A v e r y t h i n w i r e

I got home and you were goneNote said you were moving onBut you left your perfume on the airAnd feelings scattered everywhere

Somebody tell meSomebody tell meWhat it is I done to break your heart

So I got me a broom and panAnd swept it up the best I canI sorted pieces through the night But I just couldn’t get it right

And so there goes another oneTo have a few and dwell uponBut that’s the way the story goesJust line ‘em up like dominoes

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1. Somebody Tell Me

2

. . . in which we meet our hero, the Serial Loser,

caught in a moment of thoughtful (but fruitless)

introspection.

Deep in my headAll crowded and hidingThat’s where the troubles brewI cannot turn them offHow do you turn them off?What am I gonna do?

Cuz I don’t want to be blue

I can be any color of crayonDeep in your box of huesI can be angry redI can be good as goldI can be green like you

But I don’t want to be blue

Day in and day outStuck on the low roadIn that there’s nothing newWhen will I ever learnWhy don’t I ever learnHow will I ever learn

That I don’t want to be blue

2. Blue

4

I have been doing psychotherapy with troubled children and youth for 25 years now. I have learned over time that sadness is one of the most difficult emotions for them to express. It makes them feel far too vulnerable, and it hurts much more than anger.

Steve Strauss vocal, guitar, electric guitarIan Melrose guitarBeo Brockhausen baritone saxophoneWolfgang Roggenkamp hammond b3 Lars Hansen bassHeinz Lichius drums & percussion

5

3. A Very Thin Wire

A glance in the mirrorA quick inventoryAnother day olderAnother sad story

It’s the one where the visionsTo which we aspireHang just out of reachOn a very thin wire

A matter of yearningA word of defianceA moment of passionA measure of silence

There’s a delicate balanceBetween faith and desireBut we walk with our eyes closed On a very thin wire

The way is uncertainIn every directionSo many choicesSo little protection

We play follow-the-leaderInto unfriendly fireBut we hold it togetherWith a very thin wire

6

Life is often an unsteady walk on a rope through the dark. But at least we don’t always have to do it alone.

Steve Strauss vocal, guitar Ian Melrose guitar, low whistleBeo Brockhausen bowed psaltery, mellotronHans-Jörg Maucksch fretless bass

Steve Strauss vocal, guitarIan Melrose guitar

Wolfgang Roggenkamp hammond b3 Lars Hansen bass

Heinz Lichius drums & percussion

8

Wolfgang Roggenkamp Heinz Lichius

Lars Hansen Beo Brockhausen

When we do not know the way, and we can no longer bear the load, together we must rest and talk awhile of the future.

Baby you’re like a hareDarting from here to thereEyes all open wideTrying to hideBefore the hunter knocks an arrow

It’s kinda like that dreamThe one that always Makes me screamI’m fumbling alongEvery turn is wrongAnd every passageway is narrow

Baby I know it’s hardTo gather up all the shardsOf every broken glassThat comes to passWhen all the worldIs in your keeping

4. Every Broken Glass

Baby I know it hurtsAnd it feels like you’re gonna burstBut baby don’t you cryCuz when you cryIt’s like all the worldIs weeping

All the words that I wanna sayThey grow a little grayer every dayI reckon that is whyAs time goes byIt all gets harder to remember

But baby when it’s darkAnd you’ve only got a little sparkYou gotta get down lowAnd gently blowA breath of lifeInto the embers

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I hear a whisper, I hear a lowI hear somebody just over my shoulderCould be the corn king, could be a crowCould be the devil come creepin’ up slowly

Creepin’ up, creepin’ up, creepin’ upCould be the devil come creepin’ up slowly

Some got a dollar, some got a dimeSome they ain’t got but a dirty old pennyAin’t it a shame, lord, ain’t it a crimeUp go the few and down go the many

Up and down, up and down, up and downUp go the few and down go the many

Man, on the left of me, man on the rightMan, I just don’t get what you’re tryin’ to tell meOne says it’s black and one says it’s whiteBut I ain’t gonna buy what you’re tryin’ to sell me

5. Here Comes Old Splitfoot

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History spins around and around like a carousel full of thieves and fools, while nobody watches out for the children.

I ain’t buyin’, I ain’t buyin’, I ain’t buyin’No, I ain’t gonna buy what you’re tryin’ to sell me

Didn’t I warn you, didn’t I say?Someday it’s all gonna have to be reckoned No time to parlay, no time to prayHere comes Old Splitfoot to take you away

Here he comes, here he comes, here he comesHere comes Old Splitfoot to take you away

Steve Strauss vocal, guitarIan Melrose guitar, dobro Wolfgang Roggenkamp hammond b3 Lars Hansen bassHeinz Lichius drums & percussion

Upon my word what does it mean?Is it love or is it meThat makes me change so suddenlyFrom looking out to feeling free?

I’m here lying in my bedWondering what it was I saidThat made me think I lost my headWhen I knew I lost my heart instead

So won’t you please read my signsBe a gypsyTell me what I hope to find deep within meAnd because you can find my mindPlease be with me

Of all the better things I’ve heardLoving you just makes the wordsAnd all the rest seem so absurdIn the end it all comes out I’m sure

6. Please Be With MeMusic and lyrics by Scott Boyer

Steve Strauss with Ian Melrose12

Steve Strauss vocal, guitarIan Melrose guitar, weissenborn-guitar Lea Morris backing vocalsBeo Brockhausen hang, kurzweil keyboardLars Hansen bassHeinz Lichius drums & percussion

7. Like It Used to Be

Why do we fear the passionate voices of our kids? Wasn’t it only yesterday that we were just like them, and all we wanted was to change the world?

When the mind was soundAll the clockwork wound I was ticking off rhymesAnd pondering timeNow I go into my headAnd it just furrows my brow

Cuz it ain’t like it used to beIt ain’t like it used to beIt all just confuses me now

We reveled awayThe magnificent daysAnd we passed the nightsAt delirious heightsWe spent all the bloodThat the heart would allow

But it ain’t like it used to beIt ain’t like it used to beIt all just bemuses me now

The children changeThey get stranger and strangerBut we stopped changing long ago(Can’t you tell by our clothes?)So, we keep asternAnd let the kids take the prow

Cuz it ain’t like it used to beIt ain’t like it used to beThe future’s a mystery now

14

Steve Strauss vocal, guitarIan Melrose guitar, dobro, low whistle Beo Brockhausen kurzweil keyboardLars Hansen bass

Ian Melrose

15

8. Bathsheba

On the rooftopSeeking solace in the shadeWith her seven maidensBathing in the gardensBathsheba(Her eyes like chocolate poolsThat make kings behave like foolsAnd fools like martyrs)

Lets the last drop of wineFall from her empty cupAnd slips into the tepid watersScented with milk and honey

In her chamberOn the endless velvet bedWhere all the world could lay its headAmong the tanglesBathshebaWhispers from her book of dreamsA tale that cannot be believedFrom any angle

A meditation on the ever mysterious world mover that is Woman.

Then she closes her eyesAnd opens her arms for youOn ten thousand satin pillowsWarm with the down of angels

Down the riverWhere the recently departedGo to weigh their weary heartsAgainst a featherBathshebaIn her flowers and her veilsStands behind the golden scalesAnd thumbs the measures

Until at lastEvery soul has passedLike sand through an hourglassInto the fields of Aaru

Steve Strauss vocal, guitarIan Melrose guitar Beo Brockhausen clarinet, flute, udu, percussion Lars Hansen bass

17

Well, you gassed her upBehind the wheelWith your arm around your sweet oneIn your OldsmobileBarrelling down the boulevardYou’re looking for The heart of Saturday night

And you got paid on FridayYour pockets are jinglingThen you see the lightsAnd you get all the tingling‘Cause you’re cruising with a sixAnd you’re looking for The heart of Saturday night

Then you comb your hairYou shave your faceTrying to wipe out every traceOf all the other days on the weekYou know that this will be the SaturdayThat you’re reaching your peak

9. The Heart of Saturday Night Music and lyrics by Tom Waits

(Looking for)Stopping on the redGoing on the green‘Cause tonight’ll be Nothing like you’ve ever seenYou’re barrelling Down the boulevardLooking for The heart of Saturday night

Tell me, is it the crack of The pool ballsNeon buzzingTelephone’s ringingIt’s your second cousinAnd is it the barmaid that’s smilingFrom the corner of her eyeMagic of the melancholy tear In your eye

Makes it kind of quiverDown in the core‘Cause you’re dreaming of Them Saturdays that came beforeAnd now you’re stumbling onto The heart of Saturday night

Makes it kind of specialDown in the coreCause you’re dreaming of Them Saturdays that came beforeIt’s found you stumblingOnto the heart of Saturday nightAnd you’re stumblingOnto the heart of Saturday night

Steve Strauss vocal, guitarIan Melrose guitar Lea Morris backing vocals Lars Hansen bass

19

Well the sky was brewin’ bad weatherAnd it rained, and it rained, and it rained Didn’t it feel like forever and ever That it rained?

So we gathered our sons and our daughtersAnd it rained, and it rained, and it rainedSingin’ ’God’s gonna trouble the waters’And it rained

Then the sun rose over the riverAnd he rose, and he rose, and he roseDidn’t it feel like we’d been deliveredWhen the sun rose

But the river rose up to the leveeAnd she rose, and she rose, and she roseAnd the levee said ‘this is too heavy’When the river rose

Well she left a whole bunch of us scatteredIn the flood, in the flood, in the floodAnd we lost lots of shit that don’t matterIn the flood

10. In The Flood

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And we gathered our sisters and brothersIn the flood, in the flood, in the floodWho had nothin’ left but each otherIn the flood

Well the sky was brewin’ bad weatherAnd it rained, and it rained, and it rainedDidn’t it feel like forever and everThat it rained?

Steve Strauss vocal, guitarIan Melrose high-strung guitar, weissenborn-guitar Lea Morris backing vocals Lars Hansen bassHeinz Lichius percussion

21

22

From the fields and from the woodsAnd from stranger neighborhoodsMamas calling in their broods“It’s time to come on home”

Another working day’s gone byAnd you still sit there sorting alibisYou dot your t’s and cross your eyesYou’re so weary and alone

So why don’t you go home?Why don’t you go home?Why don’t you go home?Your supper’s getting cold

It’s time to lock the lonely doorIt’s time to mop the killing floorYou can’t drink here anymoreAnd you got nowhere left to go

11. Home

However far afield the path may lead, the light of love will always guide you home.

So why don’t you go home?Why don’t you go home?Why don’t you go home?Your love is getting cold

I’ll give up my wicked waysAnd my simian displaysSure beats counting off the daysAnd ain’t we getting old?

So can I please come home?Can I please come home?Can I please come home?The night is mighty cold

Steve Strauss vocal, guitar, electric guitarIan Melrose guitar Lars Hansen bassHeinz Lichius drums & percussion

23

You’re up with the roosterAnd out with the owlsYou work like a dogAnd you sneak like a prowlerYou worry your collarAnd smile for the masterThe days pile upLike a railway disaster

You sit there and wait For the traffic to moveWhat are you trying to prove?Lost like a needleFeeling around for the groove

So what do you doWhat do you doHow do you manageWhat sees you through?

I roll a stoneWay up a hillThat’s what I doHow about you?

12. Sisyphus Jones

Everybody’s got a Stone to Roll, but only some get pie.

24

Your mama once told youThe world is your oysterSo you looked for the pearlIn its dark little cloisterYou found only sandAnd a note from your wife“Thanks for the memoriesBye, bye – have a good life”

Open up wide nowAnd stick out your tongueMama will tell you what’s wrongOh my poor babyIt seems that you’re no longer young

But what can you doWhat can you doWhat holds you steadyWhat keeps you true?

You can’t sell your soulCuz there’s nobody buyingIt’s hard to keep up withThe high cost of dying

So you run the rat raceRight down to the wireTo get all the cheeseThat you need to retire

You could burn your bridges As you run acrossWith one final bird for the bossYou should be somewhereResting and gathering moss

So what will you doWhat will you do?You got some timeComing to you

I’ll roll this stoneOver this hillSomeday I will Someday I will

Steve Strauss vocal, guitarIan Melrose guitar, lapsteel guitar Lars Hansen bassHeinz Lichius drums & percussion

25

Look at what the cat dragged inHow you doing, where you been?You look kinda pale and thin(But now the party can begin)

Horn of Plenty, Well of SoulsWitching Hour, Rock n’ RollSkippin’ naked through the coalsTrippin’ down the rabbit hole

And I can’t sleepBut that’s part of the deal When the company you keepIs so surreal Empty spray cans in the hallUrban legends on the wallThat don’t make any sense at allBut they keep us so enthralled

13. The Company You Keep

We gravitate together, those who think in one way or feel in another, so that we do not have to be alone. Yet sadly, in doing so, we find ourselves divided from the world, which in the end is us all.

And I count sheepBut the sheep all run awayWhen the company you keepComes out to play

No one here feels any shame Cuz in the dark we’re all the sameAnd so together bear the blame(After all, that’s why we came)

And I’m in deepBut I haven’t any hopeCuz the company you keepHolds all the rope

Steve Strauss vocal, guitar, electric guitarIan Melrose guitarBeo Brockhausen soprano sax Lars Hansen bass

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Somebody Tell MeBlueA Very Thin WireEvery Broken GlassHere Comes Old SplitfootPlease Be With MeLike It Used to BeBathsheba(Looking for) The Heart of Saturday NightIn the FloodHomeSisyphus JonesThe Company You Keep

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Recorded and produced by Günter PaulerPremastering by Hans-Jörg MauckschStudio assistance by Inés BreuerIllustrations on pages 17,22,24 by Steve Strauss Photography & graphic design by Emre MeydanAerial photo on page 21 by Drew Lewis

All songs © Steven J. Strauss, except:“Please Be With Me” by Scott Boyer“(Looking for) The Heart of Saturday Night” by Tom Waits