John Lyle

Songs from the heart.

[johnlyle]

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Written in 2002, when the Catholic sex scandal could no longer be hidden and enabled.  To the Pope, it was 'an American problem'.

WAY PAST NOW Way past now, past the burning cow Where the salesmen never stop Where the road rolls deep And keening sheep sacrifice their crop Noble steeds have lost their feed While Agnes chews her mop Way past now, space and time have wowed But no one calls the cops I’m felling helpless, Agnes And a little reckless too Take me down your garden path And I will go with you Way past now past the trampled vows And the pleasure that is cruel Some old man with an empty hand Speaks the language of a fool I just listen to my teardrops glisten As they slide into the sand I’m too tired to fall asleep But I’ll do what I can

I’m felling helpless, Agnes And a little reckless too Take me down your garden path And I will go, I will go, I will go with you

[johnlyle]

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I WON'T BE LONESOME WHEN I'M GONE (J. Lyle & J. Murray) I may have been in China When you came to break the news Trying to give me something I can use I remember kind of peeling back into my blues Fetching for a pail to fill my shoes All graven images, from sea to shining sea Another smiling Christ, smiling back at me Woke up this morning with a hammer and a tong I won’t be lonesome when I’m gone I’m gonna backslide ‘til I find an open door Backslide ‘til I can’t backslide no more Every cold idea that thinks it knows the score Don’t seem to mean so much no more It must have been a foggy night, when you fell for me Everything you could forget, you managed not to see Woke up this morning with a hammer and a tong I won’t be lonesome when I’m gone One hand on the shovel, one foot in the grave Watch another breath go down the drain If you see my double, ask him if he has a name And if he’s taking rest inside the shade Everything you love in me, you hide inside yourself Turn it outside over, you don’t need no one’s help Woke up this morning with a hammer and a tong I won’t be lonesome when I’m gone

[johnlyle]

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I KNOW YOU RIDER Could be a story or it could be true Could be about me, it could be about you I’ve lost so many reasons for things I think I’ve done If I thought this pride of fools Called the shots and made the rules I’d take a flying leap back to the place from where I came I know you, rider, but I love you just the same You’ve been trying to break a code You’ve been trying to drop a load You’ve been carrying your own mountain Past the point of no return You’ve been living where the sun goes down Where what goes around, comes around They say a storm is brewing but they won’t give it a name I know you, rider, but I love you just the same Waves are lapping like a big dog’s tongue Just like it happened back when we were young You’re not here to solve the problems of the world Standing on the corner with your wings pinned back Barefoot and pregnant on a mountain path Screaming to the heavens like a keeper of the flame I know you, rider, but I love you just the same I know you, rider, like a dreamer knows his hand Like a rose that grows you’ll come to know I’m your biggest fan In the velvet afterglow of memory I go Footloose and funny in the shadow of the show I hear you whisper there ain’t no wind at all You made it here without a map All the stars smile behind your back You tremble at the mention of the One who has no name I know you, rider, but I love you just the same.

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Review, I Know You Rider.  Bitter-sweet reflections of life by the singer-song writer, John Lyle. The music is sweet with a Bluesy hook and, as the song says, and it could be about me or you. It is both a lament and a song of comfort. It talks about us not fighting the “rider” on our backs, or not fighting what is beyond our control. It makes me think of the famous Serenity Prayer— Grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference. I mention this with a little hesitation because the song is not a “heavy” song to listen to – the lyrics and words are engaging – and the melody is enchanting. But there is deeper message there, and the song – lyrics and music which work so well together– may be especially helpful to a person who is experiencing hard times. Many thanks for the song, John Lyle.

Reviewed by Paul Dolinsky http://tumblngphilopoet.tumblr.com

[tumblngphilopoet]

Incessant activity may masquerade

as creativity,

But it is creativity that watches

you persistently, insistently

Til something in you stirs,

Slow and serendipitous

or sudden with a snap,

Focused, unfocused,

purposeful, purposeless,

urgent, feckless.

*

We have human brains

but is there...

[johnlyle]

An excellent poetic monologue on the dichotomy of appearing to be what one is not while all the time being what one is and will always be.

[johnlyle]

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I KNOW YOU RIDER Could be a story or it could be true Could be about me, it could be about you I’ve lost so many reasons for things I think I’ve done If I thought this pride of fools Called the shots and made the rules I’d take a flying leap back to the place from where I came I know you, rider, but I love you just the same You’ve been trying to break a code You’ve been trying to drop a load You’ve been carrying your own mountain Past the point of no return You’ve been living where the sun goes down Where what goes around, comes around They say a storm is brewing but they won’t give it a name I know you, rider, but I love you just the same Waves are lapping like a big dog’s tongue Just like it happened back when we were young You’re not here to solve the problems of the world Standing on the corner with your wings pinned back Barefoot and pregnant on a mountain path Screaming to the heavens like a keeper of the flame I know you, rider, but I love you just the same I know you, rider, like a dreamer knows his hand Like a rose that grows you’ll come to know I’m your biggest fan In the velvet afterglow of memory I go Footloose and funny in the shadow of the show I hear you whisper there ain’t no wind at all You made it here without a map All the stars smile behind your back You tremble at the mention of the One who has no name I know you, rider, but I love you just the same

[johnlyle]

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HOLD ON AS SHE GOES Outside The Golden Lantern hoboes wear no clothes They set a certain standard I’m gonna go below Look at the faceless wonder blowing through the rye Tripping ‘cross the tundra, thrilling to the sky The pouring rain keeps saying hold on as she goes There’s no time to waste in this Holy place Hold on as she goes The milk of human kindness warming in the sun How better to remind us, nothing will be done The pouring rain keeps saying hold on as she goes There’s no time to waste in this Holy place Hold on as she goes Outside The Golden Lantern the fires have gone cold The homeless search the ashes for the things they’ve been told The pouring rain keeps saying hold on as she goes There’s no time to waste in this Holy place Hold on as she goes

[tumblngphilopoet]

http://mrharristweed.tumblr.com/post/11727306196s

Thesis

Temporality is on display

All is day, there is no night

There are no boundaries

History is obsolete

All is present

Antithesis

See what you can see

Before it seizes you,

Pulls you down,

then lifts you up

Into the heights,

...

[johnlyle]

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Alannah Myles on "THEY STONED HER" .......    "Thank you so much. The lyrics for 'They Stoned Her' are as beautifully written as they sound when they are sung. I hope that because it has moved me, the Universe will find a home for it somewhere. I know exactly what I would do with it sung acapella in 3 part harmony with only a simple tapping percussion. A very sad song that strikes a stringent chord in today's need to put an end to archaic religious beliefs. Many thanks for following your heart."

[johnlyle]

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I THOUGHT I SAW YOU I thought I saw you where the weeping willows grow Down by the river wearing someone elses clothes Then the wind did change and softly touch my brow As if to say, I am with you now But when I looked again you were no longer there Not but a shadow held my world of stormy care I’d sworn remembrance soon forgotten with the day Everything appears to pass away I thought I saw you but my seeing was in vain When all I wanted was to see you once again I thought I saw you where the hills of evening glow You were wearing someone elses clothes

[johnlyle]