Magellan

A writer like a blacksmith-forging works of iron
The jagged edges tempered into solid scripts for hire
Solitary craftsman at his console merging audio discrete
An ever changing soundscape sets the stage; the twains shall meet
in a union strong

Just like a working stiff
He is a Songsmith
In a strange synthesis
"Restoration" announced
It's the new riffs that count (no mainstream bore playing 13/4...)

Break out of silence-complete the curve
The Songsmith maintaining his avant-garde nerve
Innovation his palette-the urge and the test
Adrenalin flowing, he can't even rest unless-
Harmonic elements and special fx
conform to all his whims, an interpretive text
But he'd sing for the masses if he just had the time
with a vocal ideal and a long lyric line
He is a Songsmith

Break out of silence-complete the curve
The Songsmith maintaining his avant-garde nerve
Innovation his palette-the urge and the test
Adrenalin flowing, he can't even rest unless-
Harmonic elements and special effects

conform to all his whims, an interpretive text
And he'd sing for the media if he had equal time
with a vocal ideal and a long lyric line
He is a Songsmith
It's not too late for the Songsmith

The curtain opens for creativity
Give a backseat role to conspiracy
Hear the signature and the melody
of the author flow in polyphony
Will the writer last?
Will his trade survive?
In a world of commerce
Can he hope to thrive?
If his final sequence is not contrived
Keep him honest now
just to keep him alive

We need the Songsmith...

Part I. "Youthful Enthusiasm" (Instrumental)

Part II. "Psych 101"

Well a bad day fishin' is better than a good day at work
But a bad day in paradise is a bad deal
Let's say goodbye before we've ever met
You're alone on the shore of cranium reef

No one gets inside my head
No one
I'm a bad part of town on a bad stretch of road.

I'm a bag of tricks in a balancing act
I'm a battered heart and a bath of tears
I'm no bank and no barrel of monkeys

You're alone on the shore of cranium reef.

No one gets inside my head
No one
You're a band of gypsies and a band of thieves

Now you're burning in the sun and you've washed ashore
Don't try "psych 101" on me - we've been there before
I've got a cold embrace at the cranium reef
Trust me you're all alone at the cranium reef

Part III "Primal Defense"

Heart and mind may disagree
But I'm growing old
Too far down the road to change now

'cause you speak to me but youth's on your side
you're so much more than I care to find

What is sacred? What is profane?
Your approach is near and there's something
I fear inside of you -reminding me like a mirror that shows
My past that died long ago

No closet full of skeletons
Can bring me out here

I've got a cold blank stare so don't wait
I've got a colder embrace

You're an Ivy League amateur
"I mean no one comes in here ever"
No one comes in here

No one. No one.

No one passes cranium reef
Not even I can look at my grief
Don't come to me pretending you're wise
I am a man who can see what is real
And is fear what is real?

Stranded on cranium reef
Alone with your thoughts you can drink with your grief
You color your lies with a cool motif
Stranded on cranium reef

Lost at cranium reef
At my coral barrier of disbelief
You're a cold hard future with no relief
Brutal reality at cranium reef

I am a bitter pill to swallow
I am a bittersweet memory
You need me like a hole in the head
Now show me that our "body" is real

We need conversation 'cause I got a case of the blues
And I'm a burned out bridge that nothing here...nothing
can rebuild...no, no, no, no.

I am a bitter pill to swallow
I am a bittersweet memory
You need me like a hole in the head
Now show me that our "body" is real

We need conversation 'cause I got a case of the blues
And I'm a burned out bridge that nothing here...nothing
can rebuild...no, no, no, no.

Heart and mind may disagree
But I'm growing old
Too far down the road to change now

'cause you speak to me but youth's on your side
you're so much more than I care to find... (repeat refrain)

[Based upon J. S. Bach 1742 - Goldberg variation #1]

[Instrumental]

I am your high priest of selling
And I've got your sainthood covered - again
I am a quick-change artist - at least
But don't you forget I'm an instrument of good
Your doctor

Bullet proof alibis - I'm your doctor
Social butterflies - I'm your doctor
I'll bring you powerful allies -I'm your doctor
I'm your high priest of selling - I'm your doctor

I am your Indian chief or your head cook and bottle washer
I'm what you need here 'cause I'm your doctor concoctor
Take me for who I am - your sacrificial lamb

"Follow -all they do is follow" (the people are sheep)
"Don't know" - huddled indecisive (the people are sheep) (x2)

Baa.

Bullet proof alibis - I'm your doctor
Social butterflies _ I'm your doctor
I'll bring you powerful allies -I'm your doctor
I'm your high priest of selling - I'm your doctor (repeat)

Dredging the world of memory
Dank and dirty as darkness descends
I can not see the moon tonight
There's a mist upon the land - and it doesn't feel right

Hush my child, I'll give you a clue -
Be careful young friend
The keeper is a prisoner too

Well, I went with the riders of Nebadon
To the battle of right and wrong
But the sun has been down for a month now
All the wrong that I've done... maybe I'll catch one

Every bullet needs blood
Every bullet needs blood

Man's inhumanity or God's insanity
Such a world as this -
Planet prison or cosmic vision?
We'll survive a sure fire miss...

Who sells the bullets? - who sells the guns?
Has the warden left for the rest of the day?

Every bullet needs blood
Every bullet needs blood
Fire at will...
Every bullet needs blood
Hell to pay...

Hush my child, I'll give you a clue -
Be careful young friend
The keeper is a prisoner too

Father, give me a sanctuary
Don't you see what they'll do to me?
Father, Father please forgive me!!!
Every bullet needs blood...

Like a lamb I was led to the slaughter
I had no choice but to fight
I was played like a pawn
There's blood in the water

Every bullet needs blood...

Every bullet needs blood (every bullet)
You say love is the answer to everything
Well, I've got my doubts you know
Father, please forgive me... (x3)

I was only four
I don't remember you
I have seen your pictures my whole life

Brother... in this great goodnight.
A black frame still protects those two
Letters from the President
They start out: On this day in May 1966
For wounds received in action
Still hanging here after all of this time
Right next to your purple heart
In this great goodnight.

I do have this one hazy memory
I think you had me up on your shoulders
Playing on top of the world for a moment
That couldn't last (it never does)
I love this black and white of you
Playing the harmonica like a giant at our old house
Sitting on that green sofa
You were only 19 but to this kid
You were probably more like 43.

I read an old clipping from the paper
It said they prayed for you
At the church
Now I know everyone
In the photograph
Long before the memorial rose
Looking so much different than today
I haven't touched that stone of names
But I have a tracing of yours

On this day in May 1966
For wounds received in action
Still hanging here after all of this time
Right next to your purple heart
In this great goodnight

But for some unknown reason
We never discussed it much growing up
I pieced together the
Whole story out of
That old trunk left in the attic

You'd been gone only 6 weeks
When the Army brass came
To the door knocking
Breaking the news -breaking our hearts
They broke the new to mom
She took it worse than anyone
She really believed- 'he didn't have to go
The draft missed him by a mile'
You could have walked away
But instead you had your final day in Vietnam

When they broke the new to mom
All I can say... she took it worse than anyone
She really believed he would make it back home
'He didn't have to go to Vietnam'

Here is what thay said;
They claymore went off and you went down
And you would have been ok
You would have been all right
But they could not get to you
The VC were everywhere
So the orders came....

We can't pull Jack out
For him it's getting late
But a hundred men
Won't see tomorrow
If we don't quietly wait

'We can't pull Jack out'...

You knew exactly
What was happening
-why nobody came
You were a good soldier,
Keeping still
Holding out as long as you did

On this day in May 1966...

Within an hour you relaxed
Somehow everything seemed ok
Cause in your soul you knew
Your time in Nam had passed away

...my brother.

With your shirt wet with blood
And your forehead cool
You thanked the Lord
For this Great Goodnight
In this moment of acceptance
This Great Goodnight
Brought you a peace
You'd never known
In this Great Goodnight
The war raging on
In this Great Goodnight
.....my brother....

But brother let me tell you
It's what I know
So maybe one day
We can fill in the blanks

Until we meet again - brother
I'll choose this memory
We'll keep remembering
What you did
In that great goodnight

You couldn't hear the medic
Yelling in your ear
While you dreamed of this
Kid back at home
Saying pick me up
So we can play
Brother let me tell you -
I remember
And I think you made it
In that Great Goodnight
In fact, it's the only thing
I remember
From that Great Goodnight

Well brother let me tell you...
It's what I know.
Maybe one day we will
Stand together
Until we meet again
I'll choose this memory
And thank you guys
For what you did
And what you tried to do
In this Great Goodnight

On this day in May
For wounds received in action
...and now I see, my brother

This is for you.

And someday you will see that this song
Was for you, my brother.

Now that dat has joined you -
I'm sure that he would agree
Got a son on my shoulder
And lots of work to do, brother.
...like was done with me.

I was only four
I don't remember you
I have seen your pictures my whole life

Brother... in this great goodnight.
A black frame still protects those two
Letters from the President
They start out: On this day in May 1966
For wounds received in action
Still hanging here after all of this time
Right next to your purple heart
In this great goodnight.

I do have this one hazy memory
I think you had me up on your shoulders
Playing on top of the world for a moment
That couldn't last (it never does)
I love this black and white of you
Playing the harmonica like a giant at our old house
Sitting on that green sofa
You were only 19 but to this kid
You were probably more like 43.

I read an old clipping from the paper
It said they prayed for you
At the church
Now I know everyone
In the photograph
Long before the memorial rose
Looking so much different than today
I haven't touched that stone of names
But I have a tracing of yours

On this day in May 1966
For wounds received in action
Still hanging here after all of this time
Right next to your purple heart
In this great goodnight

But for some unknown reason
We never discussed it much growing up
I pieced together the
Whole story out of
That old trunk left in the attic

You'd been gone only 6 weeks
When the Army brass came
To the door knocking
Breaking the news -breaking our hearts
They broke the new to mom
She took it worse than anyone
She really believed- 'he didn't have to go
The draft missed him by a mile'
You could have walked away
But instead you had your final day in Vietnam

When they broke the new to mom
All I can say... she took it worse than anyone
She really believed he would make it back home
'He didn't have to go to Vietnam'

Here is what thay said;
They claymore went off and you went down
And you would have been ok
You would have been all right
But they could not get to you
The VC were everywhere
So the orders came....

We can't pull Jack out
For him it's getting late
But a hundred men
Won't see tomorrow
If we don't quietly wait

'We can't pull Jack out'...

You knew exactly
What was happening
-why nobody came
You were a good soldier,
Keeping still
Holding out as long as you did

On this day in May 1966...

Within an hour you relaxed
Somehow everything seemed ok
Cause in your soul you knew
Your time in Nam had passed away

...my brother.

With your shirt wet with blood
And your forehead cool
You thanked the Lord
For this Great Goodnight
In this moment of acceptance
This Great Goodnight
Brought you a peace
You'd never known
In this Great Goodnight
The war raging on
In this Great Goodnight
.....my brother....

But brother let me tell you
It's what I know
So maybe one day
We can fill in the blanks

Until we meet again - brother
I'll choose this memory
We'll keep remembering
What you did
In that great goodnight

You couldn't hear the medic
Yelling in your ear
While you dreamed of this
Kid back at home
Saying pick me up
So we can play
Brother let me tell you -
I remember
And I think you made it
In that Great Goodnight
In fact, it's the only thing
I remember
From that Great Goodnight

Well brother let me tell you...
It's what I know.
Maybe one day we will
Stand together
Until we meet again
I'll choose this memory
And thank you guys
For what you did
And what you tried to do
In this Great Goodnight

On this day in May
For wounds received in action
...and now I see, my brother

This is for you.

And someday you will see that this song
Was for you, my brother.

Now that dat has joined you -
I'm sure that he would agree
Got a son on my shoulder
And lots of work to do, brother.
...like was done with me.

"These are my last words, their treasonous hands
have us all under siege, now do you understand?"
Gossens ministers - all at hand
will take up final stations
as the coup hunts a single man
No offer of exile did he take in his last trial...

Covert action - Santiago
The U.S. denies it but the president knows
Broken fathers, strut of the guard
see cruel opportunists where the losers die hard

Seeking refuge from this "land of fire".

Allende supporters are gathered
ESTADIUM NACIONAL
They disappear, ask them how the tortured shall
dispatch a message to loved ones now
Their photographs worn by survivors
ESTADIUM NACIONAL
A swede is the only trace of redeemed grace
as Edelstam prepares a place
of asylum but without "sanction".

Fleeing persecution - visas feigning new
identities
So they wait there at the embassies...

Labor takes a fall (IMPENDING ASCENSION)
The White House seems appalled at the disgrace
They toast a secret cheer in executive session
and keep it going strong (wear a gameface)
Hunter Hawker dive (IMPENDING ASCENSION)
Superiors decide it's a rat race
It's all about control (IMPENDING ASCENSION)
See Nixon take a hold from his powerful place.

How much terror for five thousand?
How many others suffer on the outside of this stadium?
Is there no end?

These are my last words-treasonous hands
have us all under siege, now do you understand?
Hear my last broadcast-mic in hand
Workers rise up-bear arms-the coup rapes its own homeland
Hold on th your memories ("disappeared families")
What justice befalls our enemies?

Allende supporters are gathered-ESTADIUM NACIONAL
They disappear, ask them how the tortured shall
dispatch a message to loved ones now
Their photographs worn by survivors-ESTADIUM NACIONAL
We pray just to turn the page upon this stage
of human suffering-a world enraged
Now there must be a new resistance!

Cardinal commission, extraordinary will/solidarity no wish to kill
Am I dreaming? How can all of this be real? Will I wake to see
these horrors still?

We are the misfits with a broken horizon
Like Keats or Hemingway, survive with poets defiance
Christmas at the Martinique grieving for a home
Three generations tough it out on the big street all alone...

Rank of the privileged on the evening commute
Don't want to be bothered, don't want to be used
booming in suburbia, shuttle's on the way
A beggar asks for money. It's a dollar you don't want to pay-

To the Waterfront Weirdos
For the Waterfront Weirdos
Who are the Waterfront Weirdos?

Many live on the edge, keep them out of sight out of mind
In our midst a disgrace-answers are elusive yet we find

It's so damn hard to conceive 'till it looks you straight in the eye
Just take a walk on West 32nd Street or pick up a New York Times
and believe it...
Up in an ivory tower it's hard to see, hard to feel, hard to be
homeless and one of the outcast-Waterfront Weirdos.

Who are the Waterfront Weirdos?

Many live on the edge, keep them out of sight out of mind
In our midst a disgrace-answers are elusive then we find
Powerless is a child in the wake of hunger at night
Giving up-giving in
Can't we hear their screaming from within...?

My life spent standing here in the back of a line
I'm living for the moment-yes, I'm living by the hour
in a game of survival
In a mood of resignation I'm not the man I am-
meal ticket, waiting for a handout
Things will change and somehow I'll get out
I keep telling myself it won't last forever
Adversity closing in, my sanity lapses, I'll rise again
Resisting the end
Only 22 as my apprehension seques into an IMPENDING ASCENSION
I could not fake this for long
How long am I supposed to take it lying down?
I will not take this lying down!

Many live on the edge
Keep them out of sight out of mind
In the end it is us
picking up the pieces that we find
On the path of least resistance evidence is loud and clear
When will we wake up?
Failures are mounting as the underclass grows
every year and believe that-
Up in an ivory tower it's hard to see, hard to feel, hard to be homeless
and one of the Waterfront Weirdos

It's so damn hard to believe 'till it looks you straight in the eye
Shake the hands of losers lost on Broadway who remember a
nostalgic time and believe that-
Up in an ivory tower it's hard to see, hard to feel, hard to be homeless
and one of the outcast-Waterfront Weirdos.

One man's playing piano and one man's drooling on the floor <BR>And one man's making missiles 'cause he wants to prevent a world war <BR>One man's disadvantaged just because his skin is black <BR>And one man's children starve to death but not the idiot savants <BR>No - not the idiot savants <BR>No - it can never be the idiot savants <BR> <BR>One man O.D.'ed on New Year's Eve <BR>His dealer too happy to grieve <BR>One man killed and another held out (the idiot savants) <BR>Stupid wisdom is what this world's about. <BR> <BR>We're so wise -so knowing -so understanding <BR>The questions of life are so undemanding <BR> <BR>So we grope and we hope that we'll find an answer <BR>I must be an idiot or just one hell of a dancer <BR>This one sings like an angel but she can't tie her shoes <BR>But this one likes everybody -he just can't stand to hear the news <BR> <BR>So what if my cousin's on the street <BR>There's someone there to help him <BR>This one don't wanna take care of the other two (the idiot savant) <BR>'cause he's thinking of things he'd rather do <BR> <BR>One man O.D.'ed on New Year's Eve <BR>His dealer too happy to grieve <BR>One man killed and another held out (the idiot savants) <BR>Stupid wisdom is what this world's about <BR> <BR>This guy can't even write his name <BR>That lady thinks she's going insane <BR>This time I'll find another home <BR>Not so heavy 'cause I'd rather be alone...

Experience machines that know your thoughts and know your dreams
a better way of seeing things you won't believe it's real
Interact, you and I-there's a feeling lost we can't deny
I've opened up. We never tried to simulate it all.

Our love-it can be a virtual reality.

If we learn by degrees that the place you stand I may not be
in human change it's hard to see which barriers divide
What appears to be real is just the thing we want to feel
technology our saving grace-a guiding hand to touch the face

Our love, it can be a virtual reality
Our love could go far if we just admit the truth of what we are

Matters of perception making all of the difference now
It's not the real world
So take a harder look at compromise-for there is nothing to lose
In our own image we can't create what we want to be
I want to know if there's forgiveness within a virtual reality

Our love, it can be a virtual reality
Our love, it can be a virtual reality
Our love could go far
But we have to face the truth of what we are not...

Could we see clearer in a virtual reality?
Could we be together in a virtual reality?

Matters of perception making all of the difference now
It's not the real world
So take a harder look at compromise-for there is nothing to lose
In our own image we can't create what we want to be
I want to know if there's forgiveness within a virtual reality......

Crossing the line of demarcation
They took a passage to the west
Dead reckoning they doubled back
Into the north they anchored for bad weather
San Martin and Magellan almost lost sight of the flagship

The Santiago and Victoria led
No sign of land altered the course
Why not return for winter?
No violation of direct royal orders
The men, the officers, all cried "return"
No captains that had discipline-
rode the high seas in storms and mutiny (with the enemy)
Desperately they sought a haven in an age of discovery...

Extra precautions, setting anchor as they did
Terrified, the crews made pledges back to Spain for pilgrimage
Lighting fires at night to signal shipmates-at last deliverance
from the fury of this godforsaken place they named the "bay
of travail"-

Ride the high seas in storms and mutiny (with the enemy)
Desperately they sought a haven in an age of discovery...

Genius or madman? So elusive were the straits
Battered were the ships and men
A stop for repairs in St. Julian
The crew wanted to know the route they'd begun
despite stirring exhortations for loyalty from Magellan

Onboard Concepcion there was mutiny in demand
And they moved to take the fleet at night
with the knowledge there was blood on their hands
But the tables turned-the remaining crew blocked the exit
to the sea
A sudden advantage for the general using ruthless strategy...

Target chosen shrewdly of three vessels controlled by the
mutineers
High numbers of neutral foreigners on Victoria would not
rise up against him.

Pulling hard against an ebb
Rebellion muted the message read:
"No mistreatment, I'll do what's right"
No heavy hand will rule the night

On the mainmast high, we'll raise his flag
court martial pending on Trinidad
Condemned to death were forty more
Mendoza "quartered" upon the shore

Poetic justice coming swift and severe
But how could he lose so many men?
Commute the sentence for the sin
Confined to quarters and distasteful labor
Convicted conspirators fallen in his disfavor

Philosophers and scholars began to challenge
The true dimensions of the earth (new evidence uncovered)
Finding the straits Magellan died triumphant
but no vindication came in time
No statesman, no royalty-

Rode the high seas in storms and mutiny (with the enemy)
Desperately they sailed the globe in a voyage of treachery

Circumnavigation returning Victoria with twenty-one
Determined by storms and mutiny
he conquered the sea
Though honor followed, a witness he would not be......

Language and meter
Tools for a task
Structure and movement
There's logic at last

Critical rave
Misanthrope hired
Humans want quickness
So keep it under the wire

"The pit and the pendulum"
"The man of the crowd"
"The tell tale heart"

His characters move
Baptism by fire
The poet's survival kept under the wire...*

There comes a moment in time
before ascent or decline
You'll face your darkest hours
When other see in your face
the test of wills you've embraced
You are your own opponent

Keeping your focus in the rat race
Do what you have to so you can keep pace
You'll love the contact if you wear a gameface

Harvest a new relation
engage some tribulation
progress by confrontation?
You stand in awe but don't see
You are your adversary
Shut up and have some vision
futures lost in decision

Keeping your focus in the rat race
Do what you have to so you can keep pace
You'll love the contact if you wear a gameface.