1. |
If Ever
02:29
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If Ever
If ever a dream … came true
Defied science and sleep, ... it was you
If ever a wish fell from a star
It flourishes wherever you are
If ever a pair of eyes lit the skies
If ever a kindred heart tumbled in my arms
If ever a bird sang in my ear
He left out all the words until you appeared
If ever the shade leapt from a leaf
It stole the idea when you smiled at me
If ever a breath of air was shimmering in your hair
If ever the valley moaned sweet and low
If ever the time crashed and was still
Maybe you happened by disarming until
©2003 Richard Bates (Miss New Orleans Music, ASCAP)
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2. |
Hating the Songs
03:36
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Hating the Songs
I hate the songs, I hate the songs
That say it won’t be long, it won’t be long
Cause each and every day I pray
Today is going to be the day
I awake to see you’re here with me
I hate the songs, I hate the songs
That say keep holding on, keep holding on
Cause maybe if it’s meant to be
You got to just wait and see
It takes time to build it right
Woe
My heart’s not mine, it’s yours …
Not to give away but to keep or break
I hate the songs, I hate the songs
That say don’t give your heart, don’t give your heart
Cause I could sooner hide away
The sunlight at the break of day
Than tell my blood when to bubble up
Woe
© 2004 Richard Bates (Miss New Orleans Music, ASCAP)
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3. |
If Wishing Made It So
05:09
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If Wishing Made It So
I asked the stars to ask the moon
to go and find you to tell you I love you
I asked my mother to help me too
to say her prayers for you to love me more
But the moon had her own drama with lust
She spent those two weeks cuddling up with the sun
If I spent my days working for a dream
even one with higher rate of successes
Made crazy stupid money for crazy stupid things
Is that any part of keeping your heart?
If I spent those same days brushing up on poetics
That’s thirteen times 365 inflections…
of I dearly love you
It’s not just preparation
It’s not just guessing what you need
It’s not just communication
It’s not just almighty timing
It’s always at least a unique and freaking confusing ordinary combination of a ton of those three or fifty four
If wishing made it so
I’d be just as talented and just as well known
If wishing made it so
I’d be just as handsome and just as flat broke
But if wishing made it so
You wouldn’t sleep at night
You would not sleep
‘til you were by my side
© 2004 Richard Bates (Miss New Orleans Music, ASCAP)
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4. |
There Was A Time
02:59
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There Was A Time
Six senses detect tremors in the force
Rumbling through the night
And then a splash of light
Even men who date men say “Woe”
Hey Nicole
I hope you think your name sounds nice in my song
Hey Nicole
There was a time, there was a time
you said "true love babe" and I
Could not see but only stars
careening out my singing heart
There was a time, there was a time
you said "one kiss please" and I
Wondered if this could be love
and why so much
© 2003 Richard Bates (Miss New Orleans Music, ASCAP)
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5. |
Touching Leaves
04:11
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Touching Leaves
I wanna’ dance with you on Broadway
I wanna’ dance with you on Mars
I wanna’ swing you through next Sunday
Wrecking all the walls
Until you were kissing me back
Kissing was never any good
You make me feel like I’ll never die
But I would, I would
I would to be reborn with you
as trees ...
with touching leaves
Every twinkling of an eye, every song insists
There’re not enough walls in the Western World to push you up against
----------------------------------------------
Ah ah… wrecking walls.. anh ah
----------------------------------------------------
When you come for me I am waiting
When you call for me I come
Most everything happens for no good reason
But there are reasons we stayed in touch
‘cause ‘til you were kissing me back
Kissing was never any good
You make me feel like I’ll never die
But I would, I would
I would to be reborn with you
as trees ...
with touching leaves
Just a thought of you in my arms has always been
Better than shooting stars ... with anyone anywhere else
© 2005 Richard Bates (Miss New Orleans Music, ASCAP)
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6. |
The Way It Should Be
03:41
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The Way It Should Be
Here’s to the way it should be
Peace, love, and understanding
And giving up unrequited love
To making friends, here’s to happy ends
Here’s to the way it should be
Love for you and loving for me
And not fading away the American way
Of getting loud, here’s to burning out
When you look at me across a kiss
Your face a stream of sentiment
The tide turns back the apocalypse
The way it should be is the way it is
Here’s to the way it should be
Tea for two under shady trees
And to falling on your face on the dance floor in
the fray
To glass and beer, here’s to hearty cheer
When you look at me across a kiss
Your face a stream of sentiment
The tide turns back the apocalypse
The way it should be is the way it is
©2001 Richard Bates (Miss New Orleans Music, ASCAP)
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7. |
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A Ballad of Hey Girl
Hey girl whatcha gonna do tonight?
I’ve got my mama’s car keys and you’ve got a ticket to ride
I’m licensed to ill with a drive to thrill
Rockabilly roots and a quart of Jack Daniels
I heard your boyfriend ran away
But don’t cry he’s gone when I’m standing here to stay
With nothing to give but a little more skin
The wettest kiss and the will to live
I want you
You feel blue
I’ve been waiting so long to get my hands on you
I wanted to say you don’t understand
I don’t want to be your boyfriend I want to be your man
Cause I’m tired of meddling in broken hearts
Wasting my love on electric guitars
So hey girl whatcha gonna do tonight?
I’ve got a box of condoms, and your wicked smile’s on my mind
I hope you’re down with whiskey and rye
Late night T.V. and button flies
I want you
You feel blue
I’ve been waiting so long to get my hands on you
Hey girl whatcha gonna do tonight?
I’ve got you in mind
Come with me
Be mine
Be mine …
© 1994 Richard Bates (Miss New Orleans Music, ASCAP)
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8. |
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So you’re gonna go out and try a little something different
You got that get up and go make it happen, hey, that's the spirit
Cause that same same old same old got you down, but its wearing thin
You wanna try another town, maybe try some other skin
But don't look back because
There's nothing to say
I loved you once
And always...
Sometimes out on that freeway you might feel a little small
At some point in between the galaxies of stars
And you're worried some about me and how I'm gonna' do
Well I hate to admit it to you, but I'm a little worried too
But we can count on
A brighter place
Here in nostalgia
There's saving grace...
And I'll be coming to give you loving if ever you want me to
So lose yourself to no one else. My heart is true, my heart is true
©2001 Richard Bates (Miss New Orleans Music, ASCAP)
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9. |
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The Leafy Song
Once I was a leaf I was a happy leaf
I was bright and green
Hanging with the squirrellies, flirting with the birdies,
And waving at the kids on the street
I was a happy leaf, bright and green …
Then something happened, started taking for granted
The daily grind of happy things
I curse the day I ever craved a fine adventure
And shook myself loose of that tree
‘Cause now, a not so happy leaf, not so bright and green
Turning with each breeze, a not so happy leaf
Learning about tumbling down, learning about hitting the ground …
There’ve been wild nights on fleeting gusts of raging joy
And there’s been flying high like when a girl true loves a boy
But mostly it’s dirt and concrete …
And you’re the North wind blowing home, sing my darling surf the storm
There’s no better way to go Than with the North wind blowing home …
©2002 Richard Bates (Miss New Orleans Music, ASCAP)
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10. |
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Skydiving With Rapunzel
Throw up the hair I’m floating through
‘Cause you said jump and now I’m on the moon
If you say jump I fly, I burn the sun with you in mind
And if you say love I’m how high, I’m off the graph of space and time
Let out your hair I’m battered down
‘Cause you said land and now I’m underground
‘Cause if you say stop I coast, if you say still then I implode
but if you say lover I’m yours, I burn to cinders at your toes
To spite a fear of heights
Tempt the fall with will to rise
It’s only bones keep breaking when you play that
Say that just one word I feel everything
Babylove keep making
me upside out
Throw up the hair I’m floating through …
©1995 Richard Bates (Miss New Orleans Music, ASCAP)
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11. |
To Skyward
04:10
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To Skyward
Tonight of baby why
not chase me through the sky
It’s not so high
for love like mine
With eyes upon the stars
One wish and there we are
It’s only pride
that’s down by flight
So ...baby ... fly
For heaven’s a smile made out in body and mind
All love for all time, cool with wonder why
Lips flutter now they sing
The spreading of the wings
Takes more than height
To reach the sky
So ...baby ... smile
For now is the time for you and me on high
A place in the light on high ... on high ...
© 1996 Richard Bates (Miss New Orleans Music, ASCAP)
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the hons New Orleans, Louisiana
"To Skyward is the album Weezer wishes they could make..." --OFFBEAT MAGAZINE
A Democrat, an
Independent, and a Republican go to a bar. An Alabama fan from NYU & 2 guys from LSU play cadences of love. 3 dads discuss rehearsing-- next week. Late nights and early mornings! Who dat say they gonna beat dem Eagles?! 3 'merican kids doing the best they can--in bed.
... more
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