ANY KIND OF MUSIC AT ALL
Broken guitar string, busted drum head
My microphone just went dead
Waitress just charged me for a glass of water
Been a week and a half since I seen a bed
We’ve had twelve rehearsals in the last two weeks
And the bass man just forgot the key
There aint nothing like the life of a
Rock, pop, country, folk (guitar fill)
Any kind of music at all ---(break)
Traveling band
We were doing 58 in a psychedelic van
When this flashing light flagged us down
This guy in a big hat said, “look here, little man,
We don’t like your kind in our town.”
He said the smoke smelled funny and we didn’t have no money.
He insisted that we hang around.
I got a hundred hit songs in that beat up old book
Just waiting for the world to hear
I mailed 86 copies of a demo tape
Now I aint got the price of a beer
We got a three day gig the week after next
Just need a hundred to get out of here.
It seems there was a party in the castle at Kerrymuir
When all the guests had gone inside, the locks were made secure
Chorus:
Singing now, dance lively, lassies, with your backs against the wall
The bonnie ball at kerrymuir was the ball to end all balls
It started out quite proper but that dinna last, you know
Etiquette - suffered a bit - when the wine began to flow
The baker was invited there to bake his famous pies
He saw a local lassie, and his dough began to rise
The butcher too was invited
The guests would want to eat
He told every lass he happened to pass
Bout the quality of his meat
There was kissing in the parlor, there was necking in the hall
The moans and roars from the second floor were the loudest noise of all
Four and twenty maidens came down from inverness
Before the night was over, the places was maiden-less.
BLESS BEACH MUSIC
When you hear the sound of that skiffle beat
Usually followed by some shuffling feet
When some horns start blowing or a deejay gets going
It’s alive after five on some city street
if you close your eyes - it’ll take you back
to when the damned old sand got in every crack
may the lord bless and keep beach music
far away from me.
Beach music lives forever
Or maybe it just seems that way
Nothing could be finer than south carolina
‘cept anywhere else you might want to stay
under the boardwalk, up on the roof
some nasty looking purple stuff, four hundred proof
may the lord bless and keep beach music
far away from me
I quite wearing plain white t shirts
If you insist, i’ll tell you why
I used to look a little like jimmy dean
Now i’m a full figured kind of a guy
i’ve tried to suck in my stomach
and throw out my chest
but a guy can turn purple
trying to catch his breath
may the lord bless and keep beach music
far away from me
CAUCASIAN BLUES
Blues in E
Woke up this morning
Got to be the opening line
You need to be out of money
And it helps to drink cheap wine
Will it hard to sing the blues
When it seems like nothings really going wrong
Sounds like a partridge family song
Got to write a blues song
If you want to be a star
All you needs an a harp
And three chords on your guitar
But its hard to sing the blues
When everybody knows you’re middle class
Good health and job security
Can really be a pain in the ass
Can’t stand the taste of liquor
My building is smoke free
I’m allergic to cocaine
What the hell’s to become of me
It’s hard to sing the blues
Really hard to really get down
My reputation has preceded me
I was born – on the right side of town
Instrumental 11/2 verses
Yes, it’s hard to sing the blues
When everything is going right
My marriage is secure – my rent is paid
And I’m white.
Northbound highway
Southern scebe
Two miles round the bend
Where the blacktop ends
You can hear the engines scream
There were a mostly-grown woman
And a rebel with a cause
They knew everything they needed to know
But there’s no center line down the middle of a dusty road
(repeat)
Plastic palace
Double wide debt
The only bright lights
Came from working nights at the all day luncheonette
They didn’t seem to mind they were wasting their time
Tomorrow never entered their mind
When you live for today you got to pay on down the line
(repeat)
Same old highway
Same old road
Two miles round the bend
Where the blacktop end
The story will unfold
They were three lost souls
On the rocky road home
No telling what the future might hold
Cause there’s no center line down the middle of a dusty road
ENAMORADA
Hot texas night
Still as a tomb
Blinding sharp light
Poured out of the room
Enamorada
When i stepped through the door
I stepped out of my youth
Racing for answers
With no time for the truth
Enamorada
Her head was thrown back in laughter
Teeth like flashing pearls in a splashing, swirling sea of cinnamon
Breath left my body
A roar filled my ears
As I watched her fingertips -(nc)
Caress him
Farewell to the day
Welcome night - what might have been
Her body still sways
She’s my lover again
FOR WHOM THE BELL TOLLS
(adapted from a poem by john donne)
Life’s but a road - a winding road
Ask for nothing more
You struggle until - the top of the hill
Only to come to the shore
No man is an island - entire in itself
There’s an ocean around us
With a will none can compel.
So never ask - for whom the bell tolls
It tolls for only thee.
GUESS I’M NOT AS YOUNG AS I USED TO BE
Too young – to be so old
Too Good – to be so bad
I surely hope the next good time
Won’t be the last I ever had
Different strokes for different folks
Doesn’t mean what it did back then
I feel about a two point five
On a scale of one to ten
Well, I guess I’m not as young as I used to be
And I prob’ly never will
be again
Rhythm and blues and blue suede shoes
Drive ins on a Friday night
The muscles that I used to use
Are not a pretty sight
I know – things have got to change
Been forever since “Way Back When”
Well, I guess I’m not as young as I used to be
And I prob’ly never will be again
Refrain
Old age is just a state of mind
But the state I used to live in I can’t find
Anymore……………
HUDIE IN 3/4
Colored time is hard time
Down in Sugarland
The summer sun will burn you blind
And the man don’t give a damn, cause he’s got
Double barreled manhood
And steady puts you down
He can’t stand very tall at all
Lessin you are on the ground
Irene was no lady
And I never had a home
Gonna ride that midnight special now
My troubles are almost gone
I played my music down on fannin street
Played it pretty well
But liquor and women – got my head to spinning
And i wound up – playing hell
I wound up on that chain link farm
Where trouble’s all they grow.
Goodbye Louisiana, i simply cant stand you.
Texas will suit me well.
Irene was no lady
And I never had a home
Gonna ride that midnight special now
My troubles are almost gone
I wrote my songs for the ladies
And I played to earn my way.
But the best songs that i ever sang
Were for Pat Neff and OK.
They was governors down in Texas
In twenty four and thirty three
I was serving down in Texas too
But my songs have set me free
Irene was no lady
And neither was my wife
That Midnight Special gonna take me away
From that no-count, sporting life
ALAS, I’M JUST A MAN
If i could be a bird
I would chose to be a dove for you
Soaring high above
And singing countless songs of love to you
Chorus
But alas - i’m just a man
Searching for words you’ll understand
Doing the very best i can
To say i love you
Rainbows fade away
And darkness always follows days of blue
Though day succumbs to night
My timeless, everlasting light is you
KAY LEE TONIGHT
Good friends, good music and a touch of scottish dew
Then we’ll mix a little hieland dancing in to liven up the brew
Lots of stories, sometimes true, ‘bout the legends of the past
And songs of praise about future days of peace and love at last
It’s a kay lee tonight
Welcome one and all
A recipe for good times
And a feast to feed your soul
A wee drop of spirit
A big portion of delight
Scottish hospitality
A kay lee tonight
If you dinna ken your tartan and ya dinna ken your clan
Ya dinna ken the meaning of skin doo, kilt, or sporran
If ya were nae born in scotland and nae have a scottish name
Sit down, have a dram, say slan je vah, now you’re scottish just the same
Chorus
Oh you tak the high road and i’ll tak the low
Songs of rogies, heroes, warriers, and lassies so sublime
Scots wah hae and scotland the brave
Sir harry’s tunes and robbie’s rimes and songs of auld land syne
Chorus
LET’S ROLL
Have you heard the news - there’s no heroes no more
Desperation’s all there is in store.
I got my own philosophy
About a zillion tons of audacity.
Get up, get set, get ready - now - let’s roll
(chorus)
Let’s roll - people, try to see things my way
Let’s roll - city streets - back roads of the highway
If you’re standing still, you’re backing up
And half full’s better than an empty cup
Get up, get set, get ready - now - let’s roll
(anthem)
We’re a giant canvas stretched from sea to sea
A promise of what was and what can be
An unpublished manuscript
Unfinished symphony
Uncom-promised by negativity
(chorus)
Let’s roll - people, try to see things my way
Let’s roll - city streets - back roads of the highway
If you’re standing still, you’re backing up
And half full’s better than an empty cup
Get up, get set, get ready - now - let’s roll
Let's roll ---- let's roll
(breakdown - GEA - finish on)
Let's roll
LIVING’S GONNA BE THE DEATH OF ME
Some days, there’s blue skies all around you
Other days, there’s grey clouds everywhere
Sometimes your optimism will astound you
Other times, you simply don’t care
Just when you think you have all of the answers
That’s when the next dilemma will appear
You realize again
You thought you were wise and then
Reality – interfered
Living’s gonna be the death of me
Challenges as far as you can see
I’m not thrilled with that direction
I had planned on an exception
Living’s gonna be the death of me
I always thought that life owed me a living
A jackpot waiting just beyond the door
I always thought a great word was forgiving
When it’s two words, I like it even more
So I’ll put one foot in front of the other
A little older and maybe wiser too
That jackpot probably won’t be
But that’s OK with me
My songs, my lady and my dreams will see me through
Living’s gonna be the death of me
Not as dramatic as it used to be
I surrender my objection
Though I still hope for an exception
Living’s gonna be the death of me
LONG RANGE FORECAST
Something told me things weren’t gonna turn out good
I still aint sure just why she said they would.
A man can only do so much
For her it never was enough
And i only done a lot more than i could
Everywhere i look looks like despair
Shadows from a lost love everywhere
You can tell when the wind gonna blow no good
And you feel like you aint done all you should
And lonely is the only melody you’ll ever hear
Talking heads to tell me what went wrong
Like i couldn’t feel a bad storm coming long
Nowhere to go – nothing to do\
The long range forecast now is blue
And i’m stuck out in the middle of this song
The morning sun can bring a little hope – that’s true
But the nightmares come again – with the moon
Once again a man who’s all along
With a chill that reaches to the bone
And, yes, the long range forecast still is blue
barrie howard, may 1, 1998, revised march 21, 2000
I HOPE IT’S YOU
Looking for something that i can believe in
Good god………… I hope it’s you
Finally found an answer to my prayer
But the answer was no.
Strayed along the way
Didn’t know which way to go
I’m the sad soul that i used to be
It’s a damn good thing that aint the one you come to know
You can look at the world
Through a dusty, murky pane of glass
One side is the future and
The other side is the past
Better turn the glass over or you’re bound to be
In a long, dark tunnel, far as you can see
Makes the bad times move too slow and the good too fast
I - can’t believe - that you’ve left me
I - can’t believe - that you’ve gone -- you
Left on the midnight train
Said you won’t be back again
Looks like once again --- love has passed me by
The darkness is pulling us apart
Lonesome whistle - breaking my heart
Didn’t think that i was wrong
It would work out all along
Looks like once again – love has passed me by
(instrumental)
I’ve played at the game of love before
Threw away - playin’ the field forevermore
Baby, i’m coming after you
I won’t believe it’s through
MAKE ME A PROMISE
Make me a promise
To keep the children warm
To feed them when they’re hungry
Give them shelter from the storm
Make me a promise
To protect my sister too
To treat her as a person
With the honor that she’s due
Then let’s light the world with promises
And power it with dreams
And make all the promises come true
Make me a promise
To help my brother too
Share our seeds to plant his garden
Give him tools to harvest food
When the winds have wreaked their havoc
And the rains have come and gone
The rainbow gives us the reason
To go on.
MORE ONLY YESTERDAY
- I love you more today
Even more than yesterday
I never dreamed that anything so real
Could just sweep good sense away
But imagination could not compare
With reality when you were there
A cloudy future’s turned to fair - since only yesterday
I had no time for silly, childish games
The world was quite enough for me
No time to hear the song two hearts can sing
when they’re in perfect harmony
then yesterday you opened up my eyes
to a world of wonder and surprise
time to really see - not just analyze - since only yesterday
Chorus
Look at me - wandering around
Looking somewhat like a clown
On a trip to somewhere - who knows where
With neither foot upon the ground
And i don’t know where i’m going - anymore
New horizons to explore
Out of control - not like before - since only yesterday
NATURALLY –
Seems like everybody’s got tattoos
Ladies like em too
You’re up to date with all your fashions and your clothes
I like that eagle on your shoulder quite a bit
I can even take the flower on your - chest
But i aint so sure about the spider on your nose
You like leather, chains and motorcycles
And i like to ride em too
but i feel that racing’s best left on the track
We left that v8 ford at the last red light
And pulled away right out of sight
But i wish you wouldn't pop those wheelies
When I'm riding on the back
You’re into nose and ear and navel rings
Pierced jewelry is in style
And i know you thought that i might like em too.
Well it aint the money and, honest, honey,
that stuff looks great on you
But i got all the holes i’m every gonna use.
Chorus
Don't go changing for me darling
Please stay just the way you came
I have heard you been around some but
I love you just the same
I dont care how you got this way
Just glad you came to me
Ill always love you baby - naturally
Wing tipped to the core
Her mama is the queen of the country club scene
Only shops at the upscale, downtown store.
She earned her graduation in art appeciation
With a minor in fraternity
Then she followed mama’s plan and met an ivy league man
And settled down in high society
They honeymooned on the water
Sailed south on the delta queen
They partied through the old french quarter
She got a lot of attention, if you know what i mean
Low down strollers and high stakes rollers
A whole different kind of main line –
She was a long way from mama’s lifestyle
In a new orleans frame of mind
(instrumental break)
They’ve got a boat and a new split level
At the end of a cul de sac
But every once in a while you see a whistful little smile
You can tell that she’s looking back
To when they strolled arm in arm down bourbon street
Come on looks came from every man they’d meet
Now she’s living a suburban life style
In a new orleans frame of mind
Well, they honeymooned on the water
Had a once in a lifetime time
Now she's living the life she ought to
It aint exciting but at least it's sublime.......
Cause she’s a upper class lady who keep thinking that maybe
She could a been a star at mardi gras
Now she’s living a suburban life style
In a New Orleans frame of mind
OLD FRIEND
Old friend said
He’d send
Some old memeories -and you know
Old friends know
How much they can mean
Old song
I played wrong
Brings on a smile
Still find some new lines
Every once in a while
And old photo albums
Are still there to see
I visit them from time to time
To find someone who looks like me
(instrumental)
Time flies and
Sometimes
It just slips on by - anyway
Old friends
Never - ask why
Cause with old friends you never say goodbye.
PARTNERS IN CRIME
Wrapped around a dream
Riding on a song
No trip for the timid but you’re free to come along
The answers are seldom clear
But the questions are never wrong
When you’re riding with the partners in crime
Partners in crime
Put their - nightmares behind
Coming attractions - are foremost in their mind
Thoughtful and peceptive -
And mostly always kind
And when they’re not, they’re always trying
Those - partners in crime
They tell us that we don’t ever see the light
The side we take is almost never right
Our crime is curiosity
In-di-vi-du-ality
The things we see as grey -
They say are black and white
Partners in crime
With a - tune and a rhyme
Saving the world with the very next line
Aint found it yet but you can bet that we’ll keep trying
That’s the way it is with
Partners in crime
PASSION IS ITS OWN REWARD
f#
She was looking for a message – searching for a sign
Hoping for a meaningful relationship
He was thinking bout relations too - a different kind
Walked up to her table, said - can i sit.
He was a born – commun-i-cator –
Said it all - without a word
Chorus:
Passion - is its own reward ----
The questions she was asking weren’t the questions that he heard
Despite what he said – she wasn’t – reassured.
She told him she was tired of games - the kind you play in bars
Stale beer and phoney cheer and out of tune guitars
She said she still had high hopes - was gonna take it slower
He said he felt the very same
Cept his aim was lower.
Said I’m a sensitive man, doing as good as i can
She said she understood
His intentions had nothing to do with doing good
Chorus
LOUNGE LIZARD’S LAMENT
I’m gonna tell you one more time. Pay attention babe
Its the best damned decision that you ever made
When you picked me up, baby, that’s supposing that you ever do.
From the moment that i walked into this place
And i kind of cruised from face to face.
The good old times were gonna change for something new.
Because - kid, i think we’ve met before.
And i’m not just trying to make a score.
You won’t hear no insincere line here .
Don’t you hate the kind you meet in bars
- who want to tell you their memoirs.
By the way, did i say that i’m writing mine this year.
Instrumental fill
I can see that we won’t hit it off
And, honey - no, that’s not a brush off.
Sometimes things just - are’nt meant to be.
You’re right, we haven’t met before
When you told me so, i wasn’t sore
Cause i know an awful lot of people, you see.
Wait a minute - that’s not true
I just didn’t know - what to say to you
And i wanted to say something so…well you know
What i really want to know is - to know about you
Maybe where you like to go or - what you like to do.
Maybe that’s the very place i ‘d like to go to - too.
ROCKING HIPPY COWBOY
Dreamed that id grow up to be a b movie cowboy
A big hat, a six gun and a horse
when you’re 10 years of age cowboy movies are the rage
And career-wise you could do a whole lot worse
Then i noticed something strange bout the music on the range
They started using country songs
When they used any songs at all
Please don’t get me wrong - i like of like a country song<
But country singers simply drive me up the wall
Yes that right - i cannot stand a twangy country band
Rather hear some heavy metal than a geetar with a pedal
When them fiddles start to squeek you can hear me start to shriek
A banjo or a mandolin will absolutely do me in
Played some jazz and rock and roll and a little blue eyed soul
My career wasn’t going anywhere
Then folk music came along you know where people sing along
So i learned kum ba ya right then and there
But i knew id been betrayed when I heard that dylan played
With Johnny Cash - in Nash-ville Tennessee
Now there’s line dancers everywhere
A zillion country stations on the air
And the only without a big hat’s me
What the hell - ill go along- i even wrote this country song
See they’ve worn me down – gradually
Cause all the country singers grew long hair
Cant find no free love anywhere
And the hippies are damn near as old as me.
Just a rocking, hippy cowboy - that’s me
SECOND SCOTCH AND WATER
Second scotch and water - seventh cigarette
She was meeting me at nine - but she aint showed up yet
>The way I treated her is a no good crime
And it looks like ive been stood up one more time
Everybody’s laughing - lots of good cheer
There’s a happy song playing – that’s not the one i hear
Thought i had it made - had the perfect line
But it looks like I’ve been stood up one more time
Never much worried ‘bout women before
Love em and leave em, so what
If one turned me down there was plenty more around
And ones just like the next one but -
I was wrong there’s a difference
I found out i really care
Wish i could start all over
Somehow it don’t seem fair
Feel like a song without a melody - a poem without a rhyme
And it looks like I’ve been stood up one last time
Second ending
The story that i laid on her don’t think she bought this time
And it looks like i been stood up one more time
SHE MIGHT FALL FOR YOU
Another sunny day
Chased away those skys of grey
Found the one for me - lord knows i was overdue
Won’t tell her name
Cause she might fall for you
I thought – I loved before
The only one for me
She went and left me - but she couldn’t be a you
Love is a game
To those who won’t be true
Chorus
She’s the one - made my dreams come true
No use in asking cause i won’t tell who
She’s made my life complete
She swept me off my feet
No use in wondering
I’ll never let you know
---------
Cause she might fall for you
SIX O CLOCK NEWS
At six pm, i tune em in - to catch the latest news
Being up to date - on crime and hate is giving me the blues
Plane crashing and gay bashing
Weather forecast don’t look good
Now this smiling face with every hair in place
Tells me i don’t smell as good as i should
Car wrecks - consensual sex - disasters, seems like everywhere
Traffic jams, political scams, another murder trial on the air
This politician’s seen the light, everything will be all right
If we only get to pray in school
Bout what i expected when this yo yo was elected
I guess everyone but me is a fool
It’s the six o clock news and they’re selling everything in sight
When things are really going wrong, these people think that’s - just- right
And if the news aint bad enough - i swear they make it up
It’s the same thing again and again
Deodorant spots and used car lots - we’ll be back on the air at ten.
Here comes the commentary from some luminary
Who hasn’t got the slightest clue.
He doesn’t have the sense of you or me
And i’m not all that sure about you
SOON
Ill get to it soon, mon - no problem, you can count on me
Ill get to it soon, mon - have a little faith and you will see
No problem, mon - i've got a plan
Can i get it done - you bet i can --------ill get to it soon
1. Package tour to nassau town
2. Dont look back cause you never know when
3. Theres plenty of time for working mon
1. Strictly tourist class
2. The past is gonna catch you
3. But there not enough for fun
1. Contraband on every hand
2. And you cant quite see what's gonna be
3. If you can walk to where you're going
1. I was a little short of cash
2. Round the corner of your mind
3. Dont know why you'd want to run
1. But a modern age, chocolate-colored sage
2. You never know where the road's gonna bend
3. Still on the job - no problem, mon
1. Gave me a treasure on a two dollar ride
2. Or when the party's gonna end
3. For better or for worse
dm
1. He said, “slow your respiration, mon, you’re on vacation
2. So i aint gonna worry and i aint in a hurry
3. I’ll keep right on moving at all three speeds
am
1. My philosophy i’ll confide
2. I'll get to it soon
3. Slow, stop, and reverse
STILL GOT A LONG WAY TO GO
Well I been to the river
Watched them build a dam
Watched them change the way things are
But not the way i am
Sometimes time seems timeless
- Slower than slow
And I still got a long way to go
Yes, I still got a long, long , long, long, long
(beat)
Way to go
The dreams keep right on coming
Another tale, another tune
I suppose I’ll never finish
Or I hope I don’t too soon
The one thing I can count on
The thing I know for sure
Is I still got a long way to go.
Yes…..
Struggling for some answers
Looking for the key
The secret of life
Is gonna be the death of me
And even if i find it
How am i supposed to know
If I’ve still got a long way to go.
SWEET SWEET SOUND
I love that sweet, sweet gospel sound
Upbeat rhythm coming ‘round
Clapping hands, tapping toes
Smiling faces all around
That sweet sweet gospel sound
Brings back a memory
It may not be the way it was
But it’s the way it ought to be
Memories are really great
They do just what they’re told
They turn into nostalgia –
When they start to get too old
And if the good old days weren’t always great
They were good enough.
When we start to get those bad dreams
We just make up better stuff.
I’m not a pollyanna
Though sometimes i get close / it’s just that
Good good time messages
Are the kind i love to send
It’s not that i’m delusional, - mixed up or confusional
But conflicts i can’t use at all.
A practice i recommend
SYMPHONY WITH YOU
I thought i had the answers
All the lyrics to the tune
Everything was going fine
Or would be real soon
Thought I’d do - just fine all by myself
I always had, that’s true
But you can’t rehearse a future verse
And the real song is you
(chorus)
Now we’re singing two part harmony
On each and every song
Used to be a single
But now you sing along
On every tune i play
Though i must say
Your pitch is not too true
But every moment is a symphony with you
I’ve starred on stage and screen, you know
Or at least i had some lines.
Fantasies, soliloques,
In free verse, and in rhyme
I could hold stage all by myself
My performance was my pride
Now the curtain never rises
When you’re not by my side
THE TRAIN DON’T STOP
The train don’t stop in my town – any more
The boutique on the corner used to be –
the hardware store.
Bus depot’s gone, there’s a mall with a pond
where the jones farm was before
The train don’t stop in my town any more.
Drove into town on highway seventy three
By the bypass where that big old red brick mansion used to be.
They built a four lane through the woods where lee and me i used to explore
And the train don’t stop in my town anymore.
Billie jean stopped in to visit at the home
Her husband’s on the second shift, she came in alone
We talked a while – i had to smile
It seemed a little strange
Nothing lasts forever, ‘cepting change
The miles just slide by gently – like a stream
The trip home seemed a little like a dream.
Mama said no, it aint time to go
Said some things she didn’t mean
I know it’s gonna be harder now than it’s ever been
(instrumental break)
No one to blame – it aint the same –
guess i finally closed the door.
Cause the town the train don’t stop in –
aint my town any more.
The prophet with his prophecy
Said you must believe what you cannot see
He said - my will is destiny
With treasures you just can’t conceive
I kind of think that’s probably true
The fortune’s his, not for me or you.
Duplicity
Eliminate all the rest
But I wearied of the constant contest
And simply lost interest
In the climb to reach the pinnacle
You can call it what you will.
Maturity
Now I’m just a singer with a song
I’m afraid I really don’t belong
Everybody else has to be so strong
I’m satisfied – just to get along
I finally realize
I don’t need to apologize.
Serenity