Roger D. Linder: FAWM 2025
Artist
Roger D. Linder
- My Gently Weeping Guitar
- The Wreck of the United States
- Unfettered Optimism
- Comfort Zone
- What About Me?
- Unfettered Pessimism
- The Travels of Lady Mondegreen
- Reincarnation
- Tractor
- The Robbery
- Crawling (FAWM version)
- Never Alone (FAWM Version)
- Reality (FAWM Edition)
- The End
My 70th year I was gifted an axe
In the hopes that maybe I'd lay down some tracks
I added some gear, bought a shiny new case
Then stored it away in its own little space
The shame of it is it’s been over a year
The brand new guitar is shedding a tear
It sits there, disused, when it’d rather be here
Making sweet music to bring us some cheer
The strings are all in tune, it action's divine
My fingers are no longer calloused, a sign
That I've spent nearly no time trying to play
It's something that really should be changing this day
Given that February has a goal
I must find that music deep down in my soul
A weeping guitar has no place in a hole
The new tunes and chords I must now cajole
Picking it up I am stricken with fear
What if the music just doesn't appear?
What could I play that has not yet been heard?
What if the muse within is not stirred?
Away with excuses! Should not be dismayed
I have to find out what happens when played
The small voice inside me I have to persuade
Its negative bent I must now dissuade
I want to write songs based on actual events
Like "The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald"
Or when somebody dies like American Pie
My song would be such a great herald
The problem, you see, is I rarely take time
To research a topic, then make up a rhyme
I come with an inkling of some great portent
But just cannot make effort to make time worth spent
A glance at the Wikipedia entry
Will give me some insight, that's certain to be
But me, feigning expertise on the task
Is really quite something for someone to ask
But what about happenings that I must have lived through?
I must at least think there was something I knew
I read all the papers, I scoured the news
But promptly forget or else started to snooze
I want to write songs based on current events
Like "The Wreck of the United States" now
The current direction just does not make sense
Yet we all do nothing anyhow
February three, the problem I see
The day the music died
The country, it seems, torn apart at the seams
By a madman with too much self pride
A mandate no less, so he claims in excess
It's something we mostly did not vote for
And just two weeks in, no matter the spin
I see too much that I must abhor
Sitting in the doctor’s office
Turn my head and now I’m coughing
I ask what’s wrong and he says “nothing”
I’m in a perfect state of health.
At the window of the teller
Bank account is doing stellar
May not be a Rockefeller
I’m in a perfect state of wealth
Things are going rather nicely
Have no reason to complain
Eggs may be a little pricey
Maybe I will just abstain
Look outside and see it’s raining
Water flowing, drains are draining
I am dry, I’m not complaining
It’s just another pre-Spring day
Look inside the lights are shining
Round the table we are dining
All around us people whining
Living in their world of gray
I can only dream this good life
Real life is too unfair
If I give in to all this strife
It could be too much to bear
Today I was a carpenter
And then a car mechanic
I step outside my comfort zone
I really start to panic
I grab a brush, open a can
And then I start to splash paint
The mess I leave as I progress
Will only raise more complaints
Chorus
I lack the skill for simple things
It only causes woe to bring
I step outside my comfort zone
Among the skilled I stand alone
Today I tried to mow my lawn
The mower caught a rainbird
I tried to fix 'fore going on
Result was way too absurd
Chorus
Bridge
Beware the kitchen, stove's on fire
A simple meal was my desire
Instead I find I cannot cook
Despite the fact I had the book
Chorus
Today I simply took the wheel
An outing for the household
I couldn't keep the center lane
They wished they had a blindfold
Chorus
What about me?
I was once your best friend
With you ‘til the very end
Now you treat me
Like a nobody
What about me?
It was I who started it
Without me you wouldn’t get
Anywhere at all
You will likely fall
Everything you touch
Will come crashing down
Think it’s a bit much?
I think you’re the clown
They will turn on you
Just you wait and see
Don’t think that is true?
My advice is free
What about them?
They can’t even speak aloud
You see them as weak and cowed
But they are the backbone
Think about what you’ve done
What about them?
You won’t let them speak their mind
Now forever left behind
Cast away like trash
Burned up into ash
I sit here in desperation
Soaked in my own perspiration
Waiting for some inspiration
Only finding hesitation
Be it time to claim me famous
Only finding that it's shameless
I cannot be held as blameless
I continue to be nameless
Seeking what I do not deserve
Hoping to avoid a sore nerve
Cannot face the upcoming curve
If there was something to preserve
Words they fail me by the moment
Feet are dragging as in cement
I am finding time is misspent
It can only conjure torment
Try to find me something happy
Only finding something crappy
Wished it was a bit more snappy
Make my foot go tippy-tappy
In the end expect a downfall
Don't reach out to find a cure-all
Always end behind the eight ball
Only outcome is to stonewall
I shall sing of that fair one
The Lady Mondegreen
Her sleeves, flapping in the wind,
Give off a verdant sheen
"Excuse me, please," she once did say
"I'd like to kiss this guy.
Just once and then I'm sure I'll be
Able to touch the sky."
The lady fair, her eyes aglow
Spots Judy in a fright
The girl with colitis goes by
"There’s a bathroom on the right."
"Such joy to the visions that the people see"
She remarked as along she strode
But then a sight where she could not agree
"There's a wino down the road!"
Accompanied by another fair one
"It's Tanya! I declare!"
Innocent Tanya, bound to leave her
Drowning in despair
"My lady fair," a pastry vendor
Sought her attention, too.
"Would you please sample my fare?"
"Doughnuts make my brown eyes blue"
A breezy day, she sees a hill
Despair afflicts, and much chagrined
“The ants are my friends,
They’re blowing in the wind!”
And now upon dear Mondegreen
I saw delight in her eye
For she once again found her man
"I still want to kiss that guy"
People from another time, another place
Seen but not seen; familiar face
Silently, quickly, transformation
Another time, another place, restoration
Years and years ago, I had an inkling
Soon a stronger vibe, became a twinkling
Then suddenly aware, found myself in Limbo
Watching all the world, as if through a window
I saw growth of cities, many folks around me
Calling out to them, hoping that they'd found me
But my screams were silent, they didn't hear a sound
Waste away in my state, never to be found
Battered at my window, glass would not give way
Tried to climb the walls, still was forced to stay
Was I even human? Didn't really know
Only something I remembered very long ago
What will it take to free me? Waiting anxiously
Feel my time is coming, amping up my plea
Only takes some wishing, perhaps upon a star
Can I make my descent now, coming from afar?
Finding a new body, infant in their arms
I will not let new life come to any harm
I, so long forgotten, exist now once again
I will always be here, as I've always been.
I have now returned, I'm in the present
Where I had come from, it wasn't pleasant
Knowledge is within me, but not abused
I remember everything but it can't be used
Riding on my IH tractor
Plowing on the farm
Experience is not a factor
Some say I do harm
Digging up a fallow furrow
Finding a great chest
Tractor shreds it into pieces
Now it's laid to rest
As I head further afield
Got my good luck charm
Another coming, have to yield
Raised too much alarm
It's been fun to be a farmer
Didn't know a thing about
In my tractor, plated armor
I can do it, have no doubt
The man was there
A gun was pointed
I was feeling
All disjointed
"Gimme cash!"
He spoke so harshly
"There isn't much"
I whispered scarcely
"Hand it over!"
Shaking the gun
I only wanted
To up and run
It all was over
In a flash
And then the robber
Left at a dash
I stood there shaking
Out of my wits
And vowed that day
That I would quit
It isn't worth it
For this small pay
To risk my life
Every day
Crawling on the floor
And begging at your door
What am I here for?
I'm just crawling on the floor
I find it appalling
That I should be here crawling
I never meant to come this far
Or put myself so low
I don't find it appealing
That I am here and kneeling
I never meant to bow my head
It's you that brings me woe
Every day I spend with you
Is closer to my death
How I wish for someone new
To take away my breath
Crawling on the floor
And begging at your door
What am I here for?
I'm just crawling on the floor
Free me from my prison
And out of this position
I never meant to be with you
I didn't ask for love
I don't want to grovel
My feelings can't be novel
I never want to see your face
I need to rise above
Every night my dreams of fear
That you are still around
They make me want to shed my tears
And wallow 'til I'm drowned
Crawling on the floor
And begging at your door
What am I here for?
I'm just crawling on the floor
I forget now where I was
Sunday afternoon
But I knew that I need never
Be alone again
When you kissed me, I was sure
Love at the first sight
When we parted, wasn't sure
I'd make it through the night
Anxiously, I counted hours
Minutes, seconds, too
For more time that would be ours
Once I fell for you
Holding hands, we walked along
Strolling happily
Perfect weather, perfect time
Sighing thankfully
Looking forward to a future
You and I in love
Hoping it was not a dream
Undeserving of
Now the years have passed so quickly
Yet we still are two
Lifting eyes to Him above me
Thanking Him for you
Reality screams, interrupting my dreams
Nothing, it seems, is the truth
Sometimes I sleep, but inside I weep
Only to sweep away youth
It's a rabid, mad affair
This life that I've led
Is it any wonder
I didn't end up dead?
I reached for the sky
I didn't want to try
I fell from the clouds when I couldn't fly
Why did it happen to me?
I could not face reality
Did it really happen to me?
Could have ended in fatality
Lately, it seems, can't remember those dreams
They were only schemes to get rich
The muse has since died, taking with it my pride
What once was a goal, now a glitch
I'd be better off alone
Lost to history
Why I even tried
It's a mystery
The suits and the fans
The music and the bands
Betrayed me when I had the greatest plans
Why did it happen to me?
I could not face reality
Did it really happen to me?
Could have ended in fatality
The truth has now been spoken
My light no longer shines
All hope has now been broken
They've all left me behind
The pain of their betrayal
Too much for me to bear
I see in their portrayal
I catch it in their glare
It seems as if it's a good time
To shuffle off this mortal coil
In victory, the only crime
Is to gain this loser's spoils
A failure I shall always be
There's nothing otherwise I know
Any attempt to alter me
Will come as something of a blow
And so, my friends, I end this note
I dare say we'll not meet again
For of this life, no antidote
It's only loss, and naught to gain
Lyrics v. 2.4.2
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