SONG LIST 1 — THE LAST MAN SINGING
13 tracks · read them or hear them
WHY THIS PAGE TALKS. These lyrics are free to use with name credit. What you hear is a plain spoken reading — no melody, no tune, no imitation of any singer. It is here so a musician can hear the natural cadence and phrasing of the words as written, then build their own music on top. Nothing borrows a melody from anybody, and nothing tells you what yours should sound like. The words are the material. The music is yours.
1. FALLEN CLOUDS
by by William Elmore & Tom Jensen
▶ HEAR THIS ONE
The stories told beside a campfire
so many years ago
Still echo through the canyons
melt the newly fallen snow
The legend of great heroes
now rest upon the stars
Along the craters of the moon
lay dark and blemished scars
There's no one here
to judge the living
Or sort through the dead
No one here to dictate terms
Nor record what was said
The laws of these lands
has not been etched in stone
The king who holds the scepter
can still be overthrown
Hanging clouds drift above
after the battle in the sky
Fallen soldiers through love and war
each one picking sides
So many wandering souls
Set adrift way up high
Listen through the canyons
We hear another deep sad sigh
You can never see their face
They can never find their place
When lightning strikes
The fire runs wild
Falling raindrops through the sky…
Fallen clouds…
Fallen
2. STRANDED
by by Justin Justice & Tom Jensen
▶ HEAR THIS ONE
Hanging by a rope
We each cling to hope
Stranded on an island
Where screams fall silent
Giant crashing waves
No hope of being saved
Sailor standing on a dock
Sunrise is his clock
The moon rising overhead
The sailor falls dead
The tide comes rolling in
The cycle ends
A new one begins
3. COMING OF FALL
by by Tyler Thompson & Tom Jensen
▶ HEAR THIS ONE
There's a man too wobbly to stand
On the topside ledge of a mountain
Sitting... searching for the truth
For some worldly proof
Of an eternal fountain
ooh
Kneeling...
He stares at his withered hands
All the while peeking
Over his shoulder
Feebly he attempts to stand
Sensing Northern winds
Blowing colder
ooh
Through a clear sky
he enters into a haze
With wrinkles around his eyes
He gazes
To the west
But he forgets although he tries
He numbers his time in minutes not days
He wonders if time will let him save
But now the past has died...
The sun sets over a distant horizon
The calming darkness begins to call...
A breath of October quietly exhaled
There is no mistaking the coming of fall
There's no mistaking
There's no mistaking
There no mistaking
The coming of...
Fall
4. BREAKING THE CHAINS
by by Tiffany Anne & Tom Jensen
▶ HEAR THIS ONE
Out in the distance
I think I hear someone
Calling my name
I guess even here I am still not alone
To think that solitude
Was the reason I came
To be out here so far from home
No matter where you go
Something or someone will find you
You'll never be able to break every chain
There is always one that will bind you
Go ahead and try
Go ahead and try
Go ahead and try to break the chain
Go ahead and try
Go ahead and try
Go ahead and try
But some things will never change
5. ONE SLIP OF THE KNIFE
by by Justin Justice & Tom Jensen
▶ HEAR THIS ONE
⚠ STRONG CONTENT WARNING — Suicide ideation, self-harm imagery, death.
Whenever you feel down
When in your mind you feel truly alone
Take a walk among the dead
Read each name upon each stone
If your eyes don't change
Join them in name join them in spirit
Be one and the same
From some pains you can never run away
Though sometimes forgotten
-- the scars will always stay
For sometimes it seems like there's no escape
And yet all it takes is one simple mistake
To burn down the mansion you built
To knock the clown off of his stilts
But don't let your judgment fail you
Know what you're finding before it's found
Don't ever let your cross nail you
A weight so heavy it'll drag you down
And when your inner voice
seems to have no sound
And all this pain builds up inside
You are here alone - with no one around
One thought stalks you:
there's nowhere left to hide...
And on the table lies a 12-inch blade.
As night creeps in as black as a spade
Would it really matter?
One slip of the knife?
Would anyone notice
-- a worthless life?
She lies on the floor
Her last thought so guilted
Clutching a rose now fallen and wilted
6. OVERRATED
by by Tyler Thompson & Tom Jensen
▶ HEAR THIS ONE
It's all the same
yet so much has changed
Since ten years ago
There's so much I've learned
but still I've returned
To what I used to know
New strangers appear
Old friends disappear
For some reason I've let them go
So simply stated:
My book no one's read it…
My life story nobody knows
Though my cover is quite plain
my text is full and rich
Be it fact or fiction
Who knows which is which?
I fake my happiness, hold back my tears
So I appear elated
It's best that I hide behind these hollow eyes
While I'm intoxicated
It's all the same yet so much has changed
Feeling high, then feeling low
I've visited here and I've traveled there
But what have to show
It's suddenly so clear to me
That I may never be
What I want to be
So hopefully being the best
Is overrated…….Overrated
7. MAYBE SOMEDAY
by by Bryan Magsayo & Tom Jensen
▶ HEAR THIS ONE
Maybe someday all my wounds will mend
When I got drawers on my chin and I'm wearing Depends
I've tried everything but this feeling won't end
No wonder darkness has slowly become my best friend
Confusion is my brother; I'm the son of desperation
Lost is my desire and I'm still searching for motivation
Every morning I wake up and I pray I can stay in bed
Sleep can be so peaceful and so good for the head
I've put off everything off until the end of time
My friends think they're psychics trying to read my mind
I want to scream at them even though they're being kind
8. FIRST PLACE
by by Klaus Bluetner & Tom Jensen
▶ HEAR THIS ONE
Doo Doo Doo Doo Doo Doo Doo Doo Dooo
Hey look at me...
I'm still laughing and joking
Even though I quit smoking
While I was working I was thinking
I'm so glad that I gave up drinking
Listen to me speak...
Well I guess the first place to start
Would be to tell you I got love in my heart
For a heart without love
is a glove without a hand
Or a brain without a mind
A mind that can't understand
Or ears that can't hear
this song that I sing
Or a tongue that won't taste
these chocolates that I bring
Hey look at me...
Well I guess once when I lost my way
Here's another fact
Is that I can't really say
I ever really fully came back
Just what is this
To have to come back to?
In what was once such a sacred place
Now lies a land of ruin
Where even the sky
Seems to burn my eyes
As I wash my face
In this dirty pool
I thought I'd been freed…
Now I see I was a fool
Poor hurried me…
Following the rules I learned in school
For a heart without love
is a glove without a hand
Or a brain without a mind
A mind that can't understand
Or ears that can't hear
this song that I sing
Or a tongue that won't taste
these chocolates that I bring
9. SLEEPWALKERS
by by Klaus Bluetner & Tom Jensen
▶ HEAR THIS ONE
When they're playing chess with you...
The game never lasts very long
Still haven't got a clue... why do you...
Why do you smile when you take a pawn?
Then their bishop overtakes your knight
When he wasn't even dressed to fight
Soon their queen upends your rook
Before you could even look
Another smile...
your knight just claimed a pawn
But now...
now your little horsie's gone
He didn't run away...
he just got sleighed
As the king of your castle
he numbers his days
Yeah, you're wondering and pondering
As you're endlessly wandering
on and on and on...
And you're scribbling and scrabbling
Along the chessboard of life
feeling you're just a pawn
Sleepwalkers
Sleepwalkers
You just made a list of things
that you need to say
About yourself, about the world
and all its ways
Sometimes you think that
it's a lie that hard work pays
Now that everything has been numbered
- yes even your days
Why is everyone...
sleepwalking around this globe…
This giant wheel?
Seems as a whole we can no longer feel
While deep in this slumber
For the gift of the presence of love
we no longer hunger
When our dreams are gone...
yet we still walk on and on and on and on...
You just made a list of the things
that you need to say
And it 'tis just one...
There's hardly no time left for anyone
As names and faces keep fading farther away
Still, you know you've got so much to give...
so with this guilt you live
I'm sorry, but there's just too few hours in a day
How'd your life become this way?
(sleepwalkers)
10. PRETTY TOYS
by by Klaus Bluetner & Tom Jensen
▶ HEAR THIS ONE
With every hurled stone that is cast
I walk one step closer to becoming broken
With every coming sunset I manage to outlast
Ahead lies a sunrise by which I may not be awoken
With every cigarette I smoke
I see another small sign of cancer
With every question that I ask
I find I come closer to the answer
As I look within your empty eyes
You create a new fantasy to fill the void
You play some music to cover your sighs
and fill your room with all those pretty toys...
Hey rich girl...
Throw the keys to your Mercedes down to me
You'll have to leave it all behind
if you really want to be free
I look at my hands
they're all beaten and torn
Sometimes you must get dirty
if you want to be reborn
Come away with me
and maybe I'll write you a song
I've come here to teach you
that everything they taught you was wrong...
With every hurled stone that you cast
You walk one step closer to becoming broken
With every coming sunset you manage to outlast
Ahead lies a sunrise by which you may not be awoken
Pretty toys…
Pretty toys…
Pretty toys
11. CONCRETE PEOPLE
by by Klaus Bluetner & Tom Jensen
▶ HEAR THIS ONE
Concrete people like to hide behind gold
Concrete people will collect what they're owed
Concrete people leave you out in the cold
Concrete people hate most to be exposed
Concrete people ain't got no souls
They traded them in for high priced clothes
Concrete people with their hearts of stone
Even sold out my beloved rock and roll
Concrete people never hang their heads low
Concrete people never let their feelings show
Concrete people keep their statues in rows
Concrete people always reap what they sow
But me, I ain't no concrete man
I mess things up every now and then
I slave for those who do me wrong
And I find relief in the rock and roll song
Rock and roll song
Rock and roll song
Concrete people think I'm wasting my time
Concrete people never step out of line
Concrete people hate the shirt that I wear
Concrete people find me too hard to bare
Concrete people ain't got no souls...
They traded them in for high priced clothes
Concrete people with their hearts of stone
Even sold out my beloved rock and roll
And me, I ain't no concrete man
I mess things up every now and then
Slave for those who do me wrong
And I find relief in a rock 'n roll song
Rock and roll song
Rock and roll song
Rock and roll song
12. FIGHT FOR PEACE
by by Tom Jensen & Lynette
▶ HEAR THIS ONE
Come now citizens of the world
Let us knock down this mental wall
Time to let a new flag unfurl
Large enough to cover us all
Endless sea of humanity
That will bridge both the land and shore
Become one global family
Let us not divide anymore
Realize difference makes us great
Opposed to tearing us apart
I swear to you it's not too late
And all it takes is one to start
It could be you who makes a stand
One burning monk can end a war
Wouldn't fight in Iraq...I ran
Didn't deem it worth fighting for
Unlock the door you have the key
Finally let this madness cease
Everybody say it with me
What is my belief? Can't fight for peace