All lyrics by Sam Misner unless otherwise noted.

Halfway Home (2004)

Fall Away

When the evening wind begins to tease the tinted sky
All adrift on sails of silk the wandering monarch flies
My own heart’s also rising, keeping rhythm with day
Dropping like the faded sun my own blues fall away.

Fumbling through a world of information, drowning slow
Cut off from the star-lit night by neon’s empty glow
No room left for mystery, everything’s explained
But truths are never seen so clear as when names fall away.

Fall away…

I lift my feet to take the trail and whisper to the trees
Whose whisper’s creak and moan and hush then settle on the breeze
Timber grabs the granite tight against the strain
And when leaves turn to burden they simply fall away.

Fall away…

Halfway Home

That first night I met her, her eyes were blazing
Staring me down with her smile
All I could do to keep my cards steady
Was to lay them right down on the pile.

      Though the queen of spades was matched with her husband
      And all of their court was in tow
      She smiled once again, keeping her distance
      My straight flush fell flat on the floor.

Well, laughter and yelling couldn’t pierce my attention
Without looking I knew where she was.
Sending out shots of her full throttle laughter
That ran through the walls of my blood.

      My nerves were sparks spinning like cyclones
      My eyes held a coal-fire gaze.
      I gathered up my words, which soon slipped, fell and faltered,
      Speechless, I went to her just the same.

So a wordless conversation we held in the kitchen
Spoken with eyes bright like chrome
And then suddenly her words burst forth in a whisper:
“Would you like me to walk you halfway home?”

      She spoke, she spoke! And her laughter was contagious,
      I caught it and I threw it back again.
      “Yes please” was my answer to this part-time modern dancer
      And we strolled into the night and were gone.

We stood on a hill near a church overlooking
The town that lay sleeping down below.
Up above scattered stars hung in between where the clouds clung
In the spot that I stood Time broke down.

      We spoke of bits and pieces of our lives and the pathways
      That happened to lead us to this hill.
      And though our destination’s hazy and at times I know I’m crazy
      The magic of that night drives me still
      And if these memories start to fade like ages that are past and gone
      That night will live forever in this song.

Keep in Time

Shadows slide along the wall
In a hushed silhouette parade
And meet in the corners of this hall
And gather in pools of shade.

Keep in time to the truth inside your heart, my dear,
It doesn’t lie.
We all have days in which every way seems wrong, my dear,
That’s just the way.
All I know is that I will show you
Love till I die.

Caught inside an hourglass
Sifting through sands of time
Each grain holds a memory
And like dust in light they shine

Henry & Lil

Will I ever know them quite like I did
When the long hours of summer rolled along?
Sitting in the shade garden, sipping lemonade,
Weary from the sun but still felt strong.
      There were twenty thousand things to do
      In a summer afternoon
      And if we rested long it would be gone.

Will I ever know them quite like I did
When the dreary rains of winter trapped us in?
Some days felt like torture, silent agitation,
Loving hate we all save for our kin.
      But, oh, the early evenings
      Mom would play piano
      And we soaked up her music through our skin.

Will I ever know them quite like I did
When the grass-stained days of spring came around?
All the hills were topped with green as far as we could see
It seemed as though it seeped up from the ground.
      And as the days would slide away
      So would those hours of play
      So in our beds we talked till sleep was found.

Will I ever know them quite like I did
When all our days were held in childhood’s hand?
Moving through our daydreams, skipping over reason,
Building forts to see how long they’d stand.
      And as the days would slide away
      So would those hours of play
      So in our beds we talked till sleep was found.

Shadows of Embraces

Through the shades I feel the path he paces
The hollow ache, the shadows of embraces.
If I had the words to heal and release him
From these heartache thoughts that poison as they tease him.

      Will this all…
      Will this all make…
      Will this all make sense someday?

Spending days drifting through the traces
Of a love that sorrow now replaces.
In his dreams she doesn’t really leave him
Lingering shades of gray that tend to only grieve him.

      Will this all…
      Will this all make…
      Will this all make sense someday?

What remains of what his mind erases?
Filling holes with other people’s faces.
Trapped inside a world that never changes season,
Horoscopes don’t seem to ever give him reasons.

      Will this all…
      Will this all make…
      Will this all make sense someday?

One Day

One day I will be old
Gonna swim in the ocean all alone

One day I will be old
Like a child’s chased wave these young days won’t stay

One day we’ll be as old as the stars
Yes, and perhaps we already are

Your eyes could hold up the sky
Fill it with blue and make rain clouds dry

Someday I’ll understand
And I’ll know if all these waves are planned

One day I will be old
Gonna swim in the ocean all alone

One day we’ll be as old as the stars
Yes, and perhaps we already are

Piccolo Pete

The docks are in shadows, sun is lean as a bone,
He’s traded in his trumpet for a slide trombone.
Wailing on the corner is Piccolo Pete
Trying to sell his stories for a bite to eat.
Ninety-nine sailors all alone at sea, boys,
One swam back, that one was me.

Seabirds are nervous all along the coast,
There’s something in the air they could feel the ghosts.
Widow-walks are crowded but the graves are holes
With nothing now to put in them but names of souls.
Ninety-nine sailors lying in the sea, boys,
One still walks, one still breathes.

Half a cup of whiskey and I’ll spin you a tale
As honest as the truth on a three-beam scale.
Salivating businessmen shiver in the cold,
Sacrificing freedom for the taste of gold.
I used to chase the greenback but it ain’t for me, babe.
I once was blinded but now I see.

I used to know a banker but he sold his soul.
Gave up his sense of humor for a heart of coal.
His eyes are full of razors now, his head is full of greed,
He dreams at night of nursery rhymes and fires that bleed.
I used to feel the fever but it ain’t for me, babe.
I once was blinded but now I see.

In Life With Love

The wind on that day blew the clouds all her way
And left her to walk in the haze
Though the sun was not bright, her footsteps fell light
For not one single question plagued her mind.

      Above her rhododendrons rose
      And the mockingbirds composed
      Songs which had neither meaning nor direction.
      Their music gently fell like a thousand silver bells
      To envelop and twirl all around her.

At the edge of the sea she fell down upon her knees
Tears of joy leapt and met the waves
Laying cradled in the sand she felt a pulse run through the land
And she knew that the world was breathing with her.

      The crescent moon hung like a bow
      Aimed at the ocean down below
      Till it sank in the depths of it’s waters
      The wind’s fingers through her hair and her laughter filled the air
      With a burst of wild spinning patterns.

The wind on that day blew the clouds all her way
And left her to walk in the haze
Though the sun was not bright, her footsteps fell light
For not one single question plagued her mind.

Madeline (Paradise Cracked)

Deep in the night, moon’s almost down,
Silence has savagely covered this town.
Lying awake, cold restless thoughts have
Gathered around you and tied you in knots.
Tired and lonesome, lost as a ship
Whose compass is broken, whose sails are all ripped.

      Madeline, Madeline
      Close your eyes and sleep again.
      Ain’t no way forward but you can’t just turn back
      After discovering Paradise cracked.

Spent all you money on schemes that went south,
They lived and they died on the edge of your mouth.
Desperately searching, spinning a line
But circumstance curses you most of the time.
Why don’t you change something, shake off the rust
If there ain’t no one here but yourself you can trust.

      Madeline, Madeline
      Close your eyes and sleep again.
      Ain’t no way forward but you can’t just turn back
      After discovering Paradise cracked.

Shelves full of wisdom gathering dust,
The words on the pages seem bankrupt and bust.
You’ve read all the poets and written some tunes,
But sought inspiration alone in your room.
Chasing a fatal American dream
As false as a lover a broken heart fiend.

      Madeline, Madeline
      Close your eyes and sleep again.
      Ain’t no way forward but you can’t just turn back
      After discovering Paradise cracked.

Triangle Factory Fire

Locked inside the factory thirteen hours a day
The foreman’s bent to break our backs, our Uncle takes our pay.
Sewing rows of velvet clothes for uptown girls to wear
Our tenement slums have become a city of despair.

Seven cents an hour, yes, and every dress that’s sewn
Will sell for more than all my bills and everything I own
Saw a dress I made hung up in a fancy store,
Reflections in the windows showed the ragged clothes I wore

Hope is broken, worries in my soul.
One more day, one more dollar in the hole.

My name’s Cecilia Walker and I’m twenty years of age.
I crossed the wide Atlantic for to find a living wage.
Factory work and servants chores were all that I could find.
This land of opportunity’s not what I had in mind.

Hours of sewing came and went, the work day almost done.
The objects of our labor all around us they were hung.
The owners never trusted us, “These immigrants”, they swore,
“Will steal any chance they get—that’s why we lock the doors.”

Hope is broken, worries in my soul.
One more day, one more dollar in the hole.

Flames broke out below us and soon they blocked the door,
The fire escapes were bolted shut on every single floor.
Kept my wits about me and the good Lord by my side,
But I still believe that luck’s the only reason I’m alive.

And though a hundred-fifty women died up in them flames
The owners felt—and the courts agreed—it wasn’t them to blame.
So Isaac Harris and Max Blank can go home to their wives
While a hundred dollar bill should cover each and every life.

Hope is broken, worries in my soul.
One more day, one more dollar in the hole.

Mr. Corporation sitting eighty stories high,
Got a briefcase full of dollar bills, sleeps with it at night.
Makes his whole damn living off of other people’s needs,
He’ll sell you his own hanging rope if profit’s to be made.

Hope is broken, worries in my soul.
One more day, one more dollar in the hole.