SURREALIST LYRICS
1. 1000 Years
The killing wheel spins too fast
Cutting time with the edge of its knife
But I've bargained with the angels
For a thousand more years of life
1000 years 1000 years
More more more more
The quicksands of time be damned
The dust of the grave can wait
I’ve a million more perfect dawns
To wake to and celebrate
1000 years 1000 years
More more more more more more
Let me kiss her waiting mouth
Before fate stills my racing heart
It wants to beat fast in time
To love tearing it apart
I’m nowhere near the exit
Ain’t taking one step toward the door
I’ve had my fill of being mortal
All I want now is more more more
1000 years 1000 years
More more more more
Years of days to fill with heat
Years of nights to bless with songs
I’ll be hanging a while some yet
My second life’s just begun.
1000 years 1000 years
More more more more
2. Trick of Moonlight (About A Mermaid)
Late one night
Walking by the sea
While the moon
Played its tricks on me
From the water came an eerie sigh
A flicker of a fin caught my eye
And when she rose up
I had to cry
She' was a mermaid singing
Sha La La La
You're not real
I shouted out at her
She said Perhaps
Whatever you prefer
But before I turned away
Her emerald hips began to sway
Mesmerized
I knew I must obey
She' was a mermaid singing
Sha La La La
And then her voice
Was swimming in my head
I had no choice
I followed where she led
In the spell of the cool moon glow
I went to her but she slipped below
And where she went then
I'll never know
She' was a mermaid singing
Sha La La La
3. Voyseur (Pt. II)
You’re such such such an addiction
4. Million Conversations
“Yeah, the party’s on
Who cares what she said?
My girl and her rules
Got no place in my head.”
Women roll their eyes
And the guys run for cover
This fool’s getting tight
One way or the other
A million conversations
Drift by mouth to phone
Private negotiations
Public as a dial tone
Keep it to yourself
If you don’t want pity
Don’t put your sorry state
On display for a whole city
Rewind on that first call
Next day that fool’s heart’s breaking
And everyone on the street
Hears the abuse he’s taking
“Janelle, sweetie, don’t
I love you babe, I do
I’ll be home in five
Don’t leave till I see you”
A million conversations
Drift by mouth to phone
Private negotiations
Public as a dial tone
Keep it to yourself
If you don’t want pity
Don’t put your sorry state
On display for a whole city
A few blocks down she listens
To his pathetic bleat
Then tells him how it is
Giving public ears a treat
“Once you disrespect me
Like you did last night
I have no patience for you
Get out of my sight.”
A million conversations
Drift by mouth to phone
Private negotiations
Public as a dial tone
Keep it to yourself
If you don’t want pity
Don’t put your sorry state
On display for a whole city
5. Sky
Named for the Sky she departed too soon
Lost to the world by the light of the moon
The songs of the birds in the trees up above
Betrayed the call of the mourning dove
“I had two friends who promised their love
Between life and death they lied well enough
On a night like crystal, hearts filled with deceit
They called to me so perfectly sweet”
Before they could break the law they saw a cop
Turned around quickly and looked for spot
Underage, out too late, not getting caught
They went to their usual place to smoke pot
“Driving into the forest of their dark embrace
I smiled and they smiled, lying face to face”
Sky had to go back to the car for a light
Her friends count to three then knives slash the night
The sky filled with stars Sky could hold in her eyes
In the last moments of her life as she cries
“Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why?”
“Heaven’s lullaby will sing me to sleep
As I pray to the Lord my soul to keep.”
6. Vast Dark Night
I’m your bogeyman
Just fourteen years old
Hey there
Don’t run so fast
I’ll trade you rock candy
For your mother’s coins
So steal into my vast dark night
I’m a nasty one
I’m a scarecrow
I’m a child of bone and shadow
The ghost you’ll never truly know
Here whenever
You're feeling low
So step into my vast dark night
On your street corner, at your school
I’ll sell whatever makes you feel good
Want grass You need blow
You can score in the hood
Just step into my vast dark night
My boney fingers around your neck
I’ll hold on tight till you’ve no more breath
Your need warms my cold, cold heart
Surrender to an addict’s death
So step into my vast dark night
At age 12 I put away the light
Walk with me into the darkness
Feel my claws scrape your backbone
Turn to face my snarling hiss
Hey kid, you want a gun
I can branch out and get you one
Want a girl, want a boy
Whatever you want, I’ll procure that toy
A nightmare society’s dread
A demon dream On despair I’m fed
I started early I’ll end soon
By age twenty I’ll be dead
I want you with me when I go
I’ll take you to the deepest pit
I’m every man’s darkest sin
I’m the journey you won’t forget
So step into my vast dark night
7. Hands That Built America
Oh my love
It’s a long way we’ve come
From the freckled hills to the steel and glass canyons
From the stony fields, to hanging steel from the sky
From digging in our pockets, for a reason not to say goodbye
These are the hands that built America
Russian, Sioux, Dutch, Hindu
Polish, Irish, German, Italian
I last saw your face in a watercolour sky
As sea birds argued a long goodbye
I took your kiss on the spray of the new line star
You gotta live with your dreams
Don’t make them so hard
And these are the hands that built America
These are the hands that built America
The Irish, the Blacks, the Chinese, the Jews
Korean, Hispanic, Muslim, Indian
Of all of the promises
Is this one we can keep?
Of all of the dreams
Is this one still out of reach?
Its early fall
There’s a cloud on the New York skyline
Innocence dragged across a yellow line
These are the hands that built America
These are the hands that built America
8. Soy Extranjero
Soy extranjero,
I swam through the shallows
I hid from the migra
when they gave chase
My friends and my kinsmen
were caught as they fled
I saw them captured
and quickened my pace
Face down in a ditch
I cowered in fear
Lost in the night
Dirty water that first day
is all that I’ve had
The last of God’s grace
Soy extranjero,
in the desert two days
No food, no water,
and no path to trace
The vultures are waiting
for me to lie still
By night I fear
The coyote’s embrace
By day number 3
I pray to be found
Show me the migra man’s face
Show me anything
But this hot sun
God get me out of this place
Surrender existence,
With no hint of a breath
Surely La Muerte awaits
But why did I come
For the heart of my heart
Love too strong
For fear to replace
At the end of the fourth day
extranjero no more
A child saw me stumble
my hand clutched the lace
Of her dress as she ran to
her mother for help
Food, water, comfort
New life in this place
9. Rains Too Deep
It rained all through the night and into morning
Beating on the roof like bullets striking tin
Water’s soaked the ground beyond absorbing
Rising ankle deep on weary skin
Raging water’s running round the bend now
Climbing up the river’s edge to overflow
Trouble came to find me fast as flooding
When she asked me would I stay or let her go
By noon the tide came curling round my knees
Fast enough to float my life away
I walked toward the door I was stumbling
Across the traps she set for me today
If I stay the night I know I’ll die here
She’ll find my knife thrust in her chest
Don’t think we’ll make it to morning
Death’s the only way to get some rest
Watch the sun fall the sky at day’s end
Rising waters come embrace my waist
Caught between walking out and drowning
Passion churning I see her face
In the pitch black night the deluge takes me
Rain’s too deep to fight its brutal sway
I’m swept up in the torrent near to drowning
Doubt I’ll see the light of breaking day
I hear her midnight laughter cross the water
‘Can’t return this rain to heaven’s what she said
‘Might as well release me from your mem’ry’
So I aimed true enough to see her dead
10. 25 To Life (Pàno)
Ink on cloth, like a tattoo peeled
From skin to pen, shows how I feel
Women I’ve known, friends I’ve betrayed
They cover this rag, sad and frayed
Above two dice, thrown snake-eyes
I draw a clock to count my time
Below the dice I sketch my face
And with each line I pray for grace
God help me learn how to survive
The years to come, twenty-five to life
Tears mark this cloth, tale of my life
The act of drawing sets me free awhile
I shield my eyes and hide my pain
The only way I can win this game
I ink the flesh just beneath my eye
A tear for each year I’ve spent inside
The mask I etch resembles a clown
The right side laughs, the left side scowls
That’s the disguise I wear in here
To show to men who tremble with fear
It’s the best expression on a cell block
With its cries in the night, its bloody locks
Tears mark this cloth, tale of my life
The act of drawing sets me free awhile
I shield my eyes and hide my pain
The only way I can win this game
I’ll trade this drawing of blood and bone
For cigarettes or time on the phone
Swapping promises with my sometimes wife
She’ll swear her love, quick with a lie
Then she’ll go to some bar and pick up a ‘date’
Wondering why I expect her to wait
But I shrug her away and let her go
I have my escape, only one I know
I return to my cell and caress my pen
Pull out a blank pano and begin again
Tears mark this cloth, tale of my life
The act of drawing sets me free awhile
I shield my eyes and hide my pain
The only way I can win this game
11. Galileo Galilei
Galileo trains his glass
Across the night's cold stars
And finds the curve for Venus
The path for Earth and Mars
'Trajectories' he whispers pleased
'From earth to sun, from God to men
Ellipses traced across the sky
Etched there days before the Garden'
Galileo inhaled the light
And challenged faith with no regrets
Then whispered to his God above
'I've learned your sweetest secrets'
'I'll tell the truth I know
In hope and faith and love
Listen to this prophet's voice
And man below will rise above
In shock God turned his face away
Plunging the gazer into darkness
'Heretic' men hissed at him
'Retract your sinner's lie,
You must confess
Galilei in deepest dark
From which celestial light had fled
Recants the truth and to his shame
Sighing gasps, 'I was misled'
Galileo, ten years dying
Leaves the world in darkness scheming
Entombs himself within his truth
Wrapped inside eternal dreaming
Divinity within his grasp
Galilei spans the universe
Knows the planets on their paths
And aims at earth his final curse
"Earthbound let the darkness keep you
Three hundred years and a few more
For persecuting man's own prophet
Who stole his God's most sacred core."
INCANTATION LYRICS
1. GHOSTS (A Bouchard, K Vargas)
JFK wants passion and a flame that'll never cease
Janis is just looking for some sweet release.
We’re all restless wanderers until we sleep
In the arms of love profound and ocean deep
Anne Boleyn searches for her pearly “B”
And Henry the king he’ll never be.
Marilyn wonders why she sleeps alone
James Dean sulks in heaven like he did at home
Every ghost wants something unfulfilled,
Every ghost a shadow, a shadow looking still
But I have love & happiness today
Love keeps me breathing
I think I’ll stay
Ghosts who never get everything they need
Aren’t ever happy even when they’re freed
From mortal coils that tie them to lost love
For hungry lovers enough is not enough
Andy wants his paintbrush and his muse
Edie wants a mirror to abuse
J. Edgar wants his mommy and mommy bids her son
Keep your secrets hidden 'til you’re done
Curled around each other, my love in my arms
All night long to keep her safe from harm
Ghosts around our bed, go away
All I ever wanted I have today
2. ROADSHOW (A Bouchard, K Vargas)
I’ve spent my life learning to roar
On hundred-city summer tours
Airport to limo to the show
One night’s wizardry before I go
I’m from the age of rock and roll
The age of blues, the age of soul
With notes so fine and round and firm
They’ll make you gasp, they’ll make you squirm
I’m from the age of troubadours
Men set free by their guitars
Stretching hands across a chord
Until the melody line soars
Tonight I'll bring you spells and magic
Filled with stories strange and tragic
Filled with longing, filled with bliss
And one night's worth of sky to kiss
I’ll sing to you and hold your hand
In blue suede shoes I am your man
A wanderer across the skies
I find my home inside your eyes
The amps rev up, the stage lights sear
Gone too soon, tonight I’m here
I have an hour, maybe two
To spill out my love for you
Everything I know of life
Love and pain sharp as a knife
I play them to your hungry ear
Stage center I can hold you near
Remember me when next we meet
And in between move to my beat
Hear my echo when things get quiet
I’ll be back when you need a riot.
3. RAVENS (A Bouchard, K Vargas)
A swift flock of ravens on a cloudy day
Draws a trail of contrast black on grey
Crossing the horizon in rapid flight
Soaring to meet the descending night
Stitching a line between land and sea
I reach out my finger to set them free
Tomorrow they'll arrive where you sleep
In another land darkness seeped
I watch the ravens fly as you lay dying
Hearing you insist I won't have crying
Did you really mean to die so soon
Darkness descends like night follows noon
As the raven horde sweeps to the night
Your soul leaps skyward catching flight
Leaving me here unable to rise
I let you go with one last sigh
Wings beat the air like soft thunder
The sky darkens the day grows somber
I won't see you again while I live
As day follows night and take follows give
Gravity anchors me flight has failed
Far far above the moon rises pale
All I ever wanted was one last smile
But you've flown with the ravens lost to time
4. DO YOU BELIEVE IN ME (David Roter)
I saw an old lady on the subway
Crazy look on her face
She was talking to some people who were not there
Staring into empty space
I was moved I sat down beside her
Put some money in her hand
She let my dollar fall to the floor
She said you don't understand
Just what I need
Do you believe in me
I started to laugh
Do you believe in me
Lady you make me feel
Maybe there's a way for us both to be real
If you believe in me
Uncle Louie he's a solid man
Built his house out of stone
His daughter plays the piano
He never sleeps alone
And some people say he's a happy man
Others say he's just a mess
When he fell off his chair he grabbed hold of my hand
He looked in my eyes and he asked
Do you believe in me
I got to know
Do you believe in me
You make me feel
Maybe there's a way for us both to be real
If you believe in me
Even on 42nd street people vanished in the air
We got to hold each other close so we don't disappear
I don't want to disappear
5. PRAYER (LIGHT THE DARK) (A Bouchard, K Vargas)
Lord, I don’t know my way
I have no idea where I’ll stay
Tonight, tomorrow, the next day
I must hang oh God I pray
I sleep in buildings full of rats
Abandoned husks, cold as hell
Screams and curses in the streets
From little girls with bodies to sell
Hear to my voice
let it light a spark
Give me a chance
light up the dark
Day labored for a man who'd bray
Every word he had to say
Worked me dawn to sun’s dying ray
Two bucks was all he had to pay
He’s a king in my pauper’s tale
He succeeds only if I fail
That’s how he sees my travail
How do I tell him that story’s stale
If we live or die in each other’s greed
Neither of us will succeed
If we live and die in each other’s grace
We meet each man face to face
Don’t want your pity, don’t want sorrow
Just a better tomorrow
A job to give us both a piece
Of what we all want, the American dream
Don’t forget me here in the cold, damp dark.
Listen to my voice; let it light a spark.
I deserve respect; I can make my mark
Give me a chance; light up the dark.
6. TRINITY (A Bouchard)
I think of my tattoo
When I think what defines me
People ask what does it mean
To me it stands for trinity
It could be holy
But not necessarily
It could stand simply
For my family
Irish, Canadian and American
That's what makes my ancestry
I think I am a lot of things
But my strongest roots are three
The celtic knot is my mother's side
My grandfather came across the sea
For new life in America
The land of opportunity
I'm a parent, musician, teacher
That's the work of mine I see
I strive to set a good example
And live up to the trinity
7. CRY 3X (M Barkan, A Bouchard, R Gordon)
You're just a slap in the face
You're the queen of the block
The word's on the street
You've got a heart like a rock
But you're not fooling me
So Cry Cry Cry
Baby you can cry if you want to
Cry Cry Cry
It's not so bad if you got to
Go ahead and cry
You been fighting so long
Because it makes you feel strong
But you're fooling yourself
You can't make it alone
And you're not fooling me
You think it's cool to be cold
It's going to make you feel old
If you think you're so smart
You're going to break your own heart
And you're not fooling me
8. VOYEUR (PT. I) (A Bouchard, K Vargas)
I hear you breathing behind your door
I glimpse you walking, but I want more
I won’t hurt you, well, not much
I only crave a closer touch
You’re such, such, such an addiction.
I’m a voyeur, look come see,
Or leave that pleasure to me,
A living camera’s what I’ll be,
Impossible to set you free
You’re such, such, such an addiction.
I stand on fringes, it's not that tough
I own you with my eyes, it’s enough
No need to fear how near I come
No need to wonder when I’ll be done – never.
I want you always in my eye
It’s my courtship, don’t be shy
I’ll own you now until we die
Nothing for it, you’re all mine
You’re such, such, such an addiction.
9. FACE IN YOUR MIRROR (A Bouchard, K Vargas)
My scarred face inside your mirror
Bears no resemblance to the man
Who posed before your needy eyes
When I thought you loved me
I have become an erasure
My freedom held in your rejection
I give you my compassion
And return to my reflection
Then I raise your silver needle
Shifting my visage, folding its layers
Stitching flesh to bone that crumbles
Overlapping discarded pain
Metaphysical incantation
Self-creation with no past
Alchemy of baser matter
Forgetfulness of what I was
We are born for pain like this
It makes a human know his flesh
Behind the self who once loved you
I am an altogether different man
I hide behind the mask I made
And lose myself in your searing stare
Are we ever as we appear
When looking through a lover’s mirror?
Take your tears and numb my flesh
To the pain of re-emerging
Where once I was filled with wanting
Now I crave freedom from yearning
My reflection on the surface
Of this distorted lover’s mirror
Traces the lines of my trembling scalpel
As I discard the skin your arms embraced
10. ALL DREAMING (A Bouchard, C Pineda, K Vargas)
Everything
Everything imagined
In the dream of fate
Twists itself
Fate itself
Is dreaming
Only dreaming and you
All dreaming
Eyes opaque
I touch your face
Only my fingers
See you
Dream of day
Dream of night
Unfold the thread
Of shadow
Pride and power
Unimportant
To the dream
Of everyday