Crowded Isolation (Part One)

Alarm clock strikes, sends my mind reeling
I feel like falling back
But the murmur of the night
Turns into urban heart attack
I turn the ignition, the city starts up
Throbbing like a headache
I peer through the windshield
Then drive off
Crashing into the day

It's a crowded, crowded isolation
And my heart, my heart can't stand the pace
It's a crowded, crowded isolation
Always feeling out of place

Every day the clock's hands pull me here
And here they hold me down
With sleight of hand
They steal my life away
Then my time is measured in money
If that's how they sum up my life
It's a hell of a thing for an epitaph to say.

I go out each morning
But I feel like I'm going nowhere
In this world that worships a buck
Sometimes I feel like I don't have a prayer
You can punch a clock for too long
Until you've lost your fight
Until you've got nothing left
Nothing left that feels right

I used to feel like something was added
To my life with each passing day
Now it seems that all I can feel
Is something more slipping away

Why Does It Feel So Cold?

Seething heat bleaches
The snow white sand beach
Girls flex power over muscle boys
Their toys
Stuttering rain interrupts
Their smooth patter
One rainfall and pick-ups are destroyed.

Why does it feel so cold?
Why does it feel so lonely?
Why does it feel so cold
In this sun and sand?
Why does it feel so cold?
Exposing little of ourselves
While we're getting perfect tans

Men drift, sifting
Through beauties in the sand.
Like a lounging lizard
Summer scales the beach.
My need to touch someone
Is getting out of hand
Beneath the surface
Warmth is out of reach.

In the distance
Hills bloom through a daybreak rain
Nothing lasting grows here in the sand
Yesterday's impressions
Have been washed away
Here, grains of hope
Can sift right through your hands.

Crowded Isolation (Part Two)

Lights glare
Crowds hit the strip
Making registers ring
Horns blare,
Bass is thumping
(Bumper to bumper)
This street's a pinball machine.
The street corner salesmen
On either side of the road
Are preachers and pushers
Help you buy or sell your soul
And it takes an hour (in traffic)
To go ten minutes away
What more can I say

It's a crowded isolation
And my heart can't stand the pace
It's a crowded isolation
Always feeling out of place

I'm tired of people who shake your hand
Just trying to twist your arm
Adding to their bank accounts with calculated charm
All the mindless chatter
Every day after day
You'll be talking to yourself
No matter what you say
End up feeling cornered
In these social circles
I've got to get away

The highway throbs
I'm pedal to the metal
Like I'm driving the tempo
With a big kick drum
Beating a retreat
My heart keeps pounding
I make a fist
When I'm under their thumb
In that maze of politics
Go ahead choose left or right
You end up running in circles
No one wins the fight
Sometimes you have to be engulfed by the fire
Before you see the light

Night falls like a drunk in a
Slow motion collapse
In the sobering silence
I wonder if there's a way out
And I think perhaps

The Wrong Way

They say it's the wrong way to fall in love
They say we're wrong and we don't have the right
They say it's the wrong way but love comes in many colours
That's as clear as black and white

Veins of lightning flash
In a heart attack sky
Clouds like fists of thunder crash
The world begins to cry
It's another angry evening
That ends up in a fight
How can they say it's wrong
When we know it feels so right

They say it's the wrong way to fall in love
They say we're wrong and we don't have the right
They say it's the wrong way but love comes in many colours
That's as clear as black and white

We come from different worlds
But that's all that they can see
They say those foreign languages
They're all Greek to me
In a world of terrorism
What leaves me terrified
Is that the hope of ending hatred
May be one more thing that died

If our child has my eyes
I hope the only thing she sees
Is that her mother and I
Were always meant to be

On A Roll

A slash of light
Cuts under the blind
And opens up your eyes
Alarm clock ticking
Morning explodes
And shatters your peace of mind
You turn the ignition
The city starts up
Throbbing like a headache
You peer through the windshield
Then drive off
Crashing into the day
You're On a roll
Running in circles
On a roll
Spinning out of control
On a roll
Running in circles
Spinning out of control

A lunch hour sun roasts the city
Steam rises through the grates
Downtown is stuffed to overflowing
We all have too much on our plates
But you don't have time to eat much
You're on another roll

You're wheeling and dealing
Running in business circles all day
You're circuits are overloaded
A type "A" trying to make the grade
At night you lie tossing and turning
Rolling it over in your mind

Traffic like machine gun fire
Shoots out along the freeway
Your nerves are shot
You live on the line
The phone finds you night and day
Headlights skid along the highway
The clock's spinning out of control

Give And Take

We've got to stop this
Can't go on this way
For every good time we have
Heaven knows there'll be hell to pay
I guess I'm resigned
To calling it quits
Love is blind in the eye of the storm
Until the tornado hits

They say that love is
All give and take
Well I've taken all I can
And I've got nothing left to give
You can only bend so far
Then your heart breaks
There's got to be a better way to live.

One thing is certain
Can't get past these doubts
Its so easy to fall in love
But so hard to find a way out
They say love's an accident
That's why it leaves scars
Sometimes you don't know you're lost
Until you've gone too far
How can we take back
All that we said
Love can make you feel alive
Until you wish you were dead

It's a split decision
There are some good days
But so many nights we fight
Tearing it all apart
Seems like now there's nothing left to say

Don't Tell Me Why

When you go, don't tell me why
There are some things I'd rather just not know
So when you go, don't tell me why
It's too far gone to get it back
And I don't want to be tempted to try

I still remember the feeling
But somehow we lost the touch
Coping with myopia
Moping in utopia
We had it all and couldn't see that much

Chemistry's supposed to be elemental
But I guess we don't make the grade
Friction burns us out
Warmth replaced by doubt
Why we can't talk it out neither one can say

I've got to get it in perspective
If we just can't get it right
Let it go at that
Make peace with the fact
That I've finally got to give up the fight

The hardest part is the pain
Of gently trying to explain
To tiny ones who mean everything
That nothing will ever be the same

Angry World

The headline is blown up
A terrorist's bomb explodes
It shakes up the city
Shows how much we're exposed
As smoke fills the air
It's becoming clear
No one wants to go to hell
Well, hell just came here.

It's an angry world
Sick wicked world
Madmen in the streets
Like a poison in our veins
It's an angry world
Sick wicked world
It's an illness
We can't quite explain.

As we watched the buildings crumble
We saw the writing on the wall
The victims didn't have a prayer
Can any one's god save us all?
The pieces leave us puzzled
All we really know
Is the thing that makes us tick
Is an anger about to explode.

Some guy gets fired
Then pulls out a gun
When a madman escapes
We're the ones on the run
Road Rage is front page
Riotfires burn
Kids open fire in school
Tell me what have we learned?

Maybe this isn't my picture to paint
God knows I'm far from being a saint
Some days there's no telling what I might do
If you turn on me, would I turn on you

Habit of Force

You made the bed
Now live a lie in it
Is all that she can hear.
He lives in a well kept home
While she lives in fear

At first he worshipped you
Then he looked for a sacrifice
You make breakfast scrambling for an idea
Of how to stop the beating tonight

His habit of force
Came as a cruel blow
His habit of force
Left her nowhere to turn
He's getting smashed
The silence swells
When the violence will hit
It's so hard to tell
When you don't see a future
Which way do you go?

He's smashed and breaking furniture
How he looks at her is a crime
He says he paid for everything
She's living on borrowed time

His love leaves her tender
Bloody, black and blue
Love can leave you blind
When it blindsides you

With her eyes still swollen shut
She starts to see the light
He beats her 'til she's conscious
That this time she has to fight

A Place Where No One Can Hear

My head is pounding
Night closes like a vice
No room to turn around
No time to think twice

I'm chasing my own shadow
I can't catch my breath
It is so cold here
I'm afraid I'll catch my death

Silence can be sanity
When what you see is clear
Confusion can be deafening
In a place where no one can hear

In the dead of night
I account for my life
And find I'm in arrears
Who do you make a case to
In a place where no one can hear?

I would try praying
If it could ease the fear
But blind faith provides no insight
In a place where no one can hear

I'm looking at the mirror
I see a glassy stare
I'm haunted by my second face
That I see lurking there.

It's hard to paint you a picture
Van Gough might have lent an ear
It's funny, it down him crazy too
A place where no one can hear

In The AfterMass

All alone in the aftermass... oh no, oh no
I stop and cross my heart
nd then I hope to die
All alone in the aftermass... oh no, oh no
I know he made his bed,
Made it when he lied

At the foot of the altar
Kicked in the head
He said kiss my feet
And then share my bed
It's easy for him
He forgives and forgets
And now I just pray
That he will confess

Stripped of my faith
Forced to undress
Self-righteous wrongs
Under duress
My vow of silence
Was sentenced in prayer
Some oaths get you to heaven
Some just make you swear

After you've fallen
How do you rise up?
How does heaven
Accept his ploy?
When you're beaten down
How do you grow up?
The man is cloistered
What becomes of the boy?

I Don't Like Love Anymore

I never saw it coming
But I guess that's just the way it goes
Keeping track of what you've lost
Amounts to wisdom I suppose
Only Heaven knows where love goes

I've been left feeling
Lost by what I've found
Shaken right down to the core
I've been left feeling
Lost now that I've found
I don't like love anymore.

It's hard to look around again
And then never once look back
Where do I go from here?
Oh tell me where did we go so wrong?
Where did we go off track?
What did we lack?
I don't want to look back

At first you're soaring
You think heaven is what you've found
Then the one you worship crosses you
And it all comes crashing down

You Were There

I'm tired of people who shake your hand
Trying to twist your arm
Adding to their bank accounts
With calculated charm
Just when I couldn't take any more
You gave me something I'd never bargained for

Even when
I was positively negative
I called
You were there
Now you can bet
I will never forget
That when I called
You were there

It's such a short distance between warmth
And getting burned
I was afraid to get too close
But then I finally learned
A true friend is the one
Who faces the fire and refuses to run

I've burned the candle at both ends
But I finally see the light
You've got to get through the darkness
Dawn only comes to those
Who survive the night

One Last Chance

Give me..
One last chance to tell you
I've got to let you know
I need One last chance to tell you
One last time before you go
To say I love you so

They say nothing lasts forever
Does anything last long enough
How do we you live with what we've lost
Hold on while we're feeling out of touch

I guess I'll have to move on
Find my way to somewhere new
You can't live in the past
But you always take it with you

Where it is you're headed
Heaven only knows
I can't stand to see you leave this life
But I guess that's the way it goes

I see your eyes in the mirror
And I'm lost in reflection
I'm like a shadow
Waiting for direction

When it feels like you've lost everything
There's nothing left to say
Still I wish I could find the words
Somehow find a way

Drown Out The Silence

I never saw it coming
But I guess that's the way it goes
Keeping track of what you've lost
Amounts to wisdom I suppose

Some get married and multiply
Some get divorced and divide
Or one day the world's got your number
And it all adds up to a lie

Tell me
Why can't I just drown out the silence?
I guess there's not much that you can say
Why can't I just drown out the silence
The nights are dark and lonely
So I just live day to day

I've got to put the future behind me
Keep from falling back
Just when I lose everything
Just when I lose everything
I now see what I lack

All of the sorry things I did
I always will regret
The things I thought I could live without
I never will forget

I thought we'd have it all
But you'd just had enough
Now whenever you see me smile
It's just a blind man's bluff

Think I'll buy a lotto ticket
Try to start from scratch
Claim to have the fire to try again
But really I'm no match

I'm scared of my own shadow of doubt
Haunted by what I can't live without
Full of emptiness feeling drained
I'm falling and I can't stand the strain

Don't Lie

They say nothing lasts forever
Does anything last long enough?
Can we live with what we've lost and
Hold on when we're feeling out of touch

Don't lie, don't lie
Don't try, try to tell me that
Everything will be alright
Don't lie, don't lie
Don't try, try to tell me that
Dawn blooms through the darkest night

I always thought that I had more time
All of a sudden it seems I don't
All the things
I thought that we'd do
Now I know we won't

I can brace myself and brave the storm
But the calm is a different matter
Amid the noise I can see through the pane
But the silence makes it shatter

Under Duress (The Autopsy Of Love)

When love gets physical
You can't fight what you feel
When cupid brings his bow
You best remember the shields

Looking for love
Is like courting disaster
You can end up with never again
Instead of ever after

Read him his rights
He's under duress
He clutches his heart
This is, this an arrest
He's under duress

Each laboured breath
Tugs at the air
Every exhale
Speaks of despair

They say that time
Heals all wounds
He wants to file
A malpractice suit

Stabbed in the back
Stomach's tied in knots
His spirit's broken His nerves are shot

The autopsy of love
Shows that he's been burned
The autopsy reveals
That he never learned

These violent emotions
Leave him dying inside
He buries himself in this disservice
He's the only one who cried.

It's Over, It's Gone

They say "Only the good die young"
If that's true, our love was the best
For a time we were in a world of our own
Now we're back with all the rest

It's over, it's gone
No reasons worth looking for
It's over, it's gone
She doesn't love me anymore.

I'd paint you a picture
But you'd want more colour added in
And I don't want to cause a scene
No one has committed a sin

My friends are careful with their words
But then, there's not much you can say
The nights are dark and lonely
So I just live day to day.

Glory Hallelujah

Glory hallelujah
No one seems to give a damn
I pray one day I figure out
How I got to where I am
Working day to day gets in the way
Of things working out like you planned

9 to 5 doesn't add up to much
You count on the lottery
Resigned to not being able to quit
That's my destiny
I may make a living
but I'll never have it made
It cost me more
Than I ever got paid

I've been working,
Killing myself just to survive
It don't add up to much,
Working nine to five
How far do you have to go
To get past where you come from
I never thought I'd have it all
But I was hoping to get me some

Land of Extremes

I was born in a land of extremes
Hot and cold and not a lot in between
I was an angry young man, now I'm angry and old
When I look at where the fire went makes my blood run cold.

I've been working
Killing myself to survive
That day to day drain
Leaves you a little less alive
I've been working
Killing myself, now I find
When I look in the mirror all I see
Is what I left behind

I was born in a land of extremes
Have and have not and not a lot in between
I may make a living, but I'll never have it made
This life cost me more than I ever got paid.

Fall frost and winter freeze
Aching to get warm
I never got my place in the sun
I'll settle for shelter from the storm
How far do you have to go
To get past where you come from
You're never sure what to do
Then one day they say you're done.

Take Me Home

Gaudy lights glare, crowds hit the strip
Making registers ring
Horns blare, bumper to bumper
This street is a pinball machine
The street corner salesmen
On either side of the road
Are preachers and pushers
Help you buy or sell your soul

Take me home to the ocean
Let me wade let me walk along the shore
Take me home to the ocean
Cause I don't belong here any more

I feel cornered running in social circles
And I'm so tired of the race
It's a crowded isolation
And my heart can't take the pace
I'm tired of people who shake your hand
Trying to twist your arm
Adding to their bank accounts
With calculated charm

I've been here so long I don't know
Where I was headed to
And if you ask me how I got here
I'd have to say I haven't a clue
I'm too old to wait for the future
Too far gone to relive the past
I'm trying to catch my breath
Before it becomes my last

Some times you have to be engulfed by the fire
Before you see the light

Road Rage

My job leaves me rundown
But I'm never going to settle
The highway throbs
Now I'm pedal to the metal
Like I'm driving the tempo
With a big kick drum
Look in my rearview mirror
You'll know where I'm coming from

Road rage
A finger feels like a fist
Road rage
A finger feels like a fist
You can't hear what he's gesticulating
But you get the gist

Rush hour exhaustion
It's getting hard to breathe
An hour to go ten minutes away
The city starts to seethe
Life takes a detour
Things weren't supposed to turn out this way
Now I'm tearing along the dotted line
Ripping down the highway

Flying In The City of Angels

It's hotter than hell
With a halo of smog
Traffic churns
Arteries are clogged
Jaded workers blowing horns
With a need to feel reborn
Like cagey prisoners
Looking for their next release

I've been flying in the city of angels
Flying in the city of angels
Where do angels go
When they sink this low?
If there's a heaven
Get me the hell out of here.

High fashion paid for by the gram
High priests who don't give a damn.
Lunatic prophets bark beneath a spotlight moon
When you read the bubble in this cartoon
It's the high price you pay to feed the spoon.

Smokestacks suck the clear blue out of the sky
This pipe sucks the life out of you and I
This city breaks you like a habit
And holds you like a spell
Til you can't get high enough to get out of hell.

Close My Mind Behind You

Some say love is just an accident
That's why it leaves scars
Sometimes you don't even know that you're lost
Until you've gone too far

It's hard to look around again
And never once look back
Close my mind behind you when you go
Just when I lose everything
I then see what I lack
Close my mind behind you when you go

I never saw it coming
But that's the way it goes
Keeping track of what you've lost
Is wisdom I suppose

It's hard to look around again
And never once look back
Close my mind behind you when you go
Just when I lose everything
I then see what I lack
Close my mind behind you when you go

When our love died where did you take it?
Tell me where is the body laid?

It's hard to look around again
And never once turn back
Close my mind behind you when you go
Just when I lose everything
I then see what I lack
Close my mind behind you when you go

Close my mind behind you
It would hurt too much to find you there
Swear you'll close my mind behind you when you go.

My Epitaph

Every day the clock's hands pull me here
And here they hold me down
With sleight of hand
They steal my life away
Then my time is measured in money
If that's how they sum up my life
It's a hell of a thing for an epitaph to say.

I don't want my spirit
To die before I do
I won't let these wasted years
Turn into my life

They say that money talks
Well, you know that talk is cheap
And I found out that when it talks it lies
I traded my youth
For a working wage
Now I find the price I paid was far too high.

Night Rains

Night rains, rains down on the city
Night rains through a flood of lights
You hear the lightning crack
Feels like an urban heart attack
In the murmur of the night

Subway trains surge through the veins
Mainline to the heart of the city
Angry neon flashing
The city's wild eyed and pretty

Streetlamps like pneumatic drills
pounding the pavement with light
Headlights barrel along the highway
Like pot shots into the night

Some guy gives you the finger
But it feels like a fist
You can't hear what he's gesticulating
But you get the gist

I Don't Know Why

I don't know why
I don't know why
Humankind is cruel
I don't know why
I don't know why
We work at playing the fool
Politics is the sword that divides us
We take stab but make things worse
And I swear that their oaths become a curse

In the maze of politics
Go ahead choose left or right
You end up running in circles
No one wins the fight
We ending up making a fist
When we're under their thumb

They say we need protection
But it feels like an std
Another romantic notion
That turns into a disease
They're calculating and we pay the price
The cost is far too high

If they had any vision
That might see us through
But history repeats itself
The future's deja vu