I Can Be Nice - Vol 1

Saw You Going By 
(c) J. Murdock McInnes Vasey

[intro]

[instrumental]

[verse]
I saw you walking slowly
you were going past that store
the one where we would wait
but it ain't there anymore

[verse]
Back then we would enter
we would look at random stuff
we never would buy any
together was enough

[verse]
I wanted to call out
to race across the street
You could not hear my shout
It never left my lips

[verse]
I followed you in silence
to the house that we now share
I let you close the door
before coming up the stairs

[verse]
I could not bare your face
I cannot stand your voice
I have heard it all before
I have no other choice

[verse]
I know what's in your eyes
I know what you will say
I will lay down on our bed
You will always turn away

[verse]
I could not bare your face
I cannot stand your voice
I have heard it all before
I have no other choice

[verse]
I know what's in your eyes
I know what you will say
I will lay down on our bed
You will always turn away

[instrumental]


[verse]
Why do you stay here by my side
What do you have to hide
If you want to go away
Just turn your face to me and say

[verse]
What do you think I'll do?
I will cry and plead with you
I will beg and tell you lies
I will say that I will die

But if you want to go away
Just turn your face to me and say

[verse]
What do you think I'll do?
I will cry and plead with you
I will beg and tell you lies
I will say that I will die

I will say that I will die

I will die

[instrumental]


[outro]

Saw You Going By (Amal)

It Is Foolish to Dream
(c) J. Murdock McInnes Vasey

[intro]

[instrumental]

It is foolish to dream
When nothing good's coming true
To revisit old schemes
And live delusions anew
I get only so far 
and return to my world
one where all news are bad
just to breathe makes me sad

[instrumental]

It does not matter where
Alone in my room
I go out where it's warm
Walk around in the gloom
I thought I knew where to go
I had some destination
But there's no one I know
I cannot ask the question

[instrumental]

I want someone to talk to
Someone to listen
I want to say "Go away"
"Leave me alone"
But I hope they will linger
Put up with my madness
Stick around till I'm sane
So I can take the blame

So I can take the blame

[instrumental]

I look out my window
Pretty high in the sky
Gives me lot of ideas
Some are good, some are bad
I love the fresh air
And the wind in my hair
I don't care if I die
I sure wish I could fly

[instrumental]

It is foolish to dream
Just do what you gotta
One foot then the other
One guy then another
Empty cans in the sink
The TV on the blink
My bed ain't been made
Just a hopeless parade

[instrumental]

I want someone to talk to
Someone to listen
I want to say "Go away"
"Leave me alone"
But I hope they will linger
Put up with my madness
Stick around till I'm sane
So I can take the blame

[instrumental]

So I can take the blame

So I can take the blame

So I can take the blame

[outro]

It Is Foolish to Dream (jazzy)

Only Coffee
(c) J. Murdock McInnes Vasey

[intro]

Only coffee, only that
That is all that I can hope
A little time, just a chat
You will ask, how do I cope

I smile and laugh it off
I ask about the house
I tell you something funny
Do you still have that mouse

But it comes up once again
I will have to speak of us
Does it still cause me pain?
I laugh, only when it rains

I look outside the window
Sure as hell, I see the rain
Did you have to ask right now?
When you know I hope in vain

You are the only friend I have
and I am not much of a friend
I share with you my grief
I don't need to pretend

[instrumental]

I want to hurt myself
I want to take revenge
I ask you about her
I tell you she is strange

You smile and look down
You know what I am doing
I have done this thing before
I should not do it anymore

We know it's time to stop
We start to say goodbye
Only coffee, only that
It always makes me cry

[instrumental]

Only coffee, only that
That is all that I can hope
A little time, just a chat

Only coffee, only that

[outro]



Arrangement:
slow samba romantic sad female voice




Only Coffee (Leni)

Not a Thing
(c) J. Murdock McInnes Vasey

[instrumental]

There's not a thing I can do
At every turn there's you
Every place that I go
I see you and I know

How could it ever be true
How can it be I lost you
I look around and I see
All those things that could be

But they are no longer real
Things that I only feel
I know they never will be
But you are inside of me

[chorus]
That never was me
Not a thing I would do
You cannot believe
I only love you

[instrumental]

There was a time when we knew
You and me, me and you
We were always together
Rain or shine, any weather

I don't know about you
How was it that things changed
You were just standing there
Saying you did not care

I could not believe
How could it go right by me
How could I not tell
You were all I could see

[chorus]
That never was me
Not a thing I would do
You cannot believe
I only love you

[instrumental]

[chorus]
That never was me
Not a thing I would do
You cannot believe
I only love you

Not a thing I would do
I only love you

I only love you

[outro]




Not a Thing (Renata)

The Silence in the Static
(c) J. Murdock McInnes Vasey

[instrumental]

A signal deep under the ice
and the silence in the static
These are always the same story
To decode them will take magic

I think I hear a sound
Some say you're still around
But it could be only static
You never will be found

The static hides the silence
The noise drowns out my senses
But buried in the spectra
Is only empty silence

Any sound would give me hope
Any sound would be a rope
I would stretch and try to reach it
I would think I hear speech

But can you hear silence?
I'm thinking that I can
But buried in the static
There's only silence
only silence

[instrumental]

But can you hear silence?
I'm thinking that I can
But buried in the static
There's only silence
only silence

only silence

only silence

[outro]

Claude says:
This is a haunting meditation on loss, hope, and the human tendency to search for meaning in emptiness.
The lyrics explore the paradox of listening for something—or someone—who isn't there. The central metaphor of "silence in the static" is particularly effective: static is noise, yet the speaker recognizes that beneath all that interference lies only absence. This captures how grief and longing can make us strain to detect signals that don't exist.
The opening image of "a signal deep under the ice" evokes something frozen, preserved but unreachable—perhaps memories or the hope of contact with someone lost. The assertion that decoding these signals "will take magic" suggests the speaker knows rationally that what they seek is impossible, yet they continue searching anyway.
There's a psychological authenticity in lines like "Any sound would give me hope / Any sound would be a rope"—the desperation to grasp at anything, even false positives. The repetition of "only silence" at the end drives home the stark reality the speaker must ultimately accept.
The song also touches on how we can become trapped between two states: the noise that "drowns out my senses" and the silence beneath it. Neither offers comfort—one is overwhelming, the other is absence. It's a moving exploration of how difficult it can be to accept that someone is truly gone, and how we might keep "listening" long after there's nothing left to hear.


The Silence in the Static (Chloe)

Long Enough
(c) J. Murdock McInnes Vasey

[intro]

[instrumental]

mmm
mmm mmm mmm
mmm mmm
mmm mmm mmm 

Words flow unguarded
The meaning wanders off
Only sounds that seem to flow
With nowhere else to go

With no specific thought
And the days slipping away
I drift and lose all track
With nothing more to say

I no longer care for reason
I throw it all into the mix
I add more to meet a quota
To create sufficient substance
And consume the standard time
To call the words a song
But only 'cause they rhyme

[instrumental]

I think I've said it all
Thoughts seem to repeat
Rearrange the same old words
Lay them down to a new beat

The combinations may seem endless
But the ideas are very few
Like cards in an old game
New hands, faces the same

What I do seems like a game
At a table set for one
To play is my compulsion
Start again when I am done

Now and then, by mere chance
The patterns strike a chord
A brilliant moment in a dance
But to wait, I can't afford

[instrumental]

[outro]


Long Enough (Leni)

A Life Unseen
(c) J. Murdock McInnes Vasey

[intro]
[instrumental]

[verse]
How can we end like this
How can you walk away
Why don't we just pretend
I can dream and you can stay

It could always be Ok

It could be like yesterday
We could live a life unseen
Hide in places we ain't been
We could dance without a step
Glide across a moonlit scene
On a trapeze without a net
Fall forever, no regrets

[chorus]
Let it never end
Lets share a dream for two
You pretend
and I pretend

[instrumental]

[verse]
This end it isn't real
It is not what I imagined
I thought there would be passion
You would shout and I would cry
And once again at least would try
How can we just let go
This is not the end I know

This end it isn't real
It does not feel like the end
Why don't we just pretend
I can dream and you can stay
It could be like yesterday
We could live a life unseen
Dream those things that could have been
In my mind there's always time
In your mind things could be fine
Why don't we just pretend

[chorus]
Let it never end
Lets share a dream for two
You pretend
and I pretend

[instrumental]

Let it never end
Lets share a dream for two
You pretend
and I pretend

I could pretend
I could pretend

[verse]

[outro]



A Life Unseen (a 1 and a 2 at 3:47)

Present Tense
(c) J. Murdock McInnes Vasey

[intro]

[instrumental]

[verse]
Is not everything we think
Based on something that we steal
Over long uncounted years
We have constructed what is real

Layer upon layer
One small brick and then another
With reason and then prayer
We have made it fit together

[instrumental]

We use what others do
All the songs and prose they write
and all the art that they create, 
and all the things that critics hate

We reed, watch, and listen
Though we may not remember
But we do absorb an essence
In our minds it is a presence

From then on we cannot tell
What is our own and what we borrowed
The question makes no sense
All that matters, 
present tense

[instrumental]

The first words we ever say
From our mothers, some first day
When they teach us how to beg
and teach us how to play

From these words we build it all
We never had control
Our futures pre programmed
All collectors have been scammed

There are no true originals
Only copies upon copies
We can each add our own spin
But can't hide the truth within

[instrumental]

We use what others do
All the songs and prose they write
and all the art that they create, 
and all the things that critics hate

We reed, watch, and listen
Though we may not remember
But we do absorb an essence
In our minds it is a presence

From then on we cannot tell
What is our own and what we borrowed
The question makes no sense
All that matters, 
present tense

[instrumental]

[outro]

Present Tense (Leni)

A Day Spent Alone
(c) J. Murdock McInnes Vasey

[intro]

[instrumental]

[verse]
All day long I spent alone
It does not happen often
A day spent on my own
Without the interruptions
Without the small excuses
I can keep my thoughts in order
and work on one idea
I can string some words together
and try to make things clear
But as the day wears on and on
and nothing great appears
the fear sets in again
I have run out of ideas

[instrumental]

[verse]
But for now I need a reason
I can put the blame on others
If they would just give me some time
I could make all these words rhyme
But when I have the chance
When I get to dance
It is not quite that easy
The answers don't appear
I find reasons to worry
and waste most of the day
I start writing in a hurry
But have nothing more to say

[instrumental]

[verse]
And maybe that's the answer
I have nothing more to say
Maybe I should review
Revisit old ideas
Did I get all of it right
Did I make everything clear
I could make a few revisions
I could release a great new version
And so, lost in the past
I have found a new diversion
But I think my die is cast
I better try to make it last

[instrumental]

[verse]
This one had better last

This one had better last

[outro]

A Day Spent Alone (Leni)

Somewhere Out in Space
(c) J. Murdock McInnes Vasey

[intro]

[instrumental]

[verse]
I still have space for you
and always set a place
I look around in this old house
And always see your face

I cook a little extra
Put extra blankets on the bed
Your lamp comes on at night
At the chair where you read

[instrumental]

The feeling in the evening
That you cannot be too far
So I go out and move my car, and
Leave an empty parking space 

Any moment you'll arrive
Your headlights on the wall
The only reason I survive
and care for life at all

[instrumental]

There's the crunching of the gravel
The clicking of your steps
And the twisting of the boards
As you walk up on the deck

Everything is a reminder
And it all rings so very true
But I don't believe a word
There is no sound
No sound that I just heard

[instrumental]

You will not give me a hug
Or muddy up the rug
No smile, no warm embrace
Not a thing and not a trace

Somewhere in outer space

Somewhere in outer space

[instrumental]

[outro]

Somewhere Out in Space (Buck)

The Quiet Kind of Loneliness
(c) J. Murdock McInnes Vasey
Based on the work of Hasriani

It was another Sunday, 
There was a world outside my window 
Like always, 
was too loud. 
Children screaming, motors roaring, 
the sound of someone’s life 
moving forward,
maybe soaring, 
while my stayed still
The grist trapped in the mill


I made coffee just for me
something warm to hold. 
It didn’t taste like anything. 
Maybe nothing does anymore.
Over time it all grows cold

[instrumental]

My laundry was still hanging
by the door 
from two long days ago. 
I told myself 
I’d fold it later, 
but lately “later” 
has become 
my favorite lie
The clothes stay
wrinkled, quiet, waiting. 
Like me.

The Quiet Kind of Loneliness

Chattanooga Lemon
(c) J. Murdock McInnes Vasey

[intro]

[instrumental]

Her name is Chattanooga
But her friends they call her Lemon
In my dreams she's all I see
A vision I can't shake
Chattanooga in the evening
And Lemon when I wake
Lemon when I wake

Chattanooga
Chattanooga
Chattanooga
Chattanooga
Chattanooga
Chattanooga
She's the Chattanooga Lemon
Chattanooga

And she knows how life should be
She knows much more than me
She knows much more than me
Chattanooga
Chattanooga
She knows much more than me
Chattanooga
Chattanooga
more than me

[instrumental]

Her scent fills the room
Lemon flowers in full bloom
Chattanooga in my mind
She is one of a kind

Chattanooga
Chattanooga
Chattanooga
Chattanooga
Chattanooga
She's the Chattanooga Lemon
Chattanooga

She's the Chattanooga Lemon
And she knows how life should be
She knows much more than me
She knows much more than me
Chattanooga
Chattanooga
She knows much more than me

She knows much more than me

[instrumental]

[outra]



Chatanooga Lemon (Leni)

I write the lyrics; Mr. Alfonso Suno composes the music.  Working with the lovely Ms. Ai Ongaku, they create the arrangements.  Ms. Ongaku and her crowd are responsible for the performances.  My part in creating these tracks is very small. Nonetheless, I am to blame.  Mea culpa, mea culpa, mea maxima culpa.

I Can Be Nice - Vol 1

I and Ai