Thorny

                                           Southern Post
                                              words and music by Jon Colton 


I'm writing ahead
I'll be there soon 'cause nothing works
I'm taking these things, the few I need, 'cause nothing works
The corduroy coat, a string of beads from New Orleans
I'm shaking my boots of dirt and stones like Christmas Day
Is it raining down there?
It's best to be prepared down there

In a vacuum, that sounds real good but nothing works
My only regret, I didn't know that nothing works
I remember you said that distance never means I'm far away
Though I'd be misled to think it doesn't work both ways
Who'll meet me and where, when I get down there?

And you can spend experience
But you can't earn common sense

And what has she done? 
How dare she make me act like a man
I'll bite my tongue, she'll lick her wounds, we'll meet again
Though I would go elsewhere, you happen to be down there

And I've forgotten how much it means to me
The Southern Post in Tennessee
For just a little while


Southern Post

Against All Flags
words and music by Jon Colton


"Touch me, I won't break" you said
Now you're in pieces in my bed
If it's not good enough, I don't care
As I put you back, a piece or two to spare

Although we're only flesh and bone
We can make a halo of things around the home
If it's not good enough, I don't care
And if our devotion doesn't have a prayer

You said not to worry, but it's getting dull
To always be the two bones crossed beneath the skull
Setting sail against all flags

If either one of us succumbs
The heads that roll will sound like drums
If it's not good enough, I don't care
In a sea of disapproval and despair

You said not to worry, but it's getting dull
To always be the two bones crossed beneath the skull
Setting sail against all flags

But it's not good enough, it's not fair
As you're growing older, I can only stare

You said not to worry, but it's getting dull
To always be the two bones crossed beneath the skull
Setting sail against all flags





 


Against All Flags

                                         She's Going Under
                                         words by Jon Colton 
                                      music by Jon Colton and Jason Kleidosty


She's going under
Lake frozen over
She made a breakthrough
She grabs at nothing again and again
She's going under
Blood almost frozen
Hands pressed against it
Eyes open wider and mouth wider still
The bitterest cold makes the bitterest man
She kicked off her feet and she told me the plan
I've no faith at all in this sorry wasteland
I think I'll go mad and create everything I demand

She's going under
Skating above her
Where each figure eight made
Is more an infinity sign on its side
She's going under
Shock to the system
They try to help her
She's sinking deeper and fading away
This tranquility doesn't come in a pill
That testimony was against her own will
Yet thrown to the dogs of the fore of her mind
And ripped into shreds so you can't recognize what you find

She made a difference
Roseate to ashes
"Assent -- and you are sane"
She thought it over again and again
She's going under
Poetry failed her
Philosophy's specious
It is so easy to argue away
Reject all the reason and give into rime
You're as young as you want just forget about time
Vodka is never as cold or as pure
As reality to the insane is with all its allure

"And it was not death
For I stood up
And all the dead lie down"
She grabbed at nothing again and again


She's Going Under (Wade Version)

                                               This Man Built A Dungeon
                                  words and music by Jon Colton and Whitney Wade


She runs rampant through my bones 
And out of every pore
Impossible to capture
I need her more and more
I know this man
So torn apart
Went and built and dungeon in his heart
Now send her to me

Some thoughts are almost criminal
The stench of her perfume
Skeletons from closets
He dragged them down there too
And while they’re free
To move about
They’re manacled and screaming to get out
Now send her to me

Complicated, she’s so complicated
She was overrated
Now she’s complicated

A little place
To call your own
Where heavy thoughts will turn to skin and bone
Now send her to me


This Man Built A Dungeon

                                                                           Red
                                                               words by Jon Colton 
                                                 music by Jon Colton and Whitney Wade


Blushing or drunk
Is he blushing or drunk?
I'm seeing red
Is he blushing or drunk?

I'm sweating his name
Everything's buzzing
I'm sweating his name
I breathe the paint off the walls
I'm sweating his name

There are far too many pricks in here
To leave without a scratch

What is this place?
Why am I here?
I can't believe I let you drag me in here
What is this place?
And how did he get in my face?

Do you have a pen
And a cocktail napkin?

Throw it away
Burn it
Or throw it away
It's up to you
But throw it away

Is it morning yet?


                                       Panic At Half A Pack
                                                       words by Jon Colton 
                                         music by Jon Colton and Whitney Wade


I'm driving through another night with you
The innuendo and double talk
Where your words develop voices of their own
There's melodrama then a vicious comma
Is that a sentence or prison term?
And I even doubt the breath in your lungs
But I'm not to blame
I had to start relations with the moon
I'd nothing left to say to the sun
And this creeping feeling grows

Living torn and ragged from your personal baggage
You want to be Ms. Compatible
On the surface where it's safe but still unsound
But now I'm far too jaded to initiate it
I've got a gravelly speaking voice
And my spirit won't sit up and say hello
But I can't complain
Not green again! 
Another signal and I'll never get this fucking thing lit
And this creeping feeling grows

I laugh and you shake
And I'm twenty minutes late
There must be more people on the road
Than there are places to be
And I'm not to blame
As yet another tiny satellite's 
decaying orbit brings it all down
And this creeping feeling grows


Panic At Half A Pack

                                                                Battersea
                                               words and music by Jon Colton


I've come to bid you fond farewell
From underneath the crashing pop and burn
It’s all floor toms and rumble
I've had a moment in the sun
I'm running out like cream and sugar
To watch our whole thing crumble
With my antique trunk filled with all my junk
And initials of a dead man's name

And I feel I can't anonymously remain
And I know you try to sell me on my good name
But gestures never matter 
And it isn't gonna be okay
From Battersea I'll write one day

A crying jag, a Cuban dinner,
Quotation marks getting cold
A whisper to a mumble
I need more sensory input
Like I need a hole in the head
By Liverpool I grumble
To forgive is to discover that you're also capable
Of doing all the same things

Chorus

Why don't you let me crawl out of my head?
I don't want to go down that old road again
I want to be someplace that feels like a home
I want to be someplace that I've only known
A mental image of
A mental image...
Winter coats, crossing the pigeons, 
And scattering the square
In deathless rain I’ll stumble
Until I see my own breath curling,
Meeting yours up in the freezing air
Where we’re wiser, brave, and humble

And it's some compelling force,
Or everything must run its course,
Or I'm bored, or broken
But either way...


Battersea

A beautiful song from Thorny's first demo. 1993. Jon Colton Barry and Whitney Wade: written by, produced by, all instruments,

All By Myself (Demo)

Another Thorny Track. Weaving, swirling vocals creating something unlike I've ever heard before or since. Written, produced, all instruments by Jon Colton Barry & Whitey Wade.

                               Bubbles and Cigars
                    words and music by Jon Colton and Whitney Wade


(her)						   

Guilty when she asks
But she doesn’t feel    					   
Stolen smiles hide  				   
Tears she will conceal  			   
Looking in a mirror  				   
How she likes to pose  			   
Keep her in a box to  				   
Melt and decompose 

(him)				   

Her hair is a spaghetti western
If only I was tangled there
I just want her open veins
Oh I wonder what she’d say
In any way I might unhold her
It’s almost like she’s made of sand
All my mouth will do is shake
Her gossamer heart will break

(him)

Only pride
Stubble and a scar
I don’t need
Bubbles and cigars

(her)

I don’t want bubbles and cigars		   
I don’t need to hear him			   
Say “I’m sorry for today” 			   
The darkness safely veils 			   

She’s horrified	

(her)		

No one’s in the house  			   
When you’re all alone 			   
Still you hear the sounds of 			   
Whispers and the moans 			   
Trouble’s in the way 				   
You can’t be let outside  			   
He’s calling you 				   
Run away and hide 

(him) 				   

Why the hangman’s beautiful daughter
Has tainted and such tiny hands
My thoughts cursing her belongings
They now must be part of them
And I wonder if there’s any meaning
In any of her touching them
That flame’s just another candle
That candle’s an only friend
        
 Chorus

I had a dream
We burned down the circus
And put the ashes in the trunk 
When I asked you for a light
We burned down the whole night
Then she said, “You better drive”

(her)

Looking in a mirror  				 
You’re his little girl 				  
Twenty seven years stayed 			  
In his little world  				  
Hide away a key 				  
Now he’s gone too far 				  
Padlocks for the door  			  
Bubbles and cigars 				  

(him)

She went up on the roof this morning
A raven’s wing in either hand
And she’ll beat her bloody feathers
But never be off as planned
She thinks about the Rue Troyon
The music halls go up in flames
It’s too much for the entertainers
To just live up to their names

 Chorus

First Demo

Bubbles & Cigars

Thorny demo. Whitney Wade rages against the cherries like nobody;s business. Love this track.

Demos

Chipped Tooth Blues

This is the second version of this song arranged by Thorny, including Kelly Castro on bass. Very different vibe tho the piano version. I think I like this one  better, Cool Vibe.

This Man Built A Dungeon (Guitar Demo)

Thorny could get ferocious and I always loved Whitney's performance o this one. Only she could combine yearning and loss with seething spite quite this way.

Honeybeast (Demo)

Here's a very strange Thorny track I'd completely forgotten about. I may have talked Whitney into trying this one, but she was usually up for anything and turned it into something useful. Interesting guitar parts, at least.

                                                      I Want You There
                                                       words by Jon Colton
                                        music by Jon Colton and Whitney Wade

Didn't I call you out
Rattling stones and sticks?
Didn't I break your walls
By throwing my own wall's bricks?
Always the trains and boats
Always the bicycles
Always the knots and throats
There must be new ways to move you

I want you there

Though every and each beware 
Hiding behind your face
Haunts like a little ghost 
In only a pillow case
In a girl's new doll house
Different sized dolls must share
Some never fit the door
The ceiling might crush your hair

But I want you there

And a snake with two heads
Dreams of two mice
In just one bed
Like I want you there...

I Want You There (Demo)

Another strange, but beautiful Thorny track. Based on a strange story, but I forget what it is.

Acoustic Demo

Her Pretty Things (Acoustic Demo)

Here's Thorny rocking out on a song about reverse music snobbery. I think Kelly Castro's on this one, too.

High On Lo Fi (Thorny Demo)

Here's Thorny's original rough demo of New Bride, which I later recorded with Jon Colton & His Enemies. This was always supposed to be a me & Whitney song, so I never liked the latter versions as much.

The New Bride (Thorny Demo)

A rare Thorny acoustic demo. We never quite got the chorus right, but I always loved this song. The third verse is so visceral. We should finish it someday.

                                       Where There's Smoke, There's Sarah
                                  words and music by Jon Colton and Whitney Wade


Seems no one is impressed
By anyone not passionless
But Sarah was possessed
In a town still breeding idleness
She was born a bit too late
1968
In the summer of love
Wet herself in the Haight
Before she even spoke,
Wherever there’s smoke, there’s Sarah

Sarah claims she’s proof
That nature’s not balanced at all
It should not be preserved
It should be committed
And as she makes her case (cases of Chimay and gin)
It tells on her face
The hair of the dog’s 
All that’s left to embrace
Although you may choke,
Wherever there’s smoke, there’s Sarah

The radio pours "Crazy," "Sweet Dreams", and "Love Hurts" on the floor

On the eve of this new year
Sarah dreamt of flies again
A dark and reddish dream
A dream of sloppy handwriting
And the taste of gauze (gauze swimming in Novocain)
The world had lost a cause
The killing of the flies now
Just sounded like applause
She bowed and then awoke
Wherever there’s smoke, there’s Sarah

Where There's Smoke, There's Sarah (Acoustic Demo)

This is my band Thorny. 

Jon Colton Barry: Vocals and Guitars
Whitney Wade: Drums and Bass


                                          Blood Is Blue
                                            words and music by Jon Colton


Well she has a score of crows
That cling to her head like bows
And rosemary bread’s a novelty
And the poisoned pen I think
Was filled with invisible ink
‘Cause there’s not a stain to choose from

And everyone knows that blood is blue
With hearts big as clenched fists too
But nobody thinks about it
And everyone knows that it’s insincere
To act only out of fear
But I only miss her when she isn’t here

She started to blur at last
Through the bottom of the glass
If only I could keep her there
The hate like a dreary waltz
Inverted dead red rose
And everything new is old again

And everyone knows that blood is blue
With hearts big as clenched fists too
But nobody thinks about it
And everyone knows that it’s insincere
To act only out of fear
But I only miss her when she isn’t here

She’s so like my dead dear wife
A dearness and deadness life
And I’m here for no good reason
But she has a score of crows
That cling to her head like bows
And rosemary bread’s a novelty

And everyone knows that blood is blue
With hearts big as clenched fists too
But nobody thinks about it
And everyone knows that it’s insincere
To act only out of fear
But I only miss her when she isn’t here...


Blood Is Blue

Another track by Thorny, which was a band comprised of just me and Whitney Wade. This is a short, pretty one I always liked.

Jon Colton Barry: guitar & Vocals
Whitney Wade: Vocals


Another Bad Suggestion
                                                words and music by Jon Colton


Have I only made it worse
I’ve been blessed with just that curse
If we ever speak again
I may say the same thing then
Oh my angel I’m ashamed
But it wasn’t me who claimed that I could change

And the scar was always thin
Where you end and I begin
So it’s only out of need
You should also have to bleed
Oh my angel please don’t waste
Your life or blood or breath in haste on
Another bad suggestion from me

Copyright 1993 Coal Town Music, BMI

Another Bad Suggestion

This is me and Whitney Wade in our band Thorny. We liked doing that weaving vocal stuff. One of my personal favorites.

Jon Colton Barry: Guitar & Vocals
Whitney Wade: Drums, Bass & Vocals


                                           Remind
                           words and music by Jon Colton and Whitney Wade


(him)							(her)

Don’t you recall how you told me  			I wrote you a letter
Once in that booth in the corner  			Or maybe I called you
“Oh I love a place with a history”			Something impressing
This once was a speakeasy 
Now it’s a bundle of nerves

                                                              Ah...

Something unraveled in pages 			I wrote you a letter
Someone is bitching and moaning  			It’s funny how things go
Somehow despite how you fight it 			Everything’s easy
Everything’s perfect
Because of what’s in disarray

                                                              Ah...

Don’t you remember those feelings			I thought that I saw you
Don’t you remember those noises 			I thought that I heard you
Don’t you remember it’s laughing 			Laughing and coughing
Don’t you remember
To never forget that again

                                                              Ah...

They always will be disapproving			I never knew them
And say things like “I like their old stuff better”	I wanted to know them
But I know your demons will thank you 		I’ve always known them
The next trip you take
Should be lost in your own little world

                                                              Ah...

Remind

Jon Colton Barry is a songwriter, musician, as well as a writer for television, film and stage. He is the son of Rock and Roll hall of Fame songwriting legend Jeff Barry ("Be My Baby," "Chapel of Love," Da Doo Ron Ron," "The Jefferson's Theme Song," "Sugar Sugar," etc. etc.) and has been a professional musician/singer/songwriter fronting bands such as Mrs. Malone, Thorny and Jon Colton & His Enemies since 1990. 

Jon's an Emmy nominated writer, having written episodes and songs for Disney's #1 animated hit show "Phineas and Ferb," including the top rated TV cable movie of 2011, "Phineas and Ferb: Across The Second Dimension," as well as the shelved "Phineas" feature film script. 

Jon next revamped and wrote a new animated "Scooby Doo" series for Warner Brothers, and served as story editor. He's also created, written and produced live-action series, such as "Revolver" with long time friend and creative collaborator, Jason Richman, for Fox 21 Studios.

Jon is currently creating several new television, music and film projects.

This is a space for various rough songs, "Phineas and Ferb" demos, and other oddities that I feel like throwing in there for fun. Feedback is welcome!