steve shaw

She Lives

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I didn't notice her today

She's standing in the corner of my bed

"That's alright with me", she said

"I could use a little time off from your head"

And she lives just to drag me around

I don't know why I keep her around, when I can't put her down

Another fortress in my brain

Surrounding me with thoughts to overcome

She flaunts herself in front of me

Roping me into another day 

And she lives just to drag me around

I don't know why I keep her around, when I can't put her down

You're 'round and 'round, you bring me down in every way you move me

This is my head it's spinning red and it is dead inside me

This is my last sensation, lost eyes of degradation

As then she trips and walks away

If I Had To Fall

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Loneliness is roads I never follow

Loneliness is friends I never seen

And the bottle's always empty and the rage is always free

And it's everywhere and everything and every point of view

And I've walked into it always, but it's always something new

Am I animal?  Is it criminal? Maybe wonderful? When you're numb?

If I had to fall, would it really even matter much at all, to these empty walls?

The wind blows strong across the fields forever

It always seems so cold this time of year

But the whiskey's always better when a chill is in the air

This Is God

These are sounds, these are voices

These are words, these are prayers

These are souls of the men that you once did contend with the sounds of the world

And everyone's talking above all the rest

Could you tell me the views of the one that is best?

I don't care if you disregard all their retorts

This is one, this is time, this is God 

These are burns, these are worries

These are trials, these are fears

These are all the right theories in all the wrong places among what walks here

Melancholy Blue

Looking through a key hole everybody's leaning

Leaving me to bear it all

Everybody s hiding, peeking through the side and

Smoking that shisha to cover all the reasons they run

Now everybody s gone

I never wanted to like it, love it

I never wanted the tears that I've lived through

I'm melancholy blue

To the sky I am a rain cloud

To the moon I am the dark side

To your heart I m finally true

I'm melancholy blue

To the strong I am a cripple

To pious I am guilty

To my soul a stranger too

Tongue-tied lesions, open wounded reasons

Brain being eaten by my fever as I m waiting to die

Open my closet things that I deposit

Years ago, days ago, drinking it out of my mind

Ten years of passion, it s not enough for me

Ten years and I don t feel a thing

I'm melancholy blue

Let It Be High

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Time after time, it's these things on my mind that won't go

I hesitate to define all of the damage you've done

So I ll let it be high

I walked to the edge of my mind just to be there alone

I slit out my eyelids when chaos was all that I found

So I let it be high I'll let it be high

In this world of nothingness, let it be high

Time after time, it's these things on my mind that won't go

Now I've derived all this time that these things are my own

I let be high and I'll let it swing low

And I'll watch all the world swim with devils below

And they'll take all my soul, but it's then I'll let go

I'll let it be high, I'll let it be high

How It Goes

I tipped the moon until it spilled

And it poured out over me until I glowed

Like a yellow field of halos

I held the sun to light my way

And in its power, suddenly it let me see

ow the world could be the coldest place

It s all I do just not to scream

Like a young man's rage to change what he believes

And how the world gets swallowed in its greed

And how a man can turn his back on anything

You say that s just the way it goes

Somehow it don t seem right, but this is how it goes

The lonely only lose themselves

And now I don t feel like

Listening to your prose, suggesting what you know

And how you ve grown

How could you? 

When you seen inside my head

Why would you? These sentimental feelings grow

I walked the ocean with the stars

And I tried to drown myself with what was right

And I tried to fly up to the sun

But it blinded me to what I was

You say that's just the way it goes

Red Letter Day

An Irishman immigrant's son born today, a red letter day indeed

And he grew up so fast with a working man's back

He learned that was how an honest man's paid

He loved a nip of the whiskey And a Notre Dame game

And with a wink of his eye you just knew he was right

Now Danny Patrick was always such a fine Catholic lad

The apple of his mother's eye

And Father Conway would call him his best altar boy "An example for all",

He crowed with great pride

He loved a nip of the whiskey And a Notre Dame game

And with a wink of his eye you just knew he was right

And today is a red letter day for us all, a red letter day indeed

With the sound of the guitar and a lady for all

A red letter day indeed

Now Danny was married to Molly Lucille, a fine Celtic lass with a spark

And though they didn't have much on a brick layers  wage

They carried their weight with the love in their hearts

They loved a nip of the whiskey And a Notre Dame game

And with a wink of his eye she just knew he was right

And today is a red letter day for us all, a red letter day indeed

With the sound of the guitar and a lady for allToday is a red letter day

Now Danny's old man died at just fifty two As they gathered to sing at the wake

It was on this day Molly had born their first son, Souls passing along an Irishman's tale

They loved a nip of the whiskey And a Notre Dame game

And with a wink of his eye she just knew he was right

And today is a red letter day for us all, a red letter day indeed

With the sound of the guitar and a lady for all

A red letter day indeed

How Beautiful

I hurt for you, I feel the pain you carry

I see it in your eyes,

Your soul's what I consume, You melt into my consciousness

You seep inside me

You saturate me with your sweetness

And if you turned away form it all

Could you melt into my solitude?

Cause I'll wait for it all

And forever will your scent be close to me

And embedded in my sanctity

Is why I adore you

Are we feeling?  I need someone to feel it too

I just know it's you

I can't get enough, your spirit owns me

And if you turned away from it all

Could you melt into my solitude?

Cause I'll wait for it all

And forever will your scent be close to me

And embedded in my sanctity

Is why I adore you

A Time For Need

It's the time for you singers

For you poets and you priests

It's the time for you lovers

It's the time for the seeds of love

It's the time for you parents

For your daughters and your sons

It's the time for understanding

It's the time we ve become love

Do you remember when we were just twenty one

And you held your ideals so strong

They were simple and easy and so black and white

And now you don't know who you are and you're 34

And you buried your mother in the spring of the year

And your mortality slapped you around

And you realize you need her more now than you ever did

And without her you don't think you can tell up from down

And when you were 16 and a beautiful girl

As you sipped on your strawberry wine

Guns and Roses was all the rage

What a beautiful age

Now that time's past and your white knuckle grip

Is wrapped around old father time

And you sit and count your worry lines

It's the time for you singers

For you poets and you priests

It's the time for you lovers

It's the time to believe of love

It's the time for outlaws

For you rogues and you thieves

It's the time for you wanderers

It's the time for the need for love

So This Is Me

So this is me, I don t understand

I've waited so long

How could this be? I'm not of this land

I just don't belong

This face in the mirror is so very clear

My father is staring through my eyes

And what's lost between is here

I'm telling the same old stories, Singing the same old lines

I've been unkind, to a you will once sworn true

And as spirits fade, or regrets are made I'll carry on all these things I've seen

So this is me, my father's last son

My heart only wanders have I let him down?

Truth

I'm sick and tired of being tired

I'm all tied up I'm cold and wired

I'm sick of all the same damn things that bring me down and back again

Of all the time I've spent alone

Just to understand this once

Wasted hours and wasted days

Where all was lost and nothing gained

This is truth, this is what I feel

This is free, this everything

This is everywhere I ve wanted over nothing incomplete

This is free

I'm sick and tired of being tired

I'm broken down and uninspired

A strung-out stare is all I see

It's all I'm finding on the TV screen

New

Now we've grown tired of these days

Our eyes are weary now they no longer feel the pain

And so we travel through as we are one and you are you

We sailed the seas with a rebel's soul

And we drank their wine just to brave the cold

For our destiny, rose-colored shades you see

Upon our face

And they hypnotized us with your sound

Distractions while the ship went down

In stormy seas, black skies surrounding me around this place

And as the cracks had shown and the women fled and the children moaned

For daddy's arms

But daddy sold them out

He knew the ship was going down

Now he's already gone, a thief's poetic charm

Cause we've grown tired of these days

Our eyes are weary now they no longer feel the pain

And so we travel through as we are one and you are you

When you hung yourself, we found somebody new

Tin Man

These are not the sounds of revolution

It's just the sounds of people in their chains

And these are not the scars of evolution

These are that which hold us down in shame

Tell the tale of tin men in the rain

What did we sell to tell the tale?

These are not the ink spots of redemption

It's just a child lost from innocence

And these are not the strivers of our conscience

It's just a poor man's status drop again

Tell the tale of tin men in the rain

What did we sell to tell the tale?

Go home Tin Man

Tin Man, go home

Living in a Box

Living in a box that stays the same

Straining just to see myself on a higher plain

Kicking up the same old piece of ground, anyhow

Sometimes I die it makes me want to fly

But I don t want to go

I know you think it s dumb

But for everywhere I've been

It always comes undone

And everything's ok,at least it is to you

It's what I cling to most

The only thing that's true

Living in a box

Checking in for one more boring day

Watching as the clocks fall down and slowly melts away

Listening just to hear the same old sounds, anyhow

Sometimes I die it makes me want to fly

But I don't want to go

I know you think it's dumb

But for everywhere I've been

It always comes undone

And everything's ok, at least it is to you

It's what I cling to most

The only thing that's true

Living in a box

A Strangest Point of View

Just turn your head and look away

The pain won't last forever

The hurt will vanish if you let it

Don't let them see inside your world

They'll try in vain to steal you

They'll buy your mind but won't reveal you

I don't know why I try sometimes

The darkness kills my mind

I don't know why it seems so strange

No matter where I am

This is a strangest point of view

Where words don't seem to matter

Indifference weighs in as voices scatter

I don't know why I try sometimes

The darkness kills my mind

I don't know why it seems so strange

No matter where I am

Something Here

There's something here that smells just right

This is the selling of an age, I feel quite shaken

It's how the mind rolls off its cage Into the world,

it's disengaging everything I've known that's right

But I didn't ever mean to bring you down

It's just something that I do, I've lost a little dignity

I didn't ever mean to bring you down

There's something here I've told before

Another tribal conversation

That's lost all patience

It's how I ve traveled through these schemes

In all the time emotions leads me everywhere that's far away

Leaving Alexandria

The day she left Alexandria I knew it wasn t good

She's broken down in a broken place and it's got her by the throat

She rode across America and her parents were divorced

She runs from what is dark she said she's ugly to herself

But she don't see the things I see...

She don't understand herself she s crazy from the past

She said when she cuts herself the blood she bleeds is black

And there's nothing to say

And she can't face another day if she stays

She's leaving Alexandria

She thought they were so friendly but she knew it wouldn't last

Her hypnotist had told her she was paying for the past

And she said, "Don't you lie to me" and she bends, but it's inside she feels

Slow Fade

Sweet sleep

Help me fall

Sweet depression envelope me in peace

And sweet sleep

Help me fade away

To this place I ve always known

In a blurry fantasy

With a silence I adore for me

Love of melodies fly sweetly

Fly sweetly

In a slow fade

Slip into 

These secret places

Slip away from all the weight of this world and

Sweet sleep help me fade away

To this place I've always known

In a blurry fantasy

With a silence I adore for me

Love of melodies fly sweetly

Fly sweetly

Trapdoor

An angry young mob with their eyes all aglow

What a beautiful day for their rage

I saw the black hood and I started to scream

There's a witch hunt today

My mind sobered up but I still couldn't see

His daughter had taken me in

As mother was knitting a murderous brood

No remorse there had been

And what's always certain you know never will be

What's standing is never in me

And it's always the same thing all over again

The henchman keeps calling

Somehow I keep falling through this trapdoor again

An angry young mob with their eyes all aglow

What a beautiful day for their rage

I saw the black hood and I started to scream

There's a witch hunt today

Another fall I have taken

Another fall I have taken

And then he pulled the lever again

Another fall I have taken

Another fall I have taken

And then she pulled the lever again

Sons of Solomon

We rode with conscience

On a tired rail

We strove to beat them

Swore we wouldn't fail

In the throws of brotherhood we would not weaken

We were the Sons of Solomon

We cried for justice

And we fought steadfast

We stood unflinching and we gave our best

Their profits soared on the backs of working men

We were the Sons of Solomon

The righteous triumph In the truth of light

The cowards shrivel from the sacrifice

Their betrayal is nothing less than an act of treason

We were the sons of Solomon

They broke our spirit

And they broke our will

They crushed our families and they own us still

Their chains are that which is our bitter pill

We were the Sons of Solomon