this church

This church is stone,

so full of empty

that to kneel

is hard as bone.

Inside this church 

a cold air rushes
through from arch

to arch to arch.

This church was built

of weight and stone,

of stone on stone

and space between.

Now all the weight

is lifted off.
Watch each stone shift
and float away.

migrant blues

the country we grew up in

does not exist anymore

the country we grew up in

does not exist anymore

the home that we were born in - 

had strange men kicking at the door

we have seen the people vanish

we have seen the people die

we have seen the people vanish

we have seen the people die

we have nothing left to stay for

and the tide is rolling high  

one more for the boat, sir

one more for the sea,

one more for the boat, sir

one more for the sea,

one more for the wind, sir

one more 

for life 

in a new country

is there room for my child, sir?

is there room enough for me?

is there room for my child, sir?

is there room enough for me?

one more for the wind, sir

one more 

for life 

in a new country

Hold on to your children

Hold on to your skin

Hold on to your children

Hold on to your skin

For a fistful of money

Somebody will always take you in

We may die on the water

We may die in the dark

We may die on the water

We may die in the dark

Our graves may be the open sea

Or a truck in an empty car park

crawling blues

[[ this could be the myth of Robert Johnson's death -- see the notes at the bottom ]]

[Verse 1]
Take another man's wife
But leave his liquor on the shelf
Take another man's wife
But leave his liquor on the shelf
If he offers you a whisky
You best open that bottle yourself

[Verse 2]
Tip your hat to the stranger
Tip your hat to the foe
Tip your hat to the stranger
Tip your hat to the foe
Check the shape of his skull
See where those horns might grow

[Chorus]
Seen a grown man crawl
Craw-ling / on his / hands and / knees
Seen a grown man crawl
Craw-ling / on his / hands and / knees
He barked like a dog
And he died, he died like a disease/

[Verse 3]
Pour a sweet one for your baby
Pour a strong one for your host
Pour a sweet one for your baby
Pour a strong one for your host
Pour yourself a long, cool water
Or you may travel home a ghost

[all sorts of silly guitar things go here]

[Chorus]

[Verse 1]

[Coda]
Corn whisky make a man forget his own name
Corn whisky make a man forget his own shame
Corn whisky make a man forget the lies you tell
Corn whisky make a man forget he's in hell
etc.

[[ horned = devil + cuckold ]]

[[ Bring your own bottle, pour one out for your girl and your host -- trust neither ]]

[[

The song finishes with a stomping song about drinking whisky. Because why not?

There's a story (and I mean story) about how Robert Johnson died from drinking poisoned corn whisky given him by the husband of a woman he'd been flirting with:

http://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Robert_Johnson

Recollection survives that Johnson died after drinking whiskey poisoned with strychnine, allegedly given to him by the jealous husband of a lover. Fellow blues singer Sonny Boy Williamson II claimed to have been present the night of Johnson's poisoning. Williamson said that Johnson crawled on his hands and knees "howling and barking like a dog," later dying in Williamson's arms. Another, perhaps more credible, report was given by Johnson's temporary musical partner, David "Honeyboy" Edwards, who had teamed up with Johnson for a regular "gig" at the Three Forks juke joint near Greenwood, Mississipi. According to Edwards, the man who ran the juke joint became convinced that his wife had become involved with Johnson and determined to get rid of him. Johnson temporarily recovered from the initial poisoning, but soon died, on August 16, 1938, in Greenwood.

Could be true, could be totally made up. Everything is a story.

]] 

How far apart

Did you see that flash?

Was it just the lightning?

Or are the bombs

coming down again?

Did you hear that sound?

Was it only thunder?

Or are the guns 

coming round again?

Can you count the seconds

between the flash and the thunder?

And wonder

how far away?

And wonder

what comes today?

How far apart are

the flash and the thunder? 

How far apart are

the flesh and the wonder? [[ the body and the mind, the base instincts and the higher instincts and reasoning ]]

Dracula's Castle

[[ dance song -- or vampires going out for the night ]]

I fix my face

I fix my lips

just one last time

Before I step

into the night

to find my crime

Poor little you

What can you do?

You cannot see

what this world is coming to

I fix my eyes 

upon your eyes

I say your name

to hypnotize...

poor little you 

What can you do?

You do not know

the trap you've come into   

I fix my face

I fix my lips

upon your flesh

grandfather never

grandfather never [[ as if that's his name ]]

quite back from the war 

went to the corner store

never came back again [[ vanished again ]]

found him out gibbering 

under a bush

gave him high voltage

to lay him out low

grandfather never

sees machines coming

knows where he's been

there's a village back there

the other side

[[ I sometimes write about boundaries, membranes, layers
I also sneak alternate readings into it. In this case, someone is walking on water and talking about life on the other side, crossing to the other side, and looking down through the ice to life on the other side.
 ]]

I remember the snow

I remember the cold

We would watch our words 

each turn to cloud 

In the middle of the winter

we would walk to the river

hold hands [[ there would be a musical pause here, a shift... and then they step off ]] 

and step off this earth

and walk across this river

step off solid earth 

and walk to the other side

we would brush clear the ice

to watch the world float under

we would clear the smooth ice

to watch a reflection of sky 

and watch the fish swim

there was life on the other side

This highway

1st gear:
This highway snakes
through dark and day
before heading to town.

Look in its eyes,
you forget your way,
where you were going.

2nd gear:

Some towns, this highway
runs right through and cuts them in half.

Some towns, this highway
abandons and leaves them to wither.

How would you rather die?
Split down the middle?
Or missed all together?

3rd gear:
This town, the highway
just rolled over smooth.

This town isn't even
a sign in the wilderness anymore.

This town, the highway
punched a hole through and let out all the air.

4th gear:

This town, it tunnels under
This town, it wraps around
It squeezes the last living breath right out of this town

2nd gear:

Some towns...

1st gear:

This highway snakes...

[[ instrumental up to... ]]

5th gear:

Check your mirror:
the highway you follow
follows you.

[[ New highways kill a town two ways -- they run right through it and take everything away, or they go around it so no one ever bothers driving through that town anymore. Either way, the town dies. ]]

Five-and-Dime

Verse 1:
Here comes the river,
taking a new way,
way she never took before.
Old mother river
looks in my window.
Old mother pounding at my door.

Chorus:
There's a reason
(there is a reason)
put that cemetery on a hill.
This river
(old mother river)
she will never have her fill.

Verse 2:
Here comes the next town,
tumbling down river,
one lost shoe at a time.
One empty beer can,
one bent umbrella,
then the whole whirling five-and-dime.

rain on the mountains

[[verse 1]]

I am come down from the mountains...

Mountains, rumble in my blood
I'll break the bank
in every town
along the way

I am the flood (I am the flood)
And I will wash
(And I will wash)
wash you all away

[[verse 2]]

I am come down from the heavens...

Rivers, gather in my heart
We'll break the back
of every doubt
we meet today

Before we tear this world apart
And I will wash
(And I will wash)
wash you all away


[[verse 3]]

I am the bolt from the blue...

I am the answer to no prayer
You will be struck
before your ears
can hear my thunder

I am plucked out of the air
To lift all boats
(To lift all boats)
or send them under

[[refrain]]

Do you know how far
this rain has fallen?
Do you know how far
this river has run?

Do you know this sun
will burn it all away?
Do you know this rain...
will come again?

[[fade]]

||: ||: rain on the mountains :|| x3
there's a flood coming down :|| xX

[[This one is Flood personified -- the "I" is the flood and storm and so on. It's secular gospel, with plenty of room left for a religious interpretation if that's what you wanted to do with it, though the religion in question could as easily be Zeus & Co.]]

I took a train

A1.
I took a train (she took a train)
because I could not stand a plane
(she took a train) I took a train
because I just refuse to use an automobile.

A2.
I took a train (she took a train)
the time and place, I am not sayin'
(she took a train) I took a train
I think I dreamed through Mississippi with Lucille.

A3.
I took a train (she took a train)
I do not think it has a name
(she took a train) I took a train
I cannot say this train is actually really real.

B1.
I took a train (she took a train)
To see America once again
To see America
eye to eye
one more day

C1.
There's no conductor on the train
No sacks of mail, just pouring rain
Washing the outside world away

C2.
How far we'll go, I could not say
This train is burning yesterday
This train is burning yesterday

B2.
Get a drink at the bar
And from the observation car
I see America
city by city
fade away

I see America
city by city [town by town, field by field, depending on how many times we've sung this thing]
fade away

etc.

[[

I hope the song works regardless of anything you know beforehand, but the plan is:

1. It's a train song, but a train on no real line. Lucille is and isn't B.B. King's guitar. This train got the disappeared railroad blues, which is why it's got no conductors or mail, and it's burning yesterday.

2. Maybe "he" or "she" makes little difference to the song (except for slight possible implications about Lucille), but it might be interesting to think of Gladys Knight (and the Pips singing "she...") in a duet with... Willie Nelson? Ha! Midnight Train to New Orleans. Or maybe this should be a Bonnie Raitt song.

2. The Pips are parenthetical (woo! woo!), as in https://genius.com/Gladys-knight-and-the-pips-midnight-train-to-georgia-lyrics  

This is not a script for a video, but if it were, imagine we picked up Willie and friends along the way, let him sing his piece (Cx) with or without Gladys as we take the train through middle America, drop him off, and then let Gladys and Co. have that drink (B2) as the train heads into the sunset and for the coast.

I don't know whether she's leaving America behind or America itself is fading away or both or whether it's all a simple bottle of nostalgia and silliness. If it was a video, they would be at the back of a train heading west, in an ornate observation car watching the setting sun shine on America before it heads over the Pacific... ]]

A Christmas Carol

[[ I suppose this is easier to look at as a poem than as a song, but it's a Christmas carol of sorts. In summer a water strider prefigures the birth of Christ. Maybe this is the birth of bug-eating John the Baptist. Then, a half year after, when water turns to stone, Mary the bursting girl says his name. ]]

In liquid summer,

surface tension:

a strider

bending light.  

A silver circle 

under sky:

fish dart at

beating wings.

Round the sun,

water to stone

transfigures

in the change.

At the cleaving

of the year, 

song is sung and

bell is rung

for universe

on either side:

for animal,

for spirit cloud.

Set to burst,

a girl sobs,

then says a name

in rising steam.

in our lonely bones

in our lonely bones

we believe in ghosts

we cannot believe

we were nothing before

we are only now

we are nothing after

we cannot take comfort

in that being true

in being that true

a spark in the infinite

nothing

we cannot accept

we are only sparrows

briefly warming ourselves

and then flung out of doors

we cannot believe

what we know to be true

in our bones

we believe our only ghosts

in our lonely bones

we believe in ghosts

two by two

[[ I hear this one played by a Big Band, but it could just as easily be a lone acoustic guitar or a piano, just as long as it's a happy dance number for couples. ]]


Chorus:
Two by two came the crocodiles
Two by two, the giraffes
Two by two, the hyenas,
who are always good for laughs.

Two by two ...
- with a snarl
- with a smile
- down the garden path
- down the aisle

Verse 1:
When Noah built the ark and stowed the crocodiles below
He knew he had a place where Mrs Noah wouldn't go
So down he went to smoke his pipe and play his harp at night
To crocodiles with miles of smiles in Noah's candlelight.

Bridge:
And Noah sang a song about the sunshine of his youth
Six hundred years before the rains came down
When he would stroll the countryside with Zipporah or Ruth
And later take her all the way to town

Chorus:
||: Two by two :||  etc.

Verse 2:
When Noah sang his song, he beat the rhythm on the rug,
And sixteen thousand animals, each goat and cat and bug,
Would pair up with its mate and start to dance the dance of life.
Then Noah went upstairs to do some dancing with his wife.

Bridge:
And Noah sang a song ...

Chorus:
||: Two by two :||  etc.

Verse 3:
Now when the rain stopped falling and the clouds began to pass,
The sea spread out for miles and miles, as smooth as any glass.
But that old ark kept rocking on the shiny, briny sea.
Where all us happy creatures danced the dance of eternity

Bridge:
And Noah sang a song ...

Chorus:
||: Two by two :||  etc.

cloverleaf blues

When the devil comes to meet you,

you will walk the edge of the road,

When the devil comes to meet you,

you will walk the edge of the road,

Walk backwards with your thumb out,

look forward to laying down your load.

When the devil comes to meet you,

you'll be walking away from grief,

When the devil comes to meet you,

you'll be walking away from grief,

He won't meet you at the crossroads;

you'll be lost on the clover leaf.

When you go to meet the devil,

you will both be half way home,

When you go to meet the devil,

you will both be half way home,

When he opens the door of his automobile,

keep your eye on the chrome.

[[

cloverleaf as opposed to the crossroads, of course -- this is modernized and more confusing, and the cross has been twisted

the devil drives a Hupmobile

the chrome is gaud and distraction and wealth and a mirror -- watch yourself.

]]

branches in my pathway

[[ I like a straight blues form. This one is literal and allegorical. A real storm, but also the difficulties and decisions in life, and we have an appearance by Bede's sparrow. ]]

verse 1:
I've got branches in my pathway
I've got the wind in my face
I've got branches in my pathway
I've got the wind in my face
Pull one star from the night sky
Leave a darkness in its place

verse 2:
Wind is whistling down the chimney
Wind is whistling down the stair
Wind is whistling down the chimney
Wind is whistling down the stair
Leave a door waiting open
For a thought too hard to bear

middle:
Fly in at one door, sparrow,
Fly out the other

verse 3:
I've got branches in my pathway
I've got my face in the blast
I've got branches in my pathway
I've got my face in the blast
Leaving no trail behind me
And the horizon's coming fast

an experiment come down in a field

[[ A fairly true story from my childhood, when the Bell test pilots used to fly the x-22 over our county -- I really watched it -- and they eventually crashed one in a field behind a school friend's house. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bell_X-22 ]]

Many years later,

I tracked down a name,

a man named McAllister,

who said we were friends.

I no longer remember 

the days that we spent.

An experiment

come down

in a field

Out behind houses.

This we remember.

No longer ourselves,

but this we remember

An experiment

come down

in a field

A Mustang pulled up

to the edge of a field

with a mother and child

and a wreck in the field,

fallen from the sky,

and the grass on fire.

News crews take it in

and honest to god

government men

watch us watching them

and the thing from the sky

we now draw for our children.

When we were children

we used to watch it

flying over corn fields

flying over cows

He said I'd been to his birthday

We were best friends that year

I have no recollection, 

of childhood anymore

tell me more, Mr McAllister,

tell me who I used to be.

submarine races

Don't wait up, dad.

Kerrie is gone

to the submarine races

and she won't be back

any time soon.

Running the battery

down with the radio.

Running the engine

to keep themselves warm.

Don't be angry, mom

they didn't mean to be out late.

Don't be angry, dad

they didn't mean to fall asleep,

fall asleep.

[[ This one is from life (and from death), about a 15-year-old girl from our school, our grade, who went parking with her boyfriend. They left the engine running and she died of carbon monoxide poisoning. I think he lived, somehow. ]]

popular mechanics

City of the future, 

fish bowled over, 

always warm weather.

Look where someone

takes a glider

from a hanger,

and rises on air

rises on a column of air

Look where someone

takes a sail boat

from a slip

and sails on a sea

sails on an inland sea

artificial thunder,

alternate Sundays,

designated storm days 

early in the morning

daring men and women

braving the elements

city of the future,

how will we fit here?

where will we sit here?

city of the future,

what is there for us?

no one will pay us

who will pay for

these engineered dreams?

[[ this is images of the future as seen in old magazines like Popular Mechanics and Popular Science, and then wondering how real people will fit into this future ]] 

what is it like?

what is it like

to be a bat?

ah.

is it how it is

to be a tiger?

the same surmise

comes into play

how it is to be 

always the question

it is how it is

to be how it is

[[ from the Thomas Nagel essay at first, but it drifts away ]]