I see you making plans for my salvation
You pray for me every day to show you care
But you never ask my views on your preparation
You just tell me to preach the good news that you share
Lay your sins in silver bowls,
Say your prayer, fill the holes in your life,
Repeat your creed,
Sing your hymns,
Scream your pleas,
Save your soul, but
Don’t waste your faith on me
How can you always know the answer?
How do you know my final fate?
How can you speak out against blasphemy and slander
when your brain is vacant and your heart is full of hate?
Lay your sins in silver bowls,
Say your prayer, fill the holes in your life,
Repeat your creed,
Sing your hymns,
Scream your pleas,
Save your soul
And if the final judgement’s here
I’ll stand up tall while you fall to your knees
But I don’t see the rapture coming, so
Don’t waste your faith on me
Lay your sins in silver bowls,
Say your prayer, fill the holes in your life,
Repeat your creed,
Sing your hymns,
Scream your pleas,
Save your soul, but
Don’t waste your faith on me
© 2018 Aaron Clift Productions. All rights reserved.
Want me to freeze when I race my car too fast?
No! I’ll slam the gas so hard I break my feet
Want me to ease before I shatter glass?
No! I’ll squeeze the shards ‘til my fingers bleed
And I don’t care if it pains me
I don’t care
You’re the one who runs me off the road
yet you fret when I crumble in a wreck
But I don’t care that it pains you
I don’t care
‘Cause all my life you tried to worry me to death
but soon I’ll relax and take my last crash
Cry to the skid marks that scatter in my wake
but never make me hit the brakes again
Then I’ll take my last crash
Then I’ll take my last . . .
In the moment when I slam against the wall
Your sham concern for me is all you’ll have left
But I don’t care that it pains you
I don’t care
‘Cause all my life you tried to worry me to death
but soon I’ll relax and take my last crash
Cry to the skid marks that scatter in my wake
but never make me hit the brakes again
Then I’ll take my last crash
Then I’ll take my last crash
All my life you tried to worry me to death
but soon I’ll relax and take my last crash
You can cry to the skid marks that scatter in my wake
but you’ll never make me hit the brakes again
Now I take my last crash
Now I take my last crash
now I take my last . . .
© 2018 Aaron Clift Productions. All rights reserved.
ACT I
Yesterdays
And heroes fade
Lovers wane
‘Cross the ocean
This sparkling sea
Means nothing to me
For a castaway is never really free
Seven years
And endless tears
Prisoner here
Of sweet Calypso
And yet three more
Lost, cursed to shore
But memories pull me onward
Home by the sea
With you my love, I’m free
Free from these wandering wastes
Never more a slave to the chase
Taunted by wonders pulling me to sea
ACT II
Home by the bay
A hero’s heart, should stay
Thunder cracks, storms gather ‘round
I’ll never be back if I run aground
Caught in this tempest pulling me astray
Lost at sea
My heart will weather this storm
Though the waves try to pull me down
I’ll retort:
“However you try me
Batter and defy me
I’ll be coming home
So go and forsake me
You think you can break me now?”
Cross the sea
Toward my shore I’m drawn
I’ll be free
Though years and years wear on
But however they try me
Batter and defy me
I’ll be coming home
I know I will outlast them
Push on and surpass them
I’ll be coming home
They think they can deface me
Sink me and erase me
Though I’ll soon be free
My god, am I dreaming?
I think that I’m finally home
ACT III
Yesterdays
And heroes fade
Distance made
Absent lovers
While time forgot
Still you did not
So I’ll take back
The life I lost
Home by the sea
With you my love, I’m free
Free from these wandering wastes
Never more a slave to the chase
Now that I have you with me
© 2018 Aaron Clift Productions. All rights reserved.
There was a time when things were clearer,
When life looked better through the rearview mirror
Now each day, you fade away
And there’s a feeling too strong to ignore
That we were better off before
And now I see, looking back,
That I took for granted all I had
I fear I’ve made a grave mistake
And now I face a lonely life that I abhor
(We were) better off before
Better off
I’ll be alone
No matter which way I go
Without you I’ll be kept awake alone in the night
With you I’ll be lonely only opening up in a fight
Can’t you see, woe is me
You haunt my melancholy dreams
So I’ll return, I never learn
And I’ll consider that once more
We were better off before
I’ll be alone
No matter which way I go
Without you I’ll be kept awake alone in the night
With you I’ll be lonely only opening up in a fight
In the end, we both know
I’ll never have the heart to go
It’s you and me, eternally
And we’ll be dancing around with the thought
That we were better off
We were better off
(We were) better off before
© 2018 Aaron Clift Productions. All rights reserved.
I float to you in the dead of night
to show you truth inside your myth:
Behind the moon lies my fabled castle in the sky
I’ll sail you there – make a wish,
and I’ll be your airship
Fly!
Climb my bow, and hold on tight
Wrestle with the clouds as we zip right through the mist
All your life you wanted to fly,
so flow and glide to my castle in the sky
The kingdom’s here – open your eyes,
see the myth revealed
Now I give my wings to you
so you will always soar,
you will always soar,
you will always soar
Take this gift and fly
© 2018 Aaron Clift Productions. All rights reserved.
I caught him digging in your dirt
sniffing for words to make you hurt
He ripped the earth and left a hole,
he clipped the roots that held your soul
The scavenger smiles
in his coat and tie
He treats you nice
so you’ll never hear him strike
Find the truth,
remove his disguise
See through the black heart
of a savage in a fancy suit
Now he’s tearing up your house,
wears down your walls without a sound
Soon they’ll fall with nothing left
and yet you still call him your friend
The scavenger struts
in extravagant cuffs
He’s running amuck,
drunk from your reckless trust
Find the truth,
remove his disguise
See through the black heart
of a savage in a fancy suit
Why can’t you see through his deceit?
Why do you leave and choose defeat?
Hear him laugh at your disgrace
He’s glad to smear it in your face
The ravager glows
‘cause he’s broken your home
You gave him all that you own
but you still won’t let him go
Find the truth,
remove his disguise
See through the black heart
of a savage in a fancy suit
© 2018 Aaron Clift Productions. All rights reserved.
I hear the hazy waves on a solemn summer shore
It’s all so quiet now – no sign of the storm
Sand surrounding me – I’m pulled down with the tide
I fall in the sea and sink through my mind
Churning
Turning
Slurring swells whir in my ear
Drifting
Shifting
Then in an instant disappear
Scenes like grains of sand
sifting through my hand
In and out of focus these
images coalesce and –
I’m not sure if this is real
Can I trust what I touch and feel?
Is everything I hear and all that I’ve seen
a dream within a dream?
Sleeping again,
time seems to leave me
Seeking a meaning,
I spiral endlessly
Whirling through a blur of mismatched episodes
Hurling in infinite space – through worlds within worlds
Twisting
Resisting
I can’t lift my eyes to the present or past
Gasping
Clasping
The future slips right through my grasp
Scenes like grains of sand
sifting through my hand
In and out of focus these
images coalesce and
As I tumble through
each reality
Every place I see
draws me deeper, still –
I’m not sure if this is real
Can I trust what I touch and feel?
Is everything I hear and all that I’ve seen
a dream within a dream?
Come up for air
my body is so light here
I feel myself grow:
a breath in a sphere
There’s a wind that flies inside my head
high above the haze
Where shifting dreams and memories
slowly take shape
Now it’s time to change my life,
embrace uncertainty
Embrace the dream
that lives in me
Now I know that this is real
I create what I touch and feel
Everything I hear and all that I’ve seen –
I’m the dream within a dream
© 2018 Aaron Clift Productions. All rights reserved.
Crash the pack,
Dash with wind behind your back
Rushing legs flutter in a flood of motion
Your nose grows mad from a scent of blood
Make deadly chase through an ocean of grass
forever . . .
Embrace your primal restless drive
Stake your claim and ride with wild hunters
Sound a howl,
Hound the kill with gnashing jowls
Licking lips flicker in a flash of moonlight
Your ears hear whines of the frightened prey
Prowl midnight fields ‘till your crying makes him
surrender . . .
Embrace your primal restless drive
stake your claim,
give your life
to fly with wild hunters
Embrace your primal restless drive
Stake your claim and ride with wild hunters
© 2018 Aaron Clift Productions. All rights reserved.
When my fears come alive
I need you by my side
When my heart races,
When there’s trembling in my spine,
Will you be there
To ease my troubled mind?
And, oh, my love,
I feel it deep inside my bones
But all I want to do is hide from my tears,
So stay with me, my dear
Don’t leave me here alone
If all goes wrong,
Take my hand
If all goes wrong,
Help me take a stand
You’re my rock
When waves surround me
When hurricanes rip the air,
You ground me
And oh, my love,
My burdens hound me ‘til I’ve had enough
But you never let me face them
Alone
When my worries grow
Please don’t let me go
If all goes wrong, I turn to you,
And your love will help me through
If all goes wrong
You never let it break me
Help me stand strong
© 2018 Aaron Clift Productions. All rights reserved.
Swim your sea of years
to the day you turned nine
Breathe the waves that paint the rocks,
Smell the seaweed and brine
The sun shined brighter then,
Saltwater tasted sweet
Not a care or burden in the world –
Just the surf beneath your feet
As you wade through your youth,
your worries will unwind
And now you journey further
through the oceans of your mind
Back to the water
Back to the sea
Back to the water
Back to the sea
And if your troubles come to drown you
Will you let them pull you down?
Or will stand in the memory of the tide?
You’re done with oceans
on the day you turn twenty-one
The tide recedes, the sun has set –
Your new life’s begun
The wind is bitter,
coral reef is bleached
No joyful sounds fill your world –
Just the noise from the street
As you hit the pavement,
your worries will unfold
And now you journey farther
from the things that kept you whole
You turn your
Back to the water
Back to the sea
Back to the water
Back to the sea
Way out in the distance,
a memory calls your name –
it’s the dock where you went fishing at age ten
If even for an instant
you could step back on the beach
you might find the peace you’re seeking once again
Come
Back to the water
Back to the sea
Back to the water
Back to the sea
As you wade through your youth,
your worries will unwind
Now – journey further
through the oceans of your mind
© 2018 Aaron Clift Productions. All rights reserved.