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Smiles For The Morning
David Shepherd Grossman ã1989/2001
Drainpipe dripping to the sewer line
Clothes strung out across the alley
X's mark the windows
Sadness as the wind blows
The waitress at my cafe says she's feeling fine
Smiles for the morning
When I met her
I thought it'd be easy to forget her
But then she held on
I used to read the bible with 3-D glasses
Thought maybe then I'd see some light
The priest sent me to hell
My father said, "Oh well, he seems to know his let from his right."
Now there's an inside and an out side and there's beside you
It was out of the city
High up on the hill
There I first noticed stars
The people said they'd seen them
But I never believed them
You can carry that line too far
And she said, "Take me away in the morning
We'll make our way our way.
Take me away in the morning you'll find happiness by mid day
Take me away in the morning heaven ain't reached alone
Take me away in the morning, take me home
When I woke up this morning
There was a smile drawn across my mirror
Ashes will be ashes and dust is so fine
But all can do is forgive her
Smiles For The Morning
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2. |
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Wall In The Road
It was a Saturday night I was feeling alright
Just walking off some blues
When a girl on the strip who looked a little too hip
In these red alligator shoes
She said, "Hey honey I'm out of money can you help me out tonight?"
I said, "Sorry mam I understand but I can't do you right."
And she flipped me off
Chorus
There's a wall in the road I can't get around
Try to break through and it knocks me down
A feeling You just can't shake
Like a real bad dream when you don't awake
There's a wall in the road
So I walked on and on and on
Until I found myself downtown
With a bum a junkie a man with a monkey and a girl
Who'd been around
And a business man in a tie and a tan said he quit his job
To sing in a bad
And asked me if I knew where he could find one and I thought
It's a real weird world
Chorus
I crossed the street in the middle of the night
Crossed the street on the red light
Over the hills and into the planes where the houses and cars
All look the same
You can never get lost in a place like that
Anywhere you go is like where you're at
And anywhere you're at is exactly like wherever you can go
So finally I stopped walking and at once it struck me cold
There's a wall in the road and it's hard to relate
There's much to love and much to hate. In between these two
hands shake and profit from the difference
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3. |
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Next Time
The next time I go walking I'll try not to fall
The next time I start talking I'll listen to the words
The next time the moon reflects it's image on the water
I'll scrape off the reflection and paste it on my wall
The next time I am lost think I'll change the place I'm going
The next time I am falling think I'll do it upside down
The next love rains down
I'm closing the umbrella
Jumping in the puddles
Hoping that I drown
Chorus
Rocking slowly
Softly to sleep
The creaking of a lullaby
Rocking slowly softly dream deep
And hope that the next time
Won't pass you by
The next time that these leaves fall they're staying on the lawn
The next time that the road calls
I'll accept the charge
The next time day and night appear to blend together
I'll thank God it's not the weather
And go to sleep at dawn
Chorus
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4. |
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Kaleidoscope Girl
By DAVID GROSSMAN
We were busy doing all these things we didn't need to do
Letting the important things slide
You know it get's that way when you think that way
When you think
This means more and that means less
I just can't do them both I guess
It's time to watch out
When you get too close
It's time to watch out when it's love almost
Chorus
With a kaleidoscope girl
You're not the only one
You see her heart spin in a whirl
When you hold her to the sun
Some give to get
Some get and give
Some live to love
Some love to live
Some share their hearts
Some wear their souls
They said, "Watch out you wont grow old."
Chorus
We make believe
We both pretend
Our roads go on around the bend
Well I don't know I just can't see
That far away from me
And you believe that I could love
I learned a lot then I forgot
And made some room to learn more
It's sure been more than I could ever want
Though I still want more from the...
Chorus
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5. |
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Your World
David Shepherd Grossman ã86/ 2001
I'm not drunk I was born this way
As lost as the sky is high
Reaching for love
Lord knows why
Your head ain't on your shoulders girl
You let it fall down on the floor
I know how it is
I've been there too
It's a constant space I still float through
In your world
I'm not cold just forgot how to feel
But this pain is bringing me back
You're love fits like a uniform
But it reads like an out of state map
It's such a shame that it's just a game
You seem so happy when you're bragging 'bout your blues
I know how it is
I've been there too
It's a constant space I still float through
In your world
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6. |
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Born Tired
Words and Music by David Shepherd Grossman Ó 2005
Knew a lady a long time ago
We stayed awake for a week
Told her how I loved her so
She wrote me a receipt
There's a bird on the wire and a cat on the fence
They sit there all day long
If I could live at no expense
I'd probably be there too
Chorus
'cause I was born tired born tired born tired born tired born tired
Sleep all night and I rest all day
Take odd jobs in between
After work I eat my pay
Then I catch up on some dreams
People say I'm lazy
I wish they'd let me rest
They all do what they got to do
And I do most what I do best
Chorus
Late one day in the afternoon
The landlord woke me up
Said my rent was over due
And he wanted every buck
Now I'm down at the station waiting on a train
And I don't really care where it goes
Got a change of clothes and a walking cane
Hit the flask in the handle when the cold wind blows
Chorus
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7. |
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Heroes Never Fail
David Shepherd Grossman ã89/2002
Overboard the man he went dove off into sea
The captain gave no choice or chance
To the likes of he
He was trapped into battle
He was strapped to the side
Down the plank they forced his walk he was swallowed by the tide
Chorus
Close your eyes
To those cartoons and fairy tails
Happy in the ever after
The heroes never fail
Take this looking glass hold it to your face
Mark the minute x the hour
When we'll leave this place
Where we're trapped into battle
Where we're strapped to the side
Once awake there's no escape there's nowhere left to hide
Chorus
Once upon a time the stagecoach ran this way
Once upon a time steam trains rolled on tracks each day
Once upon a time magic carpets filled the air
Once upon a time do you recall when we were there
Take this lamp it's offered to polish it in need
And when you're prayers come answer you
Follow out their lead
When you're trapped into battle
When you're strapped to the side
If your wings don't levitate
Then find another ride
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8. |
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Junk Yard
Chorus
I'm going to a place
Where the grass ain't green
Going to a place where the grass ain't seen
Going to a place where the sounds are hard
Gotta get back to the old junk yard
There's a drunk old man
Against a busted T.V.
Humming a tune about a shining sea
Dump truck convoy rides the mile
Against the sunset to the compost pile
Chorus
It's a poor man's treasure
It's a rich man's waste
It's an artist's dream
It's a snob's bad taste
It's a children's playground
It's a garbage man's cell
It's a stop down stream from the wishing well
Chorus
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9. |
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Rain Falls Down
Words and Music by
David Shepherd Grossman
He was lonely, she felt fine
They spoke long distance over wine
Do you take these trains a lot he asked
While she replied he refilled her glass
It rattled on the table
Too young for love she boasted
He believed her and toasted to her heart
May it lead her on her way
Chorus
And the Rain Falls Down Rain Falls Down Rain Falls Down
They drank those table candles down
She rolled her fingers in the wax
And spoke of her hometown
He smiled and listened to her
An innocence spoke through her
The Words & Miles keep on rolling
Chorus
Morning came and she retired to her room
He just sat there with a window and a fading moon
Grass fields passed him by
Colors bled the sky
And he wondered why
She had left him there so soon
In her room
She sat down on the bed
And thought through the words
Each one of them had said
Nothing changed in all that time
He's still lonely
She still feels fine
Chorus
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10. |
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After The Storm
After the storm
I'm going to fly away
The rain is pouring down now
I'm hoping it will stay that way
Sitting in an empty room
At the airline
Staring out a fogged up windowpane
The water dilutes my thoughts
And carries them...down the drain
The rain on the window
Washes away my sight
On the freeway the cars roll by
Getting drowned out by the night
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This CD came out in 1989 thanks to Paul Rogers, Paul Bedford, Neil Jay Young, Jeanie Patterson, my pal Devin, and Andy Taub. I was living in Berkeley and working at Cable Oakland - hosting the open mic at The Sweetwater In Mill Valley. Paul Bedford got the band together and arranged all the band songs. The late, Neil Jay Young, produced Wall In The Road and Rain Falls Down.
The album starts out with Smiles For The Morning which was written in Arizona 1984. It was written on a piano.
Wall In the Road was written in 1986. I was busy being rejected by people in the music industry.
Next Time was written in a booth at Moscone Center in SF during the 1984 Democratic Convention. I was working for AJ Contractors and spent a lot of time in a small booth at the on ramp entrance. Michelle Shocked had her picture in the paper as she was protesting the convention and got arrested. She used it as her first album cover. I was just a few hundred feet away in my booth when that happened. We used to hang out together nights at The Wine Cellar SF. I wrote the lyrics there and in Arizona. Andy Taub recorded the track at Muther's studio in Sausalito.
Your World was recorded at Canyon Recording my Neil Jay Young. I wrote this while living in the Ashram in Oakland in 1985. It was inspired by a girl I dated a briefly who pined for a another guy and wouldn't stop talking about him when we'd go out together.
Born Tired was written in 1986 at Cable Oakland in the warehouse. It was the only song I was ever paid to write though I was not being paid to write the song....I was being paid to fix converter boxes for cable TV.
Heroes Never Fail was written in 1988. It may be my favorite lyric on the album.
Junkyard written in 1983. I romanticize junk yards and the whole junk industry. It was my first attempt at writing "Junk Rock."
Rain Falls Down was from 1984. A love song where nothing happens between the lovers A story I would repeat in other songs as it became a pattern in real life over and over again.
After The Storm was recorded in 1983 and written in 1981. It was my very first piano song. Recorded at Madman studio in Berkeley. Bill Thompson told me after recording the song that it reminded him of Bill Even's song Piece Peace. That prompted me to acquire the album Everybody Digs Bill Evans which is in my top 5 favorite all time favorite jazz albums.
Kaleidoscope Girl was written after discovering a woman I was seeing with was married...awkward and heartbreaking for me but I was too far gone - as Neil Young says...
