purchase from:
barnes & noble
amazon
LYRICS:
Heydays
Timothy Monger
Heydays are passing.
Your house has been rented
Several times over
By prettier girls.
Weekends and summers,
Bands that you loved
Were just haircuts and jackets.
Back then that was enough.
Your days are invested,
The band has been signed.
You�ve been there before,
Perhaps this is the time.
Girlfriends are leaving,
New girls arrive.
You open the circle,
To be blinded by light.
Uncertain the future,
Nostalgic the past.
Unable to recognize,
Moments that pass.
Heydays are passing.
Friendless and thin,
From back doors of cafes,
Hid by the din.
But don�t hold a candle,
Don�t carry a torch.
Those are for castles,
And you are long from their court.
But lift up a bottle,
And put back a glass.
Some years from tomorrow,
With your gut you�ll look back.
Summer Bonfire
James Christopher Monger
Sweet mother come down and say your prayers
For the fields are rank with summer, as if God just left them there
And who is that caught in your death row stare
All your Midwest sons and daughters �neath the world�s electric�.
Hey boys, down by the bonfire glow
Oh yeah, rain on you selfish lovers
Hey girls, drunk on the weekends
Nubile skin meets car seat leather, radio forecasts stormy weather
In the mornings down at the five & dime
Watching golden pennies pancake on a sun burnt railroad line
Dewdrops cover the world in brine
And the salty bangs of August taste like long red bottles of�.
Hey boys, down by the bonfire glow
Oh yeah, rain on you selfish lovers
Hey girls, drunk on the weekends
All the lads they come when their sisters call
When the linseed oil and laughter turns to lust and alcohol
Moonlight reaps what the midday sews
All the yearlings leave their mothers when the summer bonfires glow
Hey boys, down by the bonfire glow
Oh yeah, rain on you selfish lovers
Hey girls, drunk on the weekends
Lightning strikes the broken-hearted find a field and let�s get started
Nightfall at Electric Park
Timothy Monger
The lilacs hum against my Schwinn.
There! Lions wait
In the sweet faded grass.
Thunder tumbling and
Rising with the moon�
Revolving gates, I slip past.
Down to Electric Park,
Warmer winds are blowing.
Twilight heavy on the road,
Ferries steam across the water.
Evening walks among the crowd.
Palaise de Danse,
Marching drums, swelling brass.
Boardwalk carousel,
A Camelot of lights.
There, lovers wait, holding hands.
Down to Electric Park,
Cable cars are going.
Streetlights heavy on the roads,
Voltage burning in the wires.
Blazing like a Northern star,
Nightfall at Electric Park.
They sail across from Canada.
From April to October they will go�
In waves, in pairs, alone!
Down to Electric Park,
Everyone is going.
Moonlight heavy on the road,
Night mosaic on the water.
Queen of the Barleyfool
James Christopher Monger
I know you�re drinking down at the Barley Fool
Oh, the wind blew in through my window and spoke of you
It spoke of heartache, whiskey and grenadine
I drink the Great Lakes dry man, but I can�t keep up with the Queen
Queen of the Barley Fool
I hear the jukebox playing your Smithsonian Folkways tunes
And all the drunks are singing and they think they�re in love with you
And they wonder why you�re wasting you�re time with me
And they wonder why I�m wasting my time with the Queen
Queen of the Barley Fool
Oh, my sweet angel in the graveyard
I know you�re picking out a stone for me
Keep it clean and sheltered from the moon
Write, �Loved and lost at sea�
I know the grass grows greener on the side of the sober man
Oh, his nights are clearer and he shaves with a steady hand
But he�ll never know the kiss of the guillotine
Or get to last call shaking and surrender his heart to a Queen
Queen of the Barley Fool
March
Gregory McIntosh
Time would stop and in silence shake when I�d shape my arm around your waist. And though nighttime brought your heaviest freight, some did never sleep, some did never wake. The portrait curled in violets and blues carried all my best from my brush to you. Framed on your wall in the daybreak hush, it saw all our troubles come alive with us.
Move on, move on! It�s been so long and I don�t have the tears for that now. Move on, move on! It�s been so long and I don�t have the tears for the years you�ve had so many tumbling down.
Oh, my breath is all but dead; no, alcohol won�t cure no head. Lying on my back as the daylight grew; the portrait helped me see the worst in you. So, I�m your secret locked up in the box where you keep your hopeless serenades and your knives with my name on them? Who�s now your soldier standing starboard aboard the ship you keep trapped inside the bottle of your discontent amid your fears and allegations?
Eastern Birds
Timothy Monger
Blue ship sail me,
Lost in the slipper of the night.
Full steam daily,
Puffing like a fisherman�s pipe.
Walking up the main streets
Smiling, seeing things.
Far away a season is zipping up.
Green lights changing,
Cold Appalachian towns.
Dead strings breaking,
A snowstorm is going to come down.
Walking out of clubs, lame
Bound to the earth again.
A parliament of ravens too drunk to fly.
The Massachusetts Turnpike
Puritan, stock and still.
Headed for the heart of the Sunday night!
Stump Speech
Timothy Monger
Ooh, love,
Weathervanes and charms
May protect your home.
But ooh, love,
Don�t get caught
At night in the fields alone.
Ooh, love,
Are your nights with him
Worth the seeds we�d sown?
And ooh, love,
How I long to show you
The great unknown!
I�ll come down in the middle of the night,
Hauling oblivion to shatter the sugar pines.
Splitting giants with a railroad light,
It�s a stump speech!
To claim what was already mine.
Midwest Main Street
James Christopher Monger
Lost dog over the train tracks
Moonlight falls on a Midwest main street
Where all of the dogs eat good meat
And nobody shows their real face
Over the train tracks all the stoplights fail
Hometown, same as you left it
Pants down, cigarettes hung from a keychain
Jean jackets reek in the warm rain
What ever happened to Sweet Jane?
She went from Velvet to Junkie and hung her head in shame
Old ghosts ride in the back seat
Dead friends sleep in the cafes
New loves beg for attention
Pull your heart back in their direction
Last call, over the train tracks all those lost dogs howl
Days of Apple Pie
James Christopher Monger
I took a walk into the pines
I left a million trees behind
They closed the hill I used to climb
Here�s my reward
Back in the days of apple pie
I�d lie along the mountainside
I�d watch the black flies fill the sky
Here�s my reward
I found a friend one summer night
She�d lay her head down next to mine
We�d send the whippoorwills a flight
Here�s my reward
Gray homes and endless highways
Down in the maple grove,
Ten times sweeter than the world above
Raindrops & Roses
James Christopher Monger
I hear the freight trains go by a like a clipper ship sinking
I close my eyes; write my name on the windowpane thinking
Oh, my heart
I�m going down with what�s left of the mast
I fear for my life like a bird before glass
Raindrops and roses
Raindrops and roses
I see the sun way up high like a mama bird weeping
I fear she�ll come down and carry me off while I�m sleeping
Oh, my head
I�d cry like a newborn that�s pulled from the breast
I pray the world never lights up my nest
Raindrops and roses
Raindrops and roses
I feel the eyes of the world like a tidal wave breaking
I wrap my arms around the copper ball weathervane shaking
Oh, my soul
I�d swim like piper with bellows for breath
And bury that spire in the belly of death
Raindrops and roses
Raindrops and roses
Lay me down slowly and clip off my wings
I�m gonna bring all my favorite things
I�m gonna bring all my favorite things
Debutante
Timothy Monger
Hey girls,
Though the winter is lost
To fools who cherish
On these decadent nights
Of Spring I want to walk.
Run wild,
Move your frames in the dark
The moon desire�s clock.
Hey girls,
Sexy, drunk in the street,
Your racy laughter
Rings so dulcet and fine
On April�s warmest night.
Run wild,
Move your frames in the street.
The moon on Forest Street�
The Gales of 1838
Gregory McIntosh
They say, �She walks in the water; her whistles silence the day.� She helps the smugglers turn their crimes into American dimes into Canadian dollars, opium, and haze. At the foot of Woodward, there�s a condition or two to shade the custom�s review: all the young women overdressed in their long-coats allow us to drink on their wine. Our eyes turn to glass and shine on blind. So I�ve had wine and wine and wine and more wine tonight, and tonight I saw their world. And I am so far from it now, I�m collapsing like the lighthouse in the gales of 1838.
She takes musicians to Bois Blanc. She takes the dancers there too and at the end of the long nights, she takes them back by lamplight but until then she stays clear out of view. Before we dock at Richmond there�s a hidden tax of merit and all the boaters inherit one dollar for every Lincoln brought in. We exchange them their Loonies and unwind. Our eyes turn to glass and shine on blind.
barnes & noble
amazon
LYRICS:
Heydays
Timothy Monger
Heydays are passing.
Your house has been rented
Several times over
By prettier girls.
Weekends and summers,
Bands that you loved
Were just haircuts and jackets.
Back then that was enough.
Your days are invested,
The band has been signed.
You�ve been there before,
Perhaps this is the time.
Girlfriends are leaving,
New girls arrive.
You open the circle,
To be blinded by light.
Uncertain the future,
Nostalgic the past.
Unable to recognize,
Moments that pass.
Heydays are passing.
Friendless and thin,
From back doors of cafes,
Hid by the din.
But don�t hold a candle,
Don�t carry a torch.
Those are for castles,
And you are long from their court.
But lift up a bottle,
And put back a glass.
Some years from tomorrow,
With your gut you�ll look back.
Summer Bonfire
James Christopher Monger
Sweet mother come down and say your prayers
For the fields are rank with summer, as if God just left them there
And who is that caught in your death row stare
All your Midwest sons and daughters �neath the world�s electric�.
Hey boys, down by the bonfire glow
Oh yeah, rain on you selfish lovers
Hey girls, drunk on the weekends
Nubile skin meets car seat leather, radio forecasts stormy weather
In the mornings down at the five & dime
Watching golden pennies pancake on a sun burnt railroad line
Dewdrops cover the world in brine
And the salty bangs of August taste like long red bottles of�.
Hey boys, down by the bonfire glow
Oh yeah, rain on you selfish lovers
Hey girls, drunk on the weekends
All the lads they come when their sisters call
When the linseed oil and laughter turns to lust and alcohol
Moonlight reaps what the midday sews
All the yearlings leave their mothers when the summer bonfires glow
Hey boys, down by the bonfire glow
Oh yeah, rain on you selfish lovers
Hey girls, drunk on the weekends
Lightning strikes the broken-hearted find a field and let�s get started
Nightfall at Electric Park
Timothy Monger
The lilacs hum against my Schwinn.
There! Lions wait
In the sweet faded grass.
Thunder tumbling and
Rising with the moon�
Revolving gates, I slip past.
Down to Electric Park,
Warmer winds are blowing.
Twilight heavy on the road,
Ferries steam across the water.
Evening walks among the crowd.
Palaise de Danse,
Marching drums, swelling brass.
Boardwalk carousel,
A Camelot of lights.
There, lovers wait, holding hands.
Down to Electric Park,
Cable cars are going.
Streetlights heavy on the roads,
Voltage burning in the wires.
Blazing like a Northern star,
Nightfall at Electric Park.
They sail across from Canada.
From April to October they will go�
In waves, in pairs, alone!
Down to Electric Park,
Everyone is going.
Moonlight heavy on the road,
Night mosaic on the water.
Queen of the Barleyfool
James Christopher Monger
I know you�re drinking down at the Barley Fool
Oh, the wind blew in through my window and spoke of you
It spoke of heartache, whiskey and grenadine
I drink the Great Lakes dry man, but I can�t keep up with the Queen
Queen of the Barley Fool
I hear the jukebox playing your Smithsonian Folkways tunes
And all the drunks are singing and they think they�re in love with you
And they wonder why you�re wasting you�re time with me
And they wonder why I�m wasting my time with the Queen
Queen of the Barley Fool
Oh, my sweet angel in the graveyard
I know you�re picking out a stone for me
Keep it clean and sheltered from the moon
Write, �Loved and lost at sea�
I know the grass grows greener on the side of the sober man
Oh, his nights are clearer and he shaves with a steady hand
But he�ll never know the kiss of the guillotine
Or get to last call shaking and surrender his heart to a Queen
Queen of the Barley Fool
March
Gregory McIntosh
Time would stop and in silence shake when I�d shape my arm around your waist. And though nighttime brought your heaviest freight, some did never sleep, some did never wake. The portrait curled in violets and blues carried all my best from my brush to you. Framed on your wall in the daybreak hush, it saw all our troubles come alive with us.
Move on, move on! It�s been so long and I don�t have the tears for that now. Move on, move on! It�s been so long and I don�t have the tears for the years you�ve had so many tumbling down.
Oh, my breath is all but dead; no, alcohol won�t cure no head. Lying on my back as the daylight grew; the portrait helped me see the worst in you. So, I�m your secret locked up in the box where you keep your hopeless serenades and your knives with my name on them? Who�s now your soldier standing starboard aboard the ship you keep trapped inside the bottle of your discontent amid your fears and allegations?
Eastern Birds
Timothy Monger
Blue ship sail me,
Lost in the slipper of the night.
Full steam daily,
Puffing like a fisherman�s pipe.
Walking up the main streets
Smiling, seeing things.
Far away a season is zipping up.
Green lights changing,
Cold Appalachian towns.
Dead strings breaking,
A snowstorm is going to come down.
Walking out of clubs, lame
Bound to the earth again.
A parliament of ravens too drunk to fly.
The Massachusetts Turnpike
Puritan, stock and still.
Headed for the heart of the Sunday night!
Stump Speech
Timothy Monger
Ooh, love,
Weathervanes and charms
May protect your home.
But ooh, love,
Don�t get caught
At night in the fields alone.
Ooh, love,
Are your nights with him
Worth the seeds we�d sown?
And ooh, love,
How I long to show you
The great unknown!
I�ll come down in the middle of the night,
Hauling oblivion to shatter the sugar pines.
Splitting giants with a railroad light,
It�s a stump speech!
To claim what was already mine.
Midwest Main Street
James Christopher Monger
Lost dog over the train tracks
Moonlight falls on a Midwest main street
Where all of the dogs eat good meat
And nobody shows their real face
Over the train tracks all the stoplights fail
Hometown, same as you left it
Pants down, cigarettes hung from a keychain
Jean jackets reek in the warm rain
What ever happened to Sweet Jane?
She went from Velvet to Junkie and hung her head in shame
Old ghosts ride in the back seat
Dead friends sleep in the cafes
New loves beg for attention
Pull your heart back in their direction
Last call, over the train tracks all those lost dogs howl
Days of Apple Pie
James Christopher Monger
I took a walk into the pines
I left a million trees behind
They closed the hill I used to climb
Here�s my reward
Back in the days of apple pie
I�d lie along the mountainside
I�d watch the black flies fill the sky
Here�s my reward
I found a friend one summer night
She�d lay her head down next to mine
We�d send the whippoorwills a flight
Here�s my reward
Gray homes and endless highways
Down in the maple grove,
Ten times sweeter than the world above
Raindrops & Roses
James Christopher Monger
I hear the freight trains go by a like a clipper ship sinking
I close my eyes; write my name on the windowpane thinking
Oh, my heart
I�m going down with what�s left of the mast
I fear for my life like a bird before glass
Raindrops and roses
Raindrops and roses
I see the sun way up high like a mama bird weeping
I fear she�ll come down and carry me off while I�m sleeping
Oh, my head
I�d cry like a newborn that�s pulled from the breast
I pray the world never lights up my nest
Raindrops and roses
Raindrops and roses
I feel the eyes of the world like a tidal wave breaking
I wrap my arms around the copper ball weathervane shaking
Oh, my soul
I�d swim like piper with bellows for breath
And bury that spire in the belly of death
Raindrops and roses
Raindrops and roses
Lay me down slowly and clip off my wings
I�m gonna bring all my favorite things
I�m gonna bring all my favorite things
Debutante
Timothy Monger
Hey girls,
Though the winter is lost
To fools who cherish
On these decadent nights
Of Spring I want to walk.
Run wild,
Move your frames in the dark
The moon desire�s clock.
Hey girls,
Sexy, drunk in the street,
Your racy laughter
Rings so dulcet and fine
On April�s warmest night.
Run wild,
Move your frames in the street.
The moon on Forest Street�
The Gales of 1838
Gregory McIntosh
They say, �She walks in the water; her whistles silence the day.� She helps the smugglers turn their crimes into American dimes into Canadian dollars, opium, and haze. At the foot of Woodward, there�s a condition or two to shade the custom�s review: all the young women overdressed in their long-coats allow us to drink on their wine. Our eyes turn to glass and shine on blind. So I�ve had wine and wine and wine and more wine tonight, and tonight I saw their world. And I am so far from it now, I�m collapsing like the lighthouse in the gales of 1838.
She takes musicians to Bois Blanc. She takes the dancers there too and at the end of the long nights, she takes them back by lamplight but until then she stays clear out of view. Before we dock at Richmond there�s a hidden tax of merit and all the boaters inherit one dollar for every Lincoln brought in. We exchange them their Loonies and unwind. Our eyes turn to glass and shine on blind.
