The Highwayman by Alfred Noyes
Lyrics by Alfred Noyes (PD)
Composition adapted from Phil Ochs version
Live performance by Rick Masters (2009)
8-string guitar
ART 2000 FX and Roland G1 guitar synth

Alfred Noyes' The Highwayman

Neutron Star by Rick Masters (2001) [lyrics]
Live performance, composition and lyrics by Rick Masters
________________________________
I was fleeing from my universe
Adrift upon the emptiness
I'd exhausted all of my reserves
When I sensed you like a warm caress
And I was captured by your pull
For I'd lost all control
And I felt you gently pull me in
To my beginning or my end
Maybe you're a neutron star
If you are, I'm spiraling in
Maybe you're a neutron star
If you are, I'm spiraling in
When I look into your eyes
I see cautious trepidation
Would I be so unwise
If I dared to mention I care?
I was lost upon the darkness
With nothing left to save me
When up ahead I saw a spark
And I wondered, "My, what could it be,
Glowing, up ahead?"
It filled my heart with hope and dread
Then I felt you gently pull me in
And I began to descend.
Oh, maybe you're a neutron star
If you are, I risk annihilation
Maybe you're a neutron star
But if you are, I'm spiraling in
Spiraling in, spiraling in
When you look into my eyes
You see love and admiration
Would it come as a surprise
If I told you I was aching for you?
Maybe you're a neutron star
If you are, I'm spiraling in, spiraling in
Maybe you're a neutron star
If you are, I'm spiraling in, spiraling in
Oh, maybe you're a neutron star
If you are, I'm spiraling in, spiraling in
I'm spiraling in, spiraling in
I'm spiraling in

Neutron Star

Innocence is precious. It must be respected and nourished throughout childhood.
Touch Not The Child by Rick Masters (2021)
Live performance and composition by Rick Masters
Roland RD 2000 stage piano

Touch Not The Child (Instrumental)

Beware the masks of men. It is their purpose to conceal their intentions and their acts while you believe that they are real.
Masks of Men by Rick Masters (1986)
Live performance, composition and lyrics by Rick Masters
8-string guitar, ART 2000 FX and Roland G1 guitar synth

Masks of Men

-- Trouble with fido. --
Too much Genesse Ale between me and my cousin Sandy, on her guitar, led to the "Drunken Cheese Song," a humorous lament of the exploits of my loyal but mischievous doberman during an epic 1972 journey across North America to visit my relatives. 
___________________________
Well, I've got a dog and his name is "Cheese"
He's the biggest black dog you ever did see
He always gets in trouble, always brings me pain
One thing's for sure - he hasn't got a brain
Soon you'll get the gist of it
Yeah, all he's ever done 
Is eat, barf, bark, fart, piss and shit
I was sleeping in the trailer park
It was peaceful and quiet
When the silence was shattered
Like a full blown riot
I looked out the window
There's Cheese on the grass
Howling like some ninny 
With a corncob up his ass
Now you've got the gist of it
Yeah, all he's ever done 
Is eat, barf, bark, fart, piss and shit
Well, I took him to my cousin's
Had a fine feast of fowl
But he gobbled up those chicken bones
And started to howl
He barfed on the carpet 
And he barfed on the bed
He barfed and choked
Until he was nearly dead
Now you'll get the gist of it
All this dog does
Is bark, eat, barf, bark, fart, piss and shit
Well, I visited my grandma 
And he crapped on the floor
Five pounds of steaming shit 
By the bathroom door
If she'd have seen it
She'd have keeled over dead
But I grabbed it and flushed it
While she scratched him on his head
Now you get the gist of it
All he's ever done 
Is eat, barf, bark, fart, piss and shit
Dad was gonna have a supper 
of Del Monico steak
We left to get old Grandpa
And it was a big mistake
We left him in the house
Just ten minutes were we gone
By the time we returned
Well, he'd eaten every one
Now you get the gist of it
All this dog does
Is eat, barf, bark, fart, piss and shit
Well I took him to the ocean
For to catch some fish for free
But he tried to kill a wave
And got carried out to sea
I jumped into the water
Lost my blanket, pole and pan
Now even though he stinks
He won't go near water again
Now you get the gist of it
All this dog does
Is eat, barf, bark, fart, piss, stink, crap and shit
Well, I took him to the mountains
Just to walk high valley floors
He scouted out ahead and came back
Chased b y wild boars
There was murder in their hearts
And fire in their eyes
First I climbed my tree
Then he climbed mine
Well, now you get the gist of it
All he's ever done 
Is barf, bark, eat, fart, crap, piss and shit
Well, I took him out hunting
With my .22 gun
Thought we'd find a rabbit
Maybe have some fun
I took a shot at a rabbit
But he ran the other way
And he didn't come back
For a night and a day
Now you've got the gist of it
All this dog does
Is eat, barf, bark, fart, piss, crap and shit
Now, if you've got a million dollars
Ten servants and a hoe (ho, ho)
And you're deaf and dumb and blind
And you don't have long to go
Then my dog will cheer you up
With his tricks and toothy grin
First he'll eat all your meat
Bark and shit and do you in
Now you've got the gist of it
All he's ever done
Is bark, eat, barf, bark, piss, crap, echhh, blah and shit

The Drunken Cheese Song

-- Wandering on Mars --
Stage piano and Moog synthesizer. Live, no dubbing. I don't really know how to play keyboards either - no training, strictly autodidactic - but my fingers don't care. I just give them over to the spirits. I can't interpret my music because I only hear the flaws, but one of my fans wrote, "Both the music and the artwork have such a haunting, dreamlike quality... I feel as if I'm drifting into a desert sunset. Really beautiful. Your artistry leaves me in awe..."

Man Shall Follow

Wanderings (Instrumental)

Sweep Me Away (Instrumental)

I wrote "Islands in the Sky" at the end of the 1970s. It evolved into a song by 1985, when Elon Musk was 14 years old, and I dedicate to him now. By "dedicate," I mean it is my small gift to Elon and SpaceX to use in any way they want, to further our quest to make humanity an interplanetary species.
__________________________
I've been thinking about the world we live upon
Thinking about our time - so quickly gone
Wonder what we'd do if you and me
Found an island in the sea?
They've been found by other men
Off they sailed and when they returned
Riches from a thousand shores
Came rushing through their doors
Island in the sea, no longer free
Island in the sea, where might you be?
Look into the night on high
There are islands in the sky!
They've been touched by a few men
Off they sailed and when they returned
"Riches from a BILLION shores!" 
They cried but were ignored
I wonder about the island in the sky
I dream about the sea she sails upon
I wonder does she hold something for me
Like the islands in the sea?
Oh, island in the sky, why are you there?
Island in the sky, what might you be?
Sailing the majestic night on high
Like an island in the sea
I want to touch my island in the sky
I want to touch her now before the chance is gone
And watch the crystal night roll by
From my island in the sky
See my island in the sky?
She knows I'm aware
She wonders if I'll dare
Ride the endless night
__________________________________
October 3, 1975  Alabama Hills, Owens Valley, California

Last night as I stood beneath the glorious night sky looking up, I was overcome by a sense of primitiveness. The billion-squared stars twinkled as points of loneliness, and I could sense the myriads of fertile worlds and terraformable worlds swinging invisibly around them, waiting for their destiny.

And if I wondered if perhaps our kind shared a common destiny with those planets. Were they waiting for us? Perhaps it is our purpose - it must be! - to go out there among the countless gravity wells of matter and mold them to our liking, to populate them with our kind and all the lifeforms which have evolved with us here; to spread ourselves amongst the stars, and ultimately the far-flung galaxies themselves, thus ensuring our survival, the survival which our seemingly purposeless race so tenaciously clings to on this tiny, lonely ecosphere as it circles irresistibly the awesome nuclear furnace that gives us our lives and lightagainst the backdrop dearth of the Great Emptiness.

And as I looked up, I saw the future as it split into two paths. On one path we remained here, bickering over the constantly dwindling resources, and perhaps becoming extinct on but one short day, the purpose behind 20 million years of struggle ground by the heel of Man's ununified, purposeless greed into a wasteland of radioactive dust.

But the other path made me feel ancient and small, an anachronism, for above me my descendents raced on electric steeds of light and steel, aging not in their journeys between their far-flung adopted homes, and irrestable in their logarithmic expansion, their survival ensured and their purpose enthusiastically pursued ever outwards. And I was humbled.

My breath caught in my throat and the thought came to me that if I, the insignificant being that I am, were to in some way contribute to my people taking that second path rather than the terminal first, perhaps as a guide along a winding and perilous trail, then my own purpose, so long sought, so vague, would be fulfilled to no less a degree than of those purposes of our children's children in their sagas amongst the stars.

Looking up, I could feel the great satisfaction and warmth of knowing that we would no longer be so terribly alone, that the lonely points of cold, indifferent light would someday be the homes of our brothers and sisters. This knowledge would banish the ancient fears, transforming us into changed beings. What would we become then?

Islands In The Sky

Rick Masters

Related tracks