BURNING BOTH ENDS
It’s a fact that I’m settling in
Said it all with guitar and a pen
Hit record now I’m burning both ends
Found the words now I’m settling in
Don’t wait so long
There’s a crack in the ice on the lakeÂ
Hear the sound and it’s coming in waves
Alchemy and it’s taking the dayÂ
Hit my drum and the ground starts to shakeÂ
Don’t take so longÂ
Rolling tape in a sanctuaryÂ
These are the things that I knowÂ
Come Armageddon, come …
CHAUTAUQUA
Taking it all away
And I am gone
The sirens said I should go
I’ll walk the woods like Thoreau
Time comes and time it goes
Away from you
Leaving it all behind
And I am gone
The blood that I see
Is spouting up through the cracks
In the streets
Concrete under my nails
Twice Rome fails
In the blink of an eye
DEFINE MY LIFE
The moon's overhead tonight
It’s tangled up in your sky
It holds me here yet takes me there
And just for now I do not care
And if I had a million dreams
I’d dream them all, that’s how in seems
Define my life, my love
The end of it all is in sight
The fracturing of the light
The dark side is shining bright tonight
A captured, frozen, brilliant sight
Dark forebodings part and then
Hope is reborn once again
THE STORY WE TELL
Can you see it? See right through it?
The ghost of a smile as we shuffle awhile
Can you feel it? It’s aggressive
A chill in your spine while you’re standing in line
On and on the fire carries on
Keep your head above the burning cloud
Can you feel it? Cut right through it
The weight of a lie, the destruction of time
Can you feel it? It’s oppressive
Giving you hell it’s the story we tell
Can you see it? See right through it
The ghost of a smile as we shuffle awhile
Can you feel it? It’s oppressive
A chill in your spine while you’re standing in line
On and on the fire carries on
Keep your head above the frozen ground
WILDFIRE AND BROKEN GLASS
The fire, it guts the car to the chassis
Angels pause before passing
Burns through the day
She’s feeding the birds on the porch in the morning
Storm hits without warning
Washes the blood away
And it comes and it goes away
They smashed our windows on East 23rd Street
It exploded in a hurry, the afflicted soon got paid
We broke our backs and the furnace it faltered
Burned our books and our altars
Froze there anyway
Rain, hold me down
TAKE IT ANYWHERE
You only know what you forgot
You only know what you can comprehend
Or not
And the remains of the day have me hanging by a string
You only know what you corrupt
You only know what you were counting on
Or not
And the refrain of the day has me howling in the street
And if we take it anywhere, we’ll take it anywhere
THE LENS
Introspection, how are you looking?
Your crackers don’t fall that from the tree
History lesson, what are you cooking?
Blurring the lens but you’re not fooling me
And know this, too
That all the things that you do
Will come back to tear your institutions down
And know this, too
That all those things that you do
Will come back to smash your statues to the ground
Consternation, your icons are bleeding
So let them crumble
And disappear into the sea
Indication of what it is coming
Blurring the lens but you're not fooling me
You better start to worry
It’s the iconoclastic fury
Down, down, tearing it down now
Down, down, tearing it all down now
THE SIGNAL
Digital night and analog day
I rise with insurrections
Always pressing play
And sometimes I rewind
Lamenting it all
The moon has a power
The sun has a sound
There’s a static in the air
Buzzing all around
Sometimes I decline to hear it at all
Too much static in the air tonight
A critical time of echo and delay
I gravitate towards the signal
Before it fades away
Sometimes I decide to channel the sound
Pivotal flight and sonic sea of change
Vibrations down below
And treble on the way
Sometimes I decide, letting it go
There's too much static in the air tonight
ASHES
Black scarlet burning skies
Have no effect, it’s no surprise
Changes have come again this time
Better dance in the ashes or cover your eyes
I’ll be there when the lights go
And we’re under the sea
A crash of blinding searing light
Destroyer of everything in sight
Changes have come this time
Better dance in the ashes or cover your eyes
I’ll be there when the lights go
And we’re under the sea
I’ll be there alone?
FRACTIONS
Cages are emptied everyday
Abstractions are in shadows along the way
Hungry as a locust
Known to swallow truths
About you, it’s true
Desperate, not alone, is what we are
Fractions of a whole exploding star
Tired yet in focus
And known to travel through
The hues of blue, it’s true
And we now belong to everything
And we now belong to everything at once