1. |
Rainstorm
04:01
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Out of the blue, what could she do?
Suddenly you, standing there from the past.
Then she knew, some things are true,
They may be few, but some things last.
It was love sweeping down like a rainstorm.
Love sweeping down on the summer wind,
Love sweeping down like an angel to the ground
On broken wings.
Difficult play – do you send him away?
You want him to stay, but life’s not like that.
Friends for a day, join in the fray,
Images sway like acrobats.
Time is a bluff, and though it’s tough
There’s not enough to go around.
Smooth with the rough, sort out your stuff,
Right off the cuff, you old romantic!
It was love sweeping down like a rainstorm;
Love sweeping down on two broken hearts.
Love sweeping down like a stranger into town,
He stands apart – angel, can you heal his heart?
It was love sweeping down like a rainstorm;
Love sweeping down on the summer wind.
Love sweeping down like an angel to the ground
On broken wings - now the angel sings!!
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2. |
Amargosa
04:13
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A warm dry wind through the valley
Rustles the amargosa pines
Tumbleweed and desert paintbrush
Grow among the old abandoned mines
A ballerina from the city
Steps down off the bus and starts to scheme
A theatre with walls to paint her pictures
Here’s a place for living out her dreams
Lost in time…..lost in time
Clouds and angels on the ceiling
Courtiers and jesters on the wall
The king and queen above the doorway
Offer the lone dancer their applause.
Ballerina in the evening
She dances for the ghosts of the mines
arabesques and ballet slippers
Drifting through the amargosa pines.
Lost in time….lost in time….
Who are those children in the twilight
Wild horses eating from their hands?
Red shirted ghosts in the arroyo
Wild mysterious land
Lost in time…..lost in time…..
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3. |
Drivin' in the Rain
03:45
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It was summer I was seventeen
I watched the storm dance across the lake
The weather actin’ like my heartstrings
I jumped in Uncle Billy’s old Ford pickup by the gate
Why I was feelin so peculiar had a lot to do with a certain girl
It all went wrong and my heart was in pain
So I went drivin’ in the rain.
Few years later little Colorado town
Storm blew up one morning in July
Couldn’t work paintin’ houses
Near enough to home for lunch, I thought I’d drop on by
Some big dude snoozin’ in my bedroom, wife in the kitchen makin’ tea for two
Damn that weatherman here we go again
So I went drivin’ in the rain.
Something soothing ‘bout the wiper blades
Swishing back and forth like an old machine
Something good about the windblown raindrops
Shuttin’ out the memories, washin’ ‘em clean.
Don’t think anything could split us up
We’re just too close and I know you care
I felt the same back then though,
Took it all for granted as if Fate just wouldn’t dare
So come on darlin’ humor me, put your shoes on, keep me company
It’s comin’ down out there like an old freight train
Let’s go drivin’ in the rain.
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4. |
Leaving
04:18
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It’s six in the morning and you’re walkng away
No note on the table ‘cause there’s nothing to say
Your life in a suitcase, you’re leaving to find
The end of the rainbow in your mind.
What caused it to happen? There’s no-one to blame
Life took its course, each day felt the same
The grass is always greener, the sun always shines
Out on the horizon of your mind.
You’re leaving…..you’re leaving…..you’re leaving….mmmm
The past is behind you
No more need for tears
The key to the future
Lies beyond the shadow of your fears….
Out on the highway, the wind in your hair
A new love, a new town, you really don’t care
Your future’s a mountain you’re willing to climb
To prove that it’s not only in your mind…..
You’re leaving…..you’re leaving…..you’re leaving….mmmm
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5. |
Dime Store Beads
05:33
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Things got rough a few years back, I got laid off down at the store,
The wife was eatin' for two right then, (you could hear the old wolf at the door).
It was all I could do those long winter months, just coverin' our day-to-day needs,
When Christmas came along, well all I could afford, was a little set of Dime Store Beads
Dime Store Beads, I saw them in the window,
Dime Store Beads, on a bed of cotton snow.
They were blue as prairie skies
They were the same blue as her eyes,
Those Dime Store beads, from a Christmas long ago.
Things got better, (they couldn't get worse), and we finally turned the corner at last,
There was still some rough times waitin' up ahead, but nothin' like they was in the past,
We had some good years, crazy times, when everything I touched would succeed.
And every year when Christmas came around, she'd put on those Dime Store Beads.
Dime store beads….
Then one summer, she just up and left, (and it really wasn't out of the blue.)
The writing had been up on the wall for a while, I just wouldn't admit it was true.
She took the car; she took the furs; the fancy jewels -hell, I don't mind –
It wasn't what she took away that hurt - what hurt was what she left behind.
Dime store beads……
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6. |
I Dreamed a Dream
04:01
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I dreamed an angel came and drew a picture of my future
On the wall – an upside-down triangle with three colors
Splashed around and that was all – how can this be a future
Angel answer me before i wake again – but they angel only
Smiled and left me sleeping in the lonely world of men.
And every day i think about the upside-down triangle in
My dream – and the pretty little angel who i knew was not
Exactly what she seemed – the colors were a dash of blue
A line of green above a splash of red – blue for mind and red
For blood and green for all the loves you left for dead.
And did i wake that day or did i wake in just another kind
Of sleep – have i ever been awake to see the company a waking
Man might keep – or am i like the child who holds the rod and
See the mirror of the bait – a child is born and hooked by time
And trouble without struggle to his fate.
So come back little angel draw another of your pictures on
The wall – tell me i’m alive and well and not some madman’s
Clever little doll – answer me the riddle tell my crazy heart
The things it want to know – draw another picture angel
Where did all my dreams of heaven go?
I dreamed a dream……
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7. |
Blue Alert
05:00
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There’s perfume burning in the air
Bits of beauty everywhere
Shrapnel flying, soldier hit the dirt.
She comes so close you feel her then.
She tells you No and No again
Your lip is cut on the edge of her pleated skirt.
Blue Alert
Visions of her drawing near
Arise abide and disappear
You try to slow it down, it doesn’t work
It’s just another night I guess
All tangled up in nakedness
You even touch yourself, you’re such a flirt
Blue Alert
You know how nights like this begin
The kind of knot your heart gets in
Any way you turn it’s gonna hurt
There’s perfume burning in the air
Bits of beauty everywhere
Shrapnel flying, soldier hit the dirt
Blue Alert
She breaks the rules so you can see
She’s wilder than you’ll ever be
You talk religion but she won’t convert
Her Body’s twenty stories high
You try to look away you try
But all you want to do it get there first
Blue Alert
You know how nights like this begin……
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8. |
Cuernavaca Nights
05:00
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In the city of eternal spring,
A determined traveler can find anything his heart desires
In the twinkling of a jet black eye
A story can unravel faster than a humming bird can fly
When the sun hangs just above the trees,
The weather has you buzzing like the honey bees.
A little two step for the moon, you can swoon as you sway beneath its light
It’s too late, you can’t wait,
You’ve just gotta get out into those wicked Cuernavaca nights.
Down behind the Boulevard Juarez
There’s a little bar where lovers gather just to be in love.
It’s a dangerous and tricky place
Where the bad tequila is the least of the perils you might face.
A boy strums a little black guitar,
And when he starts to sing, the music tells you where you are.
As you listen to him croon, very soon Cupid has you in his sights,
It’s too late, it’s your fate,
You are dancing through another of those wicked Cuernavaca nights.
Under the volcano, waiting for the rains to fall
You can never say no, gotta answer Quezacotal’s call.
Under the volcano, standing with our arms entwined,
Dancing with our eyes closed, remembering that love is blind.
In the palace of Hernan Cortez,
There are walls with painted histories of love affairs and fires
In the Cuernavaca nights to come
Will our tale be told and painted by the poets and the liars?
We turn to each other in the dark
And raise a glass to toast the lighting of the spark
If you listen to your heart it’ll start singing love songs and it’s right
It’s too late, you can’t wait,
You’re off and running through another of those wicked Cuernavaca nights.
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9. |
Luciana
03:37
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Luciana she's so teenie in her brand new blue bikini
In Yelapa with her Papa, deep in Mexico
They're making movies, making movies.
Over great Chilean vino she meets Quentin Tarantino
She's so cool it doesn't phase her. Deep in Mexico
They're making movies, making movies.
Look into her eyes - is that her soul or a disguise
Does she really realize that Life's a regular surprise?
When all the grass has gone, just a long-forgotten song,
Los calles empedradas will remember.
Everybody's long pestañas beating in the cool verandas
Watch the Dragon dark and lonely hunting in the clouds
They're making movies, making movies.
Pixie's taking us to dinner, it's Thanksgiving with the sinners,
Luciana, eyes on fire, dancing with her Daddy
Making movies, they’re making movies.
Faraway from Culver City, oh, the jungle looks so pretty
See the turtle in the water, watch the Lover and his daughter.
Waves that battered down the Puerto on the Playa de los Muertos
Beautiful, but so destructive, like the Big Machine that's making movies.
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10. |
Easy Being True
04:55
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REMEMBER BACK IN LONDON IN ’81?
BOTH BURNT BITTER BY LOVE?
MARRIAGE WAS A DANGEROUS GAME;
YOU SAID ONCE WAS ENOUGH
WHO CAN STAY STEADY FOR ALL THAT TIME?
IT’S TOO TOUGH TO DO
IT’S BEEN EASY, DARLIN’
EASY BEING TRUE TO YOU
REMEMBER ALL THE TROUBLE IN WEST L.A?
CHASIN’ ROUND PLAYIN’ THEIR GAME?
THEY SAID YOU HAD TO FIX MY SMILE,
THEY WANTED ME TO CHANGE MY NAME!
BUT YOU STAYED STEADY THROUGH THICK AND THIN
EVEN WHEN YOU WERE BLUE
IT’S BEEN EASY, DARLIN’
EASY BEING TRUE TO YOU.
EASY WAKING UP TO THOSE WONDERFUL EYES,
EASY WHEN YOU SING MY SONGS –
EASY DREAMING UP ALL OUR CRAZY SCHEMES
I KNOW WHERE MY HEART BELONGS.
REMEMBER LOOKING OVER ZABRISKIE POINT?
SALT PAN SHIMMERING WHITE
LOOKING UP AT THE STARS AND MAKIN’ LOVE ALL NIGHT?
THAT’S WHEN I STARTED TO REALIZE, I WAS GONNA SEE IT THROUGH
‘IT’S BEEN EASY, DARLIN,
EASY BEING TRUE TO YOU.
EASY WATCHING LIFE START TO SWING YOUR WAY
EASY WITH MY FOOLISH FRIENDS
EASY DRIVING ROUND IN THAT BEAT-UP BUG
I HOPE THIS HIGHWAY NEVER ENDS
REMEMBER AT THE MISSION YOU SAID O.K.?
I PRETENDED TO BE AFRAID?
DOWN INSIDE MY SOUL SOMEWHERE MY FEARS STARTED TO FADE
AND THAT WAS SUCH A LONG TIME AGO MY FRIEND;
NOW EVERY PRECIOUS MINUTE IS NEW –
IT’S EASY, DARLIN’,
EASY BEING TRUE TO YOU.
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11. |
Bill and Suzy
04:42
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Billy was a drinker – you know what I mean
Let him in your kitchen and he’d drink the cupboards clean.
Lost a lot of friends that way – left him all alone
Yes, his story cuts to the bone
Suzy from the Heartland – nothin’ left to lose
Lost her Dad in Vietnam – lost her Mom to booze.
Tried to end it once herself, but even that went wrong
Hers was a sad old country song.
One night at a meeting a guy brings his guitar
Sings about a baby and a lonely wandering star
Billy gets the message and the thought begins to gel
“ guitar’s gonna drag me out of Hell.
She heard him sing Hank Williams at her local rendezvous,
Started hummin’ backup like her Momma used to do.
He said ‘You wanta sit in?’. and she smiled and said ‘Alright.’
There was sweet harmony that night!
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12. |
Hangover
04:35
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I should have left with my friends an hour ago
But I wanted to party, so i said go on home
Those last four tequilas were probably wrong
And the guy at the bar is really coming on strong.
I feel a big hangover coming on
He slides up towards me, “can I buy you a beer?”
My inner self warns “his intentions are clear”
My outer self smiles and waits for the lies.
The guy at the bar says “you’ve got beautiful eyes”
I feel a big hangover coming on
Vodka and tonic, tequila and lime.
I should know better, but hey it’s party time!
Out on the dance floor, the band starts to play
I close my eyes but the room starts to sway,
Si I groove and I grind, like I’m under a spell
And the guy at the bar says “you dance really well”.
I feel a big hangover coming on.
The beat’s getting faster, I’m starting to move
The guy at the bar sees I’m finding my groove
He says” you like to tango? Well I’ve got the time,
So what d’ya think baby, your place or mine?”
I feel a big hangover coming on.
Whiskey and soda, cc and seven
I’m going to regret this, but for now, I’m in heaven!
Back at my place, I’m starting to sober
If I had half a brain I’d think this thing over
But the guy from the bar pops open a beer
And says “hang on we’re headed for the stratosphere!”
I feel a big hangover coming on.
What happened last night, I really can’t tell,
But when i woke up this morning, I didn’t feel very well.
But the guy at the bar leaned into my pain, and
Said “that was exquisite, let’s do it again!”
I feel a big hangover coming on
Excedrin and water; aspirin and tea
I’m gonna curl up and die now, ‘cos it’s agony.
The moral of this story is quite simply known –
Leave the guy at the bar and go home alone
In the cold light of morning when you first dare to look
The only thing in bed beside you is a really good book.
Prevent that big hangover from coming on…..
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Rick Jones and Valerie Neale Patagonia, Arizona
Husband & Wife. Mutual Muses. Rick Jones and Valerie Neale proved time and time again that some marriages are just plain
music in the making.
They released their first cd "Life Drawing" in 2009 and continued to play together without recording another album. Only in 2021, when Rick was diagnosed with cancer, did they realize that they needed to record these songs.
Rick Jones 1937-Oct 7, 2021
... more
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