Lyrics

Days of Plenty Album

 

Strike Me Down

(Lyrics by Mark Quon)

Tonight I saw the ghost of youth
Standing in the field callin’ me
And the road that I’ve been looking for
Has gone beneath the rye grass and the weeds
I feel your warm skin pressed upon my chest
I swear I love you pet, moremore the times of drought an than the rest

Strike me down if I’m lyin’ to you
Strike me down where I stand
Strike me down if I’m lyin’ to you
Place my heart there in your hands
Strike me down if I’m lyin’ to you
Baby, strike me down here where I am

In the times of drought and sorrow
I look to see a clear and empty sky
And though the weather tells us otherwise
The well is running anything but dry
I see you smiling underneath the strain
I swear I’ll see you come the fall again

Strike me down…

I’ll rise up just the same
Sweetheart I’ll call your name
And if I ain’t faithful
Strike me down

Sweet maiden with the honey hair
Dancing lightly in the flower bed
You know the days are ending sooner
There’ll not be enough time before I’m dead
To kiss you in the freshly fallen snow
I’ll love you more than you will ever know

Strike me down…

 

Carry Coals to Newcastle

(Lyrics by Mark Quon)

Oh you and I we’re chalk and cheese
But how I love you so
My heart packed to the gunwales
A thousand years ago

Now you were meant for pomp and pearls
And I was meant for pain
My life to rack and ruin
A folly and a stain

But how my body yearns
From the gangway to the hull
And I will always love you
Carry coals to Newcastle

Oh how your father fits and moans
A thorn inside my flesh
He’ll have my guts for garters
And throw out all the rest

Ring down the curtain of our love
You see it hanging there
Precarious and hovering
Upon a wing and prayer

But how my body yearns…

Prick up your ears my dear
My love’s cash on the nail
My love’s a piece of piss
A full wind to the sail

Keep ready for the harbinger
I am the great unwashed
Gone by the board our fateful love
But remember what we’ve lost

But how my body yearns…

 

Lay Me Down to Where I Go

(Lyrics by Linda Quon)

I’m standing on the river crossing
As daylight breaks upon the stones
And I can hear the church bells calling
Bringing the news that I am gone

I am not walking with the chosen
I am not following the light
I am no shepherd to the children
So lay me down to where I go

Now my best dress hangs in the corner
Beneath the window by the bed
I asked you not to send it with me
Please give it to my dearest friend

I am not walking with the chosen…

And through the song of fields beyond her
The morning sighs my buried soul
There with my heathen life behind me
I’ll lay forever lay in repose

I am not walking with the chosen…

And on this road to my revival
There’s no one waiting there for me
The setting sun marks my arrival
Back to the place where I belong

I am not walking with the chosen…

So lay me down to where I go
So lay me down to where I go

 

Amanda Lynn

(Lyrics by Mike Potter)

Are you the next to go?
Unlike the last one
I’ll be your rescue
You, my distraction
Yours is the only one
Meant for these wanting arms
But the scroll of your dark dress
Hangs on those stanchions

Amanda Lynn be mine
Please save me from an a-cappella life
Come rescue me, alive
Amanda Lynn be mine

Back in this place
Of instruments and arias
Songs from the corner
Where ‘Manda is singing
Her Old Kentucky Home
We’ll pick June Apple(s)
Speak Softly My Love
My O Sole Mio

Amanda Lynn be mine…

Hope hides in the shadows of a string
Our bodies have been worn, and the light of time is dim
Your beauty’s in your stories and your art
Your tremolo can still this trembling heart

Amanda Lynn be mine…

 

Winters’ Song

(Lyrics by Linda Quon)

Once I mourned the summers gone
Branches bare and colors lost
Now I sing a winters’ song
Skies of grey and air a frost

Skies of grey, skies of grey
Sing with me this handsome day
Skies of grey, skies of grey
Fade my troubles all away

Babes of angst who blossom still
Grow not fragile on the vine
Tender yet oh strong of will
Flourish come the harvest time

Skies of grey, skies of grey…

Berries cling to branches white
Calling doe and buck to dine
Snow that blankets in the night
Paints the morning, slowing time

Skies of grey, skies of grey…

 

Love and Blood

(Lyrics by Mark Quon)

You don’t know what you did that day
Stood in the door and you blocked my way
Shelter in your room from the world outside
Sayin’ I don’t love you but you know I lied

Here with a smile and just nineteen
How could I know what you meant to me?
Pavement and blue on a Sunday ride
Sayin’ I don’t love you but you know I lied

There’s a dove in my pocket
Card up my sleeve
I got a hole in my belly
And a pound of grief

My heart breaks every time you sigh
Sayin’ I don’t love you but you know I lied

Sing your song with a bitter end
Shall I stir the dying fire again?
Love and blood, I don’t want to try
Sayin’ I don’t love you but you know I lied

There’s a dove in my pocket…

Kiss your face in the morning light
Sayin’ I don’t love you but you know I lied

Love and blood, I don’t want to try
Sayin’ I don’t love you but you know I lied
Sayin’ I don’t love you but you know I lied

 

Earth & Roses

(Lyrics by Mark Quon)

Here’s a message to Edna dear
You can close your eyes, the worst is over
Rise from bed, go see your son
He’s been waiting for your shoulder
Put your shoes on, go have your fun

Here’s a word for the chosen people
Don’t waste a prayer upon an unbeliever
Circle those who pray in turn
For your spirit and constitution
You will gather and you will sow

Here’s a plea to my youngest brother
Break up with that methamphetamine
She will surely drain your soul
And she’ll rob you in the nighttime
And she’ll leave you with just a shell

Here’s a letter to the ol’ town preacher
I request to marry your sweet daughter
In the morning we’ll fly away
And I’ll give her earth and roses
And I’ll love her to my grave

Here’s a note to the undertaker
Don’t bury me beneath that cold cold ground
Burn me on that Maple wood
Send my ashes to my sweet darling
She will carry me to the sea
She will carry me to the sea
She will carry me to the sea

 

Parachute

(Lyrics by Linda Quon)

If you fall I’ll be your parachute
Your parachute to ease you down
If you fall I’ll be your parachute
Your parachute to reach the ground

When you’re lost, I will call your name
Call your name to bring you home
When you’re lost, I will call your name
Call your name If you should roam

If you cry, I’ll bring a wild rose
A wild rose to ease your pain
If you cry, I’ll bring a wild rose
A wild rose and call your name

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

I’ll be there when you fall
Call your name when you are lost
I’ll do anything for you

If you fail, you can lean on me
Lean on me to comfort you
If you fail, you can lean on me
Lean on me and pull you through

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh  (X3)

If you fall I’ll be your parachute
Your parachute to ease you down
If you fall I’ll be your parachute
Your parachute to reach the ground

 

Nathaniel Harlan Jones

(Lyrics by Mark Quon)

When I look upon your face
I fear I will melt away
You stroll down the avenue
My feet don’t know [what] to do

My name’s Nathaniel Harlan Jones
I keep my eyes fixed on the stones

Who are you my lovely pet?
Your eyes smiled when our eyes met
Iʼve been back to walk the fence
Sweet, itʼs no coincidence

Angel walking all alone
I keep my eyes fixed on the stones

Standing by the bakerʼs door
I see what I’m looking for
Pass me by and then youʼre gone
I’ll dream of your lips all night long

I try to speak, instead I moan
I keep my eyes fixed on the stones

Your beauty is beyond compare
Skin like milk and golden hair
Speak my heart oh this I pray
But your charm takes my breath away

My name’s Nathaniel Harlan Jones
I keep my eyes fixed on the stones
My name’s Nathaniel Harlan Jones
I keep my eyes fixed on the stones

 

Days of Plenty

(Lyrics by Linda Quon)

Gone are all the days of plenty
Gone are all the dreams we had
Gone are all the days of plenty
For the working middle class

On our way to meet the city
Took away my father’s land
Under eyes of scorn and pity
On my childrens’ open hands

Burning coal down into dust
Fall and crash from boom to bust

Gone are all the days of plenty…

Burning coal down into dust
Fall and crash from boom to bust

While the workhouse master’s grinning
Weary arms begin to shake
Hunger has my poor head spinning
For a meager coin to make

Burning coal down into dust
Fall and crash from boom to bust

Gone are all the days of plenty…

 

Annabelle

(Lyrics by Mark Quon)

I have traveled all these miles
Forty days
I miss the smile on your face
Annabelle

Gone are souls and evergreen
Streets they smell like kerosene
As I walk
All alone

And if I cross the ocean will you welcome me back home with open arms?

I am jumping with the sound
Steam that rises from the ground
And the walls
Hold me in

Pay no mind our spirits fall
I don’t feel a man at all
In this place
Annabelle

And if I cross the ocean will you welcome me back home with open arms?

In the morning I will wake up from this dream to see your face
Your cool hand will soothe my brow and I will say your lovely name
Annabelle

You have left us in this way
How I hate you but I pray
In the night
Come back home

Kiss my child forgive me now
Has she spoken?
Oh what I would not give
For a kiss

And if I cross the ocean will you welcome me back home with open arms?

In the morning I will wake up from this dream to see your face
Your cool hand will soothe my brow and I will say your lovely name
Annabelle

 

Fractured Fairytale

(Lyrics by Mark Quon)

Let your hair down through the window
See it falling unto me
Flowing down towards my fingers
And just barely out of reach
It’s the same sad story line

I put a ring upon your finger
I put some flowers in your gown
And as I turn to kiss you softly
I feel the ashes all fall down

It’s the same sad story line
A fractured fairytale
Living out my darkest hours
In the belly of a whale

Now the children have gone missing
And the old woman is dead
And all the horses in the Kingdom
They watch me fall upon my head

It’s the same sad story line…

Sew the stones inside my body
Before I go drink from the stream
And I’ll sink into that silent bed
Let the water wash over me
Wash over me

It’s the same sad story line

Well her heart’s a mighty fortress
And she’s keeping me at bay
As I try to scale her walls
With my songs and escalades

It’s the same sad story line…
Living out my darkest hours
In the belly of a whale