right to the end

   

Coming to a crossroad, mid-life crisis

Rolling with the punches, block these vices

Everybody’s got their ups and downs

Old ‘miss-fortune’ making her rounds

Everybody’s got their aches and pains

Counting all our losses, all our gains

Filling up the cracks, fix the ceiling

Tell me what it is you’re feeling

I’ll get supplies from the hardware store

Patch, repair the hole in your floor

Build a shelter from the storm

To keep you dry, to keep you safe and warm

I wanna be your friend right to the end

Some folks say this ship is sinking

Hey what’s up, what are people thinking?

When you can’t see the forest for the trees

Reboot the system and refresh the screen

Birds and critters acting strange

Seems we’re heading for some kind of change

Broken lines, power down

Candles burning, people gather ‘round, gather ‘round

I wanna be your friend right to the end

Tune to the cosmic radio station

Catch the waves of this creation

Try to live a life in gratitude

Can’t let the evening news spoil the mood

Looking for a path towards the light

Trying my best to make everything right

Feel like a visitor passing through

But I fell in love when you came into view

I wanna be your friend right to the end

I wanna be your friend right to the end

I wanna be your friend right to the end                                          

shadow dancer

My my my my

Every time you walk on by

My heart skips a beat

Cause you lighten up the street

My my my my

When you look me in the eye

Sun so bright, way too strong

Gotta put my blue shades on

Mm mm mm

My my my

Feel a thumping in my chest

Feel an aching desire

Burning like fire

My my my

Too joyful to rest

Like a shadow dancer in my head

A raging bull seeing red

Shadow dancer

memories & rhymes

 

Found an old photograph

Made me smile, made me laugh

I was just a young man of nineteen

Playing my first guitar

Driving my ‘Beetle’ car  

Wearing my slim fit jeans

A face full of doubts and fears

Fumbling through my teenage years

A heart full of hopes and dreams

Fresh out of high school

Writing songs, playing cool

Digging Elvis singing ‘King Creole’

Calypso rhythms, harmonies

Learning tunes in different keys

Sailing on the Sloop ‘John B’ to Rio

Tapping on the bongo drum 

Fingers learn a brand new strum  

I was the fourth guy in the Kingston Trio 

My sweetheart at the Dairy Queen

All eye lashes and curls

She was the girl I did adore

But Europe was calling me

And I thought about her kiss 

When the radio played

‘Stranger On The Shore‘  

Young love, deep emotion

Couldn’t cross the ocean 

She didn’t want to see me anymore

A young man’s education

My initiation

Learned some lessons from the Viennese

France, Spain, Italy

Down across to Sicily

Cool Mediterranean breeze

Music in the air

Girls with flowing hair

Dancing round the fire by the sea

Cote d’Azur, Monaco

Where all the high rollers go

Limo drivers lounging at the bar

Street café in the shade

Watching people on parade

Hey ‘there goes another movie star!’  

Women sunning on a yacht

Summer days getting hot

Back to my room with my guitar

In the clubs, concert halls

Backstage patter, making calls

Thinking ‘bout those long gone times

I let it go, I let it fade

Friends I lost, friends I made

Bringing back those memories and rhymes

These songs I got to share

My back pages, lay them bare

Hanging them all out on the line

 

dancing shoes

When I was a young man in my prime

Learned a few dance steps in my time

Watching Gene Kelly and Fred Astaire

Stylish gentlemen so debonair

Cole Porter and Danny Kaye 

Two of my heros back in the day

Great big melodies and buckets of charm

Straw hat, cane, grab a hold of my arm

Me and Hamish up on that stage

Brushing up our Shakespeare

We were all the rage

Stepping and gliding from side to side

Snare drum roll to the trombone slide

Dancing shoes, dancing shoes

Don’t leave home without your dancing shoes

Spin your partner, sway together

Make her feel light as a feather

High school prom, you’re feeling blue

No dance partner lookin’ at you

But if you start clicking those dancing shoes

Line ‘em up, you can pick and choose

Knock on your door at quarter to eight

In my white sport coat I’m a classy date

Midnight curfew turns into one

When the dance band plays you’re having too much fun!

We’re jiving, jumping and doing the ‘swing’

Working the steps to get a hang of that thing

You all pretty in your pastel dress

Me all sweaty, my hair’s a mess

Dancing shoes, dancing shoes

Don’t leave home without your dancing shoes

Spin your partner, sway together

Make her feel light as a feather

Some years later, I travelled afar

Met a pretty woman at the Lindy bar

She taught me the waltz

I was sharp as a knife

I asked that woman to become my wife

I asked that woman to become my wife

Those dancing shoes they saved my life 

 

get on board that train

 

Won’t you get on board that train

Come on get on board that choo choo train

It’s time

We’ll head for that horizon down the line 

This train

Don’t know if I’ll be coming back again

Get on board that ocean liner

No ship of steel ever built finer

Good news!

They take you on a cruise to lose your blues   

Can’t say

If I’ll be sailing back again this way

Get on board that aeroplane

Won’t you get on board that big jet plane

Sit tight

“This is your captain speaking, enjoy the flight”

Up high

Heading for a clear and open sky .... let’s fly!

Who knows what tomorrow brings

Who knows what tomorrow morning brings

A new day

Ain’t no use to long for yesterday

The past is gone

So cut those strings and say ‘so long’

Yesterday is gone

Break those ties and say ‘so long’

 

 

vienna 1969

Vienna, nineteen sixty-nine

We made love for the very first time

Deep in your eyes I saw the light

And saw my future burning bright

Picked you up at West Bahnhof station

Heads turned, you were such a sensation

I grabbed your bags, took you by the hand

Down twenty steps to the taxi stand

Vienna nineteen sixty-nine

Days of roses, days of wine

Still feel the softness of your skin

Still feel your heart beat close to mine

A rendezvous in our little hotel

In that room we knew so well

Looking out from the balcony

To Vienna’s rooftop scenery

Many times you posed for me

I became your master of photography

You were my model, you were my muse

In your orange dress and platform shoes

Vienna nineteen sixty-nine

Days of roses, days of wine

Still feel the softness of your skin

Still feel your heart beat close to mine

Happenings and strange events

Those were the days of innocence

I was your Catcher In The Rye

You were my Madame Butterfly

I introduced you to the record label

Having coffee at the conference table

You flirted with the A&R

Cause I was their recording star

You always played so hard to get

My little Austrian coquette

You played the sinner, you played the saint

I was your jealous lover wearing black war paint

Frail and fragile little bird

So quick to flee from the absurd

Seeking shelter from the storm

Needing arms to keep you warm

Vienna, nineteen sixty-nine

We made love for the very first time

Deep in your eyes I saw the light

And saw my future burning bright 

 

 

 

 

strawberry blonde                    

 

She’s a woman, she’s a wife

My soul mate in this life

A rose with many names, it’s all the same

Companion, a friend

On her I depend

Though we never really understood the game

She’s my strawberry blonde

She’s my strawberry blonde

My strawberry blonde

She’s my strawberry blonde

Running errands, doing rounds

Find a bargain in China Town

Picking up a French stick on the run

She works out at the gym

Keeping fit and staying trim slim

Let’s step out tonight, have a little fun

After work, put in the hours

On the roof to tend the flowers

Honey, tell me all about your day

Well I’ve been working on a song

But the words still come out wrong

Tell me what your friends have to say?

Sometimes we mope and sigh

When we don’t see eye to eye

But in the end we let old troubles lie

Cause we know how to move on

Recharge and be strong

Keep building on those bonds we hold  inside

white stripes

You sitting there, café in the square

Late September sun shimmering in your hair

I see it in your face

Those memories we retrace

Somehow the magic is gone from this place

I don’t know why, something has changed

Was it really good bye? No one knows my name

A melancholy sigh

Strange how time passes by

What are those white stripes across the sky?

Renaissance, Baroque crushed by modern lines

Architecture boasting pride of modern times

Shadows, ghosts and pigeons

Stirring up the dust

My eyes scanning the walls of a façade I used to trust

Those years, those times leaving no mark

Just echos of footsteps in alleys after dark

Sounds of children’s laughter coming from the park

Where are the trolleys and carriages

The old town’s trademark?

This train has left the station, This ship has sailed

Mission aborted, the colours paled

Life has moved on

Over the ridge 

Now it’s all water under the bridge

You sitting there, café in the square

Late September sun shimmering in your hair

A melancholy sigh

Strange how time passes by

What are those white stripes across the sky?                                          

 

keeping time

A young kid on the sidewalk

Walking with a stick

Making a wrought iron fence

Sound like a musical trick

Dragging it along

Sounds like a paradiddle tap

A new kid on the block

A new drummer on the map 

Keeping time, keeping time

Got my first drum sticks

At a pawn shop down town

Got a white snare drum

And took that baby down

To the basement by the mirror

Got myself in place

Studied my reflection

Saw the future in my face

Keeping time, keeping time

Max Roach and Cozy Cole

Talking with the beat

A 'shout out' to Krupa

For turning up the heat

Pumping blood and desire

From my head to my feet

Tune into my rhythm

And take it to the street

Keeping time, keeping time

Syncopated rhythms

It’s a hunger, it’s a need

Get it out of my system

A big appetite to feed

My high school music teacher

Helped me find my voice

When he put me in the drummer’s seat

And said, ‘you got no choice’

Keep in time, keep in time

Played the backbeat in the dance band

That’s how I got my thrill

And every fourteen measures

I could play a two-bar fill

Vibrations in my body

Like a heart beat in control

Resonate reverberate

Vibrations in my soul

Keeping time, keeping time

Keeping time, keeping time

Keeping time, keeping time

no matter where you go    

No matter where you go                                

You never get away                                        

Cause in your head you will always stay       

The world out there may catch your eye          

But nothing will ever satisfy                           

 

No matter where you go                                

No matter what you do                                   

All your baggage will follow you                     

You can run, but you can't hide                      

Cause there you are, deep inside                  

No use crying, no use denying                       

No use asking why                          

Making plans, making demands                                      

When everything goes awry                                     

No matter what you think                                

No matter what you say                                  

Destiny she paved your way                           

Footprints follow every where you’ve been     

You’ll never be able to jump out of your skin

 

 

a 50’s suburban dream

Split level bungalow, pool in the yard

Barbecue patio, hubby’s working hard

Mama’s hair in curlers, lipstick on

Milkman, mailman, Tommy mows the lawn

It was a dream, a 50‘s suburban dream

Mama’s in the kitchen cooking up a storm

Brand new oven to keep the dinner warm

Mixers, mashers, blenders too

There was nothing that mama couldn’t do

It was a dream, a 50‘s suburban dream

It was a dream, a 50‘s suburban dream

Mama doing laundry, feeding the machine

Turn the spin cycle, keep the linens clean

Super powered dryer, ironing with steam

Watching soap operas on the TV screen

It was a dream, a 50‘s suburban dream

Mama’s in the bedroom

Trying on new clothes

Hour-glass figure, strike a pretty pose 

Looking in the mirror, splash of perfume

Silk and satin, dim the lights in the room

It was a dream, a 50‘s suburban dream

It used to be dream 

A 50‘s suburban dream

Standing in the driveway, a black Pontiac

Shopping at the plaza, bags in the back

Shopping at the drug mart, at the A&P

Bringing home the groceries for the family

It was a dream, a 50‘s suburban dream

It used to be a suburban dream

A 50‘s suburban dream

A 50‘s suburban dream

 

grandchildren

Grandchildren are precious gifts from heaven

Grandchildren they fill your life with grace

Grandchildren know how to make you happy

Grandchildren bring a smile to your face

A -  a - ahhh --- way-ah  ..... 

O - o - ohhh --- way-oh  .....

Grandchildren broaden, renew perspective

Grandchildren shake up your old ideals

Grandchildren making you look more closely

At what is false and at what is real

Grandchildren fill you with joy and wonder

Grandchildren fill you with pure delight

Grandchildren rid you of inhibitions

Untie those knots if you feel uptight

Grandchildren life force so overwhelming

And they can drain all your energy

And they can pull you in all directions

But without them what would life be?

Grandchildren let you relive your childhood

Grandchildren bring back sweet memories

Grandchildren heighten your self-awareness

Grandchildren put troubled minds at ease

church bells

Every time I hear those church bells ring

It’s an old familiar sound

Every time I hear the choir sing

Feels like I’m homeward bound

Every time I hear the words you speak

Feel the love in your voice

And the radiance you emanate

Makes my heart rejoice

la da da da da da da da da da

a da da da da da da da da da

Every Christian, every Hindu

Every Muslim, every Jew

Every cast or creed or non-believer

Is just a reflection of you

Every time I hear those church bells ring

It’s an old familiar sound

Every time I hear the choir sing

Feels like I’m homeward bound

Every time I hear the words you speak

Feel the love in your voice

And the radiance you emanate

Makes my heart rejoice

la da da da da da da da da da

a da da da da da da da da da

boots & leather jacket  [1971]

Driving down the highway in my rusty Ford

Eighty miles per hour

My boots & leather jacket

A pair of jeans and an old T-shirt

Are all I need to take on the sunshine

It’s not that I don’t need you kid

Or wanna be without you – no no

Not for my life

It’s just that some old day like this

Comes up and finds me heading down the highway

Longing for the horizon

My boots & leather jacket

A pair of jeans and an old T-shirt

Are all I need to take on the sunshine

Can’t you hear the wind, she’s calling me

And echoes in the city

I’ve gotta leave this town today

And look upon you Mary Anne

From far away from a distance

It’s not that I don’t need you kid

Or wanna be without you – no no

Not for my life

My boots & leather jacket

A pair of jeans and an old T-shirt

Are all I need to take on the sunshine

© all music & lyrics written by jack grunsky  ℗ WOOD ROOSTER MUSIC, SOCAN  2014/2015