Box of Lightning Lyrics / Credits

 

Waiting for a Train

The trouble was thinking of forever
As a loss, an absence of time
When it’s the recovery of everything in its prime
And I met you, afraid of obligations
My cautious flag unfurled
About to be given everything in the world

And I woke up in an empty station
Waiting for a train
With the mountains full of distant thunder
The sky about to rain
And I’ve been here with this ticket in my hand
For all my life somehow
Is it any wonder, this logic will allow
All moments, all times are present here
And everything is now

In the dreamtime they were talking of forever
And everyone was there
A sweet anticipation in the air
And I never thought a moment of decision
So lonesome and so tough
Could be like falling endlessly into love

And I woke up in an empty station
Waiting for a train
With the mountains full of distant thunder
The sky about to rain
And I’ve been here with this ticket in my hand
For all my life somehow
Is it any wonder, this logic will allow
All moments, all times are present here
And everything is now

Take away this cup
Lift the world up to its home
To drink in this view, what wouldn’t I do

 

Drive

Dreaming by the sugar mill
We’ll hatch our plan
Climb the garden wall
We will make our stand
The sky, a stormy canvas
To take your mark
For the silken filament of flame
You raise against the dark

To drive against the current,
Oars in the water

Oh don’t be beaten back now
Don’t back down
The gift received
Cannot be canceled out by clowns
To be the butt of someone’s joke
Is no uncommon thing
For the upstarts will have their day
But gravity is king

So drive against the current

Drive against the tide
Cause giving up don’t stop
The rain from falling
It’s a conversation heard from one side
You might forget if could just
Stop the voice from calling you to drive

Disappointment wells and anger swells
And soon a wave is rushing
The people on this earth can’t break the curse
Sometimes the weight is crushing
But hold on to your life,
Because the price is not cheap
There are better days to come
And promises to keep

 

The Mountains

You’re on a roll
Since the day you were born
But when it’s time to cash it in
You might not be so forlorn
Here at the grand casino
Fate marks the cards
But it’s daylight outside
It’s not a competition

Out of the gate
The bravado’s all talk
Increasingly tense and nervous champions
One eye on the clock
But here in the big arena
Where they thirst for blood
It’s freedom outside
You don’t have to settle

Breathe the air
Walk on the tender grass
The sun’s gonna rise
Look to the mountains

You might say it’s late
Say we’re lucky we’re here at all
You might say it’s fate
Or a voice with a sweeter call

It gets hard to face, the rows of Mondays lining up
Like planes at O’Hare
Except for the thought that somebody loves you baby
Even if you don’t see them there
And it’s hard to imagine
Even if you try
No secret surrounds us
No smile in the night sky

 

Solana (Instrumental)

 

Let Me Fly

Let me wake up in another country
Leave the place I know
And make time on the way
Greet the day before it goes

Let the vessel for the ocean find the sea
Let me find my sails
And sight some destiny
Before the evening sunlight fails

Cries on the bright skyline, the eagles soar
Wheels track tarmac, the engines roar

Please let me fly
Take me all around
Don’t let me die
Till something lost is found
You made a heart that sings
This heart’s a winged thing
Don’t leave me crying on the ground

 

In the Rye (Instrumental)

 

Change Town

Do we have to do the same dance again?
Where vengeance flows from an endless store
Relief just rots on the cellar floor
Come on, come with me, leave this place
With the refugees in the photographs
Strife so old, it’s choreographed

I know you want out!

Let’s go down to the change town
Everybody comes out ahead
There’s no escape from the lives we have led
Jump right out of your skin
Use your will and yield it
Funny, you design your fate
And they’ve already sealed it

Do we repeat the same steps again?
With the same replies, familiar space
Sly manoevres on my face
Will we fail the same test again
That comes with a sense of déjà vu
You got me where you want me, now
What do you do?

We know it too well!

Somewhere in the wilderness you reassess
And realize and recognize
That all the better things we are
Are known and held in someone’s eyes
That all the best we are is held in someone’s eyes
In someone’s eyes

 

Little Martin

Little Martin, sweet as can be
Sweet as honey from a hollow tree
Sweet as the autumn when you came to me
You been a long time friend

We met up back in ’83
From a window you were calling me
I picked you up, it was meant to be
We started up a trend
You’ll be with me to the end

Little box of wood and steel
You always know how I feel
We work together, that’s our deal
It’s a good one

Little Martin, sweet as can be
Sweet as honey from a hollow tree
Sweet as the autumn when you came to me
We cannot go wrong

So how about it, ring it out free
A gift of Heaven, you were sent to me
Obvious as the key of D
Coming on so strong

Come on, little Martin,
Teach me another song!

 

Wrong

The secret life is underground
Where the plague has smashed it down
The virus stole around the town
And danced upon its grave

The fingers of the sunset creep
Across the secret place we keep
Where all our better judgements sleep

Wrong road, wrong trip
Wrong way round
Bad calls compound, gotta turn around
Luck spent, repent
Yeah it cuts both ways
It cuts both ways

The people mourn on every street
While others think revenge tastes sweet
An offering to gods they keep
Of someone else’s blood

The world seems changed on evil days
We’ve always known it was this way
Stir the black in shades of gray

Wrong road, wrong trip
Wrong way round
Bad calls compound, gotta turn around
Luck spent, repent
Yeah it cuts both ways
It cuts both ways

 

The Tree the World is Hung Upon

Compromises might be found
If you've got space to move around
Good faith can see both sides
When they draw strength apart from pride
Even when the big boys come to play
Self assurance smiles when it gives way

Compromises might work out
If you've got goods to do without
Maybe there's a worthwhile find
In strength from different worlds combined
Maybe if we pool the cards we play
You and I can find a middle way

But I will hold on to this piece of ground
I am standing on, I am standing on
I will not stand to see the tree cut down
The world is hung upon, the world is hung upon

 

Waikiki (Instrumental)

 

Awake

The breath that moved on the face of the waters
Waking up the sons and the daughters
It swept me up in a fire of vision
And led me through the doubt and decision

I have a bee in my bonnet
I have a pocketful of strange, yeah
And I am a man with a mission through this change

The dream is real, as real as a reflection
And one day I will make the connection
And one day we will meet one another
Not estranged, or afraid of each other

I have a secret ambition
I have a ticket to the ball, yeah
And I’ve seen engraved invitations to us all

Every empire melting in the dawn,
Strong foundations shake
The fortress fading I built defenses on as I
From these dreams awake

 

Divided America

Roll the windows down, the air is bad
Temper temperature with cool heads
We always were a twine of two threads
But we come from the root
That brings the fragile fruit of love

Grown together for a reason
Faith in and faith beyond our Reason
A lamp that lit the world a season
Let it light up the sky
Like the Fourth of July each day

 

Don’t Borrow Trouble

Don’t borrow trouble
Don’t fix if it ain’t broke
Time might burst your bubble
But it don’t need a poke

And don’t look for heartache
Leave well enough alone
And just don’t look, for heartache
Will find you on its own

When the dark clouds gather
Blocking the sun
It doesn’t mean that you’re bad
It happens to everyone

Enough trials are coming
It’s pretty much in stone
And so there really is no need
To invent them on our own

And so
Don’t borrow trouble
Don’t fix if it ain’t broke
Time might burst your bubble
But it don’t need a poke

And don’t look for heartache
Leave well enough alone
And just don’t look, for heartache
Will find you on its own

 

Lucky Signs Off (Instrumental)

 

 

 

Credits

Produced, recorded and mixed by Joe Mersch at Hope Recording, Escondido, CA.

 

Mastered by Joe Mersch.

 

All compositions ©2015 Joe Mersch, all rights reserved.

 

Sounds and voices JM, except for electric guitar on "Tree" by Dwayne McCobb.

 

Art design and layout: Joe Mersch/Susan Micallef.  Front and back photography: Chris Baker.  Inside left photography: JM.  Inside right photography: not known.

 

Guitars used on this recording: tracks 1, 2, 5, 6, 8, 9, 10, 12, and 14: '83 Martin D-28 / tracks 3, 4, 7, 10, and 11: '93 Lowden O-25c.

 

"Divided America" is a 2011 Martin 000-18GE, and "Lucky" is a 2009 Martin 0-28VS.

 

And my Strat.

 

Crying on the ground is wrong.

 

 

News

Apple Music

"Secret Career 87-93" released 8/1/17.

Recent Additions

Videos:  Walk This Burden Down, Mama Just Wants to Barrelhouse All Night Long, The Way We Love, On 78 East

Songs:  The Way We Love, One Two Three, This Train

Images:  to the People/Places Gallery

Lyrics/Credits:  Secret Career 87-93

 

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