Adventures of Freddy (1998)

Cover art by Danny Michael Donovan-Wilhelmi

SELECTED lyrics and mp3 clips

1. Freddy [mp3]

Freddy said with a grin, "I had the wildest dream last night."
Said he wanted to let us all in and make the world just turn out right
Said, "My dream wasn't scary, just a little on the sad side."
Enough to make him wanna carry the weight of a world drowning in pride

Oh Freddy how do you you know so much?
Oh Freddy let's keep in touch
Oh Freddy where did you learn the things you know?
Oh Freddy we'd hate to see you go

He said there was a whole lot more but it made no sense to ask
Freddy headed towards the door on sneakers made of glass
He said, "I'm not one to analyze, I only express my head's bleeding."
Freddy winked and apologized, said he was late for a poetry reading

How could a boy like this move us with his vision?
And how could we have missed the things he saw with such precision?
Fred told us of a poem he had heard one hour prior
It was a pleasure to have known him and his tales of youth and fire.

2. Southbound and Out

Hangin' out down by the railroad tracks got nothin' but a compass and some Cracker Jacks
Sun's goin' down turn the rails to red gotta get away gotta clear my head
Sittin' on the rocks glad to be alive waitin' on the Southbound 7:45
Ain't no one gonna miss me 'til the day I'm outta here hangin' out in Georgia throwin' back a beer

Wo southbound and out, I'm almost sure what it's all about
Wo southbound and gone, all I know is I'm movin' on

I got no money in my pocket today gotta find some work there right away
Gotta be someone's gonna take me on been fryin' eggs since my sister was born
You know I got no need for no fancy kinda nothin' a roof with no leaks a bed with some stuffin'
Never had no cable no microwave oven all I need is some good honest lovin'

So IÕm skippin' stones on the hot steel track diggin' for a prize in my Cracker Jacks
Lookin' for a slice o' that American pie hope I find it before I die
I don't know where this ship will lead just waitin' for the train come around the trees
The sun's goin' down the rails are glowin' it's a quarter to 8 and I hear the whistle blowin'

3. Corner Store [mp3]

4. Haircut for Me

My hair's so long I just can't sleep
Goin' down to Cornbread's where the haircuts are cheap
Don't need no part no fancy style
I just wanna look like Gomer Pyle

Ya see my hair ain't no big deal to me
Don't care if I'm bald or if it grows down to my knees
I can think of better things to spend my money on
Like a new pair of shorts - Summer's comin' on

I ride my bike real fast now down on Main
Sun's beatin' down now on my mane
Can't wait to get it chopped off - wet my head
I can ride my bike even faster - that's what I said

I like the feelin' in the chair
Crazy mirrors everywhere
Work hard for the money, spend it well
Don't need no fancy sprays or gels

5. Bonedancin' [mp3]

6. The Prairie Song [mp3]

another shooting star dashes by
another homesick wolf starts to cry
there's a ghost town somewhere to the right
the clock is set to bring me light

weary travels coast to coast
trekking foothills cooking toast
tunnels bridges freeway days
making music soaking rays

where did it lead? right back home
pitcher of tea, telephone
tables chairs cups and coasters
Davenport lamps and posters

tumbleweed blows by my bed
blow out the stars sleepyhead...

7. Things I See

8. Gabriella

9. Grim Presence [mp3]
(by Barry Wallenstein)

My one grim friend
with the grudge of a nation
12 times defeated,
how did I earn your attention?
Somehow, sadly,
I got caught in your eye.

Here I am
helpless on your pupil,
and I don't like it!
If I could also be
the cotton swab to gently remove
the agonizing speck I've become,
how glorious and delivering
that would be.

10. Sky Sketching

I'm way up there where crystals form
the only thing I'm scared of is the norm
I'm right on the heels of those scurrying saviors
don't know what I feel they're changing my behavior

They are wisps of black grace, eyelashes on the sky,
they're saving me a place, they're giving me a try,
they are whisking me away from a world of conceit
No more fear and reservations no hypocrisy

I'm free to jump and breathe – to live nine lives at once
My thundering heartbeat pounds towards deliverance

I'm naked I'm singed
I'm limber I twinge
I'm elastic I'm a kite
I'm ecstatic I'm in flight
I'm protected I'm free
I'm ambitious I am me

They're taking me with them to the corners of the sky
They're God's own dance troupe and they've taught me how to fly

The patterns that they form are like the patterns on a dress
I used to wear back in the days when the ditches dug themselves
and a dream could hold you like a spell
and a head in the sand was all it took to understand
the values that we thought were right
sometimes under headphones in the middle of the night

I want to move like they do now in full view of
a world that may mistake us for disembodied spirits
bound towards a place where they forbid themselves

I know you're good,
as good as they come, but I can't have you
until this dance is done

It only happens once in infinity,
this vibrant parade across the sky
and everybody missed it but me
I guess I had the watchful eye.

11. A Day Away

12. I'm Still Here

13. The Heaven We Knew So Well [mp3]

This neighborhood's not safe anymore, there's a group of angels outside my door
They're telling me of a great big time, asking me to pen the official rhyme
I told them I was just an unemployed mime They said,

"Come along, it makes no sense to live your life under a false pretense.
You don't need to ignore your past
It doesn't hurt to see where you've been."

The festival was a big success, I decided to go despite my mess
The angels said, "We have something to confess:

Here we are to build a fire and make the people sing out loud
Open your doors and let it out, you know that business 'bout
Doing your mother proud."

Some of us like to dance and sing
Others pray for the chimes to ring
But mostly we just spin around
And wait for the wheel to come down

The remembering is out of season, it was buried along with rhyme and reason
Your first number already retired, let's join hands around the fire
The angels asked if I had done my deed, had I composed some makeshift creed?
My hands were shaking as I started to read:

"We can smell the smell that used to tell who went to Heaven for those in Hell
When the echoes would fade from the tolling of the knell
We would run across the heaven we knew so well.

We'll fight the fears of youth and truth
Eat pumpkin pie and loosen our screws
Like the good old days when we were only two
Brand new teeth, straight from the womb

Momma always said I was one of the few who could talk real loud 'fore I could tie my shoe
When Daddy passed away is when I knew no one could toss me in the air like he used to do."