chorus
hit the lights

verse 1
Life is a stage 
Some of us fall off 
again and again and again
Act your age
Trying not to grow up
Again and again and again 

pre Ch
The Curtain goes up and I run a mile 
Far away far out of sight 
Forgetting my lines I freeze every time 
Until I hear them say
CH-Hit the lights 

V2
Life is a stage 
Some of us shine on 
again and again and again
At your age 
Take every moment 
Again and again and again 

The particles swoon inside the room
Caught in a brilliant white
Bathe in its bloom 
The shows not over 
Til you hear them say 
Hit the lights

the shows not over

hit the lights 27 SAW 20

"Don't Threaten Me" (#378, 200719)

Seems like today everything's a competition
From money and careers to huntin' and fishin'
If you're comin' after me I got a warning for you
When my back's against the wall I know exactly what to do

So don't threaten me because I'll kill you with kindness
Tell dad jokes 'til you're laughin', hug you 'til you're cryin'
As soon as you think I'm about to let up
I'll say somethin' sweet and you'll feel like a million bucks

Everybody wants to be a big deal
Top dog big cheese king of the hill
Doesn't seem to last though when we step on each other
So check it out if you come at me you'll see my true colors

Oh don't threaten me man I'll kill you with kindness
Tell dad jokes 'til you're laughin', hug you 'til you're cryin'
As soon as you think I'm about to let up
I'll say somethin' sweet and you'll feel like a million bucks

Here's an idea what if we work together
And rise above the rest in any kinda' weather
Show 'em how it's done they might learn a thing or two
But if not I'm gonna' tell 'em the same thing I told you

Week 30b - Don’t Threaten Me (200719)

Week 33 #songaweek2020. I gathered up a pile of lyric ideas and made this scrappy song, which feels very much like my mind this year. Image is a screenshot of a list of all the ideas from which I drew. Several of them are found lyrics - things people said that I thought, "that could be part of a song!"

Also I credit Senator Cory Booker for helping me tie up the chorus with "I still believe in love." He said “we are called to be a nation of love”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FjmTRm8LV2c

The other day in the middle of the night I woke up
I didn’t even think I was asleep 
I can’t say that I don’t miss Colorado
But here and now is where I want to be

Dates are just a blink
Times are out of sync
But I still believe in love

COVID doesn’t care about your feelings
Your politics, your freedom or your health
Everyone I talk to’s not a racist
a thousand fingers pointing somewhere else

I try to float like a butterfly on the warm breeze
But my mind is a swarm of bumblebees
Easter scattered snow over the tulips
Silent tears rolled down my baby’s cheeks

I wanted to write about woodsmoke and lilacs
And moonlight and wine
And stars in the farthest corners of your eyes

The hippies sang the times they are a-changing
Half a century back behind us now
I don’t know where it is we think we’re going
I hope we learn to care about the how

2020 (I Still Believe In Love)

Song a Week Challenge

Original Lyrics:
He wondered if it was up to him
Symphonic gongs blasting through the ceiling
A taste of raspberries stained in his memories
There! It begins again! Hit the lights! Hit the lights my friend!

Meteors hurtled from her hands
As if she was bowling across the universe
A song of mango bleeding across asteroid fields
There! It begins again! Hit the lights! Hit the lights my friend!

Who are we but two beings?
Built of carbon and electricity
A touch of melancholy the abyss between pinprick stars
And worlds collide, hit the lights, hit the lights!

Hit The Lights

The Ending - Song a Week 2020, Week 33

Lochinver

Glasgow Songwriting Festival with lots of good tutors and inspiration.
This was written after an afternoon with Boo Hewerdine

Every Road

My friend was friends with Steve Earle's sister
And the stories that she told about her telling stories
With second hand hearsay being small town gospel
Pray

At these times we should stop and wait
It's not my place to speculate
Think about the nothing that we make with time
And the something that we leave behind

You can take someone out of context, try to grow them straight
In the shade of burning trees a street or two away
You can take years to leave the ones before
You can take someone out of context, but when the context is a war
Sometimes it doesn't matter
Some die fighting losing battles

It's a wonder for those on the line
That anyone makes it to 29
Easy enough for me to say
The leaving behind, the nothing made
The thousand miles, the setting straight
The burning bright, praying for rain
The small town gospel gossip pray
The, hell, who am I to say

Not Waiting Around (Out of Context) - Song a Week 2020, Week 35

My heart just sank at the news today
Nothing to do
What can anybody say about it all?
At this the latest blow to fall
I sigh at the waste at the pointlessness
Shake my head, and I'm cursing as I turn a weary eye
To the earth and to sky

What sense to make except to be grateful for the gifts you gave?

Thank you for your service to your people
Cause you were a king - you were a king
In the vision of a world with all men equal
You showed the dream, you showed the dream
You showed a courage and a strength, and dignity though,
Too soon to go, too soon to go
The unfinished work of superheroes*
Must be our own, becomes our own

Surprised to learn how you knew of it
Long before your triumph, that this thing was inside you
That your days were numbered too
Love and respect the choice you made
To take the wave and ride it,
Dance along, crack a smile,
Live it all before you die

What sense to make except to be grateful for the gifts life gave?

Thank you for your service to all people
You were a king - you were a king
Vision of a world with all men equal
You showed the dream, you showed the dream
You showed a courage and a strength, and dignity though,
Too soon to go, too soon to go
I guess the unfinished work of superheroes*
Becomes our own, must be our own

* Credit where credit's due, I just wanting to acknowledge that this line comes from (indeed, is a reference to), Ben Harper's "the unfinished work of our heroes must be our own", from "How Many Miles Must We March". When I heard his line, I assumed it was an existing quote or a saying, but it looks like Ben Harper is just deep.

You Were A King

Copyright 2020
All Rights Reserved

Lyrics & Music: Erin Wolf
Guitar & Vocals: Erin Wolf

run run running around
run run running around 
in circles

let me take a moment
to explain myself
i know this is hell
quite a bitter pill

promise if you just
really hear what i'm saying
don't take it out of context
hear me out

then we won't be
run run running around
run run running around
in circles

i know it's hard to hear
that he lied with every word
how do you think that i had felt
when he'd done what he'd done

but then you cast me out
made me the villian in my own nightmare
i guess you gave me my way out
had my way out

i guess there'll be no more
run run running around 
run run running around 
in circles

i knew to be free 
it would take all of me
and i knew to be free
it would cost but i didn't know
it would cost so greatly

no more
run run running around
run run running around
in circles

Running In Circles

Sure, "Prove It" was the Week 14 prompt. But I didn't finish this song then. Don't think I finished it now.

*****

It's easy to say
We'll hold everything dear
Like we do right now
When the ending is

The ending is
What we make of it
You're going to be what we need right now
Prove it
Prove it to me

Everything starts to shake
Everything starts to blur

I can barely sleep
You're  early morning dreams
You're talking half to me
And half to you

Get inside my head and pull me out
Pull my body through when it calms down

It's all coming home, if you feel that darling
Pretty lies we were ready for

I remember rain, I remember sun
It's been so long it's gonna come, it's going come
Prove it
Prove it to me

Get inside my head and pull me out
Pull my body through when it calms down

Not Waiting Around (Out of Context) - Song a Week 2020, Week 35

Charlatan, PE