1. GHOST OF A DREAM

There's a bar by the side of an old lonely road
Gentle folk gather round to lighten their load
The liquor is flowing and alls well it seems
In this pale ghost of a dream

They drink to remember and drink to forget
Hide from the dark that comes with sunset
Drowning their sorrow and letting off steam
To forget the ghost of a dream

The TV is blaring and the liquors run dry
The lass of his dreams is with another guy
Pin pricks that track sweet Nepenthe's means
In a fading ghost of a dream

And into the street with no hope and no cash
Seeking salvation that's not built to last
In this drunken nightmare he silently screams
That I'm just the ghost of a dream
I'm just a ghost of a dream


2. SHORES OF NORWAY (A LOVE SONG)

Someday I'd like to sail away
Across the sea and land in Norway
Where the mountains touch the spray
The fjords and rippling tide can say my name
But will it be the same?

Someday I'll find what I'm looking for
See if I can be so much more
Than a glass of vodka, a two dollar whore
I keep wondering if this is what's in store for me
The answers come quietly

And I look inside and I feel her kiss
Crashing waves drowning tenderness
Her eyes are deeps pools of night
Greyer than the dusk, dawns first light

Someday I hope I'll find you, wherever you are
So full of clichés yet I'm wishing on a falling star
As I toss and turn in sleep I'm dreaming far
I feel your heartbeat by me, yet you're so very far away
Will this dream stay?

Desolation calls my name
The waves are crashing in my brain
Pounding surf is in my veins
Pent up frustration that will not drain away
And flow to meet the sea and spray

And maybe I'll never know you name
Or see your face
Maybe we'll never be standing together
In this deserted place
You kissed me like the tide
And you opened up my eyes
And I can't sleep anymore

They say one mans trash is another mans treasure
Throw my life to the sea in pursuit of pleasure
To hear the gulls screech overhead
Sail on till my heart stays dead

And take me back to the fjords of Norway
Burn my body by the sea
Scatter my ashes to the North wind
Maybe there she will look for me


3. THE FIRST VERSE

Kick off my dusty shoes
Sit back and put the world in cruise control
Haven't felt this way for so long
Feel in my heart a song to make me whole

Fresh air comes in the window
With it comes a ravens cry
Sunlight shines in the room
And I gaze into the sky

My heart feels so much older
But the cloak of life is tight around my shoulder blades
I feel my old scars start to heal
And I see my mind start to feel the forest glade

Where I hear the voice of friends
And I see the tankards raise
I know I've reached the end
Of my heart broken days

So I'm writing the first verse
Of my song
Trying to find the path
Where I belong
I'm hearing the beat
That I feel inside
And I'm letting the music
Flow out to the skies

Another night in South Central
With the earth screaming like a mental asylum
As the cars screech on by
I cast my eyes to the sky with a shaded sun

My mind wanders back down the path
That I recently traveled
To the mountains and the clean air
That let my heart be to sleep lulled

So I'm writing the first verse
Of my song
Trying to find the path
Where I belong
I'm hearing the beat
That I feel inside
And I'm letting the music
Flow out to the skies

And all that I see is in shades of green
All that I smell is the trees
I think back beside rivers flowing so clean
In a land next to the sea

And I feel the scars begin to heal somehow
The old memories are losing their ground
Nothings as real as this life is now
And I lift up my hearts joyous sound

I'm writing the first verse
Of my song
Trying to find the path
Where I belong
I'm hearing the beat
That I feel inside
And I'm letting the music
Flow out to the skies


4. ERIN'S SONG

In the heat of the night
When I'm all alone
Bullets in mid-flight
Chill me to the bone

But that don't bother me none
Cause your love warms like the sun

And I can't stop thinking about you
Every night of my life
No I can't stop thinking about you
And I've never felt so alive in my life

A thousand miles away
But you feel right next door
With all my love I pray
To Freya, let me see you once more

"Oh Great Goddess of the North
Bring me once more to my love
Let us dance in fruitful peace
As I sing her name to the skies above!"

For I can't stop thinking about you
Every night of my life
No I can't stop thinking about you
And I've never felt so alive in my life


5. AT THE TOP OF THE STAIRS

Sitting in my room at the top of the stairs
A bittersweet poet in a tragic affair
Wondering at the past and the future
Picking the stitches out of each suture

And I look out the window, see nothing at all
A world that is dead, lost in free fall
My heart in the past, though onward we go
A future of nothing, washed away in the flow

Cranking up the stereo at the top of the stairs
Death metal anthems and a folk singer shares
The tales of long ago, radio unfriendly
Their weapon is truth, their motives are deadly

And I look out the window, see nothing at all
I rage for the lost and those in free fall
Nothing to live for, yet onward we go
To a future of nothing, washed away in the flow

Try and tell me I'm wrong, nothing remains in this song
Break my heart again, stabbed in the back with my own pen
Nothing remains, nothing remains alive in my heart
A comic tragedy in which I play the clown's part

So go ahead a laugh, cut the cards in half
Draw the death card and use it for your epitaph
I'll remain here at the top of the stairs
A bittersweet poet writing a tragic affair
Hoping that somewhere, maybe somewhere
I can reach someone who cares


6. ONE DRINK TO REMEMBER

I've seen many things since the day of my birth
I've lived and I've loved and I've sailed round the earth
I've worked many jobs and I've walked many paths
I've walked on the shore and balanced on the mast

So pass round the ale and drink to the past
The wheel keeps on turning and never can last
The years and the tears and the lies and regrets
One drink to remember, and one to forget

I swore I'd love once or I'd not love at all
But the one I loved most was Mother Earth's call
From the oceans and deserts and mountains and seas
I supped from the wisdom that grew on the trees

So pass round the ale and drink to the past
The wheel keeps on turning and never can last
The years and the tears and the lies and regrets
One drink to remember, and one to forget

And I lied and I cried and I gambled and lost
I spent all I had and ne'er heeded the cost
I found sweet redemption in a sunset filled sky
Salt water kisses and chameleon eyes

So pass round the ale and drink to the past
The wheel keeps on turning and never can last
The years and the tears and the lies and regrets
One drink to remember, and one to forget


7. LULLABY

I'm heading south on the 405
Trying to outrun the police
They tell me I'm wanted dead or alive
The charge of disturbing the peace
And I see the waves to the right
Crashing down on San Onofre beach
Such a heavenly sight
But always just out of reach

Like a whisper of the Gods
Or a forgotten lullaby

And in the quiet of my bedroom walls
I hear my room mates making love
I think about old lovers, whether to call
Or stare out the window at a flock of passing doves
I listen as the rain begins to trickle down
Peaceful against the quiet night
The sewer rats and hopes won't drown
Though they oft are out of sight

If I tied myself to the lightning rod
Would I remember that lullaby?

And Justin Sullivan is on the radio
A quiet forlorn love song
Forever is a long long way to go
And every turn I make is wrong
No matter where the music goes
No matter where the road will take me
What I reap is what I've sowed
And the road still whispers to me

Another whisper from the Gods
They whisper to me like a lullaby

Maybe I'll take another knife to my skin tonight
Maybe I'll bleed on my bedroom walls
Paint my life story where it's always out of sight
The color of red so painful though it still calls
And maybe it'll wash away
Maybe it'll fade to grey
And though one day I know I'll die
Tonight I'll listen to that lullaby

And if the police don't catch me
I'll drive on into the night
I'll drive on back to Hollywood to see
If I can find a walker in the night
The only love I can afford is the one I'll do without
Blacker than my twisted heart I'll walk about
Downtown Los Angeles, city of fallen angels
City of pain, masks, spin cycle angles
And daily buy into the lies
Ignoring the whispers of that lullaby
Telling me to come back to the land
Travel south, maybe there's a woman there
Maybe travel north, maybe west and drown in the surf
Maybe I'll scream from the highest of mountains
Maybe I'll cut my throat and hang up high
Or write another song, about a boy and a girl
Tommy and Gina, living on a prayer
Praying to a God who just doesn't care
Kneeling before a Savior on a Stick
Where you buy salvation, but no salve for old wounds

The Northern wastes call to me sometimes
Wish I could journey there, the artic circle
Where the sun never sets, and my breath is white
Maybe I could start to heal there
And maybe the wind will fade, and in the silence
Deep in the silence
I will hear that whisper again
And make it out clearly
The words to an unsung lullaby


8. FREYJA'S TEARS

(Guitar Instrumental)


9. LAMENTATION

Death awaits me every night
I ride in silence down the road
Hel's gate is just in sight
Let me lay down this heavy load

I know my days are numbered
Though long I've journeyed here
Never can I slumber
When I awaken every tear

And I would see the forest bathed in fire
I would see the oceans wash away
To plant the seeds of my desire
To see my son arise some day

Bring us to the promised time
Let mead flow in golden hue
Alliterate reason with rhyme
Let this world be born anew
Let the final war begin
And see what must come to pass
If this is what it takes, begin
And let us build a world to last

And I would see the forest bathed in fire
I would see the oceans wash away
To plant the seeds of my desire
To see my son arise some day

The poets remember the ages past
The seers have seen a future cast
In stone my heart has laid alone
Until the day my son comes home


10. HOPE

One good turn deserves another
And a gift deserves a gift
Dancing full circle in the arms of a love
Seeking for the perfect grift
Times are changing with the tides
The waves come in, wash out the rough
You want to come along for the ride
A good heart just ain't good enough

Gone to ground, while the world keeps grinding
Smashed about like a ship in a storm
The sails are tattered and the ropes unwinding
Howl at the moon, wet and forlorn
Going down to drown as the waves crash higher
Daughters of Ran, raise up your horns
There's gold in our belts and our mad desire
Distilled in boiled blood, always free born

Cast away on driftwood, clinging to life
Bloodshot eyes in salt soaked men
Gladly we came and paid this price
And gladly we'd do it all over again
Though we drown or be rescued
Mourned or forgotten
We lived, loved, and feuded
As if we had the courage of ten

The ocean called, screams in my ear
As dawn rises above my dreams
A bitter cold caress, sour taste of fear
Glaze in my eyes an oily sheen
As I blink and return to a waking trance
Hanging about at the end of my rope
Let the fates quibble and wyrds web dance
I still breathe, and I still have hope