Merry-Go-Round

For some reason, though the lyrics are over a year old, I didn't get them until a couple of weeks ago. This is supposed to sound a little "off-center" or "off-balance". That would be apparent if you look at one of the verses below from the proper point of view. A shiny new no-prize to you if you spot it.

I finished it last night, if "finished" is the word... to me, it sounds like a show-tune, so I'm hesitant to actually do anything more with the lyrics since something might present itself for inclusion. As a show-tune, though, it would be very hard to sing... I run out of air constantly. It would probably be better broken up into a duet.


Merry-go-round
wmh - 18 May 2008

I'm spinning like a rooster who is perched atop a weather vane
Caught up in the torrents of the driving wind and pouring rain
Swinging from a chandelier that's swinging on a twisting chain
A tiny speck of dust that is tossed up into a hurricane

Very hard to say exactly what it is I'm going through
Really hard to tell from day to day
Just what I'm gonna do
Left only to wrestle with disaster
From a dizzy point of view
On the chance that somehow I'll wake up and stumble through

There's a chance that somehow I'll wake up and stumble through

Like stepping from a moving merry-go-round
--- Onto a land so vague and foreign
I'm just another aging stutter stepping clown
--- With a red nose and shoes of orange
Exiting the center ring with only a painted frown
--- Carrying a circus everyone's ignoring
As the carnival packs it up and slowly closes down

Very hard to say
Exactly what it is I'm going through
Really hard to
Tell from day to day just what
I'm gonna do - left only to
Grapple with disaster from a dizzy point of view
On the chance that somehow I'll wake up and stumble through

There's a chance that somehow I'll wake up and stumble through

Orphans on the Run

Now, there's a secret associated with writing these songs and just recording them raw so they sound crappy and unfinished. I don't hear the crappy, unfinished song. In my head I hear the completed song with a all the proper instrumentation, with no flubs. Mostly, I record them so I don't forget them. But if somebody wants to do it right... cool.

Orphans on the Run is very old... we were not terribly long out of high school. I haven't played it in years, and was frankly a little surprised that I remembered it all. Besides being out of practice, this one's deceptively difficult to play, mostly because it's all rhythm, and it's fast, and it doesn't let up. I run out of air halfway through the verses for the same reason. Nevertheless, for a long time this was my favorite song; I don't think anybody else appreciates it much. I think the lyrics in the third verse (excluding chorus) is just fantastic.

The funny thing is, I have no idea what it's really about. None whatsoever. I asked William about it, and I'm not sure he knows, other than it was written on a Sunday morning. So I'm going to put it in a category with melted watches and other "WTF" artwork... you figure it out.


Orphans On the Run
William Hoover (1982)

It's early morning Sunday and out in the street
Are orphans on the run flying on their feet
To escape a crazed preacher man holding out a gun
Shooting up the street lights and worshiping the sun
So scared to be the one, chasing orphans on the run.
He's scared to be the one, chasing orphans on the run.

It's early autumn cold and the beggars huddle close
As needless tears unfold surely someone knows
These orphans on the run who struggle to survive
Now dying from what's done with some need to stay alive
Cold keepers having fun with their orphans on the run.
They're having lots of fun with their orphans on the run.

[chorus]
And it's cut the morning calf now hurry home
If not the waiting family may be gone
For it's life they seek and not the sun
Like those before have always done
Never to be chased like orphans on the run
On the run,
On the run,
On the run,
Orphans on the Run.

It's later now in winter still as season reaps this life
So proud so high on overkill lies picturesque in bloody white
This face which smiled seldom laughed, and lost to bitter months
Bears no permanent epitaph, reads though as caring once
Buried here no father's son, no orphans on the run.
Lies here no father's son, no orphans on the run.

[chorus]
And it's cut the morning calf now hurry home
If not the waiting family may be gone
For it's life they seek and not the sun
Like those before have always done
Never to be chased like orphans on the run
On the run,
On the run,
On the run,
Orphans on the Run.

Love Shines

This is part of a batch of lyrics written in 1989 and which I didn't put music to until March 2nd, 2001.

I put a tune to the chorus in the wee morning hours of June 6th, 2002... William's anniversary. However, I didn't get the verses and bridge finished until Valentine's Day, 2003. How appropriate, hmmm?


LOVE SHINES
wmh - December 8th, 1989

Our lives have run in circles
At times on constant lines
With ever-changing seasons
Our love will always shine

Wrapped in sheets of harmony
Wake to mornings made of touch
Brighter glowing every day
These flames of growing love

[chorus]
Love shines
As bright as the sun in the summer sky
Love shines
Twinkling like stars on a winter night
And through the dark from dusk 'til dawn
You're my candle burning strong
To light the way
And love shines, love shines, love shines on

Half-lit rooms in firelight
Grow shadows less defined
But even through the darkness
Our love will always shine

As a beacon in the twilight
To guide and harbor me
A blazing, brilliant diamond
To sparkle endlessly

[chorus]
Love shines
As bright as the sun in the summer sky
Love shines
Twinkling like stars on a winter night...

[bridge]
Bright on bright
Sight beyond sight
Blinded by the glare of things we cannot see
Mesmerized
Hypnotized
Caught up in a whirlwind of a supernova dream

[chorus]
Love shines
As bright as the sun in the summer sky
Love shines
Twinkling like stars on a winter night
And through the dark from dusk 'til dawn
You're my candle burning strong
To light the way
And love shines, love shines, love shines on