The Flies

TRAILS
Alex Norman
2013

I’ve got trails to tell,
secrets to keep
No you can’t have my soul
despite the tears you weep

If I bend, I’ll break
and if I give 
you’ll take
my mile

I’ve got four winds to follow,
rivers to run
I can’t wait ‘til tomorrow
because I set with the sun


If I bend, I’ll break
and if I give 
you’ll take
my mile

I’ve got shadows to contend with
a black dog by my feet
I’ve got a hunger to starve
and an emptiness to feed

If I bend, I’ll break
and if a I 
give a bit
you’ll take 

it all

I’ve waltzed with the devil
Now I’ll burn my ballroom gown 
cause I feel like a stranger
so I’ll run from the city 
and the sound

If I bend I’ll break
and if I escape
will you post wanted signs
and put a price on my smile?
Track me down like a hound
in your shiny shoes
because I abandoned my file?

If I bend, I’ll break
If I bend, I’ll break
If I bend, I’ll break
If I bend...

I’ve got trails to tell,
secrets to keep 


Trails

PRAYS FOR RAIN
Alex Norman
2013

Chorus:
I’d be a fool to play their game
You'd be a fool to do the same
Can't you see not a soul ‘round here
ever prays for rain
‘cause these days
they don’t ever dry out

You can hold onto you wonder
put your drop in the bucket of doubt
You can hold onto your wonder
put your drop in the bucket of doubt

Chorus

You can call on God, ask him why
sit around wondering when you’re gonna die
You can call on God, ask him why
But down here we've got too many 
tears to dry
I’d be a fool to play their game
What's the plan?
What are we going to do?
I’m not just talking about me
I’m talking about you
when these days never dry out 
and a storm rolls around
we better get out of here 
or we're all going to drown
not me
not you
not me 
and oh not you
See that just wouldn’t do

Chorus


Prays For Rain

MOSES
Alex Norman
2014

Once upon a time
Once, upon a mountain I climbed
When the leaves they burned
Red and gold 
It was then that I was told
To flee this darkness
And head toward the light

Then the sky bellowed,
“Go tell the rest what they should hear.”
And I cried, 
“But my lips run dry, 
my tongue is tied,
And my soul’s done under.”

And the sky replied, 
“You mustn’t fear my child,
For when you speak
Your words will taste like rain
And roll like thunder.”

In the desert of the lonely
I wander
In the valley 
I pray
They won’t turn me away
When I come
And when I say
“Why do you enslave yourselves?”
“Why don’t you save yourselves?”

You are chosen
And you are loved
The geese fly home now,
And they’re calling 
out to you
from above.

Now I hold a snake in my hand 
As I dance to the drum of my heart
Why don’t you join me, my darlings,
Where this rusted sun rises and these red waters part?
Why don’t you meet me on the mountain?
Bring all you love
your sons, your daughters.
Rise above all that enslaves you
Shed the skins and the burdens that cage you

And come home free.







Moses

EMPTY CUP
Alex Norman
2014

Drink me down darling
Every last drop
and leave of me
The empty cup

Throw a stone my way
And watch me shatter
Let the light flood the frame
The cracked window of me
Let it scatter ‘cross the floor
Let it glide in like the sea
Let it warm your shivering bones
And keep you company

Drink me down darling
Every last drop 
And leave of me
The empty cup

I’m coming to pieces now 
Without falling apart
All this holding together
Is just too much for this heart

As you kneel among the shards
And you ponder the flesh and the blood
Raise a glass
To another great wall
And with grace let it fall

Drink me down darling 
Every last drop
And leave of me
leave of me
The empty cup


Empty Cup

PRIMARY COLORS
Alex Norman
2014

For whatever you find
In the dead of the night
In the art of the fight
In your flight from this life

Your face it still glows
The color of rose
‘neath storm-cloud filled eyes
Thorns they do prick
But blood it runs thick
Don’t it fasten our ties?

These walls they don’t speak
But they hear much from me
When I rage in confide
I unmade my bed 
In my restless dreaming
But I made up my mind

For whatever you find
In the dead of the night
In the art of the fight
In your flight from this life
For whatever you lose
When you’re willing to choose
The wrong from the right

My hands they’re still covered
With all of the colors
I mixed
In my joys and my sorrows
Yellow 
are the sunflowers
Refusing to grow
So red 
I fought the voices in my head
Until my knuckles bled
Blue 
is the moonlight
On my unmade bed
Where only dust resides
Where only dust resides

For whatever you find
In the dead of the night
In the art of the fight
In your flight from this life
For whatever you lose
When you’re willing to choose
The wrong from the right

Out of the black and the briars
Comes a bird that aspires
To free itself from the wires
From the fools from the liars
from the thieves and the crooks
From the sellers and the buyers
From the numbers and the books
From the hours and the glass
From the future and the past
From the players and the game
From the baggage and the claim

Oh, what a shame it is
To see you this way
It’s not what you took, babe
No
It’s what you gave

And you ought to know
I am the rock 
I am the roll
And I am free of your control


Primary Colors

THE FLIES
Alex Norman
2013

It was all claws and teeth and darkness
When I woke last night
Now I moan and I quake 
At the sight of such a snake
That disappears in the light

Kill the beast
Cut her throat
Spill her blood
Hide your face
Behind a mask of mud
If the beast comes this way 
We’re all done for
I’m not going to play anymore
Not with you

Child, don’t you fear
What’s not there
Your eyes can betray you
When your bones are bare
Comfort crashed down
Left us alone
Grab your ghost boy
‘Cause you ain’t going home

Kill the beast
Cut her throat
Spill her blood
Hide your face
Behind a mask of mud
Beast from the sky
Beast from the sea
Nothing can tame 
The beast in me

Kill the pig
Cut its throat
Spill its blood
Hide your face
Behind a mask

Will you hope
Or will you stand?
Will you hope
Or will you stand?
Will you hope 
Or will stand?

The stone has rolled
Shattered the glass you saw through
The shell that hid you
We’ll flush you out
With fire and wild eyes
When you see the smoke
You’ll hear the cries




Embers

CLAY STAINED DAUGHTER
Alex Norman
2015

Throw me down
Spin me ‘round
I am dust and water
Dug up from the ground
And aren’t you 
A calloused companion
For a clay-stained daughter?

I was rusting in my grave
When you scooped me up
And skipped me like a stone
Across the waves
Sinking I am thinking 
is it worth is to be brave?

Throw me down
Spin me ‘round
Time is a tangle in the reel
Tough to wrangle what you feel
As we dance within the wheel

I was washed up in the foam
When you placed me in your palm
To be your worry stone
As you are breathing I am grieving
The day when I’m alone

Throw me down
Spin me round
Time is a tangle in the reel
It’s tough to wrangle what you feel
As we dance within the wheel


Clay Stained Daughter

ROOMS
2015

All these rooms within us
Collecting secrets in every drawer
and dust on every surface
I’m traveling through every door
with only a thread of a purpose

And I’m wading through
trying to find you

When it’s all too much to hold
and too much to carry 
Come and find me

All these rooms within us
are filled up to ceilings 
Piles of pain
stacks of sorrow
cast into your closet
every uneasy feeling

I’m wading through 
trying to find you

When it’s all too much to hold 
and too much to carry
seems like you’re turning over tables
kicking over chairs
trying to find me

When it’s all too much to cradle 
and too much to keep
seems like you’re walking around
with your head down
trying to find me

If your eyes are the windows 
to your space
I can tell you’ve made a mess of the place
You’ve been running like a madman
looking for escape
but it’s no use 
oh no 
my friend 
when the only way out is in

If your eyes are the windows to your space
The only way out is in
You sure have made a mess of the place
The only way out is in

Rooms

Fable (Builder’s Song)
Alex Norman 
2017 

I unstitched myself
At the seams
And I wove a hoop
To catch my dreams
I hung it o’er my bed
To keep the worries from my head
You see I’m still learning to sing myself to sleep
And your nightmare 
She’s been restless in the stable
I am still haunted by that hungry ghost
Sitting at our table
I’d feed ‘em if I were able

When they come to huff and puff
And blow you down and break you in
I’ll be around to help build you back

Wound up so tightly 
I couldn’t breathe
You cut me loose and I lost myself
In the tales we weave
I said “how am I to know
The road that I should go?”
You said, “It’s not the path you take, babe, 
It’s the crumbs you throw.”

So I went off into the wood
Hiding underneath my hood
I built my house of hay
And they blew it all away
I built my house of sticks
Burnt down by all their tricks
And when they topple my house of stone
They’ll come break me down
Brick by bone
‘Til I’m just a ruin
Of anything you’ve known

When they come to huff and puff
And blow me down and break me in
Will you be around to help build me back?
When all the dark horses
And all the wise men
Could never put me back together, my friend
Would you stack me so I can balance on my own again?

Alex Norman

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