Cosmos at Dawn

The chorus came to me as a rhetorical sea shanty while I stared at the water as I waited for my wife to doll up for a Christmas party. The rest of the song just fell into place the more I thought about addled lovers. I had just watched "Last Exit to Brooklyn" and was reading a lot of Charles Bukowski's poems.

(C) Cosmos at dawn in a (G) world gone wrong
(Am) Lovers die in their (D7) drink
(G) Straight Scotch or martinis
(C) It's a lush search for meaning
(Am) Johnnie Walker, Jim Beam hit the (D7) sheets
(C) Priests trickle in, (G) deep-throat their gin
(Am) Bless my bottles, I'm empty ag(D7)ain

(C) Titanic's in danger
(G) Christ's in the manger
(Am) Wisemen play musical chairs (D7)
(C) Just tell me you love me
(G) Like Pooh Bear wants honey
(Am) Let's drink the cosmos at dawn (D7)

(C) Oh, the sky was the limit for (G) those who could live it
(Am) and not see our hearts in the mirror (D7)
(G) We took it in stride and (C) shed all our pride
(Am) Marched naked in armies of sin (D7) 

(G) Gang-bang girls sing, "Tra, La, La"
(Em) Old men piss in their beer
(C) Mars prayed with Venus, (G) "St. Christopher, lead us
(Am) safely through the hell out of here" (D7)

(C) Titanic's in danger
(G) Christ's in the manger
(Am) Wisemen play musical chairs (D7)
(C) Just tell me you love me
(G) Like Pooh Bear wants honey
(Am) Let's drink the cosmos at dawn (D7)

(C) Cosmos at dawn in a (G) world gone wrong
(Am) Lovers die in their (D7) drink

I Fear Virginia Woolf

Drunken remembrances of my dramatic ex-wife inspired this song while I was drinking and devouring drama with a post-divorce lover. The song segues from Liz and Dick to Cassavetes and Gena Rowlands to Norma Desmond, but that's how crazy relationships go.

(C) We were crazy

(Am) We were lovers

(C) We drank history

(Am) Cleopatra, Richard Burton

(C) the decolletage (G) queen

(C) Elizabeth, (Am) Victoria(C) and old Bloody (G) Mary

(C) the heartbeats of Henry and (Am) the headless Joaquin

C) tie us to destiny (G) and bound you to me

(Am) So young ago

(C) So goes pretty

(Am) So many ways we need

(C) I fear Virginia Woolf

(G) on the page, stage and screen

(C) Cassavetes, (Am) Gena Rowlands

(C) your Methodist (G) knees

(C) I married (Am) your mother

(C) Oh, my God, (G) Sandra Dee

(C) Norma Desmond (Am) got her close-up

(C) but the great (Am) Cecil B.

(C) abandoned (Am) old Salome

(C) She's all yours, (G) Mr. Freeze

(Am) So young ago

(C) So goes pretty

(Am) So many ways we need

(C) I fear Virginia Woolf

(G) on the page, stage and screen

The Ballad of Joaquin Murrieta

The Mexican Robin Hood may or may not have been real, and I may or may not be related to the California Gold Rush legend. Let's leave that to historians. Anyway, my late cousin Joey Murrieta supplied the chords during a late-night jam session when I barely knew how to play guitar. I wish we had recorded it together.

About the chords: The verses are in E, the chorus is in A7. I can't yet find, or Photoshop, all of the chords. So, for the verses, hold the E chord shape throughout. E6add9add#11omit3 = E chord shape with your first finger on the third fret and your other fingers on the fourth fret. Em7 = E chord shape with your first finger on the fourth fret and other fingers on the fifth fret. For the chorus, hold the A7 shape throughout, moving to the fourth and fifth frets for the chords A7#11add6omit3 and A7omit3, respectively. I'm working on the bridge chords.

Caped crusader

Mexican knight

Outlaw in justice

Seen as much wrong as right

Lost highwayman

Cut off from home

Come back to steal

what was always your own

Ride, Joaquin, jump the divide

Hundred years from heaven

Your people hungry survive

Bullets, redemption, truth by your side

Ride, Joaquin, ride, Joaquin, ride

Sinner-saint in the field of the lord

Riches were never power or gold

Just a dream to ride free in the land you were born

Reaching for fate beyond the dirt on your hands

Hunted by barons who robbed from mountain to sand

Cursed by missionaries of galleons and guns

White men scorn your skin and answer, "Padron."

Mi abuelito llore con Dios

Ride, Joaquin, cry with God

Mi abuelito llore con Dios

Ride, Joaquin, cry with God

Mi abuelito llore con Dios

Ride, Joaquin, cry with God

Caped crusader

Mexican knight

Outlaw in justice

Seen as much wrong as right

Lost highwayman

Cut off from home

Come back to steal

It was always your own

Highway 99

I always thought this song was unfinished, just like I thought the relationship with the woman I wrote it for* was unfinished. But, really, it was finished -- the relationship and the song. Just keep repeating the verse and chorus and add some blistering licks and screech the name of the song like you're wearing Axl Rose's balls-tight pants.

We broke down half a mile from love

Traveling fast, romance on the run

Too many miles in between

the place that we met and dreams that won't be

Stranded in the diamond lane

no one belongs alone

Waiting for your heart to roar

-- a jumpstart or a tow

One day I'll forget you

but I dream of you tonight

Stranded

in the diamond lane

Highway 99

*Susan Ballenger

Michael Corleone's Last Prayer

This is a working of Hank, My God.

Fredo, pray with me

I'm your brother, Michael Corleone

I'm sorry for what I've done

Fredo, now, I need someone

Hail Mary full of grace

Flesh and blood float in the lake

Dog days of love and the hoo-ha smell

Fredo, I pray from hell

Fredo, they shot Pop

Johnny Olla led you on

Moe Greene's gone, so's Hyman Roth

Fredo, you broke my heart

Hail Mary full of grace

Flesh and blood float in the lake

Dog days of love and the hoo-ha smell

Fredo, I pray from hell 

Fredo, can't you see

Old-World law, back to Sicily 

Never take sides 

against the family  

Fredo, pray with me

I''m your brother, Michael Corleone

I'm sorry for what I've done

Fredo, now, I need someone

Hail Mary full of grace

Flesh and blood float in the lake

Dog days of love and the hoo-ha smell

Fredo, I pray from hell

Ballad of a Black President

C                            G

Oh, mama, he killed Osama 


C                                                         G

shot him in head, sent him straight to the bottom 


C                                                                  G

from Abbotabad to Crawford, this is what you wanted 


Em                                                        G

So why won't you all say Barack Obama got him?

C                                                           G

There’s a black man in the White House, food stamps feeding my mouth

Em                                                  G

The taste of terror dripping from my lips

C                                                              G

I’m hungering for nothing, I’m savoring something

C                                                      G

I was born here, here’s my birth certificate

C                           G

Oh, mama, he killed Osama 


C                                                        G

shot him in head, sent him straight to the bottom 


C                                                                    G

from Abbotabad to Crawford, this is what you wanted 


Em                                                         G

So why won't you all say Barack Obama got him?

C                                                             G

Sit and watch the live death on streaming video

Em                                                   G

Geronimo’s the code word for take no prisoners

C                                                                         G

When the mission is accomplished the doubting will begin

C                                                                              G

Without a body you can’t prove what Bush and Cheney did

C                                 G

Oh, mama, he killed Osama 


C                                                            G

shot him in head, sent him straight to the bottom 


C                                                                       G

from Abbotabad to Crawford, this is what you wanted 


Em                                                               G

So why won't you all say Barack Obama got him?

Mama's Pride

 

This song is also known as Song for Bob.

(D) Joey died Fourth July
(F#m) Years went by, Mama cried
(E7) Until she died
(A) I was 45
(A7) Like Mama's pride

(D) Yesterday beats on and on
(F#m) His cruelty and her kisses
(E7) Mama's pride, (Gm) the first to die
(D) Killed me when we were kids
(A7sus4) Mama's pride
(A7) Oh, Mama's pride
(D) Look what Mama's pride has done

(F#m) Joey, why'd you (Gm) hit me
(F#m) Mama, please come (Gm) kiss me
(F#m) I miss you both, (Gm) I can't let go
(A) My life lives in your (D) deaths
(A7sus4) Mama's pride
(A7) Oh, Mama's pride
(D) Look what Mama's pride has done 

(D) Both are gone I can't move on
(F#m) Memories bind the great beyond
(E7) What I miss: (Gm)a fist, a kiss
(D) Apron strings reach to God
(A7sus4) Mama's gone
(A7) Gone with Mama's pride
(D) Look what Mama's pride has done

You Changed Your Password

It's self-explanatory and purely artistic. 

A             D         A                               E7

Gmail failed, your Facebook slammed closed

A             D           A                        E7

All of your websites screaming big "NO"
A                             D         A                                   E7

Pooh Bear, your birthday? Hey, shugg, would you say? 

A                  D           A                         E7

Maybe your Cucci or gingerbread cookie?

You changed your password

I guess that's the last word

Never again will I type your name 

Every vain guess is a felony 

Auto-fill, over-kill -- oh, my heart still

races and skips beats 

to think I read your Tweets

But you lost all interest 

blocked me from Pinterest 

No more TikTok, Slack, QZone 

Gmail failed, your Facebook slammed closed

All of your websites screaming big "NO" 

Sweet Pea, your birthday?

Peaches, would you say? 

Maybe it's Scarlet or heart of a harlot?

You changed your password

I guess that's the last word

Never again will I type your name 

Every vain guess is a felony 

Auto-fill, over-kill -- oh, my heart still

races and skips beats 

to think I read your Tweets

But you lost all interest 

blocked me from Pinterest 

No more TikTok, Slack, QZone 

You changed your password

I guess that's the last word

Never again will I type your name 

Every vain guess is a felony 

The Lonesome Death of Medgar Evers

A man was murdered. His kids watched. His murderer was caught. Eventually. One verse and a chorus. That's all that needs saying.

Black night fallen, hate shoots hard like coal
Daddy, daddy, watching your blood flow
Sheets of fire, Holy Ghost glows white
Daddy, daddy, watch you die tonight

They caught your killer 30 years late
Medgar, believe in justice; Medgar, believe in fate

Black night fallen, hate shoots hard like coal
Daddy, daddy, watching your blood flow
Sheets of fire, Holy Ghost glows white
Daddy, daddy, watch you die tonight

They caught your killer 30 years late
Medgar, believe in justice; Medgar, believe in fate