1. |
Things Are Falling Down
04:19
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“Things Are Falling Down"
Words & Music by Timothy Walsh
Half a minute and you won’t be here.
Half a minute and you’ll be gone.
Make your fictions so you don’t have to know our days are numbered.
Take your pictures and post them online.
Make your mixtures of rum and coke.
Maybe you just think it’s all a joke, but the seas are rising.
Make a million so you won’t know.
Play some music on your stereo.
Shop online to preserve your status quo while the world is crumbling.
CHORUS:
I don’t say the things I know.
I don’t say I won’t go—looks like things are falling down.
When I would take you down,
when I would bring you round—seems like things are falling down.
Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall.
Humpty Dumpty had a great fall.
Now we’re fragile as eggs if you recall the way that story ends.
Jake was nimble, Jake was quick
when he jumped that candlestick,
but Jack and Jill are feeling sick about the way we’re going.
Cinderella had it right, but Rapunzel gave delight
when she lowered her hair from the tower top (where is our ladder?)
CHORUS
I remember going to the islands, lounging there on the sandy bay,
but now those islands have washed away beneath the waves and…
Now we scuttle our dreams and future.
Now we huddle on the rec room couch
while our conscience says, “you’re such a slouch,”
and the trees are whispering.
PRECHORUS and CHORUS
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2. |
Leslie Are You Sleeping?
05:01
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"Leslie Are You Sleeping?
Words & Music by Timothy Walsh
Leslie, can you hear me now I know
you’re taking off just so
you can cast your doubts away,
run and live another day…
and I know that you are going far away,
but I know that you’ll be back again someday.
Leslie, can you hear me now? I know
what you’re going through.
And I think that I can say why you’re feeling blue.
It’s all about the way you walk away
from what you think’s untrue,
and I think that I can say when I think of you:
Leslie, are you sleeping now? You’re far away I know.
Leslie, are you dreaming of that place you want to go?
CHORUS
Leslie, are you sleeping? I could be there by your side,
drifting on the ocean of the night.
Leslie, are you sleeping? We could take it all in stride.
Together we can make things right.
Leslie, can you hear me now? I know
that I’ve been untrue,
and I wish that I could say
I never would hurt you,
but you know there are those demons in our souls,
and I can’t explain the reasons we’re not whole.
Leslie, can you hear me now? It’s cold
when I’m without you.
And I really feel so lost about what we will do.
Do you think that we could talk
and maybe find a way
to come together once again
and banish these dark days?
Leslie, are you sleeping now? You’re far away I know.
Leslie, are you dreaming of that place you want to go?
CHORUS
Leslie, can you hear me now?
Are you sleeping all alone?
Leslie, can you hear me now?
Please check my message on your phone.
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3. |
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Hear the Pulse (Street Corner Arrangement)”
Words & Music by Timothy Walsh
When I see you, you’re not looking around,
and I know that you’re listening to some sound
far away I can see…you might follow me
and we’ll go where the birds are singing in the trees.
Hear the pulse.
When I hear you whispering in my ear,
and your cheek is so consolingly near,
and your eyes full of play, like a summer day,
and we know where we’re going cause we’re going far away.
Hear the pulse.
I can see the world and I might feel down.
You take me in your arms and I’m so in love with you.
Hear the pulse of the ocean waves.
Hear the pulse of the heart in your chest.
Hear the pulse of the songs that dance in your mind all your days.
Hear the pulse of the planet, the moon, and the stars.
Hear the pulse.
And then someday, when we are old and gone gray,
and I know that the clock can’t turn back around,
then we’ll look to the trees where you heard the invisible sound
of a pulse that’s beyond us and bathing all our days.
Hear the pulse.
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4. |
Ocean Avenue Sunrise
03:57
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“Ocean Avenue Sunrise”
Words & Music by Timothy Walsh
Arabella’s all by herself,
always alone, always in doubt.
She walks the beach at dawn and at dusk
looking for shells, searching for herself.
CHORUS:
Ocean Avenue I know
where you’re taking me is so far below.
Ocean Avenue I know…
take me in your heart—I’ll go.
I remember the day that we met.
I just thought you were playing hard to get.
You ran away and I couldn’t find
the place you were hiding, the cast of your mind.
CHORUS
You never miss watching the sun go down.
You wake at dawn to see it rise
and then you go walking the beach
where you go looking for what the tide brought in
while seagulls steal your eyes.
Then you say that sometimes you feel
your arms should be wings with feathers so real,
that you want to fly away home,
that flesh is a burden too close to the bone.
CHORUS
Arabella out on the beach
spreads her wings hoping to reach
the place where our dreams all come from
so that maybe she won’t be undone.
credits
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5. |
Darby Let's Go
04:15
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"Darby Let's Go"
Words & Music by Timothy Walsh
When I hear that sound—tingles up my spine!
When I hear that guitar, I really lose my mind.
And I know that you cannot be here now.
It’s so long ago since you passed beyond all sound.
Darby let’s go!
Darby now I can play—can you hear that sound?
Can you hear that twelve-string? It’s the sweetest sound around.
And I feel that you are looking from the sky.
I never want to know or ask the reason why.
Darby let’s go!
Visions of eternity are swimming round my head.
Then I see us back again.
We played together those long nights at The Village
when it always seemed it would never end.
Darby now you can see how things really are.
We’ve lit the dark with candles. We can only see so far.
But the magic way—the rhythm of our hearts…
there’s music in the night, and we can never part.
Darby let’s go!
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6. |
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“The House that Goes Dancing”
(for Deborah Digges)
Words & Music by Timothy Walsh
The house that goes dancing all over the town
kicking its heels and lifting its gown for the hedge…
I don’t know, it might wake the dead.
The trees they are dancing, the moon sings her song.
Birds in their nests are fluffing their feathers and you
feel your room spinning around.
Lace up your shoes and tie up your hair.
Slip out of bed and slide down the banister.
Mice in the walls they scurry and scratch
their small heads.
Your dress on the clothesline it billows and furls,
waving its arms and fraying its long, tattered hem.
It just wants to hold you again.
The sycamores whistle the sparrows decant
wine in their goblets so small you can’t see them at all,
while the spiders snuggle in webs.
Skating the pond you fell through the ice,
sank to the underworld where Orpheus said,
“You must come with me now. Don’t be scared.
Be my wife.”
So scuttle your prayers and lobster your fears.
Ride the ribbon of asphalt away from your home.
Feel the dust…in your bones.
Feel the dust…in your bones.
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7. |
Soap Bubbles on the Wind
04:28
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“Soap Bubbles on the Wind”
Words & Music by Timothy Walsh
I don’t get around when you’re in town.
You just say “follow me,” and we go down
to the place where you can erase memories
of the lives you’re lived before.
You’re at the sink, which makes me think
soap bubbles are our lives—we’re gone in a blink.
Watch the trees swaying in the breeze.
See how the leaves are so alive in the wind.
CHORUS
You don’t say it when I take you in my arms—
that you are looking back again.
You don’t say it when you snare me with your charms
that we are destined to pretend…
soap bubbles in the wind.
Can we be friends? It all depends
on the gift you gave to me and now pretends
it is my soul, small as a lump of coal,
burning bright as a fire in the night.
Dip wand in soap. Blow bubbles full of hope.
Then watch them glide away and interlope
in a garden scene fit for the silver screen
where sundry teens play croquet on the lawn.
CHORUS
And I see you every day. You’re just walking on the sidewalk cause you’re on your way to the market to buy some Black Forest ham, and I think what a fool I really am.
You’re always talking to your dog and the bumblebees. I see you watering your weeds and the forest trees, and you’re never at a loss and you’re always full of sweetness and light and all that bull.
And the neighbor kids are blowing bubbles on the grass. They’re laughing and playing and running so fast. You just smile and say, “Would you like some tea?
We’re all just soap bubbles so come sit with me!”
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8. |
Message on the Moon
04:13
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“Message on the Moon”
Words & Music by Timothy Walsh
It’s cold outside, a winter night, see your frosty breath,
Let’s walk across the snowy fields and guess….
There’s a message in the starry skies if you care to look.
Let’s read the stars like letters in a book.
CHORUS:
Say the word you long to know.
There’s a message on the moon that shadows show.
Say the word on the earth below.
There’s a message on the moon we long to know….
The owl hoots, the midnight train echoes in the dark.
Crows are squawking while the watchdog barks.
You cock your ear. You squint your eye. You watch your cloud of breath,
Shivering in the moonlight cold as death.
CHORUS
The snow seems like the stars above fallen down to earth.
You trace your life backward to your birth.
You think about eternity, the vaulted skies above,
a cosmic mind though flesh is tied to earth.
CHORUS
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9. |
Abigail's Waltz
04:27
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“Abigail’s Waltz”
Words & Music by Timothy Walsh
The ice and the snow fill the garden below
Where my poor Abigail rests.
She laughed and she played in the meadows and glades
Till death plucked her at her best.
Someday I’ll join her. Someday I’ll go
under the earth where she sleeps.
We’ll laugh and we’ll play while the worms have their way
and slumber in autumn’s lost leaves.
Now listen my darlings, please listen to me.
I’ll sing what we all must be.
We’re destined for dust just as iron must rust,
and leaves must fall from the tree.
The mushrooms in spring fill our cheeks as we sing
and waltz our way through the mud.
Tulips are dancing, the crocus cavorts
while daffodils spring from our blood.
My Abigail sleeps where the sorceress keeps
her diadem studded with pearls.
Her dresses unfurl as a wind through the world
unleashes the rivers in flood.
She sings and she croons by the light of the moon
and our fingers, now roots, interlace.
She curtsies and curls through the spiderweb swirls
safe in our endless embrace….
The ice and the snow…. Fill the garden below….
where my poor Abigail rests….
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10. |
It's Yesterday
03:48
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It’s Yesterday"
Words & Music by Timothy Walsh
Living long, singing a song takes me back where I belong.
It’s yesterday.
Summers hot and winters cold, seasons like the days of old—
it’s yesterday.
CHORUS
The world is full of fear as apocalypse draws near,
snowcaps melting like a sea of slush.
Refugees abound as famine spreads around.
It’s just too much—just too much!
Take me back where I belong, listening to that great old song.
It’s yesterday.
Walking round the same old town,
smiles turning into frown for yesterday.
CHORUS
Take me back. I can’t see the way ahead.
We’re drawing closer to the end.
Send me back to the place where we went wrong,
so we can set it right again.
Save me please this new disease spreading from a simple sneeze—
not yesterday.
Living in computer screens, searching for lost worlds of green
like yesterday.
CHORUS
Birds are gone, the birds are few…
how can we leave this world for you…
if only yesterday….
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11. |
I Met a Girl I Know
04:22
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“I Met a Girl I Know”
Words & Music by Timothy Walsh
I met a girl I know.
She didn’t say hello.
She just walked by and stared at the sky,
singing a song though I didn’t know why.
The day was short. The night was long.
The wind was in the trees.
Tell me if you see her, would you please?
I met a girl I know.
It was so long ago.
I wasn’t born yet, my mother was young,
searching for my name on the tip of her tongue.
She escaped into a book, and I followed her there
through a jungle made of words
while on the Great Plains the bison roamed in herds.
CHORUS:
Give me a home where the buffalo roam
and the teakettle whistles her name.
The cat and the fiddle are stuck in the middle,
and no one remembers the game.
The fork and the spoon were admiring the moon
while the squirrels were chasing their tails.
The dog and the cat made up for their spat
while dolphins tickled the whales.
I met a girl I know.
The river said go with the flow.
The earth it circled the sun for a year.
The moon gave a wink on the run with no fear.
The planets were spinning, the galaxies wheeled,
the stars so bright and cold.
Soap bubbles mirrored our lives sevenfold.
I met a girl I know.
One day she said “hello.”
She walked up to me, and she asked me to dance,
maybe consider a torrid romance.
Now we are happy, and soon we were three,
housekeeping happily.
I don’t say nothing, and she don’t say nothing to me.
CHORUS
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12. |
One Fine Day
05:03
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“One Fine Day”
Words & Music by Timothy Walsh
One fine day when the fire’s died low
the light from the east sets the curtain aglow,
and you sing a fine song in the shower along
with the scent of a flower you brought back from a dream anon.
One fine day you happened along,
set things right from what had gone wrong,
and the two of us now are peas in a pod
though the world cast its eye thinking we’re slightly odd anon.
Candlelight dreams and apricot smiles
tell me of your schemes and your tender wiles.
Worn oaken floors and half-opened doors
lead the way to your heart…and I never, never want to part.
One fine day in your wedding dress
you smiled at me while the flowers said yes,
and we sang for our supper and we sang for so long
that the two of us now are woven into a song.
One fine day you reached out your hand,
touched my cheek and asked me to stand,
and we two of us danced and twirled cross the floor
and waltzed through the sky where we’ll dance forevermore.
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13. |
August Night
03:53
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“August Night” Key:
Words & Music by Timothy Walsh
When I go out at night to see what I can see
by the light of the moon that lights the night for free.
I might see foxes or an owl on the wing—
are they rabbits or are we?
There is a sleeping girl under the old oak tree.
Why is she sleeping there—or is the world her dream?
If we’re just someone’s dream, a flicker of moonlight,
then let’s romp across the night.
I could be anyone deep within these woods.
If we all had rabbit ears, we could hear what we most want to be.
I see the dragonfly gliding by the stream.
It was a larva before it had a dream.
Now it can fly among the lightning bugs and moths.
Nothing in this world is what it seems.
And on this August night I took my bride to be.
She is that dragonfly, but she’s the one for me.
Hummingbirds and butterflies and all things on the wing—
that’s what makes the whole world sing.
You could be anyone deep within these woods.
If we all had rabbit ears, we could hear what we most want to be.
There is an old oak tree—I know its shape so well.
It always comforts me and conjures up a spell.
And when I fall asleep and listen to its leaves,
I dream that I’m an oak as well.
We could be anyone deep within these woods.
If we all had rabbit ears we could hear what we will always be.
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14. |
When You're Alone
04:21
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“When You’re Alone”
Words & Music by Timothy Walsh
I know that you’re listening when you hear that sound
Something seems it’s missing when no one’s around.
You’re just hanging on the edge of time… when you’re alone.
Sometimes I go walking, sometimes go to town,
walking by those windows that seem to wear a frown.
You’re just hanging on the edge of time… when you’re alone.
CHORUS: I can’t see you but I know you’re there somewhere,
trying to make it on your own.
When you’re working lately you don’t seem to care
what can make a house a home…when you’re alone.
You eat your grapefruit slowly, listening to the clock.
Coffee percolating, how much time you got?
You’re just hanging on the edge of time… when you’re alone.
You chew your pencil slowly, the calendar stares back.
The months are marching onward, the days so out of whack.
You’re just hanging on the edge of time… when you’re alone.
CHORUS
Now the day is over, the night comes creeping in.
In your moonlit bedroom you pull the covers to your chin.
You’re just hanging on the edge of time… when you’re alone.
You’re just hanging on the edge of time… when you’re alone.
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15. |
Tell You
03:30
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“Tell You”
Words & Music by Timothy Walsh
CHORUS
Tell you…. What I don’t say.
Tell you…. I’m on my way.
Tell you…. when I’m around.
Tell you… without a sound.
Looking at the moon but you don’t see me now—
you’re lost inside your head,
reading late in bed.
Licking at a spoon, you turn and ask me how
a wife is safely wed when she never said…
CHORUS
A fairy tale castle is your only dream
you tell me as you scream
my name when we’re in bed.
An owl is hooting somewhere in the dark.
You smile and remark
you’re glad that we’re not dead. And then you said…
CHORUS
Taking all your pictures and you won’t show me.
when I tell you what you owe me,
you say you’re mine.
Making all your mixtures in the kitchen,
when I ask why you are bitching
you say you’re fine…and I think we have some time.
A carrot is as good as anybody would
be if they were red—
that’s what you one time said.
Onions and thyme make your soup so fine,
simmering in the pot…and even when they’re not. And then she said…
CHORUS
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16. |
Lighthouse in Winter
04:56
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“Lighthouse in Winter”
Words & Music by Timothy Walsh
I see you walking in the fading light,
Ocean breakers to our right…I know
I don’t even know your name.
The lighthouse look in your eyes
Scanning the seas for some prize…I know
We really are the same.
I’d travel to the moon with you and whisk you back again,
Fly up to the mountaintops where nothing’s sad,
And nothing ever ends.
Now I don’t know, but I’ve been told
Nothing can keep you from growing old…I know
We’re embers in the night.
Springtime comes, the weather’s fair.
Summer ends without a care…I know
December’s now in sight.
The lighthouse in winter revolves all through the night.
It flashes and it splinters the ocean waves
Hides them from our sight.
Tell me now you’ll come with me
Somewhere far beyond the sea…I know
Our dreams are lost in mist.
Your amber eyes reflect the waves.
Nothing is lost when we save our love
Wrapped up in a kiss.
The lighthouse in winter revolves all through the night.
It flashes and it splinters the ocean waves
Hides them from our sight.
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17. |
Hear the Pulse
04:45
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“Hear the Pulse”
Words & Music by Timothy Walsh
When I see you, you’re not looking around,
and I go down and I know that you’re listening to some sound
far away in the forest where squirrels are climbing the trees
and the birds they are singing and flitting round on the breeze.
Hear the pulse.
When I hear you whispering in my ear,
and your cheek on the pillow is so consolingly near,
and your lips, so playful, are nibbling on my ear,
and your hip in the bedclothes, so beautiful I cannot breathe….
Hear the pulse.
In this pulsating paradise we feel,
you take me in your arms and I’m so in love with you.
Hear the pulse of the ocean, the blood coursing by your ear.
Hear the pulse in the rhythm of our breath when we are near.
Hear the pulse of the music that livens our lives all our years.
Hear the pulse of the heartbeat that joins us as one without fear.
Hear the pulse.
And then someday, when we are old and gone gray,
and I know there is no way to turn the clock back around,
then we’ll look to the forest where you heard the invisible sound
of a pulse that’s beyond us and bathing us all our days.
Hear the pulse.
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Penelope's Thrill Madison, Wisconsin
Penelope's Thrill is a lucky accident. Lured out of musical retirement by son Andrew, Timothy Walsh dusted off his guitars,
including his favorite vintage Guilds and Gretsches, and picked up where he left off 25 years ago playing in garage bands in New Jersey and Boston.
Tim founded Penelope's Thrill as the vehicle for his songs, often pulling in other musicians for particular tracks.
... more
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