The Rain (et al)

rain falls on this fine day

mirrors the mood that’s holding sway

now angels have got to fly away

rain like dream has no sound

but when it falls on leaves and ground

sweetest applause I’ve ever found

now I don’t mind the rain at all

nothing’s clearer to me than this fog

in which I’ve walked for too damn long

singing nothing for no one

nothing said nothing gained

a boat of paper hauls your name

flows the gutter down the drain

now I don’t mind the rain at all

I wanna know where sunlight goes

when darkness leaves us hard and cold

and rain’s a tarnished bell that tolls

I want the days to keep comin’ on

like some old lover’s favourite sing

but days and days have come and gone

now I don’t mind the rain at all

we wait for waves all silver-crowned

and all the love we never found

and laughter ever spinning ‘round

but when the shoreline disappears

hurricane threat is in the air

all fate confirmed there’s no one there

now I don’t mind the rain at all

a thousand sleepers still wet with sleep

awake into the same old scene

pledge to find someone to blame

I wanna rock I wanna roll

I wanna live my life with soul

I wanna hear the trumpet call

reveille through the rain that’s all

1989

This First Dawn

happy new year baby

though you’re no baby of mine

everyone’s gone home now 

and if we’ll ever have it now’s our time

a little secret in a little light

forbidden breath at the end of the night

we won’t tell though we’ve done no wrong

it’s between you and me and this first dawn

it’s not a game of hide & seek anymore

you’ve found the place I conceal my heart

count down from ten and here you are

close as shiver and desire

a little secret…

you say ‘close your eyes and reach out your hand’

you stand beyond my touch

statue in the shadows and your gown half-off

it was all you said you’d give but it was so much

a little secret…

happy new year baby

it’s getting cold outside my door

it was nice to see you baby

now you’re my drug and I only want a little more

Through an Open Window

a tangle in the wire

paths they may get crossed

grace blows through the lilacs a moment then is lost

shafts of molten moonlight drip paraffin romance

under shadows of the branches

love’s a random dance

through an open window

through an open door

you can feel the wind blow

from the other shore

jump off into the sunset

leave the world behind

so fragile on this journey there are those who tire of trying

the bridge sways o’er the river

these souls stand in defeat

like a penny for all their wishes in a ring they wed the deep

through an open window…

the body is a candle and the wind can blow so strong

eyes can shut and tumble

down where shiver is so long (so long)

and it will not leave you standing

it runs a certain course

better touch the wonder while you can

it runs back to the source

though an open window…

Tom Morrow

I got a friend his name is Tom

his granddaddy’s name is Jesse

now Jesse is gone like yesterday’s song

he taught Tom that each day is a blessing

my friend Tom

my friend Tom Morrow

Tom Morrow he the man

you got pain

you got sickness or sorrow

he’ll be there as quick as he can

his dad is Todd it’s Todd Alexander

for short they call him Todd A

he can seem a scary guy with thick wrists and a voice of thunder

when the heir walks in the sire runs away

my friend Tom…

his mom is Hope she had but a single child

she lays all her daffodil wishes on him

good thing he wakes each day shining a brand new face

that’s my boy she beams as the light streams in

my friend Tom…

now there’s a tingle in the east oh hail ye resilient beast

you’re not a fool for grinning

you might ache between the eyes you might slip don’t be surprised

it’s not just your head that’s spinning

my friend Tom…

Waiting On Your Love

I wake at the crack and the creak and the least of sounds

hammer my heart shut and hope the dark will take us down

it’s not that I’m alone

I am not alone

only sometimes I think I was made to wear that crown

cause I’m a broken nail and a tale of treachery

a stroke of lightning and a kite caught in a tree

a fine knife edge a madman on the ledge

the lover looking for the lover looking for me

still waiting on

waiting on your love

I’m still waiting on

waiting on your love

I’m a Calder junkyard sculpture draped in skin

totaled sum of all the people I have been

and if I forget a night a name

the noises she made when she came

I’ll remember in the right light right wind

won’t you lead me won’t you lead me to your door

see I’ve been there so many times before

with a loosened belt a shining emerald ring

raven round my neck with a radiant wing

still waiting on…

those birds that you sent singing: let me in

they tap on the glass sing: let me tell you where I been

past rooms where the nearly-buried howl the newly-coupled moan

we’re all just looking for a home on the head of a pin

it’s been so long so very long

been so long so very very very long

now I'm a half an ounce of habit from your doorstep

a fool as I paper-cut my heart on song

still waiting…

Words and Music © Noah Zacharin

Walk Away (Old Enough)

old enough I got bourbon for blood

your passing shadow is my raging flood

got a question mark that shapes a back that shoulders a load

of fragrances remembered and debts still owed

walk away 

all I need is the song

walk away

all I need is the song

lost I scan for Corvus of the southern sky

black pepper grinds reminds most of the time you’ll find we just get by

’til she come down I’ll buddha by the river that whispers come on in and drown

it’s a kind invitation…I’ll pass…this time around

walk away

all I need is the song

walk away

all I need is the song

don’t know why those clock hands point at me

if they were mine I’d point to sky or open sea

old enough 70 languages rest easy on my tongue

give me one more hour I’ll say love in every one

walk away 

all I need is the song

walk away 

all I need is the song

2012-2023

Unrecorded

What Have I Got to Show for It

it’s the same old story I once loved a girl

when I was in her arms I was in a perfect world

I held her for a day short of forever then she went away

now the seas we swam and the skies we shared are gone

what have I got to show for it

what have I got to show for it

what have I got to show for it now

it’s a sweet old season of leaf and pretty thing

boys and girls go arm-in-arm bees buzz about the nectar and the sting

soon the shiver’s on nights blow cold and they grow long

faded petals fall like a thousand setting suns

what have I got to show…

now an elegant woman wants to put joy back in my days

she wants to paint a little colour on the grey face of my little pain

I hold her in my arms but she leaves before the dawn

without leaving even a trace of scent behind

what have I got to show…

Whatcha Wanna Tell Me

whatcha wanna tell me whatcha wanna do x2

you better make your mind up baby

you better hurry up and choose

you got something (cold and twisted) tugging at your sleeve x2

you got something blowing a blizzard in your veins and you can’t sleep

look at your body you’re thin as a rail x2

twitchin’ and a ramblin’

ripped as a storm tossed sail

what’s that voodoo magic what you burning when I’m not at home x2

what was my lock of hair doing there

with my fingernail that black cat bone

I got this smile on my face whenever I sing this song x2

cause I love to hold my old guitar

knowing that you’re gone

you long gone in the morning never liked your coffee the way I do x2

you long gone in the nighttime my bed was never big enough for you

I remember how you said (whispered) my name how you liked your love x2

a bottle of red wine on the table

your hands in white satin gloves

sing glory hallelujah strum it on the old banjo x2

singing auld lang syne in double time

watching you go

whatcha wanna tell me…

(The) Widow of Raven Cliff

When the sea winds blow and the air shivers cold

There’s a woman walks the wild salt air

Her eyes are full of fire, stare silent at the stars

While the wind whips and lifts her horse-black hair (and it’s…)

Bring me the flowers of moonlight, she wails

Bring me the milk of the stars

Bring me the child swelled a thousand sails

Bring me the wreck on the shore

When the sea rears and roars, dark waves like horses

Charge at the black cliff stone

She steps from her shack onto Raven Cliff’s back

Slices like a knife through the wind alone (and it’s…)

Bring me the diamonds of old sailors’ bones

Bring me the grins of their skulls

Bring me the silk of the green seaweed crowns

Bring me the beached rotten hulls

Well they talk in the town of how many men drowned

How that tossed her life dead-black

Now she walks on the cliff, troubled as the wind

That no net of song can bring a dead man back (and it’s…)

Bring me the harbour of little girls’ dreams

Bring me the mist of the bay

Bring me the voice that beckons men out to sea

Bring me those lost on the way

Now I’ve no tales, empty as slack sails

Only truth fills my song

And I’ve seen what I’ve seen, and I sing what I’ve seen

This of the night before they found her gone

It was a sin-black night, waves running wild as fright

And drumming with a song that she sings

When sure as I’m here, she just disappeared

Like a lantern’s flame blown out in the wind (still I heard…)

Bring me the use of the gull’s dip and rise

Bring me the flash of the fin

Bring me the sweat of the rocks on the sand

Bring me my man back again (and it’s…)

Bring me the truth of the gull’s wailing cry

Bring me the flesh of the wind

Bring me the echoing cries of the damned

Bring me my man back again

1980

The Green Album

Wish Upon a Star

the sky juggles stars tonight

a circus of lights performs

a show full of whimsy but I’m sadder than whiskey

that’s drunk in a room alone

I’m sadder than hungry arms

thrust into dark to look for love’s lost moon

‘cause the night holds no promise

I won’t wish upon a star

‘cause I’ll be waking in the morning

not knowing who you’re with or where you are

the air whispers winter’s words

green turns to rust and gold

breath turns to grey flowers my words all turn sour

my tongue’s lost all its sweet notes

I've forgotten how sweetness goes

only sing the things that I know

I know the night holds…

the wind scatters summer’s dead

leaves scuffing like tired old men

over streets stretching long as the cold nights to come

when you’ll be all my thoughts again

don’t know how long this bitter wind will blow

only know I’m gonna take it alone

cause the nights hold…

…

…wakin’ every morning

1982

Woke Like a Lark

I woke like a lark with a song on my tongue

the way that I sometimes do

it was a simple waltz that a child could hum

I knew I would write it for you

daylight shone down and I lost it

I lost my little tune

I would gladly give it up

if I hadn’t already lost you too

waltz with me through the hours

my arm around your waist

your head on my shoulder

1-2-3 our hearts and our steps in place

now this can’t be right to be given a gift

the next minute it’s taken away

seems like a flicker a flutter ago

we danced the new day awake

daylight shines down on my losses

I no longer fit in your arms

and someone is there when I call you

how’d you dance away so fast and so far

waltz with me…

woke like a lark with a song on my tongue

I wanted to write it for you

Wood & Wire

speak to me now I wish you would

I’ve lived on the mountain on the song of birds

I ache to answer you from out of the wood

so much to tell so much I’ve heard

I’m hidden here beyond the red

mix black with blue is what you get

spirit’s kind dream in a buried kiss

music found by the dowser’s fingertips

wake me in the wood

singing always made me feel so good

wake me in the wood & wire

voice coming down the line rising up in heart’s desire

never has so little meant so very much

feel my pulse quicken beneath your fingers’ touch

dawn sweeps across the chosen sky

so much goes on beyond the human eye

you remember my raven hair

you remember how I was always there

you don’t know how much I've wept to see my children grow

to tell them all the things they need to know

you know the way of the bone

cleaned by wind wind blows through on its own

what you left gets gathered by the breeze

sweet flute notes flutter beautifully

wake me now…

like the cage around the bird

the lamp around the genie

eclipse between the moon and you

the ache round what you mean to me

I’ve waited for darkened rooms

stars above quiet song below

a bit of mist between frozen tears

one bird in the slumbering mahogany

wake me slowly now and do it kind

touch me gently tip of finger on lid of eye

kind of chilly now but I don’t mind

been sleeping for a long long time