I WOULDN’T CHANGE A THING

Hot day in a winter town
April let may flowers down today
I met her on such a night
The moon was in her hair, stars in my eyes, but…

I wouldn't change a thing about her
The things that I could sing about her
And I'll never sail away
I'm gonna stay right here today

Fat clouds and silver birds
On a frontier sky they weave their way today
With no lies to hold us down
We may fly so high someday

I wouldn't change a thing about her
The things that I could sing about her
And I'll never sail away
I'm gonna stay right here today

But is the sun so high that we can't touch it even if the mountains can be climbed?
Would you like to try? It's worth a try

My story ravels here
The city owns my soul free and clear
My friends scatter far and wide
But I could never leave the town behind

I wouldn't change a thing about her
The things that I could sing about her
And I'll never sail away
I'm gonna stay right here today

© 1978 Craig Carothers / Bonny Black Music BMI

THE NUCLEAR SONG

Nuclear radiation think of the changes we'll see
With all our funny mutations oh! how efficient we'll be
People will look like the places they were when the mishap occurred, oh well
We'll all be clad in the last thing we had in our hands the melted look has to sell

Chromosomal division two heads are better than one
Molecular indecision progress was never this fun
Soon we'll be able to swim in the ground and glow in the dark and that's keen and
We will mate with a snake on a lark and we'll be mammalfowlreptilines

The fish will learn all there is to know about swimming upside down
We won't live in fear for thousands of years we just won't be around

And with atomic nutrition think of the dishes we'll make
We'll speed up natural selection turn up the climate to bake

And all will be lost in our own holocaust that we brought on by canning the ban
Population will be self imposed fricassee when the truth leaks out into the land

And when we're all breathing plutonium won't it be great?
Then the oceans will be seething two million degrees (centigrade)
And when Hanford breaks down and our genes stir around
We'll just ooze up and live in a tree
And when trojan explodes we'll grow a new nose
On our wrist where our hands used to be

Babe, you and me we will live in a tree
And be inseparably…
Fused.

© 1976 Craig Carothers / Bonny Black Music BMI

GOTTA GET AWAY

It's time for a change you know our wheels are worn and spinning
And we're just digging deeper down
I'd give my soul to take us back to the beginning
And get it right the second time around

But I gotta get away baby
I gotta get away baby
I gotta get away baby, get away from you

We took our turns laying down all our conditions
But, baby, you break all the rules
And all along as if by guess or premonition
I knew that I'd end up the fool

But you know I loved you from the moment that I saw you smile

But I gotta get away baby
I gotta get away baby
I gotta get away baby, get away from you

Well, out ahead the open road looks long and lonely
But we can't go on side by side
'cause I want you and me to be our one and only
And you've just got some time to bide

But I gotta get away baby
I gotta get away baby
I gotta get away baby, get away from you

© 1980 Craig Carothers / Bonny Black Music BMI

STRANDED IN LOVE

You say you don't want me hanging around all the time
But when I'm gone you make such a lonely sound
The sound of your voice on the phone could break my heart
Does love taste sweet to you only when we're apart?

You don't have to say now, tell me when you see me
Are you gonna love me? Are you gonna leave me?
Leave me stranded,
Stranded in love

It goes both ways and it pays to understand
That we're both wrong and right and that's just part of the plan
If trouble rears it's head we could waltz right through
If you'd give me as much rope as I've given you

I know you need to be free, you don't have to tell me
'cause when you hold me in your arms,
Freedom should be all you see
It's open-ended

Well, I'm flotsam on the mood of hurricane Eleanor
She could lift me on the wind or dash me on the shore
Or take me to her eye and keep me safe and warm
Until I can't believe there even was a storm

I know you only mean well, but still the blues surround you
And everything you cling to builds a wall around you
But you could throw it all away start naked like a child, girl
Empty handed with a full heart

So what's in store and what's inside of you
I'd rather hear it from your mouth than just guess at the truth
'cause in my heart I know what well may come
A woman on the mend is so often on the run

You don't have to stay now, call me if you need me
But if you go away now, you'll probably just want to see me but that's all right
‘cause I'm still gonna love you
Even when you leave me
Leave me stranded
Stranded in love

© 1978 Craig Carothers / Bonny Black Music BMI

ALL YOUR MARBLES ARE GONE

You can keep it from all of your friends but we know, yes, we know
Keep it secret and you try to pretend no one knows but we know
There's no use in hiding, concealment's inviting a show and tell
You're all gone upstairs so let everyone stare what the hell

All your marbles are gone
All your marbles are gone
Ai-ee-aiy they gone bye-bye, but your body goes on

Well, your family is worried to death and they're nervous, at the end of their wits
But I told them don't be holding their breath 'cause their kid is a schitz
Manic depressive, hypnotic suggestive a vegetable
Whacko bananas, i think a good plan is to lock you up (and throw away the key...)

All your marbles are gone
All your marbles are gone
Ai-ee-aiy they gone bye-bye, but your body goes on

You're insane and your brain doesn't work

Lost your mind flipped your lid you're berserk
It's all right, it's all right, it's alright you'll look good in white
So you spend every day at the farm you play cards without a full deck
And the doctors shoot you full of new drugs, so you say listlessly "what the heck"

All your marbles are gone
All your marbles are gone
Ai-ee-aiy they gone bye-bye, but your body goes on

© 1980 Craig Carothers / Bonny Black Music BMI

UNSPOKEN EULOGIES

A lover's need for leaving was the reason that you gave
An untitled wave of change
To cover any feelings you might hesitate to name
For seeming too strange

It's not like the season in power owns the sky
And can tell you where to fly
It's more like the song that someone sings
Pulls the strings
To make you laugh or cry

And inside you there will be
Every question's remedy

There always will
Always always always will
Always always always will

On the morning of decision
I was saying to a friend, "Somehow it seems like the end"
As if all the parts and pieces
That had so long been confused
Had assembled to let you choose

It's not like the seasons or hours that multiply
Will wear this bitterly
It's more like my tears and the unspoken eulogies
Will well up silently

And between us there will be
All affections memories

There always will
Always always always will
Always always always will

© 1978 Craig Carothers / Bonny Black Music BMI

PALOMA DE LAS FLORES

Thistle of the nova where did you come from
Every evening I count the stars and wonder
If one of them has fallen and landed in my life
You sure are shining bright little wonder

Here's my heart and here's my hand
Be my feather on the wind
You can show me where you're going
Come on, open up your heart again

Paloma de las Flores, I would not clip your wings
'cause you fly so high and I can watch you soaring
And the clouds are only paper as you dance across the sky
And you make me wanna try to be there with you

When you're sad and when you're strong
I'll stay with you all along
And you know there's nothing wrong with you
For thinking you might like to stay with me too

I know how much I want you when I'm with you
I know how much I need you when I'm gone away
Only thinking of you as the day's last sounds are heard
There's a feeling there are not words

Thistle of the nova where did you come from
Every evening I count the stars and wonder
If one of them has fallen and landed in my life
You sure are shining bright little wonder
You sure are shining bright
Little wonder

© 1980 Craig Carothers / Bonny Black Music

YOU Won’T LOSE

It's no sin to be confused
Lacking timing and direction
To weigh the things that you may choose
With a touch of introspection

But you won't lose
You won't lose anything but the blues

I know you're frightened - you're unsure
Of where you're gonna be tomorrow
I think that patience is the cure*
And I've got lots, lots that you can borrow

But you won't lose
You won't lose anything but the blues

I can't be your knight in shining armor
And rescue you from all your indecision
But I can give my heart and hand do what I can*
Until you reach your resolution

But you won't lose
You won't lose
You won't lose
You won't lose anything but the blues
You won't lose
You won't lose
You won't lose anything but the blues

© 1977 Craig Carothers / Bonny Black Music BMI

REPEAT YOURSELF

You don't need to repeat yourself so much
You don't need to repeat yourself so much
You don't need to repeat yourself so much

I'll get the message the first time you tell me
I'll get the message the first time you tell me
I'll get the message the first time you tell me

Say what you mean would you say what you mean
What'd you say?
What'd you mean?
What'd you say?
What'd you mean?
What'd you say?

I'll get the message the first time you tell me...
I'll get the message the first time you tell me...

© 1977 Craig Carothers / Bonny Black Music BMI

HAUNTED

I don't know that I'm in love with you
I don't know just where my heart is standing
The face of my resolve you see right through

But I'm not hiding, and I'm not trying faces for a day on
I'm not sleeping, and I'm not keeping hours I could stay on

You see I'm Haunted,
Yeah, Haunted,
Haunted in the night

We could take a drive into the wood
We could tell ghost stories 'til you shiver
And it might do my city heart some good

You see I'm Haunted...

I know you're not deserving of my jealousy
But it would take a blinder man than I
To miss the eyes of those who want your company
When I'm nearby

I don't know if I'm in love with you
I don't know just where my heart is standing anymore
The face of my resolve you see right through

But I'm not crazy 'bout the way we scuffle, when we do
A false alarm, and my battle armor tumbles into view, over you

'cause I'm Haunted,
Haunted,
Haunted in the night

© 1980 Craig Carothers / Bonny Black Music BMI