He caught a train out of la Mancha and it carried him down to the sea Give me a one-way ticket to where you think I'd rather be I don't know where the sun rises now and I don't know where she will be He caught a train from a Spanish sunrise headed into an Irish sea And out upon a tossing ocean sick with the movement of the waves In the desk he found a faded journal and settled down to reading every page The sun had gone down and his lamps had all burned low when the last entry finally set him free He caught a train from a Spanish sunrise headed into an Irish sea There came the sound of summer running As he stood beside the railing in the dawn And a half-remembered memory inside him Awakened from a slumber decades long Casting aside the mirrored face he wore against his tale a gentle mutiny He caught a train from a Spanish sunrise headed into an Irish sea Time flies like an arrow straight towards the setting sun with nothing left behind A season fine for Prometheus set free And a medicine for melancholy found upon the sea He caught a train out of la Mancha and it carried him down to the sea Give me a one-way ticket to where you think I'd rather be I don't know where the sun rises now and I don't know where she will be He caught a train from a Spanish sunrise headed into an Irish sea

DAYS OF MERCY By Rupert Wates (c) Rupert Wates / Eaton Music Ltd. Daddy lost his job one day, when he wouldn't take a cut in pay Couldn't find another place, even one that paid him less So he settled into his easy chair, with his dog-eared magazines Until the bank took back our house, and my mama only screamed When she was a little girl, She dreamed she found a pearl Hidden in the pocket of her pants But the pants were full of holes and when she woke the pearl was gone She was only six years old Hold on tight my mama said, Keep your eye upon the sun Put your faith in the road ahead, Days of mercy will surely come When the world is torn apart, In the eye of a hurricane Let strength and courage fill your heart Days of mercy will come again So we sold off all we owned, headed east in a touring car Found a place with a plot of land, down in windy Arkansas Daddy worked on the lady's farm, but my Mama heard it said He didn't work that lady's fields, as much as he worked her bed So she packed a cardboard case With a single change of clothes Put the baby on her hip Told us all to follow close and we began the long walk home To the California coast Hold on tight my mama said, Keep your eye upon the sun Put your faith in the road ahead, Days of mercy will surely come When the world is torn apart, In the eye of a hurricane Let strength and courage fill your heart Days of mercy will come again When I fainted from the heat, in the Oklahoma sun Mama led me to a stream, dipped a cloth to bathe my head Walked all through New Mexico, and in the migrant worker camps I learned all there was to know, about the kindness of the poor Though the children dressed in rags They gave us everything they had Bags of sweets and ready smiles Fresh tortilla by the fire In the huts of rusted iron 'till the baby started cryin' Hold on tight my mama said, Keep your eye upon the sun Put your faith in the road ahead, Days of mercy will surely come When the world is torn apart, In the eye of a hurricane Let strength and courage fill your heart Days of mercy will come again When we finally reached LA, by a lake in Lincoln Park A man was standing all alone, throwing crumbs to feed the ducks "When you gonna take those children home?" asked the man and my Mama said "We just walked two thousand miles, we'll make it yet with a little luck" Then the man just turned away Said he guessed his time had come He pulled out two dollar bills Enough to see us right for a can of pork and beans And some shelter for the night Hold on tight my mama said, Keep your eye upon the sun Put your faith in the road ahead, Days of mercy will surely come When the world is torn apart, In the eye of a hurricane Let strength and courage fill your heart Days of mercy will come again

THE TOLLBOOTH LADIES Kray Van Kirk (c) Midnight Commander Music The night was warm and the sky was clear as we sank down through the air But soon we were lost and wandering, through streets that did not care The onboard navigation, I swear had gone insane Sending us in circles, through streets that had no name Then suddenly we saw them, with New York on our right Light lay all about them, pushing back the lonely night We came into their presence, and tried to find our way Turned off the navigator, to hear what they would say They were the tollbooth ladies, those goddesses of the night Tollbooth ladies, when you're going wrong, they'll set you right It was in the asphalt jungle, I was lost as I could be Tollbooth ladies, tollbooth ladies, rescue me The second time we saw them, they laughed and said not quite Though it's nice to see you here again, you missed some lefts, you missed some rights Now listen to my preaching, and do not deviate And you will reach your destination, before it gets too late They were the tollbooth ladies, those goddesses of the night Tollbooth ladies, when you're going wrong, they'll set you right It was in the asphalt jungle, I was lost as I could be Tollbooth ladies, tollbooth ladies, rescue me The third time that we saw them, they made us turn around Edna said "I will smack you, if you stay lost and don't get found" "You're headed for Manhattan", so she lifted up her hand And showed to me the road that headed into the Promised Land I said I can't get there from here... Well, I looked out and I saw their light from the window by my bed It wasn't very far away, I could have walked instead But I left my grateful fingerprints, pasted to the glass And fell asleep while I was clutching, a Jersey tollbooth pass They were the tollbooth ladies, those goddesses of the night Tollbooth ladies, when you're going wrong, they'll set you right It was in the asphalt jungle, I was lost as I could be Tollbooth ladies, tollbooth ladies, rescue me

MY LOVER WAS A SAILOR Kray Van Kirk (c) Midnight Commander Music My lover was a sailor Slept in the belly of cold steel ships my lover was a sailor no harbor could she find Held in place by angled lines, two ahead, none behind forgotten by her shipmates ghosts upon the sand My lover was a sailor She sleeps in the belly of nightmare dreams my lover was a sailor no harbor can she find Ahab's gaze and wooden leg, St. Elmo's fire, in her head, she takes the night watch upon the razor's edge My lover was a sailor Sails upon a stormy sea My lover was a sailor no harbor could she find Stares at shadows on the walls, speak to them, and haunts the halls looking for a shadows ghost to keep her company She's going 'round again Sailor with a broken wheel All her roads lead to Rome put her on an even keel down, down down... My lover is a sailor... My lover cries alone at night... My lover sinks beneath the waves... My lover lives by shadowed candle twilight...

WALK WITH ME Kray Van Kirk (c) Midnight Commander Music I am wandering traveler, my journeys they are long I read the stories of this life, in music and in song And sometimes out upon the road, and sometimes in the sky I look before what I will find, to see if I can try To find the footsteps of the one, who's maybe gone before Or maybe follows now behind, in wisdom and in lore And someday maybe we will meet, upon a sunny day Strangers will familiar brands, walking in the way Lady won't you walk with me Down along the river, to a cold, dark sea Between the cradle and my grave, are years that won't be saved So lady, won't you walk with me Now some will dance on wings of gold, and others take a fall Some get by on feet of clay, some don't dance at all The turnings of the spinning ones, the circle of the moon All wind the seasons 'round again, and play a pipers tune And upwards from the sea they come, answering the call Life upon its final run, beginning of us all Lady won't you walk with me Down along the river, to a wine dark sea Between the cradle and my grave, are years that won't be saved So lady, won't you walk with me I am a wandering traveler, my journeys they are long I read the stories of this life in music and in song And so now for the time we have, think upon the day When as strangers with familiar brands, we'll meet along the way Lady won't you walk with me Down along the river, to a wine dark sea Between the cradle and my grave, are years that won't be saved So lady, won't you walk with me

O MY FATHERS Kray Van Kirk (c) Midnight Commander Music My fathers, O my fathers the seeds that you have sown Made your war across the sea And then you brought it home So all the children suffer For the gold that you have sought It's not against your freedom But your greed that I have fought What's going on... My fathers, O my fathers I will now condemn Your hatred of my mothers Of my sisters and my friends Your imaginary demons woman, black or queer Your manufactured outrage Against your shadow fear What's going on... My fathers, O my fathers I am a straight white man But the reins of power that you hold I will not take in hand I reject the lies you've written I reject the works you've wrought I reject your profit margins For love cannot be bought O my mothers, wear your dangerous coats O my sisters, wear your dangerous coats O my lovers, wear your dangerous coats with pockets full of love My fathers, O my fathers I declare your time is done Nothing will I take from you Although I am your son My hands are for my lovers For green and growing things My time is meant for laughter And the songs that children sing O my fathers...

THE HOUSE ABOUT KIRK MICHAEL Kray Van Kirk (c) Midnight Commander Music There's a house about Kirk Michael out upon the Irish Sea Where it's written on the doorways where the windows used to be that all who come inside will be tucked in for lovely evening tea There's a house about Kirk Michael and it's tilted on its side Drunk upon the tempest drunk upon the tide But solid of Byzantium where candled windows and the dark collide There's a house about Kirk Michael and it's full of sleepy bears And a dozen shabby tigers who pounce upon the stairs While out along the Widow's Walk Joe Strummer singing with the Mescalers Well about Kirk Michael is a child who loves the dogs And one who plants flowers from the garden catalogues And one who builds her dragons in the heavy autumns fogs Only heroes dare the kitchens pies and puddings on the wall and floors It's my favorite mystery the pages of our history There's a house about Kirk Michael and in it I will die I'll leave it for the children with the windows open wide Those poets and their patchwork quilted boats to set them free These fragments have I shored against my ruin And love shall not be lost in this summer-flowered house beside the sea

THE MIDNIGHT COMMANDER Kray Van Kirk (c) Midnight Commander Music He patrolled the New York subway, the Q train, Broadway Line From 96th on down to Coney Isle His superhero mask was red, a pair of underwear with rubber boots and cape a kitchen towl He knew the nightly riders, and called them all by name And they made sure his nightly fare was paid While his history was hidden, his origins obscure On a ragged subway seat a New York hero he was made If angry words were thrown against two women holding hands Or a homeless man was kicked and put to shame If someone in a turban was pushed around and cursed His eyes would flash and loudly he'd exclaim I am the Midnight Commander! I am a flame, I'm a beacon in the night I am the Midnight Commander Set aside your hatred, and put aside your fear For the Midnight Commander is here Oh, the Midnight Commander is here Now everyone he challenged, they felt his gentle power And they'd falter in their hatred and their pain Standing quiet, wondering, at the seasons of the heart And an old man in pajamas on the train And the riders of the subway, the Q train, Broadway line Stood proud and tall when he would pass them by They'd smile at one another and give a mighty cheer Whenever they would hear his ringing cry I am the Midnight Commander! I am a flame, I'm a beacon in the night I am the Midnight Commander Set aside your hatred, and put aside your fear For the Midnight Commander is here Oh, the Midnight Commander is here Now, all good deeds are punished, and someone finally made a call To New York's Metro Clinic with the tale A bedcheck found one empty, found the window open wide Found footprints headed towards the subway rail So the Lords of Bedlam came, each one dressed in white They found him riding on his nightly fare They called him by his given name, and took away his soul And brought him back to his confused despair But.. but I am the Midnight Commander He said as they gently led him off into the night I am the Midnight Commander Who will keep them from their hatred, and rescue them from fear If the Midnight Commander's not here? If the Midnight Commander's not here? Now the New York city subway, the Q train, Broadway line Gallops through the night just like before But at 96th and 2nd all the riders take a stand For New York's Don Quixote was no more And on the empty platform, as the train goes on its way If you listen very closely you can hear the voices say Remember, remember Don't give in to hatred or to fear Remember, O remember The Midnight Commander was here It started in Manhattan, a single burning flame It spread to Queens, the Bronx and Brooklyn, Staten Island was the same Macy's ran out of red underwear, and rubber boots could simply not be found The words were carved upon the subway walls A thousand voices thundered with the sound And the words said: I am the Midnight Commander! I am a flame, I'm a beacon in the night I am the Midnight Commander Set aside your hatred, and put aside your fear For the Midnight Commander is here Oh, the Midnight Commander is here

THE LIBRARY SONG by Kray Van Kirk (c) Midnight Commander Music A stormy Sunday morning, the rain was pouring down So I took refuge in the library up town There I sulked and fretted, like an angry child Until one of the librarians sat next to me and smiled He was tall and he was handsome, and his smile was like the sun He said "I think you need some help, you're looking rather glum" I hesitated briefly, then opened up my soul And told him why I wandered through the wet and cold I said I am looking for heroes Light to drive the dark away, a Superman to save the day But all the skies are emptiness and grey Ordinary, every day, nine to five with bills to pay Captain Marvel's far away Tell me, where have all the heroes gone? Everything's a story, change the story, change the world And here you'll find the answer to the question you have hurled There's no more fertile soil for the heroes that we need Than all the stories gathered here for everyone to read For this is where the Hero's Journey starts Every word on every page will guide a growing heart Now flying through the sky, that sounds like fun But heroes are in everyone, not the few, not the one Love and justice daily done Here's the secret that your quest has won Heroes are not born they are honestly made By the sweat of their brow, and the tools of their trade Sometimes with iron, and sometimes with steel But always with love and the courage to feel The labors of Hercules close to their breast Day in and day out with no room to rest They look just like you and they look just like me With their capes tucked up neatly for no one to see Well I sat there bewildered, I sat there perplexed Don't heroes all wear leather and spandex If what he was saying was true and was right Heroes might be everywhere, hidden in plain site And then there came a voice by our knees A very young boy said "Mr. Kent help me please! My mother said you'd tell me where to look To find this very special book, all about the dinosaurs, with lots of color pictures, mostly from the late Cretaceous but before to the Cenomanian-Turonian boundary event because that's the best part of the Mesozoic era when Tyrannosaurus Rex and Quetzelcoatlus were around and they are so totally cool!! Mr. Kent help me please? "Now that I can do!" cried the man as he rose Pointing the child towards the books that he chose He winked as he passed and I saw on his chest Under his shirt the red shape of an S Heroes are not born they are honestly made By the sweat of their brow, and the tools of their trade Sometimes with iron, and sometimes with steel But always with love and the courage to feel

THE WALLS OF JERUSALEM Kray Van Kirk (c) Midnight Commander Music God was dead one morning, it was 9:00 a.m. Struck down by a radar dish that stretched to heaven's end When the prophet heard the news, she laughed until she cried Then she shouted "God is dead! Long live the Divine!" And in the rain, along the strip, her holiness, she let it slip All night long Stand on the walls of Jerusalem Cry out to a desert land That we need not guns in the darkness We need water from the sand O Jerusalem The morning after found her, on a bar room floor Lying in the consequences of the night before Staggering through dirty streets, she made her way back home And cried behind the bathroom door, naked and alone The compass lost, the map was burned, while in the darkness monsters turned And called out her name Stand on the walls of Jerusalem Cry out to a desert land That we need not guns in the darkness We need water from the sand O Jerusalem It's a miracle of rare device Begotten for a beggar's price It's been 40 years and a day Time to wipe this weary mud away The drum to war was sounding, it was 9:00 a.m. There were walls to keep the strangers out, but lock their children in And the prophet who was godless stood upon the shifting sand And bravely shouted "LOVE" to all the monsters on the land Then suddenly amazed to find, that love was echoed back in kind From a voice so still and small it hardly was a voice at all Then her wife said "Don't you know? Most things have to die to grow In their own time?" So come with me, upon the walls of Jerusalem Cry out to a desert land That we shall be, not guns in the darkness For we are water from the sand O Jerusalem

MARY SHELLEY Kray Van Kirk (c) Midnight Commander Music The year was 1818, Edgar Poe was only nine H.G. Wells and Jules Verne, weren't born yet at that time But a nineteen year old girl sat down, and wrote out her depiction Of science gone so very wrong Mary Shelley is the mom Of modern science fiction And forty years on down the road, before the Civil War Eunice Foote set up her lab, and started to explore How CO2 might play a role in atmospheric heat Her husband read her work before A group of science, men galore Who would not let her speak Mary Shelley, Eunice Foote, and hundreds more besides History rewritten To push them all aside Writers, artists, scientists and all the works they wrote What did Crick and Watson find? Rosalind Franklin's notes! The poet Byron had a daughter, Ada was her name One hundred years before the arc of Turing's genius flamed She joined her math with poetry, an epic sort of ode And began a path into the future towards your phone and your computer that followed from her code Then there was Lise Meitner and her partner Otto Hahn Who bombarded some uranium with a cascade of neutrons Otto had no clue, why there was barium emission But Lise Meitner did the math And mapped out the electron's path And said "It's nuclear fission!" Mary Shelley, Eunice Foote, and hundreds more besides History rewritten To push them all aside Writers, artists, scientists and all the works they wrote What did Crick and Watson find? Rosalind Franklin's notes! Crick and Watson, twisted pair, discovered DNA But conveniently forgot to mention, that it wasn't they Who photographed the double helix mapping out our progeny Rosalind Franklin did the work They took the credit, published first Got a Nobel for misogyny! Mary Shelley, Eunice Foote, and hundreds more besides History rewritten To push them all aside Writers, artists, scientists and all the works they wrote What did Crick and Watson find? Rosalind Franklin's notes!

ATHENA AND THE FISHER KING Kray Van Kirk (c) Midnight Commander Music The night shift Forgotten coffee long gone cold They brought him in at 2 a.m. Blood upon his clothes She cut him open Sewed him up Then to the ICU Then tried to find her coffee while her pager sang the blues But the next day The river red was bright and bold So in she went to try again and make the sutures hold with flashing scalpel, incantation, magic healing brew well at least you could stop bleeding after all I've done for you And so the story goes As I have heard it told It happened not so very long ago The patient sleeping soundly The bleeding bleeding on The mystery of where her coffee cup had gone A conference The best and brightest by the bed They read the chart, checked the patient then they shook their heads We cannot now prognosticate the course that this will take Consult the books and oracles to see if he will wake And so her quest to find a proper final cure To cauterize the dreadful wound and make it heal for sure But nothing worked and add to that her favorite mug was lost insurance did the usual and covered not the cost Such was never seen before A thing she could not heal An injury for which she had no clue She raged into his room one night threw her hands into the air Just what am I supposed to do for you? He sat up And the missing cup was in his hand This thing has been a pain in my ass since I came to this land Oh come with me and be my love It's the least that I can do My castle hidden in the mists waits for me and you and she cried: Hold the phone I'm not that kind of girl Not for me to sit beside the fire I've a timeshare in the islands come let your blood run high forgotten but immortal Greece abides So for Summers in the British fog, winters by the wine dark sea they leapt into a sunrise sky Amidst the flood of blades and blood love was just the thing For Athena and the Fisher King.

ROSA AND HECTOR Kray Van Kirk (c) Midnight Commander Music Rosa couldn't walk too well With her canes she sometimes fell Hector'd roll up by her side lock his wheels and offer her a ride She would laugh or she would cry At the looks from passersby And late at night she'd say to him Her voice was calm, but her manner grim Robin Hood wore Lincoln Green So that he would not be seen Hidden as the Sheriff's men rode past But we can hide as plain as day No one sees us anyway I'd really like to finally kick some ass So Hector mapped a twisted road And Rosa hacked some cyber code For the plan they needed gold The head on south down to Mexico So to the bank that fateful day To close accounts and drive away Hector had his power chair Bags and boxes, everywhere Robin Hood wore Lincoln Green So that he would not be seen Hidden as the Sheriff's men rode past But we can hide as plain as day No one sees us anyway And now we're off to finally kick some ass But suddenly the bank was filled with smoke Fire sprinklers pouring and the cameras were broke rescue workers found them nervous, hiding wet in Customer Service Police arrived but let them go Said they were harmless, soft and slow A Sheriff drove them to the bus And they headed South without a fuss... "Oh, I really love this chair!" Hector laughed as he declared "Look at all the money it can hold!" "A million dollars," Rosa smiled "They overlooked us by a mile And we're off to Sherwood with our outlaw gold!" It's amazing, it's amazing, so amazing Eddy cried How much this chair can hold, all the money stuffed inside Your hack, my love, was brilliant, they missed us by a mile I calculate a million cool, said Amy with a smile So by the sea on warmer sands Living quiet, holding hands "Holla, mi amigos!" all the neighbors now exclaim And everyone, everyone, everyone knows their names Robin Hood wore Lincoln Green So that he would not be seen Hidden as the Sheriff's men rode past But we can hide as plain as day No one sees us anyway It sure felt good to finally kick some ass

PRACTICAL MAGIC Kray Van Kirk (c) Midnight Commander Music In the old ways Before I tie my shoes Like the old days I say "Oh please excuse me" And give the shoelace faeries time to fly In the old ways in my mailbox lives a gremlin Eats up the junk mail And then calls out with a happy grin "Come quickly! There is news from far away!" I have heard, I think it's true One is one and two is two Yesterdays tomorrow The old ways and the new The water sprites Living in the garden hose Wait for just the moment To geyser up and soak my clothes Whenever I just drop them on the ground A wood nymph Mixes sun and rain Living in the apple tree With salamander fire By her gentle alchemy Like the old days When I lie down at night In the old ways Leave a candle warm and bright To safely guide the shoelace faeries home

LOST LOVER'S WALTZ Kray Van Kirk (c) Midnight Commander Music Alone on the dance floor at midnight Waiting for you to appear Red velvet dress, and black satin lace Dusted my memories dear But you're waiting alone, on a floor like my own For a man with a face that's not mine So I'll dance alone with a ghost I once knew Once upon a time This is my lost lover's waltz Dancing like lovers do This is my lost lover's, lover's lost waltz That I never danced with you And down my the water where the minstrels all play And the painters they wait for the light The dancers they sit, with their feet in their hands And quietly rest from the night And the playwrights they sit, with their quills in their hands And they drink their black coffee like wine But no words they write can turn back the pages When you were the measure of time This is my lost lover's waltz Dancing like lovers do This is my lost lover's, lover's lost waltz That I never danced with you They say Paris is magic They say Paris is the city of love And I love all my memories of Baudelaire nights And mornings with you dressed in sunlight Alone on the dance floor at midnight Candles beginning to fade The mirrors are empty they won't show my face Shadows in silent parade And locking the doors as I make my way home Through the empty streets crowded too soon Following footsteps that lead ever onwards Stepping in time with the moon This is my lost lover's waltz Dancing like lovers do This is my lost lover's, lover's lost waltz That I never danced with you