CREPUSCULE
Skies are burning red
The sun drops right on your head three geese flying alone
I wanna go home
This land is as flat as my heart and my plans kept us apart
The master of the universe
He’s crying
Tell me if you can
Am i part of a plan
Will my secrets unfold
When I’m useless and old
When every breath cuts like a knife
And I’m caught in the shortcomings of my life but still in
My heart I am true
Follow the worried child
The hero on his last mile
Signed eternally yours
A note is tacked on your door your lost in a no man’s land
Your words like a desert of sand and your hand in my hand
That’s reality
SONNY
Sonny – its been a long time
But I just couldn’t pick up the phone
I’m still some miles away – from that kinda courage
And I guess finally I preferred to be alone
Well its true – I mighta made a few promises
And you can be sure – I meant to keep ‘em all along
But something happened – don’t know if I can explain it
Just call me the man whose heart turned to stone
A thousand people laughing
And I could not say a word
But in the heat of that last summer
I was flying like a bird
Sonny – you say you don’t recognize me
In fact when I knew you – well I was wearing a beard
But one day I shaved and looked in the mirror
Decided to come out – come right out of there
Well me and your mom – well that was a long night
Can’t say I’m proud – but I ain’t ashamed
Don’t you believe it – Well I ain’t no cave man
We were both willing – but she lived with the blame
Chorus
So when she called – you coulda knocked me over
I thought it was a joke – than my laughter started to fade
So I drove down here – down to this damn prison
The last thing I expected – I see my boy sitting in a cage
So what can I say – give me a call when you want to
You can call me at work – and you can call my place home
I’ll find a way out of this – not sure how I’m gonna do it
But you got a father – you’re not completely alone
Chorus
GREEN RIVER
Lights were dancing
Footsteps of a mouse
On a postage stamp
I saw a picture of our new house
Red roof and magnolias
A field of olive trees
A Green River is rising
Nearly to my knees
Green River – Green River
Green River – Take my soul out to the sea
Raisin bread and honey
Not as sweet as you
If I could tell your fortune
Would I lie or would I tell the truth
Depending if it brought you
To my arms or distant shores
A Green River is rising
Even higher then before
(Chorus)
Three rings on my fingers
Past, present and fate
One came from Mississippi
The other from a different state
A state of forgiveness
Contradiction and the blues
A Green River is rising
Water filling up my shoes
(Chorus)
This ship ain’t moving
It’s attached to the land
Last night I slept in a bunk bed
Dreamed I was in prison
With a dangerous man
I Woke up to the river
Who crept past us while we slept
A Green River keeps on rising
Until my eyes are soaking wet
Chorus
PNEUMONIA ALLEY
Forgot my sweater
On the way to the loo
Looked in the mirror
And I thought about you
The way you blink
With those long dark lashes
The way you left my heart
In a pile of burnt ashes
Now I’m down on pneumonia alley
Dancing with long tall sally
Shivering and coughing in the rain
Delerious and feverish but i feel no pain
‘Cept when I wonder will I ever
Ever see you again
You’re the one
With a touch so warming
Like a drop of sun
On a new days morning
Vitamind delight
For my body and soul
Now I’m locked on the outside
In the cold
Chorus
Two junkies in the corner
She must have been beautiful once
Her partner never even looks at her
As she trembles and her shoulders hunch
Every meal is a banquet
Every day a holiday
We don’t know it
But we got it made
Chorus
OPHELIA
Ophelia i’m at your window – and how beautiful you are
Your eyes – reflect the moonlight
And shine into the dark
I’m so close – that I could touch you
But you’re so fragile – you might fall apart
And imagine for a minute
That you are loved – because you really are
Ophelia the sun is rising – oh and i know how you love the
Dawn you love the newness – you love the freshness
You love the feeling – that you belong
To the cycle – of the changes
That reoccur – in nature’s song
And imagine for a minute
That you are loved – because you really are
Ophelia come to the river – and let us swim under the stars
Let the moonbeams – caress your worries
And let the current – take them far
Can we face the pain of living
Or have we got no more tears to cry
And imagine for a minute
That you are loved – because you really are and I’m floating
Away – and I’m floating away
Ophelia this room is smoky – let’s escape to the cool
Outside let’s take a walk to the all-night grocery
There must be something you want to buy
How about some cookies – how about a yogurt
How about a kiss in the neon aisles
And imagine for a minute
That you are loved – because you really are
Ophelia I always knew you
Even before you were wearing a shroud when you were
Touring with your magicians in Acapulco and talking so loud
Oh and still there was something so special about your
Green eyes and crooked smile and imagine for a minute
That you are loved – because you really are
Ophelia I was such a loser
And I was hanging with a desperate crowd and I found you or you found me
Oh anyway it doesn’t matter now
So come on let’s go to the theatre
Let’s play Hamlet one more time
And imagine for a minute
That you are loved – because Ophelia you really are
CANARIES IN THE MIND
You say the world is doing fine
Except for the canaries down in the mine
They’re just not singing anymore
They’re lying lifeless on the floor
Some say love is like oxygen
And since you left me baby i’ve been suffering
Round and round like a weathervane i go
And i can’t find which way the wind will blow
In fact this whole thing is a mystery
And i’m feeling less and less free
Locked between the bars of my birth and my death
What my crime was well i can only guess
But you were the light in my darkest night
I was blind and you gave me sight
To see all that was so beautiful
My empty life turned lush lush and full
But your body was my temple of doom
A sanctuary and a living tomb
Where i was buried in two seconds flat
I know you said sometimes love is like that
But all i have left is a lock of your hair
At least i think its yours but baby i don’t care
If you gave me presents i can’t find them now
You said you did but i have my doubts
Because all you told me were sweet sweet lies
I could be one of a thousand guys
Who could never get enough of you
Who were so shocked when their time was through
That’s it for me i’m on my way home
I’m singing the last verse of like a rolling stone
Rest assured i never wanted you to change
Into something manageable or prearranged
Some say the world is doing fine
(and those canaries are just putting in their time)
Except for the canaries in the mind
They’re just not singing anymore
They’re lying lifeless on the floor
YOU NEVER KNOW WHAT YOU’RE IN FOR
Getting late they were spaced just a trace
Of the old coming down
Ancient fun one and one he said someday
We’ll leave this town
But magazines glamour scenes in betweens
Had him nailed to the ground
And the sounds still waiting to be found
And we are all junkies, pushers, pimps and hookers
You never know what you’re in to’
And you can shake it, try to forsake it
But you know you’re gonna take it
You never know what you’re in for
By the time he was nine there were signs of an old melody
He tried to list w at he missed just a kiss
Was it real or TV
Find a way make it pay you can say a rehearsed passion play
Everyday, everyday
And we’re all junkies pushers, pimps and hookers
You never know what you’re in for
And you can shake it, try to forsake it
But you know you’re gonna take it
You never know what you’re in for
But anyway he said hey I’m gonna stay Baby Please don’t cry
It’s just rough to stay tough full of lust and Be a walking hi fi
I see you and I’m through with that god
Who demands such a lie
But you gotta get by
And we’ll get by
And we are all junkies, pushers, pimps and pushers
You never know what you’re in for
And you can shake it, try to forsake it
But you know you’re gonna take it
You never know what you’re in for
LAST OF THE ROCK STARS
Naked telephone poles can’t describe
The way I’m feeling about you tonight
And a feeling on my back like an old brown jacket
Like to stay in school but I just can’t hack it
And I’m out on the street feeling like dirt
I’m afraid to get married because I know its gonna hurt
And I say
Oh oh oh – there’s the last of the rock stars
And me and you
Oh oh oh – rock ‘n roll is here to stay
But who will be left to play
Well I dreamed I saw the king in a fifty three chevy
Had a band on his mind and his hands looked heavy
And he rolled down his window I guess to say hi
I couldn’t see his face ’cause of the purple haze inside
And he was born to be the king – he was born to be the man
And he died though he was holy – although I doubt he’d understand
When I say
(chorus)
Adolescent predrug habit – if it means guitar you gotta have it
And you got your axe and you got your group
And your old man thinks its a waste of loot
And you wait all week for a Sullivan show
And you know that’s just where you wanna go
And you homework now is never complete
You don’t care – cause you have got that beat
So a highdy hi and a heydy hey
And a girls that home on Friday night and a boy that’s out to play
And some of us are masters and some or us are slaves
And than there’s that boy who knows he’s gotta play
And a messy desk drawer full of broken strings
You know these kids and you know of those things
(chorus)
Come on mama please don’t cry
Don’t you know how I feel inside
ON ELVIS PRESLEY’S BIRTHDAY
Words and music by Elliott Murphy
I can’t say that I love this place where I live
This particular geographic location
But I’ve grown use to it and now I miss it when I’m away
Of course, when I was a child my father would take me with him
Down to the bowery where the bums were
And in the restaurant supply stores
He would buy shiny steel refrigerators and deadly looking stoves
While I begged him to take me to the army navy surplus stores on canal street
To buy some big dead bullets
He wore a short corduroy jacket, an informal hat with a puff of feather
And he talked with his hands in his pants pockets jangling change
Driving in his Cadillac it was Elvis Presley’s birthday
They said it on the radio and my father liked Elvis
And it was wonderful – it was wonderful
We drove through the black neighborhoods on Long Island’s north shore when Elvis was alive
My father was from Brooklyn and the depression left its mark
From picking up coal on the railroad tracks
He didn’t have a good word to say about Franklin Delano Roosevelt
Later, I liked elegant hotel bars
Where I could drink under F. Scott Fitzgerald skies
The coolest of the cool
Never a child on Elvis Presley’s birthday
My dead father jangling change
This is an unreal city
You can be anybody you want to be
When you’re alone
A TOUCH OF KINDNESS
A little touch of kindness – for a start
A little bit of sweetness – won’t tear you apart
You’ll be there in a minute – you believe me
You’ll be right where you want to be
With a little touch of kindness
My face was disfigured
At least I thought it was
I was covered with shame
I wasn’t so tough
I was lost in the void
So completely alone
Then I heard your voice in the darkness
And it warmed me to my bones
chorus
Are you misleading?
Or are you playing a game?
What are the rules?
Does the winner have something to gain?
It’s the champion season
The world series of the utterly confused
Played on a mountaintop in India
Or in the plains of Alsace Lorraine
Coming home again
AND GENERAL ROBERT E. LEE
And you and me and General Robert E. Lee
It was the greatest love story
That was never told
A couple of kids out in the cold
They were lost in space in the forest of doom the black
Mountain tops – a silver room
The bad princess – the evil duke
The dead pharaoh oh and captain hook no peter pan – no mighty mouse
The big bad wolf blows down my house
And you and me and General Robert E. Lee
You know James Cagney he was my best friend
he facts of life – the old dead end
The butler came down said someone had to die
A murder mystery that’s never gonna fly
A story here have no fear
A world class myth is growing here
The wankers whisper and pass their beer
And bambi grows into a beautiful deer
And you and me and General Robert E. Lee
Too much sorrow – a bright tomorrow
Lonely motion and Lindbergh cross the ocean desperate
Times – oh desperate times
There were two guitars strumming into space
Spreading that message all over the place
UFO’s and flying cars
And Telstar and the man from mars
I don’t know what will last
A thousand years the time goes past
A thousand years – oh a thousand years
And you and me and General Robert E. Lee and and General Robert E. Lee
I saw it on tv
On Charlie Chaplin’s knee
I’m around the world in 80 days
Robert E. Lee dressed in grey
DIAMONDS BY THE YARD
As I lay down with my lady
The sounds of the night keep me warm
I’m living a city life – I’m living maybe
But tonight there’s no reason to be strong
Romantic poets guard the darkness
My my all at such an early age
An old man sheds a tear
He opens a little gold locket
He thought his little girl was lost in an Indian raid
Somewhere in these night lights lies the answer
And you can get diamonds by the yard
A tiffany dream – A porcelain dancer
An old man playing blues guitar
(Chorus:)
Midnight I surrender
I live beneath your ancient spell
You’ve been my lover since I can’t remember
You save my life with the stories you tell
All Songs by Elliott Murphy – ©Elliott Murphy – Lyrics Reprinted by Permission
Alive In Paris
Last Call Records 3208472
2009
Produced by Elliott Murphy and Gilles Pidard
Recorded at Mairie du 6ème Arr, Paris, France on 26 September 2008
Design by Chloé
Cover Photo by Sue Rynski
Inside Photos by Pierre Villard
Video Editing by Jules Lemetais
Sound by Michaël Mayeu & François Maigret
Musicians:
Elliott Murphy – Vocals, Guitar, Harmonica
Olivier Durand – Guitar, Backing Vocals
Alan Fatras – Cajon, Backing Vocals
Laurent Pardo – Bass, Backing Vocals
Record By Record, Murphy By Murphy: Alive In Paris
A live album which came from a performance I gave at the elegant Mairie of the 6th Arrondisement ballroom. Paris is divided into 20 such districts, each with their own grand city hall. Michel Bulteau and I were having lunch in the Café de la Mairie and talking about a planned exhibition of my career when the woman in the table next to us turned around and was interested! She turned out to be the wife of the mayor of the 6th arrondisement and in charge of cultural events. With the help of loyal archivists like Franck Dumaine, my wife Françoise put together the exhibition called “Elliott Murphy – The Last of the Rock Stars” which attracted a few thousand visitors. It was a truly amazing and humbling experience and it ran for a month. We gave the concert on the last day and it was captured on this album for eternity!
CDs
France:
Last Call Records 3208472
*Note: Contains bonus DVD.
Germain:
Blue Rose Records BLU DP0497
*Note: Contains bonus DVD.
Please note: If you have additions or corrections to this discography, please send them to the webmaster.
