Cold Coming is the story of Marie. Born
on the near west side of Chicago to a single mother who
couldn’t care for her. Orphaned, adopted, abused, and
addicted, she finds herself alone and forgotten. A
reflection of our times. And that’s where her odyssey
begins...We'd love to hear your
interpretation of the story, but if
you'd likea
little more background, not fully revealed in the
lyrics,there
is a companion piece link at the bottom of the lyrics
page below...
I’m laying the track for the fortunate
ones
A railway of gold making tracks for the sun
The sun shut its doors no one can come
They're shutting it down only fortunate ones
I come from, another time and place
I'm just a remnant of the human race
A time when fear showed upon every face
The origins of which you can’t erase
My father was an early hominid
My mother future humanoid
Little brother Homo habilis
He’s just super fabulous
He’s the Pliocene’s favorite son
Only fortunate ones
There was an aqua-bluish star
Shone through burlap and iron bars
Weary workers of the under race
Bear the scars of greed from the higher place
Higher place, higher place, higher place
I come from, another time and place
Another remnant from the human race
SORRY
Down in West Town
Nineteen and sixty
In a room by the alley
Behind a bar they call the home of the gypsies
Miles Davis blowin’ through the wall
He bought another eight ball
And they made that shit hole
Into their own private Shangri-La
He split the scene and she filled the void with
anonymous patrons
What she didn’t know was the whole time she’d
been hosting a new creation
By the time that her cycle had ceased she was
apprehended by police
And Marie was born into a world not meant for
anyone
Oh sweet Marie
Remember I'm sorry
You'll never know me
I'm sorry
Sorry
All her new mothers dressed in black
The sisters of the rosary made a pact
To find her an upstanding home
But the only ones that wanted her, among the
pious whisperers
Were the ones known as the family son of John
Mr. Johnson made the move and the missus added
she approved
To take her into their consecrated fold
But it didn't turn out good
Not the way they thought it would
The sisters knew not what they should
Mr. Johnson wasn't any good
RUN AWAY
Mama why did you leave me here alone
Why couldn’t I stay a little longer
I will never find out anyway
Why did you leave me
In the arms of those who never really cared about
The things I’ll never know or feel for you
Momma
Welcome nice to meet you, We’re the Johnsons
It’s so nice to have you in our home
This will be your room, make yourself comfortable
Here you’ll be safe and warm
Just make sure when you undress
Before you climb into your bed
Lock the door
Mr. Johnson isn’t quite right
Ever since he lost the limelight
A little bit crazy
Between you and me
If he gets in your head
Just do what he says
Or your better off dead
Red is all I see
Rage has gotten the better of me
Dear Mrs. Johnson I just had to say
I just want to thank you
But I had to run away
COLD COMING
`` i. Transmigration
(instrumental)
ii. Mary Jane Lane
On the run
My nightmare’s begun
I told Mister Johnson to put down the gun
He just wouldn’t listen
Ran into the kitchen
The odds were a million to one
Cold coming
Old shoes broken laces
She just keeps humming a song in her
Head pounding
Hears a distant drumming
An old man strumming, four rusty strings
The storm is coming
Oh no
The road is closed ahead
Dropped the knife and fled the scene
Oh no forgot to wipe it clean
Black blood ink flows across the street
Can’t you see it’s my destiny
Felony
I escape it in my dreams
But I’ve forgotten what it means
To see a wounded blackbird fly across the street
Can’t you see she flies desperately
Breathlessly
And the sign upon the shed
Said Mary Jane Lane is closed ahead
Turn back you won’t see me again
In this world
iii. The Storm
The clouds roll down, before the rain
The shutters drawn, we prepare to remain
The winds howl high on Mary Jane Lane
And you and I, we stay the same way
Up at the shed
My old friends sang, that haunting refrain
I quit the gang
The lights burned out, dimming the pain
The clouds roll in
Cold coming again
I made it through another night
Do I flee or do I fight
Chicago streets at night
In black and white
She’s moved away doesn’t live here anymore
Wipe it clean
VAGABOND
I used to play in my neighbor’s yard
We’d go and climb the maple tree
I used to sing and laugh real hard
Hide in our fort where they could never see me
I used to ride my bike to the river
And think about the things she’d say
And relate to what they couldn’t give her
I used to be someone
Now I am no one
It all came undone
Now I’m just a vagabond
Used to have a home
I never was alone
A happy family
But I refused to see
It was just a fantasy
Do not grieve for me
For I am free
I’m following the path they laid for me
I turned my lock
And left it all
I could not stay another day
Things left undone must stay that way
My children
A laugh
A kiss
This too I shall miss
Be not hardened by times of sorrow
I wish you the sunshine of tomorrow
Climb the maple tree
Never see me
UNDER THE VIADUCT
Young woman collecting her coins
Under the viaduct by the factories
And I couldn’t roll down my window
And I couldn’t make it alone here
But she can’t be afraid
Old woman hunched and alone
Pushing her grocery cart down the dirty streets
She tries to remember a better day
She closes her eyes and begins to sway
To the sound of the freeway
MOONWATCHER
Street walker
Beneath the meteor shower
Like an artificial flower
Growing in a sidewalk crack
She is the moonwatcher
She sleeps beneath the Fullerton bridge
Where the apparition of the virgin lives
On the concrete wall an oddly shaped stain
Above the spot where her dreams were slain
No one intervened between then and fifteen
The lithium that helped her
Washed down with liquor
The search for in-between
Regression toward the mean
The dragon you chase has killed too many queens
Come hell or high water
Forgotten daughter
Modern Mary Magdalene
Crystal methamphetamine
You didn’t realize the time was right
To let go of the dragon’s tail
The slimy scales
SURRENDER
What's this place
Sterile light
I sense her face, over me tonight
Can't feel my legs
Can't move my limbs
Or put up a fight
I lay here helplessly
Suddenly a sight
Her lips never moved
But she said it would be alright
Release me
RAINS FALL
He wouldn’t listen, he lost an appendage
He bled to death crawling from the twisted wreckage
He smelled like Old Spice and cigarette smoke
Always broke but somehow he always had coke
Senses enhanced, simultaneously numb
She’s dirty hot but he still couldn’t come
Cruisin’ the highways going nowhere fast
She said look out, you better slow down through this
underpass
Meanwhile, back at the shelter
The helter the skelter
The huddling masses
Surrender
Out from the in door, a vision emerges
Enter, the great defender
Her aura was calming, among the ones sobbing
While atrocities replay, the rains fall on Broadway
Back at the shelter, she opens her letter
She closes the curtains
She reads in a whisper
Out from the in door, a vision emerges
Enter, the great defender
The sun came up today, (Surrender) on Broadway (I
surrender)
I will return again someday, (Surrender)
on Broadway
Watch me now
STARS SING
Cold wind, old face
Thin skin, black lace
Cracked lips, blood taste
Swallow it all, distaste
The stars sing to me
Black keys, time swing
This vast multiverse
Unrehearsed, reverts
Dried tears, light years
All my old fears, disappear
Just give me sign and I’ll stay through the night
See what comes tomorrow
Bring back the night we held hands ‘til the light
Revealed all of our sorrows
Sha-la-la-la la-la-la la-la-la la-la-la
Wait for tomorrow
(I'm waiting for ya)
Sha-la-la-la
la-la-la la-la-la la-la-la
Bring back tomorrow
The stars sing to me
Black keys, time swings
This vast multiverse
Unrehearsed, reverts
Dried tears, light years
