BAD DREAMS
Tossin’ in the middle of the night
Layin’ in bed and I am frightened
I get no rest when things ain’t right
But is it real or just a bad dream?
Just a bad dream?
Walkin’ in the warm sunlight
Somethin’ in the air here makes me frightened
Don’t know why it don’t feel right?
But what is real and what’s a bad dream?
Strange shapes surround me
Dark thoughts have found me
Is there anyway to be unseen
By the devils in the night?
By the devils in the broad day light?
When will I ever be free from bad dreams?
I see signs everywhere
There’s more and more and I am frightened
Such terrible scenes, brought to bear
It’s so surreal and such a bad dream
So surreal
All the animals
Looks like they’re all leaving town
What do they all know?
And why don’t we see what’s goin’ down?
Why won’t we see what’s goin’ down?
Runnin’ in a losin’ race
I can’t get away and I am frightened
Do we really have to leave this place?
It’s all unreal - it’s all a bad dream
All a bad dream
by Zan Burnham
©2022 by Zanindemand Music
START WHERE YOU STAND
Half a world away
In a God-forsaken place
Is a man kneeling down to pray
Each breath - the rhythm of a heart
As the sun bleeds close to the edge of the dark
Eight miles high
Metal tears fall from the sky
Through the dust hear the children cry
Have they come to set you free?
Shock and awe from here to eternity
World please - hear me
There’s no master plan
Start where you stand
Must it be this way?
Is it in our DNA?
Is it from childhood games we play?
Cyber war from an office chair
Driving home to a family you know is there
One world beneath the sun
Is it hard to understand?
Let’s write a song of hope
From the heart, the soul - from our hands
Hold out you hand
Can they say the same?
Human shields in a deadly game
Gothic scenes all sides to blame
Men of power can they cease
Playing pawns all in the name of peace?
by Philip Dessinger & Joe Raposo
© 2022 Dessinger/Raposo
WATCHIN’ THE WORLD GO BY
I’ve heard enough cries
And I’ve heard enough lies
Can’t you see who’s really in need
And who’s just along for the ride?
Watchin’ the world go by
Watchin’ the world go by
There’s more to the picture if you’ve got the eyes
Watchin’ the world
Watchin’ the world go by
I hear the stories they tell
It sounds like heaven but it looks like hell
Who’s to know? Where you gonna go?
Are you just another sucker for the sell? - the big sell yeah!
The ocean’s are risin’ - Plastic fish in the sea
The poles look to flip - The fall will be free
Ain’t nowhere to run - Melting ice in the path
One starts to wonder - Who gets the last laugh?
And I’m standin’ and singin’ in the pourin’ rain
I’ve heard about the Buddha it’s all about the pain
Shake up wake up bake up what’s it gonna take up?
A little bit of time time time
Or probably it’s gonna be a little bit more
Like a lotta your time time time
A lotta lifetimes lifetimes lifetimes lifetimes
You gonna do it over and over and over again
‘Till your livin’ gonna be alright!
Got my promises to keep
And I’ve got roads to fit my feet
It all goes by in the wink of an eye
In the best line of the week - yeah yeah yeah!
by Zan Burnham
©2005/2022 by Zanindemand Music
THAT
How do you do what I don’t expect you to do to me?
The lamb of God lies slaughtered and you drink the blood of
Him and Her and me
How do you break?
Break so many promises you just can’t seem to keep?
Our only guarantee’s our faith
How long will it take before you make that leap?
Knock me out - on the ground
You want me smilin’ when I come ‘round
On the edge - near’s the end
And then you still want me to be your friend
After all, after all, after all, after all
That
She’s got that slim back - that gentle line flowing
down to her crack
Hypnotize me, tantalize me, I hypothesize me plan of attack
Look out for decoys - evil twins - artificial lovers
So many ways to get burned
The fires of hell burn bright, cheap fuel, touch lips
You’d think I had learned
Knock me down - on my back
“Hey there Jill”, says Lonesome Jack
Monks and lovers own the ends
Curves in the middle, I scream ‘round the bends
After all, after all, after all, after all
That
In time, it all gets twisted in vines and old wines
Wounds of my restlessness, my consciousness
My heart and soul laying there in these lines
Soft laughs and sly sighs get you through the nights
You’re not in on the joke
Draw those straws, pick those strawberries
Savor what you can
Don’t choke - blow a smoke - in your yoke
Knock me up - make me king
Give me hope - and let me sing
The beauty in your eyes so deep
And I have dreams I’m gonna keep
So plans you make - and devils laugh
What’s the point? And where’s the path?
And no one’s gonna tell you when
You’ll be back again
After all
After all
After all
After all
After all
After all
After all
After all
That
That
That
That
That
by Zan Burnham
©2022 by Zanindemand Music
ONE STEP AHEAD OF THE RED
What’s the use
Forty hours
Playin’ someone’s game?
Let it loose
You’ll smell no flowers
layin’ in your grave
When weekend comes ‘round
So hard to touch down
All those dreams inside your head
And you’re one step
A single step
One step ahead of the red
Got some pills
Got some powder
All you need is a head
Let it loose
Forty-eight hours
For you to swing until dead
When Monday comes ‘round
And you have come down
To the beast that must be fed
And you’re one step
A single step
One step ahead of the red
Was it really so long ago?
Is it so deep inside?
All the things that you loved
All of it - pushed aside
The bells they toll
Pipe organ playing
Frankincense in the air
Muffled cries
Solemn procession
Hands rise up in prayer
Dark angels come ‘round
To tears on the ground
Welcome to the walking dead
And you’re one step
A single step
One step ahead of the red
by Philip Dessinger & Zan Burnham
©2022 Dessinger/Burnham
I WON’T LIVE A LIE
All of my life I’ve been tryin’ to get away
From the things in which I don’t believe
It’s often a battle to stay in my saddle
It seems so many people don’t want me to leave
But they can’t ever change
Things that I feel, the way that I am
‘Cause I decided long ago to be true
To myself till the end
Fear, lies and fakery, and propaganda endlessly
Year after year they’re makin’ the same old claims
Well - I won’t be following, I will be questioning
Crawling through cracks they can’t explain
No they can’t ever change
Things that I feel, the way that I am
‘Cause I decided long ago to be true
To myself till the end
Oh I! I won’t live a lie
Die! Gonna die before I try
So tell me how will it be what’s it gonna be that you see
In the end when there’s nowhere to hide?
When it’s all comin’ down to the chance of your lifetime
How will you feel? How was the ride?
No you can’t ever change
Things that I feel the way that I am
‘Cause I decided long ago to be true
To myself till the end
Oh I! I won’t live a lie
Die! Gonna die before I try
by Zan Burnham
©1995/2022 by Zanindemand Music
BABY CRIED
Baby cried herself to sleep last night
She wasn't counting the sheep oh no
She wasn't counting the stars so bright
She was counting all the dead and gone
She'd known in her short, short life
Last night
Well she sobbed so deeply
Right to the core of her bones
Sometimes she just has to do that
It makes me feel such a stirring
Down inside
I want to take it from her
But I didn't know how
Last night
I never knew my baby her first four years of
Life on earth - I said a Hell on earth - Life on earth
But a living hell all the same
Well I guess that's better than nothing at all
Even bad is better than none
It's something to hold on to
Late at night
Somethin’ to hold on to
Late at night
My baby cried herself to sleep last night -
Then not a sigh not a whisper -
She slept all through the night
Woke up this morning
Not a trace in her eyes
Of that soulful longing
And I knew - as I always do -
It'll be alright (It’ll be alright)
I never knew my baby her first four years of
Life on earth - I said a Hell on earth - Life on earth
But a living hell all the same
Well I guess that's better than nothing at all
Even bad is better than none
It's something to hold on to - something to hold on to - something to hold on to
Late at night - late at night
by Donna Bersch
©1992 Donna Bersch - Zanindemand Music
HOLDIN’ YOU TIGHT
Sweetheart
Oh my darling
So alone away from you so many nights
But last night
While I was sleepin’
I was sweet dreamin’ I was holdin’ you tight
Holdin’ you tight - memories live on in some strange way
Holdin’ you tight - and I wouldn’t trade our last night for any other day
No way I
Love you
Even if I only get a few good nights
Holdin’ you tight
by Zan Burnham
©2022 Zanindemand Music
SURVIVAL
What can you do
You can’t make the rules
The way you want them to - what can you do?
When you find out about something - Sorrow - War - Loss - Hate
You never wanted to know?
No one told me we murdered millions - free?
I thought I could be - not with that history...
I found out that you’re lucky
To just stay alive
(Oh) Survival - we really ain’t got it easier
Then every other living thing
Trees get burned down
Ants crushed on the ground
You can - die any random day - when you’re a member of
The plant and animal kingdoms
For people - it’s just the same way
And what have we done?
We’ve burned like a blazing sun
Changed things fundamentally - like the whole ecology
Our grandchildren will wonder - if there are any - how we could live so recklessly
(Mmmmm-Mmm) Survival - we really ain’t got it easier
Then every other living thing
I once thought we were different
That humanity had a chance to escape - no way!
‘Cause we’re really only human
When we hear the tears of life
Holding fast to what’s good from the past
To beautiful dreams yet to come alive - all our beautiful dreams
That’s what we should yearn for - Healing the earth - Peace - Respect - Love
If we learn to survive
Survival - we really ain’t got it easier
Then every other living thing
by Zan Burnham
©2022 by Zanindemand Music
HOT & COLD
Once I wanted a woman
Someone to share a Shangri-La
Utopia - the stars above
Somebody to love - somebody to love
When now I look in the mirror
I haven’t grown so gracefully
The look of love - it just ain’t the same
As what I thought I’d see - here in me
Ev’rybody’s lookin’ for the good life
I’m just lookin’ for a place to run
Ev’rybody’s lookin’ for the good wife
I’m just looking’ for a little shade in the sun
It’s so hot - and cold
Once I wanted fame and fortune
I wanted power - gold!
It was everything ‘till I lived like a king
In a hole - on a roll
I ain’t too young to know better
And there’s no shame in gettin’ old
But age don’t mean a thing
If you ain’t got that swing in your soul
In your gold - Rock n’ Roll!
Ev’rybody’s lookin’ for the good life
I’m just lookin’ for a place to run
Ev’rybody’s lookin’ for the good wife
I’m just looking’ for a little shade in the sun
It’s so hot - and cold
Sometimes I like it hot
Sometimes I’m out in the cold
Of what worth’s a man
Tamed by the world
Just to save his soul?
Don’t you know
It only grows…
Ev’rybody’s lookin’ for the good life
I’m just lookin’ for a place to run
Ev’rybody’s lookin’ for the good wife
I’m just looking’ for a little shade in the sun
It’s so hot - and cold
by Zan Burnham
©2022 by Zanindemand Music