And I replied
Everything comes at a price
A pound of flesh, a bank guaranteed cheque, a money transfer or good old fashioned cash are what's needed to get by
Could someone tell me the price of a friendly smile, a reassuring touch on the arm?
How much does love cost, in its pure, unconditional form?
And the feeling you get dancing in the rain on a hot summer's day?
What do words cost?
Nothing is free
Is that the way life has come to be?
Throw off the shackles
Drink from the well of freedom
Live off the land of your fathers
But don't forget to pay rent
Be free
Live with hope
Pursue dreams
But always remember to drive on the right side of the road
Track 1:
Soul fantasies linger on the dancefloors of memory, transport forgotten sins from then to now, nostalgia has a habit of wiping cracked slates clean, past discretions fade with time, leave only slightly soiled fragments and a bittersweet taste that only returns when you hear that chord, that note, fullblown by the chorus, it is easier to look back than exist in the illusionary present, 'could have been' a refuge from 'to be'....
Where have all the good songs gone?
A boy sits in a room in his father's house, reaches into his father's past to find comfort, the words he hears speak a language only he seems to understand, his friend's don't quite get it, or maybe they just don't want to, the boy finds a semblence of momentary peace in the moments, the sounds reaching through the headphones to caress his heart, this is real art, he whispers wordlessly, and closes his eyes to today, drowning in a yesterday that he knows nothing of....
Where have they gone?
Songs carry our memories, take us to a place once lived, most times, they bring with them the magic of moments, sometimes, only sometimes, the pain they bring chokes....
Track 2:
Mommy I hear voices singing my future, they sing off key to mock me, breed indecision with each twisted melody. My yesterdays have faded into the music archives of time, I dream of classics yet to be sung in my name, the voices still mock me, taunting with schizophrenic harmonies
Where have all the good songs gone?
The division of music into someone's random classification leaves those of us who exist in the grey area confused
Where have they gone, the good songs?
She used to sit, listening her grandmother hum, this was the soundtrack to her childhood, rooted in the earth, the womb, the soul, the calm preceded the storm of puberty, when she stumbled through the music of her youth, and finally understood why, on those sunday afternoons, listening to her small radio in the kitchen, placed next to the stove, why, in between sunday lunch and sunday chores, she would sometimes, not always, just sometimes, she would see a tear in her mother's eyes....
Why have all the good songs gone .....
Track 3:
Dance, my child
Lose yourselves in the rhythms of your father's time
Listen to the words
They speak of a timeless love
Of days long lost
Dance, my child
All of the good songs have gone
Yet they linger
Remastered and remixed
Sampled and re-released
Now they cut the good bits together
And give them life
Why have all the goods songs gone
Each generation finds its classics
Melodies that define the journey into puberty
Musical manifestation of hormonal chaos
You shall have yours one day, my son
Until then, you shall have mine
Nostalgic harmony that maps the misteps of my life
Chords and notes that only ring true
Now that you are here
Why have all the good songs gone?
behind the shutters of her eyes
lies infinite melody and charm,
and when she sings,
the birds perch on the branches of trees and listen in silence
the dogs stop barking
and wolves stop howling at the moon
she reaches to the stars with song
conquers our hearts with emotion
and rhythm and hope
the songbird is a lullaby personified
in this i dream
i had a family, a wife, a child
i was a father, a husband, a son, a brother
in this dream i awoke every day knowing i was blessed
and had everything i needed
i had a dream once
a perfect dream
till i realised i wasn't asleep
and the dream was actually my reality
my life!
He sits in traffic
Bumper to bumper
Zombie to zombie
The same faces stare off into the distance
Going half crazy with the pain of it all
All he has is 'one day'
One day things will be better
One day it will all make sense
One day his dreams shall become
One day his laughter will come from the gut, the heart
One day
He laughs at the hopelessness
He laughs one day
these words
tease and mislead
evoke hollow dreams
speak mindless truth
linger in the minds of the uncouth
but never grace me with the simplicity of my truth
these words
hide in the shadows
daring me to seek them out
to enter the unknown
to overcome the fear
these words
drag my soul kicking and screaming onto the page
cackling and laughing at my feeble resistance
these words mirror my reflection
magnify my inadequacies
and yet, somehow, give me hope
these words are all i have
