Song For a Dead Brother

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Make-believe is cruelty   

Faith is a killing  joke      

Keeping me from seeing clear      

Keeping us from from letting go   

Time and time and time again   

Diagnosisoverdose         

Urging us to fight uphill       

Stead of sliding slopes

Maybe we can find some peace   

Now that time stops counting       

Now the pill stopped curing     

and the sun stopped  rising      

Maybe we can just let go     

Now the wind stops whining

And the waves stop rolling

To the blank horizon

Now that anger has died down

And all fears stopped raging

Cold and hard and ruthless

Even the moon stopped aging

Everything came to a hold

Nothing's left unspoiled

All the dead weight of the world

Cannot crush the void

Maybe we can find some peace 

Now that time stops fighting

Now the pill stopped curing

and the sun stops rising

Maybe we can just let go

Now the wind stops whining

Now the waves stop rolling

To the blank horizon

Now the waves stop rolling

To the dead horizon

Mellow Orange Moon

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We are all in this together
An easy thing to say ...
We will have to go the distance
To see this threat decay
You plan to harvest glory
Now that trouble is at hand
Not cause you deserve it
But just because you can
 
And when the evening comes
Under a mellow orange moon
We manage to make peace
Fit the groove and feel in tune
Yes now the dust has settled
The parting comes to soon
As we walk into the night
Where a new dawn loomes
 
When the verdict came
You had to drop the loot
The crowd simply exploded
Paying tribute to a fool
In the shadow of the corridore
Somebody started selling lies
And all the cool companions quarreled
just which one they ought to buy
 
And when the evening came
Under a mellow orange moon
We managed to make war
Feels too good to be attuned
Yes when the dust had settled
The parting came to soon
As we walked into the night
Where a new dawn loomed 

          Written for the Modo Moderno project [june 2021]

Swell

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Swell
The world is on its way to go to hell
There’s no cure as far as I can tell
And I am old enough to go as well
 
Try anyday
Grip slips away 
Misery bound
Faith melts away
Flows down the drain
Where faint voices drown
 
Dementia is wiping out my mum
Cruelty is beating up the bum
Equality ignored
until its gone

Try anyday
Grip slips away 
Misery bound
Faith melts away
Flows down the drain
Where faint voices drown
 
The air
Is about as dirty as my mind
The creep knows there's no shelter from his shine
Your rights sell for a dollar and a dime       

Paper Tigers

 

When your heart looks like a graveyard
With all them lost friends in a row
And all your old alibis
Around midnight they rise 
More scary than the screaming crows
 
And all the paper tigers hide
Inside the cardboard cage
Why don’t you let me join you
In your howl of rage
 
When your tongue can’t tackle the madness
Gets lost in a wild dispute
When reason gets sacked
And stupidity acts like it may speak for
The meek and the mute
 
And all your paper tigers etc...
 
The mind can do fantastic gymnastics
And turn a loss into a gain
But it’s getting late, accelerate,
Don’t challenge fate
When your fortune-teller breaks
Her crystal ball in rage
And looks for the fire-escape
 
Hey man,  are you crazy or something
Your jokes hurt like a curse
Is your fantasy sick
Or do you make it all up for kicks
Or is reality even worse
 
And all your paper tigers etc...
 
Now the night sneaks in and a streetdog barks like mad....
 

Be My Friend

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You write the play

You decorate
You do the casting
You call the shots
You try to direct this
You are THE leading actress
You throw me a line
The moment I'm lost
You know perfectly well
All this is made of dreams
And while your slumber is sweet
You must wake up with me  …
To be my friend
Be my love
let me be
Worthy of you

I walk in the shade 
Of the minstrel parade

Humming the lines
That nobody hears
Doing my thing
While staying within
Boundaries defined
By my steep sense of rhyme
I know perfectly well
I do keep me hid
I'm a failed hermit
Now that I recommit
To be your friend …   
Be your love
let me be
Worthy of you 

The world is an enormity 
Full of crap and cruelty
Fueled by stupidity
That you fight infinitely
Oh, how sweet the world would be
If you could be the remedy

Madness in shapes 
Tears like grapes

HIT THE BREAKS
You need an escape
You might lean on me
Or the one I would be
No longer surprised
We do harmonize
We know perfectly well
All love is make-belief
We make it ourselves
With mutual help

 

Be my friend 
Be my love

Let me be
Worthy of you

Ennui Ennui

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As we come back safely from the grave

Rain hits the town - it's a tidal wave

Now the road is a river and the strange is profound

Feel the souls of the lost floating around

To cross here alive we need a more than good luck

Have mercy on my lame luck

Mercy on the lame duck

The city is a cyber cafe

We have time, yes, time we have 

We could surf clouds in a sec but

My heart is too heavy  and my dreams are falling flat   

Ennui ennui

Won't let you get to me

A brilliant rain drags a billion lights

Down to the pavement where they are split alive

They run across screens like displaced tears

Over talking heads; thoughts that stream

See the man in the cage claw the flames in rage

Found his hell before he even found his grave

Incinerated while the Saviours pray & bray & sway

There's only so much we can do

Not even the Law and no bomber crew

Can control the Chosen Few  that rip the Free Will

As if it was a dollar bill

Ennui ennui

Why won't you let me be

Wont let you get to me

Wallow in the wrinkles of a sunfrown    

Linger in some envelope of time              

Under a black and blue shade, while vision fades       

We willfully try to forget      

Ennui ennui

Wont let you get to me

Passing by the sad cafe

We can hear music play

Lou would say it's paradise but

Now I guess

I must stress

That the bless[ing] is a mess

And worlds collide in my head … !

And worlds collide in my head … !

And worlds collide in my head … !

And worlds collide in my head … !

And worlds collide in my head … !

Ennui ennui

Wont let you get to me

Just As The Wonderful And The Strange

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Feel…

The temper of their hearts

Hated  and feared

So twisted and torn

From…

From  conflict to cold

Rising behind it

The odd mish-mash remains

I….  myself came here

I came here on a whim

Why are we drawn to a  whim

Some brilliant decision!

I made the move

To move my life here

Feel

The temper of their minds

Seductive and loved

From elegance to drabness

Merely familiar

Ghosts will haunt me

Just as the wonderful  and the strange

I….  myself came here

I came here on a whim

Why are we drawn to a whim

Some brilliant decision!

I made the move
To move my life here

The Loaded Train

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Well, I was musing upon the news

Of your brother's ill fate

And thinking about how

My own father dropped late

His heart froze all of a sudden,

Leaving no time for regrets

I dumped most my inhibitions

& some wacky visions I had left

Missing out on escapades

While there is no need for restraint...

All of this just got me started so I jumped

On the midnight train

An all-night train

With all-night people, right

Who got a whole lot more

Than only sleep to fight

Meet the rogue evangelist

And the Gucci refugee

And he might be a dropout, a freewheeler, doubledealer,

Jobstealer … scare me-er … Dark Reaper …

Or he might be a fortune hunter

But aren't we all into that game.

Being just a bunch of ragged clowns

Riding on a loaded train

From lungs of steel

In this snake a rolling

Comes a gust of air

Mixed with alcohol and

Next to me is a nose - a giant -

Dripping on patchy red hand

He fingers through a book of notes

Full of nowhere left to go

And nothing else happens

Like the Demon ordained

Almost knocked out loaded

On a loaded train

From immaculate neon landscapes

To obnoxious Hollywoods

I have seen more promises

Than my nightmares can produce

Killer saints in biceps-cars

Realizing concept wars

Where everyone can be a hero,

Can't tell the Saviour from the Weirdo

They will do the best they can

Till The Four Horsemen ride again

And they all promised me to come along

To ride the loaded train

Down a thunderous tube

Meeting a metal rattle

All ears are lining up

For a final battle

Hear them diesels hummin'

All the walls are made of noise

This is a dB Armageddon

Now try to find some peace boys

Haunting lamentations

Lauding horrors endless reign

Yet we're all suckers for a ride

On the loaded train

In The Afterglow

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Out in the barren fields and the black sands

The month of march has a slow hand

Of showing new life, save the catkins

On the bare skin of the young spring

So nature's up while skies are low

As time gets older we must go

Grow some pride, add some gloss

Make a loss look like a win

What is all this

What is all this

Is this really happening now

Do you see what I see

really really … in the afterglow?

Memories pop up / peep through cracks

Do I dare - prepare- a counter attack

Present a life: a grand design

But all it is … is a hit and a miss… is it?

Drunken voices - endless drives

Icy cars and frozen nights

Ringing ears and a gnawing fear

It will all add up to something … will it?

What is all this …

The past made promises the present can't keep

I need a bailout or austerity

Regrets don't die, they grow to own you

I must mould my days before they mould me

Mould my days so they don't mould me

Idiot's Delight

You can whip a dull moment
You can stir my desire

Dull days in a row start to
Jump up and down
Down here in the basement
With the litter and the lumber
Real live rushes in full speed
Hear me say ‘pleased to meet you’
Real live rushes in full speed

You can give me your small talk

And I will be enraptured
You can make a big deal look
Like an idiot’s delight
You can take my sad song and modulate it
Till it sounds real clear and bright
Quicksilver sound delight
Till it sounds real clear and bright

You give me the comfort of love again

Lost it somewhere I think
I poured it down the kitchen sink
The comfort of love
You make me feel so good

You can take the bitterness

That comes from a heart that’s hurt
You can take the judgements
That I pass too quick
You can take the suspicion
That has shown me false trails
You can take it all off my mind
Bury them dead or alive
Take them away for a while

You give me the comfort of love again etc...

Fear is the heart of the matter

Fear is a matter of heart
You make me fight it
And you give me shelter
Hear the roar of the fight outside
Dogs that bark they do not bite
They got postmen on their minds
It is a savage world
Outside

0ut there in the streets

The knocked out day recovers
Or maybe it’s a new one
I do not know
Well, for another round I will
Soon be ready
If you say you are on my side
If you say you are on my side
If you say you are on my side

You give me the comfort of love again etc ...

A Mexican Breakfast

Up in your room where the whole thing started
Everything looks normal now
Everything seems straight
No one who is really sane
Would call this room a magic place
Yet sometimes your gestures and sometimes your smile
Suggest there is more
Than meets the eye

Sometimes, in the name of fun
We embark up on the kettle drum
And sail across the sea of songs
Where the good old sirens sigh
Then we set foot on the land of rave
Where miracles are commonplace
And out of the blue, strait into my nose
Drift far-out flavours from far-away shores

And we both have a Mexican breakfast
That we don’t have to pay for at all
Once we get in full swing
We ignore everything
The world of limits
And the troubles in it
This whole thing is getting way off the map

You lost your mind some people say
The thick black smoke of burned-out days
Still obscures old Easy Street
And makes springtime look like fall
Well I do admit they may be right
But then again, I felt last night
How the touch of your hand
And the taste of your skin
Rushed me away from Noplaceville

Fool's Gold

Sometimes beauty just gets stuck in your head
And you can’t find nothing - nothing real to match that
So you search the black night for such a spark
But somehow it stays dark
Can’t make no dreams come true
Just like that

Back to the light - where it’s pretty
And where the black nights seem so silly
But even here in the light
I get these long-distance calls from nowhere

A dream... just a thought in your head
And you keep searching
For something real to match that
But when the stake is too high - you’re bound to loose
So sometimes I come to you to find a shelter from the blues

Back to the light - where it’s pretty
And where the black nights seem so silly
But even here in the light
I get these long-distance calls from nowhere

You know I tried...but I don’t want to give up
I find it hard to change
A fool’s gold for a wise man’s silver

So here - here is the key to your door
I don’t think - I don’t think I need it anymore
This old restlessness... it still lingers on
Somehow I got to move
Move on...

Countless Hearts

Bleary eyes from lack of sleep
Cheeks that show the crumpled sheets
After one more night of tossing and turning
You spill some coffee
You curse and shake
You try to smile but that’s a cheap remake
Of the one that used to keep the fire burning

Sure I would like you for myself

But I can’t place you on the shelf
Next to your portraits and my books
You say you don’t mean me any harm
But you say it with that priceless charm
On which your crowd of lovers is hooked

Dry your eyes now - you’re so young

You can still have so much fun
There is a lot that’s left to give and take
And there countless hearts for you to break

Some pity - some left-over love

Make it hard for you to close the door
Between the old days and the new ones
But it don’t look like you got much choice
We’re far beyond the turning point
Now let’s split up - go take your own chance

Dry your eyes now - you’re so young

You can still have so much fun
There is a lot that’s left to give and take
And there countless hearts for you to break

Them Brown Eyes

Hard to be so close to you
Hard to be so close and yet not kiss
Hard to be so close to love
And to be cheek to cheeck with distress
I might ...
Tell you how I’m feeling deep inside
I might ...
Really blow the whole thing
When I speak my mind

I try to give her all I’ve got

Try to give her all she needs
But some new passion did arise
And it’s raising hell inside of me
Maybe... you can cope with it
Or wear it down
Maybe you can smother it in tenderness

Cause there is no way

No way I can wipe this white face off my mind
And there is no way / no way I can stop
Them brown eyes watching me

Sometimes want to make things work

Sometimes I want to smash things up
Sometimes I want to love
And sometimes I just pass the cup
There is...
One too many voices in this head of mine
There is...
A hidden persuader saying all the time

That there is no way

No way I can wipe this white face off my mind
And there is no way / no way I can stop
Them brown eyes watching me

Let's Paint The City Red Tonight

We got too big plans for such a small world

Better be smart or else get hurt
Let’s put Alibi Ike asleep at the switch
Then if we screw up we won’t worry a bit
He’ll make more excuses than he really needs

So he’ll make some for you

And he’ll make some for me
Life is a pressure-cooker boy
Everybody better be hard-boiled

Let’s paint the city red tonight

Let’s paint the city red like cherries
The moon’s gonna rise
And shine like a pearl
Paint your name on the skin of the world

Where do you think we should go from here

Says lady in waiting  to the lord of hot air
I see people party and I do hear Otis
Let’s turn him up loud so we don’t really notice
That steady dripping in the back of our minds
Where shiny illusions are melting like ice
Life is a pressure-cooker boy
Everybody better be hard-boiled

Let’s paint the city red tonight

Let’s paint the city red like cherries
The moon’s gonna rise
And shine like a pearl
Paint your name on the skin of the world

The birds sing far-out harmonies

They’re so happy just to be alive
Chaos raids my mangled mind
Till I show it my insurance-files
I meet a big stone lion in the park
Tail curling like a question mark
Life is a riddle he can’t crack
But he sure is sleeping on it

Let’s paint the city red tonight

Let’s paint the city red like cherries
The moon’s gonna rise
And shine like a pearl
Paint your name on the skin of the world