Rocks Off On Humboldt: Lyrics
Nasty Little Trends
© 1996 Paul Heinz - All Rights Reserved
This overweight body doesn’t turn the heads
It used to turn some years ago
I don’t know what I expected after all of these beers
Now I wonder what life has in store
I’m not good at the games that the gals play today
I put my foot in my mouth
I cast my eyes down too low
If given the chance they’d see I’ve something to say
But if you can’t take the stage
Well how can you run the show
I can’t depend on what fate my send my way
These nasty little trends keep calling my name
And if the skies are not with you
The skies are against you to the end
These nasty little trends
The women I want have already been wanted
The women I want have already been found
The women I haunt have already been haunted
The women I circle have already been around
All my friends tell me, she’ll come along
They say not to worry, now she’ll come along
I’m not in any hurry but I wonder how long
My buddies will have to spit out these tired old clichés
To lift me up on my down and out days
Superimpose a picture
On the fruitless trek I’ve left behind
God only knows if the life that I’ve chosen
Is the same as the one He had in mind
The Fool Is I
© 1996 Paul Heinz - All Rights Reserved
Too much drinking on the weekends
And not enough love to make ‘til Monday
And I’ve been thinking ‘bout the stars that used to shine
Too much working on the weekdays
And not enough love to make ‘til Friday
And I’ve been thinking ‘bout…
…the thorn in your side
And the fool who put it there
The tears that you’ve cried
And the fool who didn’t wipe those dear cheeks dry
The fool is I
Maybe when you’ve gone, you’re really gone
‘Cause darling when I’m dumb, I’m really dumb
And I can’t take it back
Too much worrying ‘bout the future
And not enough love to fill the present
And I’ve been thinking ‘bout the stars that used to shine
Summer 1990
© 1996 Paul Heinz - All Rights Reserved
What It Seems To Be
© 1996 Paul Heinz - All Rights Reserved
Rows of old home on Humboldt
Empty dives, except for the band
I don’t know where this is leading
Curt discussions with band mates
Every song’s in the key of G
I don’t know where this is leading
This is not what it seems to be
37 bus northbound
Transfer west on route 63
I don’t know where this is leading
Pickup lines at Brew City
An 0 and 2 count and I swing away
I don’t know where this is leading
This is not what it seems to be
This is not what it seems
‘Cause I can’t bear these broken dreams
And I know what it seems to be
Like we’re heading nowhere
Expectations are high
Motivation is low
Here we go
Scott and I on the back porch
Eating bratwurst and sucking beers
We both know where this is leading
Maybe someday we’ll look back
And understand how what we do today
Fits in with the lives we’re leading
Going Through The Motions
© 1987 Paul Heinz - All Rights Reserved
Once upon a time she sang a song
And painted smiles that would not fade away
Searching for the place where she’d belong
Escape the limits of a protégé
She once met a man who took the time to take her places
Her position never let her see
Somewhere in her heart he still chants the tune of free will
Somewhere in her mind she sets him free
Going through the motions
Now she dreams alone
Running through her mind the streets of Italy
Two explorers in a world unknown
Each a victim of the other’s loyalty
She once put her faith into relations between people
He assured her, she wouldn’t be denied
Surroundings that she knows so well
Somehow never felt so cold
Oh how she longs to lead a normal life
Going through the motions
Never saying what she feels
Never feeling what she says
Just walk away
Somehow the worries of the future
Are lessened by the comfort of the past
For just one day she was who she wished to be
While others never get the chance
Somewhere in the streets of Rome
He writes another article
Better for the one who set him free
Somewhere in her heart he still chants the tune of free will
That somewhere, in her mind, he’ll always be
Car Alarms
© 1996 Paul Heinz - All Rights Reserved
My heart is racing
My head is humming
Pack up the hatchback and let’s go
A two-lane highway will lead us someway
I relinquish all control
Life seems so unreal when you’re not allowed to feel
The change from day to day
Looking back now
Our lives have drifted
Down tracks society has laid
I think it’s time now to regroup somehow
Before our hopes and wishes fade
What’s life all about
Intend to find it out
And have some fun along the way
Greasy spoons
Cheap motels
Nowhere towns with nowhere names
Rundown pubs and family farms
Locals oozing grace and charm
Late to bed, late to rise
I feel rested and secure
Just then I am wakened by
The siren call of car alarms
My heart is racing
My head is humming
Pack up the hatchback and let’s ride
I’d love to change it
I’d sooner leave it
But there’s no place left to hide
Incomplete
© 1996 Paul Heinz - All Rights Reserved
A separate peace is peaceful for only so long
The best-laid plans unravel and string you along
Her cartoon eyes would glance my way from time to time
But eyes turn away with the hopes they convey
I don’t know what she’s hoping to find
And I feel incomplete
With my love ventured in vain
Will she find her oasis
There’s just a part of me now in the gutter
I’ll make it back out somehow
She once confessed
To a friend she had feeling for me
But heartstrings were tuned on a cold afternoon
With the forecast for Thanksgiving Eve
I had to drive home all alone in the snow
And wrestle with unpleasant thoughts
She decided to split just before the snow hit
But does she know what that choice cost
Does she know what that choice cost
Tell Like It Is
© 1996 Paul Heinz - All Rights Reserved
Isn’t your life tragic
Isn’t your life a bust
You thought the road to the top would be magic
But you can’t seem to adjust
We all got dreams we ain’t ever gonna reach
Why to you think they call them dreams
When nothing is as it seems
I will tell it like it is
Tell it like it is
Won’t sugarcoat this crazy world
Like our parents did when we were kids
It ain’t nothing you said, my love
It ain’t nothing you did
I just tell it like it is
Your mother said you were gifted
Turns out your mother was wrong
The mighty weight of the world’s left you drifting
Without a place to belong
Well it’s okay if you fell you let you down
You’ll always be the world to me
Let God keep His secrets my love
Someday we’ll both understand
The crazy old world will evolve
As it is planned
Pivot (Days Like These)
© 1996 Paul Heinz - All Rights Reserved
She takes another breath and tried to fly away
It seems she can not take it back
She can not take it back
I see the end behind the means
He takes another swing and wants to disappear
It seems he can not take it back
He can not take it back
I can’t explain the way we move
I can’t explain the way we pin our hopes on yesterday
And blame our failings on one fateful day
He writes another line
His thoughts won’t come to pass
This time he can not take it back
No he can not take it back
I see the end behind the means
And I feel so uncertain and ill at ease
I can not draw the curtain on days like these
The Comfort of Moving On
© 1996 Paul Heinz - All Rights Reserved