Tigerlily (1995).

                                                              

 "San Andreas Fault"

Go west
Paradise is there
You'll have all that you can eat
Of milk & honey over ther
You'll be the brightest star
The world has ever seen
Sun-baked slender heroine
Of film & magazine

Go west
Paradise is there
You'll have all that you can eat
Of milk & honey over there

You'll be the brightest light
The world has ever seen
The dizzy height of a jet-set life
You could never dream

Your pale blue eyes
Strawberry hair
Lips so sweet
Skin so fair

Your future bright
Beyond compare
It's rags to riches
Over there

San Andreas Fault
Moved its fingers
Through the ground
Earth divided
Plates collided
Such an awful sound

San Andreas Fault
Moved its fingers
Through the ground
Terra cotta shattered
And the walls came
Tumbling down

O, promised land
O, wicked ground
Build a dream
Tear it down

O, promised land
What a wicked ground
Build a dream
Watch it all fall down

"Wonder"

Doctors have come from distant cities

Just to see me

Stand over my bed

Disbelieving what they're seeing

They say I must be one of the wonders

Of god's own creation

And as far as they can see they can offer

No explanation

Newspapers ask intimate questions

Want confessions

They reach into my head

To steal the glory of my story

They say I must be one of the wonders

Of god's own creation

And as far as they can see they can offer

No explanation

O, I believe

Fate smiled and destiny

Laughed as she came to my cradle

Know this child will be able

Laughed as my body she lifted

Know this child will be gifted

With love, with patience and with faith

She'll make her way

People see me

I'm a challenge to your balance

I'm over your heads

How I confound you and astound you

To know I must be one of the wonders

Of god's own creation

And as far as you can see you can offer me

No explanation

O, I believe

Fate smiled and destiny

Laughed as she came to my cradle

Know this child will be able

Laughed as she came to my mother

Know this child will not suffer

Laughed as my body she lifted

Know this child will be gifted

With love, with patience and with faith

She'll make her way

"Beloved Wife"

You were the love

For certain of my life

You were simply my beloved wife

I don't know for certain

How I'll live my life

Now alone without my beloved wife

My beloved wife

I can't believe

I've lost the very best of me

You were the love

For certain of my life

You were simply my beloved wife

I don't know for certain

How I'll live my life

Now alone without my beloved wife

My beloved wife

I can't believe

I've lost the very best of me

You were the love

For certain of my life

For fifty years simply me beloved wife

With another love I'll never lie again

It's you I can't deny

It's you I can't defy

A depth so deep into my grief

Without my beloved soul

I renounce my life

As my right

Now alone without my beloved wife

My beloved wife

My beloved wife

My love is gone she suffered long

In hours of pain

My love is gone

Now my suffering begins

My love is gone

Would it be wrong if I should

Surrender all the joy in my life

Go with her tonight?

My love is gone she suffered long

In hours of pain

My love is gone

Would it be wrong if I should

Just turn my face away from the light

Go with her tonight?

"River"

Young & strong Hollywood son
In the early morning light
This star fell down
On Sunset Boulevard

Young & strong beautiful one
One that we embraced so close
Is gone
Was torn away

Let the youth of America mourn
Include him in their prayers
Let his image linger on
Repeat it everywhere

With candles with flowers
He was one of ours
One of ours

Why don't you let him be?
He's gone
We know
Give his mother & father peace
Your vulture's candor
Your casual slander
Will murder his memory
He's gone
We know
And it's nothing but a tragedy

Lay to rest your soul and body
Lay beside your name
Lay to rest your rage
Your hunger and amazing grace

With candles, with flowers
You were one of ours
One of ours

I saw cameras expose your life
I heard rumors explode with lies
I saw children with tears
Cry and crowd around the sight
Of where you had collapsed that day
Where your last breath & word
Had been sighed
Where your heart had burst
Where you had died

I saw how they were lost in grieving
All half-believing you were gone
The loss and pain of it
Crime and the shame of it
You were gone
It was such a nightmare raving,
"how could we save him
From himself?

Carnival.

I've walked these streets

A virtual stage,It seemed to me

Make up on their faces

Actors took their

Places next to me 

I've walked these streets

In a carnival

Of sights to see

All the cheap thrill seekers

The vendors & the dealers

They crowded around me 

Have I been blind

Have I been lost

Inside myself and

My own mind Hypnotized Mesmerized

By what my eyes have seen? 

I've walked these streets

In a spectacle of wealth & poverty

In the diamond market

The scarlet welcome carpet

That they just rolled out for me 

I've walked these streets

In the mad house asylum

They can be

Where a wild eyed misfit prophet

On a traffic island stopped

And he raved of saving me 

Have I been blind

Have I been lost

Inside myself and

My own mind Hypnotized Mesmerized

By what my eyes have seen? 

Have I been wrong

Have I been wise

To shut my eyes

And play along Hypnotized Paralyzed

By what my eyes have found

By what my eyes have seen

What they have seen? 

Have I been blind

Have I been lost

Have I been wrong

Have I been wise

Have I been strong

Have I been Hypnotized Mesmerized

By what my eyes have found

In that great street carnival

In that carnival?

"I May Know The Word"

I may know the word
But not say it
I may know the truth
But not face


I may hear a sound
A whisper, sacred & profound
But turn my head
Indifferent


I may know the word
But not say it
I may love the fruit
But not taste it
I may know the way
To comfort & to soothe
A worried face
But fold my hands
Indifferent


If I'm on my knees
I'm begging now
If I'm on my knees
Groping in the dark
I'd be praying for deliverance
From the night into the day
But it's all gray here
It's all gray to me


I may know the word
But not say it
This may be the time
But I might waste it
This may be the hour
Something move me
Someone prove me wrong
Before night comes
With indifference


If I'm on my knees
I'm begging now
If I'm on my knees
Groping in the dark
I'd be praying for deliverance
From the night into the day
But it's all gray here
But it's all gray to me


I recognize the walls inside
I recognize them all
I've paced between them
Chasing demons down
Until they fall
In fitful sleep
Enough to keep their strength
Enough to crawl
Into my head
With tangled threads
They riddle me to solve


Again & again & again

"The Letter"

If I ever write this letter
The pages I could write
But I don't know where to send it
You have vanished
Heaven knows where you live
Heaven only knows


If I ever write this letter
Bitter words it would contain
Just an unrequited lover
Wishing she had never
Spoken your name
Had never known your name


But if I write this letter
The truth it would reveal
Knowing you brought me pleasure
How often I'll treasure
Moments that we knew
The precious and the few

"Cowboy Romance"

It's a Saturday afternoon romance
Between a cowboy and a fool...


A drunken meet up
In a crude saloon
A poor rocky mountain town
He's a scoundrel and
She's no pearl
Together they are two lovers cruel


Got her balanced on his knee
He knows exactly what to say
"you ain't been born
'til you get out of town
And honey, you might come with me


If you do . . .
I'll spare the innocent ones
And take you with me
Together we will be drifters free"


Got her tangled in his arms
She's a lusting, trusting fool
"there's no man born that can rule me
And that I've sworn
But stranger if you do
I'll belong to you


If you do . . . would you spare the innocent ones
And take me with you?
Can't you love the land
And love me too?"


As he grows sober
Sees his love anew
In the morning light so true
He gets on the move...


On the move

"Jealousy"

Ooo, jealousy

Is she fine

So well bred

The perfect girl

A social deb

Is she the sort

You've always thought

Could make you

What you're not?

Ooo, jealousy

Is she bright so well read are there novels by her bed

Is she the sort

You've always said

Could satisfy

Your head?

Ooo, my jealousy

Does she talk

The way I do

Is her voice reminding you

Of the promises

The little white lies too

Sometimes, tell me

While she's touching you

Just by mistake

Accidentally do you say my name?

"Where I Go"

Climbing under

A barbed wire fence

By the railroad ties

Climbing over

The old stone wall

I'm bound for the riverside

Well, I go over to the river

To soothe my mind

To ponder over

The crazy days of my life

Just sit and watch the river flow

Find a place

On the riverbank

Where the green rushes grow

See the wind

In the willow tree

In the branches hanging low

Well, I go to the river

To soothe my mind

To ponder over

The crazy days of my life

Watch the river flow

Ease my mind and soul

Where I go

Well I will go to the river

From time to time

Wander over

These crazy days in my mind

Watch the river flow

Where the willow branches grow

By the cool rolling waters

Moving gracefully and slow

O, child it's lovely

Let the river take it all away

The mad pace and the hurry

The troubles and the worries

Just let the river take them all away

Flow away

"Seven Years"

How did I love you?

There was no measuring

Far above this dirty world

Far above everything

In your tower over it

You were clean

So warm and insightful

Were you in my eyes

I was sure the rightful

Guardian of my life

Damn you betrayer

How you lied

But for seven years

You were loved

I laid golden orchid crowns

Around you feet

For seven years

I bowed down

To touch the ground

So wholly your devotee

You were

All that I could see

I've got my sight now

I see everything you hid

So don't you try to right now

All the wrong you did

I might forget you

But not forgive

But for seven years

You were loved

I laid golden orchid crowns

Around your feet

For seven years

I bowed down

To touch the ground

So wholly your devotee

For seven years

You were so revered

I made offerings of

Anything and everything I had

You were

All that I could see