Calexico Complete Lyrics Archive

B i o g r a p h y
(by Official Press)

They call New Orleans a melting pot. When one thinks about it like that, it's hardly surprising that this is where CALEXICO reconvened to record their seventh full-length album, ALGIERS. Joey Burns and John Convertino have long called upon an extended range of musical influences, blending them together so distinctly that the results have almost become a genre of their own. Nonetheless, the choice of New Orleans may still come as a surprise to many. CALEXICO are, after all, associated with a style that their name - borrowed from a small town of less than 40,000 inhabitants on the border between the US and Mexico - has always defined with an unusual precision. Their work has spoken of dusty deserts and the loners that inhabit them, mixing America's country music heritage with that of a Latin persuasion. In other words, it isn't obviously affiliated with the sounds that have made New Orleans one of the premiere tourist destinations in the US. What's emerged as a result of this decision, however, is arguably the most exciting and accessible record CALEXICO have made. It's a fact emphasised by the band's decision to name the album in tribute to the neighbourhood where they worked: Algiers. "When I say New Orleans, you think.... 'what?'" Burns elaborates. "Preservation Hall Band, Wynton Marsalis, Treme, Satchmo, Dr John, The Funky Butt, The Meters, Fats Domino, Boswell Sisters, Quintron, Trombone Shorty, Galactic, Harry Connick Jr, Brad Pitt, Daniel Lanois. And so do I. But when you are there, on Algiers Point or on the river or standing outside the chain link fence at Congo Square, you go back across the water to Haiti, Cuba, Africa. Some strange circles down there resurface."

The feel of ALGIERS is recognisably classic CALEXICO, but their style been revitalised and reborn by the experience of recording in the city. Its influence isn't necessarily sonically evident, but there's a strange, powerful connection to the sounds that have always coloured their own, influences Burns has previously identified as including "Portugese fado, 50's jazz, gypsy or romani music and its offshoots, 60's surf and twang from Link Wray to country's Duane Eddy, the spaghetti western epics of Ennio Morricone and dark indie rock singer songwriters."

You can hear ample proof of this in the dozen songs that make up ALGIERS. 'Epic', the magical opening track, swoons with an unexpected, easy-going romance and boasts a strangely calming, emotive chorus, and 'Para' - which Burns admits nearly didn't make the record as "it felt too confessional" - is dark and brooding. 'Hush', featuring Paul Niehaus on both his trademark pedal steel and Moog synth, meanwhile finds Burns at his most sensitive, echoes in his delivery of Bruce Springsteen at his most melancholic, a comparison one might also draw, for other reasons, when confronted by 'Splitter''s uplifting rumble. Then there's 'No Te Vayas', a collaboration between long-term CALEXICO member Jacob Valenzuela and Jairo Zavala of Depedro, and the trumpet-embellished drama of 'Sinner In The Sea', which reflects Burns' desire "to map out a song that embraced our west coast roots to our experience working in Havana with Amparo Sanchez a few years ago" and which he flippantly describes as, "LA Woman heads to the Florida Keys and drives across the water to Cuba". One can't ignore the majestic closer, 'The Vanishing Mind', either, arguably as powerful as anything they've ever written. New Orleans, it seems, agrees witb CALEXICO.

"I've always loved New Orleans," confirms John Convertino, who first met Joey Burns in 1990 when they began playing together in Giant Sand with Howe Gelb. "I knew that just by being in that place, with all that history that is so rooted in music, things would be different. You can't help but pick up the vibe. The air itself moves you in a way that is very different from anywhere else."

Of course, it's not the first time CALEXICO have worked away from their hometown base of Tucson, Arizona (and the city's Wavelab Studios) since they first started recording under the name in 1996. Garden Ruin was recorded in Bisbee and mixed in Brooklyn, for instance, and their cover of Love's 'Alone Again Or' was laid down in Nashville. But, after their initial attempts to start work on the new record proved troubling, Burns and Convertino were on the hunt for fresh perspectives: "I remember the first day Joey and I got together in our little studio to start," Convertino recalls. "It was a cold, cold morning in Tucson, and we both played about two notes each and got the hell out of there."

"I was looking for a renewal of energy and to wake up in a different environment," Burns adds. "I didn't have too many expectations, but was hoping we could tap into a creative vibe and find that balance of our striving for newness and remaining true to our aesthetics. Working out of town not only opens up the musical palate, but gives you a perspective of the emotional landscape back home."

The choice of New Orleans was largely down to long time collaborator, producer Craig Schumacher. "We were talking about wanting to go to Europe and record," Burns says, "but we never get our shit together in time to make plans that far in advance. So where do you go that is nearby and has a European feel? New Orleans. The place is strong and bold, soulful to the core, but surrounded by a sea of darkness. There is a heaviness there that I like, and in some way Tucson shares a similar vibe. There's something creepy and old on the edge of town and written throughout the town's histories. Those kinds of aesthetics help with the writing and chipping away at the abstract shapes and colours."

Conscious of the clichÃ©s that can sometimes afflict acts working in a city with such a strong identity, Burns, Convertino and Schumacher chose to avoid the bigger, better known studios in favour of a smaller, more intimate setting. The Living Room Studio in Algiers, owned by Chris George and Daniel Majorie and situated across the Mississippi River from the main city, was perfect for their needs.

"There's always vinyl playing either on an old jukebox in the garage or on the turntable near the kitchen," Burns fondly recalls. "Their roommate, Kevin Barrios, cooked lunch and dinner everyday, so come noontime you couldn't help but be drawn into the kitchen to see what he had going on. It always smelled and tasted good. Shrimp Creole, Jambalaya, Fried Frog Legs, Root Beer BBQ Pork Chops, Red Beans and Rice. Our senses were awakened."

Their musical diet was equally wild and eclectic, ranging from The Boswell Sisters - "creepy shit!" Burns laughs - to Jackie Mittoo, from Duke Ellington to The Band. Their working methods, however, changed, with Burns putting aside his nylon string guitar when he was writing in favour of either an electric guitar or even the piano, and Convertino in turn inspired to play with sticks more than his trademark brushes. And, because they were resident in the studio, they collaborated more closely than for some considerable time, with Convertino adding lyrics and playing a greater role in the song's arrangements.

"The Living Room studio wound up being the perfect place to set up camp," Burns concludes. "Not only is the design and restoration of the old church structure done tastefully, but the feel of the place, with its high ceilings, helped make John's vintage Ludwig and Gretsch drums sound massive, very different to Tucson, which has concrete floors. I don't why, but the fact that we were in this old wooden chamber of a church really worked well with our acoustic instruments. The fact that we were surrounded by water, the Mississippi River, also gave us some new light and depth."

So, some 22 years since they first met, Joey Burns and John Convertino - joined as ever by a cast of musicians from across the globe - add yet another successful musical adventure to their list. You might think that, after six studio albums and a suitcase of tour CDs, collaborations with the likes of Victoria Williams, Iron & Wine, Willie Nelson, Roger McGuinn and Nancy Sinatra, and soundtrack work to boot, there wasn't much more they could achieve. But you'd be wrong. New Orleans clearly inspired them to make an album that sees them stretch out more effortlessly than ever but, while you can take the men out of CALEXICO, but you can't take CALEXICO out of the men...

When it's getting way too late
There's nothing on the slate
You've got to take another break
Step out of the room
Into the street lit by the moon

Walk down to the tombs
Open the windows
No one said that that time would come
To finish what's begun
Things get done when they get done
There's no use in worry
For a heart that's in a hurry
Hang the jury inside out to dry

Going on their lands for sale to stake my claim
Burn my name in the soil
Out past the borders beyond the hill
Through seasons of nothing
Safe for the self-destructive world
Memories get altered
No point of reference to hold
And it feels like someone is watching
Asi tear into the skin of innoncence
And decadence for awhile

So we settled in and half the veins where blood runs pure
Troubled the cure for a short while
Out in the dust they suffocate the sprawl and greed
Bent on breed and stare
And children stare
Stare through shiny little boxes
Over landscape that is quickly foiled

You're looking in the mirror on your wall
You're talking diamonds I don't see 'em at all

Tired of hanging in this old dirt town
Tired of having friends hanging around

You got a glimpse down at New Orleans
Of a nightmare that was your dream
Just tell me, if you leave me
No, ?? you to let him go

Started talking
To a couple of wedded strangers
Sitting down on motorcycles
Who passed on the highway

Stepped into
The service station
Took a piss, got water
Bought fuel to ride

Blood is flowing
And mountains are blurring
There is something stirring
Way down inside

Barely know
My homebase home
Seems i'm rarely there
For any share of time

The neighborhood's the same
They all remember my name
Holding no reservations
The newness is wearing in

Checked my eyes to see if they had spokes
See if they are moving
See if they had spokes
See if there is somewhere else to ride

Barely know
My airbase home
Seems i'm rarely there
For any share of time
Before I ride

She swings on the front porch
And sweeps her days into an empty sky
Of a dream drowned in the rain
Out where the land is as flat as the sea
There's a train pulling out west
And a box of money stashed under the bed

Up through the pines
And down into the city of light
Where the world spins on a string
The weave of lovers weave meet their fate
Down by the sea falls in love with the sailor who keeps the light house

Storm comes in, smashes the shore
The sailor's duty comes calling
Begging and pleading as she falls to the floor
She's left waiting

She waits at the front
Her husband come wrapped around her
Where she fell the stoop in the night

(...) all alone for months at a time

Light shines through darker days
Eyes close and lose their way
Slip away the night
While the whole town's asleep
Caught between the space
Where you wanted to be
Death acts and life reacts
Spent time turning looking back
Clues along the track
Leave the following kind
The ground that seems to be new
Winding up the same every time

The windjammer's pickin' up, with the old man's Virginia Blend
Cuttin' to the quick, with his navy cut
Hoping that no one will take notice of the ragged dirt on his shirt sleeve

He wants a song, to practice his drinking
The girl with the jukebox voice
Lost in the memory but caught in the riptide
Undertow... overload

Bale on my job, slip on my ship
Drown beneath the surface
Fall to the wreckage, get snapped on a line
With crayfish and bottom dwellers

Dreams of the thinkers, the expert drinkers
And the wave of new regulars rollin' in
Come close, stand near, let me hear what you hear

Put one down
Put one down
Put one down
Put one down

Removed

Follow the current through the city that lies in ruins
Bottle is washed up but the message is missing
Heroes and ghosts, graveyards and buildings
Pay the price of admission

Haunted for years in a hallway of mirrors
Till i step through the window
Over the river, coat of feathers sweeping out of view
Weigh the difference, the scales are turned
Let conscience be so judged

Arrows with strings flung from below
Striking and reeling you in
Tied to mistakes, left there for days
Seeing which side you're in
Lately i feel so removed
Fell back into the ditch i dug
And doing the things i normally do

Heroes and ghosts, graveyards and buildings
Pay the price of admission
Haunted for years in a hallway of mirrors
Till i step through the window
Lately i feel so removed
Doing the things that I do

Beneath the neon hub of downtown
The local hotel ghosts blow back around
Descend on those drugstore cowboy nights
Cling to the bar, then disappear from sight
Back to the daily regime
Where the late night graveyard shift dampens your dreams
Bitten by the desire and the spell
That leaves you stranded out
On the other side of town

The black light

Leave the heart of the city
For the heart of the world
Leave the heart of this city
Love the way her trust unfurls
Follow her hand to the dark end of the street
Cross in the night, invisible to the electric eye
Sippin' on a little night train
Slippin' in to the car to stay warm
Keep moving, keep moving
Sleep by day, move at night
Keep moving
Follow her hand to the dark end of the street
Cross in the night
Become invisible in a blink of an eye
Out past the border patrol
Whose thunderbird's no match
A helicopter shadow follows you
Way out past the downtown city glow
Cross the santa cruz and i-10
Past the cancerous sprawl into fields of thorn
Through the rincon mountains and cochise
Stronghold south of the chiricahuas
Drifting and drifting...

Missing

Wake up now little sleepyhead
From your nightmarish day with the dead trip
You'd be better off not to know
Of the wild seeds you let go
From your thorny fingertips
Try to clean bloodstained hands
That ran away and left the scene
Of a crime last night
Always thought you stood on the other side
Never thought the roof would cave in
Where you were hiding
There's a wave of fear that creeps right in
A vacant stare that can't say where it's been
Or what's been laced
The trail leads all over the place
There's an angel at your side
Who rescued you in a nick of time
Explains how you almost fell
And vanished into a fatal spell
She looks into your eyes and sees
There's something still missing
She notices a chunk bleeding from your chest
Tries to stop the bloodflow with her best compress
But the wreckage is in a mess
There's an emotional tax, figured in after the fact
And stories unfold
The world grows dark and bones get cold
You look into your heart and you know
There's something still missing

Trigger

Walking south along the river
Never had he found that twist of pleasure
Remembering times when they were younger
Setting the town on fire

And watching as his fellow friends
Fell apart in the wake
Claiming it was all just a mistake
When his finger pulled the trigger

And he shot everyone
It was all just a mistake
When he shot everyone

Nothing will stand in the way
When hunger hasn't eaten for days
Scrounges around where ends meet
And disappears into the fray

He hopes for awhile he'll reconcile
The pain that never dies
The ghosts of his family constantly
Gnawing at his insides

He pulls out a worn photo
And an old handmade gun
Wishes it was he who was frying
When he set the whole town on fire

He walks off crying
He shot everyone

Stray

It rained the whole day he spent at his lover's grave
Said his goodbyes to her family and friends
Packed his things in a rusted car
And rode off in the rain
Came upon a church in ruin
With an old man dwelling within
Who said, "watch where you stray my friend"
Old man spoke of meanings lost and without name
Never shifting from their worn and weathered place
What was found in the endless serach
For truth behind the tale
Beneath the ash and ember lies only one story to tell
Watch where you stray my friend
There's a flower that grows in a cave
So lovely to see but need to be saved
Its' beautiful blossom will wither and die
If ever this flower leave the darkness for daylight

Bloodflow

Her eyes are closed now that final breath is near
She lets go of my hand and i fall into a see of tears
Search for the trail that we were both riding
Lost sometime ago
Now i'm stranded on the mountain's edge
And there's only one way back down...
And down i go
Into the ground where the bad seeds are sown
Take root and pull me further in
Long and long and longer it takes
Good luck's gone and there's no more breaks
Just the ground beneath that shakes and gives way
Swallowed up whole, there ain't much now i can pull
No stunt man surprises
Or houdini-like disguises
For death defying escape
Avoid the tap on the shoulder
From that one in the long black cape
Just to see those eyes of hers shine
Is worth any sum or length of time
That would fill up that space
Where her love once flowed
But the more i resist
The further and further out i drift
Get swept out in the rip tide
Where part of me wants to lie
'Neath the waves of sorrow and tears
Sink to the bottom and linger there
The rest of my tears
Walk amongst the mossy bones
Of my fathers, mothers, sisters, brothers
Feel their blood flow away
Send the soul on its way

I live out yonder where the snakes and scorpions run
Got myself a little goldmine to bank on
But one day my heart sank when i saw madame in town
I knew her love would be the death of mine

L'amour passé, l'amour obsolète
(Past love and obsolete love)
Pourquoi perdre sa vie à chercher l'or d'un coeur ?
(Why spending their whole lives searching for the gold of a heart ?)
Je ne me noierai pas dans ce désert mystique
(I will not drown myself in this mystic desert)
Je ferme mes comptes et je repars
(I'm cashing in my chips and I ride again)

Do me a favor while I'm hanging here
Take this gold and go and hide
Ne gigote pas, chéri, sur ta corde pendu
(Don't twist, honey, on your hangin' rope)
Don't worry I'll be free in no time

She promised me she would be there when i'd return
She didn't say she'd have a whole army there as well
She whispered "Je t'aime baby"
As she fired that gun at me
Mais je n'ai plus le temps
(But I have no time now)

It's getting late and i'm running out of time
I should've stayed way out yonder
Better off with the scorpions and snakes
Every act which has no heart
Will be found out in the end
Guess I'm a little late this time
'Cause her love would be the death of mine
Mine, all mine

Fade

No one knows where the night can go
Except for the few lovers
Entangled and torn from the hour
The stars now are starting to leave
A silent moon begins to weep
And the lovers fall further and further
Into the dark and deep
Come morning, without warning
The absence of love's embrace
Like winter's light, it creeps on in
And the moon's tears fade
He starts the car and is driving away
Hearing her voice and tasting their last kiss
That sent them spinning and racing
The moon's glow lights the way
Otherwordly underwater dreamscape
Till a semi's headlights invade
Come morning, without warning
The absence of love's embrace
Like winter's light, it creeps on in
And the moon's sullen glow is fading
The glow is fading
The glow is fading
Soul escaping
Stars are leaving, the moon is weeping
Soul escaping
Soul escaping
Racing through the night...
The glow is fading
The glow is fading

Crystal frontier

Marco's shadow falls on the door
To the seven lost cities of gold
Finds a raven's head and rattler's tail
Dead in his tracks, this godforsaken soul's
Unwanted here and his ghost lingers for years

Amalia's face hides behind the mask
Sweating on the tv factory line
That smile on her face is starting to crack
While welding back the pieces of shattered heart
That's scattered out here, with the ghosts of her peers
Searched for her lost love along the river of tears

At the end of the working week
When drunken worlds meet
Both sides keeping a close eye
For a break in the line here
On the crystal frontier

Ramón tightens up his leather belt
And slips through a hole in the fence
He can get you anything you want
Might cost you a life, might cost you
The whole price of freedom here
On the crystal frontier

Searched for her lost love along the river of tears

Blood spills out on the streets
And bodies are missing for weeks
Both sides keeping a close eye
Watching the bullets fly here
On the crystal frontier
Crystal frontier

Sonic wind

Sonic wind, honing in, on a tune that no one can hear
Perfect pitch, simple glitch, promises it would never appear
In the skies, disguised
Change in direction where birds never fly nor roam
Lie 'neath green valleys and wait for the call to come
Firetail bats, poised to attack
To set ablaze the rafters and the roofs
Until the plan leaves the hand
Burns the site down to the ground
Through the ground
Craters are carving and wounds are left to weep
Sink to the table filtering through the years
Closing behind the nightmarish fears that run deep
Down in green valleys wait for the call to come
When it's all over and the empty quarter
Returns to the emptiness again
5000 miles over airplane graveyards
Landmass oceans wide. Over continents
A sonic wind honing in on a tune no one can hear
Perfect pitch, simple glitch, promises
Over the skies - in disguise
Change in direction
A sonic wind is blowing
And the fire it is burning
Down in green valleys where birds never fly nor roam
Over airplane graveyards, wait for the call to come
And the sonic wind is whistling

Service & repair

On the outskirts of expansion
Looking out from blueprint peak
The flow is flooding of urban setters
Panning through rivers running dry
Numbers roll on in
Smiling a lottery grin
A sadness blurs the eye
It's just a matter of time before they're moving on
It's just a matter of time before they're moving on
Doesn't take much time for plans to go wrong
And chase another ghost of a chance
In the shadows of chain-store ghost towns
Where no one walks the streets at night
A silent nation hooked on medication
Stares into a blue flickering light
The young drift off alone
And the old are whisked away
And prospects keep looking up
But the line's getting longer on the lost highway
The line's getting longer on the superstition highway
Doesn't take much time for plans to go astray
And chase another ghost of a chance
They say deep down inside, lie properties of a healing kind
If so it'd better come around soon
And do a little bit of service and repair
Do a little bit of service and repair
Do a little more service and repair
Doesn't take much time for plans to change
And offer up another chance
For a little bit more service and repair
Do a little bit of service and repair
Doesn't take much time for plans to change
And offer up another chance
At sewing the dream better suited for both soul and soil

Drenched

Riding through nostalgia, shaking memories by the mile
The city lights are closing in on him
The distance grows shorter for a while
He wonders what dreams fill her heart
And wonders if what they had could ever be sparked
"the roads never lead where they're supposed to go"
That's what he tells himself before he lets it go
Out on the cold grey plain, sunken on the side of the road
The words bleed off the page, the letter becomes well-soaked
"no more turning backwards," he says, as he drives off in the rain
Ventures on up through the colorades and settles under the rock
And pines, and stakes claim
Still he wonders what what dreams fill her heart
And wonders if what they had could ever be sparked
The roads never lead where they're supposed to go
They just twist 'round and 'round the flame
The eyes closing, the heart retains
A bit of a spark before it fades away
That's where he gets lost and drifts off alone
And what he tells himself... "better let it go"

Hush-a-bye, don't you cry
Go to sleep you little baby
When you wake, you shall have cake
And all the pretty little horses
Blacks and bays, dapple and greys
All the pretty little horses
Hmm, and mama loves, daddy loves
Oh they love their little baby
When you wake, you shall have cake
And all the pretty little horses
Blacks and bays, dapple and greys
All the pretty little horses
Blacks and bays, dapple and greys
Coach and six white horses
Way down yonder, down in the meadow
Lies a poor little child
The bees and the flies are pickin' out its eyes
The poor little child crying for its mother
Oh, crying for its mother
Hush-a-bye, don't you cry
Go to sleep you little baby
When you wake, you shall have cake
And all the pretty little horses
Blacks and bays, dapple and greys
Coach and six white horses
Blacks and bays, dapple and greys
All the pretty little horses
Blacks and bays, dapple and greys
All the pretty little horses

[something] attracts immigrants in hard times
The southwest is suffering rapid change
Coal-burning plants multiply and the Four Corners grow dingy
The Grand Canyon is overrun by motorized rafters and transistorites
Our lust for energy dams the rivers
Missile sites, bombing ranges nuclear testing, and mock desert warfare all disturb Lummis' classic southwest.
When blowing dust annoys the urbanites, their reaction is to blacktop the desert.

*** Thanx a lot to Greg (a.k.a. spacebrother) from Calexico forum for this one ***

Who has dressed you in strange clothes of sand
Who has taken you far from my land
Who has said that my sayings were wrong
And who will say that i stayed much too long
Clothes of sand have covered yor face
Given you meaning but taken my place
So make your way on down to the sea
Something has taken you so far from me

Does it now seem worth all the colour of skies
To see the earth through painted eyes
To look through panes of shaded glass
See the stains of winter's grass
Can you now return to from where you came
Try to burn your changing name
Or with silver spoons and coloured light
Will you worship moons in winter's night
Clothes of sand have covered your face
Given you meaning but taken my place
So make your way on down to the sea
Something has taken you so far from me

You say you're leaving
Going back home
Where's your family
Where do you come from

Something's missing in your life
You've felt it all along
Retrace your steps
Balance and check
Where it all went wrong

The spirit is broken
The path is overrun
You can't move forward
And now nothing gets done

I hope you find some
In a peace along the way
Whatever it takes I pray you'll make it
Home on christmas day

In case you don't find what you need
When you finally arrive
And your heart is snowed in
There's no warmth or light

Take this candle with you
And this book of matches as well
As you're climbing the walls
There's no answer at all
Except the gift you give yourself

I trust that you'll find some
In a peace through times that are rough
What would it take to hear you say
The gift you give is love
The gift you live in enough

Down the crooked road a ways
A child's shadow hiding in the briar
Tending to a twisted heart that's bent and broken
Wounded and abandoned left amongst the rotted root to rot

Moon, crimson moon
Rose marie's walking down the crooked road a ways
All aglow, her fair white skin
Portrait of beauty, angel to many
Hears the hush crying from the briar
Reaches in her hand to see what's the matter
And is dragged through the darkness
Beneath the lonely cypress
The town's beloved daughter
Carried to her death in the turbid waters
And set afloat downstream

Whole town erupts, bursts into flame
Parties go a-searching down the crooked road a ways
Find old rufus there drunk and asleep
Fishing by the water must have killed our beloved daughter
Can't hold back these waves of anger
Tie a rope around his neck
See if he still hollers
Another innocent soul hangs over the briar

Marco's shadow falls on the door
To the seven lost cities of gold
Finds a raven's head and rattler's tail
Dead in his tracks, this godforsaken soul's
Unwanted here and his ghost lingers for years

Amalia's face hides behind the mask
Sweating on the tv factory line
That smile on her face is starting to crack
While welding back the pieces of shattered heart
That's scattered out here, with the ghosts of her peers
Searched for her lost love along the river of tears
The river of tears

The end of the working week
When drunken worlds meet
Both sides keeping a close eye
For a break in the line here
On the crystal frontier
The crystal frontier

The ground is shaking it's starting to crack
Can't find the pieces of shattered heart
That's scattered out here
With the ghosts that never disappear
Searched for the lost child along the river of tears
The river of tears

Blood spills out on the streets
And bodies are missing for weeks
Both sides keeping a close eye
Watching the bullets fly here
On the crystal frontier
The crystal frontier

Ramón tightens up his leather belt
And slips through a hole in the fence
He can get you anything you want
Might cost you a life, might cost you
The whole price of freedom here
On the crystal frontier

Washed my face in the rivers of empire
Made my bed from a cardboard crate
Down in the city of quartz
No news, no new regrets
Tossed a Susan B. over my shoulder
And prayed it would rain and rain
Submerge the whole western states
Call it a last fair deal
With an american seal
And corporate hand shake

Take the story of carpenter mike
Dropped his tools and his keys and left
And headed out as far as he could
Past the cities and gated neighborhoods
He slept ‘neath the stars
Wrote down what he dreamt
And he built a machine
For no one to see
Then took flight, first light
Of new morning

Quattro (world drifts in)

Love the run but not the race
All alone in a silent way
World drifts in and the world's a stranger
In a light, eclipsed and alienated
In a time, occupied and invaded
Can't tell what's right, better hit the ground running
In the hills where the tall weed grows
Hands are tied and won't let go
Can't escape this place without leaving the world behind
In a light, ashamed and humiliated
In a time, sacrificed for the sake of trade
The soul is bent, feels the weight of truth
Falling through
Left behind, no choice but to run to the mountains
Where no poppies grow, you have to hit the ground running
In a light, paralyzed and spirits fading
Out of time, must decide to fall or run
Into the eye, of the storm no sign or omen
Make it right, or fall to the other side
Where fields are burning
From the day you're born
You'll always hit the ground running

Black heart

Spring is frozen now i'm stuck in low
Wrapped with wire, tapped to the heart
Can't find no poison, now i've got no cure
(the) fangs are stuck inside my skin
Payne county line
Watching unjust claims
One man's righteousness is another man's
Long haul, sentence carried out
Long haul, counting the miles
To the four corners of the world
Spring is rusted shut, (faith's) coiled and cracked
Apparitions worth their weight in gold
Scratched in metal, name erodes away
Hands are scarred, heart is charred
Burnt though, and ashen
Trip on fence post line
Sifting through the remains
One man's close pursuit is another man's
Last chance, make it through the divide
Last chance, suffer the weight or get buried by this
Black heart, sweeping over the land
Black heart, crawling its way
To the four corners of the world

Not even stevie nicks

With a head like a vulture
And heart full of hornets
He drives off the cliff
And into the blue
Not even the priestess
With her wrenches and
Secret powers
Could save (steer) him
From danger for a little while
Not even she could save him

Woven birds

The plaza in the village
Where mission bells used to ring
Is now crumbled to a pile of stench and ruin
Even the swallows have spring
All the blossoms are burried
‘neath the waste
Out of the shadows grow hatred
Along the corrider crawls fear
Crushed by the promise of hope
That never returned
Watched with a hawk's trained eye
Trees grow silent fruit
‘Neath a suffering sky
Those who have stayed, keep a flame
In memory of the fallen
And pass on the old rites despite the risk
But many more have left here
On mended broken wings
Turning to see your reaction
A tear drop fills your eye
But you protest not to give up as give in
Heading straight for the wreckage
Picking up a shovel and a hoe
Start putting back the bricks one by one
Numbers come out of the woodwork
Corious to see the rebirth
Above the swollen clouds
A strange sound fills the air
A silence never heard
Falling like blessed rain
And the swallows return
As the mission bells ring

Across the wire

Alberto hits his brother on the
Back of the head, looks to the north
As he starts to get up
His brothers still sleepy
Grumbles “it's not light yet,”
“if you want a new life, what's
A few minutes wait?”
Darkness on the road and over the land
Into the laws and out of the hands
From those with so much
And no show of heart
You'd think it'd be crazy
To ask for a small part
Spotted an eagle in the middle of a lake
Resting on cactus, feasting on snakes
But the waters recede as the
Dump closes in, revealing a whole lake
Of sleeping children
Poison in the stream that flows to the sea
Out on the waves that crash within reach
Of those with so much
And so little to fear
You'd think it'd be crazy
To be so far away yet so near
Some say a new day will shine here
Over these catastrophes and horrors
Of misfortune, all across the wire
Alberto y hermano on the coyote's trail
And dodging the shadows of the border patrol
Out in the wastelands wandering for days
The future looks bleak with
No sign of change
Darkness in the eye and down
In the soul
All across the wire to those in control
Holding so much
With no show of heart
You think it'd be crazy
To watch it all fall apart
Watch it all fall apart

Güero canelo

Jump, scrape, break the switches
Coast low wit da bitches
Funky pop, drop 'n hop
Here come the cops
Güero canelo

Gangs, guns, knives, thugs
Chumps, chops, chill, chug
Drink malt, smoke mota
I like you mucho
Dame un beso

Soma, valium, oxycontin
Reds, whites, speed, vicodin
T's, b's, thorazine
Screamers, pleasers
Güero canelo

Freak, tweek, week 2 week
Kneel, feel, seek the geek
Pump da bass in yo' face
Contrabasso
How low can you go?

Belladonna, mescaline
Psylocibin, peyote
Mda and dnt spells ecstasy
Güero canelo

Coil spring, bounce, crank
Pumps, shocks, struts, tanks
Psychoactive electroplade
It's necesito
Dame un beso

Impala, caddy
El dorado, comet
Galaxy, el camino
Chevelle, caprice
Monte carlo
So low six fo'
How low can you go?

Tweezer, teaser, tiger weezer
Rusty, crusty, skuzzy skeezer
Chuy, chata, cholo, chico
Flaco, chucho
Only at pueblo
Molé y güero canelo

Güero canelo
Güero canelo

No doze

Ball of flame, it's all i saw
It pulled us in

Spirit search, no angels dear
Will find us here

Corona

The people will survive
In their environment
The dirt, scarcity, and emptiness
Of our south

The injustices of our greed
The practices we merit
The dirt, scarcity and emptiness
Of our south

There on the beach
I could see it in her eyes
I only had a corona
Five cents deposit

Si tu disais

Si tu disais
One, two
Si tu disais
Si tu disais
Si tu disais...

If you said let's go
If you said i'm sick of this place
I would listen to you
I wouldn't hesitate
And whether it's for a town
A godforsaken place
It wouldn't bother me
I'd be ready as if
I was waiting

If you said up to now
We've gotten by with the blues
I would agree
I would answer that it's true
Every wall, every crack
I am sick and tired of this place
If you said only this
I'd be ready as if
I was waiting

If you said let's go
If you said it was time
I would listen to you
I've been ready for a while
But you never say
You never decide
Never think of what we could do
I don't know why you're still here

Falling rain

I hear a sound
It's going through my brain
I hear talk of people
I feel the fallin' rain

I see a man crying
‘Cause the whole world has left him
Kids are laughing at the funny faces
Of a clown

My mind is like a spring in a clock
It won't unwind
I can't see, can't think, can't feel
I'm out of time

I'm up, then i'm down now
Tell me where is it going to end
You say start at the beginning
Of the end, my friend

I hear thunder
And i can feel the wind
I can see angry faces
In the eyes of men

And don't forget kid's stake
Where kids lay bleeding on the ground
And there's no place on this planet
Where peace can be found

So there'll be stabbings and shootings
And young men dying all around
And it keeps going through my brain
And i can still hear the sound

I hear talking of people
The whole world has gone insane
And all there is left is the fallin' rain
And all there is left is the fallin' rain

Recalling regatta

Late night streets all alone
No one's here, no one's here
Watch the faces come and go

Always spinning around
Drifting further away
She is young, dressed in white
Like a cloud, spins in the sky
Not sure if it'll sun or rain

Always spinning around
Drifting further away
Not sure if she will run or stay
Or follow the holes leading underground

Watching from across the road, she's older now
Than her picture (poster) shows
Some stay lost, some get found
Others drift from town to town

Always spinning around
Drifting further away
Always hear the lonesome cry frail away
Far off in the cold and distant night

When the evening sun is setting low
Blinding you on your drive home
And the lanes of traffic all converge
Causing you to curse every other word
For to wish it all away

Daily grind's got your screw stripped
No can of wd40 can fix your situation
Seems to be losing steam

Dream's been dropped on credit cards
And false hope pumping out of your soul
Like oil in the gulf it's a dead end
Drive it further deep into the ground
Till the point's dull as your skull
And the same sun that you curse
Powers your hybrid heart home

If only this car would move half a smidge

Grip-tape

Wait to rise long after dark
Been asleep at least three solid days
Wandering round this house just like a ghost
Searching for something in this life
That would fill the holes and satisfy
Your need to please everybody else
While your nerves shatter and fall apart
Wear out the grip-tape wrapped round your heart

Now you're dressed and ready for the kill
Check if your friends are asleep in bed
Same ones who left you to yourself
Make some noise and take a walk outside
All those years you kept the pain inside
Strangled any chance to love your own
And veer from your collision course
But you'd rather go out in a ball of flame
Grip-tape your name

Near the woodpile
Before the rain
Where he last saw the snake

With teeth clenched
Soured heart
Lover's changed hands

An axe within reach
And a distant stare that weaves
Through the grass and waits

For a stranger's one mistake

Painted over

It's a simple mistake
When you've painted over your painting
And it needs no more speaking

Dying of thirst
Could i still be alive or worse
Where was i last
Parked on the street when a shadow was cast
Taking me out, when a struggle ensued
What was that hole in my shirt
And the blood that spilled to the floor
Like a dead man's

The focus is blurred
And the voice off camera is heard
And the lighting's to blame
Tell the assistant director the same
Pulling away to a final dissolve
Soundtrack provides a lush bed of strings
Before the screen fades to black
And the credits rise above
Like the soul of a dead man
Wandering on
Like a dead man
Wandering on

Right outta port angeles like a bullet with no pain
Driving north on the harbor freeway
Up and over st thomas vincent bridge
Making stops as you go, everyone you used to know
Flashing your fury, gonna lay your enemies to waste

Never hear them when they come
Hear them when they come

Drop 'em to the floor, settle every score as you roll on
Out of the southbay, into the san bernadinos
Down into the valley drivin' to meet your connection

Driving with the bass
Never heard you when you come
When you come
Heavy with the bass
Never heard you

Drop 'em to the floor blood pumping thru your vein
Riding off with the score

Driving 'neath the stars, you pull over to the side
A voice trickles from your heart
Now the bleeding won't stop
Now the bleeding won't stop
Drivin' you insane
Heavy with the bass
Only a bullet could stop your pain
Never heard you when you come
Never heard you when you come

Come on back here into the kitchen
You gotta see this one
You gotta see it close
They told you be careful
Don't trust no one but yourself
Be careful

In the kitchen with one bare light bulb
The floor manager is your best of friends
And out late when the drinking crowd weighs in
Way up late reading your book "kiss and tell"

Kiss and tell, don't trust no one but yourself
Kiss and tell, trust no one
You're under your spell
You can't trust yourself
You're under your spell
Under your spell

Through plumes of smoke
A few houses a blaze
Your eyes scan over the water
Where the city's outline is faded and erased

Cries in the night
After the storm
Arms entangled in wave and wire
Frozen below in the darkness

Days float
Buildings sway
Tensions rise with the waters
As the sense of your fears worsen

What's at stake
Once the levee breaks
No one could imagine not returning
Nor the shots that echo and ringing

No second line
Will lay you down
The delta moon weeps and weeps
As the tide folds it little babies to sleep
'Neath the darkness
Sleep now sleep
Sleep now sleep

Cruel, cruel grounds
Leak truths never found
Torturous ways
Whisper from the grave
A slow spun song of distortion

Bitter, bitter mouth
Spitin' out seeds of doubt
Rituals seek root
Razed before they're told
Stories break like branches in the cold

Seasons trial finds man's mistakes fair game

Careless hand
Lay and law of the land
Falls by the side
Silenced sentient cries
All within the lines of divine right

Better bury the tracks in an unclosed case
Weeds of discontent choke a broken ghost landscape

Cruel, heartless reign
Chasing short term gains
Right down to the warning signs

Birds refuse to fly
No longer trust the sky
Drifting out beyond the signals

Even the horizon is gone
Weather flees underground
Future's left to wallow in fortune's waste

Yours and mine

Getting late for decision
What's that waiting about
Horses are chomping at the bit
The gate is nearly busted down
Moment before the calm of the storm
And everyone's blood goes wild
Except yours and mine

How many years has it taken
Your restless heart growing old
Horses running off on their own
And the stable's burnt to the ground
The longer you wait
Your decision will fade
And wind up wasting this time
Yours and mine

Bisbee blue

When you can't find the hours
Days keep on slipping thru
Avenues under construction
Blocking out your sky blues

Burried beneath the letters
Bills and the junk in the mail
Finding the strain to your heart
From the troubles down the trail

No sign of your old haunts here

Gone with the copper crews
Veins mined in vein remind you
Choices we choose to lose

New cities keep on sprawling
Old towns falling too
Raining a river of color

And it's flowing bisbee blue

Straight to you bisbee blue

Some say this way's the only one that's true

Bring me back bisbee blue
Bring me back

Oh these days, seem dark

Darkest i've seen

Darling you send me thru the hours

Days keep on sifting thru
Chipping away to remember

Days with you bisbee blue
Shining like bisbee blue
Bring me back bisbee blue

Panic open string

Panic open string, power grids blackout
Birds all fly in numbers down to the ground
Reassure the blades of green, green grass

Season's still asleep more or less
Wind is gearing up for a reckless ride
Leaning accidental on nature's side

Propeller power fields, solar panel sides
Lightning bolts connect, it's with you i will go
I close my eyes and the seasons pass

Above the cityscape, the city out of reach
Way beyond our lives, up into the sky, far below the green

My dreams are all blue, so is my heart
Light up screens of you, if you could only see
Time's dreams escape, late into the night

When the stars align reminds me of you
Words will lose their fear
And i will find their truth
Church bells in the hills they will ring and ring

Ocean's to the coast will cling to their host
The sun will split in two , sink thru an empty sky

It's where we'll go when we
Leave this place and die

Letter to Bowie knife

Everyday on my way home
The clouds would break and the angels
Would sing their refrain

This world's an ungodly place
Strangled by vines unchaste
So with my shining blade of steel
I would cut a path wide

Dipped in the ink of the fight
Written clean through the night
Mark my words upon the front page
To set my world straight

It's too late, it's too late
It's too late, it's too late
Just like i found it, my world is split
Right down the spine

Years bled dry now ripe for a reckoning
My blade's back slash beckoning
Slice my wounds and i make the sign one more time

Come on. Come on. Come home. Come home
Yeah it's too late, it's too late
It's too late, to refrain...refrain...refrain...

Did those angels ever sing?
Sliced my world in two

Roka (danza de la muerte)

Sleeping in the valley, valley of ill fortune
Waking cross the river, river of delusion
Full moon lures the waves, waves of desperation
Empty hearts and mouths wither away

So close your eyes
Slow your breath
Dream of northern lights
Around this dance of death

No abandones, no llores, busca tu rio
No te sientas perdido
Gira, vuelta y vuelta gira
Danza de la muerte
Que viene a verte
Bailala

Cup your hands to her parched heart, parched and
Broken heart
No water here to drink way downstream
One goes where the water flows and water's running dry
So don't give up no don't cry, don't cry

Just close our eyes
Pretend we forget
North country dreams
Twist this dance of death

Danza de la muerte
Si viene a verte
Que bailando te encuentre
Bailando, girando
Danza de la muerte

Spin round, spin round, spin round
Vuelta, vuelta, muerte

Bailala

Lucky dime

Found a dime in the metro line
Funny to see a familiar face
Since you left us long ago
There's never been a trace of luck to guide me

Hoping to see a sign
Or a lucky dime

Searching as i go
Hoping to see a sign
Or a lucky'

Someone told you long ago
All you ever needed to know
No matter how far you drift alone
I'll always be here around'

Hoping to see a sign
Or a lucky dime

Smash

Is there anyway i can fix it
Take out my tools maybe smash with it
Let me destroy the parts that annoy

Swallow the words i'm saving
Fumble the chords i'm playing
Better just break it apart
Then where should they go

But you know i'm just following suit
It's something i aim not to do
Can't mock up a model me and you

Is someone out there
I can trust
With the words that never seem to fit

No sense looking backwards
Shattered every mirror in my eye
Scattering the scrapbook
Blueprints on the floor

Always thought things would snap into place
With a little more ease and grace
Still a ship sealed in a bottle
Never reaches the sea

And i stash all of the reasons
Dash them against the wall
And i smash your heart into tiny little pieces

And every time this happens
It gets harder and harder to build back again

Deep down

When numbers matter more than the heart
Your eyes are hollow and stiffness starts to take control
Capsize the soul, deep down you know it's evil
You've always known

Be a good example show your new tricks
And while you're out there they'll make the pitch
To rally the troops and make a huge contribution
To help push this through
Deep down you know it's evil
You've always known it's evil

The days here are numbered but your record is clean
Outstretched and waiting on banks that seem
To flow and flow, a rich reward to show
Duty carried out in the field
Deep down you know it's evil
You've always known it's evil
You've always known

Nom de plume

Felt a tremor stir beneath my breath
That forecasts storms on the gallup poll
Waking up from the nightmare news
Hoping to read a sign in the morning air

Nothing changes here and nothing improves
All say my friends who just want out
And leave these troubles behind
Scatter like paper in the eye of the storm
Documented with a silenced note
That's only heard from far away

More cards in play, following suit
Everywhere you look, you only see red
Wonder when to call off the race
Watching a horse running down its last legs
When you think it couldn't get much worse
The numbers rise on the death toll
And the chimes of freedom flash and fade
Only heard from far, far away

I hear you can't trust in your own
Now the grey is broken in the early morn
And the words forming barely have a voice
It's just your heart that's breaking without choice

Everything you hear is distorted in your head
Bouncing off the walls, unraveling the thread
Staying up with the blue screen glow
Forgetting everything you ever dreamed years ago

When the dread is flowing down my veins
I want to tear it all down and build it up again
Hear your heart that's breaking without choice
I want to hear those chimes ring again
Ring again

Victor Jara's Hands

Wire fences still coiled with flowers of the night
Songs of the birds like hands call the earth to witness
Sever from fear before taking flight

Fences that fail and fall to the ground
Bearing the fruit from Jara's Hands

Me siento solo y perdido
Una vela alumbra mi camino
Cruzando tierras que nunca he visto
Cruzando el río de mi destino
Solo soy un chico más
Que sueña en alto y mirando al mar

All alone and lost
My path is lit by flame
Crossing lands never seen
Crossing rivers of my destiny
Only a boy nothing more
Day dreaming wanting more

Two Silver Trees

There are code breakers with lines well tapped
Traces sweeping out across the static night
You are draped in white like the blossoms of the tree
Looking down a glass elevator
At your father signing the papers for
Two silver trees, two silver trees
Two worlds in need, two silver trees

Branches falling down
From sources underground
False identities
Stranded in each single seed

False sense of warning no poisoned cup
Just deception crawling up like a snake
Decay of the blossoms and roots well hacked
Spoil the hidden waters dying at the base of
Two silver trees, two silver trees
Two worlds in need, two silver trees

Branches falling down
From sources underground
False identities
Stranded in each single seed

The News About William

Four in the morning the sidewalk's asleep
Dogs on the porch, spiders on the leaf
Shipwrecked by night sailing through days
Nobody noticed the slipping away

Connecting the dots with thorns in his side
Boarded up the windows with pain and with pride
The music box broken that once was his soul
Its sad little song spinning out of control

Then came the storm that washed the roads out
Closed both his eyes and pointed straight south
Second line drums marched into the sea
While the clouds overhead cried “mutiny”
They parted for Cathy and her bitter news
As her words fell and the sky grew dim
Recalled how close to that exit I've been

Ours not to reply, ours not to reason why
The news about William
The lifeline retreats
Desire for release
The thorns in his side

Writer's Minor Holiday

Thumb tacks spread out
Across your hometown state
Hollow tree at half mast
Wait until wintertime
Leaves a paper trail a licorice plant that's overgrown

Like a cabin in the woods on a minor
Like a minor holiday

Woolrich red plaid wolf
Irish whiskey glass
Here comes my fine bright haired lass
Like a trash fire burning and burning it
My heart could never right the words never fail

Tucked under your cap and for a moment
There's a stillness before the room spins again
Minor holiday, spin it again
Ride it out so you can tell

Wasted on the weekend
Making good time with my excuse
Where the plot lines are like dead ends
Floating in her eyes at the bottom of a well
Floating in her eyes ride it out for a spell
Minor holiday
Transfer this weight
Minor holiday
Transfer this weight
Going back and forth
On a minor, minor holiday

Man Made Lake

I'm gonna walk these streets
Of cold concrete
Like I'm a ghost
Searching for its grave

Then I'll dwell by the edge of this man made lake
And descend into the city
That holds no place for me

But the streets
With no stir of life
And all the houses on the streets
Are wholly submerged

Then I'll gather the leaves from cell phone trees
And return them
To their place
And pretend someone's calling for me

Inspiración

House Of Valparaiso

Dialing in a forgotten voice
Coming in like waves rolling off the coast
Sweeping through illegal ports
Rising from the depths falling off the tongue
Ships drifting out of tune
Coming in like waves rolling off the coast

Many, many more, sculpting the shoreline
Etching the harbor and the people
Who've stayed afloat

Coming in like waves rolling off the coast
Dialing in a forgotten voice
Rising from the depths falling off the tongue
Sweeping through illegal ports
Coming in like waves rolling off the coast
Ships drifting out of tune
Can't stop the waves coming like a ghost

Is that your shape
In the foam of the sea
After all these years
Coming home to me

La Chascona
Hearts to ocean
Vows unbroken
Lying in the bath fully clothed
Ready for the ocean's wake
The tears won't wash away
What her eyes can't erase

Not safe to say in her native tongue
A radio voice drowning out
The general's song lingering on
A raft made of books from a driftwood house
Returns to the waves

Slowness

Miles of highway poppies, a stretch of maybe flowers
Past Signal Hill a ways
We were parked and searching
For a hubcap rolling into the fields of thorn
Although we couldn't see a thing that night
Stars still shone
In their slowness
And their slowness
Took us by surprise

If I never told you how you helped to rescue
The car and all inside
Remember roads were steep and
You and I went sliding down the grade from Gate's Pass
You asleep and me behind the wheel hovering
In that slowness
And that slowness
Has never gone away

Bend To The Road

Watching your eyes go back and forth
Out on the highway
Watching your heart bend to the road
Kiss your forehead as I turn to go

Following those signs
Driving out
Only engine smoke frozen in a cloud
Wishing the space would remain
You're holding back your tears
From letting go of your heart
Leaving the middle of the road
Letting go just a little bit
Till it all spills out the side of the road

Hole in the sea
Hole in the heart
There's a hole in your hand
Where the money just falls
And the pain falls right through
The hole in your head
That wears right through

The hole in all your plans
There's a hole that shines right through

Fractured Air (Tornado Watch)

From the delta to the plains
Storms touching down again
Devil's hiding in the house
Angel's in the rain

Corrugated lovers swimming on the wire
Switching on and off the breakers
On a night like this
No one should be alone

In the fractured air
Misfired from a distress flare
All the while searchlights reconcile
Cut their losses and run

Clinging to the rooftop
Losing track of days
Devil's up in the attic
Angel's lost her way

Must've misdialed the number
Or the telephone's died
Lost you in the darkness
And never heard back
Dropped out from the night
Like a stone

Falling from the fractured air
Misfired like a distress flare
All the while searchlights reconcile
Cut their losses and run

Red Blooms

When the fists of winter fly
Driving bones into the snow
Blackened frostbitten nights
Vodka running dry

The statues cloaked in white
Migrants from museums
Losing all the feeling now that
Sunrise is outlawed

Strangers plant themselves
Down in the cold hard ground
Later when the harvest thaws
Snow drops will be in bloom

Crossed out on city maps
Prospekt Mira reveals
Shadows drinking antifreeze
Neath the underpass

Ordered once a gulag's march
Now cities send the call
Falling from the rooftops fast
And frozen against the wall

Where strangers plant themselves
Dead souls of the underground
When February thaws
Snow drops will be in bloom again

Bloom again, bloom again
Bloom again, bloom again
Red blooms, red blooms

Contention City

Through miles of waste to cross upstream
Risking all dreams for what the surface brings
Free like the flow that pours from your hand
Claiming its own, New River

Epic

Nights we hide between the walls and voices leading on the ground
Arms reaching out hoping for the chance to start
Hearts holding out waiting for the bells to

Bring my words to all of you and if they ever hear my voice
Hold me in your thoughts laid out twisted in defense
Hoping for the chance to start

Hearts holding out waiting for the bells to
Send my love to all my friends and if I never make it back
To hold you in my arms again not letting go this time

Splitter

Through the gardens and fields ‘neath the tall green grass
You were walking ‘neath the moon while covering your tracks
Working your fingers down to the skin and stone

One hand on the hammer, one foot by the door
Pushed by the wind fed by the need for moving on,
Moving on to nowhere

When division runs deep and down into the well
All the coins you dove after lost all their spell
Covered in moss walking for silver and blood

Out in the cafe, working in the grove
Guarding the port of the future you sold

Holding on, holding on to no one
Holding on, holding on to no one

One eye in the mirror, the other on the screen
Sewn in the pockets and down into the dream
Caught up in the mortar, bricks and heavy load

Wait in the shadows down the living road
Moving on, moving on to no one
Holding on, holding on to no one

Sinner In The Sea

There's a piano playing on the ocean floor between Havana and New Orleans
Drummin' a requiem for the dead and the souls hanging on every poet's prayer
Running to the rock, running to the sea
Prayin' to the Lord please shelter me
But the ground keeps shaking, water is boiling on fire
Blood pulsing through their veins like the waves crashing on the Malecón wall

Clocks stopping at twelve on the eve of a forgotten war
Luis drivin' a ‘59 making it half way across the Gulf
Stranded on the rock, stranded on the sea
There's a wall in the ocean between you and me
Dreams of reaching dry land, talking to the fortune teller
Prisoners pounding the jail like the waves crashing on the Malecón wall

Someone lost an eye, someone lost the truth
Trying to save face, oh ‘neath the eyes of the Virgin el Cobre
Shout me a line sister, shout me a line sister
Oh I see your hands in the air, see you drowning on the other side

“Chief's in the parish and the drummers in the square
Walkin' across the fire, walkin' across the waves”

Sinner in the rock, sinner in the sea
There's a sunken bridge ‘tween you and me
Running past the embassy gates, the Santería shrine
Blood pulsing thru their veins like the waves they remember
Crashing on the Malecón wall

Fortune Teller

I was just standing turning around
That's when they caught me heading down
Keep on going don't look away
That's what they tell me, that's what they say

You're a pretty thought I suppose
I'm just trying to hold up as I go
And one day I swear I'll spread my wings
I'm on my way to finer things

It wasn't just me playing those games
Still it's my own fault just the same
I opened up, I let you in
Now these crystal fields are wearing thin

I'm walking with the fortune teller
I can see my own way home
But I don't like this dark road anymore
And I don't wanna be alone for long

Don't wanna be alone for long
I don't wanna be on this dark road alone

Para

I hold your wrist
You bite your lip
The push becomes an embrace

I touch your face
You close your eyes
The embrace becomes a shove

I walk away
You follow too close
The shove takes hold
And there's no where to go

Take it down
Take it all the way
Take it down
Take it all the way down below the waterline

I see you now
Through a glass wall
All that is you stays with you
All that is me stays with me
But we see it all
We feel it all
And there is no place we can't go

Take it down
Take it all the way
Take it down
Take it all the way down below the waterline

Maybe On Monday

Woke up on Monday and wrote you a love song, wrote you a love song
Well the pen stopped and the paper flew out the window
And the notes rang down the road
I don't know where they'll go get caught in the trees I suppose
Ripped apart by the birds and the winter winds whisper good bye to your love

Went out walking into the storm, into the storm
Followed what I thought was your voice but it was just the riverside
I don't know where they'll go but I cast the letters you wrote
Taken out by the current or sink to the bottom to say a little goodbye to your love

Skies dark and the wind blew the trees down
I watched as the world slipped away
Carved into the bark a final love song
Then I carried the words to the fire

Staring into the glow where the branches are burning low
Sparks shooting out like stars and in the morning say a little goodbye to your love

I'll carry this song with me everyday ‘til I lie down by your side

Puerto

Lupita's ‘gonna weave a path to the land up north
‘Gonna find her way thru the thick of it all
Looking at the lights dancing in the sky
Hoping for a fallen star...
“Me consuelo viendo estrellas bailando en el puerto”

Brought them gold from the country to help cure their illness
But they landed with only one purpose for conquest
Though there's still this wave of unsettling hunger that never disappears

Rigo working one, two, three different jobs
And when he comes back home he welds into the night
Builds an air balloon for his pickup truck
‘Gonna fly up and over the wall
If everything stays exactly the same
Then nothing can move and nothing can change
“Me siento ese pájaro que danza sobre el puerto”

Carried ships from the sea up over the mountains
The warriors fell to their knees by the invisible virus
And still you can feel this wave of unsettling anger that never disappears

She's talking on the phone in the heart of town
To her Bachata Mama in the heart of the world
Saying “please come back to Santo Domingo
Why you gotta be so far away”
If everyone stays exactly the same
Then no one can move and no one can change
“Amo ver la Luna vacilando en el puerto”

No one fortelling the depth and type of destruction
Nor the sadness trapped on the tongue of Malinche
Quetzalcoatl feathers strewn out over the altar
Blood running down the pyramid steps in the morning
Codices lost to a language that's been broken
There's this growing sense of impending anger that never disappears

“Ninguna entrada, queda en el puerto”

Better and Better

There's a letter she keeps inside, a list of everyone she knows
Behind her closed eyes that turn her in when it's time to go
She's heading north into the haze, raise the wire and they raise the rent
She's walking the sun back home and in the night the moon is gone
Is it better? Is it better and better?
Is it better than staying home with nowhere to go?

I've seen your face out on the plains drifting all alone
Draw my finger in the dirt and down another blue road
She's in Kansas and Alabam', Idaho and the Carolines
Know I've seen her before can't you recognize those hands
Is it better? Is it better and better?
Is it better than staying back home?
Is it better? Is it better and better?
Is it better with nowhere else to go?

No Te Vayas

Sigo
Soñando con tu sonrisa
Por la noche, abajo de cielo y la luna

Por qué te vas mi amor
Sin mis caricias
Por qué te vas mi linda
Sin besarme con amor

Sus ojos
Me mienten y me engañan
Pero siempre, te amo y te extraño

Por qué te vas mi amor
Sin mis caricias
Por qué te vas mi linda
sin besarme con amor

La Deriva a lo lejos
va a dejar mi corazon
Colgando, como una seca rosa

Por qué te vas mi amor
Sin mis caricias
Por qué te vas mi linda
Sin besarme con amor

I continue
Dreaming of your smile
Through the night under the sky and moon

Why do you leave my love
Without my affection
Why do you leave my dear
Without a loving kiss

Your eyes
They lie and deceive me
And still I love you and miss you.

Why do you leave my love
Without my caress
Why do you leave my dear
Without a loving kiss

If you stray far away
You will leave my heart
Hanging, as a dry rose

Why do you leave my love
Without my affection
Why do you leave my dear
Without a loving kiss

Hush

In the afternoon of orange blossom days
Hummingbirds rest above where we lay
You say it's ok, no need to fret
The weight of it all will ease as we find
The balance in each step we make

Swinging back n' forth in a palo verde tree
The wind in the needles hushes you asleep
Even with the strain, your heart remains
Don't doubt why darlin'
In time you will find we're alright we were born
Like the branch to bend and not to break

Reconcile and resurrect, tombstone rose
Growing up and over the gates to where our children play
The future wraps ‘round like vines
Inside these arms

Darlin' will you say in our final embrace
Before returning ‘neath the clay
After all that your heart still remains

The Vanishing Mind

On the longest day
The vanishing mind
Knows not when the day ends
Who could care for you
Would could understand

In the room sealed shut
You're not what you were
So much sweeter now
That there's nothing left to
Remember you

It's what brought you here
It's what keeps you here
Who could care for you
Who could understand
Know not when the day ends or begins anymore
In the hallway and waiting again

Here we are, here we sit
The light turning grey
Your smile brings me back
To the longest day
The vanishing mind

Falling from the Sky

Well I dreamt you were playing an old guitar from a five 'n dime,
There was a song trapped inside, with the sweetest tune
You said, “too sad to sing”

Where do you fall when you have nowhere to go
Where do you go when you have no one to see
What do you see when you have nothing to feel
What do you feel when you're all alone

The song circled ‘round and around
Like a bird lost inside a cloud
Cut off from the stars and their guiding lights
Not sure which way's up or down anymore

Where do you fall when you have nowhere to go
Where do you go when you have no one to see
What do you see when you have nothing to feel
What do you feel when you're all alone

Tired of waiting, clouds will be breaking, soon you'll escape them
Someday we'll find our place in the sky

Bullets & Rocks

The days are growing short
Patience wearing thin
Blackouts and broken trust
Leading to exodus
The future's built on bullets and rocks

They'll search, they'll save
They'll find it one day
There's work to do
And mouths to feed

Why can't you see
This plaintiff plea
The future's starved
The families disappear
To the dark cover of night

No fear, no harm was meant
The smuggler joked
And down they went
The devil's highway
Disguised as a cloud of dust and smoke

Narcos and feds
Are all intertwined
You can leave your valuables here
With me he smiled

A future's promised to you
Wrapped in their words without truth
Echoes in a labyrinth of solitude
Security built a lie, a wall
Wrapped round and around fortitude

Bullets and rocks
A future's promised to you

When the Angels Played

You were looking for silver, looking for gold
You never did feel the wind turning cold
You always said you didn't need that much anymore

You were carrying the weight of the world
Running around with all that pain
So you never did feel my hand in the rain

You were dreaming deep down in the night
Dreaming all of your days
You never did wake when the angels played

There was fire in the tunnel fire in the wash
And the ringing of the bells
You never did wake when the angels played

Maybe you'll find your silver
Maybe you'll find your gold
Maybe we'll meet again on the road sometime

Storm in December storm in July
I was standing in the door
When you said goodbye
You never did wake when the angels played

There was fire in the tunnel
Fire in the wash
And the ringing of the bells
You never did wake when the angels played

Well maybe you'll find your silver
Maybe you'll find your gold
Maybe we'll meet somewhere down the road

Storm in December storm in July
I was standing in the door
When you said goodbye
You never did wake when the angels played

Tapping on the Line

Someone's messing with the machines
They've been left out in the rain
Well it's strange to come back free of any rust
Dares you to explain
Could you speak a little more clearly on the line

Cold wind keeps blowing from the east
Trans-Atlantic crossings coming to a freeze
I'm in exile with a sign that reads
No one can tell which side of the street
Would I stand a little closer to the line

No one can tell which side to claim
Could you speak a little more clearly once again
Speak a little clearly on the line

Indian summer, cold war skies
Nervous drummers on overbooked flights
Well the chaos grows stronger on the superstition flyway
Looks like we're spinning up tonight
Could you step a little closer to the line

Splitting heart and mind, broken circuit by design
Well the demand for arms is goin' through the roof
The scientists are forced to work in the maze
While they tap tap tap tap tapping on the line
Could you speak a little clearly one more time
While you tap tap tap tap tapping on the line

Cumbia de Donde

I'm not from here, I'm not from there
Where am I going should I care
when will I get there can't really say
I'm in the moment and I'm on my way
I'm on my way

From D.F. and Guanajuato
East Los Angeles and Hermosillo
Going to Chiapas, Magdalena
I'm in the moment and I'm on my way
I'm on my way

Hay muchas tierras
Que nunca he visto
Son mil canciones
Que no he cantado

Todas las rutas
Desierto azul
Me lleva a ti
O a la nada

Starting in Sonora, down to Oaxaca
Trouble in Tijuana and San Diego
Mexicali and San Fransisco
Juarez, El Paso I'm on my way
I'm on my way

Yo quiero llegar
A esa tierra linda
Que esta mas alla
Donde hay una sonrisa
A bailar la cumbia “Candela, candela”
A bailar la cumbia “Que quema, que quema”

Miles from the Sea

Finding fossils on the hillside
While the sun strikes him down to his knees
Where his great grandfather's sweat
Swallowed up left for dust

Just to escape push the pain to right
Sketches a wave in the soil
One drop on his dry, dry lips
Before he goes inflamed and insane

Dreams about swimming
Miles away from the sea
Dreams about swimming
And the moon brings him back
Dreams about swimming
Miles away from the sea
While the moon stems the tide in his heart

Cast iron and recall
The ore pouring deep in the vein
As the years of searing heat, ‘till all is just salt
That is left in the bed where he sleeps

Dreams about swimming
Miles away from the sea
Dreams about swimming
Though he's miles from the sea
Dreams about falling
From the sky through the sea
Dreams about drowning
While the moon looks away

History unheard
Silent like the waves
A graveyard for the giants
That was his eye, dry is his heart

Dreams about swimming
Miles away from the sea
Dreams about swimming
Though he's miles from the sea
Dreams about falling
From the sky through the sea
While the moon lays out a bed
Of bones to call home

Beneath the City of Dreams

Venom from the dealer pulls you underground
Fortune bleeds out lucky streaks can snap
All plans have their flaws sewn
Into the map to the city of dreams

You sleep in the car with your getaway schemes
Trusted saints patrolling the walls
Deep in the chambers outside the vaults
Searched for a sound echoes concrete
Might lead for a way out
Beneath the city of dreams

El camino escondido en la ciudad del sueño
Perdido en sus calles lo busco en mis recuerdos

He looked in her eyes one last time
Then crossed his heart
Memories of a tunnel lined with gold
But no one believes in the cards they hold
Coroner's crying to an empty crowd
The devil's laughing to himself out loud
Beneath the city of dreams

El camino escondido en la ciudad del sueño
Perdido en sus calles, lo busco en mis recuerdos

Woodshed Waltz

You let go the wheel and turned off the lights
Fell out from the world and looking
For something to ignite
I saw you breathing in the questions
That were clouding up your soul
Trailing you back to the road

Changing your disguise but keeping the crown
Like a box full of letters you drag
From town to town

All the leaves that you scatter
So that no one can guess your next move
Now no one is searching for you
And your refrain
Making good promise again
Well it might take us some time
Better woodshed for a while
Pack it all up there's no use in waiting all day
In hopes that you'll come back to stay

All the leaves that you scatter
So that no one can guess your next move
Still no one is searching for you
And your refrain
Making good promise again
Well it might take us some time
Better woodshed for a while
You'll drive back again
And I'll still be your friend
Pack it all up for there's no use in waiting all day
Hoping that something might change

Leave the box full of letters in the rain

Moon Never Rises

I'm lying in my room
Back's against the wall
The voices in my head
Playing with my heart

They say the drink won't drown you
Smoke won't burn your eyes
Idle hands are the devil's playthings
Now the world starts to fall

Moon never rises
Stars don't shine
Walking thru the darkness
Until these days of sorrow pass on by

Outside birds are singing
Flowers start to bud
The vines have nearly covered
The place we used to rest

Forgotten and forsaken
The day my lover left
Sweeping up the ashes
Scattered by the wind

Moon never rises
Stars don't shine
Walking thru the darkness
Until these days of sorrow pass on by

Sin amor la luna no brilla en mí

World Undone

Crying for three days
Now your eyes are red and tired
You can't sleep for three days
Now you're waiting for tenderness to come
You're waiting for tenderness to come
Now you're waiting for tenderness to come

With a red bird on the branch
And a cactus wren in the thorns
Red bird on the branch
Now your world's coming undone
You're waiting for tenderness to come

Can't trust in this anymore
Still waiting on the fence
So many times before
What keeps you here anymore
When things fall apart
Now your world's coming undone
Now your world's coming undone

Now you're waiting for tenderness to come

Follow the River

Shadows are calling, and I've been down all day
The city's asleep but my mind keeps running astray
I dream of you in the falling rain

Still have the wounds that the sun won't ever heal
Surrounded by the emptiness of everything, everyone

I'm not giving up, I'm getting there
No I can't give up yet, I'm getting there

Swallowed by ambition with a heart full of lies
‘till I followed the river and found my way back to you

Calavera

In my younger days devil call my name
Dealt me my cards, saw through my game
It wasn't enough to keep me in line
Now here I am spending all my time

On the other side trying to make it up
On the other side never could wake up
Bring back to life all the years I tried
Now here I am nearly half alive

On the other side faraway from home
On the other side living all alone
While the world's gone wrong… calavera
Gone wrong… calavera
While the world's gone wrong… calavera
Keep sleep walking back… calavera

On the other side going outta my head
Another lost soul like I was dead
I found a skull and it called my name
No world of good could bring you back again
While your world's still gone wrong...
While the world's gone wrong
Keep sleep walking back

Black cat crawls, arrows fall
St Augustine's bell ringing down the hall
Lovers leap by the light of the moon
All soul's day is looming and it's coming round soon
To calavera… calavera

While the world's gone wrong… calavera
Calavera… calavera
Devil call my name… calavera… calavera
While the world's gone wrong… calavera… calavera
Devil call my name… calavera

Roll Tango

Father cried that hot summer day
Playing the accordion
Always making the crowds weep
Grandfather stumbles as he passes the hat around
Collecting the coins from each and every one
Enjoy the sound of a broken heart

When the arrow flies
“Splits” the apple of your eyes
Watch the strong man turn aside and flinch
Not knowing that outside the camp
Something wicked on its way
Like a line of blood
In the palm reader's hand

There's no escape from a sideshow fate
No escape from a sideshow fate
There's no escape from a sideshow fate
Enjoy the taste of a broken rule

There's no escape from a sideshow life

Card tricks with passports
And the deck stacked against us
No one sees the mermaid crying in her tank

Behold the circus in the capitol
Perform their pickpocket spectacle
Sentenced to a tightrope life
We don't know the net's been sold

Under the spell of a gypsy's curse
Under the spell of a gypsy's curse
Under the spell of a gypsy's curse
Under the spell of a gypsy's curse

Volviendo

Cuando yo era niño mi madre me llevaba a ver los trenes
Que fueron desapareciendo más allá hacia el norte de la mariquita
Y al este de la sierra de los Ajos

Yo soñaba con que algún día me gustaría dejar mi casa
Viajar a todo el mundo
Y a ver la vida desde las alturas de las nubes
Como el águila ve el mundo a continuidad
Cuanto más rápido corría, más he visto y he vistó más
menos me di cuenta de la diferencias entre personas y lugares
Todavía hay amor, aun hay miedo, todavía hay guerra
Y a través de todo esto no hay que perder la esperanza
Que es lo que me hace regresar a ese lugar donde comencé mi viaje

Sintomas
Alivio
Brujo
Curandero
Alma del alma duende del duende
Pajaritos, derrumbes y jicuri
Niños de la tierra
Piedra
Rio
Sierra
Cerro y montaña
Esta cosas son reales para mi
Ellos me hablan y yo escucho

Esperanza

Dejé, los pies en mis sueños
Y vi que pude volar y decir una verdad

Otra vez en la fresca mañana
Despidiendo las sombras
Las que me dieron fuerza al andar
Me abrigan y se van, y se van

Debo hacer cuando pueda y llegar
A un nuevo encuentro
Un claro amanacer de sol
Promesas que se van, que se van

Son mi sueños que me hacen sentir
Que a un sigo vivo
Y nada detendrá mi andar
Nada detendrá , no pararé

Son historias que siempre escuché
Cuando estaba creciendo
Pero absurdo acusé suponer
Que era solo el edén de leyes y fé

Let It Slip Away

I used to hold her close to my chest
She said she'd stay till the end of days
But I lost my mind
I treated her so unkind
I let it slip away

Once I had rivers running free
And canyons to wander everyday
Skies so blue
Took for granted and never knew

Until I let it slip away
I let it all slip away

Well I lost my mind
I treated her so unkind
I let it all slip away

Love will find you
Turn your world around
When you least expect and won't let go
Even the reckless and cold, cold hearted
Can't escape without a mark

If you're standing with your true love
Find the path, don't let it go
For you'll surely be
Another fool in misery
If you let it all slip away
If you let it slip away
If you let it all slip away

End Of The World With You

I thought you were the one who said cold wars are a bust
She doesn't want a Romeo, just someone she can trust
With an ear to the ground

Love in the age of the extremes
There's nothing better that I'd rather do
Then to scatter all the myths
And walk to the start of the end of the world with you

Turn up the microphone on the national parks
You gotta switch something off if you wanna get it right
A crater full of wisdom in James Turrell's eyes

Light in the age of the extremes
There's nothing finer that I'd rather see
Then to scatter all the myths
Find another way around getting stuck at the end of the world with you

The end of the world with you
At the end of the world with you
At the end of the world with you
At the end of the world with you

If you travel out to space at the speed of light
Would you send me a letter from a star going by
Can't see too well out here in the dark
You copy you paste you lose
Time in the age of the extremes
There's nothing better that I'd rather feel
Then to scatter all the myths
Bring back a little piece of mind for you
You gotta vantage point so we'll sit and watch the view
At the edge of the end of the world

Voices In The Field

Running through fields of flowers and smoke
Leaving behind all that we've built
The garden now ashes and the roof is caving in
A broken hourglass blood running thin

For your life, come to my side
For your life, take me from here
For your life, open up your heart
Let me hear your voice, let me hear you sing

I wasn't on my way down to the marketplace
Wasn't at the school yard where our children play
I wasn't in our home standing in the living room
Or writing you a note that I'll be back soon

For your life, come to my side
For your life, take me from here
For your life, open up your heart
Let me hear your voice, let me hear you sing
Oh, let me hear you sing, let me hear you sing
You copy you paste you lose
I don't recognize myself that much anymore
Memories in my pockets and coins on the floor
All I smell is smoke and all I ever see
Is the look in you eyes, that look in you eyes

For your life, come to my side
For your life, take me from here
For your life, open up your heart
For your life, let me hear your voice

For your life, open up your heart
For your life, let me hear your voice
Oh, let me hear you sing, let me hear you sing

Bridge to nowhere

From the empty streets to abandoned homes
There's a stinging feeling in my eye

Shelter underground in case the big ones comes
Why would you plan for it not to work out right
My focus was blurred as the world became consumed, for who

From the lookout tower another fired flare
I wonder if there's a light inside that heart
You copy you paste you lose
To escape the mess from every misstep
Why build another bridge that leads nowhere
My focus was blurred as the world became consumed, for who

What's embedded, we're coming up for air
Becomes outdated, we're coming up for air
Lost in the details, we're coming up for air
It's raining ashes, we're coming up for air
We're coming up for air
We're coming up even though they say it won't change a thing
These broken promises only can last so long 'fore it all goes away

Under The Wheels

Walking around with your head bent down
Complacent in a sedated state
I wanted to hear what you had to say
But there was too much talking over each other

Find me some peace, a mindful heart
A break in the tide when the fighting starts
Power's down and the town goes dark
When words fail we scatter
You copy you paste you lose
Under the wheels
Of the war machine
Always someone else's scheme
Show me a sign
When the world falls apart
From the core to the seams
The threads that we seek

All the way in and totally gone
The panic button is dead to me now
Changing your shape in your overcoat
But somehow you manage to stay afloat

Defy the system
And avoiding the eyes that stay well hid
Surrendered the words while the lovers leap
Out of the fray and into the infinite

Deep in the war regime always someone else's scheme
Show me a sign when the world falls apart
Coming together from all of the corners tonight
From the core to the seams
From the threads that we seek
The threads that we seek

Find me some peace, a mindful heart
A break in the tide when the fighting starts
Power's down and the town goes dark
When words fail we scatter

Under the wheels
Of the war machine
Always someone else's scheme
Show me a sign
When the world falls apart
Coming together from all of the corners tonight
From the core to the seams
From the threads that we keep

The Town & Miss Lorraine

I found a book in a washed up ship
Reading the notes the captain stitched
Inside his suit of dust I wait as the waves
Carry me back to shore
You copy you paste you lose
My neighbor Miss Lorraine commands
The town's attention when she wants
She has a way of making everyone she meets
Feel lost and alone with no direction home

There's a bad accident on the interstate
A snake of engine oil reaching out

The fire inside my soul is nearly flickered out
So I order another round

Sliding into the sea
With cynicism and rum
Watching Miss Lorraine
Smoking alone with the moon

Flores y Tamales

Desde que me fui guardaeste tu querer
Paseando por el parque triste y sola hasta las diez

El trago mas amargo te dejo sin consuelo
Perdida y llorando a este lado del desierto

Pensaba que existia el sueno que algún día
Tendremos esa casita juntitos vida mia

Y amanezcamos juntos con flores y tamales
Festejando con tus risas cada rato, cada baile

Y este cuento acabo la tierra que esperaba
Entre los matojos manchandome la cara

Y amanezcamos juntos con flores y tamales
Festejando con tus risas cada rato, cada baile

Mi cuerpo boca arriba miraba al sol
Creyendo que tus ojos me llamaban con dolor

Y amanezcamos juntos con flores y tamales
Festejando con tus risas cada rato, cada baile

Another Space

Waiting in the garden, winter's late
It's heating up again on the fire escape
All the dirty money following the trail
Falling too deep and no turning back

In another time, in another space
In another way, we'll get back to this place
You copy you paste you lose
Could be scars seen from above
It's not a window you're jumping out of
From the oil spills to the satellites
Driven to disaster as you're closing your eyes
Take a look at yoru watch, take a look a the mask
Making a clean sweep of the future, present and past

In another time, in another space
In another way, we'll get back to this place

Girl In The Forest

Well the girl in the forest reached out to ease my worried mind
Stopped me from falling into a downward spiral
I was worn by the city until I finally let go
Drifted out to the Sierras on an empty road

A creless love won't get you far
I found a book of John Muir's in an abandoned car

Well the world was spinning so fast nobody took the time
It was the girl in the forest who opened my eyes
You copy you paste you lose
What part of nature can you honestly say
Is beyond your explanations for short term gain
Something's got to change before everything's

Gonna disappear right before our eyes
And we finally face ourselves alone in the forest
Where so much rides on which path we decide

Eyes Wide Awake

Who's there
Who keeps coming on, on the line
Who's there and hiding behind the lights
That ain't no shadow, I know who you are

Eyes wide open so much is at stake
I'm frozen in place need to see your face
Uncoil and reveal break out of the trance
Or is there something you want to chase

The rooms is on fire and we're paralyzed
I whisper your name to the heart of the flame
This happens again and we just pretend
Not to notice that we're haunted
You copy you paste you lose
Eyes wide awake so much is at stake
I'm frozen in place need to see your face
The lost and the damned, we'll find our way
But something out there keeps blowing back, keeps blowing

Eyes wide open so much is at stake
I'm frozen in place need to see your face
The lost and the damned, we'll find our way
But something out there keeps blowing back

Keeps blowing back, blowing back like the wind
Keeps blowing back, blowing back
Keeps blowing back, blowing back
Eyes wide awake

Dead In The Water

Tired of being the good cop, I'm gonna do what I please
Don't hand me any more allegations of misconduct or sanction me

I got the world in my hands, can make it rain or flood
I've got my fingers in all the pots and toxic waste in my blood, in my blood

Don't try to look away or stop me in my path
I make the law and I decree a new kind of wrath

Whenever I want, whatever I need, wherever I go don't stop me
Whenever I want, whatever I need
If you try to resist or put up a fight
I'll take you and the whole world with me
You and the whole world with me
I'll take you and the whole world with me

I'll pick your pocket in plain daylight and no one move a muscle
I got my eye on the prize and you're drowning in your lies
You copy you paste you lose
I'll take you and the whole world with me

Thrown To The Wild

Cold linoleum just seems to amplify
Every sob, every sound, every sigh
Down at the bus station waiting for the red-eye
Tears of a stranger no meth to this madness
No proof of sadness
Do you steer clear
Or do you turn around

Home's waiting like a motherless child
From the chaos we're thrown into the wild
In an instant it would all go away
Or we could choose to keep holding on to the pain
You copy you paste you lose
Do you steer clear
Wipe glances in the cracked and dirty mirrors one last time
Console the town and their future as it slides away

Music Box

Here's a little gift from me to you
A place to store your dreams and your secrets too

When the world goes dark, I'll always be close by
To hear your dreams unfold, hold you when you cry
As you walk away, let go of my hand
Smile as you turn for one last look and know you understand
You copy you paste you lose
Listen to the song and where it takes your soul
Watch the dancer spin around a thousand times more
I've traveled across the sea just to bring you this
An unconditional waltz and a loving kiss
I know I've been away and for way too long
I need you now more than ever, before the music is over
I want you to know this song's for you
I want you to know that I love you
I want you to know this song's for you
I want you to know that I love you

Curse of the ride

Curse of the night is all he could say
When he woke to find his life slipping away

he watched his car driving off the cliff
And then he blacked out and the rest he missed
He came so close, close, close, close that night

Well the curse of the night can't be blamed
She took her chance, swore never again

Kept riding along fate's unforgiving edge
Gave him her heart, now he's halfway dead
They came so close, close, close, close that night
You copy you paste you lose
Strange how coincidence doesn't need a reason
Choosing a victim who's story can be broken

You can curse the night but it won't do any good
You can curse the night, won't do you any good
No good at all, won't do you any good
No good at all

The Lost Inside

There are roads that guide you like some old familiar soul
Following the feeling as it takes her to the coast
Memories of her childhood buried underground
Searching for the bones of the storied never found, of the stories never found

Lost inside
Dreaming of the crossing, the diaries well kept
Pulling on the threads in the blankets where she slept
In your arms
Floating in the shallows with the one you miss the most
Footprints in the sand from you dancing with a ghost
You're dancing with a ghost, dancing with a ghost

A bible with a family tree broken at the spine
A symphony of questions suspended out of time
Still she makes her way from the mountain to the sea
Train of tangled thoughts blows like the fallen leaves, like the fallen leaves
You copy you paste you lose
Lost inside
Waiting for her father, waiting on a friend
Waiting for forgiveness from the other end
In your arms
Holding all the letters from the attic chest
Tracing the words he whispered as he left
Whispered as he left, whispered as he left

Lost inside
Driving down the coastline through the rain alone
"Blackbird" on the radio sings Nina Simone
In your arms
Floating in the shallows with the one you miss the most
Footprints in the sand from you dancing with a ghost
Dancing with a ghost, dancing with a ghost
Dancing with a ghost, you're just dancing
You're just dancing with a ghost

End Of The Night

End of the night, end of the book
Veered off the road where nobody looks
Written in clouds, whispers underground
It'll all disappear if we dare turn around

And there's nothing anyone can say
That can prepare you when they take you away
Rolling down main street in your sunday stitches
There another one goes

Tell me a lie, tell me the truth
Wrap it with ribbons, tight like a noose
A gift for the judge and the hangman as well
Some are bent on heaven, but here's where we dwell

Somewhere in the land between the lands
Where all our hope, stumbles or stands
Vanish before we make our move
There's another one gone
You copy you paste you lose
The longer you stay around, the more you feel alone
All my friends are shadows
Stretching past the city limits and running from the rising sun

And there's nothing anyone can say
That can prepare you when they take you away
Saturday's dreams buried in Monday's ditches
That's the story goes

Dream on Mount Tam

It was in a living dream
Smooth like sculpted ice
A spitir guide appeared
Before my eyes

Frozen underneath the mask
I wanted it to last
Keeping the sea so low
And all the creatures here below
You copy you paste you lose
With the sweetest kiss
One I've never known
Couldn't make sense
In this sphere alone

It's scientifically counteracted by the trees
But the balance has been tipped
Contract's been ripped
Rise with me

What Heaven's Left

One, two, three

You take my tears off my face
You give me dawn for all the night that I make
What wave of a wild hand called you into this world
You take my fear, give me a fist
When I come to fight, you come with a kiss
What wave of a wild hand called you into this world

I could be lost in the hills, laid on the street
And like the morning, you'll find me in time
Ask me what heaven's left
I'll say, "Nothing comes to mind"

What wave of a wild hand called you into this world

I could be lost in the hills, dead on my feet
And like the morning, you'll find me in time
You take my doubt, let me believe
You find the lightning in the tops of my trees
What blink of a wild eye called you into this world
You take my tongue when I try to say
"I'm always coming home the same castaway"
What wave of a wild hand called you into this world

I could be lost in the hills, down on my knees
And like the morning, you'll find me in time
Ask me what heaven's left
I'll say, "Nothing comes to mind"
Comes to mind
Comes to mind
Comes to mind
Mind
Mind
Mind

Midnight Sun

They say seen the king of birds
And the queen of hearts
Wore each other's keys
Before they called the wedding off
And all the feathers rained down
And the town fell asleep
Pulling on the poems
For the midnight sun
Pulling on the poems
For the midnight sun

Yeah she shook the ground (shook the ground)
With every breath (every breath)
Tossed his troubles aside (troubles aside)
Made a shrine of every mess
Well, a woman appeared (woman appeared)
With a guillotine smile (guillotine smile)
She handed him a rose (handed him a rose)
Then he turned to stone
She handed him a rose
And he turned to stone

Then they laid him in the creek
Where the river ran dry
To the mouth of wisdom
And the end of doubt
Then the woman reappeared
With a blank spread smile
Took him by the rose
Then he turned to stone
Yeah she handed him a rose
Left him all alone

Well, they lifted the stone (the stone)
And the mapped the stars (the stars)
Brought back the keys (the keys)
And unlocked their hearts (their hearts)
And the birds returned (the birds)
With songs in their eyes (their eyes)
With maps to the world (the world)
Never seen
Maps to the world
Never seen

Father Mountain

While my father built a mansion on the mountain
I was chasing my Teresa around a tree
We were kicking precious stones
Sinking ships and swimming home
Only crazy for the comfort of our clothes

While my father built a mansion on the mountain
My Teresa dragged a rag across my brow
She said, "The weather's never fair
The wind can only blow your hair"
And I believed her well enough or didn't care

Everyone knows and they don't know
Chandelier light ain't love
It just watches the time go
Across the marble floor, out the ornamental door
Even rain can hear it running off the road

While my father built a mansion on the mountain
My Teresa threw me kisses through the cold
We read the writing on the wall
Braced each other for the fall
There's only one way off a mountain after all

While my father built a mansion on the mountain
It was me and my Teresa against the world
We took all the river had to give
Broke the bed and bought a crib
And left the mountain mansion nothing to forgive

Follow The Water

I'll always say I love you still
All of that water ran down the hill
Every broken thing washes away, washes away
You saw my scars and called them skin
I saw your garden and gave it sin
Every savior needs someone to save, someone to save

Two kids climbed on a roller coaster car
Got rattled on the track
Up and down, around and back
Whoever they were
No matter who they are
No one's walking off the same

When I fell out of the palm of your hand
With the summer flowers
I followed the water and found these friends of mine
Where small town thugs and lightning bugs
Shine in their final hours
And their hearts all come out of the cold
In the nick of time

Some get lost in a storm
Others behind an old chest of drawers
Our field got swallowed in fog
Flowers and all

Everybody climbs on a roller coaster car
Gets rattled by the track
Up and down, around and back
Whoever I was
No matter who you are
No one's walking off the same

When I fell out of the palm of your hand
With the summer flowers
I followed the water and found these friends of mine
Where small town thugs and lightning bugs
Shine in their final hours
And their hearts all come out of the cold
In the nick of time
And their hearts all come out of the cold
In the nick of time

The Bitter Suite

(Pájaro / Evil Eye / Tennessee Train)

Pájaro :

Hay sueños lo suficientemente
Salvajes para pasar el tiempo

Ese pájaro quiere alas
Pero no lo recuerda
(Pero no lo recuerda)
Pero no lo recuerda
No lo recuerda
No lo recuerda

Evil Eye :

(instrumental)

Tennessee Train :

My first mom laughed like she never had
She dug a heel deep into the mountainside
You know Grace, who gave me back a gold ring
She always knew what was hers and what was mine
I was only stumbling through her garden gate

Trains leave Tennessee moaning as they roll away

My last dad was clean as he could ever be
Leaning through a window, rubbing at his evil eye
Last I heard, he saw it all for what it was
There are dreams wild enough to pass the time
Then again, there's all we could trade for a hiding place

Trains leave Tennessee moaning as they roll away

This dead bird wants the wings he can't recall
A weak preacher standing with a song to sing
Who knows Grace, staring at a kitchen fire
That's the way I told her I would give her anything
Anything wasn't enough to make her stay

Trains leave Tennessee moaning as they roll away
Roll away (roll away)
Roll away (roll away)

Life is bittersweet

Years To Burn

A night to believe
To touch on your tongue
A lover to slow you down
To see by the moon
Like robins in rain
And want what the world's holding out

Years to burn, years to burn
Breezes that die and rise
Years to burn, years to burn
Our tears hold the light in our eyes

A night to be born
And another to find
The music across the street
A friend in its arms
Their breath in the cold
Disappears like a snake in the weeds

Years to burn, years to burn
Breezes that die and rise
Years to burn, years to burn
Our tears hold the light in our eyes
Our tears hold the light in our eyes

In Your Own Time

In your own time, you'll drink something evil
Sing like an old crow and worship the land
Don't be scared if I walk with the devil
Run down the mountain and ask for your hand

'Cause we only want a life that's well worth living
And sleeping ain't no kind of life at all
Come meet the family and sit by the fire
Someone will catch you if you want to fall

In your own time, you'll dance in the moonlight
Smoke like a freight train and fuck like a dog
Don't be scared if I tell you I love you
I'll be good to you and then I'll be gone

'Cause we only want a life that's well worth living
And sleeping ain't no kind of life at all
Come meet the family and get warm by the fire
Someone will catch you if you want to fall
Someone will catch you if you want to fall

SEASONAL SHIFT

Hear The Bells

The last time we met was down at the Tap Room
Drinking Mezcal and tears in our eyes
You sang me a song sweet as a mansoon
Blowing in from the South

Hear the bells ringing out
Let 'em ring on New Year's Day

I sat on the hill near the mission
Where lovers meet and when poppies bloom
I followed the ranchers rambling down Broadway
Selling crops on the side of the road
Their hearts in Sonora whenever it rains
And wherever they roam

Take this charm and dry your tears
Won't you wear it to ease your mind
Hear the bells ringing out
Let 'em ring on New Year's Day

Heard the radio blaring a sad corrido
"La tierra del sol suspiro por verte"
"Quisiera llorar, quisiera morrir"

Come this November's Procession
Mezcal on Sunday with tears in our eyes
'Cause it's foolish to laugh and pointless to cry
About some old photos buried inside
The cracked and crumbling walls

Take this charm and dry your tears
Won't you wear it to ease your mind
Take a breath to soothe your sorrows
Until they're gone, gone as the years fade away
Hear the bells ringing out
Let 'em ring on New Year's Day

Christmas All Over Again

(Tom Petty cover / Feat. Nick Urata)

Well, it's Christmas time again
Decorations are all hung by the fire
Everybody's singing
And all the bells are ringing out
And it's Christmas all over again
Yeah again

Long distance relatives
Haven't seen them in a long, long while
Yeah, I kind of missed them
I just don't wanna kiss them, no
It's Christmas all over again
Yeah again

And all over town
Little kids gonna get down
And Christmas is a rocking time
Put your body next to mine
Underneath the mistletoe we go
Oh we go

And everybody's singing
And all the bells are ringing out
It's Christmas all over again
Yeah again

Right down our block
Little kids start to rock
And Christmas is a rocking time
Put your body next to mine
Underneath the mistletoe we go
Oh we go

Merry Christmas times come find you
Being happy and sitting there by the fire
I hope you have a good one
I hope momma gets her shopping done
And it's Christmas all over again
No, baby, it's Christmas all over again
Yeah again

And it's Christmas all over again
And again

Mi Burrito Sabareno

(Hugo Blanco cover / Feat. Gaby Moreno)

Con mi burrito sabanero
Voy camino de Belén
Con mi burrito sabanero
Voy camino de Belén

Si me ven, si me ven
Voy camino de Belén
Si me ven, si me ven
Voy camino de Belén

El lucerito mañanero
Ilumina mi sendero
El lucerito mañanero
Ilumina mi sendero

Si me ven, si me ven
Voy camino de Belén
Si me ven, si me ven
Voy camino de Belén

Tuqui, tuqui, tuqui, tuqui
Tuqui, tuqui, tuquitu
Apúrate mi burrito
Que ya vamos a llegar

Tuqui, tuqui, tuqui, tuqui
Tuqui, tuqui, tuquitu
Apúrate mi burrito
Vamos a ver a Jesús

Con mi burrito sabanero
Voy camino de Belén
Con mi burrito sabanero
Voy camino de Belén

Si me ven, si me ven
Voy camino de Belén
Si me ven, si me ven
Voy camino de Belén

Con mi burrito sabanero
Voy camino de Belén
Con mi burrito sabanero
Voy camino de Belén

Si me ven, si me ven
Voy camino de Belén
Si me ven, si me ven
Voy camino de Belén

Tuqui, tuqui, tuqui, tuqui
Tuqui, tuqui, tuquitu
Apúrate mi burrito
Que ya vamos a llegar

Tuqui, tuqui, tuqui, tuqui
Tuqui, tuqui, tuquitu
Apúrate mi burrito
Vamos a ver a Jesús

Con mi burrito sabanero
Voy camino de Belén
Con mi burrito sabanero
Voy camino de Belén

Si me ven, si me ven
Voy camino de Belén
Si me ven, si me ven
Voy camino de Belén

Si me ven, si me ven
Voy camino de Belén
Si me ven, si me ven
Voy camino de Belén

Si me ven, si me ven
Voy camino de Belén
Si me ven, si me ven
Voy camino de Belén

Heart of Downtown

(Featuring Bombino)

You've been on this road alone
And now the world hears your voice
Shake the chains that still remain
Shake the dust right off our shows

Ce soir...
Like a river running from the desert to the sea
Dancing to the heart of downtown

Be a good neighbor is what they say
But the laws don't always work that way
I'm ready for a hard rain to flood
And ready for change for everyone

Ce soir...
Shining bright like a shooting star
Dancing to the heart of downtown

All the years of pain can't wish it away
Standing by your side as we take the streets tonight

Ce soir...
Anything can happen when you open your heart
From the capitol steps to the heart of downtown
Shining bright like a shooting star
Dancing to the heart of downtown

Ce soir...
Like a river running from the desert to the sea
Dancing to the heart of downtown
We made it this far and we're not turning back
There's nothing in the world that we can't do
I can hear your heart beat strong and true
Dancing to the art of downtown

Seasonal Shift

Well, it's funny this season
There's a reason I ain't got no money
It's been disastrous but somehow we'll get through

On the holidays they're complex
And we know just where we'll find ourselves
Sleeping on the floor at half past two

Yeah we're putting together the string of lights
In the living room
Oh the Christmas tree's nearly caught on fire
But we'll be alright

Who knows where we'll come down
From this glaze for the holidays
And everything will be fine

Little toys for those girls and boys
Don't forget them
Oh mom and dad now with gin and tonic in hand
Are more relaxed

It's always the same
With the holiday highs and lows
Come sit by the fire with me
I wanna share some of this glow

Bring your friends over
They can stand in the corner
And hold their breath
Join in the family's dysfunctionality
Shining at its best

Let me know if I can lend you a hand
Digging you out of the snow
We can waltz around the kitchen
To ease this seasonal shift
All I want for the holidays
Is to be by your side
It's been a heavy year, darling
It'll all be over soon yeah

There it goes 'round the bend
The year that would never end
Gonna wave bye-bye

Nature's Domain

Wondering what I've been holding on to
That's been causing the ice to give way
Winter's disguise rendered me blind
I can't tell my dreams from the day
The wolf on the lawn is pointing to follow this way

Was it just in my head all the words that were said
So cold and somehow relieving
One foot off the ground, the deer in the dawn
Has vanished just like the trail

Staring up into the darkness
Confusing the snowfall for stars
Alone with no prayers or reason
Accepting the fact that this will all pass

Cruel to the bone
Nobody's at home
Out hеre in nature's domain

Was it all for naught, all the lеssons we taught
So callous and bent on deceiving
The owl in the barn, spinning your yarn
While the dream is slipping away

Happy Xmas (War Is Over)

(John Lennon cover)

So this is Christmas
What have you done
Another year over
A new one just begun

So this is Christmas
I hope you have fun
The near and the dear ones
The old and the young

A very Merry Christmas
And a happy New Year
Let's hope it's a good one
Without any fear

So this is Christmas (war is over)
For weak and for strong (if you want it)
For rich and the poor ones (war is over)
The road is so long (now)

And so happy Christmas (war is over)
For black and for white (if you want it)
For yellow and red ones (war is over)
Let's stop all the fight (now)

A very Merry Christmas
And a happy New Year
Let's hope it's a good one
Without any fear

So this is Christmas (war is over)
What have we done (if you want it)
Another year over (war is over)
A new one just begun (now)

And so happy Christmas (war is over)
We hope you have fun (if you want it)
The near and the dear ones (war is over)
The old and the young (now)

A very Merry Christmas
And a happy New Year
Let's hope it's a good one
Without any fear

War is over
If you want it
War is over
If you want it
War is over
If you want it
War is over
If you want it
War is over now

Tanta Tristeza

(Feat. Gisela João)

Da minha janela junto ao mar
Acendo uma vela a todas as almas

Voy por la vida sin pensar
Que sin embargo se acabara
Voy por la vida sin pensar

Se quedarán tantas historias
Unas de amor, los dias de gloria
No morirán las memorias
Cuando llore por tanta tristeza

Antes de abrir o meu coração
E aprender a dor do amor
Sentia-me seguro
Contemplando o céu

A tua voz, como o som das ondas
Trouxe-me até este porto seguro

Voy por la vida sin pensar
Que sin embargo se acabara
Voy por la vida sin pensar

Unos se van y nunca veulven
El que se rinde y desaparecе
Yo no me doy, aqui estaré
No parare, hasta no vеrte

Sin amar
Sin amar
Sin amar
Sin amar

Voy por la vida sin pensar
Que sin embargo se acabara
Voy por la vida sin pensar
Voy por la vida sin pensar
Voy por la vida sin amar

Peace Of Mind

I don't mind if the car won't start
'Cause we don't have to go to the mall
Your busted leg and my broken arm
It's been a hell of year, we could both use some

Peace of mind
It's just the kind
Of thing we need
For the holiday

Something's up over in the kitchen
I can smell the smoke from here
It's time to bust out those frozen tamales
Your mama dropped off last year

Peace of mind
It's just the kind
Of thing we need
For thе holiday

So many people caught in a hurry
Don't take time to stop and find some

Peace of mind
It's just the kind
Of thing we need
For thе holiday

Peace of mind
Just unwind
Let thе holidays
Roll on by
Roll on by
Roll on by
Roll on by

Sonoran Snoball

(Feat. Camilo Lara)

Here we go
Another year is done
Celebrate with everyone

Sending out
Lots of peace and love
Crank the music up louder

Wintertime
The season's shining bright
Let's go dance and party all night

It's a winter wonderland
Won't you come and give me your hand
'Cause it's the best time of year
I'm gonna pump it up with lots of cheer

Eeny meeny miny moe
Take al Joey of al John
Vamonos a ver al Sergio
En su rancho en el dеsierto

Que calor en Arizona
Nunca para ni pеrdona
Ni siquiera en navidad
La nieve es un invento
Cuando estas en desierto

Here we go
Another year is done
Celebrate with everyone

Sending out
Lots of peace and love
Crank the music up louder

Wintertime
The season's shining bright
Let's go dance and party all night

Camilo's down in Mexico
Bombino's in Niger
Martin's in Germany
Gisela and Raul in Portugal

Gaby, Beth and Nick (come on, come on)
Are near the beach in L.A.
John's down along the border in El Paso
Jairo's in Spain

Scott's in New York City
Like and Kati in Astoria
Tom, are you still in Denver, yeah
And the rest of us in Tucson, Arizona

Let's go
Let's go shake
Come on, let's go

El Mirador

Cuidado con el mirador
Ve si puedes encontrarlo
Zumbando en tu corazón
Vamos a buscarlo

A kerosene lamp, a matchbook smile
No one around for miles and miles
A crumpled-up hat, I'm calling my home
Looking for a spot just beyond the road

Cuidado con el mirador
Ve si puedes encontrarlo
Zumbando en tu corazón
Vamos a buscarlo

Listen for the beacon
Calling you back
That buzzing in your corazón

Cuidado con el mirador
Ve si puedes encontrarlo
Zumbando en tu corazón
Vamos a buscarlo

A half written note, a pen with no ink
A lion tamer's heart hanging over the brink
Radio noise going down in the mud
I made it all the way from the mountain to the sea

Listen for the beacon
Calling you back
That buzzing in your corazón

I was lost and never knew
Walked in circles in search of you
The bottom of an endless sea
A ghost of what I used to be

Cuidado con el mirador
Ve si puedes encontrarlo
Zumbando en tu corazón
Vamos a buscarlo

Vamos a buscarlo
Vamos a buscarlo
Vamos a buscarlo

Harness The Wind

Do you dream of flying
At the speed of light
Shooting for the moon
Another lonely night
You get so high
Don't wanna come back down
To a world of problems
With answers never found

Are we just falling stars
Dancing across the sky
If our worlds don't collide
Is there a chance for you and I

What's that you say
We're on the same road
I keep spinning around
And out of control
And every time I try to land
Wind keeps pushing me back out
To the dark of night

Are we just falling stars
Dancing across the sky
If our worlds don't collide
Is there a chance for you and I

Invincible, well disguised
On a winning streak
If I would never die
Broken wings, you mended mine
Turned me around and picked me up
And helped me on my way

Are we just falling stars
Dancing across the sky
If our worlds don't collide
Is there a chance for you and I

Cumbia Peninsula

It's easy to look for an enemy outside yourself
Pass the blame and pin it on somebody else
Wrap your heart in flowers and barbed wire
Love to watch your faith dance on the fire

Shine today like silver and gold
Light the way for tomorrow

Someone changed the locks outside
There's no place to run and hide
They got your number and all your names
When you signed it all away for a great escape

El tiempo que me queda
Es para lo que amo
Los tres lados de mi alma
Se me están resquebrajando

No se merecen mi aliento
Sus mentiras y sus cuentos
Yo sé que tú me escuchas
Yo sé que es nuestro momento

Some are searching their whole lives
Todos quieren encontrar

The letter becomes the subject twisted and torn
Truth is taken out back and beaten to a pulp
Your lips are tainted with toxic lies and worse
Counting on chaos for lifting the curse

Shine today like silver and gold
Light the way for tomorrow

Someone changed the locks outside
There's no place to run and hide
They got your number and all your names
When you signed it all away for a great escape

El tiempo que me queda
Es para lo que amo
Los tres lados de mi alma
Se me están resquebrajando

No se merecen mi aliento
Sus mentiras y sus cuentos
Yo sé que tú me escuchas
Yo sé que es nuestro momento

Some are searching their whole lives
Todos quieren encontrar

Shine today like silver and gold
Light the way for tomorrow
Shine today like silver and gold
Light the way for tomorrow
Shine today like silver and gold
Light the way for tomorrow

Then You Might See

Ladder of ladders
Houses and trees
Signs and crosses
Mamas on their knees

One little glass
He raised and shot
Poems in the light
Like it or not

Lava flow of memory
Making daydreams out of history
Almost threshold, almost free
If you wake me up now, don't let me be

Days of glory
Invented sea
Most things aren't
Like they're meant to be

Blur and sand
Oh infinity
But helpless and hopeless
Never suited me

Lava flow of memory
Making daydreams out of history
Almost threshold, almost free
If you wake me up now, don't let me be

One hundred years, one hundred days
How small the world depends on the place
Almost threshold, almost free
If you wake me up now, don't let me be
If you wake me up now, don't let me be

A veil for the wind
False, false moon
Red, red shadows
Under the saloon

Paper waves (paper waves)
Slanted hours (slanted hours)
The earth itself (the earth itself)
She's laughing in flowers

Lava flow of memory
Making daydreams out of history
Almost threshold, almost free
If you wake me up now, don't let me be

One hundred years, one hundred days
How small the world depends on the place
Almost threshold, almost free
If you wake me up now, then you might see
Then you might see
Then you might see
Then you might see

Cumbia Del Polvo

Desde el desierto
La cumbia del polvo
Desde el desierto
La cumbia del polvo

Dust in my hair
Dust in my shoes
Dust in the cumbia
I'm dancing with you
Monsoon rains come
Gonna wash us away
We'll be dancing in the mud
'Til they take us away
Take us away

Desde el desierto
La cumbia del polvo
Desde el desierto
La cumbia del polvo

Living under a rock
With lizards and things
Where the sun won't die
And the summer never ends
Waiting for the moon
To give me a sign
Then we'll roll downtown
Under the neon lights

Te pago la cuenta, mamá
Te abro la puerta acá
Tan solo recuerda, mamá
Te doy lo que quieras y más

La cumbia del polvo
(Échale más agua al caldo, papá)
La cumbia del polvo
(De Arizona pa'l mundo, cumbia)

Underneath the moonlight
Venture from the shadows
Dancing in Sonora
Hearts full of dust

Underneath the moonlight
Venture from the shadows
Dancing in Sonora
Hearts full of dust

Te pago la cuenta, mamá
Te abro la puerta acá
Tan solo recuerda, mamá
Te doy lo que quieras y más

Te pago la cuenta, mamá
Te abro la puerta acá
Tan solo recuerda, mamá
Te doy lo que quieras y más

Desde el desierto
La cumbia del polvo
Desde el desierto
La cumbia del polvo
Desde el desierto
La cumbia del polvo

El Paso

El Paso on the late-night line
Rolling dice and killing time
Desert hills dark as the city lights shine
Mary at the window crying "love is blind"
Love is blind

Jupiter frozen on a laptop screen
You said you never could say what you mean
Arms tattooed like a magazine
Telling the world all the angels you've seen
All the angels you've seen

And we're fighting (and we're fighting)
And we're finding (and we're finding)
And we're fighting (and we're fighting)
And we're finding (and we're finding)

On the other side of the Rio Grande
Your daddy used to sing in your uncle's band
You used to dance in the dust and sand
First with your mama, then a gun in your hand

Fighting for a border that's hard to understand
And harder to find than the truth in this land

Love is blind
My love is blind
Crying "love is blind"
Oh Mary at the window
My love is blind
Crying "love is blind"

The El Burro Song

My love has fallen and can't get up
Still hung-over and won't wake up
I try to move her, but her heart won't budge
Asleep on the ballroom floor with the sawdust

I keep thinking of Sandra's lips
If it ain't her lips then it's her sweet horchata kiss
I walk in the café, she greets me like this
"Sit down, sit down, take a load off your chest"

My love's still lying on the barroom floor
I try to wake her, but she just ignores
The whole band's playing and dancing all around
Her heart like a radio with the sound turned down

Oh my friend Jaime's drinking and playing guitarrón
The whole joint is jumping, but my love's lying down
A fight breaks out when they start playing the El Burro Song
Now Jaime's jaw is busted and I'm still alone
Jaime's jaw is busted and I'm still alone

Liberada

The streets are empty, but your voice echoes from town to town
They tried to silence you, but the waves keep reaching out and out

Que sepa mi gente
Que esta noche hay fiesta
Mi tío cumple ochenta
Y trae fuego en la cadera

A todas las mujeres
Les regalamos flores
Con timba rebajada
Hay que gozar, señores

The night is heavy with rain, sorrow and song
You were the spark that lit the flame and carried us on and on

Que sepa mi gente
Que esta noche hay fiesta
Mi tío cumple ochenta
Y trae fuego en la cadera

A todas las mujeres
Les regalamos flores
Con timba rebajada
Hay que gozar, señores

Some came to sing night after night
Waiting for years, hungry for rights
They'd rather fight than be another voice long forgotten

Que sepa mi gente (mi gente)
Que esta noche hay fiesta (hay fiesta)
Mi tío cumple ochenta (ochenta)
Y trae fuego en la cadera

A todas las mujeres (mujeres)
Les regalamos flores (las flores)
Con timba rebajada (rebajada)
Hay que gozar, señores

A todas las mujeres (mujeres)
Les regalamos flores (las flores)
Con timba rebajada (rebajada)
Hay que gozar, señores

Mujeres
Las flores
Rebajada

Constellation

When reservoirs run dry
Celestial skies wane
Blurred with our naked eye
All we feel and still hope to change

Shining in the night
Shining from above
Shining in your eyes
The one you love
Never gonna leave
Never gonna stray
Wrapped around your heart
Every night and day

When we lie on the roof
Constellations we name
Children shine like stars
As the moon chases the sun

Shining in the night
Shining from above
Shining in your eyes
The one you love (the one you love)
Never gonna leave (never gonna leave)
Never gonna stray (never gonna stray)
Wrapped around your heart
Every night and day

In these arms we call our home
If not for love we'd never know

Shining in the night (shining in the night
Shining from above (shining from above)
Shining in your eyes
The one you love (the one you love)
Never gonna leave (never gonna leave)
Never gonna stray (never gonna stray)
Wrapped around your heart
Every night and day (night and day)

Shining in the night (shining in the night)
Shining from above (shining from above)
Shining in your eyes
Every night and day (night and day)

Rancho Azul

All points vanish out west
A silhouette stands alone
Kika afraid of her garden
The seeds, they tremble and fall

Wearing a dress of milagros
A veil as black as the night
Always in her mind these visions return
She chases the demons away

Lorenzo sweeping the sidewalk
Finds Kika hiding in town
A bird trapped in the wires
Can barely speak and break free

Wearing a dress of milagros
A veil as black as the night
Always in her mind these visions return
She's chasing the spirits away

Reaches into the shadows
Lorenzo guides her back home
Clears out a path in the garden
To the heart of El Rancho Azul

Red bird's song in the morning
Amongst the thorns on the vine
The love that never will leave here
His obsession grows over time

Wearing a dress of milagros
A veil as black as the night
Always in her mind these visions return
Now keeps him from running away

Caldera

Standing where the house once was
Running through tall dry grass
Fault lines scatter
Holding back from falling in

Bury your hands 'neath the clay
With the ash of promises we made

Guided by rocks and trees
A bridge of piñón smoke
Rising slowly
Shedding the outer skin

When the fire's glow finds your eyes
We'll breathe the ocean one more time
Bury your hands 'neath the clay
With the ash and bone of the day

Returning to a field of fears
Ancient maps to navigate
Circling overhead
Wondering where this all ends

When the fire's glow finds your eyes
We'll breathe the ocean one more time
Bury your hands 'neath the clay
With the ash and promises we made

When the fire's glow finds your eyes
We'll breathe the ocean one more time
Bury your hands 'neath the clay
With the ash and bone of the day

(In The Reins EP)

Louise only got from me innocent poetry
Although she played to not listen
But still I can hear myself speak as if no one else
Ever could offer the same

Some say she knowingly tasts like a recipe
Although so foolish and willing
I said Babe I can picture you bend as if wanting to
Bow as the curtain went down

Coddle some men, they'll remember you bitterly
Fuck ‘em, they'll come back for more
I asked my Louise would she leave and so cripple me
Then came a knock at the door

“I came for my woman,” he came with a razor blade
Bound like us all for the ocean
I hope that she's happy I'm blamed for the death of
The man who would take her from me

Some they saw in me innocent poetry
Some, some they'll never be certain
But still it's been written, a history of lovers
Given and taken in ink

Coddle some men, they'll remember you fittingly
Cut ‘em, they'll come back for more
I asked my Louise would she leave and so cripple me
Then came the knock at the door

Louise came to rescue me; listen, the irony:
Blood made her heart change its beating
I hope that she's happy I'm blamed for the death of
The man she found better than me

All Tomorrow's Parties

(The Velvet Underground / In The Reins EP Japanese Release)

And what costume shall the poor girl wear
To all tomorrow's parties
A hand-me-down dress from who knows where
To all tomorrow's parties
And where will she go, and what shall she do
When midnight comes around
She'll turn once more to Sunday's clown and cry behind the door

And what costume shall the poor girl wear
To all tomorrow's parties
Why silks and linens of yesterday's gowns
To all tomorrow's parties
And what will she do with Thursday's rags
When Monday comes around
She'll turn once more to Sunday's clown and cry behind the door

And what costume shall the poor girl wear
To all tomorrow's parties
For Thursday's child is Sunday's clown
For whom none will go mourning

A blackened shroud
A hand-me-down gown
Of rags and silks - a costume
Fit for one who sits and cries
For all tomorrow's parties

Yeah, said it's all right
I won't forget
All the times i've waited patiently for you
And you'll do just what you choose to do
And i will be alone again tonight my dear

Yeah, i heard a funny thing
Somebody said to me
You know that i could be in love with almost everyone
I think that people are
The greatest fun
And i will be alone again tonight my dear

How do you bust the clouds
Press on your back been hanging in the air
I wanna scope you out
I wanna touch your mouth when you're up there

When are you coming back
Bird on a branch will come back home to sing
When are you coming back
Bringing it back and singing what you bring

How do you bust the clouds
Head on the ground and feeling what you've seen
I wanna scope you out
I wanna be your eyes and show you me

When are you coming back
When are you gonna burn that broken bed
When are you coming back
I wanna see you drifting overhead

( Kris Kristofferson Cover / From nothing left to lose - a tribute to kris kristofferson )

Casey joins the hollow sound
Of silent people walking down
The stairway to the subway
In the shadows down below

Following their footsteps
Through the neon-darkened corridor
Silent desperation
Never speaking to a soul

The poison air he is breathing
Has the dirty smell of dye
Cause it's never seen the sunshine
And it's never felt the rain

But casey minds the arrows
And ignores the fatal echoes
Of the clickin' of the turnstiles
And the rattle of his chains

Oh, she said,
Casey, it's been so long
Since i seen you
Here, she said
Just a kiss to make a body smile
See, she said
I put on new stockings just to please you
Lord, she said
Casey can you only stay a while?

Casey leaves the underground
And stops inside the golden crown
For something wet to wipe away
The chill that's on his bone

Seeing his reflection
In the lives of all the lonely men
Who reach for anything they can
To keep from going home

Standing in the corner
Casey drinks his pint of bitter
Never glancing in the mirror
At the people passing by

And he stumbles as he's leaving
And he wonders if the reason
Is the beer that's in his belly
Or the tear that's in his eye

Oh, she said
I suppose you seldom think about me
Now, she said
Now that you've a family of your own
Still, she said
It's so blessed good to feel your body
Lord, she said
Casey, it's a shame to be alone

All the sweet mouth really wanted
Just fell from her grip
The worst hell you can drag your soul through
Is trying to make all the lies stick
You might as well not make an effort
Lots of bills lying around unpaid
Still i guess some things seem better than
Lying in a bed an old child made
She's got her walkman on
She's got chanel number five
Look at her walk
She's holding her head upright
Wants to show she's got some pride
To the headlights
All over town people looking for
Their little piece of goodnight
Maybe it's finally time
To turn away from the light
All her sweet mouth really wanted
Was lost in her smile
And her soul just lost the taste that makes
Any good lie worthwhile
I know i never asked you to read their minds
So why did you have to go ahead and do it anyway
You think maybe someday if you're good
They'll let you disappear from the scene
But nothing can hide a beating
She's got her walkman on
She's got chanel number five
Look at her walk
She's holding her head upright
Wants to show she's got some pride
To the headlights
Doesn't she look good

Close behind

High atop radio towers
Sky darkens in the final hours
Marie, wrings her praying hands
Don't see why the spirit won't understand
While lines are crossed
Hope's broken at the knees
And at a loss
The world's made of dust
And dust it will return
Sniper surveys the scene
Angel chorus won't intervene
Takes her child to the river's edge
And let's her-go to the depths
Where dark waters flow
A singing tide
Pulls her to the edge and hypnotize
Samn any fool willing to believe
There's no hand behind any of this
What's it gonna take, force the cycle to break
And skut it down before it makes another round
Sworn in on an oath the lies
Swat away a halo of flies
Fast track vision deceives
The storm on the horizon
Close behind

Convict pool
In the land of salvation
Is where you find this masterpiece
Of a right-wing kidney punch
Escape convict pool
Escape

Executions are nearly flawless
So riding forever
In the deep
Or taking it into the shallow
Is not a problem

Escape convict pool
Escape
Convict pool
Escape

Check the underwriter killers
For video surveillance
Of the convict pool
In the warden son's
Private collection

Escape convict pool
Escape
Social fool
We evade

I forget to mention
That the coping of this baby's like butter
So stand up and grind far

Escape convict pool
Escape
Parental fools
We evade

Tony and george
Avoid the nipple
Protusion on the wall
With a backside hurricane
Over the death box
We fall

And escape
Convict pool
Escape
Social tool
Evade
Courtroom duel
Escape

(In The Reins EP)

Give this stone to my brother
Cuz we found it playing in the barnyard
Many years ago

Give this bone to my father
He'll remember hunting in the hills
When I was 10 years old

May my love reach you all
I locked in myself and buried too long
Now that I come to fall
Please say it's not too late
Now that I'm dead and gone

Give this string to my mother
It pulled the baby teeth she keeps inside the drawer
Give this ring to my lover
I was scared and stupid not to ask
For her hand long before

May my love reach you all
I locked in myself and buried too long
Now that I come to fall
Please say it's not too late
Now that I'm dead and gone

Gilbert works alone, late into the night
Dangling from a free way overpass
He's welding rebar and sculpting concrete
They're paving in the gap way out west
In off in the distance, the sleepy city shines
He raises his mask to take a look
Slip from the perch, still holding onto his torch
I see him falling just like a burning star
Out of control
And went drifting way off course
And went drifting way off course
Waking up confused in a bed of thorn
And a world turns upside down
No questions asked, no party ever searched
Like a blip gilbert slips into a void
A rustle nearby then a vision appears
Made from saguaro boots and rib
Grabs a hold of this prickly hand
And together they stand
Walk on through the ruins of a world
That lost control
And went way off course
Drifting off its course

One more drink tonight as your gray stallion rests
Where he lays in the reins
For all of the speed and the strength he gave

One more kiss tonight from some tall stable girl
She's like grace from the earth
When you're all tuckered out and tame

One more tired thing the gray moon on the rise
When your want from the day
Makes you to curse in your sleep at night

One more gift to bring we may well find you laid
Like your steed in his reins
Tangled too tight and too long to fight

Se cae desde tu boca
Accionada por tu barriga y lengua
Tiemblo cuando usted se estremece
Y me pliego en jalea
Pienso que te amé más que a mí.

¿Eres humano o no valiste?
¿Eres humano o te lo inventaste?

Mi cereza, pequeño se resbaló
Pásame através de los puntos de tus dedos.
Tírame al suelo como una basura
Estoy parado, no volteas para atrás.

¿Eres humano?, ¿eres perro?
¿Eres humano?, no lo creo
¿Eres humano, o no valiste?
¿Eres humano o te lo inventaste?

Fueron a encontrar tu cuerpo.
Fueron a buscar, pero no había nadie.
¿Quién huele como tú?
¿Quién se mira como tú?
No eres humano, tal vez.

¿Eres humano o no valiste?
¿Eres humano o te lo inventaste?
¿Eres humano o no valiste?
¿Eres humano o te lo inventaste?

(In The Reins EP)

There's a prison on Route 41
Home to my father, first cousin, and son
And I visit every weekend
Not with my body but with prayers that I send

I've a reason for my absentee
And no lack of love for my dear family
But my savior is not Christ the Lord
But one named Virginia whom I live my life for

And if I don't mind to her
I'd rot in that prison for sure
Yeah, she'd toss me aside
And I'd surely wait to die

By decree, law, or demand
So unlike my uncle, grandpa, and great aunt
Whom I'd most likely see every day
If not for the righteous grand Virginia's way

There's a prison on route 41
Home to my mother, stepbrother, and son
And I'd tear down that jail by myself
If not for Virginia who made me somebody else

And I owe it to her
I'd rot in that prison for sure
Yeah, she'd toss me aside
And show me the way to die

By the precepts of her purity
So unlike the habits of my whole family
Whom I only see down on my knees
In prayer by Virginia whom I live for to please

Rambler

Putting in at Blackfoot River
With the Pocatello Kid
Making good time up to Lolo's Pass
Meet you on the other side

Dodged a few dicey run-ins
Couple of rough ramblers as well
Saw a truck flying over Howard's Plunge
Thought we'd never live to tell

Rolling down, river bound
Water's high and moving fast
Feet can't touch the ground

Rolling down, river bound
Some get caught, hanging on to rocks
Looking for another way out

Made it to the mouth of the Columbia
Two thousand ships below
Stuck on a sand bar halfway through
'Til a tug dragged us back to shore

Rolling down, river bound
Keep your eyes peeled ahead
Rapids will dump us out

Rolling down, river bound
Some get lost, gamble all costs
For another chance to cross

(In The Reins EP)

Dust gets red, and red dust plays
On the wind near Daniel's place
Danny's sick and smaller boy
Rhythm lingers on and on
On and on, on and on

Dust gets dead the sun gone down
Danny's boy lies in the ground
Guitar on the dead boy's chest
Devil's granting a last request
Play on and on, on and on

To save this sad, lonesome cry
Sorrow fills the oceans wide
Calling you close, promising love
Letting passion navigate you

Into the arms of sirena
Into the eyes of sirena
Into the heart of sirena
Dancing like ghosts, haunting the shore

The old ones warn, stay away
Her love is sweet, but sorrow too great
Dreams of leaving her curse for good
Rise from the sea as flesh and blood

Still the wind carries her voice
Fills all thoughts, sways your choice
Drawn the fear, capsize the heart
Till all passion navigates you

Into the arms of sirena
Into the eyes of sirena
Into the haert of sirena
Dancing like ghosts over the waves
Safe in the harber of her embrace

Bebe mi vino de amor
Besos de kerosina
Volvierdo el mar en infierno!

To save this sad, tragic soul
Sorrow's worse than the tide's pull
Sinking deeper, gasping for love
Till desire navigates you

Into the arms of sirena
Into the eyes of sirena
Into the heart of sirena
Dancing with ghosts under the waves

And into the arms of sirena
Into the eyes of sirena
Into the heart of sirena
Caught in the rip tide, smashed on the reef
Joining the mass of bones underneath
Falling deeper in love's illusion of sirena

(In The Reins EP)

Beyond the ridge to the left, you asked me what i want
Between the trees and cicadas singing round the pond
"I've spent an hour with you, should i want anything else?"

One grinning wink like the neon on a liquor store
We were sixteen, maybe less, maybe a little more
I walked home smiling, i finally had a story to tell

And though an autumn time lullaby
Sang our newborn love to sleep
My brother told me he saw you there
In the woods one christmas eve, waiting

I met my wife at a party when i drank too much
My son is married and tells me we dont talk enough
Call it predictable, yesterday my dream was of you

Beyond the ridge to the west, the sun had left the sky
Between the trees and the pond, you put your hand in mine
Said, "time has bridled us both, but i remember you too"

And though an autumn time lullaby
Sang our newborn love to sleep
I dreamt i traveled and found you there
In the woods one christmas eve, waiting.

Sundown, sundown

There's no one in this world for me
There's never gonna be
There's no one in this world needs me
There's never gonna be
Yet sometimes in my dreams i hear...

Sundown
I miss you, sundown
I need you, sundown
Come on, come on, come on, come on, back to me
Come on, come on, come on, come on, back to me
I need you, sundown
I need you, sundown

There's no hands ever reached for me
There's never gonna be
There's no one meant for lonely me
There's never gonna be
Yet sometimes in my dreams i hear...

Sundown
I miss you, sundown
I want you, sundown
Come on, come on, come on, come on, back to me
Come on, come on, come on, come on, back to me
I love you, sundown
I love you, sundown

Sometimes in my dreams
I love you, sundown
I love you, sundown
Sometimes in my dreams
I love you, sundown

Tulsa telephone book

Have you read any good telephone books lately?
If you ain't then let me recommend one
I've already read that tulsa telephone book thirteen times
If you don't know any last names it ain't much fun
Readin' that tulsa telephone book, can drive a guy insane
Especially if that girl you're lookin' for has no last name
I gotta find her and tell her, i don't want our love to end
So i'm readin' that tulsa telephone book again
Well, i was in tulsa and didn't have anything goin'
She lived in tulsa and didn't have anything on
She said, "my name is juanita," and i said, "my name is j.b. [t.]"
When i woke up the very next mornin' she was gone
All of the tulsa operators know my voice now
And they gotta know how long i've been alone
If you meet a girl named juanita with some ribbons in her hair
Would you tell her that she's wanted on the phone
Readin' that tulsa telephone book, can drive a guy insane
Especially if that girl you're lookin' for has no last name
I gotta find her and tell her, i don't want our love to end
So i'm readin' that tulsa telephone book again
I'm readin' that tulsa telephone book again

Wild Horses

(The Flying Burrito Brothers Cover / In The Reins Japanese Release)

Childhood living is easy to do
The things you wanted, I bought them for you
Graceless lady, you know who I am
You know I can't let you slide through my hands

Wild horses couldn't drag me away
Wild, wild horses couldn't drag me away

I watched you suffer a dull aching pain
Now you've decided to show me the same
No sweeping exits or off stage lights
Could make me feel bitter or treat you unkind

Wild horses couldn't drag me away
Wild, wild horses couldn't drag me away

I know I've dreamed you, a sin and a lie
I had my freedom but I don't have much time
Faith has been broken, tears must be cried
Let's do some living after we die

Wild horses couldn't drag me away
Wild, wild horses, we'll ride them some day

Wild horses couldn't drag me away
Wild, wild horses, we'll ride them some day