"Don't use the telephone, the world is not ready to
listen. Use poetry."
-Jack Kerouac
Lyrics:
"Faster Forward" - Released September 2003
"Sweet and Twisted" - Released February 2002
"Happy Hollowdays" - Released October 2000
"More City Sadness" - Released August 1999
Lyrics from "FASTER FORWARD"
The 4th Craig Bennett Album
My Muse Has Become a Nuisance
I see worth in all people.
Everyone has potential to be completely worthless.
While standing on a subway platform,
I used a cell phone for the first time...
called a thrift store clerk who had lost interest in her work.
She said, "Come and see me, yeah, you need me.
I inspire all of your sad songs about how life is so long."
She said, "Come and see me, won't you show me all the guitars in the pawn shop?"
She destroys the block with her tank top.
Sometimes I feel OK,
I hesitate, and then I say,
"My muse has become a nuisance to me now."
So what's the use?
I'm tired and uninspired, life's left me so little to choose from.
Some say, "hide love away."
I have and here's what I say...
I seek the damaged because the damaged always allow for an easy way in.
I saw her digging for style in the Potter's House clothes pile.
Yeah, that's where we first became friends.
She said, "Come and see me, yeah, you need me.
I inspire all of your sad songs about how life is so long."
Why not just walk away?
I have and here's what I say...
Freedom from love, its true.
Freedom from concerns for you.
Freedom, at best, loneliness,
but freedom, nonetheless.
My muse has become a nuisance to me now.
Film School
Death came in the form of a little girl laughing.
Well, it's made no sense ever since...
She comes to me.
Death issues a storm toward the fisherman and longshoreman.
It makes no sense - makes no sense!
She comes to me, she comes to me, yeah...
Noisily loading a camera, one without sound.
If only to do noble things like filming her in tight jeans,
oh, constantly longing for me.
I saw the closing credits of my life, you know,
you were mentioned twice.
Death plays Atari: Berserk, Tank Battle and Pong.
She dares you to play along.
She comes to me, she comes to me.
Noisily loading a camera, one without sound.
If only to do noble things like filming her in tight jeans,
oh, constantly longing, that's me ... that's me.
I'm gonna take my time,
I'm gonna straddle that fine line.
I'm gonna get you on film, get you out of my head,
get you on film!
I should have gone to film school.
What have I done with my life?
Death came in the form of a life without you.
Get Well Card
I have this habit of knowing
just when you'll descend.
You have a new script in hand,
wait for it to kick in.
I have this habit of knowing
just when to pretend.
Look around, look around, look around
and you'll see life is hard.
Don't know where to start ... maybe trash my guitars.
Take a look around,
its a terrible mess you've made of your life.
I memorized a few lines from a get well card.
Well, I come in from the hinterlands.
"Yeah, what did you see?"
The city's in mourning, its all over TV.
Now everyone has the intellect of an angst-riddled teen.
Look around, look around, look around
and you'll see life is hard.
Don't know where to start ... maybe crash my car.
Take a look around,
its a terrible mess you've made of your life.
Take a look and I think you'll find
I found words best left unsigned.
I memorized a few lines from a get well card.
Look around, look around, look around
and you'll see life is hard.
Don't know where to start ... maybe break a broken heart.
We all surround ourselves with people just like ourselves.
That's the reason why we'll never get real help.
Was I unkind? Was I too harsh?
When I memorized a few lines from a get well card?
You look out for number one, don't you girl?
Well, here's hoping you end up with what you deserve.
The city's in mourning, haven't you heard?
We all surround ourselves with people just like ourselves.
That is why we'll never get real help.
'Show-Me' State
I like what you're wearing ...
I've seen your type before, so dark ... and uncaring.
You walk around like you own this town.
Well, if you don't ,you should, you appeal to a part of me nobody else has understood.
Now I've got her in a show-me state.
Don't make your mind up, honey, well, you've got enough to make them wait.
I took the airhead to the woodshed to make amends.
Sometimes .... you just can't be friends.
Oh no ... it's best to let it end.
Get around to my side of town, I'm not hard to find.
Make this next job last, use your bus pass, show me in, I'll lend you mine.
I think some people don't know why they criticize how we live our lives,
no one's satisfied.
Now I've got her in a show-me state.
Don't make your mind up, baby, well, you've got enough to make them wait.
I like it when you braid your hair, I just stood and stared, I felt like giving up,
like a fool I fell in love.
It's best to let it end.
I had her beside me... so long ago.
Yeah, she could confide in me. Now look how she goes.
No, I don't trust anyone ... no I don't trust anyone.
(Her most of all.)
No,no,no, no more friends ... I'll just let it end.
I'm happy to just let it end.
I've done all that I can ...
I said, "what can you show me I haven't seen before?"
Then she showed me the door.
Isn't She Wonderful?
I made up my mind, this time, I swear I'm invincible.
I put up my arms, I brace the wall ,I keep her out that door.
Though my friends, they whisper, "Isn't she wonderful?"
It's best I didn't say.
Is that wind in my sails? I can't tell. So much despair back there.
I broaden my smile with each mile I get away from her.
Though my friends, they whisper, "Isn't she wonderful?"
It's hard for me to say.
"Oh, she's wonderful!"
Well, I made the same mistake.
I want to get back there, though I know she'll see through me.
I'm happiest in the eye of the storm... yeah, it's true.
Well, I made up my mind, this time, I think I'm invincible...
My friends liked me better when she and I were together.
Now we're apart, no one calls, and when they do, what they say is all:
"She's wonderful!"
Is that all you can say?!
"Oh, she's wonderful!"
I made the same mistake.
I want to get back there, though I know she'll see through me.
I'm happiest in the eye of the storm... yeah, it's true.
I want to get back there, though I know she'll see through me.
I'm happiest in the eye of the storm. "The eye of the storm?"
Yeah, the eye of the storm, someone should keep you better informed...
I've another life .. it appears I have plenty.
I want to get back there, though I know she'll see through me.
I'm happiest in the eye of the storm. "The eye of the storm?"
Yeah, the eye of the storm, someone should keep you better informed...
Oh, a double life ... you could come see me...
Isn't she wonderful?
It's not for me to say...
Isn't she wonderful?
There's always some hell to pay.
Isn't she wonderful?
That's the last thing I would say!
Yeah, but isn't she wonderful?!
...just you wait ... just you wait.
Disaster (You're My Greatest)
She use to come around,
she made come-hither sounds.
Do I miss her? Yeah, I guess I'll always ...
She liked uptown ... I liked working my way down.
I've given up on love ...
Well, that's all there ever was between us.
I took her twenty stories to the top,
she leaned over and said, "We could live or drop."
She's my greatest disaster ...
My greatest failure thus far.
I don't know what I was after ... disaster's come and go,
some fast, some slow.
She meant so much to me...
Too much went unsaid.
It's time to let the world know ...
I liked watching her braid her hair.
like a fool I just stood there.
"Did you tell her how you felt?"
No ... I never ...I guess I should have
She's my greatest disaster...
Wedding Dress
I'm gonna tell you why
I'm no longer down hearted.
I was at this reception, got a tap on the shoulder
from a previous mess I'd made.
I said, "Get lost or get along."
See her in that wedding dress,
she's more or less respectable.
I'm gonna tell you why
I've had a change of mind.
You never know what you'll find.
See her in that wedding dress,
I've obtained something impossible.
I need to tell you why
things might start going my way now.
I'm gonna tell you how.
See her in that wedding dress,
when she whispered, "Yes,' I nearly hit the floor.
La ha ha ho!
Honey, you know everyone is watching you now
and I know every guy watching you pass on by,
they think the same thing as I.
They say, "My, my, my, isn't she beautiful?"
Bitter on the back pew,
the girl with the glass eye and porcupine smile.
She's been left so far behind.
But you in that wedding dress,
My, how I love your preciousness and an open bar.
No more talk of a crooked past
and all my well thought out flaws.
Come chase those dark thoughts.
Her in that wedding dress,
she'll chase those dark thoughts, at least for a while...
The Sun ... It Shines!
I'm gonna destroy that restraining order.
Yeah, that's what I should have told her.
Don't mind me, you see, I'm happy to be free.
I'm stepping out from her shadow.
It took me awhile to realize: the sun... it shines!
I had my doubts about it ... but my, how it shines.
While I was without you, I found something greater within me.
Yeah, these are my times.
Sun, sky and sea ... I'm happy being me though I cast a longer shadow.
I've come to realize: the sun ... it shines!
I had my doubts about it.
People, come stand with me ... come and see: the sun ... it shines!
Though I felt defeated, I still put up a fight
Thinking life is out there somewhere beyond the fight...
Turns out ... life IS the fight.
The sun... it shines! I guess it's no revelation to you and your kind.
But to me, I see the sun shine on her knees,
that pleases me.
I turn my face to the sun ... as it shines...
I turn my face to the sun ... as it shines, as it shines, as it shines, as it shines, etc.
Faster Forward
The blue hour has no ending.
And there's no "befriending" it away.
I'm chilled to the bone and the birds, they aren't singing.
So few remain.
I've never seen those evergreens so dark and gloomy.
I'm gonna move faster forward from you.
How long has it been since she moved in, this place was once nice and roomy.
I'm gonna move faster forward from you.
The success I was hoping for never knocked at my door.
Some say I have it all ...
still, there's me, crushed when they holler, "last orders ... last call."
What's to become of you ...
and more importantly ... what's to become of me.
What's to become of me!
My Robot Girl Is Gone
You're almost human
Therefore, worthless to me.
I miss the robot girl you once were.
I set foot on an empty airliner...
after following all of their procedures,
I felt I'd earned a window seat.
And after the roar of the plane in reverse
I heard a gentle wave of whispering...
as we flew over a sad planet unnaturally lit at night.
Wounded by love,she doesn't want to see me.
She doesn't like me anymore.
I kept my beliefs quiet.
I'm just a fellow, half asleep,
in need of a few sips from a good drink and some time to think.
oh ...
lo ho ho ... yeah ....
I miss the gentle robot girl you once were.
Life has changed you.
I liked it when you did as you were told.
But now the beliefs you have are your own.
I liked it when your roommates dressed you.
But you got the notion to go it alone.
Now the beliefs you have are your own.
Who are you?
I miss my robot girl, y'all!
My Hand-Cut Puzzle of a Girl
The world quickly closes around a hushed voice.
A kiss meant simply to shut you up.
There's nothing noble about being misunderstood.
That frown leaves permanent lines now.
And I cannot put you back together this time.
You come to me with a look in your eyes as if someone else has tried.
You've been put together by a number of hands,
each having their own selfish plan.
But I want you back the way you used to be.
Not for your sake. I liked you because you made me feel so good about myself.
Everyone looks out for themselves.
Watch out for those that swear they don't.
Watch out for high maintenance friends.
They'll never be there for you in the end.
A friendship sinks or swims.
Are you wondering too?
I was wondering what had become of you.
When will you change your tune?
How do you sleep at night after the way you dropped out of my life?
Look what the world has done to you.
You close your eyes to keep them from rolling in plain view.
You've been put together by a number of hands,
each having their own selfish plan.
I want you back the way you used to be,
but you're never put together the same way twice.
Farewell my high maintenance friend, farewell my foul-weather friend,
this is the end, no more "hello's," goodbye, this is the end.
Are you wondering too?
I was wondering what had become of you.
She says she's into everyone else's business - that helps make the phone ring.
Well, how does she sleep at night?
She dropped herself right out of sight ... yeah, right out of sight.
My hand-cut puzzle of a girl ...
never put together the same way twice.
Dark Lessons
Just when I though I was over you ...
you come through ... oh, yeah, you do.
Just when I though those dark clouds had passed on through ...
you come on strong just like you used to.
Just when I thought another goodbye was due ...
Wait awhile, she walks back in with style,
long enough to bring the stuff ... I'm finally through with most of you.
She'll leave without a trace.
She's not smiling ... that's just how God cut a mouth into her face.
Yeah, it's best she leaves without a trace.
Just when I thought those dark lessons were through,
she takes me and all my fools and places us back in summer school.
Spacesuit Tattered
Spacesuit tattered ... still fits.
Habits both good and bad, still sad when a quitter quits.
My spacesuit's tattered ...somehow it survived
long enough for me to say this isn't life, this is goodbye.
River at winter never ending; no more beginnings, let's stop pretending.
My spacesuit's tattered ... still, no need for mending.
Let's come undone ... I am done where space is unending.
I've no reply for the way you sigh. You give advice. You know, it's odd.
Crane operator high above the construction site ...
he's out of cigarettes ...will he jump? What would you decide?
My spacesuit's tattered.
All songs © 2003 Mood Management Music, BMI
Lyrics from "SWEET AND TWISTED"
The 3rd Craig Bennett Album
Fur Cap
I had a bicycle in the city.
I watched a thin blanket of clouds at the horizon
darken the streets below pavement, gray and still.
Sharing a bath with her and that fur cap.
Yeah, the one with the large ear flaps
that's all she was wearing and it was…
Oh, how I wished winter would last forever.
The sky brightened to a dull gray
like someone had just painted some pleasant mistake.
Her and that crazy fur cap…
that's all she was wearing and it was winter.
The sky ash-colored the streets at dusk,
yeah, it's a shame what became of us.
Sometimes late at night I think "Oh well... it's only life."
People like me hate summer.
Summer's for the simple minded and free.
Winter's for those burdened and heavyhearted... like me.
Her and that fur cap, Wow!
Yeah, I'd like to see her walking back.
How could I have let something like that slip away?
Now I've a six-hour walk to the airport
in a heavy coat and with darker thought.
Her and that crazy fur cap…
I'd like to get just a little bit more of that.
All Night Bookstore
There was once an all night bookstore
that stood where I'm standing now.
And I was swearing then just like I'm swearing now.
I can't make it out tonight or any other night.
I've no idea why I'm unable to socialize
It was nice being invisible at that all night bookstore.
If I had capsized I'd have no body to wash upon the shore.
There was once an all night bookstore
that stood where I'm standing now.
Well, I've searched ever since…
I could use a place like that now.
I prefer strangers to people I know
'cause with strangers there's so much more potential.
There was once an all night bookstore
that stood where I'm standing now.
No, if I had capsized I would have never been found.
I'd have no body to wash upon the shore
…just a short life of wanting more.
"Hey boy, I need a ride to town
I want to go somewhere where I'll never be found."
She said, "Hey boy … can you take me back to town?
…Won't you take me?"
Toy Box
I stood perfect and still
as she sped by on her snow mobile.
People like her don't know their right from wrong.
I've been waiting so long.
She's a toy box and she opens for me.
She's a toy box. People, line up to see.
Come see the toy box she's turned out to be!
Hey all you people… tell me what you see.
I'm not happy but I'm as close as I'd ever dared to be.
You open and you give to me
but you'll cost me plenty.
You're modern, you're hot, you're fast,
you make no sense to me…
you'll cost me everything.
But I wouldn't know how or when to stop!
It was warm in the springtime,
Oh, how I miss those days,
my honey pie…her arms around my waist.
Oh, She was a toy box and she opened for me.
She was a toy box…People lined up to see.
They saw the toy box she turned out to be!
Hey all you people tell me what you see.
Well, I'm not happy but I'm as close as I'd ever dared to be.
The Easterner
It's not that I'm drawn to you.
It's that any port in the storm will do.
And I mean any port in this storm will do.
I never crossed the Mississippi
until I met you.
It all seemed so strange.
Yeah, the sun didn't set the same.
Standing beneath the neon glow
of a late night sandwich shop.
A brunette leans against a large detailed map of downtown
to blow smoke from the corner of her mouth.
She'd be so easy to forget if not for all of her imperfections…
which I can't stop thinking about … so beautifully imperfect.
Snowstorm
I pretended to study life.
I just sat on the edge of the booth and stared at the floor.
Sitting with people I didn't know…
too sick to stay, too lonely to go.
Looking outside I saw it snowing…
I saw the radar.
A storm a few southern counties wide.
I walked with my hands in my pockets and a stupid smile.
This cross-eyed girl said, "Come and stay awhile."
She took a short cut to get next to me.
Suddenly winter was finished.
I never think of her in the summer.
Crazy things happen to me when it snows.
I once threw a snowball and nearly broke her jaw.
We took a short walk though a tall city.
Man, She's Really Changed
(On the subway platform…
she had a certain "discotheque" charm…
Now it's all gone … it's all gone.)
She went on and on about having a subscription to the New York Times.
Funny, she never mentioned having ever read the New York Times.
Man, she's really changed…
Not for the good…
I should have done something.
Man, she's really changed…
I guess I knew she would…
Yeah, I saw it coming.
(It's no use … I can hear the city from the window…
And she's out there … pulling strings to keep her world spinning)
(The seasons do come and go, don't they? It's all such a drag.)
Good Listener
To see a friendship end is worse than death
'cause your ex-friend still lives.
She comes from the west bringing nothing but regrets
and cheap gifts from Union Station…
and a smoker's complexion.
I don't feel like saying, "hello" but I open the door
leading us out to fresh fallen snow.
Where she'll go I'll never know.
If only she'd walk up to the wrong car (thinking it was mine)
and somehow someone would offer her a ride
then I'd be free of her
Free to think more about me.
You're a good listener
if that is what you're doing
'cause you just sit there looking stupid
as I slowly self-destruct.
You're a good listener
I guess that's what you're doing
'cause you just sit there looking stupid
As I slowly self-destruct.
You must be what they call a "good listener"
'cause you will not open your mouth - cause you're too goddamn dumb.
As I slowly self-destruct.
You're one of those good listener's, aren't you?
'Cause all you do is sit there blinking like an idiot.
As I slowly self-destruct.
You're worthless to me; you're worthless to me.
You worthless, you worthless, you worthless
You idiot!
As I slowly self-destruct.
Nancy
Late in the afternoon, downtown hotel lights
come on at random and I feel a strange sort of lonely joy.
Then this girl comes by, wearing a torn tee shirt,
with iron-on letters misspelling the word "Nancy."
Up in my key-carded room she heads straight for the courtesy bar
and after four Bass Ales she said, 'Let's set sail."
Oh Nancy, we're the same, you and I, we both have the same strange
Nagging urge to survive.
I left too much to chance.
All I ever wanted was a girl in leather pants.
Nancy, nobody needs to know where we go.
Let's get behind that giant sheet music store on 44th.
I didn't understand her kind of love.
Still, I would have taken it.
What she said was full of half-truths (and full-truths.)
She said I was nothing but a "pop poet" and my shows were boring.
Now she's back, lending her shadow
to a city already known for shadows.
When I go out, people say, "Hey, are you going out tonight with Nancy?"
I say, "No, just going out for a late night bowl of spaghetti."
Living Room
You got your keyboard beside you
and we're alone in your living room.
As you attempt a familiar tune
I say, "Hey! It feels good to let you know…
Yeah! It feels good to let you know…
That I've been after you for so long…
I'd like to take my hands and place them on you…"
Well I've been waiting here - To call this living is wrong.
And I know it's hopeless trying to reach you…
You're so far gone.
The Westerner
I never crossed the Mississippi
Until I met you.
It all seemed so strange.
Yeah, the sun didn't set the same.
Once I had met all those I had cared to meet
I was ready to head back east
Where the brunette in the navy pea coat
had a scarf gently wrapped around her throat.
She points to the harbor darker than I had once thought.
And there was a glow from inside her apartment
Her boyfriend watching a game on TV,
Some Midwestern rivalry.
The harbor no darker than the days I spent starving for her
As I was lost out west stuck with a fool in a rabbit fur vest.
Campus Cutie
You were a nomad pagan
rotten to the core.
You were a forest dweller
trudging through the snow.
I was a homesick sailor
looking to the shore.
I believe your sun will never shine.
You're from a warring faction
searching for a foe.
You're a roaming glacier
destroying my ships hull.
I believe your sun will never shine.
You left yours and I stayed with mine.
I saw a playboy bunny
when I was twelve years old.
I was a primitive painter
my college professors were bitter, pitiful, and dull.
She was a campus cutie
Searching for thrift store clothes.
All lyrics by Craig Bennett
BlackCottage Publishing, BMI
From the CD "Happy Hollowdays"
Wet Playground
I tried to give to you, though the end was probable...
your word is without worth... your will unstoppable.
Where do we go? Somehow, some way I rise above it. I
make something of it. I needn't you; needn't anybody's say.
How can I explain the two years I spent convalescing?
(You say, "Well, why should you?")
I thought honesty would be a pleasant change for me.
When I emerged the skies had cleared, but my world had changed.
When I confronted the worst in us we were never quite the same.
Where do we go? Some how some way I rise above it.
I make something of it. I needn't you; needn't anybody's say.
Must I remind you there's little left after farewell?
(You say, "Well, why should there?")
I've learned a few key phrases, but not enough to make you stay.
"Look, buddy, things change." That is what she said....
Wandering Ways
Yeah, it's cold, so I'm told; you get used to it...
like a bartenders wit. (Well, I'm going home.)
"Find a niche and be proud of it."
Well, I remain unconvinced.
It feels like I'm finally on my own.
Yeah, you could say I've learned to live my life,
I learned to let go.
No one can say they're gonna tame my wandering ways…
but I'll be back when you say:
"When will you fill me… to the top"
I drive your car, I turn to park;
I want to say, "It's been nice knowing you."
But it's too late.
I have a plan to make a stand; a good time for a change;
but I cannot make you a part of the strategy.
Please come and join me for one last spending spree!
It feels like I'm finally on my own.
Yeah, you could say I've learned to live my life;
I've learned to let go.
No one can say they're gonna tame my wandering ways
... but I'll be back when you say:
"When will you fill me ... to the top?"
I'll be back when you say ...
Soviet Tanker
Our love, like that Soviet tanker,
abandon in the twilight... no life for hundreds of miles,
our polar regions unreachable.
Our love, like that Soviet tanker,
nothing left beneath unopened arms... cracked hull oil tanker,
full of cold Soviet bones.
Our love, like that Soviet tanker,
a love no one cares to see... creaking and wind blown,
we've nothing but memories.
Our love, like that Soviet tanker,
waiting for warmth beneath a rusted speck of a sun...
a sun that turns its back to us, and sets without a fuss.
She said, "We were shut down before take-off,
next time we'll welcome the galaxy."
Well I don't know what that means;
anyway, there will be no "next time" for her and me.
My runway, frozen, cracked, thawed, refrozen,
turned to blacker ice.
She said, "I'm with you through thick and thin ...and thick and thin again."
Dark headed angel, come tell me about real things.
I've been to your website, still I go un-held at night.
Come down and earn a living.
Sad catholic schoolgirl
trapped at "Lady Of The Eternal Hardship"
(or was that "Everlasting Misery?")
Poor little flower, she wanted dearly to go un-churched.
Well if she wants you then let her;
if she loves you then let her. I can't
stop thinking about our last long goodbye...
where we forgot to say "goodbye."
Bathing Suit
The summer's gone, I'm all alone.
That coastal town means nothing now.
It's just like you to run away.
Well, I swore I'd stay right here where we made our mistakes.
We used to meet at coastal side.
I knew you ...well, I'd hold you tight...
giving me everything possible.
Yeah, at ocean side
incredible how lonely the days are at night.
What became of you?
There you are with faux fur collar,
high bangs, whispering things, I can't think ... in the city tonight.
The ocean is where the ocean is... I don't know where that ocean is...
but I saw you in your bathing suit...
incredible.
Monumental
When I say I love you, you say, "Well, what's not to love?"
I know I'm so far above you, still there is something you ought to know:
I want you back in the tall grass. Remember that?
Back when I had confidence.
You were weighted down with so much weaponry...
your parting shot still rings in my ear.
I say I'm a Marxist ... it seems to appeal to girls that think.
I say I'm an artist 'cause all my life that's what I've been told to say.
A Russian girl at the bar with good posture - twenty-two and so easy to spark.
She melts leaving little more than hoop earrings, simple conversation,
and a credit card.
I'm still in your shadow though it's long after dark.
You're so monumental, you'll last a lifetime.
She said, "Sing me something beautiful; paint or draw me something beautiful;
write me something beautiful; film me something that moves with beauty."
Well, there's nothing beautiful about the state I'm in,
you icy thing, I thought some day you would thaw.
You were weighted down with so much weaponry
your parting shot still rings in my ear.
Strange Machine
I was voted "Most Likely To Seethe"
by those who knew little about me.
I had become a strange machine.
Lost parts long ago,
that made me make-believe.
Hey! Look there beside you. It means enough to me.
I know you're a special thing.
They say I'm just like you, still you turn me away.
I don't know what's happening.
On the outskirts to search, no self worth found.
We booked a "No-Tell", a shell for our let downs.
I had become a strange machine.
Lost parts long ago, created myself from all I could borrow,
gave to you, a lifetime's worth of sorrow.
Hey! Look there beside you. It means enough to me.
I know you're a special thing.
They say I'm just like you still you turn me away.
I don't know what's happening.
I'll make it without you.(repeat)
There are those that will say, "Yeah, I'll give you my all."
Well, I don't know how much trust to thrust upon them
when they say "Hey, pencil, yeah, pencil me in."
I've never loved anyone who wasn't a friend.
I can't make it without you.(repeat)
My Little Inner City Ghoul
Was it a silver jumpsuit?
She said, "No. It was gray."
Well, she blew my mind when she pulled the zipper away.
Upstairs in that east side bar where we talked of universe and galaxy;
on the walls they projected animalscapes and ocean floor madness.
She wasn't my intended lover, but a decoy, a guide,
without markings, that arrived,
providing nothing more than space helmet joy...
anyway, we both seemed happy.
Yeah, that little inner city ghoul...
the kind of girl you take to the stairwell
near load-in for bands, between U-hauls and vans,
up all night - it's best she's never seen in the daylight.
Yeah, my little inner city ghoul,
the one that still lives at home with her mother
and her mother's fourth husband -
the one that dresses in all black and doesn't kiss half bad.
Has Been and Wife
I know where your head is, it only goes to show:
with an arm full of babies, a supermarket line.
You feel your life's wasted; you lost hope long ago,
no longer love to call your own.
Has-been and wife;
you'd feel much safer if he'd never face you.
I know what it means to want more from life.
Who to blame for this failure? You both guided your-selves there.
I know what you're thinking: it comes with self-control.
But I can tell when you're faking; you hurt more than you show.
Speak softly of the favor; I give and then I go.
Still, we have nothing to call our own.
Has-been and wife;
she's secretly forming a mind of her own.
I know what it means when she says, "Turn out the light.
I don't want to go un-held tonight."
This presence of fear, it builds from year to year.
To say you're staying to save nothing worth saving
(but this instinct of weakness.) You give more, you take less...
don't tell me about regrets.
Don't you feel your life's moving fast forward,
taking you nowhere, until you're no one in the end?
Well who has been your friend for half of your life?
She said, "Life has let me down;
still I will not cry on your shoulder."
She said, "Life has let me down."
I don't know when and when not to hold her.
Happy Hollowdays
Oh, to be a window washer forty stories high
above a city known only for crime.
They seem so safe with their harness and pulley knowledge
as the cables swing during brisk wind at year's end.
Do they know I'm down below never having felt so grounded?
In the evening, I'll come around.
We're happy this way, this way that we stray;
won't you please tag along?
Until the day breaks - don't know where I'll wake,
let me walk you back home...
Happy Hollowdays... Happy Hollowdays.
An international space station is being built
while I'm on all four's never having felt so sick.
I find no suitable pharmaceuticals to suit me.
In the evening, I'll come around...
Window washers- do they watch the secretaries fold their long legs
in office cubicles? Yeah, that's what I'd do...
I'd watch them fold their long legs in office cubicles,
yeah, that's what I'd do.
In the evening, I'll come around...no postcard view, only nightfall.
Incurable
Engulfed? No. Merely swallowed.
Strange near death muscle ache and Wow!
A sparrow's near the coffee mug.
Who? The phone rings once (yes, it happens twice)
a secret code from you
to turn my solar panels and face the freeze.
You look to me as a mirror in the foyer.
We no longer know what to do with ourselves.
I feel like an unknown periodical discontinued...
yet still on the shelf.
I was almost out the door when the phone rang,
when I heard that voice I felt nothing
but the closing of the door.
Me and my kind are incurable.
Still, I hate it when I hear her say, "What's with you anyway?"
Me and my kind are incurable.
Made to feel shame, sickened by the fear;
throwing up on pre-test; not allowed to take the post-test.
Raised in a city dead from the sun down.
Yeah, turns out third grade is a lot like the world.
Sixth grade; endless days, fielding the short hop among all of the odd balls.
Kim's hair and its perfect part;
and there's me scribbling my plea,
my awkwardness knowing no bounds.
Made to feel wanted six times
but only twice by the same girl.
Then on to more junior high lowness...
Glenda drunk at thirteen,
her brighter eye fixed upon me.
And an affection for high-heeled boots began with her, not you.
I hear that daytime voice, cotton skirt, night club
night before nervous
after a hard hand stamp, nothing more beautiful than
watching the doorman's girlfriend tear through all of his fast food.
I am incurable but still improving.
Though I am slightly less than remarkable,
yes, I'm still worth knowing.
No more dreams; no more wishing;
I'll be done as the earth rolls on.
This world belongs to the young.
Dead Astronaut
All my life
I float just like a dead astronaut's wife.
Holding tight
the hand that night they said, "He's dead." And we cried,
"Can you feel me?
Do you know what I'm up against?
Can you feel me?"
All my life
I twist and turn like a dead astronaut's kite.
Holding tight
the hand that night they said, "He's dead." And we cried,
"Can you feel me? Do you know what I'm up against?
Can you feel me?" A dead astronaut.
"Can you feel me?"
All my life
I want to know where all dead spacemen go.
Sink or swim;
I could get used to the cold or so I've been told.
Can you feel me ...do you know what I'm up against?
Hello Pharmacist
I've never known anyone like you;
I'd like to keep it that way.
I've never known anyone like you;
I hope you never change.
But darling, you're lost...
like a kept souvenir
soon to be tossed.
When you suggest I follow you,
well, there's no easy way to say
if you feel as I do, then darling, you're lost too.
Everything I've told you is true.
I'm so sick and tired of hearing otherwise.
When times are tough and things go bad,
you dream of what others have.
You shouldn't do that.
...You can't disappear, but only move on.
Maybe I should call this song "Pay Phone."
Well; I stood there all night long.
Maybe call this "Lack Of Community."
Well, that's a thought that consumes me.
Darling we're lost,
but we can't disappear.
Maybe we should move on.
If I could, why couldn't you?
Oh, but you're back on the phone.
If I could read her lips I'd see her say, "Hello pharmacist."
I don't understand people younger or older than me ...
And people my own age give me the creeps.
Be careful in whom you confide
cause I tried with a pint by my side...
and it ended the night.
IT ENDED THE NIGHT.
Maxine Had a Visitor (B-side on "Wet Playground single BC40-01)
I am a burden to land and sea.
What's to be done with me?
Going my way I don't suppose?
Then there's Tam, a foot taller than me.
Couldn't call her Tammy cause she wouldn't let me.
"Oh well, suit yourself, if you gotta"(… Oh, you know I gotta.)
Maxine had a visitor.
On her turntable: the Church and Lloyd Cole.
Standing close, changing all of her clothes,
making sure I notice.
Yeah, I noticed ...but I did nothing.
Maxine, it's gonna be a happy world
(well, at least it dreams)
but it's hard being me right now.
A courtship sunk off the coast of nothingness,
what a mess... what a mess.
Maxine had a visitor.
Her and her turntable are long gone.
I couldn't believe I was kept from knowing until someone showed me,
"Yeah, that's Tam." Still a foot taller than me.
I couldn't call her "Tammy" to her face.
She lost that look; I lost that right;
when we fell apart one night.
I did nothing. I should have done something.
Warm Coma (B-side on "Wet Playground single BC40-01)
The Undiscovered Self still hides,
don't know nor care what was once inside.
I was her animal coming in from the cold
She says, "Go, go, go...
I don't need your charity or a promise that you'll stay with me."
I was an American working for the state.
It will take a miracle to bring her back today.
My little thrash in the woods ...
I can't stop thinking of that come-hither look.
Though we run deeper than most ...
can't sever the body from the ghost.
She's always one step ahead of me ...
She falls into a warm coma.
I let that girl damage my world,
don't know nor care- what's mine is hers.
She was so cynical; she'd put you in your place
She said, "Wait, wait, wait ... nobody's ever tried to save me ...
don't know much about give and take ...
but won't you come down to me? What about to day?
I'll take your charity and your promise that you'll stay with me."
All lyrics by Craig Bennett
BlackCottage Publishing, BMI
From the CD "More City Sadness"
At Grand and Ludlow
She wears clothes made of future fabric
showing leg with every step
When she said "Let’s play rough..."
that meant more to me than words of love.
Waiting for her at Grand and Ludlow
during the first autumn rainfall
I never get as good as how good I give.
She’s zipping up her neon pink plastic boots
the ones she swore mass transit ruined
well I heard about the horror, kid
It’s about who you’re with not who you once did.
Yeah, you should see her today she’s looking up
new words to say, yeah, people make way ...
Well, was it my heart she had? Man, what I thought was real
felt good until
I was let go ...
At Grand...and Ludlow
She’s expensive
and she’s very hard to hold.
Somehow all of her nonsense
makes me want her even more ....
The Coffee Poet Cracked
The coffee poet cracked
my waiter/poet friend is back.
Suddenly, he gives to me, kaddish from his memory
Oh man! He’s got it so bad.
But to be more like him
to sing songs of giving in ...
to those you fancy ...
The coffee poet’s sad
but complains his life’s not so bad.
Suddenly, those next to me, whisper and then laugh out loud
and soon a fight breaks out. v
I watch newspaper racks
emptied on wet streets ...
below me ...
Not another window to the world
I’ve seen enough to stick with the girl.
Still, it unnerves me ...
ocean sky, me and my life,
we’ll end up just like always.
Don’t you sense me ... in the evening
standing nauseous ... in you closet.
"Let’s get you published ... a new wish list"
I will say ... therefore, I am.
The coffee poet is back, y’all
he posted bail and made it before last call
he says "first thought is best thought"
well, that never works for me
"too many write, too few read"
and then he gives me
the most enviable ...
jacket with torn sleeves ...
jacket with torn sleeves ...
Robbie Snow
Robbie Snow, where did you go with all of your clothes?
Robbie Snow, says everyone should be put in uniform.
Robbie Snow, where did you go with all of your clothes?
Now you’re in uniform. You look like Castro.
He says "see how everyone’s dressed now ...
we should all be in uniform."
Robbie Snow, once fell in love. He was ten, she was twelve.
She ran crying down the hall one day. She was turning into something
different and strange.
Robbie Snow, where did you go with all of your clothes?
Now you’re in uniform. You look like Castro.
"He says see how everyone’s dressed now ...
Yes, we should all be in uniform."
Robbie Snow hates suburban sprawl, the food court, the mall.
Robbie Snow, who did you go give - an arm full of explosives?
Robbie Snow, and the militant left will outlast the militant right.
Yes, there is a difference: the militant left know when to fight, when to read.
Robbie Snow says "Baby, won’t you join me?"
Our nation is mired
everyone is casual and tired
yeah, we should all be put in uniforms.
I’m lending you silver,
Like Cody in Denver,
I’m poised to deliver,
I’m your fourth outfielder.
I’m in on the coup,
I’ll continue the feud,
You know I’ve "severe needs"
that’s all that you left me
I broke into grad school
And just started grading papers,
Yeah, forcing my views.
But just like you know who, I came too soon.
Well, I found my future
on the corner at Wooster,
I believe in things I haven’t seen
but there’s not enough Benzedrine
to keep those thoughts flowing
now no one’s worth knowing
I believe in your findings
but you’re dead and I’m still dying.
Robbie Snow, where did you go?
Well, you promised me five words from beyond the grave
telling me how are things.
Yes, you promised me five words from beyond the grave
tell me, how are things?
He says:
"I do not like it! I do not like it!"
"I do not like it! I do not like it!"
Now you’re dead, but I’m still dying.
Now you’re dead, but I’m still dying.
You&’ve been tried, but I’m still trying.
Now you’re dead, but I’m still dying.
Montgomery Clift
People are strange my barbiturate friend, you said so.
You were searching for a place in the sun, I’d love one.
Well, I spent the entire summer
with a girl who knew just what to say and when not to say it
Her only wish, to know the whereabouts of Montgomery Clift
I led her on ...
With or without doubts
When will you dry out?
Then comes me, like a new drink, giving new meaning to everything
you are, your fun.
People are strange, my alcoholic, she dreams, she said so.
You were searching for a place all your own, I know of one.
Well, I spent the entire summer
with a girl who knew just what to say and when not to say it
Her only wish, to know the whereabouts of Montgomery Clift
I led her on ...
Beautiful face
I think I have, in fact I know,
the skills to thrill the girl who turned her back on me so long ago.
Who did she follow?
I want to be followed.
The clouds roll in blanket thin,
I’ve lost my sunlit room again I want to know
Who did she follow?
I want to follow ....
Nobody knows her, those days, those nights we shared.
Nobody knows of those eyes that rolled in her head.
A beautiful face, I swear, that’s what she had ...
and her body ... wasn’t half bad ...
I paint and carve the passion-starved
coated and scarved, my cold heart
held at skirt-length, I was
held at skirt-length, I was ....
coated and ill, spilt pills
yeah, no prescription went unfilled
held at skirt-length, I was
held at skirt-length, I was ....
She’s Only Happy High
I know a girl lazy in the shade
as her happiness fades.
I showed her kindness, something new to resist
man, she had it made ...
There’s a five dollar cover tonight
she realizes she’âll be taking antidepressants for the rest of her life.
I know a girl crazy for a laugh,
says, “Let’s take a bath.”
I saw her nightly, recognized a need
man, I want her back ...
There’s a five dollar cover tonight
she realizes she’ll be taking anti-depressants for the rest of her life,
so why won’t she join us tonight?
Until that well runs dry, she’s only happy high.
Smitten, Then shunned
Your legs are like candy
do understand me
I wanted you from the start.
But who could I tell
You went back in your shell
now no one knows where you are.
Nobody cares for me the way you use to.
Nobody knows how sad It was you broke us in two.
More City Sadness
The good news is, I can read your mind.
The bad news is, it was a short read.
I searched and searched but could not find
any thoughts of love you’ve had about me.
I have reason to believe
you followed all your dreams and they went right through me.
I saw the sun shine on your shoulder
but it was just a tattoo.
Itâs dark when you’re away, although I love the end of day,
I want to share some with you.
I have reason to believe
you followed all your dreams and they went right through me.
I spent three months searching for a girl in racing strips
when the fad finally ended, I was left alone at night.
More city sadness, while other’s dream, I have this.
I wonder how I’ll make it a lifetime.
She said “Love yourself, God only knows, who, or what, will follow
I have reason to believe
there will be no more you and me.
After everybody left we tore the place apart,
I couldn’t believe we’d lost an entire bottle of speed.
I spent four years sporting an Ian Brown haircut
just to win you over. Man, I couldn’t do enough!
She said “yeah, yeah, yeah ... yeah, yeah, yeah ... then again, no”
With a straight face she said, “yeah, yeah, yeah ... yeah, yeah, yeah ...
then again, no”
Blue Streak
Is it any wonder I’m alone?
I convinced my dear friend in 1985
go out and make something of your life
Have more ambition beyond keyboard and tambourine.
God knows they made me
into something I never should have been.
(I never should have let them in)
I never wanted to play guitar
I only wanted to hold the guitar.
That’s too long a title for this song
but it’s just the right length to be the story of my life.
God knows they made you
into something you couldn’t undo.
(So far removed from truth)
When nobody knows you
still you sing an occasional tune
when you’re alone and feeling blue
no friend, no lover will do for you
what this rock band has done for you
I never wanted to write songs
I always wanted to teach high school history
or be a congress woman’s intern
Oh, the things I could have learned.
God knows they made me
into something I never should have been.
(Look what’s happened)
When nobody knows you
still you sing an occasional tune,
when you’re alone and feeling blue
no friend, no lover will do for you
what this rock band has done for you.
What had I before I had hope?
Cause I’m back there again.
Losing something that made me whole
how could you ever know ...
God knows you miss them
more than words will ever say.v
God knows you’re lonely
I hate it when you get this way.
God knows we’re lonely
these blue streaks never seem to fade
they only change shades
and take more and more from me every day.
Mesohippus
Splitting the pupil case.
Me and my compact eye.
Come to me, my damsel fly.
Skimming the water,
with your tight gripping legs...
I will devour you coatless..
I wanted to dominate life on land.
Flat land it is, too...
with kooky vegetation.
with your tight gripping legs...
I will devour you coatless..
But you were too far upstream.
Nothing more than a mesohippus,
dumbfounded and clouded by faith.
with your tight gripping legs
you will devour me
whole.
All lyrics by Craig Bennett
BlackCottage Publishing, BMI
Mood Management Music, BMI
©1998-2005 Craig Bennett
