Yes, FINALLY. Sorry for the delay guys.

from Love Don’t Make You Juliet
(Close to Dark lyrics: scroll to the bottom!)

Night Singing Bird

Distant chatter of the TV,
muted voices in the hall.
All the women in the kitchen,
sneaking smokes and playing cards.

It drift up to the ceiling,
out the window, through the door
to where she sit, just where you left her,
waiting to hear you call.

Take her home, don’t make her wait.
‘Cause there she’ll sit with no complaint.
Take her home, break the cycle
for your nightsinging bird,
the one thing you did right.

Clash of colors in the window,
the noise of strangers in the yard.
Somebody turns the radio up so loud
the walls begin to throb.
It drift out into the nighttime,
where she lay under the start.
And now the world is turning faster,
her mouth begins to form the words.

Take her home, don’t make her wait.
Keep her close, keep her safe.
Take her home, break the cycle
for your nightsinging bird
the one thing you did right.

Our fingers claw the air,
drive our feet into the ground,
shake the water off our backs,
dream of burning down.
I want to write some history
that ain’t just the time before.
That ain’t that old refrain,
that ain’t that same old war.

 
Ain’t nothing left now but the leaving.
The air is still and soft,
except for the sounds of nightbirds singing
songs they thought they had forgotten.

Take her home, don’t make her wait.
Keep her close, keep her safe.
Take her home, gather her up
it’s been a long day
for your nightsinging bird.

***********************

When You Wake Up

Where you go, I’m gonna find you.
Where you go, I’m gonna find you.
No matter how far you run.
You gonna stand before me and explain the things you done.
If that doubt come on you in the middle of the night,
when you wake up,
it will be me by your side.

When I call, you gonna hear me.
When I call, you gonna hear me.
No matter how hard you shout.
No matter the din you try to raise to drown me out.
If that doubt come on you,
that prickling of fear,
it’s cuz when you wake up,
it will be my voice ringing in your ear.

When I come, you gonna hear me.
When I come, you gonna hear me.
No matter how far your burrow down.
No matter how blind you go from creeping underground.
If that doubt come on you in the middle of the night,
when you wake up,
it will be me
who opens your eyes.

Me, and an army by my side.
***********************

Livewire

I know you got money,
I know you got friends,
I know you got habits
I know you ain’t got much dignity left.
You ain’t no marionette,
noboby jerking your strings,
ain’t no divine flick of the wrist that leaves you
twist and twitching.

I can’t watch,
I don’t want no front row seat
to your burning down.
Man meets ground.

You’re breaking up like a long distance transmission,
you got to speak up,
you got to articulate cleanly.
All I’m getting is some misplaced electricity,
baby, you’re a livewire,
some static on the phone.

I know you think you got hoodwinked.
I know you think you got played,
you say your eyes never left the lady
but you come home broke just the same.
This ain’t no confidence game,
nobody tricking no one.
If you don’t want to be a sucker,
just stop acting like one.

I can’t watch,
I don’t want no front row seat
to your burning down.
Man meets ground.

You’re breaking up like a long distance transmission,
you got to speak up,
you got to articulate cleanly.
All I’m getting is some misplaced electricity,
baby, you’re a livewire,
some static on the phone.

I know you think you were cautious,
oh, well you shoulda been.
I think you got taken for a ride before you knew
whose car you were in.
You wanted a little tingle, baby,
and that’s what you got.
So now: no white knuckles on the dashboard,
no asking to stop.

I can’t watch,
I don’t want no front row seat
to your burning down.
Man meets ground.

You’re breaking up like a long distance transmission,
you got to speak up,
you got to articulate cleanly.
All I’m getting is some misplaced electricity,
baby, you’re a livewire,
some static on the phone.

***********************

Animal

My voice could thicken with desire,
the eyes to catch, and then could lower.
The muscles loosen in my legs,
the breath could come in drips and dregs.
My chest could ache, my heart could hurl
itself against my ribs, a pearl
could lodge inside my throat,

No air,
No thought,
No dulcet notes.

No new refrain,
oh, I let those senses dull.
No modern worries,
to cares to tug, no strings to pull.
Cuz I just wanna be
I want to be the animal.

I only want the horn to blow,
clean and crystalline,
I want to feel that fear well up,
I want to know it’s hunting time.

Then there’s that bullet in my back,
so I won’t run too far, too fast,
I’

m gonna be part of the plan.
I want to be the thing you catch,
And when the meal is done,
I’m gonna be them picked clean bones.
I don’t wanna be your lover, don’t wanna be your pet,
your wife, your last regret,
I just want to feel it in my skull
I want to be the animal.

Because the woman makes mistakes,
if she don’t break she’ll surely bend
but the animal just is, just eats and is eaten.
No, I’m done with all the laws,
the pretense of higher thought
I just want my belly full,

I want to be the animal

***********************

I Don’t Love You

I’d pay
a million dollars for you to shut your mouth.
But you can’t, it keeps coming out.
Do you really mean this smug advice for me?
These tissue paper pleasantries.
Still it might be nice
if I had some money.
If that’s what it boils down to . . . .
if that’s what’s in the cards for me, and you.

So get you’re wallet and buy me something pretty to wear.
Make your girl feel like a millionaire.

I’d do anything to make you happy.
I love to make you laugh, and if you could,
you would too.
I just wanted to be a good wife to you.
You say that things will get better
given time, but of the two hearts
laboring in the dark tonight . . .
I know mine.

Let’s just go to bed.
Make your girl feel like she turns you head.

I don’t love you no more (3x)

***********************

Losers and Freaks

I’ll put my money on the losers,
I put my money on the freaks.
I put my money on the boys who wear dresses
and the girls with secrets to keep.

I’ll put my money on the losers,
I’ll put my money on the shunned.
I’ll put my money on the dogs who get beaten
and the Leonidas to come.

Oh, let’s start the parade.
Oh, someone dare to decide
Oh, let the world be remade.
Put your hands on the wheel and drive.

Aren’t we bored of acting foolish.
Aren’t we sick of being sheep.
Aren’t we frightened of the finish,
when the earth will inherit the meek?

When did we give up being angry.
Where did we spend the will to fight.
Are we wet, maybe slick with sweat,
cuz someone hung us out to dry.

Oh, let’s start the parade.
Oh, someone dare to decide
Oh, let the world be remade.
Put your hands on the wheel and drive

I want my babies to know winter.
I want my babies to know peace.
I want to tell them that their mama held her ground
when she was tempted to be weak.

I put my money on the losers,
I put my money on the wronged.
or I’ll put my money on the insects
that will be here after we’re gone.

Chorus

***********************

I Just Want You to Love Me

I’m gonna be rich as a sultan
There won’t be chests enough to fill
I’ll give you everything you ever wanted
And everything you ever will
I just want you to love me
and if all it takes is money,
what I can’t earn I’ll simply steal.

I want to be quick as a scholar
And you’ll be books I’ve rifled through
I’ll learn your chapters and your verses
I’ll recite the histories of you.
Cuz I just want you to love me,
and if all it takes is study,
I’ll come to know you through and through.

I’m gonna be brave as a solider,
while the walls around me burn.
I’m gonna bear you on my standard.
I’m gonna prove to you my valor and my worth.

I just want you to love me
I’m an army now of one,
and I’m waiting for your word.

I just want you to love me,
and if all it takes it blood
I’ll let it pour into the earth.

***********************

Love Don’t Make You Juliet

I came because they said you’re ailing
they said you ain’t doing well at all.
I know exactly how they paint me,
like a deserter to the cause.
There’s no place to rest,
no victories,
when you start to run in the family

Oh no, here we go again
like your mama, like my mama, like their mamas did.
Oh yes, when it comes to it
you got to know baby
that love don’t make you Juliet.

I don’t even think you see me.
Your face turned to the wall.
Oh sweetie where’s the baby,
don’t you hear her calling.
There’s no place to rest,
no victories,
when you start to run in the family

Run, run, run
my heart thundering
run, run, run
legs be quick
Run, run, run
I broke my stride when I learned the race was fixed.

I came because they said you’re ailing
It took a lot for her to call.

My chest ain’t heaving
my breath ain’t labored,
but I still love you all.

Oh no, here we go again
like your mama, like my mama, like they mamas did
Oh yes, when it comes to it
you got to know baby
that love won’t make you Juliet.

No, love won’t make you Juliet.

***********************

Specks of Dust

I’m done with pauses.
I’m done with wait-and-see.
I’m done with wishing we had done things differently.
I’m done with monsters, I’m done with right or wrong.
I’m done feigning surprise when I knew it all along.

But I ain’t done with you.
I ain’t giving up.
Even if in grander schemes, we’re just two specks of dust.
At least we’re something now.
Solid, and alive.
If only for a moment, for the blinking of an eye,
we’re together now, and I’m bringing you home.

I’m done with dreaming.
I’m done with sleepless nights.
I’m done with anger, all the screaming, all the crying.
I’m done with sadness, the everlasting kind
that wears you inside out ’til you’re your very own disguise.

But I ain’t done with you.
I ain’t giving up.
Even if in grander schemes, we’re just two specks of dust.
At least we’re something now.
Solid, and alive.
If only for a moment, for the blinking of an eye,
we’re together now, and I’m bringing you home.

The seas begin to boil, so
I cool them with my breath.
In and out, over and over.
What choice do we have left?

I’m done with falling,
and waiting patiently
for the earth to crack and crumble, or
for someone else to push me.
I think I’ll jump now,
I think I’m poised to leap
a hundred thousand miles and
land lightly on my feet.

But I ain’t done with you.
I ain’t giving up.
Even if in grander schemes, we’re just two specks of dust.
At least we’re something now.
Solid, and alive.
If only for a moment, for the blinking of an eye,
we’re together now, and I’m bringing you home.

Oh yes, I am done with dreaming.
Oh yes, I am done with falling.
I’m bringing you home.

***********************

Don’t Drive Late at Night
(I really love this song, thanks to Chris Bruce who reinvented it in a major key. Plus he’s a very snappy dresser. Your basic renaissance man.)

Don’t drive late at night.
When the world can confound you.
The road is made of ice and diamonds.
They’ll be no friction to slow you down.
(No friction to slow you down)

The moon might be bright.
Warm air might surround you.
But you’ll know it’s cold outside,
because you can feel it through the glass.
(You can feel it through the glass)

Ain’t nobody watching you now,
you could run,
you could run.
No, nobody watching you now.
You could run.

The struck match flares to life.
The light threatens to blind you.
It’ll be like a dream, like flying,
when the wheels leave the ground.

***********************

When the Word Gets Out.
(my favorite song on the record)

It’s just a name, it don’t mean a thing
until you make it so.
And in between, there are the sounds of spring,
and so much you need to know.

When the word gets out,
they will come racing down
to say hello,
hello, hello.

The years they come, some slow, some swift.
Some sweet, and some with bitterness.
You might feel tired then,
you might wonder, when
oh when did it come to this?

When the word gets out,
they will come racing down
to say persist,
persist, persist.

It’s just a name
such a heavy thing.
A burden when you need to be light.
Yes, aren’t you weightless now?
Your eyes are full of clouds,
and your heart is bright blue sky.

When the word gets out,
they will come racing down
with their arms open wide.

When the word gets out,
they will come racing down
to say goodbye,
goodbye, goodbye.

A Few Songs from Close to Dark

Lullabies

Been around the world so many times,
I only recognize it from on high.
I wonder what they hurry for,
because no one sings lullabies no more.

Been around the world so many times,
I’m of the air, I’m of the sky.
I wonder what my feet need the ground for,
because no one sings lullabies no more.

If you were mine,
I’d say,
“Sleep, child.”
If you were mine, I’d say,
“Sleep.”
Been around the world so many times,
I’m of the air, I’m of the sky.
I wonder what my feet need the ground for,
because no one sings lullabies no more.

***********************

Yes, Yes, Yes

I felt it coming.
I had the sight.
My eyes flew open in the middle of the night.
But no beat of distant drums,
no host of angels.
Just my heart pounding in my chest,
just the voice of a stranger
saying yes, yes.

I made you angry.
I know you’re right.
You can’t build a life out of the dreams you dream at night.
But the seas will rise,
and the cities catch fire.
If the sky is falling I
just want to be safe for awhile.

So I’ll close my eyes,
your hand in mine,
I’ll walk a spell with you.
And I’ll say it like you want me to:
Yes, yes, yes

I felt it coming
for you and me.
Our bodies wracked and bent by things I couldn’t see.
You said, hold on tightly,
you said, let it pass.
It’s just the agony
of knowing nothing’s built to last.

So I’ll close my eyes,
your hand in mine.
I’ll lay awhile with you.
I’ll say it like you want me to:

Yes, yes, yes.

***********************

I’ve Had Enough

Oh decide, decide.
Bring your will to bear.
You’re too much to endure,
I guess I’m too mean to care.
Cuz I’ve had enough: I want you out.

Noontime sun, just shine for me.
Show me that you’re true,
cuz if he as much as casts a shadow,
I’ll trade you for the moon.
I’ve had enough: I want him out.

No need for games, dear.
I’ve played them all before.
Though I never win, dear,
I’ve learned how to keep score,
so there’s the door.
I want you out.

Here those birds up in the trees?
They’re singing lullabies.
They sing, “Don’t come to call,”
They sing, “Surprise, surprise, surprise.”
Yes, I’ve had enough: I want you out.