a living hell

I don't know why you're not crying
as sad as your life seems to my eyes.
You used to be such an angel.
The way we're living,
it's a living hell.

If we get along for two days running,
to even make you laugh
would take half the fun out of it.
You used to be someone special.
The way we're living,
it's a living hell.

Tell me
what are you thinking?
You know that I
can't read your mind.
But when your world is sinking
can mine be so far behind?

We're out of luck.
We're out of passion.
We're out of hope
and we are hopelessly out of fashion.
When we're out in public,
no one can tell.
The way we're living,
it's a living hell.

Tell me,
tell me what're you thinking?
You know that I...
I can't read your mind.
But when your world is sinking
can mine be so far behind?

Well, I don't know why you're not crying
as sad as your life seems to my eyes.
You used to be such an angel.
The way we're living,
it's a living hell.

You used to be such an angel.
You used to be someone special.
When we're out in public,
no one can tell.
The way we're living,
it's a living hell.
I don't know why you're not crying.
I don't know why you're not crying.......

Copyright 2005 by James Owens

bad for you

Deep in my heart,
I've got a sadness too sorry to mention.
I'll play the part
and be the boy who gets all the attention.
You've turned my world around,
shut me up and shot me down.
You did what you could,
did what you had to.
Do what you will,
I'll still be bad for you.

Deep in my mind,
there's an encryption I can't decipher.
I'll lay behind
and wait for the one I'd be willing to die for.
Tender lovers and their sins.
Tenor sax and violins.
You did what you could,
did what you had to.
Do what you will,
I'll still be bad for you.

Deep in my soul,
I don't know why but I've been searching for ages.
I'll play my role
and be the guy who says something outrageous.
Whether shocking or unreal,
this is just the way I feel.
You did what you could,
did what you had to.
Do what you will,
I'll still be bad for you.

You only did what you had to...

Copyright 2005 by James Owens

darling let's go

Darling let's go.
We'll fight our way out of here.
The crazy talk has got to stop
or this ghost is gonna disappear.
Darling let's go.
We're poisoning the atmosphere.
We're gonna rock until we drop.
We're gonna roll until the coast is clear.

First shot out of the box,
you got her message.
You can hear it in the way she talks
to her family.
That look on her face is so expressive.
As she lays staring into space
you're praying
she never talks that way to me

Darling let's go.
We'll fight our way out of here.
The crazy talk has got to stop
or this ghost is gonna disappear.
Darling let's go.
We're poisoning the atmosphere.
We're gonna rock until we drop.
We're gonna roll until the coast is clear.

Left foot after the right
you build endurance.
You think you're almost to the end.
You laugh and just shake your head.
Put up half the night with interference
but as she goes 'round the bend
you're praying you don't wake up dead.

Darling let's go...

deep into my movie

(Don-dee-yieu-dit
dont-dih-yoy-dwee...)

I have heard how love is different.
You think you find what soon vanishes.
I suppose this air of innocence.
You asked the question, go get your answer now.
Go get your answer.

Have you met your match or is it your imagination?
You try to hide what you can't deny.
We met the night the news stunned the nation.
As he lay dying, I gave my love to you.

For some it's so simple it's unreal, believing in all that you feel.
Your lover's heart may sink like a stone.
In love, alive or alone
without any final kindness.
I dig the madness you deliver.
Give it away.
You give up the sadness.
You have brought to me.
Let it go.

We make it up as we go.
The stories we've heard were all lies.
There's only one thing you should know.
We will be living it.

Baby, let me take you deep into my movie.
Show how much I love you, just so you know.
Baby, let me take you deep into my movie.
Show how much I love you, just so you know.

There may be none beside you, no one before you,
none below you, no one above you.
You deride me and adore me.
You think you know me. You said you loved me.

We make it up as we go.
The stories we've heard were all lies.
There's only one thing you should know.
We will be living it.

Baby, let me take you deep into my movie.
Show how much I love you, just so you know.
Baby, let me take you deep into my movie.
Show how much I love you, just so you know.
Baby, let me take you
deep into my movie.
Show how much I love you
just so you know.
Just so you know....
(Don-dee-yieu-dit
dont-dih-yoy-dwee...)
Copyright 2005 by James Owens

king size (pack of lies)

She's a picture of health, alive with pleasure.
She's got a cigarette burning in her hand.
Adrift in a world of wealth and leisure,
she dreams that the world's at her command.

Come a long way, baby; time to recognize
she got sold the king size
(pack of lies).

Men tell her this is where the fun starts.
The soft sell, it works every time.

Wise men say it pays to advertise.
She got sold the king size
(pack of lies).

Messages on a billboard
or in the pages of a magazine
No video, no radio.
But somewhere in between.
In the throes of a wicked trance state
where the automatic go to hide
she tempted her eventual fate
and went out for a ride.

She drives her tan sedan as the sun sets
to a funky beach party on the sand.
She parties hard, look how nervous everyone gets.
Everyone looks so concerned.
When she drinks she's so hard to understand.
She said, "Let's hit the highway and take some lives"
She got sold the king size
(pack of lies).

vagrants on vacation

If you just want me to cool you down
when the mercury rises
and your better half has just left town.
When romance becomes so elusive.
baby, I've got news for you.
If your love was exclusive
then every single word would ring true.
But you go walking out of the room
leaving me just your perfume.
Although I know
only a fool would presume
it's like I don't know what else to do.

If you just want me to move you slowly.
Look you straight in the eye
and take you where the other guy won't go.
Make room in your sweet heart.
Baby, I have had it rough.
I do not long for another,
I have had enough.
I'm waiting for you
to step out of the bath
without crushing all in your path.
Come on sugar, spare me your wrath.
It's like I don't know what else to do.

Let's say this has all been my imagination.
I guess I can imagine what you're going through.
I favor the vagrants on vacation,
it's like I don't know what else to.
My motives are under investigation
because I don't know what else to do.
I keep searching but I....

something to say

A pledge of allegiance,
a call of the wild.
Give me one good reason.
We fall out of season
and go out in style.
You walk up to me,
the wind in your eye.
I see one drop tearing.
Now here runs a river
of grief and goodbye.
I can't believe what I'm hearing.

Because I know that I've got
something to say
about the way you're feeling,
every moment, each and every day.

Sisters with nurses,
brothers with dreams
where the whole world rests in peace.
For the mother who whispers,
the father who screams "have mercy!"
In an urban oasis,
an asylum of stone,
the echo of a thousand voices.
The looks on their faces
when they're left alone
staring at these wicked choices.

Because I know that I've got
something to say
about the way you're feeling,
every moment, each and every day.

It's funny how the rage comes down
like a gale upon the sea.
As I lay trembling on the ground
your love astounds me.

Take care of the healing
queen on her throne.
She's got a home crowd cheering.
She wrestled with danger.
She wants to go home, oh baby.
In the life of a hero
there's no time like tonight
for some well-earned laughter.
Flip through the pages,
click off the light,
happy ever after.

Because I know that I've got
something to say
about the way you're feeling,
every moment, each and every day.

television joy

The television said you were downtown
in the dungeon of the ladies jail.
The lieutenant claims you've been dancing
through the traffic au naturel.
A motorcar rode up on a lamppost,
you got the driver so confused.
Smashing his smile on the sidewalk
seemed the safest way to keep you amused.

Well, I ain't gonna wonder
if you know what's right or wrong.
If I see you coming,
don't think I'm gonna hang around.
You were once my girl,
now every guy in the world
wants your pants to shake his hands in,
whether silk or corduroy,
and if you don't wear them dancing,
what a joy!

Do you remember that Vatican Summer?
It's when I knew you were beyond all hope.
You were doing the twist with a cardinal
and the bossa nova with the Pope.
I didn't have a dime for the paper
but a voice inside my radio
told me Television Joy fornicated
from Baltimore to Tokyo.

Well, I ain't gonna wonder
if you know what's right or wrong.
If I see you coming,
don't think I'm gonna hang around.
You were once my girl,
now every guy in the world
wants your pan to fry his bacon
with the eggs you love hard-boiled
and if you just turn your flame on,
what a joy!

Copyright 2005 by James Owens

the simplest message

There'll come a day
when all of your friends will disappear.
They'll wash away
in a thunderstorm.
The plans that you made,
the visions of your most secret dreams
soon decay.
There's no one to keep you warm.

The simplest message is the one
you can never get across.
And with any luck,
you'll sit, shaken,
wondering what have I done.
Was this for real dear
or were we just having fun?

Light of my life
I've waited 'til now
to tell you so.
The edge of a knife
is my comfort zone.
The thought of you gone
has brought me to earth
in record time.
Beneath and forlorn
with no one to call mine.

The simplest message is the one
you can never get across.
And with any luck,
you'll sit, shaken,
wondering what have I done.
Was that for real dear
or were we just having fun?
Was that for real dear
or were we just having fun?
Was that for real dear
or were we just having fun?
Copyright 2005 by James Owens

so hard to please

Maybe it's true what they say,
you've got to believe to
amount to anything.
Maybe I'll call it a day,
pack up and leave
or just play out the string.
'Cause my heart got so hard to please.
You can try the one way
the next day the harsh realities
leave you twisting in the wind
or sleeping in an alley crying.
My heart got so hard to please.

Maybe I'm-over fatigued.
The flavors I craved are just tasteless to me now.
The day I get back on my feet,
I'll try to behave
and remain faceless for a while.
'Cause my heart got so hard to please.
From bombshells to churchbells
in Dutch or Balinese.
Prescribe for what you feel
but what if you are feeling nothing.
My heart got so hard to please.

Give me a break,
give me some room.
I've learned to fake my way
out of this gloom.
Tonight there'll be laughter from on high.
The stars may be shining but not I.

Baby, we're over the worst.
If there's nothing burning,
it's just a false alarm.
Next time, I'll think of you first.
This second I'm learning
the third time is a charm.
My heart got so hard to please.
The wrong way,
the next day you're brought down to your knees.
Follow your dream
but what if that dream is frightening.
My heart got so hard to please.

Copyright 2005 by James Owens

keep it low

Talk to me like you would a stranger
Walk with me like you would
the man you want
to comprehend you,
to defend you from all danger.
To wake up beside you.
Should you decide to.
I'm gonna keep it low.
I'll keep it low.

Maybe you wonder why I whisper.
Baby, you've never felt
such a sudden chill in your heart
like it's snowing
and there's no one left to listen
to your frozen laughter
the morning after.
I'm gonna keep it low.
I'll keep it low.

All the words I don't say
can never hurt me.
I've learned to keep those
secrets to myself.
All the women that I don't stay with
can never desert me.

I've got a good reason for all my fears.
It appears that I lost it.
From a love like yours
I've been running for years.
I'm exhausted.
If the truth is
I've been living a lie
then I'm gonna cry out,
"Our love won't die out!"
I'm gonna keep it low.
Keep it low...

Copyright 2005 by James Owens

wrestling with the thieves

six miles down in the canyon
really no reason nor rhyme
so hard to understand
but all wounds heal in time
if you're leaving all worry behind
you'd better be ready to cry

hey am I in your eye?...

I look out toward the horizon
the thunderbirds circle on high
flames shoot around as we rise
hellfire's sweeping the sky
go on driving me blind
I'm good and ready to cry

hey am I in your eye?...

get out the bedpan
damn the old man never leaves
fifteen rounds of wrestling with the thieves

I'm taking my heart undercover
I'm coming in out of the rain
if I can't very well be your love
gonna have to learn to live with the pain
though only memories remain
I cry out again and again

hey am I in your eye?...

you tell me

If this is love, it's over-rated.
I've waited for your love, it's overdue.
I'm last on the list of the men you have hated.
That's such a compliment coming from you.

If this is love, don't oversell me.
I settled for your love, look what I've found.
Your curses and yells don't overwhelm me.
Your car keys and cigarettes are lying on the ground.

You tell me,
"Don't talk about me behind my back!"
You tell me,
"Separate fact from rumor."
Your new beau's got the sensitivity I lack.
With you in love, he's gonna need a sense of humor.

First you slip in the booth and pull the curtain,
then flip the switch.
Nothing's for certain.
The result's are in and I'm not hurting.

If this is love I never voted.
In fact it never registered before
but to the party your life has been devoted
and now I'm your candidate
bolting for the door.

You tell me
you tell me
you tell me
about all your heartache
your lies and drama, too.