JOY MILLS BAND
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Photo: Ailisa Newhall

Lyrics from Echolocator

Echolocator  (Mills)
I’ve been looking for love ever since I lost my way

Been listening for sounds I know, familiar phrases

Is there a message alive in time to save the day

Let it resound over the land and loud


Echolocator oh-oh-oh-oh, Echolocator oh-oh-oh
Follow me through my life

I’m a new person now, a new version somehow
But it’s the child in me who holds the master key

What is this world after all and who can I say is calling

All the way across the plane

No other love, I’m waiting for you
No other love, both night and day

No other love, my heart is sound proof

You ride along the wave, you drip inside the cave

You steal upon the wind, I’m waiting til the end


Get Out of Town (Mills)

We walked for days at first through death and through birth

The years were counting toward but none from just before

Our senses tight and keen, the years of sharpening

We used to be so soft to morph into machines


Get out of town as soon as now, get out while there’s still time to cut loose

Careful round the lake and everywhere you go

You’re in the movie now, did you already know?

H
old me now, I’m freezing, help me now, I’m reeling    
Who has ever felt so alive

Is nature so unkind to linger so discreet

Then open up so wide flooding every street

So granular the dream, each ray of light a song

Each mote of dust upon, I sing to carry on

Get out of town as soon as now, get out while there’s still time to cut loose
All the world’s a stage, the patterns never change

We seek with wild desire through water and through fire

They say there is a town further miles down
Through the scope you’ll see the light of future dreams
Each road a ridden path, the trees on either side

The stars are still our guide in this lonely aftermath


Get out of town as soon as now, get out while there’s still time to cut loose

I dream of olden times, I dwell inside today

Is it fortunate to die, sufficient to survive

Oxygen (Mills)
Deep as the water, slow motion and silent
Suspended in blue light, this whale is a pilot
Fish darting round, such small memories

Here and then gone, each one on its own

I gotta know how to start again, a little love and oxygen

Deep as the water, no sign of another

Cautious and floating, my mind in the gloaming

Remember the days, the voice of my mother

Echolocate me, I’m here in the water


Memories decorate and haunt me

Separation of time unknown

Leaves me searching in vain for miracles

The kind so sweet and mundane


Deep as the water, slow motion and silent
S
uspended in blue light, this whale is a pilot
Fish darting round, such small memories

Here and then gone, each one on its own

Without Even Asking  (Mills)
I've been thinkin it wasn't the drinkin 
That put me in the state I was in but where was the leavin     

Runnin the rat race even with guitar cases

All that living out and in, what kept me down


Anne stopped calling, I stopped trying

Pushing notes under the door like something's dying

It’s just a restless evening, I've got a bottle with me

It complements that easy feeling, got a long way to go

I've been falling, without warning
My mouth was full of the words of a fool, but there's no recalling

Wondering my way out, working my way through

Yeah I'm telling these far out stories but only to you

 I can't relate, it's just blue and gold
Just blue and gold in a lifted body with a drifting soul

And my every day is like an avalanche

Almost every day has been catching me up, without even asking

Favorite Stone   (Mills)
You can count on me, you can count on my rock and roll

Sure as sun will shine to beat the band

So delicate and new, it was the early side of June

Big mama roll the ball across the sky


My favorite stone, my favorite stone

You can follow down to the bay

Every river knows the way 

Polish your mind to silver from the gray

When you reach the ocean shore

I will intimate some more

Big mama roll the ball across the sky

Still is life in a wooden frame
Still is life a horizon game

Baling water from my throat

The salty sting of everything

You can count on me, I’m here naturally
Like a forest in your heart I grow the trees

Pine needles soft in spring, to you my subtlety will sing

Big mama roll the ball across the sky

Stuck in a Rut (Mills)
I’m stuck in a rut, I can’t run away
Called around but nobody could say

I medicate, it’s the fire I know

Unlock the door and I light out alone

When the lighting is right, cellophane
Stepping through the medicine

You don’t walk alone with cleavers

Flowers steam in a delicate tea

And didn’t we know back in the day

Didn’t we know the root to take the pain away

Waiting now, in the ground 

Life you know, life from the sun

Are we stuck in amber
Are we unable to remember

At the heart of it, are we getting by, only getting by

At the heart of it, are living in a, living in a 

Meadowsweet, nettle sting, hawthorne at the edge of spring
Like a lover’s game, lover’s game, lover’s game, lover’s game

Homebound, half light, first star in the evening sky

Another day nearly done, another day of life in the sun

Lonely & the Lean (Mills)  
Linger on the path while holding younger years and fallen fears

Jump like crickets in the grass

No pattern or control it seems and longer than the older dream

Stretch my arms like trees

It’s no wonder I came clean

Linger on the path along the edge inside the orchard
Free as birds upon the breeze

Cast a shadow over me and memories they shake the trees

They make a tremble

Wind that falls the apple, no happy ever after

It’s no wonder I came clean, call me the lonely and the lean

Voices call like waters rise, an ache that’s deep and tenderized
Drifting back to language lost, losing sleep like sleep has cost me 
Moments closely savored, doing me a favor
It’s no wonder I came clean, call me the lonely and the lean

Call me the lonely and the lean


This animal this human one pulsing from the nearest sun

Pushing days through summer haze each story cuts a different maze

Before we crash upon the ground and make a different sound

My One and Only   (Mills)

Set loose on the wild ground, orphan boy since i was born

Those days just hazy and long, there’s only dreaming when you’re poor

Now my mind is running, my heart is racing, my heart’s in danger now

I used to carry bags of down for everyone I’d meet

This world I’m living in so full of suffering and sin

Oh yeah, my one and only, oh yeah, my one and only    
Blackbirds on a live wire, sentries on these city streets
These days just waves on the shore never ending at my door

And if you catch me looking, like a stranger lurking, for a sign I might recognize

Every woman passing by like a mother in disguise

This world I’m livin in take me back where I begin


Oh yeah, my one and only, oh yeah, my one and only   

Oh yeah, my one and only, oh yeah, my one and only   

The Peace of Things (Mills)
We’re running out of ways to carry, running out of ways to care

Dragging on the line, we drag the breeze

Comes from living in a world, I call it drowning in a dream, I care

Come into the light you radiant being

When you hold me, I feel it in you
The pain of hope, yeah, the peace of things, yeah

Oh babe, I feel it too

The rage that flows, yeah, the peace of things, yeah

It’s the ribbon of the road to follow, nowhere else to go, I care
Raven in the snow, the light compares

If you’re strong inside the hip I call it strong inside the knee, I’m free

The rhythm is the why, the way, they wanna be    

I will always wait for you
Even with the lengths I go

Even if the fates are thrown

Do you know the way back home, 
I’m out of running ways
Do you know the way back home, I’m out of running ways
Do you know the way
Message of My Love  (Mills)
Get around, I got a long way to go
But I’ve come a long way, see how the tree’s grown

I might be late for the show

Time bends like a twist in the sequence

It’s hard to lose what you learn, It’s hot when the forest burns

On every acre, in every field alone

Feel it all around, feel it in your blood
Walk upon the ground, keep your eyes toward the sun

Wonder what that feeling is

It’s a message of my love, ooo

Message of my love, how the light gave away
A message of who we are and what conveys

Hold on, hold on we’ve only just begun

In every field alone

We’re all love crazed, pushed into the cities of haze
The social mores anymore just keep us further away

We hold grief in our lungs, I’m calling every good wish home

On every acre, in every field alone

Feel it in your arms, feel it in your legs
Vessels of your heart, enigmatic spark

Wonder what that feeling is

It’s a message of my love ooo

It’s the center of your heart 

Lyrics from Trick of the Eye


All songs written by Joy Mills (2012)

History Repeats
so rehearsed, it could not be worse
than the script that was thrown in the flame
breakin backs on your bitter lakes
and the sun has been setting all day
how can somebody know these kind of days
when the math isn’t made with clay
I wrecked all the webs that the spiders made
but I rarely go insane

so rehearsed, it was never worse
than the deafening sound in the air
plenitude with pale attitude
no doorway to old prayers
how can somebody know these kind of days
with a heart that’s just made with clay
I cracked all the codes in my little book
but it’s just a little book I made

where’s the promise, where’s the focus
I know this writer just like hypnosis
a different way to see, a different way to see
where’s the promise, where’s the focus
the night has fallen, you hear the locusts
the timbals in their ribs, the timbals in their ribs

so rehearsed, each and every verse
it’s the ending of an age
imagine now if you still know how
what a changed mind can replace
how can somebody know these kind of days
when the math isn’t made with clay
and I wrecked all the webs that the spiders made
but I rarely go insane
more than once each day


Boomerang
there’s only one way to cast a stone
or draft a line or boomerang
and by the way turn around
it’s coming from the other way
I’ll sit beside this tree
and wait for the softest breeze
there’s never right and never wrong
and afterlife and nevermore
and by the way who can agree
with anything we’ve said before
I’ll sit beside this tree
just you wait and see

how the moon has arranged us
like stars repeating in the sky
where tides and animals collide
and the wind will take us in its time

the money made, the stones engraved
the kitchen sinks and tagalongs
and by the way we sing along
to every little radio they say
I’ll sit beside this tree
the thoughts rise above me
the mess I made, the love created
never born never dated
fly away to distant dreams
with lands that seem so fabricated
I’ll sit beside this tree
who will deliver me
the happenstance, the mating dance
the hypocrites that caterwaul
and by the way, I’ve seen it all
and you do too, the tale is tall
I’ll sit beside this tree
picture it silently

I called you back, I drew a heart
I left you with your favorite part
and by the way, I can’t explain
what happens to us anyway
I’ll sit beside this tree
what will remain of me


Think of You & I
I am the ocean and the sky
A marble full of clouds and I had never noticed
How it swings a melody
And kindness swells, make me smile
think of you and I

I am the river, lean and strong
I hold the belly boats, carry motion faster
I am devoted to the night
When shadows merge, sing a dirge
think of you and I

And I will go
As lightning strikes, send a crooked saber
And I will go
Because the bell was shot, and 6 o’clock tomorrow
Maybe we’ll be here tomorrow

I am the forest and the breeze
A rooted spine, a twisted vine
A thought moving through you
I am a wave inside a wave
So sing again my feathered friend
think of you and I


Trick of the Eye
what is this trick, what is this photograph
that comes to mind every time?
hey, didn’t know it was taking mine
blazing all those trails, taking all those photographs
taken long from the roof
hey, didn’t know it was coming soon

what is this dark room?
what is this light that’s pouring in?
to break itself upon itself
and leave no time for crying shame
the pencil breaks, broken
the ticking of the time is when
the sight of the edge is thin

tell me now, design…tell me now photograph
the gear is low, rolling down
blacking out across the town
taken for a fool, but I’m skipping school
fold it up, had enough
do you know what I’ve been thinking of?

this tripping old dream
for all it is and all it seems
and I wrap myself inside the light
of sleepless nights and tossing beds
these running trains inside my head
I skip the stones along the stream
no wiser for this walking dream
yeah, I skip the stones along the stream
no wiser for this walking dream


Tourist Town
I never set out for glory
that was always the story
and the players come back late
to a neighborhood so sweet and tired
I was taken by the gallon
sweatin and then frozen
weighted down by mileage
chosen for the scorning
and now, can you feel the fever’s reverie

I never set out for glory
that was always the story
I’ve been holding back the plow
always sleeping by day
in this tourist town, this tourist town
always caring for the lowly, trodden down by takers
rollin’ in the shipyard, burning down the papers
and I get restless, even when the fever’s going down

always caring for the lonely, trodden down by takers
rollin’ in the shipyard, burning down the papers
and now, can you feel the fever’s reverie

I never set out for glory
I keep telling that story
I keep hearing my voice talking
I keep seeing my feet running
I keep hearing my voice talking
I keep seeing my feet running
and I never set out for glory


Hey Valentine
hey hey hey valentine
Time to ease your worried mind
hey hey hey valentine
who has given all away, all away to me

time is just 1, 2 and 3
every wave falls back to sea
and every road that don’t taper and end
and every echo across the span
and like an echo I hear it again

tell me what is fortune, something to realize
at the end of our lives just to find
all the trials and the setbacks were designed
like a folded piece of paper, sitting on a sill
sail it out through the window, to be still

hey hey hey valentine
Time to ease your worried mind
hey hey hey valentine
who has given all away, all away to be free


Best Show in Town
Well, I've been certain sometimes
as the grass grows underneath
Confounded by the night sky
and all there is between
People always say, how long must I wait
Til my glass is full and brimming
with a love that I can taste

I’ve taken all the measures
I’ve stood in all the lines
Held out my worn-out ticket
tall enough for the ride
Little stroke of luck, well I’ve had that too
But the closest that it brought me
was to a dream-vision of you

Is this the best show in town
am I high on its praise
could my heart bear the weight
as the sun beats to the ground
and the evening stars beg
they beg to be seen, shining down
shining down on the place
this restless love has made

there’s an island in the meadow
there's a meadow without sides
like an ocean bearing rowboats
tending to the greater tide
it’s hot under the sun, it’s cold under the moon
it’s tricky how I got here
to a blue world without you


Lake
How is that lake still in my mind’s eye?
I read my horoscope it said to capture thunder
And I love you, and you’re my type
But all this love is taking over and much under
And in my make-up, and on that high line
I walk across like I could worry sober
And my lover, out of my hands
I hope that all this talk of love is moving boulders

All those nights, we slept like sardines
For each one of us a wheel to spin our dream
And how they must have risen like steam
And intermingled with the drifting clouds of evening
And not for lack of distant sorrow
Or all the rules I like to make and never follow
We crossed it out, we swept the floor
Isn’t what’s always here the always waited for
And out of nowhere I sing like this
And from my lips, sinking ships


Bound to Find You
Everyone knows on the roadside
that every night on the road side
is a trial to be close to the fire
And I have opened eyes in the morning
but every night on the road side
you gotta hide and find

se don’t move fast as an arrow
we don’t move on a straight line
let’s go down to the races
anybody been racing out on the roadside
where I’m bound to find you

Everyone knows in the changes
like every night on an airline, across the divide
where pressure’s thin as a feather
and you can slip through the shadows
or grow green on the vine


When the Arrow Leaves the Bow
When the arrow leaves the bow
when the arrow leaves the bow
I’ll slip a note, under the door
to shine your light on the distant shore

If the candle wick won’t light
if it’s drowned in a waxen lake
we’ll turn away from the spark
to let our eyes adjust to the dark

how the wind it howls at the door
now the wind it howls once more
we’ll put ourselves and friends alee
and pass the time with the old stories

I am a traveler, I am a homemaker
Don’t hurry now for the undertaker
who heeds the word, who heeds the call
to climb the mountain, to sleep inside its walls

With smoking guns we’ll shoot the breeze
with what is left to contemplate
O garden give what you can
and autumn rest in a fallow hand

I am a lover, I’m for believing
don’t worry now about the rules of forgiveness
there comes a time in every life
to put your weight behind the push of the knife

When the arrow leaves the bow
when the arrow leaves the bow
I’ll slip a note, under the door
to shine your light on the distant shore
Yeah shine your light on the distant shore

Lyrics from Echolocator

Echolocator  (Mills)
I’ve been looking for love ever since I lost my way

Been listening for sounds I know, familiar phrases

Is there a message alive in time to save the day

Let it resound over the land and loud


Echolocator oh-oh-oh-oh, Echolocator oh-oh-oh
Follow me through my life

I’m a new person now, a new version somehow
But it’s the child in me who holds the master key

What is this world after all and who can I say is calling

All the way across the plane

No other love, I’m waiting for you
No other love, both night and day

No other love, my heart is sound proof

You ride along the wave, you drip inside the cave

You steal upon the wind, I’m waiting til the end


Get Out of Town (Mills)

We walked for days at first through death and through birth

The years were counting toward but none from just before

Our senses tight and keen, the years of sharpening

We used to be so soft to morph into machines


Get out of town as soon as now, get out while there’s still time to cut loose

Careful round the lake and everywhere you go

You’re in the movie now, did you already know?

H
old me now, I’m freezing, help me now, I’m reeling    
Who has ever felt so alive

Is nature so unkind to linger so discreet

Then open up so wide flooding every street

So granular the dream, each ray of light a song

Each mote of dust upon, I sing to carry on

Get out of town as soon as now, get out while there’s still time to cut loose
All the world’s a stage, the patterns never change

We seek with wild desire through water and through fire

They say there is a town further miles down
Through the scope you’ll see the light of future dreams
Each road a ridden path, the trees on either side

The stars are still our guide in this lonely aftermath


Get out of town as soon as now, get out while there’s still time to cut loose

I dream of olden times, I dwell inside today

Is it fortunate to die, sufficient to survive

Oxygen (Mills)
Deep as the water, slow motion and silent
Suspended in blue light, this whale is a pilot
Fish darting round, such small memories

Here and then gone, each one on its own

I gotta know how to start again, a little love and oxygen

Deep as the water, no sign of another

Cautious and floating, my mind in the gloaming

Remember the days, the voice of my mother

Echolocate me, I’m here in the water


Memories decorate and haunt me

Separation of time unknown

Leaves me searching in vain for miracles

The kind so sweet and mundane


Deep as the water, slow motion and silent
S
uspended in blue light, this whale is a pilot
Fish darting round, such small memories

Here and then gone, each one on its own

Without Even Asking  (Mills)
I've been thinkin it wasn't the drinkin 
That put me in the state I was in but where was the leavin     

Runnin the rat race even with guitar cases

All that living out and in, what kept me down


Anne stopped calling, I stopped trying

Pushing notes under the door like something's dying

It’s just a restless evening, I've got a bottle with me

It complements that easy feeling, got a long way to go

I've been falling, without warning
My mouth was full of the words of a fool, but there's no recalling

Wondering my way out, working my way through

Yeah I'm telling these far out stories but only to you

 I can't relate, it's just blue and gold
Just blue and gold in a lifted body with a drifting soul

And my every day is like an avalanche

Almost every day has been catching me up, without even asking

Favorite Stone   (Mills)
You can count on me, you can count on my rock and roll

Sure as sun will shine to beat the band

So delicate and new, it was the early side of June

Big mama roll the ball across the sky


My favorite stone, my favorite stone

You can follow down to the bay

Every river knows the way 

Polish your mind to silver from the gray

When you reach the ocean shore

I will intimate some more

Big mama roll the ball across the sky

Still is life in a wooden frame
Still is life a horizon game

Baling water from my throat

The salty sting of everything

You can count on me, I’m here naturally
Like a forest in your heart I grow the trees

Pine needles soft in spring, to you my subtlety will sing

Big mama roll the ball across the sky

Stuck in a Rut (Mills)
I’m stuck in a rut, I can’t run away
Called around but nobody could say

I medicate, it’s the fire I know

Unlock the door and I light out alone

When the lighting is right, cellophane
Stepping through the medicine

You don’t walk alone with cleavers

Flowers steam in a delicate tea

And didn’t we know back in the day

Didn’t we know the root to take the pain away

Waiting now, in the ground 

Life you know, life from the sun

Are we stuck in amber
Are we unable to remember

At the heart of it, are we getting by, only getting by

At the heart of it, are living in a, living in a 

Meadowsweet, nettle sting, hawthorne at the edge of spring
Like a lover’s game, lover’s game, lover’s game, lover’s game

Homebound, half light, first star in the evening sky

Another day nearly done, another day of life in the sun

Lonely & the Lean (Mills)  
Linger on the path while holding younger years and fallen fears

Jump like crickets in the grass

No pattern or control it seems and longer than the older dream

Stretch my arms like trees

It’s no wonder I came clean

Linger on the path along the edge inside the orchard
Free as birds upon the breeze

Cast a shadow over me and memories they shake the trees

They make a tremble

Wind that falls the apple, no happy ever after

It’s no wonder I came clean, call me the lonely and the lean

Voices call like waters rise, an ache that’s deep and tenderized
Drifting back to language lost, losing sleep like sleep has cost me 
Moments closely savored, doing me a favor
It’s no wonder I came clean, call me the lonely and the lean

Call me the lonely and the lean


This animal this human one pulsing from the nearest sun

Pushing days through summer haze each story cuts a different maze

Before we crash upon the ground and make a different sound

My One and Only   (Mills)

Set loose on the wild ground, orphan boy since i was born

Those days just hazy and long, there’s only dreaming when you’re poor

Now my mind is running, my heart is racing, my heart’s in danger now

I used to carry bags of down for everyone I’d meet

This world I’m living in so full of suffering and sin

Oh yeah, my one and only, oh yeah, my one and only    
Blackbirds on a live wire, sentries on these city streets
These days just waves on the shore never ending at my door

And if you catch me looking, like a stranger lurking, for a sign I might recognize

Every woman passing by like a mother in disguise

This world I’m livin in take me back where I begin


Oh yeah, my one and only, oh yeah, my one and only   

Oh yeah, my one and only, oh yeah, my one and only   

The Peace of Things (Mills)
We’re running out of ways to carry, running out of ways to care

Dragging on the line, we drag the breeze

Comes from living in a world, I call it drowning in a dream, I care

Come into the light you radiant being

When you hold me, I feel it in you
The pain of hope, yeah, the peace of things, yeah

Oh babe, I feel it too

The rage that flows, yeah, the peace of things, yeah

It’s the ribbon of the road to follow, nowhere else to go, I care
Raven in the snow, the light compares

If you’re strong inside the hip I call it strong inside the knee, I’m free

The rhythm is the why, the way, they wanna be    

I will always wait for you
Even with the lengths I go

Even if the fates are thrown

Do you know the way back home, 
I’m out of running ways
Do you know the way back home, I’m out of running ways
Do you know the way
Message of My Love  (Mills)
Get around, I got a long way to go
But I’ve come a long way, see how the tree’s grown

I might be late for the show

Time bends like a twist in the sequence

It’s hard to lose what you learn, It’s hot when the forest burns

On every acre, in every field alone

Feel it all around, feel it in your blood
Walk upon the ground, keep your eyes toward the sun

Wonder what that feeling is

It’s a message of my love, ooo

Message of my love, how the light gave away
A message of who we are and what conveys

Hold on, hold on we’ve only just begun

In every field alone

We’re all love crazed, pushed into the cities of haze
The social mores anymore just keep us further away

We hold grief in our lungs, I’m calling every good wish home

On every acre, in every field alone

Feel it in your arms, feel it in your legs
Vessels of your heart, enigmatic spark

Wonder what that feeling is

It’s a message of my love ooo

It’s the center of your heart 

Lyrics from Trick of the Eye


All songs written by Joy Mills (2012)

History Repeats
so rehearsed, it could not be worse
than the script that was thrown in the flame
breakin backs on your bitter lakes
and the sun has been setting all day
how can somebody know these kind of days
when the math isn’t made with clay
I wrecked all the webs that the spiders made
but I rarely go insane

so rehearsed, it was never worse
than the deafening sound in the air
plenitude with pale attitude
no doorway to old prayers
how can somebody know these kind of days
with a heart that’s just made with clay
I cracked all the codes in my little book
but it’s just a little book I made

where’s the promise, where’s the focus
I know this writer just like hypnosis
a different way to see, a different way to see
where’s the promise, where’s the focus
the night has fallen, you hear the locusts
the timbals in their ribs, the timbals in their ribs

so rehearsed, each and every verse
it’s the ending of an age
imagine now if you still know how
what a changed mind can replace
how can somebody know these kind of days
when the math isn’t made with clay
and I wrecked all the webs that the spiders made
but I rarely go insane
more than once each day


Boomerang
there’s only one way to cast a stone
or draft a line or boomerang
and by the way turn around
it’s coming from the other way
I’ll sit beside this tree
and wait for the softest breeze
there’s never right and never wrong
and afterlife and nevermore
and by the way who can agree
with anything we’ve said before
I’ll sit beside this tree
just you wait and see

how the moon has arranged us
like stars repeating in the sky
where tides and animals collide
and the wind will take us in its time

the money made, the stones engraved
the kitchen sinks and tagalongs
and by the way we sing along
to every little radio they say
I’ll sit beside this tree
the thoughts rise above me
the mess I made, the love created
never born never dated
fly away to distant dreams
with lands that seem so fabricated
I’ll sit beside this tree
who will deliver me
the happenstance, the mating dance
the hypocrites that caterwaul
and by the way, I’ve seen it all
and you do too, the tale is tall
I’ll sit beside this tree
picture it silently

I called you back, I drew a heart
I left you with your favorite part
and by the way, I can’t explain
what happens to us anyway
I’ll sit beside this tree
what will remain of me


Think of You & I
I am the ocean and the sky
A marble full of clouds and I had never noticed
How it swings a melody
And kindness swells, make me smile
think of you and I

I am the river, lean and strong
I hold the belly boats, carry motion faster
I am devoted to the night
When shadows merge, sing a dirge
think of you and I

And I will go
As lightning strikes, send a crooked saber
And I will go
Because the bell was shot, and 6 o’clock tomorrow
Maybe we’ll be here tomorrow

I am the forest and the breeze
A rooted spine, a twisted vine
A thought moving through you
I am a wave inside a wave
So sing again my feathered friend
think of you and I


Trick of the Eye
what is this trick, what is this photograph
that comes to mind every time?
hey, didn’t know it was taking mine
blazing all those trails, taking all those photographs
taken long from the roof
hey, didn’t know it was coming soon

what is this dark room?
what is this light that’s pouring in?
to break itself upon itself
and leave no time for crying shame
the pencil breaks, broken
the ticking of the time is when
the sight of the edge is thin

tell me now, design…tell me now photograph
the gear is low, rolling down
blacking out across the town
taken for a fool, but I’m skipping school
fold it up, had enough
do you know what I’ve been thinking of?

this tripping old dream
for all it is and all it seems
and I wrap myself inside the light
of sleepless nights and tossing beds
these running trains inside my head
I skip the stones along the stream
no wiser for this walking dream
yeah, I skip the stones along the stream
no wiser for this walking dream


Tourist Town
I never set out for glory
that was always the story
and the players come back late
to a neighborhood so sweet and tired
I was taken by the gallon
sweatin and then frozen
weighted down by mileage
chosen for the scorning
and now, can you feel the fever’s reverie

I never set out for glory
that was always the story
I’ve been holding back the plow
always sleeping by day
in this tourist town, this tourist town
always caring for the lowly, trodden down by takers
rollin’ in the shipyard, burning down the papers
and I get restless, even when the fever’s going down

always caring for the lonely, trodden down by takers
rollin’ in the shipyard, burning down the papers
and now, can you feel the fever’s reverie

I never set out for glory
I keep telling that story
I keep hearing my voice talking
I keep seeing my feet running
I keep hearing my voice talking
I keep seeing my feet running
and I never set out for glory


Hey Valentine
hey hey hey valentine
Time to ease your worried mind
hey hey hey valentine
who has given all away, all away to me

time is just 1, 2 and 3
every wave falls back to sea
and every road that don’t taper and end
and every echo across the span
and like an echo I hear it again

tell me what is fortune, something to realize
at the end of our lives just to find
all the trials and the setbacks were designed
like a folded piece of paper, sitting on a sill
sail it out through the window, to be still

hey hey hey valentine
Time to ease your worried mind
hey hey hey valentine
who has given all away, all away to be free


Best Show in Town
Well, I've been certain sometimes
as the grass grows underneath
Confounded by the night sky
and all there is between
People always say, how long must I wait
Til my glass is full and brimming
with a love that I can taste

I’ve taken all the measures
I’ve stood in all the lines
Held out my worn-out ticket
tall enough for the ride
Little stroke of luck, well I’ve had that too
But the closest that it brought me
was to a dream-vision of you

Is this the best show in town
am I high on its praise
could my heart bear the weight
as the sun beats to the ground
and the evening stars beg
they beg to be seen, shining down
shining down on the place
this restless love has made

there’s an island in the meadow
there's a meadow without sides
like an ocean bearing rowboats
tending to the greater tide
it’s hot under the sun, it’s cold under the moon
it’s tricky how I got here
to a blue world without you


Lake
How is that lake still in my mind’s eye?
I read my horoscope it said to capture thunder
And I love you, and you’re my type
But all this love is taking over and much under
And in my make-up, and on that high line
I walk across like I could worry sober
And my lover, out of my hands
I hope that all this talk of love is moving boulders

All those nights, we slept like sardines
For each one of us a wheel to spin our dream
And how they must have risen like steam
And intermingled with the drifting clouds of evening
And not for lack of distant sorrow
Or all the rules I like to make and never follow
We crossed it out, we swept the floor
Isn’t what’s always here the always waited for
And out of nowhere I sing like this
And from my lips, sinking ships


Bound to Find You
Everyone knows on the roadside
that every night on the road side
is a trial to be close to the fire
And I have opened eyes in the morning
but every night on the road side
you gotta hide and find

se don’t move fast as an arrow
we don’t move on a straight line
let’s go down to the races
anybody been racing out on the roadside
where I’m bound to find you

Everyone knows in the changes
like every night on an airline, across the divide
where pressure’s thin as a feather
and you can slip through the shadows
or grow green on the vine


When the Arrow Leaves the Bow
When the arrow leaves the bow
when the arrow leaves the bow
I’ll slip a note, under the door
to shine your light on the distant shore

If the candle wick won’t light
if it’s drowned in a waxen lake
we’ll turn away from the spark
to let our eyes adjust to the dark

how the wind it howls at the door
now the wind it howls once more
we’ll put ourselves and friends alee
and pass the time with the old stories

I am a traveler, I am a homemaker
Don’t hurry now for the undertaker
who heeds the word, who heeds the call
to climb the mountain, to sleep inside its walls

With smoking guns we’ll shoot the breeze
with what is left to contemplate
O garden give what you can
and autumn rest in a fallow hand

I am a lover, I’m for believing
don’t worry now about the rules of forgiveness
there comes a time in every life
to put your weight behind the push of the knife

When the arrow leaves the bow
when the arrow leaves the bow
I’ll slip a note, under the door
to shine your light on the distant shore
Yeah shine your light on the distant shore
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