From the original Nomadland.com website. Thanks to Jonathan Frieman, Annelisa MacBean, Darren Hightower, Tom Faison, and Radrock.
All lyrics by Michael Hedges; © Michael Hedges/Naked Ear Music; except “Guardian’s Trust” by Michael Hedges and Cate McNider.
A Midwinter’s Night Dream
Communicate
Face Yourself
Follow Through
Free Swinging Soul
Gospel of Mary / Holy Flame
Guardian’s Trust
Holiday
I Want You
I’m Coming Home
India
Phoenix Fire
Promised Land
Out on the Parkway
Ready or Not
Road to Return
Rough Wind in Oaklahoma
Running Blind
Sapphire
Shell Shock Venus
Sister Soul
Spring Buds
The Streamlined Man
Torched
Watching My Life Go By
Woman of the World
You Can Have Anything You Want
A Midwinter’s Night Dream
Once upon a timeless night
once behind my dreams
you scratched my makeup off so I could scream
The playhouse will pack tonight
metropolitan appeal
and all the actors fake
forgetting props are real
And the sirens harmonize tonight
in a million dollar show
they’re racing to that blazing fire glow
Policemen man their spotlight cars
and race around the stage
in my mobile dressing room the drivers change
The set is falling through the night
twenty inches deep
and all the shifting snow will drift my soul to sleep
Beneath the cold cold cream
she hides
refusing to yield her concrete arteries of life concealed
And the sirens harmonize tonight
in a million dollar show
they’re racing to that blazing fire glow
Policemen man their spotlight cars
and race around the stage
in my mobile dressing room the drivers change
I’m talking to my leading lady
she’s asking me how long
will these horizontal friends she made belong
So if you throw your cast away
we can travel on
if the beltway loosens up before the dawn
And the sirens harmonize tonight
in a million dollar show
they’re racing to that blazing fire glow
Policemen man their spotlight cars
and race around the stage
in my mobile dressing room the drivers change…
my sad-eyed drivers change
Communicate
Go left—right—down through the middle
Go any way you want to go
From the blue Black Sea to the Ivory Coast
Or get tough—hard—dive into battle
waging new warfare
under heavy metal armor just running scared
Make a white flag
Bring the code book
Get the peace-pipe smokin’ good
Every worldwide color of meaning
can shade what we’re meaning to say
Before darkness falls—
it’s time we try and communicate
There’s one world—one sun shining
turning us eye to eye
as it filters through our perforated sky
Stand up—march to the new League of Nations
everyone face to face
’cause if no one gives, we lose the human race
Make a white flag
Bring the code book
Get the peace-pipe smokin’ good
Every worldwide color of meaning
can shade what we’re meaning to say
Before darkness falls—
it’s time we try and communicate
Face Yourself
Now or never
Face yourself
No one else will do
Face your weakness
Face your pest
Let your scars show through
It’s now or never
Don’t look back
Just say you’re gone
Gone away
Drawn away
Binary numbers
Media Masse’
I let my mind thumb through
Off/on
I’m off on
Sit Com
My cathode eyes obey
Zero/one/zero
Nineteen eighty-four
Just say I’m gone
Gone away
Drawn away
Face yourself
Face yourself
Face yourself
I have a lover
She drew me up
Out of my little world
We talk together
We touch our souls
We share a common ground
If you see Sonya
or any glitter girls
Just say I’m gone
Gone away
I was drawn away
Face yourself
Face yourself
Face yourself
Follow Through
Make up a story when you go to sleep tonight
Wake up in the morning and hold it down deep inside
And you can be a dreamer
You can be your dreams come true
Let imagine lead, reality will follow through
Some of us dance to the sound of fortune and fame
Others want to march all around defending their domain
But you can be a dreamer
You can be your dreams come true
Let imagine lead, reality will follow through
If darkness and pressure try to turn your story down—
look back, think hard about how that story really sounds
Then you can be a dreamer
You can be your dreams come true
Let imagine lead, reality will follow through
It will follow you if you follow through
Free Swinging Soul
On father’s day, these branches sway
Like evergreen batons
I’m climbing up to the rhythm of their song
My vision clears; I feel him near
A summer wind blows
Father please conduct this breeze
Send my free swinging soul
Searching more into my core
Out on this limb of life
To the aging rings where all things harmonize
Through time I hear the muted fears
Too heavy now to hold
Time will teach my voice to sing
Send my free swinging soul
Heaven is all around, translated to sound
And the more I hear, the deeper I dig down
I keep digging down
Where his ashes lay
Where the needles decay
Seeds take hold, and I’ll grow
‘Til I free my swinging soul
On father’s day my children play
They’re climbing up to slide
Through the future they will seek and hide
And when they look to me in their memory
Will this melody unfold?
Father please, through these trees
Send my free swinging soul
(repeat chorus)
Gospel of Mary / The Holy Flame
When I turned to my ma, she said,
“Son, all I know is, if you wanna move on – just let go.
Ask your father; he’ll say it the same:
If you really wanna rock, child – break that chain!
Oh, throw that ball away.
You won’t need it when you’re flying
Into the holy flame!”
Oh, oh – Break that chain
Throw that ball away
You won’t need it when you’re flying
Into the holy flame
Guardian’s Trust
Of guardian’s trust and lover’s thrust
I give you my passion
Of seeming doubt and love-worn pout
I bring you my reason
Of silence never sounded and violence never pounded
I show you my remorse
The screaming fist always missed
Time will unfold my fear
Our spirit dream swims upstream
My will to follow survives
If life-long days of love-long trust are one
I relinquish my withholdings and offer you my sun
Holiday
Relax
Get away from it all
No solutions seem to last
It’s a holiday
Wear a smile
Put on a celebration mask
Take off
Leave a trail
Let the children wave their sparklers through the sky
It’s a holiday
But if the fuses get too short, they won’t ask why
If you hover above your enemy
and you’re ready to send your aluminum boxes down
It’s a holiday
send the soldiers on a one-way weekend pass
There’s a field of blue in my memory
But the stars reform and the stripes begin to fade
For the holiday
When the world turns independence day at last
At last
I Want You
I plugged in nine long years at my life to this family
I got a hundred big brothers and sisters on my wall
But every channel that I turn to
Screams the same damn thing
All the images rerun
and nothing’s new
I want you
I want you
I want you
It’s so confusing
I know your visible words speak no misunderstanding
But this love climbs till my vocabulary stalls
After a line or two my fingers strike the same damn keys
From every angle – it’s the same point of view
I want you
I want you
I want you
It’s so confusing
Why won’t you draw near
Who taught you this fear
Who?
So if my love just won’t supply what you’re demanding
There’s a paragraph repeating in my heart
So if your story’s lost in limbo down the same damn lead
You can follow up these last repeating clues
I want you
I want you
I want you
It’s so confusing
It’s so confusing
I’m Coming Home
Dark clouds are moving in
On the ground—radar spins
Gray on gray
the sky takes me in
Today
I’m coming home
A needle sewn through aerial skin
The journey thread is growing thin
I went out and I tied it down
Today
I’m coming home
No one knows our sacred sound
No one knows the love I found
The tower keeps on calling me in
Today
I’m coming home
India
India, I want to offer up my weapon
If you open up and let me look inside
No other angel ever flew me through this heaven
Now I want to know the heaven in your mind
I love you, India
India, I want to break down your defenses
If you open up and let me through the glass
Maybe you can try and trust me with your senses
Maybe I can make a love that will last
I love you, India
Out on the Parkway
Out on the parkway
A gray spike driven down the green
Neighborhoods blur by
and my shadow changes lanes to feel the breeze
Out on the parkway
Vehicles pause to graze
With hazy toxic eyes
Shot up
Octane high
Lubricated
Pressurized
We vent our vapors
Out on the parkway
Corpuscles of life are each alone
Within the flow
And every bleeding taillight
is seeking some suburban capillary home
Out on the parkway
The lanes are closing in on me
and the lines of division
begin their piercing reveille
Out on the parkway
Phoenix Fire
A healing fault is open now, crevassing my way
Something new will flower through the old decay
Angels of the media are radiant and clear
Tuning in, I siphon their fuel of fear
I scale across their veils of prayer, torn and televised
They reinject their vision; I see through their eyes
I think it’s gonna blow tonight
My wings wanna glow up bright
I broke free from a deep desire
Stoke my phoenix fire
Cupid laughs as I reclaim my shiny golden spears
For a bell of love, melted down through the years
And they’re pierced up on the edge of night
With nothing more to say
A massacre of valentines await the day
Wringing into my new form, ringing out the past
Flying low, I hear the toll of shadows cast
(repeat chorus)
Promised Land
This is the promised land
On this mountain I stand
Read the stone on demand
It’s like a burning brand
From his fiery hand
Ten things they command
To every woman, child and man
In this Promised Land
We were the Pharaoh’s slaves
‘Til god Jehovah forgave
He rose up a pillar of fire
Our freedom his desire
He rose up the Red Sea waves
Our ocean road to pave
To these shores of sand
In this Promised Land
Ready or Not
Ready or not—here I come
Who shall I say is calling?
Hold the line—don’t hang up
A shutter is opening
My image is refracting
through wide wild angles of publicity
Ready or not
Tongue in groove
Lose yourself and wait for your heart to speak
Your only cue—a needle starts to cut
Lasers start tracking
Slow acting acids of industry
As the whole world turns us around
I keep hearing life’s echo sound
Songs of rhyming—leading, hiding somehow…
ready or not
Ready or not—here I come
Naked eyes and naked ears
sighting in
sounding out
Fear can always frighten up a few disciples
But no thing can convert true identity
As the whole world turns us around
I keep hearing life’s echo sound
Songs of rhyming—leading, hiding somehow…
singin’ ready or not
Road to Return
Throwing colors to the air
I follow the breeze
Painting a mural of dreams…
down the road—the road to return
I’m on this road to return
And the more reflection, the more I see
I’ll paint my future from memory
Friends and lovers step in time
to show how they feel
We’re spirits waltzing our way…
down this road—the road to return
I’m on this road to return
Feel the rhythm start to change
Some stay together—some rearrange
We are masses—and we’re moving
Lining up and down
We’re reflecting, revolving around this road—
the road to return
I’m on this road to return
Accelerating with all my force
I hit the mirror of changing course
and the destination is at the source
Rough Wind In Oklahoma
My mother nature and my father time
See their son run across that line
It’s his fortieth final try
Charging forward now in heat
Then the awkward retreat
To his lonely stockade
To his imaginary maid
She’s sweeping down the plain
She’s under his reign
Like a rough wind howling through Oklahoma
It’s a cold wind down in Oklahoma
He’s been hurt once – and he’s hurt one twice
And all the pain is still labeled “inside”
He’s sorting it out inside
But now his voice no longer speaks
When the truth begins to leak
To the heavily love-laden mercenary maiden
But deep within their spark
His hidden orders bark
Like a rough wind howling through Oklahoma
It’s a cold wind down in Oklahoma
My mother nature and my father time
See their son run across that line
It’s his fortieth final try
It’s his final try
Like a rough wind howling through Oklahoma
It’s a cold wind down in Oklahoma
Running Blind
Somewhere defined in aimless words
Somewhere within my angry herd
of stampeding emotions
Love was running blind
I read my way through those scattered pieces
Gathered up all the trampled feelings
And built up the fences strong
so l could hide
But all night long I would stare
at all the moon and the stars I could bear
Then from daylight on
It would tear through my heart
It went tearing its way through my heart
Tearing its way through my heart
Dazzling circles slow too soon
But dancing to some forgotten tune
You weave in the sky some pattern I can trace
Fading to taste the afterglow
Pure as the song you sing so low
Your senses came down to meet me
Face to face
Baby all night long I would stare
at all the moon and the stars I could bear
Then from daylight on
It would tear through my heart
It went tearing its way through my heart
Tearing its way through my heart
Tearing its way
Sapphire
Her heart is hot, her face cold
Leaning the banks, weaving the road
Sea gulls squawk on sand and foam
Redwoods sway
And the cypress moan
For many miles she will roam
With the wind
Tangling her red weather vane
Her name is Sapphire
Emerald, amber, ruby light
Gemstone towers of night
Blue is sparkling inside her heart
But she keeps it out of sight
For now she feels at home alone
In the chrome black leather lane
Her name is Sapphire
Somewhere over the double line of love
Somewhere divine
Somewhere through the rain of hope
Our colors will shine
Then I will leave this road behind
To ride that rainbow
With Sapphire
Shell Shock Venus
Shell Shock Venus, aborted at sea
Her youthful uniform torn open and free
Floating where the whirlpools swirl
Men came diving for her pearl
They’d scour her surfaces
She’d dredge up their deep
In a chaotic universe, shallow and sweet
And as the merman hurled
Woman went careening from the girl
And no line of questioning
Could penetrate her nerve
But something was tapping her reserve
Ashes of innocence, splinters of dreams
Her anger in residence, ripping the seams
And petrifying fast
She anchored to that mast
Through waves of ecstasy
They’d compromise
But something was vacant in her eyes
Reptiles in water, a goddess in heat
We dreamt of a daughter, Venus and me
Floating where the whirlpools swirl
Men came diving for her pearl
Sister Soul
Time to talk
It’s time I speak
The switch is on and the light is green
Send me down this road
I will find my sister soul
I really want to know the sister soul deep inside me
A free sister soul is here in hiding…
deep in hiding
Time to walk
It’s time I seek
My breath is drawn—I’m awakening
I will rock and I will roll
and I will find my sister soul
I really want to know the sister soul deep inside me
A free sister soul is here in hiding…
down deep inside me
Spring Buds
On the last naked day of winter
On the eve of a fateful thaw
I was imprisoned in frozen pieces
Of heart-broken laws
Then down fell an angel renegade
Her halo read “Morning Star”
Wounded by the doom of a comet tail
She was sealed with a scar
Then a sweet lightning struck
And the earth opened us
Like spring buds
Why she ever fled heaven
And why I would hibernate
Answers why we would meet here
To equal our altered states
(chorus and bridge)
With a sacred heart-shared rhythm
We blossom through the spring
Star of the Morning shines now
On her own two wings
(chorus)
The Streamlined Man
He’s a streamlined man
Watch the wind from his direction as it breaks
He will understand
Needless words breeze by the angles of his face
No unnecessary motion
Point to point to point in line
Truth is racing through his emotions
Heart to mind
to heart to mind
The streamlined man
In harmony with wisdom and restraint
His streamlined hands
Strike those chords
Maneuvering
Stabilizing
Holding firm through fluid time
Youth and age move straight and forward
No rewind
No rewind
The streamlined man
Torched
Flares of flaming red and blonde
Sparks ignite a sacred song
Ring of fire raging; quenching; changing
Drifting spiral down below
Here in my volcano
Where seas of liquid lava flow
COME – KINDLE ME
ON THE FIERY SHORE
WHERE LOVE SAILS FREE
I’M TORCHED
Ashes raining all around
Wild combusting dreams found
Fears erupt – and then they cool down
Müüntna makes a hissing sound
COME – KINDLE ME
AT THE SECRET SOURCE
WHERE LOVE SHINES FREE
I’M TORCHED
In this valley, the grapes of wrath are stored
Feel the lightning of his terrible swift sword
Reaching out, the earth glows
In geothermal rainbows
Ring of fire raging; quenching; changing
COME – KINDLE ME
WHERE THE FIRE BIRD SOARS
WHERE LOVE FLIES FREE
I’M TORCHED
Watching My Life Go By
Everyone sees their life a different way
Saviors even come on different days
Bleeding his colors into several shades
But I am a prisoner caught in the flesh, red-handed
Watching my life go by
I’m watching my life go by
Watching my life
Nobody knows how close “together” means
Love is a race we run at different speeds
Pacing ourselves to deal with different needs
But I am a spectator
caught in a crowd of laughter
Watching my life go by
I’m watching my life go by
Watching my life
Somebody help me find my way back down
There’s nobody left for me to lap around
Everyone’s breaking past my speed of sound
I am a dictator
I keep my soul surrounded
Watching my life go by
I’m watching my life go by
I’m watching my life
Woman of the World
The woman of the world turns slowly
Days are drawn—seasons start to change
She finds that natural boundary
Her eyes change color—sounds begin to fade
I slowly turn away…
from the woman of the world
The woman of the world holds me
to colder courses farther out to sea
where no one really knows me
and if the anchor’s out boarders love and leave
She’s waiting on the beach…
my woman of the world
No one hears the way she whispers every changing season
Through every falling rain I listen without reason…
without reason…
’till the woman of the world shows me
the secret seed she planted in my heart
Her breath is cool to sway me
Roots shoot down
Her eyes begin to shine
My love runs leaf and vine
through the woman of the world…
You Can Have Anything You Want
I’m holding on—holding human
Human thought—human need
I need it now—maybe sooner
Love keeps calling me
You can have anything you want
Love may hurt you
but love will teach you
when to flee and when to fight
when to roll the dice
There’s nothing new
but something’s changing deep inside me
I hear your voice
It’s almost ageless
changing what is real
You can have anything you want
Love may hurt you
but love will teach you
when to flee and when to fight
when to roll the dice
Roll the dice…
