Calaveras

Ready to Fly


I am standing on the edge of the water
And I am watching the wild birds fill the sky
And I am longing to be lifted up among them
I am not dying I’m getting ready to fly.

I am an old man and these old hands tell my story
Fifty years on the Boston piers took their toll
Faded faces smile from those places I cannot return to
‘Til my days are done and they take me home

And I am standing on the edge of the water
And I am watching the wild birds fill the sky
And I am longing to be lifted up among them
I am not dying I’m getting ready to fly.

I was a young wife with my whole life still before me
It was the last year of the last great war
My darling Edward never returned from Normandy
But soon I will see my Edward once more.

And I am standing on the edge of the water
And I am watching the wild birds fill the sky
And I am longing to be lifted up among them
I am not dying I’m getting ready to fly.

My memory is fading like an ember
But I remember a promise I once made
I said dear Father I’ll be faithful forever
And as he draws near me he can hear me pray

I am standing on the edge of the water
And I am watching the wild birds fill the sky
And I am longing to be lifted up among them
I am not dying I’m getting ready to fly.

Peace of My Love


Tiny, frightened child
Feeling yourself breathing your first breath
Though your heart flutters like a birds
Take comfort in these words

You are of my body, by my side
In my heart forever so close your eyes
and sleep in the peace of my love

Your eyes are my eyes
My smile is your smile
I see what is good in my in you
I’ll be here to help you grow but for know just know

You are of my body, by my side
In my heart forever so close your eyes
and sleep in the peace of my love

In a world not yet divided by pedigree or race
You are still an angel in a state of perfect grace

Of my body, by my side
In my heart forever so close your eyes
and sleep in the peace of my love

To tell the truth I’m misunderstood
Never had a thing against doing good
But when I see a full moon, I can’t stop howling
Or a tasty little poodle, I can’t keep from growling

I’m a bad dog and I can’t change
Ain’t no ointment for this kind of mange
If it itches I scratch, if it tickles I kick
If it smells I sniff, if it’s nasty I lick
Cause I’m a bad, bad dog.

I once caught a fat Siamese cat—oh boy
Gave it a nice Chinese name—chew toy
But just because I chase squirrels and cats and cars
That’s no reason to put me behind these bars

I spent a year of hard time here in this pen
And you know in dog years, that’s seven to ten
But I’m bustin’ out and it sure is a crime
So many hydrants so little time

Cause I’m a bad dog and I can’t change
Ain’t no ointment for this kind of mange
If it itches I scratch, if it tickles I kick
If it smells I sniff, if it’s nasty I lick
Cause I’m a bad, bad dog.

I might fetch your slippers and bring them to you
But they’ll be covered with slobber and a little chewed too
I don’t roll over or shake or sit
Don’t know how those other mutts put up with that stuff

I once took a try at obedience school
But I must have broken some cardinal rule
While the other dogs were learnin’ to sit up and beg
I was getting acquainted with the instructor’s leg

Bad dog! And I can’t change
Ain’t no ointment for this kind of mange
If it itches I scratch, if it tickles I kick
If it smells I sniff, if it’s nasty I lick
Cause I’m a bad, bad dog.

Firefly nights

Do you remember those warm nights in June
When we both were still just farmer’s kids
And we walked out beneath that summertime moon
And it gave its permission for the things we did

And the crickets played rhythm to the beat of my heart
While I tasted life’s many delights
In the shadow of the new moon behind the old barn
On those magic firefly nights, those magic firefly nights

We danced in the circle of the firefly light
In the sweet green fields of summer hay
I called you my lover for the very first time
I remember it like it was yesterday

And the crickets played rhythm to the beat of my heart
While I tasted life’s many delights
In the shadow of the new moon behind the old barn
On those magic firefly nights, those magic firefly nights

Heading north on Highway 101
Off to college with my first-born son
He is talking about his mom
He guesses she will feed the cats now that he is gone

But we don’t talk about the way we feel
I keep my grip just holding on to the wheel

And I am driving him away
And this is right and this is life
And this is what we hope and pray
But something’s dying in me anyway

We used to wrestle on the parlor floor
I’d let him win and he would yell for more
Now he’s grown tall and full of quiet grace
But I still see my little boy in his handsome face

And though I know the time has come for him to leave
He is still so dear to me I can’t believe

I am driving him away
And this is right and this is life
And this is what we hope and pray
But something’s dying in me anyway
As I am driving him away

So bittersweet is a father’s pride
As he takes his biggest step I must try to step aside

And I am driving him away.

Heading north on highway 101
Off to college with my first-born son.

I thought I saw you in the rise of a granite peak
Etched by a frozen hand in a language I cannot speak
I tried to hold onto the moment but it was just a passing glance
Out of step, out of rhythm I stumble and I miss my chance

And I’ve been looking for you

Sometimes there’s this darkness, it seems to swallow everything in sight
Like a winter so unrelenting, spring just gives up the fight
I’ve tried to fill this emptiness with money’s finest things
But all the golden threads I’ve woven keep unraveling

And I’ve been looking for you

So pass by my room tonight
Fill my dreams with your Holy light

I’ve been looking for you.

a city and a life and a girl

Tuesday morning without any coffee and too many chores to do
Along came Sally biking down the alley to show me her new tattoo
She said hop on and I said alright and she took me to a place she knows
A little speak easy down in the shadows where nobody I know goes

I said you gotta be crazy
she said hey don’t we all?
So we got up and danced to an old time record
until I started to fall

Fallin’ like a priest in the city of angels or a soul on capitol hill
Fallin’ like a star into smoke and ash or the buzz from a little white pill
Fallin’ like a trucker looking for a load in an empty container world
Fallin’ like a brick into the mix of a city and a life and a girl

I did a little thinking, a little bit of drinking and I called Sally again
I made my bed but I couldn’t sleep in it, so I said let’s be friends
She started to take her shoes off and I said hey let’s be clear
I like my fun but honestly hun that’s not why I brought you here

She said never say never
And I said I never do.
So we got up and danced to an old time record
Just like lovers do

Fallin’ like a priest in the city of angels or a soul on capitol hill
Fallin’ like a star into smoke and ash or the buzz from a little white pill
Fallin’ like a trucker looking for a load in an empty container world
Fallin’ like a brick into the mix of a city and a life and a girl

Leaf-faced elf of spring has spoken
Leaving me like quaking aspen
Rooted deep but lightly shaking
In the buffered breeze

She brings light and flights of fancy
Stolen from the God of dance she
Flits and flies before my eyes and
Kisses all she sees

Toad and swallow rose and weed
Know the green girl’s every deed
On April wings at blazing speed
The green girl comes to me

Green girl tiptoes cross my lawn
And lifts the summer sun beyond
She stutters in the waking wind
And shakes the berry vine

She of wine and she of sorrow
She of lovers in the meadow
She who promises tomorrow’s
Pleasures we will find

Toad and swallow rose and weed
Know the green girl’s every deed
She makes the sap-veined pine tree bleed
As she comes to me

There is nothing I can teach her
Bursts like bubbles if I touch her
Playful star I only see her
When I look away

Toad and swallow rose and weed
Know the green girl’s every deed
In every shoot and every seed
The green girl comes to me

I"ve been keeping your letters under my pillow'
I've been keeping your love up on the shelf
But I'm happy tonight just passing the time
Dancing with you all by myself

I still remember the night we promised each other
Not to dance with anyone else
Now you know how I'm keeping that vow
Dancing with you all by myself

The radio's playing our favorite song
I close my eyes and you are kissing me
I've been missing you darling
For oh so long
And I pray you are still missing me

So I spin me around one more time slowly
To that melody we know so well
Til you are here I'll dream of you dear and be dancing with you all by myself.

Yodelin' blues

I’m stuck up on this mountain called the Matterhorn
Chasing sheep and wishing I was never born
They make me eat Muesli, the Swiss brand of Total
They let me sing the blues, but only if I yodel
From Berne to Lucerne you can hear me shout the news
This boy’s got a case of those yodelin’ blues
Yodelladey, yodelladey adey hoo.

My knees are knocking and my leg hairs are frozen
From standing in the snow in my liederhosen
We got no baseball, we got no place to surf
Just pine trees and goat cheese and gift shops full of smurfs
From the meadow to the ghetto you can hear my falsetto singing
This boy’s got those yodelin’ blues
Yodelladey, yodelladey adey hoo.

I thought I had a shot at dating Katarina Witt
Then she ran off with that skier and treated me like--dirt
I guess I'll never jetset with the high and mighty
I'll be lucky if I ever get to diddle Heidi
Diddle Heidi diddle Heidi diddle Heidi diddle Heidi ho.

Our chocolates and our watches are all overpriced
We're neutral cause our army just has little red knives
Our cheese is full of holes and we live next door to the French
And with all those sheep and goats ach du lieber what a stench
From Berne to Lucerne you can here me shout the news
This boy’s got a case of those yodellady, yodellady, yodellady, yodellady, yodelin’ blues

My Town

My town it’s a drive-on-by town
It’s an if-you’re-going-60-you’ll-miss-it-if-you-blink-your-eye town
It’s a bunch of little houses and a bank and a grocery, nothing much special to see
But my town is the only town for me.

I moved to the city for a couple of years but I could never call it home
Funny how so many people can make you feel so alone
I guess they got some pretty nice women there beneath the perfume and the paint
But you never know which ones are and which ones ain’t
It sure ain’t like

My town it’s a folks-say-hi town
It’s a kids-on-bikes and a flags-on-the-Fourth-of-July town
You can come around for some lemonade and visit ‘neath a big shade tree
That’s why my town is the only town for me

I came back home and married Mary Jo, I’ve known her since I was four
The sweetest girl in the whole wide world and she was livin’ right next door
The best things in life are like that, sittin’ right under your nose
You go chasin’ daisies when you’re already holding a rose
And that goes for

My town it’s an average-guy town
A get-married-settle-down-have-kids-and-eventually-die town
But there’s no place I hold dear like here among friends and family
Cause my town is the only town for me.

You get you’re birthday in the paper, with a coupon for one free beer
And just about every decade, you get to be man of the year
Right here in

My town, it’s an average-guy town,
It’s a folks-say-hi town
It’s a drive-on-by town
Oh it’s my town.

Don Quixote


In ‘63 a Soho gallery showed your work
Twisted forms in charcoal and some abstract oils
For thirty more year you kept on tending those fields
of your single minded tortured toils
Made enough to keep you off the streets
and I knew you as a cranky intellectual
who argued with the world about the trivial
With a passion that made it seem so essential

How did you ride that white steed so high in the face of the rushing tide
Truth so elusive even you could barely see
Don Quixote did you ever find what you believe?

And I am standing here in front of dwindling crowds
Singing what I remember as Gods own truth
My voice seems the weakest when it cries out loud
To romantics seeking love songs about happy youth
So here’s to the heroes in the undertow
The fighters for enlightenment we’ll never know

Truth so elusive even you could barely see
Don Quixote did you ever find what you believe?

And did death bring you truth or only peace
A glorious light or just release

How did you ride that white steed so high in the face of the rushing tide
Truth so elusive even you could barely see
Don Quixote did you ever find what you believe