So, if I was doing a live show, I would have some kind of intro for each tune before playing it.

Think of this as kind of like the liner notes on an old fashioned LP

1. Look Out Here I Come

This is a song I wrote for my Mother, and it seems very right for me these days as well.

Lyric

Look Out Here I Come
Hit me with your very best shot
Look Out Here I Come
Give me everything you got
I been up and down, I been counted out
Now I think I know what this is all about
It ain’t the time to cut and run
Here I come

Look Out Here I Come
Line up for the big parade
Look Out Here I Come
Good luck isn’t found it’s made
I cant live my life like it’s made of glass
I you can’t run the ball try a forward pass
Forget about the starting gun
Here I come

Look Out Here I Come
You wouldn’t wanna stand in my way
Look Out Here I Come
It doesn’t matter what you say
When the line is drawn and the die is cast
I’m gonna be first ‘Cause I used to be last
Got a feeling that this could be fun
Here I come

2. I Never Knew No One

Love songs, sad or happy, probably account for more than half the tunes ever written, and I guess that’s as it should be.

Love, after all, is pretty important. This is a happy one

Lyric

I never knew no one 
Could love me like you do (x2)
I’ve known 
some that loved me hard
Some that loved me slow
Some that raised me up
Some that laid me low
I never knew no one 
Could love me like you do

I never knew no one 
Could make me feel so fine x2
You chill me when I’m burning
Warm me when I’m cool 
Cheer me when I’m clever
Laugh when I’m a fool
I never knew no one 
Could make me feel so fine

I guess I just got lucky
It’s a rare thing in this life
Like Goldilocks’ and her third bowl of porridge 
Not too hot, not too cold
Just right

I never knew no one
Like you till I met you (2x)
You’re everything I want
Everything I need
I love it when we dance
‘Cause no one has to lead
I never knew no one
Could love me like you do

3. Slow Day At The Crematorium

Kinda like the old saying about whistling past the graveyard..

Lyric

Slow day at the crematorium 
The parking lot was empty except for the limousine 
And three guys in dark suits tryin hard not to look mean 
Always brings me up short every time I have to drive by
I ain’t worried about dyin but I wonder what it’s like to die
I been around a while seen a lotta folks take that walk
I ain’t scared of no ghosts long as they they ain’t wailin
And they’re happy just to hang around and talk…

4. I Remember You

Memory is a fickle thing, fragile even. But some things and some people are impossible to forget, at least at the moment

Lyric

I walked out of the bar and left my guitar behind
Lost my wallet and phone, bone’s what holds on to my mind
I’ve forgotten more than I can remember
Can’t remember everything I forgot
But when I close my eyes at night 
I REMEMBER YOU

Forgetting the water, I put the coffee to perk
Without picks in my pocket Ive shown up for work
They say the second thing you lose is your memory
I seem to have forgotten the first
But when I close my eyes at night
I REMEMBER YOU

Unforgettable doesn’t really cover it
You’re like an indelible sign
The further away in time and space
The more you’re on my mind

I remember the lyrics, keep forgetting the chords
Can’t put a name to the faces of people that I’ve seen before
The world is a place of wonder
I’m in a constant state of deja vu
But when I close my eyes at night
I REMEMBER YOU

5. I Hope You Don’t Mind

That part of waiting for sleep where you turn over things in the past…sometimes it’s the happy stuff, sometimes it’s regret

Lyric

I hope you don’t mind
If I think about you sometimes 
Every once in a while 
You are on my mind
Oh I know what we had 
Is long since gone 
Somehow these memories
Keep holding on 
I hope you don’t mind 
If you’re on my mind

I hope you don’t mind
If I dream about you sometimes 
Shadow dancing at night
To the beat of my heart
Though I know what we had 
Is deep in the past 
Somehow this memory 
Just seems to last
I hope you don’t mind 
If you’re in my dreams

I hope you don’t mind 
If I cry about you sometimes 
When I’m all myself 
With what might have been 
Although what we had
Is history
In my heart you’ll always be 
A part of me 
I hope you don’t mind
If sometimes I cry

6. Here To Complain

As we get older things change and not always for the better. But one of the good things is that people kind of expect complaints- Get Off My Lawn, etc

Lyric

Well my pants are beginning to slip
‘Cause my belly’s gettin’ bigger than my hips
Gray hair on my head but what the heck
The ones that kinda bother me are the ones below my neck
I know a little heavy lifting will provoke a lot of pain
Can’t dance the way I used to ‘cause my knees won’t take the strain
But I’m still glad
To be here to complain.

If I feel some little ache when the morning arrives
It only goes to show that I am still alive
Gotta  visit with the doctor every time I get an itch
And the dentist holds my mortgage in a gold plated fist
Getting old is not for pussies says the old refrain
But it beats the alternative leastwise in the main
So I’m still glad
To be here to complain

Gotta get up in a hurry sometimes twice a night
Drink one beer too many my stomache wants to fight
Better not drive with the reading glasses on
And my get up and go is just about gone
The list keeps getting longer as the days are growing short
Never thought that getting old would be a contact sport
But I’m still glad
To be here to complain

7. One Size Fits All

The Blues, with a capital B, has always been a deep well of inspiration for me. I have come to believe that it is a universal feeling, that it will sooner or later come to us all.

Lyric

From the man on the hill with the great big house
To the guy in the tarpaper shack
Makes no difference if you’re riding on a city bus
Or you’re driving a Cadillac 
It’s the original equal opportunity 
Everybody takes the fall
That’s the thing about the blues
One size fits all 

From the Hollywood starlet to the ten dollar harlot
Hiding in the shadows of the moon
Doesn’t matter if you’re working in a crystal tower 
Or flipping burgers in a greasy spoon
It’s gonna happen when you least expect it 
Doesn’t matter if you’re big or small 
That’s the thing about the blues
One size fits all

You might as well meet’em with open arms 
And greet‘em like a long lost friend 
You know ‘cause you’ve had the blues before 
And you know you’re gonna know it when you  have ‘em again

From the high school queen to the young James Dean
It all comes around in the end
You can say a thousand times that it ain’t gonna happen 
And then it happens again
Rich man, poor man, beggar man, thief 
Everybody gets the call
That’s the thing about the blues
One size fits all

That’s the thing about the blues
One size fits all
That’s the thing about the blues
One size fits all
Do whatever you want to avoid the pain
The blues is gonna find you again and again 
That’s the thing about the blues
That’s the thing about the blues
That’s the thing about the blues
One size fits all.

8. Oh You Kid

Once upon a time

Lyric

When I was a younger man
I did the things a young man can
I did’em wrong I did’em right
I did’em more than twice a night
Now I can’t do the things I did
I love my wife but oh you kid.

9. I Heard The Wind Call Your Name

A lament for lost love, a memory written on the wind

Lyric

Late last night
I heard the wind call your name
I could not sleep
Tossed and turned in vain
Your memory burned
Like a cold blue flame

Long ago
I let you walk away
With just one word
I could have made you stay
For foolish pride
I am alone today

The night is cold
And the stars are gone
To have you back
I’d give up all I own
Too late, too late
You’re never comin’ home

10. It Was Fine While It Lasted

When the end comes as a surprise, when you realize you didn’t really know what was happening and suddenly you find yourself trying to figure out why it ended

Lyric

I have tried but I just don’t understand it 
How your love could have faded overnight
Thought I’d always have you near
But somehow you disappeared
And I wonder what I did that wasn’t right

It’s so strange ‘cause I really thought I knew you
And the years only seemed to prove it so
But now you have gone away
So I wander through the day
Tryin’ to think what I did to make you go

There’s no answer to the riddle of existence
The road of love is different for us all
We just carry on and try to go the distance
And hope someone’s there to help us if sometime we should fall

So goodbye adios and sayonara
It was fine while it lasted, so they say
I suppose we could be friends
But I’d rather not pretend 
Guess it’s best if I simply walk away
It was fine while it lasted, so they say

11. They’re Counting The Dead

War, the most horrible of human inventions, seems endless at times…

Lyric

They’re counting the dead 
to see who’s ahead
They’re counting the bullets and bombs
I guess if they could 
they would tally the blood 
And the number of children without any moms 
Somebody once said and I think it is so 
That a war doesn’t show who was RIGHT
Who’s LEFT is the singular thing it can show
At the end of the damnable night.
At the end of the damnable night.

12. You Can’t Go Home Again

Life as an expat is full of contradictions and some things aren’t easily forgotten.

Lyric

It’s been a while since I went back
To the land of broken dreams 
Where midnight smells of gunfire
And nothing’s what it seems
Where the auto-mobile still is king
And there’s bounty on the queens
With pockets of democracy 
In fascist’s faded jeans

The early morning red eye flight 
Was full of fearful folks
I could see it in the way they drank 
And the way they told their jokes
Even when they tried to sleep 
They held on to their phones 
There’s nothing quite so sad as folks
Afraid to be going home

The cop in charge of passports
Took my prints and scanned my eyes
With a faint hit of suspicion
that he could not quite disguise 
He stamped my book and waved me through
I could swear I saw him wink
And in that very moment 
I did not know what to think 

The greyhound bus I boarded
Smelled of lunch and sin
I sat back by the toilet
And I sipped a pint of gin 
Partly for the fire it gave
Part to fortify 
I do not pass this way unless
Someone should up and die

We pulled in to the station
And I began to see
Everything was still the same
That is except for me
They say you can’t go home again
I do believe it’s true
You can go back to the place called home
But you will not be you

I grabbed my bag and headed out
My feet they knew the way
My heart began to palpitate
To think what I would say
I’d walked these streets a million times
But not for many years
Then I was walking up the path
To that damn house of tears

The old folks gathered round me
As I stepped through the door
With handshakes, hugs and how’re you doings
Till I could bear no more
After I had made the rounds 
I turned  about to go

When someone called out stay a while
And I just whispered no.

I did not want a bite to eat
I did not want to stay
I felt if I stayed longer 
I might never get away
I paid respect to yesterday
And did not care for more
I said I’ve got a plane to catch
And started for the door

I would not go with all of them
And sit down in the pew
Or stand around the burying ground
And weep as most folks do
I’d said good bye some years before
I’d made my peace back then
Said come on feets don’t fail me now
I won’t do this again

It’s funny how the airport changed
Now everyone was nice
The baggage check was easy 
And the scanner smooth as ice
My last cord was cut and now 
As we began to fly
I breathed a sigh of sweet relief 
And waved it all goodbye

13. Love Love Love

I guess I’m just an old hippie at heart, looking for love, peace and music

Lyric

I have spent some time in sadness 
Feeling lonely and alone 
When my world was filled with madness 
And my heart felt like a stone
Every time that happened
Like a blessing from above
The only thing that saved me was love 

I said love love love
Just can’t live without it
Love love love
There’s no two ways about it 
Love love love
Sometimes you gotta shout it
Love love love love love

I tried my hand at drinking 
I think I’ve had enough
I tried my hand at lots of 
Different kinds of crazy stuff 
Sometimes it brought me  pleasure 
Sometimes it eased the pain 
But when all of that was gone
There’s just one thing remains

I said Love Love Love
Cannot live without it
Love Love Love
Sometimes you got to shout it
Love Love Love Love Love

It’s a crazy world we live in
And it goes from bad to worse
With super storms
and social shame 
And war’s recurring curse
The heart may hold the answer
When searching for the dove 
Might as well start simple- with love

I said love love love
Cannot live without it
Love love love
There’s no two ways about it 
Love love love
Sometimes you gotta shout it
Love love love love love