LYRICS FROM
SHORTS
2013
All Songs P & ©, various years, by Zanindemand Music ASCAP
* Unless otherwise noted
ONE STEP LEFT
One step left - fell to the knee
Need a smoke - and a place to breathe
So unsure - never before
Write this note - slip it under your door
Tell me which way we’re going?
It would be nice to know
Will it be good for you? - I don’t know
Well I hope so
Strange this time - so confused
See my face - lookin’ deep into you
Do not talk - who knows who to trust?
Hide your dreams - someone might crush 'em to dust
Open any door
Blow on dem bones and watch ‘em roll on the floor
Is that the number you were looking for?
Holding fast - ear to the ground
Pray for signs - don that thorn and crown
Love is love - good or bad
You're dead Death without - So give it all that you have
Written by Zan Burnham, Philip Dessinger, Tom Textor © 2013
ICE DAY
Ice day - I can’t remember when I’ve felt the sun shinedown on me
Ice day - I can't remember where I lost my way, lost what I used to be
I am like a winter tree
You can see through me
I’m like a rock in frozen ground
Like a ship on an ice-bound sea
A summer breeze - moonlight on a lake - a midnight kiss
A thousand smiles - a million miles - beautiful dreams
In ecstasy who would ever dream of this
The price you pay is so much more - more than it seems
I'm holding on I don't know how
I know I don't know why
I took a leap before I looked
And I don't want to die
Ice day - I can’t remember when I’ve felt the sun shinedown on me
Ice day - I can’t remember why I even woke
THE DAYS OF OUR LIVES
I met a man sweet man he lived in strife, had a frustrated wife
Kinda wasted his life
He said “Son I tried to follow my dreams"But I got lost - it seems
“I'll never know what it all really means...”
He said “I stood up for what I did believe“
And I always figured lady luck was up my sleeve
“I laughed at fear, I was strong and stout“
And now I sit inside, I don’t come out”
I met a girl sweet girl she wanted to be a queen
Live in some kinda royalty scene
Her own grass was never green
She always said “Everything, everything - it’ll all work out”
She didn’t have a clue or a doubt
And now she’s got the gout
But she remembers when times weren't so bad
When the future held the promises it had
“Back then I was happy” she says with halfa smile
“I only wish it had lasted a little while"
These are the days sweet days the days ofour lives
Don’t get many if you get any
I met a boy sweet boy he sang a good tune,
howled at the moon
He rode around in a red balloon
Said "All you need is love, give peace achance somehow
"Chase away those sacred cows, and don’tkowtow to the big bow wows!"
But then he went and he prematurely died
Some crazy sucker shot him right betweenthe eyes
His friends all cried he had so much to live for
I guess you never know what’s behind the next door
These are the days sweet days the days ofour lives
Don’t get many if you get any
I met a man sweet black man from
Richmond, C.S.A.
He was a hundred years if he was a day
and all those years as a slaveThen one day black soldiers came to his town
He fell to his knees, he fell to the ground - and he said “I hear trumpets sound!
“Well I have waited all my life for this, and nobody’s betrayin’ nothin’ with no kiss!
“Now I can die me a happy man, but please don’t ask me why I don’t understand”
I heard a song sweet song on my radioTook me places I did not know
Watchin’ the river flow
And I have met some kindred spirits here
We share the laughter we share the fear
We break bread and share a beer
And there are things you can’t always explain
So much sufferin’ so much pain
Can’t call it paradise all of the time
But if you learn to live with it
Life can be so fine
These are the days sweet days the days of our lives
You don’t get many if you get any
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
Written by Donna Bersch - © 2022 by Zanindemand Music ASCAP
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
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
Written by Dessinger/Burnham ©2022
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
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
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