This page contains the lyrics for the 2003 CD release 'Taking the Fall.' Only limited copies are now available.
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Taking the Fall CD- Lyrics
Someday Sunday
Heart Full of Tears
Taking the Fall
King Kong
Midnight Sun
Funny
Monotone
Molly Maguire
Good Old Days
Bar Harbor Moon
Blues Before the Dawn
Someday Sunday Music & Lyrics page Back to top
In a smoke filled room, sweet with the smell of incense
A woman waits for anticipated news
Others search with longing eyes the heavens and the starry skies
Never finding answers only clues
He was born in a far off land of kings and soldiers
Between the distant past and a brand new age
And the wise men all agreed, the world would marvel at his deeds
And he'd fascinate the cynic and the sage
Come some Sunday, the sun is going to rise
Come some Sunday, the sun is going to rise
And we'll find what we've been searching for so long
We'll find what we've been searching for...
He walked among the tricksters and the hucksters
Performing miracles by slight of hand
Not ball and chain nor lock and key could stop him from becoming free
As he wandered 'cross the water and the land
There are those who say his life was an illusion
And they ridicule the followers he conned
But to the dreamer and the poor, he brought a different kind of cure
A hope for something more to the beyond
Come some Sunday, the sun is going to rise
Come some Sunday, the sun is going to rise
And we'll find what we've been searching for so long
We'll find what we've been searching for so long
There wasn't built a prison that could hold him
But his greatest test would come after he died
When he went to the unknown, could he push away the stone
And reach the living from the other side
As we travel through this temporary world
We try to find some meaning we can claim
And some folks wait for Jesus Christ while others wait for Erich Weiss
But in the end we're waiting just the same.
Come some Sunday, the sun is going to rise
Come some Sunday, the sun is going to rise
And we'll find what we've been searching for so long
We'll find what we've been searching for- for so long
©2002 Jon Waterman
Heart Full of Tears Music & Lyrics page Back to top
She's got a heart full of tears that have built up for years
From every love that left her lonely, every dream that flew away
She's got a cry in her voice that lets' her sadness trickle into song
So her heart won't burst open someday.
There's a place that she goes where the hours pass slow.
To dream of what once was, and what should have been
And there in that darkness, she listens for the strain
of a melody played by the rain and the wind
And she sings country songs by the fire of the moon
She sings country songs all night long
And her voice fills the ears of everyone who hears
With a song that is sung from a heart full of tears
There's a dam by the lake, and someday it may break
And make the stream a river, and turn the earth to mud
And there are those who haven't heard her, who wonder just how long
before her heart will release all those tears in a flood
But she sings country songs by the fire of the moon
She sings country songs all night long
And her voice fills the ears of everyone who hears
With a song that is sung from a heart full of tears
Now the stars up above aren't shining so bright
But the floodgates may open a little tonight
When she sings country songs by the fire of the moon
When she sings country songs all night long
And her voice fills the ears of everyone who hears
With a song that is sung from a heart full of tears
©2003 Jon Waterman
Taking the Fall Music & Lyrics page Back to top
I guess I realize you'll never love me,
Or feel for me the way I feel for you
And I know that when I dream about you dreaming of me,
That's a dream that's not too likely to come true
And when I make believe we're together
I know I'm just pretending after all
And every time I tell myself that we were meant to be
I'm just setting myself up to take a fall.
Well I must admit I never saw it coming,
It hit me like a bolt from the sky so blue
One day you were just someone I talked to now and then
Then suddenly, all I could think about was you
But I know you'll never show up on my doorstep
And I know that you aren't ever going to call
And I know that every night that I spend waiting by the phone
I'm just setting myself up to take a fall
And still I make this wish that won't be granted
And still I say this prayer that won't be answered
And I keep clinging to this false hope, cause its my only way to cope
The only way that I can keep on walking tall
But now I'm starting to fall.
I always thought I held sway over my emotions
That I'd never fall in love with someone not in love with me
But loves an uncontrollable devotion
That is not bound by reciprocity
And so I fill this page with lines about you
And I pour my heart into each letter that I scrawl
But I know that with every word I dedicate to you
I'm just setting myself up to take a fall.
I'm just setting myself up to take a fall.
©2003 Jon Waterman
King Kong Music & Lyrics page Back to top
Some folks are looking for trouble. Some folks are just plain bad.
Some folks may be a little bit strange; some are just crazy mad.
Some folks are out there walkin 'round free-
ought to be on the funny farm
And everybody else is trying to find a way
to protect themselves from harm
Now you might ask who's gonna soothe this insecurity
Who's gonna make the world safe for democracy
Well we've got a superhero, and he'll make everything ok
And all the bad guys they had best just stay out of his way.
He's no Japanese Godzilla, he's no mean old junk yard dog
He's no thousand pound gorilla. hell no, he's King Kong
On the island of Manhattan, in the baddest part of town
Some evil villains crashed two planes and knocked some buildings down
And they covered up the city with a thick black dusty cloud
But over it all reachin' to the sky was one tower standing proud
Now there's something that you might not know, but you should be aware
If those bad guys had had their way, that tower too would not be there
But they couldn't hit the empire state building,
no they couldn't even try
Cause King Kong would've swatted them planes right out of the sky.
He's no Japanese Godzilla, he's no mean old junk yard dog
He's no thousand pound gorilla, hell no, he's King Kong
Well he must weigh a good 20 tons and he's covered up with fur
All the ladies call him high rise lover, all the men just call him sir
Well they found him in a jungle on an island far away
Tarzan might have had his Jane, but King Kong had Fay Wray
And he took her up to the top of the world, above the highest floor
And there he made that woman scream like she never screamed before
Now on the New York City skyline, you might see his silhouette
And if you do, its' certain to be something that you won't forget
He stands on the horizon like the statue of liberty
Making high rise buildings safe for folks like you and me
He's no Japanese Godzilla, he's no mean old junk yard dog
He's no thousand pound gorilla, hell no, he's King Kong
Good will triumph over bad and right will outlast wrong
And wherever you're at, you can damn well bet,
we won't forget King Kong
©2002 Jon Waterman
Midnight Sun Music & Lyrics page Back to top
If you've, ever loved, then you know
How the world can seem aglow with sunlight
Even in the midst of a dark night
With no end in sight
If you've ever loved, then you know
The warmth you can show to someone
Even though winter has begun
For love is the midnight sun.
And if you've ever loved then its clear
How easily tears can start flowin'
Just a change in how the winds blowin'
Can leave you cold and alone.
And if you've ever loved its so clear
How there can be somebody near you'
Someone whose smile can cheer through
Your deepest blue
For love is the midnight sun
It keeps shinin', keeps on shinin'
Love is the midnight sun
It keeps shinin' on through the night.
For love is the midnight sun
It keeps shinin', keeps on shinin'
Love is the midnight sun
It keeps shinin' on through the night.
For love is the midnight sun
It keeps shinin', keeps on shinin'
Love is the midnight sun
It keeps shinin', shinin through the night.
©2003 Jon Waterman
Funny Music & Lyrics page Back to top
Once I told you funny stories that would make you cry
Now I look at you and see your eyes are desert dry
And I don't hear that loving laughter that I did before
I guess my funny stories aren't so funny anymore
Once I told you funny stories that you'd laugh at for a while
Now I talk to you and you don't even crack a smile
And I don't know what happened, or what came over you
Or why my funny stories don't do like they used to do
Now I'm no stand up comic, and I'm no vaudeville clown
But it used to be that I could pick you up when you were down
Once I told you funny stories, once I made you feel good
Once I made you smile the way I know you always should
But there's no use in telling fairy tales or trying to pretend
There won't be a happy ending to this story soon to end.
©2003 Jon Waterman
Monotone Music & Lyrics page Back to top
I'm sittin in the long dark shadow of the night,
waiting for a call to come
Not from a lover or a long lost friend,
but from an un-named anyone
And the babbling of the TV and the whirring of the fan
blend together in an endless drone
And somewhere there's a voice that tells the story of my life,
and its speaking in a monotone
The telephone rings and I pick up the receiver
just in time to hear the line go dead
Just another wrong number on an all too quiet night
and I can't get myself to go to bed
And I think of conversations that I never really had,
with people that I only might have known
And I hear them talking back at me from somewhere in my mind,
and they're speaking in a monotone
I've got a little flask of whiskey to keep me company
as I watch the hours passing by
And I don't have any doubt, if I could sprout a pair of wings,
I'd take up to the air and fly
And I'd talk to the angels and I'd ask them what to do,
cause I'm feeling broken and alone
And they murmur something down at me that I can't understand,
and its spoken in a monotone
Two in the morning and I'm playing my guitar,
wondering where the night has gone
It seems a contradiction that the time goes by so fast,
and yet the moment just keeps draggin on
I think I hear the sound of someone knockin on my door,
but its only that the wind is blowin'
Scrapin 'gainst the rooftop, and howlin out the blues,
singing in a monotone
A friend of mine once told me 'bout a woman that he knew
who was as mute as was the frozen ground
And though he longed to hear the warmth and passion of her voice,
he knew she could not make a sound
And then one day he caught her lying with another man,
and with pleasure loudly did she moan
And with the creaking of the boxsprings that were tappin out the time,
it all turned into a monotone
So he gave himself to madness, hoping he might go astray
and find some shelter in an early grave
And he wandered through the hills for 40 days and 40 nights,
stopping only in an unmarked cave
There he left all his emotions in some jagged hieroglyphics
that he carved into a wall of stone
But I still can hear the neverending echo of his cry,
a sad and lonely monotone
Sometimes there's a silence louder than a band of demons
that can make a deaf man scream in pain
It lurks behind the smoky music of a highway bar,
and the driving patter of the rain
Now I can hear that hollow voice of nobody and no one,
like its shouted through a megaphone
And I'm sitting in the long dark shadow of the night,
listenin' to the monotone
©2003 Jon Waterman
Molly Maguire Music & Lyrics page Back to top
Sweet Molly Maguire, how did you retire,
when the strike was all settled and done
Was there fiery coal burning deep in your soul,
for the rights that had never been won
Did you march to the tune, January to June,
of a need for a fairness in pay?
Did the need to survive finally stifle your drive
when sheer hunger was cast in your way?
Now can you conceive that we have been deceived
to believe what we cannot recall?
For the closer we peer the more things are unclear,
were things as they appeared after all?
When the picket line fell it was back into hell
with heavy a hammer to wield
With a cut in the pay and ten hours a day
as the price for so having to yield
Now sweet Molly Maguire of black coal blood and fire
did you take to the streets as they claim
Did you settle the score with your own private war
and so rise in your glory and fame.
Now can you conceive that we have been deceived
to believe what we cannot recall?
For the closer we peer the more things are unclear,
were things as they appeared after all?
The Pinkerton man lent the owners a hand
together with those who confessed
Against twenty four men, and of those the ten,
who forever were sentenced to rest
Now sweet Molly Maguire, what was your desire,
and what in the end did you gain?
For the union was gone and the leaders so strong
are numbered with those who were slain.
Now can you conceive that we have been deceived
to believe what we cannot recall?
For the closer we peer the more things are unclear,
were things as they appeared after all?
Now sweet Molly Maguire, tell me did you conspire,
was it all just a corporate game?
For those who were tried were all on the same side
as those for whose deaths they were blamed
And the people they read in the news that was spread
that the miners they never could trust
For a miner in soul was as black as the coal
and best left in the darkness and dust.
Now can you conceive that we have been deceived
to believe what we cannot recall?
For the closer we peer the more things are unclear
Were things as they appeared after all?
©2003 Jon Waterman
Good Old Days Music & Lyrics page Back to top
In the old days we would sit on a porch,
drink cape codders while the sun would scorch
Life was easy and not so fast. Oh those golden days of the past
Oh why the change of ways, nothing like them good old days
Are you lost in a nostalgic haze longing for them good old days?
In the old days you could go for a stroll
down to the common where the carriages rolled
Get a two cent plain at the five and dime store
and every girl that you met was the gal next door
Oh why the change of ways, nothing like them good old days
Are you lost in a nostalgic haze longing for them good old days?
And every town was a small town. Everybody would stop and say hello.
And out on the street every smile was sweet
with nothing but goodwill to show
And everyone was singing the same song they heard on the radio
But time has moved on and those old days are gone
but they weren't really that long ago
In the old days you could go to the square
and everybody was a friend or a neighbor there
You could walk with your honey by the silvery moon
and go to pancake socials every Sunday at noon
Oh why the change of ways, nothing like them good old days
Are you lost in a nostalgic haze longing for them good old days?
In the old days everything was fine
you played your role and you towed the line
All the men were clean cut and went to work in a tie
all the moms baked homemade apple pie
Oh why the change of ways, nothing like them good old days
Are you lost in a nostalgic haze longing for them good old days?
And everybody was happy, on each side of the tracks
There was no talk of ceilings or walls or bad feelings
between the whites and the blacks
You only had to close your eyes to hide
from what you did not want to know
But time has moved on and those old days are gone
but they weren't really that long ago
In the old days everything was right
all the picket fences and the people were white
No one was different and no one was strange
and no one ever thought that there could be any change
In the old days there was nothing new,
people did the things they were supposed to do
The flag was raised and the Lord was praised
oh glory hallelujah them good old days
Oh why the change of ways, nothing like them good old days
Are you lost in a nostalgic haze longing for them good old days
©2003 Jon Waterman
Bar Harbor Moon Music & Lyrics page Back to top
Well I've come for the Bar Harbor Moon
Shining in the month of October
Casting its mystic light over the indigo sea
And I feel a chill in the air
And I hear a trace of your whisper
As I walk alone down these streets where you once walked with me
And hearts sure will break over choices we make
and the dreams we awake from too soon
But I'll try and I'll try to hold on to the Bar Harbor Moon
Now the trail is fresh with the leaves
Felled in the first wave of autumn
By breezes that blow like the thoughts of a wandering soul
Once you told me how love could not last
But I still believe beyond reason
That the moments we shared were much more than just moments we stole.
And hearts sure will break over choices we make
and the dreams we awake from too soon
But I'll try and I'll try to hold on to the Bar Harbor Moon
Bar Harbor Moon, when you're only a sliver
You steal no light from the stars in the sky
Bar Harbor Moon when you're full you inspire
The tell-tale shadows of clouds that roll by
Bar Harbor Moon when you're new and unseen
You touch us with innocence, pure and pristine
Now I'm gathering memories scattered and strewn
About in the light of the Bar Harbor Moon
Now the streets of the village are still-
As when we first walked them together-
-on an October night that we spent here a lifetime ago
But the woods and the hills will remain
Along with the sky in the water
No matter the pull of the tide or the breezes that blow.
And hearts sure will break over choices we make
and the dreams we awake from too soon
But I'll try and I'll try to hold on to the Bar Harbor Moon
©2003 Jon Waterman
Blues Before the Dawn Music & Lyrics page Back to top
There will be no loneliness, there will be no emptiness
There will be no weariness, there will be no sorrow
There will be no wars waged, there will be no blind rage
There will be no old age, and no fear of tomorrow
There will be no senselessness, there will be no arrogance
There will be no prejudice, there will be no scorn
Someday, when I wake up, from this dream in which I was born
There will be good times, there will be sweet wines.
There will be smiles that never fade.
There will be stars bright, there will be moonlight.
There will be sunshine, and there will be shade.
And there will be soft eyes, in every sunrise
Watching the night skies turn on into the morn.
Someday, when I wake up, from this dream in which I was born.
There will be no here and gone, there will be no passing on.
There will be no right and wrong, just children at play.
But there will be meadows green, and there will be sights unseen,
And the magic that life will bring, day after day after day.
And there will be no highs and lows, just flowers and rainbows.
And we'll laugh at these old clothes so ragged and worn.
Someday, when we wake up, from this dream in which we were born.
©2003 Jon Waterman
Quotes
"Singer-songwriter-acoustician Jon Waterman has an epic bent to his songwriting that makes his compositions vibrate with a larger than life quality"- Metronome Magazine, May 2004
"Jon Waterman has a poet's outlook and a storyteller's way of drawing you into his extraordinary musical tales."- Maureen LeBlanc, Nameless Coffeehouse, Cambridge
"A fine songwriter whose music satisfies the soul like a really good book- delivering life themes with punch and dignity. Each song stands solidly on its own, but Jon's performance of them is as definitive as his unique twelve string guitar style. Like silk velvet- smooth but its got a nap."- Mfdaisy MacDonald, host of Salon Sunday Concert Series- Boston
"Jon Waterman's songs take you on a musical odyssey through time and place. Memorable melodies and well-crafted lyrics rich in detail envelop you in stories and history, supported by an intricately played 12-string guitar. A true acoustic troubador for the masses."- Patti DeRosa, singer/songwriter
"Jon Waterman's exceptionally well-crafted songs are rooted in classic country and vintage honky-tonk, but his twelve-string delivery gives them a style -and a soul -that's all his own."- Mark Stepakoff, singer/songwriter
"Writing with skill, range and emotional depth, Jon Waterman is a song craftsman of the highest order"- Steve Rapson, guitarist/songwriter, author of The Art of the Solo Performer
"Jon Waterman possesses a truly fine poetic gift" -Raymond Gonzalez, Singer/songwriter
"Jon has intelligent lyrics and catchy melodies that ensnare you with wit and seriousness" - Angela Masciale, singer/songwriter and host of King Hooper Cafe, Marblehead