Divided by Zero

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

Last Light

(For Black and Jen)

Music and lyrics by Mark Baughman & Blackman Bausi
Copyright 2021 Working Theories ASCAP All Rights Reserved

The rope was soaking wet
And  swelling 'round his wrists
It was midnight or noon -
He couldn't say
He tried to stay asleep
He tried not to think
What it was that they were going
To do to him today

The echo of a radio
Down a hall and up some stairs
A rally like a crowd
At a football game
Someone singing slogans
To waves of angry cheers
The words are always different
But the meaning is the same

And the lights were going out all over the city
They asked him why - he said he didn't know
The air was full of smoke
And it sticks in your throat
And follows wherever you go

It went quiet, and then 
He heard a newscast
Someone somewhere
Had his feeling hurt
He wished he had a phone to make a video
And show the world just what it is
That's soaking in this dirt

He stopped wondering if he'd ever make it
Out of here alive
He stopped wondering
How it all made sense
He stopped wondering
How we let it happen
That you show them the man
And they show you the offense

The last light that he saw was a vision
While they drove up and took him away
The hood was made to blind
But she was fixed in his mind
And nothing was all he would say

They stood him at a wall
Something cold against his head
He reached down for
One last drink of air
Then quiet sober voices
From behind, pensively
Discussed the kind of damage
And the cost of the repair

The next thing that he heard was a silence
An emptiness rang through him like a bell
Did he survive?
Was he dead or alive?
Seemed like hours before he could tell

There's a last light that burns in this city
You know it, but you can't quite see
The may add and subtract
But when they're done with their math
They can't cut the root from the tree.

Last Light (f. Blackman Bausi)

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

Cut Throat Razor
Copyright 2021 Mark Baughman, Working Theories Publishing ASCAP
All rights reserved

I could paint you another picture
And wonder what it was that you saw
A blank or colorful canvas
Would you see anything at all?

I could write out these words in my little book
The verses seem to have no end
Rhymes and reasons for page after page
In a letter I couldn't send

In one direction or another
In circles, then doubling back
Too late when I found I was
Tied down, helpless

If I wrote you a song, would you listen?
Is it the melody or words that you hear?
Or maybe that note of dissonance
Is what came to your ear

I asked then I begged, then I reasoned
I put it all out, naked and real
Wounded - sharp, like from a razor
That was too fast to feel

Cut through one part, then another
So deep it's never going to close
I look in the mirror, and I
Don't recognize me
Don't know what I want
Don't know where I am

Tied to a May Pole
A ribbon so colorful
Fantastic and beautiful
But we're tangled, and we're nowhere

Cut Throat Razor

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

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.

Divided by Zero

Mark Baughman's Working Theory