IS THAT ALL? © 2020 Joe Evans Out in the streets Where the poets just dream Lovers may cry In time to the music that sleeps Gathering dust, as you watch the night fall And you ask Is that all? And you wake up one day And the skies just don’t look the same But you’re tapping your feet to the same tired beat With no reason or rhyme at all And it feels like the longest day And the shadows they get in your way So you stare at the page For what seems like an age And just when you think that you’re reaching the chorus You find that’s it only a hook Just when you think that the song’s written for us The players are playing by the book You’ve heard it before You know each note of the score Time was easier then Now nothing makes sense Where are the milestones now? The piano the forte, the soft and the loud Where are the shifts on the staves That unsettle the phrase Where’s the chord that leaves you amazed? Suddenly all of the songs sound the same A long, worn out refrain you can’t remember the lines Out in the heat Where the poets just sleep Leaders may lie In time to the word from the street And you feel you’ve been had As you watch the axe fall As you ask Is that all? Then you wake up one day And the skies still look the same You’re finding your way But the breadcrumbs you laid Are just nowhere to be seen And the birdsong that flies on the wind Gives no clue to the song you should sing So you stare at the page For what seems like an age And just when you think that you’re reaching the chorus You find that’s it only a hook Just when you think that the song’s written for us The players are playing by the book You’ve heard it before You know each note of the score

JOHNNY'S HOMESICK BLUES. © 2020 Joe Evans Johnny's in the basement Mixing up the medicine She's working for the government Something about a vaccine She smells a rat But there's no way of knowing Johnny's on the frontline Hanging up her ballet shoes The truth is in a stranger's hands So Johnny sings the blues No-one knows which way the wind is blowing So she dances Like the world is watching She dances While the flames are catching And the house she built has turned to ash But the jive is jumpin' And it's a gas She dances Like no-one's watching She dances While their plans are hatching The homesick blues are all she has And the jive is jumpin' And it's a gas Johnny come lately, Johnny be good Johnny come home, if only Johnny could Johnny Angel striking up the band Johnny Sunrise, Johnny Midnight Johnny is the star tonight Look out kid, don't lose the upper hand Johnny's by the whirlpool Looking for a new fool She got sick, she got well Didn't follow all the rules But still she can't come out to play She gotta stay home Watch the plain clothes Stay away from those That carry round the firehose The blues is all that's left to play So she dances Like the world is watching She dances While the flames are catching And the house she built has turned to ash But the jive is jumpin' And it's a gas She dances Like no-one's watching She dances While their plans are hatching The homesick blues are all she has And the jive is jumpin' And it's a gas Johnny was a vandal But in the wake of bigger scandals She changed her name Took another angle As her message fades Like chalk-dust on the wall Johnny thought it temporary Mother Mary so contrary Seized her chance while Johnny looked the other way And lost her voice Just before the curtain call So she dances Like the world is watching She dances While the flames are catching And the house she built has turned to ash But the jive is jumpin' And it's a gas She dances Like no-one's watching She dances While their plans are hatching The homesick blues are all she has And the jive is jumpin' And it's a gas So she dances Like the world is watching She dances While the flames are catching And the house she built has turned to ash But the jive is jumpin' And it's a gas She dances Like no-one's watching She dances While their plans are hatching The homesick blues are all she has And the jive is jumpin' And it's a gas Hey hey, Johnny won't you come out to play Hey hey, Johnny won't you come out to play Hey hey, Johnny won't you come out to play Hey hey, Johnny

SUNDAY'S CHILDREN © 2020 Joe Evans Sunday mornings They are the hardest time The coffee cups are drunk right down Unbroken by the phone that sits silent on the side The sun’s a cliché of the hardest kind We know the clouds are there behind the rooftops Just silent ghosts, biding their time Where are you now? As I walk the empty streets Picking up the scraps of torn up anecdotes What would you say? Would you laugh and say ‘it doesn’t matter’? Talk about the weather While your heart breaks silently Longing to be home Sunday’s Child The silence Sunday brings Are words on a wing Sunday’s Child Sunday morning Just like any other day The summer might surprise us yet As the fog of winter’s dawn gets swept away Sunday’s Children No longer have a verse to call their own They walk through days like orphans ‘Til the crowds come back and flow once more On our Boulevard of Broken Dreams Where are you now? As I walk the empty streets Looking for the scattered punchlines What would you say? Would you shrug the joke aside Take it seriously and realise Our hearts break silently Trying to get back home Sunday’s Child The silence Sunday brings Are words on a wing Sunday’s Child

WATER FROM THE MOON © 2020 Joe Evans I’ll put some coffee on I can’t do this it feels so wrong And if it’s wrong it can’t be right So let’s just say “goodnight” We can talk a while And then I’ll drive you home if that’s alright My friend the moon is out the window Smiling at me, winking now She knows what’s in my heart But she won’t say ‘cause that’s how rumours start So find you’re your clothes And I’ll explain more while we’re in the car You’re not the waters running free I crave You’re temptation on the shelf, but I’m no slave To the enemies that whistle in my head You know that’s not for me these days Others may choose second best But me, I’ll sleep in empty beds For now But she is there Real in my illusion Clear beneath the moonshine She is water from the moon I realise where she resides Is where she lies, behind closed eyes For now Real in my illusion Clear beneath the moonshine She is water from the moon I’s steal her perfume In the small blue hour of night Anoint the pillow Where you rest your head with eyes closed tight So it’s not your skin But hers, by my side The song you sing’s not quite in tune I’d take each note Transpose the melodies So that it sounds just like the ones you wrote So it’s not your voice, but hers Emanating from your throat And if I were to call a name aloud Just by mistake You’d wonder at my foreign tongue So I suggest that we just break The evening up right now Before it gets too late Others may choose second best But me, I’ll sleep in empty beds For now But she is there Real in my illusion Clear beneath the moonshine She is water from the moon I realise where she resides Is where she lies, behind closed eyes For now Real in my illusion Clear beneath the moonshine She is water from the moon

SIDE BY SIDE © 2020 Joe Evans You say it’s too soon You won’t walk in my shoes You walk on by What if I won’t wait for you And walk the other way? We’re on our own With just our whispers Of the doubts, that pierce us with a kiss Wondering what we missed When we walked the other way Maybe when the storm subsides We’ll be walking side by side You say it’s still the moon You won’t rise ‘til the lark’s tune fills the air Where the nightingale sang silently And flew the other way We walk alone At different paces For after all - there’s nothing left to say No shelter from the rain As we walk the other way Maybe when the rain subsides We’ll be walking side by side Can you hear my call? Words shaken by the storm Lain broken on the ground Searching for their sound What is it you hear? When you lift them to your ear What is it you fear? So you throw the key aside And listen with your eyes Rearrange the words To the pictures in your mind What is it you hear? When the cloudbursts disappear When we’re in the clear? You say we’re all blind You’ve made up your own mind You walk on by What if I won’t follow you And walk the other way? We’re on our own With just a touchstone But for now the alchemist won’t serve us He has nothing left to show us As we walk the other way Maybe when the storm subsides We’ll be walking side by side Maybe when the storm subsides We’ll be walking side by side

HARD TO WIN, HARD TO LOSE © 2020 Joe Evans Wear your mask tonight We’re going to the ball Can you see your name in lights? Down the avenues of Soho Ten feet tall Hear the music in the air Cliches dancing everywhere The crowds swaying to the beats They’re in the hallways, doorways, bars and in the streets The city’s streets are paved with gold The city’s gates are made of pearl The keepers of the gate they either lie or tell the truth It’s hard to win, it’s hard to lose The city’s streets are paved with gold But there’s two ways that you can go The people on the streets have lost the right to choose It’s hard to win, it’s hard to lose Wear your mask tonight Or you’re up against the wall Can you see them cower in fright? Through the empty streets That have no name at all Hear the silence in the air Cliches choking up the airwaves The crowds soaking up the spin Without a thought for who will be the ones To clean up all the mess we’re in The city’s streets are paved with gold The city’s gates are made of pearl The keepers of the gate they either lie or tell the truth It’s hard to win, it’s hard to lose The city’s streets are paved with gold But there’s two ways that you can go The people on the streets have lost the right to choose It’s hard to win, it’s hard to lose The city’s streets are paved with gold The city’s gates are made of pearl The keepers of the gate they either lie or tell the truth It’s hard to win, it’s hard to lose

THE GHOST LIGHT © 2020 Joe Evans The night plays tricks on us all While the light flickers and stalls Just echoes of dreams In the shadows Retreating in doorways A city asleep The rhythm of footsteps and laughter Are a silent refrain But behind padlocked doors There’s a light that always remains The orchestra’s silent No words fall from the page But the ghost light Shines centre stage As we wait in the wings No fat lady sings tonight It ain’t over the show will go on Nothing blows out the light Though we’ve pulled down the curtain The ghost light’s still burning And we’ll be rerturning, once again Waiting for the pause Just a beat, and then applause The laughter and the tears But for now, just empty chairs Take a break but don’t go far Listen out, we’ll call the half And the ghosts that dance onstage for now Will bow and then depart The night plays tricks on us all But the light, leads us out of the dark The ghost light still burns ‘Til tomorrow And tomorrow Shines on And tomorrow The show must go on

HALF SICK OF SHADOWS © 2020 Joe Evans She weaves away Charmed if she stays Not a curse Either night or day Draw near without fear Your skin beyond compare And the fire of blood red hair Half sick of shadows She'll whisper while she goes She weaves the silence For she knows In verse or prose I kiss her unopposed Then keep my silence She cannot know

ON THE STEPS © 2020 Joe Evans All is calm He sits on the bench He gazes ahead Clocks her eyes as she stops By the lock as she watches a while She’s made up her mind She takes a few steps She looks in his eyes Takes his hand as they walk To the bridge side by side They don’t see us We’re watching with tears in our eyes As the sun moves away from the steps So we pour one more drink Raise our glass to the sky And wonder if somehow we might catch their eye But the lights in the harbour are calling the tune That we’re playing again and again Like the frames of an old silent fim That flicker in time to an era that’s ending It’s time to go in The lights getting dim And it’s quiet now On the steps By the canal We sit on the steps While the sun slowly sets By the lock where the hands on the clock try to stop for a while Before we move on There’s room in our glass One more for the road And more room in our hearts Where the memories are stowed While the sundial harbours the ashes for now We know we’ll get by some how So we pour one more drink Raise our glass high Remember the ones who no longer pass by the carnival’s over It drifts out of sight And we look from both sides now Cast our gaze to the bridge As we rise to go in Time is now called on the beer and the gin They walk hand in hand Looking back? We can never be sure On the steps