There was always something sad about Robin Williams
Even when everyone was laughing
It was like he had some deep dark secret
Like, inside, his heart was cracking
Like a clown at a birthday party
He made shapes out of balloons
And he made us forget, for a little while
That childhood ends too soon

There was always something sad about Robin Williams
Even in his manic phase
It’s like he swallowed the whole damn culture
And made it all come out sideways
There was something familiar about him
 Something kind and wise
Yes, there always seemed to be a tear
In Robin Williams’ eyes

In Robin Williams’ eyes, in Robin Williams’ eyes
There always seemed to be a tear in Robin Williams’ eyes

The first time that we met him, he was from outer space
It’s like he’d been sent here with a message for the human race
And then in The World According to Garp
We got to see his sensitive side
Yes, there always seemed to be a tear
In Robin Williams’ eyes

In Robin Williams’ eyes, in Robin Williams’ eyes
There always seemed to be a tear in Robin Williams’ eyes

My favorite role he ever played
Was Matt Damon’s therapist
Matt Damon was a genius
At hiding his tenderness
But Robin Williams saw right through that
He kept digging at the wall
Til he said the words Matt finally heard
He said, “Son, it’s not your fault.”

In Robin Williams’ eyes, in Robin Williams’ eyes
There always seemed to be a tear in Robin Williams’ eyes




In Robin Williams' Eyes

I was born in a shack along the railroad tracks
I looked in her eyes and her eyes looked back
We lived in a town made of beauty and pain
Where they stripped & they shipped the beauty away
You could feel the earth shake
You could hear the sky thunder
As the loads rolled by full of sweet smelling lumber
Like a memory that rumbles through the back of my brain
It was always a woman and there was always a train

I once had a sweetheart with hair like a willow
Her cheeks were like cherries and her lips were like pillows
When the war came the men were all shipped overseas
As she kissed me on the platform tears ran down her cheeks
Oh, but time rolls on and it’s hard to hold on
I came home from the war and my darling was gone
I can still hear her crying through the wind and the rain
Yes, it was always a woman and there was always a train

Well, you do what you gotta do
Yeah, you do what it takes
Life is made of scrap metal, spare parts and duct tape
It’s just an ache in my heart, it’s hard to explain
But it was always a woman and there was always a train

I married a girl and I worked in the mill
She planted wild roses, the kind cold cannot kill
We drew lines on the wall where the kids were a-growin’
But I’d catch myself listening for that train whistle blowin’
Then the interstate came and the mill was shut down
And the last load of lumber rumbled through town
Now the children are gone but her roses remain
It was always a woman and there was always a train

Always A Train

Sometimes the feeling, it gets so strong
I’m ‘bout to jump out of my skin
I got so much love inside of me
I don’t know where to begin

I got so much I want to give you
But you’re not there to receive
Seems like every time
I knock on your door
You got some other place to be

They say love’s gotta keep on movin’
Yeah, it needs some place to go
I feel just like a millionaire
Tryin’ to give away his dough

What am I supposed to do?
What am I supposed to do?
What am I supposed to do?
With all this love

God knows that I’ve been lucky
More than I ever coulda guessed
Sometimes it gets downright embarrassing
Just how much I have been blessed

I got poetry inside of me
But the words are hard to find
They don’t come out right
They just block the light
And tangle up my mind

They say you gotta learn to love everybody
That’s somethin’ I never learned to do
I don’t know how to love everybody
All I know is I love you

What am I supposed to do?
What am I supposed to do?
What am I supposed to do?
With all this love

It always gets so beautiful
Right after it rains
The air smells clean
The light turns green
Comin’ in through the window pane

It fills me with such wonder
It fills me with such awe
I gotta go tell everybody
‘Bout the vision I just saw

I wish I was an apple tree
I’d know just what to do
I’d spread my arms out in the sun
And make sweet little apples for you

But what am I supposed to do?
What am I supposed to do?
What am I supposed to do?
With all this love

What Am I S'posed To Do

Darling, give me one more kiss
To remember you by
For the mem’ry of your lips
Sweeter than a cherry pie
For I’m leaving here today
Where I’m going I can’t say
I’m just going anyway
Wouldn’t have it any other way
Down the highway rolling wheels
Over bridges made of steel
Oh, I wonder how it feels
When the bells of lightning peal

Like the caterpillar crawls
This mortal coil does unwind
So the soul from its shell
Must emerge a butterfly
Past the camps and hobo yards
Railroad tracks run like a scar
Crooked lines on a pretty face
Steel wheels singin’ notes of grace
Darling, give me your hand
Fly with me through open fields
Feel spirit movin’ on the land
When the bells of lightning peal

Callin’ everybody home
Like a holy telephone
Yeah, every broken bone
Shall heal
When the bells of lightning peal

Soon the sky will open up
Heaven’s light come pouring down
Spiral staircase will descend
Til its lowest rung is on the ground
From their graves the dead will rise
Wipe the sleep out of their eyes
Ancient children come alive
Throwin’ shadows ‘cross the sky
And as we blast off to the stars
Past graveyards and battlefields
It’s just the clanging of the old boxcars
When the bells of lightning peal

Callin’ everybody home
Like a holy telephone
Yeah, every broken bone
Shall heal
When the bells of lightning peal

Bells of Lightning

When The People Sing

Preacher in the pulpit, talking ‘bout sin
Say you better not let that devil in
God in heaven, he just gets bored
You know He’s heard all that b.s. before
He go to church for just one thing:
God just likes it when the people sing
God just likes it when the people sing

Old man reading from an ancient scroll
Every word light a candle in his soul
Got the music of the spheres inside his mind
But a good translation is hard to find
All you can try do is find a harmony
God just likes it when the people sing
God just likes it when the people sing

Well, there’s a song inside of everything
Find an old tree stump and you can count the rings
Like a frog or a cricket or a hummingbird wing
You gotta let that song inside you sing…

Chain gang digging up the cold, hard ground
They give the world its saddest sound
Like beasts of burden, they’re chained right there
A song makes it easier to bear
The blues is the soul of many things
God just likes it when the people sing
God just likes it when the people sing
He don’t care about your creed or your particular thing
God just likes it when the people sing

All over this world people worship and pray
Must be about a hundred million ways
Any way you do it, that’s OK
Wonder what the kids call it these days
We used to Boogaloo and Shing-a-Ling
God just likes it when the people sing
God just likes it when the people sing 
God just likes it when the people sing


God Just Likes It (When The People Sing)

The Broken Places

Well, everybody’s got a tender spot
That they keep hidden from the world
A place so sensitive nobody can get too close
Not a friend, not a love, not a brother
Nobody really earns your trust
But it’s a tender touch you’re hurting for the most

Get strong at the broken places
Let out a cry let out a moan let out a wail
You gotta give expression to the pain
You gotta to suck it up and spit it out again
Get strong at the broken places

Now, everybody’s got their own story
One loses a lover, one loses a leg
One goes out in a blaze of glory
And one poor fool’s still waiting
For his big break

Maybe you think you got it covered
Maybe you think nobody can see
Maybe you still think that a bluff is enough to win
I don’t care how slick you play the game
I don’t care how bad you think you are

You’re gonna have to face that broken place again
Get strong at the broken places
You gotta learn to turn the shrapnel into gold
You’re gonna come back stronger than before
You’re gonna be all right you’re just a little sore
Get strong at the broken places

The Broken Places

Born in the projects of Potrero Hill
Behind the City by The Bay
Mama clutched her baby
To her breast, said "He’s gonna shock the world some day"
He had rickets as a child
Legs locked up in metal braces
But, oh how those legs’d grow big and strong
And carry him to exalted places
He broke records at City College
He broke down walls at USC
In Buffalo
They nearly ran him to death
But The Juice was elusive
And he broke free

Run OJ run
Run as fast as you can
Everybody wants to squeeze
The Orange Juice Man

400 years of slavery
Coiled deep in his DNA
A thousand slurs, a thousand lashes
A thousand cheeks
Turned the other way
Not only did he play the game
He played the game inside the game
When they moved him up to
The broadcast booth
It only added to his fame
To the victor go the spoils
And fortune favors the bold
I guess it’s no surprise
The ultimate prize
Was the goddess with
The locks of gold

Run OJ run
Run as fast as you can
Everybody wants to squeeze
The Orange Juice Man

He had a mansion up in Brentwood
He hosted Hollywood occasions
He had coffee-colored children
More beautiful than mere Caucasians
But the goddess was unfaithful
And she had venom in her sting
And under California law
She got half of everything
Now the story shifts
To a bird’s-eye view
Choppers fly, the feed goes live
Life became a reality show
White Ford Bronco
On the 405

Run OJ run
Run as fast as you can
Everybody wants to squeeze
The Orange Juice Man

Seems like everyone got healthy
The whole damn economy
The lawyers, the papers, the TV
shows
They were all getting
Their juice for free
The DA used a woman and a black man
To be its’ public face
They even planted evidence
Still they could not make a case
In the end it came down
To a bloody glove
OJ’s paw, it would not fit
Johnnie Cochrane turned
To the jury and said
“Ladies and gentlemen -
You must aquit!”

Run OJ run
Run as fast as you can
Everybody wants to squeeze
The Orange Juice Man

Lawyers always get their money
The law always gets its man
If they can’t get you for murder
They’ll get you any way they can
They took away his livelihood
He couldn’t even shill for Hertz
About the only thing OJ had left
Was a trunk full of
Pants and shirts
Caught some creep in Vegas
Trying to sell his shit
Even the suit he wore at trial
Ended up in jail
Stealing his own shit back
Even the leg brace he wore as a
child

Run OJ run
Run as fast as you can
Everybody wants to squeeze
The Orange Juice Man




The Orange Juice Man

Well, we stood in awe
Of the purple mountains' majesties
As the motor ran
And the sky unfurled it's tapestries
Still a long, long way from heaven
Just one stone’s throw from hell
It’s a feeling I remember oh so well
And the sunlight in the canyon
And the smoke on the riverside
We were caught in the heart of a turning tide

The faces of my friends
Well, it’s enough to make a grown man cry
By the firelight
Yeah, we drink from each others’ lives
And practice random acts of kindness
And senseless acts of joy
We ain’t never going back to Illinois!
And though it feels just like forever
It’s just one short ferry ride
When you’re caught in the heart of a turning tide

If I could make a wish
If I could swing upon a star
I’d ask for nothing more
Than to be just where you are
And to feel the air around us
With its midnight colored skin
And to dream of all the battles yet to win
And your arms my only shelter
Should I ever need to hide
Should I ever find my heart in a turning tide
And your arms my only shelter
Should I ever need to hide
We were caught in the heart of a turning tide

The Heart Of A Turning Tide

Oh, I remember when
The wall came down
And our love flowed free
As a mountain stream
And I knew your soul
And you knew mine
And I carried your secret
Heart with me

I loved you then
I love you now
I loved you when
I did not know how
I loved you then
I love you now
And I'll love you again
When the wall comes down

Oh, how gently we pressed
On the panes of night
Sending our love to each other
Like a satellite
Careful not to wake the kids
Oh, we barely made a sound
Digging with our fingertips
Into the cold, hard ground

I loved you then
I love you now
I loved you when
I did not know how
I loved you then
I love you now
And I’ll love you again
When the wall comes down

Now it's back to bone
Each brick in place
Outside our hearts
No one’s discovered our escape
While the whole world sleeps
My soul turns ‘round
Dreaming of that mountain stream
Where love comes pouring down

I loved you then
I love you now
I loved you when
I did not know how
I loved you then
I love you now
And I’ll love you again
When the wall comes down

When The Wall Comes Down - live, Austin, 3/21/16 w/Michael Henchman

Well, she laughed when I sang her a love song
I guess I hit her in her funny bone
She said, “Don’t get me wrong, it’s a real nice song”
As she played with the apps on her phone
She just sat there, so incredibly beautiful
All lit up by the light from above
I said, “You can laugh at my tune, you can laugh at the moon
But you’re a fool if you’re laughin’ at love”

Laughing at love, laughing at love
Dear God above, she was laughing at love
Laughing at love, laughing at love
You know you’re a fool if you’re laughing at love

Yeah, she laughed when I sang her a love song
Though I sang it so tender and tough
She said, “That kind of thing, really, what does it mean?
I’m not into that romantic stuff”
Well her eyes burned like little green diamonds
I don’t know what her heart was made of
I said, “You can laugh at the moon if you think you’re immune
But you’re a fool if you’re laughing at love

Laughing at love, laughing at love
Dear God above, she was laughing at love
Laughing at love, laughing at love
You know you’re a fool if you’re laughing at love

Well, she laughed when I sang her a love song
And pretty soon she had me laughing, too
With that look in her eye, we laughed til we cried
At all the funny things love does to you
Then for some reason she kissed me
She made a sound like a sweet turtle dove
Oh, we cuddled, we cooed, we ah’d and we ooh’d
Oh dude, we were laughing at love

Laughing at love, laughing at love
Dear God above, we were laughing at love
Laughing at love, laughing at love
Just a couple of fools, we were laughing at love
Me and my turtle dove, we were laughing at love

Laughing at Love

When the autumn leaves...
Start swirling round...
And everyone with means...
Starts making plans to get the hell out of here...
That’s when I love it best...
Smokestacks and abandoned factories...
Under a layer of snow...
I winter in Chicago
* * *
Wind is off the lake
Wind chill is for wimps and weathermen
Got my Bears hat on
Grilling up some brats in the Soldier’s Field parking lot
Under a bruised orange sky
Snow keeps dumping under sodium streetlights
Traffic snarls
Now the city that works
Chills for a while
I winter in Chicago
* * *
Don’t tell me about some beachfront property down in Florida
I don’t need to see the light in the south of France
My idea of a thing of beauty on a winter day
Is just a layer of snow on the elevated tracks
I winter in Chicago
* * *
Trying to start my car
Snowplow buried all the cars on my street
My neighbor’s out there, too
I don’t really know him
He don’t really know me
We dig each other out
He asks me if I got any jumper cables
I say I do
Then my neighbor looks at me and says
Pleased to meet you
I winter in Chicago


I Winter In Chicago

O, the stars above us twinkle/
Yeah, they put on quite a show/
They say the light that meets our eyes today/
Was born a million years ago/
And it spells out quite a story/
In strands of DNA/
The same spark that birthed the universe/
Is borne in us today/

Already on their way, already on their way
Give thanks for unknown blessings
Already on their way

O, this world is a funhouse mirror
Sometimes you feel just like a clown
Everything’s distorted
Everything seems upside down
And the truth it just gets twisted
Like a rope gets torn and frayed
Til it feels like you can’t hold on no more
Til you just might slip away

Already on their way, already on their way
Give thanks for unknown blessings
Already on their way

History’s a spiral
Sometimes it’s hard to see
Through the smoke and the blood and the tear-gas
That it’s the path of victory
It’s a crooked road we walk upon
Strung with miracles on the way
But like raindrops to the ocean
We’ll make it there someday

And we’re already on our way
Already on our way
Give thanks for unknown blessings
Already on their way

Unknown Blessings

Where I live, in Oregon, we’ve got these big, beautiful trees that grow to be a couple of hundred feet tall.

And when you live in a timber town, it seems like there’s always the sound of a train in the background.

It’s just this kind of mournful sound, and it gets in your dreams, and it becomes the soundtrack of your life.

And it got me to thinking: why is the sound of a train so sad?

And I realized it’s because it’s the sound of Mother Earth, crying, as those big, beautiful, trees are being cut down and hauled away.

But when the mills are working, you can probably get a job.

And if you can get a job, you can probably get a wife.

And if you've got a wife, you can probably grow a garden.

And if you got a garden…and you got a wife…well, you can probably have a pretty good life.

You won’t get rich.

But you just might have a bunch of kids running around in the yard, and you’ll definitely have homegrown tomatoes in the summertime.

And on this smokestack planet of ours, that’s what it’s all about:

It’s always a woman.

And there’s always a train.

Short Stories

Sittin’ in front of the screen...
World at my fingertips...
Sittin’ in front of the screen...
Diet Coke and a bag of chips...
I’m the consumer king...
Nothin’s better than this...
I don’t have to do a thing...
My ass is so well-kissed...
I don’t feel the pain...
My hands they don’t get stained...
I got the biggest brain...
That’s why I remain...
Up at the top of the food chain

Sittin’ in the driver’s seat
World at my command
Got a Jeep Gran Cherokee
Am I God or just Superman?
My body’s so hard and sleek
Nothin’ can touch me now
Domination so complete
I ought to get up and take a bow
I conquered when I came
I changed the rules of the game
Nature seems so tame
That’s why I stake my claim
At the top of the food chain

Big fish eat the small
That’s how it’s supposed to be 
If I don’t eat ‘em all
The rest can be employees
I like to surf the web
I like to channel surf
I’m sending a probe to Mars
Just in case I get bored on earth
I keep soft music playin'
It keeps the hens a-layin'
Business is insane
We’re open 24 hours a day
Up at the top of the food chain

Sittin’ in front of the screen
Lookin’ at the MRI
In got the best doctors in the world
Thebest money can buy
“Doc, you gotta tell me
I’m gonna be OK”
He says, “We found a mutant gene
You got a kink in your DNA..”
Now I’m trying to make a change
I’m eating lots of fruits and grains
I’m taking morphine for the pain
But things are getting a little strange
Up at the top of the food chain

Its just a chain chain chain
Chain of food

Food Chain

Sometimes I get weary; sometimes I don’t care...
Sometimes I just turn it off; I just sit there and stare...
But the sun it will shine; the wind it will blow...
The rain it will fall; flowers will grow...

But it’s gonna take a whole lot
A whole lot of love
To make this old world
Love again

I don’t have the answer; I don’t have a plan
I’m only a person doing the best that I can
But the stars they still twinkle; the moon it still glows
The seasons will change; this much I know

It’s gonna take a whole lot
A whole lot of love
To make this old world
Love again

It’s gonna take a whole
A whole lot of love
It’s gonna take a whole lot
A whole lot of love
It’s gonna take a whole lot
A whole lot of love
To make this old world
Love again

So, on in my journey, I will travel, my friend
My story’s unfolding; I don’t know how it ends
But the earth it will turn; the sun it will rise
And I will look for the kindness in a stranger’s eyes
Cuz it’s gonna take a whole lot
A whole lot of love
To make this old world
Love again

It’s gonna take a whole
A whole lot of love
It’s gonna take a whole lot
A whole lot of love
It’s gonna take a whole lot
A whole lot of love
To make this old world
Love again

Ben Bochner

Popular tracks