John R. Mabry | Apocrypha Volume Six:
1. First Things First | lyrics
3. Falling from the Sky | lyrics
6. Under the Eyes of Heaven | lyrics
Words & Music by Eric Hann and John R. Mabry. Keyboards by Eric Hann.
I have always reached, and never failing
Failed to seek and I left tears trailing
And when all was done, You always knew I'd come.
You call my name, I make excuses, but I'm to blame for these abuses
And I can't decide. But that's decision, isn't it?
I want to know why it's so hard, lay down myself, give up my
heart
And say "yes" to You. I want to know why it's a fight,
to lose myself
And live in light. So I confess, I want to say "Yes! Yes!
Yes!." Yes.
I must scale this world of briars and thistles
Of toils and tears, of fires and missles, but I claim this hope:
Someday, we'll see an end to it. An end to fear, and an end to
hunger
Made manifest here, this mercy we're under. Make clear the way
for
wide open Wonder: The Lightening! The Thunder! The tearing asunder!
The Chorale, the Choir, too numerous to number! All this I will
see pass,
But first I've this hand to ungrasp.
The hardest will be crushed beneath the tender.
It all starts here with this one, simple surrender.
Guitar solo by Notlimah Evad.
...Love is a tiger that will not be tamed
And there ain't no dogma His glory can contain
'cause He will steal away, He will steal away, He will steal away.
So many people want a tight-gripped hold but their hands are
left grasping
When they want to wall off most of the fold, see the stones they
are casting.
so many people, so many ways, to raise up our Tiger, the Ancient-of-Days
'cause He will steal away, He will steal away, He will steal away.
I don't even understand why we feel we must draw these lines.
Can't you see the purpose, why it's so ill-defined?
You cannot hold Him, and vainly you try,
but He will slip through your fingers and lunge at the night
'cause He will steal away, He will steal away, He will steal away.
Ah, surprise! Did I catch you in an awkward moment?
With your defenses down? Where can you hid?
I know you hate me for this intrusion.
And I smile. I see a lot of me looking into your eyes;
still afraid of the dark, kind of. And can't tell a soul.
That would admit to your defeat. Heaven forbid.
But there's soft summer rain falling for the fallen.
Great drops of Mercy, like Wine upon my lips, like Bread upon
my tongue.
Like Mercy, Mercy, Mercy, falling from the sky.
Love ins't easy. It is much maligned, certainly by me.
I must face this fact and find gorgiveness before Thee,
rather than smoulder in this dispair.
A familiar road--thunderheads approaching--I feel my heart
leap!
Prosdeckomai to eleos tou kuriou*
The choices I made for what I'm become.
But there's soft summer rain falling for the fallen.
Great drops of Mercy, like Wine upon my lips, like Bread upon
my tongue.
Like Mercy, Mercy, Mercy, falling from the sky.
*I anxiously await the Mercy of the Lord.
See the philistine men go to philistine dives
Pick up philistine women, cheat on philistine wives, uh-huh
Philistines have fun in the strangest ways
They like to shoot at cows, they like to beat up gays
And I don't want to be a philistine
There's lots of philistine people at the Philistine Lanes
Drinking philistine beer, being philistine pains, uh-huh
Philistine people love their philistine gore
Watching philistine movies 'bout the Philippines War
And I don't want to be a philistine
Philistine music must be philistine-loud
See that philistine beat please that philistine crowd, uh-huh
Philistine lyrics don't say philistine squat
I'd face the guillotine before I'd join that lot.
And I dont' want to be, I don't want to be a philistine
Philistine novels read like philistine trash
Watch the philistine writers rake in philistine cash, uh-huh
Philistine porn, we can call it "romance"
She meets a philistine lover in faraway France
And I don't want to be, I don't want to be a philistine
Philistines are unconscious, philistines got no hope
Philistines got no consience, philistine's a big joke
And I don't want to be, I don't want to be a philistine
I've let the sun go down on my troubles.
You'd think I'd learned my leasson by no.
The World around me seems to crumble.
I feel forsaken, Lord and how.
So where should I go? I should have guessed.
I should go to the place where the simplest man can be blessed.
Where the hardest of hearts meets the Love of the Lambe and finds peace to progress.
I should go to the place where Lions rest.
I see a sea of smiling faces, and I just don't want to be around.
I don't want to leave any of my traces, I don't want to get nobody
else down.
So where should I go? I should have guessed.
I should go to the place where the simplest man can be blessed.
Where the hardest of hearts meets the Love of the Lambe and finds peace to progress.
I should go to the place where Lions rest.
And I'm just not sure about where it lies.
Oh, I've seen a lot of sincere poeple with Hope in their eyes.
But most of them just hide their emptiness inside.
Where can I find the resting place of the pride?
I have no doubt of it's existence. I have no doubt it can be
reached.
I may cloud the truth with my persitance, but I've got to have
some reason to believe.
So where should I go? I should have guessed.
I should go to the place where the symbolist man can be blessed.
Where the hardest of hearts meets the Love of the Lambe and finds peace to progress.
I should go to the place where Lions rest.
Under the sun,
Between the angry ways of men
I found some peace
Like I've found my way home again
Only when I'm with you
Greater joy is known to none
Before the eyes of men
We are one.
Before the first
Before lvoe was more than Him
Let's find a way
To live now like it was then
And in the red sky of morning
the Whole greater than the sun
Under the eyes of God, we are one
Dawns a brand new day
We'll walk proudly hand in hand
Two frightened children
Becoming brave as wife and man
And as first love turns to trusting
We'll watch true love come
Under the eyes of Heaven
We are one
Chorus vocals by Lori jean Lothenore, Julie Perkins, Jon Lothenore, Bill Martinez and John R. Mabry
The news said a convict is on the run.
Helicopter sparkles in early evening sun.
The weatherman grins like he's having fun.
Meanwhile the drive-by killer got another one.
Hey! Somebody send the Soul-Army down!
Hey! Somebody send the Soul-Army down!
The headlines read of my own neighbordhood.
We stubbornly believe inside, we're good, we're good.
But how much longer can this go on? Before the Wrath give way,
I say
Come, Lord! Come!
Hey! Somebody send the Soul-Army down!
Hey! Somebody send the Soul-Army down!
We are apathetic, we are lifeless coals.
We have anaesthetic attitudes towards our doom foretold.
We refuse to walk though we've been paroled.
We pocket the silt but we leave behind the gold.
It was like Someone had thrown a switch.
Someone had watched and been sickened by what He saw once ttoo
often.
Had simply said, "Enough."
It was like half of the world was suddenly ripped away
Not a painful tearing, but like a scab, lifted
exposing infant skin to cold and lovely air.
The Sirens suddenly stopped.
Legion and Leader alike fell off the earth
The planet for a moment dripped poison and then breathed deep
Like the open air after illness
A breath evasive since creation.
Hey! Somebody send the Soul-Army down!
Hey! Somebody send the Soul-Army down!
It was like a switch was thrown.
Like a scab peeled away.
I knew this day was coming. It was ll part of the deal.
The shadows' chasing me and I'm running, and I know how that makes
you feel.
Now what idd you expect, Love? I'm a highwayness born and bred.
The hunger gnaws if I stop too long and now it's wanting to be
fed.
Aleytheia, my Love, you name I waking cry
Aleytheia, for your love a man would gladly die.
My home is on the highway, and my feet are highway shod
I'll come back to you someday, Aleytheia.
Now I cannot say that I'm not sorry.
It's you that pursues me in my dreams.
But the Lust, the Flesh, the Eyes, and the pride of Life are all
I can see.
I anxiously await the mercy that will crush the wandering from
these bones
That will leave me free to come back where you are, back to my
home.
Aleytheia, my Love, you name I waking cry
Aleytheia, for your love a man would gladly die.
Now I can say I 'm sorry. Sorry for the pain.
After all that you gave to me, the Peace, the Rage, the Rain.
Twisting me inside myself, something has to give
So if I lie down again, tell me will you let me live?
For my home is on the highway, and my feet are highway shod
I'll come back to you someday, Aleytheia.
Making this has sure been fun, but I'm all done.
Like to stay but I got to run, I'm all done.
Never gonna see number one, but I'm all done.
All done. All done. And I'm so tired.
Dinner's on, gonna get me some, 'cause I'm all done.
Mashed pertaters by the ton, I'm all done.
Peas and corn and fresh-baked buns I'm all done.
All done. All done. And I'm so tired.
(May I be excused?)
My pickin' finger is gettin' numb, I'm all done
Wave so long to the sinkin' sun, I'm all done.
You can always rewind, so don't be glumb, now that I'm all done.
All done. All done. And I'm so tired.
I'm so tired, I'm so tired, I'm so tired.
I'm so tired. I'm so tired.
It is the the twilight of another summer. I am entering my first senior year at California Baptist College and still I cannot spell. Let us discuss the album, shall we? first off, I have had zero time for music the last year. When a snatch of melody or lyric came to me, I sung it into my mini-tape recorder and forgot about it, always saying to myself, "Summer...summer..." so when summer cam, I went to recording as if on a schedule. "On June 29th I sahll be creative," and was. Amazing. So the album before you is the result of two months of effort and editing. B.J. West came to visit jsut as the initial recording was beign finished and I want to thank him for his invaluable encouragement and suggestions.Thanks also to Bill Ritchie for his calligraphical contributions to the project; and most especially to Cherrisa for her patient endurace of my "Listen to this, Honey" for the four hundredth time. Plus! Mega-thanks to the McMahon's for lending me their synth! The Songs: "First Things First" is a collaboritive effort with Eric Hann, and was my attempt at Kate Bush-esque-ness. "Steal Away" came as a result of reading Thomas Howard's Christ the Tiger and, of course, William Blake. "Falling from the Sky" results from a greater (and growing) awareness of the world as being sacramental. I've always had a (subconscious) sacramental view of things, which I am just now recognizing. "Philistines" was written at work, the bowling alley. I am not proud of this attitude, but I must admit to possissing it. I'm working on it, all right? Thanks to Matthew Arnold (RIP) for the label. "Where Lions Rest" is an old song, originally intended only as a track for a special Christmas cassette I plan to assemble. But B.J. convinced me it was good enough for inclusion on an "Apocrypha" project. "Under the Eyes..." was written for the beloved Bilow's wedding, and after only, what? Four years? of promises there is finally a studio version--and here it is. "Soul Army Down" comes from a dream of an early-70s Bruce Cockburn concert. I woke up, deep in the night with the chorus ringing in my head, so I rushed to the living room and sang it into my mini-tape recorder. Later I finished the song, trying to make it as Cockburn-esque as possible, fusing different styles he's used over the years, including innocent-folksy verses (music-wise), political/urban lyrics, spoken poetry ("Lily of the Midnight Sky"), Choir-sung verses ("Bright Sky") and a flugelhorn solo, no liess! ("Silver Wheels") What fun. "Aleytheia" started out as a Richard Thompson-type piece, but took on its own life, becoming a prophesy from a prodigal. "All Done" is tripe, in a T-Bone Burnett production-style. Also thatnks to the Wrights for lending me a mastering deck.
John R. Mabry
All songs copywrite 1987 by John R. Mabry. Words, music and instruments/vocals by John R. Mabry except where noted