Written in 2002, when the Catholic sex scandal could no longer be hidden and enabled.  To the Pope, it was ‘an American problem’.

WAY PAST NOW

Way past now, past the burning cow
Where the salesmen never stop
Where the road rolls deep
And keening sheep sacrifice their crop

Noble steeds have lost their feed
While Agnes chews her mop
Way past now, space and time have wowed
But no one calls the cops

I’m felling helpless, Agnes
And a little reckless too
Take me down your garden path
And I will go with you

Way past now past the trampled vows
And the pleasure that is cruel
Some old man with an empty hand
Speaks the language of a fool

I just listen to my teardrops glisten
As they slide into the sand
I’m too tired to fall asleep
But I’ll do what I can

I’m felling helpless, Agnes
And a little reckless too
Take me down your garden path
And I will go, I will go, I will go with you

I WON’T BE LONESOME WHEN I’M GONE (J. Lyle & J. Murray)

I may have been in China
When you came to break the news
Trying to give me something I can use
I remember kind of peeling back into my blues
Fetching for a pail to fill my shoes

All graven images, from sea to shining sea
Another smiling Christ, smiling back at me
Woke up this morning with a hammer and a tong
I won’t be lonesome when I’m gone

I’m gonna backslide ‘til I find an open door
Backslide ‘til I can’t backslide no more
Every cold idea that thinks it knows the score
Don’t seem to mean so much no more

It must have been a foggy night, when you fell for me
Everything you could forget, you managed not to see
Woke up this morning with a hammer and a tong
I won’t be lonesome when I’m gone

One hand on the shovel, one foot in the grave
Watch another breath go down the drain
If you see my double, ask him if he has a name
And if he’s taking rest inside the shade

Everything you love in me, you hide inside yourself
Turn it outside over, you don’t need no one’s help
Woke up this morning with a hammer and a tong
I won’t be lonesome when I’m gone

johnlyle:

I KNOW YOU RIDER

Could be a story or it could be true
Could be about me, it could be about you
I’ve lost so many reasons for things I think I’ve done
If I thought this pride of fools
Called the shots and made the rules
I’d take a flying leap back to the place from where I came
I know you, rider, but I love you just the same

You’ve been trying to break a code
You’ve been trying to drop a load
You’ve been carrying your own mountain
Past the point of no return
You’ve been living where the sun goes down
Where what goes around, comes around
They say a storm is brewing but they won’t give it a name
I know you, rider, but I love you just the same

Waves are lapping like a big dog’s tongue
Just like it happened back when we were young
You’re not here to solve the problems of the world
Standing on the corner with your wings pinned back
Barefoot and pregnant on a mountain path
Screaming to the heavens like a keeper of the flame
I know you, rider, but I love you just the same

I know you, rider, like a dreamer knows his hand
Like a rose that grows you’ll come to know I’m your biggest fan

In the velvet afterglow of memory I go
Footloose and funny in the shadow of the show
I hear you whisper there ain’t no wind at all
You made it here without a map
All the stars smile behind your back
You tremble at the mention of the One who has no name
I know you, rider, but I love you just the same.

——————————————————————-

Review, I Know You Rider.  Bitter-sweet reflections of life by the singer-song writer, John Lyle. The music is sweet with a Bluesy hook and, as the song says, and it could be about me or you. It is both a lament and a song of comfort. It talks about us not fighting the “rider” on our backs, or not fighting what is beyond our control. It makes me think of the famous Serenity Prayer— Grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference. I mention this with a little hesitation because the song is not a “heavy” song to listen to – the lyrics and words are engaging – and the melody is enchanting. But there is deeper message there, and the song – lyrics and music which work so well together– may be especially helpful to a person who is experiencing hard times. Many thanks for the song, John Lyle.

Reviewed by Paul Dolinsky http://tumblngphilopoet.tumblr.com

An excellent poetic monologue on the dichotomy of appearing to be what one is not while all the time being what one is and will always be.

tumblngphilopoet:

Incessant activity may masquerade

as creativity,

But it is creativity that watches

you persistently, insistently

Til something in you stirs,

Slow and serendipitous

or sudden with a snap,

Focused, unfocused,

purposeful, purposeless,

urgent, feckless.

*

We have human brains

but is there…

I KNOW YOU RIDER

Could be a story or it could be true
Could be about me, it could be about you
I’ve lost so many reasons for things I think I’ve done
If I thought this pride of fools
Called the shots and made the rules
I’d take a flying leap back to the place from where I came
I know you, rider, but I love you just the same

You’ve been trying to break a code
You’ve been trying to drop a load
You’ve been carrying your own mountain
Past the point of no return
You’ve been living where the sun goes down
Where what goes around, comes around
They say a storm is brewing but they won’t give it a name
I know you, rider, but I love you just the same

Waves are lapping like a big dog’s tongue
Just like it happened back when we were young
You’re not here to solve the problems of the world
Standing on the corner with your wings pinned back
Barefoot and pregnant on a mountain path
Screaming to the heavens like a keeper of the flame
I know you, rider, but I love you just the same

I know you, rider, like a dreamer knows his hand
Like a rose that grows you’ll come to know I’m your biggest fan

In the velvet afterglow of memory I go
Footloose and funny in the shadow of the show
I hear you whisper there ain’t no wind at all
You made it here without a map
All the stars smile behind your back
You tremble at the mention of the One who has no name
I know you, rider, but I love you just the same

HOLD ON AS SHE GOES

Outside The Golden Lantern hoboes wear no clothes
They set a certain standard I’m gonna go below
Look at the faceless wonder blowing through the rye
Tripping ‘cross the tundra, thrilling to the sky

The pouring rain keeps saying hold on as she goes
There’s no time to waste in this Holy place
Hold on as she goes

The milk of human kindness warming in the sun
How better to remind us, nothing will be done

The pouring rain keeps saying hold on as she goes
There’s no time to waste in this Holy place
Hold on as she goes

Outside The Golden Lantern the fires have gone cold
The homeless search the ashes for the things they’ve been told

The pouring rain keeps saying hold on as she goes
There’s no time to waste in this Holy place
Hold on as she goes

tumblngphilopoet:

http://mrharristweed.tumblr.com/post/11727306196s

Thesis

Temporality is on display

All is day, there is no night

There are no boundaries

History is obsolete

All is present

Antithesis

See what you can see

Before it seizes you,

Pulls you down,

then lifts you up

Into the heights,

…

Alannah Myles on “THEY STONED HER” …….    “Thank you so much. The lyrics for ‘They Stoned Her’ are as beautifully written as they sound when they are sung. I hope that because it has moved me, the Universe will find a home for it somewhere. I know exactly what I would do with it sung acapella in 3 part harmony with only a simple tapping percussion. A very sad song that strikes a stringent chord in today’s need to put an end to archaic religious beliefs. Many thanks for following your heart.”

I THOUGHT I SAW YOU

I thought I saw you where the weeping willows grow
Down by the river wearing someone elses clothes
Then the wind did change and softly touch my brow
As if to say, I am with you now

But when I looked again you were no longer there
Not but a shadow held my world of stormy care
I’d sworn remembrance soon forgotten with the day
Everything appears to pass away

I thought I saw you but my seeing was in vain
When all I wanted was to see you once again
I thought I saw you where the hills of evening glow
You were wearing someone elses clothes