1. |
Blow Beautiful Dreams
04:29
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Blow Beautiful Dreams
12 below, Christmas Day
Idle chatter fills the train
Steam rises from an iron grate
Outside the window miles away
Seems everywhere I go has a familiar feel
Yet to none of it I belong
And when I find something I think is real
I blink my eyes and then it’s gone
Blow beautiful dreams, blackened by the weather
Blow beautiful dreams, until we are together
Blow beautiful dreams
I hear a violin soft and sweet
Sounds echo through a deserted street
My expectations get the best of me
I put them on a shelf I can never reach
She’s stopped by her reflection
Checks out her makeup and her hair
And the glass shines in all directions
She’s looking for something that’s already there
Blow beautiful dreams…
The sun beats down on Christmas Day
But it cannot melt the ice away
And who will come to bear the weight
Of all the thoughts we hold at bay
All these kisses on the cheek
The smell of cinnamon potpourri
And the void that always lies between
Who we are and how we’re seen
Blow beautiful dreams…
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2. |
Sunday Blues
04:14
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Sunday Blues
His feet hit the floor, the shade is raised
A Sunday morning ritual, time again
The family getting ready for a ride to the church
The preacher rails, broken hail, lost in the lurch
A tie is selected, the knot's too tight
The congregation gathers, there is no light
He scribbles on the program with a chewed up pencil
Hangin’ by the hymnal, a seldom-used utensil
So many people lookin’ for the proof
All this desire left for us to lose
Choices never ours to choose
Thomas and his father play the Sunday Blues
Thomas and his father got the Sunday Blues
Home again, on the bed, a jacket falls down
Thomas burrows underneath and starts to play the clown
His father smiles and breathes a sigh of relief
And pulls the bottom card from the deck of disbelief
They sit together and read the Sunday funnies
Holding off the sad melancholy Monday
When Dad will ride the train into work
Where the boss rails like broken hail lost in the lurch
So many people…
As Thomas grew older, he began to get the joke
The richest of the rich can still be broke
Words that flow like a wound that bleeds
Or a dog that barks up an empty tree
Where the leaves are dead and years disappear
In spite of who you are and what you fear
Thomas and his father and their bond unbroken
Travel through life with words unspoken
So many people…
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3. |
Theresa
04:32
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Theresa
Theresa, she is 5 years old
Brown hair, green eyes, does what she’s told
She acts as lookout for the danger boys
A Cadillac stops at the traffic light
She gets real close to the passenger’s side
And fixes her chewing gum to the window glass
Two blocks away the car stops again
The boys stroke their guns and descend
On a woman with a seven carat diamond ring
The light goes green; the boys shake loose,
Sao Palo Streets, tight as a noose… Theresa, Theresa
Palm trees and sandy beaches
A world that lies beyond the reach
Of outstretched hands dipping in the sea
Rummaging through the rich man’s trash
In the cathedral square, with eyes detached
She takes off her makeup to look a little younger
Idols fall; chains break loose
Sao Paolo Streets, tight as a noose… Theresa, Theresa
Theresa, she is 12 years old
Brown eyes and belly, baby to be sold
The danger boys measure the market well
There’s a couple in the USA
Twenty thousand dollars they will pay
Some people put a price on anything
Theresa gets a fifty-dollar bill
When the child is delivered from fractured will
Fallin’ through the hole in her safety net
The couple forgets, seeds of abuse
Sao Paolo Streets, tight as a noose… Theresa, Theresa
Carmen Miranda on a wooden sign
Smiles at tourists from another time
The sun shines down on peeling paint
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4. |
Crawling Out From Under
04:40
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Crawling Out From Under
Stopped by a memory, Carl stands completely still
Eyes cast upward at blinking lights and the spaces that they fill
Between two banks of clouds, floating beyond the roof
Single drops of rain kiss the glass and sneak on through
Crawling out from under, everything he knows
Crawling out from under, crawling out from under - everything he knows
Some say we die everyday and that is how we live
Passing through the deepest blue, something about to give
He sees himself as a child, with an ear against the wall
But, all he hears are muffled voices and footsteps down the hall
Magnolias of the spring losing blossoms in the fall
Crawling out from under...
The air outside is cold as he opens an unmarked door
The streetlights point the way down a cloudy corridor
And he follows to the staircase, takes seven stories down
And wanders beneath the surface lost and then found
The stories he’s been told fall one by one to the ground
Like single drops of rain each with a single sound
Crawling out from under....
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5. |
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Driftin'
Somebody told me I was grounded
But I feel like I am driftin’
Driftin’ like the ocean
Driftin’ like the sand
Driftin’ like my hand
In quiet desperate motion
Moving through the darkness
Until it finds your skin
And the joy within
There’s a place in the darkness
Where black flows out of blue
There’s a place in my soul
Where I flow out of you
When I go to sleep at night
I want to wind up driftin’
But I’m held by a chain of sorrow
I’d like to break in two
I’d like to make it true
When I see tomorrow
That every moment matters
And the ordinary’s gone
As you and I go driftin’ on and on
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6. |
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In the Middle of the Night
In the middle of the night, I’m wide awake
The clock ticks on into another day
Your scent, gentle incandescent light
A distant hum, where’s it coming from, an ambulance races by
I take my time in the middle of the night
In the middle of the night, I remember every word,
Your turn, your touch, crickets and cicadas chirp
Red horses, waterfalls slow aqua green
Cascading eyes - you spoke to me
Soon forgotten - don’t you know I believe
Everything from you, stays with me
In the middle of the night when I can’t sleep
Rushin’ down the track magnified
In the middle of the night
In the middle of the night, it’s a circumstantial state
Eyes half shut, though wide awake
Footsteps echo in the hall, voices fall and seep
Into another world where all we see
Is the dream and what the dream is meant to be
I’ll take you there with me
In the middle of the night when I can’t sleep
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7. |
Dark Side of a Pearl
04:57
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Dark Side of a Pearl
Quiet walks the streets outside
Everyone’s locked safe inside
The television tells them what to wear
She used to care, but since gave in
He doesn’t look too deep within
All they want is a little peace
In their heart, they let it pass
In their heart, the world is cast
Into the dark dark side of a pearl
He loosens his tie, kicks off his shoes
She whistles "Just Like Tom Thumb's Blues"
Writes down an idea that she has,
She's got blue eyes clear as an arctic pool
Curves roll down from hot to cool
Like blood at the bottom of the well
I knew them both many years ago
When life was a moving picture show
All our dreams had been blessed
She played a beautiful blue guitar
Had a voice to grace a deco bar
He rarely spoke, but to tell a joke
She’d always laugh and he’d watch her glow
In his heart, he lets it pass…
Now what used to make her laugh, eats inside
And tear up her verse almost for spite
One day she called me on the phone to spill it all
I gave her what seemed like good advice
She hung up the phone and picked a fight
Pushing his buttons like only lovers can
He took the ring she’d tossed aside
Threw it to the world outside
She watched it sail through time and space
Standing in the door she saw the view
Houses filled with people on the move
Some for the darkness; others the light
There was nothin’ left for her to decide
In his heart, he lets it pass…
The trees were lined with Spanish moss
And I wonder what they lost
Somewhere in those ragged fields of grass
Fate can turn so suddenly
I turned off the light among blessed dreams
And held my wife as we fell asleep
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8. |
Screwball Comedy
04:45
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Screwball Comedy
Her wheels are always spinnin’
She’s always on her guard
She’s the grass beneath the snow
And when she’s near she’s far
I can see her in a movie
It would be black and white
Like Barbara Stanwyck on a bandstand
Sequin dress, slit ridin’ to her thigh
A screwball comedy
Am I destined to be?
On a train with a cast of characters…endlessly
His feet are always movin’
He's always on the prowl
He's the calm and the storm
And the wind before it howls
When he heads around the corner
He sees clouds on the rise
He sticks to his destination
As he walks he wonders if it's wise
A screwball comedy…
They’re always asking questions
They remember every word
You better answer carefully
Make sure that you are heard
People in and out of focus
Kids pulling on my tie
Like Cary Grant in Connecticut
I’m baffled, bewildered, benign and doing alright
A screwball comedy…
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9. |
Nighttime Rain
04:24
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Nighttime Rain
Like a branch on the water that’s flowin’
Away from my outstretched hand
Tall grass lines the shore
I take off my shoes and walk some more
Lost in a river of words…
I watch the breeze blow away
All the stories held at bay
Underneath a steady nighttime rain
Years ago, on a dark highway
I drove to see my friend; college days
The girl with me had almond eyes
We were lost looking for things to find
We played pool at his favorite bar
She took pictures in black and white
He flirted with her, but I didn’t mind,
Outside there remained
A steady nighttime rain
My friend was taken from this earth
But his memory’s at the surface
A late night movie I can’t remember
A feeling I get come mid-December
That’s when I miss him most
Rows and rows of golden maize
Every spring come to take their place
Underneath a steady nighttime rain
Like a man on a mission I landed there
Playing a show to the past
We took a walk underneath the stars
Purely by chance wound up in that bar
She took pictures just like ours
And nothing changed but everything had
Somehow her youth made me sad
Outside there still remained – a steady nighttime rain
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10. |
The Artesian Well
04:29
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The Artesian Well
It came right out of nowhere in these West Virginia Hills
Somebody's father's father was working with his drill
Digging hard for oil that would clear this family's debts
When he struck a stream of water that no one will forget
The artesian well goes on forever
At least as long as most folks remember
Hmmm, hmmmm - the artesian well
It wasn't quite the picture he had hanging in his mind
But many of our choices are not for us to decide
Black as night and thick as mud, oil will make you rich
But this cool clear water we need to make us live
The artesian well goes on forever...
It's like our love, endless and pure...
It's like our love, steady and sure...
The man kept right on working for the rest of his life
He could have made a killing showing off his find
He died without a penny, but lovers flock to see
A place where time stands still for eternity
The artesian well goes on forever...
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11. |
Eternity
03:09
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Eternity
Some are tied to cell phones,
Like horses around a post
The world revolves around them
But it’s the world they miss the most
Beauty all around them, they will never realize
I didn’t see it comin’, but I felt it in her eyes
Be here now, she said to me,
Baby, be with me
This second could be all we got
And it’s my eternity
We opened up the Cabernet
And turned off all the lights
Lit a dozen candles
And gave in to the night
She came to me in waves, the kind that fall and rise
I didn’t see it comin’ but I felt them in her eyes
Be here now, she said to me
Baby, be with me
I’m gonna take you to the place
Of my eternity
It’s not a new invention,
The fullness of the moon
And the tide has always fed
The hungry multitudes
Everywhere you go, you’ll find people living out their lives
I didn’t see it comin’, but I felt it in her eyes
And as she whispered quietly
Baby be with me
I realized it was all I need
For my eternity
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12. |
Waiting
05:06
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Waiting
At a table painted gold, sippin' on my coffee slow, noticing the bloom
Of a hundred different flowers, at the flower stand, different shades of you
Dusk gets darker, lights on boats drift silently away from me
A family on a bicycle, cross over the canal and go bouncing down the street
I watch a lover kiss his sweethearts hand and make a joke and wait for her to laugh
I’m waiting for this time to pass
Wishing I could kiss your hand
Waiting for tomorrow’s news to come through
Noises empty into the air, hanging like a diamond rare, people heading for their homes
Holding love and fighting hate, I imagine they are late for dramas all their own
Some get everything they want, others circle like a flock, searching endlessly
I wake up in the dead of night, cast from my dreams across the world you're fast asleep
Waiting patiently for me
I’m wishing you could help me see
Waiting for tomorrow’s news to come through
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Doug Hoekstra Nashville, Tennessee
Doug Hoekstra’s singular musical persona sets sympathetic narratives against understated vocals, memorable melodies, and subtle but unexpected arrangement turns. His albums have earned Nashville Music Award and Independent Music Award nominations, a bevy of top 10 list appearances, and a reputation as a “songwriter’s songwriter” (CMJ Music Monthly). "The Day Deserved" due out Spring 2021 ... more
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