Lyrics from Before There Was Time

These lyrics from the album Before There Was Time are complete.

 A Song For You
Copyright © 2001 Lynn David Newton

A song for you
Before we're through.
Listen to the things we've found---
Things we've gathered from around.
We play them now,
Together.

La la la la ... together.

(Soundwash)

It's midnight now.
It's quiet now.
Sleep until another day.
Things around us seem to say
That you should know:
I love you.

 Kemp's Jig

(Instrumental)

 Introductory Lines
Copyright © 2001 Tom McFaul

To encircle your constant incredible change,
You shadow your way back to try.
But the paths---open roads---all behind you extend,
And melt into loss and to waste.

And remember your fashion,
Your fancy to groove, not to loose.
Never mind what it is that you do.

And that much behind you, you sensitive sham,
You turn once again not ahead,
But behind once again, looking first back,
Then where you think is ahead.

You looked at art, and not at yourself.
To give to art and not think for yourself
Is your blindness,
Your incredible dishonesty,
Your loss, and your waste,
And the reason you stay in one place.

Now begin to believe your condition is new and unique.
Now begin to believe that you know.
Now you feel the insistent approach of continuous confusion,
Of the inevitability of madness,
Not to turn, but to absorb everything.

White Boy's Rap:

And there's no reason to go back.
And to explain is only to delay.
And there are cornucopias full of mirrors.
And they reflect outside in.
And too many things become one.
And fear is becoming your muse
And the glassy spirals reflect further.
And all words become things.
And famous among pedants,
And ridden with scales,
And imperfectly formed sentiments,
And an insular spirit,
And an inviolate cool.
And only your grip is more strange.
And through no effort yours,
Your grip becomes loose,
And you begin circling inexorably in.
And with pure wall-eyed vision,
And untimely contempt for yourself.
And you're becoming and approaching
Being.

It is becoming without ever being,
And it's becoming and never being,
That when accepted,
Draws you eternally inside yourself,
And the fear of madness,
And the courage to approach
For the first time yourself.

Sad Benjamin
Copyright © 2001 Lynn David Newton

Waking, little sleep,
I think of places and times---
Of her, and of when,
And remember the problems of yesterday's rhymes.

A diamond edge cuts my mind in two;
I really don't know what to do.
Shall I go on, or should I turn back?

Waking from a dream,
I think it's not so unreal
To change my mind,
And refuse to believe what I really don't feel.

A diamond edge cuts my mind in two;
I really don't know what to do.
Shall I go on or should I turn back?

(Instrumental)

Alone I remain
To make my way with words,
And (with) her and with time,
And a new rhyme is all that's left of yesterday's dream.

A diamond edge cuts my mind in two;
I really don't know what to do.
Shall I go on or should I turn back?

(Instrumental)

 At Shadow's Eye
Copyright © 2001 Tom McFaul

Standing in the center looking out at the ages,
All the people looking in and seeing out to the edges,
And your eyes are in your head,
But you find that you can see all around.

Goin' places where you've been but never seen,
And all of the time is the same, but the soul, and you see
That time and vanity
Have brought you around the rim.

Shadows crawling all around,
And somewhere between you and me
You see you and through you,
You see a gander at all the shadow shadow giants,
Digging graves for giants,
Digging graves for you and me.

(Instrumental)

(Overlaid combinations)

And it's solitary madness for you in the center of time.

 Green Fields
Copyright © 2000 Lynn David Newton

Crossing into a dream,
From roads that lead to Neverland,
Strange voices whipered into our ear:
``Take a walk with me, follow quietly,

Into places of rain,
Where things exchange their chemistry.''
We saw a sound and felt an hour,
And a thought flew by dressed in red and blue.

Green fields, they were green fields
On a path of stones and wishingbones. (2x)

Under trees where we found
That things begin and things are green.
There, too, was hope and understanding,
And a place to think and a place to love.
Green fields, they were green fields
On a path of stones and wishingbones. (2x)

 Waking
Copyright © 2001 Richard Stanley

Whisper blue still, breathes the morning.
Soft light touches, then presses warm.
Draws the body up from sleep.
Your eyes open to see.

Through the shadows light becomes moist.
Flows in crystal into your mind.
Touch of sound becomes a form.

Tiny prism, mind all glossed gold.
Colored shadows escape the sun.
Fractured sound melts into light.

Your mind open to see,
Open to see.

 Ma's Pan
Copyright © 2001 Richard Stanley

(Instrumental)

 Dover Beach
Copyright © 2001 Tom McFaul

When darkling plains do cloud your skies,
   (I can't feel you)
And stinging tears are in your eyes,
   (I can't help you)
Let me remind you
   (I can't see you)
That I can't tell you
   (I can't help you)
What you already know.

Cause I can't help you,
I can't tell you.
I can't help you,
I can't tell you.

On Dover Beach, your empty land,
   (I can't feel you)
Perhaps someone could understand.
   (I can't help you)
But I can't help you,
   (I can't see you)
And I can't tell you
   (I can't help you)
What you already know.

Cause I can't help you,
I can't tell you.
I can't help you,
I can't tell you.

Baby, I can't help yooouuu ...

When you tell me that you're down,
You can't go on and send it back to you,
And you could fly if you could get away from him.

But I can't feel you when you talk to me,
I know you must be 'round.

But I can't see you,
No I can't feel you.
But I can hear you very clear,

But I can't feel you.

(Instrumental)

(Hollering and bellowing)

 Elin Experience
Copyright © 2001 Tom McFaul

After rain there's often a clean, soft calm.
Precious drops of rain remain quite calm now.
After rain there is always calm.
There is always calm.

Drops of rain contain just the stillness now.
There is not a sound save a single sigh.
After rain there is always sighing.
There is always sighing.

(Instrumental)

After rain there's often a clean, soft calm.
Precious drops of rain remain quite calm now.
After rain there is always calm.
There is always calm.

Drops of rain contain just the stillness now.
There is not a sound save a single sigh.
After rain there is always sighing.
There is always sighing.

Songs from Dead Dog

There isn't really an album called Dead Dog, and probably never will be. These are lyrics from some songs I wrote postmortem, some as late as twelve years after Think Dog! ceased to exist.

History of the Band
Copyright © 2001 Lynn David Newton

His life was,
Like many other things,
Just a popular legend waiting to be heard.
That's why he chose to sing, sing,
Yeah, sing like a bird.

So he went
And bought a red guitar.
He played it
Till the skin fell off his fingers.
His carrion pleasure could not be deferred.

He was Paul,
His buddy was like John.
They would drink, and smoke, and shake up Cokes.
They had a lot of fun, fun,
Yeah, making up jokes.

They worked hard
At being what they weren't,
(And) it went well
Till they came to New York City
To jam at the hat joints for penniless folks.

Creative stars grow up in whiskey bars;
The sweetest fruit springs out of mulch and waste.
But why, O why does it require
Pain with scars
To forge a man of taste?

Much later
He sold the red guitar
To a hock shop on Bleeker, never to return.
It hurts to be a star, (a) star,
Yeah, stings like a burn.

The junkies
Came in to get the rest.
They sold it
To the fences down on Mott Street.
It taught him a lesson too bitter to learn.

Creative stars grow up in whiskey bars;
The sweetest fruit springs out of mulch and waste.
But why, O why does it require
Pain with scars
To forge a man of taste?

I wrote this song after hearing a story on NPR about a debutante in Texas who shocked her family by running away from her coming out party.

When Lydia Left the Ball
Copyright © 2001 Lynn David Newton

I tell a tale of a poor little girl
Who was caught in a cruel and hostile whirl.
Ooo ...

Her mother fainted in the hall when Lydia left the ball.
Her Daddy was rich but all his money couldn't stop her;
He was just a helpless boy,
So Lydia left the ball.

But she cried and cried all night.
Still, her mother was wrong,
And so she made up this song to tell all the world
That you can't buy love with gold and diamonds and pearls.

So away from the spotlight she ran,
And from the sound of Lombardo's society band.
Ooo ...

And when she headed out the door, her mother hit the floor.
She threw her corsage on the seat of her sexy GTO,
Cranked 'er up and let 'er go.
So Lydia hit the road.

She couldn't stand this life as a Barbie doll;
She was no Sandra Dee,
And said, ``It just isn't me,
This belief I'll defend:
That you can't buy love with gold and diamonds and pearls.''

(Driving music)

Beep, beep! Run away!
Beep, beep! Look out now!
Beep, beep! I can't stay!
Beep, beep! I don't see how!

(More driving music and musical interlude)

In the morning she saw in the light
What she failed to discern the previous night.
Ooo ...

``Debutantes are really quite passé!'' That's what she meant to say.
She beat her guitar 'til she got the melody just right,
Synchronizing words in time.
'Twas just like in a play.

Now she was free, as free as an eagle can be.
So she let down her hair
Then took a deep breath of air.
'Twas clear as black and white
That you can't buy love with gold and diamonds and pearls.

You can't buy love with gold and diamonds and pearls.
No, you can't buy affection
With all the treasures in the world!

'Bye, Mom! (Driving music)

Release, Release
Copyright © 2001 Lynn David Newton

The silence surrounds me.
No muse has spoken;
No music has broken forth.
No way to go describes its course ---
Just left to purify the source,

To seed it, to feed it,
It's a garden, so weed it.
It's a monster to tame by force.

(Instrumental)

Once we were there, anonymously elected;
In moments too rare magnificently connected,
The right and the wrong selected and rejected.

A wayward impulse
From a cosmic bullet randomly running
Tore apart the bonds.
A cancer set in which grew out and blew up.
In this way were separated the sheep from the goats,
And like ice from the desert the former rose up
While the other remained to play a new game.

(Instrumental)

Like Lucifer come quickly
On the dawn's stunning message
Embrace the choirs retreating skyward;
Reject the hours in darkness wasted:

Release, release,
   Like a crystal golden moment in time: release,
   Once lived now gone: release,
   Now remembered in song ---

Release, release,
   Ten thousand mighty cherubs
   Dancing joyfully homeward,
   Citizens of silence,
   They tolerate no wrong.

Release, release,
   A child of the future,
   The neologist rendered
   A pilgrim, a preacher,
   A lover, a teacher.
   Let it only not be too long.

Release, release,
   Like a circle in an infinite space: release,
   No start, no end: release,
   Just a uniform bend ---

Release, release,
   Grow, baby, grow forever.
   You're astonishingly clever.
   There is no great challenge
   You fail to transcend.

Release, release,
   To cries of the critics
   The neologist answers
   An inventor, dissenter,
   A builder, a mentor:
   ``I am just a new kind of friend!''

An Empty House
Copyright © 2001 Lynn David Newton

An empty house
Means no one lives there.
An empty shelf
Means no one knows or hears.
An empty wall
Means no one sees or cares.
An empty house is like an empty shelf, is like an empty wall:
Means no one lives there.