April 11: Lisa at the Small Town Dance, The Song

Lisa at the Small Town Dance, The Song

I saw Lisa at a small town dance.

She was kissing all the fellas – well I wanted my chance,

But once I tracked her down, I was too shy to talk.

She said, “What do you say?  Let’s go for a walk!”

She said, “I just had to get out of that place –

Too many other girls -- getting on my case;

Too many fellas just wanting some ass,

And a couple old boyfriends – stuck in the past.”

I said, “I’m glad I was able to help you get a break,

But I hope I don’t turn out to be another mistake,

Because to have this time to meet you is a dream come true.

I guess you could say I’ve got a crush on you!”

She said, “Give me some time to get to know who you are.

Maybe we could park somewhere, if you’ve got your car!”

“I admire you, I said, because you seem so very free!”

She said, “I’m not sure you’d want to be me!”

Her Folk had had no trust, and she’d tried to escape,

But then became a victim of serial rape.

Having put out a little just to make a new friend,

She was facing demands that would never quite end.

Chorus:

Lisa, Lisa - you're so very pretty.

Life got rough when you left the city,

But that's not the way that it has to be,

And I hope you'll come to me!  

We both just want to be free!

She said, “I can’t be boxed in by social conventions,

But I at least need my friends to have some good intentions!

Some people blame me because it happened that way,

And when I speak about my shame, they only look away!”

I said, “I want to know whatever is true,

And I’m sorry for what people have done to you!

Such blatant de-meaning just makes me feel disgusted:

Betrayed as you’ve been by the guys you had trusted!”

She asked, “Are you really different?  Could you sometimes be crude?

I’m sure the way you’d show it would be somewhat more subdued.”

I said, "I’ll show you my craziness, but I’ll do it with respect.

I don’t want to use you.  I just want to connect.”

I said, “But then, I also have that physical attraction.

Should I be ashamed when that’s my natural reaction?

I don’t want to curb my passions.  I don’t want to be excused.

But after all you have suffered, I hope I’m someone you could choose!”

Then the lightning flashed and the thunder roared.

I asked her if my love could be a risk she could afford.

She said, “Right now I just can’t know  - what it is I’d have to gain.”

I said, “I want the chance to show you.”  Then it started to rain.

Chorus

She said, “Isn’t this romantic?  Caught in a thunderstorm!”

I reached out for her hand and I found that it was warm.

And as the wind blew through our clothing, and the raindrops stung my face,

I released the comfort of her hand, to make a fleeting embrace.

For as the lightning flashed on her shirt-soaked breasts,

It seemed to be posing me some kind of a test.

She said, “A lot of men just fantasize of getting me in bed.

I’m glad I have a gentleman to talk to instead."

“All right,” I told her.  “So tell me a story

About something you’ve wished for, or a moment of glory.”

We plodded on in silence, in squeaky, soaking shoes,

And I began to talk - about the evening news.

Then the thunder made a tremendous crack

That threw my whole story all out of whack.

She stopped me short and said, “Let’s do it like this!”

And parted my lips with a kiss.

So at last I held her in a strong embrace,

And we met one another, face to face.

You don’t know how it strengthened me to feel her caress,

Standing pelvis to pelvis, and breath to breath.

Chorus

The rain on our faces tasted sweet and pure.

My shyness vanished and I became self-assured.

She said, “What were you alluding to in the six o’clock report?”

“I guess you had to be there,” Was the best I could retort.

April 10: Colder Than Cold

Colder Than Cold

I think it just got colder than cold

When you said it could never work.

We get more and more ruthless as we start to get old.

I concur with your need to break free from the mold,

But I can hardly believe what I’ve just been told,

And that you could say it with such a smirk.

The whole town seems to want to just sulk and hide

As I step  out into the foggy night.

My coat doesn’t touch the chill inside;

My plans I had built with so much pride;

The hopes I believed in which now have died.

I know that nothing can make it all right.

We never stop searching for where we belong;

To find the best pathway to getting along,

As we pass through the jungle of rights and of wrongs,

Seeking within what it means to be strong,

Doing our best to carry on.

I’d parked my car across the parking lot.

On its hood sits a man who is playing with a knife.

I feel for my cell phone, but I must have forgot

It there on the seat with my movie plot.

He sees me coming and he fires a shot,

So I turn and I run for my life!

I go back to the tavern, but the place has shut down.

There’s a convenience store across the street.

Should I take the train to get across town,

Or get the help I need for standing my ground?

“The phone doesn’t work,” says “the man” with a frown.

A young cripple begs something to eat.

When I get to my house, the police are there,

Following up on a crime.

The shot I had heard in the foggy air

Had hit an old woman in a rocking chair.

The cop is asking me, “were you really unaware

Of what happened in that place and time?”

"What  made you park your vehicle so far from the bar

And then flee from the scene to the service station?

Now listen, I have no idea who you really are,

But I’ve read the screen play you left in your car,

And I’ve tested the urine you keep in a jar.

You’re under investigation!”

We never stop searching for where we belong;

To find the best pathway to getting along,

As we pass through the jungle of rights and of wrongs,

Seeking within what it means to be strong,

When the world is spinning out of control.

I said to the cop, “I’m not feeling so well.

Can we take it from here in the morning?”

He says, “I think you’ve got a story to tell,

And I can tell that you’re a criminal by the way that you smell,

So get in the squad car, ‘cause you’re going to hell,”

And he slaps on the hand cuffs without warning!

So I sit there and wonder just what’s  coming next.

Was there damning evidence hidden somewhere on my phone?

I have many things to do.  Now it’s so complex!

Will the inmates think I’m good for sex?

Why are there so many disconnects?

And why am I left so alone?

We never stop searching for where we belong;

To find the best pathway to getting along,

As we pass through the jungle of rights and of wrongs,

Seeking within what it means to be strong,

When we just don’t have a place we can go!

The morning came and went, but I’m up for release.

The judge thinks I seem to be okay!

I’m belched from the belly of the ravenous beast,

With a relentless hunger that never seems to cease.

I get some relief, but just a portion of peace,

It’s only this time I’ve got away!

Now, for all these things I’ve gone through, seems like nothing’s really changed,

Except I’m touching the place where I’ve been shaken.

Suddenly my prospects seem wonderful and strange.

What can I hold on to when my life’s been re-arranged?

What is my position in a world that’s been deranged?

Who do I become when I’ve been forsaken?

We never stop searching for where we belong;

To find the best pathway to getting along,

As we pass through the jungle of rights and of wrongs,

Seeking within what it means to be strong,

Living the convictions of our souls!

I think it just got hotter than hot

When she asked me to come on out to play!

Did she think somehow that I’d already forgot

How she’d cut me off when I liked her a lot.

I was morbidly engrossed, so I figure, “Then, why not

Go back out to see her anyway?”

I don’t know where it’s going, but I kind of like the fear.

I just want to get beyond that place we were!

And remember my love is what I’ve got right here;

That our time on earth is precious and I want to hold it dear,

And that in life’s rough and tumble it’s my goal to be clear,

And that’s the freedom that I want to share with her!

I’ll never stop searching for where I belong;

To find the best pathway to getting along,

As I pass through the jungle of rights and of wrongs,

Seeking within what it means to be strong,

And express what I’m feeling in my songs!

April 9: All Around, Everywhere

All Around Everywhere

Lord God, my one abode;

The coolness within the desert heat:

Through a concrete jungle you make a road,

And within your love, our souls can meet,

Where there glows an ember

Within that meeting,

Which is joy to remember,

However fleeting.

Upon this highway, I’ve travelled long,

Watching the passing cars.

Then in the night, I unravel a song

Which I sing to the moon and the stars,

For I’m no more expecting a ride,

But  contemplating a scene,

And allowing the Silence to walk by my side,

And to tell me just what it could mean.

I stand in wonder at the base of a bridge

Away from the route of the crowds.

The light is emblazoned on society’s edge

Like the sun encircling a cloud.

And know that the spirit is alive in the steel

And in the flight of a low-flying plane;

In everything I can see and feel:

In signs and in soft-falling rain.

April 8: Making A Difference, Part 2

Making A Difference

Part 2

In this world we've got a whole lot at stake,
For we've compromised earth's ecology,
Your health may not hold up that great.
We've got kids we don't know how to educate,
While we're up against barriers of fear and hate,
And confusion about ontology!

We live in a matrix with big demands
Upon our time and our sensibility,
With shifting conditions that alter our plans;
Technologies no one quite understands,
So that people take matters into their own hands
Which really don't fit their abilities

Still, people are willing to accept what's the case
When it's something they can understand.
They're willing to work to secure a place.
They're willing to fight when they meet with disgrace.
They can put aside the dreams which they chase
When they're called on to lend a hand!

It's well that we're all doing this and that
While we're striving to get into focus --
Because some are too skinny and some are too fat.
Some have the conscience of a snake or a rat.
It's almost your turn to get up to bat.
Don't bore us with hocus pocus!

Because there's a lot of people in rage;

In corrupted and crumbling conditions.
They feel out of control, or trapped in a cage;
Pigeon-holed about their race or their age.
Their anger will no longer be assuaged

By some slick-talking politician!

The world has expanded our freedom and knowledge,

If we're wise, we have great opportunity.
You can be a scholar without going to college,
Take hold of a dream, however exotic.
We can't sell our birthrights for a mess of pottage,
We have got to be building community!

April 7: Making A Difference, Part 1

Making A Difference

Part I

Everything fits your intellectual scheme,
But meanwhile your town's going crazy.
They live in conspiracies; They live in their dreams;
In the mode of survival, assessing their means;
In the mode of loneliness, in search of a team;
In a surplus of choices, but lazy.

So as the voice of reason, you struggle to speak,
Disturbing the singing choir;
Invoking the truth, though you're feeling weak,
Of harmony, amongst voices unique,
Seeking to celebrate every freak --
Not forgetting that the house is on fire!

There are those that for spite set a building in flames.
And others who would not get involved,
Or see the destruction and get lost in their shame,
Or see broken lives as some kind of a game
Everybody's got to have someone to blame!
We need to strive for a common resolve!

We don't all get the breaks that we might deserve.
We meet with explicit or hidden barriers.
Justice doesn't follow a natural curve.
Laws don't cover who they're supposed to serve,
And if you have a complaint, you might not be heard  --
Unless voices are spoken together!

You can show us your charts and diagrams,
Hoping somehow to re-route the violence
Of angry people who don't give a damn,
'Cause they've tried to get free, but they keep getting slammed.
Hey!  I'm a musician, and I'm ready to jam,
Let’s get past the sham and our make-shift silence!