For unto us a son is born. Now may our family linger on. What shall we give to the swaddled lad? Give him the wisdom of his mom and dad, Then give him the will they never had. That would not be bad. If we say the words together, one by one, This we will bestow upon our one and only son. It's not a thing to say. I thought about it anyway. We hope he has the power to have him Rise up far beyond it all. And hope that he can do it for us all. Yea sons and daughters, let us sing For he is born, our glorious king Come forth to save, King from a babe born. And there's a reason for it after all, To do it right. I've done it wrong before. Seven times and more. If we say the words together, one by one, This we will bestow upon our one and only son It's not a thing to say. I thought about it anyway I hope he has the power to have him Rise up far beyond it all And I hope he can do it for us all. It is a lonely place Just a half a mile from the city where we Would go to play, And there we made a little boy of Charm and grace He'll have to follow you not to follow me to Get any place. No, not at all No, not at all No, not at all Copyright © 1980 by Peter Dizozza. All Rights Reserved.

If I ever learn to love you, if I ever break a surface wave, I'll begin a life both pained and true, if I could deign to be with you, If I deign to be with you, If I Ever spread the love you save, When you tell me I should be somewhere then I am getting over there; I'm riding the wave. Riding the wave. Surfing through tunnel-drills and lathes. The flag has been flown. Its fabric is blown. Out it waves, tattered shreds for knaves. What is the discoloration of the color bleeding in the wind? I’m collapsing in a trembling way for this is my refusal day. I refuse to open. My refusal is an open wound. There’s a warrant out for my arrest. I tell you, by this curse be blessed. We’re riding the wave. Riding the wave. Surfing through tunnel-drills and lathes. Now as I proclaim my love for you I share it with the world at large. I begin to live my life anew and I am blessed to be with you. If I ever lost you I would struggle to begin again. Through these Finite phases I have seen my life revealed for what it’s been. I’ve got to be brave, rinsed in a wave, then to bathe, on a spinning lathe. Copyright © 2012 by Peter Dizozza. All Rights Reserved.

Let’s add the texture to the harmless pause or gesture. That it’s done when there was not one gives it gravitas and punch. I bite my hands ‘cause it’s too much. So you see I made a gesture. Is it more or something less than all the Deep emotions buried at the bottom of the sea? And as we raise it we will sing its melody. Its blaze is strong. Its rays are long. It’s bubbling now. It’s out of control. Its powers arise to explode in the air. From the floor of the ocean it rose to the sky, As a hovering canopy ready to fly. While the old man goes right on living so afraid he will die. To prevent that, he takes extra notice of the clouds in the sky. While the old man goes right on living He must be doing something right. While the old man is extra cautious, We’re a-blaze in the night. Through the moon light, in the noon light, As we dance under your love light. Through the moon light, in the noon light, As we’re dancing for your love. You give the context to my odd array of syntax carved in sand, Etched in an anchor dredging sea-weed from the deep. Some bulbs grow brighter as we sleep. In the dark we go our own way. If we hold on we're arriving as a team. Floaters connecting with the universal stream. We run a spectrum in the flash before we scream. Our goal is won. We still have fun. We're out of our suits. The atmosphere hits. We have to believe, it will let us survive. There's a range in the spectrum in which we are kissed. It's a limited register where we exist! From the floor of the ocean we rose to the sky, As a hovering canopy ready to fly. Where we once lived - - is a haunted palace full of anger and fight. Where the old ones being extra cautious made us blaze in the night. While our old home is Martian wasteland where we can’t breath the air. There’s a new home with a healthy balance. We will reconvene there. In the moon light in the noon light, as we dance under your love light In the moon light, in the noon light, as we’re dancing for your love. We are dancing for your love. Copyright © 2014 by Peter Dizozza. All Rights Reserved.

The Cliche said in brogue meant his wit's at end. Sympathize, walk away. When his talk's a worn out trend - Though he's young, he's old again The dismay of a mind in its second youth - Skipping forth, up and down, back and forward. Though it seems he's had it then, He is old, but young again. I asked him what he's after. He's self-proclaimed a savior; he'd remake the World patterned after his image. But with an eye for what makes time go by he Doesn't get excited he will do it again. So smooth a cycle almost never wears thin. Now he's off on a tour of the southern world Well informed, immature, an explorer Searching for eternal past. Though he's old, he's young at last. On a quest, his address, Central Africa. Found his mate in a cave. In his eyes she's good as gold. She looks young, she's ages old. I Wonder why he's with her. He's just a stand in for her life companion, Scared, masquerading as stable. But she can look ahead, achieve objectives Use his sensitivity to further some end. He's very fragile and she's making him bend. There's a world full of fear where he made his home. He's a wreck, broken up (into pieces). What he had he meant to spend. Though he died, he lives to lend The Cliche said in brogue when his wit's at end. Sympathize, walk away. Though he dies, he lives again.

Paint the Town (With You) Want to see you every day And though I pray, it does not happen My regrets, light my cigarettes, and I Dream of you, instead of nappin' I'm in love with you Will you love me too? I'd stop with you, I'd start with you I'd open up my heart with you Slow up with you, Speed down with you I'd faint and paint the town with you I'd crash with you, I'd win with you I'd go to church and synagogue and sin with you I'd lie with you, I'd try with you And when we get though, I'd die with you When we get though, I'll die with you What's the reason I don't see you Why the hell do we work each day? Let's quit our jobs, become love junkies, Stay in bed and screw Every single day Until we fade away I'd start with you, I'd stop with you I'd open up a shop with you I'd lag with you, I'd drag with you Get up, grow out, and sag with you I'd sing with you, I'd fling with you I'd take in everything with you I'd lie with you, I'd fly with you When we get though, I'd die with you When we get though, I'll die with you Why the hell should we make money Let's go out and rob some banks Pray to God we don't get caught And when we don't we'll tell God, "thanks" Stay in bed some more Ice cream from the corner store We'll stay in bed some more more more, more more more..... I'll be dumb with you, And I'll think with you Leave dishes in the sink with you I'll cook with you, I'll clean with you Not know what it all mean with you I'll dream with you, I'll scheme with you, I'll leave books overdue with you I'll frown with you, Go down on you Shoot out and paint the town with you I'd lie with you, get high with you And when we get though, I'd die with you I'll be dumb with you, I'll overcome with you Subtract, divide, and sum with you Suck my thumb with you, Eat a plumb with you I'll feel and not get numb with you I'll kiss with you, Feel bliss with you Clean up kids' shit 'n' piss with you When we're apart I'll miss with you I'll cry on you, Rely on you And when we get through, I might Die on you. You might die on me. But I really hope I die with you. Copyright © 2007 by Steve Espinola. All Rights Reserved.

Love Song While Not Knowing If You're Coming Or Going or Googolplex (Upside Down Inside and Blue) Googolplex times the double square route of pi That's the distance tween you and I sometimes when I feel lonely and you're the one and I'm the only and We just can't find our real good time I'd show your yours if you could show me mine I could sent sweet shivers up and down your spine But sometimes I'm not sure if you're the one thing on my mind Could you make my secret dreams come true? Turn me upside down inside and blue. Man talking to himself on train That's your heart connected to my brain And though sometimes I like it Football migraine comes, I gotta spike it You're the soot that puts the color in my sunset sky The cleated boot above the butterfly The autumn beauty as the oak leaves die And sometimes I'm not sure if you're the one thing on my mind Could you make my secret lies turn true? Turn me upside down inside and blue. Guess, baby, you're my perfect one The silver bullet in my backwards gun You stuff my mouth with your tongue and Lifetime songs get left unsung When you're in love you don't ask why That's the difference tween you and I Maybe I want you cause I wanna die. But sometimes I'm not sure if I'm the one thing on your mind Are you going to break my heart in two? Turn me upside down inside and blue. Copyright © 1995 by Steve Espinola. All Rights Reserved

Of thoughts that burden us, unload. Two lovers on tomorrow's road. No one can call them on the phone. They're silent as a stone. We trust what fortune has in store For lovers, solid to the core We're off to run a new race. The ones that we embrace They’re the ones we never hear about again They mean us well But we know secrets lovers never tell. That's why we say: We're off, and there's no trace of us. We're off, we’re on a touring bus We're off and like the gypsy couple we won't be heard from, 'til we're in trouble Some feel the thought of love When none is here to call their own And so they think the thought of love alone. What's your pleasure? They choose to leave it flat and punctuate the end. “We’re just friends and that's all for now.” Of thoughts that burden us, unload. Two lovers on tomorrow's road. We're off to run a new race The ones that we embrace... They're the ones we never hear about again They mean us well But we know secrets lovers never tell. We know the precious secrets, all too well. That’s why we say. We know the secrets lovers never tell. © 1997 by Peter Dizozza. All Rights Reserved.

Put Me Away x||:x_xxxxx_:|| VERSE 1 |Edim | |E | | It’s kind of love. This kind of love just puts me away. |Edim | |E | | You bring me higher. I tremble from enlightened behaviour. |A7 |D7 |G7 |C7 | I can’t believe when I’m loved at all. Some people know but they aren’t telling what’s |F#7 |B7 So. So put me away. |Edim|Am6 |E | | So put me away. VERSE 2 |Edim | |E | | I’m feeling lust. I feel my lust is crippling my freedom |Edim | |E | | It isn’t you. I stop myself order to please you. |A7 |D7 |G7 |C7 | I check my pulse and the depth of my breathing I still don’t know what coals are seething in- |F#7 |B7 Side. So put me away. |Edim|Am6 |E | | So put me away. |B |C#m |A |G#m | I’m fond of loving my life, And I put my past life out of sight. |F#m |E D(A) |A |C6 | And then I look and I see you by my side. You make me very happy. |G#m |E |G#m7 |E | You kind of put me away. You tap a fountain and make it open |F#(C#) | | Wide. |A |E |A |E | And so I’m high for my word. And I would die to be heard. That’s right. INSTRUMENTAL VERSE |Edim | |E | | |Edim | |E | | |A7 |D7 |G7|C7| |F#7 |B7 |Edim|Am6 |E | | So put me away. So put me away. END |A |E |A |E | Something got in the way. Someone made me this way.

Love Song While Running Away (Espinola) 3:50 I’ve been loving you since-a God knows when If I had it to do over i’d do it all again....ooooooh But something in my gut kept pulling on me, saying “Run away, Stephen, get free free free.”oooooooh I ran from my family and my friends and my home Ran away from you, had to be alone....oooooooh And though sometimes it seems like we’ll always be apart You’re the wind in my hair and the skipping in my heart. oooooooh And I don’t care if someone else is making you smile But I hope I’ll see you someday, once in a while. oooooooh And hold you real close and maybe kiss you when I see ya-- Guess that’s maybe just a bad idea. oooooooh I look out on the city on a lonely night And it seems so big and meaningless with no end in sight. oooooooh But I think of you and look into the pit of my despair, And say “Fuck you, Void, I’ve known love, so there.” oooooooh I’ve been loving you since-a God knows when If I had it to do over i’d do it all again. oooooooh But something in my gut kept pulling on me, “Run away, Stephen, get free free free.” oooooooh © 1992 by Steve Espinola. All Rights Reserved. Special thanks to Alex Wolf.

I Know Nothing Anymore I know nothing anymore Yes, I’ve checked and now I’m sure Ants are marching on my windowsill, they’ve memorized the score And every second passing slow Brings more something I don’t know I know nothing, I know nothing anymore, anymore. In the shaping of all things The path of least resistance sings Arcing lightning, river veins, and love's demands for diamond rings And the clocks strike 17, They mean all they don't mean to mean And they promise it til never, evermore, evermore. And my muscles are unkind They ignore my heart and mind I want lemonade and valentines and love to leave behind And my miss across the sea sends misty messages to me We might miss each other happily evermore, evermore. And life’s a lamb saag, A damn fog, A damp frog, A scamp dog, And life’s a goldfish A cold dish A bold swish A told wish... ...Will you love me when I fail, Can I hold you, when you wail? Will you walk with me along the tracks each time our dreams derail? Will you break straight through with me Help to make our I’s a We? Will you stay with me forever, evermore, evermore? And life’s a long climb, A long time, A short time, An art crime, A start line, and starshine, baby I know nothing anymore I’m not bluffing, more and more Every hallway vows to vanish every time I close the door And every second passing slow Brings more something we don’t know We know nothing, we know nothing anymore, anymore. Copyright © 2012 by Steve Espinola. All Rights Reserved.

Flipside of the Sun When I feel like tying myself to the stake I think of all the roads I chose not to take And the life I would've won, Must be orbiting the flipside of the sun. Taking the unbeaten trail has its costs You will see more beauty but you will get lost And the maps I could've used Only show where someone else got confused And the love, I would've won Must be floating 'round the flipside of the sun One billion unchosen worlds will lie forevermore On the universe's cutting room floor But maybe there's one Where I'm happy, On the flipside of the sun. © 1999 by Steve Espinola. All Rights Reserved.

© 2014 by Peter Dizozza. All Rights Reserved.

You’ve Lost Everything You lie alone in your bed again hooked up to your oxygen Your family’s in the living room, they’re getting on with their lives. And you don’t doubt that they love you, but the words are getting mighty few a tired out part of them must wish you’d hurry up and die And they’ll watch baseball games next spring When you’ve lost everything when you’ve lost everything oh yeah And cars will change and new songs they’ll sing When you’ve lost everything when you’ve lost everything oh yeah Dying slow’s an awkward thing Your friends aren’t sure what they should bring And conversation’s harder When it’s got no place to go. They try to time goodbyes just right But you keep living, night after night They stand around, afraid to eat your last pistachio You hear their footsteps echoing You’re losing everything You’re losing everything oh yeah Your body’s just a piece of string You’re losing everything You’re losing everything oh yeah They cover you with dirt and grass the ants chew on your rotting ass And now you're just our memories and a place for weeds to grow. And everything we never said, Too late now, you're dead, dead, dead But I talk to your grave and think of things I’ll never know. And bells will toll and bees still sting When you’ve lost everything when you’ve lost everything oh yeah The living souls are gathering ‘cause you’ve lost everything ‘cause you’ve lost everything oh yeah. Copyright © 1995 by Steve Espinola and Alex Wolf. All Rights Reserved.

As a baby I thought Mom and Pop knew it all But I was just setting them up for a fall Gradually I realized, Some ways that they was raising me was wrong, oh yeah. And all of my teachers shoulda confessed That their teachers' teachers built guess upon guess And no one knows what's going on, Everyone's just bumbling along. Chorus: Bumbling along, whoa whoa whoa whoa Bumbling along, whoa whoa whoa whoa No one knows what's going on, Everyone's just bumbling along. The government made it: A three-legged trout. The scientists promised they'd work it all out. Meanwhile I was running round, Trying to find a place where I belong, oh yeah. I hung around with that old ancient chief We got tangled-up strangled in each others' beliefs And no one knows what's going on, Everyone's just bumbling along. People will tell you the books you should read and you need til you bleed on the floor. Doctors pretend they can mend you but then they just bend you and send you for more. And as the truth-benders dismember your plans Perhaps it helps to remember they don't understand... (That's right, the one's who try to control your bodies and tell you who you can love and marry. The ones who steal your votes and your media access, and your lives and your jobs. The ones who destroyed my multicultural neighborhood so they could build a basketball stadium and skyscrapers. They are efficient, they are organized and murderously effective. But they are ethically short-circuited and spiritually adrift.) ...And they don't know what's goin' on, Even they are bumbling along. And even that God up there in the sky Wonders who made God and why can't God die Cuz no one knows what's goin' on, Everyone's just bumbling along. Bumbling along, whoa whoa whoa whoa Bumbling along, whoa whoa whoa whoa No one knows what's going on, Everyone's just bumbling along. Copyright © 2004 by Steve Espinola. All Rights Reserved.

Up at the top of the Jade Dragon Mountain (The Naxi people are a minority population living in China, at the foothills of the Himalayan Mountains. Starting in 1723, the local overlords instituted a severe law: Those who had defied their arranged marriages, and pursued their forbidden loves instead, had to die. It was believed that this would be an effective deterrent to such relationships, and to the children that might result from them. Instead, it led to an 200-year-long tradition of teen suicide pacts, and a legend that these practices would result in everlasting love. The first verse of this song quotes scholar Li – Lin - Ts’an’s description of this legend. The remainder is a modern New Yorker’s attempt at an accurate translation of the pictographs found on a Dongba religious priest’s prayer scroll used in a teen couple’s funeral.) Up at the top of the Jade Dragon Mountain Under the white snowy peak, is a kingdom Thousands of flowers of different kinds Cover the fields in this wonderful land It’s called the kingdom of suicide lovers If you live in torture from your love frustration Climb to this place with your forbidden love, Climb to this place and kill both of yourselves You never will part from each other again And will keep all your beauty forever and always, amen. But when everyone dies they first go straight to hell Appeal to the spirits and they’ll help you out A tiger will offer steamed rice to the mountain peak Your monkey ancestors from heaven hang down to eat Wind shuts the door, and the wind blows the clouds. The Yaks of Good Fortune reopen the door The tiger will order some wine from the rabbit He’ll hold out his paw and that means you should grab it Drink it with mushrooms and go down the stairs but Beware there’s an angry Bird God who been banned from that bar. The Bird God will sic his pet jellyfish on you Placate the Bird God with big bowls of steamed rice The tiger will offer more rice to the mountain peak, and pray for good fortune and starlight and all your teeth Flowers will break through the floors of gazebos Rabbits with scissors protect you from fires Finally a spaceship will take you away And you’ll be united through hailstorms, through sunrise You never will part from each other again And will keep all your beauty forever and always, amen. Copyright © 2010 by Steve Espinola. All Rights Reserved. (First verse based on quotes by scholar Li Lin-Ts'an.) Thanks to the Talking Stick Tours and The Ruben Museum for inspiration.

SONG 1: CEMENTERIA (QUASIMODO with CHORUS) Cm Gb7 x x x x xx x|xx x|xx x|xx x| Cm Gb7 Cm Gb7 I don’t know what she’ll do, But I have total faith in her judgment. I don’t know what she wants, But I respect her will. There’s something on her mind, Burning up inside her. It taps a hidden river. It gushes through her endless. Ab Eb Fm Cm I was an old decrepit man Whom she helped to realize That hers is the keyhole To youth re-gained. So long as we keep fucking Each other we’ll be well; Db Ab Eb Db Ab Eb So, too, will all be well with the world So too will all be well with the world Cm Gb7 Cm Gb7 How far afield I’ve fallen To have fine’ly found her Deep in the bone orchard Where spirits sink and rise, While I was racked with pain Within this mortal coil, Poisoned, raw and rashy Groping, grasping her. Ab Eb Fm Cm I was an old decrepit man Whom she helped to realize That hers is the keyhole To youth re-gained. So long as we keep fucking Each other we’ll be well Db Ab Eb Db Ab Eb Ab So, too, will all be well with the world So too will all be well with the world Cm Gb7 Cm Gb7 We’re looking well . We fit right in. With her by my side, I’m the envy of society. Strength! Adventure! Clear thinking! Together! © 1996 by Peter Dizozza. All Rights Reserved.

If created by God, Pay attention to God. What's he doing, while you are eating from his tree of knowledge? You only love him.Yet when you see him You cringe, and hide in shame For one day you forgot him, And ate what was forbidden. While he was out of sight, and he was out of mind. You Opened your devoted de- pendents to a G E7 |A F# World of knowledge and life. As for your G |D God, you don’t love him, If you Bm |Bm E9 Do you only hurt him, if you're a Em7 |A7/6 Creature, then pay att- ention to your cre- D |D#dim7 ator. If cre- HEAVENLY HOSTS Em9 |A7/6 -ated from clay If cre- ated with clay, Pay att- Ention to clay Pay att- ention to clay, Its in- Ertia is inoff- ensive cause it's not D6 D#dim7 living. How can we Em9 A7/6 Gm6(A) Love it? When we are F#m Am6(B) B7 of it? We Em C7 Cringe and hide in Gm(D) D#dim7 shame. For one day we for- Em9 A7/6 Gm6 (A ) got it And pushed it past its F#m A(B) B7,b9 Limits. When trampled Bm7 E9 Out of sight, when trampled out of mind! We G |D Opened for devoted de- pendents the G E7 |A F# Books of knowledge and life. What do they G |D Say? We're not by you. Say the Bm |Bm E9 Word and we'll de- stroy you. If you're a Em7 |A7/6 Creature, then pay att- ention to what you're D |D#dim7 Made of. MEN A#dim7 |B When will the children come home? Are they Ab Db |Bb Eb Trying to call? Are they acting at all? Do they G#m |F#6th Take advice and do not consult with me? G#m |F#6/7 Moses' children, all God's children. B |Ab Db Are they totally grown? Are they Bb Eb |G#m Out on their own? They may look like children, to F#6 |G#m Heathens they're customers. When will they come F#6 Bb7/6 home? | If cre- MEN/WOMEN Fm9 |Bb7/6 -ated in love If cre- ated in love, Pay att- Ention to love. Pay att- ention to love, It's re- Pellent, and so dist- racting, yet so re- Eb Edim7 Demptive. Go forth and Fm9 Abm6 Seek love, Then when you Gm Bbm6(C) C7 Find love. Re- Fm Db7 Joice! (REJOICE!) Shout Out! (SHOUT OUT!) And Abm6(Eb) Edim7 Cry. For one day we for- Fm9 Bb7/6 Abm6 (Bb) got love. The obsolete e-. Gm7 Bb(C) C7,b9 Motion. When love was Cm7 F9 In our eyes, when love was In our minds! We Ab Eb Watered down devoted de- pendents Ab F7 Bb G7 The fruits of knowledge and life. What do they Ab Ab7 Eb (D) say? They don't want us. Our cre- Cm Cm7(F) F (N.C.) Ations do not know us. If you're a Abmaj9 Bb7/6 Creature then pay att- ention to your cre- Gm C7b9 Ator. Go meet your Fm9 Bb7/6 Abm6(Bb) Makers. See that they made you in Eb 1x-N.C. Ab Eb(G) || F7 Love Love See that they made you in Love Love See that they made you in Love Love || See that they made you ------ in Love. © 1997 by Peter Dizozza. All Rights Reserved.

© 2000 by Peter Dizozza. All Rights Reserved.