“Or Not”
When the night shows
The signals grow on radios
All the strange things
They come and go, as early warnings
Stranded starfish have no place to hide
Still waiting for the swollen Easter tide
There’s no point in direction we cannot
Even choose a side.
Continue reading Lyrics of The Day: Peter Gabriel’s “Here Comes The Flood”
“Ohhhh, Bel-ah, Bela’s Undead…”
White on white translucent black capes
Back on the rack
Bela Lugosi’s dead
The bats have left the bell tower
The victims have been bled
Red velvet lines the black box
Bela Lugosi’s dead
Undead undead undead
The virginal brides file past his tomb
Strewn with time’s dead flowers
Bereft in deathly bloom
Alone in a darkened room
The count
Bela Logosi’s dead
Undead undead undead
And the lamb lies down on Broadway
Early morning Manhattan
Ocean winds blow on the land
The Movie-Palace is now undone
The all-night watchmen have had their fun
Sleeping cheaply on the midnight show
It’s the same old ending, time to go
Get out!
It seems they cannot leave their dream
There’s something moving in the sidewalk steam
And the lamb lies down on Broadway
Nightime flyers feel their pains
Drugstore takes down the chains
Metal motion comes in bursts
but the gas station can quench that thirst
Suspension cracked on unmade road
The truckers eyes read Overload
And out on the subway
Rael Imperial Aerosol Kid
Exits into daylight, spraygun hid
And the lamb lies down on Broadway
The lamb seems right out of place
Yet the Broadway street scene finds a focus in its face
Somehow its lying there
Brings a stillness to the air
Though man-made light, at night is very bright
There’s no whitewash victim
As the neon dims, to the coat of white
Rael Imperial Aerosol Kid
Wipes his gun, he’s forgotten what he did
And the lamb lies down on Broadway
Suzanne tired her work all done
Thinks money-honey-be on-neon
Cabman’s velvet glove sounds the horn
And the sawdust king spits out his scorn
Wonder women draw your blind!
Don’t look at me! I’m not your kind
I’m Rael!
Something inside me has just begun
Lord knows what I have done
And the lamb lies down on Broadway
On Broadway
They say the lights are always bright on Broadway
They say there’s always magic in the air
And they wandered in
From the city of St. John
Without a dime
Wearing coats that shined
Both red and green
Colors from their sunny island
Continue reading Lyrics of the Day: Steely Dan’s “The Royal Scam”
No matter how I shuffle the iPod, this is the song that comes on as I’m waiting for the PATH Train at Newport Pavonia every weekday morning. And what a great song it is.
A brass band is playing
Rehearsing its thrills
All half-moon and cloudy,
All golden and shrill
I’ve got a sleep that burns
A sleep that burns
Got a sleep that burns all night
I’m locked in your dark world
Where hearts hold the keys,
Half-opened, enchanted, half-truth and half dreams…
Continue reading Lyrics of the Day: “Sleep That Burns” by Be Bop Deluxe