Unbound: Lyrics and Credits

 

Soulcake (Instrumental)


We Have No Names

This is a test, gather around
Catch the broadcast in the brow
We’ve done our best to keep this down
There’s no stopping us now

So dress up dress up dress up, get ready
Poor boy it’s time to go
It’s a storm brewing for you
Don’t have to worry bout the farm no more

And I know we’re just itching to do it again
It’s just the same old sin
In every age, the attitude is always the same

And we have no names, we have no names
We have no names, we have no names
We have no names, we have no names
We have no names, we have no names

Talk of duty, talk of honor
No one talks responsibility
For what starts up with the neighbor tribe
Coming to a head in a global city

And I had an extreme adventurer’s dream
And this was the plot
I said, what does it take to get in the game?
And it cost a hell of a lot

And I know we’re just itching to do it again
It’s just the same old sin
In every age, the attitude is always the same

And we have no names, we have no names
We have no names, we have no names
We have no names, we have no names
We have no names, we have no names
We have no names

And it takes such a long long time
To find out what we’ve always known
This is no perfect world
This is a life on loan
We have no names, etc.

 

The Lion Stalks 

There are those who tell us we're all one
And nothing can come between us
There are those who hold us under their thumbs
And kill us in arenas
But all along the lines of history books and minor shocks
The Lion stalks, stalks tonight
The Lion stalks 

Maybe some have cried for brighter days
Through union of the powers
While the nations ride to camps away
And get sent to the showers
And we are running, running for the boats
Waiting on the docks
But the Lion stalks, stalks tonight
The Lion stalks

And the Lion stalks tonight
We walk through the fire, but it’s alright
The Lion stalks tonight

Here's to the heart that burns with happy plans
And drowns the guilty snigger
From the lessons learned at our own hands
That itch to pull the trigger
And everywhere you go you're bound to hear
The ticking of the clocks
But the Lion stalks, stalks tonight
The Lion stalks

 

Bad Advice 

Here I am again living in the same town
Bone dry, waiting for the next wave out
No wind on the seas of doubt
Marking time, tired of chewing on the bad advice
Sticking to the roof of my mouth
Watching my big plans go south
Hey kid, three steps from here to paradise
Breaks me up every time I listen to bad advice

Here I am again kicking this dream around
Where I’m pedaling water in a tidal wave
Chasing down the things I crave
Oh wouldn’t I ride up top
Way up above the bump and grind
Up until the tide goes down
Every time this guy comes round
Hey kid, hop onto this acoustic flight
Sorry son, we’re locked up tight tonight

Come back tomorrow
Try again, maybe we’ll see
Take another chance on the time you borrow
It really doesn’t matter to me

Here I am again living in the same town
Where I’m doing all right on an even keel
Balancing the things I feel
And this is my last big chance,
Last chance before the next time round
And this is what I will be
It doesn’t look that bad and sad to me
Hey kid, come up and you can claim your rights
Anytime, not tonight 

Come back tomorrow
Try again, maybe we’ll see
Take another chance on the time you borrow
It really doesn’t matter
We’re tight tonight
Come back tomorrow
Try again, maybe we’ll see
Take another chance on the time you borrow
It really doesn’t matter to me

 

Mic Tests / Movin’ (Instrumental) 

 

One Two Three

Well I’m a-sittin’ on my own in the dark of the room
With the tension getting tighter since the hour of noon
Why don’t you call me
And for the ninety-ninth time, it might even be more
Nothing makes the slightest difference from the night before
Why don’t you call me, why don’t you call me

I got the sound up high, got the lights down low
Another intimate evening with my radio
It’s such a doggone shame for a guy like me
I’m gonna push the panic button on the count of three
One two three!

Well it’s the same old scene, the emotional freeze
And I’ll be stranded all alone with my fantasies
If you don’t call me
And now I’m dancing near the brink with the radio on
I’m gonna topple to the bottom at the end of the song
If you don’t call me, if you don’t call me

I got the sound up high, got the lights down low
Another intimate evening with my radio
It’s such a doggone shame for a guy like me
I’m gonna push the panic button on the count of three

If you don’t call me, if you don’t call me
If you don’t call me, if you don’t call me
If you don’t call me, if you don’t call me

I got the sound up high, got the lights down low
Another intimate evening with my radio
It’s such a doggone shame for a guy like me
I’m gonna push the panic button on the count of three
One two three! 

 

Benediction 

Go with the Spring of joy upon your feet
Go where the truths of joyful spirits meet
Go in the glow of a dark and swollen sun
To a brighter golden one

Leave behind a husk of dried out skin
Leave to find that life can now begin
Out of time, and words are left unsaid
I sing them now instead

So let this be a benediction
The one I couldn’t speak before
We live our lives of contradiction,
And fly away through a sudden open door

Now let the One who keeps and calls us here
Be the one you seek as you draw near
And looking down, if looking down is done,
Hear this from your son

Let this be... 

 

Fool’s Paradise 

You had another guy
You never even tried
To warn me I was destined to fall
You could have told me so
It would have been nice to know
But you never said anything at all
Ooh

I was a fool and you were a fool
It was so nice in our fool’s paradise
I was a fool
You were a fool
Till the clouds blew away from the sun

I’d love to hold you tight
But I saw you late last night
With another tricky victim like me
We’ve both got news for you
We use our off nights too
And we’re all discarded lovers to be
Ooh

I was a fool and you were a fool
It was so nice in our fool’s paradise
I was a fool
You were a fool
Till the clouds blew away from the sun

Lyrics: Alexandra Kiceniuk 

 

Love Is the Hardest Way 

Love is the hardest way
Through darkened doors and halls
Love beckons on and calls
From these four walls to travel the fields of gray
Love is the hardest way

Love is the hardest way
Love sits you down to eat
I hasten my retreat
On my feet to run from the dawning day
Love is the hardest way

Love is the hardest way
Like a morning terrible to greet
Now in the dark we’ll stray
In through these mean and formless streets we’re falling
Here today from the mountain peaks
Freedom calls away, calls away yeah
To travel the hardest way
For love is the hardest, hardest way

Love is the hardest way
Across the million miles
Love draws you on and smiles
Love beguiles and welcomes you in to stay
Love is the hardest way

Love is the hardest way
Like a morning terrible to greet
Now in the dark we’ll stray
In through these mean and formless streets we’re falling
Here today from the mountain peaks
Freedom calls away, calls away yeah
To travel the hardest way
For love is the hardest, hardest way

Violin: Greg Lawrence

 

I Don’t Wanna Hear About That 

Someone’s got it in bad for me
All I can think to do is run
Hiding from the hot news story they’re sending up from Washington
I got a hot tip hot flash, hot-foot it out of this place
Got to get away while the getting is on

Cause you’re only welcome here
Till the choosing of the winners is done
Now they got theirs, they only wanna have fun
It’s proven by a million facts
And I don’t wanna hear about that
I don’t wanna hear about that
I don’t wanna hear about that

Now someone’s made a mistake with me
I showed up at the wrong parade
Marching in a celebration of victory for the souls for trade
Oh they’ll have a big deal big bash big time on the town tonight
Happy with the plans and the people they have made

People who can stand up tall
And creatively interpret their crimes
Men who were just made for these times
Who pull it all from their hats
And I don’t wanna hear about that
I don’t wanna hear about that
I don’t wanna hear about that

Now this town, it don’t look the same to me
It’s overrun with millionaires
And they’re drowning in the good life
Floundering in market shares
And there’s a big fire burning, tearing up the streets tonight
Lord don’t let it please come and catch me unawares

Because you’re only welcome here
Till the choosing of the winners is done
Now they got theirs, they only wanna have fun
It’s proven by a million facts
And I don’t wanna hear about that
I don’t wanna hear about that
I don’t wanna hear about that

Electric guitar: Dwayne McCobb 

 

The Door into Summer 

As the winter closed round
He found the door into summer
He had followed the sound
Of a drummer far away
Like a street lamp on a foggy day
He was drawn away, he would never return

When he cast himself down
That’s when he found he could fly
On a camel’s back, bound
Straight for the needle’s eye
Like a white flag in a hurricane
He would feel the strain, but smell the rain
And break his chains to fly
From the south side of the day
Where the winter fell frozen around
The dead end was a getaway

Why don’t you come, come on now
Why don’t you come
Come on, why don’t you come, come on now

Like a white flag in a hurricane
We would feel the strain, but smell the rain
And break our chains to fly
From the south side of the day
Where the winter fell frozen around
The dead end was a getaway

Why don’t you, hmm, why don’t you come
Come on, why don’t you come, come on now
Why don’t you come, why don’t you come
Why don’t you come, the table is waiting

Violin: Greg Lawrence 

 

Dance All Night 

Smiling from the pages of the magazine
And she’s gonna have to dance all night
Heiress to the rages, dying to be seen
Don’t you know she’s gonna dance all night

Until she functions like the function of a record machine
And to the kisses and caresses of the wolverines
She’s gonna dance all night, dance all night
She’s gonna dance all night
She’s gonna have to dance all night

Shuffle in the listings, scuffle in the charts
And they’re gonna have to dance all night
Corporate insisting manipulates the hearts
And it’s gonna make them dance all night

And growing wild for the child in the faded jeans
And to the fascinatin’ rhythm of the drum machines
They’re gonna dance all night, dance all night
They’re gonna dance all night
They’re gonna have to dance all night

Captive in the college, dying by degrees
Kicking up a hell of a fight
Kicking with the knowledge blowing in on the breeze
That he’s gonna have to dance all night, opa!

And growing wild for the child in the faded jeans
And to the fascinatin’ rhythm of the drum machines
They’re gonna dance all night, dance all night
They’re gonna dance all night
They’re gonna have to dance all night
Etc.

 

Time of the Year 

This is the time of the year…

Look up and greet the time of year
We watch the vapors in our minds begin to clear
I see it stretching out before me
As through our frosty eyes and silent weather
We begin to see forever
Whoa, this is the time of the year
This is the time of the year

Unite these colors into one
We rise together and we greet the newborn Son
I see him stretching out before me
And in these tiny eyes of infant crying
We receive the death of dying
Whoa, this is the time of the year
This is the time of the year

And in these tiny eyes of infant crying
We receive the death of dying
Whoa, this is the time of the year
This is the time of the year

 

 

Credits 

Produced, recorded and mixed by Joe Mersch at Studio Glasnost, Escondido CA; Studio Simpático, Carlsbad CA; and Hope Recording, San Marcos and Escondido CA. 

 All compositions ©2022 Joe Mersch, all rights reserved.  Words and music by Joe Mersch, except Fool’s Paradise: words by Alexandra Kiceniuk and music by Joe Mersch 

All sounds and voices JM, except for Greg Lawrence: violin on Love Is the Hardest Way and The Door into Summer; Dwayne McCobb: electric guitar on I Don’t Wanna Hear About That. 

 Art design and layout: Joe Mersch. 

Guitars used on this recording: '83 Martin D-28, '77 Guild F-50R, '88 Taylor 810, unknown vintage Gibson ES-125, '86 American Standard Stratocaster, and ’93 Lowden O-25c.