COME DOWN, COME OVER (2021)

You're so cruel, yet here we are under the evergreens
I'm a fool or a genius or all points in-between

Still I see you, staring at Cassiopeia
Looks like a great big "W", like my name, must mean it's meant to be

If you come down, I'll come over
I don't have to be back till late, please tell me that you're free
When you come down, I'll come over
We can laugh by the fire and I'll hold you eventually
We'll send everyone else away till it's just you and me

Torch light and pop songs have a way of setting cinema to a scene
And what's stupid tomorrow right now's at the center of a dream

And I would have held your hand at Lamplight and Roseland
And I would have walked you home if the crowd hadn't intervened

If you come down, I'll come over
Here we are at the beginning or is it the apogee?
When you come down, I'll come over
We can laugh by the fire and I'll hold you eventually
We'll send everyone else away till it's just you and me

Till it's just you and me
We'll send everyone else away till it's just you and me

Come Down Come Over

Tell me have you seen it?
There's a light that's been released
There's a rising in the East
Calling angels and traveling men
Something's happening

But what do I know?
I'm just an unschooled fisherman's son
But even I can tell something's begun
Told by prophets, priests and pen
Something's happening in Bethlehem

Hallelujah, raise a shout and ring those bells
Gloria in excelsis deo, Immanuel
Sing Hosanna, Elohim, Adonai
Mighty Lion of Judah, El Shaddai, Amen
Something's happening in Bethlehem


Kings, what will you bring him?
Shepherds, leave your fields and run
To kneel before the one 
Born to die, to rise, ascend
Something's happening 

So what then shall we call him?
This child who calms the sea
The one who sets the captives free
Savior, counselor, and friend
Something's happening in Bethlehem

Bethlehem (Something's Happening)

DAFFODIL DANDRUFF (2023)

Everything slow now
No reason left to wait
Time for one more go around
One last couples' skate

And you just like I said
All bubble gum and cherry red
I know you hate this song
But I'm going to take your hand (yes, I am)


(How does it go?)

She loves me, She loves me not
Tell me the truth or have you forgot?
She loves me, She loves me not
One by one they're falling down
She loves me and one day that might be enough
But for now it's a fistful of stems and daffodil dandruff

There in the basement
All the dudes and the ingenues
I know you may not like it
But I'm glad the bottle stopped on you

And here in the closet
We don't have to do what they expect
We can just talk, otherwise connect
Or maybe I'll kiss you, yeah, let's do that instead

Daffodil Dandruff (click for lyrics)

Do You Believe In Love?  (Huey Lewis cover)

(words and music by Jeff Winkle, 2024)

There's a walk that you can take
From Cardinal to Cottonwood
Still looks the same today
I take it more than I probably should

Up along the path
Where suburban houses creep too close
I carved your name into a tree
But today it's just a ghost

Is this the river that I thought that I would swim?
Eddied joys, shallow heartbreak
Follow where it runs, every possibility
For my wife, for my kids, to the sea?
For the life of me

There's a route that I would run
Under mornings, perfect blue
Neighbor kids would point for fun
Summer, 1992

Some days I'd mix it up
Some new place to turn around
Some corner that I thought I knew 
That I swore was holy ground

Is this the river that I thought that I would swim?
Eddied joys, shallow heartbreak
Dredge the bottom, unnecessarily
For my wife, for my kids, Lord, let it be
For the life of me

There's a walk that you can take
From Cottonwood to Cardinal
Doesn't matter much which way
Can leave you empty or completely full

Up along the path
I carved your name into a tree
Yesterday I searched for hours
Couldn't find it for the life of me
Yesterday I searched for hours
Couldn't find it for the life of me
Yesterday I searched for hours
Couldn't find it for the life of me

Life of Me

POSTCARD (1997)

Slow motion weekday
At least the motion in my mind, yeah
Hey, it’s a pretty good Tuesday
When the mail gets here by five

And if get her postcard
I’ll know everything is fine
Some picture perfect castle, now
Somewhere along the Rhine

I’m listening
But the words that fell from your lips
Don’t make any sense, I can’t separate them, no
I’ve been walking
But my hands are tied and I can’t pick anything up
Least of all what falls from you
Not what falls from you

She’s got her train rides
And her morning mountain view, yeah
Here in the suburbs
We’d kill for anything new

But if I get that phone call
I’ll know she and I are through
Your letter had it’s usual touch
But the postscript wasn’t you, it just wasn’t you


Postcard (click for lyrics)

LETTERS YOU SEND (1995)

Letters you write
Are dissected line by line
By an overburdened, unsound mind
That’s just my anxious speculation

Letters you send
Anticipated as a long-expected friend
Something I long to hold again
Feel you warm between my hands

But like water it will wash right through my fingers
Like stone it stays unchanged, unmoved and cold

If I’m as cynical as you say
I would not hold out hope for anything
Much less picture that silver ring
Shining circle on your hand

Don’t expect too much now
My conscience whispers in cautious tones
Better left unheeded, left alone
I’ve got to cling to what I can find here

Our cool resolve so closed and so familiar
Like stone it stays unchanged, unmoved and cold

In the letters you send
Letters you send
Letters you send
In the letters you send


Letters You Send (click for lyrics)

JULIE’S SONG (1996)

Saw you drifting by
Looking better than I remember you having been
Electric in your eyes
Turn your head and they come closing in 
Yeah, the walls that close me in
More than I’ve recognized, having been gone
Having been gone

Shadows guiding me
Comfort to know they still fall in the same place
Hiding cracks in the ivory
Covered up by the clouds across your face
It’s your face that has brought me here
Along with a longing that may disappear
Yeah, and I’ve stumbled here before I begin
More than I’ve recognized, having been gone
Having been gone

The time that was 
Was a time in which I could
Adopt an estranged persona
And count on a next time to show a true self
Which you could connect to and fall in love with 
I was wrong, so wrong
Time ran on
She was gone

With evening closing in
I will drive and you just sleep awhile
Keep beneath your skin
All the thoughts I will peel away with every mile
And oblivious you are still 
And it saddens me to know that you never will
Know of the tower that I’ve put you in
More than I’ve recognized, having been gone
Having been gone
Having been gone
Having been gone


Julie's Song (click for lyrics)

THE TRUTH ABOUT JAYNE (2007)

She’s touching down
The year is over
It’s not like she’s sticking around
Another wind came and stole her away

Just a few things left to tend to
Another box to tie up tight
Put it off for another day
Let’s talk tonight

The truth about Jayne
The truth about Jayne

Couldn’t catch it in your camera
Kind of blurred your running steps
Tumbles out when you least expect it
Tangled up in the wheres and what next

Did we see it, did you drop your guard
When you arrived after dark?
Showed itself when you were throwing
Poses in the park

Oh no, Jayne
The truth about Jayne

What’s it gonna take this time around?
Another breakdown in the basement?
Another scene of you turning around 
Wide-eyed, you wonder where the day went?

All our words and comfort couldn’t change
The truth about Jayne

She’s touching down…


The Truth About Jayne (click for lyrics)

DEEPER DOWN (2001)

Sometimes you look at me with a face that says, “What next?”
Or you look at me the way you’d look at a train wreck
I’d fix it with my own hands if I wasn’t at such pains
Or so tangled in these chains, yeah, I’d do it myself

And how can it be that I’m still inclined to swerve
In the face of grace undeserved or when love comes tumbling
Why can’t it just appear on my step or show itself where it grows
I want the package, the ribbon and bows and the note that explains it all

Beautiful Savior, can I take you at your word?
“I’d shatter your illusions” was the last thing that I heard
If you prove the smallest of these I’d gladly hand you the crown
Show that the better part of me lies deeper down

Oh, what an hour it’ll be when I finally lose this disguise
When the scales fall from my eyes let the colors drown me
If there’s a glimmer at the end of this road and it blazes there according to plan
Let me use it to warm my hands and no longer wonder out loud


Deeper Down (click for lyrics)

TACITURN (1996)

When he knelt before you there
How the emotion must have gripped you
How your tongue must have tripped you
On what to say

And the little girl was gone
So much for that adolescent fear
You turned around and it was changing
How did I get here?

And all along the path there were clues
Most of which neither one of us ever cared enough to use
Or felt the right to choose...to choose

Let me tie that ‘round your wrist
You don’t want to lose that balloon
Or would you let it fly
High and dark against the moon?

The best that we can do
Is be still for awhile
Let it slowly come into view
And warm into a smile

I remember half-light and a quickening fear
The welling up of my eyes, how did I get here?
The contour of your heart
Is so much clearer now


Taciturn (click for lyrics)

MARTHA QUINN (2008)

Guess this is the proof
That even now I still think of you
August, 1981, did you know what you fell into?

And me just a kid
Late after midnight so my parents won’t know
Just you and me the Coca-Cola and the warmth of a television glow

Sat through The Buggles
Top of the hour
My Irish beauty, she's a goddess, yes, I think I’m in love
I know she’s got it
Some kind of power
I can’t explain it and I don’t think that I wanna

But after 1989 I never saw your face again
Where are you Martha Quinn?

Holed up in my room
Think I’m a witness to history
Another tune from the man on the moon from the NYC

Then they were phasing you out
And after that it was never as good
You kept your cool in front of fools and you never went Hollywood

Sat through Madonna
Top of the hour
My bright-eyed pixie, hear her talking, yes, I think I’m in love
I know she’s got it
Some kind of power
I can’t explain it and I don’t think that I wanna

But after 1989 I never saw your face again
Where are you Martha Quinn?

[Duran Duran inspired instrumental bridge]


Martha Quinn (click for lyrics)

DRAMA QUEEN (2010)

We never noticed you left 
Till you showed up with the klieg lights in your eyes 
What did you expect? 
That everybody’d bow and scrape and apologize? 

You’re calling collect 
But did you have to be so conspicuous 
Yeah, this town is a wreck 
But that was true before you were ridiculous

We saw it all live 
That it was a short drive 
To making a mess 
From making the scene 
Welcome back, Drama Queen

You dropped in like a bomb 
But without a reason for all of that power 
You never went to the prom 
And somehow this is news at the top of the hour 

Yeah, we all got regrets but you drag yours around like a cross 
Which of you did you want everyone to see? 
The legend or the little girl lost?

Ah, but we knew you when 
When even some of your friends 
Could tell the things that you fake 
From the things that you mean 
Good luck, Drama Queen

Who could forget the day when the circus came to town? 
One of these days I’m gonna write it…write it down

You showed up with a plan 
A California tan 
And in the back of a van 
You gave up on the dream 
So long, Drama Queen

Good luck, goodbye…


Drama Queen (click for lyrics)

THE LATE LIFE (2012)

I half-remember something that she said
Half-forgotten now with a half-smile, half-dread
My better half has long gone to bed
I’m half-awake for the late show inside my head

It all begins with an imagined slight
And it gets me in shop queues, traffic lights
Sets up the feature each and every night
Wish I could chase them away

But just when I think it’s gone
Somebody flips that movie on

With scenes from the late, late life
Here come the girls who hated me in high school
The late, late life, followed by the ones who never gave me the time of day
Oh, it’s the late, late life, oh no
Here come the girls, oh here they come, here they come
Late, late life, you’d think that by now I might have something to say

I think I met her through a friend of mine
She knew all the words, b-sides to Nevermind
36 hours outside of time
I wonder if it was real

Suppose it shouldn’t mean that much to me
September beach, Tower Dunes, ‘93
I’m deconstructing the memory
I’ll change the ending this time, oh no

Well, it’s all in how you edit this thing, you see
Is it gonna be a tragedy or comedy?
I console myself and pretend I can choose
So strike a pose, maybe something I can recognize
Pout baby, pout baby, give me what I can use

The Late Life (click for lyrics)

LOCKED AWAY (2003)

The stars had aligned for the best 
The day was a calculated mess 
Blue on blue 
Steam from my coffee and the leaves piled up deep 
The whole thing is riveting 
But I still fall asleep

Some time on the road then just to feel alive 
To work out the finer points on the drive 
Slowly, suddenly 
Choreography and a band that’s starting to play 
In a sea of reality 
Why I keep it all locked away

Adventures in monochrome and a cloud that won’t leave 
It’s all I can do to remember to breathe 
A study in solitude dressed and hung there again 
Of me staring out on the Hudson while you stare out on the Seine

So I walk a tightrope in the meantime 
As long as I’m balanced here I’m fine 
Step by step 
Out on the boardwalk there’s a song at the end of the day 
There’s a beacon on the horizon 
What it is I can’t really say 
In a sea of reality 
Why I keep it all locked away

Locked Away (click for lyrics)

EXPATRIATES (2012)

You and me and the other drunk Americans
We wend our way through this labyrinth
It’s where we drown
The locals leave and we do our best to shut it down

Stumble back across the Via Giulia
My head is no longer turned by these ancient stones
I’m torn asunder, I’m asleep, I’m awake
I’m alone

We could shiver the length of this river
Maybe wash ourselves away with the tide
Maybe transfer in hopes of an answer
You know I’m up along for the ride
There are worse ways to hide

Shiny things sent on from Barcelona
I’m fairly sure back home they’ve given up on me
Cursory plans in Amsterdam
For some hipster reverie

Bridges and fountains south of the mountains
Maybe this time there’s a room with a view
Seven hills and none of them home
But for now Bella Roma will do
There are worse things to go through

You and me and the other drunk Americans
You and me and the other drunk Americans
You and me and the other drunk Americans
You and me 


Expatriates (click for lyrics)

TOKYO ROSE (2012)

You come on over for the weekend
Then all you do is just bitch about the family
And I’m not sure that I can do this again
But you get talking, I get sucked in

You got the manner of a manic street preacher
Not your best feature but man, you can’t teach that
You spend a month making your big plans
And ten minutes just to talk yourself right out of them

And even though I know you well
I still can’t tell, you might be striking a pose
Hey, what you drinking?
I think I already know
Give me a couple of those
My-my-my Tokyo Rose (huh!  Not you again, come on now)

And your solution to a pain that lingers
Follow your fingers to the bottom of a bottle of pills
Leave it to you to push the needle against my vein
I know I shouldn’t, but I will

You say it’s clearer when you hold up a mirror
Only there to keep me up on my toes
But when I see the reality
It’s not even close
Why is that do you suppose?
My-my-my Tokyo Rose (huh!  Not you again, come on now)

Not you again
My Miss Loretta and her low-neck sweater
And her high-heeled shoes, yeah
Come on now
Go home


Tokyo Rose (click for lyrics)

CHALA (2012)

Words by Nard Choi/Music by Jeff Winkle

A preacher once told me										Not to die on any hill										So I climbed them all
Waiting for the curve to work its magic									No one warned me I would tread								The sweetness of the devil’s mouth

Underneath all these ghosts in mid-air									The ones they never found

The king of memory could not appreciate							A mind’s decay, the promise of 										one less day for every purpose
I’ve forgotten half of what I’ve found							And underneath this mountain’s shadow								In the light of a granite moon 
I’m hanging my legs over a cliff, I’m ready 							To remember it all again

I know I went left and you went right, but 						You would have loved this place tonight.

Today is the someday you said
I would someday stumble into										Send someone my way
I’m walking back, I can’t stay										But make the most of it, ask me anyway								And we’ll sweet talk our way to the fire

I won’t wait around										I won’t leave this place 											I know what she meant to say 										When she said 												This was never my hometown anyway 
What she meant to say was
 
I know I went left and you went right, but 							You would have loved this place tonight.


Chala (click for lyrics)

ONE GOOD STORY (2013)

Seems like winter’s keen on hanging around                                                                                                            

Take more than that to trip me up, or slow me down                                                                                             

 I’ve been picking up on traces that inhabit the spaces                                                                                             

In the corners of my heart




It’s a high-rise view, it’s a Ben Folds tune                                                                                                                                        

It’s a heart-stop, wrong end of the telescope across the room                                                                      

Wondering how this might go, then I see you there walking slow                                                                                 

And I know it’s alright                                                                                                          




And I’m sorry if it sounds rehearsed                                                                                                                                  

Someone else has taken my heart, every chapter, every verse                                                                                      

But that doesn’t do away with anything that we’ve been through                                                                                

 ‘Cause I think I’ve got one good story and I’m saving it for you




Step into the neon glow and let’s stay awhile                                                                                                                             

The bar music so retro it even seems to smile                                                                                                               

I see that you see it too; so good to see you                                                                                                                             

I could say it a thousand times                                                                                                    




And I’m sorry if it sounds rehearsed                                                                                                                                  

Someone else has taken your heart, every chapter, every verse                                                                                   

So much more than just a shop-worn memory                                                                                                                      

‘Cause I think you’ve got one good story and you’re saving it for me         

One Good Story (click for lyrics)

STYLE: Power Pop/Acoustic/Rock

INFLUENCES: Jason Falkner, Ben Folds/Ben Folds Five, Squeeze, Frightened Rabbit, The National, U2, Steely Dan, Toad the Wet Sprocket, The Nines, Foo Fighters, The Tubes, Joe Jackson, Big Head Todd and the Monsters, Eddie From Ohio, Elvis Costello, Joe Firstman, Liz Phair, The Police, Martin Sexton, Willy Porter, Nick Drake, The Ocean Blue, Robert Johnson, The Samples, Bleu, They Might Be Giants, The Tragically Hip, Wilco, The Hold Steady, XTC, Kings of Leon, Nickel Creek, Peter Mulvey, Billy Joel, REM, Fountains of Wayne, Action Figure Party, BNL, Ryan Adams, J. Geils Band, The Semantics, Counting Crows, Ivy, Spoon, Crowded House, The Killers, Keane, Alison Krauss, Ben Harper, Bob Dylan, Edie Brickell, Paul Simon, Elton John, Sting

All words and music by Jeff Winkle
QuidProWhoa Music 1993-present (all rights reserved)

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