Forbidden Anthems Lyrics / Credits

 

Long Ride in the Shadow

Been in this valley long as we know
The dusk sinking, the shadows growing long
We keep moving on
A train of horses like a flock of sheep
The path is narrow, the crevice deep and wide
Keep by my side
So long searching for the lost gold
Hopes of paradise taking hold

But it's a hard ride a-rocking on a caravan train
With a slim chance of landing on your feet again
It gets rough staying awake enough
To catch a whiff of Heaven's breath
On such a long ride
In the shadow of death

A cloud of dust like a pillar of fire
We gamble where the stakes are higher with every throw
Just don't let go
The vultures shriek, the banshees howl
The wind whistles and the spirits prowl and moan
But we'll make it home

Long road leading to a city of lights
No reaching there without a fight

Cause it's a hard ride rockin' on a caravan train
With a slim chance of landing on your feet again
It gets rough staying awake enough
To catch a whiff of Heaven's breath
On such a long ride in the shadow

So long searching for the lost gold
Hopes of paradise taking hold
But it's a hard ride
Caravan train... feet again
The dawn breaks as we undertake
To shuffle off the seeds of strife
On such a long ride into the shadow of life

Looking at the Morning Star

He laughs and looks at life from afar
He's chasing dreams in a parked car
Of the ones who run this race
Some hit their stride and find their pace
But some will stumble out of place
Looking for the morning star

He laughs when things at hand get bizarre
On guard with perception's doors ajar
And he may seem a hopeless case
Losing ground and losing face
If he should fall from earthly grace
Looking at the morning star

On the morning star
Cold winds of change don't blow
On the morning star
Where restricted life won't go
On the morning star
Straight lines describe no curve
Straight talk requires no nerve
Two masters are not served

He laughs and looks at life from afar
He's chasing dreams in a parked car

Don't Bite the Apple

What are you willing to abuse
To slip inside those envied shoes
Some minor friendship to betray
You never really cared for anyway

What are you willing to give up
To get your hands upon that cup
What little corner has to die
To get your name up in the sky, shining

Don't bite the apple
Don't bite, darling
Don't fall under this caress
It's so obscene and so obsessed
Don't bite the apple of success

Who are you ready to deny
To hang out with a lovely lie
What alibi will you conceive
And work hard trying to believe

Will you be the same as just before
You get behind that guarded door
Is a straight advance a foolish dream
Who came up with this ugly scene
It doesn't stir me anymore

Sometimes there's a choice in the dead of night
Between what's necessary and what's right
Don't bite

Don't Bite the apple
Don't bite, darling
Don't fall under this caress
It's so obscene and so obsessed
Don't bite the apple of success
Don't bite the apple, the apple of success

Rhythm to Life

There's a rhythm to life,
Not the mechanical grind
You hear about all the time
It's a beat you can dance to
If you try the step, one day you'll find
There's a rhythm to life
It'll get you on the floor and
change your mind

It's the rhythm to life
No robotical jive
That brings the dead back alive
And when the drain box
Pulls you out of step, anesthetized
Dance the rhythm to life
Till you wake up glad and grateful
Looking at the sky

Further Up (Instrumental)

Mystery of Faith

To some, the distant smile of old tradition
To some their daily bread
To some a sudden flash of recognition
The gist of what the thunder said
A lifeline in a lake of dread all around you

To some, a door that can't be opened
To some, relentless law
To some a spell that can't be spoken
Like praises from a broken jaw
Perfection from the world of flaws all around you

They say that's the mystery of faith
They say that's the mystery of faith
They say that's the mystery of faith

To some, a bridge that can't be trusted
To some an open gate
To some the locks are jammed and rusted
Like silence in a lonely place
Unconscious of a laughing face all around you

The unexpected apparition
The sudden challenge of volition

They say...

Isolation Blues

Isolation blues
Tearing at my heart
It's no front page news
We've been torn apart
Lord hold me together
I feel like I'm sinking one more time
Under the weather
And I feel like we've been cut off again
Take me back, make contact
Isolation blues
Has got me down again

Heaven surrounds your throne
And its home's our hearts
Don't leave me on my own
This estrangement smarts
Lord hold me together
I feel like I'm sinking one more time
Under the weather
And I feel like we've been cut off again
Take me back, make contact
Isolation blues
Has got me down again

Distances stretch too far
They're impossible to span
But he who's sustaining the stars
He can touch the heart of man
Reach out and touch us now
We've been away too long
Away from you too long

Isolation blues
Has got me down,
It's got me down again
Take away my isolation blues

The Road from Eden

Oh the road from Eden through briars leads down
To the place where you see your need
But I woke this morning decided and sure
With my plans laid out for me
And I saw you coming, lost my footing
And forgot where I came from
Till the valleys rise, city halls capsize
While the planets turn
It's a new reprise of the lessons learned

Way atop the mountain, the view's so clear
You can see past a billion miles
But in my ears it's roaring, down in the days
Where the shape-shift smoke beguiles
And I heard you laughing, lost my bearings
And forgot what I came here for
A pack of old regrets, time is the cigarettes'
Glow as the ashes burn
See how long it gets
Before the lesson's learned

Love fits no one's agenda
Radiant and pure like fire
He strips away our plans and our demands
To take us to the world's desire

Oh the road from Eden through briars leads down
To the place where you see your need
But I haunt the spaces all over town
Where the disappointment breeds
And you saw me stumble, but a wind is blowing
From the place we are looking for
Light in the road ahead,
Horizons stained with red
Illusions crash and burn
All seeking death is dead
After the lesson's learned

On 78 East (Instrumental)

Walk This Burden Down

I will walk and I will play
Sing the glories of the day
I will fight where I have swum
When the sharks of midnight come
And I will walk this burden down

Raise your sights, take my hand
Things don't happen like you plan
Dry your eyes, let them see
There's so many things to be
And we will walk this burden down
We will walk this burden down

There's a high place
Where you can see
How very light burdens can be

So hold on tight, break out free
There's such hope for you and me
Invest your heart across the miles
It will all have been worthwhile
And we will walk this burden down
We will walk

(Instrumental verse)

There's a high place
Where you can see
How very light burdens can be

Invest your heart while you still can
You will start to understand
To reach the place you're dreaming of
You gotta serve the one you love
And you will walk this burden down
And we will walk this burden down

When Love Turns Back

If there is nothing written in the sky
There is nothing written
If no lover scattered suns around on high
How can I be smitten
There's no question you will travel down that road
Once you have been bitten
But oh no, oh no
Not to put on too fine a point
Or to unduly disappoint about the things we lack
But I, I found out a long time ago
Once there is progress made
It really makes your best hopes fade
When love turns back

Now love'll turn back when it looks too much within
And goes blind to its beloved
A thing of beauty stained and uglified as sin
Until you give it up and shove it
And this can turn around and clobber you my friend
When you're least thinking of it
And I know, I know
You get your nose smacked out of joint
When some accusing finger points to the unnerving facts
And you're stranded on a turnout by the side of the road
That paranoia's made
It really makes your best hopes fade...

When love turns back
And no one runs to ring the fire alarms
When love turns back
And no one seems to be up in arms
When love turns back, wheels jump track
That rejoiced in spring
But where's your April plum
When February comes?

The Last Forbidden Thing

Well the cry went out
To tolerate the last forbidden thing
And on high six million lobbyists
Brought counsel to the king
And they were clothed with good intentions
Every conscious thought was pure
But they were only semi-conscious men
Victory was sure

Even so it came to pass
And lo, they saw that it was good
But six million activists still railed
Against the rising of the flood
And they were running out of bullets
Not that much left now to criticize
But a weary band of homeless men
With treasure in their eyes

Whoa don't look back now
It might weaken your resolve
Whoa don't look back now
You might hear another voice
Whoa don't look back now
You might make another choice

Well the cry went out
To tolerate the last forbidden thing
When every taste had lost its savor
Every word had lost its ring
And they gazed out upon the ruins
Filled with a conscious sense of pride
But they were only semi-conscious men

Whoa don't look back now
It might weaken your resolve
Whoa don't look back now
You might hear another voice
Whoa don't look back now
You might make another choice

Truck Stop (Instrumental)

And I Love You

Lord you know me in my inmost heart
You've seen the damage of sin in my life
And healed those scars
Lord you make me shine
Like the sun on snow
And the whole of my universe rises and falls
On the breath you blow
And I love you

Oh my heart and my senses
Ring out with praise
From the feeling to know you're at work
In the paths and the shape of my days
Father the wind and the rain
Screaming out your power
Are visible signs that you're sustaining me
With your love every hour
And I love you

Somehow

I wake in red, I fell asleep in blue
Wake up so tired and talk to you
Wake up from mysteries locked within
I lose my way inside this skin
But you will recognize me now
Somehow

Obsessed with worth, I walk on grace
Stretched like a tightrope over space,
Stretched like a cloud above the blue
I tread my cautious path to you
Along the channels you allow
Somehow

Somehow will we find the crash of thunder
Transmuted into song
Maybe wake to find the thunder
Was music all along
Find just when you thought the earth could not
Continue to revolve
The chords resolve

Now there are jewels like stars
In the crown of Saturn's rings
These are the kinds of cosmic things
To draw my vision, tune my ears
Tuned to the music of the spheres
To catch the diamonds on your brow
Somehow

Give it Back

How can I even tell you this
When what I say
Keeps all the things I mean at bay
A stream of shining nights
You stand underneath the lights
Pick up your gleaming knife to play

With your winking artist's eye
And surgeon's hand
You strike until I understand
Your lens of steel guitar
Shows views of the way things are
The expanse of joy I can hardly stand
And I wanna give it back

Five weeks, a minor crisis back
And I have to say
I'm on the updraft still today
Sometimes a corner's turned
You hang on to the things you learn
When a beam of light deflects your way
And I wanna send it back

No Homage

Kali in her necklace of skulls
Is smiling black-toothed through the lens of time
We will give her heed, but no homage
We will not kneel at her shrine

Her scattered crops of twisted crosses
Writhe like serpents in a twitching crown
We will take good care, but give no honor
We will not worship
We will not fawn and bow down
Walk on, and keep on walking

My life is constantly in danger
But I will not forget your law
For you are no stranger
To the horror and the pain

Kali in her necklace of skulls
May claim the day for the cruel and strong
Imbecilic smiles and twisted crosses
They will not claim us
They cannot rule us
They cannot fool us for long

 

Credits

Produced, recorded and mixed by Joe Mersch at Hope Recording, San Marcos, CA.

 

Mastered by Bryan Shaw at Digital Brothers, Costa Mesa, CA.

 

All songs ℗ © 1997 Joe Mersch, all rights reserved.

 

Musicians:

Joe Mersch:  guitars, vocals; drum, bass and keyboard sequences; percussion.

 

Dwayne McCobb:  electric guitar on "Long Ride in the Shadow" and "When Love Turns Back."

 

Janet Curci:  vocals on "Don't Bite the Apple," "Mystery of Faith," "Walk This Burden Down," "When Love Turns Back," "The Last Forbidden Thing," "And I Love You," and "Somehow."

 

The band on "Isolation Blues" is: Clark Edmond, drums;  Dave Mattia, bass;  Sharon Marie, piano.  Tom Petersen:  location recording of the drum and bass tracks.

 

Jim Earp:  guitar solos on "The Road from Eden."

 

Marc Burroughs:  mandolin on "Walk This Burden Down.

 

Special thanks to all of the above for contributing their talent and time to this record and, in many cases, influencing the direction of the songs.

 

Cover and package design by Flowers Productions.  Photography:  Jeanie Flowers.