Songs

Change The Cards

by

Music and Lyrics by Steve Leonard

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’

Someone Said

by

Music and lyrics by Steve Leonard

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

Break The Code

by

Music and lyrics by Steve Leonard

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

 

A Yearning in Hatboro

by

Music: Steve Leonard
Lyrics: JP Garwood

Download mp3

A Yearning in Hatboro

I’ll check back in
when I return today
To the empty field
beyond the YMCA
And remember the lights
on the tractors there
How they painted a scene
at the Hatboro Fair

You’ll see nothing but grass
where the tilt-a-whirl ran
No funnel cake plates
in the blue garbage can
But I still hear the sounds
of late May and June
How they sing in my ears
a sweet pre-summer tune

CHORUS:
Jewel of summer
magical world
Pennsylvania flag unfurled
Cotton candy
flavors the air
I’ve tasted its flavor
now I’ll always want to be there

I still have some money
but I’ll wait until when
Daddypops is open
for lunch time again
For now I’m pretending the carousel is turning
In my Hatboro heart
there’s a Hatboro yearning

The ? Man

by

Music: Steve Leonard
Lyrics: JP Garwood
Released 2005, Fat Raleigh, Dyceum

The ? Man

Alone I stand
without a plan
In the shadow of the question mark man
I play his game
say his name
find out later that I’m to blame

For I’m an also-ran
flash in the pan
In the shadow of the question mark man

Alone I stand
without a plan
In the shadow of the question mark man
I play his game
say his name
find out later that I’m to blame

Do you ever think of Mary
Do your thoughts still make you cry
Do you ever think of tearing out your eyes

Prepare to land
Down in the sand
Right at the feet of the question mark man
Deserve your fate
be not late
The time is not yours
don’t make him wait

‘Cause he is not your fan
bow if you can
Right at the feet of the question mark man
he won’t take your shit
no, not one bit
not even if you ask him nice

Do you ever speak to Nancy
Do you think it is worth your while
Do you ever think of choking on your smile

Alone I stand
without a plan
In the shadow of the question mark man
I play his game
say his name
find out later that I’m to blame

For you’re an also-ran
flash in the pan
In the shadow of the question mark man

A short-sleeve tan
a no-name brand
You’ve got nothing on the question mark man
So eat your pride
down the slide
to the place they call the other side

Almost Andrea Again

by

Music: Steve Leonard
Lyrics: JP Garwood
Released 2005, Fat Raleigh, Dyceum

Almost Andrea Again

Passing out the puzzle pieces
to assemble one by one
perfect pictures paralyzed
against the morning sun
without words when wishing
can make you come undone
but it’s almost through
in spite of you

Turning tides can be tiring
and it shows upon your face
taking time to turn around
may be your saving grace
burning bygone bridges
will help you win the race
And the end is near
despite your fear

Yearning years confuse you
yet there’s still a flame inside
did you just say yes
to selling off your pride
falling frightened faces
at one time still could glide
with such grace and flare
you once were there

So somersault through the hoops of fire
fly free my closest friend
You’re almost Andrea again
Lick your lips reluctant liar
sing songs into the wind
You’re almost Andrea again

The world loves…..JPGarwood

No Need

by

Music and lyrics: Steve Leonard
Released 2001, Mindface, S/T

Steve Leonard – Guitars/Vocals
Steve Graham – Vocals
Steve Leroy – Bass
Don Frio – Keyboards/Vocals
Peter Toth – Drums

No Need

Lift my eyes to see the sky
dripping down upon my face
Reflecting tears within my mind
never crossed by fears now true

How can I replace the fires
that burn for me and care to see
That’s just what you don’t want to know
which leaves me here alone…I’ve gotta go cause I’m

Chorus:
Never gonna be the one to understand you
I only wish that I could run from these lies that seem so true
Never gonna be the one to understand you
No matter how I try

So skies they pass and life moves on
sweep the times that hurt under the bed
And let them lay there with the monsters on the floor
I just can ignore, they often enter my head

Dust still spins around the flame
that brings us light to see the dove
And there’s no to understand
to fully love…I know its true

Part of Me

by

Music: Steve Leonard
Lyrics: JP Garwood
Recorded by Fat Raleigh, Dyceum, 2005

Part of Me

Everything black and white went gray
time didn’t mean a thing
I still had two good eyes left
and they could’nt hear the choir sing
But I was just too lazy
to ever go crazy
So I kept my sanity
You were going to have to be my ears
If you were to be a part of me

The only times I felt alive
Were now and seventeen
I don’t recall a memory
from the time spent in between
and if I could uncover
or ever discover
my hidden history
Then I could be that way again
And I’d hold on to that part of me

Danielle, the best that I can do
is put words on a page
I cannot give them meaning
or protect them all from age
But if you don’t mind trying
to save them from dying
you can give them melody
let the music give them life
and they’ll always be a part of me

And in my collection
the face of reflection
erased from the owner’s stare
contemplation is fleeting
on time worth repeating
yet part of me wants to be there

Second Time Around

by

Music: Steve Leonard
Lyrics: JP Garwood
Released 2001, Mindface, S/T

Steve Leonard – Guitars/Vocals
Steve Graham – Vocals
Steve Leroy – Bass
Don Frio – Keyboards/Vocals
Peter Toth – Drums

Second Time Around

Out there picking diamonds
From the dogs that lived the storm
Eating from the hand that feeds
The hand that keeps you warm
Still you may not know everything
There’s few that often do
Like the prophets from our yesteryear
That you, in time, outgrew

Well the fruits that are forbidden
They attract the greatest flies
Encircling your mind these days
And boarding shut your eyes
Still you may not have everything
But you have all that you need
Like your priests and other servants
And a place to plant your seed

Oh, what a day
Taking in the sound
Better be much different
The second time around

Somewhere near the graveyard
You stop to eat your fill
Among your perfect company
You’ll do just what you will
But a gravestone needs no water
And a dead man needs no bread
You’d be better off not eating
And joining them instead

Oh, what a day
Taking in the sound
Better be much different
The second time around

Day Moon

by

Music and lyrics: Steve Leonard
Recorded by Mindface, 2000
Released 2001, Mindface, S/T

Steve Leonard – Guitars/Vocals
Steve Graham – Vocals
Steve Leroy – Bass
Don Frio – Keyboards/Vocals
Peter Toth – Drums

Download mp3

Day moon
Half way to the sun
Half way to the sea
Guiding me

Day moon
Wanderer of charm
The deeds you’ve done of harm and good for free

I had a dream the other day and you were in my way
A dark light shining down from a hole in the clouds
Though I didn’t know you at the time I had an inkling in my mind
Now I know that you are there and I can feel you move my thoughts

I can follow you in the early morning tide
In the stream I hear your call
In the sky I see you rise
spinning in an orbit all around the homes we build
As we try to break the force that holds us down
The one that pushed before we pulled our shit around

Day moon
Half way to the sun
Half way to the sea
Guiding me

Day moon
Strangers you have known
The seeds you set in season seldom sown