Love Song
The thing I'd like to know
When you see my face
Is the first thing that you feel
The warmth of my embrace
Or do you feel the pain
Of every time I've taken you down
There's a storm beneath these wings
I can barely hold on
There's radiation in these dreams
Radiation isn't calm
It blows its stack away
And every day thereafter is a bad day
I'm just saying
There's a whole lot of loving to do
I know I lean on you, baby
I ask for too much
It's just I love you so bad, baby
Look at you, honey, I can't get enough
You're so strong and righteous
I'm all in, I won't take you down
Look in your pocket; I think
You'll find there's a whole lot of loving to do
There's a place where we can go
A place where lovers seek loving to do
When you see my face
Is the first thing that you feel
The warmth of my embrace
Or do you feel the pain
Of every time I've taken you down
There's a storm beneath these wings
I can barely hold on
There's radiation in these dreams
Radiation isn't calm
It blows its stack away
And every day thereafter is a bad day
I'm just saying
There's a whole lot of loving to do
I know I lean on you, baby
I ask for too much
It's just I love you so bad, baby
Look at you, honey, I can't get enough
You're so strong and righteous
I'm all in, I won't take you down
Look in your pocket; I think
You'll find there's a whole lot of loving to do
There's a place where we can go
A place where lovers seek loving to do
Wooley Band
We pulled into town
Casa Grande in the night
Gracie and her brother and them
A wooley band in flight
Far away from bloody guards and bloody guns
This ain't no place to raise your child
I need a rock I can park this truck on
Gracie just look at me and smiled
"We'll survive"
Worked our way up north with the
Wandering multitude
Doing anything
Folks around there wouldn't do
Camp along the road
Til the man said "Move along,
Keep going til you cross the county line
Keep going til your spirit's broke
And the life has left your soul,
Keep going til you've even lost your pride."
Not my pride
We worked the land
Til it blew away
No flag of justice stood unfurled
Just to work with two strong hands
And a back can take a load
These things I bring into this world
And I don't owe the man
A single dime
Already taken all I own
My home, my land, my dreams
My shadow's wall
My life undone, my seeds unsown
But I will not play dead
And I won't go away
I'll raise my fist in your bloody face
There's thousands of us now
Lost on the road
Our only thoughts of a resting place
Casa Grande in the night
Gracie and her brother and them
A wooley band in flight
Far away from bloody guards and bloody guns
This ain't no place to raise your child
I need a rock I can park this truck on
Gracie just look at me and smiled
"We'll survive"
Worked our way up north with the
Wandering multitude
Doing anything
Folks around there wouldn't do
Camp along the road
Til the man said "Move along,
Keep going til you cross the county line
Keep going til your spirit's broke
And the life has left your soul,
Keep going til you've even lost your pride."
Not my pride
We worked the land
Til it blew away
No flag of justice stood unfurled
Just to work with two strong hands
And a back can take a load
These things I bring into this world
And I don't owe the man
A single dime
Already taken all I own
My home, my land, my dreams
My shadow's wall
My life undone, my seeds unsown
But I will not play dead
And I won't go away
I'll raise my fist in your bloody face
There's thousands of us now
Lost on the road
Our only thoughts of a resting place
Water to Wine
So many questions
Laid on my doorstep
Like vapor from a bottle
I need them for courage
To wander through armies
To seek out pure senses
Wrenched from an ocean
Of conflated dreams
Stoned in the valleys
Stoned on the hilltop
Tapped out and playing for time
And I'm waiting for Jesus
To come along, and change my water to wine
Scandal enlargement
Escaping detection
An offered escarpement
Defender in need
These unhappy endings
Are bound for confusion
There's no getting round it
There's a crisis to feed
Destiny's bitch is
Along for the story
We want her spirit to climb
So I'm waiting....
There's a red El Camino
Will take us to glory
The light of a thousand suns
Burns in our eyes
Wranglers attending
Fill up our heads and our souls
With a bucket from which hopes arise
Morning will find us
Awaiting instruction
Queued up a staircase
To uncertain quarters
Some rooms for jesting
Some rooms for dreaming
Some rooms for screaming
When all hope is lost
Unreal expectations lead to
Major disappointment
Yet I'm holding the line
While I'm waiting....
Laid on my doorstep
Like vapor from a bottle
I need them for courage
To wander through armies
To seek out pure senses
Wrenched from an ocean
Of conflated dreams
Stoned in the valleys
Stoned on the hilltop
Tapped out and playing for time
And I'm waiting for Jesus
To come along, and change my water to wine
Scandal enlargement
Escaping detection
An offered escarpement
Defender in need
These unhappy endings
Are bound for confusion
There's no getting round it
There's a crisis to feed
Destiny's bitch is
Along for the story
We want her spirit to climb
So I'm waiting....
There's a red El Camino
Will take us to glory
The light of a thousand suns
Burns in our eyes
Wranglers attending
Fill up our heads and our souls
With a bucket from which hopes arise
Morning will find us
Awaiting instruction
Queued up a staircase
To uncertain quarters
Some rooms for jesting
Some rooms for dreaming
Some rooms for screaming
When all hope is lost
Unreal expectations lead to
Major disappointment
Yet I'm holding the line
While I'm waiting....
Mother Jones
Cuckoo
Lover of Man
Cold wind tonight
Won't get much sleep
Remember our last encounter
Your tongue cut so deep
All through December
West Hollywood
You started dancing at the KitKat
I pretended it was all good
Then that gig in Fallbrook
You held your breathe
I started using again
You cut me off, it was a winter's death
Don't shoot me where I stand
I'm a lover of man
There's a greater harm, you say
Don't turn away, don't turn away
I don't even have a plan
I'm just a lover of man
Don't shoot me anywhere
I cannot tolerate a steely blade
Or any words that seek to rend me
I won't exonerate
Instigate, conflagrate, create
This living......tribulation
Starlight tonight
Shine like the day
The light is coming for me
Show me the way
I'm ready for my personal God
Touch me
Oh, baby, I see your face
In every stranger's face I see
Don't shoot me.....
Won't get much sleep
Remember our last encounter
Your tongue cut so deep
All through December
West Hollywood
You started dancing at the KitKat
I pretended it was all good
Then that gig in Fallbrook
You held your breathe
I started using again
You cut me off, it was a winter's death
Don't shoot me where I stand
I'm a lover of man
There's a greater harm, you say
Don't turn away, don't turn away
I don't even have a plan
I'm just a lover of man
Don't shoot me anywhere
I cannot tolerate a steely blade
Or any words that seek to rend me
I won't exonerate
Instigate, conflagrate, create
This living......tribulation
Starlight tonight
Shine like the day
The light is coming for me
Show me the way
I'm ready for my personal God
Touch me
Oh, baby, I see your face
In every stranger's face I see
Don't shoot me.....
About these tunes:
These songs were written and recorded over a 2 year period with the help of a number of musicians, most notably John Dalrymple and Paul Stanton, stalwarts of the Portland music scene. Some of their cronies in Seymour, Jim Badenoch, drums, Bill Piland, bass, and Steve Karakas on accordion, helped out as well. Dalrymple and Stanton played electric guitars on all tunes. J.D. played mandolin on W to W and keyboards on Love Song. Steve Cameron played drums on Wooley Band, Water to Wine, and Lover of Man