steve shaw

Silhouette

I never left this garden, a silhouette of you

I guess it's all forgotten, a coward's point of view

But there's merely nothing left for you

There's merely nothing left…..

I nearly left this garden a frightened time or two

The gate would swing out sometimes – I never quite fit through

But there's merely nothing left for you

There's merely nothing left for you 

If you could hold my head up high;  

The times I've tried, I've lied

It always rains in this garden, but nothing ever blooms

I cry to Mary's comfort, a little sunshine too

But there's merely nothing left for you

There's merely nothing left for you

Whiskey Shack

• MP3 download whole song, hi-fi

Goin' to the whiskey shack , I ain't ever comin' back, hopin' this old truck don't die

Lookin' for some passion, knockin' of the ash and Willie's on the radio now

Faces come and faces fade,                                       

All I ever really care to see again is mine

Livin' in the whiskey shack, laying of the cognac, trying to find a job for free

Didn't want to see ya, had a margarita, let that damn phone just ring

Some whiskey and some slow-burn dynamite,                                                          

Some paranoia lying, an Woody Guthrie poetry all night.

So if you see me laying down by the railroad track

Don't bet against it baby that I won't be back this time

Let it ride,  Let it ride

Walked into a hoedown, waitin' for a showdown, hatin' all the cops I see

Didn't want to do it, had a little hooch and let that whiskey talk for me

So if you see me laying down by the railroad track

Don't bet against it baby that I won't be back this time

It ended in the hoosgow, beaten like a dog now, busted for the flaws in me

Hopin' for some karma, crying for  my mama, searching for my rosary

Won't you take me to the whiskey shack?

Cricket

Cricket knows the game, the desert feels the strain

Her dirty little secrets is the way she got her name

Cricket plays it coy, as she flirts with all the boys

And hides behind the blades of grass that cover up her foils

Memories paint such a different scene in my mind

I cannot believe what a fool within her own lies

But a fool no longer am I

Without you, I'm writing alone

Without you, I'm happily gone without you

It's the story of a man too tired to make us understand

Who rode to town alone in which the world was on his back

It's the story of a man too proud to take a helping hand

Who cried alone at night to ponder what he really had

Lightning strikes where we cannot see

Misery hides through the depths of me – what a fool within her own lies

But a fool no longer am I

Without you, I'm writing alone

Without you, I'm happily gone without you

I've left all alone    --  without you

Cricket don't jump no more; she still chirps

But everybody knows; we all know; guess it's time I go

Without you... 

Without you, I'm writing alone

Without you, I'm happily gone without you

I've left all alone without you   

I'm happily drunk with you……..

Lemay Ferry

• MP3 play whole song, hi-fi (broadband)

I’ve been your river long enough

I’ve been your shoulder to bear troubles you have fought

And the current’s rough           

It seems to push me farther away from love                          

Sometimes the past is never real

I wish it here

And now I’m so damn far away

It seems a different road keeps calling day to day

As this old mind fades                   

It always one step forward and two steps back again

I’ve got to find a familiar face

So let’s go back together

We’ll take the Lemay ferry there

And say hi to the scrubby Dutch

I know to most it don’t mean much, but to me

This is home

We’ll do the stumble and I know we’ll see a couple union brothers there

Old stories shared

How about a cold one at the Dry Dock with a couple pretty Lemay girls

I close my eyes - so many years

I’ve been your river long enough      

You’ve seen too many faces I’ve been ashamed of

Such a mortal fall

It’s always two too many or one not enough

Just let me go to set me free

That Old Boat

In this ordinary world, you must beat the fake and caress the poor

And like our family years ago, you must earn your wage 

And embrace these things that you are

My papa Pohly told me, "Son, you will find your way 

When your strength is gone

And through your labor and your God, you will know it when, when it's time to row

That old boat "

And you know the world will beat you down

And you know the world will steal ground you walk upon

From the minute that you cut that rope 

And feel the water where your soul was born

And they'll be days there's no reply

When you swear out load with no answer why

It's on these days you must recall

They're all there for you, with an oar to row

That old boat

So Far Away

• MP3 download whole song, hi-fi

A lonely night is a welcomed sight for a man too weary to breathe

His rigid face shows how sadness grates

With a pain that's too tender to speak

His voice grows weak as he tries to speak 

To the Jesus he knew long ago

His faith caves in with a drink of the gin

And this old bar stool is his only friend

Far away in his mind, he sees a moment in time

When he walked with a beautiful gait

How cruel it can be as the time steals the gleam from his eyes

There is no surprise; that he's so far away

Space moves around like a typical clown

Through the alley the answers abound

Space moves around like a typical clown

As his last cigarette burns down

He lies awake now in this dark empty house

The sleeplessness taking its toll

The pills and the booze, the rage of his moves

As the solitude swallows him whole

Erida

I never tried to sell you nothing

Never meant to bring you down

I never walked into your heart just to get you to buy another empty line

And so another lonely Sunday

And I’m doin’ what I always do

I can’t imagine any darker place in my mind without you

So hard I try, good luck, but it’s much too late

Now regret’s my friend too        

And hate, she walks through my mind without a sign                             

She don’t even know it

She just wrecks my heart to pieces every time

Erida is  mine

Take a good look at the hook that society placed in my mouth

Stand on your head, reach the depth of the sadness you laid for me out

Can’t you realize that you’re dead?

All of those sounds in your head

Can you succeed the disease that you bleed in the wake of inspired charity

And so your cloudy eyes are telling

All the pain the years have brought

And how it stings you just to think there’s no turning back

All the things you saw

No longer should you lay there hiding

Beneath the shame that brought you here

It’s time to shine your beauty bright and sing your song loud and clear

So hard I try, good luck, but it’s much too late

Now regret’s my friend too         

And hate, she walks through my mind without a sign                               

She don’t even know it

She just wrecks my heart to pieces every time

Erida is  mine                                                   

So good luck and goodbye it goes way too fast

Could you think of me too?       

And from time to time could we be yours or mine?            

You won’t even know it

I’ll just breakdown into pieces every time              

Erida is mine       

Vacant

• MP3 download whole song, hi-fi

Another day at the bottom, another bomb in my head

Another walk through the sorrow, another snake in my bed

Is it my soul that's so vacant or my heart that's so cold

Is it the mask that I play here or the tear that I hold

Don't just remind me of everything wrong in the world

Don't you deny me, my loneliness has stripped me bare

I'm a long way from here, vacant here

How I long for the rescue to save me from here

Did you ever once know me, did you stay just to stare

Could you once just disown me, who gives a damn if I'm there

Don't just remind me of everything wrong in the world

Don't you deny me, my loneliness has stripped me bare

I'm a long way from here, vacant here

Tin Foil Heart

My tin foil heart always seems to move me

I keep it in my sock

That way you can’t see through me

It’s just a matter of time before the rust eats through me

You see I don’t really mind, she all that matters to me

She captured  me

I’ll never give it away

A tin foil heart that she painted red

For her dear old dad

My tin foil heart never leaves me lonely

Its ridges hold the spot

When she gone I’m still holding her

And it’s a crying shame that I got to let go of her 

You see it just strangles time as the rain flows cold on me

Millie can’t see the flame for which I live for

Millie don’t know the reasons that I hold her  

She don’t see the stare that her daddy gave to her

Millie can’t see the flame for which I live for

It Is Your Own

If you're standing next to nowhere

And you're holding next to nothing

And the storm to breach your mind's no longer bold

If you're beaten by your own hand

And you're banished by your own mind

And the masochist you lay with is your own

You can't walk away, your circle's closed

How nothing's changed

As you cry in your ordinary mayhem

Your extraordinary outcome is your own 

If your lifetime lasts a lifetime

And the tired voices scare you

And the walk you take no longer lasts a day

If the bag you hold is seeping

With the consciousness you're leaking

On the doors your ego danced through years ago

You can't walk away, your circle's closed

How nothing's changed

As you cry in your ordinary mayhem

Your extraordinary outcome is your own

It is your own 

Turning to Stone

I don't need time, it's just another part of me

I don't need space, it's this closet that I seek

I don't need love, if the love is not for keeps

I don't need peace, with a pistol to my head

I don't need dope, what you're selling makes me sick

I don't need life, when it always ends up dead

I think I'm turning to stone

And it's become all too strange

It's what I am, and what I will

And will I melt into something still?

Because no longer do I feel

I don't need looks, it's the solitude I crave

I don't need prayers, I question Jesus everyday

I don't need hope, if it's hope that's all that's there

Your sympathy, I'm not able

Your lack of heart is your ladle

Can you steal me of air when I just can't breathe?

The Party's Over

The party ended yesterday; it should have ended anyway

But they don't know the ones that they're messing with

We wondered into their backyard; we wondered what the gun was for

But they don't know the ones that they're messing with

She faked it since the day we met; she faked it till the day she left

But she don't know the ones that they're messing with

We try and try but all we get are condescending looks and a load of crap

They don't know...

The hippies are to rule the world;  The hippies and the sun and earth

But they don't know the ones that they're messing with

We try and try but all we get are crooked politicians and less and less 

They don't know...

They'll be sorry when we get and go; I can't imagine what they're thinking now

But they don't know the ones that they're messing with

The Americans

This old heart, will never change, will never wane from freedom’s ring.

This old flag, may be tattered and torn, is soiled and worn, from freedom’s ring

Land that my father did defend

Brothers we lost in Vietnam

The memories sting, but here we stand, we are…

The Americans

This old soul, is true to the core, in peace and war, and freedom’s ring

These old eyes, have cried and seen, ingenuity’s reign with freedom’s ring

Brave souls who marched on Normandy

Cold Korean winters our boys seen

The rich or poor hold hand in hand, we are…

The Americans

Courageous acts outside Kabul, breaking terror’s rule with freedom’s ring

The towers breathe, Pearl Harbor sees, we will never forget

Sweet freedom’s ring

Let the children sing; loud in every school;God’s golden rule; and freedom’s ring

Let the races melt down to one lone shade; let hard feelings fade; and let freedom ring

Young men who fought who fought at Tripoli

A relentless will for liberty

Independence sway, such a stunning land, we are…

The Americans…..

On This Day, A Pig

You run with your gun and you drag it along

And you don't give a damn in your mind is a grand resistance

You punched the number to your soul

And you drag it around like an anchor, straight down

And your address is grand but it won't fill your can of sorrow

Your empty head is to explode

On this day

I won't buy another hour,  I won't bargain one more day

Cause your act has long gone soar and your looks have gone away

I won't buy another hour or settle for your shit

In your space you can devour your loneliness

The pig has left on this day

Can you see what is next with the text that you left

In the lies that you made, in the bills left unpaid, you're dreaming

I'll take collection for your toll