vocals, drums and percussion, guitars, bass, keyboards, clarinet, trumpet, cello, recorder, homemades (many categories), digital concrete, violin, and most likely some other things I've forgotten.
I have been on a journey
I have come back to tell
I have brought back the gold
But now beyond the spell
I look down and I see
In my hand mocking me
Only nothing and dreams
And a handful of ashes
How I bled for the insight
How I strove to excel
How I thought I’d found knowledge
But now beyond the spell
I look down and I see
In my hand mocking me
Only nothing and dreams
And a handful of ashes
Now I’m older and cautious
I look back very far
I remember the process
All the ecstatic scars
And I see it has value
And it does have a place
Maybe not how you wanted
But that’s not a mistake
The mistakes come with dogma
And no room for dissent
Metaphors crowned as fact
Steal away innocents
Who will not be so pure
As they live for the day
They discover a leash
They will then hand away
And those who will come through
With no master or chains
Will find in the end
Small respect for their pains
No one waits at the threshold
Celebrating return
As you look for receivers
The treasure has turned
(instr. break)
Now back in a world
Where to win is to follow
Mysteries preordained
Victories proudly hollow
There is no point to tell
What will not be believed
And no way to express
Dreams that can’t be relieved
You are nothing and no one
You’ve been outside for years
There is no point pretending
You mean anything here
There’s an alley for heroes
There’s the ground for the lame
And no honest intent
Can be free of the game
I look down and I see
In my hand mocking me
Only nothing and dreams
And a handful of ashes
THE HOOK AND THE POINT
Why leave me here
And not deliver?
By such extraordinary means, it seems
Was my life changed
Maybe that was the hook
But it wasn't the point
My stubborn streak ran deep
There still were things I could believe
Forces I could not percieve
Where insanity, myths and religions are born
That was the ocean where I swam
In destiny and prophecy
In hidden reasons behind everything
In secrets and in rightness
In patterns and in visions
I was too young to think
That things could be and yet
Be different
Like thunder and earthquakes were not god
The unknown was a deep facade
A blank a mirror and behind it
Moved the massive flow of all
How could it not be personal
Look there in the mirror
It's me
And so perhaps direction
Was what was really meant
By who and how I do not know
A summons came, I went
To end up where
Nowhere it seems
To search for meaning
In your dreams
Is near to finding
Heads can lead to tails
I know I felt like I was called
And consolation is a stall
But maybe things mean something
Yes things may still mean something
After all
SIMPLE ANSWERS
Most simple answers are lies
Most simple answers
-Surprise!-
Don't tell the whole story
How can they
Condensations and conundrums
Meditative koans
Shortcuts and fables
Poetry and textbooks don't work the same way
And why should they
Most simple answers are true
Most simple answers tell you
Answers and questions and answers and
Bottom line points of reflection
Don't show all
And how could they
Watch as all points (watch as each point)
Swallow
All other points (cancels its opposite point)
Leaving you here
Asking why
And why shouldn't you
LAUGH GENTLY
I once looked
For a ring
For an hour
I thought it was lost
But it was on my other hand
And I once looked
For a hat
That was on my head
I once looked
For glasses
I was wearing
It's OK to laugh
I did
Laugh gently though
After all
Don't you know
This could easily happen to you
Maybe it already has
It could be happening right now
In ways of which
You are currently unaware
So laugh gently
I do
It still happens to me sometimes
It could happen to you too
Any day, any time
It could happen
Laugh gently
I do
AT THE END OF THE DAY
At the end of the day
What is it you need
Gold to tarnish and sit or
Common ground for your seed
The ends are just trophies
The means are what feed
Hidden gold to pass on
And the cycle continues
Philosophy sits
Like a last meal gone bad
Not much of an escape
For what's driving you mad
You might like an answer
But I can't give you one
I have only found ways
To keep on keeping on
For better or worse
Bringing new lives and roles
Hidden gold to pass on
And the cycle continues
This was the album I returned to active duty with, after about eight years off. It's heavily personal, but I took all the specifics out so that it would be easier for anyone to identify with. It's about having a calling, that comes in a way so extreme you can't ignore it. You step up for it, arrange your life around it... and nothing seems to happen. What then?
I was watching Bill Moyers and Joseph Campbell "The Power Of Myth", and Campbell mentioned an old fairy tale motif, where the hero goes away on his quest, brings back gold from the forest, steps out with the prize to take to the people, and it's all turned to ash. That's the metaphor I hung the album around.
The title track is kind of a lament, laying out what's happened, what's been learned. (Tech note: the jangle stick and stomping platform heard at the beginning of the track were built especially for use during the first few lines. Two days of work for those few seconds. Totally worth it!)
"The Hook And The Point" is about the possibility that what draws you into a situation isn't necessarily what you're really there for.
"Simple Answers" starts with a visit to an old man/mechanic archetype, when the vehicle for traversing the philosophical byways breaks down. Essentially, you have to contemplate your way out, there is no quick fix to be bought. The song itself talks about how any philosophical viewpoint can be made to reverse itself if carried far enough, leaving you to then still have to make your own decisions.
"Laugh Gently", though not the last song, is actually the punchline of the album. You may search long and hard and for an answer, only to find it's right there with you and very simple. This is not an excuse or a reason to become cynical or derisive though- it basically happens to everyone at some point.
"At The End of The Day" is an epilogue, where there is a kind of universal settling going on. It's not ideal, perhaps; and in fact it may merely be the setup for the same thing to happen to someone else all over again, etc. ad infinitum. But that's the actual pattern of things. And regardless of what happens to us individually, the pattern itself goes on.