Music
Lyrics
© 2020 Aaron Nathans
In the room to the left/Sits an old wooden desk
Spiral bound notebooks concealed
Closed and locked in the drawer/With those rusting awards
Pressing down on two books/With gold seals
Gleaming typing machine/Round and yellowing keys
Each letter an old dusty dart
Here it’s quiet and dim/Not a shadow of him
Not even a piece of his heart
But listen close/You can hear his lighter/Flick down the hall/Ghost writer
In this New England town/Seen him walking around
At the store, or the school, or the bank
Of the creek, killing time/He casts an old sorry line
His bucket as bare as his tank
The townspeople know/They should never approach
They don’t smile, they don’t ask, they don’t tell
When the visitors come/questions like loaded guns
They just shake their heads and wish them well
‘Cause the more you push/He goes tighter/This is home/Ghost writer
Yes, he’s climbed the mountain/And he’s got no more to roam
Is a man not entitled/ To a little peace at home
Don’t a man have a right/To write the story of his life
The way he chooses?
Bills running high, the bank account dry
He shakes as he stands in the door
Now he sits in the chair, the blank page laying there
And he shuffles his feet on the floor
He looks to the skies/And he closes his eyes
As he waits for the words to appear
He hears them and then, he puts down his pen
And he goes to the fridge for a beer
He is G-d, the decider
His choice/Ghost writer
Ghost writer
Don’t a man have a right/to write his own life
But he thinks, then again, and he lays down his pen
And he shakes loose a
To write his own life
© 2020 Aaron Nathans & Michael G. Ronstadt
You came to Coney Island
After the summer crowd scattered
You spent hours in these waters
And your teeth never chattered
You welcomed the winter
The cold was your friend
You left your windows open
No blankets on your bed
Oceans are rising, creatures are dying
It’s hotter than the sun, but our senses have gone numb
You’re up there flying, while we’re down here crying
To save us, save us please
In the shadow of the Cyclone
We stand here on New Year’s Day
As storm winds lash the shore
From off Jamaica Bay
I hold your ashes, o’ barbell man
You bathed below these rocks
You passed the hours in these icy waters
But now it’s too darn hot
Paupers are popping, You see them talking
Mouthing heavy words, Yet nothing can be heard
We feel the ice breaking, strongman, we’re shaking
Save us, save us, please
Help us, old strongman
We need your greatness
Look down on us kindly
With that smile so gracious
Help us, old strongman
To look trouble in the face
Now that you’re supernatural
Send us your strength
Please, Send us your strength
Send us your strength
© 2020 Aaron Nathans
I saw it in the paper
I was looking for a deal
I dickered and I bargained
I got it for a steal
I moved in my possessions
As I tucked in for the night
There was a howling in the hallway
And a pinging in the pipes
I get the sense that I’m not here alone
Guess I’ll have to make this haunted house my home
I went about my business
I tried to tune it out
But during meditation
I could hear a screeching sound
My cat was acting funny
Hey, who left on the lights?
And I saw funny shadows
In the corner of my eye
And I could swear I heard somebody moan
I’ll have to make this haunted house my home
I called in desperation
I called her out of fright
And there she came, with long white dreads
And a long silver flashlight
She asked questions of the static
And the shadows on the wall
Her beeper was a-beeping
As I felt a creepy pall
She said, “Without a doubt,
You’re not alone.
Guess you’ll have to make this haunted house your home”
Just then I heard the thunder
A flicker of the light
The house in total darkness
We stepped into the night
And I felt somebody push me
As a tree fell like a knife
Inches from my head, she said
That ghost just saved your life (x3)
And now we live together
The ghost, the cat and me
We all sprawl out on my big couch
And watch football on TV
He’s quiet and he’s tidy
Much to my surprise
It took some getting used to
But now I live and let die
And I don’t ever have to be alone
‘Cause I get to make this haunted house
I get to make this haunted house
Yes, I’ll happily make this haunted house my home
© 2020 Michael G. Ronstadt
I fell for it, I fell for you, you called me up, I talked too
I answered back, one day ago, now I know, I have to go
Shining lights, show the way, shining lights, say to stay
stuck right here, feet won’t budge, forgive the sins, of younger love
you… yes you trapped me, I signed deeds, 11 years ago you see
was my only leap, it was my first fall, maybe I’ll go, but for now I stall
Believing all you promised, gave me hole-less grommets.
Bring back the village greens, sad days seldom seen…
The sunlight runs, down my spine, like fallen leaves, at the end of the line
if you believe, in higher life, they you’ll stay back, as we do this right
join me, as I report you back,
to the better bureau, of business blues
to the better bureau, of business blues
© 2020 Aaron Nathans
I think it’s time that I go low
For me there’s no place else to go
Low is where the story’s told
It’s where the rubber meets the road
We’ve all fled the higher ground
We’ve come to terms with punching down
Riding with the raging flow
I get by when I go low
Go low, go low
Don’t say you weren’t warned
My lips are going to spark a storm
Oh, the things I’m gonna say
I swear, I’m gonna make them pay
To stop a bully in his shoes
Sometimes you’ve got to be a bully too
I’ve gone high, but now I know
I get by when I go low
Go low, go low
These are times that try the best intentions of the people we admire
But this man’s going to take a stand I’m going to pour more fuel upon the fire
My good manners lost their mind
Now I’m gonna be the fighting kind
‘Cause I’ve done kindness, what’s to like?
And I won’t be the last to strike
I won’t hold back another day
You can’t imagine what I’m gonna say
Stand back, I’m gonna blow
You go high and I go low
Go low, go low…
By Sting
I don’t take coffee, I take tea, my dear
I like my toast done on one side
And you can hear it in my accent when I talk
I’m an Englishman in New York
See me walking down Fifth Avenue
A walking cane here at my side
I take it everywhere I walk
I’m an Englishman in New York
Oh, I’m an alien, I’m a legal alien
I’m an Englishman in New York
Oh, I’m an alien, I’m a legal alien
I’m an Englishman in New York
If “manners maketh man” as someone said
He’s the hero of the day
It takes a man to suffer ignorance and smile
Be yourself no matter what they say
Oh, I’m an alien, I’m a legal alien
I’m an Englishman in New York
Oh, I’m an alien, I’m a legal alien
I’m an Englishman in New York
Modesty, propriety can lead to notoriety
You could end up as the only one
Gentleness, sobriety are rare in this society
At night a candle’s brighter than the sun
Takes more than combat gear to make a man
Takes more than a license for a gun
Confront your enemies, avoid them when you can
A gentleman will walk but never run
If “manners maketh man” as someone said
He’s the hero of the day
It takes a man to suffer ignorance and smile
Be yourself no matter what they say
Be yourself no matter what they say
Be yourself no matter what they say
Be yourself no matter what they say (oh, I’m an alien, I’m a legal alien)
Be yourself no matter what they say (I’m an Englishman in New York)
Be yourself no matter what they say (oh, I’m an alien, I’m a legal alien)
Be yourself no matter what they say (I’m an Englishman in New York)
Be yourself no matter what they say (oh, I’m an alien, I’m a legal alien)
Be yourself no matter what they say (I’m an Englishman in New York)
Be yourself no matter what they say (oh, I’m an alien, I’m a legal alien)
Be yourself no matter what they say (I’m an Englishman in New York)
Be yourself no matter what they say
© 2020 Michael G. Ronstadt
Just one minute, until you show.
Just one minute, don’t they know?
They tell me that I’ve got 30 minutes to go.
They tell me that I’ve got 30 minutes to go.
In the cell lot, gears turn my mind.
In the cell lot, sleeping off the time.
You tell me that I gotta wait another five.
You tell me that you need just a little more time
Just one minute, until you’re here.
Just one minute, I know you care.
Give one minute of you’re time,
but they tell me, that I gotta go home.
They look fast, push me in the road
They’re the ones who don’t see us.
They’re the ones who run the globe.
They’re the ones who sniff the lines.
They’re the ones who have the gold.
They’re the ones who ignore humans.
They’re the ones who chose no soul.
They’re the ones who have no limit.
They’re the ones who have no hold.
Tip them twenty, they won’t take a bribe.
Tip them plenty, yet they don’t seem alive.
Just one minute, until you show.
Just one minute, but they tell me to go.
Just one minute, until you show.
Just one minute, but they tell me to go.
© 2020 Aaron Nathans
These choices were not mine/Process of elimination
I am making my way
Tried to be my brother’s keeper/Now that’s in the rear view mirror
It’s eat, or be eaten
To survive you must be cunning/To be cunning you must smile
You swoop in, but you do it with style
Protect the things that matter/What matters is your own
If you heed the Sinner’s Bible, you will never walk alone
I can hear her sobbing/It’s coming through the walls
I hear voices growing shrill
I think of knocking on that door, there’s someone I could stand up for
But that could get me killed
To survive you must be ruthless, to be ruthless you must turn
Away from the fire lest you get burned
Protect the things that matter/What matters is your hide
If you heed the Sinner’s Bible, you will feel that peace inside
Oooh…
There’s a hawk above the prairie/He finds his mark and stares
They never see him coming from above
Is that hawk a sinner/For hunting down its dinner
And bringing it home to those he loves?
I have made my choices/They were not choices at all
What a man will do when his back’s against the wall
To survive you must be loving/To be loving you must kill
If you heed the Sinner’s Bible, you will always eat your fill
Oooh…
© 2020 Serenity Fisher and Michael G. Ronstadt
Serenity Fisher (lyrics)
Michael G. Ronstadt (music/lyrics)
Come on sun, come back over the hill, warm these little hands,
take away the shrill wind that’s been tumblin’ around here.
Come on sun, come back over the hill. the trouble you’ve been feeling
still matters like the heavens lights, golden rain and epic sights.
Come on love, come back over my dear, the silence in the many
are only signs of danger lurking fear is turning like the time.
Come on hearts, come find your rhythm , that sickly song they’re speaking
is bound to find a melody no matter how things seem
I’ll make a promise to you,
I’ll do everything I can do
to make it up to you, to you
Come on sun, get out of that rut, come on pretty pretty pretty please
You’ve been hiding behind the trees and the clouds and windy breeze
You’ve been hiding behind the trees and the clouds and windy breeze
I’ll make a promise to you,
I’ll do everything i can do
to make it up to you, to you, to make it up to you.
© 2020 Aaron Nathans
You see colors I don’t, sounds I can’t hear
You have a third eye and a fourth and fifth ear
You’re in your own world, but then you appear
Like you’ve been there all along
You bounce to the beat that you hear in your head
You’re wearing the words of old books that you read
And you’re bearing the scars of the life you fled
Won’t you sing for me a song
Whereever you go, you carry a tune
Weightless and wild, deep as the moon
And I wonder if I’ll be seeing you soon
A neighborhood bar, a pen and a pad
A table for one, they’re keeping your tab
You keep your hand moving in the back of a cab
And I wonder if you think of me
What I wouldn’t give to climb into your head
To hear what you hear, and to sing what you said
But I guess it’s enough to watch you instead
And I’m thankful I can do that
Whereever you go, you carry a tune
Weightless and wild, deep as the moon
And I wonder if I’ll be seeing you soon
Wherever you go, you carry a tune
Whereever I go, I want to carry it too
And I wonder if I’ll be seeing you soon
A concert for one, I’ll pull up a chair
I will sit here, and you can sit there
You open your lips and then you disappear
Into a song