listen to this record

 

listen to this record

her ghost is in the crackle

listen to her crackle

all up and down Chicago

listen to Chicago

the crackle of a record you've heard before

she ain't asking no one in particular

she is questioning the air

the crunch of thunder

the clarity of lightning

so we never forget

the old days 

when real men was

would listen to jazz

what it is 

what it is 

what it was 

stay up till dawn

then walk out of this place 

believing in ghosts

American ghosts outlasting 

their ramshackle castles

American ghosts out standing 

where their cities used to be

don't look up to the stars

heaven protect 

children and sailors

sailors and drunken men

somewhere past the Kuiper belt

past the ring of babies unbaptized

where a star is just any star

that's where you'll see her

curled in smoke

don't look up to the stars

this nothing is permanent

this one is burning

(this one is burning so bright)

this one is glowing

(this one will not last the night)

the only forever is 

a nothing about nothingness

but that was all

before your time

this one's a baby

(this one is burning so bright)

this one is dying

(this one will not last the night)

the light in your eyes is

a prehistoric instinct

but that was all

before your time

this one exploded

(this one is burning so bright)

this one's forever

(this one will not last the night)

that star was extinguished

a million years ago

but that was all

before your time

heaven protect 

children and sailors 

sailors and drunken men 

a knock at midnight

[[ Vague. Either it's about a tangible, imminent threat to someone, or it's about some foggy threat, maybe depression. 

keep your door chained and bolted 

keep the curtains drawn

keep yourself from the windows

keep your head down

keep yourself safe, baby doll

no one else can save your skin

if you hear a knock at midnight

don't let the night get in

keep your secret for tomorrow

keep your head for tonight

keep your tongue and keep quiet 

keep your leash tight

keep yourself safe, baby doll

no one else can save your skin

if you hear a knock at midnight

don't let the night get in

intentional love song 19: this is how you fall in love

[[ This could be a silly little old-fashioned song with some flighty young thing dodging the advances of a Maurice Chevalier type, or it could be a thing of menace with an awful creeper pushing himself on her. Or both. Is she feeling safe and free to choose? Or is she actually in a scary spot and feeling like she has no choice? And play with the genders to get interesting results: she's a he and he's a she, or two women, or two men. ]]

oh, look at the time

oh, how it's getting late

oh, here comes my train 

oh, get me out of here, out of here,

oh, here comes my fate

this is where a girl should be careful

what was I thinking of?

this is where a boy could be a handful

this is how you fall in love

oh, look at the time

oh, how it's getting late

oh, there goes my train 

oh, get me out of here, out of here,

oh, here comes my fate

this is where a girl should be careful

what was I thinking of?

this is where a boy could be more than a handful

this is how you fall in love

this is where a girl should be careful
this is where a girl should be coy

this is where a girl should be forceful

this is where a girl should be

this is where a girl should be

this is where a girl should be

this is how you fall in love 

unmolested

I'm not a talker 

but tonight 

we can talk

let's get outside and 

find a place 

we can walk 

let's find a place we can walk back time 

let's find a place we can walk unmolested

if it's not too late 

if it's not too late 

i am swimming and breathing in this atmosphere

maybe just one more beer 

let me bend your ear

i am gasping and grasping collapsing in this atmosphere

let's get right out of here
let me lend you an arm, my dear

singing at the end of the world

now it's never
dark at night

long midsummer
in my mind

morning dose of
fool euphoria

then alone till
late at night

light still burning
in my head

---

birds are singing
even here

even at the
end of the world

birds are singing
birds are singing

let's go out to
where the birds are

singing at the
end of the world

an evening of possibilities

[[ from a photo I saw -- New York City, 1943, with signs as described in the verses. This should be big band, jazz, a dance number in an old movie.  ]]

[[bridge, chorus, and other repetitive apparatus]]

night!

night is coming

night is coming on

night is coming on for us all

this is an evening

of possibilities,

my friend

rain!

rain is falling

rain may stop right now

rain may fall forever on us all

we could go down

to the subway

where the parallel
rails never meet

we could walk on

in the rain

where the universe

shines in the street

let's share an umbrella

[[verse 1]]

See that sign?

"Johnnie Walker",

three stories high.

We could go buy

Johnnie Walker

and drink it tonight.

Three stories high,

my friend.

[[verse 2]]

See that sign?

"Saludos, Amigos"

on the marquee?

We could watch

the dancing alpaca,

we could snort

at 'Lake Titicaca',

my friend.

[[verse 3]]

See that sign?

"The Human Comedy"

larger than life.

we could enjoy

the Human Comedy

I can't promise you

Andy Hardy tonight,

my friend.

get out of this night

[[ escaping the immediate (literal) or escaping life (figurative) ]]

I'm only trying to get a taxi out of here

I'm only trying to make myself disappear

I'm only trying to leave this city behind

Before I catch that ride

I need to get out of this night

I'm only searching for a crosstown bus

I'm only searching for a way out of us

I'm only trying to leave my trouble behind

Before I catch that ride

I need to get out of this night

I can't walk any further

I can't walk any further

I can't walk any further

someone get me out of here

someone carry me away from here

I'm only hoping for a ride from a friend

I'm only hoping for this whole thing to end

I'm only trying to leave this world behind

Before I catch that ride

I need to get out of this night

intentional love song 6: bird at night

[[ moving old props around the stage ]]

what's the bird that sings at night?

poems rhyme about nightingales

but it's winter here and cold

and I don't think we have nightingales

in our trees

so what's the bird that sang just now?

now the cars have all gone

and the trains have shut down

and everyone else has drifted away

in the freeze?

every song has a moon

when you're up all night and lonely

every song has a moon and stars

when your days are right

all my songs have only you

and we're all alone

think I'll go out to hear that bird

if that bird hasn't flown away 

don't lock the door behind me

I'm just going to see what I hear

I won't take the keys

xmas 1: some other creature

Down in the stables,
animal talk
is an everyday thing,
and animals walk

still wet and finding
the length of their limbs
as the day softens
and the light dims,

opening night
to that star overhead,
and some other creature
in a straw bed.

what do you see in the dark?

[[ Mine work, mine family.  ]]

daddy comes up 

from working the mine

black as sin

mama goes to him 

and strips him and 

scours his skin

come on up, daddy, 

and we can have breakfast

leave off that dirty old work

come and cheer mama up 

tell us a story

what do you see in the dark,

my daddy?

what do you see in the dark?

daddy works nights 

and comes out of the ground  

with the sun

mama feeds daddy

then says come to bed,

your day's done

come on up, daddy, 

and we can have breakfast

leave off that dirty old work

come and cheer mama up 

tell us a story

what do you see in the dark,

my daddy?

what do you see in the dark?

home by night

[[ A pretty regular song about lovers, one driving home to the other because they can't wait to see each other, but maybe some minor ambiguity about lunar madness and whether the wolf is any potential unknown enemy of the two lovers, or the wolf is the lover racing to get the lover at home, or the wolf is the lover waiting at home in bed like the wolf waited for Red Riding Hood. What big ears you have! ]]

nothing more peaceful than 

home by night

sensible people are 

home by night

home before wolves 

stumble out of the wood

home before wolves 

tumble Red Riding Hood

Wait for me there

on the edge of the bed

I'm halfway there in my head

Put on some music, 

my favorite tune

I'm driving under the moon

picture you sitting there  

home by night

combing your shining hair

home by night

safe from the wolves 

roaming out of doors

safe from the wolves 

of the metaphors

Wait for me there

on the edge of the bed

I'm halfway there in my head

Put on some music, 

my favorite tune

I'm driving under the moon

ring of stones

at the... 

end of the 

actual 

day

when the... 

moon pushes 

through the 

sky

we fold 

our bones

round a ring 

of stones

and talk 

across 

a fire

we talk 

across 

a fire

we wonder how - we will get through the snow

we wonder how - we will carry this load

we wonder how - we will build a new home

we wonder how - we will follow this road

oh, go on

we go on

we can do 

nothing else 

but go on

oh, go on

we go on

and we sing

while we walk

a walking song 

till the... 

end of the 

actual 

day

when the... 

moon pushes 

through the 

sky

we fold 

our bones

round a ring 

of stones

and talk 

across 

a fire

remember how - we would lie in the grass

remember how - we would play by the shore

remember how - we would watch the day pass

remember how - we wanted nothing more


[[ nomads, refugees, wanderers  ]]

lick your fingers

salt and vinegar

on fingertips

smell of hot oil

and sweat 

pools of light 

on the sidewalk

men smoke and steam

in between

women want a 

nowhere to go

lick your fingers

skin me alive

skin me a live animal

what I want is to wear its camouflage
what I want is to wear its fur
what I want is to hear it screaming
while I purr

skin me a live animal

what I want is more juice in the vein
what I want is more smoke in the lung
what I want is to wear the animal
skin and fuck

skin me a live animal

take me to Vienna, you fool, and immediately
take me while a shop girl looks me in the eye
take me to the dead end of some other century
take me exactly to midnight, then leave me to die

[[ 

1. With obvious play on "skin me a live animal" and "skin me alive, animal". 

2. The narrator possibly is not a native speaker and may have fallen out of a time machine. She is louche, one-eyed, absinthed. 

3. I don't know why any of this. I think someone wants back to fin de siècle Vienna. Someone with a lust for blood and a lust for lust. And one clouded eye? 

]]

pressing refresh

weather so nice, 

but I am at midnight 

pressing refresh

how I wait for

the end of the world

hovering over F5

feather bed soft, 

but I am at midnight 

pressing refresh

woman says come

but I am at midnight 

pressing refresh

[[ 

"I am at midnight" -- literally at midnight but also the Doomsday Clock (real or something personal?)

"how I wait for" -- literally how, but also hints at, perversely, "how I long for"

Anyway, there it is.

]]

monsters at night

beware the ladies' tea on Sundays

beware the patrol car on the prowl

beware the crowd of good white people

beware the cowl beneath the scowl 

there are monsters at night

monsters stand round your bed

monsters in the daylight

monsters in the little things they said

beware the quota and the red line

beware the diminisher of dreams

beware the doubt beneath the surface

beware the is beneath the seems

beware the simple routine questioning 

beware the lineup at the fence

beware the cameras malfunctioning

beware the miraculous evidence 

episodic

at midnight

of midnight

who has the password
to sleep?

boil water

on the fire

make tea

and see it steam.

the animal

awake with you --

eye back
the other eye.

Lunar Blues

[slow, relaxed, romantic]
All we have in common
is that moon pasted yellow on the sky
All we have in common
is that moon pasted yellow on the sky
Better get to what we came for
'Fore we tell that yellow moon goodbye.

Close the window to the night air
The birds will all be singing soon
Close the window to the night air
The birds will all be singing soon
And don't forget to pull the curtains
on that sneaky old man in the moon.

[a bit faster...]
Baby, watch the clock
Time runs faster than you fear
Baby, watch the clock
Time runs faster than you fear
Better check your almanac
The shortest evening of the year

[vinegar strokes instrumental]

[resolution]
I will slip out your window
and head down the road with the moon
I will slip out your window
and head down the road with the moon
but I won't forget you, honey,
or this moon in June soon...

[[ then back to the top and fade ]]

A parade of freak

[[ the people who wander home up the middle of the empty street after closing time or home after the party's over -- I see them when I'm up late at my desk facing on to the street or when they're doing the walk of shame in the morning ]]

Just when the calm

comes down,

Just when the sky

is clear,

Just when a dome

of stars rolls over

all our home...

A parade of freak [sic]

Walk down our street

Hand in hand

Foot by feet [sic]

Muscle and bone

Bone and meat 

Talking meat

Screaming meat

Walking home

When the world is done

Closing down

One by one

A parade of freak [sic]

Just when the moon

moves into view,

Just when today

leaves for the evening,

Just when the all alone

becomes all

and alone...

A parade of freak [sic]

Walk down our street

Hand in hand

Foot by feet [sic]

Muscle and bone

Bone and meat 

Talking meat

Screaming meat

Walking home

When the world is done

Closing down

One by one

A parade of freak [sic]

Here comes our darling

Walking the all alone

Finally finding home

In the plain of day

Missing the whole parade

In a gaze of "Hey,

Look what the cat dragged

Look what the cat dragged

Look what the cat dragged

Look what the cat dragged..."

A parade of freak...