1. Your Fabulous Life
I don’t want to hear what you were doing last night / Tripping in Toronto with some Hollywood lites. / I don’t want to hear about your brand new car / Don’t tell me it’s Ferrari because a car is just a car.
It’s not right / That you can go where you want to go / And do what you like. / It’s not right / That all we get to do is watch you live / Your fabulous life.
I don’t want to hear about the girls in South Beach / Or chilling on the weekend with some oh so nouveau riche. / I don’t want to know about your Windemere home / Or that you’re spending next Christmas in a villa outside Rome.
2. Last Chance
Hey Maria quick come see / There’s our neighbour on TV / What do you think he is holding? / He’s got an old jacket that last was worn / About the time his first child was born / Coloured bright and paisley.
It’s your last chance to paint the sky / Look at how the time goes by. / It’s the last dance don’t let it pass / The minute’s quick but the longing lasts.
Well I’m a Prairie boy, I feared no fish / My life dangled like a birthday wish / All anticipation. / I got myself a job, thought I’d stay about a year / Now they call me the old guy here / I’m thinking about retiring. / Last night I dreamt I saw time bend / But my morning had no time to lend.
It’s just another morning. / William Shakespeare quill and ink / You can download a life’s work in a blink / In almost any language. / Round about six I took a phone call / It broke me up like a wrecking ball.
The days go slow but the years go so fast.
3. She Deserves
Hope like a flame never fades / Ghosts unlike your clothes can’t be changed / It gets so hard being blessed or not / You only know it happened with a rear view shot. / She didn’t get the best start / Her man didn’t hold up his part / The kids don’t get it and they won’t for a while / But she always makes sure to send them off with her smile.
And there’s only one thing she feels good for / That’s to wipe their feet at the kitchen door / To fetch their coats when it’s time for them to leave. / And there’s only one thing that she wants more / Than to sail away to a distant shore / That’s a little respect but she deserves much more.
She isn’t the type to complain / Each child gives her will to remain / She might have been handed just pieces of coal / But her touch turns each of them into gold.
4. No Pearl
You came to me you were looking for a reason / You didn’t find it so you disappeared. / You called it fate but it’s just another season / Where the weather turned weird. / There’s not much in the dreams you used to talk of / There’s not much in your routine / There’s not much in the way you felt about me / But you were my dream.
One day you’re going to need it / One day you will see / You’ve got less than you thought was in your fortune / You’ve got less than you think is in your past / You get less out of each day than you ought to / And your tide won’t turn.
You passed a test when you didn’t look away / You got my best when you made me smile / Now I confess that I’m not a little child / But who was on trial?
(There’s not much . . .)
You’re no pearl in any world that I know girl. / You’re no breeze in the trees making sweet melodies. / You’re no light in the night ascending bright.
5. Don’t Tell My Mother (J. McMullen)
Don’t tell my mother / She’ll think I’m crazy / Don’t tell my mother / She don’t need to be told. / Spare her the details / Of my adventures / Don’t tell my mother / She don’t see me that way.
‘Cause one fine day / We’re going to wake up / With the world at our door / Even now before the shake-up / We won’t go hungry no more.
Don’t tell my mother / About the dangers / She only listens / To the voices of angels.
‘Cause I’ve got you and that’s all that matters / Let the world find its own / Even now though we’ve been shattered / We will find a way home. / Don’t tell my mother . . .
6. Come Along
On the 2 2 7 Anniversary / Of independence for the USA / I was thinking about another year / I was thinking it was so far away. / You just know that I can’t complain / Everybody has to walk out in the rain.
Come along, come along, come along, come along.
I went outside and called my boy. / I said come on Kyle let’s take a ride / Down to the US embassy / Where the stripes run straight and the stars collide. / This is no ordinary day
We are coming home but we were not away. / Well I know what’s wrong and I know what’s right. / It’s time to go to NYC / It’s time to go out to Los Angeles / It’s time to go down south to New Orleans.
7. Ochre
The mirror shows what’s in front / And also what’s behind / It takes more than bottled water to purify a mind. / Poisoning the school of reason What’s in it for me? / Tuning into instinct is where I want to be.
Home is where I start each day in comfort and with ease / We’ve been blowing the horn of plenty / Now we’re blowing that horn away / Here’s my card in this wall of sound / I find I can’t listen To suspect and unwritten laws / Something must be missing.
The sand’s fine in the hourglass / The mirror states the case / The spirit in the three-piece suit / Has ochre on its face.
Blues in a dusty railway yard floating from an old tin stack / We fly beneath the radar and then we double back / We spread our limbs and hope to find / Things that bring relief But there’s no gain from the gentle rain If the roots are small beneath.
I know you’ve been crying though you say nothing’s wrong / You think that I would be long gone if you cannot be strong / We scrape and deal for what may count / Even though it won’t / Well some run dry and some get high / And some tell you they don’t.
8. Fire in St. Peters
I danced on the day / When the sky turned black / Oh how I danced / With the devil on my back / Doorway burning lighting the way / But young people got to dance.
There is a fire in St. Peters / I saw in a dream that I would be there.
Women in tears / Up in Cripplegate / Somewhere within / A still small voice / Doorway woman laughing out loud / But young got to take a chance.
There is a fire in St. Peters / I saw in a dream that I would be there / There is a fire in St. Peters / I knew in a dream that I would be there.
9. Lately (We Seem to Disagree about the little things)
Lately we seem to disagree / About the little things and the big things / And everything between I laid it on the line. / Maybe we ought to take a break / There’s nothing riding on how much we can take. / And I know that rainbows and moon-glows and halos / Are just a temporary thing. / Maybe on that we can agree. I laid it on the line.
Now I want you to break it down for me. / I want you to explain to me quietly.
Lately we seem to disagree / About the little things I mean the little, little things. / Like what time it is / Like the colour of your hair / Like where to put the toaster / Or the right coat to wear. / Like what was said but not remembered / Like turning out the lights / Like when it/s time to leave / Like setting priority 53 or 54. / Or who put your shoes out to dry / In the barbeque / Anyone can make that mistake / Whoever it was I’m sure they think it’s just a little thing.
10. Hesitate
Outside the summer wind is cold / And that’s a funny thing / What will the autumn bring? / Imagination’s all it takes / To set my mind in flight / With angels soaring bright.
You always said that you would wait / As long as it might take / But promises can break. / I always hoped I’d not be late / Arriving at your gate / But sometimes you hesitate.
You’re like a flower in a plot / You think that you’ve been trapped / But the truth is you can’t walk. / I’m like a sail without a wind / If I don’t feel a breeze / I cannot begin. /
It’s just a part of being smart / You make mistakes they call it art. / That’s the point of burning fuel / You just keep dancing while you duel. / Now ain’t that cool? / Outside the summer wind is cold
And that’s a funny thing / What will the autumn bring?
11. Praying Now
Looks like I fell down / Did I run too fast? / And the world has changed / From my view on the ground. / Thought I owned this heart / It was mine to play / I didn’t pay the price / But I am paying now.
And my car will go / Any place I point it to / But my heart won’t be / In the right place if not with you.
People say there’s no blame / Cause we all play the game / I did not believe / But I am praying now. / Looks like the sun’s come up / A new day has begun / Like the mist that floats. / From my coffee cup. / And I did not believe / But I am praying now.
Gerry Wall – Vocals
Jon Park-Wheeler – Electric and Acoustic Guitars, Baritone and Mandolin
Steve O’Connor – Yamaha C7, Wurlitzer, Hammond B3 Organ and Accordion
Andrew Affleck – Fretted and Fretless Bass
Kenny Post – Drums and Percussion
Lori Dortono, Ken Harnden and Graham Knight – Background vocals
Additional performances:
Dan Bone – Soprano and Tenor Sax)
Melanie Himli and Jon Park-Wheeler – Vocals on “Come Along”
Jon Park-Wheeler – Charts
Produced by Jon Park-Wheeler and Gerry Wall
Engineered by Ken Harnden
Mixed by Ken Harnden, Jon Park-Wheeler and Gerry Wall
Mastered by Ted Carson of MusicLane Mastering, Toronto
Recorded at Pinnacle Sound in Belleville, Ontario
All songs written by Gerry Wall (SOCAN) except “Ochre” Gerry Wall/Graham Knight and
“Don’t Tell My Mother” by John McMullin/Gerry Wall