Living on the Coast

Skimming silver stones across a moonlit sea
A shooting star skips out across the sky
I know your love is out there like a million dancing stars
And a million miles between us, you and I

Now I’m wandering on the beach
My heart just out of reach
Like a gull crying lonely, and lost
Your heart cries out to me
Over sand and under sea
Because we both are living on the coast

Something still connects us, something stronger than the tide
Although we both have tried to live apart
Currents running through our lives run deep beneath the sea
And it’s currents, wind and waves that rule the heart

Now I’m wandering on the beach
My heart just out of reach
Like a gull crying lonely, and lost
Your heart cries out to me
Over sand and under sea
I guess we both are living on the coast

And the mist rolls in
And the foghorn blows
And a light shines out
And oh, can you hear the breakers roar?
And will we ever make it to the shore?

Don’t know if we’ll ever kiss each other’s lips again
Or ever feel our fingers interlace
But the sea breeze that blows through your honey hair
Is the same breeze that blows across my face

Now I’m wandering on the beach
My heart still out of reach
Like a gull flying lonely, and lost
And your heart cries out to me
Over sand and under sea
I guess we both are living on the coast

What have you got (when you’ve got no one left to hold)

[This is my attempt at 12-bar blues.]

Almost ran over a little kid today
A girl on a little red bike
Rode right out in my way
Couldn’t see nothing for my tears
Thinking ’bout how you left me yesterday

(chorus)
What have you got
When you’ve got no one left to hold?
How you ever gonna feel warm again
After feeling so cold?
How you ever gonna feel young again
After feeling so old?

We both hit our brakes
And just looked at each other
For some reason I thought about
My own sister and my brother
All my uncles, aunts and cousins
And my father and my mother

(chorus)

Now I don’t blame you baby
For walking out on me
I hoped you’d only see
What I wanted you to see
Now after all my running ’round
I guess it’s your turn to be free

(chorus)

If I could turn back the clock babe,
I’d do things a different way
But why should you listen to
A single word I say?
I had a chance at redemption
But I threw it all away

(chorus)

You know what they say babe,
They say that you live and learn.
But I guess there’s no point asking you
To give me another turn
I lit that match
Now I gotta watch my bridges burn

(chorus)

She pedalled off
And I drove away real slow
It’s not like I got
Anywhere special to go
Just a long road ahead
And a hard row to hoe

But what have you got
When you’ve got no one left to hold?
How you ever gonna feel warm again
After feeling so cold?
How you ever gonna feel young again
After feeling so old?

(repeat chorus as necessary until song is done)

A Quiet Night In

A quiet night in
Eating pizza on the couch
Watch a little telly
Maybe later we’ll make out
Watching old films all through the night
We should be making love by dawn’s early light

A quiet night in
Kids have finally gone to bed
Pour me another glass of that
California red
I’m feeling giddy from the wine
Not half as giddy as I feel when your lips meet mine

(bridge)
It’s good we can both be here
Like we seldom are these days
I think we’re going through
And awkward phase
I wonder where you are
Even when I see your face
I miss your laughter and your quiet grace

A quiet night in
We’ll let the world go by
We need this time alone
You and I
I need to feel our limbs entwine
I need to feel your heartbeat next to mine

(repeat bridge)

A quiet night in
We’ll let the world go by
We need this time alone
You and I
I need to feel our limbs entwine
I need to feel your heartbeat next to mine

A quiet night in,
Let’s forget the TV
Go put on some music and then
Come dance with me
Let’s be like young lovers once more
We’ll dance into the bedroom and then
Shut the door

I Don’t Want to Sleep Any More

[This was the first song I wrote where I made up the tune myself.]

I don’t want to sleep anymore
This dream’s gone on too long
I don’t want to sleep anymore
Everything just feels wrong
It’s like swimming through treacle
And never getting anywhere
Somebody somewhere is calling
“Are you there?
Are you there?”

I don’t want to sleep anymore
With these ghosts beneath my bed
I don’t want to sleep anymore
Having conversations with the dead
There’s a crowd of invisible people
That I never really knew
But through my half-closed eyes
I can see you
I can see you

Is this my life, or is it really a dream?
Is everything really as it seems?
Why do I feel that my life is not here?
What do I want? What do I really feel?

I don’t want to sleep anymore
So come and lay your body here
I don’t want to sleep anymore
Come and kiss away my fear
Now the dream is slowly fading
Like mist rising from a lake
Now the morning light is growing
I am awake.
I am awake.

When Skylarks Sing

[The tune to this is based on "The Lily of the West" as heard sung by Joan Baez.]

When skylarks sing in spring, my love,
My thoughts turn home to you.
It rises joyous to the sun,
Flies high above us every one,
And vanishes into the blue.
When skylarks sing in spring, my love.

I think about our home, my love,
When wolves howl all around.
I think of cakes and cups of tea,
And how you touched me tenderly,
All in our bed, without a sound.
I think about our home, my love.

I think about your face, my love,
When the rain pours down.
I see both joy and sadness there,
I run my fingers through your hair,
And kiss away your lonely frown.
I think about your face, my love.

But I have gone away, my love,
As punishment for crime.
I am my own worst enemy,
There is no other remedy,
No reprieve, I’ll do my time,
Now I have gone away, my love.

Look for me in the spring, my love,
When skylarks take the air.
A wandering beggar at your door
Will ask for just a little more,
And suddenly you’ll see me there.
Look for me in the spring, my love.

When skylarks sing in spring, my love,
My heart turns home to you.
It rises joyous to the sun,
Flies high above us, every one,
And vanishes into the blue.
When skylarks sing in spring,
Look for me in the spring,
When skylarks sing in spring,
My love.

Deirdre’s Lament

[This poem/song is taken from the Irish story of Deirdre of the Sorrows, and for the tune I used Burn's "Scots Callan o' Bonnie Dundee" as heard sung by Mairi Campbell, on the album "The Winnowing" by The Cast, consisting of Mairi and her partner Dave Francis (Culburnie Records, CUL104). ]

Do you remember when I dreamed of this?
On the shores of Loch Ness, in the days of our bliss,
I dreamed of a dove, with mead in its mouth,
Pursued by a hawk, red with blood, from the South.
And now you lie beautiful, down in your grave,
Between your two brothers, whom you couldn’t save.

Naois, oh Naois, my husband, my love,
With soft-spoken words and the eyes of a dove,
Men will remember your sword of bright steel,
But your wife will remember how you made her feel,
On the shores of Loch Ness, in the days of our bliss,
Before that dark night when I first dreamed of this.

I was a fair maiden, the world was unknown,
When first I espied you, your raven hair shone,
And flew like the pennant when men go to war,
To meet their sad fate on death’s lonely black shore.
You rode with your brothers, whom you couldn’t save,
Now the three of you, lovely, lie down in one grave.

Our story is strange, our story is long,
A poet might tell it one day in a song,
Might tell of my father, a harper they say,
Who foresaw my sad fate and then sent me away,
He foresaw how the dove with the mead in its mouth
Would be killed by the bloody red hawk from the south.

He foresaw how my laughter and bonnie bright smile
Would one day the King of all Ulster beguile,
And Connor would send many men to their graves
That a kiss from these ruby red lips he would have.
For my smile did the brave men of Ulster make war,
And meet their sad fate on death’s lonely black shore.

Oh you were my fate, my fairest of fair,
The finest of Ireland, with raven black hair.
You were my fate, and I was your weird,
And this bloody black day is the day my Da feared,
When the finest of Ireland is laid in his grave
Between his two brothers, whom he couldn’t save.

But you tried to save them, and that was your doom,
Now you lie close between then, and yet there is room.
I’ll lie down beside you and cross to the isle
Where the dead men of Ulster may yet see me smile,
And there I will find you and there we will kiss,
As we kissed at Loch Ness in the days of our bliss.