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SET LIST EIGHT (8)
1 Thirty Seconds……………….83
2 Pretty Fountains
3 Playing Chess…………..84
4 Sky and Light
5 Discartes…………………...86
6 I Am
7 Timeless To Ten……………..88
8 Listen
9 Fear…………………..89
10 Down
11 Spinning………………..91
12 Somewhere……….92
THIRTY SECONDS
I got about thirty seconds…
To get inside your head
So let us save the small talk
For another time instead
Now I have only twenty seconds left…
To sew this little seed to try to
Turn my belief into your belief
How do I get you to see that
Once you unplug yourself from your TV
You can begin to make a difference
To someone else, yourself and me…
Uh oh…just ten seconds more…
To let you know that there are
Countless caverns
Left within your mind
Just waiting to be explored...
PLAYING CHESS
Burning up...Burning out...
Sitting in an ashtray...
With no way out...
Walking in circles...
Across hot coals...
Something landed on my lap...
What? Only God knows...
This is some new sh#$...
Highly funky...
Caged like a monkey...
Start by turning one key...
End up as a junky…
You may say highly unlikely...
But you could end up just like me....
If you say yes...
Would your life be a mess?
It's anyone's guess...
Well, life's like playing chess...
Let me explain my life
In a way that you can see it
I'm fighting a battle
I'm playing a game
But I know I’ll never beat it
So many moves though
I proceed with caution
While I’m weary of hesitation
Each step must be wise...
Just to escape total domination...
In that there is no compromise
All the devils have eyes...
Some wear suits and ties...
And tell dirty lies...
Some things just won't die
Someone watching
From way up high
Is playing chess with my mind
And I think the general
He wants me to die
As he sends me to the front
Of the battle lines
I've been a pawn
For far too long
Even though I'm still fighting
I don't know which side I'm on
Every time I look behind me
The general's gone
I hear checkmate
I now stand alone
And half-way around the world
Is a long way from home
Somehow I was taken
And played just like a fool
And I was mistaken
Thinking everyone plays
By the same set of rules
When I smash the board
I'll free myself
When I drop my gun
They'll enlist someone else
For I am no hero
I've lost all hope
Of saving mankind
If I can save myself
Then at least
I won't be wasting time
If I ever get that far
Then I'll try to free the others
One at a time
Show them what to be weary of
And all the warning signs
For even on top of the world
There are still mountains left to climb
SKY AND LIGHT
I scared myself today
When I saw the world
In a whole new way
Every mind’s a piece
of unmolded clay
And mine’s become trapped
inside a maze of words
That I cannot explain
or write nor say
We all live beneath the same sky
Yet we don’t all see the same light
Some see nothing
but the summers sun
While others look up
at a winters night
While waiting for the other shoe
to drop unto the floor
I've given up trying to make sense
of anything any more
For this stale air has
finally gotten the better of me
Had to take a walk outside
to try to change my scenery
Everything I have known has
decided to play tricks on me
My past is my shadow
that no longer stands beside me
Long ago we parted
and went our separate ways
Long before this whole mess started
Before this city was set ablaze
I scared myself today
When I saw the whole world
In a whole new way
Every minds a piece
of unmolded clay
And mines become trapped
inside a maze of words
That I cannot explain
or write nor say
We all live beneath the same sky
Yet we don’t all see the same light
Some see nothing
but the summers sun
While others look up
at a winters night
Yes, I had to take a walk outside
and change my scenery
And hopefully bleed
some new blood into me
Escape from my surroundings
and all of this abject poverty
Provide my eyes a change
and find something new to see
I scared myself today
When I saw the whole world
In a whole new way
I scared myself today
Became trapped inside
a maze of words
That I could not explain
nor write or say
DISCARTES
I hear whispers from the lost souls of man
Questioning everything that I think that I am
So I do not think therefore I am not…
Part of the problem or solution
Since my character no longer
Plays any role in the plot
It is then my mind reminds me
I have no memory
And there was something else…
But I forgot
Today, what is not needed it gets deleted
Just as in ancient times
When translated, annihilated
Just meant defeated
No, not just the soldier in retreat
But his dog, his flag and his whole family
I hear whispers…
Voices unknown to me
Hence I fall back into a dream-like state
Looks like everything will have to wait
Living in a dream…
To wake up one must fall asleep
Returning to reality…
Close your eyes as the same process repeats
Peace!
I AM
I am to their God
What the Beatles were to Jesus
Independent thought
Is the only thing that frees us
Even chained to a cross
I claim that you
Can still get lost
But not everyone believes this
Noah floated in a flood
And the reason was all because
Humans are just like
Viruses and diseases
Just as peasants are to power
As dangerous as weeds
Are to a flower...
And Brutus was to Caesar
Living in the age of painted rust
Sure looks pretty but do you trust
That it would even hold your weight
Or all those behind you trying to escape
From all you corporate hypnotists
Going around brainwashing little kids
Almost too slippery it's so surreal
The way I think and the way I float
The way I vote and the way I feel
Almost too good it should be destroyed
But then again that would leave
An awful lot of people left unemployed
And we know they'd need something
To kill time and fill the void
Some choose crime over rhyme
And Sarah Palin over Arundhati Roy
Oh to be a master to many
And a slave to none
Won't you tell me all about it
It sure does sound like fun
TIMELESS TO TEN
Sure going viral might
getcha paid and it
might even getcha laid
and make grandma need
a new hearing aid
“What'd ya say?”
It might make you friends
Send ya on an upward trend
Spiraling high above the earth
Until you find yourself
coming crashing on
back down again
“So what then?”
But by being bold
and staying true
Could and would you
Call your life a failure
If you find you’ve inspired
the minds of just a few?
Can't you see
that it's better to be
Timeless to ten rather than
having fifteen minutes
of fleeting fame
with the minions
They say a stitch in time
It may save nine
I say I’d rather be
timeless to just ten
Without regard or sentiment
for or of public opinion
I’d rather be loved by some
And feared by none
As opposed to reigning supreme
Over any other living beings
I’ve been thinking it’s better
to use my powers to heal
To try to unify
and not divide us all up
into different social classes
Delivered from temptation
Let me not yield
For I’d much rather level
the playing field
Than to try to climb
And rise above the masses
LISTEN
Down on the corner
Of Ocean and Demora
I’ve seen a lot of drama
My fair share of horror
Sometimes you see it coming
Or you’re hearing people running
As you’re thinking ain’t that something
That the prey has gone out hunting
Though you’re not sure what it means
You’ve fallen deeper in the dream
Begin to question your beliefs
Leaving others to plant seeds
What will grow?
What will grow?
What will grow?
It’s hard to know
Sometimes it shows
Other times it don’t show
What do we make
Of all these mistakes?
Try hard, trying hard
Keep falling on my face
Down on the corner
Of Ocean and Demora
I’ve seen a lot of drama
My fair share of horror
And though you know that it’s a trap
Your biggest failure’s not to act
It’s too easy to look back
Long after the fact
Saying I wish I did this
And I didn’t do that
Inaction and indecision
Leaves you full of things you’re missing
And now it’s lost
The gift you’ve been given
You paid the cost
No, you didn’t listen
FEAR
My fear is my friend
So long we’ve been together
From the beginning
Until the very end
Some call it other names
Play their silly games
Pretend they’re still the same
Though facts remain unchanged
You’re hearing two voices
Coming from different places
With two opposite choices
As you find yourself now facing
A separation of church and state
In this case it’s your logic and faith
One is gone the other’s been misplaced
Lying in ruins and laid to waste
Yet it takes dialogue and not debate
To make whole again this fractured state
We need common ground not lines in the sand
For unity to be found in our fellow man
With this goal in mind we must forge ahead
While biding our time with our feet on the ledge
Tight to our toes lies a precipitous drop
But with our backs to the wall we cannot stop
The daylight is dwindling
As darkness draws near
Every path towards escape
Has circled back here
I’m not alone…
It’s my friend who comforts me…
Fear
DOWN
When you’re down
That’s when they show
Funny how
They always seem to know
A cloud of doubt
Soon you’re all wet
Burned out black out
Less we forget
Our history’s
Full of regret
What we pretend to be
Sans our secrets
When you’re down
That’s when they show
Funny how
They always seem to know
A man like me
Teeters back and forth
Between being benevolent
And a fan of force
Half of me believes
There can only be
One king of the jungle
My other half isn’t deceived
And keeps reminding me
To stay humble
When you’re down
That’s when they show
Funny how
They always seem to know
So…
If you find yourself in a hole
The first thing to do is stop digging
What I’ve learned you will soon know
You lose the right to choose
when you’re begging
Once you took pride in self-control
Now you take whatever you’re given
That warm smile’s turned frosty cold
You’re making a mistake
- this ain’t really living
First find some sunlight
Then you can grow
Discover who and what you are
Rather than keep it hidden
Now behold
The shooting star
You’ve always been
And always are!
And now you know
What before...you didn’t
SPINNING
It is said that every
body is a temple
So surely somewhere in here
there's a place of healing
Lately I've found my hands
folded and praying
Though I'm not sure
if I should be standing,
sitting or kneeling
I've been having
the strangest of feelings
But I can't quite
put my finger on it
Though I know
there is a key
unlocking and revealing
That which I have been
searching and seeking
Still I have yet to
lay my hands upon it
In all of these --
my wheelings and dealings
Perhaps I lent it,
lost it or pawned it
For this isn't how
I planned it
I've slowly become
an army of one
I'm beginning to sense
that I'm surrounded
As around and around
and around I'm being spun
And I spin...
Seems I can't win
Yet I'll die before
I ever surrender
So I fight...
My own insides
And all these memories
I don't want to remember
I can't lie...
Or try to hide
In this journey
of mine to venture
Into the very
core of my mind
Just to see what
is at its center
So I pry...
From here outside
Whenever I find a room
with a chained door
That I know still has
yet to be explored
One that some day
I shall have to enter
SOMEWHERE
A handful of empty promises
all about a better tomorrow
I’ve found them to be all hollow
Leaving me here
with just this sorrow
Once I had all I thought I’d need
But now I got nothing but memories
It’s time to show me a sign
God, let me know you’re up there…
Somewhere
Lately it seems my faith
has somehow been misplaced
I hope it hasn’t disappeared
And that it’s still round here…
Somewhere
When the yellow sun is glowing way, way up high
You could never expect to see any stars in the sky
But you know they’re up there…
Somewhere
But it can boggle the mind
just what goes on… up there
Surely the stars still shine some places sometimes…
Somewhere
Yet where we come from
and where we all go surely I don’t know
But everything here
had to come from…
Somewhere
It’s lonely in the dark
on a cold night
Feeling without an ember,
without a spark
Clinging to emptiness oh so tight
Yet you know love is inside you…
Somewhere
Yes, you know love is inside you…
Somewhere