Blue Blanket
By Joe Dickinson

Please nod if you understand
That I’m in heaven when I’m holding your hand
In the blue blanket of morning
Everything is calm calm calm

Please don’t leave me in the windy city
I’d miss your perfume and your smile so pretty
In the blue blanket of morning
I am all alone lone lone

Every other woman is a big old bag of bones
Ain’t nothing special there they might as well be clones
In the blue blanket of the morning
Baby come home home home

Every other woman is a big old bag of bones
Ain’t nothing special there they might as well be clones

Please don’t scream in my face
These are your people this is your place
In the blue blanket of the morning
Baby come home home home
Baby come home home home
Baby come home

Happy Happy Joe Joe

Blue Blanket

Lavender
By Joe Dickinson

Lavender
In the morning
Lavender
I smell you with my eyes

What a pathetic apology
For such a piercing remark
You lack basic decency
What happened to your heart

I dreamt a weird memory
Joyous abandon in the park
We fell apart equally
Disappeared in the dark

Lavender
In the morning
Lavender
I smell you with my eyes

How do you know you’re not making a terrible
Decision that is only based on a particle	Of false information from some random 
article
Shared by some imbecile
Alone in their room

Unqualified empathy
Is more bite than bark
You fall asleep beautifully
Like a meadowlark

Lavender
In the morning
Lavender
I smell you with my eyes

Boobabies

Lavender

She Is My Mother
By Joe Dickinson

Dear doctor
I don’t want to put extra pressure on you
But before the surgery
You need to know what she means to me

She gave me life
She gave me life
She is my mother
She is my mother
And I love her

More than you can know
Even if we don’t
Always see eye to eye

She gave me life
She gave me life
She is my mother
She is my mother

And I love her
With every sentence in my soul
But these words all seem so dull
Compared to her light

She gave me life
She gave me life
She is my mother
She is my mother

She gave me life
She gave me life
She is my mother
She is my mother
And I love her

She Is My Mother

The Clueless Architect
By Joe Dickinson

What you wanna do
I wanna build something
Build something
With you

What can we build
We build a friendship
We build a rocket ship
A relationship

What you wanna do
I wanna build something
Build something
With you

What can we build
We build a courtship
We build a spaceship
A partnership

What you wanna do
I wanna build something
Build something
With you

I wish this was a song without words
The ocean can explain itself
And the canyons of nightmare 
Are so terribly quiet
Their past spattered mosses untangled for now

Four walls a roof a door some windows
Just a place to run to that we can call our own
I can’t promise you a
Star studded
Star spangled
Newfangled
Multi camera angled fable
Of eternal love 
And butterflies
But if I could
I would

What do I want
I wanna build something
I wanna build something
I wanna build something

The Clueless Architect

The Cottage in Central Ohio
By Joe Dickinson

Memorial Day is at the end of May
When I was a kid we’d drive
Down to The Cottage in Central Ohio

During the great depression
My great grandpa and his friends
Dug a lake and built cottages around it

Waiting for friends and packing the cars
Heading south from Cleveland
Taking 71 down to route 18

18 east to 21 south
Turn right on 93
And then watch out for the end of the world

That’s what we called the top of this hill
You couldn’t see over at all
We’d say “ooohhh” and scream when we got to the top

Stop at Grandma Shearer’s chip factory
Brewster Dairy for cheese
And trail bologna, slowing down for the speed trap in Beach City

I don’t know why they called it Beach City
There clearly wasn’t a beach
Unless you count Baylor Beach the waterpark with the twisty slide

Stay left on 93 and see Camp Wanake 
I went there with church in eighth grade
Now we call it sex camp and laugh about how awkward Dad felt

But I digress, where was I, oh yes
Still on the way
We’d pass the Beach City dam and the garbage dump

We turned left on some old random road
Climbed up a hill
Then took a left at the fence Dad hit when he saw that turkey vulture

The road went down and curved around
You could see the lake through the trees
The car would rock back and forth when the paved road turned to gravel

If it was dark Dad would turn off the lights
Blanketing us in pitch black
Then he’d say “Grandma always said ‘watch out for the jumping trees’”

We’d park the cars in the twisted drive
Open the doors to vacation
Fresh country air and the sound of bugs

Under the rock to turn the water on
Dad opened up the doors
And checked for mice and spiders so Mom wouldn’t freak out

I’d go straight to the screened in porch
Sit on the swinging couch
Take a big breath in and feel happy just to be alive

Memorial Day is at the end of May
When I was a kid we’d drive
Down to The Cottage in Central Ohio

The Cottage In Central Ohio

Roswell Gas Station
By Joe Dickinson
  
We headed out for Omaha
Ended up in Kansas City
The drive was pretty bleak

Somewhere outside of Albuquerque
She said “look at the mountains”
I said “I’m busy counting sheep”

I wasn’t expecting her to stay with me
But I still can’t believe that she’s gone
The road is long

We’d been together
Since that one december
When I cut myself on the wrist

When she got bored
She really got bored
It usually led to a road trip

She said “when I was a girl 
I knew I was not of this world”

I always expected her to leave me
But not at some Roswell gas station
The road is long

I’m not going back to Buffalo
I’ll try out New York City
Find someone pretty like you

First things first get through Omaha
Don’t die in Kansas City
The sky’s like me pretty blue

I always suspected you weren’t happy
So I planned endless vacations
The road is long

Roswell Gas Station

Dad Said I Do
By Joe Dickinson

In the attic we found a photograph
Of Mom and Dad on their wedding night
My sister said “don’t they both look so beautiful?”
I said “I cannot imagine a more perfect night”

I could smell the spray Mom put in her hair
There was music and laughter everywhere
When she asked him if he’d always be true
Dad said I do

How was he not terrified of commitment
How could he know with such certainty she was the one

You could smell the magic in the air
There were friends and family everywhere
When she asked him if he’d always be true
Dad said I do

Wasn’t he constantly fearing abandonment
Can’t you give me a sign Dad - is she the one?

In the morning when I walk down the aisle
I’m going to take the same picture with the same smile
When she asks me if I’ll always be true
I’ll say I do
Just like you

Dad Said I Do

Where Did the Time Go?
By Joe Dickinson and Stella DeAngelo

I love walking with you along the lake
Stopping for the pictures that you take
You get pretty serious
About the sunset
I love walking with you along the lake

I love to try and hold your freezing hand
To comfort you in any way I can
Two hands in one pocket
We make it work
I love to try and hold your freezing hand

I love your smile and the way you make me laugh
I hope we have a long time on this path
You and me together
Having fun
I love your smile and the way you make me laugh

Where did the time go?
Where did the time go?

Where Did the Time Go?

Hi! My name's Joe Dickinson is a singer/songwriter from Chicago, IL. This Soundcloud page is where I post all of the new songs that I'm working on, which will eventually be "released" on the various streaming services and Bandcamp. Thanks for listening!

Joe Dickinson.