a little hope – that we gonna do it – Go ahead and prove it
Don’t You Turn Away
Our skins radiate But I’m the only one who’s feeling it You’re looking back bemused Like who’s does this guy think he is But you stay along for the ride Like you’re gonna throw and play me on a line But when it comes time to part You don’t give a thing just a half smile Hey don’t you turn away Hang on hang on – give me just a look Yeah don’t you turn away Hang on hang on – stay with me and talk - don’t you turn away
You got your life on track You don’t need to cross this field of mines Your business is your passion If I can drive your numbers you’ll give me the time And you’re reading all my signs Like bill boards flashing you know they’re there I’m a prisoner in the spot light All you got for me is a knowing stare
Hang on hang on stay with me and talk Hang on hang on don’t you turn and walk
Listen to our rhythm Don’t you want to chase that ecstasy We can light fire with grace We can find a book that makes you believe Cause I’m screaming under this skin I need something for this suffering Light me up with your eyes Show me that your heart might let me in
Something Good in Me
Night it seeps in through the cracks Of this highway byway wooden shack No one’s made this home for years These walls have dried a 1000 tears
We stopped in here just me n her Running from the debt and failure
Well I lie here almost gratefully This dirt floor is my sanctuary My lady’s gonna stay with me Does she see somethin’ I don’t see? Does she see somethin’ good in me?
Was flying high not long ago A peacock in a field I’d sown But the gambler it took hold of me The season’s change I didn’t see
Her face went thin like a witch’s broom As I told the truth ‘bout wrack and ruin
Well I lie I here almost gratefully . . .
She’s combing dust right outta her hair Sayin’ our field’s now embers n sparks But she knows I meant the best for us Cause me I bear a generous heart
3pm
I’m in and out of focus I’m a harbor light Sweeping through fog trying to make out shapes And the dust particles like floaters in my eyes Shimmer and jerk with the head that aches
Oh how they keep it going those workaday people When the afternoon drags and they’re death on ice But me I’m of the night like a church has a steeple I’m a doll connoisseur but my heads getting screwed up in a vice Trying to focus on what I did say When I’s pouring out my soul last night I probably said that I’d meet you today But my bodies inert and it’s 3pm
And your image in my mind no it ain’t quite the same Now I’m leached of the drug and my hormone’s low And I guess you’ll get the vibe of a back up train If I gave you my number and you ring my phone
Chorus
You probably think that I was using you But swinging on highs is different from blues
Chorus
Electric Blood
Not sleeping for yearning nor zoning away I’m living for contact but faking OK You’re not the type to be tied to a post It’s freedom to shine that you love the most The fire in my blood it’s burning my face I want you up close so close I can taste
But you think you need a hike today A day off up above the haze You got a good friend who stars in boots I guess you both are in cahoots So I’ll slave away to keep my heart at bay It’s pumpin’ electric blood
When you come over you laugh and you punch You say how’s it going like you really are chuffed You want us go and join up with the crowd No time to wait hey let’s get there right now But the fire in my blood it’s burning my face I want you up close so close I can taste
You got them eating out of your hand Hungry seagulls on the sand You’re on your pill box making a speech They fall down laughing at your feet So I’ll slave away to keep my heart at bay It’s pumpin’ electric blood
Electric blood it burns - never gonna get to rest Can’t put it into words - can’t get it off my chest Won’t let you know - how low I go Waiting here in the wings - livin’ with electric blood Yes you think . . . .
Never happened
You took me high up With your magic carpet of words Into the skyways Floating with clouds and birds And here we are meeting today and you’re gone - gone into hiding While I got me - a simmering fire – a fire - that I’m fighting
As if it never happened - you wave away the night And the hush of our loving caress It’s as if it never happened - the locking on of eyes and the burning hole in the chest That loving of yours never happened That loving of mine never happened It’s as if the night - it never happened It’s as if the night - it never happened to you
What’s your hand break It’s like your car’s gone into reverse You were a preacher Now your blessing‘s become a curse What was it ‘bout the night – you were waves upon the sea Oh so free – free with abandon Now here we are today and the tide has gone out And I’m - I am so stranded
As if it never happened . . .
Have you got demons from your past Unlocked by the cold light of day Please let me break through your wall Please fall into my arms and sway
As if it never happened . . .
Love Incubating
Hey girl - you’re the middle of night A fever in veins - itching to fight For every inch of dream time I’m infected and it’s divine Yeah I got love here in waiting I’m a standing ovation For the girl in the spot light In the beam of my eyes
Your smile makes me fall Your walk makes me crawl Your scent takes me out You kiss and I drown I got love compromising me - love mesmerizing me I got love incubating
You’re one - to take a little time You need to be sure - we can make rhymes While I’m a scene writer And you’re my only story line Yeah I got love here in waiting Need your love suffocation Want your hair on my pillow And your voice like a cello
Love incubating needs love liberation Want you with me every day Wrap me so warm and we can give birth To love like a free tidal wave
New acoustic version of this song that attracted the attention of an RnB producer a couple of years ago but then silence . . . Excuse the street language
Mad Idea
I hadn’t seen you since you left the State But I saw your name on another’s page And curiosity got the better of me
Cause you were in my mind - celebrity Silky and assured - your man at your feet But I heard he cut the scene
It seems a mad idea that I’m the one who gets to be Flying to you I feel like a crazy jetting through clouds Eight miles up here in the air Carrying it out this mad idea
It wasn’t easy making that e-comment But when I saw you write your laugh out loud I guessed you’d opened up since he sent you down
And maybe you’re acting in desperation Losing your air of elevation With your wounds so raw
Here I am on this turnaround To grab a few minutes cause I’m desperate to know you Gotta return to get my lady from work When she looks me in the eye will she see right through
Electric Wire Night
Commuter train night ride You lighting that tin can rattlin’ space I’m a herd of eyes gone wild Eating up lines that make your face And passengers bored or kind Don’t go pickin’ it that I’m out of my mind Cause yearning for satisfaction How am I gonna get your lovin’ traction It’s electric wire night Wheels are grating and sparks are flying And I’m craving for you I’m willin’ to be the cut down dude It’s electric wire night oh yeah
Then I’m trailing you through the square With billboards flashing in juxtaposition Flushin’ my veins with verve And I’m on your case with a proposition As a copter cuts the sky It’s red lights flashing in heart beat time And your slappin’ me for being bold as brass Then your laughin’ as you’re gonna open your heart It’s electric wire night . . . oh yeah
And I’m buzzing and loving those taxi fumes Exulting to the sirens and throbbing queues We’re heading to the underground music street I’m gonna feel you warm and the pulsing beat
It’s electric wire night . . .
Demo alt-rock song-write - bit of Hozier/Seattle guitar, west-coast?
Cruising Club
You’re everybody’s friend - you laugh the night away You rip and then you ‘re at the next fun thing Your face it’s warm and fresh - like the wind across the bay Everything you do becomes a win
And sometimes your smile makes me feel special But I suppose everyone feels that way
Hey girl won’t you come and swim in big waves Throw yourself in deep right off the chart Commit to something raw Live for lovin’ power Leave the comfort of your cruising club
Cruising it’s so easy - it’s sharing with your friends No one has a rope to rein you in And when you’re nature tripping or out of it sublime Everyone just let’s you do your thing
But think about the caring you’d see in someone’s eyes If you connected deep without disguise
Come and feel the sharing Ride a wave of lovin’ Ride me through the troughs and the highs
POWDER DRY
I’m ready to race a horse at the gates Guts in a twist I’m a coiled spring She’s with the guys a beauty in tow Looking austere like the wife of a king And she must be getting the vibe Sparks must be kissing the front of her eyes It’s electric wire night I’m a vapor trail in cringing skies
I’m a danger a loaded gun My heart it yearns but she don’t buy In my head I’m shoutin’ out Hey don’t keep your powder dry
There’s no breathing wet and saucy Just her lips slightly parted Purring out affirmations To her friends who keep her guarded Walking into the late late show Juggling for best position But guys hang around like body guards It’s war and its attrition
I’m getting up close Got something to say Heart’s tapping flames There’s a smile on my face Saying can we just embrace – and get something started Saying let’s just embrace – get something started
Different to Me
You smell of sea I gasoline You gotta clean I’m hunting for dreams I’m singin’ with a gat ‘bout the river that flowed You’re worrying ‘bout Thursday’s busy road
You’re a sweet pear Love your salty skin The curl in your hair Makes my body sing I seek the stars I’m digging for deep You’re behind walls You’re clearing the weeds You’re different to me
You want to drive Cause you look to see While I’ll miss a bend My head full of dreams I got ego and we fight for the wheel But you are police so I’m gonna yield
Those veins in your arms of olive skin Are DNA that lock me in I can’t swallow acid and burn it out Your love‘s like a virus I’m never without
COUNTER CULTURE
When you fling your head it’s like a star burst rainbow shower Can’t take my eyes off you - you got planet pulling power And you speak in folky tones of African villagers Got me thinkin’ of myself as wanton and a pillager
Hooked like a big cat watching prey move I’m burning in the mouth with the way that you groove Yeah I wanna get with you And your counter culture yeah your counter culture I’ll do anything for you And your counter culture and your counter culture
Everything is snaky rhythm in behind the wooden doors We’re clawing at the bed sheets - riding on the woven floors I gotta integrate and meet your group of love and hate You’re idealistic in your revolution suits of fate
I’m stripping off my silver suit and making out I give a hoot About a new and different way of camouflage and verbal spray With olive skin across your mound I’m desperate for your underground Nothing gonna dent my drive You cut my heart up with a knife
Just Stories
You’re talking about those times we had Like they were Shangri La days that you adored Like the meaning of life was so close But you’re just trying to soothe my wounds so raw
There were times when our blood was running hot Locked on eyes staring at the same dreams Oh yeah hey - you can talk it up - but they’re just stories now Yeah those snap-shots of happy faces - they’re just stories now You and me bathing under stars - they’re just stories now.
Yeah I meet you in the street and you smile You ask me how I’m doing like no wounds disfigure You’ve new guys enhancing life’s rich palette You’ve needed that so you pulled the trigger
Your hands smooth your pleated skirt Bet you ‘ve an engagement you’re rushing to I guess he’s heard about the good times we had And that I wasn’t quite right for you
Political - Song writing submission to Broadjam
A sultry night and a sulky me I’m layin ’here all over you Waitin’ for that moment of serenity But the TV’s on and it’s grabbed your ears You’re up on elbow a teacher’s glare Angered by gratuitous policy
So I say I say I say hey best you don’t get political I say I say I say hey you make yourself too miserable I say I say I say hey my want for you is critical So I say hey for us tonight best you don’t get political
Your skin it’s warm and softly lit Your lips are dark and ripe to kiss I’m holding in this tiger in my boney cage But no oh no you’re standing up Your fist is in the TV’s face Hey honey tart I’ve lost out to your rage
Your face is pregnant like you’re right And all those mothers they all wrong And why ain’t I up kickin in the TV screen Your pullin me up by my arm I say come on gal you gotta be calm I’m bustin’ just to love you hey that’s my dream
You’re carin’ ‘bout this country here so much But I’m here hey I’m pleadin’ for your touch
Café Ritual
You’re a nugget drilled into my head It’s morning and your street is sweet gasoline You stop and you’re fixing up your hair In the window of the café where you always used to preen Then the sound of scraping chairs Your voice is golden And your lapping up your friends
And the coffees gotten hold of the swirling of the air You’re on the ceiling Your coffee creaming While I work silently in this long distance nowhere Trapped inside my head With your café ritual With your café ritual With your café ritual
We said it’s too far apart to carry on What you were to me was left up to chance And the coffee grind’s enticing to the street To anyone who might just take your heart You’re warm inside the thick sweet aroma And I’m the one that you must get over
My brother was the one to let me know The barista came and made himself known The café was your ebb and your flow Now you got a place you call home
AIRCON
Yellow haze and white noise in here - things are getting stale When you speak you pin me to the wall with a nail I’m feeling for your touch-screen but you’re switched off again Your words are bang and bump and blame like a psycho-train
So turn on your air-con air-con flush the blame away Take off your covering and let’s go press and play Activate start your air-con take a few big breaths There’s ugliness inside your mind - put it to the death
Since I been making something of my ordinary life You been limping badly like you went under the knife But what is operating is your wayward jealousy Cancel your inertia and stop hitting me so cheap
So turn on your air-con air-con flush the blame away Take off your covering and let’s go press and play Activate start your air-con take a few big breaths There’s ugliness inside your mind - put it to the death
Back me up – don’t put me down Want you babe – but not your frown Let’s go out – let’s go live life We can laugh – if we live it right
FEELING ALMOST NOTHING
Feeling almost nothing pumping gas Sweet vapor giving me something back Heading for that town at Big Lake Specks of dust and cattle in my wake I’ll be there too late to drink That’s OK I need to think How I’m gonna get my mind Feeling almost nothing all the time
Water tower’s pass like sailing ships My cab it rattles loud in starts and fits Like nitrous through a valve it’s therapy Wash away that taunting imagery I see her throat her collar bone Her lips are where I call home I seek to have this heart of mine Feeling almost nothing all the time
It’s dark enough to see the Neon sign Motel it says in red fluorescent lines I wonder where she lays her pretty head Who’s she got there laying in her bed That restless waif discarding me Opening up and laughing free Me I’ve got no hope to die Feeling almost nothing all the time
BLACK LINE
Bending like a tree in the wind Or your waiter at a the bar I reveal my inner working Like my like brain’s inside a jar Everything I think is good I see you as a shining star
But a black line – you’ve drawn across the floor A black line – I can’t feel the love no more A black line – up the wall and across your face A black line – got me crawling for your grace
You’re the painter of the line Your eyes are a steely blue Ever since you met that dude Who’s honing in on you What’s he got that I ain’t got A butt with a rose tattoo? - yes a black line . . .
You’re the modern artist keep it simple is your law Like you molding up a set of bricks and hello here’s a wall You ain’t Mrs Subtlety - there’s cement in your jaw
And I the Mr vulnerable stopped naked at the line - as though there’s zapping power in that paint and I’ll be toast for sure this time - but you you look so sharp and hot I wanna reach out and touch your thigh - and movin’ up just with my eyes to watch your face for any sign But it’s still there a black line …
BAD GUY LAUGHING
I’m a good guy wailing – howling at the moon From a high rise balcony The city’s at my feet – but my heart’s gone crushed From a cruel felony
Cause you girl – you been – bottom fed lies That I’m the cheating kind By a former friend of mine – he’s soaking in your bath Drinking up your wine
Yeah you got to disregard everything he says He’s sitting at your table He’s a bad guy laughing He lies sure he does and he’s borderline insane I’m misery walkin’ - and he’s a bad guy laughing Bad guy laughing - at your table Misery walking – bad guy laughing
He and I are punters – Wall St tyros - and he’s been jealous Cause I cracked the chart – and got you on my hip And now he’s a menace Cause of everything we sought – there’s only one of you Girl you’re outrageous To lacerate my heart – he had to get to you – his story contagious
Yeah girl you are life’s meaning All this capital and stuff is nothing Got to show you that through his scheming He’s become a bad guy laughing
All The Headlights
You yes you’re living in a cage You’re bouncing off the bars But it’s my ribs and tissue that’s inflammed Yes it’s I who’s watching for your car My roots are deep here in the west Invested here I have to stay But you got gypsy in your blood Your fiddles playing the sounds of Spain And so I’m watching yes I’m watching All the headlights - all the headlights Oh I’m watching yes I’m watching All the headlights - all the headlights Coming up over the hill - hoping that one of them is you
Though you’ve had a travelling circus life You been courting stability And I’ve been prostrate at your feet I been licking your toes to sleep And though you bathe in pleasures warm I sense our wine is running dry I know as you commute each morn You’re not the type to say goodbye And so I’m watching . . . you
This evening’s sky is coal dust cloud You’re late and I’m a clairvoyant This house empty of all sound This house is empty This house is empty
SPICES
Like I’m browsing near a supermarket stand The air is thick and loaded close at hand We’re dancing in a spin We’re class mates at a gym My hormone’s are in full flow I gonna say hey go Go on with what your thoughts are dreaming You’re cooking a dish - your sweat is streaming Your ovens on max and it’s turbo hot And I’m getting sucked in by the plot And I’m lovin’ your spices - lovin’ your spice Lovin’ your spices – lovin’ your spiciness
Like I’m hanging out near an Indian freak out show You’re lighting up fires and I’m breathing in the smoke You lead me to the trenches People lie out on benches Wanna to be close and still Cause I got a space to fill Yeah I want to get to taste your cooking show Take it on the tongue and feel it glow Cause when you’re throwin’ it in the grind Your taste I want right down inside Cause I’m lovin’ your spices – lovin’ your spices Lovin’ your spices – lovin your spiciness
Your party’s come to me A fragrant tidal wave You danced me to this corner And I wanna misbehave I just want to taste your cooking show . . .
CULT FOLLOWING
There’s not a crowd of pilgrims at your Mecca But that don’t make you worse or even better You don’t need the adulation of all man All you need is just a dedicated fan
And here I am I’m dressed like you I accent words the way you do You got yourself a one person cult following
If I saw you praying at the cross I’d be a disciple in a frock I’d believe in everything you believe in I’d be singing the same song that you’re singing
Chorus And my face it’s set like yours I listen to sounds you that adore You got yourself a one person cult following
I could be delusional But I sense something spiritual Would come out of our loving ritual If you became like me devotional Yes we could have a love vibrational
TOO LOADED
I’m storming out and scuffing along the road Had to get right outside of her zone Smelling gasoline and tar Stumbling through the rent a car yard
And I’m thinking about the things she said Lying sprawled across her bed The empty bottles testament To problems we got in our heads
It’s got too loaded (electric current in the air) Yeah it’s got to loaded (All this pressure hard to bear)
Cause when she said let’s live together Hesitating was bad weather With her eyes flashing lightning strikes I felt the need to get right outta sight
Cause easy come and easy go That’s the only way I know And though she’s gotten in my head The best one ever in my bed
It’s got to loaded . . . Commitment don’t come easy to this guy Something ‘bout it makes me wanna fly
But wish there was a better way Ain’t so nice to make her pay If I’s gonna settle down She’s the one I’d want around
But It’s got too loaded (electric current in the air) Yeah it’s got to loaded (All this pressure hard to bear) It’s way too loaded (electric current in the air) Yeah it’s got to loaded (All this pressure hard to bear)
PUPPET MASTER
Although you’re his in the story book Your face is pregnant with that look When you walk your hips they sway I catch a breath when I look your way Bet you wish you are one of us But the big dog guy demands your trust He’s the puppet master who makes you stay He pulls your strings and he has his say He makes you think there’s no other way Will you ever escape the gloves of the puppet master
You’re drinking out of golden taps That’s his addiction and yours perhaps But when it comes to basic needs I think you blank hand that feeds Bet you spy from the upper floor Hear the laughter and mouthy talk But the puppet master makes you stay He pulls your strings and he has his say He makes you think there’s no other way Will you ever escape the gloves of the puppet master
His life is his work and we work for him I know But your face it aches And your eyes are screaming let’s go
I think you’ll snap one summer night His silky white gloves filling you with spite And I’ll be sweating in a car outside Motor running and hoping to fly And down the road kissing with our eyes You’ll tell me that you realize
It’s the puppet master who makes you stay He pulls your strings and he has his say He makes you think there’s no other way But tonight we’re cutting the strings of the puppet master
Rip Off the Scab
I‘ve told you it’s you who I‘ll love forever And sometimes you say you know But then you’re ashen faced Your eyes go black and your lips they curl And I know that it’s then you’re visualizing The day she destroyed your world
And you rip off the scab And you lay it all open And your bloods pouring out like a river Yeah you rip off the scab And you scream at the night And my body it squirms and I shiver
Yes there in her face resignation Clothes strewn across the floor The rock of your life stuffing her case Cutting you raw And though she writes now for resurrection For you sorry isn’t enough
You think that love should obey all the rules And those who go break them Are weak and they’re fools Yes when I’m digging deep out under the stars I know you’ll never take to a brand new start
DREAM DESTINATION
Dudes are asking where to go If you gotta choice to go Where to go where to go Somewhere funky with ya beau
Oh Honey honey sumptious bunny What is your dream destination? Where in the world you wanna go? We’ll I’ll tell you babe just what I know My dream destination it’s you right here My dream destination it’s you – anywhere
Some are junkies for the city London Paris they’re not picky I say nah I’m gonna park it In a wasteland like the arctic
A mate he say oh come on please It’s Amsterdam and find the sleaze Not for him that lovin armpit He wanna have a lovin junket
Me I wanna go dig deep Feel it wet and feel the heat Be taken on a dreamy ride I don’t care where we reside
MODERN SLAVERY
Don’t worry about a door-mat I’m lying here wait and see Want you to walk in all over me Want to feel your heel and toes Dbm The weight of you all on me Taking all your weight That will be ecstasy
That’s modern That’s modern slavery Your wave of existence Carries me I’ll breathe your Breath for you That’s how much you mean you see
I want to feel your flowing hair brushing by Across my face Leaving me a trailing scent Just a trace I’m going to pour the wine Just one glass for us to make you see I want to drink you right down here inside of me
That’s modern . . .
Yes I’m a slave to your body hey doll Your body speaks and I lose control I hang on to words from your speaking tongue Your words caress like a rising sun
That’s modern That’s modern slavery Your wave of existence Carries me I’ll breathe your Breath for you Your breaths kissing inside of me
That’s modern . . .
SURPRISINGLY DUMB
I’m getting’ a bit of lip oh yeah From dudes in the authority Cause they thinka me intelligent And marry it up with my grades you see But I’m bunkin outa class and I’m goin chasin scent So my logic seems to them kinda bent (kinda bent)
Some professor go sayin’ I’m surprisingly dumb Surprisingly Dumb dumb dumb dumb dumb (you suck) Surprisingly dumb He better than that they say Dumb dumb dumb dumb dumb Suprisingly dumb (hey wait a minute yeah) Yeah I kinda like studying studying studying Newtonian physics But not enough to give up to give to give up On something exquisite (she thermodynamic)
‘Cause me I’m a rabid hound Who’s driven merely by instinct Yeah Einstein ain’t the one Getting thought about when I think Yeah I ain’t dreaming ‘bout no career (I’m too crazy) It’s my scorin’ that I’m giving all my care
Even my friends go sayin’ . . .
Yeah stick to ya boring monotonous (3) studious ways But me I’m married I’m married I’m married To pussy pussy all day
Surprisingly dumb (professor say) Dumb dumb dumb dumb dumb Surprisingly dumb (surprisingly) Dumb dumb dumb dumb dumb Surprisingly dumb (hey I’m the smart one) Dumb dumb dumb dumb dumb Suprisingly dumb