"Voice from Afar"
 

Ron Sowell/Story Circle Music/BMI

Jon Wikstrom/Ironic Juxtaposition/ASCAP

Judy Massa

​

If you’ve been true to everyone but yourself

Set your course toward the dreams of someone else

Should you decide to see who you were meant to be

There’s a part of you who knows just where to turn

It’s a voice from afar that tells you where you are

As true to the traveler as the northern star

It won’t talk loud to be heard but listen to every word

You’ll find that it’s coming from your heart

Like a voice from afar

The compass spins round & round you’ve lost your bearings

The sails are torn the wind’s too loud to hear

Go where it’s calm down below trust the part of you that knows

That you could find your way with your eyes closed

It’s a voice from afar that tells you where you are

As true to the traveler as the northern star

It won’t talk loud to be heard but listen to every word

You’ll find that it’s coming from your heart

Like a voice from afar

You’ll see not once were you alone

As you search for what you’ve always known

It’s a voice from afar that tells you where you are

As true to the traveler as the northern star

It won’t talk loud to be heard but listen to every word

You’ll find that it’s coming from your heart

Like a voice from afar
 

​

"Mondays Come Too Soon"
 

Ron Sowell/Story Circle Music/BMI

Jon Wikstrom/Ironic Juxtaposition/ASCAP

Tim Bays/In Cahoots Music/ ASCAP
 

I’ll pick you up at three o'clock I swear I’ll be on time

If we leave town before the rush we can make the beach by nine

Dreaming of the weekend is all that gets me through

Oh Fridays take forever and Mondays come too soon

Saturday we’ll wake the sun build castles in the sand

We’ll tempt the gulls to come and take the bread right from our hands

Then we’ll build a driftwood fire stay up and ask the moon

Why Fridays take forever and Mondays come too soon

How I wish that I could see you everyday

But when moms and dads fall out of love

Sometimes it’s not that way

Sunday morning we’ll go out and look for one more shell

Something you can take back home and have for show and tell

And I‘ll be back at work again with this clock that hardly moves

Thinking Fridays take forever and Mondays come too soon

Oh Fridays take forever and Mondays come too soon

​

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"Dead Egyptian Blues"
 

Michael Peter Smith/Bird Avenue Publishing/ASCAP
 

Oh Mr Tut what good’s it do

They love your chair but nobody cares for you

Egyptian nights were never colder

And all your friends are thousands of years older

Whatever happened to that gang down by the sphynx

Seems they’re only forty winks away

Those girls from Cairo with their belly button jewels

Made you play the fool yesterday yesterday

And now you keep in shape with Elmers glue

Cause you’re all wrapped up in those dead Egyptian blues

Oh Mr Tut they love the mask

Do they love it honey ? Sweetheart don’t ask

And where’s those baby browns and pearly smile

That smile that drove ‘em wild on the early Nile

You make one terrific hieroglyphic don’t you bro

Centuries of standing sideways turned you to a pro

And those girls from Cairo that filled your heart with lust

They’ve all turned to dust yesterday yesterday

And those bandages don’t do much for you

Cause you’re all wrapped up in those dead Egyptian blues

Oh Mr Tut they love the tomb

Yeah all that gold leaf brightens up a room

So what’s the diff when you’re stiff what riff you’re playing

When your ears have spent 5000 years decaying

What does it matter what possessions you may boast

When you’re just a ghost it’s only jive Clive

Your sarcophagus is glowing but your esophagus is showing

Who cares how rich you are love

When you look like Borid Karloff

Call Nautilus they might refund your dues

Cause you’re all wrapped up in those dead Egyptian blues

Oh Mr Tut just wait and see

Another few thousand years they’re gonna dig up me

And I’ll have all my little treasures near at hand

A CD of Sgt Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band

A little maui wowie all crumbled in a bong

A letter from my honey saying “miss you kid so long !”

Some peanut butter sandwiches that have long turned to sand

Not much gold and silver but I think you’ll understand

That in my way I’ll be a lot like you

All wrapped up in those dead Egyptian blues

​

"You Might Take It Right" 
 

Ron Sowell/Story Circle Music/BMI
 

Each time your eyes look in my eyes

The rest of the world goes away

You say hello and I don’t know my own name

You smile and then you take my hand

But I hold it just a little too tight

If I don't watch what I’m doing

You might take it right

I can’t explain why I feel this way

It’s like I’ve known you before

My head says I’m crazy 

But my heart knows I’m helpless

From wanting you more

I’m not the kind to play the fool

Or believe in love at first sight

If I don't watch what I’m doing

You might take it right

I can’t explain why I feel this way

It’s like I’ve known you before

My head says I’m crazy 

But my heart knows I’m helpless

From wanting you more

The music plays and we embrace

Please let this dance last all night 

If I don't watch what I’m doing

You might take it right

​

"Mother Earth Blues"
 

Ron Sowell/Story Circle Music/BMI

Jon Wikstrom/Ironic Juxtaposition/ASCAP
 

Now listen here kids

I’ve been watching your behavior and I’m not amused

You act like you own the planet but I think you're confused

You weren’t even in diapers when I saw her

Give the dinosaurs their walking shoes

Take it from Father Time, Mother Earth has got the blues

You’ve dumped crude in the ocean stripped the jungle of its trees

Punched a hole in the ozone drove the animals to their knees

I’ve not seen her this upset since maybe the deluge

Take it from Father Time, Mother Earth has got the blues

You want more beach front property ? This can be arranged

How about a nice long stretch at the foot of the Rocky Mountain range

Weather getting too warm afraid of the drought

Maybe a new ice age would help chill things out

You’re laughing - you say she wouldn’t treat you this way

Seems like I heard that once before back in old Pompei

For the last hundred years I’ve heard every excuse

But what we've got here is a case of planet abuse

You better come to your senses you’ve got everything to lose

Take it from Father Time, Mother Earth has got the blues

You’ve got everything to gain and everything to lose

Take it from Father Time, Mother Earth has got the blues

​

"Wishing You Were Here"

​

Ron Sowell/Story Circle Music/BMI

Jon Wikstrom/Ironic Juxtaposition/ASCAP

​

I took a stroll watched the breakers roll

Down by the old stone pier

Passed the shipwreck shop where we always stop

To look for souvenirs

That Jamaican man with the steel drum band

Still plays our favorite song

Remember how we danced and sang along

As the sea and sun melts into one

And the stars appear

I’m missing you and wishing you were here

It’s late and I need to close my eyes

And try to get some sleep

But first I’ll go to the shore and throw

This letter out to sea

And I’ll ask the wind to explain again

How life can just go on

And how to make my heart believe you’re gone

The pale moon slides down the sky like a silver tear

I’m missing you wishing you were here

I’m missing you wishing you were here

​"Dream On"

​

Ron Sowell/Story Circle Music/BMI

Jon Wikstrom/Ironic Juxtaposition/ASCAP

​

Just a dirt farmers daughter 

Pickin’ cotton with torn up hands

Nine years old working the fields like a man

Dawn till dusk no time to play

Dreaming a dream all day

On a stage singing with a country band

She’d say “Don’t worry daddy it’ll be OK

I’m gonna be a big star someday”

He’d shake his head and say

Dream on baby dream on

Wish for anything you want

You can have it for a song

Dream on baby dream on

Five years married by the time she was twenty-two

Raising three little babies in a shack

Where the cold wind blew

She’d lie awake while her husband slept

Dreaming the dream she kept

Her name in lights, satin gown, fancy shoes

She’d say “Honey get me out of this place

I’ve got to try before it’s too late”

He’d shake his head and say

Dream on baby dream on

Wish for anything you want

You can have it for a song

Dream on baby dream on

He said stay but she had to go

So she packed the kids and hit the road

Set out to make it on her own

The years flew the seasons rolled

Then late one night he was driving home

When he heard her singing on the radio

He shook his head as she sang

Dream on baby dream on

Wish for anything you want

You can have it for a song

Dream on baby dream on

​

"Gig from Hell"

​

Ron Sowell/Story Circle Music/BMI

​

The year that I turned 25 I was playing in a band

A swinging little combo that traveled cross the land

We sang at clubs and festivals bar mitzvah’s and birthdays

We played original music and most times we got paid

One day about the crack of noon

A ringing roused me from my sleep

I’d like to book the band

The voice on the phone did speak

We have a little festival three months from now in May

We’d like to have some music

Would you like to come and play

What kind of festival I asked as I wiped sleep from eyes

It is a 4 wheel rally - the voice quickly replied

We love to race our monster trucks up and down the hills all day

At night we’d like to party to the music that you play

I said “We are artists, we create our own songs.

Why not hire a cover band this just seems all wrong “

He said ”three thousand dollars we are prepared to pay”

I said “What is your address ? I’ll get the contract out today”

Finally the day arrived and we loaded up the van

Lights, PA, instruments 4 musicians, one soundman

We traveled for hours as the directions showed

Till we ran out of interstate, 2 lanes and country roads

When we reached our destination a sign pointed the way

Welcome 4 wheel rally happening today

An arrow pointed to the trail that led down to the show

Less suited for a music van - more for a mountain goat

At the bottom of a holler in a sea of mud

Like Noah’s Ark seem to float a stage made out of wood

For it had been raining 3 days and it did flood

We looked at each other and said “this can’t be good”

But we set up our equipment all except for Steve

He was our lead guitar player and he did moan and grieve

For a mighty hangover a queasy stomach and a cough

And for last nights party and all the brain cells he had lost

He held his head in his hands and said a little prayer

“Thank God it can’t any worse” - God whispered “Oh Contraire”

For about that time a monster truck with tires as tall a men

Rev’d up it’s mighty engines and it’s wheels begin to spin

The smoke did spew and the mud did fly from 50 yards away

And like a guided missile a glob of slime and clay

Headed straight for Steve’s position as I whispered “no way”

But it was if God said “Go ahead and make my day”

That night we played our songs, but to no applause

The mud was too deep except for pigs and frogs

So in their monster trucks they sat a hundred yards away

And blinked their lights and honked their horns

After each song that we would play

So all you young musicians come heed my advice

Don’t do it for gold records screaming fans and limo rides

Do it for the love of music and then when things go wrong

You can even take the gig from hell - and write it in a song
 

​

"I Thought His Name Was Coach"

​

Ron Sowell/Story Circle Music/BMI

​

I can see that old pickup bouncing through the gate

Full of bats and baseballs we could hardly wait

He’d honk his horn and like a swarm

We were off in nothing flat

To change that field into a diamond just like that

He’d swap his business hat for a baseball cap

His briefcase for a mitt his ball point for a bat

Then he’d gather us round him and quicker than a dream

He’d turn us bunch of boys into a baseball team

He taught us how to hit a curve ball

How to turn a double play

How to win with style and how to lose with grace

He’d stand out on the dugout steps and whistle and crow

Atta boy red head - way to go

Now his shoulders were stooped and there were lines on his face

Hell, without his glasses he couldn’t see second base

But he said some things that took me years to understand

I thought his name was coach and I loved that man

He taught us how to hit a curve ball

How to turn a double play

How to win with style and how to lose with grace

He’d stand out on the dugout steps and whistle and crow

Atta boy red head - way to go

Now 20 years had come and gone the day the letter came

With a clipping from the paper that he had passed away

And though I had not seen him since that summer long ago

I turned my head and cried like I was nine years old

He taught me how to hit a curve ball

How to turn a double play

How to win with style and how to lose with grace

He’d stand out on the dugout steps and whistle and crow

Atta boy red head - way to go

I can still see that old pickup bouncing through the gate

Full of bats and baseballs we could hardly wait….

​

​

"Wires and Wood"
 

Ron Sowell/Story Circle Music/BMI

Jon Wikstrom/Ironic Juxtaposition/ASCAP

John Van Meter/ATV Cross Keys Publishing/ASCAP

Tim Bays/Sony ATV - Cross Keys Publishing/ASCAP

When the work is all done
At the end of the day I sit on the porch and open my case
I pick out a tune that matches my mood 
And I pour it all out through wires and wood
 

Wires and wood and a feeling to share
Straight from the heart and into the air
Friends gather round and everybody feels good
When the spirit is singing through wires and wood
 

Now if I had the money, yes if I had my way
I’d just sit right here and make music all day
Cause it lifts up my mind and runs deep in my blood
When I lay my hands on wires and wood
 

Wires and wood and a feeling to share
Straight from the heart and into the air
Friends gather round and everybody feels good
When the spirit is singing through wires and wood

​

​

"Hell, I'd Go"

​

Dan Hicks/Great Guns Publishing/ASCAP

​

Hell I’d go if they came down and got me

They could be little green men

And that wouldn’t top me

Buzzin’ through the galaxy

Who could beat a ride for free

For all I know I’m just the perfect fellow

Not too white not too yellow

Get me on that big space ship

This could be my hippest trip

Hey you UFO guy, put me first on standby

I’m travelin’ light my attitudes right

I’ve seen ‘em at night don’t call me crazy

They were in the sky lookin’ quite amazing

Doing figure eights around the moon

Why’d they have to leave so soon ?

Count me in, I ain’t no hesitator

I’ll jump right aboard and write home later

Sayin’  “How’re all you folks at home ?

I just got the bug to roam”

Hey you UFO guy, how you make that thing fly ?

Sayin’, “I won't tell I won’t say a thing”

Pluto, Saturn, Aurora Borealis

We’ll hit them all and land in Dallas

There’ll be a big parade for me

I’ll make the news, just wait and see

Hey you skinny space man

Can’t you see I’m on the lam ?

Come on you flying saucer

Won’t you make me an offer

I’ll book the flight the time is right

​

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