From the In Denial EP

   HAD TO PRETEND ©Bud Buckley 2011

Had to pretend I didn’t see you when I shut my eyes

Had to pretend I wasn’t looking every time you crossed your thighs

Had to pretend I didn’t hear you laugh when I joked to the crowd

Had to pretend when you walked away I didn’t want to scream your name out loud

Like some mixed up actor, pharm not sure what message to send,

Fake it– hope to make it to a stage where I won’t have to pretend  

Had to pretend I didn’t live to see your smile

Didn’t long to follow you mile after mile,

Had to pretend there was good reason to come to your room

To save the world from impending doom

Like some mixed up actor, not sure what message to send,

Fake it– hope to make it to a stage where I won’t have to pretend  

Bridge:

Good people get hurt, sometimes the time’s not right at all

But it hurts just as bad not to make a move

You try to give the losers a safe place to fall

And hope that their lives can improve

Had to pretend that my half added up to whole

Had to pretend I didn’t Miss the partner to my soul

I had to pretend but now those painful days are done

No pretension, we are one

Don’t need to pretend ‘cause I designed you in my dreams,

Then you appeared and now it seems

I’m not some mixed up actor, I know what message to send,

No need to fake it, we’ve made it to the stage

Where we don’t have to pretend  

 

I NEED ©Bud Buckley 2011

What’s that voice? I feel between my ears, nearly brings me tears

What’s that she says? I almost hear her words, air off the wings of birds

If I could see her lips move, feel her breath on my face

If I could feel her touch me to make my heart and mind race

 

CHORUS:

I need to see her, her moves are my song

I need to show her, that I can play along

Wish she could fold herself around me all the time

I need I need I need

I need I need I need

I pluck at strings, call her from my dreams, so she can tell me what they mean

I hammer keys, seeking rainbows in the night, when I see black and white

I search the clouds for poems, for rhymes in the rain storm

I beg tree limbs and wind chimes for melodies to be born Repeat chorus

 

And then she comes to me, her whisper a caress

Gives me words, music, stories I can’t confess

I need to keep her close now, not let her disappear

She’s the heartbeat of my song she’s all that I can hear Repeat Chorus

 

 

IT’S BEEN FUN     © Bud Buckley 2011

 I’m through making up excuses

Clock’s run down, no over time for us

It’s true I’ve used up all my ruses

You’ve left town, I’m breathing fumes from your bus

I cruised here on tracks that lead to nowhere

Is nowhere what’s become of us?

 

CHORUS:

ohhhhhhhhhhh   But it’s been fun.    

ohhhhhhhhhhh I have stories and it’s been fun    

And  maybe maybe maybe

And  maybe maybe maybe  There’s more to come

 

 I lived  for each moment

 And usually they’d explode all over  you

 Sometimes I was pretty low rent

 I know I scare you with my point of view

I took you too high above your homeland

And tried to catch you when you flew   Repeat Chorus

 Bridge:

I made you laugh, you must admit, so please remember me when I’ve  died

I have no excuse for my self abuse, It’s something I can’t  hide

Even though I tried  You know how hard I tried   Repeat Chorus

 Slow death sure has been a trial

Sad to see that’s what becomes of us

Guess I fashioned  my own style

Quite a spree, lived as I thought I must

Push off, I’m good and now I wonder

What was all the fuss ?

Chorus:

 ohhhhhhhhhhhh   But it’s been fun.    

 ohhhhhhhhhhhh You have my stories and it’s been fun    

And  maybe maybe maybe And  maybe maybe maybe

But  maybe maybe maybe  

 No, I have to run

I have to run, Have to run

YOU’RE SAFE IN MY DREAMS ©Bud Buckley 2011

 She was dragged through the day

Over mean broken streets

She sleeps beside me now

Hoping  to hide in the deep

Breathing slowly soothing night sounds

But they’re drowned by her screams

I hold her, I whisper

Shhhh, you’re safe in my dreams

CHORUS:                            

Safe in my dreams, you’re safe in my dreams

 No need to hide, you’re safe in my dreams

She dreams behind closed doors

Hardships somehow I have missed

Bad guesses became messes

So much less than she wished

Lovers who don’t love,

Friends who vanished like steam

Clumsy dances, lost chances

But  now  you’re safe in my dreams  Repeat Chorus

Let my arms sooth your sorrow

Feel my heart next to yours

Let me help you trust tomorrow

With my love that endures

Your past lingers like a curse

The present is a flowing stream

Come float along with me

Safe in my dreams  Repeat Chorus twice

 

 

From Sitting On The Wind EP

               

FROZEN SHADOWS     © 2009 Bud Buckley

 Deep winter bruises after all your games, your leaving’s worse than I had feared

No warm passion and all our hopes snowed under, disappeared

Crunch of frozen mud under my boots, and you flew off above the trees

You’re too far gone to come back home, frozen shadows over me 

 CHORUS:

            Frozen shadows, they invade me

            Glacial scraping of blood on bone

            Icy fingers and you betrayed me

            Frozen shadows I’m so alone       

   

You don’t remember where home is, it’s missing from your map

You hunt attention that’s foreign to me, I’m bloody, dying in your trap

You cashed in on my old wealth, checked out on your new money

You’re Queen of the snow and I’m black ice, frozen shadows over me   Repeat Chorus

How much longer can this last, before the mercy of the sun

How much winter must I endure before I come undone?

I guess I never should have bet there was more to you than beauty

It’s hard to admit that I chose you, frozen shadow’s over me    Repeat Chorus

A  WAY       ©Bud Buckley 2009

Evacuate all sea life, Red Tide advances             

Nature’s gone unnatural, dwindling last chances

Overheated planet, turbulent weather

See predator and prey swim away together

CHORUS:

Swim away, escape with our skins

Swim away forget all our sins

Swim away, swim away

Swim away, escape with our skins

Swim away, before the end begins

Swim away, swim away 

Evacuate all insects, pesticides run rampant

Can’t sow your own seeds if you don’t own the patent

Bees and Frogs vanish, fragile as a feather

See the bugs and the birds fly away together

Chorus2

Fly away, escape with our skins

Flyaway, forget all our sins

Fly away, Fly away

Fly away, escape with our skins

Fly away before the end begins

Fly away, Fly away 

 

Evacuate all Wildlife.  Wait!    We have to do better

No time for denial,   Extinct is forever

There is no escape,  We’re all in this together

 Out chorus

Have to stay to save our skins

Have to stay, Atone for our sins Have to stay Have to stay X2

 

Additional Unrecorded 3^rd verse/chorus:

The Gulf floor burst open and out gushed the oil

The sea caught fire and started to boil

Dolphins and turtles slid up to the beaches

Everything dies where ever it reaches

Slide away…

MOVE ME  ©Bud Buckley 2009

 She said, write me, sing me something deep, I don’t mean low

She said, if you want to have me then I will have you know

Some literary words, and a clever use of verbs

And If you want me, you have to move me

CHORUS :

Oh move me, move me, move me. inspire and improve me

Give me words that move me Oh ooo ooo ooo

She said, I love it when you say things I never heard before

I’m charmed beyond control by your use of metaphor

You can have me for a sonnet and a thoughtful simile

And if you want me, you have to move me   Repeat Chorus

I said, look at me, darlin’, dive into my eyes

My hands around her waist, my heart’s of such great size

I say what I feel but I need you to just feel me

And  If my words should move you, well you know how that moves me

Repeat Chorus Then:

Oh move me, move me, move me. satisfy and soothe me

Give me words that move me Oh ooo ooo ooo

            

 SIT ON THE WIND ©2009 Bud Buckley

 Birds up high, floating through the air

Dipping our wings to take us anywhere

We find our wordless way on the breeze

Touching the earth whenever we please

Gliding down to rest, grateful and blessed

CHORUS:

Together we sit on the wind,

Together we sail across the sky

When we want to we swoop and we dive, effortless, synchronized

Together we sit on the wind

When nothing seems to go our way

We’ll both go, or we’ll both stay

To ride new rivers in the sun and the rain

To comfort and soothe each other’s pain

We take it together, feather for feather   Repeat Chorus

BRIDGE:

We’ve mourned with the swan who’s lonely

Felt the pain for what he’s missing

Side by side let death be our only  cause for lonely reminiscing

My best friend, my precious wife, partners for life

Together we sit on the wind,

Together we sail across the sky

When we want to we swoop and we dive, effortless, synchronized

Together we, sit on the wind

Together we, sit on the wind

Sit on the wind

JACOB’S HURRICANE.2    ©Bud Buckley 2005, 2009

 Jake heard a hurricane is comin’ and he should run for his life

He said, “I got bigger problems. Something’s comin’ for my wife

So go board up your windows, flee your mobile home

Cause my darlin’s trapped in bed, she’s sick to the bone”

 

CHORUS:

Well Jacob’s not afraid of a hurricane

He’s afraid he’ll never see her again

He can put up with damage and financial ruin

But he don’t know what he’d do without her

He’d be lost and useless without her

So bring on the hurricane

 

Jake’s neighbor tows his boat from his beach house

With his programmable toaster, in his car that talks

Calculates his loses, tries to reach his spouse

She’s safe up north with a foo foo dog she walks  Repeat Chorus

 

When it’s over people will pick up what’s left of their lives

For Jacob it’ll never be over for him

Dreams of biting wind and memories sharp as knives

If he’s neglected her, he’d be living a sin

Repeat Chorus Plus:

So bring on the hurricane, Bring on the hurricane, Bring on the hurricane,

Bring it on

               

 GO IF YOU WANT TO    ©Bud Buckley 2009

You can go if you want to

I wish you’d stay cause I want you to

Let me feel your heat,  let me taste your air

You can go if you want to but

I want you to make that sound that I like

When I kiss you right there   

CHORUS:

Open like the petals of a flower

I’ll show you how good a flower can feel

A blossom waiting to reveal  

I want to fill you to the roots of your being

Do all the things a lover can do but

You can go, if you want t

You can tell me you’re busy

You can tell me you got things to do

Well I got things I want to do with you  

You pretend you don’t need me

But I don’t think you want to leave me

So just go if you want to   Repeat Chorus

 

So tear yourself away from me

If you really think that’s the way it should be

I’ll wait here in the garden where you belong

I hope you don’t go too far

So I don’t know where you are

Just slip away and come back soon  if you want to

 Chorus+    You can go  But I hope you don’t you want to

From CD It’s About Time

Release Date: Dec. 27, 2007

LET ME GO ©2007 by Bud Buckley
It took too long to find you,
I did me over and you found me
The price so high I was blind to
The cost of letting you astound me
But now it’s time and it’s been time for a long time
Oh it’s time and it’s been time for a long time Oh oo oo oo

CHORUS:
If I could, I’d take you with me
Feel your smile deep in my soul
We both know they can’t reach me
So I beg you let me go Oh Oh oo oo oo oo
Don’t make me beg, Don’t make me beg, Don’t make me beg, Just let me go

We both left home behind
To find a brand new place
And life was kind
In our searching embrace
But now it’s time and it’s been time for a long time
Oh it’s time and it’s been time for a Long time Oh oo oo oo   Repeat Chorus

Before you, life was more hard
Than the face I showed you
But together we starred
In a love story overdue
But now it’s time and it’s been time for a long time
Oh it’s time and it’s been time for a long time Oh oo oo oo  Repeat Chorus

YOU CAN’T LEAVE MY MIND © 2007 By Bud Buckley

I feel you in all the places that you’ve been
I hear you in the silence, I hear you in the wind
In the dust I read the traces you left behind
You can leave anyplace but you can’t leave my mind
You can leave anyplace but you can’t leave my mind

I see you in the things you’ve left out of place
I see your creases in the chair and in the mirror I see your face
Every place you’ve been is every place you’ve left your sign
You can leave anyplace but you can’t leave my mind
You can leave anyplace but you can’t leave my mind

Bridge:

You blow through my hair even when it’s still
I feel you in every thing you’ve touched
You seep into me against my will

I can try to fill these spaces with things that aren’t you
Decorate in colors of a different hue
I could try to erase you from this place and time
You can leave anyplace and you’ll never leave my mind
You can leave anyplace but you’ll never leave my mind.
You can leave anyplace but you can’t leave my mind

UNDERGROUND © 2007 Bud Buckley
Parrots on a stop sign still daring to talk trash
On a honeysuckle wall built to camouflage burning ash
Sun glares from the east, clouds gang up in the west
Riding down the middle, dreading what comes next

When the American dream is no more to be found
Grab who and what you love
And go for the underground, go for the underground
Underground Underground

The air is getting filthy, so we’ll call it nice and clean
The rivers run with mercury and the fish are turning mean
There’s killing done for freedom, we just call it democracy
If it’s in the name of God you can’t call it hypocrisy

When those endless sound bytes make your head pound
Grab who and what you love
And go for the underground, go for the underground
Underground Underground

It’s fine to get rich unless you’re working with your hands
Ask for a living wage, watch your work go to other lands
You buy that line and put in the time, do just what you’re told
’til one day your job is downsized and you wake up sick and old

When you’re down so far you just can’t rebound
When your life’s no better than a homeless hound
When you get to the point you just want to keep your profile down
When you can’t sit and watch an other one get crowned
Grab who and what you love
And go for the underground, go for the underground
Underground Underground

KEEPING SECRETS © 2007 Bud Buckley, Kathy Feeney

Remember that day we were skipping stones, lakeside outside our selves
The dark mirror lake hiding deep unknowns, old church window reflects pastels
I didn’t mean to sink my stones, I didn’t mean what you thought I said
I didn’t know what secrets the lake owned, I didn’t know what was inside your head

CHORUS:
Keeping secrets, it hurt to smile
Keeping secrets, like a willful child
Keeping secrets, like we had no clue
I loved you too much to admit we’re through

We sat as still as the lake, as still as that old church where the faithful no longer come
Stained glass windows, blood ringing in my ears, silence leaving me numb
Your silence is causing this ache that my heart’s trying to deny
Your stillness as cold as the lake, Just make a ripple so I know you’re alive  Repeat chorus

While the water held its breath, the old church heaved a sigh
Listening for hello but hearing goodbye

We cut each other deep until the secrets were released
Fading scars, slow healing wounds we fight to find peace
No more skipping stones now the lake is a frozen field
Can we make it across this thin ice over what is still concealed?  Repeat chorus

ELEVATOR © 2007 Bud Buckley, Kathy Feeney

Elevator, oo you Elevator, Elevator, oo you Elevator

I feel you before I even hear you
Frantic, I push your buttons to get near you
Romantic , how you finally appear to
Tease me, seize me, retrieve and please me

CHORUS:
Elevate, I’ll wait
Elevate, I’ll Wait
Elevator, oo you Elevator, Elevator, oo you Elevator

I know I’m not the only one to ride you
I ask for it so it’s not like I’ was lied to
I’ll make you one stop only if I decide to
No crime , this time, I’m fine, yeah right I’m fine  Repeat Chorus

Inside I have to trust you
It scares me to be at your whim
Much Too late to hesitate
Don’t wanna go back to where I’ve been

Don’t leave me on the ground floor
Not used to going so low any more I’ll
I give in, now let me in, open t up your door
Just take me, don’t mistake me, you Shake me, awake me  Chorus

THE SILENCE THERE © 2007 by Bud Buckley

Sometimes I think I’m living in the wrong place
Sometimes I think I left too much behind
Sometimes leaving the rat race
Doesn’t always treat you kind
Sometimes nothing seems to be fair
I need the silence there
I need the silence there

I remember what I did
I can’t go back and rearrange it
Have no idea where I’m going
It’s only now that I can change it
To revise the past would certainly be rare
I need the silence there
I need the silence there

I need to keep my head here on my own neck
I need to keep my eyes inside my face
I need to keep from steering toward that train wreck
I need to make this a quiet place
It’s a challenge not to flip backwards in this chair
I need the silence there
I need the silence there
I need the silence there
I need the silence there

I STILL REMEMBER (HOW THAT FEELS) © 2007 Bud Buckley

Working harder than I did she’s making the grade
Makes me feel so proud to see the life she has made
She gives much more than it’s polite to take
She says to give is no mistake

CHORUS:
I still feel her on my lap, my little sack of sugar powder
Gives me that gap-toothed smile and squeals,
We’d roll around the floor, couldn’t get much louder
I still remember, I still remember
I still remember how that feels,
Oh oh oh

What lay beneath her smile, I tried to guess
I choked on my words, asking for forgiveness
To be her hero, I’d need to understand
How to reach through this emotional quicksand  Repeat Chorus

I think my only mistake was to give her what she thought she wanted
When she said to let her go
I waited for her to come back, she waited for me to reach her
All that waiting, all that wanting,
All that wondering, what did we know?

I just want to be the rock she can stand on
If I should go sooner than I planned on
I’ll still be as close as lightning to thunder
About my love, she’ll never have to wonder  Repeat Chorus

MELTDOWN © 2007 Bud Buckley, James Braha

Let Down, another Goddamn letdown
Old friends I loved and trusted,
Drive me mad, I’m so damned disgusted
Shakedown, I’m in the middle of a shakedown
Just wanna run and hide
Traitors coming’ at me from all sides

CHORUS:
Meltdown , You put me in a meltdown oh yeah
Meltdown, You put me in a melt down

Ripdown, here comes a classic ripdown
Leave me bare assed in the street,
Burned again, more goddamned heat
Takedown, you got me in a takedown
You jerked me all around
Turned me upside down   Repeat Chorus

Putdown, this is the ultimate putdown
You wiped me out just like a flash flood
Dragged my reputation through the mud  Repeat Chorus twice

TATTOO  ©2007 Bud Buckley

Bad ideas seem so perfect when they first inflame your mind
Possibly they’ll show no mercy going from cool to lame in time
The taste of now, sweet gone sour, that you can’t wash away
I Need something to last something thicker than what’s so phat today

My tattoo shows you where I was at that place in time
My tattoo advertises my one time state of mind
That’s why I wrote this song, I wrote it all for you
It’ll haunt me years from now an audio tattoo

Bad idea, what was I thinking when I made no move that day
I just watched, did not touch, too scared to steal you away
How was I to know how fast the years would go, how long we’d be apart?
How your voice your smile your every move would stay engraved upon my heart

My tattoo shows you where I was at that place in time
My tattoo advertises my one time state of mind
Don’t need a dragon, a bleeding heart or creature from the zoo
I wear you in my voice and smile, you’re my indelible tattoo

CROWDED MEMORY © 2007 Bud Buckley, Kathy Feeney

In my crowded memory, I see your faces looking
Out at me like now was yesterday
Smiling your stories at me,
You were this sergeant’s Lovely Hearts Club Band
Back in the day

CHORUS:
Miles and years mean nothing against our friendship
New styles, careers, nothing can transcend it
Look at us then, look at us now,
Look at us then, look at us now,
Look at us then, look at us now,

In my crowded memory, you acted bored when I
Warned you which rules not to bend
In your crowded memory,
Hope I’m more than just some
Guy who you knew way back when  Repeat chorus

If we passed on the street now
We might not know for sure but we’d
Turn and look to see if it was true
‘Cause in our crowded memories
Wind stirs the images of
Age and youth blending old and new  Repeat chorus