lyrics
Gitche Gumee
i’d woolen attire, head to feet
madness left behind, Twin Cities
if only for if only a week
as a boy’s intended to be
the kingdom of my youth is the north shore in autumn time
orange painted the leafs, october
bonfire upon the pebbled shores
paddle in the morn a birch canoe
beckoning the lone calling loon
the kingdom of my youth is the north shore in autumn time
my lady of the lake a child’s life you’ve shaped
love for the wild places
gitche gumee
gitche gumee
~~~~~~
Better with a Buddy
i keep candles and wine in the cellar neath by kitchen floor
and i have 12 croquet mallets but only one of them is worn
i’d share it all with you, just to have a buddy
to Spain, France, and Italy i went, alone
crossed the shamrock shore and sliced the last frontier in half
left my Minnesotan town and headed for the west and only once did I look back
Solitude is fine, as is a buddy
down on a knee i have sung for the queen with the entirety of her court, attentive
i’ve played the streets to a river of bodies, to the rushing of the people in the night
i’d trade a 1000 passerby's for a single buddy
it seems as though the older we grow we understand what we like and what we don’t
and knowing that i’m young and i’ve many a day to come
still i’m happy to speak of my discoveries
that a life is a more better with a buddy..
~~~~~~~
Kandinksy
“all the world’s amalgamated with flecks of color and super natural floating landscapes set before your roving eyes and picture boards: golden ages, castle people, a pauper life and a priest uniting, sitting down at your kitchen table, the social classes clash no more
after all you know there will never be anything as lovely as the way you paint your child’s face
all the work i’ve ever made is my attempt to finally escape intellectual chaperones and paint from a place where no one goes”
he says “pointillistic manners overtly speak in a cryptic language both vague and subtle yet somehow we do understand, yet somehow we do understand
after all you know there will never be anything as lovely as the way you paint your child’s face
~~~~~~~
Son
i know your story and how it haunts you everyday
just as a schoolboy you roam the halls for your great escape
poor retched creature chanting out against the night
what care dost thou retain in the madness of your heart?
so speak wanderer, what harbors you here?
“it’s the rustling of the reeds
the fulfillment in a service or a duty
a warm september breeze
the occasional lilt of a minstrel boy
oh the simple joys that fill the honest hearts of honest boys”
don’t you wanna make her proud?
don’t you wanna make her proud?
don’t you every mother’s son with all the life you’ve been given?
don’t you wanna make mom proud?
don’t you wanna make him proud?
don’t you wanna make him proud?
don’t you every father’s son yearn his validation?
don’t you wanna make dad proud?
peace on every mother’s son
may he always know kindness and union
peace on every father’s son
may the dreams of his youth be forever sung
~~~~~~~~
The Wild & the Untamed
finally your hair was hanging low, low and braided days ago
i found you hid neath the hay, there we remained til the dawning of day…
she said, “you will never be my burly man, instead a ballerina dance throughout the kitchen lacking pants and still i will forever love this man”
all i can offer is who i am
enchant the world perceived untamed and wildly as children do
and do it often please..
up until the furthest edge of night, a naughty poem to write then recite
there i do stand lengthy and light and still you will forever love me, right?
all i can offer is who i am
enchant the world perceived untamed and wildly as children do
and do it often please..
i would never ask of you to re-arrange your attributes
claim your own and call it mutiny
all I can offer is who I am
enchant the world perceived untamed and wildly as children do
and do it often please..
~~~~~~~
The Jolly Road
take the road through Cambridge town
past the miller and his creek
meet me where the two roads twine
in a golden field of wheat
in brotherhood this life we’ll wend
over fallow and field
we’ll speak not a word but we’ll sing each verse
to attain a lighter load
to adhere The Jolly Road
see that I stay good and true
as you’ve known me to be
see that I still keep my song among the rowdy and free
still the dividing line ponder I from time to time
where the fool and prophet is defined
must a man who follows his dream grow mad?
ring around the rowan tree with keen eyes and clever feet
where art thine trusty tarnished compass rose
even The Jolly Road at times through tangled wood may wind
~~~~~~~~
Shenandoah
oh Shenandoah I long to hear you, I long to feel you
oh missouri is a mighty river
far away you rolling river
with natives camped along her boarder
away we’re bound away across the wide missouri
yes a white man he loved a native maiden
far away you rolling river
with notions his canoe was laden
away we’re bound away across the wide missouri
oh Shenandoah i love your daughter
far away you rolling river
for her i would cross the open water
away we’re bound away across the wide missouri
oh Shenandoah i’m bound to leave you
far away you rolling river
oh Shenandoah i won’t deceive you
away we’re bound away across the wide missouri
even today why do we meddle?
spilling blood of red and white people
and why can’t I wed my own true love?
away we’re bound away across the wide missouri
Gone
gone the english word for never getting back
what you have loved but after the fact
i was a fool at the wrong time
never again will she be mine
damn did i exchange a true lover for
the jubilee in hopes of something more
i’d hit the road with a low level folk band
through the midwest in a shitty van
gone the one i call my love
gone the one i call my faye
it is hard to know what matters most
when you’re caught up in it all
if there’s anything i’ve ever known
it is good to know what you’ve got before it’s gone
word the english word all clever in a line
adorned with a tune then i sung it in perfect rhythm
i did look at her the entire time
not ballad nor poem could change her mind
gone the one i call my love
gone the one i call my faye
it is hard to know what matters most
when you’re caught up in it all
if there’s anything i've ever known
it is good to know what you’ve got before it’s gone
gone the one i call my love
gone the one i call my faye
it’s hard to know what matters most
when you’re caught up in it all
If there’s anything i’ve ever known
it is good to know what you’ve got before it’s gone
Grassy Knoll
I didn’t come to meet a fight
Might have learned from a past life (what’s that?) I can’t say for sure
But something I do know is something that you know, we’re inclined to be difficult every once in awhile
I know we’re all sister and brother
But did you ever wish hell on another? I have and I know that it hurts
But something I do know is something that you know, the grooviest scenarios are lubricated with love
Here we go
Down by the river
Cold mountain creek
Old Grassy Knoll
Love what you find, honey, find what you love
Know that all you find is a part of you
If we know why do we fight it?
Like when our demons get us caught up in some psychic Chinese finger trap
The way’s not out it’s closer together we’re never gonna make it trying to do this thing all by our selves
Here we go
Down by the river
Cold mountain creek
Old Grassy Knoll
Love what you find, honey, find what you love
Know that all you find is a part of you
Did you again let the internet leech your love for this world?
Oh boy, you’ve been a naughty girl
Don’t you dare come in here with that sassy look spread all upon your face
For you know how it electrifies the room
Here we go
Down by the river
Cold mountain creek
Old Grassy Knoll
Love what you find, honey, find what you love
Know that all you find is a part of you
Casanova
Another phase came and went
You still resist our conditioning
What is left you must defend
Casanova, Casanova
I′ve made the good attempt to reconstruct my love
But it feels the same
I feel the same
I feel the same
As we walked about the land
The garden shed and the contra band
We swore to plant the field with
Chamomile just for the slumber
That might delay the falling of that heavy blanket we call time
But it never did
Nope, it never does
I still see in your eyes all the love you held inside
Forlorn but dignified
All the years you never cried
So now we're left with
All that was said but what was meant
There′s nothing quite like walking away in love
Have we moved into the past?
Did not know that this wouldn't last
10 years to realize, damnit D I'm late to deliver
The looming ambiguity that hung above our heads since the beginning
Some stories
Some stories never die
I still see in your eyes all the love you held inside
Forlorn but dignified
All the years you never cried
So now we′re left with
All that was said but what was meant
There′s nothing quite like walking away in love
Can't have it all for free
Never one for polyamory
Still feel you broke some creed when you fucked Cowboy at hidden beach
Split town drove up the coast
Fistfull of shrooms, without a phone
To ruminate the way we tend to slight the ones that love us most
Chop Saw
Chop Saw
Jig Saw
Hack Saw
Sawzall
Seesaw
I saw
You court another
Dididi didi di dididididi
Dididi didi di dididididi
Gave 8 days of a week
Laid rare flowers at your feet
Do you know what it's like to build a house for the vagabond lover?
Do you know what it's like to be a chef for the insatiable lover?
Dididi didi di dididididi
Dididi didi di dididididi
Fool try to change the nature of a queen
Fool try to hydrate water
Do you know what it's like to dig a hole for Warden Louise Walker?
Do you know what it's like to give a horse and still come up short?
Chop Saw
Jig Saw
Hack Saw
Sawzall
Seesaw
I saw
You courting another
Dididi didi di dididididi
Animal
Now you stand on the other shore
Your life all strung out with metaphor
Your eyes still beg to touch again the way we did before
In the flower days
But it′s hard to hide the animal
When just beneath the veil lives the animal
As it writhes and it grasps just like the tentacles
Of a past life you're determined to forget
I dreamed your body a pair of wings
You rose above the canopy
You had seen all that you had gone to see
And you were near yet still out of reach
And you came to me and you breathed into my mouth
And my heart beat so loud
And the light fell low and you were that animal
And our hair had grown so long
Believe me I am of this world
Touch me we′re alive in a body of this world
When you come to my arms around you
It's still a dream
I'm still a mess
I′m still alone
I′m still dressed
Come to me, breath into my mouth
My heart beats so loud
A stranger in the room of your own mind
You drew the dove you drew the sword and the borderline
Was it to spare me and the ones that you left behind
In the wake of your great decline
Come to me and breath into my mouth
And feel my heart so loud
If you need be slow but I want your animal
And to roll in our hair so long
Covered Tower Ivy Hid
I can no more
Bear the noise of Man
So I took to the wood
I had left childhood behind
Every dream inside
A closet I held captive from the outside
And through the years
I lost track of time
What fills that closet now?
So I took to the wood
Like a pheasant from the hound
Like a butcher to blade
The recluse from the crowd
The strangest thing I'd ever seen
A covered tower ivy hid
And there alone a child stood
Calling me
Calling me
Calling me
Calling me
To his room
There inside
Every wall dream inscribed
He told me everything twice
He felt a joy to share his mind
Now I'm old in time
I lost half my life
Shrouding dreams with the practical mind
Choosing words I thought you'd like
Remember when you were just a kid?
You questioned not the way
You wondered all the day
The strangest thing I'd ever seen
A covered tower ivy hid
And there alone a child stood