Songs Of boyhood Lyrics
walking The Rails
There was a boy
Who walked on a railroad
Walked on the rails
Balanced his body
Laughing all over
Arms spread wide
"Son," said his father
"Walk on the ties,
You won't fall over"
The boy ignored him
Just as the father
Knew he would
They left a penny
There on the iron
Returned the next day
And found in the night
It had been flattened
Just as predicted
So he walked the rails again
All words and music by Dave Hall ©
She watched her son
Playing in the dirt
Wondered why when he had so many toys
He played with a stick
First it was a gun
Then a rocket ship
Now he was just jamming it into the dirt
Like some savage hunter
She started to complain
To her husband
Who laughed and drew her from the sink
Kissing her neck
She lay still
Thinking about it
After they’d finished making love
And he was asleep
The Stick
There's a mill by a stream
In my mother's hometown
Well, not the mill really
Just the foundation
The wood and the wheel
Are long gone
And the stones remain
It seems to me
Purely for the enjoyment
Of agile boys
Who laughing
Balance atop them in play
Their father's fathers
Worked at the mill
Sawing the planks
That built the great houses
That they wander past
Unseeing, on the way to the park
Oh, that they would
Only once look up
At a widow of a house
And wonder: Who slept there?
And where are they now buried?
There's A Mill
Tap tap tap
Trying to concentrate
Tap tap tap
On whatever is written there
Numbers, words, calculations
Nibbling on the end of his pencil
Tugging at his collar
Shifting his feet
Looking out the window
Responding to his name
By facing straight ahead
After the conference
Saying I do like math
I like to read
When I don't have to
I don’t know why
I get these marks
I know I’m smart
I’ll try to do better
Tap tap tap
The father sits in his
Tap tap tap
Dirty white cubicle
Numbers, words, calculations
Suddenly looking at the end of his pencil
Realizing that he’d nibble too
Tearing the erasure to shreds
If he had a windowed office
And a great big tree outside
Tap tap tap
Tap TaP tap
He stands
Halfway across the creek
Waist deep in moving water
Watching the older boys who’d crossed
Talking to some girls
He hears the shrill voices
Of younger boys behind him
Dipping their toes into the rushing water
And running back to their parents
He feels the water licking his legs
His belly
He feels it inside his shorts
He hears the girls on the other bank
As he swims around
Standing In water
He’s just insecure
He’s got a bad home life
He’s lonely and afraid
Try to ignore him
Try to be his friend
Kill him with kindness
This was the advice
That ran through his head
That rattled in his brain
As his other cheek
The one not being pummeled
Was ground into the playground dust
The Bully
He collected little things
Shiny, dainty things
He wore a little shawl
And pretty slippers
He sang alone
With a hairbrush microphone
In front of the mirror
He was Annie
He talked with his hands
Delicate, fluttering hands
He liked flowers
And he liked glitter
And he liked drawing
Beautiful gowns
And clipping things
From magazines
He scandalized the church
Shocked the neighbors
Mortified his parents
And he was FABULOUS!
He
If he were more
Given to introspection
He might have recognized it
As it happened
It was in the shower after practice
When the water washed away
Not just sweat
And the soreness
From the crushing drills
But his very essence
His lonely self
It was when
He looked around the room
Hot water running from his eyes
That he transformed
Or was transformed
Into more than self
More than friend
More than brother
Member of the team
Member Of The Team
In his infancy there were parents
And monsters and God
His parents were loud and kind
And they lifted him up, up up!
The monsters lived in his dreams
The bore down on him
As he tried to escape from the
Stirrups of his rocking horse
God, they said was everywhere
Or up in heaven or in your heart
God would smile or forgive
Or strike down his enemies one by one
He visits his parents now
Instructs them in medications
Stocks their refrigerator
Mops floors and brows
Monsters he sees now in museums
Accompanied by the sensation
Of a tiny hand squeezing his own
And a lifting up, up up!
And God is only now
A whisper in the ear of his son
Who wakes in the night, terrified
Asking questions about death
Parents, Monsters & God
Sleep my son, my fine one
You’ve had your fill of play
Rest your head now as the sun
Bids farewell to the day
Clutch your blanket to your chest
As I stoop and kiss your brow
And I sing you to your rest
Oh, sleep, my lovely, now
My son I’ll see you always
Your face round and bright
Laughing through the summer days
Your voice true and light
Heed, my son, these shining days
As they go marching by
‘Til you see their golden rays
Through your father’s eyes
Sleep, my son, my brave one
I sing you to your rest
Far beyond the waves, son
Where dwell the loved and the blest
I will see you always
Your face round and bright
Laughing through the summer days
Your voice true and light
I will mourn the shining days
As they go dreaming by
Golden days you’ll never see
Through your father’s eyes
Days, dear God, you’ll never see
Through your father’s eyes
So he walked the rails again
Lullaby / Walking The Rails
BasEBall
The Girl
There she is, bending in her garden
Seen through a window, but differently
The same girl she always was, so
Why is he watching her now?
Because of her hair, and how it shines
Because of her skin, which is glistening
In a way he’s never noticed before
He’s barely noticed her before.
That is NOTICED.
First she was a playmate
When he was hardly aware she was a girl
Then she was a mere object of scorn
When it was time to differentiate
But now! His hands grip the sill.
His chest tightens; he wants to talk to her.
He’s forgotten his childhood and
In a sudden flash he sees his future
It was low, it was low!
“How was I supposed to hit that?”
He asked the universe as he threw down his bat
“The strike zone is neck to knee”
His coach reminded him calmly
He pictured himself hacking at knee height
As if it were golf or swatting up higher
Like in badminton.
And how could he tell
When a ball would go low or high
“What am I, a… a... a…?”
He didn’t know what could tell
High from low, inside or outside
A physicist? Rocket scientist?
He didn’t know, he didn’t care
But by next at bat he was grimly determined
