artist John Lyle

A new single, available on iTunes etc. 3D psychedelic country blues bed time story. Thanks to Penny Lyle & Stuart Mitchell (aka Heywood Banks) for their lyrical contributions and to Pax Lyle for his cover art. King Size Mouth In A Queen Size Bed She had a king size mouth In a queen size bed There weren’t no room For the things she said I tossed and turned And cried and bled She had a king size mouth In a queen size bed King size mouth In a queen size bed Her pint size thoughts Explode my head I tossed and turned And cried and bled She had a king size mouth In a queen size bed Hearts and diamonds And baseball on the tube You’d think that might have Shut her up but Her brain’s a Rubik’s cube She had a king size mouth In a queen size bed There weren’t no call For the things she said I tossed and turned And cried and bled She had a king size mouth In a queen size bed There came a time I couldn’t take it anymore I took my little blanket And I moved down to the floor She had a king size mouth There weren’t no call In a queen size bed For the things she said I tossed and turned And cried and bled She had a king size mouth In a queen size bed

Liberace came to me in a dream and said the world needs another moon song, John. And nobody can hold a candelabra to you when it comes to writing moon songs. And I said I bet you say that to all the dreamers. And Lee said maybe that’s true but you’ve got no way of proving it so why don’t you just write the damn song and record it and get guitarist John Murray to help you out with some of his brilliant variations on the theme? So I did all that, because I need my rest so I can keep on looking like Brad Pitt. Mark Smith and Doug Haynes contributed greatly to the production of this track. As did, Bob Bradshaw, Jan Lyle and Penny Lyle. The Moon Is Growing Old Rise and shine in wounded time The moon is growing old Low down and swollen bound to burst From what she holds so far above me The moon is growing old Rise and shine in wounded time The moon is never new I sing her song and her song Is always blue so far above me The moon is growing old Alone in the night in wounded time About to turn on a dime so far above me The moon is growing old Rise and shine in wounded time All fragments of desire Burn cross Heaven as sacraments Of fire so far above me The moon is growing old Last time we met she had A garden in her eyes Filled with flowers you’d swear Could never die so far above me The moon is growing old Alone in the night in wounded time About to turn on a dime so far above me The moon is growing old Rise and shine in wounded time The moon is never new I sing her song and her song Is always blue so far above me The moon is growing old

This mysterious song is finally finished, having overcome its genesis in dreams of lost childhood, ill-fated hero worship and the ineffability of what I’m trying to sing. Great thanks to John Murray for his piercingly beautiful guitar licks, Garry Macpherson for consulting on the music, and Isabella Tome for her joyous picture of Penny and me dancing to the music. Lyrics- Everything's True All the letters they sent Burning in the fire True to their desire Not a speck of regret For the mischief of a liar Foolishly admired Rain on the window tastes like the sea Birds in the birdbath bathing for tea Love in her fingers reaching for you Ashes to ashes everything’s true They gather today In the hills outside of town Where the poisons aren’t allowed They pattern their ways By the movements of a cloud Whose shadow stains the ground Rain on the window tastes like the sea Birds in the birdbath bathing for tea Love in her fingers reaching for you Ashes to ashes everything’s true Those who follow the trends Say the signs are always there Like a smile without a care Of all the friends no longer there I am nearer than the air Rain on the window tastes like the sea Birds in the birdbath bathing for tea Love in her fingers reaching for you Ashes to ashes everything’s true

I have a new album WILD AWAKE,  available now at CDBABY.COM and iTunes.

http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/lylejohn9

New song for you all, up on the radio3 player.  Here are the lyrics.

Open Wide

Against the drift of reason

There appeared another season

Darkness could not hide

All that had closed was open wide

 

Shifting like the weather

With the fortunes of a feather

Much to my surprise

All that had closed was open wide

 

Always loosely woven

When a pledge from the beholden

Need not be denied

All that had closed was open wide

 

Wholly out of balance

Like the wonderland of Alice

Outside battle lines

All that had closed was open wide

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Please check out my new tunes, ABOVE THE RAIN, and THEY STONED HER.

‘Cool Fire’ review, by ‘The Half A Minute Music Critic’ Teddy Bandara.

                            available at CDBABY.COM

John Lyle’s cd features an eclectic grab-bag of styles, all of them soulfully executed and sheltered beneath the apt umbrella of the title ‘Cool Fire.’

‘When Wind Gets High’-

I love this tune. The lyrics’ tone of absurdist detachment is belied by a deep sadness at the core of the music, which is Lightfoot-like in its easy circular rhythm tied to the demented cycles of the song’s theme-

‘I’ve been counting backwards in my sleep
Breaking down the horror of belief
I’ve been laughing at things that give me grief’

The simple, descriptive melody is sung with a laidback fervor that perfectly complements its spirit.  Almost my favorite song on the album, if only because of the last verse-

‘My old red rooster crows at dawn
When everything I’ve prayed against is gone
He leans his back against the fence
And sings a song’

It may be a guy thing but I don’t think so.

The second song on the album ‘Walk It On Down’ is a black/comic rocker, with stinging guitars, a droll, immaculately pitched vocal and a set of outrageous lyrics designed to ensure that John Lyle will never have a song included in a Mel Gibson or Tom Cruise movie.

‘Scientologists are coming
There’s a Mormon at the door
There’s a Witness counting heads
But he don’t know what for
The glory train has left the track
It’s barreling down the street
Scaring the bejesus out of
Everyone it meets’

Funny as hell, and a little scary too!  Just how I like ‘em.

There’s an insane Ogden Nash your teeth at the wordplay environmental rocker called ‘Do Whales Have Scales,’ and a bizarrely unpredictable blues number called ‘A Dog Lies Down Sometime,’ which features the immortal lines-

‘Scrape the haggis off the wall
At the lesbians’ ball
Take your big foot off my throat
Write a letter to the Pope
We gotta legalize dope
And don’t forget to vote’

For sure, John.  You stole my checklist.

For this writer, there’s not a bad track on this cd.  But the highlight is the final three songs  which hang together like The Beatles in their heyday.  The first of the three is ‘Old Hontana Road,’ which begins gently with an open-tuned acoustic guitar slowly establishing an easy-going, if sharply picked, slightly Spanish theme.  

After eight bars of dozing in the sun, an inventively aggressive electric bass enters, panned hard right, to be followed by a right of centre dulcimer contributing a catchy figure which provides soon to be needed light through the dark staves to come.  Then the singing starts.  

I don’t know what’s behind this song, but I’m glad I didn’t have to live it.  It is the most tightly compressed, vivid portrait of violence that I have encountered in a song. It is also lovely and sad  and finally peaceful in its own way.  The words are obtuse, and somehow that’s right.  The last verse is a heartbreaker, followed by a weeping electric guitar outro gracefully taking it home-

‘Sun burns down on Old Hontana Road
Turn your head and you won’t see them go
You won’t see scarecrows smile
At nothing in the dirt
You won’t see them leave a world of hurt’

The second of my defacto ‘trilogy’ is ‘I Won’t Be Lonesome When I’m Gone.’  It is my understanding that most of the instrumentation on ‘Cool Fire’ is by John Lyle.  On this track, guitars and bass are by John Murray, a longtime associate, whose playing perfectly complements what I suspect Lyle is trying to do, which is to create an oasis of serene respite between two very difficult songs.  And that is just what ‘I Won’t Be Lonesome When I’m Gone’ is: an exceptionally beautiful calm before the terrible storm that is my favorite song on the album ‘Sparkling River.’

‘Sparkling River’ is a devastating portrait in words and music of psychosis, the falling apart of the human being, with attendant points of view of loved ones and enemies playing their illusory parts to ‘tragic’ helpless perfection.  The shifting of perspectives suggestive of the splintered self and its significant others culminating in the one ‘I’ arrived at through the mighty twists and turns and magic mischief of our flowing engine of events the ‘Sparkling River,’ is brilliantly done.  By the Sparkling River too, of course.

Accompanied by acoustic guitar, bass and drums, Lyle’s voice sounds desperately strong despite carrying an ascending verse melody that cannot break out of its shell, its release found only in the fatalistic submission of the chorus-

‘You know where I’m going
You know where I’ve been
You know which wind’s blowing
And you know it’s not a sin’

It is tempting to quote all of the lyrics because they are so good. This is the chilling first verse-

‘Like a faded leaf
Hanging by a thread
I blow into the wind
And tumble down
Like I was dead
I say I’m not a thief
But I won’t stand in the light
So you can wash my face
And give my empty mouth a bite’

All’s well that ends well, and this is how ‘Cool Fire’ ends-

‘There is a Sparkling River
Flowing through my head
Bringing understanding
Who I though I was is dead
Rollin’ and ‘a tumblin’
Through wind and stone and sea
Laughing like a baby
When a baby is free’

Watch out for what lies between!

  It is rare to find songs of such quality in popular music.  John Lyle would probably get more recognition and about the same remuneration if he trod the path of the poet.  But he’s a singer, a guitarist and one of the finest songwriters I’ve been fortunate enough to discover in my erstwhile guise of ‘Half A Minute Music Critic.’

If it took you more than 30 seconds to read this, lengthen your nap.

The lyrics for 'TOO LATE TO PANIC'  -

HOPE SIGNALS

I am not an Indian from two hundred years ago
I don’t live in a teepee, and I can’t shoot a bow
I’m out of touch with nature, and I watch too much tv
But I hope, when I die, there’ll be another me

Chorus-
I’m sending hope signals across the Great Divide
Hope signals, send me back in time
I want to be an Indian out on the Western Plain
Come a-ty-yi-yipee
Come a-ty-yi-yipee-yipee-yay

I’ll be a Shawnee buck with braids in my hair
I’ll drink the sparkling water and I’ll breathe the living air
I’ll love a tender maiden underneath the shining stars
And I’ll never have to ride in the beast they call the car

Chorus

The coyote will howl at the fullness of the moon
With an aching in his heart, like a frost on love in bloom
And when the Europeans with their rifles and their booze
Come and show me how to win,
I will show them how to lose

Chorus


A LITTLE BIT OF HEAVEN ON A SATURDAY NIGHT

Job had some issues he couldn’t comprehend
God had principles He wasn’t gonna bend
Christ was on a mission that was coming to an end
Satan was the wild card masquerading as a friend

Chorus-
A little bit of heaven on a Saturday night
As long as we’re still here we’re gonna feel alright
A little bit of heaven on a Saturday night
When the sun comes up, I’m gonna shoot out the lights

I work very, very  hard and I’m very, very  bright
If I need a little on the side I think you might
Look the other way and take a pill
All us good ol’ boys you know we do what we will

Chorus

My daddy was a drunkard and my momma was a whore
If I thought you could take it, I’d tell you some more
It takes a double shot of love to fill the emptiness inside
Let him stand and judge who has not lied

TURN YOUR LAMP DOWN,  MOMMA

There’s a mine in the hill
Every night she moans and groans
There’s a mine in the hill
Every night she moans and groans
She says nobody wants me
They think I’m made of stone

The old prospector he just passes by
The old prospector he just passes by
He says listen, pretty momma,
I got bigger fish to fry

Got a letter this mornin’ postmarked Cinnamon Wells
Got a letter this mornin’ postmarked Cinnamon Wells
Edged in black and full of living cells

Turn your lamp down, momma, your daddy’s comin’ home
Turn your lamp down, momma, your daddy’s comin’ home
You been too long lonely and I been too long gone


EARTH TO MOTHER

Earth to Mother, here’s a message from me
What’s it like up there in Heaven
Do you watch tv?
Do they let you bounce God’s children
On  your lovely little knee?
Earth to Mother, here’s a message from me

Earth to Mother, are you making any friends?
It’s not easy being the new kid, trying  so hard to blend
Trying to muster up the courage to start over again
Earth to Mother, how long has it been?

Earth to Mother, rest your tired eyes
Put your feet up on a cloud and let it roll by
Everybody loves you, especially me
Earth to Mother, you’re finally free

Earth to Mother, I must sign off
I promised myself a round of golf
If I’m ever in your neighbourhood
You know I’ll drop by
Earth to Mother, of course, that’s after I die





IN THE WRECKAGE OF OUR LOVE
(The Black Box Can’t Be Found)

In the wreckage of our love  the black box can’t be found
Experts search for clues while the neighbours gather around
They’re havin’ themselves a party
While the good time’s goin’ down

The twisted fuselage hides the pieces of my heart
I tried to keep it all together, but I was doomed from the start
You can’t blame a guy for trying to light a fire in the dark

Angel on my shoulder says ‘I think I’m getting colder
Won’t you go and get me a shawl?’
Heavenly chorus say they’ll chip in for the florist
‘If you’ll only make sense of it all’

Black smoke fills the sky while reporters take my name
I must remind myself it’s only just a game
But next time, baby, we better take the train

LONESOME DADDY BLUES

Every day of the week might as well be blue Monday
Every pot of gold might as well be a barrel of rain
Every sunbeam might as well be a shadow, until you’re in my arms again

You’re seeing in me what you found in him
But I ain’t guilty of nothin’ but being your friend
I’m like a pauper at the wrong end of the rainbow
With those lonesome daddy blues

Every smile might as well be a death mask
Every ribbon might as well be a chain
Every tomorrow might as well be yesterday until you’re in my arms again

You’re seeing in me what you found in him
But I ain’t guilty of nothin’, but being your friend
I’m like a puper at the wrong end of the rainbow
With those lonesome daddy blues

Got the lonesome daddy blues,
From the top of my head to the bottom of my shoes
Got the lonesome daddy blues
Have some, buddy, I got more than I can use

MIAMI MAVIS  (By Macpherson & Lyle)

Her daddy was a driver, he drove her momma ‘round the bend
She left Mavis in a truck stop café for the waitresses to tend
When a waitress named Bertha picked her up and took her home
She set her on her knee and from the age of three
She let her play out on the road
And at the age of five, she knew how to drive

Chorus-
Miami Mavis, she sure knows how to drive
Did ya hear the news, she gets through with her load every time
Every time she’s on time, every time, every time
She gets through with her load every time

She wanted to be a trucker  but they said, ‘You’re just a dame!
Man alive, you can’t drive, you must be insane!’
So she dressed up like a fella., stuffed her hair into her hat
She strode into the hall and said, ‘You all, give me a turn at bat.’
So they put her on the road ‘cause they never knowed

Repeat chorus

New York to Miami, high gear all the way
She did not eat, she did not sleep, she didn’t even stop to pray
When deep in Carolina, barreling through the snow
She hit a trucker stopped to fix a flat and left him lyin’ out in the road
It was her old man, but she never knowed

Miami Mavis, she sure knows how to drive
She killed her dad, now ain’t that sad. but at least she’s still alive
Still alive in overdrive, still alive, still alive
She killed her dad, now ain’t that sad, but at least she’s still alive

PAY ME NO MIND

I met her on the internet, we chatted through the night
I was off my medication, so I took the next flight
She was waiting at the airport with some of her crowd
I think they were a cult but I can’t say that too loud, too loud

Pay me no mind , no, baby, no
Pay me no mind , no, baby, no

I’ve instructed my solicitor to punch you in the face
I’d do it myself but I’m in a state of grace
It’s so hard to be vengeful when you’re in this special place
I’ve instructed my solicitor to punch you in the face, in the face

Pay me no mind , no, baby, no
Pay me no mind , no, baby, no

I must integrate my feelings so I will be complete
Stop this splitting off that keeps me falling off my feet
Did I hear you say you think it’s alright to lie?
Did I hear you say you think only fools toe the line? Toe the line?

Pay me no mind , no, baby, no
Pay me no mind , no, baby, no



NOW I LAY ME DOWN

Now I lay me down, with a sigh
And a soft smile of fond relief
Now I lay me down, for to die
Is the ending of mortal grief

Now I lay this ego down
While trumpet swans blow fanfares on the lake
For nobody’s sake

Now I lay me down, just to be
Is the end all of what I seek
Now I lay me down, to be free
Of this hard ship I’ve sailed to see

Now I lay this ego down
While hungry crows drop chestnuts on the street
At my aching feet

Now I lay this ego down, put this mind to bed
Say good-bye to yesterday, while this sleepy head
Hears no one crying

Now I lay this ego down
While trumpet swans blow fanfares on the lake
For nobody’s sake

"COOL FIRE" lyrics


WHEN THE WIND GETS HIGH
The carousel is finally winding down
They’ve pulled up stakes
And scraped the makeup off the clown
Not even time can mend this broken-hearted town

I would run away and quit the circus now
If I could overcome the things that make me proud
I would stand so tall my head would be a cloud

I’ve been counting backward in my sleep
Breaking down the horror of belief
I’ve been laughing at things that give me grief

I’m gonna shave my head
And put my hat on backwards
They say that works
When the wind gets high

You and me, we’re lost inside a bud
Dizzy with a fever in the blood
Let me close my eyes
And sink into the flood

My old red rooster crows at dawn
When everything I’ve prayed against is gone
He leans his back against the fence
And sings a song

I’m gonna shave my head
And put my hat on backwards
They say that works
When the wind gets high

WALK IT ON DOWN

Scientiologists are coming, there’s a Morman at the door
There’s a Witness counting heads but he don’t know what for

The glory train has left the track, it’s barrelling down the street
Scaring the bejesus out of everyone it meets

Walk it on down, walk it on down
Walk it on down to the best guy in town

The sound of distant thunder makes him dream about his past
Just how many blunders can one guy amass?

He searches for his Bible in the rushes, sweet and low
A desperate guy is liable to find anywhere to go

Walk it on down, walk it on down
Walk it on down to the best guy in town

If I told you the dye was cast you’d laugh into my face
You’d write my name upon the wind and turn another page

The book of life is filled with lies claiming to be true
I’ll bet you any money the biggest lie is you

Walk it on down, walk it on down
Walk it on down to the best guy in town


A DOG LIES DOWN SOMETIME

You scream around the corner, like Little Jack Horner
Who knows what’s down the line?
It’s a stone-cold fact, they’ll be bringing you back
In a box of yellow pine

We all have our moments, but yours takes an hour
If it does not take a day
I’d cut you some slack, but it’s down the track
Where my best intentions stay

Meet your maker, he’s an undertaker
With an old Econoline
He’s got a black pomade, a Tibetan maid,
And he loves his life of crime

You run around in circles like a dog in a circus
But a dog lies down sometime
If you swear at the moon and it breaks in two
You can take it as a sign

Scrape the haggis off the wall at the lesbians’ ball
Take your big foot off my throat
Write a letter to the Pope, we gotta legalize dope
And don’t forget to vote

Meet your maker, he’s an old heart-breaker
With his own line of clothes
He’s got a straw-bale shack, by the railroad track
And he breathes through his nose

You run around in circles like a dog in a circus
But a dog lies down sometime
If you swear at the moon and it breaks in two
You can take it as a sign

DO WHALES HAVE SCALES?

Do whales have scales?
Do they go ‘do-re-me’ for so long?
Or, are they the avante coast guard?
Do they go ‘do
                       re
                             me’?

Do whales tell tales?
Do they meet and sound and then go ‘round
To Namu’s bar and shoot the bull
Until the cows come home?

Of the many mammals in history
Could there be one smarter than me?
Was it wise for whales to surmise
They’d be better off back in the sea?

I gotta know, do whales feel frail
Do they start to blubber
Like a real land-lubber
When they think about the journey’s end
Then, do they get the bends?

Of the many mammals in history
Could there be one smarter than me?
Was it wise for whales to surmise,
Was it shrewd for whales to conclude,
Was it bright for whales to think they might
Be better off back in the sea?

TOO MUCH COMPASSION

The biggest bully in the yard
Could always put me off my guard
By pulling out a hanky with his hand
This guy’s not half so bad, he’s got a cold just like I had
And some sisters, and a mother with a womb

Then he’d turn into a viper, and I’d wish I’d stayed hyper
As a seismograph about to overload
Lift the veil of paranoia and the devil’s damn destroyers
Zero in and aim to blow me off the globe

Too much compassion can kill a nervous man
And too much pity’s bound to drown him on dry land
Tender-hearted heartlessness is how it all began
It takes two to tangle in this cock-eyed caravan

Trillions of gifts beneath the tree
And there was only one for me
Just a cap gun, but it really rang the bell
I’d wanted it like sin, since my last pistol’d packed it in
Brand new, it bit the dust, and rusted in the rain

Then somebody said, aw, honey,
We just could not find the money to give you your due
That broke me up inside
Drop the veil of paranoia, and the devil’s damn destroyers
Zero in and aim to blow me off the globe

Too much compassion can kill a nervous man
And too much pity’s bound to drown him on dry land
Tender-hearted heartlessness is how it all began
It takes two to tangle in this cock-eyed caravan

NOBODY'S BABY (Garry Macpherson)

Well, she was nobody’s baby
She wasn’t even anybody’s child
I met her in her garden on my way to kindergarten
And I said, ain’t you no one’s love at all

She said, no, no, no I’m only waiting
Like we children gotta do
I’m nobody’s baby, I’m nobody’s child
I’m all alone like you

Well, she was nobody’s lover
She wasn’t even anybody’s whore
She was walkin’ through the door, though
From the time that she was four
And she heard the hobo’s call

She spent a lot of time at her window
Lookin’ through her window pane
Saying, I’m nobody’s baby, I’m nobody’s child
To me it’s all the same

She was nobody’s honky-tonk lady
Nobody’s pride and joy
I met her in the ocean, when I took a secret potion
I said, I’d like to be your boy

She said, no, no, no I’m only waiting
Like we children have to do
I’m nobody’s baby, I’m nobody’s child
I’m all alone like you
I’m all alone and blue


BLIND LOVE

Evil forces gather in the half-light
Dark with blood, but only in the mind
In the cold desert bloom
There’s nothing left but room
For pride in knowing love is blind

Tongues so thick,
They cannot speak of weather
Bodies ache, with things they have not done
To see what is true, and have to live it too
Is a fate that should not befall anyone

I’ve lived most of my life paralyzed
Pretending I can see
When I’ve been looking through
The wrong set of eyes
When I can just let go
Like an angel in the snow
I’ll be the King of the Cowboys
On this sweet little pony of mine

OLD HONTANA ROAD

Inga said a mouthful when she said
I could get her back after she’s dead
You should hear what people say
About her now she’s gone
But I will take the high road from now on

Rain comes down like bullets from above
Money can’t buy this kind of love

Some old twister, spinning like a top
The way he moves, you think he’ll never stop
Just when you think you know someone
You find out they’re like you
Living in a room without a view

Sun burns down on Old Hontana Road
Turn your head, and you won’t see them go
You won’t see scarecrows smile
At nothing in the dirt
You won’t see them leave a world of hurt

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

SPARKLING RIVER

Like a faded leaf, hanging by a thread
I blow into the wind and tumble down like I was dead
I say I’m not a thief but I won’t stand in the light
So you can wash my face and give my empty mouth a bite

How can I be angry with someone so nice
Are my fingers made of silver, is my heart made of ice?
I hide beside the fire with tears in my eyes
Mourning the desire I’ve learned to despise

You know where I’m going, you know where I’ve been
You know which wind’s blowing and you know it’s not a sin

You make a good sheepdog moving me along
All tangled up in what don’t last long
On the outskirts of the meadow, in the shadow of fright
Crazy wolves are mending fences in the starry, starry night

You know where I’m going, you know where I’ve been
You know which wind’s blowing and you know it’s not a sin

There is a sparkling river flowing through my head
Bringing understanding who I thought I was is dead
Rollin’ and ‘a tumblin,’ through wind, and stone and sea
Laughing like a baby when a baby is free

DOWN THE ROAD AND FAR AWAY  -   lyrics:



JUST MY KIND OF GIRL



I asked her what she did for fun

She said she didn’t know

She did the days seemed shorter now

Love had lost its glow

She said all her bags were packed

And waiting on the bed

And if I thought I had a chance

I’d better shake my head



She said complete removal

Was quite beyond the pale

She had to stick around a while

Until she saved the whales

She had to stick around until

She made me see the light

All my ideals are only

Clouding up my sight



Chorus-

Ain’t no doubt about it

She’s just my kind of girl

Too bad she lives so far away

She’s half asleep and far too deep

Into this crazy world

Ain’t no doubt about it

She’s just my kind of girl



She said she’d given up on hope

And all that it implied

She looked at me and said I see

Sadness in your eyes

She said when you stop arguing

With what has to be

You’ll learn the only lesson

You’ll ever learn from me



I got a funny feeling

We met somewhere before

Maybe in a focus group

The year before the war

You had a red bandanna

Wrapped around your pretty neck

I would have loved you way back then

But someone stacked the deck



OLD JOE CALLS FROM THE HILL



Old Joe calls from the hill

To the boy standing alone

Old man drunk by the still

Don’t know nothing he’s done



Momma in the kitchen

Cuts you with her tongue

Old Joe calls from the hill

To the boy standing alone



Hair yellow as straw

Eyes blue as the grass

Heart lone as the pine

But it don’t know what to ask



Somewhere from the hill

Old Joe’s plaintive moan

Drifts upon the wind

To the boy standing alone



MY LOVE IS EVERYTHING



Clean and pure as a mountain stream

Dignified as a college dean

Alive as life has ever been

My love is everything to me



Chorus-

My love is everything she can be

My love is everything to me

My love is everything

Dancing in the heart and mind

Of everybody she can find



Reaching to the heavens

Probing inner space

My live is touch and sight and sound

And always in good taste



Yet one thing can defeat her

And bring her to her knees

And force her from my memory

Like the moon removes the sea



But what care I for Father Time

He too is growing old

And at least for now, I am warm

While he is always cold



CENTERS



I’ll bet nothing can get so small

It can’t be cut in two

And I’ll bet nothing can be bigger

Than what’s inside of you



I’ll bet it all goes on forever

Not just outwardly, but in

I’ll bet we’re each of us a center

And that’s what we’ve always been



So if you’re feeling out of things

Lonely tired and blue

Remember you’re a center

And there’s centers all ‘round you



LITTLE KNIVES



I’m tired unto death from all these little knives

It’s not the big one that gets you

It’s when they come in fives

I don’t know what I want but I know I want it now



The snow lies heavy on the powerline tonight

I don’t know where I find the strength to hold you tight

Maybe it’s the same place I finally come to see



All the contradictions holding me down

Ain’t nothing but the chatter from a brain-dead clown

Ain’t nothing but the chains I’m dragging to my grave



Don’t the rain sound lovely hiding in the air

I tried to cross my heart and say it wasn’t there

Help me tie my shoe and point me to the stain



I need to be deliberate in everything I do

I’m being left behind by everyone but you

I want to go so slow I get behind my mind



If I could see through this illusion I wouldn’t say a word

I wouldn’t try to argue what we both know is absurd

I wouldn’t lift a finger in anger or in trust



THE CAMEL'S BACK



If you’re disappointed, the old man said to me

It’s ‘cause you expected what was not to be

That’s when I shot him and as he went to hell

I said remember you’re my major disappointment number twelve



Chorus-

Disappointment number twelve didn’t break the camel’s back

I’d guacamole fro a camel

If a camel had the knack, I’d climb upon its back

I’d ride into the desert ‘til the desert starts to crack

Righteous anger burns the sea, flood the land and calls to me

Kill the moon and blind the sun until the revolution’s done



I was feelin’ like a mountain climber lost inside the Alps

When she came between twin heartbeats and said she needed help

That’s when I unloaded, and as she met her fate

I said, remember you’re my major disappointment number eight



I was telling these stories to another friend of mine

When he came up with this classic line

Don’t that gavel get heavy? I said let me be the judge of that

And you’re the worst disappointment I ever had



JUST MISSED MEETING (by Garry Macpherson)



In the museum of your life I was a dinosaur’s lost tail

A relic of an ice age once delivered in your mail

In the springtime of a morning when the sun was on your mind

And the postman’s parting message was, the wind of birth is blind

There’s no undoing



All the windings in the coil around the core of all you’ve been

While you wandered through the attics and the mazes of your dream

Time and the valley of the city when the mail train left the track

I found you sleeping in the ocean with my name burned on your back

There’s no returning



All the letters that I sent you that you piled beneath your bed

To remind you of the childhood you’[d kept hidden in your head

Drowned in dissolution when the ebb tide cleared the shore

And washed away the blood stains I’d painted around your door

It left no meaning



To the words of misconception of the metaphors you bore

And though you often heard them screaming

You could never guess what for

You’d ignored their unasked questions of the gaps between our thoughts

And our search to find the answers

And insert them in the slots between our lifetimes

There’s no beginning



HIGUEY HAIRCUT



Higuey haircut’s mighty fine

Takes a bite out of my mind, my mind

Barber, help me travel light

When I take my homeward flight, tonight



Broken pavement tricks my feet

Sunshine burns the hanging meat, the meat

Sugar coffee don’t do squat

Por favor, another shot, make it hot



Tim can rollers on her head

Clank upon her marble bed, he bed

Power and water come and go

But nothing stops the passing show, the show



Hot merengue fills my ear

Time to have an otra beer

An otra beer, over here



Ay carumba, she can’t do the rhumba

She might have a bug

Chills and fever, will they ever leave her

She might have to take a drug



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 fee

While Agnes chews her mop

Way past now, space and time have wowed

But no one calls the cops



Chorus’

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

“This is superb poetry.  But, better than that, these are beautiful lyrics, meeting all of the rhythmic and melodic demands of the fine music against which they are set.  The styles are varied, but have one thing in common- passionate performance.  There is folk, an Irish ballad, soul, roadhouse blues, grindhouse rock, an acoustic instrumental; all built around Lyle’s sure-footed guitar and soulful vocals.  ‘Known Corners’ is an album about loss, acceptance of loss and getting back to what you had before you had anything.  This beautifully sequenced cd is not kid’s stuff.  If you listen to this in the car, be prepared to pull over.” -  Warner Morgan.

KNOWN CORNERS lyrics- (album available at CDBABY.COM & itunes

WE ALL FALL DOWN

You were sitting by a river
Lost inside of days gone by
Something came and made you shiver
Something came and made you cry

How much would you beg or borrow
For it to be the way it was
Would you pay the wage of sorrow
Pretty is as pretty does

Life’s a bed of roses
Where the magic comes and grows
Hushabye, we all fall down
Humbled as we tumble
Over ruins that have crumbled
Hushabye, without a sound

Did you see your Mother’s image
Painted in a pale, blue sky
Did you see the Painter in it
Clean a brush in tears you cry

Life’s a bed of roses
Where the magic comes and grows
Hushabye, we all fall down
Humbled as we tumble
Over ruins that have crumbled
Hushabye, without a sound

BONE DRY

Someone said that you have gone bone dry
There is not a thing can make you cry
You can sail a painted ship across a silver sea
And bring it home without a thought of me

Up all night, waiting for the rain
I might have to dance that dance again
Shake my fist into the sun
And beat my feet across
The barren face of everything I’ve lost

Whosoever built this paradise
Forgot to put the light behind your eyes
You can sail a painted ship across a silver sea
And bring it home without a thought of me

If I live to see the light of dawn
I hope that when I wake you will be gone
Then I will slip my painted feet
Into my painted shoes
And walk away, bone dry just like you
Walk away, bone dry just like you

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

BOUND AND DETERMINED

I must have missed it
Cause you sure had it ready to go
You had it all sewed up
Like a head on the wall for show
Your ducks were all in line
You must have went to Columbine

Bound and determined
You will keep what you have not got

Is that a purse you hold so close
To your cardboard heart?
I try to stand still
When your dead eye begins to dart
The crowd down on Slaughter Row
They’ll watch a child see the red blood flow

Bound and determined
You will keep what you have not got

You take it so personal
Like it’s something you think you own
Something to hide behind when you get back home
No, no, no, no!

FUNNY FUNNY ANIMAL

You’re a funny funny animal,
But I forgot to laugh
They think you’re together
But you’re cut right in half

I see you prowlin’, like a god of the dead
I hear you howlin’ like a wind in the head

You’re a funny funny animal
Pretending to be kind
All the while, you been double-dealin’ from behind

I see you prowlin’, like a god of the dead
I hear you howlin’ like a wind in the head

With a begging bowl in one hand
And a knife behind your back
You hide like a jackal
With kittens in a sack

I see you prowlin’, like a god of the dead
I hear you howlin’ like a wind in the head

You’re a funny funny animal
Loathsome to yourself
Dirty, and unwanted, but you can’t be no one else

A BREATH OF LIGHT

Love lies bleeding, in the death of night
Something needs a breath of light
Birds are feeding, they are hoarding for a flight
To where the wild things lose their sight

Tribal drums are beating rhythm out of time
What it is, is not mine
Just missed meeting a meeting of the minds
Being half a double bind

A lonesome wind-chime beating on itself
Like a hollow, empty shell
Not even this time, could there be any help
That’s all she wrote that I can tell

All the boulders standing in the way
Have turned to dust and blown away
Both the shoulders they cried on every day
Have grown wings and flown away

We fly so slow and low we almost touch the ground
With laughing children all around
It’s always touch and go on the borderline
With so many ways to be kind

LIKE A BLANK

My guts are tied in knots my eyes are filled with clay
I’ll get there when I leave when I get my way
Like a blank I missed it
Guess I better roll it back one more time

Branded like a long horn on the down hill drag
Drunk on my reflection like an evening stag
Like a blank I missed it
Guess I must have had a hole in my mind

There’s a fire on the mountain, there’s a fire below
There’s a fire in the garden where the wind won’t blow
Like a blank I missed it
Guess I better roll it back one more time

I guess I better roll it back like a big old stone
Nothin’ gonna stop it on its way back home
Like a blank I missed it
Guess I better roll it back one more time

Like a blank I missed it
Guess I better roll it back one more time
I better roll it back down the railroad track
There ain’t nothin’ at the end of the line

There’s a fire on the mountain. there’s a fire below
There’s a fire in the garden where the wind won’t blow
Like a blank I missed it
Guess I better roll it back one more time


CITY OF LOVE

In the city of love, the cops don’t use a gun
They catch you with the stars in your eyes
The sun don’t shine, it radiates
The mystery train is never late
Clouds don’t hold no rain in the city of love
Clouds don’t hold no rain in the city of love

In the city of love, all change comes from above
Singing like a stone in the sea
We stand and pray for who knows what
But every case is open shut
Clouds don’t hold no rain in the city of love
Clouds don’t hold no rain in the city of love

In the city of love, I’m glad for what I got
Flashing like a bolt from the blue
Shining as my own true face
Laughing down this bitter place
Clouds don’t hold no rain in the city of love
Clouds don’t hold no rain in the city of love

In the city of love, I dreamt I never was
Drifting like a ghost in the wind
Backing down a faded stair
Past a clock I can’t repair
Clouds don’t hold no rain in the city of love
Clouds don’t hold no rain in the city of love

‘Down The Road And Far Away’ is an exquisite album, overflowing with the yin and yang and salt and pepper of a musical and literate personality whose creative juices are flowing. The over-riding mood is one of gleaming optimism, belying the witty fatalism of many of the lyrics. The performances are built around Lyle’s astounding vocal sound. His timbre is golden, but his inflections and phrasing are blue. Most of the melodies are beautiful, and when they are not, it’s because the songs don’t want them to be.

Instrumentally, this is an acoustic guitar album, despite the presence of two tracks using keyboards. I would suspect these recordings ‘Centres’ and ‘the Camel’s Back’ are from an earlier era, but the liner notes are uninformative. There is an edge to the vocal attack on these two songs that sounds and feels much younger than the other world-weary and lower-pitched vocalizations.

‘Down The Road And Far Away’ is book-ended by two extraordinary tracks. The opening song is ‘Just My Kind Of Girl,’ a joyful, if opaque come-on, stuffed with ironic asides and two gorgeously panned acoustics, one finger-style and the other flat-picked. It sounds as though Lyle played them both on the same guitar. The other-worldly chorus is eminently singable, if you can stifle your laughter-

‘There ain’t no doubt about it
She’s just my kind of girl
Too bad she lives so far away
She’s half asleep and far too deep
Into this crazy world
There ain’t no doubt about it
She’s just my kind of girl’

The closing track is ‘Way Past Now.’ I cried when I first heard it, and it has been a very long time since I’ve wept upon hearing a song. That is in itself a sad admission for me. Perhaps it’s my Catholic upbringing, but I could not help but interpret this composition as a direct attack on a ‘religious’ hierarchy so corrupt it would turn a blind eye to rampant abuse of its most vulnerable parishioners. This is the third verse-

‘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’

The sound of the guitars on this track creates a sonic image of Don Quixote and Sancho Panza mounting the first of many hills at sundown. I hear spurs jangle, and leather creak while morons speak. And best of all, there is the chorus, addressed to the patron saint of virgins Agnes-

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

And I went with John Lyle on his musical adventure and found a new companion for the recordings I treasure. ‘Down The Road And Far Away’ is an album of substance and joy and despair and outrageous laughter. It is laid back in its rhythms and tempos, and, with repeated listenings, I found that, time and again, it had laid me out with killer lines that hit unknown targets within. As with the best of folk blues, I can feel the heart of one musician and poet beating his own time.

Heartily recommended!

-Keithly O’Conner