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Winston

by Eric Peter Schwartz

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1.
Night DJ 04:22
Wheels keep rolling deep into the night Night DJ carry me through until the morning light There's only your voice and pitch black across west Texas flats I roll down the window for the scream of the road and I try to forget my past Night DJ first time caller play me something slow I'm burning hot to out run my life and you can cool my soul I don't have much with me I left it all behind scattered my life to the winds because I wanted to make good time There's nothing hanging over me now only the moon and sky shadows on the horizon line and your voice on the night Night DJ first time caller play me something slow I'm burning hot to out run my life and you can cool my soul Does it matter what I've done? Does it matter what I didn't do?
2.
We'll keep on dancing 'til we feel the floor give away We'll keep on dancing 'til the night clocks out for the day you've got on your dress and your comfy shoes I've lost my tie and kicked the blues it was a hell of a night it was a hell of a thing We're so worn out, we're hanging like a side of beef pull off to the side of the road and fall asleep wake in the morning to passing trucks try to get breakfast for just 3 bucks it was a hell of a night it was a hell of a thing Was it just me or did that dude just wanna fight? I made a quick joke, he had an even quicker right now we're sharing some toast and a coffee cup you keep laughing, my eye is swollen shut it was a hell of a night it was a hell of a thing When we left the bar do you remember which way we went at this hour we are homeless and hell-bent my battery is dead, no GPS we don't have a map, we'll have to guess it was a hell of a night it was a hell of a thing We'll keep driving until the day clears our head if the sun sets we'll find a bar and do it again The party sparks when you're near If Jesus is my co-pilot, you're the bombardier it'll be a hell of a night it'll be a hell of a thing
3.
Summer Oil 03:59
She was called Helen of Troy by Charlie the summer casual college boy her skin was ruddy olive green she rode the site with the Haz-Mat team And oh how I’d watch her as she rolled away half empty drums of polymer and the way the sun fell on her gloves didn’t get a single look but I was in love Crazy Bernie worked the 200 Dock he kept mail-order porn in a desk drawer he didn’t lock cassette tapes scattered on the desk you could tell by that room his mind was a mess He wasn’t allowed on half the site he thought she liked him, he wasn’t right she cried foul when he tried to kiss her we all held our breath and waited for disaster Responsibilities were light a toe in the water of real life we were all young and stupid and probably spoiled but we all smelled like summer oil Mark had gone to MIT till a cycle crash wiped him clean you could hear it when he would talk like the Phinneas Gage of the docks He had no social skills but he could move boxes, bags and bills that’s why they kept him around but behind his back they thought he was a clown Responsibilities were light a toe in the water of real life we were all young and stupid and probably spoiled but we all smelled like summer oil When autumn came they were gone I watched them go as I stayed on I decided college wasn’t for me I was nineteen going on forty And now most of those buildings are gone I drive past on the way to play my songs But it still comes back to me the light sweet crude on the breeze Responsibilities were light a toe in the water of real life we were all young and stupid and probably spoiled but we all smelled like summer oil
4.
They say the day he was born his father pushed him back inside and it warped the boy and caused a pain behind the eyes 1985 the Devil drove a blue Gremlin and he broke the world when he stopped to ask them for directions I watched it unfold as I was folding papers I throw it onto their porch and watch the pale grow across my neighbors That's when I felt the change summer of '85 we all locked our doors when he took Melissa Ackerman's life Hurry home don't pick up the phone Brian Dugan could know you're alone Brian Dugan could know A name already echoed on suburban lips Jenine Nicarico the girl who had stayed home sick Cops pinned her death and rape on two Hispanic males and Dugan had killed more while two innocentsrotted in jail Hurry home don't pick up the phone Brian Dugan could know you're alone Brian Dugan could know Our folks were left with the damage Dugan had done to two income world and latchkey daughters and sons I still feel the ripples now 30 odd years on in the way I worry and the rules I make for my son Hurry home don't pick up the phone Brian Dugan could know you're alone Brian Dugan could know
5.
Hey now Cajun Annie she drank all the wine and she bedded down in Baton Rouge with a couple of friends of mine and in the morning she made a brew that she said would cure their ills it looked like mud and it smelled like feet and it tasted like dissolving pills But my homeboys they were hurting and they drank it without a word they didn’t seem to care that it had bent a spoon or scorched her fingers when she stirred they drank it down and held it there and their stomachs were rumbling mean when the hallucinations lifted they had both been robbed but they were both running clean She took a big kettle and you threw it all in They think they saw hot sauce, they think they saw gin Turned off the lights and it started to glow What else went in we might never now She said “there’s nothing you can do that can’t be handled by Annie’s Brew My buddies they were desperate and the cops were called to the scene they told them the story about the beautiful girl and the drink that brought them to their knees but only one drop of the magical brew was all the Federalis could find they sent it to the lab cause they wanted to know how it did a number on their minds Baton Rouge Parish detectives Burning midnight oil This Annie’s some kind of wicked chemist What evil plots must we foil Cops’ hearts sank when morning came The lab had lost the brew With nothing to test and nowhere to start There was nothing for them to do The leads dried up, it was cold case now And no one was making a fuss So they sent my pals on back up north With empty pockets on a Greyhound Bus Off Interstate 10 out of Baton Rouge West, near Lake Bigeaux There’s a flash of white near some cypress trees Every time the wind will blow A lab coat from the forensics lab Way back in Baton Rouge The name tag says Annie and there is a stain From an unknown, mystic brew
6.
Raise the curtain on December '88 Leading Lady and Supporting Actor in the parts they played and he dreams of loving her but he never seems to see that she loves him but not enough to fill his dreams Raise a cup for the lovers and actors the ones most wounded by the show They play their parts and they swallow their hearts and hope for a love to melt the snow The party goes on around then her Leading Man in his space but she can see Supporting Actor and the things he hides on his face and she wants to show her love for him but that's not what he needs, she knows but she wants to see him happy so she whispers "I'll kiss you under the mistletoe" Raise a cup for the lovers and actors the ones most wounded by the show They play their parts and they swallow their hearts and hope for a love to melt the snow The moment is made the moment exists even after decades he still thinks of that kiss Outside it was snowing shining up the pavement and the wood inside he was glowing he knew she loved him as much as she could and for the stars watching from the heavens and all the actors down below we close the curtain and move on with the show. Raise a cup for the lovers and actors the ones most wounded by the show They play their parts and they swallow their hearts and hope for a love to melt the snow
7.
Bartender pour me three whiskeys And I'll tell you what what made a blind man come out tonight I can't see it but the sun is setting and the night is pushing down I know it's strange but pour me 3 whiskeys and I'll tell you what brings me to town Stay here pour me three whiskeys one for every time she broke my heart Stay here and listen to my story I'll drink the first one then I'll start I had my eyes through our falling and her early days as my wife So I knew her beauty I can still see her in this blind man's mind Hair, black as shadow and her hips when she would sway to a song clear eyes of blue that moved 'round my face as an evening wore on Please! Stay here I've got two more whiskeys and more tale to tell Her love left with my vison and my story, you can guess, doesn't end well When I lost my light, she kissed my eyes and she had to work to make sense of our lives and the years rolled by and the tears rolled by and I didn't need my sight to feel there was something new in her nights I couldn't sleep last night and my wife talks in her sleep so I knew I'd need whiskey for courage for the appointment, I have to keep Thank you for listening bartender and let me finish with this I came to town tonight to find you and this close a blind man can't miss Stay here because you love her and I've got nothing left to lose You've got 3 breaths to feel the night on your face and this last whiskey is for you
8.
Ruth grew the best tomatoes in the valley she made her own preserves and sold jars by the score she had a little stand out beside the highway that's where she met Jeremy the man she would adore La la la Jeremy was driving from Braeden to Bricktown he stopped for a spell to check out her stand he had one taste of her tomato preserves now he dropped to one knee and took Ruth by the hand "Be my wife and I'll build you a greenhouse. We'll love each other the best that we can. Vines'll climb the walls of your greenhouse And I promise to love you for as long as I stand." La la la The years went by for Ruth and for Jeremy wouldn't say they were cruel wouldn't say they were kind When Ruth found out she couldn't have a baby Jeremy took to drinking Ruth took to her vines La la la She'd taken the tomatoes out of the sunshine 24-hour flourescent lights now shone down on the vines She still sprayed with Nicotine for the bugs now it's the way she always did when she was young, in her prime She was his wife but she was always in the greenhouse he was always at the bar this wasn't what they planned He'd broken the promise of the greenhouse He didn't love her anymore but he could still stand La la la Then one night a moment of clarity blew air across an ember down in Jeremy "Why'd I let this bitter cloud take my heart?" He raced with a foggy head out into the dark Headed home La la la The morning sun lit the detectives putting together pieces from the night before Ruth on the porch was crying gently Jeremy was still where he died on the greenhouse floor La la la See, Ruth couldn't stand to sleep in their bedroom she'd crawled into the guest bed and fell asleep in the dark Jeremy came home and couldn't find his wife now Still drunk he ran outside to tell her what was in his heart La la la When Jeremy got out to the greenhouse he found a jar of whiskey but he couldn't find his wife He took a deep drink when he thought she'd left him The whiskey tasted funny The nicotine took his life Ruth tore down that old greenhouse she covered it with earth moved her tomatoes to the sun but vines still grow where there was a greenhouse Ruth sees the love they'd had inside of every one La la la Now Ruth grows the best tomatoes in the valley she cans her own preserves and sells jars by the score La la la
9.
Atlanta lit her cigarette through the smoke she tried to swallow she's a tough act to follow And me, I'll never shake Saigon even with this wallet on no money can buy my scars away She's far too young to care what on earth we were doing there or to understand where to stand All the battles are over now haircuts, no victors bow and lonely men, stagger on home See, Atlanta, some wounded walk Hold, Atlanta, wounded mouths can talk some of us only twisted inside My God, Atlanta, what have we done what kind of world have we passed on or passed over Atlanta snuffs her cigarette she laughs as she scans the room her gaze falls on me, falls on me "Money-grubbing old man" She couldn't see my burns and carelessly Atlanta turns
10.
Oh, Sunshine how'd you find me in this Pueblo town? Earthtone tuning timing right I was walking deftly out of the crowd And I knew you were smiling in the interim I knew you were smiling during the interim I was nominated to be the one to ask what comes next for two Pueblo passing strangers at the start of the second act and in Picasso Alley it feels like rain 'cause the Cubists dance and the martyrs gain Oh, Sunshine I'm glad you found me in this Pueblo town Earthtone tuning turning out a discarded program on the ground just one Pueblo Stranger reaching down
11.
He didn’t see it coming didn’t know it was drumming at his door He didn’t know at all kissed his kids like he did every night before When he got up to his room the cold and the shadows started to move he slipped up through the ceiling he’d already forgotten that he’d left too soon So tonight I don’t want to drink no more I just want to stare out at the evening surf how would I float up through the sky and spend my last night on the Earth I was there when he took the call he just said “thank you” and hung up the phone then he sat with a silent bourbon when he was drunk he went to bed alone In the darkness I could hear him crying in the morning he didn’t say a word I never forced the question Never told him what I had heard So tonight I don’t want to talk no more I just want to stand out in the evening surf Now can I celebrate a life and Howard’s last night on the Earth And if my father had his way he’d set Howard adrift out on the bay and arrows from the shore would set his Viking boat ablaze But he fastened on the lid because I was just a little kid with the moon and the rocks and the sea So tonight I don’t want to sing no more I just want to drift into the ocean surf How can I celebrate my life and dance like it’s my last night on the Earth And tonight try to love each other more kiss or hug or hold whatever you fancy and then he won’t have died in vain on the last night of Howard Delancy
12.
There’s a moon shining hanging in the sky like a Japanese lamp and the coyotes howl on the edge of town Three kids from up north ain’t seen nothing like this before and their car breaks down on the edge of town And it feels just like a movie complicated and suspenseful and they get just what they came for the greatest nowhere on Earth So they slip into the bar all the cowboys are heading out up the hill to the cat house on the edge of town They get drunk with this Indian man who says the nuns beat God into him and he hides peyote in the mine at the edge of town And it feels just like a movie complicated and suspenseful and they get just what they came for the greatest nowhere on Earth What did they expect to find? A desert drama and a copper mine? A night so far from what they know? And just as far gone as they care to go So they stumble up the street into a barn and fall asleep they crawl out at dawn on the edge of town Shadows crawl on the valley floor time to head back up north they turn one last time from the edge of town And it felt just like a movie complicated and suspenseful and they got just what they came for the greatest nowhere on Earth
13.
I won't lie face down and let them take my gun away from me and I've got a bible in my pocket to remind me of you it's metal on top you gave it to me for my protection it's close to my heart where you are forever Waves of emotion clouding my mind as if God's verdict has shortened my time I'm so afraid this place is home now to me I've got a son waiting at home to finally meet his dad he's waiting for me to make up the moments lost make up the time apart This time apart is not of my making if there was any other way this bulletproof bible will keep me alive for you I make no promises promises I can't keep because my fate's not in my hands it's way beyond my reach just pray I make it home to you

about

These are 13 stories. Some are fiction and some are fact. Like so many of my musical heroes, I tell these 13 with just a voice and a guitar.

credits

released March 12, 2020

All songs written by E.P. Schwartz
except:
"Picasso Alley" by Dan Hogan and E.P. Schwartz
"Bulletproof Bible" by M. John Vertenten and E.P. Schwartz

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all rights reserved

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Eric Peter Schwartz Aurora, Illinois

Acoustic rock and some instrumental rock. Where heart and quirk collide.

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