Kathy Zimmer Lyrics

dreamin'	Under Your Spell	Spare Key
Go spel Book Holy Terr or Winter St. Patrick Singles Te apot Fa rinelli Fairy Tale Banana Bread	Perfect Song Don't You Wanna Under Your Spell Joey (It's All Okay) If I Could Today Is Not The Day Love Light Understood Dreams	In The Park With George My Friend to the End Arms Crossed Summer All I Need Whatever Gets U Thru the Day

IN THE PARK WITH GEORGE Today is April 10th of the year 2005 it’s Sunday, and I met in the park with George we ate some Indian food, took a carousel ride and talked like we were sitting on some back country porch In the park, some people were laying in the sun while others sought out the shade just like some people like to lay it all out on the line and others keep under cover cause they’re just too afraid I think you’re really beautiful and I might love you and I think I might like to be with you if you ever decided you wanted me to George and I took off our shoes and felt the new grass between our toes we talked about the sky, and well-known strangers in the news and our friends’ sex lives, and secrets nobody else knows I kissed him good-bye at about 4:00 and now it’s a quarter to 10 I just left him a message, he didn’t pick up I told him a joke and wondered when I would see him again Give me a look, show me a sign I set my alarm clock to your time © 2007 Kathy Zimmer	TOP
MY FRIEND TO THE END To me you’re like a hummingbird on the end of a tin can phone you send me happy vibrations, I feel I’m never alone when it’s cold outside you make Jack Frost designs on my window, show the beauty in my pain when there’s a terrible heat spell, cracks the earth and dries the well, you stand by and assure me there’ll be rain My friend to the end To me you’re like a Jack o’Lantern with the light from your pirate smile think I could waste a lifetime or two just shooting the breeze with you awhile you’re a black magic book of spells with a hex for all my grudges, right or wrong back me up even if I’ve backed into a corner sew on my shadow when all the fairy dust is gone My friend to the end While the locket round my neck is empty, you’ve lent me your picture just to fill up the space give me your coat and your last pair of shoes and your couch to crash on if I needed a place I’d lay in your hands my beating heart, you’d protect it as your own I realize you’re part of my fingerprint now I know that I’m never alone My friend to the end connect the current this circle our arms extend travel round again and find my friend © 2007 Kathy Zimmer	TOP
ARMS CROSSED If it were winter I’d build a wall of snow blockade you out of sight and mind, shield from the ice you throw I’d lie alone in the shape of an angel flying On Election Day I’d draw the curtain closed choose every name that wasn’t you, I’d go right down the row my intuition knows as my suspicion grows it’s each one for his own And I’m not gonna do this anymore At your equator I now wear sunblock every day I refuse to worship you when all I’ll do is age no more rose-colored shades at the break of day I’ll go my own way © 2007 Kathy Zimmer	TOP
SUMMER This city’s full of carnies and sharks brandishers of water guns and little dogs with great big barks take to the street, you walk up and you walk down doling out dough to the homeless and souls to the soulless on tiptoe above the undertow pray that you don’t drown You nod politely to all you meet while you both follow the well-trod ruts of a million feet that before you have carved up every floor till finally you’ve got nothing left but some worn-out sandals on the back of the shelf and an empty water gun with which to wage your war, your dynamic war Let me be your everything (everything here I’ve got) anything worth the giving (and whatever’s left that’s not) A big man once told me I had to pay my dues stretch myself as thin as paper, like the kind they use for the news he smoked a cigar and drank expensive wine and I noticed on the day he died he had less love in his life than I have in mine so sir, I think I’m doing fine I’ve got some magic beans to grow a building up to King Kong he’s the one in love with that girl, the drop-dead gorgeous blonde got to get up to someplace where I can dangle my feet and get some perspective on those millions of lives that stop and go and clog up the street cause someday we might meet © 2007 Kathy Zimmer	TOP
ALL I NEED You give me a glimmer on the street of the washed-out stars I can’t see in the sky, the stillness of morning-after peace amidst radio snow with the volume up high One look at you overrides the headline news war today, debts to pay, hate falling from the sky for a glimpse of this instant that floods from your eyes I’d let all my tears run dry There’s a path to be traveled that’s mine, and a name to be signed that says me and as long as our paths intertwine once in awhile in the curve of your smile that’s all I need Don’t know where you are tonight or what plane you’re on don’t know what’s on your mind tonight or if you’re thinking of me as I play this song but I know that I’m wishing for you as my fingers search these six strings I’m keeping my fingers crossed, we’ll see what wishing brings Reach out towards the sky and catch a star if it starts to fall let love paint graffiti on your wall someday we’re bound into the earth to fall and it’ll be as though we were never here at all © 2007 Kathy Zimmer	TOP
WHATEVER GETS U THRU THE DAY Like a junkie needs the needle and a gravedigger needs some sun like a daughter needs her daddy and dogs need space to run baby, it’s you Like a sneaker needs the pavement and a farmer smells fresh earth like a rock star needs applause and a wistful housewife needs to know her worth, baby, it’s you Like pop culture needs something new baby, it’s you. Like a cowboy feels his freedom and a hipster needs his thrills like New Yorkers need their pace and a murderer needs his kills baby, it’s you Like the middle child needs attention and Thomas Edison listened for a voice like an orphan longs to belong and a business man loves his invoice baby, it’s you Kentucky rain needs eyes of blue baby, it’s you Like the Earth needs Mars like a prison warden needs his bars and the paparazzi need their stars Like Rapunzel needs her braids and an impulse shopper needs money today like a war-weary soldier longs for peace and a death row Atheist starts to pray, baby… Like a songbird drinks morning dew baby, it’s you. © 2007 Kathy Zimmer	TOP
GOSPEL BOOK The wind tousled the waves of grain and blew sunshine in her hair I’m gonna grow up to be a star, she said gotta see what’s going on out there the breeze whispered like a megaphone blaring straight into her soul but it blew from another place, and she just had to know They said if you rode the highway too far you’d roll off the edge of the earth the fear and the mistrust in their eyes was enough to keep her feet sound pat in the dirt she was raised in the Promised Land but the honey’s too sweet and Canaan too old the looks in their eyes made her bleed from the inside she was never very brave or very bold O Lord, rip me from your gospel book it all turned to a pillar of salt, I had to have a look you called my name, I answered and was took the guitar sounded and my hands shook The quilt on her bed was stitched thread by thread shut her up good and tight against the cold the letters they’d get, well they’d just shake their heads they knew the story and it made them old How the lamp got lit no match would ever tell but the flame was there from the start sparks rose in her eyes and her mind was live wired and the story burned deep in her heart O Lord, rip me from your gospel book it all turned to a pillar of salt, I had to have a look you called my name, I answered and was took the guitar sounded and my hands shook O Lord, rip me from your gospel book it all turned to a pillar of salt, I had to have a look you called my name, I answered and was took my voice trembled and the walls shook © 2005 Kathy Zimmer	TOP
WINTER Wind chimes complain loudly as they collide in the careless breeze I shoot a disdainful look at a lady on the subway as her shopping bag bumps my knees We jostle and elbow and swindle and scramble in any effort to get ahead counting your pennies in desperation will do strange things to your head Wrap your scarf around tighter as the wind tries to pull it off build around your heart a suit of armor when you decide you’ve been hurt enough and you can’t even begin to shed your skin cause it’s now layered 10 feet deep calluses protect the tender spots, that baby soft skin just doesn’t keep I have calluses on my fingers from playing my guitar but I’ll touch each string just the same, I remember where they are I have calluses on my vocal cords from having to sing the blues but blue’s the color of the earth from the moon and baby soft blue suede shoes Squint your eyes as the train whistle shrieks but don’t plug your ears out of pride don’t let on that that sound so bleak of the singing from the street man makes you curl up and quake deep inside You need to breathe, breathe, breathe in to make a sound but the choke hold on your neck makes it hard to find air and even if you could say what you needed if no one were listening, would there be anything to hear? I have calluses on my fingers from playing my guitar but I’ll touch each string just the same, I remember where they are I have calluses on my vocal cords from having to sing the blues but blue’s the color of the earth from the moon and baby soft blue suede shoes © 2005 Kathy Zimmer	TOP
HOLY TERROR I am a fugitive from the law of the Old West shot a man and held another too close to my breast I wore my fishnets, they called me a fisher of men when I left that town I shook the dust from my boots and walked away as they counted from 10 I was a fearless child lost in a carnival run amiss put my hand out for some stranger to hold, they’d give it a kiss walk down 42nd Street, look dealers and prostitutes in the eye but I bowed out when Disneyland stepped in to make fool’s gold with some Shanghai surprise I was a rock and roll rebel I was a holy terror send up a war cry at a decibel too high cut the apron strings and kiss your mother good-bye I was Joan of Arc in satin pants with my ankles crossed wondered who these sissy men were, and why didn’t they just get lost battles to be fought and won, and booty to be called blaze through legions of men and shave my head I was on the side of God I was a rock and roll rebel I was a holy terror send up a war cry at a decibel too high cut the apron strings and kiss your mother good-bye Don’t you know I swung from the ceiling of the big top wearing sequins sitting on a trapeze Don’t you know I didn’t need a net as I flew through the air with the greatest of ease All you girls, if you drive your Camaros with the windows down, down a dirt road going top speed Then you’re a rock and roll rebel you’re a holy terror send up a war cry at a decibel too high cut the apron strings and kiss your mother good-bye © 2005 Kathy Zimmer	TOP
ST. PATRICK Spit from the world, bottom of its shoe can’t find the storm’s eye, can’t find a box to crawl into wonder where I’m going, what’s to become of little girl blue my cheek on your curve like a mother’s arm… sing to me like she used to Sing one sweet note for me so high and so clear sing and drive out demons like St. Patrick did with beer I’ll listen like a conch if you’ll trill to the stars sing me to sleep with my eyelids pure as pearls sing to me, my guitar Spit from the world, the mirror smiled and then it cracked flap your sturdy wings and pray for some air, or take a flying leap and fall flat I’ll scrape my chalk on the sidewalk for awhile till it screeches like fingernails on a board pray for some praise till the rain washes the color away… wake up hugging the floor Sing one sweet note for me, so high and so clear sing me all the way to China as I stand in America here take me out to Eden or at least point how far with some satellite Christmas star sing to me, my guitar © 2005 Kathy Zimmer	TOP
PERFECT SONG I'm on a quest to write the perfect song one that doesn't end too soon or drag on too long sums up everything I've got to say and gives you something when you go away prick your heart like love so right or love gone wrong honey in your ears, my perfect song. Do-doo Three minutes and counting with a melody so fine shake all the rafters while I whisper like the pines catch the throb, throb, throb of life and all the honey of sweet sobbing strife and just to hear it, people will stand for hours in line my perfect song, with its melody so fine and when i find you I'll sing you this song my song with lovely trills and dissonances gone all wrong like a siren on the water, you'll be wooed like a soul man calling to his daughter my cries of war, frustration, fear and anger will ring in your cars like sighs, coos and laughter and in its rhythm, we'll play and the days will never be long Do-doo Like Arab horns calling out to serpents, we'll be bewitched and in a daze strains of voodoo hang around like incense in a haze I want to dance in this song always and when i find you I'll sing you this song my song with lovely trills and dissonances gone all wrong like a siren on the water, you'll be wooed like a soul man calling to his daughter my cries of war, frustration, fear and anger will ring in your cars like sighs, coos and laughter and in its rhythm, we'll play and the days will never be long © 2003 Kathy Zimmer	TOP
DON'T YOU WANNA Don't you wanna come make some noise, baby, you know you make my heart throb don't you wanna play guitar at my place, baby, I'll be Joan if you're my Bob don't you wanna tie one on, light my candle, whet your whistle, strike a match, dip a wick you can always come get what you want, baby I'll be Bianca and you can be Mick hey hey hey Don't you wanna come bathe in my tub I've got bubbles and a real slow drain don't you wanna get warm with my love don't need a towel, you'll keep warm just the same don't you wanna roll around on my rug, my floor is crooked so we'll just have to lean can you dig it, man, you're already dug come take a look like it's never been seen hey hey hey Don't you wanna come rock in my chair we can just groove it and not go anywhere wind my clock, test the springs, oil the hinges, man, kick it like we've got time to spare don't you wanna mic tap, scratch track, playback, overdub it, mix and fix the masters one more time rock my microphone, baby, what a nice tone, click it and we'll keep real good time hey hey hey Don't you wanna come cruise in my car plenty of leg room and six different speeds turn the heater on, yeah, crank up some fun minute to 60 but there's really no need don't you wanna polish all the white walls, chrome, fix the carburetor, rock it, test the shocks and move the seats baby, put your head back, fast track, motor running... let me take the keys hey hey hey © 2003 Kathy Zimmer	TOP
UNDER YOUR SPELL Like a cat running through the night I step softly in your candlelight I hear your silence so loud it hurts my ears I could turn to dust if I would stand here waiting for your answers, I could be blown away by every pulse I heart Your pulse pumping in my ears sounds like the trains above my house a streetcar named Desire; come rest at my feet won't you carry me away, your lady, through the dark alleys and the back roads; crazy-- in the back of our carriage, we'll glide up the street but I wait under your spell I wait under your spell under the bloodshot moon, I wait deep inside my looking glass, I see you running like a rabbit, the clearness clouds my view I reach out to touch you, but you slip away I could be Alice and come chasing after you, but I'd rather meet up at the mirror, just we two and fog up the pane--we'd have a lot to say but I wait under your spell I wait under your spell under the bloodshot moon, I wait in the heat of the day, I wait in the dark of the night, I wait © 2003 Kathy Zimmer	TOP
JOEY (It's All Okay) Joey stands with guitar in able hands, the microphone's his friend, the spotlight's in his eyes, sometimes he croons and sometimes he wails he gets us to listen like we were all barefoot in his kitchen he beats and he bops and he stops all of our clocks feels like our brother, the savior and thunder cause for a moment, he has all the answers Susan knows people in her woodwork who every day come out and bother her at work so she writes down all their crazy stories and shares them in an aquarium called the stage each little member gets their time out in the center, be it the U. S. President or your local apartment renter and by the end, we see we're all the same, the same as we can be Here's three cheers for those truthtellers here who try to make things better for people far & near give of themselves and take their hearts down off the shelves cause they see that it's all easy if you just make it that way it's all ok Lorraine's slight of build and vicious in attack sharp as a tack, she'll always make you take it back ask her for the future, she'll interpret all your dreams and make poetry of you while she mends you at the seams and by the scruff of her neck she's seen the whole world and wept but she ain't afraid to change the world, hey hey, up she'll step Here's three cheers for those truthtellers here who try to make things better for people far & near give of themselves and take their hearts down off the shelves cause they see that it's all easy if you just make it that way it's all ok Cause they ain't no Britney and they ain't no Whitney they're just like you and me real live humanity ain't no machinery talent instead of just sexuality no corporate buffoonery they're just like they're just like they're like you and me hip hip hooray © 2003 Kathy Zimmer	TOP
IF I COULD If I could I would always be your first sip of wine your sweet home Alabama country boy blues I'd come from behind the screen on a summer's night in a Mae West kimono I'd rub your tired shoulders and slip off your shoes if I could I'd be your little woman and you could be my sugar daddy we'd have nights of bottomless black and endless winds you'd rest with your head in my arms and your thoughts in my head and we'd fall asleep in my bed and then we'd dream 'till the morning light again if we could all those things you wanted, boy, I'd do them if I could kiss your lips and your chin mix you up a tonic & gin soft as a doe-eyed deer steely as a grey mother wolf whatever you wanted, boy, whatever it took I'd be your first cigarette after you quit for a month your "Sad Eyed Lady of the Lowlands" and your "Brown Eyed Girl" too and somehow I know, deep down inside, in the back of your mind if you could you'd be all that I wanted, too if you could © 2003 Kathy Zimmer	TOP
TODAY IS NOT THE DAY Shovel the coal and make it hot black is the kettle and the pot clean my hands on my apron, and wipe my forehead dry smudge a spot on the window, and try to see some sky hot is the fire but cold is the earth I cook my cakes for tea and rebirth simmer all my troubles and boil away these tears the scent of sweet and bitter come together in all these years crackle, flicker, spit and pop the first rises higher but the temperature's dropped sputter, bubble, flick away this rubble clean off the knife and wait for more trouble today is not the day once I dreamed daydreams and sang songs to the birds they were melodies of romance without any words the tasks grow longer as the days begin to thin I wonder amindst the thunder, will the birds ever be let in? whistle, cadkle, hiss and moan dust away the debris in this dugout we call home fiddle and dance and roll with the punches straighten up this back before it cracks over and hunches today is not the day stoke the smolders and the smoke stroke the cat, the screen door's broke mend the pipe and fix the screen some days we stand up straight and other days we lean brick a brack back darn a sock and mend a sack the night wonders if the wind will ever take it back brittle the bones, I need to knit some skin so I can keep tight all of my insides in but today is not the day © 2003 Kathy Zimmer	TOP
LOVE LIGHT I looped my thread and you tied the knot I can't get it free, I think it's caught some piece of me that can't be released if you wanted, you could let me go, but I'd rather not I tied my shoes and they tripped me up while I watched you from a distance over the rim of my teacup and lapped up some hot romance as the steam swirled and danced these moments of closeness are all, all too abrupt so tonight I'll leave my light on in the window for you I'll leave my love light to draw you in like a moth to the lamp, but I won't burn you and I won't spurn you like a mother, I would never hurt you, so come on in so tonight I'll leave my light on in the window for you I'll turn the covers down for when you come home like a loner to his lover, I'll take you in and we'll go under velvet to the touch, and rolling just like thunder come on in © 2003 Kathy Zimmer	TOP
UNDERSTOOD Deep inside where that decaying vine grows, swampy and black is the tried and true notion that you can give it, but you can't take it back a searing hot metal from somewhere brands a shame into your brain and out comes scathing, desperate words that shiver and writhe, trying to give voice to your pain I stretch farther to reach you but your beauty crumblels like ash between my clumsy fingers I feed your fire like heroine feeds desperate dead rock singers a moment frozen in ice is to see, but not to touch and my attempts to warm you only destroy you under overeager efforts that prove to be too much and so before I even make the attempt let me say from the start that I'm no good as long as that's all out in the open, as long as that's understood I can't wait to look deep into the clouds of your eyes, and tell you truly with all sincerity and no surprise that I get it all but if that moment never seems to come not matter how hard we try ain't it something to know that though we pulled on the bars we entertwined our fingers and measured each other at least that far and so before I even make the attempt let me say from the start that I'm no good as long as that's all out in the open, as long as that's understood © 2003 Kathy Zimmer	TOP
DREAMS morning sky burst over from the other side eager to begin and tremblingly wide-eyed evening sky is a tamed lion, a meek old cat who stretches his paws and has no preference where he falls asleep at the young try it all, stop at nothing push the limits, and test the borders the old squint their eyes, test the waters, carry an umbrella, blow on their soup and follow all the orders so before the sun crosses the sky make sure you take the time to ask about dreams honey-hot butterscotch in thick, white creams secret hidden heartbeats that break through ribs and congregate on the streets they huddle there in the grey till a dry wind comes and blows them all away make sure you ask about dreams shimmering, lovely blue and green planet, teach me to love before I live another day cold and forsaken and desolate moon, tell me did you ever think, did you ever think you'd end up that way? so before the moon crosses the sky make sure you take the time to ask about dreams honey-hot butterscotch in thick, white creams secret hidden heartbeats that break through ribs and congregate on the streets they huddle there in the grey till a dry wind comes and blows them all away make sure you ask about dreams © 2003 Kathy Zimmer	TOP
TEAPOT You can call me on the telephone, darling, or come visit, I live second star to the right come visit and stay straight on till morning if you’ve got warm feet come and sleep through the night We can chat face to face now, darling, toe to toe, eye to eye, no need to shout we can talk all night if we want to I think we’ve got stuff to stay but we can never get it out I have a teapot and bags of tea I have coffee if you like and then there’s always me there’s two spoons in the cupboard, just two, I don’t have three You can get here quick now, darling, just take the subway, no need to launch a quest I don’t have a moat and there’s not even a fence but you know you can put my spare key to the test I’m just sitting here spinning some spider webs and mending some socks for some feet you’re welcome to join me, or call on the phone but if you’re down with it a visit would be kinda neat In the morning I made coffee for my boss down the hall he said thanks, doll… could you make a stronger brew? in the afternoon, I was sleepy so I poured a cup of tea the leaves saw my future with you do you see yours with me? © 2008 Kathy Zimmer	TOP
FARINELLI Spotlight ablaze trained on you nightlife in full swinging force encore accolades and swooning serenades, by rights, the life of your choice Discreetly passed notes from ladies at your disposal sweet nothings demurely murmured in your ear captured attentions and rapturous inflections completely out of reach… but seemingly so near Farinelli, who is to blame? would you trade all your fame for a chance at true love? people on the street shout your name, but when the night came, who did you dream of under the covers all alone, Farinelli? Alone in the footlights, and alone at your bedside as a star on the stage, and as solitary in the night the scent of a woman summoned longing within you that was never met… just an instinct deep inside. © 2008 Kathy Zimmer	TOP
FAIRY TALE I’m a princess, I was born to a king and a queen in a castle made of straw the palace, it blew down, the wolves huffed and puffed all around, but I’m still standing, my legs are sturdy like a brick wall I’ve been in love since the beginning of my life with a blind man who paints lines on the rising tide I set myself before him, told him I loved him and I adored him but he had to bide his time till the rest of his life arrived. But I’m coming back, coming back, coming back for more yes, I’m coming back, coming back, time and before I’m coming back, coming back, coming back for more coming back, coming back So I packed up my poems and headed east to find the beat police who made ideas from spit and air I thought they’d save my soul, I gave them my arms but the rest they stole and now I’m wiser, but the bones on my back are bare They say elephants live long lives and always remember I raise my glass to them in my efforts to forget © 2008 Kathy Zimmer	TOP
BANANA BREAD I am but a girl throwing glitter and wishing upon a million stars I have small hands, I do what I can, I grow wilder when the darkness falls At night on my back I look up at the sands of time and I see all the saints I see Mary and Augustine, Elizabeth Ann Seton, I see who they are and I see who I ain’t But do the saints see me from infinity? I send them good wishes and baked banana bread I know it’s not much, but I do what I can with my small hands, limited in my head And Mary grows roses to give to her mother and Augustine denies the pleasures of the flesh Emma Lazarus gives the tired and the poor dry socks Miss Liberty just looks her best I am but a small girl in this world I’m happy to touch what I can I give kisses on cheeks and I like kisses back and I offer banana bread from the pan © 2008 Kathy Zimmer	TOP