Lyrics for Essential Tension


SONG LIST

  1. 1.
    Racer (5:10)
    “Take it easy, take it slow, you don’t need to hurry so
    You’ll get where you need to go, quit rushing.”
    I heard these words every single day of my life
    And they drove me crazy, cause there’s someone
    Living deep inside, and she’s calling:

    She sings out to me when I lay down to sleep
    She raises me shaking from my head to my feet
    She pulls me to the edge and she sound so sweet, I’m flying
    There’s a racer inside me and I can’t slow her down.

    “Girl, you’re gonna get in trouble, wild-eyed twitcher, taking stairs on the double
    Chewing your fingers, go look in the mirror, now aren’t you shamed?
    You’ll scare off any would-be mate the way you inhale food right off your plate
    In a lonely hurry you’ll find too late you’ve got haste to blame.”

    But these words mean nothing when there’s something screaming
    To be heard and heeded, and this is no dream
    And whenever I try and quiet her, it seems I’m dying
    There’s a racer inside me and I can’t slow her down

    She moves fast, but she sees everything
    She won’t last, if I won’t let her bring
    All that she can do into my life…will go with her

    My hair is blowing, my nose is red-
    My best friend told me that I look half dead
    There’s a sweet wild song playing through my head again and again
    They’ll take my running if they take me at all
    I’m on the other side of the compound wall

    I may stumble and sometimes fall but somehow
    I know that little song is about my soul
    Though you might think I lost control,
    But the singer’s asking how it feels to be whole—well, I’m trying
    There’s a racer inside m and I can’t slow her down
  2. 2.
    Black Crow (3:37)
    Black crow, crossing a slate sky
    Black crow, crossing a slate sky
    Half the country’s burning down, we don’t know why

    Brown water covering our town
    Muddy brown water climbing up our town
    Yesterday was tinder dry, today we’re about to drown
    Forces way out beyond us are having a whirl
    Asking us to decide to belong to this world

    Sea green, bring it to our door
    Sea green, bring it to our door
    Take the poison in so deep, wash the sickness up on shore

    Red scare, sneaking back ‘round
    Red scare, sneaking back ‘round
    Hate is bound to snowball, you’ve got to listen to the sound

    Of white lies crossing a man’s lips
    White lies crossing a man’s li[s
    He’s supposed to win our trust, how far does he think we’ve slipped?

    I heard you say we’re too smart to be in such a haze
    If it’s so clear why are we still her feeling crazed?

    Blue time, don’t linger too long
    Blue time, don’t linger too long
    Got to get the madness out, got to move to stay strong
  3. 3.
    Coming Clear (4:46)
    How could I know that you loved me
    You never so much as smiled
    Your hears not exactly an open book
    Wild, wary and wild

    I have no savior’s ambitions
    I’m not so noble these days
    If you want to know me, the next move’s yours
    You will find the ways

    Yes, it’s hard, but no harder for you than it was for me
    Once your heart danced, but it didn’t work out like you planned
    I’ve gone so far past halfway that I met myself coming back
    I won’t do that again for any lover or friend

    So don’t you go ask me to read your mind
    Or serve up enough trust for two
    If I’m not worth taking a chance on love
    Oh boy, then I don’t need you

    I see your pain and your longing
    I feel the pull of it all
    But there’s something making me slow way down
    It’s my own heart’s call…can you hear it al all?

    How could I know that you loved me?
  4. 4.
    New Beltane Boogie (1:55)
    Make a little fire (jump over it!)
    Take a big leap (jump over it!)
    Grab your baby’s hand (jump over it!)
    This is the time for love

    Write your troubles down
    Fold ‘em up small
    Put ‘em to the flame
    This is the time for love

    All through the world, blood’s running how tonight
    This is the time for lovers all over the world

    Caught your little wink
    Twinkle and a smile
    In the fire’s glow
    This is the time for love

    Any little kiss
    Goes a long way
    On the shortest night
    This is the time for love

    Love’s waited so long, whispered all through the day
    Whispered “This is the time for lovers all over the world!”

    Moon is so new
    Time to start fresh
    Chances are good
    This is the time for love
  5. 5.
    Gotta Get Down (2:38)
    I’ve got a fist full of airline tickets
    Payment conveniently deferred
    How come the less money I’ve got to spend
    The more I’m a customer preferred
    Do you think it might be some kind of set up
    The way you’ve gotta get down to get up

    Got phone calls at seven, the big interview’s at eight
    Then there’s lunch with photographers at twelve-fifteen
    Forget the nap or you’ll be late
    But whenever this hustle gets you fed up
    Remember you’ve gotta get down to get up

    Go red, go green, go black, go white
    Sometimes a body’s got to choose
    Will I kneel and pray or stand and fight
    Or just blow my final fuse

    Poor planet’s crying uncle
    You know, it’s all been told
    It takes big teeth to bite the earth
    And we’ve had a vicious hold
    Now she’s shaking us until we let up
    Saying “You gotta get down to get up!”

    Turn me loose on my living room floor
    That’s where I synthesize my blues
    It’s just me and that sweet, sweet music
    Reminding me how to move
    It’s something I learned since we met up
    You’ve gotta get down to get up
  6. 6.
    Persephone's Song (4:44)
    Sun’s been shining for weeks on end
    You say “ Isn’t that lovely, aren’t we lucky, my friend?”
    But I want something more like the night
    I’m so tired, tired of the light
    I know you hope it stays
    But I need my rainy days

    So bring those heavy skies, roll ‘em right in
    You can lay ‘em right on me with a chilly, wet wind
    Let them open while I shut down
    They drive me, drive me underground
    I know these aren’t your ways But I need my rainy days.

    I can’t dream with this hot sun gleaming
    Or bury myself in a blanket or two
    Can’t go in when the light is streaming
    I mean way inside, many things to do

    So many dreams to keep
    It gets so quiet when I go real deep
    My heart’s not broken, I’m fine and I’m free
    So you can stop asking what is wrong with me

    Too damn much color and light, that’s all
    It numbs me, numbs me till I call
    For the beauty, the beauty in the grays
    And I need my rainy days.
  7. 7.
    Right From the Start (2:46)
    I did not know you well, when we first kissed
    Hell, I hardly knew myself before all this
    Yours is the dearest smile, that I do know
    I’d like to stay around, see how things go

    I believe there are words, simple yet strong
    When they are spoken true, they fall like song
    Onto the waiting ear, into the heart
    Just like those words you spoke, right from the start

    People they’re leaving like trains every hour
    So restlessly chasing those dreams that devour
    Everything here and now waiting to show
    The world in the journey of taking it slow

    So here is some time, it’s not always so cruel
    You take it with care and you’ll not be its fool
    It’s the wasting then wanting that tears us apart’
    When time has made room for us right from the start
  8. 8.
    Anniversary (4:12)
    Uneven as the treeline, you and I
    Ragged and reaching toward the sky
    Traveling in circles, it’s the path of the heart
    Sometimes circling closer, sometimes further apart

    Marbles by the choices we have made alone
    Grown stronger, but never turned to stone
    Fears we each have faced alone in the night
    Those we’ve shed together, startled into the light

    I will never know you well enough
    Joy so vast and yet such pain as we learn love
    All the days and nights of fierce sweet dances our bodies chose
    Still I wake beside you, love, and my wonder grows

    Mind how the stranger’s touch can be filled with fire
    How the unfamiliar may kindle desire
    There’s no new encounter near as wild as this
    When I dive into the ocean of your kess

    So welcome is the angry word, if it be for gain
    Kinder still than silence when answering pain
    May such words be spoken that will heal us strong
    May we trust the laughter as it moves us along

    Uneven as the treeline, you and I
    Ragged and reaching toward the sky
    Traveling in circles, it’s the path of the heart
    Sometimes circling closer, sometimes further apart
  9. 9.
    Want To Shine (3:22)
    Every time that life gets hard
    Everything is in my way
    If you happen through my day—give me a sign

    When I hold the joker’s card
    But I do not get the joke
    Quick, before my heart goes broke—throw me a line

    This isn’t easy, I’ve never asked for help before
    If you refuse me, I’ll get through
    Hey, don’t I sound proud, how do I look way down here
    Cryin’ it out loud, I need you

    I have come a little scarred
    To a place where light comes through
    Now and then it comes from you—that’s just fine

    Strength can be a prison yard
    Running in the open air
    Suddenly a wall is there—that one’s mine

    All of the bad dreams, I wouldn’t say they’ve come true
    But thee were some sad scenes, just the same
    Well, I wouldn’t tell you, but you are standing right here
    Seems like I must have called your name

    When I do let down my guard
    Knowing it will all go by
    Then you’ll look into my eyes—you’ll see me shine
  10. 10.
    Visitor On Solstice Eve (4:21)
    I woke up this day, heavy from my dreaming
    Sleep was hard to shake, though the light was streaming
    So the longest day opens strange before me
    And I cannot swear that I feel its glory
    Weary with dreaming the anguish and tears of the world
    Scenes of starvation and death linger near but there was a girl

    Quite a radiant girl, now that I recall her
    Wrapped in yellow shawl, smiling in the squalor
    Her eyes burned with love for all life around her
    And it seemed she’d heal anyone who found her
    I ran the dreamer’s run, seeming to stay in one lace
    Sure she was lost to me, yet in a moment we stood face to face

    I grew cold and weak though my heart was pounding
    She took off her shawl and she placed it round me
    Oh my heavy heart and my feet they left ground
    And a garden bloomed everywhere they touched down
    How could I ever have forgotten the sound of her voice
    How could I waken in total despair with so clear a choice

    I will take a rose and my wish accord her
    I will kiss it once at the river’s border
    In the deepest day as the long light withers
    I will cast the rose in the willing river
    The river is laughing the sweet yellow laugh of a girl
    I hear my own voice singing loud a the sun as it dips from my world

    I woke up this day with my spirit screaming
    I lay down this short night ready for my dreaming
  11. 11.
    Tired of Going (3:54)
    There once were eagles on Eagle Hill
    Tired of going, tired of going
    When the wind is willing, you’ll hear them still
    Tired of going away

    The winter maples are hung with stars
    Tired of going, tired of going
    One hold Venus, the other sports Mars
    Tired of going away

    The heart’s own light, it can ease the way
    Tired of going, tired of going
    When a midnight ramble can seem like day
    Tired of going away

    I’ve thrown all my locks in a roadside pool
    Tired of going, tired of going
    My windows stay dusty so the birds aren’t fooled
    Tired of going away

    You’ve seen the dance of a well-rooted tree
    Tired of going, tired of going
    Perhaps it’s the nearest to truly free
    Tired of going away

    I’ve flung my heart to an Island’s call
    Tired of going, tired of going
    If she’ll take me, there’s no need to stall
    Tired of going away

    Two eagles flew in my dream last night
    Tired of going, tired of going
    I woke up with a smile just before daylight
    Tired of going away
  12. 12.
    Invitation To the Weep (3:54)
    I feel a good one coming on
    It’s been a while, but this is the real thing
    Everything’s perfect—the weather, the music
    I’ll get real comfy and let her rip:

    I’m gonna weep till all that’s left to do is sleep
    Won’t be a cheap weep—gonna be a deep weep
    I’m gonna weep!

    My phone’s unplugged, my roomate’s gone
    Until next weekend in case I get rolling
    I’ll prime the pump—the evening news, a little wine
    Mountains of Kleenex at my fingertips

    I’m gonna weep till I’[m a mildewed trembling heap
    Won’t be a slack weep, but a good old choke-and-hack weep
    I’m gonna weep!

    It doesn’t have to be depression
    That makes the tears so easily slide’
    Just think of it as a big jam session’
    For all those pent-up feeling deep inside…

    (Fish gotta swim, birds gotta fly, I got toweep till I get puffy eyes)

    I generally do this all alone
    But you seem so intrigued, I don’t mind asking
    Wouldn’t you love it —no excuses—I see you’re sniffling
    Follow that red nose on a little trip

    Come on and weep, I won’t say you’re a wimpy creep
    We’ll have great weep, a real first rate weep, com on—WEEP!
    Come take that wistful soggy leap, get those ducts unblocked
    We’ll make some soup stock—com on WEEP, just let those little eyeballs leak

    We’ll have a mob weep, a sob-and-slobber weep
    We’ll have a high weep, a don’t-ask-why weep
    We’ll have a nice weep, so take my advice—everybody come on and WEEP