SET LIST SEVEN (7)

1 Corey Story…………………..71

2 Daddy Taught Me

3 Shadow Of Smoke…………...73

4 Wheat and Chaff

5 Midas Touch……………….74

6 Sniper's Song

7 Quest For Immortality………...76

8 Innocence Lost…………….77

9 Betrayal……………..79

10 A Cop Asked the Witnesses…….80

11 Dirt

12 Either Way (first Part) ………..82

COREY STORY

His mama was a nurse

and his daddy sold jewels

A couple hard working stiffs

But both were fools

If the boys got outta line

parents kept their cool

They'd never make a fuss

just leave 'em to the school

Too busy working

to have to raise kids

Right there ya find out

where the problem is

When little boys break the rules

daddy's too drunk to yell

He tried to chase 'em

up the stairs

but down he fell

When you make your own rules

how hard can life be?

Mom's sitting on the couch

just watching TV

Yet it takes more to be a mom

than just making dinner

Gotta teach your kids to play

the game of life to be a winner

All you need's a @#$% to be a father

but it takes balls to be a dad

I wish they read this story

I really wish they had

I always tried to use my brain

while my friend he used his brawn

Now I got it made

While my friend barely gets along

His daddy read him beer bottles

while my daddy read me books

When life gets ugly

you can't get by on looks

Me and my daddy

played throw and catch

Him and his daddy

played throw and duck

When life gets ugly

you can't get by on looks

When you got no smarts

you get by on luck

And when that runs out

it really sucks

DADDY TAUGHT ME

When I was little

My daddy dressed me in white

He said so he could lead me

Through the darkness

and into the light

Mama washed my clothes

Nearly every day

For I'd get them dirty

Whenever I'd play

She told me that if it wasn't white

Then it wasn't good

If the weather got chilly

She'd pull up my hood

Mama told me of Jesus and God

And of Heaven divine

I asked if I'd go there

And she said I'd be fine

She said I was pure

And God made me snow

And that angels would follow me

Wherever I'd go

I couldn't wait to see God

And tell him what was on my mind

I even tried praying a couple of times

But church was much different

Than what I ever though it would be

We'd have mass outside

And we'd light a big 'T'

I had so much fun

When we’d march in parades

Then we'd set fire

To the crosses we made

And I love the holidays

They fill me with cheer

We loved Halloween so much

We had it twenty times a year

For some reason I was always a ghost

Must be the costume my mama liked most

Funny how no one ever got scared

Even when I was trying

Oh, there was that one….

The little girl who was crying

I'm not even sure why

She had tears in her eyes

I really scared her good

I must have caught her by surprise

I can't wait to get older

And be a daddy some day

I'll teach these games to my kids

And the whole family will play

When I get older...

I'll be the best daddy I can be

I just hope I can teach my kids as good

As my daddy taught me

SHADOW OF SMOKE

Just a shadow of smoke

That's how I appear

Try to reach out and touch me

What you see disappears

No living soul can reach me

First you see my face

Vanish into thin air

And then gone without a trace

Just another mystery

A puzzle no one can solve

First I am there

And then I dissolve

Just a castle of sand

Before the tide comes to me

And after a warm embrace

Carries me out to the sea

So back into the fog I fade

My own little solitary parade

Back into the waters I wade

Unable to undo all I have made

I've lost my soul

Through the horrors I've seen

Along with my past desires

Of all I could have been

To the days of old

I can never return

Time passes slowly

When the memories still burn

As I see children laugh

And young mothers dance

I know I've lived my life

There is no second chance

Just a shadow of smoke

That's how I appear

Try to reach out and touch me

What you see disappears

WHEAT AND CHAFF

Your suicide was glorified

Like a police chase on the news

Neither your vanity or your family

Was enough to pull you through

When you crashed in the past

You walked away unscathed

This time you fell it didn’t go so well

The saviour was not saved

The memories are overwhelming

As they all come flooding back

You feel yourself being swept away

The dam burst where it was cracked

Such an explosion of emotion

Leaving everyone taking flak

“His war is over” the priest spoke sober

Then a scream, a yell, a gasp

So for the cries and for the laughs

Let us raise our glass up to the past

To both the wheat and the chaff

For all that was left undone

And for what can’t be taken back

MIDAS TOUCH

What has once been bought

has now been sold

Your Midas touch

turned me into gold

Never to grow young

never to grow old

Death does part

forget to have and hold

Sickness is health

as warmth becomes cold

A face once beautiful

is now pale and blue

Crumbling down

what was once brand new

The question is not how or why

or when but who?

The lesson is be careful

of what you wish for

Because it just might come true...

The wink of the eye

of your future wife

The turn of a corner

and the stab of a knife

Just a second could change your life

So beware of what's around you

Be aware of where you go

Because you never really know...

After your next step

After your next breath

There could be one life and one death

Forget all the rest

SNIPER'S SONG

Who am I?

And what are my reasons?

I've got my rifle by my side

And it's hunting season

I'm just another face in the crowd

Waiting to make my next move

Eight A.M. and I'm already

out on the prowl

I wonder just how long

I can keep my cool

Random is the way it has to be

Can't have any motive or connection

Following after me

One bullet at a time

I write the headlines

of the front page

I am God,

I am death,

I am your old age

At random

Or in seclusion

I am reality

This is no illusion

Who am I?

And what are my reasons?

I've got my rifle by my side

And it's hunting season

I'm just another face in the crowd

Waiting to make my next move

Nine A.M. and I'm already

out on the prowl

I wonder just how long

I can keep my cool

Go about your business

This sniper will find you

Look over your left shoulder

I am right behind you

You cannot see me

I am in seclusion

Death is reality

I am no illusion

Who am I?

And what are my reasons?

I've got my rifle by my side

And it's hunting season

I'm just another face in the crowd

Waiting to make my next move

Ten A.M. and I'm already

out on the prowl

I wonder just how long

I can keep my cool

Some may call me crazy

But I don't see it that way

I am just another hunter

And you are all my prey

I could be your neighbor

I could be your best friend

I could be a terrorist

But only when you catch me...

Will you be safe again

QUEST FOR IMMORTALITY

I have finally found

a reason for waking up

It is my job to unite the legions

Who just don't give a fu$%

When you're laying foundations of concrete

You had better stand clear

For in the name of progress

Sometimes a few people disappear

One more voice left unheard

Amidst the deepest of frustrations

Only one man could kill

with complete racial equality

I would drop the bomb

without any hesitation

Just waiting for the man

to come calling on me

I would drop the bomb

without any reservations

Nah, I told myself

I've got to give in

And live on the same grid

as the competition

No more applying my time

to going fishing inside of my mind

But please just one more time

for the sake of mankind

If I could just find

the perfect poetic lines

Maybe then my hatred would mend

So I'll keep on searching

for another solution

Or else I'll plot out my own demise...

the final end

My presence is important

Just the fact that I roam the earth

Makes it all but certain

That I could be the one

who lifts the curtain

Or perhaps be the person

Who pushes the button

Snaps, cracks and attacks

All of a sudden

I start putting people in the oven

Dozen by dozen by dozen

The time has come

Face it... it's done

I will never be the chosen one

Better go and grab the gun

And see how fast

these clowns can run

No, not everybody's presence

is a gift

Yet still you've got to learn

to live with it

INNOCENCE LOST

I've sat at every bench in this park

Both before and after dark

Looking out at an ocean oh so deep

When everyone else is asleep

I see the sailboats stopped

Lookin' just like upside down lollipops

I see the seagulls pecking

Down by the beach

But it all seems out of reach

Take off my shirt to get a tan

Wondering about life's master plan

Just when my troubles

start to fade away

I have to go to work soon

so I cannot stay

But oh what a price I pay...

As soon as you're high

Something brings you down

As soon as you smile

Something makes you frown

As soon as you blink

The second has passed

As soon as you're first

You wind up last

This world can be such a tease

As soon as I feel

That my mind's at ease

Just when I think I have it made

Rain falls down on my parade

I've had my shares

Of ups and downs

Cried like mimes

And laughed like clowns

I've been dwarfed by guilt

And knocked off of my stilts

I've seen the flowers bloom

And I have watched the pedals wilt

Here at the park

I collect my thoughts

Try to find a pair of scissors

When I'm tied up in knots

Then these words

Became my thoughts...

As soon as you're high

Something brings you down

As soon as you smile

Something makes you frown

As soon as you blink

The second has passed

As soon as you're close

You run out of gas

I watch the children

I've seen so many times before

And their innocent eyes

Not yet knowing what's in store

With every game

comes a new surprise

Every truth told contains

At least a part of a lie

Under a parent's eye

they run so free

Not a worry in the world

The way life should be

And yet as they grow a little older

The winds blow a little colder

But we all know it is calm

Before the storm

Mommy still has a blanket

To keep them warm

She protects them

for as long as she can

There are some things children

Should never have to understand

Don't tell them the secret...

As soon as you're high

Something brings you down

As soon as you smile

Something makes you frown

As soon as you blink

The second has passed

As soon as the sun rises

The shadow's been cast

Yes I was once a child

many years ago

And I learned the hard way

The things I didn't know

Life was once so simple

But like a gunshot to the temple

I was told I couldn't go any higher

And then was thrown into the fire

Now all I can do is dream

Back to the days

When my own eyes did gleam

Someday when everyone is asleep

That same child

will come here to weep

And they too

will write their song

About how the innocence

They once knew is gone

And they'll say...

As soon as I'm high

Something brings me down

As soon as I smile

Something makes me frown

As soon as I blinked

My childhood passed

What I loved so much...

I want it back

BETRAYAL

What will her friends say?

What wild rumors will be spread?

Where lies her escape?

These thoughts run ‘round in her head

She had been bruised inside

Blood trickled down the side of her face

He was twice her size

She was just half his age

She fought so hard

but she was unable to resist

That’s okay,

I like it better this way, he hissed

When she tried to say no with her knee

He said yes with his fist

But luckily, when he swung he had missed…

At least the first time

He pinned her down

Leaving red welts on her wrists?

To mom and dad she cried:

I’m sorry to have to tell you this:

But Jesus wasn’t the only one

Who was betrayed by a kiss

Yet never in Sunday school

did they ever cover this…

And this was her first time

What will her friends say?

What wild rumors will be spread?

Where lies her escape?

So many thoughts run round in her head

Once it was known

That his seed had been sewn

She carried the child like a disease

For when the baby came

How could she explain

That a rapist’s eyes

were all that she sees

What will her friends say?

What wild rumors will be spread?

Where lies her escape?

So many thoughts run

round in her head

Conflicting voices

whisper in her ear

She tries to drown them out

but they won’t disappear

Her pastor’s sermons

and a voice

that she hadn’t heard before

Every day that voice

Speaks louder…

She knows soon

It will speak no more…

COP ASKED THE WITNESSES

A cop asked the witnesses

Did you see the driver of the car?

The witnesses responded

She couldn't have gone that far

It's amazing where fate'll bring you

All the way to a cell

It's amazing where fate'll bring you

Down to the depths of hell

The night was dark and dreary

The rain was pouring down

The faces of the happy

Were quickly turned to frowns

November twenty-sixth

And there's not much thanks to give

It's hard to be rejoiceful

When daddy didn't live

A cop asked the witnesses

Did you see the driver of the car?

The witnesses responded

She couldn't have gone that far

Mommy ran into a restaurant

Screaming someone hurt my love

Mommy showed the owner

The broken wings of her dove

Two lives were almost taken

As soon as they begun

A two year-old child

And the young driver on the run

People dressed in black

Now put flowers on his grave

Daddy died a great hero

And his little girl he did save

A father's life is over

And a family torn apart

A mother's constant weeping

And a child's bleeding heart

A cop asked the witnesses

Did you see the driver of the car?

The witnesses responded

She couldn't have gone that far

There's fresh blood on the sidewalk

And tears fallen to the ground

Flowers on a gravestone

And a deeply saddened town

About the girl on the run

Are you sorry for your sin?

Your only chance at Heaven

Is turning yourself in

DIRT

Who’s got the dirt on you?

Or maybe you’ve been

keeping secrets from yourself

Do you know who

I’ve been talking to?

No it wasn’t her

it was somebody else…

Ooh, I see someone’s

afraid of sunlight

Stays lurking in the shadowy realm

To only be happy when it’s cloudy

Would seem to me

to be trapped in a living hell

Who’s got the dirt on you?

Won’t you whisper just what

your little secret is worth

Certainly no one

could have deserved this

Never seen you look so nervous...

your eyes darting back and forth

Well sure we all make mistakes

Yet this one was so easy to trace

You didn’t look guilty

just heavily disgraced

That would best describe

the look on your face

Who’s got the dirt on you?

Has anyone offered

to cut you a deal?

Or are they just

letting out the line?

Let you run a little

knowing they hold the reel

EITHER WAY

I’m a vessel of violence

Live alone on an island

I can never keep silent

They keep playing violins

To cover everybody’s crying

I got no one to hear me

No family lives near me

No friends close by

No friends at all

- that was a lie

No one to call or stop by

That’s why sometimes I cry

You would to

When I got nothing to do

It gives me something to do

Many say medicate don’t educate

Become an arsonist to your history

Self-knowledge just drags in complication

When some things are best left a mystery

The agony of meeting expectations

Has led to the cancelling

of many celebrations

In both your honor and your name

Yeah, it was all for you

but you never came

If you only die when you’re forgotten

Anonymity must sure be rotten

The value of reality

lies in immateriality

For everything that lives

externally dies

Though the worth of life

is measured by the soul

Which we all know

can be compromised

The choice could be fame or integrity

Will you have riches or character?

That is what she said to me

Now you know why everybody’s after

She gives like its charity

With instant familiarity

A true gem that’s a rarity

Indeed she’s looking so lovely

Those brown eyes gazing back at me

Feeling like there’s no one above me

As she stares right through me

It’s like she’s always knew me

Let us hope she never forgets

Remember...

you can’t give somebody everything

Because then you’d have nothing left!