ACKERMAN BLUES

You're lying on your bed with the curtains drawn tight
You can't even tell if it's day or night
How long have you been here holed up in your room?
When did you decide to crawl inside your tomb?

The black dog is licking the soles of your feet,
Toes sticking out of your twisted sheets
Its maw hanging open, its foul breath fills the room
With the smell of rot in technicolor gloom

They're all standing outside, waiting for you to fall
They know all about you, they can read your mind
They've got special devices installed in the walls
They can monitor madness, they can make you go blind

Chorus: You're practicing for your own death
You rattle and you pluck at your sheets
The wind howls and moans, this is just a dry run
Waiting and waiting for the real one to come

You taste the wall paper and its sickly hue
Feel the walls breathing, closing in on you
Still-born dreams and nameless fears
Razor blades and lightbulbs instead of tears

Ackerman Blues Band.MP3

CONTINENTAL DRIFT

Well I dropped out of college and everything else it seems
I was nineteen years old, wanted to follow my dreams
So I headed out one morning from Washington, D .C.
With fifty bucks and a little loose change and a sign that pointed west

I thought I was Jack Kerouac and Woody Guthrie too
A modern day hobo, I didn't have a clue
I thought I was a poet across the USA, 
I guess I had to learn the hard way

I made it down to Denver in 48 hours flat
With cigarettes and coffee had to hitch-hike at night
I found my way to Larrimer street and got drunk with Neal's ghost
And we sang songs in Spanish with our Mexican hosts

Through the Blue Canadian Rockies I'm Okanogan bound
To pick peaches in the Valley and then I'm going back down
To sunny California, the redwood and the pine
The great Pacific Ocean is the end of the line

CONTINENTAL DRIFT

A song from the days I lived in Syracuse, NY

Central New York Blues

THE END OF WINTER

Help me Sancho 
Get up on my horse
The windmills have won
It's time to go home

Tie my bones to the saddle
Lead us from the stall
We'll ride that old prairie
That we love the best

The war is over
Time to bury our slain
The heroes and cowards
All laid in their graves

All covered in snow
That covers their names
And the day they were born
That will keep them warm
Until time is all over
And winter is gone

Go to sleep now
You're tired and you're weary
Turn off your mind
And lay yourself down

Don't think of the past
'Cause it's all behind you
Noone can harm you
The ghosts cannot speak

And if your nightmares 
Come back to haunt you
Remember they can't touch you
They're as dead as the dust
That covers your grave

Like a fresh fall of snow
That covers your name
And the day you were born
That will keep you warm
Until time is all over
And winter is gone

Sling your hammock
On the horns of the moon
And dream of tomorrow
With the sun in your eyes

No more wars to fight
Outgunned and outnumbered
The battlefield's empty
Your foes have gone home

You're shellshocked and battle scarred
And your armor is tarnished
But your soul still shines
From deep in your grave

All covered in snow
That covers your name
And the day you were born
That will keep you warm
Until time is all over
And winter is gone.

The End Of Winter.MP3

MIRROR ON THE WALL

You're looking in the mirror
Trying to justify your fears
Searching for the tell-tale signs
The crows' feet and the laughter lines

And though everybody tells you
That you're still looking good
The one you love just looks at you
Like you're a piece of wood

So you can put away the finery
The stockings and the see-through gown
And you can drink the wine some other time
Because he's all dried up and he makes you feel the same

You've hunted through his mail
And the numbers that he calls
There's nobody else in his life
There's nothing there at all

And you try not to live in the past
But that's exactly what you do
Clutching at your memory
As it fades out like a song

So you can put away the finery
The stockings and the see-through gown
And you can drink the wine some other time
Because he's all dried up and he makes you feel the same

IAN KENT