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CLICK TITLES TO SEE LYRICS
'you may hear footsteps...'
1 The First to Go
2 Ballad of the Winter Cowboy
3 House of Retribution (Matty Says)
4 I Won't Dance
5 Howling Dogs
6 Ain't it Funny
7 Two Steps From the Door
8 Not One Word
Live @ the Lass O’Gowrie
1 Between the Blessed and the Damned
2 Love's Lost and Found
3 Not Words Just Shadows
4 When You Talk Like This
5 Wail, Wail, Wail
‘you may hear
footsteps…’
I felt like Robert Lowell
thinking on the Union dead
and my mind went tripping back
to something she once said
when my road was lined with silver
and my heart betrayed few fears
and nothing but a shadow
marked the passing
of the years
And she said “Don’t leave me alone”
“you don’t turn me away”
“I will not be
the first to go”
then I was Chennault
chasing Madame Chiang Kai-shek
across the pages of a history book
where truths bounce like bad cheques
from a summer of indifference
to an autumn of reveals
and the winter of our discontent
like a mad dog at
our heels
and when I woke the room
seemed to double up in size
dimensions so unusual
through the strangers of my eyes
and I thought about the lonely road
I travel for the game
but as I mark the distance
did someone call
my name?
©
words & music – Mark Lee 2007
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He’s like a catholic cowboy watch him moving through the peak hour crowd
Like he’s moving cattle ‘cross a mesa
He’s a walking ‘how not to’; I can see it in his strange little shuffle
And the way that his eyes get so distracted
Somewhere over his rainbow
Monochrome road sign in some mid-western sky
Chasing what he thinks is an Indian maid
With his hands full of glass beads
And that look in
his eye.
Sometimes when I lay my head in sweetheart’s naked lap
I get to thinking
And sometimes she responds and sometimes she seems so far away
Like maybe she knows him
When he pushed inside her
Why, she just disappeared into the night
Left him alone and a’ wondering why
I never thought this cowboy
Would freeze up in
fright.
Now winter is upon us and we feel ourselves returning
Back to the wool, back to the leather
He gets back to the clocks and the routines but the signs
Only unguarded eyes could uncover
And she calls for coffee
And she buries her hand deep in her jeans
She pulls out some lint and small change
Why there it is
One lonesome,
glass bead.
©
words & music – Mark Lee 2007
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HOUSE OF
RETRIBUTION (MATTY SAYS)
Hey, where you going I need a ride
Got my daddy’s temperament
But not his way of flying
I was born near the river but I am not going back
But Matty says the house of retribution
Sits somewhere
just beyond the tracks
I’m open handed; I’m a ball and jack
Bend to me baby ‘less you want to crack
I haven’t smiled in so long,
Not since I shed my alloy shell
But Matty says the house of retribution
Is the length of a
scent from hell.
You’re slowing down now, I’m grinning wide
I pick my bag up, dust off my pride
It’s cool and inviting
And I slide right in
But Matty says the house of retribution…
Oh, what’s gone
wrong with him?
Hey where you
going, I need a ride.
©
words & music – Mark Lee 2007
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Welcome home how’s it feel back on the bottom
Heart attacks now don’t you wish that you had got ‘em
See the face staring through the window pane
No baby it ain’t
me
You opened gates and you let the monster out
I told you once now I ain’t got the voice to shout
Fistful of dollars that’s all you got to show for it
No baby it ain’t
me
Cause I won’t dance
Get yourself back home
I won’t dance
Better learn to
leave me alone
You cast a vote just one in twenty million
That ain’t sunset it’s corporate vermillion
Your children’s future you delivered to the devil
No baby it ain’t
me
Two storey house let’s hope the dollar holds
Two sets off keys one on a ring pushed through your nose
Mock the thoughtful but what’s that shadow on your lawn
No baby it ain’t
me
Cause I won’t dance
Get yourself back home
I won’t dance
Better learn to
leave me alone
You smell the fires someone’s burning up the hate
It’s cars then books and then you know it’s all too late
Not your fault so who’s that running up your stairs
No baby it ain’t
me
Cause I won’t dance
Get yourself back home
I won’t dance
Better learn to
leave me alone
©
words & music – Mark Lee 2007
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Howling dogs in the night, I swear I’d know them by sight
I am lonely but it is not so clear now
Car lights grab at the signs; I’ve borrowed money and time
I am waiting like Chandler’s hero.
Shadows harden with light and given form that hurts my sight
It was clear once but now I have no black and white TV.
Age has stripped my world of rhyme I gather clues but blur the lines
Still bend my back
now but it’s not the pleasure it used to be.
Here I stand a world away from the man I knew only yesterday
No map, no sign and no right of way
Just this dusty
road which will fade like a lost lovers’ vow.
Cities fall, they re-appear, the damned cry out and no one hears
But the hangman has no conscience, has no memory.
Nations slide to habits old, with new faces and new resolve
While the dollar feeds and forgives an ancient beast.
I wander among the ones I knew, whose colours change from red to blue
And they’re contented to watch while their love is run aground.
With rationale the days the time will smear, they won’t pick up a voice unclear
But despair runs
faster than the speed of sound.
Howling dogs in the night, a symphony for a man in flight,
A midnight tattoo for this lonely passing out parade.
The years roll on I’m at a loss, is it the crescent or the cross?
Or is the wasteland the only place I’ll find reason for this age?
With pounding hands and restless heart and no idea of where to start
I’ll burn all I know and scatter ashes to this hungry time.
I’ll poison this well kept lawn; I’ll leave the keys hang in the door
You may hear footsteps but you may not see this moment shine.
©
words & music – Mark Lee 2007
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Ain’t it funny how a story gets hungry?
Ain’t it funny how the time slides around?
Now I hold you dear, in my memory unclear
While my faith
hibernates underground.
I remember when I sang for my momma
When I sang for my daddy too
But under the
bridge in a song’s secret code there for you.
Now I stand on the corner
And wait for my bus in the rain
While my past jumps around like an unrehearsed clown
My mind and
pockets they bulge with loose change
And when I first saw you uncovered
Your skin had the lustre of milk
And just like a
boy I reached for the hand that was dealt.
The song of the lone gangster’s highway
Runs a rail beside the dark virgin’s sigh
And the ache for the taking has a life of its own
And strips the fat
from the visions and signs.
The full lips of youth they whispered
I love you now with every beat of my heart
But distracted I
turned toward something burning and sharp
Ain’t it funny how a story gets hungry?
But I swear that I saw you last night
Cropped chestnut hair and a voice which made clear
Do not trust in
this cold lonely light.
Sometimes I still sing for my mother
Sometimes I sing for my daddy too
And sometimes at night, when reason’s in flight it’s for you.
©
words & music – Mark Lee 2007
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I sold the best of my bubblegum cards
And I chased a senorita across my yard
She said “Johnny, Johnny come dance with me”
But I’ve done some things that you will never see
Down on the corner it’s broad daylight
Some come running, some will take their time
Now I’ve lost the best but I’ve gained something
Roll over little
darling and give me wings
I ain’t no fire on the plains
But I’ve been roped in again
Only two steps
from the door
There’s a place I know where I can go to rest
It’s noisy and it’s crowded but it’s passed the test
She says “Johnny, Johnny come and dance with me
Oh sweet darling, sweet memory
I’ve had some loving and I’ve had some fun
But I’m burning
out now and time moves on
She says there’s power in pain
And I fall for it again
Only two steps
from the door
Across my hall lives such a stupid man
He jumps and he hollers ‘til he can’t stand
Now I’ve been quiet but stupid still
Without barking and a jumping on my window sill
She says “Johnny, Johnny come and dance with me”
“I’ll take you
back then I’ll set you free”
She says “Come back again”
And I walk out in the rain
She’s only twp
steps from the door
©
words & music – Mark Lee 2007
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Hush little baby don’t look back
It’s just a
whistle down a railway track
But I will not say a word
No, no I will
not say a word
I can’t comfort you like mamma can
But I’ll play a
song from way back when
If I had wings and I could fly
I’d take myself to
days gone by
The woman I love is straight and tall
She moves her body
like a cannonball
But I will not say a word
No, no I will not say a word
Not one word
©
words & music – Mark Lee 2007
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Live @ the Lass
O’Gowrie
BETWEEN THE
BLESSED AND THE DAMNED
I am a worthless drifter from the shiny town I’ve come
Where the wheels of industry roll you aside as sure as night will move the sun
Where some still believe in future, some just turn to stone
Ain’t no place for a man like me with nothing left but flesh and bone.
I can almost remember things but memory peels away like paint
And all that was important won’t fire the ashes in the grate
And I miss the sweet monotony of the factory and take home pay
And the back view
of a hundred cars headed out to holiday.
And we will all go down to the river together
Despite whatever we had planned
We will all go down to the river together
And drift
between the blessed and the damned.
I am a hopeless parasite from the farm I had to leave
With a government cheque in my back pocket and a habit up my sleeve.
And if you look you’ll notice the hand is quicker than the eye
As quick as lightning as they flash to surrender to the sky.
My daddy was a hard man he fought and played to win
No other strength could match his or escape his skull like grin
But when the creditors threw out the garbage it stuck to him head to heel
Then sorrow and
the bottle brought the great man to his knees.
I am a hungry sinner, a product of the age
I absorb all that you can’t contain and I spew it back like rage
Be it country town or city, be it gutter or alley way
I lie quiet ‘til evening comes and dark blurs right of way.
And at night I swallow my mouth as huge as Ahab’s whale
I can take more in one go than any high flyer in Spain
And those who pray and those who pay will marvel at the sight
Of this back
street avenging angel building chaos from the night.
I am a worthless drifter, from the shiny town I’ve run
With my hand outs and my plastic shoes spread out like bones in the sun.
And I carry every name that hard times pitch and throw
My skin has pockets just for them over which a callus grows.
I am a worthless drifter, who now drinks without excuse
I can no longer tell the difference between affection and abuse
And I wish you’d called me sooner, wish you had loved me like a saint
I wish you were a
long dark wall and my hands were dipped in paint.
©
words & music – Mark Lee 2007
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Let me take you across this dusty, creaking floor
And we’ll remember what it was that we both came here for
Not just a party, it’s not just a dance
But we could turn it around on the wing of a chance
And there’s a hint of a waltz, a quickstep and a two-step
In this hallway
between love’s lost and found.
Way down in yonder valley lies a place that I call home
One day I’ll be
beside her and I will have no cause to roam.
I’ve thrown out all the pretenders and the debutantes
I’ve carved a line between what I need and what I want
And I’m careful not to judge too hard,
I’ve seen the mess out in my own backyard
But I’ll haul it away before the sun disappears
Behind the
go-downs of love’s lost and found.
My baby cries at night and tells me she feels so alone
Even when I lie
beside her it’s like I’ve never come back home.
Perception hovers like a bird of prey over this great divide
And it rides the winds of change over a lonely night
It sees every stumble, it sees every fall
And at the moment I lose sight of it all
You hand it back and the dance starts again
‘round the corner
from love’s lost and found.
Way down in yonder valley lies a place that I call home
One day I’ll be
beside her and I will have no need to roam.
©
words & music – Mark Lee 2007
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St. Christopher Ave. ain’t worth a dime
When you spared the hours I was not inclined
It took all that I had just to get out of bed
As the delights of
the evening poisoned my head
But for you I’ve gone further than I thought I could
I’d stripped the ornament from off of the hood
And in the icy cold lake I would linger for days
Waiting for you to
go change your ways
Now the light beats down as the summer rolls by
Ain’t healing ain’t warming just shows up the sky
And explains the fractures that should not be revealed
You’ve no words
just shadows to close up the deal
There is no other and there is no excuse
Though I’ve tasted love that smells like abuse
In the twilight purple something’s dragging a load
I can see its
great headlights as it pulls down the road
I would run I would hide if I thought it would count
I’d call out your name and hide near your mouth
But nothing’s been spoken that would keep us both safe
So I’ll stand my
ground until daylight breaks
So the light beats down and summer’s now gone
It’s not like the old days it’s dry and it deformed
I hope you’re healing I hope you’re on the mend
But it ain’t words
just shadows that wait round the bend
I long for something that’s as funny as sleep
With a taste of the beauty I used to drink deep
But right now it appears I’m under the gun
Of your bounty
hunter who’s too much in the sun
St. Christopher Ave. seems so far away
As I head into town at the breaking of day
With my thoughts in my pockets some change in my hands
A tune in my head
and nothing else planned
Now the light beats down and summer’s a ghost
I’ve a vague thought I’ll head up the coast
And maybe you’re lonesome and maybe you’re free
It ain’t words
just shadows that connect you and me
©
words & music – Mark Lee 2007
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Like a gold watch ticking in a dead man’s hand
A gold watch ticking in a dead man’s hand
When you talk like
this baby I just don’t understand
I’d walk a thousand miles just to kiss those lips
I’d walk a thousand miles just to kiss those lips
Now I know why
Helen’s face launched a thousand ships
I come a long way baby, take me to your room
I come a long way baby, take me to your room
I know it’s late
but I swear that it’s none too soon
What’s that darling I smell another man
What’s that darling I smell another man
Come over here and
I’ll show you what’s in my hand
Night is long but the moon won’t rise
Night is long but the moon won’t rise
They won’t see
nothin’ from the light in your eyes
©
words & music – Mark Lee 2007
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Wail, wail, wail, catch a story by the tale
Wail, wail, wail, catch a story by the tale
Well the bones of this lie
Ain’t tough enough to make it fly
Wail, wail, wail,
catch a story by the tale
Cry, cry, cry, oh sweet water running down
Cry, cry, cry, oh sweet water running down
You’re so soft and you’re smooth
I forgot to make a move
Cry, cry, cry, oh
sweet water running down
Goodbye, bye, bye, it’s just a sound along the trail
Goodbye, bye, bye, it’s just a sound along the trail
This house is cold as hell
And there’s no water in the well
Goodbye, bye, bye,
it’s just a sound along the trail
©
words & music – Mark Lee 2007
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