Snake Eyes

Music inspired by Leadbelly, "Down in New Orleans"

I hear the family calling me, clans gathering in the dying light
King snakes crawling down the road at dusk, dragons circling in the night
I belong to New Orleans, by the still waters and the blue moonbeams

I've got a home down in New Orleans, with a view till the time has come
I intend to spend my days in sin and misery, in the shadow of the rising sun
I'll get along down in New Orleans, while I'm sleepwalking down a street of dreams

I'm on the road to wealth and fame, a shortcut to love
Hoodoos in the basement, chickens in the back, bathing in the blood of the dove
We're gonna dance til the dawn down in New Orleans with the bone idols and the loa queens

I'll get some rest down in New Orleans, as long as nothing follows me down
There's still time, I know that I'll be fine if I can make it to hallowed ground
I'll be at peace down in New Orleans, among the stone saints and the floating mausoleums

Music inspired by Howlin Wolf, "No Place To Go" and "Smokestack Lightning"

I know it was wrong doing your best friend - Baby I'm sorry, it won't happen again

I'm gonna make up for everything I did - I wanna do right for you and the kid

Baby let's leave the past behind - If we can just try, it'll work out fine

I don't believe it, you just don't mean it, oh no . . . 

Baby please . . . No Dice

Music inspired by the Jive Five, "Do You Hear Wedding Bells", which in turn was inspired by "Whispering Bells".

Nothing shakes the world like the voice of God or a big-eyed girl
Except the ways you know to say those things to me
I hear you start, and I come apart
This ringing in my ears is just as sweet as it can be

Nothing gets my ear like gunshots or a falling tear
Except the things you whisper softly in the night
I could go blind and I wouldn't mind
As long as you're still here to tell me what I'm doing right

I hear bells
Speak to me and every time I hear wedding bells begin to chime

       Forget this one.

       Forget this one too.

There's no well so deep as the love I feel for you
No tower so high, no knife so sharp and true
No glacier stream could flow so long, no granite wall could stand so strong
No hurricane has the force of the love that bears us along
Until the suns cease to shine, until the stars fade and die
We'll be swept like leaves in the tide, on a sea of fire

Don't even think of trying to leave - Your heart and soul belong to me
If I'm in chains you're not free - I'll find a way to make you stay
I'll lay with wolves - I'll raise the dead - I'll swim through fire to be with you
I'll do what I have to do, cause I'm not done with you

A burning raft, a river in flames
Heaven turns to horror but the heat remains
Down in the vortex, smoke rolls higher
From hearts burned and blackened with desire
A heart of darkness beating inside all desire
Dark hearts on a sea of fire

A desert flower blooms in the dust of a Sonoran town
Soft colors in a land burned hard and brown
Rising to the sun from dry and broken ground

Swaying in the breeze, radiant in the heat
There could never be another blossom quite so sweet
I mean to steal that flower from that quiet Latin street

I'm gonna roll out of the night on wheels of iron
I'm gonna slash her loose
I'm gonna fire that town by the light of dawn
I'm gonna make her choose
She can wither on the vine or grow roots into the wind
She can be happy or she can be free
She can cling to her home and turn to grey stone
Or she can leave with me

Doña Flor, eres mi primer amor, I couldn't love you more, Doña Flor

Music inspired by Wilson Pickett, "I Found a Love"

Once I was lost, I had fallen from the way
My life's path had wandered, and gone astray
But the Lord took my hand, and then for all to see
He sent me a miracle when he sent you to me

I want to thank the Lord above - He's made me a witness to love

Now I'm reborn, your love has lifted me
Only time can tell us, if this was truly meant to be
But if it all disappears in the morning's first light
I will still have known paradise if just for one night

People I've been a witness, I've got to say it - I'm a witness
I want the whole world to see that I'm a witness
I'm here today cause I'm a witness

Music inspired by Santo & Johnny, "Lost In Space"

Love is the hardest gamble of them all
So much to win, so far to fall
I took that chance, and I paid the cost
And I can never, never win back what I've lost

I'll never know what I did wrong, but I know - it's  time to cry
I never knew that life could be too long - it's time to cry
It's time that I admit she's gone - it's time to cry
It's time to stop wondering what went wrong - it's time to cry
It's time to try to move on, but first - it's time to cry

One washed ashore in a burst of foam, luminescence in her hair
Fins glistening in the moonlight's glow, gasping in the air
I raised her, and walked into the sea
I lowered her, and she swam between my knees
I held her, and we drifted with the tide
Where the waters dream with the sky

One hit from downwind, lean and scarred, and took me on the run
A killer's stride, triumph in her snarl, death's shadow falling in the afternoon sun
I stroked her, and she answered with a purr
Damp heat rising from her fur
She seized me, flashed her teeth
And left me slashed and bleeding on my knees 

One came at twilight, gliding through the mist , and stung me with the grace of a whip
Frozen, mesmerized by her hiss, crushed and choking in her grip
Scales whispering sleek and dry
Tongues dancing, quick and light
The hard eyes and the risk
The taste of venom in her kiss

I love you baby

Black dawn, foul skies
Bloodshot eyes trace the red sun's rise
Crops fail, seasons turn
Field hands dance, while the big house burns - In the hour of the Mau Mau

From out of the prairies, the slums and the malls
The damned come singing and the walls fall
Raised in privilege, spoiled with pain
Weaned on poison, made in the USA - Spawn of the Mau Mau

Fences go down, barriers crack
Unchained and rabid, hyenas roam in packs
The world is carrion, the world is meat
The world is fair game on the savannah, or on an empty street - Gone to the Mau Mau

A land in ashes, where dreams have turned to lead
Rats and starving dogs feeding on the dead
Quicklime and fire, dynamite and gasoline
Scour the cities with a killing tide that leaves the winners clean
And you and me?
We'll be making love down in the ruins - Down among the Mau Mau

Music inspired by Irma Thomas, "Anyone Who Knows What Love Is"

Party lights are shining and there's music in the air
The crowd is glowing and their laughter's everywhere
But I can't hear them, it's as if they weren't there
You're all I see, and I can only stare
I don't know who you came with, and I don't care
Now that I see you standing there

The only one in the room

The lights are dimming and smoke hangs in a haze
The party's ending and the crowd has gone its way
But the music plays on into the night
We can dance forever slow and tight
I don't know where you came from, I don't care who you've known
I only know now we're alone