Paul Heinz

Original Fiction, Music and Essays

Pause: LYRICS

 

Coattails

© 2007 Paul Heinz - All Rights Reserved

Lights are dim, stage is empty
This city’s eyes look tired and scared
Just think of the chances o’er the horizon
If we only dared

Let’s pack our bags for San Francisco
We’ve got to go while the getting is good
You and I know I could never fly solo
But I could ride
Your coattails for a while
Your coattails for a while

I could be Garfunkel to your Simon
An Oates to your Hall
Daltrey to your Townsend
Messina to your Logins
Anything at all

I could ride
Your coattails for a while
Your coattails for a while
Your coattails for a while
Your coattails for a while
I think it’s time for a change

 

My Mark

© 2007 Paul Heinz - All Rights Reserved

My mark is felt all over this town
From the thoroughfares of asphalt
To the gravel mining ground
You can smell it in the air
My mark is felt all over this town

My father he settled here decades ago
With a pack upon his shoulders
He had nothing left to show
Except unwavering will
And the drive to watch a dying city grow

My the time I came along
The city’s roots were strong
And I built upon the services and industry
And transformed our potential to reality

My mark is felt all over this town
From the legal code of justice
I am honored and renowned
To the providence of progress
My mark is felt all over this town

And I built upon the services and industry
And transformed our potential to reality

My wife she took my hand when I was forty-one
In the infancy of marriage we’d a daughter and a son
And when their feet hit the ground
I said, “Your marks will be felt
Your marks will be felt
All over this town.”

 

I Can Breathe

© 2007 Paul Heinz - All Rights Reserved

Lots of people falling
With their dreams unsatisfied
Lots of people scratching and crawling
With their basic needs denied
The ivory tower never looked so high

Lots of people coping
And the journey’s just begun
Lots of people praying and hoping
For a miracle to come

It all seems to have gone so wrong
But we try to be strong
Change the course that we’re on

I can breathe I can breathe
I can get what I need
I can live I can breathe tonight
I can take all the somethings
That don’t add up to nothing
It’s alright
I’ve got enough to stay alive

Lots of people hiding
With their fortress fortified
Lots of people riding and striding
Just to try and ebb the tide

It all seems to have gone so wrong
But we try to be strong
Find a place to belong
Lots of people trying to break free

 

Missed Opportunity

© 2007 Paul Heinz - All Rights Reserved

The time you looked into my eyes
That was a missed opportunity
And gave me one last look goodbye
That was a missed opportunity

When I look back to how things might have been
It makes me want that moment again

I see your face
And I see missed opportunity
I see blinding stupidity
Why in the name of humanity
Did I just watch you go
I see missed opportunity
Standing there right in front of me
Why does the man I pretend to be
Let the moment get the best of me
Where we might be by now we'll never know

Life has a way of looking back
On these missed opportunities
All the times that hope falls flat
Another missed opportunity

Maybe this was meant to be
Another missed opportunity
I was blind but now I see…

(maybe do this again, maybe not)
When I look back to how things might have been
It only leads me back here again

 

Grounded

© 2007 Paul Heinz - All Rights Reserved

The truth be told my friend
There lies a noble end
But it’s a million miles away from where you’ve been
You’ve been on cruise control
Without a lofty goal
And every day begins and ends
And ends where it begins

I believe
There is something grand you’re ready to achieve
It’s not so out of reach
After all
There are lesser souls than you to heed the call
You can’t wear this uniform no more
Something’s left you grounded
It’s time to get up off the floor

It isn’t snobbery
That sets the bar for you and me
It’s the need to rise about mere mediocrity
You say the chosen few
Will fight the noble fight for you
The need to let us off the hood
Is worth a second look

 

So Long, Ohio

© 2007 Paul Heinz - All Rights Reserved

 

No Point In Seeing Me Through

© 2007 Paul Heinz - All Rights Reserved

Mary, I don't think you know the half of it
I keep trying to forget
My mind won't hear of it
I'm prepared to let you go
But a little voice inside of me keeps telling me I shouldn't be
Afraid to let me feelings show

Cuz it was you
You understood the best you could
There was no point in seeing me through
You said it like it was because you knew
There was no point in seeing me through

I told you roots run deep
I told you there's a lot of open wounds in need of mending
I said I couldn't keep
The plans you made
Despite how much I'd love a happy ending

Mary, I don't think you've seen the last of me
I'll be woven in your tapestry of memories
That's the hardest part to take
Cuz the biggest voice inside of me keeps telling me I'll always be
Remembered as THE BIG MISTAKE

 

Indiscriminate

© 2007 Paul Heinz - All Rights Reserved

You had a special friend
Who bought you red roses
Then went back to his wife again
And dealt the blow by phone

So you found another guy
You thought you might give a try
I don't know the reason why
You're so scared to live alone

You're so indiscriminate
I can't believe this shit
You're so indiscriminate
But apparently not enough to be with me

You're letting slip away
The man who is here to stay
Who loves you both night and day
With a force he can't subside

What do you see in them
Those dozens of loveless men
They. beg you to let them in
And you can't help but oblige

You're so indiscriminate
I can't believe this shit
You're so indiscriminate
I can't believe this shit
You're so indiscriminate
But apparently not enough to be with me

 

Jack of All Trades

© 2007 Paul Heinz - All Rights Reserved

I'm working in this restaurant
Where the kitchen never closes
I serve the same three customers each day
Then I play a doctor
Rubbing wounds and wiping noses
And with a kiss I send them on their way

I am the jack of all trades
The jack of all trades gets paid in very special ways

Well I'm clearing off the counters
And I'm laying out the laundry
A parents work it seems is never done
I make up silly songs
And they dance circles all around me
Working hard was never so much fun

I am the jack of all trades
The jack of all trades gets paid in very special ways

Like endless laughter in the afternoon
And hungry hugging when the evening ends
The playful humming of a child's tune
Reminds me that when these days are gone
I know I'm only gonna wish them back again
Once again
Once again

So if you're feeling slighted by your lack of compensation
Remember all that glitters isn't gold
You've the most important job despite its reputation
And it'll keep paying dividends 'til your old

You are the jack of all trades
The jack of all trades
You're a chaperone by nighttime
And a janitor by day
The jack of all trades
The jack of all trades gets paid in very special ways

Special ways
Special ways

 

Waiting On Samuel

© 2007 Paul Heinz - All Rights Reserved

I sit here twiddling my thumbs
Waiting for a moment that never comes
It seems clear to us son
You're in love with the womb
The labor hasn't begun
It's only week thirty-nine
But we're losing our minds
You mother, sisters and I

Little Sammy, come and join in the family
Little Sammy, time to listen to Daddy
'Cuz I know that you know that we're ready to go
You gotta enter the stage and get on with the show
You know where we stand
Come as fast as you can

In a couple of years
We can all laugh about our blood, sweat and tears
And how we longed for the day
When you're big, bright eyes would look over our way
Little Sammy

You know where we stand
Come as fast as you can
'Cuz we are four
With one more on the way

 

Here We Are Today

© 2007 Paul Heinz - All Rights Reserved

We never really understood
The ramifications
The multiplications
Of saying I love you
And I do

If we had known each other then
The way we do now
There might have been a few less rocky roads
Than the ones we traveled down

Even though it’s not a fairy tale I know
The situation’s changed

‘Cause here we are today
Both extensions of those crazy lovesick fools
Here we are today
More in love than when I first laid eyes on you

Was it a leap of faith
Or naivety
That let us walk on blindly with matrimony
From I love you to I do

Does marriage lead to clarity
Or lead to confusion
Wrapped in illusion
If it’s the luck of the draw
I’m the luckiest of all

Even though we’ve gone through crazy times I know
The situation’s changed

‘Cause here we are today
Watching love unfold a different me and you
Here we are today
More in love than when we said the words I do

An early evening watching you present
If memory serves it was late September

It’s an elation I still remember

And how I wish we could duplicate the kiss
That we exchanged with our hearts aflutter
When breathing in
And breathing out
Was all we’d utter

The situation’s changed

So here we are today
With eyes on tomorrow
It’s more than a cliché
That if you ever walk away
I will surely follow

‘Cause here we are today
Both extensions of those crazy lovesick fools
Here we are today
More in love than when I first laid eyes on you
More in love than when we said the words I do

 

Clock Strikes Twelve

© 2007 Paul Heinz and Roy Anderson - All Rights Reserved

Look into the mirror
The decades disappeared
I can’t sense the magic in the air
Looks like I’ve lost a few more hairs

Too many punches to the lower abdomen
But you know you can’t keep a good man down
You’ll see me coming round again
Go round and round again

Time to make a mountain of the molehill that remains
Find another reason to get up
Don’t let them think you’ve lost your stuff

Sometimes a fire is a struggle to sustain
Find another act and take the path
That keeps you coming round again
Go round and round again
Go round and round again
Go round and round again

I can’t deny time flies by in our lives
I can’t deny time flies by in our lives

Copyright, 2024, Paul Heinz, All Right Reserved