Closer To The Ground

Rain was comin’ down when you arrived;
every inch and pound
While the years seem to multiply
we still get around

Around a star that keep us wondering
in the light of doubt
through a world that we’re plundering
ah, but we’ll figure it out

Get up on your bike
and ride it all around
remember what it’s like
to be closer to the ground

Fireflies lighting up your eyes
still learning how to talk
what’s the word for this feeling that I’m feeling
just gonna take a walk

In the morning I hear you singin’
I want to know your song
but the time between day and night
just won’t last that long

Rolling down a hill
everything a thrill
take another spill
an empty glass to fill

Hide or join the chase
Determining your pace
Dance and state your case
Gazing into space

Breathing the air
Becoming more aware
a circle, or a square?
Remember not to stare

Fly me all around
Listen for the sound
Curiosity abound
Closer to the ground

Closer to the ground
Closer to the ground
Closer to the ground

Where Gardens Grew

Tiger stripes and leopard spots
Designer jeans on astronauts
Germs that live up in your bones
Weaving through some orange cones

Camp out in a plastic tent
open top for air to vent
The twilight sky is full of holes
patch them up with honest soles

Plant the flag where gardens grew
Time is made of glass and glue
Flowers grow in rewind

Ivy grows on idol’s head
colors bleed from green to red
a trumpet to announce the king
swallow fast your diamond ring

Big foam hand on broken wrist
mother’s milk with a lemon twist
and there goes Davey Crocket’s brain
back up on it’s feet again

Plant the flag where gardens grew
Time is made of glass and glue
Flowers grow in rewind

Two knocked down one standing up
rain storms from a paper cup
Yaks fall out in revue
like the way good soldiers do

the comet tail is hot and bright
shirtless on a moonlight night
and if you could have a trap door
you’d put it on the ocean floor

Plant the flag where gardens grew
Time is made of glass and glue
Flowers grow in rewind

Stuck in the middle of the same old situation
same old song starts the same way every time
sometimes you get to thinking about changing it all
but you can’t find courage to flip over to the other side

Why, oh why, I’ve ask myself a few times
Why, oh why, don’t we learn from our mistakes
Why, oh why, can’t we solve each others problems
Why, oh why, I don’t believe it’s just too late

What is the meaning of the question?
does it even matter, is there an answer to be found?
what is the meaning of the question?
will we ever get there, or should we just turn around?
Turn around, Turn around, Turn around
Turn around, Turn around, Turn around

The numbers say that we’re getting closer
but do they really mean anything at all?
You’re always on your way, but we already made it
I hung up the phone before you made the call

My oh my, all the signs are pointing backwards
My oh my, I must be livin’ upside down
My oh my, we can solve each others problems
My oh my, if only we’d get out of our way

What is the meaning of the question?
does it even matter? is there an answer to be found?
what is the meaning of the question?
will we ever get there, or should we just turn around?

will we ever get there, or should we just turn around?
will we ever get there, or should we just turn around?
will we ever get there, or should we just turn around?
will we ever get there, or should we just turn around?
Turn around, Turn around, Turn around
Turn around, Turn around, Turn around

Released on the album Break The Code (2018)

You looked away, it happened when you looked away
The clouds blew out to reveal sun
You looked away, it happened when you looked away
The kids were all having fun
while you began to come undone
know you’re not the only one

So get behind your plow; Cultivate your land any way you can
And when you’re hangin’ around; Bring it into focus when the words disintegrate to sound

You looked away, it happened when you looked away
The walls of time began to fall
You looked away, it happened when you looked away
The kids are no longer small
What once was false, now is true
What you did, isn’t what you do

Solo

So you put up a fight; Keep on pushin’ hard just to lose another yard
Just grab hold of now; yeah, it’s the only time that matters when the ladder’s only running out

Don’t look away, it happened when you looked away
a star was falling in the sky
Don’t look away, it happened when you looked away
The Royal Guard blinked an eye

The future has become the past
It once was slow but now it’s fast
No matter how the die is cast
Lightning wasn’t made to last

Steve Leonard – Guitars/Vocals
Don Frio – Piano/Organ/Vocals
Steve Leroy – Bass
Michael Parillo – Drums
Steve Graham – Vocals
Lizzy Kates – Vocals

Lyrics

There’s a boy on a girl’s bike
riding up and down the street
He’s wearing a striped shirt
two different shades of blue

Although the sun is setting
sliding down the rooftops
For this certain moment
he’s got nothing else to do

There’s streamers from a party
stranded on a lamp post
At the end of celebration
they belong now to the breeze

And with darkness taking over
smudging out their color
They can take to dreaming of
the days when they were trees

Night falls down or up
Like coffee in a sideways cup
There’s nothin’ that it needs
and nothing it’s owed, on Seneca Road
Night falls down or up
Black coffee in a sideways cup
there’s nothin’ that it needs
and nothing it’s owed, on Seneca Road

There’s a dog chewing grass blades
tied up on a front lawn
He’s ignoring the noises
of the others who are free

And without the sun to see him
eating imagination
He is free to ponder
what it’s like just to be

Night falls down or up
Like coffee in a sideways cup
There’s nothin’ that it needs
and nothing it’s owed, on Seneca Road
Night falls down or up
Black coffee in a sideways cup
there’s nothin’ that it needs
and nothing it’s owed, on Seneca Road

Night falls down or up
Night falls down or up
Night falls down or up
Night falls down or up

Lyrics:

Alligators, masqueraders
Cars out of control
Navigating a wooden ship
inside a salad bowl

Running from an avalanche
while you disappear
as the black tornado hits
I’m unawake in fear

I’m drowning in a dream

Severed my head but wasn’t dead
saw doctor of guitars
he said it didn’t look too good
but had seen worse by far

All the other patients
were disgusted by my sight
he put me back together
in the middle of the night

I’m drowning in a dream

Deep inside the war room
searching for some clues
some say the answer’s hidden
in the dresser full of shoes

I ducked around the corner
to find where it was at
a figure in the darkness said
“I wouldn’t open that”

Levitating in a trance
as voices scream in pain
They will not take your life
just the power of your brain
(the power of your brain)

Plug me in and take my blood
I know it can’t be clean
Drank water from the tap
washed my body in the stream

As the master crumbles
the computer’s telling lies
I don’t have a witness
or any alibis

I’m drowning in a dream
in a dream
in a dream

Got to thikin’ there ain’t much keepin’ us from sinkin’
Got to knowin’ there’s no telling which way winds will be blowin’
Got to spendin’ time dancin’ on the ceiling
and I got a feeling we change the cards the dealer’s dealing

Got to trying to explain the reasons for your sadness
Got to find nothing can save you but yourself
Got to playing with a lot of thing that make me smile
just wantin’ for you to join in once in a while

So I’m lovin every minute we have
takin’ the good with the bad
Things that used to be happy are sad, but that’s okay
it’s just a side effect of passing of time

Got to flyin’ around, seen a few places
Got to meetin’ many people, how I love all their faces
Got to noticing all the differences between us
until I realized we are all the same

and I’m lovin’ every minute we have
takin’ the good with the bad
Things that used to be happy are sad, but that’s okay
it’s just a side effect of passing of time

So when your feelin’ the push, take care of each other
and know when it’s time to your mother
don’t let you mind be what it is that they’re stealin’
I got a feeling we can change the cards the dealer’s dealin’

Steve Leonard – Vocals, Guitars, Percussion
Don Frio – Piano, Organ
Steve Leroy – Bass
Michael Parillo – Drums
Steve Graham – Whistle

Someone said that I should say the same thing that someone said
Someone said that I should say the same thing that someone said
Someone said that I should think the same way that somebody thought
And I should buy the same thing that somebody bought

Wooooooo
Wooooooo
Wooooooo
Wooooooo

Now I could say the same thing that someone said
But I won’t say the same thing that someone said
‘Cause I don’t think the same way that somebody thought
And I won’t buy the same thing that somebody bought

Wooooooo
Wooooooo
Wooooooo
Wooooooo

Someone said that I should dance the same way that someone danced
But I dance the only way I know how to dance
Now I could say the same thing that someone said
But I won’t say the same thing that someone said
‘Cause I don’t think the same way that somebody thought
And I won’t buy the same thing that somebody bought
And I won’t buy the same thing that somebody bought
And I won’t buy the same thing that somebody bought

Wooooooo
Wooooooo
Wooooooo
Wooooooo

Steve Leonard – Vocals, Guitar, Bass, Electric Piano, Synth, Drum Programming

Break The Code

Come on over let’s go for a ride
Things are getting complicated
I’ve given up not seeing what you’re trying to hide
Words they wrote slowly faded

Before the time that we first met
Good old Jimmy said that you were true
I believed him, after all, he was a vet
I’m afraid to know the things he knew

Well I’m movin’ on and I know I’ll never be alone
Just lookin’ for sunshine, a place to call a home
Remember all those joyous fields we used to roam
But I’m turnin’ off this rocky road before I break another bone

Here we are in future times
You’ve been telling stories more than ever
Occupying weakened minds
Saying nothing while you think you’re clever

Jimmy died last week out on the street
Forgotten, all alone, and unprotected
But I saw him just before that day had come
He took back everything he said of you

You keep droppin’ the rocks down on this rocky road
My wheels keep breakin’, my head’s about to explode
You keep droppin’ the rocks down on this rocky road
I try to keep it together when you’re tellin’ me what you’re owed
There’s a lock on the exit door and we’re bound to break the code
We’re bound to break the code
We’re bound to break the code
We’re bound to break the code

Rewrite the rules, ignore the fools
We don’t have time, we don’t have time (break the code)
Rewrite the rules, ignore the fools
Even if it’s only in your mind (break the code)

Written January 3, 2017