Brief Nocturnes and Dreamless Sleep (2013)

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Limited Edition (April, 2013)

Disc One:

Hiding Out
I Know Your Secret
A Treasure Abandoned
Submerged
Afterthoughts
Something Very Strange
Waiting For Me

Disc Two (special edition):

The Man You’re Afraid You Are
Down A Burning Road
Wish I Were Here
Something Very Strange - Sanctified Remix
Postcards From Perdition

Produced by Rich Mouser, Alan Morse and John Boegehold

Engineered, mixed and mastered by Rich Mouser at The Mouse House, Altadena, CA

Band Members:

Alan Morse - guitar, pedal & lap steel, mandolin, autoharp, vocals
Dave Meros - bass, vocals
Jimmy Keegan - drums & percussion, timpani, vocals
Ryo Okumoto - organ, mellotron, piano, synths, clavinet, vocoder
Ted Leonard - vocals, guitar

With:

Craig Eastman - violin, viola, hurdy gurdy (Waiting For Me, Down A Burning Road)
John Boegehold - vocoder (Something Very Strange)
Neal Morse - additional guitar (Waiting For Me)
Stan Ausmus - additional guitar (The Man You’re Afraid You Are)

Lyrics

01. Hiding Out

Ted Leonard

Staring into the black, it’s all I see
Holed up in this shroud of obscurity
Inhabiting nothing or it’s inhabiting me
It’s the ultimate anonymity

I set it in motion, I set it right
I said what I said then I said goodnight
Now my clock’s set forward and I can’t set it back
And I’m set in cement staring into the black

Cover of night is blinding
But so is the light, I’m finding
A taste I no longer savor
Don’t need to find your favor

I need you now to come and find me
I’m hiding out in a den of thieves
Have mercy now, don’t crucify me
I’m hiding out

Lost in the garden, I took from the tree
Ate it down to the core, now I’m looking for leaves
I duck behind bushes, hide my face in my hands
And if that doesn’t work, I’ll put my head in the sand

This garden it feels like a graveyard
I’m flying beneath your radar
Can’t understand my behavior
Can’t seem to find your favor

I need you now to come and find me
I’m hiding out in a den of thieves
Be sovereign now, don’t crucify me
I’m hiding out

02. I Know Your Secret

Dave Meros & John Boegehold

Roaming with the rats
Worth more dead than alive
Hiding from a hundred guns
Running to survive
You wonder when the bullets will finally come

Tracking every step
I followed you for days
Slowly slipped inside your head
Can’t you place my face?
I’m one of the many you left for dead

I know the secret that you keep
I know the demon deep inside
I know the reason you can’t sleep
I know the past you’d like to hide
I know the monster you have made
I know the wars you don’t regret
I know the blood that stains the blade
You know I won’t let you forget

Some would call it justice
Some call it cold revenge
You can call it what you choose
Go ahead pretend
Defend your life it’s all you’ve left to lose

Remember times were good
Remember life was grand
Funny how the future
Didn’t turn out like you had it planned
The costs were high
Talk was cheap
Promises to God that we all knew
That you could never keep
You knocked me down
But now I’m back up on my feet again
You’d look right through me
If I passed you on the street my friend
Here at the end it won’t depend on who you know
Surprise is on my side
Ready, aim, it’s time you go

03. A Treasure Abandoned

John Boegehold & Alan Morse

We followed the strange map of his memory
Back through the landmarks of a life
Though sometimes painful he’d remember
A world of splendor and wonders to behold
As he told his story

He was lost in the land of the angels
And the red temples in the trees
In the tempest of time was
A treasure abandoned

He spoke of those days of hope and destiny
Of dreams and the often-answered prayers
But of an age now gone forever
And though he’d never find that place again
He relives the glory

Of the garden of gods he would tell us
As we hung on every word
Of the choices he made and
A treasure abandoned

Captured by the hands of the master
Colors on the canvas of time
Painting over days ever faster
We witnessed the world through his ageless eyes

04. Submerged

Ted Leonard

Back and forth up and down
I feel my way around
Finding everything but you
My view of you has grown soft
Got grace but something’s lost
It’s probably the truth

I’m candy coated salt and I’m a dimming light
My fuzzy logic is skewed confusing wrong with right

Throw me a line I’m sinking down
Submerging further, further from you
But I’m doing fine making my way
Further and further
Further from you

Black or white hard to tell
Grey’s a much easier sell
And you give it away for free
So watered down homogenized
That the truth becomes the lie
That you’re starting to believe

I’m candy coated salt, I find it bittersweet
The lack of comfort when not everybody agrees

05. Afterthoughts

Alan Morse, Neal Morse, Ted Leonard

Voices ringing out
Voices all about…

They don’t think I thought this out
And they all think I should just fall in line
But that’s my plan to make them doubt
Keep my intentions cryptic by design
My ear pressed up against the wall
The footsteps coming down the hall
Is one more dosage all that I can take?
The implants underneath my skin
The altered state they keep me in
But they can’t win if I just stay awake

To keep them out I keep me in
Cause they don’t get to hear the things I know
While bats up in this belfry fly
In circles cause they don’t know where to go
Took me here and stripped me bare
Gave me this lovely robe to wear
And Tuesdays we get Jello if we’re good
The doctor he seems dense to me
His questions make no sense
Cause he misunderstands I’m just misunderstood

Voices ringing all about
Thoughts they scream don’t let them out

Thoughts they’re screaming out
Voices ringing all about
Thoughts they’re screaming out
Voices they are finally coming down
The voices like to scream and shout
I think my thoughts are finally coming down

They all say I’m crazy, I say ‘ha’
Just like a fox but with dementia
By the way, on third thought,
You shouldn’t open up that box that I sent ya
The hatter tips his hat to me
I’m madder than he’ll ever be
At least that’s what they’d like me to believe
A sedative won’t settle me
It’s all one big conspiracy
The message I begrudgingly receive

06. Something Very Strange

John Boegehold

We are praying for the day
Waiting for the skies above to open
We are waiting for our gods to show themselves
We are sanctified and chosen
Hearts unbroken
Hurt unknown…

We’ve been counting revolutions
As we circle ‘round the sun
A million years of evolution
Still our journey’s only just begun

Something very strange
Is coming fast our way
Look up to the sky my brothers
Make your peace with one another
Something very strange
Is coming fast our way

We’ll embrace the revelations
With a ringing of the bells
‘til every soul in every nation
Hears a truth these travelers will tell

07. Waiting For Me

Alan Morse & Neal Morse

I never had a name
No one knows where I came from
But I came just the same
I don’t know why I’m here or where I’ve been
I got nothing left to say
But I’m gonna say it anyway

I can dance on the rain
If someone’s out there waiting for me
Laugh though the pain
If someone’s out there waiting for me
Waiting for me there

Strange lights against the sky
Strangers fill the streets
The prophets told us of this time
When night is day and
The sun blood red as wine
Borrowed time and numbered days
But I’ll keep dancing anyway

I can dance on the rain
If someone’s out there waiting for me
Laugh though the pain
If someone’s out there waiting for me
Dancing on the rain
Is someone somewhere waiting for me
Slowly going sane
If someone’s out there waiting for me
Waiting for me there

Waiting for me
On the other side there’s no one home
Waiting for me
In the awkward silence on the phone
All my life I’ve waited
As the lights have faded

Now a new day has begun
The wounded stars run home
Chased away by a brand new sun
The time is here
The wait is done
We used to be different
Now we’re the same
We can play another game

Disc Two

01. The Man You’re Afraid You Are Alan Morse & Stan Ausmus

The person you’re afraid you are
You can never let them see
You have to work so hard
To make it look so easy

You’ve been trying to be who you’re not
For so long you almost forgot
You’re not your identity
You’ve got eternity

The man you’re afraid you are
He’s got your house, your clothes your car

He’s in your bathrobe on your front lawn
With a fistful of pills and your prints on the gun
He’s got a sniper rifle on the water tower
And he always calls at the dinner hour

Put it down and turn around
We’ll pretend we didn’t see
Please don’t make that whining sound
You’re gonna turn out to be

The man you’re afraid you are
You’re not your house, your clothes, your car
You’re not the darkness in your heart

Degradation or exultation
Some expectation of precipitation
Fallin’ from my eye
Some explanation of exploitation
Has been gestatin’
For quite some time

The person you’re afraid you are
Swung down from his funky tree
He’s got his drink and his cigar
In your Cadillac’s back seat

The person you’re afraid you are
In his boat upon the sea
He’s drifted out a bit too far
He might not be back for tea

02. Down A Burning Road John Boegehold & Alan Morse

Broke and dazed down a burning road
Stopped to have a smoke while the world was ending
Through a blizzard of ash and snow
Praying with a friend but there’s no pretending
Twisting time and fate had found us
All alone
All alone

Carry us back to a better way
Carry us back with the setting sun
Carry us back on a wave of love and grace
Carry us back as the day is done
The day is done

Demons danced down a burning road
Someone made a deal with the devil’s daughter
Turned a bright diamond back to coal
Gold to lead, fine wine to water
Street life left her dark and cold
Down to the bone
To the bone

Cross the freezing river run
Neath the bridge they’re watching
Quiet they can hear us talk
Charming wolves with starving hearts
Stand your ground they’re growing near
This will not end well I fear
Dim the lights
Start the show
This is all we know

03. Wish I Were Here Alan Morse

The skies are clear, the water warm
Lying here beneath the palms
Wish I were here but I’m home
Watchin’ TV with Dave
Central Park, the Empire State,
Brooklyn Bridge, man, that’d be great
But I can’t get away I’d be late for
TV with Dave

Wish I were here
I’ve been gone so long I don’t even know I’m gone

Wish I were here
Wish I were here

The Eiffel Tower, The Golden Gate
I’ve been everywhere except every place
I’m always here with my face watchin’
TV with Dave
And now it’s too late
Accept my fate
Hot Pockets ‘n PBR and
TV with Dave

Wish I were here
I’ve been gone so long I don’t even know I’m gone

Wish I were here
Wish I were here

Wish I were here but I’m not
Wish I was drunk on a yacht
Or fallin’ asleep with the sand in my toes
But who’s got the time for all that?

Wish I were here

04. Something Very Strange (Sanctified Remix) John Boegehold

05. Postcards from Perdition John Boegehold

Instrumental