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Glorious Better Day 4:480:00/4:48
Sample video on songs on Vol. I
Sample video of songs on Vol. II
THOUGHTS ON SONGWRITING FOR "THE BEAUTIFUL ONES"
The Beautiful Ones vol. 1 & vol. 2
The Beautiful Ones
I personally grew up loving to listen to albums as a whole experience and not just as a list of individual songs. So this is how I constructed and produced this recording. And this is my first record that I wrote from an entirely autobiographical voice. There are no characters here, and it represents at least some of the styles of music that raised me. The first set of songs centers more around my earlier life where I really struggled emotionally. The second set is more about an awakening that came from that struggle. I am not claiming a spiritual enlightenment here, but I do think we are all capable of touching it at moments. I still love to write and perform in classic country and swing. But I wanted to put together a more personal record, something more meaningful for these dicey times and with some of the music that shaped me. There is a benefit to dicey times, by the way. It tends to make things move more quickly than the slow, steady approach. Change through loving kindness is the most powerful method I believe. But if that isn’t happening then pain will come in and hopefully do the job of change. That’s part of the polarity of life. And our timeline for evolution is getting limited, so the heat is on… literally. Now if you are one of our angels, it’s time to lace up your combat boots and get to work. Thank you for letting me share my music with you. My greatest desire in life is to put more hope and love into this world.
Vol. 1
Don’t You Know Who Your Are?
The first song is kind of like an overture or forward of sorts. As someone who spent many years battling depression and post-traumatic stress, it feels almost natural to sit in a state of separation from life where it feels “safe.” The world often feels cold and uncaring. I wrote this song to all of us during the first few days of the Covid-19 lockdown. That time is also where the realization that my mother, my biggest champion in the world and the one who loves me the most, was falling away into dementia. Even now this song makes me feel better when I am frightened and sad. I was not raised with religion. I like to say I am Catholic once removed… all the guilt but none of the doctrine. But in my lifetime I have had some very profound experiences that set me in a direction of seeking an ultimate meaning as the primary goal. This song comes from a deeper, more comforting voice that has carried me from about the age of 5 after an otherworldly dream I had.
The Beautiful Ones
I sometimes call this song, Smells Like Teen Beauty for the tribute to this sound that influenced me as a teen and young adult. These years were very difficult. I had a few secrets that kept me very lonely and afraid. I know why queer kids often kill themselves. I didn’t recognize the effects of abuse and depression that made me often questioned if life was worth living. And coming from mostly loving people, I really didn’t understand these little monsters that roamed the school hallways. Imagine what would happen if substance blew away superficiality? Poor monsters.
Nothing’s Gonna Bring Me Down
My earliest memories include crawling along the floor and looking at Beatles albums. I sometimes refer to this song as Strawberry Fields For Not Much Longer. I wrote this song after I had my first Michigan winter where there was never any snow on the ground.
Bluebird
The reviews back in 1940 for the Shirley Temple movie, The Bluebird, which was intended as 20th Century Fox's answer to MGM’s The Wizard of Oz from the year before, said it was a lot like The Wizard of Oz, but more depressing. So of course it was one of my very favorite movies as a small child. Our intense search for happiness seems to often make us miss it. There’s no place like home, and home can be everywhere when we are truly connected to the deepest places within ourselves.
Pushin’ It Up That Hill
I bought a Gretsch guitar because I wanted to be Poison Ivy from The Cramps. I sometimes call this song A Date with Sisyphus. This isn’t just a Blues tune, it’s a major depression tune.
Somewhere On My Own
Navigating a love relationship is like an intricate waltz. This one is for Johnny. Thank you from the bottom of my heart for understanding like no other. I needed that far more than anything else at the time. Still do.
Loneliness
This is probably the biggest problem in our culture. It underlies all the bad things we do. When we cannot know our true nature, we disconnect from everything all around us and can then do some pretty horrible things to each other and the planet. We cease to see ourselves in one another. Being alone can feel wonderful if connected to the world around us. Being lonely feels a little like dying, especially for a child who cannot survive alone.
I’ll Wash You Clean
Listening. Validating. Healing. That’s what we can do for each other. This is our job. Some of us make it our day job. Still wish it paid better for me so survival wasn’t always on the table. But the upside is always being reminded that, “But for the grace of ‘whatever’ go I,” when observing the plight of others. That keeps me feeling real. I once wanted my night job to be as a Blues guitar player… old-time and early electric, like John Lee Hooker or Hubert Sumlin & Howlin’ Wolf. (I’m a bit pale, I know.) Cultural appropriation is one opinion. But this is real human music to me. It isn’t in your head. It’s in other places. It comes from struggle and pain. But then I got tendonitis, speaking of pain. It broke my heart so deeply at the time. I felt like I found my passion just to have it taken away. (I now giggle at the saying, “I wouldn’t believe in God if he didn’t hate me so much.”) The art of the reframe tells me that’s why I started focusing on writing songs which saved my life. I also started playing with Johnny as a result . Lemonade, man… and don’t get me started about the kiddo that came along.
I’ll Just Whisper Your Name
Speaking of the kiddo, I wrote this song to my daughter, Stella. And it’s a lullaby for me too now that I am slowly losing my own mother in this world. Consciousness is energy, and energy doesn’t disappear. It just changes. I’m pretty sure of this.
The Deeper Part
I love sixties fuzz guitar sounds. Guess I’m a hippie at heart. So I know it is very important for us to validate and understand others’ experiences and the struggles involved, especially with epic injustices. It’s important to right wrongs if possible. It’s also important to work hard and have dreams and goals to achieve and hopefully make our lives better and more meaningful. And it may be important to find group identities for ourselves for belonging, especially as young people. Our egos love that conceptual identity stuff. But I seemed to have naturally focused more on the essence of people, something deeper that goes on even beyond character, possibly beyond lifetimes. Again, "But for the grace of ‘whatever’ go I.” I guess this is why I can still love people with whom I very much disagree when I feel solid. It really is the only way to build bridges if we want true change. We are not our beliefs. We are not how we add up all our pieces and make current conclusions about things. We haven't walked in others' shoes. But this modern world can be so maddening and overwhelming. And it’s getting worse at a faster pace. Will we evolve toward materially resilient or “the fittest” automatrons (or be replaced by AI instead)? Or will we realize that we are all connected and need to balance ourselves in more of our compassion and an ability to “be” in each moment where we can begin to feel profound love for everything and every one? There we can see the beauty all around us, even when we are doing what needs to get done... the balance of doing and being.
In the Arms of Angels
Life has always been hard for everyone and every living thing. It’s supposed to be this way I think for the sake of learning. But now we have the capability to completely destroy life for all living beings. These times are existentially frightening, and we are all feeling that in one way or another.
When I was ten years old I had another otherworldly dream, the most profound experience to date with maybe the exception of an out-of-body experience in my early 30s. I thought these dreams were just that… dreams. But years later after studying the vast research about Near Death Experiences and the like (there is growing literature on both NDEs and more recently, similar experiences while under duress without technically dying), I realized it was something else entirely. I had no preconceived notion of anything like this as a child. But when I hear people describe being in a place where a most amazing and brightest light embraces and does not hurt your eyes, the most intense and otherworldly feeling of a love far beyond any ever felt in this life, the vivid colors beyond any seen on this Earth, the serene and perfect gardens, the deep heaviness of returning to the body, the ability to recite and remember the experience as if just happening and, in my case, love from a being of light that looked like no angel I ever saw in books or art, I recognized what I experienced. (Research indicates children during NDEs almost always see beings of light vs. dead relatives like many adults do. Children often don’t have a lot of known dead relatives yet who would feel comforting.) Still I wasn’t physically dead. My grandfather was dying, so I think the veil was perhaps thinner. But like I said, the field is reconsidering this pre-requisite. So the song is metaphoric if you wish. But for me it is literal.——————————————————————————————————————————————————————————
Vol. 2
Beautiful
Then there was a beginning of awakening in my mid 20s after years of intense pain and a very experiential graduate program. I became a performer and a psychologist at the same time afterward. This song is another preamble of sorts. Words are never able to describe this experience. I like comparing it to the imperfection of gravity and the universal particles in our own creation. And I was a huge R.E.M. fan in my teens and early 20s. Their harmonies drew me into old-time music and connecting to my North Carolina family roots later on. The harmonies felt like Home. I sometimes call this song “Radio Free Beauty.”
A Glorious Better Day
I wrote this for my Western swing-influenced band, Jo Serrapere & the LaFawndas. It didn’t really fit the slightly more traditional feel of the rest of our set, but it may end up on our record as well. I wrote this song during the pandemic and our country’s insanity of electing a malignant narcissist for a president. It was hard to have studied history, sociology and psychology and then watch that shit-show unfold. But like I said, there is a benefit to tragic times. We don’t have the luxury of a slow, steady human evolution out of its adolescent phase. We can destroy the planet for living organisms rather completely now. We are seriously in that process environmentally. So pain and trauma can be quicker. Evolution just happens. It’s the blueprint of spirit. I just hope we can get there in time. Just remember to sometimes grab your marshmallows for a respite while it’s burning. We all will need our rest and to kick up our heels whenever possible.
With Your Eyes Closed
I have written a couple tunes I call my “spiritual envy” songs. Like I said, no enlightenment here. It is still a struggle. This song is not about having blind faith. It is about having faith by researching, sensing and intuiting deeper principles, often beyond what you initially see and first believe to be there. The amazing Via Mardot added theremin and musical saw to make this song otherworldly.
This American Dream
I want a new American Dream… one that fits in with a global and universal dream. Patriotism is barbaric outside of a playful game. I lost mine years ago. And I very much love my country. I just can love other people’s countries too. We still think consumerism and fame will make and keep us happy. Maybe for a moment. Then what? And for some, no matter how hard we work, our work is not valued the same nor are our resources, and moving out of poverty is nearly impossible.
Let Your Dirty Ride
Now this is the lesson, right? We spend so much of our lives trying to live up to an unattainable standard that steals our life force. Many people make good livings in service of this fallacy. And the more we deny our truer, imperfect selves, the more removed we feel from the beauty of this life and each other. Courageous vulnerability is needed to bring ourselves out into the light where we can be seen and transform. The process is brutal but exquisitely beautiful. And I think it’s the bravest path of all. I like to remind everyone that perfection is really boring and actually doesn’t exist in a material universe. Even the initial particles needed the slight imperfection in the force of gravity to ever collide with each other to make galaxies after the Big Bang (thank you, Stephen Hawking for dumbing that down for me!). Imperfection ignites creative evolution. I am not that interested in current pop music... too laminated for me. And “perfect” people are pretty boring too. I actually think our “issues” make us kind of cute… you know, when they aren’t killing us or the ones we love.
So Blue Am I
I wrote this song in my 20s shortly after graduate school when I started to make music. I was raised in a time when “girl power” was not a thing and the “Me Too” movement didn't exist. I assumed sexualization and assault was just a fact of life for girls. I experienced femininity as ultimately weak. And I thought romantic love had broken me. This was the beginning of learning about the life-art of balance. We are evolving out of this human binary thinking a bit, but it is kind of interesting how it is showing itself these days, especially in our kids. Go with it. It’s cool. I was raised by a transgender parent who has been one of the most loving and validating forces in my life. I am pretty certain we are not our bodies nor our plumbing. And energy has amazing properties across the spectrum we all need to explore to make us whole. The most powerful energy for growth is in our opposite energy, our shadow. First get solid in who you are, then courageously face the shadow. It’s stunning.
Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark
This is not about giving in to base reactions of our fight, flight, freeze limbic system. This is not about joining a satanic cult. This is about recognizing wisdom in all places, even the most painful. This can open us to the most profound changes where we don’t have to be so afraid any more. Pain can help us to let go of what needs to pass on.
This World is Gonna Break Your Heart
I try to remember none of us are getting out of this world alive. Impermanence sucks. But it also makes everything more precious. Things come to us and then fall away. One of my earliest eye-opening “a-ha” moments was when reading Kahlil Gibran’s poem, On Joy and Sorrow in the book, The Prophet. It gave me hope that my pain and depression was not a hopeless sentence. Here is a short excerpt:
“Your joy is your sorrow unmasked.
And the selfsame well from which your laughter rises was oftentimes filled with your tears.
And how else can it be?
The deeper that sorrow carves into your being, the more joy you can contain.”
Wait It All Away
My Stella! girls joined me for this one. I still fall into an avoiding and waiting state, especially when overwhelmed. These years have been especially overwhelming for everyone. And so much of our lives so many of us spend waiting to do and feel more alive, waiting for that right moment. Every moment I suspect is the right moment if we can truly be in it.
Thank You For Your Time
Just that.
Life and All
It’s all so beautiful, isn’t it? And I’m grateful for the lovely voice of Sophia Hanifi (Hoodang, Map of the World) who joins me on this song. The song is also on the album, Stella Tells the Truth from my band, Stella! as well. I intended it for this solo album, but the band really wanted to do it. And I so appreciate them and their talent. I thought this song summed it all up. I wrote it after a very painful experience a few years back when my father cut me out of his life for reasons only he understands. It took a while to get here, but even this heartbreak makes me who I am. I wish for all of us that we can always see the beauty of living and fight to keep it evolving toward hope for our children and grandchildren, the next Beautiful Ones.
Lyrics from the album, "The Beautiful Ones" Vol. I
Don’t You Know Who You Are?
You are going to be all right
Don’t you know who you are?
In this moment we’re flashes of light
Forever dust from the stars
In this time you’re the light in my eyes
And the song in my heart
I see you so clearly, your beauty realized
You were loved from the start
These times seem so hard, we can’t find our way
So much judgement and shame
But our brokenness puts evolution in play
Soon we’ll know we’re the same
In this moment we’re flashes of light
Forever dust from the stars
You are going to be all right
Don’t you know who you are?
The Beautiful Ones
Got a razor in my pocket
Got a knife in my back
Will I bleed in all the right places
To bring you back
Lights go out, the pretty pages
Scatter on the floor
If I could only leave this skin and
Curl away once more
Am I good enough to justify this breath?
Am I good enough to forgive whatever’s left?
What about the beautiful ones?
What will they do?
What happens to beautiful
When all they want is you?
What will the beautiful ones do?
Trailing down the curve of my body
Summing up the scores
Adding up the pretty pieces
Coughing up the sores
So ashamed of all the secrets
I’ll die before I’ll tell
Would they even comfort me if we
All went straight to hell
Am I good enough to justify this breath?
Is perfect good enough to forgive whatever’s left?
What about the beautiful ones?
What will they do?
What happens to beautiful
When all they want is you?
What will the beautiful ones do?
Am I beautiful? Am I beautiful?
What’s wrong with me?
What’s wrong with me?
Am I loved?
Tender dreams and crowed hallways
Lipgloss and cherry wine
A tender light, a stunning pearl
Before troughs of swine
Hold the promise you’ve been given
I’ll hold the promise too
Maybe someday you will see what’s
Beautiful in you
Are we loved enough to justify this breath?
Are we loved enough to forgive whatever’s left
What will they do?
What happens to beautiful
When all they want is you?
What will the beautiful ones do?
Nothing’s Gonna Bring Me Down
You went away
Every little thing begins to fade
I’ve lost forever
I start to pray
While all the pretty flowers in the rain
Enjoy the weather
Don’t they know what’s happening?
Nothing’s gonna bring me down
Nothing’s gonna bring me down
Nothing’s gonna bring me down
Help me make this nothing go away
I had a dream
All the people everywhere I see
Look toward tomorrow
In fields so green
Water, air and silence pure and free
To mend the sorrow
Is it worth the sacrifice?
Nothing’s gonna bring me down
Nothing’s gonna bring me down
Nothing’s gonna bring me down
Help me make this nothing go away
Everything must end
This life we’re living so profound
I cannot pretend that any good will stay around
But what remains of love
You went away
Every little thing begins to fade
Don’t lose forever
We’ll find a way
For all the people living on this earth
To come together
Love starts between you and me
Nothing’s gonna bring me down
Nothing’s gonna bring me down
Nothing’s gonna bring me down
Help me make this nothing go away
Bluebird
Bluebird, bluebird of happiness
Please mend my loneliness
Must you elude me both to and fro?
Fly away to and fro
Bluebird, do you fly toward my memories?
Back to my used-to-be
Nestled so tenderly true but cold
Nestled so true but cold
Bluebird, do you fly toward the accolades?
In songs of the Hit Parades
Singing on treetops of silver and gold
Singing on treetops of gold
Or bluebird, will you land in my dreaming?
In planning and scheming
A future to hatch both bright and bold
A future so bright and bold
Bluebird, bluebird of happiness
Please mend my loneliness
Softly come fly this way home to me
Bluebird please fly this way home to me
Bluebird please fly this way home
Pushin’ It Up That Hill
When the world’s pushin’ up against us
We need a rock to hold us still
Lord, why you put mine down below
Straight bottom of the hill?
Straight bottom of the hill?
So I’m pushin’ it up that hill
Pushin’ it up that hill
Pushin’ it up that hill
Gonna make my burden known
My Daddy, he’s a liar
Left me ‘lone and ill
I know it does no good to blame the man
But Lord, you know I will
Lord, you know I will
So I’m pushin’ it up that hill
Pushin’ it up that hill
Pushin’ it up that hill
Gonna make my burden known
Feelin’ old and tired
Time ain’t standing still
I still curse the day you went away
Now the burden’s all that’s real
The burden’s all that’s real
So I’m pushin’ it up that hill
Pushin’ it up that hill
Pushin’ it up that hill
Gonna make my burden known
I ain’t proud of some the things I’ve done
Just for livin’ or the thrill
But I hope you understand me, Lord
We’re all bound to take a spill
We’re all bound to take a spill when we’re…
So I’m pushin’ it up that hill
Pushin’ it up that hill
Pushin’ it up that hill
Gonna make my burden known
When my life is over
And Lord, I’ve had my fill
Will I be up in heaven or down low
Pushin’ it up that hill?
Pushin’ it up that hill Still…
Pushin’ it up that hill
Pushin’ it up that hill
Pushin’ it up that hill
Gonna make my burden known
Somewhere On My Own
So we say a prayer
Dark nights fill the air
I’m tired of being alone
Someone long ago
Left me here to glow
Somewhere on my own
In the still of night
By the bathroom light
Eyes and ears seem omnipresent
Do the angels sing?
Faith upon a string
Let it go so calm and pleasant
Winter comes and goes
Sleeping in our clothes
I’m still feeling alone
Then you’re here for me
Like it used to be
Somewhere on my own
Play the tape again
I can’t let you in
‘Til you know the darkest places
Nurse a flame for me
I’ll come back, you’ll see
We’ll lay down in softer graces
Maybe years from now
If the stars allow
I’ll stop feeling alone
Then I’ll turn to see
You’re still here with me
Somewhere on my own
Somewhere on my own
Loneliness
When you don’t see me I’m not there
How can I trust the world to care
The source from whence it came was never you
But the wounding left behind is all I knew
It returns and I’m closing down
Should say my piece but I’m not around
Loneliness
Loneliness
Just look at me and I’ll confess
My loneliness
Shine pulls around me, sleep tonight
I’ll be less afraid beneath the light
You only hear your voice and not my cries
So I’ll settle for the glow from my own eyes
It returns, no one sees me here
Can’t find a way from underneath the fear
Loneliness
Loneliness
Just look at me and I’ll confess
My loneliness
I’ll turn around and not burden you
Tend to my own, yes, that’s certain too
I’ll let you in when your heart burns true
And trust in spite a world not shining through
Forgive me if the darkness wins this round
A light within the mind is rarely found
But a heart so broken open just might find
A never-ending fire left behind
It returns, must I fight again
Enlighten me that it’s not the end
Loneliness
Loneliness
Just look at me and I’ll confess
My loneliness
Wash You Clean
I’ll wash you clean
Do it all by hand
Wash away the sins
Left by a man
Left by his ways
Left by his tools
Left by his laws
Left by his rules
I, too had a secret
A dirty shame
Dared not to think it
Or speak its name
I took the burden
And all the blame
I prayed for mercy
It never came
Til’ I washed it clean
Did it all by hand
Washed away the sins
Left by a man
Left by his ways
Left by his schools
Lefts by his church
Left by his rules
Now when you’re broken
Keep fallin’ down
We’ll plant your burden
Deep in the ground
We’ll tend the soil
Until you’re sound
You’ll rise up blazin’
Was lost now found
Dug up not pretty
Dug up not pure
You share your dirty
We’ll share the cure
You tell your story
But only when you’re sure
And we’ll hold it sacred
Safe and secure
And we’ll wash it clean
Do it all by hand
Wash away the sins
Left by the Man
Left by his weakness
Left by his hell
We’ll save our dear ones
And save him as well
We’ll save our dear ones
Save him as well
I’ll Just Whisper Your Name
There is a promise I’ll give to you
I’ll never fall away
Even if darkness does follow me through
I’ll fight each moment to stay
If fire all around me I’ll cling to the edge
In this life I’ll face the flames
To always remember how beautiful
I’ll just whisper your name
Life is so precious its darkness and all
Makes the light so might brighter you’ll see
I’ll watch you shine as you rise and you fall
Becoming such beauty you’ll be
And when it’s my time I’ll still watch over you
Though life won’t feel the same
And if you forget it’s still beautiful
I’ll just whisper you name
And if you forget it’s still beautiful
I’ll just whisper you name
The Deeper Part
I don’t wanna be you
And I don’t wanna be me
Don’t wanna be all the things
That they want us to be
Don’t wanna know the latest toys
From all the outside noise
Don’t want a group identity
I just want you to see
The deeper part of me
The deeper part of you
The forever that we never see
When we just do and do
I don’t wanna be big
And I don’t wanna be small
I want to know the infinite
How we are part and all
Don’t wanna race and fight to win
Don’t wanna to do it again and again
I just wanna stay right here and be
I wanna be here now and see
The deeper part of me
The deeper part of you
The deeper part of me
The deeper part of you
The deeper part of me
The deeper part of you
Do be do be do
In the Arms of Angels
The times feel like hours of pain and of toil
Using each soul and poisoning the soil
Spilling the blood and enjoying the spoils
As we’re left in the arms of angels
I try to remain a light toward the way
Now losing my ground I’ve something to say
But judgment does not leave me holy this day
So I’m left in the arms of angels
Each moment I look closer to see
the beauty and mercy all around me
I search for communion and love in your eyes
With wonder I see past the lows and the highs
Where pathos and laughter and irony defies
And we’re left in the arms of angels
Each moment I look closer to see
the beauty and mercy all around me
I’m frightened and tired but willing to know
We’re all so fragile but brilliantly so
Our hearts broken open the moment we go
We’ll be left in the arms of angels
LYRICS FROM THE ALBUM, "THE BEAUTIFUL ONES" VOL. II
Beautiful
We are as stars are, the galaxies and all that seems to be
Imperfect this circuit arranged by gravity
We are yearning and burning creating alchemy
Once violent then silent expanding into me
Beautiful this moment I see forever
Beautiful no words can define it ever
Beautiful our loneliness is truly never
Beautiful to feel so completely loved
Follow my heartbreak and free me from all indecency
I wake up and make up a world forever bleeding
In darkness, in starkness, in the naked still of the night
Past shadow the source of unyielding light
Beautiful this moment I see forever
Beautiful no words can define it ever
Beautiful our loneliness is truly never
Beautiful to feel so completely loved
I’m falling, falling down
So lost and never found
Then silence give beauty sound
I fall away, I’m all around
I seek forgiveness, the is-ness of imperfection
And gaze out toward heavens and hear the sweetest sound
Compassion, reunion is now within our sight
The nearest we orbit to a perfect light
Beautiful this moment I see forever
Beautiful no words can define it ever
Beautiful our loneliness is truly never
Beautiful to feel so completely loved
A Glorious Better Day
You know that I don’t like Mondays
These times are never my fun days
Don’t feel like loading my gun days
No time to be on the run days
Don’t plan to die in the sickness
These days are only a litmus
Stay sane and build up my fitness
God damn, can I have a witness
Down, going down, crazy days are going down
‘round, coming ‘round in amazing ways are they coming ‘round?
Now before me a wiser story
Love in a glorious better way
Here inside me this feeling guides me
Can we love to a glorious better day?
Those Happy Days were so phony
Good Times if being white only
Up watching Chachi Loves Joanie
My TV kept me from lonely
This world seems sadder and sadder
Stress eat get older and fatter
Get beat just wanting to shatter
A world where Black lives don’t matter
Now before me a wiser story
Love in a glorious better way
Here inside me this feeling guides me
Can we love to a glorious better day?
A business man to the rescue
He lies and tries to divest you
Surprise! Another Ceausescu
Stand up he’ll try to arrest you
In my mind I’m wanting to beat you
But deep down I’ll love you and keep you
In my heart whenever I meet you
A network where I won’t delete you
Now before me a wiser story
Love in a glorious better way
Here inside me this feeling guides me
Can we love to a glorious better day?
With Your Eyes Closed
Toward the sea
You soar on high
You dare to fly
With your eyes closed
You fear the vast unknown
Yet you trust into the sky
You choose to fly
With your eyes closed
With you eyes closed
With your eyes closed
With you eyes closed
Seems like separate waves
Reflect lonely skies
But still you fly
With your eyes closed
I toil upon the stone
Too labored down to rise
How do you fly
With your eyes closed?
With you eyes closed
With your eyes closed
With you eyes closed
I fear in me
To only trust what I see
Am I too blind to the skies
to close my eyes?
No courage grand
No gallant try
You just fly
With you eyes closed
This American Dream
Glamorized
But the stars that fill my eyes
just bring me down
Super-Sized
But so much clutter from bargain buys
Just brings me down
Close your eyes
Maybe look at the skies for a sign
Legalized
But all the crashing from the highs
Just brings me down
Move away from this world around me
Is life more than it seems?
There is something that I’m truly after
Now I know I’m losing, losing
This American Dream
Terrorized
But all the fear that’s on the rise
Just brings me down
Traumatized
But keep replaying my demise
Just brings me down
Close your eyes
Baby, look deep inside for what’s mine
Analyzed
But all the pills and all the cries
Just bring me down
Move away from this world around me
Life is more than it seems
Finding something that I’m truly after
Now I know I’m losing, losing
This American Dream
In their selling they’re buying
In my losing I am finding
A deeper love that is binding
My quiet mind comes so alive
So politicized
But the divisiveness and lies
Just bring me down
So victimized
But self-righteousness
just tries to bring me down
Close your eyes
Take a look at the ties that bind us
So let’s mobilize and fight the fear that simplifies
and brings us down
Move away from this world around me
Life is more than it seems
Changing something that I’m truly after
Now I know I’m losing, losing
This American Dream
Let Your Dirty Ride
Full surrender, baby
No use can’t hide
Show me all that crazy
No shame, no pride
Not a sin, ain’t nothin’
Let it all just slide
Lay it all down, baby
Let your dirty ride
Grab the horns you’re bleeding
Let ‘em see you sweat
Raw your sugar, darlin’
Tender eyes, sweet and wet
Achin’ heart so crazy
Broken clean, open wide
Lay it all down, baby
Just let your dirty ride
Just Let your dirty ride
Let your dirty ride
Let your dirty ride
Let your dirty ride
Wash you clean now, child
Newly sanctified
Shine a light on trouble
How Daddy failed but Mama tried
When you rise up blazing
You know something died
So lay it all out, baby
And let your dirty ride
Let your dirty ride
Let your dirty ride
Let your dirty ride
Give it away like Christmas
Then show ‘em what’s inside
You’re gonna need a witness
To keep you satisfied
Wrap it up not pretty
And fit to be tied
Lay it all out, baby
And let your dirty ride
So Blue Am I
So blue am I
So blue am I
Oh, light of light the beauty you inspire
So blue am I
So blue am I
This girlish fate, I’m downing ‘til I tire
Oh, light of light, the beauty you inspire
So central to night my sister right
I fly the circle
Now reaching my tail, I begin to wail
Intending purple
This hatred I see for the girl in me
Forsaking birthright
Now walking alone as a boy I roam
But grieving twilight
So blue am I
So blue am I
Oh, light of light the beauty you inspire
So blue am I
So blue am I
This girlish fate I’m drowning ‘til I tire
This boyish fate so thirsty with desire
Oh, light of light the union you require
Oh light of light the beauty you inspire
Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark
Don’t be afraid of the dark
No need to invite it in for it will find you
In moments of feeling alone
In moments of saying good-bye
In moments of losing it all
It will visit like a dream to set you free
Don’t be afraid of the dark
It loves you in the way to move you along
When the light drains out of your eyes
And you’re too afraid of letting go
But the horror is too much to bare
You will fall into the embrace of the unknown
Just let go
Just let go
Just let it go and fall away
Don’t be afraid of the dark
Don’t fail to see the angels in disguise
Open your mind for we are timeless
Open your heart for we are loved
Open your eyes and take in the light
From everything, everywhere, for always
Don’t be afraid of the dark
This World is Going to Break Your Heart
Friends and lovers may leave us alone and blue
Hopes of greener pastures the blame
And the novelty of something new
Love them just the same
Time so fleeting from the start
For nothing ever stays
This World is Going to Break Your Heart
Love it anyway, love it anyway
Our dreams we long to make them true
And base our lives on the game
But our dreams may never follow through
Dream them just the same
Time so fleeting from the start
For nothing ever stays
This World is Going to Break Your Heart
Love it anyway, love it anyway
For our hearts will break wide open
Leave a well carved from our tears
Fill it with awe in each moment
When this moment’s here
To truly live our joys and sorrows
Must take us deeper than our fears
Be brave and show your heart
There’s a greater love, my dear
Our family so close we hold
Such warmth when tending its flame
But someday each of us will all lie cold
Love us just the same
Time so fleeting from the start
For nothing ever stays
This World is Going to Break Your Heart
Love it anyway, love it anyway
Wait It All Away
Are you living so completely, are you here right now?
Or is life passing by discreetly, are you sad and how?
I question what it means to be alive, and try to keep achieving
Sometimes it seems the world is passing, waiting to begin?
Getting older, getting tired, never going to win
Waiting for the day I make it real, or am I just deceiving?
Will you wait it all away?
Will you wait it all away?
Will you wait it all away?
Wait ‘til you start living?
What is in the way is the way
To face all the things come what may
You are only waiting for a dream
You just pray for fate to intervene
Are you really waiting to be seen?
To be seen?
So I’m here in the present moment loving all that is
Loving through the tragic stories, loving through the bliss
When I see us in this moment I’m alive and don’t fear my final leaving
Will you wait it all away?
Will you wait it all away?
Will you wait it all away?
Wait ‘til you start living?
Start living
Start living
Start living
Thank You For Your Time
Outrage
Is so addictive
A life vindictive
Thought I could feel less small but
Love is
Nothing you owe me
It’s not personal, see?
We just can’t see it all
I’m trying Trying every day
To see you In a down deep way
I’m listening Beyond what you say
For love to shine
So thank you Always a pleasure
For listening The greatest treasure
I’m grateful More than can measure
Thank you for your time
I know
You don’t always see me
View is sometimes steamy
And you just see your own
I’ll give you
The benefit, dear
And look in the mirror
And know you’re not alone
I’m trying Trying every day
To see you In a down deep way
I’m listening Beyond what you say
For love to shine
So thank you Always a pleasure
For listening The greatest treasure
I’m grateful More than can measure
Thank you for your time
Doot Doot…
Thank you for your time
Life and All
I love within the loneliness of doubt and fear
And I love around the pettiness that we often mirror
And I love beyond one’s justice of a right and wrong
And I love between a hymn and a victory song
I love in spite the promises put upon the shelf
And I love the deep forgiveness that I give onto my self
I even love your hurtful words, though in truth I can’t recall
‘Cause it’s all so deeply beautiful, life and all
One can’t resist the ecstasy. We all are sure to fall
Cuz’ it’s all so deeply beautiful, life and all
It’s all so beautiful
It’s all so beautiful
It’s all so deeply beautiful, life and all
I love the pure attraction of insatiable lust
And I love the deep communion of our delicate trust
I love the mad destruction before resurrection’s grace
And the equalizing destiny we all must someday face
May every moment we recall the light to guide our way
And know where time is helping sort the infinite display
Then return to play our scenes in this splendid cabaret
And know the fragile beauty of an ordinary day
One can’t resist the ecstasy. We all are sure to fall
Cuz’ it’s all so deeply beautiful, life and all
It’s all so beautifulIt’s all so beautiful
It’s all so deeply beautiful, life and all