Speakeasy

Divided by Zero

Speakeasy 2

Lost Man Standing

Lost Man Standing 2

Roaring Radio

Lines in the Sand

Keyser Festival

Full Show Mixed

Nearer to Nowhere
Copyright 2021 Mark Baughman

There's a high mass in the subway
There's a salon on the street
A crowd is giving witness
They drop at your feet
And all this went by while you
Waited for a sign
Eyes fixed on something shiny
It made you go blind

A stranger circling 'round you
Looking for his chance
He spied the situation
And he put you in a trance
He recognizes
Weakness and fear
I can see that he's drawing you -

Nearer to nowhere, further from where we started, remember? I know it's hard, but just close your eyes and try to feel what you felt when you held my hand

They opened up the prisons
But you stayed in your cell
The guards and the warden
Didn't treat you so well
The bars are in your memories
Stronger than steel
The lock's your confusion
'Cause none of it's real

Directions that go
To a place that's not there
And the driver you called
Just sits there and stares
You climb in the back
But the car, it won't move
And you find yourself desperate to - 

Prove to yourself, or the people who love you so much, but you don't seem to know they're right there, around you, just waiting to touch you if you'd hold out your hand

Open the envelope
Take out the papers
Fold them up neatly
And put them away
Pick up the pieces
Put them together
No misdirection
To lead you astray

Tear up the papers
Tear up the envelope
Crush in your hands
And set them afire
Sweep up the ashes
Throw to the wind
And ask yourself, honestly:
Want or desire?

They're dousing the candles
And crossing themselves
And the prophets of the sidewalk
Their books on the shelves
You stood up and ran
Down the alley in the dark
From the light that laid you out -

Stark - all the things that you know but still you can't face that it's hard and you need someone to cover for you while you find your place and station in time

Nearer to Nowhere

The May Pole

Words & Music Copyright 2021 Mark Baughman
All rights reserved

What in the world is a woman like you
Doing in a state like this?
How could anybody rescue you
When you live like you barely exist?
Make your promises before breakfast
Say your nursery rhymes before bed
If I gave you the chapter and verses
Would you do anything I said?

Who are these people you're calling your friends?
They took everything you brought
They stand out of view and they start at the end
Knowing that they'll never get caught
I promised I'd leave you in silence
Now you rattle 'round in my room
Wander alone down and empty road
You're a song without a tune

But none of this gets to the bottom
Of what it was that turned you in circles
Tied to a May Pole
A ribbon so colorful
Fantastic and beautiful
But you're tangled and you're nowhere
I'm pretty sure that a woman like you
Wasn't born into this world for that
No, I'm pretty damn sure that w woman like you
Wasn't born into this world for that.

And all that I wanted
Was to get to the bottom
Of what it was that turned you upside-down
Miles in the air
Tied to a limb
And that ribbon, it won't break your fall
I'm pretty sure that a woman like you
Deserves a whole lot better than that
Yes, I'm pretty damn sure that a woman like you
Wasn't born into this world for that

What in the world is a woman like you
Doing in a state like this?

The May Pole

Currency
Copyright 2021 Mark Baughman ASCAP All Rights Reserved

f. Marco Cremaschini on piano

"You don't get to know me, and you never did"
That was her last line of defense
I barely heard the sound
Felt a sting, hit the ground
Laid out in my state of penitence

"You don't get to have me," like she needed to say
But she wanted me to stay down this time
She stood over the kill
Just to show me her will
Then she fled from the scene of the crime

Well I didn't know a thing of her fragility
And I don't know how I fell into this trap
Should a lover or a friend
Meet this kind of end?
Cornered, she turned and attacked

She used her hurt and loneliness like currency
Minted in some dark place in her mind
Maybe only I could see
But it was counterfeit to me
Taken as payment in kind

Currency

Seven Years at Sea

Copyright 2021 Mark Baughman/Working Theories Publishing ASCAP
All rights reserved

I Just got my legs underneath me
After seven long years at sea
I was longing to be back on the dock
Where I sat and I longed to be free
The ship deserted the captain
And the first mate, he came and he went
We swore that we'd go the distance
But we didn't know what we meant

My first port of call was a siren
Dressed in another man's shirt
She said, "Throw your fate to the winds,
But saying a prayer might not hurt"
So I walked down a path to a chapel
That hundreds had walked down before
I spoke to a stone in a garden
And wondered what it was there for

I wish I had known that this was just
The quiet time before the storm
But sitting there, thinking it over
The opinions I shouldn't have formed
Well, I couldn't say I wasn't warned

A character I read in a novel
I ghost I saw in a play
Just when I came to the precipice
She turned up with something to say
I went to her, put out my arms
And she vanished like dark in the night
So I carried on with my loneliness
Chasing the dimmest of light

Well, I lost my sense of contrition
And fell in with hustlers and thieves
They payed life like it was a card game
With more than an ace up their sleeves
But somebody's only a winner
'Till the dealer puts out a new hand
You don't really know where you are
When you don't really know where you stand

With all the conditional friendships
Not even my hand was warm
With all of their manifestos
And all of their movements reformed
I couldn't say that I wasn't warned

I don't know what's more important - 
Where I went to or where I came from
The souvenirs I collected add up to
A whole lot less than the sum
And the girl I left on the pier
On that morning I went out to sea
She's in love, or she's in denial
While she's unweaving her tapestry

I made some inquiries and there's no passage back
And there's nowhere to stay around here
It won't do just to ride along
But I won't mind if someone else steers
Everything comes to me bittersweet
My heart so exquisitely torn
And now my home's the relentless pursuit
Of a vision so beautifully formed
I know - I was told
With fanfare and scold
So I couldn't say I wasn't warned.

Seven Years At Sea

In Time for the Rain
Copyright 2021 Mark Baughman /Working Theories Publishing ASCAP
Al rights reserved

Sandy in the parking lot
Taking orders, checking stock
Pay-per-view to look down her shirt
Aways checking her makeup in the mirror on the side
Learned it all by reading memes
Tiny hat, bigger dreams
"Why do all these people go to work?"
In the afternoon her mommy used to make her play outside

She says "Hold tight!
My daddy says I'm totally cool
And sooner or later, I'l end up in somebody's pool"

Billy in his dream jet
Plays with his train set
Money when he pushes the bell
All he ever wanted was the spoils that come with the win
Ditched that old chaperone
Doesn't like to be alone
Gonna find out how deep is this well
The pilot gives him cover 'cause you don't know where that thing has been

He said "Dress right!
And watch what you get on your shoes
'Cause the people behind you
Just might be counting the clues."

Peaches in the boudoir
Reading up on caviar
Cousin draw Kabala in the bath
Everybody watches and everybody tries not to look
Draw a line, set the height
Get the temperature right
Or Cous is gonna feel the wrath
Peaches get want she want, and nobody's off the hook

And it's all night -
Of posting pictures of her privates in Tweets
It's all she has to do to fill up the seats

Took a shot to the head
All those things that I read
Subtle, but the point wasn't missed
It's not like I couldn't guess that the author was you
Well, I'll get back to you
In a husband or two
If the fever and the anger persist
'Til we cross paths again, this will give you something to do

You know, you lose sight
And you think it's just a game that you play
But I can't help wondering
Who you're going to worship today

I think it's not right
The way they got this thing arranged
But the weatherman just got here
In time for the rain

In Time For The Rain

Jackie

Copyright 2022 Mark Baughman / Working Theories Publishing ASCAP All rights reserved

Jackie, give it a minute and let it sink in
Then get on with what you were doing
She doesn't give you a second thought
So tell me who's doing the fooling
In a minute or two
It will be midnight
And we get to start it again

You act like it's a mystery, 
Like you couldn't see this coming
Posing, indifferent, pretending you don't care
So tell me - where were you running?
In an hour or two
Need to make some choices
Are you listening to me?
Do you hear voices?
Oh, why can't you see that it's all laid out there for you?

C'mon now, stop looking down
Your feet will go where you lead them
You've been giving her the best things you have
But she doesn't seem to need them
I know it's not easy
But in your heartest of hearts
You know it's true

My friend was so confused
He caught a train in every direction
He carried himself with such certainty
All we saw was his perfection
In a year or two
He had it all figured out
Then the footing gave under
And he crumbled in doubt
I wish he could see we were leaving the light on for him

He got lost, and figured that
All doors closed behind him
He disappeared without leaving a trace
We looked, but we couldn't find him
But we gave up too easy
So we came up short
It's sad but it's true


Jackie, you're on your own, just let that sink in
And forget 'bout the time that you threw away
Her house has been burning and you want to rush in
But what good could you do her anyway?
In a lifetime or two
You'll make it all make sense
Maybe rationalize
In the interest of self-defense
For all you can be we've been leaving the light on for you

Come on now and stop looking back
There's nobody there behind you
Pick up your bags and get on with it
And leave us a trail to find you
I know it's not easy
But in your heartest of hearts
You know I'm right

I know it's not easy, 
But in your heartest of hearts
You know it's true

I know it's not easy

Jackie

Go the Distance

Copyright 2022 Mark Baughman / Working Theories Publishing ASCAP

I have never seen a sunrise
That made me want to meet the day
I had never known a woman
Who made me want to turn around and stay
I wasted all my wishes
On dreams I knew would never come true
Too fantastic to imagine
Like the distance between me and you

I have never heard a sermon
That made me want to lay my burden down
I've had my share of heartaches
Then I watched the circus come to town
I weighed all of my choices
Made a few mistakes
Did things I'm not proud of
I have to bend it 'till it breaks

I've never been so ready
Never been so unprepared
You could make me go the distance
If you just told me that you cared
I gave up on my future
Threw away my past
I heard all of your answers
And still I have to ask

Go The Distance

The Fields
Copyright 2022 Mark Baughman / Working theories Publishing ASCAP
All Rights Reserved

For Jim

The Fields

The Rosenberg Trio - Tears (Django Reinhardt  And Stephane Grappelli)

Michel Petrucciani - Cantabile

Army of One
Copyright 2016 Mark Baughman

I'm a soldier in an army of one
With my conscience my shield and my book is my gun
I joined as a child
It's all that I've known
I've fought for the chance
To kneel at His throne
I'm a soldier in an army of one

I'm a soldier awaiting command
But I always get slapped
When I reach out my hand
What part is free will?
What part of it's fate?
What part of it's love?
What's love without hate?
I'm waiting to know where to stand

I lived in a marriage of one
Where I brought to the world
Two girls and a son
I taught and we played
As I pushed back the tears
And I said to myself
Those were not wasted years
I just did what I thought He'd have done

I'm all turned around, my mind is a fog
I fumble the right words to say
Studying the verses and lines in between
Do I lead or do I obey?

I want to know an army of two
I want to know someone 
Who will help me get through
But how will he know me?
How will I know him?
Divine intervention
Do I save him from sin?
I just want to know someone that's true

The years in this desert, the sun bearing down
The mirage plays tricks with my eyes
All of the reasons I fought all these years
For truth - or was it all lies?

Striking me down again and again
But somehow I keep coming back
I'm punch drunk and tired and I can't hear the call
Do I retreat or do I attack?

It's comfort I feel with every sharp blow
There's no part of me that's not bruised
I pray the reward will be more than a medal
I'm weary from being so used

Army Of One

Barbed Wire Coat

copyright 2018 Mark Baughman, All rights reserved

There's a dark cloud flashing
Coming up over the hill ahead
And I keep on driving towards it
When I know I should stop instead
You were giving me directions
Now you say I was mislead
You act like you don't know where we were going
You act like it didn't mean a thing

There is someone 'round the corner
Keeping score and taking names
She is weighing my resistance
She is always playing games
She is reading from the forecast
That when it pours, it rains
You act like you don't know what was happening
You wear love like a barbed-wire coat

Every step with you is a new found land
Every time I write you misunderstand
Every time I reach out you just look at my hand
Every time I show way out 
You turn and close the door
Every time we start to climb
You start reaching for the floor
Every time - I beg you come back 
To where it was you were before

There's a dark sea rising
And the tide's up on the Bay
And the raft that you've been living on
Will lift and drift away
It won't be long before the swells
Hit you with their spray
You act like you don't know where you're sailing
Well, this time I think you're right

Every step you take in this careless plan
Every day I'm wondering where you stand
You just keep on falling with nowhere to land
Every time you broke my heart
And then walked away clean
When you didn't like the picture
You'd just make a new scene
And all I really wanted was to
See you yourself again

Oh the time I came to rescue you
And you turned me away
I was good enough to take it
But not good enough to stay
I stayed up all night and listened 
And we cried 'til the next day
Then I laid out all my cards
And you didn't want to play

In the greenest meadow
Grows the softest grass
And the sky's so clear
You could swear it's made of glass
And the storms on the horizon
They just quietly pass
I'd like to think you know the way here
I am patiently waiting for you

Every mark I make
Every place I stand
Every word I say
Every fire I fan
Every stand I take
In this shifting sand
What I forswore
I became
If it makes you feel better
I will take the blame
I just wanted to see you
Where you were again.

Barbed Wire Coat

Bistro Fada

Energie

Copyright 2018 Mark Baughman

I step off of the ledge
With the wind in my hair
My eyes looking straight in the sun
From zero to flying
A stone through the air
I hope I don’t hit anyone
No I won’t hit anyone
-
Standing atop
I summoned my nerve
I saw my potential alive
I think what I’m getting
Is what I deserve
It comes at the end of the dive

I see the skies igniting
Mountains born out of a fire
-
I’ve been up to the top
I’ve been down to the bottom
And somehow I ended the same
All that I spent on
Nothing that mattered while
Looking for something to blame

Toy in the attic
Left careless behind
Carelessly fell to the ground
Alone in a shell
With parents resigned
Joyful, reacts to the sound
He dances to the sound
-
Looking in darkness
For validation
She lovingly showed me her light
She offered me kindness
Showed me salvation
But I stole away in the night

I saw the fire lighting
I didn’t know it was real
-
I’ve been over the top
I’ve sunk down to the bottom
Prideful and feeling the shame
Energy wasted on
Nothing that mattered
Like I wouldn’t be there again

Pulses and frequencies
Infinite, bound
Echo forever in space
The depth of a feeling
Caught by a sound
Bringing us back to this place
-
I feel the moment exciting
Memories lighting the sky

I’ve been over the edge
I’ve been up to my neck
Always out of my depth
I raced with the sun, looking
Over my shoulder
And never quite catching my breath
-
I jumped to the top
I fell down to the bottom
And always I came out the same
Potential expended
Broken and mended
Then back on the ledge, here again

Energie

Willow

Copyright 2019 Mark Baughman

Took I-40 down to Nashville 
Where I saw the Parthenon
We were dancing in the Bluegrass Inn
That place has come and gone
My memory’s dim on why I thought
Was time for moving on
I was long on motivation
And short on making time
Couldn’t get out of my way
Stand up straight and walk the line

Drove the back road down to Natchez
And a dirt road to a camp
Where we played guitars and sang
‘Till the morning dimmed the lamp
And we slept beneath a willow
Where the ground was cool and damp
And time just seemed suspended
A minute took a day
With space for us to contemplate
How much a word can weigh

And the things you tried to tell me
Were said to avail
By time I teased the lessons out
That tangled in the tale
The signs had lost their meaning
The paint was peeling, pale
Like old decaying buildings
Like tombstones on the trail

Well the dew is hanging heavy
On the willow by the river
I came back to your waters
In hopes I’d be delivered 
I keep on coming back
Just in case you reconsider
The air is sitting thick
And the vines are smelling sweet
Just like the place, when we were kids
Where you and I would meet

And the current’s running fast
‘Neath the river by the willow
Come sit here in the rushes
Take my shoulder for a pillow
We’ll pretend we’re in our house
See the world out through our window
See the breezes take the drifters
Down the river by the willow

Willow

Robert Owen

Copyright 2019 Mark Baughman all rights reserved

My name is Robert Owen
And I saw the light today
The flash came out of nowhere 
And then it went away
I left my wife and daughter
At her mother's house back east
Where they sewed on cuffs and collars
At a penny for a piece
Didn't want much
Was just hoping
For a tiny piece of pie
Stood in line for
Days on ending
Then they served another lie

My name is Bobby Owen
So they wrote it on a list
One hand begging, open
While another made a fist
I gave a long week's work and
In return a short day's pay
Most every town greets us with 
A sign to stay away
In the railyards
Under bridges
Any shelter in a storm
Old newspapers
Tattered blankets
Not enough to keep me warm

The last of my dignity
I threw away tonight
I won a little money
Then lost it in a fight
The last of my possessions
They took the week 'fore last
They hit me while I slept at night
I'd have given if they asked
Just a locket
With a picture
And a cutting of her hair
Just a memory
Seems so distant
Don't remember who or where

My name is not important
Though it's spelled across the sky
Been sung in church and marches
Though I never figured why
Was recruited in a beanfield
Where the sun had made me blind
We stood firm on the front line
And they shot us from behind
Hallelujahs
Were delivered
By a choir in the back
All the truth of
My existence
Was buried in a sack

My name is Robert Owen
And I saw the light today

Robert Owen

Eureka Springs
Copyright 2019 Mark Baughman

At a café on a mountain
In a town that time rolled by
I was thinking about my next stop
When something caught my eye
She was sitting alone at the counter
Looking up and stirring her tea
She slid off the stool, skirt bellowing
She set sail right over to me

She stopped and looked out of the window
Distant, eyes fixed, on a dream
A noise broke the spell and she looked down
And asked if I was what I seemed
She pulled at my arm, then released me
Walking away, then looked back
Watching her dance, I was thinking
Her train’s on some other track

She sat down, took my hand
Reading my palm
I closed it on hers
She was suddenly calm
Said she was an actress
What role would she play?
I felt this compulsion
To take her away

We left through a door in a mirror
To a valley with river and mill
Slowly we walked through a garden
Our way to a house on a hill
A flash – and the house burned to ashes
And the garden turned into dust
So quickly defying description
Whatever had happened to us

 I went to my coffee
She went to her tea
I tried to ignore her
Looking at me
The turned and announced
As she reached for the cream
“I’ve seen it before
He’s not what he seems.”

Eureka Springs

Racing to the Bottom

Copyright 2020 Mark Baughman
All rights reserved

My eyes were tight and burning
When I came to in the cell
With a hundred true believers
Sent to spend the night in Hell
They'll be picking up their ribbons
Disappear into the crowd
And waiting for dispatches
That will come through clear and loud

I walked around a corner
There was something going down
Heard a siren from behind me
Someone threw me to the ground
They were kicking me as I
Curled into a ball
Then the boots went marching on
And the sky began to fall

A soldier rolled me over
I couldn't see his face
His black boot on my throat
While he sprayed my eyes with mace
He was acting on instructions
He was answering a call
He pulled me by the collar
Threw me up against the wall

 He said "Take me to your leader."
I said, "I don't understand
I was only on my way home
Wasn't there to make some kind of stand
It's not Selma, It's not Montgomery
It's not 1968
That show's in syndication
And we already paid the freight."

I could barely make him out
My eyes all tears and blood
I reached out to touch his face
And he hit me with a club
I heard a woman laughing
Then beckon him away
He gave me one last shove
Then headed back into the fray

Deep inside you hear a voice
Telling you that everything has rotten
Sitting in your living room
Watching as we're racing to the bottom

 
The smoke and tear gas drifted off
I could make shapes out of the dark
They chained me in the wagon
Just for being in the park
I passed out in my filth
And I woke up to a fight
Restless and exhausted
It went on and on like that all night.

On and on.

Racing to the Bottom

This River Won't Flow
Copyright 2020 Mark Baughman
All rights reserved

Early in the mornin’
The cloud is layin’ low
Birds sleep in the trees
‘Cause they got no place to go
And the crickets in the tall grass
Singin’ soft and slow
Boys with their fishin’ poles
Soft on the moss
Drifting, half-asleep
They got their fingers crossed
But nothing is biting
And this river won’t flow

Time just stopped 
About an hour ago
And suddenly I forgot
Everything I know
When she told me
She just had to go
Now the sun won’t come out
And the river won’t flow

Staring at the distance
Shots fired at dawn
Lookin’ ‘round the field
To see which side I’m on
My heart was bleeding fire
But I couldn’t let it show
The gaslight and the lies
Drove her ‘till she wrecked
The grooming and the cheating
Did what you’d expect
She was adrift in circumstances
And the current wouldn’t go

Was still lookin’ back when I
Hit the end of the line
Summing up the reasons
She could never be mine
Tore myself to pieces
Thinking where she might go
Well, she’s never coming back to me
And this river won’t flow

I could never be her hero
I could never be right
I could never be the one
Who showed her the light
But I see everything
From the top to below
I did everything I could
To keep her on dry ground
I gave up all I had
So she wouldn’t drown
But she wouldn’t take the line
And she went down slow

Time stopped between
The dark and the day
My mind is full of reasons
But there’s nothing I can say
My face is lost and vacant
I put it on for show
I would fall into the water
But the river won’t flow

This River Won't Flow

Grabación con Ivory II - Steinway & Sons (18 Niveles de Velocidad). Versión De Georgia por Oscar Peterson.

Oscar Peterson - Georgia On My Mind - Maxi A.

Get Me Back to Birmingham
Copyright 2021 Mark Baughman, all rights reserved

I was falling out of my dream 
And my hands began to shake 
And the wind blew through the  
Open windows fast 
One last pack of cigarettes 
I bought to stay awake 
I can only hope what's left 
Is going to last 
Listnin’ to the radio 
I don’t care what they play 
Just got to get me to the 
Jefferson County line 
She said she’d leave at sunrise 
She said this would be the day 
Got to get me back to 
Birmingham in time 

The flags above the rest stops 
And the crosses on the hills 
A dixie call to prayer 
That was and always will 

Everything is possible 
And nothing’s out of reach 
When you’re driving on this road 
This time of night 
A phrase without a sentence 
Her name lit on a screen 
Next thing I know I’m here 
Racing with the light 
I just counted all my blessings 
You know, it didn’t take me long 
Some I know and  
Some I just believe 
Need to get me back to that sleepy town 
Paint my shadow on her door 
And show her why she  
Doesn’t need to leave 

Oh the air is wet and warm 
From the Gulf of Mexico 
Moving up from Mobile 
Where the world is turning slow 

I met her at the fairgrounds 
Right outside the revival tent 
We went down to the river 
And we wondered where it went 
She invited me into her house 
I said I couldn’t stay 
She said she couldn’t leave 
And the wind took me away 

 
The numbers on the highway	
Are counting down to her 
With all the needles 
Riding on the red 
And the cameras are flashing 
But I drive on undeterred 
The truckers making runway lights ahead 

Oh, the steering wheel is turning 
As if it knows the way 
It turns down to her street 
Just in time to meet the day 

And there were all my blessing 
With her suitcase at the door 
She smiled at me and opened it 
Just like she did before

Get Me Back to Birmingham

Does anyone out there still write songs that are interesting, with melodies and lyrics and meaning?  -  Yes!

Mark Baughman is a composer, guitarist, playwright, visual artist and architect (yes, really, an architect). Based in Washington, DC, Mark writes songs that are more than stories - they are movies with vivid characters and real emotions. The songs have carefully crafted lyrics, melodies and song structures. Mark is incredibly versatile and prolific, easily moving from one genre to another to express what's on his mind and in his heart.

Mark has written and produced to stage 3 rock operas - 99, Release and Energie. Each tells a story of complex contemporary adult life. He is presently writing his 4th show, entitled Victoria Falls, and he posts the new songs as they are completed. 

Between the rock operas, Mark has produced 5 other albums - She Dreams of the Ghost, Charmed Life, Victoria Falls, No Prophet Here and Divided by Zero - which further showcase his songwriting dexterity and musicianship. 

Mark's live band is called Working Theory and takes different forms depending on the show  and venue. And he's busy now working on the next thing.

Jackie

Mark Baughman's Working Theory