LOVER
©1998 by Joel Cage
My heart's been broken. Words done spoken.
Had me a lover but she let me go and I don't know why.
I'm going round and round in my head, thinking the things I do.
It's all useless speculation.
Well, I question fate each time I stand upon this empty shore,
and my only saving grace is that I've been here before
but I got to find me a lover, find me a lover, find me a lover right now....
When the heartless bleed you,. the darkness will feed you,
and intoxicating, it will bring you down and you start to die.
No use waiting, one foot in the grave, thinking to take will I,
a completely different frame of mind.
When I look around me I know I can't make this scene,
so I get my thrilling from the pages in between,
but I got to find me a lover, find me a lover, find me a lover right now....
And she'll be golden haired with eyes so blue,
but her true colors seem as black as night when the knife goes through you...
Well, I question fate each time I stand upon this empty shore,
and my only saving grace is that I've been here before but I got to
find me a lover, find me a lover, find me a lover right now....FIND ME A LOVER.
WANDER
©1998 by Joel Cage
Take me I'm yours, won't you let me do for you, I beg of you.
I could be useful.
Say what you want from me. I can deliver for you.
I would run, shout, tell all the world of your love, yeah,
I could be perfect for you.
I never will wander.
No, I'll never be blue.
No, I never will wander, wander from you.
Just like a puppy-dog, by your side I'd be so true.
You'd never be lonely.
I could do for you the things that you never would do.
I would cook, clean, run the house, dust, sweep the yard.
I'd do what I must just for you.
I never will wander.
No, I'll never be blue.
No, I never will wander, wander from you.
I never will wander from you.
Please don't refuse me, won't you say what I did that was wrong.
Why don't you want me?
Here I am standing. can't you see that I'm desperate for you.
I won't last long, not all alone.
This whole world would crush me along with my pride.
I never will wander.
No, I'll never be blue.
No, I never will wander, wander from you.
I never will wander from you.
BAGGAGE
©1998 by Joel Cage
I am waiting on a train to come, a train to come...
a freighttrain.
cause I got baggage, I got baggage, I got baggage all my own.
I got ex-wives and ex-lovers, a few children I've never known.
I've got closets full of bones and there is nothing I can do
to keep them all from falling down on top of me and you.
I am waiting on a train to come, a train to come...
a slow train.
Me, I've always been real patient with the things that I would do.
I just thought if I'd enjoyed the ride, my dreams would all come true,
but of lately I am questioning my very state of mind
because I'm finding that I'm needing things and running out of time.
I don't even have a photograph of you,
but won't you pick me and my baggage up and take me home.
I don't mean to bore or bother you with words of old refrains,
so I will love you from this station while I'm waiting on a train...
a death train.
We are born into this world, each one, a ticket in our hand,
like a token for a turnstile leading to the promised land.
But, I would cash mine in this minute - pay the devil off his due,
check my baggage and prepare to spend eternity with you.
I don't even have a photograph of you,
but won't you pick me and my baggage up and take me home.
I don't mean to bore or bother you with words of old refrains,
so I will love you from this station while I'm waiting on a train.
A death train, a freight train, a slow train.
A death train, a freight train, a slow train.
I am waiting on a train...
©1998 by Joel Cage
NOBODY
©1998 by Joel Cage
There ain't nobody looks like you.
Your hair and your eyes and the curve of your thighs.
I know every inch like a mile.
I know every crack in your smile,
and every nuance of your style, yeah it's true.
There ain't nobody looks like you.
There ain't nobody has your taste.
Even from under the shroud I could pick you from a crowd.
And just one drop upon my tongue,
like an elixir, keeps me young,
and breeds inside of me a hunger that never never fades.
There ain't nobody has your taste.
Hard lines, steep roads, troubled times, heavy loads.
These are the things that can make your heart cold.
These are the things that can make you feel older
and leave you with nothing left to hold...
but I'll remember,
yeah I'll remember. ...
There ain't nobody smells the same way.
Like flowers from a brook on a crisp autumn day.
A scent from which no righteous hound would ever stray.
It's true, through and through,
that of the many and the few,
there ain't nobody like you.
WINTER
©1998 by Joel Cage
The leftover takeout that collects at my feet
is all that remembers the clandestine retreat.
My exhaust fumes are drifting away down the street.
The stores are all empty. The roads are unfettered and clear.
Winter is here.
An ice veil is forming on the hood of my car.
It shines in the morning and it echoes the stars.
it comes without warning and it knows who you are.
It swarms down around you and engulfs you if all of it's fear.
Winter is here.
I hold this guitar like a gun, taking aim at
every warm body protecting a place
in a united space. A sea of blank faces.
And out of the crowd comes a voice talking louder than
all of the others, blowing my cover,
calling me over and then I discover it's you...
just you.
Behind the laughter of the children at play
is life ever-after, is the end of the day....
the dreams that get broken by the words that you say.
From the distance between comes a voice that's incredibly clear
says winter is here.
HOME
©1998 by Joel Cage
Phone is ringing and it knocks me right out of my sleep.
She's singing in the background while you cry to me.
Well, I should have stayed home instead of running out to rescue you.
I should have stayed home, it would have been a wiser thing to do.
Too many faces have been turned toward me.
But, if any, yours and only yours was all I'd see.
I should have stayed home, instead of growing out of touch with you.
I should have stayed home, would have been a wiser thing to do.
Take a look at me now. I've got scars all over my face.
Someway, somehow, I keep running on with this race,
and asking myself why don't I want you?
Tomorrow, tomorrow night I know I will be there.
Yeah, tomorrow I will be running my fingers through her hair.
I should have stayed home, instead of falling out of love with you.
I should have stayed home, it would have been a wiser thing...
should have stayed home instead of growing out of touch with you.
I should have stayed home. It would have been a wiser thing to do.
REASON
©1998 by Joel Cage
She looked at me. She looked deep inside my empty heart
where love now was gone.
I'm lying in the dark listening to the sound of the motion
as she's moving on..
and I just don't know how it can be
that true love can fade so easily.
There's always a reason, always a reason,
but I don't know, I don't know.
Always a reason, always a reason,
but I don't know if there's a reason for everything.
I saw her on the street just the other day and I never knew
that she could be so fast on her feet.
She was looking might good, and deep inside I go searching
for somebody to explain it to me,
but I find that I get no relief,
so I seek me some solace in the age old belief...
there's always a reason, always a reason,
but I don't know, I don't know.
Always a reason, always a reason,
but I don't know if there's a reason for everything.
Another empty night sitting all alone in my room, listening
to the bells as they ring out their warning song...
that you just do not know what you have 'til it's gone
Always a reason, always a reason, but I don't know,
I don't know. Always a reason, always a reason,
but I don't know if there's a reason for everything..
ROSE
©1998 by Joel Cage
Rose colored glasses. Multi-colored sun.
Atmosphere electric, there's a big dog on the run
but, like a magician, deception is his game,
watching for reactions at the drop of a name.
Hmmmm, like a prodigal sun, he is a fortunate one.
Lucy with diamonds, dreamcoat in her hand.
Man in robes behind her with his head stuck in the sand.
He's searching for religion while God is everywhere.
In every single beating heart and every breath of air.
Hmmmm, like a prodigal sun, she is a fortunate one.
Someone is calling, calling out for more,
sounding like the slowly closing of a haunted cellar door,
trying to remember, remember how it feels
to understand the one you love and to know what is real.
Hmmmm, like a prodigal sun, these are the fortunate ones.
Holding the hand of a life-form who only knows itself,
and nobody else can see except you and me...
Plastic intentions, visionary fun,
holding all the promises of a freshly loaded gun.
I will try to convince you, I will try to convince you,
I will try to convince you...
APRIL
©1998 by Joel Cage
It's a rainy night in April, she's running down the crowded street
searching for her lover man, he's drifted out of reach.
And me, I am hiding, I am hiding in the crowd,
trying to set my face just like the others, praying I'm not found out.
Her mama don't understand it, her sister she thinks I'm cruel,
and anyone else might say OK, but I don't think that April will
no I don't think that April will.
Would you take me back if I asked you to?
Would you give me one more chance?
Would you let me in if I called your name even though it makes no sense?
'Cause there's just no saying the crazy things that someone in love might do,
and even though I'm leaving, babe I'm still in love with you.
It's a lonely night in April, the evening sun is setting down.
She's standing in her empty room in a silver dressing gown.
She take a bite of misfortune and swallows up her pride,
turns her face away from me and hangs her head and cries.
She doesn't understand it. She probably thinks I'm cruel
and somebody else might laugh about it, but I don't think that April will
no, I don't think that April will.
Would you take me back if I asked you to?
Would you give me one more chance?
Would you let me in if I called your name even though it makes no sense?
'Cause there's just no saying the crazy things that someone in love might do,
and even though I'm leaving, babe I'm still in love with you.
It's a cold night in April, the winter snow still falling down.
The light has faded from her eyes.
Her ship of dreams has run aground.....
FATMAN
©1998 by Joel Cage
There's a fat man sitting on a cornerstone, sipping on a cup of coffee.
He's got sweat stains under his arms. He's got a newspaper that he can't read.
He's gonna find himself a job. He's gonna find himself a nice girl,
raise a home and build a family.
He's gonna find himself a place in the working world.
There's a young girl holding a baby. Looks like she's gonna have another one soon.
She's trying to prove that she can make a difference the only way that she knows how to.
Her mama says she's got to move on, throw away that baton that she likes to twirl.
Welfare and food-stamps only get you so far.
You got to find yourself a place in the working world.
And the night is coming, falling fast.
You gotta hit the ground running You gotta make it last
I been strumming on this guitar for so long now, singing songs to the women I've loved.
Believing that with the elevated forces of music I can rise above.
But the message is all so clear, as the red carpet of life unfurls.
You got to leave behind your lonely dreams, boy,
you got to find yourself a place in the working world.
ELEVATOR
©1998 by Joel Cage
She rises each and every day, gets herself up on her way.
I've watched her as she does this, from behind.
She sees her face up on a wall and as the numbers rise and fall
she wonders if she'll stand the test of time.
Then she takes off all her clothes and in innocence, away she goes,
the morning ritual she know so clean.
She stops to make herself complete before she heads out on the street
to mend the pieces of her broken dream.
...And then she thinks of me.
She takes a bus into a job and satisfies the daily log
of a place where they don't always treat her nice.
And she gives herself another chance to learn the patterns of the dance,
hoping someday she might get it right.
She sounds happy on the phone, but in her heart she's all alone,
no matter that I'm standing by her side.
And at the end of every day she gets up and moves on her way
to take that elevator ride.
...And then she thinks of me.....
When she gets back home at night she steps inside, turns on the light,
the only love she knows is by the door.
She cooks herself an evening meal of something good and warm and real,
imagining someone to make it for.
She fades back into her world, the day behind her comes unfurled.
She's sets to face another lonely night.
When she's lying in her bed an emptiness comes to her head
and as she slowly reaches for the light
...then she thinks of me.
GOODBYE
©1998 by Joel Cage
Sometimes I sit alone and wonder what it might be like to be with you,
and that feels good enough.
I think of all the times we had and understood our love was never true,
and that feels good enough,
but I see a brighter day
and now I can laugh and say
goodbye.
You say there's no connection between sex and love but this I won't believe
and if you do it's safe to say there's no hope for the things that you are trying to achieve.
But now, I don't even care
because you were never
there....
but when I feel blue again,
it's all over you again.
I look around at those, the ones I love, and think they're all I'll ever have
and that feels good enough.
But unlike you, I do believe in standing by my love until the end,
and that feels good enough,
because I see a brighter day
and now I can laugh and say
goodbye....
.... And now I can laugh and say that
I see a brighter day.
Goodbye.