Lyrics
Tokyo Hotel Blues from
"Postcards From The Road"
© John Vaughan GEMA
A bellboy slips tomorrow's paper underneath your door
The view is very cool from the forteen millionth floor
The window it won't open so you don't hear a sound
Down below the neon glows you're miles from the ground
Lights blink on the skyline twinkle like the stars
You feel like david Bowie on the way to mars
But you can get tired of those highway things
Another night in a double room you share with Larry King
You'd like to get home to your wife and your life
What do you do two a.m. Tokyo hotel blues
The road can be a friend and it can be a bitch
Sometime it's a real fine line figuring out just which
Get this trip behind you that's what you really need
Not another smiling waitress with a menu you can't read
Jet lag is a demon it cracks the whip and grins
So you pour some more witches brew while the pill is kicking in
Yeah, you can get tired of those highway things
Another night in a double room you share with Larry King
You'd like to get home to your wife and your life
What do you do two a.m. Tokyo hotel blues
The
Tomb Of Carlos Gardel from
"Postcards From The Road"
© John Vaughan GEMA
It's late in the evening there is music and laughter
Buenos Aires is raising a glass to the master
He'll still have here smiling long after you've left her
Yes. he sings so great and she can tango so well
Their words are but whispers their hearts start to swell
Of the secrets that night, no one should tell
So you pay your respects by the moon
And go visit the tomb of Carlos Gardel
From the windowsill the lamplight spills to the pavement
They won't leave together that's a form of enslavement
In the soft night they go to a bar they both know in San Telmo
On the Avenida urchins have things they will sell
A bandoneon plays sad the church rings a bell
The twilight is voodoo they get lost in the spell
So you pay your respects by the moon
And go visit the tomb of Carlos Gardel
Some say love got tough took a turn for the worse
What is a blessing for some for some it's a curse
No can know what the clouds were hiding that night
When she fired the shot and he died where he fell
The pickpockets blend in with the shadows so well
And the key slips into the lock of the cell
So you pay your respects by the moon
And go visit the tomb of Carlos Gardel
State
Secrets from
"Postcards From The Road"
© John Vaughan GEMA
State secrets are simply a part of their weakness
The palace intrigues, the midnight rendezvous
When the high seas are calling, the pirates get restless
They're off on a mission, never leaving a clue
So pop goes the weasel, as mad as a hatter
Who are these Ambassadors of fun
Groove loon s in the night
Alive on the highway
As the road rolls away on the run
The ghost of marlene in a low champagne fog
Ignores all the borders as she covers the town
And the broken nosed bouncer tunnels under The Wall
All those scrapes with the law never bring the man down
He's card up his sleeve, played close to the chest
Now the roll of the dice has begun
In the luck of the draw
The odds are insane
More than a million to one
So Olga from the Volga, Wig Lady move over
Too much Ouzo is wicked it's bad for the gig
Close the taverna 'cause Athens is yawning
And please keep the state secrets hid
Plaese keep that state secrets hid
Her name it eludes you but she could play the piano
With a smile that reminds you of a misty lagoon
She left town in a hurry with a suitcase of laughter
Ad a half-assed remark she'd be coming back soon
With a badly forged passport
She jumped onto the night train
Just when the moon began to spin
You woke up in a phone booth covered in dog hair
It was one of those nights once again
The Swiss Admiral on Crete has control of her fleet
We all came from Kreuzberg, and we're glad that we did
So don't wander off we set sail in the morning
And please keep the state secrets hid
Please keep the state secrets hid
It seems so long ago and over the rainbow
In that old part of town, hanging out with The Kid
We almost got lost then and the danger's not over
So please keep the state secrets hid
Please keep the state secrets hid
When
The Shadows Fly Away from
"Postcards From The Road" ©
John Vaughan GEMA
Hey you, just want to tell you that I love you
I always have I always will do, o.k.?
It's true, after all that we have been trough
I'm so happy that we are still two today
Remember the nights
We watched the moon and stars
Dance upon a million oceans
Sapphires glitter on the saddle
Marco Polo on a Himalayan Range
They say, "All you need is love"
Why does it take so long to understand that
To have it jump right up and punch you in the face
I'll be there for you when the shadows fly away
You'll be there for me when the shadows fly away
We'll both be there together when the shadows all fly away
Oh yeah
Sikinos
Island from
"Postcards From The Road" ©
John Vaughan GEMA
The moon peaks over the mountain
The village it is asleep
Petra and me sit on the balcony
The wine here it's not weak
Sikinos Island
Floating on the midnight sea
Breezy
Conditions from
"Postcards From The Road" ©
John Vaughan GEMA
These clouds are true majestic peaks
Magical mountains that can fly
Turquois smooths to Prussian blue
Where the ocean meets the sky
A rainbow eyelash glass like sunshine
Viewed through squinted eyes
Drowsy dreams on a sleepy beach
I see movies in my mind
My emotions thumb a ride
Roller coaster indecisions
While my soul blows out to sea
Under these breezy conditions
Phone poles throw long shadows
While twylight oilpaints the shore
Pine trees seem like Chinese curtains
Floating down to a sandy floor
The evening star snaps on bright
Mysteries hide in the surf
Shipwrecks of old some pirates gold
A skull and crossbones curse
My emotions thumb a ride
Roller coaster indecisions
While my soul blows out to sea
Under these breezy conditions
The
Ghosts Of Marrakech from
"Postcards From The Road"
© John Vaughan GEMA
The Ghosts of Marrakech at dawn, they're just like clouds you one time saw
They disappear but they're not gone, the Ghosts of Marrakech at dawn
I remember one he was hiding from Uncle Sam, he was strung out on the lam
A kid on the run who needed a meal, a man on the move who knew how to feel
And what finished him was a lethal syringe in a Paris back alley, it was 1970 in the spring
I wonder if he ever new what hit him and I hope it was quiet in the end
The Ghosts of Marrakech at dawn, they're just like clouds you one time saw
They disappear but they're not gone, the Ghosts of Marrakech at dawn
The Hotel Agdal the opium tea, The Hotel De France playing music until three
And all those friends where did we go, I guess we all just blew on down the road
We travelled to the palace ruins in Deeabet and we did the shopping in Essaouira at the market
Being alive and being young, the Ghosts of Marrakech had fun
So you're leaning on the railing of a Spain bound boat, knowing in your heart you'll never return
But that's alright 'cause sometimes it's asin to go back to some places where you've been
And as you're sailing away on slate grey Moroccan seas and the African coastline receeds
You realize you're just one more fate that goes unsealed
But then you always knew that was part of the deal
The Ghosts of Marrakech at dawn, they're just like clouds you one time saw
They disappear but they're not gone, the Ghosts of Marrakech at dawn
The
Sweetheart Of Iwo Jima from
"Postcards From The Road"
© John Vaughan GEMA
He said, "Hi there,my name is Raymond Green
Master GunnerySergeant Retired, United States Marines."
"Howdy Gunny, my name is Johnnie."
We were eating pie and drinking coffee
Sitting at the counter in the cafe by the highway
A few miles south of Cape Pendleton late in July
"Some people are special it's kind of funny
I'd like to tell you a story son, won't you listen to me?"
"Hey, hey, hey be proud you meet her
She's the Sweetheart of Iwo Jima
Hey, hey, hey be proud you meet her
She's the Sweetheart of Iwo Jima."
"The lady who took your order her name is Betty
It's hard to believe she's almost eighty
In 1944 she started work here as a waitress
To all of us Fifth Marines she was a princess
Some nights she'd even get up for us and sing
She was a friend, a sister, a mother, a lover
Somehow she was all of them things."
"Hey, hey, hey be proud you meet her
She's the Sweetheart of Iwo Jima
Hey, hey, hey be proud you meet her
She's the Sweetheart of Iwo Jima."
"When we shipped out for the Pacific
Our destination was not specific
Betty came down to the wharf
She was waving, she was crying, she was shining like a torch
The men and the boys standing at the railing
Came to attention, saluted her, then we sailed far away."
"Back in the states she saw that famous photo
The flag was raised at Mout Suribachi
We kicked ass on Tojo
Heroes and sweethearts will meet
Somewhere between the Halls of Montezuma
And the Shores of Tripoli."
"Hey, hey, hey be proud you meet her
She's the Sweetheart of Iwo Jima
Hey, hey, hey be proud you meet her
She's the Sweetheart of Iwo Jima."
Deep
In A Dream from
"Postcards From The Road"
© John Vaughan GEMA
Small talk is so tiny, the best lemons are sour
Wax candles melt always, Burning soldiers bright
Tommy's congas dance softly, the water's not salty
There's enough here for everyone
Won't you come for a swim
The moon and stars are circling, nocturnal clouds were boiling
Rousseau's clowns go clowning by a forest in the night
The stopwatch has stopped
Everything turns out right
A figurine is yawning, the lifeboat is full of holes
Buddha is grooving in the garden, he's breathing deep and slow
Through the cactus and the bush Pancho drug his pack
But when his conscience nagged at him he dragged the saddle back
Ans the donkey then knew where Pancho's head was at
Yeah, when his conscience nagged at him he dragged the saddle back
While just outside my window the moon is halfway home
Halfway home
Anthem
For Kreuzberg from
"Postcards From The Road"
© John Vaughan GEMA
It's five a.m. it's still dark and snowing
You leave the bar because it is closing
And the look out on the canal where the garbage is floating
Where only an oil spill slips through undetected from the East
It glides by the guard tower with the ease of a thief
While search lights turn the ice in the water into gems on a beach
It's five a.m. it's still dark and snowing
The barbed wire looks like icicles in the foggy Berlin morning
It's much too late and you must be going
It's five a.m. it's still dark and snowing
Ahmed sells kebabs he's got a job at the grill stand
His sister Ayse has a dream of becoming a dancer
They were only small children when the family left Ankara
But make no mistake they grew up here in the West
They got the accent to prove it they can speak it the best
Despite all the facts they don't know where they belong
Whether you win or you lose depends on which side you're on
The gang jumped Ahmed on a night so quiet you could've heard a moth cough
It happened in an alley behind the Görlitzer Bahnhof
When the skinheads put the boot in he went down like a dervish
They never understood his last words 'cause he was praying in Turkish
It's five a.m. it's still dark and snowing
You leave the bar because it is closing
The last of the whores throw in the towel for the evening
It's much too late and you must be leaving
It's five a.m. it's still dark and snowing
A lot of lives here run out of gas, you can focus in with a zoom
The unknown is looking over their shoulder, the witch is mounting her broom
The glas, the bottle, the broken homes, the tears, the fears, The Twilight Zone
Knocked out teeth in a gutter, freezing backstreets and cobblestones
The flash of a knife in a streetlight, the slice to the bone
The dog chases it's tail but can't win the battle
When the horse is dead you better sell the saddle
A close shave with eternity, the spell cast by the spoon
Some people on the street look like horrible cartoons
The steps to the stairs take you down to the station
Where a ride on the subway can be a nightmare vacation
It's five a.m. it's still dark and snowing
You leave the bar because it is closing
And the look out on the canal where the garbage is floating
Where only an oil spill slips through undetected from the East
It glides by the guard tower with the ease of a thief
While search lights turn the ice in the water into gems on a beach
It's five a.m. it's still dark and snowing
The bum at the bomb site is drunk and he's moaning
It's much too late and you must be going
It's five a.m. it's still dark and snowing
Tribute
To T.M. Fabian from
"Postcards From The Road"
© John Vaughan GEMA
Hey T.M. you slipped around the bend
Bye, bye I miss you dear friend
Hey T.M. you're on the ocean you're in the wind
We'll be laughing when we meet again
We'll be laughing when we meet again
Poolhall
In Rangoon from
"Postcards From The Road"
© John Vaughan GEMA
The bartender's name is Jimmy
He's got a tattoo of a dragon
From his elbow to his wrist
A pack of Luckies, a G.I. Zippo
Some gold teeth, white shoes and a cellular phone
A Hawaiian shirt, a greaser haircut and a shoulder holster
The two of you drink ice-cold Heineken
He's a Burmese version of Tony Curtis
And the whore by the door looks like Ho Chi Minh
So when your beach turns into quicksand
And you're sinking in the gloom
As distant thunder rumbles
On a humid afternoon
When the back of your neck starts crawling
With a pending sense of doom
Get out as quick as you can ole' buddy
'Cause it won't be a moment too soon
Because you can lose much more than your money
In a poolhall in Rangoon