Speakeasy

Speakeasy 2

Lost Man Standing 2

Lines in the Sand

Working Theory Unplugged Songs

Victoria Falls

New & hot: Folk & Singer-Songwriter

Mark Baughman Bandmix

A compilation of Mark Baughman's Working Theory's best work

Truth be Told

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

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 Gardner
Copyright 2014 Mark Baughman

I won’t work for you until you live for me
I won’t put these chains on unless they set me free
I won’t plow the fields until the harvest’s over
I won’t believe in you ‘till you believe in me
I won’t believe in you ‘till you believe in me
I won’t climb the lookout until you’ve seen the shore
I won’t join your army until you’ve won the war
This is my garden

I won’t read the book until I know the story
I won’t stand in front until I know there’s glory
I won’t feel your pleasure until you feel the pain
I won’t step outside if the sky is dark and stormy
I won’t step outside if the sky is dark and stormy
I won’t let you have it if just having is too much
I decide what’s right and wrong – you wait for my touch
This is my garden
This is my garden

I won’t tell the truth ‘till you believe my lies
I won’t live in peace until everybody dies
I won’t dress the wounds until the healing’s over
You won’t see me coming ‘till you close your eyes
You won’t see me coming ‘till you close your eyes
I won’t be the hero until I’ve won for sure
I won’t put my money down until I know the score
This is my garden
This is my garden

The Gardner

Brothers In Blues

White's the New Black
Copyright 2015 Mark Baughman

30 days and I'm out of my head
Needed some help, I was sent here instead
Feeling numb, but I can't say why
Must be something in the water that keeps me dry
Nurses smile and divert their eyes
What do they hear when somebody cries?
What do they say when I turn my back?

30 nights sleeping in my sweat
Who will break first? It's a running bet
Streamline the treatments, Fill out the forms
Take back the blankets in case they get warm
We just exist as a check on the chart
Words on a list, a face with no heart
Everything's inside out, and white's the new black

Greasing the wheels of the healing machine
Culling the files so the record is clean
Looking for answers where none have been seen
Caught in the gears of the healing machine

I've got a stammer, you got Turret's
She got conditions they haven't named yet
He's hearing noises from over the wall
Patrick acts out like he can't hear at all
A cure is a process, just files to be filled
We're all just vouchers, accounts to be billed
Just fodder for forms, and white's the new black

White's the New Black

This is the story of Patrick, an autistic teenager who has just met his new therapist, our protagonist Amy.

Breach in the Wall
copyright 2016 Mark Baughman

(Amy:)
Will you talk to me?
I want to sing to you
Then it all goes wrong
Oh, the wall is strong
Tall and long

(Patrick:)
Oh I was a hostage 
From the day I was born
The rescue they sent
Got caught in a storm
And they all ran away
Instead of my name
They call me a case
Instead of an answer
They long for the chase
It's a game they play

They give me a door
Then lock me back in
My moment is over
Before it begins
And again I fail
I'm not a puzzle
For strangers to play
Not an adventure
You do in a day
Not a wandering trail

There's a breach in the wall
And our hands nearly touch
You could work faster 
Just put down that crutch
And take my hand
Your wounds were directions
That brought you to me
Your trauma a lens that
Allows you to see
What they can't
Take your stand





Breach In the Wall

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

Survivor Instinct
Copyright 2017 Mark Baughman

I just got some news
I don't know what to do 
With the things that they tell me
They make a big pile
I'm supposed to just take it
I'm supposed to lay back
Buy the stuff that they sell me
And then throw back a big smile
But it wears me down
Some days now I can't tell
Should I let myself go
Or pull back and wait? Pull back and wait
'Til something, somebody
I can hear or I'm deaf to
That I know or don't know
Or I might meet at the gate

I'm not afraid
Of the things they're afraid of
I only want to be nearer and nearer

Oh, I just read some news
'Bout the end of the world
I don't care if it's near
I got some things left to do
I got poems and songs
That I gotta get out
Got 'em bottled up in here
And maybe a story or two
I'm a willow in a storm
The wind blows me over
And still I hold up
And the roots keep me right, keep me right
I may have some scars
From some flying debris
But I didn't pull up
And blow off in the night

I'm not afraid
Of the things they're afraid of
I only want to be nearer and nearer

They don't understand
I don't care about
These things they obsess
These things come and go
They think I'm touched
They think I'm not here
They think it's the stress
They think I don't know
They think too much
And they don't use their heads
They don't see the big scene
How it all comes around, comes around, comes around
I let them talk down
I know they would never
Let me off clean
To go where I'm bound

I'm not afraid
Of the things they're afraid of
I only want to be nearer and nearer

Survivor Instinct

She Dreams of the Ghost

Copyright 2017 Mark Baughman

Out of the shadows he drifts through the hall
Up the stairs and into her room
He dances around her fire in the night
As the flames reach up to the moon
While she dreams
Songs fill her head, haunting refrains
Darting, the words on the wind
The fire cracks, sparks spray
As he reaches to touch her skin
While she dreams

The flame lashes out, protecting her
He pulls back his hand, stung
Leans over to whisper a secret
But something is holding his tongue

She closed the door, checking the latch
Pull the covers and turn out the light
She stares straight up at her loneliness
Wondering how she'll get through the night
And she waits
She closes her eyes, turns her mind over
To numbers and colors and sound
The ghost slips in under her counting
Drifting softly around
While she waits

She dreams of the ghost, flames reaching higher
Burning restless and free
She sees him dance, holds out her hand
He studies the flame carefully

They started the fire and left it to grow
Packed it with kindling, it burned hot and slow
She threw on the memories, she threw on the pain
She threw on the hopelessness, searching in vain
The bonfire is brighter, its light in their eyes
Climbing and reaching and burning the skies

The edge of the morning, the dancing gets slow
First light breaks the spell
She brushes her hair and opens her eyes
To nothing and no one to tell
But her dreams
Ghost slips out, smoke floats away
Smoldering scent in his head
He looks at his hand where the flame left a burn
By the scars of things unsaid
And he dreams

The sun hides the fire
And the smoke makes a haze
She lives in distractions
That come with the days

And she lives for the dream

She Dreams Of The Ghost

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

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

Thicker Than Blood
Copyright 2018 Mark Baughman
From the New Rock Opera Energie

Some bad characters meet in a room and plot against our hero

Thicker Than Blood

Buried Treasure

Copyright Mark Baughman 2019

Sitting in the park alone
The winter wind is blowing 
And he doesn’t feel the sting
He looks out through the stand of trees
The sunlight reaches back
But he doesn’t see a thing
He looks down at the paper
With the line that brought him all the way here
His fingers slowly tracing back and forth
He had the wheel but couldn’t steer

Standing on a runway
With the engines roaring by
And he doesn’t hear a sound
All those people coming, going
Watching and he wonders
If they’re lost or if they’re found
The jet wash pulls the paper 
Turning while it dances through the air
Across a field and over and out of sight
To some lost soul on his way to nowhere

In his suitcase all her letters
A box of empty photographs
At the ready all the answers
To the things she never asked
Seduced himself in hot pursuit
The trail is cold and fading fast
He may not be the first one here
He knows for sure he’s not the last

Kneeling in an open field 
Stretched out to the horizon
And he’s straining for a voice
Laying on the grass 
Looking up and asking no one 
If he really had a choice?
He swears he was born innocent
No direction where to begin
He spent his life wanting beyond his reach
Around the bend or deep within

In the suitcase all her letters
A box of empty photographs
At the ready all the answers
To the things she never asked
Seduced himself in hot pursuit
The trail is cold and fading fast
He thinks he’s not the first one here
He knows for sure he’s not the last

Buried Treasure

It was a casual Saturday afternoon at a friends place; A random Spotify playlist had assumed the roll as the DJ for the night, which eventually cued up the Jose Gonzalez cover of “Heartbeats” (a song originally performed by the Knife). I couldn’t remember the last time I’d heard the song but was immediately consumed by feelings of nostalgia, as memories from my freshmen year in university hijacked my imagination. I found myself re-listening to the song over and over again, until coming to the (what should have been obvious) conclusion to create my own cover.

I laid down the acoustic guitars, along with some simple drums - just enough to get a general idea of how this was going to play out for me. A good friend of mine (who performs under the name Lani Rose) was available to track some demo vocals; what he sent back blew me away. 

I didn’t want the cover to be too similar to the Jose rendition, so I was sure to add a taste of Fairlane throughout the record. After wrapping up the first final version, I had the pleasure of previewing what Lani and I had done to another close friend (who’d admitted to sharing a similar obsession with the Jose cover in the past). As the demo ended, I turned around in my chair to gauge any reaction, only to discover my friend sitting in silence with his mouth agape. “That was special” he said “and that’s all I’m gonna say”.

This Heartbeats cover will always hold a place in my heart. To me, it represents an acknowledgment to the time my journey has taken to get to where I am - from the last time I heard the original 8 years ago, to the first time I heard it again on that random Saturday evening, and everything else in between.

free dl :)

Fairlane - Heartbeats

i uploaded this song's demo to my shitpost account @chevsmcgevs a few months ago and the response on it was so great i decided to make a proper version of it! so thank you all for your patience and a BIG thank you to @pivot1 for bringing this song to life and giving it that whimsical feel. i truly couldn't have done it without him :')

spotify: https://open.spotify.com/track/2nzED6Q3yWuvSQnxw6QTlU?si=Jln9l7HkRemTp8Kc8A-AFQ

park bird: 
@pivot1
 twitter.com/parkbird789789

art by esther shin:
 twitter.com/estartsy
 www.instagram.com/estartsy/

this song was inspired by Roger Ebert, an infamous film critic who lost his ability to speak. after reading an article about his life and relationship with his wife, I wondered what it would be like to fall in love with somebody who was unable to do the things in life we usually take for granted, like talking or simply riding a bike...

lyrics:
if i could ride a bike
i’d zoom around the world
with you sitting there behind me
i’d take you to places 
pass several faces
just living life so carefree

if i could sail a boat
i’d cruise across the seas
a sweet adventure for us two
i’ll be Jack and you Rose
just please don't let me go
cuz i’d be nothing without you

oh when you call me
i'm drifting on clouds like I'm dreaming
but in the morning
i wake up and see that your stuck here w me

if only you knew
what i would do for you
i'd jump up and hold you so tightly
but i will never be
able to do these things
so i'm just left imagining

if i could ride a bike (w/ park bird)

"one day"

one day,
we will be free from this pain

one day,
our happiness will reign

let our minds not venture astray
and keep hoping for that one day

i will forever pray
for that one day.

one day

My debut album 'Immunity' out now!

http://clairo.lnk.to/immunity

Lyrics:

In Massachusetts
only thirty minutes from Alewife
I lay in my room 
Wondering why i've got this life
I met you by surprise 
You were hanging out all the time
But you know you saved me 
From doing something to myself that night
You call me seven times, one, two, three, four, on the line 
I didn’t mean to scare you, just had the thoughts in my mind
They showed up to my door
My parents didn't know what for
Swear I could've done it,
If you weren’t there when I hit the floor
It’s been so long and you've been my sister all along
But you know I’ll be alright
Eighth grade was never that tight

Alewife

Lyrics:

Saded
I'm treading water
I'm sedated
I hold my breath and I go farther in
It sparks within my thoughts

Bioluminescent in the dark
I dive right in between the lemon sharks
My skin, a resistance as an ironbark
Like a symbiotic man 'o war

Wavey
Sailing on a raft towards the maybe
Settling for what I don't know

I'm a little alienated
Hardly navigating anywhere
But that's alright
Memories of you sailing by my side

Oh-oh, oh-oh~ (x4)

No teeth could ever harm
No treasures in the depths of pouring gold
No thief could ever swallow all that he stole

Saded
I'm treading water
I'm sedated
I hold my breath and I go farther in
I drown within my thoughts

Bioluminescence in the darkness
I will dwell on in the depths regardless
Of dismal dormant creatures shining flawless
Yet you spark within my thoughts

Bioluminescent in the dark
I dive right in between the lemon sharks
My skin, a resistance as an ironbark

Bioluminescent in the dark
I wish you well beyond the moon and stars
My kin, a remembrance of a selfless heart

Bioluminescent in the dark (2x)

© ℗ 2019 Gravity Circus

Lemon Sharks

Spotify

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

Some Kind of Fool
Copyright 2019 Mark Baughman

How many times are you going to leave me
Without saying goodbye
How long are you going to blame me
For something you should know is a lie?
How long are you just going to sit there
On the other side of the door?
Whispering songs to yourself in the night
And staring a hole in the floor

Well, I just keep hanging around here
And you just send me to school
I must be asking for it babe
I must be some kind of fool

What in the world would I have to carry?
Would it be a stone or a cross?
What would I give? What would I lose?
Either way I know what it costs
As right as righteous conviction
As wrong as someone can be
As bold as helpless, as strong as insecure
Lost between prison and free

I just keep walkin' this side of the street
I keep wearing a hole in my shoe
Must be my fault, ain't it babe?
I must be some kind of fool

If I asked you anything
Would you tell me something
Tell me lies, 'cause it's easy
Tell the truth, but don't tease me
I swear this road is ending here

How many times can I fall down
Before I just stay on my knees?
How many locks do have on that door?
Do you really want to throw away the keys?
How many songs can I give you
'Till the truth starts breaking through?
'Till the measures and scale let you out of that jail
Fill the promise overdue

I keep sitting alone in the dark
And I'm being stubborn as a mule
Well, I deserve what I get, babe
I must be some kind of fool

Some Kind Of Fool

Zambezi

Copyright 2019 Mark Baughman

I see the houses
With all their pretty doors
Their rooms are all empty
What do they have them for?
I meet the people
Lost and alone
Talking to no one
And aching to the bone
My weariness took over
And I finally closed my eyes
I heard a distant symphony
Reflecting off the skies
It was thunderous, majestic
It was singing out in tongues
And underneath a rhythm
That I heard when I was young

They were sending out their thoughts and prayers
Then they scattered like seeds on the wind

When I woke in the morning
In the center of a plain
A cloudburst opened up and it
Washed me with with it's rain
The water off my feet
Cut channels in the ground
Ran to join the others
Desperate to be found
They follow unfamiliar paths
Of choices they don't make
Assuming all the privileges 
Of liberties they take
They didn't see it coming
The river - gentle, slow
The earth broke open, swallowed
To the thunder from below

I sent them all my thoughts and prayers
And like vapor they left on the wind

On the one side of the coin
My friends all tell me
That I'm crazy
Seeing everything 
As part of some 
Complex design
It bugs me that I have this funny feeling
That I'm not alone and
Maybe should be looking harder
Cannot see the signs
I dreamed I saw Jerusalem
It's minarets and churches
And its calls to all the faithful
To come and start again
On the other side I build my house
Above and all around me
It mirrors what I know
It's designed to keep me in

What was the question?
What is it now?

I swam across the river
And crawled up on the bank
Basking and grateful
Not knowing who to thank
I thought of Zambezi
Arrested by the falls
The fate of all the innocents
Who fell over the wall

We sang them all our thoughts and prayers
And like vapor they left on the wind

Zambezi

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

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.