1.
Mists of Avalon
2. The True Expense
3. Complicated
4. Friday Afternoon
5.
Story of a Young Man
6. Henry VIII
7. Growin' Up
8. Picadilly Circus
9.
A Little Bit Older
10.Tina's Tough City Blues
THE MISTS OF
AVALON The December evening settled down
We had no dinner engagement
to attend
We decided we'd enjoy the smell of winter air
And wait for the
arrival of some well-dressed friends We sat there on the cobblestone road
And they met us at the car in the lot
There were whispers in the back seat
In the heart of their engagement they'd been caught
We rolled to the shore
and stepped onto the dock We all rolled among the smoke and fog and haze
And the foghorn blew when we set out on the waves
I stood out on the deck
of the boat and looked out to the maze
In on the young lovers and the knave
Tonight everyone's riding on this ship and riding here alone
There's no
warmth out on the sea-sprayed deck, just the mists of Avalon There will be
time, it's not too late
To know the eyes of women
To sea the portrait
of her face
And to steer my fate The nights are long in December
And
they bring me back to my old dreams
There's a ship out on the horizon
Seems the dawn's come apart at the seams 'Cause this side of the sunset
There ain't no promises for me
Let this ship take me away
Past the smoke
rings of the sea Roll me through the smoke and fog and waves, roll me away
from home
And I'll turn my eyes to the wisdom faraway, to the mists of Avalon
THE TRUE EXPENSE There are those
Who are in control
Yet
feel so little
Their lives are elegantly played But I'm the artist
Who feels too much
The edges of my life
Are messily torn and frayed
That's the only explanation
That makes sense
When you're diggin' in your
pocket
For your last few pence To buy another bottle
At your health's
expense
In your sanity's defense
But the bottle shines so bright
'Neath
the dim barroom light
And it holds what makes the experience intense COMPLICATED
Everything's so complicated
Why can't I think a simple thought? That
bum on the street - he's complicated
He's had a rough time and so he's down
That lawyer on the cement, about a half block from him
He's complicated, too,
and both wear a frown My teacher - he's complicated
He knows theorems
that counter anything I say
All of the students - we're complicated
We're
learned in a very learned way This damn city - it's complicated
Try to
figure out a map and you'll agree
Unless you understand complication
And
revel in detail not mystery What, you ask, is complication?
I don't know,
it's too complicated, you see?
To make things a little simpler -
Would
be complicated, ask your expert, they'll agree My life is complicated
So much swimming through my little head
I've got bills to pay and laundry
to do
I can't wait till I'm dead Then there we will no more complexity
I'll be simple once again
Like when I was young
Before I became caught
up
In this and that thing
Before I started exercising my tongue Why
are you so complicated?
In other words, why do you think you are?
To
me, you're a simpleton, partner
And to you, I'm a simpleton, from afar
Could it be that we're not as complex as we think?
That we're more simple-minded
and even naïve
That our worries aren't as dire as we imagine them to be
That there's little to pull from our sleeve? Oh, I don't know, it's all too
complicated FRIDAY AFTERNOON Friday afternoon
The spring time
sun is here
The bell tolls for me and all
Who pack up all their gear
And meet all their closest friends
And drink plenty of drinks
And do what
the drinks recommend
And those hours from 5pm to into the wee hours of the
morning
Are the precious few we hold
To be the best On one such afternoon
I was joined by a friend
We thought we'd drink some tea
And talk about
how life would end
But that proved to be too serious
So we switched up
our chat
And we talked about some trivia
And we dusted off our door mat
For others were on their way
And soon they all arrived
This is the sort
of communal bond
On which our whole group thrives The evening starts with
conversation
And fingerbowls of grog
And quips about the ball game and
The latest breaking news We've got nothing that we have to do
No place
that we need to be
We've only got the comfort of a cozy, warm place
And
the coziness of pleasant company The evenings getting on in regular fashion
The alcohol is flowing and the volume is rising
The crescendo of the group
is steadily climaxing
And the novelty of this seems quite surprising
Of
course, it's not and we'll know that tomorrow
But let us have tonight to dream
a bit STORY OF A YOUNG MAN A young man looked at the sky through
a pair of innocent eyes
The limits were no where in eye-shot
They were
shrouded by cars and dreams and sighs
He remembered that a glass of beer was
all he needed,
"To see the world as it is not" He set off to capture
his vision,
With shoes that were tattered and stained
His clothes were
a shade on the poor side
In his girl's bed, other men had once been A
beauty stood right in his path
Conveniently pretty and vain
He said, "Babe,
let's get a goin'"
And they ventured through hills in the rain "It's
out there," he said, "Far away from here
We won't stop till we have a hold
on it, you see
Once we get there, we can come back home,
And make things
the way that they should be" They wandered together, the Mr. And Mrs.
As they soon were to be called and known
And cans and trinkets were now fingerbowls
and jewels
And there was no shortage of spirits or loans "Insipid, this
is," he said,
I'm grand and I'm great and I control my fate"
But the
Mrs., she looked rather meek HENRY VIII He was a huge, menacing
man
Taller than any other men in his day
He was given the riches of the
land
And he was free to take what he pleased and experiment away Feelin'
so great
Like Henry the VIII
Like Henry the VIII He was a self-interested
type of leader
But a leader all the same, that was true
He had friends
at his side and his brother's bride
He had passed and now Henry saw her through
Feelin' so great
Like Henry the VIII
Like Henry the VIII But he
wanted a boy to bless the courtyard
A boy with his father's eyes and sturdy
bones Feelin' so great
Like Henry the VIII
Like Henry the VIII
GROWIN' UP He grew up right and learned the ropes
Age 15, he was
rarin' to go
All around him life beckoned
Pretty girls, fast times, and
ephemera to know He wanted to be great someday
Make his mark in history
He'd like to sit on the top of his hill
In the grass and stare at the big
city He'd say, "Hey, you're made for me"
Reached up to the sky and tried
to scream Time raced by for this restless boy
High school days were his
life's glory
Something clicks when the blood is warm
And young and the
world's full of mystery There's not much load to carry around
The load
builds up, as the years go by
Having lost the chance at using your prime
You may later come to give a regretful sigh Day after day, it was the same
scene
Sitting dazed in a crowded, smoke-filled room
With a bunch of contemporaries
All smiles and some faults that have come to soon His evenings passed in a
routine way
Till he'd get a glimpse of the broader scheme
And thanks to
himself there is magic out there
There's something in the sky, there, in his
wildest dreams PICADILLY CIRCUS Mary says
The secret is living
your life
So you can turn around, look back, and feel OK
Make sure you
take the time
To live your life as right as you can
Because there will
come a day
When you have to recommend
Which path to take
To the next
generation I'm sorry, I don't love you
And still I want to hold you
But it's better if we never See each other again The Picadilly Circus
Was the place I loved first
And saw the person I was going to become
I'm
sorry about the purse
I certainly feel the worst
About the fact that I
have not
Been straight forward these days Remember the Picadilly Circus
Remember the Picadilly Circus I'll live with how sad I am
That life is
not what they promised
In grade school
And that beauty always fades
And that friends are cruel I guess we only have one chance
To shake things
up
Do a little dance Fate will throw us what it will
I'll keep working
harder R Remember the Picadilly Circus
Remember the Picadilly Circus
Pushing to meet the moment
When it means something to someone
If you've
got a palace in Beverly Hills
And a personal assistant to pay your bills
Will the beauty still give you your thrills?
Will the songs still give you
the chills?
Will you still want to run away? There is an honesty when
you look at me that way
With your daddy waiting behind you in the fray
Watch the lamp post at the end of the day
Will the lights go out? Remember
the Picadilly Circus
Remember the Picadilly Circus I can hear the acapella
group sing
And I can remember everything
When night was desire
And
day was waiting
For the fantastic pleasure that was for the taking
The
ecstasy that could be real
When I followed you out into the field Now
we're at the threshold
The end of something special
Gone are the days
of the rigid lines
And dreams splattered up against the street sign These
days I wake up
Afraid of what I've missed
I could die right now
I
could wake with a kiss You had another lover who was not the only one
I'm sorry you had to feel the pain It's sad when folks
Resent the fact
That it all went bad
And don't realize
How great their lives are
I
know it's hard
That you didn't get the job
And feel so bad
When you
look like a slob Remember the Picadilly Circus
Remember the Picadilly
Circus A LITTLE BIT OLDER You're a little bit older, baby
But
you still look the same
I can always tell by your eyes
That your optimism
remains So crunch some numbers
Try to organize it
And I will shatter
your logic
With an argument That proves nothing
That is all that I
know
The reporters in the hall
With the mumbling stooges in tow Constantly
re-weighing your options
Cartoon plastic dreams
Of houses and adoptions
Of philosophy that will do you well You are always in transition
With
moments of stability
Moments of vulnerability
And you can't help but wonder
why? And hope that someone might say
He was a great man
Yet there
are so many imposters
How can any of us distinguish ourselves? Wear different
clothes
Play different songs
Slide yourself in where
You think you
belong TINA'S TOUGH CITY BLUES Tina was a black star
Pulling
into the Motor Inn
By the 125th Street Grill
Feelin' as light as the rain
on the cheap tin No money for food
No money to fix the roof
Quiet
comfort and moderation
Man says, "Jesus saves"
She says, "Show me the
proof" But this tough city predilection
For the hues of blues
She
looks into the raindrops
And watches the evening news "I have a purpose,"
she says
"And I don't mind starvin' or going to jail
If it means I've
got a cause
Beyond the city superstition That logic, reason, and commerce
Actually formed the world"
She says, "Why didn't they tell me that?
When I was an uncomplicated, little girl" Writing songs to pay the bills
Playing tunes in the parlor, ladies swoon
As I dismiss the science of
Seeing how many times I can rhyme "June" with "moon" And how many people really
stopped
To see you fall when your world got rocked?
Well, you've got
so many friends when you're 22
When you're 55, you're lucky if you have a
few But that's nothing new
These have all been experienced before today
So don't cry in the shower
Bathing your blues away As the music cascades
through the halls
Mother Mary says now she has seen it all
You've got
your knowledge and your supplies
So now won't you please look me in the eyes?
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