l y r i c s

CALICO

Freedom gets harder everyday
Freedom gets harder everyday
When valor is just a brave mistake
Crosses mark every hero's grave
They're going to

Calico, that's where I'll go
When I'm too old to feel that I'm a part of it
The seeds you sow in Calico could only grow
Where everything is beautiful
[Don't you worry now]

Who knows the real reasons why
Who knows the real reasons why
Patrick can spin the wheel tonight
Sorry, but we've just run out of time
But you'll be flying to [Refrain]

Airplanes fly higher everyday
Jet airplanes fly higher everyday
And Elvis can see them all from space
Maybe, I'll pass him on the way
I'll be flying to [Refrain]


©1996 Bill Bonk



MERCHANT OF VENICE

You know when it feels like forever
The end is a moment away
I've tried, but it don't make no difference
Cause I can't forget, I just can't forget

See I paid the Merchant of Venice with my heart
I paid the Merchant of Venice with my heart

Like a dream that I'm trying to sleep through
My home is an ocean away
I know that I'm hard to live with
Cause I can't pretend
No, I just can't pretend [Refrain]

I can't, don't think I ain't trying
It's hard to believe anymore
Release, give me someone to run to
Not just anyone, I don't mean anyone [Refrain]


©1996 Bill Bonk


WINSTON CHURCHILL

He prophesized a rising tide
And the coming of the Antichrist
But no one heard the distant screams
Of martyrs trying angel wings
Churchill urged them, heed the cries,
But Parliament just rolled their eyes
When Belgium fell they weren't so sure,
So they made him the prime minister

Winston Churchill was a holy man
Ready to stare the Germans down
But he needed some help from Roosevelt, he said
"Who's side are you on, who's side are you on?"


Now the German tanks saw no defense
So they trampled all over Paris, France
Poor Boulogne, poor Calais,
But gave the allied troops time to slip away
And every night in London Town,
The children huddled in the Underground
You could hear the bombs, not very far
So where the hell is FDR [Refrain]

Now listen Franklin the sky is falling
And lines erased around the map
Give him the planes and the kegs and the powder,
The peaceful strength to pay us back
Well Stalin's army proved a worthy foe
For the German soldiers in the bitter cold
But Hitler thought he had one move left,
There was a curtain call a-coming from the West
The leathernecks had taken Betsy Ross
To the beach at Normandie and Omaha
When the US fireworks hit the sky
I saw the Duke of Marlborough force a smile [Refrain]

©1996 Bill Bonk



STILL WATERS RUN DEEP

I saw a girl by the Brown Hotel
Hit a car just before she fell
I said a prayer, then I turned away
Cause I think that it's too late

And there's a man where the sleeping dogs lie
Wears an old rag cause it's cold at night
Gave it all to the Goodwill store
Said he liked to help the poor

But if you ask me what's wrong, I won't say nothin'
Cause I don't know what words I can say
Close the door, turn the light,
Cause I'm goin' back to sleep
But Still Waters Run Deep


Tell the truth and you won't have to lie
Some restrictions may still apply
And Innocence, just some ghost from the past,
And it disappeared so fast

Years ago I was happy and free
And I didn't know what the future would bring
Now I've been burned so many times
That I think I've lost my mind [Refrain]

©1996 Bill Bonk




I SURRENDER

Help me for goodness sake
Somebody throw me a lifeline
There must be some mistake
When did the lights go out
I knew my luck had changed
Even with a plastic bankroll
But I gambled one life away
And you want to take your chances

Cause I tried crying 96 tears
And I tried wastin' all my good years
And I tried taking green and white pills
Yeah, I tried but I'm wanting you still
It's only love, but I Surrender

You gave me a certain look
Suddenly I'm not the same man
Me I'm an open book
And you were reading poetry
The sinners are so confused
The saints are playing saxophone
But one thing I know is true
You'll never face this world alone [Refrain]

Pour me a sweet vermouth
Make mine dry and on the rocks
If you give me your precious youth
I would give you anything
A slug from a 45
There's nothin' to understand
But I'm lucky to be alive
You still want to take your chances [Refrain]

©1996 Bill Bonk




WORLD GONE MAD

Drunken sailors, all of us,
We do the things we think we must
And carve our names into the pages
Willful, wanton refugees, stumble through the glory streets
And end up in a thousand other places
When you turn around to look,
Maybe nothing matters,
Cause you've heard it all before...

Like a tin roof cat in a World Gone Mad
Living fractured like some fable
With your money on the table
And the dreams I've had in a World Gone Mad
Keep me up with the drifters in this underworld cartoon

Button up your cloak of night
And fade the artificial light
It's 3AM, I think it's Wednesday
Everyone is fast asleep breathing quiet fantasies
Poised between a question and a doorway
Turn the telephone away when you hear it ringing
And only listen to the silence [Refrain]

Morning comes and I'm caught in-between
But I'd rather sleep than dream
With such questions here at hand
Did you think we'd understand
But I haven't got a clue --

Without a net we're getting higher
Dance upon a circus wire
I lost my wallet and my memory
Pass the bottle one more time
And listen to the same old line
About the agony and ecstasy
I'm just holding on somteimes
But I'm really living
Ain't no turning 'round to wonder [Refrain]


©1996 Bill Bonk/Phil Parlapiano



TEEN CANTEEN

You don't need a dime at the Teen Canteen
Live a life of crime at the Teen Canteen
Young and restless, Buffalo Springfield For What it's Worth
Golden Gate bridge isn't hard to cross
They say a rolling stone never gathered no moss
I don't mind

Anything you want at the Teen Canteen
We're so nonchalant at the Teen Canteen
We'll go dancing, so we can both look the other way
You found the door but you lost your mind
You ask for water and they bring you wine
I don't mind

You can dress in black at the Teen Canteen
Have a heart attack at the Teen Canteen
Smoke and lightning, pounding thunder From a Close 'n Play
Attitude speaks much louder than words
You could make it last if you could find it first
I don't mind

At the Teen Canteen...


©1996 Bill Bonk



SAMSON AND DELILAH


Didn't mean to bring the temple down
I said, "I can't see, the dark is where you left me, dear,"
I did my time with the Phillistines
I broke a few hearts, drove some fast cars
I lived a mystery
Like the time you made love disappear


Now we're Samson and Delilah
A house on fire with your desire
Yeah, we're Samson and Delilah
You cut me down, played around


Bees and honey filled the lion well
So where's a strong man to find his sweetness -- honesty
You know I used to wear a leather jacket
Till you cut my hair, but I really don't care
Cause it's growing back
So hit the road Jack everybody loves somebody sometime [Refrain]

Lady plays the millionairess
Did you take me for a fool?
Lookin' to the heavens for answers

Fetters of brass used to hold me down
Release the flood gates, I'm a modern man
Got no sympathy
Dear Lord, do you remember me?
Cause I got one prayer, the last thing that I'll ask of you
Just give me the strength to bend the pillars [Refrain]

©1996 Bill Bonk/Phil Parlapiano



NO SECOND CHANCES

Fallen angel, lost and afraid
Sinking deeper in the mire you made
Countercultured, can't walk the line
Discontented, twice rejected
Once you were mine

No Second Chances in this mixed up world, my Calamity Girl
Some circumstances clearly blinded my faith
No Second Chances

Breathing deeply, all by yourself
Words and music by a seaside motel
New dimensions, old memories
Fade to black now,
Won't come back now,
Pictures buried at sea [refrain]

Forty dollars, and your spare change
It's hardly worth it, and who gets the blame
Tender offers, hard to refuse
Can't persuade me, unlucky lady,
You bargained the blues [refrain]


©1996 Bill Bonk



ART SCHOOL DAYS

Don't say that you love me 'cause I won't believe a word
It's just purity and poetry, and stories that I've heard
Philosophy and Cuervo, are driving me to drink
We're just penniless romantics, bohemian and free

In my Art School Days
Like your sweet phone number written on my wall
Art School Days, is it any wonder
I can't see through the haze
Of my Art School Days

Well I ran away from boredom 'cause it seemed to slow me down
I turned my back on politics 'cause I'd never wear a crown
Checkmate and surrender, give me liberty or death
I'd take Chekhov over Kruschev, but I had vodka on my breath [refrain]

I made a mark in history when I left them all for dead
So I focused on psychology (but it's only in my head)
Like the treasures of Atocha buried deep below the sea
In a rage the ocean captured her some distant century

Back in those Art School Days
Like your sweet phone number written on my wall
Art School Days, is it any wonder
I can't see through the haze
Of my Art School Days
I can't walk through the maze
Of my Art School Days

©1996 Bill Bonk



POUR ME A STRONG ONE

It's a hopeless situation
This thing with you and me
It's a pointless conversation
And I'm sure you would agree

Better Pour Me a Strong One tonight
And it'll make it alright

Do you know what I'm saying
I been thinking more and more
With the price that we been paying
It's enough to win the war [refrain]

Just one more time
I want to feel you in my arms
Baby don't cry
Just one more time to say goodbye
Bye, bye

Now if I was a prophet
I'd tell you 'bout tomorrow
Ain't nothing gonna stop it
We've been building a boat in a bottle[refrain]


©1996 Bill Bonk



MATINEE

Day into night, she's the banker's delight
Dressed in scarves and seams
She's poetry to me, a fragile melody
Close your eyes and dream

Well the first time that I saw her in the sun-lighted rain
Falling streaks around her like some Main Street parade
Well I handed her a promise, she threw me a smile
It's what they say every Matinee

She's a picture-postcard scene, a travel magazine
You know you've been before
Well dress me up tonight by shadowed candlelight
And point me out the door [refrain]


©1991 Bill Bonk/Phil Parlapiano