©MDM MMXIV

Once upon a mountainside
Make our escape through the Devil's Doorway
Thunderstorm blowing from the north
It was all so dramatic
Should we stay or should we go
You can hear the 'copters closing in
We shot 'em down in flames
And now we're soaked down to the skin
But I don't feel a thing
It all seems like a dream
God saved the queen
God saved the queen

Once upon a fire
In the dark of the Baraboo
Underneath the pine trees
We flew all the way around the world
The Great Wall of China
We came back home way too soon
White of the moon
Yellow of the flame
Red smoke gets in your eyes again
But I don't feel a thing
It all seems like a dream
God saved the queen
God saved the queen

Once upon a mountainside
Make our escape through the Devil's Doorway
Thunderstorm blowing from the north
It was all so dramatic
Should we stay or should we go
Walking in the snow
You can't never know
Take a hit and blow another smoke ring
But I don't feel a thing
It all seems like a dream
God saved the queen
God saved the queen


God Saved The Queen

Recorded at a window in the Palazzo Cenci scalinata, evening of 3-12-15.

Climbed up out of the Tevere
Sixty-five steps above
Love in the time of pilgrimage
Dirty feet in the summer of love
I walk the viale without you
But everywhere you are
Cast in iron and carved in the travertina
S.P.Q.R./S.P.Q.R.

Bella donna amica
Let’s drink too much wine
You and me live in different worlds
Show me yours and I’ll show you mine
He’s all alone on top of the castle 
With his archangel wings
Stands his ground/sheaths his sword
Nothing more to say but plenty of songs to sing

Now if I had a half a euro
For every time I sang you a song
I could pay cash for the Villa Farnesina
Ten times over and all day long
Now I’m galloping out of the city
Through a break in the Aurelian wall
Escape the castle to the villa rustica
Strada la Veronica
Strada la Veronica

Bella donna amica
I drank too much wine
You and me come from separate worlds
You showed me yours and I showed you mine
Now I’m all alone on top of the castle 
With my guardian angel wings
I stood my ground I sheathed my sword
Nothing more to say but too many songs to sing

Castel Sant'Angelo MMXV

©MDM MMXVI
I don’t recognize my city
So much is gone so much is new
What survives are all the temples and the streets
And all those roads lead back to you

La mia bella luce
A dark planet warmed by the sun
Ti penso ogni giorno/senza fine
Forever you’re the one
You’re the one

Cantare dolcemente a me
A hundred thousand ways to harmonize
Mi mancano i tuoi occhi
All the stories in your eyes
Only in your eyes

Come un raggio di sole
I am blinded by your light
Hai illuminato la mia vita
You obliterate the night

La mia bella luce
A dark planet warmed by the sun
Ti penso ogni giorno/senza fine
Forever you’re the one
You’re the one

Cantare dolcemente a me
A hundred thousand lines to memorize
Mi mancano i tuoi occhi
All the stories in your eyes
Only in your eyes

Only in Your Eyes · La Mia Bella Luce

One if by land
Two if by sea
Three by the airwaves
Synchronicity
Oceans and mountains
Between you and me
Come back to me 
In a dream

Picture of you
Deeper than blue
All the way down the river
Sell my soul now or never
Watercolor memory
Come back to me
Come back to me 
In a dream

Ave
Ave Marie
Madonna of the sunset
A heart set free
Ave
Ave Maria

8-20-16

Come Back to Me (in a dream)

If I could I’d burn away the cold
Find the river meets the sea
Swim the endless waves of gold
You and me we’d play our two guitars
Underneath the Ohia tree
All lit up by the stars

If I could I’d up and fly away
Time flies when I close my eyes
Another night another day
Early morning Hilo hit and run
Catch the late bus going west
Straight into the sun

I wanna learn how to fly
Leave my footprints on the beach
And write your name across the sky
The world is much too big for you and me
Hands across the island and the sea

If I could I’d play you every song
I would tell you everything
Left and right/right and wrong
You and me we’d play our two guitars
Underneath the stone pines
Upon the field of Mars

I wanna learn how to fly
Leave my footprints on the beach
And write your name across the sky
The world is much too big for you and me
Hands across the island and the sea

4 10 2017

How 2 Fly (Lorenz/Martin)

Long ago in Badakhshan			
Deepest mine of Sar-i-sang		
Blundered into wonderland		
Down below the rocky ground 		

Sail on toward the setting sun		
Row right up the Tevere			
Oltremaro genuino				
All roads lead to Rome			

She told me that she understood		
She told me it reminded her 		
Of ocean-dreams and islands		
In the Polynesian sky			

I told her it was all around		
In every church/in every chapel		
Robe of the madonna glowing		
Lapis lazuli					

Ultramarine/my favorite color				
Deep in the ocean and high in the sky			
Bluer than blue/glows bright in the underground	
Across the sea/the color of your eyes			

I planted me a garden			
‘cause I wanted to remember		
How the color of the angel sky		
It took me by surprise			

Indigo and columbine			
Larkspur and morning glory		
Veronica/forget-me-not			
The color of your eyes			

Ultramarine/my favorite color				
Deep in the ocean and high in the sky			
Bluer than blue/glows bright in the underground	
Across the sea/the color of your eyes

4-24-17

Ultramarine

You Were Here
©MDM MMIX

Another night another day
I dreamed of you from far away
You were in a room and I was standing by the door
One by one you lit a hundred candles
Every single candle burning much too brightly
So I had to close my eyes

And when I woke up in the morning 
There was winter in the air
Just a touch of winter 
Happens to me every single year
But it never fails/it takes me by surprise
Warms my heart and fills my eyes
I am sure that you were here

Another day another night
Another burned-out warning light
You are from the provinces/I am from the deeper south
All those papers piled up on your doorstep
I delivered every one
Now they’re soaked by rain
And yellowed by the autumn sun

And when I came home in the morning
There was winter in the air
Just a touch of winter 
Happens to me every single year
But it never fails/it takes me by surprise
Cuts my heart and burns my eyes
God I wish that you were here

Groundhog Day

You Were Here

Elizabethtown
©MDM MMVIII

I could tell you everything/come completely clean
All these lines and all these words/exactly what they mean
I say them over/over and over again
Never changes nothing either side of the dam
I say them over/over and over
And over again

Driving all around I'm looking for lights in the dark
Safe inside your chateau and I'm warm inside my car
The streets are frozen solid/it's a hard and brittle ground
Treachery underfoot and yellow like a geisha gown
Denial all the way/all the way
All the way to Elizabethtown

Eyes across the table/words across the street
Tripped and fell/all my coins and jewels at your feet
Left to my imagination/paint the scenery again

I saw her from a long way off in a deep and crowded room
Eyesight to the blind/and suddenly silent as an undiscovered tomb
Cut through the phalanx/find something to say
Break the glass/take a picture/wipe that tear away
Remembering to breathe as I watch you walk away

Hands across the water even with an ocean in between
She's inches away behind the windows of her limousine
Left to my devices/fill the pages/paint the scenery again

I could tell you everything/come completely clean
All these lines and all these words/exactly what they mean
I say them over/over and over again
Never changes nothing either side of the dam
I say them over/over and over
And over again

1/18/11

Elizabethtown

CALIFORNIA ©MDM MCMXIII

Come to California
Break away because we can
Follow me across savanna/over mountains over hills
'til we run clean out of land
Maybe you'll come to California
We could be the best of friends
I might/give you my heart
No more leaving in the dark
Maybe I love you 'til the end

The clouds are hanging low-down
It's so lonely in the pines
There's so much gold in California
Where the streets and windows shine
You just might be my better angel
But I might be your broken heart
Wake up to independence day
Half a world away
Two thousand miles apart

California here she comes 
Only one horizon glows
Cross the river/chase the sun
California there she goes

I will not go to California
Where the hills and fields are brown
Where the golden sundown lingers/on and on and on
Long after darkness fills this town
When you escape to California
It will be the perfect crime
You will say wish you were here
We will rendezvous next year
Once again in summertime

11-25-13

California

Out my window
The streets are frozen over
I don't believe in the promise of spring
When I think of you
All the colors have returned
Everything shines and glows when you sing your song to me

The night is long
'cause it’s still January
Plenty of time for a deep blue dream
When I dream of you
It’s the heat of summer time
Everything blooms and grows when you sing your song to me

Tell your stories/weave your tales
All the land on fire again
The sun/the moon/it never fails
Shadows/dreams and lullabies
The music plays in the colors of your eyes

Out my window
The streets are wet with melted snow
Almost believe in the promise of spring
When I think of you
All the colors have returned
Everything shines and glows when you sing your song to me

[repeat chorus with la la las]

Out my window
All the world's a garden now
I do believe in the promise of spring
When I think of you
All the colors have returned
Everything shines and glows when you sing your song to me

January 30 19

The Colors of Your Eyes

The great Henry Herman and I hitched a ride from Milton Keynes to the Luton train station last spring, and then spent the evening in London before splitting up to go to our separate airports. This is a song that bloomed from that memorable experience.

CALEDONIAN ROAD
MDM MMXIX

Tell me how does it feel
Driving your automobile
Roundabout on the wrong side of the road

Such a beautiful day
Snow all melted away
Hitch a ride with you to Caledonian Road

It don’t feel right/to say goodnight
And wave goodbye from the train
It was a good ride but I know
That I will see you again
See you again

Such a desolate day
Snow never melted away
All these shades of gray/I remember your eyes

But I had places to be
And that train wouldn’t wait for me
How I long to be on Caledonian Road

It didn’t feel right/to say good night
And wave goodbye from the train
It was a good ride but I knew
I’d never see you again
Never again

5 27 19

Caledonian Road

©Michael David Martin MMXIX

Sometimes the wind is wild and I don’t know why
Sometimes I close my eyes/only you against the sky
All of the time it takes to learn to fly
All of your days gone by in the blink of my eye

It’s a funny thing
It keeps happening
North wind knock me down
Out of the blue
Winter taking hold
But I don’t feel the cold
Long as I can hold onto you

Sometimes don’t make no sense/come down to this
Scrape the ice away/squint my eyes and reminisce
All the world a garden in your eyes
When you learn to fly I wanna go ‘long for a ride

It’s the break of dawn
And you linger on
Between a memory
And a dream
Sunlight double gold
So I don’t feel the cold
Long as I can hold onto you

[instrumental verse]

It’s a funny thing
It keeps happening
North wind knock me down
Out of the blue
Sunlight double gold
Now I can’t feel the cold
Long as I can hold onto you

Sometimes the wind is wild and I don’t know why
Sometimes I close my eyes/only you against the sky
All of the time it takes to learn to fly
All of the days until we meet again/my friend
By and by

Sometimes (v2)

©Michael David Martin and Rémi Proteau

Mayday morning/dark and soggy wet/it’s too
Much too early for the sun/ain’t no sunshine
Lilacs in bloom/honeysuckle/garden come back to life/oh no
Joie de vivre/jump the gun

Picture window/candle burning bright/time to
Peel away and ramble on
Got a locked and loaded shotgun//shotgun on the right/you can
You can drive into the dawn/ti amo

Tourne ta langue sept fois avant de parler
Mais à un moment, il faut que tu accouches
Sinon tu vas t'en remettre à ta technique préférée
Car l'hésitation paraît louche
Ferme la bouche

[break]

Tuesday morning/bright and double gold/time to
Take the wheel/lose control
Follow the sun across the sky/fly wherever it goes/we’ll be
Close enough for rock and roll/ti amo

Tourne ta langue sept fois avant de parler
Mais à un moment, il faut que tu accouches
Sinon tu vas t'en remettre à ta technique préférée
Car l'hésitation paraît louche
Ferme la bouche

Shoveltusker

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