Just take a moment for a story

A branching, a burning tributary

Linger overtone, in my ear

Up the torch-lit riverbank

You were drawing near

 

I see that we are lost amongst ourselves

Running each other ragged

On the words we choose

A narrow way to make you see what we all feel

 

Chorus:   And as we walked through the sand and rain

                Watched the waves, we’re castaway

                 Without senses, we have lost our way

                  So far from where we began

 

Chorus:  Turn and shy away from the burning night

               Watch the dream fade out of sight

                The dream of us in the sand and rain

                 Is only one breath away from death

 

All the nervous signs now tell me

That something’s gone quite wrong

The sand in my hourglass is gone

Gone, gone for good

Life fights dirty and rips your soul down

A losing fight at a blood red showdown

 

The bastards put demands on you

I can’t see why

My teeth clench and my hand shakes

When do I…

When do I reap what I sow?

They only want more

 

Life is rage and my will is now gone

Life as a rat with this corporate python

Pressure

I’m breaking up inside my head

Endlessly climbing a scree

A wire of barbed steel in my side

I’ll never be released

 

Exaggerated light blinds my eyes

As I dance just the way they like

A jester in a courtyard show

I dance…

 

Every second more strips more life from me

I can’t be that strong

My luck in this endless craze is gone

Gone for good

Life is rage and my will is now gone

Life as a rat with this corporate python

 

PRESSURE

Mr Boggs

Quite a distinguished gentleman he was in his day

Mr. Boggs

Not quite sure what’s real

Well, he’s now the lead in a shadow play

 

Mr. Boggs

Says he snuffed his wife

‘Twas the blackest day of his life

It’s just not true

 

He’s seen the Jerries lurk on the grounds

It’s almost lights out

But he’s out there stalking one now

 

Just take your pills Mr. Boggs

And everything will be fine

Ornamental steel, today replaced

Rich tapestry fabrics, now worn ripped and frayed

Electric trains explore the countryside

Circa 1912, a land where hope and dreams collide

 

For these souls, it was the end of an era

Their plows were left behind

‘Twas a new hope for them

Now their tintypes collect the dust

 

Memories of the past

Bring back the hope that we once knew

Travelers from distant lands ferried the cold sea

Electric Eden and life all around me

 

A brightly lit New York City evening

Coney Island rides

Sweet visions of a dream

I recognize your times

 

Memories of the past

Bring back the hope that we once knew

Travelers from distant lands ferried the cold sea

Electric Eden and life all around me

Electronic surplus and nightmares

Stalking through the shadows of time

Dialing in appropriate moments

A witness at the scene of the crime

All their dead grey faces

I’ve watched so many fall

A horrific show in this theatre of thrills

I’m helpless to its call

 

Oh Fortuna, I’ve been so downtrodden lately

You make the best and worst appear

Fear !

 

Lakehurst for the Hindenburg

Pompeii in 79 A.D.

Travelling through these moments in time

My fascinated face, while they scream

Kennedy, Caesar, Bonnie and Clyde

Moments having their charm

Night skies fill with panic

V2’s and air raid alarms

 

Oh Fortuna, I’ve been so downtrodden lately

You make the best and worst appear right before me

You left the table and I dined and I’m sorry.

Thick velvet suit

Hot white spotlight

Small Northern towns

Night after night

 

We hatched a plan

To say goodbye to this shit

We’ve all agreed on a four way split

 

I blow the safes, as they grab the cash

To the waiting car, to the waiting car

We make the dash

 

I slick my hair back and smile inside

Wait for the set-break to go for the ride

Tonight is different ‘cause the “Feds” show up

Mad backyard dash

It’s looking like a toss-up

 

Explosion rips though the air

One hundred dollar bills flutter everywhere

We call it “Popping the Lid” or  “Cleaning the Vaults in the name of Adventure “!

 

Back at the venue the lights go down

We’ll keep on moving to another town

 

Explosion rips through the air

One hundred bills flutter everywhere

We call it “Popping the Lid” or  “Cleaning the Vaults in the name of Adventure “!

Narrator:

Silently across the dusty floor

Aware of every sound

The musty smell

And the single bulb glow

The boy crosses the room

Compelled to look down

At the trunk tucked away in the attic’s ancient gloom

Grandfather:

I can feel his energy

From where I wait

The broken calm

His decision, my fate

As a boy myself, many, many years ago

I looked through the same room

With a desire to know

Who came before me

And touch the roots of my parent tree

I played in ravines as this boy does

In the field and down by the creek

Night-time forests and hide-and-seek

I grew to be strong and to work with desire

I sought to love and live my life with the strength of fire

But I grew old and fell far behind

And watched as my children grew older too

I was alone in the world, remembered by very few

Then the boy was born….

Please keep my memory alive

Narrator:

And on this winters day

With tangled dreams to undo

He ventured alone, some old boxes to sift his fingers through

Old photos of another day

Beautiful in a simple way

Some of the faces he recognised, some he wasn’t sure

Grandfathers name and words and momentos he hadn’t seen

Memories of forgotten time and dreams of what might have been

Grandfather:

FREE ME !

My boy …discover who I once was…and let me live on…ON…

Chorus:

Let me live again

So that I might know this boy

Let me walk again

And feel the life come from me

Let me tell him now

About the times I’ve know

I’ve put my faith in him

Don’t let me lose him now

Don’t let me lose him now

Don’t let me lose him now

Grandfather:

Prized possessions, personal affects and other forgotten delights

Trash to most, but will he smell their life

These things once danced in the dreams in my head

They were accomplishments, tokens of the life I once led

Shadows are all that’s left of me

As I’ve been forgotten for years

Gone, gone, gone, but watching, feeling

 This is my last connection

Narrator:

The boy boarders on interest

As the papers pass through his hands

But the faces he saw, he hadn’t touched

They were only a reflection

Chorus

Grandfather:

Let me live again, so that I may know this boy

Let me walk again, and feel the life come from me

Let tell him now about the times I’ve known

I’ve put my faith in him

Don’t let me lose this now

Don’t let me lose him now

Or I’ll die a second time