A LOVE SONG
See lyrics below to A LOVE SONG.  Click on this link to listen online or download mp3
I can't pretend to love the answer
Its rings are fashioned from fool's gold
I love the jewels in the crowned heads of wonder
And I love you

I love the freedom of a feather
Single, dancing all alone
As feathers can make lovely wings together
I love you

Let us share the moon while we can
In some tender act of love
Before that silver slave of a river
Proves there is not time enough

Tomorrow's hidden from my mirror
But hope and I are face to face
With all the promise and softness in my power
I love you
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ALIVE
See lyrics below to ALIVE.  Click on this link to listen online or download mp3
I find it hard to travel the straight or the narrow
Those words don't seem to fit my melodies
And now I hear the ring of that sweet gypsy music
Bright gold in my ear
Let's see where it leads

Circus clowns are calling from every direction
And men in tights invite me to take a swing
Side show barker beckoning me with affection
"We remember you well, my friend
Come on in"

I'm sorry, but I can't put an end to my singing
There's so much dying to get from inside of me
Alive is how I feel when the time and the music
Were meant for each other
Like now, happily
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ALL I WANT IS EVERYTHING
See lyrics below to ALL I WANT IS EVERYTHING.  Click on this link to listen online or download mp3
My good friends
Listen up and listen good
Have I got a flash for you
We're not getting any younger
Life sure takes its toll
What a perfect time
To flush our good sense
Down the toilet bowl

Indulge a dream or two
A little reverie
Could never do you harm
I'm sick of hiding the truth
I don't know about you
But all I want is everything

I want to settle down
I want to sail away
I want to have you free and have you stay
I want to join the revolution
I want to be the king
I want big city nights
And those little country mornings

Indulge a dream or two
A little reverie
Could never do you harm
I'm sick of hiding the truth
I don't know about you
But all I want is everything

I want to save the world
I want to stay in bed
I want to lose control and keep my head
I want to hide and sing alone
I want you to hear my songs
I want you to miss me so much
And feel no pain while I am gone

Indulge a dream or two
A little reverie
Could never do you harm
I'm sick of hiding the truth
I don't know about you
But all I want is every...
Just a little bit of every...
All I want is everything
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APRIL - A MELODRAMA
See lyrics below to APRIL - A MELODRAMA.  Click on this link to listen online or download mp3
April started crying on the day that she was born
She turned so blue, it almost seemed she knew
That she was to live sadly ever after
As she tried to cope with all life put her through

April lost her mother, I think that she was five
It was just before her father's suicide
Though I never can remember as to whether
That was after or before her puppy died

April was made for the hit parade
Or the country and western scene
Queen for a Day
Or a heartbreak page from a true love magazine

April was unhappy though she bloomed at puberty
Like the popcorn at the local five and dime
Her skin was clear and lovely but she suffered
From what you might call acne of the mind

April took a husband about six or seven times
And every last one took her for a ride
Some gambled and some drank and they all cheated
One tried to do her in with cyanide

Chorus

April turned to Jesus and to Scientology
Yoga, EST, psychiatry and Zen
All she ever wanted was a lover
All she ever got was born again

April died in Houston in just a nick of time
Of some painful and incurable disease
She suffered till the very final moment
But compared to living, dying was a breeze

April died a virgin at the age of 29
If you only count the times that she was loved
A barracuda has as many fingers
A rattlesnake could count 'em on his toes

She did not go to heaven
And she did not go to hell
But to Channel 13 on the TV screen
She's the new soap opera queen

And so, ladies and gentlemen
This song is a bunch of bull
Just the way soap operas are
God, ain't they wonderful
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BALANCE
See lyrics below to BALANCE.  Click on this link to listen online or download mp3
I know you're feeling burdened down
You can't define your style
You were starving in captivity
Now you're fed up with the wild

You've got something in your eyes
Looks like trouble to me
That only tears will wash away
It looks like trouble to me

You're searching for a temperate zone
That rare and solid turf
Where platform shoes don't seem so high
Or naked feet so down to earth

You've got something in your eyes
Looks like trouble to me
That only tears will wash away
It looks like trouble to me

It's a no-win situation
When you tally up the score
Between deadbeat and dynamo
Between nothing and more

You've got something in your eyes
Looks like trouble to me
That only tears will wash away
It looks like trouble to me
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BEAUTY
See lyrics below to BEAUTY.  Click on this link to listen online or download mp3
She trusts a fine thing when she feels it
She says some songs sing themselves
Beauty only understands
That she believes in dulcimers
The power of lace and neverlands

Purple on a virgin eyelid
Is it there too soon?
Beauty only understands
The look, the line and pure romance
Beauty only understands
The heat of this brief candle

The moon is full of madness mountains
Passion peaks are thick as thunder
Beauty only understands
The silent ways of lovers' lips
The eloquence of lovers' hands

On some old and wrinkled main street
She embroiderers rose parades
Beauty only understands
The bloom in the beholder's eye

I am not at all the dreamer
That you thought I'd be
I am here in the rust of fallen leaves
Trying hard to understand
Beauty
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BELOW THE RAINBOW
See lyrics below to BELOW THE RAINBOW.  Click on this link to listen online or download mp3
The way I'm on has not got one the yellow brick
Goes here and there, I take my pick
Above the rainbow's not where I want to go
I love the view I've got from here below
Give me the view I've got from here below

Don't look for me, you know I'll miss you, my friend
It's just the way I am, I swear
But for a while I've got my greenness to spend
I'll take a rain check on that rocking chair
I'll take a rain check on that rocking chair

Why talk to me about the end of the road
You know that nothing's what we're owed
The time to bloom's not just one time of the year
Sometimes it takes a song to make that clear
Sometimes it takes so long to make that clear
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CINDERELLA
See lyrics below to CINDERELLA.  Click on this link to listen online or download mp3
Cinderella looked around her
Found herself too many dreams shy
"Fairy Mother, I'm your daughter
Where's the love to light my fire?"
The slipper's broken
It happened Thursday
And she's noticed
She feels much better

Cinderella, midnight, midnight
Time to make a change
"Fairy Mother, come here closer
I'm feeling mighty, mighty strange"
The dark is lifting
The castle's quaking
The kingdom's falling
She feels much better

Cinderella, have you seen
The writing on the wall?

Cinderella, fairy princess
Stronger than before
"Fairy Mother, Yes, I'm different
The myth has got its hold no more"
And Prince Charming
She frees him kindly
And loves her sisters
She feels much better

Cinderella, have you seen
The writing on the wall?
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CITY FOLKS
See lyrics below to CITY FOLKS.  Click on this link to listen online or download mp3
Hebron Michaels is mighty old
Has a mane full of silver and a mouthful of gold
Every wrinkle is smiling and he's still going strong
Says, "My skin got this way just 'cause I've worn it so long"

Dr. O'Mara loves to sit and tell
How to get the landlord and rip off Mama Bell
She's a roller coaster, a real good time
And I'm proud to count her as a friend of mine

Andrew Neecher, for many years
Listen to the doctors confirm his fears
"Yes," But the doctors told him, "it must be said
To be so outrageous and such a young lad"
For Andrew Neecher is very gay
Ever since he can remember he has been that way
Once he tried to conquer his "disease" and all
With the help of the Lord and alcohol
But Andrew Neecher's now doing fine
Took himself a lover, he drew the line
Even one day of lying's not worth the time it took
To down a bourbon and numb his mind

Sister Sarah worships the moon
And plays Radio Jesus In her tiny background
"There are demons. Be careful," She's heard to repeat
As she talks to the lamp lights on Marlboro Street

Peter Manidos has a cocky style
And a tweed beret and a toothy smile
If you ask him, "How are you?", he grins, "Can't complain"
And goes on sidewalk tap dancing with his red and white cane
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CONFUSION
See lyrics below to CONFUSION.  Click on this link to listen online or download mp3
Do you often feel confused?
Do decisions dramatize
How you split in two
Three or four or more
When you start to analyze?

Got a moment? I'll tell you a story that's bored me at least a billion times
It starts and it ends with a perfectly clear-minded hero
I can't divulge exactly where I got the details, but take it from me
The hero in question died young with his boots on of terminal virility

Tell me lies if you want to, but don't tell me truths with the sort of conviction
That characterizes the sort of fanatics who write songs with no contradictions
For confusion is sacred, a reason for communication between us
But why should I burden you all with abstractions, for this is a popular song

Even Christ, you know, had his doubts in the garden so don't be disheartened
If you find yourself in a state of confusion, it's part of the holy tradition
Yes, folks, revel in quandary, the natural expression of the will of the cosmos
For chaos will be with us, long after order has gargled a mouthful of dust

"Even things that are true can be proved" said a genius at one time or other
And that is the spirit in which I would like to address you
Heaven knows, in my heart I'm the purest of well-meaning, sober Armenians
But don't be misled into thinking I know what I'm talking about in this song

So if you often feel confused
Put your foolish fears aside
'Cause I never knew
A soul as sane as you
Just enjoy the ride
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DIFFERENCES, A DREAM
See lyrics below to DIFFERENCES, A DREAM.  Click on this link to listen online or download mp3
We waltzed upon an ocean
In the middle of a storm
And wondered and wondered and wondered
We wondered at our weightlessness
For often we had drowned
Far away were multitudes
Kneeling on the shore
Fearing for their differences
As we had done before

Fingerprints and accidents
Of Fate's persuasive hands
It all comes down to differences
And trying to understand, understand

Prancing on the water
Came the Blessed Unicorn
In silence, in silence, in silence
And deaf hands danced Her praises
In a moving, hopeful psalm
Blind men stroked Her beauty
For She loved and understood
Extraordinary fingers
And the Uncommon Good

From a jagged altar
I looked into the deep
For answers, for answers, for answers
And saw in my reflection
Improbability
Then I saw it there in every face
And I'm sure that I
Saw the moon grow brighter
As it sailed across the sky

Fingerprints and accidents
Of Fate's persuasive hands
It all comes down to differences
And trying to understand, understand
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DON'T TELL ME
See lyrics below to DON'T TELL ME.  Click on this link to listen online or download mp3
I know it's never over
Don't tell me
My head is always giving my heart the third degree
They're two fools talking on the wire
One likes smoke, the other fire
Can I get what I require
And give you what you need?

Don't tell me
You don't have to tell me
Don't tell me
You don't have to tell me

I know love's not perfection
Don't tell me
My heart is not the rhythm section it used to be
But, of that which I desire
It's the principal supplier
Beware if you're the buyer
You don't have to tell me

I know the story
Of wait and see
On the road to love and glory
Patience is mandatory

I've been with Mr. Moonlight
Don't tell me
Love is such a stranger to the laws of reason
Once again my heart's on trial
Will the jury be hostile?
Shall I throw another dream on the pile?
Don't tell me

Don't tell me
You don't have to tell me
Don't tell me
You don't have to tell me
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FOR THE WOUNDED
See lyrics below to FOR THE WOUNDED.  Click on this link to listen online or download mp3
Time is a healer, but love does better
Keeps you sheltered like a good luck charm
Time is a wrecker, but love does better
Makes the good not worth the harm

The pleasure of love can turn water into wine
Gentle waves rolling over time
There are no answers, but love seems no question
At the moment two combine

Papa, call in the undertaker
Some butterfly made off with my soul
There are no answers, but pain seems no question
At the moment you lose control

Time is a taker, but love does better
Empty bottles can't keep you warm
Time is a giver, but love does better
Makes the calm seem worth the storm
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FOR TIMOTHY
(Based on a story by my friend, Timothy Peak)
See lyrics below to FOR TIMOTHY.  Click on this link to listen online or download mp3
Night finds the Ship of Wishes
Loading on some shore
Her cargo of new dreams
Is laid on shells and memories

Wind speeds the long, hard journey
Wishes that could be
May last another day
Or fade before the sunrise

The man on that banana moon
Wrestles with the sea
And bounces a twinkling star
Upon his knee

Look how the ship is heading
Close to where you are
Is something there for you?
Will we dance tomorrow?

Life keeps the seas and oceans
Filled with tears and rain
But promise fights the waves
The Ship will come again

The man on that banana moon
Wrestles with the sea
And bounces a twinkling star
Upon his knee
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GO PINCH A CHOCOLATE IF YOU WANT A GUARANTEE
See lyrics below to GO PINCH A CHOCOLATE IF YOU WANT A GUARANTEE.  Click on this link to listen online or download mp3
Today's utmost desire is tomorrow's hand me down
And Fashion, still Time's biggest fan, is gunning for Renown
Statues fall from pedestals every time you sneeze
Go pinch a chocolate if you want a guarantee

Happiness is timeless just like acne or gangrene
Though not so stimulating as the rack or guillotine
I wouldn't hold my breath waiting for pure tranquility
Go pinch a chocolate if you want a guarantee

Absolutes have had their fill of yes's and of no's
Knowledge is some old fruit tree found just in Bible prose
"A rose is not a rose" warns Individuality
Go pinch a chocolate if you want a guarantee

I used to go to Sunday school and hear of the unseen
Learned godliness was nearby when the laundry came out clean
But if religion comes to nothing, at least it toughens up the knees
Go pinch a chocolate if you want a guarantee

Security is but another wishful myth, my love
Insomniacs invent when they need something to dream of
If you should say "forever" you're not all there mentally
Go pinch a chocolate if you want a guarantee
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GOD AND DIARRHEA
See lyrics below to GOD AND DIARRHEA.  Click on this link to listen online or download mp3
O Dear God Almighty
Sitting on your throne up high
I am sitting here on mine
With the shits
About to die

Die, die, die, Diarrhea
For reasons still unclear
Was invented by the deity
One spiteful year
A most asinine
And simply undivine idea
Sometimes it seems thy holy head
Art up the holy rear

But might makes right
And in the middle of the night
When there's a knocking at my back door
By some slimy parasite
I swear we'll discover
When we finally meet our maker
He's a wigged-out undertaker
Who owns stock in toilet paper

Even in my youth
When I read of Adam's shame
And of sinners and Salvation
Ah - that Holy Novocain!
Magic apples, talking serpents
David and the giant
Now who would take that literally
Except Anita Bryant

Hey you, in the sky
Who are more supreme than I
Are you black, white red or yellow?
Are you straight or gay or bi?
What do you, Great Almighty
Have you to gain in your career
Inflicting on this lowly man
The pain of diarrhea?

Heavenly He-Man
Somewhere in that great beyond
I would like to beat you black and blue
With your magic wand
Celestial, imperial
Well all that's immaterial
'Cause viral or bacterial
The shits are not ethereal

So God if you really love me
Like my mother claims you do
Then please explain yourself
Go love somebody else
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HOPE
See lyrics below to HOPE.  Click on this link to listen online or download mp3
There's always time to change
Please try to understand
That I have faith and I have hope
In how each twist of the kaleidoscope
Can put a brand new wrinkle
On an old man's brain

You can't outlive a memory, I've heard
Well, I don't know
But what I've learned from all my pain
Is that hope falls to rise again
Just like a grand old trooper
In some slapstick routine

What's that movement in the air?
Some seeds sprung from a pod
Milkweed spreading the good news
That hope's the way to beat the blues
And fields of white-haired dandelions
Dream of soaring in the wind
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INTRODUCTION
See lyrics below to INTRODUCTION.  Click on this link to listen online or download mp3
If you think you'd like to know me
Then listen
Listen to my songs
They're weak and bleak and lonely
Loving, live and strong

Just don't expect perfection
We've such a brief lifetime
I play my best and pray the rest
Will more or less fall in line

Hope you see this introduction
As a place we can begin
Here in me, there's lots of room
You could help to fill it in

I could sing forever
And never reach the end
'Cause mystery's a part of me
And you
And us, my friend
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IT TAKES TWO
See lyrics below to IT TAKES TWO.  Click on this link to listen online or download mp3
Sometimes two mature adults
Need to call it quits
When each alone is not that bad
But together it's the pits

It takes two, I know, I know
To murder mistletoe
I used to say love conquers all
Well, wash my mouth with soap
When you break each other's heart to pieces
Wouldn't you like to cut the string on Cupid's bow
It takes two, I know, I know
It takes two, I know

It takes two, I know, I know
Face it, Romeo
Love can leave a taste of poison
Hate to say I told you so
When you break each other's heart to pieces
Wouldn't you like to tell the moon and stars where to go
It takes two, I know, I know
It takes two, I know

Acid on the roses
Sometimes love can lose its shine
Melancholy baby
Once upon a valentine

It takes two, I know, I know
Gay or hetero
It's all the same, it's love at war
It's pain in stereo
When you break each other's heart to pieces
It's heads up and timber - look out below
It takes two, I know, I know
It takes two, I know
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KING OF HEARTS
See lyrics below to KING OF HEARTS.  Click on this link to listen online or download mp3
Back from the war of heart and brain
A kind and tender king now reigns
With the power of humor, music and love
No castle defenses to speak of

A simple rhythm and some rhyme
A life in common time
Are all the dreams he has
He understands real royalty
He knows that majesty
Is in what peace you have
Lies in the peace you have

His jester is fine and frolicking
The royal minstrels, flourishing
The people wonder where he's been
That he opens his coffers and heart to them

A simple rhythm and some rhyme
A life in common time
Are all the dreams he has
He understands real royalty
He knows that majesty
Is in what peace you have
Lies in the peace you have

An old kingdom newborn in the end
To faith and revival once again
A standing ovation for the unknown
And a warm heart's ascension to the throne

A simple rhythm and some rhyme
A life in common time
Are all the dreams he has
He understands real royalty
He knows that majesty
Is in what peace you have
Lies in the peace you have
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LOVE, A QUESTION
See lyrics below to LOVE, A QUESTION.  Click on this link to listen online or download mp3
Can I accept the terms of our love's agreement?
When you're not around, yes I have missed you
When I want you close, I confess I've wished you here
But when morning comes and I am stronger
I know I love our need to wander
And no one owns another's life
Yes, I'm well aware

Though I've said don't ask me for tomorrow
That yes or no I could never give you
That life is not a black and white affair
Life is sometimes very lonely
It makes me think I could love one promise
And I ask, "What is love?"

All I know
Is we feel
As we do
Here
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LOVE SONG TO AN OLD MAN
See lyrics below to LOVE SONG TO AN OLD MAN.  Click on this link to listen online or download mp3
Old man, in your silver hands
You've taken both of mine
I have felt my future there
Our purple veins marked time
Will I be like you
When I have your years?
Old man, I love you
You put an end to my fears

Old man, let's go for a walk
I have a minute free
How come you're never in a rush?
Do you have more time than me?
You shake your head and then you smile
Will I ever be
An old man like you?
Here, put your arms around me

Let winter come
And bring the white to my brow
We all become snowmen
It happens somehow
And then one day
We melt back into the ground
Old man, I'm like you
Too young to think of that now
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LOVE'S OTHER FACES
See lyrics below to LOVE'S OTHER FACES.  Click on this link to listen online or download mp3
We sat and talked
About love and forever
And the hard truth that diamonds
Diamonds aren't worth all they say
Aren't worth all they say
In intimate moments
We shared that day
We were some sort of lovers
We floated away

One Tuesday morning
I floated away, away
With a brand new, old friend at the Junction
We stopped at nothing
And we stopped everywhere
And we took our sweet time
We took our time

By friendfire's calm flames
We both searched our lives, our lives
We lighted the way for each other
To our illusions
We both melted down
As we took our sweet time
We took our time

We sat and talked
About love and forever
And the hard truth that diamonds
Aren't worth all they say
Aren't worth all they say
In intimate moments
We shared that day
We were some sort of lovers
We floated away

Moonwalking may leave you cold
So remember, sometimes
Sometimes what you need is a warm friend
Love's other faces
See worlds past the stars
We took our sweet time
We took our time
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MR. LINCUS
See lyrics below to MR. LINCUS.  Click on this link to listen online or download mp3
Some say that old Mr. Lincus
Is crazy as a jumping bean
But they'd say the same thing about you or me
He's just different they mean
What a towering man
Dozens of tall stories high
With a sweet bird for a soul
That never touched down once it learned to fly

Old Mr. Lincus
Fingers gold and silver strings
Guitar chords rise out of nowhere
And fall like light on everything
That December evergreen
Has been dusted by the snow
Still to him, the world is new
And he needs room to grow

He's got a devil of a smile
And a soft genuine leather face
Which has looked on its share of
The hard luck and cruelty of our race
Etched with lines so long
That you'd almost think they could
Easily connect the stars
And solve that pinhole puzzle for good

Old Mr. Lincus...

He says, "I'm not a simple man
Though I take most things in stride"
And he blushes, heart drumming
Against his skin from deep inside
"Easy come, easy go
But here's one secret I can share
Laughter and a good love song
Never seen such a winning pair"

Old Mr. Lincus
Fingers gold and silver strings
Guitar chords rise out of nowhere
And fall like light on everything
That December evergreen
Has been dusted by the snow
Still to him, the world is new
That's all he cares to know
That's all he cares to know
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MY HEART
See lyrics below to MY HEART.  Click on this link to listen online or download mp3
My heart can leap fences
My heart can scale walls
My heart's not the kind
Meant to live by the lines
Drawn by the sad ones
Who cannot get warm

My heart is a colorwheel
My heart is a crown
My heart is a room
With warm red velvet walls
A room you must enter
To know who I am

My heart can fly
My heart can fly

My heart has no answers
No chambers of gold
My heart's learned to weep
It's as blind as it's deep
But love feels at home there
And it keeps me warm

My heart can fly
My heart can fly
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ON TURNING THIRTY
See lyrics below to ON TURNING THIRTY.  Click on this link to listen online or download mp3
Time took away another verse of my song
She let me know who owned it
I must admit it didn't seem very long
But I knew the score when she loaned it

And all the many years you borrow
She says, "You know where you stand
You may enjoy the past, but go easy on tomorrow
And learn to love the bird in your hand
Try to love the bird in your hand"

Time, I don't suppose she's ever lied
You needn't fear for a moment
She tells the truth, so don't be mortified
To hear her say "Your laughter is just for rent"

Ah, what a gentle feeling when she touches me
Never very much, but constantly
She never quite succeeds to satisfy me
You see, she charges so outrageously

And all the many years you borrow
She says, "You know where you stand
You may enjoy the past, but go easy on tomorrow
And learn to love the bird in your hand
Try to love the bird in your hand"
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POSTCARD
See lyrics below to POSTCARD.  Click on this link to listen online or download mp3
I'm here on the beach
Just suntan on my feet
Who cares that the wind
Will blow my mark from the sand
Maybe tomorrow I'll change my ways
For now, I'm here and doing okay

Don't come to me
With some hard line
Just leave me be
If you're a friend of mine

There's a penny arcade
Where chance bares her steel claws
A gypsy in wax
Spits out lies for a dime
Dice aren't impressed much with yesterday
So don't you fear, I'm doing OK

Don't come to me
With some hard line
Just leave me be
If you're a friend of mine

"Heaven or hell -
You gotta choose" they say
But I'm telling you
I'm not ready to die
Heaven and hell seem so far away
I'm right here and doing OK

Don't come to me
With some hard line
Just leave me be
If you're a friend of mine
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SAD SONG
See lyrics below to SAD SONG.  Click on this link to listen online or download mp3
This sad song
Will soon be done
Let it come
Then dry your eyes
Yes, the moon
Tells you lies
Tells you lies

A sad song
Seems cold and long
But take it from
One who knows
Tears are warm
Let them flow
Let them flow

And if your peace seems gone
I hope you find
Some soft words
In this song

Sad songs
Come and go
To let you know
When to cry
They move on
In good time
In good time

And if your peace seems gone
I hope you find
Some soft words
In this song
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SECRETS
See lyrics below to SECRETS.  Click on this link to listen online or download mp3
Secrets
Loyal servants of silence
Clever slaves of fear
Like veils, shells, and other walls
Keeping out the sun
Like bars on a cell
Or the flowers of hell
Loving all the darkness

Secrets
Make jealous lovers
Courting your freedom
They give you promises
Of comfort in return
And mirrors for your doubts
Shrouds for your wisdom
Wanting you forever

Secrets
Surround you with your loneliness
Then corner your heart
They blackmail your hopefulness
With threats of regret
"Who will love you when
Your secret's in the open
Who will love you then?"
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SINGLESONG
See lyrics below to SINGLESONG.  Click on this link to listen online or download mp3
This is just my singlesong
For you, the cost is very slight -
A little time

Solo flights sink like lead balloons
But come with me and we can fly
Let's sing duets, little tandem tunes
For people who crave some company

Could I ask
Could I ask
For your time?

The hermit laughs at his own folly
"Just gimme love and gimme love"
Two-headed man's always so carefree
With someone there to sing harmony

Could I ask
Could I ask
For your time?

Adam cried "God, this can't be paradise
It's lonely here, you gotta do something"
Into the clouds, Adam offered this advice
"I think that two might be your answer"

Could I ask
Could I ask
For your time?

I long to share my singlesong
Don't ask me why 'cause I was told
You'd understand
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STRINGS
See lyrics below to STRINGS.  Click on this link to listen online or download mp3
I always thought that violins
Could only cry for me
Until I heard the fiddler
Bow the same strings differently
I saw, in the fiddler's fashion
Strings ought to be played
I smiled and said goodbye
To my minor days

Once it seemed that strings
Could only bind and tie me down
Making nets and knots and webs
With freedom the next town
But I learned how they can give
When I need room to breathe
And when we mingle strings
I love the mysteries we weave

When I'm sure that all the threads
Are tangled in my brain
A poet's hand strikes some deep chord
That rings out my name
Round silver lines bring light
And lift me from my poverty
Only fools think life's a miser
With the strings we need

I always thought that violins
Could only cry for me
Until I heard the fiddler
Bow the same strings differently
I saw, in the fiddler's fashion
Strings ought to be played
I smiled and said goodbye
To my minor days
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SWEET SHADOWS
See lyrics below to SWEET SHADOWS.  Click on this link to listen online or download mp3
I am a man of sweet shadows, of sweet shadows
I am dangling
I am singing
I am wondering
I've meant to say since I've known you
How I love you
I'm a flesh and blood sweet shadow
Do you love me?

It is not easy for silence to be broken
We are timid
As two strangers
We are shadows
Let's share our tenderness, let's bare our secrets
And sing lullabies to danger
And be lovers

Come take a chance at this technicolor moment
On a shadow
A sweet shadow
A proud shadow
One day a soft-spoken sunrise will tell us
If it's water
Or it's diamonds
That we're drinking

Is it water
Is it diamonds
That we're drinking?
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THE CHAMELEON
See lyrics below to THE CHAMELEON.  Click on this link to listen online or download mp3
I'm tired of asking questions
'Cause the answers are all lies
I love the chameleon
Chameleons are wise
Giving their hearts to where they are
Letting the changes come
Not afraid of who they are
Have been or will become

And the sky objected
"Who said I'm really blue?
You'd think I were giving away secrets
As if nobody knew
This time I'm not apologizing
For saying what I have to say
For sky can be quite beautiful
In a million different ways"

Eve, when resurrected
Had a different tale to tell
"We lived a long and happy life
And no apple broke the spell
Eden never really was
And we never really fell
God was never angry
He took the changes very well"

Metamorphototish
Mutatorieticized
Oscillationiary
Multiversified
Mercurialantic
Evoutionilized
Fluidifidicative
But never in disguise

I'm tired of asking questions
'Cause the answers are all lies
I love the chameleon
Chameleons are wise
Giving their hearts to where they are
Letting the changes come
Not afraid of who they are
Have been or will become
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THE CHEESE ISN'T SMILING
See lyrics below to THE CHEESE ISN"T SMILING.  Click on this link to listen online or download mp3
The cheese isn't smiling
It is not amused
And it's causing big trouble
'Cause it claims it's been used
It's been framed by the artist
To be hung on the wall
When all that it wants
Is to be a cheese ball
So the cheese isn't smiling at all

The cheese isn't smiling
It says, "How unfair
To shoot a mild cheddar
Or defenseless gruyere"
And so there in the nude
Outraged and appalled
It protests being viewed
And continues to stall
By not cracking a smile
By not smiling at all

"I love you, Swiss cheese"
The photographer pleads
"If you smile, I will give you Immortality"
But the cheese is unmoved
By all this folderol
It longs for the old Frigidaire
Down the hall
And the cheese
Isn't smiling at all

The cheese, if you please
Is impatient with art
For it wants to make time
With some young celery heart
And make passionate love
On a bed of romaine
Have you got the picture
Finally into your brain?
There's a time to be arty
And a time to refrain

So let's eat the damned cheese!
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THE CHOCOLATE SONG (ON PLEASURE, RISK AND THE CHOCOLATE QUESTION)
See lyrics below to THE CHOCOLATE SONG .  Click on this link to listen online or download mp3
I have a passion
For the cacao bean
That is natural and pure
Though a trifle obscene

Chocolate can kill, but
You can die if you fall
If you smoke, breathe the air, drive
Or drink alcohol
Chocolate may clog up
The tubes in your brain
But that don't much matter
You're already insane

Pleasure is poison
That may be, my friend
But pleasure is pleasure
One hundred percent

Chocolate's been slandered
What a shameful disgrace
Would a cute chocolate bunny
Put zits on your face?
Life is a gamble
There's no surer bet
Go on, take your chances
With chocolate roulette

Pleasure is poison
That may be, my friend
But pleasure is pleasure
Clean to the end

Make no excuses
Never mind what they say
If you crave chocolate mousses
Just mousse away
Or chocolate kisses
m + m's, Oreos
Mystic mints, brownies, Hershey bars
Or tootsie rolls

Pleasure is poison
That may be, my friend
But pleasure is pleasure
One hundred percent

I've heard that chocolate
Rots body and mind
And that playing with yourself
Will make you go blind
Medical science
Claims chocolate's taboo
But doctors don't thrill me
And hot fudge sundaes do

Pleasure is poison
That may be, my friend
But pleasure is pleasure
If you've got any sense

There's a little of heaven
In the cacao bean
And a little of hell
I'm caught in between
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THE CLOWN IN ME
See lyrics below to THE CLOWN IN ME.  Click on this link to listen online or download mp3
The clown in me
Sees no shame
In faces lit
With bright red noses
Delight's his fortune
And his fame
This star still shines
When the circus closes

The clown in me is very gay
Not sad like clowns are often painted
He needs to give himself away
Just look in my eyes
You'll find him there

Tents lights dim
The clown appears
The crowd roars
As the music starts
They'll let him bring them
All to tears
They know this clown
Won't break their hearts

The clown in the
Forgets the past
Just enough
To love today
And saves tomorrow
For the last
Seems to him
It's best that way

The clown in me is very gay
Not sad like clowns are often painted
He loves to give himself away
Just look in my eyes
You'll find him there
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THE FISHERMAN
See lyrics below to THE FISHERMAN.  Click on this link to listen online or download mp3
This fisherman's like all the rest
All that's sure is he's drawn to the sea
He's hooked some big ones
And he's shed some tears
And he's thrown some back
In his 33, 33, 33 years

This fisherman's like all the rest
All that's sure is he's drawn to the sea
There's tea in the harbor
Where his vessel sails
Ripples and waves
Mark a fisherman's, fisherman's, fisherman's trail

That blue green sea water
Is salty and wet
The deeper you drink, you drink
The thirstier you get

This fisherman's like all the rest
All that's sure is he's drawn to the sea
He casts a shadow
Of uncertainty
For fishermen know
It's a mystery, mystery, mystery - the sea
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THE HOUSEWORK SONG
See lyrics below to THE HOUSEWORK SONG.  Click on this link to listen online or download mp3
Housework is an honored pastime
With wide middle class appeal
So I sing this little number
'Cause that's not the way I feel

Good for you, my anal darling
How your walls and woodwork shine
We could eat right off your floors
But wouldn't that be asinine?

Are you into sanitation
And Comet cleanser, Mr. Clean?
Swallowing a can of Draino
Cleans the head out like a dream

Mash your trash with deep emotion
Scrub that sink white as a pearl
Take your mop and cram it tightly
Then please sit on it and twirl

I can't get no satisfaction
Maybe you're a different breed
When I get that certain feeling
Spic and Span ain't what I need

Sticks and stones can break my body
You can call me what you will
I will break all of your fingers
If you white glove my window sill

The dust you curse upon your mantle
May have been someone you knew
And furthermore, my very mortal friend
One day it might be you
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THE NOSE WALTZ
See lyrics below to THE NOSE WALTZ.  Click on this link to listen online or download mp3
Faces like mine are an acquired taste
Very much like Shakespeare or caviar
It is you who will lose, if you judge it in haste
But if you take the time, it's well worth the wait

Which raises the issue of weight
Any idiot could soon calculate
That the center of gravity of this face of mine
Is this prominence rising up from its midline

It's my ancestral Armenian nose
There's no telling how far back it goes
It was passed on to me
In some proud chromosome
By consenting Armenians
In the privacy of their home

I wondered, "Is this how it should be?"
When my nose grew up long before me
Till my ethnicity
Was officially decreed
Essential to National Nasality

I've heard all those banana-nose jokes
Told by flat-faced Anglo-Saxon folks
Obviously out of sheer jealousy
'Cause they all look to me
Like inbred Pekingese

If your nose is straight, sculpted and fine
What a shame it's not more aquiline
For a real eagle beak
Has more chic and mystique
Who wants some marble statue
Give me a hook or a cashew

To you well-endowed in the size
Of the appendage just south of your eyes
Hold it high in the air
You're a credit to the race
God built a mighty altar
In the middle of your face

And so I repeat
Faces like mine are an acquired taste
Very much like Shakespeare or caviar
It is you who will lose, if you judge it in haste
But if you take the time, it's well worth the wait
It's well worth the wait
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THE SORCEROR
See lyrics below to THE SORCEROR.  Click on this link to listen online or download mp3
He's a mystical animal
A writer of lovesongs
He's lost and he's tired from something
He keeps his distance
Still some say he's touched them
Sometimes perspective
Scares action away

Loneliness claims him
In the name of a trinity-
The poet, the martyr, the gypsy
She gave him disguises
In his holy days
But this time he tells her
She must go away

He goes to the closet
For his heart that he hid there
If he found the courage to open the door
Would the blood on his fingers
Since so long ago
Then rinse away
Red pain in a bowl

He's a mystical animal
A writer of lovesongs
He's lost and he's tired from something
He keeps his distance
Still some say he's touched them
Sometimes perspective
Scares action away
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THERE'S NO SHORTCUT TO MISERY
See lyrics below to THERE'S NO SHORTCUT TO MISERY.  Click on this link to listen online or download mp3
There's no shortcut to misery
You cannot get there easily
It's not a breeze like mental health
It's hard work to destroy yourself

Here's to all the suffering
Upon myself I seem to bring
I've seen the damage that I can do
I could teach bubonic plague a thing or two
With deep regret I must conclude
That sometimes I love to get screwed

For I have helped Nature conspire
To dash my own dreams and desires
Avoiding paradise
Takes constant sacrifice
Ignoring all my needs and wants
Like Calvin and the Protestants

Do you hate the rose and love the thorn?
Do guilt feelings turn you on?
I'm inclined to say
We are not born that way
Even God thought us demented
When Oklahoma was invented

Punishment is its own reward
In the twisted brain and spinal cord
The self-inflicted wound
Just takes some elbow room
The true red-blooded masochist
Pounds his own nail in his wrist

It's not as simple as they say
Rome did not fall in just one day
To fuck yourself up royally
There's no shortcut to misery
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TIME TO MOVE ON
See lyrics below to TIME TO MOVE ON.  Click on this link to listen online or download mp3
I don't know where I'm going
But I know what's behind
I was reaching for tomorrow
When today got on my mind

There was no turning 'round
It was time to move on
To make that a recollection
And begin another song

I was talking to a stranger
One morning in the mirror
Stopped to ask a question
And I found myself here

There was no turning 'round
It was time to move on
To make that a recollection
And begin another song

There is no use explaining
If you don't understand
There is too much in this one heart
To just put in your hand

There is no turning 'round
When it's time to move on
To make this a recollection...
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TO GILIANE
See lyrics below to TO GILIANE.  Click on this link to listen online or download mp3
I wrote this song so I won't forget
All that you have meant to me
It's you who brought this song to life
You make me love my memory

I'm trying to tell you
What I feel
Let the words just slip right out
And bare a part of me

And I wrote this song so I won't forget
That love can't live on past alone
But that I loved with no regrets
And that my love still lingers on

I'm trying to tell you
What I feel
Let the words just slip right out
And bare a part of me

And I sing this song so I won't forget
How love is old and love is a new
There's always time to love again
For one who needs love as I do

I'm trying to tell you
What I feel
Let the words just slip right out
And bare a part of me
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TYRONE
See lyrics below to TYRONE.  Click on this link to listen online or download mp3
Tyrone is a dancer
A long-legged son of a gun
That man catches fire
When he's near the heat of a drum

He's got the power
That comes to all lovers
A natural crowd pleaser
He'll bring the house down

Tyrone's a fast-talker
A long-winded son of a gun
All the right answers
Breeze off that smooth silver tongue

He's got the power
That comes to all lovers
A natural crowd pleaser
He'll bring the house down

Tyrone's a survivor
A long-playing son of a gun
He'll win you over
There's still room under his thumb

He's got the power
That comes to all lovers
A natural crowd pleaser
He'll bring the house down
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UNTITLED (ECCE HOMO)
See lyrics below to UNTITLED (ECCE HOMO).  Click on this link to listen online or download mp3
In this age, Uncertainty
We all know far too well
Take heart, one constant still remains
As near as I can tell

Lesbian, pansy, queer, rubyfruit
Are often the subject of heated dispute
Just women loving women
And guys loving guys
Though that may give your eyebrows some exercise

Doctors can argue as much as they like
What makes little boys faggots and little girls dykes
I'd like to know
What makes those twinkle toes
Think they know their asses from their elbows

They say, J. Edgar Hoover- you never can tell-
Had something in common with Miss Tinkerbell
And I have heard the rumors
I won't repeat
About Bert and Ernie on Sesame Street

If you sincerely
Could hate a person merely
Because they love a little queerly
Go blow it out your ear

Dearie, are you a bulldyke or are you a fag
Did the Florida orange juice queen make you gag
She caught homophobia, that dread disease
You get from toilet seats
And orange trees

It was an old Roman
Who summed it up best
"De gustibus non disputandum est"
Which means, "Never argue in matters of taste"
Above the kneecaps and below the waist

Lesbian, pansy, queer, rubyfruit
Are often the subject of heated dispute
I think the world would be much better off
If everyone minded his or her own crotch

In this age, Uncertainty
We all know far too well
Take heart, one constant still remains
The homosexual
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WORK SONG (LABOUR'S LOVE LOST)
See lyrics below to WORK SONG (LABOUR'S LOVE LOST).  Click on this link to listen online or download mp3
It came to me eventually
In 1963
The working world is not the place
I was meant to be
Some folks are trying hard
To palm that off as sanity
But I could not recommend it
To my vilest enemy

Work can make you crazy
It can push you to the brink
And even when it does no harm
Still basically it stinks
On a stack of Bibles
I swear it's semi-true
Maybe I'm a lazy man
At least I'm not a fool

Work has never been, my friend
As far as I can tell
The be-all and the end-all
That is spoken of so well
It's a necessary evil
That's as close as I can come
To a tenable position
Is that unAmerican?

America was founded
By some foreigners way back
With a Puritan philosophy
All uptight, white and black
Our forefathers and for mothers preached
"Idle fingers stray"
As they warned foreadolescents
To forget about foreplay

Work can make you crazy
It can push you to the brink
And even when it does no harm
Still basically it stinks
On a stack of Bibles
I swear it's semi-true
Maybe I'm a lazy man
At least I'm not a fool

There were seven tiny miners
In an old Walt Disney flick
Who whistled while they worked
It made me violently sick
'Cause it was work made Dopey dopey
Sleepy yawn and Sneezy wheeze
And Snow White overdosed
And turned into a ghost
And Snow White overdosed
When they died of black lung disease

I know that it is proper
When you've nothing good to say
To simply keep your mouth shut
Well, thank God I'm not that way
For silence is not golden
When your life is ringing hollow
Work's a sad and bitter pill
I'll die before I'll swallow

Work can make you crazy
It can push you to the brink
And even when it does no harm
Still basically it stinks
On a stack of Bibles
I swear it's semi-true
Maybe I'm a lazy man
At least I'm not a fool
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WORLD, BEHAVE
See lyrics below to WORLD, BEHAVE.  Click on this link to listen online or download mp3
World, you've got something for everyone
You keep me hanging on the edge of my brain
Hanging on till the very end
The very end

World, behave
You're stepping out of line
Leaving me wondering
So if I seem to be talking out of turn
That's just my way
I'll never learn

I'm not through with this life of mine
You've got me till the day that I die
Hanging on till the very end
The very end

World, behave
You're blocking up the road
Keeping me from moving on
Just when we were lovers yesterday
I suppose
It never ends

World, behave
No fair, I'm not your size
You don't care, I know
Bet you think there's nowhere else to go
Well, you're right
Guess I'm yours
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AIMER (LOVING)
See lyrics below to AIMER (LOVING).  Click on this link to listen online or download mp3

People come down on me
They say I've never loved
What they call love
Let them call love
What do they know of it
And what do I know
To each his own
And his own need to love

It could be that mine
Is a need to love
Which cannot in one other
Find all that it must
And so remains this song
That I throw out to you
Which I'd not dare to do
If I had never loved

On me reproche aussi
De n'avoir pas aimé,
Ce qui s'appelle aimer
Qu'ils appellent aimer
Mais qu'est-ce qu'ils en savent
Et qu'est-ce que j'en sais?
À chac'un son amour
Et son besoin d'aimer

Peut-être que le mien
Est un besoin d'amour
Qui ne peut tout à fait
Se fixer dans un corps
Et qui reste le chant
Que je jets vers vous
Que je n'oserais pas
Si je manquais d'amour
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