Ripple Stones

I’m sorry your skies have turned a colder blue
And I wouldn’t want to disturb more than I do
But sometimes you have to throw
A pebble in a pool
Ripple stone
Ripple stone
Watching ripples as they roam
Far from view

Above the starlings fly across a cold winters’ sky
A flock of a thousand birds so wide
All flying back home
A path well flown
Ripple stone
Ripple stone
Watching starlings as they roam
Far from view

The orchard sleeps deep in a blanket of sheep
While the cold air’s the only company you keep
I’ll throw a pebble in a pool
For I’d rather be a fool
Ripple stone
Ripple stone
Watching ripples as they roam
Far from view

Journeys Run

A maze of footsteps in the snow
Tell of the places we could go
Journeys run
From cradle to grave
And those footsteps echo
Memories we’ve made

Nothing So Grand

You are the coldest star

Shining bright from afar

I am a gentler kind

Washed with rains of time

You are a cold, clear night

Ferocious and focused light

I am the warmer flame

Constant I will remain

Until the dawn

I'll find your face in a crowd

I'll reach out for your hand

I'll send you on your way

I will even stay

Until the dawn

Of another day

Nothing so grand in my plans as you

Nothing for the rest of the day to do

Find my smile, take my hand

And we could stay this way

Until the dawn

You are the coldest star

Shining bright from afar

I am a gentler kind

Washed with rains of time

You are a cold, clear night

Ferocious and focused light

I am the warmer flame

Constant I will remain

Until the dawn

I'll find your face in a crowd

I'll reach out for your hand

I'll send you on your way

I will even stay if you need me too

Until the dawn of another day

Ocean View

I was thunderstruck from the start

You were a hammer blow to my heart

You went and caught me off my guard

In a storm of emotion

You came rolling in

And I can't remember

Why or even when

But it was always

Wild like the wind

With you

It was always

Wild like the winter wind

The road is twisting round an ocean view

We've got the moonlight bathing us in blue

I see no future for us but I wanted too

I wanted wild like the wind with you

I was thunderstruck from the start

You were a hammer blow to my heart

You went and caught me off my guard

In a storm of emotion

You came rolling in

And I can't remember

Why or even when

But it was always

Wild like the wind

With you

It was always

Wild like the winter wind

The wheels are skidding cross an icy road

The metal grinding as sparks brightly glow

A river of our blood is drowning me

And my love is falling to a violent sea

My last words ever are a silent scream

I wanted wild like the wind with you

I was thunderstruck from the start

You were a hammer blow to my heart

You went and caught me off my guard

In a storm of emotion

You came rolling in

And I can't remember

Why or even when

But it was always

Wild like the wind

With you

It was always

Wild like the winter wind

Homage to Eurovision

Don't count on me

Don't count on me

I can't follow your signals they're too confused

Don't count on me

Don't count on me

Why do you have to keep breaking all the rules

Don't count on me

I won't compete in your love games

My boundaries are set to change

There's no denying the spark of love

I'll be your owl and you'll be my dove

Don't count on me

Don't count on me

I can't follow your signals they're too confused

Don't count on me

Don't count on me

Why do you have to keep breaking all the rules

Don't count on me

I've set my compass for the shore

I won't drown just to to be yours

There's no denying the spark of love

I'll be your owl and you'll be my dove

Really?

Oh, give me a break!

Woooaaah!

Don't count on me

Don't count on me

I can't follow your signals they're too confused

Don't count on me

Don't count on me

Why do you have to keep breaking all the rules

Don't count on me

  

Off That Floor

Somewhere between yesterday and today
Somewhere between yesterday and today
The rules changed
Those lines blurred
Our shapes became a different word
Somewhere between yesterday and today
It's a whole new ball game

Don't throw me that curve
Because I've heard
It all before
Once, twice, encore, encore
Get up! get up!
Off that floor
But I'm not so sure now
And I'm not sure how
But somewhere between yesterday and today
Those rules changed

Somewhere between yesterday and today
Somewhere between yesterday and today
The rules changed
Those lines blurred
Our shapes became a different word
And you're not so sure now
And you're not sure how
But somewhere between yesterday and today
Somewhere between yesterday and today
It's a whole new ball game

The View From Here And

There isn't much to see
If you're trying to look at me
And I'm sick of the reasons why
I didn't look
And I didn't try

And what do you want me to say
I didn't dare
And I didn't die
What do you want me to say
I didn't change
And I didn't lie

Oh honey, it was you
Who's looking at me
But I'll tell you now
There's not that much to see

And on the way here
I drowned in a ocean of tears
And on the way here
I burned in a wildfire of fears
And what do you want me to say
To give absolution
And tidy it all away

Well honey, it was you
Who was looking my way

Goodbye

Your eyes close the space
Stretching hours into moments
In their tender embrace
And a thousand cobweb threads
Could not hold you
However tight
And no rain could douse
Those eyes burning bright
A storm will rage in my heart
For all days
Since I've had to watch
Your eyes say

Wayfarer

You turn to smile and the look in your eyes
Asks what is it that clouds my happy skies

It’s knowing you’re going to turn and walk away
Guess I’ll catch up with you, some day

finished! Horizontal Tides

I told myself any kind of promise
Is better than no promise at all
But what did I give in return
To be washed up on your unforgiving shores
It took an ocean of salt water
To open my eyes
Only to find
I'm still crying under horizontal tides

A walk over the hilltop and down to the sea
Vertical cliffs where the wind flies free
Above me the buzzards are circling round
But I’m keeping my feet firmly on solid ground

Well I was never one to make waves
But life shapes us by strange degrees
Cutting our dreams to the bone until
We change into windtorn trees
And I shouldn’t need to tell you
But it took a storm full of rain
To open my eyes
Only to find
I'm still crying under horizontal tides

First verse of Horizontal Tides...

I told myself any kind of promise
Is better than no promise at all
But what did I give in return
To be washed up on your unforgiving shores
It took an ocean of salt water
To open my eyes
Only to find
I'm still crying under horizontal tides

(possible chorus)
A walk over the hilltop and down to the sea
Vertical cliffs where the wind flies free
Above me the buzzards are circling round
But I’m keeping my feet firmly on solid ground

Fragile, handle wih care

Life's a chicken fricassee
It's where I come unstuck
No one's out there gunning for me
I'm just another schmuck

I wish that I could make it all much better
And every dream come true
But I can't stop falling
falling through

If love is such a simple game
Let's play heads or tails
If I win, you'll take the lot
If not we'll swim with whales

The human heart's a strange beast
A contract made in blood
Beating to a single tune
We sing called love

I wish that I could make it all much better
And every dream come true
But I can't stop falling
falling through

Sometimes I

Sometimes I find the sky is turning me blue
& sometimes you find time too, time to
Sometimes I remind you too much
& if all the world could be poured into a glass
We could drown our sorrows
Or at least attempt to
The roll of a dice won’t help it pass
But it’s true
Sometimes I find the sky is turning me blue

The horse and the plough
The race and the clouds
I can’t explain it any clearer
You’re no nearer than before
What truth will you recall

Sometimes you find time too, time to, sometimes to
Sometimes I remind you too much
Sometimes you
I’ll see you and raise you
Sometimes I find the sky is turning me blue

A sad valentines song....Snow Shoes

There’s a colour in the sky I can’t quite catch
A feeling of uneasy mismatch
As though my watch is running slow again
We won’t return to this point will we?

There’s a lyric that sums up this place
We’re finding so hard to face
As though we’ve walked out in the wrong clothes
A summer wedding & I’m in snow shoes

We won’t keep going will we?

This was meant to be a valentine
Sweet and light, love defined
Well maybe, some other time…

Geese fly overhead calling for home and yet
This place is so cold, I’m cold to the bone
So cold I need snow shoes on a sunny day
My watch points to another time, another way
And all the paths we walk don’t stay the same

This was meant to be a valentine
Sweet and light, love defined
Well maybe, some other time…

I won’t need my snow shoes

He’s not just any man

He came courting and on bended knee
About some dancing he would like with me
But I don’t give my heart to just any man
And put his daisies out in the trash can

He went a way and bought a silver car
One with wide seats and said we wouldn’t go too far
As if to impress me I could be his girl
I don’t need a flash car and some social whirl

He came courting and on bended knee
About some wedding he would like with me
But I don’t give my heart to just any man
And put his daisies out in the trash can

Well, he went away and built a house with trees
Cooled by an ocean’s gentle breeze
Planted jacaranda and hibiscus fair
With a pool for little fishes to paddle there

Now our grandchildren play in the sea
I’m old and wrinkly and so is he
He asks me why I put his daisies out in the trash can
I say I didn’t give my heart to just any man

(spoken word and trumpet, flugelhorn, tuba, drums)
1,2, 1,2, 1,2,3,4 whoa! calypso!

(Repeat two verse, music only, sing last line)
He's not just any man

The last one for this set of songs...Love Is

Well, this is the point I feel that I have turned full circle with this set of songs and come back to the central theme with which I started out in the beginning. The idea that love sets us free.
This is called Love Is and I hope the sentiment comes across as genuine and not too pretentious. What we all could do with in this world is, as always, a little more love (and a lot more windmills).


Love Is

One day I’ll be round that corner
Waiting for you
And all those barefeet moments
Our lives have played
Will be there too

And that half-glimpsed happiness
To which we cling
Will still be the best boat
Sailing

Love offers us
A chance to change
And love’s an equality
We all can claim

Love is, love just is
Love is, love just is

One day you’ll be round that corner
Waiting too
And all those heartfelt moments
Your life has played
Will be there for you

And that half-glimpsed happiness
To which you cling
Will still be the best boat
Sailing

Love offers us
A chance to change
And love’s an equality
We all can claim

Love is, love just is
Love is, love just is

After we meet

Which one are you?
I’m sorry it’s not kind
But honey,
I’m not a patient soul
So which one are you?

It might be the eyes
That remind
Of other ways
And earlier days
It might be the walk
The air of yesterday’s talk
So I’m sorry if it seems
Too hasty and throwaway
But which one are you?

All these tears
Really washed away
Those years
Like stones tumbling
From the shifting banks
Of memory
So you need to know
I’m not a patient soul
Which one are you?

And on the surface
Reflected in an oily sheen
A myriad of chances
Always someone else’s dreams
It’s just a puddle, man
But for a moment or two
All of the world is waiting there
So which one are you?

From me

And I’m going to tell you why
I’m going to sing
But you not might like it
You walked out of my heart and
You expected me to understand
You walked out of my heart and
As tho’ you expected an apology
From me
For what else could have I done
Can love ever really do wrong?

I’ve watched walk away twice now
What’s that about
When is enough, enough?
I can’t expect you to understand
But I’m going to sing
And you might not like it
For what else can I do
For loving you?
For what else could have I done
Can love ever really do wrong?

Fanfare

A silent song plays across her lips
Rhythm to a beat within
These words, like kisses, breathe the air
And those missing sounds are a fanfare
To hope on…
To call on…
Not much to go on
Just a wing and a prayer
Just a tune and you’re there

The bar is closing
And there’s a scuffle
As people yell
Blue lights are calling
A different farewell
Last orders are long ago
As the shutters are pulled
Off you go
Into the night
Past the fight
To the taxi rank
But you still see her face
Singing a song, out of place
And you won’t forget
Though it’s not much to go on
To hope on…
To call on…
Not much to go on
Just a wing and a prayer
Just a tune and you’re there

Aphelion

The voyages of constellations
That haven't yet reached our eyes
Are painted in the night ink
Of late Autumn skies
Like words in the wind
They whisper over the lake
All we need is a boat
To reach heaven's gate