Uncategorized – Page 3 – Van Clayton Powel

I DON'T SHINE

WHEN I'M WITH YOU
I DON’T SHINE *Pre-production mockup with Ken Pendergast. (Original unplugged version below)

Lyrics

I DON’T SHINE

We sit here at the table
Our lines drawn in the sand
No way to go forward
At least not hand-in-hand

We’ve been down every alleyway
We’ve chased down every lead
We gave it everything we’ve got
It’s time that I leave, ‘cause

I don’t shine
In your eyes anymore
No, I don’t shine
In your eyes anymore

A piece of our puzzle
Has fallen through the cracks
We fished on our hands and knees
But can’t get it back

It’s one of those mysteries
That we’ll never know
But somehow we recognize it’s time
To let it go, ‘cause

I don’t shine
In your eyes anymore
No, I don’t shine
In your eyes anymore

*Original unplugged version

HOW THIS ENDS

WHEN I'M WITH YOU
HOW THIS ENDS

Lyrics

HOW THIS ENDS

Moving on automatic
Through these days of our life
Making love, so pragmatic
If we touch in the night

I don’t know when the change came
Why we break, we don’t bend
Started out with the best of intentions
But I don’t know how this ends
No, I don’t know how this ends

Moving on from the passion
It’s the way these things go
Love’s a fad, left behind like a fashion
If you both, if you both cannot grow

I don’t know when the pain came
And I don’t know if it mends
Started out with the best of intentions
But I don’t know how this ends
No, I don’t know how this ends

Part of my heart is still going there
Hearing love when you whisper my name
Part of my heart still looks in your eyes
And would kneel down and hand you the chains

Moving on automatic
Through these days of our life
Making love, oh so pragmatic
If we touch in the night

I don’t know when the change came
Why we break, we don’t bend
Started out with the best of intentions
But I don’t know how this ends
No, I don’t know how this ends

BESIDE YOU

WHEN I'M WITH YOU
BESIDE YOU

Lyrics

BESIDE YOU

Tears my heart out
Seeing you this way
Drops me down to my knees

Take you in my arms
Rock your pain away
Let your tears fall on me

‘Cause beside you
Right beside you
Here beside you
I have it all

Yes, inside you
Deep inside you
My salvation
If I should fall

Such a long road
That brought us both this far
Every step hand in hand

Such a dark place
I’ve been just where you are
But you’re stronger than I am

‘Cause beside you
Right beside you
Here beside you
I have it all

Yes, inside you
Deep inside you
My salvation
If I should fall

AS IF I DIDN'T MATTER

Lyrics

AS IF I DIDN’T MATTER

So easily you left me
With all your might you left me
So what am I to do now
I feel like such a fool now

So easily she found you
She wrapped you up and bound you
As if I didn’t matter, as if I didn’t matter
At all, at all, at all
As if I didn’t matter at all

So easily you told me
How hard it was to tell me
That you had no more love left
Oh no, no more love left (for me)

So easily your tears came
I swear they were for your pain
As if mine didn’t matter, as if I didn’t matter
At all, at all, at all
As if I didn’t matter at all

I wish you didn’t matter
I wish you didn’t matter
I wish you didn’t matter
At all

So easily old love dies
And darkens every sunrise
So hard to be alone now
Every night alone now

So easily you left me
With all your might you left me
As if they didn’t matter (All those years)
As if they didn’t matter
At all, at all, at all
As if I didn’t matter at all

HOW 'BOUT YOU

HOW 'BOUT YOU
HOW ‘BOUT YOU *Pre-production mockup with Ken Pendergast

Lyrics

HOW ‘BOUT YOU

Like the victim in this lover’s crime
Nothin’ much I can do
Just an extra with a minor line
Trying to hide from the truth

How ‘bout you
Do you know what fool’s love makes us do?
How ‘bout you
Won’t you tell me what the guilty should do?

Just a lover playing second string
Yeah, I’m on call night and day
Ask a psychic what my future brings
But she just turns, she just turns away

How ‘bout you
Do you know what fool’s love makes us do?
How ‘bout you
When you’re desperate, tell me, what do you do?

Such a cold room
Such a dark, empty feeling
Such a cold mood
And I don’t, no I don’t
No I don’t know how I find
How I find my way out of here

Like a guest left standing all alone
Should’ve left long ago
Like a heart that doesn’t have a home
Hanging ‘round just in case you might show

How ‘bout you
Do you feel what the guilty go through?
How ‘bout you
Do you know what fool’s love makes us do?
Do you know what fool’s love makes us do?
What you’re doing to me is he doing to you?

WE ARE THE MASTERS OF OUR SUFFERING

WE ARE THE MASTERS OF OUR SUFFERING

Lyrics

WE ARE THE MASTERS OF OUR SUFFERING

Kill my dreams
Steal my heart
Break my body into
A million parts
Find the lesson in the pain
Or we’ll be back this way again

Ship of fools
Sailing blind
Ends up shattered on the
Reefs of time
No one wants to take the blame
We seem addicted to the pain

Brown eyes swimming for the surface
Someone reaching for your hand
Will you offer them some solace?
Will you finally take a stand?

We close our eyes
And walk the ledge
Hand in hand we light the fuse
That blows the bridge
Now we’ll see what we have learned
Can we heal what we have burned?

We are the masters of our suffering
There is no need to look above
We are the masters of our suffering
It is a measure of our love

Look around
Check your heart
Salvation waits
Like a lover in the dark
Find the lesson in the pain
Or we’ll be back this way again

We are the masters of our suffering
There is no need to look above
We are the masters of our suffering
It is a measure of our love

We close our eyes
And walk the ledge
Hand in hand we light the fuse
That blows the bridge
Now we’ll see what we have learned
Can we heal what we have burned?

HUSH, LITTLE ONE

WHEN I'M WITH YOU
HUSH, LITTLE ONE

Lyrics

HUSH, LITTLE ONE

Hush, little one
Don’t you cry
Momma will sing you a lullaby
Rocking you gently
I’ll kiss all your tears away
Kiss all your tears away

Hush, little one
Don’t you cry
Safe in my arms with this lullaby
Let the sweet melody
Chase all your fears away
Chase all your fears away

‘Cause I love you
Yes, I love you so
And I’ll never
Never let you go

So hush, little one
Close your eyes
Feel my love touching you deep inside
I will be here watching over you
Night and day
Every night, every day

Oo, I love you
Yes, I love you so
And I’m never
Never lettin’ go

So hush, little one
Close your eyes
Drift into sleep with my lullaby
Let your dreams come now
And know I will always be near
Yes, I will always be here
Holding you, holding you dear
Holding you, holding you near
(Ni’night)

McKAY

WHEN I'M WITH YOU
McKAY

Lyrics

McKay

First morning light breaking thin
Looking outside, then at him
Avenue snow hard as ice
Slippery and cold, like this life

Back into bed, one last time
Reach for his face, trace the lines
Honor cuts hard, leaves deep tracks
He can’t give an inch, I can’t go back

My my, sweet sweet, McKay
My my, sweet sweet, McKay
Don’t look back, walk away
From my sweet sweet McKay

So long ago at seventeen
Carving his name in my jeans
Then Washington Bridge front-seat love
The velvet and steel of his touch

Well, I became his one, one, one real thing
And he was the King of the, King of the Avenue Kings
Leathers and crime, hot-blood fights
The Chevy that screamed from the lights

My my, sweet sweet, McKay
My my, sweet sweet, McKay
Don’t look back, walk away
From my sweet sweet McKay

But needles and lies stole the glory
And six months of his time
Now I want him back
But I can’t take that past
Can’t take that past back again

Tell him I’m leaving, he laughs
We make love like it has to last
Leaves him convinced I won’t leave
Leave as he rolls up his sleeve

I walk outside, I walk outside down the stairs
Breathing in new life, cold air
A broken charm left up there on the floor
Never can be like before

My my, sweet sweet, McKay
My my, sweet sweet, McKay
Don’t look back, walk away
From my sweet sweet McKay

GET UP AND DANCE

GET UP AND DANCE

Lyrics

GET UP AND DANCE

Well I know sometimes we gotta work real hard
Pick up the shovel, dig right in, gotta move that yard
And I know for sure it’s a long freeway
Stuck in the car, but what can we do
We got bills to pay
Ohhh, but when you smile at me like that
It shivers up my back

I wanna dance, I can dance, I can get up an dance
I gotta dance right now
Get up and dance, you can dance, you can get up and dance
Come on and dance right now

‘Cause the wind might blow and the rain might fall
And your summer just might pass you by
Before you finish that wall
And it’d be so sad just to hammer all day
Then to face the night all alone
‘Cause you hadn’t stopped to play
So when you see your children smile
Lay down your tools a while

Get up and dance, you can dance, you can get up and dance
They wanna dance right now
Get up and dance, you can dance, you can get up and dance
Come on and dance right now

Well I know just why, and I hope it never ends
Because my life is so much better when I’m in the arms of friends
So I reach out now and I grab your hand
‘Cause I know if we just dance together
We can make this world a lovely land
Oh yeah,
Close your eyes and feel the beat
Lift your heart and feet

Come on and dance, you can dance, you can get up and dance
Ya gotta dance right now
Get up and dance, you can dance, you can get up and dance
Come on and dance right now

HUMAN BEING

HUMAN BEING by Van Clayton Powel
HUMAN BEING

Lyrics

HUMAN BEING

The eagles are flying
The wind’s in my face
I’m high on the mountain top
Oh yeah, in my magical place

I’m dining on sunlight
I’m drinking down the rain
I’m doing the best I can
In this life as a human being

Well, it’s a fine time
Such a fine, fine, fine time
Yes, it’s a fine time
To be alive as a human being
Yes, it’s a fine time
Feeling love with this body and mind
Well, it’s a fine time
To be alive as a human being

Well, some come to suffer
And some come to win
Some come to learn there’s no such thing
As original sin

Some come for lovers
Some give their whole life to family or friends
Some don’t mind living alone
‘Cause they know we come back again

The mystery of ecstasy and agony
They say it’s why we’re here
Well maybe so but not for me
I only came to Earth to have you near