All lyrics by Rennie Sparks unless noted.
For Lyrics translated into German....CLICK HERE
Last Days of Wonder
Singing Bones
Twilight
In the Air
Through the Trees
Milk and Scissors
Honey Moon
Linger,
Let Me Linger
Like the thorn bush twines against the chain link fence
Like the spider spins its rings between the trees
And the lonely sycamore bends to the breeze
I am the puddles in the street waiting for your falling leaves
Twine your vines around me, drop your branches in my path
Linger, let me linger
Hearts drawn on a dusty window pane, a love note lying in the road
A car circling round a darkened street, a woman crying on the phone
We are like the crickets in the spring, calling out from under stones
Twine your vines around me, drop your branches in my path
Linger, let me linger
Little Sparrows
Oh, you little sparrows on a swaying branch
Singing to the cars up on the overpass
When you fly away from here take me with you when you go
A herd of antelope, a sea of redwood trees
Schools of shining fish and a thousand buzzing bees
Over winter parking lots the passing geese
Rising in the air little dandelion seeds
When you fly away from here please don’t leave me when you go
If I were Jonah thrown into the raging sea
I would not fear the whale that came to swallow me
Oh, you paper cups rolling down the windy street
Oh, you little ants winding through the tangled weeds
Where you’re going I don’t care, take me with you when you go
My Friend
I swear I heard a bird high in the chestnut trees
The sun was so bright, that bird I couldn’t see
No matter where I stood I couldn’t see beak or wing
Just burning, blinding leaves, still and silent trees
Were you with me then my friend? Are you with me now?
When that cement truck, the mixer turning slow
Drove right past me dripping in the road
That swollen body spinning in circles
I stopped and watched it roll, roll and groan
Were you with me then, my friend? Are you with me now?
When I swam alone that night, late summer dusk
The air so warm and still, the water wide and dark
Something brushed against me, I splashed and kicked in fright
Such cold hands upon me, underwater vines
Were you with me then, my friend? Are you with me now?
When You Whispered
Up on the drawbridge when we stood in the wind
My car left running, the doors wide open
The wind spread ripples along the river waves
Your hands in my hair as the drawbridge swayed
You leaned in closer as the sun fell away
A plastic bag trembled caught in the waves
When you whispered what you whispered in my ear
The breeze at the shoreline bent down thet rushes
The sparrows cried out from the waving willows
And even the minnows in the muddy shallows
Even the frogs calling from the shadows
Even the wind leaned in to listen
When you leaned in closer, your hands in my hair
When you whispered what you whispered in my ear
The Loneliness of Magnets
My heart is a beating compass pointing to the pole
The great expanse of stillness, the true magnetic north
I know the sky blue longing of a cloud of spiraling birds
All turning in an instant, a perfect spinning whirl
I feel the loneliness of magnets and the tides across the sea
I am the dark valley calling to the trembling mountain peak
Wherever you are tonight as you close your eyes to sleep
Think of me as you drift away to the mist of silver dreams
And I will find you in the darkness where water turns to steam
Your pull upon my heart could steer ten thousand wings
I feel the loneliness of magnets and trembling mountain peaks
I call you from dark valleys and I hear you echoing
June Bugs
I want to kiss you in thickets and dripping wet glades
As the stars rub against the dark skin of space
Every planet is turning and calling your name
For hundreds of miles the trees bend your way
Because the green buds are swelling
And June Bugs are back in the yard
I want to kiss you in green groves and echoing caves
I want to fall through the treetops and drift across lakes
The wind’s in the oak trees, it’s been raining for days
Because the green buds are swelling
And June Bugs are crawling the yard
Hawk moths are sipping the night-blooming rose
A honey as sweet as the moon’s sugar glow
The leaves of the apple tree whispering low
The stars are on fire, the nightingales moan
Because the green buds are swelling
And June Bugs are crawling the yard
A Thousand Diamond Rings
A smashed windshield, the dust on a pickup truck
Shine with silver secrets in the Albuquerque sun
The light makes jewels of pawn shops and drive-thru banks
Wrinkled faces staring out the windows of the laundromat
And even the broken glass scattered in the street
Shines like a thousand diamond rings
Neon signs above the old motels, warehouse stores and strip malls,
Houses sprawled across the hills
The sunset’s a bird with wings made out of fire
Parking lots turn to gold as it glides across the sky
And every night from 6:00 to 6:05
The desert dirt shimmers like a sea of watermelon light
Even the broken glass shattered in the street
Shines like a thousand diamond rings
Love is Like
Love is like a white moth sipping tears from sleeping birds
An asteroid in flames tumbling to Earth
Raindrops sliding down the stems of orange leaves
The flicker of a strange light far out across the sea
Love is like a black fly buzzing in the sun
Circling and landing, dancing like it’s drunk
All around the red apples scattered on the lawn
Fallen in the fury of last night’s thunderstorm
Love is like the hole torn right through the roof
When that old sugar pine came crashing down last night
And above the broken beams and the shattered ceiling tiles
You can see starlight for the very first time
The Petrified Forest
When we were together I lay in your river
As the fish swam through my hands
Raindrops and roses fell from the heavens
Just to brush against your skin
And a strand of your hair lost to the wind
Sent doves wheeling through the air
But now I’m alone in the petrified forest
Stumbling on rocks in the dark
But I remember, I still remember
When you held me in your beautiful arms
When you left me alone the sky turned to stone
And my legs rolled into the sea
Why did you go? The sea was so cold
My arms blew off in the breeze
I search for your footprints, the scent of roses
As the wind weeps over the sea
But now I’m alone in the petrified forest
Stumbling on rocks in the dark
And I remember, I’ll always remember
When you held me in your beautiful arms
Wild Wood
Give me a swamp, a deep dark bog
Where I can lose my way in pools of slippery mud
Give me cold, cold rain; a cloud of stinging bugs
Deadly nightshade, poison oak; give me the wild, wild wood
The wild, the wild, wild, wild wood
We can dress in skins, wrap our feet in bark
And you can growl at me or hit me with a rock
When you want to say, “I love you” in the dark
And I will bark like a dog in your arms
In the wild, the wild, wild, wild wood
We can make a god out of sticks and bones
Or we can pray to the trees or pray to the sun
And our eyes will shine when we start to scream
With the hungry wolves outside our freezing cave
In the wild, the wild, wild, wild wood
Darling, My Darling
Darling, my darling, look at my waving antennae
My barbed jaw and hard red pincers, the stripes running down my spine
Darling, my darling, watch me fly up in spirals
Admire the horns ’neath my eyes, the fan of my beautiful wings
I’ll give you everything
Darling, my darling, I bow my leg like a cello
I perch on branches and bellow, while dreaming only of thee
I’ll give you everything
Darling, my darling, down in the dew-dropped rushes
I beat my head in the darkness and build a fortress of tunnels
Darling, my darling, your snapping fangs don’t scare me
I’ll leap on your spine and love you till you gnaw me down to my wings
I’ll give you everything
Down in the Winding Corn Maze
I came to a field of green where the corn stalks grew so tall
The sunlight could not pierce to the winding path below
Round and round I went under those waving stems
I followed the shadowed path marked so faintly with her step
Down in the winding corn maze where green stalks shiver in the wind
There in a swarm of bees I knelt down at her feet
Such spirals spread for miles through the bending leaves
And she took me to her arms in that cloud of honey bees
Whirring in their whirling as they rose on golden wings
Down in the winding corn maze where green stalks shiver in the wind
Like the thorn bush twines against the chain link fence
Like the spider spins its rings between the trees
And the lonely sycamore bends to the breeze
I am the puddles in the street waiting for your falling leaves
Twine your vines around me, drop your branches in my path
Linger, let me linger
Hearts drawn on a dusty window pane, a love note lying in the road
A car circling round a darkened street, a woman crying on the phone
We are like the crickets in the spring, calling out from under stones
Twine your vines around me, drop your branches in my path
Linger, let me linger
Little Sparrows
Oh, you little sparrows on a swaying branch
Singing to the cars up on the overpass
When you fly away from here take me with you when you go
A herd of antelope, a sea of redwood trees
Schools of shining fish and a thousand buzzing bees
Over winter parking lots the passing geese
Rising in the air little dandelion seeds
When you fly away from here please don’t leave me when you go
If I were Jonah thrown into the raging sea
I would not fear the whale that came to swallow me
Oh, you paper cups rolling down the windy street
Oh, you little ants winding through the tangled weeds
Where you’re going I don’t care, take me with you when you go
My Friend
I swear I heard a bird high in the chestnut trees
The sun was so bright, that bird I couldn’t see
No matter where I stood I couldn’t see beak or wing
Just burning, blinding leaves, still and silent trees
Were you with me then my friend? Are you with me now?
When that cement truck, the mixer turning slow
Drove right past me dripping in the road
That swollen body spinning in circles
I stopped and watched it roll, roll and groan
Were you with me then, my friend? Are you with me now?
When I swam alone that night, late summer dusk
The air so warm and still, the water wide and dark
Something brushed against me, I splashed and kicked in fright
Such cold hands upon me, underwater vines
Were you with me then, my friend? Are you with me now?
When You Whispered
Up on the drawbridge when we stood in the wind
My car left running, the doors wide open
The wind spread ripples along the river waves
Your hands in my hair as the drawbridge swayed
You leaned in closer as the sun fell away
A plastic bag trembled caught in the waves
When you whispered what you whispered in my ear
The breeze at the shoreline bent down thet rushes
The sparrows cried out from the waving willows
And even the minnows in the muddy shallows
Even the frogs calling from the shadows
Even the wind leaned in to listen
When you leaned in closer, your hands in my hair
When you whispered what you whispered in my ear
The Loneliness of Magnets
My heart is a beating compass pointing to the pole
The great expanse of stillness, the true magnetic north
I know the sky blue longing of a cloud of spiraling birds
All turning in an instant, a perfect spinning whirl
I feel the loneliness of magnets and the tides across the sea
I am the dark valley calling to the trembling mountain peak
Wherever you are tonight as you close your eyes to sleep
Think of me as you drift away to the mist of silver dreams
And I will find you in the darkness where water turns to steam
Your pull upon my heart could steer ten thousand wings
I feel the loneliness of magnets and trembling mountain peaks
I call you from dark valleys and I hear you echoing
June Bugs
I want to kiss you in thickets and dripping wet glades
As the stars rub against the dark skin of space
Every planet is turning and calling your name
For hundreds of miles the trees bend your way
Because the green buds are swelling
And June Bugs are back in the yard
I want to kiss you in green groves and echoing caves
I want to fall through the treetops and drift across lakes
The wind’s in the oak trees, it’s been raining for days
Because the green buds are swelling
And June Bugs are crawling the yard
Hawk moths are sipping the night-blooming rose
A honey as sweet as the moon’s sugar glow
The leaves of the apple tree whispering low
The stars are on fire, the nightingales moan
Because the green buds are swelling
And June Bugs are crawling the yard
A Thousand Diamond Rings
A smashed windshield, the dust on a pickup truck
Shine with silver secrets in the Albuquerque sun
The light makes jewels of pawn shops and drive-thru banks
Wrinkled faces staring out the windows of the laundromat
And even the broken glass scattered in the street
Shines like a thousand diamond rings
Neon signs above the old motels, warehouse stores and strip malls,
Houses sprawled across the hills
The sunset’s a bird with wings made out of fire
Parking lots turn to gold as it glides across the sky
And every night from 6:00 to 6:05
The desert dirt shimmers like a sea of watermelon light
Even the broken glass shattered in the street
Shines like a thousand diamond rings
Love is Like
Love is like a white moth sipping tears from sleeping birds
An asteroid in flames tumbling to Earth
Raindrops sliding down the stems of orange leaves
The flicker of a strange light far out across the sea
Love is like a black fly buzzing in the sun
Circling and landing, dancing like it’s drunk
All around the red apples scattered on the lawn
Fallen in the fury of last night’s thunderstorm
Love is like the hole torn right through the roof
When that old sugar pine came crashing down last night
And above the broken beams and the shattered ceiling tiles
You can see starlight for the very first time
The Petrified Forest
When we were together I lay in your river
As the fish swam through my hands
Raindrops and roses fell from the heavens
Just to brush against your skin
And a strand of your hair lost to the wind
Sent doves wheeling through the air
But now I’m alone in the petrified forest
Stumbling on rocks in the dark
But I remember, I still remember
When you held me in your beautiful arms
When you left me alone the sky turned to stone
And my legs rolled into the sea
Why did you go? The sea was so cold
My arms blew off in the breeze
I search for your footprints, the scent of roses
As the wind weeps over the sea
But now I’m alone in the petrified forest
Stumbling on rocks in the dark
And I remember, I’ll always remember
When you held me in your beautiful arms
Wild Wood
Give me a swamp, a deep dark bog
Where I can lose my way in pools of slippery mud
Give me cold, cold rain; a cloud of stinging bugs
Deadly nightshade, poison oak; give me the wild, wild wood
The wild, the wild, wild, wild wood
We can dress in skins, wrap our feet in bark
And you can growl at me or hit me with a rock
When you want to say, “I love you” in the dark
And I will bark like a dog in your arms
In the wild, the wild, wild, wild wood
We can make a god out of sticks and bones
Or we can pray to the trees or pray to the sun
And our eyes will shine when we start to scream
With the hungry wolves outside our freezing cave
In the wild, the wild, wild, wild wood
Darling, My Darling
Darling, my darling, look at my waving antennae
My barbed jaw and hard red pincers, the stripes running down my spine
Darling, my darling, watch me fly up in spirals
Admire the horns ’neath my eyes, the fan of my beautiful wings
I’ll give you everything
Darling, my darling, I bow my leg like a cello
I perch on branches and bellow, while dreaming only of thee
I’ll give you everything
Darling, my darling, down in the dew-dropped rushes
I beat my head in the darkness and build a fortress of tunnels
Darling, my darling, your snapping fangs don’t scare me
I’ll leap on your spine and love you till you gnaw me down to my wings
I’ll give you everything
Down in the Winding Corn Maze
I came to a field of green where the corn stalks grew so tall
The sunlight could not pierce to the winding path below
Round and round I went under those waving stems
I followed the shadowed path marked so faintly with her step
Down in the winding corn maze where green stalks shiver in the wind
There in a swarm of bees I knelt down at her feet
Such spirals spread for miles through the bending leaves
And she took me to her arms in that cloud of honey bees
Whirring in their whirling as they rose on golden wings
Down in the winding corn maze where green stalks shiver in the wind
“LAST DAYS OF WONDER”
Your
Great Journey...
like four million tons of hydrogen
exploding on the sun
like the whisper of the termites
building castles in the dust
you’re no longer leaving foot prints
you left your wallet on the bus
Your great journey has begun
When automatic sinks in airports
no longer see your hands
and elevator doors close on you
when buses drive right past
when the only voice that answers
is the whir of a ceiling fan
Your great journey has begun
staring out hotel windows
at planes taking off
walking round the parking lot
you will never find your car
you’ve begun to dance the ghost dance
stray dogs gather in your yard
Your great journey has begun
Tesla's Hotel Room...
In the last days of wonder
When spirits still flew
where we sat holding hands
In half-darkened rooms
Nicola Tesla
In the hotel New Yorker
nursing sick pigeons
by the open window
dreamed of a death ray
To disintegrate matter
detected Morse code
From faraway planets
he couldn’t stand the touch
of hair or of skin
but stroked feathers gently
on trembling wings
and drew plans for a camera
To photograph thoughts
Vacuum tube lights
Wireless phones
In the last days of wonder
When spirits still flew
Round bubbling test tubes
In half-darkened rooms
Edison and Westinghouse
in silk brocade
ate oysters Rockerfeller
with French champagne
But Tesla grew thin
eating only saltines
going days in his lab
Without any sleep
dreaming of god
as an X-ray beam
he was hit by a cab
while crossing the street
lying on his bedspread
he struggled to breathe
the light bulbs exploded
the air filled with wings
In the last days of wonder
When spirits still flew
Tesla vacated
his half-darkened room
These Golden Jewels...
I left a black shoe hanging
from a telephone wire
I threw hubcaps in the bushes
filled the creek with burning tires
I drove circles in the meadow
threw tvs off a cliff
I scattered dirty needles
in a grassy ditch
Shopping carts of garbage
overturned in silver ponds
in fields of wild mustard
I abandoned several cars
at the edge of town
these golden jewels
I left them all for you
You, hiding in the falling leaves
and the spider’s dew-dropped ring
You, lying in the muddy river
with ten thousand wild wings
I will set the world on fire
pluck the stars down from the sky
if you will spend with me, my dear
a single summer night
at the edge of town
my golden jewel
I’m waiting here for you
BEAUTIFUL WILLIAM...one morning in May
in a milk-white convertible drove slowly away
Beautiful William with curling black hair
gold rings on his fingers as he held to the wheel
Was he given a package by a man on the train?
We found his car by the roadside later that day
mirrored sunglasses, roses and wine
laid on the empty seat, as he slowly drove by
He left his lights burning. He left his perfect lawn
His automatic sprinklers about to switch on
Did he find a black glove on the cliffs by the bay?
Why would he leave us, why would he leave us this way?
he drove through the town with a smile on his face
waving to everyone as he went on his way
Polly from Red River. Rose from Green Falls
they drove to his house and they lay on the lawn
Was he stopped in the airport by a man with a cane?
We found his car by the roadside later that day
Rose smashed his windows till the glass was all gone
Polly broke the back door and she screamed down the hall
but no answer sounded but wind flying through
as we tore up the green lawn and torched all the rooms
Did he find a white glove in the pines by the lake?
Why would he leave us, why would he leave us this way?
ALL THE TIME IN AIRPORTS...
I see you all the time in airports
in the windows of the shuttle trains
flashing past between the terminals
below the rising planes
and as I pull my shoes off
put my coins in the plastic tray
I see you past the X ray machine
just a hundred feet away
in the lines of people waiting
at the frozen yogurt stand
or running down the moving walkway
dragging a rolling bag
I see you all the time in airports
just a hundred feet away
I see you flipping through the pages
of books by millionaires
who found that Jesus Christ could guide them
into tripling their sales
late at night in airports
the cages pulled across the stores
and early in the morning
when they drive the waxer across the floor
I see you sitting on your suitcase
I see you sleeping in a chair
but each time I get too close
you always disappear
I see you all the time in airports
just A hundred feet away
WHITE LIGHTS
when you walked with me
away from the strip mall bar
across the highway
to that little graveyard
where plastic flowers
bloomed in yellow grass
we sat on a broken bench
listening to the cars pass
and right above your head
in the branches of a tree
there were white lights
swaying slowly in the breeze
there were white lights, white lights, white lights swaying in a tree
I know they were there
to stop kids kicking over graves
or spray-painting tree trunks
with their favorite rock band’s name
but sitting there with you
almost touching your white hand
among the broken bottles
crushed and faded cans
and those white lights, white lights, white lights swaying in the breeze
there was mystery
singing from everything
the strip mall, the highway
the boarded-up skating rink
they were calling our names
in the strip mall parking lot
our sweet drunken friends
finally noticing we’d gone
but we just sat there
not saying anything
almost touching hands
your hair flying in the highway breeze
like those white lights, white lights, white lights swaying in a tree
BOWLING ALLEY BAR....
Dented cars make me think of you
sitting on a red leather stool
drinking with your sunglasses on
at the bowling alley bar
and the sound of the crashing pins
behind us when we kissed
the night I wrecked my father’s car
behind the bowling alley bar
I’m so sorry Donna
sorry about your sunglasses
I didn’t mean to step on them
I didn’t mean to laugh when you cried
cause it was never a waste of time
to drink beer by your side
and watch the fallen pins
set up right again
skinny girls in tight red jeans
kicking cigarette machines
that old woman all alone
dirty dancing by the phones
driving circles at 3am
throwing rocks at mailboxes
you could never see the stars
with those plastic sunglasses on
but it was never a waste of time
to get drunk by your side
and watch the fallen pins
set up right again
AFTER WE SHOT THE GRIZZLY...
After the airship crashed
After we lost the compass
After the radio went dead
We shot and ate the horses
We marched through deadly swamps
Inside a limestone cave
I found a human skull
Yes, Mary, I found a human skull
The captain caught a fever
we tied him to a tree
We stared into the fire
And tried not to hear his screams
I killed a tiny antelope
not scared by my approach
we turned it over dying flames
ass we huddled in the gloam
Yes Mary, we huddled in the gloam
We built a raft from skin and bones
Only five could safely float
the others stood upon the shore
they screamed and threw sharp stones
Yes Mary, they threw the sharpest stones
But how the sea did spin us
How the waves did roar
The captain jumped into the storm
then we were but four
one by one we chose our straws
till only I remained
but Mary you are with me now
all around me in the waves
Yes Mary, you are in the waves
FLAPPING YOUR BROKEN WINGS...
I can still see you there
In your grass-stained underwear
Dancing crooked circles
Across the golf course green
It must have been 3 a.m.
When we hopped that chain link fence
And ran across the grass
In the pouring rain
Oh and you kept falling down
and rolling on the ground
like a drunken little bird
flapping its broken wings
flapping your broken wings, flapping your broken wings
flapping your broken wings in the green, green grass
as if pilgrims with axes
had never seen the devil dancing
in the silent branches
of thousand year old trees
as they sailed up the wild coast
leaning from their wooden boats
shooting every pretty bird
that rose up from the weeds
when the sun began to rise
I could see it in your eyes
and shining on the golf balls
lying in the grass
and a rusted chain link fence
a golf cart in a ditch
and the colored flags
you pulled from all the holes
like jewels on your green dress
my lady of the golf course
running in your underwear
to greet the cops who’d driven up
flapping your broken wings, flapping your broken wings
flapping your broken wings in the green, green grass
HUNTER GREEN...
Last fall I hunted white-tail deer
my dog and gun with me
I wandered to a shady grove
where ivy grew dark green
where ivy grew dark green
I raised my gun so carefully
and fired into the trees
then saw it was my true love fell
in a dress of darkest green
a dress of darkest green
her eyes reflected back the moon
as I carried her back to my car
but as I crossed the empty road
was a dead deer in my arms
a dead deer in my arms
next night I rowed upon the waves
to catch a leaping fish
but on the hook my lover’s heart
I pulled from briny depths
I pulled from briny depths
as I lay her cold corpse down
in the bottom of my boat
it was a jumping fish
caught in my nets and rope
caught in my nets and rope
third night I spied a wild boar
charging madly through the trees
but I raised not my gun to her
just let her come to me
just let her run to me
and as I fell in mossy ferns
as her teeth grabbed hold of me
it was the lips of my true love
that kissed me dark and green
kissed me dark and green
OUR BLUE SKY...
why do you dream
of pearly white gates
high in the air
where no bird flies
no tree grows
beyond the sky
our blue sky
why do you dream
that worms and dogs
hills and clouds
are not like you
burning light
that never dies
our blue spinning sky
why do you leave
a trail of death
air turns brown
trees fall down
burn green fields
and drive on by
our blue sky
could you love god
if he didn’t love you
more than rivers
snakes or wind
could you share heaven
with black buzzing flies
our blue spinning sky
what if this dream
you dream with pigs
you dream with dirt
and this is home
is it so wrong
to love this light
our blue sky
SOMEWHERE ELSE TO BE
I didn’t wrap my head in roses
I didn’t run screaming down the street
I didn’t drive off jagged cliffs
or dive in roaring seas
I broke no cage door open
I set no horses free
The day the girl at the drive-thru window
Softly smiled at me
actually I did nothing
As she handed me a large ice tea
An extra packet of ketchup
a small bag of onion rings
I didn’t even smile back at her
just pulled into the street
Searching my rear view mirror
To catch her eyes on me
‘cause there were cars behind me and I had somewhere else to be
down the street I saw an old man
eating as he drove
running over empty cans
lying in the road
but the billboards near the highway
were full of singing birds
and the trees were blooming green
in their little squares of dirt
every dog chained in every yard
was howling with me
but, I didn’t even smile back at her
I just pulled into the street
‘cause there were cars behind me and I had somewhere else to be
Some lyrics from “SINGING BONES”
GAIL WITH THE GOLDEN HAIR
Out in the red rock desert / sitting on the roof of my car
drinking cans of warm beer / watching the sky get dark
Gail and I shot our empties / with an old, rusted rifle
Her golden hair went flying / like a wild, brush fire
CHORUS: when the mountains turned red at dusk
time passed in the burning desert / & the tumbleweeds they tumbled
we lay in a golden fire / as the screaming buzzards circled
far down in the darkened valley / the city lights still twinkled
but my eyes saw only Gail / and her hair in golden fire
CHORUS: when the mountains turned red at dusk
but the fire burned right through her / Gail followed unseen voices
they led her to the city / deep in the darkened valley
I drove circles through the alleys / calling my burning lover
but Gail ran deeper in the gloom / screaming at the street lights
and I lost her there forever / deep in the valley’s darkness
my Gail with the golden hair / that burned as bright as fire
CHORUS: when the mountains turned red at dusk
FALLEN PEACHES
We came down the black dirt hill
Between the rows of blooming peaches
And we scattered leaping fawns
As we fell into the ditches
Ahead of me ran Jackson
Who took a bullet to the chest
And beneath the swaying peaches
Jackson slowly bled to death
But as his green eyes dimmed
I saw a fiery mist
Drift softly to the clouds
From between his cold, blue lips
Now my eyes were opened
I stood up between the guns
I saw trails of smoke and fire
Flying everywhere I looked
Like hands of glowing light
Trailing up from fallen peaches
And around the running fawns
Leaping through the branches
Across the corpses on the hills
The sunset spread her flames
And her glowing fingers held me
As they dug my shallow grave
TWILIGHT (some of the lyrics)
TVS IN TOWN
You can’t see the stars
above the city skyline
but sometimes the air shines like gold
under the yellow street lights
the psychotics in the park
howling up at the sky
and the silent airplanes
slowly drifting by
sometimes it all seems to glow
as bright as the lights
from all the tvs in town
but when I wake up scared
in those still summer nights
when the air hangs like snakes
around flashing neon signs
it seems like there’s nothing
along these broken roads
but blinking lights on creaking metal poles
WHITE DOG
Last night my window opened in the cold winter breeze
and from the dark forest a white dog stared in at me
he sat in the branches with his glowing yellow eyes
and softly he growled in the shaking black pines
White dog, white dog tell me where’s the door
across the lake of fire to the silver shore
I fell from my window in the swirling black breeze
into the dark forest and the ice-covered leaves
down, down through the branches through the white
waving trees / down, down I fell into the mouth of the sea
White dog, white dog tell me where’s the door
across the lake of fire to the silver shore
TVS IN TOWN
You can’t see the stars
above the city skyline
but sometimes the air shines like gold
under the yellow street lights
the psychotics in the park
howling up at the sky
and the silent airplanes
slowly drifting by
sometimes it all seems to glow
as bright as the lights
from all the tvs in town
but when I wake up scared
in those still summer nights
when the air hangs like snakes
around flashing neon signs
it seems like there’s nothing
along these broken roads
but blinking lights on creaking metal poles
like a thousand crying eyes
dropping tears in the light
from all the tvs in town
BIRDS YOU CAN NOT SEE
There are birds in the darkness that douse electrical fires
Flaring up in nursing homes and the bedrooms of blind men
Birds you cannot see
There are birds in the darkness that nest in wooden crutches
Eyepatches and bandages, broken spinal columns,
pots of withered plants
Birds you cannot see, filling every tree, falling out of closets and perched on the hands of dying men
There are birds in the darkness that lead lost dogs off highways
Steer boats past icebergs, save children stuck in wells
Birds you cannot see
There are birds in the darkness seen by those with tumors
circling common light bulbs with blue feathered haloes
and the sound of rain
Birds you cannot see, filling every tree, falling out of closets and perched on the hands of dying men
COLD, COLD, COLD
Out on highway five there’s a field
Where sometimes at night people disappear.
That’s the only road that takes me home
Across the open prairie and the drifting snow.
Cold, Cold, Cold, as the Cold wind blows.
I was halfway there one frozen dawn
When she appeared at the side of the road.
A woman weeping n the frozen snow.
Her black hair flying across the empty road.
Cold, Cold, Cold, as the Cold wind blows.
I pulled to the shoulder and she fell to the snow
But when I stepped from my car in the cold wind’s blow
She drifted away in the swirling cold
Down through the fields and their frozen rows.
Cold, Cold, Cold, as the Cold wind blows.
But I heard her howl and I heard her moan
And she called my name in the swirling snow
But when I turned to run back to my car
There was nothing waiting but her frozen arms
Cold, Cold, Cold, as the Cold wind blows.
like four million tons of hydrogen
exploding on the sun
like the whisper of the termites
building castles in the dust
you’re no longer leaving foot prints
you left your wallet on the bus
Your great journey has begun
When automatic sinks in airports
no longer see your hands
and elevator doors close on you
when buses drive right past
when the only voice that answers
is the whir of a ceiling fan
Your great journey has begun
staring out hotel windows
at planes taking off
walking round the parking lot
you will never find your car
you’ve begun to dance the ghost dance
stray dogs gather in your yard
Your great journey has begun
Tesla's Hotel Room...
In the last days of wonder
When spirits still flew
where we sat holding hands
In half-darkened rooms
Nicola Tesla
In the hotel New Yorker
nursing sick pigeons
by the open window
dreamed of a death ray
To disintegrate matter
detected Morse code
From faraway planets
he couldn’t stand the touch
of hair or of skin
but stroked feathers gently
on trembling wings
and drew plans for a camera
To photograph thoughts
Vacuum tube lights
Wireless phones
In the last days of wonder
When spirits still flew
Round bubbling test tubes
In half-darkened rooms
Edison and Westinghouse
in silk brocade
ate oysters Rockerfeller
with French champagne
But Tesla grew thin
eating only saltines
going days in his lab
Without any sleep
dreaming of god
as an X-ray beam
he was hit by a cab
while crossing the street
lying on his bedspread
he struggled to breathe
the light bulbs exploded
the air filled with wings
In the last days of wonder
When spirits still flew
Tesla vacated
his half-darkened room
These Golden Jewels...
I left a black shoe hanging
from a telephone wire
I threw hubcaps in the bushes
filled the creek with burning tires
I drove circles in the meadow
threw tvs off a cliff
I scattered dirty needles
in a grassy ditch
Shopping carts of garbage
overturned in silver ponds
in fields of wild mustard
I abandoned several cars
at the edge of town
these golden jewels
I left them all for you
You, hiding in the falling leaves
and the spider’s dew-dropped ring
You, lying in the muddy river
with ten thousand wild wings
I will set the world on fire
pluck the stars down from the sky
if you will spend with me, my dear
a single summer night
at the edge of town
my golden jewel
I’m waiting here for you
BEAUTIFUL WILLIAM...one morning in May
in a milk-white convertible drove slowly away
Beautiful William with curling black hair
gold rings on his fingers as he held to the wheel
Was he given a package by a man on the train?
We found his car by the roadside later that day
mirrored sunglasses, roses and wine
laid on the empty seat, as he slowly drove by
He left his lights burning. He left his perfect lawn
His automatic sprinklers about to switch on
Did he find a black glove on the cliffs by the bay?
Why would he leave us, why would he leave us this way?
he drove through the town with a smile on his face
waving to everyone as he went on his way
Polly from Red River. Rose from Green Falls
they drove to his house and they lay on the lawn
Was he stopped in the airport by a man with a cane?
We found his car by the roadside later that day
Rose smashed his windows till the glass was all gone
Polly broke the back door and she screamed down the hall
but no answer sounded but wind flying through
as we tore up the green lawn and torched all the rooms
Did he find a white glove in the pines by the lake?
Why would he leave us, why would he leave us this way?
ALL THE TIME IN AIRPORTS...
I see you all the time in airports
in the windows of the shuttle trains
flashing past between the terminals
below the rising planes
and as I pull my shoes off
put my coins in the plastic tray
I see you past the X ray machine
just a hundred feet away
in the lines of people waiting
at the frozen yogurt stand
or running down the moving walkway
dragging a rolling bag
I see you all the time in airports
just a hundred feet away
I see you flipping through the pages
of books by millionaires
who found that Jesus Christ could guide them
into tripling their sales
late at night in airports
the cages pulled across the stores
and early in the morning
when they drive the waxer across the floor
I see you sitting on your suitcase
I see you sleeping in a chair
but each time I get too close
you always disappear
I see you all the time in airports
just A hundred feet away
WHITE LIGHTS
when you walked with me
away from the strip mall bar
across the highway
to that little graveyard
where plastic flowers
bloomed in yellow grass
we sat on a broken bench
listening to the cars pass
and right above your head
in the branches of a tree
there were white lights
swaying slowly in the breeze
there were white lights, white lights, white lights swaying in a tree
I know they were there
to stop kids kicking over graves
or spray-painting tree trunks
with their favorite rock band’s name
but sitting there with you
almost touching your white hand
among the broken bottles
crushed and faded cans
and those white lights, white lights, white lights swaying in the breeze
there was mystery
singing from everything
the strip mall, the highway
the boarded-up skating rink
they were calling our names
in the strip mall parking lot
our sweet drunken friends
finally noticing we’d gone
but we just sat there
not saying anything
almost touching hands
your hair flying in the highway breeze
like those white lights, white lights, white lights swaying in a tree
BOWLING ALLEY BAR....
Dented cars make me think of you
sitting on a red leather stool
drinking with your sunglasses on
at the bowling alley bar
and the sound of the crashing pins
behind us when we kissed
the night I wrecked my father’s car
behind the bowling alley bar
I’m so sorry Donna
sorry about your sunglasses
I didn’t mean to step on them
I didn’t mean to laugh when you cried
cause it was never a waste of time
to drink beer by your side
and watch the fallen pins
set up right again
skinny girls in tight red jeans
kicking cigarette machines
that old woman all alone
dirty dancing by the phones
driving circles at 3am
throwing rocks at mailboxes
you could never see the stars
with those plastic sunglasses on
but it was never a waste of time
to get drunk by your side
and watch the fallen pins
set up right again
AFTER WE SHOT THE GRIZZLY...
After the airship crashed
After we lost the compass
After the radio went dead
We shot and ate the horses
We marched through deadly swamps
Inside a limestone cave
I found a human skull
Yes, Mary, I found a human skull
The captain caught a fever
we tied him to a tree
We stared into the fire
And tried not to hear his screams
I killed a tiny antelope
not scared by my approach
we turned it over dying flames
ass we huddled in the gloam
Yes Mary, we huddled in the gloam
We built a raft from skin and bones
Only five could safely float
the others stood upon the shore
they screamed and threw sharp stones
Yes Mary, they threw the sharpest stones
But how the sea did spin us
How the waves did roar
The captain jumped into the storm
then we were but four
one by one we chose our straws
till only I remained
but Mary you are with me now
all around me in the waves
Yes Mary, you are in the waves
FLAPPING YOUR BROKEN WINGS...
I can still see you there
In your grass-stained underwear
Dancing crooked circles
Across the golf course green
It must have been 3 a.m.
When we hopped that chain link fence
And ran across the grass
In the pouring rain
Oh and you kept falling down
and rolling on the ground
like a drunken little bird
flapping its broken wings
flapping your broken wings, flapping your broken wings
flapping your broken wings in the green, green grass
as if pilgrims with axes
had never seen the devil dancing
in the silent branches
of thousand year old trees
as they sailed up the wild coast
leaning from their wooden boats
shooting every pretty bird
that rose up from the weeds
when the sun began to rise
I could see it in your eyes
and shining on the golf balls
lying in the grass
and a rusted chain link fence
a golf cart in a ditch
and the colored flags
you pulled from all the holes
like jewels on your green dress
my lady of the golf course
running in your underwear
to greet the cops who’d driven up
flapping your broken wings, flapping your broken wings
flapping your broken wings in the green, green grass
HUNTER GREEN...
Last fall I hunted white-tail deer
my dog and gun with me
I wandered to a shady grove
where ivy grew dark green
where ivy grew dark green
I raised my gun so carefully
and fired into the trees
then saw it was my true love fell
in a dress of darkest green
a dress of darkest green
her eyes reflected back the moon
as I carried her back to my car
but as I crossed the empty road
was a dead deer in my arms
a dead deer in my arms
next night I rowed upon the waves
to catch a leaping fish
but on the hook my lover’s heart
I pulled from briny depths
I pulled from briny depths
as I lay her cold corpse down
in the bottom of my boat
it was a jumping fish
caught in my nets and rope
caught in my nets and rope
third night I spied a wild boar
charging madly through the trees
but I raised not my gun to her
just let her come to me
just let her run to me
and as I fell in mossy ferns
as her teeth grabbed hold of me
it was the lips of my true love
that kissed me dark and green
kissed me dark and green
OUR BLUE SKY...
why do you dream
of pearly white gates
high in the air
where no bird flies
no tree grows
beyond the sky
our blue sky
why do you dream
that worms and dogs
hills and clouds
are not like you
burning light
that never dies
our blue spinning sky
why do you leave
a trail of death
air turns brown
trees fall down
burn green fields
and drive on by
our blue sky
could you love god
if he didn’t love you
more than rivers
snakes or wind
could you share heaven
with black buzzing flies
our blue spinning sky
what if this dream
you dream with pigs
you dream with dirt
and this is home
is it so wrong
to love this light
our blue sky
SOMEWHERE ELSE TO BE
I didn’t wrap my head in roses
I didn’t run screaming down the street
I didn’t drive off jagged cliffs
or dive in roaring seas
I broke no cage door open
I set no horses free
The day the girl at the drive-thru window
Softly smiled at me
actually I did nothing
As she handed me a large ice tea
An extra packet of ketchup
a small bag of onion rings
I didn’t even smile back at her
just pulled into the street
Searching my rear view mirror
To catch her eyes on me
‘cause there were cars behind me and I had somewhere else to be
down the street I saw an old man
eating as he drove
running over empty cans
lying in the road
but the billboards near the highway
were full of singing birds
and the trees were blooming green
in their little squares of dirt
every dog chained in every yard
was howling with me
but, I didn’t even smile back at her
I just pulled into the street
‘cause there were cars behind me and I had somewhere else to be
Some lyrics from “SINGING BONES”
GAIL WITH THE GOLDEN HAIR
Out in the red rock desert / sitting on the roof of my car
drinking cans of warm beer / watching the sky get dark
Gail and I shot our empties / with an old, rusted rifle
Her golden hair went flying / like a wild, brush fire
CHORUS: when the mountains turned red at dusk
time passed in the burning desert / & the tumbleweeds they tumbled
we lay in a golden fire / as the screaming buzzards circled
far down in the darkened valley / the city lights still twinkled
but my eyes saw only Gail / and her hair in golden fire
CHORUS: when the mountains turned red at dusk
but the fire burned right through her / Gail followed unseen voices
they led her to the city / deep in the darkened valley
I drove circles through the alleys / calling my burning lover
but Gail ran deeper in the gloom / screaming at the street lights
and I lost her there forever / deep in the valley’s darkness
my Gail with the golden hair / that burned as bright as fire
CHORUS: when the mountains turned red at dusk
FALLEN PEACHES
We came down the black dirt hill
Between the rows of blooming peaches
And we scattered leaping fawns
As we fell into the ditches
Ahead of me ran Jackson
Who took a bullet to the chest
And beneath the swaying peaches
Jackson slowly bled to death
But as his green eyes dimmed
I saw a fiery mist
Drift softly to the clouds
From between his cold, blue lips
Now my eyes were opened
I stood up between the guns
I saw trails of smoke and fire
Flying everywhere I looked
Like hands of glowing light
Trailing up from fallen peaches
And around the running fawns
Leaping through the branches
Across the corpses on the hills
The sunset spread her flames
And her glowing fingers held me
As they dug my shallow grave
TWILIGHT (some of the lyrics)
TVS IN TOWN
You can’t see the stars
above the city skyline
but sometimes the air shines like gold
under the yellow street lights
the psychotics in the park
howling up at the sky
and the silent airplanes
slowly drifting by
sometimes it all seems to glow
as bright as the lights
from all the tvs in town
but when I wake up scared
in those still summer nights
when the air hangs like snakes
around flashing neon signs
it seems like there’s nothing
along these broken roads
but blinking lights on creaking metal poles
WHITE DOG
Last night my window opened in the cold winter breeze
and from the dark forest a white dog stared in at me
he sat in the branches with his glowing yellow eyes
and softly he growled in the shaking black pines
White dog, white dog tell me where’s the door
across the lake of fire to the silver shore
I fell from my window in the swirling black breeze
into the dark forest and the ice-covered leaves
down, down through the branches through the white
waving trees / down, down I fell into the mouth of the sea
White dog, white dog tell me where’s the door
across the lake of fire to the silver shore
TVS IN TOWN
You can’t see the stars
above the city skyline
but sometimes the air shines like gold
under the yellow street lights
the psychotics in the park
howling up at the sky
and the silent airplanes
slowly drifting by
sometimes it all seems to glow
as bright as the lights
from all the tvs in town
but when I wake up scared
in those still summer nights
when the air hangs like snakes
around flashing neon signs
it seems like there’s nothing
along these broken roads
but blinking lights on creaking metal poles
like a thousand crying eyes
dropping tears in the light
from all the tvs in town
BIRDS YOU CAN NOT SEE
There are birds in the darkness that douse electrical fires
Flaring up in nursing homes and the bedrooms of blind men
Birds you cannot see
There are birds in the darkness that nest in wooden crutches
Eyepatches and bandages, broken spinal columns,
pots of withered plants
Birds you cannot see, filling every tree, falling out of closets and perched on the hands of dying men
There are birds in the darkness that lead lost dogs off highways
Steer boats past icebergs, save children stuck in wells
Birds you cannot see
There are birds in the darkness seen by those with tumors
circling common light bulbs with blue feathered haloes
and the sound of rain
Birds you cannot see, filling every tree, falling out of closets and perched on the hands of dying men
COLD, COLD, COLD
Out on highway five there’s a field
Where sometimes at night people disappear.
That’s the only road that takes me home
Across the open prairie and the drifting snow.
Cold, Cold, Cold, as the Cold wind blows.
I was halfway there one frozen dawn
When she appeared at the side of the road.
A woman weeping n the frozen snow.
Her black hair flying across the empty road.
Cold, Cold, Cold, as the Cold wind blows.
I pulled to the shoulder and she fell to the snow
But when I stepped from my car in the cold wind’s blow
She drifted away in the swirling cold
Down through the fields and their frozen rows.
Cold, Cold, Cold, as the Cold wind blows.
But I heard her howl and I heard her moan
And she called my name in the swirling snow
But when I turned to run back to my car
There was nothing waiting but her frozen arms
Cold, Cold, Cold, as the Cold wind blows.