"Life Drawing"
Rick & Val's Debut Record
This is hardly their first foray into musical madness, but it may well be their most ambitious. Expect the unexpected -- in songs like “Luciana”, which infuses the traditional ballad with extreme exotica; “Dime Store Beads”, where the pain of every crummy break-up of our lives is recalled. Vividly. And “Hangover”, their hilarious cringe-making memoir of a night we’ve all lived to regret.
Listen to clips and enjoy a walk through "Life Drawing" with all the lyrics below.
RAINSTORM
Out of the blue, what could she do?
Suddenly you, standing there from the past.
Then she knew, some things are true,
They may be few, but some things last.
It was love sweeping down like a rainstorm.
Love sweeping down on the summer wind,
Love sweeping down like an angel to the ground
On broken wings.
Difficult play – do you send him away?
You want him to stay, but life’s not like that.
Friends for a day, join in the fray,
Images sway like acrobats.
Time is a bluff, and though it’s tough
There’s not enough to go around.
Smooth with the rough, sort out your stuff,
Right off the cuff, you old romantic!
It was love sweeping down like a rainstorm;
Love sweeping down on two broken hearts.
Love sweeping down like a stranger into town,
He stands apart – angel, can you heal his heart?
It was love sweeping down like a rainstorm;
Love sweeping down on the summer wind.
Love sweeping down like an angel to the ground
On broken wings - now the angel sings!!
Rick Jones 2005.
AMARGOSA
A warm dry wind through the valley
Rustles the amargosa pines
Tumbleweed and desert paintbrush
Grow among the old abandoned mines
A ballerina from the city
Steps down off the bus and starts to scheme
A theatre with walls to paint her pictures
Here’s a place for living out her dreams
Lost in time…..lost in time
Clouds and angels on the ceiling
Courtiers and jesters on the wall
The king and queen above the doorway
Offer the lone dancer their applause.
Ballerina in the evening
She dances for the ghosts of the mines
Arabesques and ballet slippers
Drifting through the amargosa pines.
Lost in time….lost in time….
Who are those children in the twilight
Wild horses eating from their hands?
Red shirted ghosts in the arroyo
Wild mysterious land
Lost in time…..lost in time…..
Valerie Neale 2008
DRIVIN’ IN THE RAIN
It was summer I was seventeen
I watched the storm dance across the lake
the weather actin’ like my heartstrings
I jumped in Uncle Billy’s old Ford pickup by the gate
Why I was feelin so peculiar had a lot to do with a certain girl
It all went wrong and my heart was in pain
So I went drivin’ in the rain.
Few years later little Colorado town
Storm blew up one morning in July
Couldn’t work paintin’ houses
Near enough to home for lunch, I thought I’d drop on by
Some big dude snoozin’ in my bedroom, wife in the kitchen makin’ tea for two
Damn that weatherman here we go again
So I went drivin’ in the rain
Something soothing ‘bout the wiper blades
Swishing back and forth like an old machine
Something good about the windblown raindrops
Shuttin’ out the memories, washin’ ‘em clean.
Don’t think anything could split us up
We’re just too close and I know you care
I felt the same back then though,
Took it all for granted as if Fate just wouldn’t dare
So come on darlin’ humour me, put your shoes on, keep me company
It’s comin’ down out there like an old freight train
Let’s go drivin’ in the rain
LEAVING
It’s six in the morning and you’re walking away
No note on the table ‘cause there’s nothing to say
Your life in a suitcase, you’re leaving to find
The end of the rainbow in your mind.
What caused it to happen? There’s noone to blame
Life took its course, each day felt the same
The grass is always greener , the sun always shines
Out on the horizon of your mind.
You’re leaving…..you’re leaving…..you’re leaving….mmmm
The past is behind you
No more need for tears
The key to the future
Lies beyond the shadow of your fears….
Out on the highway, the wind in your hair
A new love, a new town, you really don’t care
Your future’s a mountain you’re willing to climb
To prove that it’s not only in your mind…..
You’re leaving…..you’re leaving…..you’re leaving….mmmm
© Valerie Neale
DIME STORE BEADS
Things got rough a few years back, I got laid off down at the store,
The wife was eatin' for two right then, (you could hear the old wolf at the door).
It was all I could do those long winter months, just coverin' our day-to-day needs,
When Christmas came along, well all I could afford, was a little set of Dime Store Beads
Dime Store Beads, I saw them in the window,
Dime Store Beads, on a bed of cotton snow.
They were blue as prairie skies
They were the same blue as her eyes,
Those Dime Store beads, from a Christmas long ago.
Things got better, (they couldn't get worse), and we finally turned the corner at last,
There was still some rough times waitin' up ahead, but nothin' like they was in the past,
We had some good years, crazy times, when everything I touched would succeed.
And every year when Christmas came around, she'd put on those Dime Store Beads.
(Chorus)
Then one summer, she just up and left, (and it really wasn't out of the blue.)
The writing had been up on the wall for a while, I just wouldn't admit it was true.
She took the car; she took the furs; the fancy jewels -hell, I don't mind –
It wasn't what she took away that hurt - what hurt was what she left behind.
(Chorus)
© Rick Jones
I DREAMED A DREAM
I dreamed an angel came and drew a picture of my future on the wall;
An upside-down triangle with three colors splashed around and that was all.
How can this be a future? Angel answer me before I wake again.
But the angel only smiled and left me sleeping in the lonely world of men.
And every day i think about that upside-down triangle in my dream.
And the pretty little angel who I knew was not exactly what she seemed
The colors were a dash of blue, a line of green above a splash of red;
Blue for mind and red for blood and green for all the loves you left for dead.
And did I wake that day or did I wake in just another kind of sleep?
Have I ever been awake to see the company a waking man might keep?
Or am I like the child who holds the rod and sees the mirror of the bait?
A child is born and hooked by time and trouble without struggle to his fate.
So come back little angel, draw another of your pictures on my wall.
Tell me I’m alive and well and not some madman’s clever little doll.
Answer me the riddle, tell my crazy heart the things it want to know.
Draw another picture angel, where did all my dreams of Heaven go?
I dreamed a dream, up in the sky and you were there, and we could fly.
I dreamed a dream, please make it true; that you love me and I love you.
Rick Jones
CUERNAVACA NIGHTS
In the city of eternal spring,
A determined traveler can find anything his heart desires
In the twinkling of a jet black eye
A story can unravel faster than a humming bird can fly
When the sun hangs just above the trees,
The weather has you buzzing like the honey bees.
A little two step for the moon,
You can swoon as you sway beneath its light
It’s too late, you can’t wait
You’ve just gotta get out into those wicked Cuernavaca nights.
Down behind the Boulevard Juarez
There’s a little bar where lovers gather just to be in love.
It’s a dangerous and tricky place,
Where the bad tequila is the least of the perils you might face.
A boy strums a little black guitar
And when he starts to sing, the music tells you where you are.
As you listen to him croon, very soon Cupid has you in his sights,
It’s too late, it’s your fate,
You are dancing through another of those wicked Cuernavaca Nights.
Under the volcano, waiting for the rains to fall
You can never say no, gotta answer Quezacotal’s call.
Under the volcano, standing with our arms entwined,
Dancing with our eyes closed, remembering that love is blind.
In the palace of Hernan Cortez
There are walls with painted histories of love affairs and fires.
In the Cuernavaca nights to come,
Will our tale be told and painted by the poets and the liars?
We turn to each other in the dark
And raise a glass to toast the lighting of the spark.
If you listen to your heart it’ll start singing love songs and it’s right.
Its too late, you can’t wait,
You’re off and running through another of those wicked
Cuernavaca nights.
Rick Jones
EASY BENG TRUE TO YOU
Remember back in London in ’81? Both burnt bitter by love?
Marriage was a dangerous game; you said once was enough.
Who can stay steady for all that time? It’s too tough to do;
But it’s been easy, darlin’
Easy being true to you
Remember all that trouble in west LA? Chasin’ round playin’ their game?
They said I had to fix my smile, they wanted you to change your name.
But you stayed steady through thick and thin, even when you were blue
So it’s been easy, darlin’
Easy being true to you.
Easy waking up to those wonderful eyes,
Easy when you sing my songs.
Easy dreaming up all our crazy schemes
I know where my heart belongs.
Remember looking over Zabriskie Point? Salt pan shimmering white.
Looking up at the stars and makin’ love all night?
That’s when I started to realize, I was gonna see it through
‘cuz it was easy, darlin,
Easy being true to you.
Easy watching life start to swing your way
Easy with my stupid friends
Easy driving round in that beat-up bug
I hope the highway never ends
Remember at the mission you said o.k? I pretended to be afraid?
But down inside my soul somewhere, my fears started to fade.
And that was such a long time ago my friend; every precious minute is new.
That’s why it’s easy, darlin’,
Easy being true to you.
© Rick Jones 2005
HANGOVER
I should have left with my friends an hour ago
But I wanted to party, so I said go on home.
Those last four tequilas were probably wrong,
And the guy at the bar is really coming on strong.
I feel a big hangover coming on.
He slides up towards me, “Can I buy you a beer?”
My inner self warns ”His intentions are clear”.
My outer self smiles and waits for the lies,
And the guy at the bar says “You’ve got beautiful eyes”
I feel a big hangover coming on.
Vodka and tonic, tequila and lime.
I should know better, but hey it’s
Party time, party time.
Out on the dance floor, the band starts to play.
I close my eyes but the room starts to sway.
So I groove and I grind, like I’m under a spell,
And the guy at the bar says “You dance really well”.
I feel a big hangover coming on.
The beat’s getting faster, I’m starting to move;
Now the guy at the bar sees I’m finding my groove.
He says “You like to tango? Well I’ve got the time.
So what d’ya think baby, your place or mine?”
I feel a big hangover coming on.
Valerie Neale 2008
LUCIANA
Luciana she's so teenie in her brand new blue bikini
In Yelapa with her Papa, deep in Mexico
They're making movies, making movies.
Over great Chilean vino she meets Quentin Tarantino
She's so cool it doesn't phase her. Deep in Mexico
They're making movies, making movies.
Look into her eyes - is that her soul or a disguise
Does she really realize Life's a regular surprise?
When all the grass has gone, just a long-forgotten song,
We, los calles empedradas, will remember.
Everybody's long pestañas beating in the cool verandas
Watch the Dragon dark and lonely hunting in the cloud
They're making movies, making movies.
Pixie's taking us to dinner, it's Thanksgiving with the sinners,
Luciana, eyes on fire, dancing with her Daddy
Making movies, they’re making movies.
Faraway from Culver City, oh, the jungle looks so pretty.
See the turtle in the water, watch the Lover and his daughter.
Waves that battered down the Puerto on the Playa de los Muertos
Beautiful, but so destructive, like the Big Machine that's making movies.
BILL AND SUZY
Billy was a drinker – you know what I mean -
Let him in your kitchen and he’d drink the cupboards clean.
Lost a lot of friends that way – left him all alone
Yes, his story cuts to the bone.
Suzy from the Heartland – nothin’ left to lose
Lost her Dad in Vietnam – lost her Mom to booze.
Tried to end it once herself, but even that went wrong.
Hers was a sad old country song.
One night at a meeting a guy brings his guitar;
Sings about a baby and a lonely wandering star
Billy gets the message and the thought begins to gel
“ This guitar’s gonna drag me out of Hell.”
She heard him sing Hank Williams at her local rendezvous,
Started hummin’ backup like her Momma used to do.
He said ‘You wanna sit in?’ and she smiled and said ‘Alright.’
There was sweet harmony that night!
They started learning country songs - some old and some were new,
As long as they reflected life and felt a little blue.
Love just followed naturally like a sweet resolving chord –
Like singin’ in the arms of the Lord.
Yeah, like singin’ in the arms of the Lord.
So, all you lonely lovers, no matter where you are
Scan your local classifieds and go and buy an old guitar –
And just like Bill and Suzy find a husband or a wife,
Ah, sweet mystery of Life!
Rick Jones
Whiskey and soda, C.C. and seven.
I’m gonna to regret this, but for now
I’m in heaven, I’m in heaven.
Back at my place, I’m starting to sober.
If I had half a brain I would think this thing over;
But the guy from the bar pops open a beer
And says “Hang on - we’re headed for the stratosphere”.
I feel a big hangover coming on.
What happened last night, I really can’t tell,
But when I woke up this morning, I didn’t feel very well.
But the guy at the bar leaned into my pain, and
Said “That was exquisite, let’s do it again!”
I feel a big hangover coming on.
Excedrin and water; aspirin and tea.
I’m gonna curl up and die now, ‘cause
It’s agony, it’s agony.
The moral of this story is quite simply known –
Leave the guy at the bar and go home alone.
In the cold light of morning when you first dare to look,
The only thing in bed beside you is a really good book.
Prevent that big hangover from coming on..
Hangover, a big hangover…….
