Search Results for: from a long way away

Ode to Dylan

Written by Mark BerryPerformed by Sharon Henderson

Ode to Dylan – lyrics

Sharon Henderson Where do imaginary friends go
When it’s time for them to die?
Do they go to imaginary heaven
Somewhere in the sky?

We’re here celebrating
The death of our imaginary friend
Even though he’s imaginary
It’s still sad when we reach the end

His days in the sun
The deeds that he’s done
All the things he’s damaged just for fun
While keeping the police on the run

He is now lost
And needs to stay that way
And we will not speak of him again
After we say goodbye today

Should we burn his driver’s license
And all forms of his ID?
Or would he have preferred
A formal burial at sea?

Either way it’s still ok
Less important is the ceremony
The more important thing for sure
Is that he can’t be traced back to you or me

Our imaginary friend
Committed the perfect crime
Because in the end
He isn’t doing time

His sole purpose in life
Was to hide the sordid truth
And like a surgeon’s knife
Cut the indiscretions from our youth

Where do imaginary friends go
When it’s time for them to die?
Do they go to imaginary heaven
Somewhere in the sky?

We’re here celebrating
The death of our imaginary friend
Even though he’s imaginary
It’s still sad when we reach the end

Street Justice

Rookie Geocacher

This is the companion song to my essay “Rookie Geocacher” created during FAWM 2013.

– Words by Mark L Berry and Music by Valerie Cox
– Performed by Valerie Cox

Rookie Geocacher – lyrics

(v1)
It all began with an app
I put on my phone
It was a tech hobby
But now it has grown

Once was a skeptic
But now I condone
This behavior
As I set out alone

(chorus)
Who hikes without staying on trail?
Geocachers!
Who seeks Tupperware hidden in the woods?
Geocachers!
Who never leaves home without a pencil?
Geocachers!
Whose goal is to sign in the log?

(v2)
As I hike toward the cache
My phone makes a tone
So I know I am nearing
The treasure zone

I look up in a tree
Then under a stone
I feel an excitement
That begins in my bones

(chorus)
Who hikes without staying on trail?
Geocachers!
Who seeks Tupperware hidden in the woods?
Geocachers!
Who never leaves home without a pencil?
Geocachers!
Whose goal is to sign in the log?

(bridge)
Is it worth climbing fences?
Is it worth stomping through mud?
Is it worth scrapes and scratches?
Is it worth drawing blood?
You’re damn right it is
You’re damn right it is

(v3)
My boots are muddy
My clothes need to be sewn
And all I’ve found
Are some leaves and some pine cones

Today I have failed
And I’ll try not to bemoan
I so want to succeed
But I have to postpone

This epic adventure
I’ll need to atone
Long live Geocaching
And destinations unknown
Destinations unknown
Destinations unknown
Destinations unknown

_____________________

To find out more about Geocaching, go to their website at: http://www.geocaching.com

Another place for a great introduction to Geocaching is Jenny’s site at Hobby Help: https://hobbyhelp.com/geocaching/

Dear Scab

– Performed by Don ‘Lefty’ Williams
– Words by Mark L Berry & Music by Don ‘Lefty’ Williams in Lake St. Louis, MO

Dear Scab – lyrics

You want to take my job
You don’t care about me
You don’t care at all
How I feed my family
You don’t care at all
About my airline or career
You just want to have
What you think that I have here

Oh scab, you haven’t earned a thing
You haven’t earned a place
Among brothers wearing wings
You haven’t paid your dues
You’ve stepped across the line
You don’t see a problem taking what is mine

You step onto the plane
With wings upon your chest
But you’re the only one
Thinking you’re the best
You haven’t cut your teeth
Through the worst of winter snow
Or secured a failed engine
Without a radio

Oh scab, you haven’t earned a thing
You haven’t earned your place
With our brothers wearing wings
You haven’t paid your dues
You’ve stepped across the line
You don’t see a problem taking what is mine

While you’re away
It wouldn’t break my heart
If someone found your car
Made sure it didn’t start
While you take my plane
If someone took your wheels
It wouldn’t break my heart
If someone showed you how it feels

Oh scab, you haven’t earned a thing
You haven’t earned your place
Among brothers wearing wings
You haven’t paid your dues
You’ve stepped across the line
You don’t see a problem taking what is mine

Street Justice

“Sorted by Speed” with the companion song “Outside of School” for Under the Sun

This is an unlinked page made only for the editors of Under the Sun literary magazine to consider this short story with its embedded companion song

– Mark L Berry

(The essay is 2,400 words. Word doc also submitted via Under the Sun Submission Manager.)

“Sorted by Speed”read by author
with companion song “Outside of School 14:29

Words by Mark L Berry
Music by Simon Ashby

MLB Recording — Mark L Berry recording with Garage Band

Companion song “Outside of School” 6:18

Words by Mark L Berry & Simon Ashby
Music by Simon Ashby
Performed by: Simon Ashby – Vocals, Electric Guitar

Outside of School – lyrics

The bullies couldn’t see me in the safety of the trees
Stevie wasn’t so lucky when Andy yelled, “Hey fem, freeze!”
“Don’t beat me up,” Stevie replied. “Come on pretty please.”
But they all formed a small circle and made him get down on his knees

They opened up his lunchbox and chewed up what they found
Which they all spit into his face and then knocked him to the ground
They tore pages from his notebooks and they kicked them all around
I could tell Stevie was scared but he didn’t make a sound

(1st chorus)
Whatever you do
Don’t let them see you cry
Go ahead and let them punch you
And beat you ‘til you die
Those guys are just jerks
Their parents don’t love them
So don’t take their bait
When they call you a fem

At recess that day I went out to play
But the bullies just chased me while I tried to run away
They called me a baby, momma’s boy, and a fem
Then I made the mistake of talking back to them
You’re just a bunch of losers with muscles for your brains
They told me if they caught me they’d teach me ‘bout pain
I told them to shove it and that they could kiss my ass
Then the bell rang to end recess and I ran back to class

(2nd chorus)
Whatever I do
I won’t let them see me cry
Even if they punch me
And beat me ‘til I die
Those guys are just jerks
Their parents don’t love them
But I did take their bait
When they called me a fem

‘cause they were waiting for me when the school day let out
The first one who saw me, he let out a shout
“There he is. Let’s get him, that wise-acre fem.”
I ran for the woods but I failed to outrun them

They took turns punching me ‘til my nose started to bleed
Andy yelled, “We finally get to give the beating that you need.”
So I kicked him as hard as I could, right in the nuts
And I screamed in his face, “You deserved that, you puttz!”
The rest started chanting, “The little baby kicks like a fem.”
So I lived up to the title and started kicking them

(bridge)
The rest of the story isn’t so pretty
They beat me up more and gave me a wedgie
Until they finally got bored and finally let me free
I limped home with torn pants and a badly skinned knee

(3rd chorus)
But whatever they did
I didn’t let them see me cry
Even while they punched me
For reasons I know not why
They’ll always be jerks
And I’ll try to avoid them
But I got in a few good kicks
While they called me a fem

But whatever they did
I didn’t let them see me cry
Even while they punched me
And beat me ‘til I died
They’ll always be jerks
With parents who don’t love them
So never take the bait
When they call you a fem

Me as a 727 F/O

**13,760 Feet*–Living with TWA Flight 800***

Pushing Leaves – The Movie

06/26/2012 by MLB

OK, this is a bit of wish thinking, but if you’ve read my novel Pushing Leaves Towards the Sun, or listened to the free audibook version, then you may have thoughts about this story someday making it to the big screen. It has its own built-in soundtrack, after all.

Send me your thoughts on who should play Billy? Lindy? Dog? I have my own ideas, but I’d love to hear yours. I can picture Avril Lavigne and Pink fighting it out on stage (with microphones) to see who would make the ideal Lindy. But, maybe I’m overlooking someone? For Billy and Dog: maybe younger versions of Daniel Craig and George Clooney–I doubt either one can pass for their early twenties anymore. Any thoughts?

Should this story remain faithful to southwestern Connecticut and New York in the mid 1980s? I’ve considered revising it for the screen as a modern St. Louis story, and shooting a test version of it with some friends here in the city by the big staple (The Arch). This would be the least expensive way to film–no search for vintage automobiles, and I have some local set locations picked out. Can any St. Louis natives picture Shady Jack’s as The Fallout Shelter?”

This story started out as a novel with a soundtrack, and then evolved into an audiobook. Is a movie the next destination for Billy, Lindy, and Dog?

Cheers, MLB

Pushing Leaves Towards the Sun

Alter Ego

Words by Mark L Berry / Music by John Krakowski
Recorded at: Krak House & Stick Shaker Studios
Performed by:
Randy Krusleski – Vocals
John Krakowski – Bass, Guitar, Synthesizer
Cleveland Brown – Lead Guitar Solo, Master Mixer
Mark L Berry – Apprentice Mixer

When I put on a mask
I can take off my clothes
If you don’t know it’s me
Well hell, anything goes
When I put on a mask
I can dance, I can sing
I feel much more empowered
To do just about anything
(I’m free to do anything)

Where would you go?
What would you do?
As an average Joe
That nobody knew

My alter ego has my needs at heart
But he only comes out after dark

What if there is a way
To make it all OK
Nobody is any wiser
At the end of the day

There’s a side of me
That you’ll rarely see
Only when I want to be
Totally free
(I’m totally free)

Where would you go?
What would you do?
As an average Joe
That nobody knew

My alter ego has my needs at heart
But he only comes out after dark

Try on another life
Just for awhile
Try on another life
And live a secret style

Where would you go?
What would you do?
Tell me where would you go?
What would you do?

Try on another life
Cheat on your wife
Steal from the tip jar
At the titty bar
Try on another life
Pick up a knife
And slash the tires
On your neighbor’s new car

Where would you go?
What would you do?
As an average Joe
That nobody knew

My alter ego has my needs at heart
But he only comes out after dark

Where would you go?
What would you do?
As an average Joe
That nobody knew

He’s my unfettered part
His bite is worse than his bark
My alter ego comes out after dark