Where the Sidewalk Ends

It’s also where the streets have no name (okay, that seemed more witty in my mind).  This was one of the earlier songs I wrote back in the day, and it is based on a Shel Silverstein collection of poems of the same name.  I’m not sure how it somehow popped into my head but I do remember really enjoying his work in the 2nd grade.  I’ve pretty much forgotten about this song since I used the bridge of this song in “Let Go”, which I think is a much better song, both lyrically as well as musically. That being said, I still remember how to play it and how the melody goes so maybe it’s not such a bad song after all.

Where the Sidewalk Ends

Where the sidewalk ends,
that’s where I’ll see you again.
Jumping from crack to crack,
always wishing to want you back.

When the rains begin,
I’ll hold a candle and some things.
As the colored skyline fades,
I rush back to my mental cage.

CHORUS:
And I run down the street
All these thoughts and memories gently spilling out.
Leave me here to mend.
And I”ll meet you where the sidewalk ends.

Where the past will start
is when my heart departs.
Chasing fantastic dreams
and anything else in between.

How fortunes finish,
a mystery diminished.
Mixtures of low tides,
bottle up numbling then divide.

CHORUS

Fly away, I’ll fly away
Fly away.
These mistakes, oh, these mistakes,
Will I finally die today?

CHORUS

Where the sidewalk ends,
that’s where we’ll meet again.

Un Pas (English translation)

For those who want to know what I’m singing.

Un Pas (English translation)

A step
Can change life.
A step,
It’s so easy.
Left, in front, right,
A step, a step for me.

I am very high,
So high that I see the clouds.
And if, if I shouted,
No one would hear me.

A step
Can change your life.
A step,
It’s so easy.
Now, I have a lot of choices,
A step, a step for me.

To the right, safety.
Like all the decisions I’ve made.
But in front, it calls my name.
I can feel myself falling.

A step
Can change my life.
A step,
It’s so easy.
It was the time, I believe.
A step, the step for me.

Un Pas (French lyrics)

Just yesterday, I gave the link of my writing blog to a classmate on mine in my French class so I thought I should post something French-y in case she comes across this soon so I seem less dumb about not being able to speak French very well. 

Un Pas

Un pas
Peut changer la vie
Un pas
C’est si facile
La gauche, en avant, la droite,
Un pas, un pas pour moi.

Je suis si très haut
Si haut que je vois les nuages.
Et si, si je criais
Personne ne m’écouterait

Un pas
Peut changer ta vie
Un pas
C’est si facile
Maintenant, j’ai beaucoup de choix
Un pas, un pas pour moi.

La droite, securité
Comme toutes les decisions j’ai pris
Mais en avant, il appele mon nom
Je peux me sentir tombe

Un pas
Peut changer ma vie
Un pas
C’est si facile
C’était le temps, je crois
Un pas, le pas pour moi

Tag

Related to my last entry about being alone.

Tag

Let’s play a little game
Where every outcomes the same.
Ill be the one
While everyone runs.

And every soul at my touch
Friends and strangers as such
Flee while they can
Leaving with another in hand

Chorus:
Cause they all find each other
As I grasp for a dangling/strangling hope
Reach out with every ounce in my body,
And pray they wont go/say no.
But why complicate things?
I know the road is always done/Knots always come undone.
Footsteps fading into the gray,
As I wait for the next one.

Let’s play the game, let’s play the game, let’s play the game… X2

As new players join the round,
And others leave for good,
I keep using the same play
More than I ever should.

But when the time is up,
And they all head home,
Im on the field with nos at my feet
Just as the rules say, alone.

Chorus

One is the loneliest number that you’ll ever do,
Yes, it’s the saddest number that you’ll ever know.

Let’s play the game, let’s play the game, let’s play the game… X2
It’s just a game, it’s just a game, it’s just a game… X2

Chorus

Let’s play a little game
Where every outcomes the same

Losing Time

An unreleased song I wrote many a year ago.

Losing Time

Time, here it comes, there is goes
Never waiting for anyone
Not today, nor tomorrow
It’s all in your hands

Hope for the best but the worst
Always shows up at your doorstep
So play along, waste your time
‘Cuz you know it’s worthwhile

Chorus:

I’m losing time in this dead-end world,
Finding out that nothing’s the way I want it to be.
If only I could rearrange this paradox,
‘Cuz it’s better to live illusion than to face reality.

Here, chasing ghosts in my mind
Unable to let go of history
Of regrets, of all the things
We could have been saying.

And in this vain generation
Are we just stupid or blind?
‘Cuz we seem too afraid, to face the truth
And this truth is mine.

Chorus

Close me, comfortably
Make me feel like I’ve got something to live for.
Dispose me, quickly
Make me feel like I’ve got something to die for.

Here it comes, there it goes  x4

Chorus

Can you sense it?  Can you feel it?
Can you sense it?  You’re losing time
Can you sense it?  Can you feel it?
Can you sense it?  You’re losing time, you’re losing time,
You’re losing time.

Secret Life (original version)

A few years ago when I first wrote this song, it was about 6 minutes long (I’ve shortened it since then).  I remember when I performed it at the now defunct Myles of Beans cafe in Burnaby, I was so nervous about how people would respond.  When I finished, the crowd slowly clapped, then continued clapping for about a minute while I thanked them over and over again for being so kind.

I’ll always remember how a man in the audience came up to me and shook my hand, thanking me for playing that song.  It’s reactions and people relating to my songs that really keep me pushing to perform. 

Secret Life

What do all these feelings mean?
Is it a phase, or simply just me?
And I wonder if there’s a word to describe
Who I am, or what’s inside.

Is there any way to explain
Why I’m the only one on this island?
Don’t know who to trust, to confide in
How long will I be hiding?

Chorus:

Will you tell me to change?
Will we become estranged?
Are you ashamed of who I am?
Will you love me less?
It’s the ultimate test
To confess my secret life.

So I finally admit
That I might be just a little different
It’s so heavy carrying this burden
A facade I must perpetuate

And I can’t swallow how some people
Walk the day with such infuriated faces.
And when they start to spew words of hate,
You all laugh along or look away.

Chorus

Bridge:

I believe in my heart and soul this is how God created me
I believe if I don’t breathe a word that no fist or slur will ever make me bleed
I believe with no doubt that there isn’t anyone else I would rather be

So now we’re sitting face to face
The words I say, I say with pride and strength
Tears sliding down our cheeks
And through it all, I’m surprised to find relief

Chorus

Please don’t tell me to change
I hope we don’t become estranged
Don’t disown me for who I am
Please don’t love me less
It’s the ultimate test
To confess…. my life.

Forgotten Memory (Aisle 8)

Forgotten Memory ( Aisle 8 )

I spend a lot of time
Relentlessly pursuing what I’d erased
You think I would’ve learned my lesson
But that isn’t the case

And I’m bleeding out the memories of you
The ones that leaked from my head
And as it trickles down my arm
I grasp every word ever said

So the minutes pass by
As I waste another precious moment
In aisle 8
Yeah, the seconds tick by
As I waste another precious moment
Staring at a faded memory
In the arms of aisle 8

Fumbling with a string of forgotten words
I remember the reason I’m here
Oh you barrage and you fight me like a disease
Until it becomes me who has disappeared

And the record skips one more time around
Capturing glimpses of the past
But it does no good as it reminds me
Of all the things I longed to have

Repeat chorus

And I wish I had the decency to see
All the things that blinded me
From the world and everything completely
I learn to tune you out finally

Repeat chorus

Rainy City

Another song I don’t play anymore.  I did once, live, but it was a disaster and I’ve been kind of embarrassed of the song since then.  Well, enjoy!

Rainy City

I’ve been feeling like a tourist lately,
Letting all these new attractions shape me,
Until I’ve fallen all over again.

It starts with small glassy droplets
Soothing the streets and stoplights
And puts my wandering mind at ease

This is my…

Chorus:

Rainy city
Gently glistening
Here is my song for her
This is the rainy city
My lonely/van city
Can’t you rain a little longer?

Anxious anticipation is killing me
As I walk down the streets to infinity
Hoping for someone to recognize my song

But in my magical town of showers
Where it’s always better if it’s louder
I can finally rest in peace.

Chorus

The hats on these old men
Won’t keep the water out
And like an enchanting rhapsody
I can’t stop dreaming about

Chorus

I’ve been feeling like a tourist lately,
Letting all these new attractions shape me,
Until I’ve fallen for the rain.

You Will Never Know These Words (lyrics)

After writing the poem, I decided to translate at least some of the words and lines into a song with a melody that I had had for a while now and I came up with this.  *video at the bottom*

You Will Never Know These Words

I’m finding out,
It’s blinding now,
The truth coming from your eyes.
And now these rusted words,
Have come too late.
They wilt away,
Lost in the sand.

But nothing holds true,
And time slips away.
I can’t buy my childhood back,
‘Cause you sold it all,
For ten a piece,
And now I’m hollowed out of memories.

CHORUS:
I know you by an empty seat
And though you’re not here I’m on my knees.

I’m a troubadour,
Scouring,
Far and wide
For someone to hear my song.
But all I come across
Is only loss.
It’s all I’ve got,
It seems that’s where I belong.

These trenches run deep,
Vast in their size,
Scraping ‘cross the land.
How can you abandon
The canyon
And all you left in me?

CHORUS:
I know you by an empty seat,
And still, you don’t hear you just believe,
If all of my flaws are smoothed out,
I’ll be the perfect man.

Oh you’ll never see,
What I can be.
So take another step away
Into the opposite
Of you and me.
Let’s leave this all behind.

We’re on two different trains,
The rest of our lives.
But just tell me this:
How did you abandon
the canyon
You cut into my life?

CHORUS:
I know you by an empty seat,
Your hands in your ears so tightly.
The thing that really hurts the most is
You will never know these words.

You will never know these words
You will never know these words
You will never know these words
You will never know these words

I’m finding out,
It’s blinding now.
But your rusted words
Have come too late…

Stained

My friends know this, but occasionally, I will write songs about my friends or people I know.  So if you want a song, just do something special.  🙂  Or in this case, stupid.

One of my best friends was in a relationship (if you could even call it that) with a douchebag and despite everyone’s warnings and words, she, for reasons no one else could see, continued to see him and at one point, announced she “loved” him.  This song was an effort by me to basically try and make her realize how stupid she was being, and trust me, she was pretty stupid.  I think she would agree, and if not, then… she’s just being stupid.  😛

Stained

He’s got her in the palm of his hand
Something he enjoys to do
She can see through his pretty little game
And all she wants is you

And she convinces herself that his words spoken
Mean so much more than leave her broken

Chorus:

She’s stained by the lies
I wish I could lift her eyes to see the truth
Release her from this pain
Oh, but she’s stained

My words mean something, but his mean more
Does she truly believe what she feels?
I can only show her another door
Tainted by the thoughts of what is real

So another two weeks go by till she hears from him again
I’m hoping it will be the last time

Repeat chorus

I wonder how the story will all end
Wonder if I’ll lose another friend
No surprises if she wants to stay
I have to learn to tear my hand away/this song’s all I’ve left to say

Chorus x2

She’s stained
She’s stained
She’s stained