Couple of Times 'Round The Sun

couple_of_times Besides having well-crafted and intelligent lyrics, the songs are melodic, memorable and haunting in their sounds.
— Les Semieniuk, Calgary Folk Music Festival

A Couple of Times ‘Round the Sun, produced by Louis Sedmak, is a well-crafted offering that, while down to earth, has depth and understanding. It was well received by Americana and Triple AAA radio in the US and got significant rotation on country airwaves in Canada as well. In addition the album was played on over 200 stations on six continents around the world.

Rob says, “This album was a collection of some of the darkest songs I wrote while under contract to Nashville publishers, songs I loved but didn't think would ever get cut by other artists. This album, although sporting a couple of sad songs, has a more up feel overall reflecting probably where I am now and where I think my life is going.”

Rob’s performed these songs from Nashville to Austin to L.A. with his most recent appearances being at the WCMA’s and the Arts Touring Alliance of Alberta.

Dear God

Dear God, My name is Rob
I'm just across the street
Dear God, We live so close
But never seem to meet
I was over to your house
Just after school today
Hoping I could see you
You must have been away

You got such a handsome home
But you live there all alone
I just wondered if you need...somebody
To keep you company

Dear God, I bin there
A couple times this week
Dear God, The door was open
I just had a peek
All you got for furniture
Is all those wooden chairs
Must get kinda lonely
'Cause no one's ever there

You got places just like this one
Everywhere I go
Do you live in all of them
Or are they just for show

Dear God, I saw homeless children on T.V
Dear God, Come on over
You can watch and see
So I wrote this letter
'Cause I figured if you knew
You would let them come and share
That empty house with you

I know that you have lots of us
I wondered if you’ve thought
Instead of making more of us
Just keep the folks you got

Dear God Today we learned
About the dinosaur
Dear God How come you
Don't make them anymore
Did you just get bored of the
Tyranasaurus Rex
What if you got tired of us?
What would you make next?

What Rob has to say about the song…

Rob has supported MSF (Medicines Sans Frontieres) a.k.a Doctors Without Borders for over a decade. MSF Canada will be a part of the celebration for his next CD coming out this fall. "Dear God" was written from the point of view of a child who's asking God (and by association those who follow God) if he has room in his house for the homeless children the boy saw on TV. The song (not a criticism of God or religion)has in fact been adopted by many in the church (including clergy) who support its message of charity.

I Wanna Go Again

I’ll lie down and I’ll watch the clouds
Play my music way too loud
This time I’ll taste that first kiss
So I can take pleasure in the thrill that is

Couple of times ‘round the sun
Just got going and now its done
Does this ride have to end
Is there a rule that you can bend
(Just this once if you could
punch my ticket then)
I wanna go again; I wanna go again

Forget the meetings and money
All the fights now just seem funny
Important things slipped through my hands
And life just happened while
I was making plans

In a hurry to grow up and old
I missed the mystery unfold
We learn the secrets of life
Far too late to ever get it right

So let me just try it once more
I’ll do life better than I did before
I swear I won’t waste a single minute
No I’ll savor every second in it

Fallen Angel

Princess of the pavement
In the arms of Mr. Jones
Devil in a silk dress
Dancing all alone
The Story of a hard life
In every line along her face
The kind that clothes don’t cover
And make up can’t erase

She looked just like the shadow of
A girl I used to know
We ran together for a while
A long long time ago

Fallen Angel
Take me back so I might
Spend my yesterdays in this night
Fallen Angel… Fallen Angel

She said whatcha lookin’ for there handsome
I said just old memories
She said they sell em by the bottle
At any A and P

I said I think we’ve met before
Another place or time
She said you wouldn’t be down here
If you had a better line

Some memories sail the wind
On a trace of perfume
Some memories took my hand
And led me back to her room

Tried so hard to stop her
But she just undid her dress
She said stolen kisses
Always taste the best

It was only when she held me tight
Could swear I saw some tears
The kind that comes a-calling when
You stumble on lost years

Fallen Angel
Take me back so I might
Spend my yesterdays in this night
Fallen Angel… Fallen Angel

Till Death Do Us Part

I heard someone's revival of an old familiar song
The words had slipped my mind, you know its been so long
It stirred a place inside my heart, a place I used to go
A place I thought I boarded up long time ago

('Cause) I have faith in my heart
That love will live till death do us part
That love will find a brand new start
And live again till death do us part

The sun comes shining through my window pane
The weatherman said it could only rain
I find myself believing in some special circumstance
A place where people go who want a second chance

When I wish on the first star I see tonight
My hopes are riding on photons of light
That left their origins a million years ago
Every time I look, I see what might not be there anymore

I stare across the table at this stranger in my home
Who bears some resemblance to a girl I used to know
But every time I look into her eyes she turns away
I make a mental note to try another day

What Jenny Draws

Jenny is drawing a monster
With a Devilish grin and dark eyes
She says he comes nights for long visits
The kind that make six year olds cry
Other kids draw suns and rainbows
And cute little houses with trees
With the crayons she keeps in her pockets
Jenny just draws what she sees

There's a lot more to what Jenny draws
Than anyone ever thought there was
Pictures worth a thousand words
No one saw
What Jenny draws

At fifteen Jenny models her leather
On the corner of Walk and Don't Walk
And what Jenny draws mostly are cat calls
From the college boys cruising the block
Bin spending her nights with Prince Valium
And a few dozen Johns from the hills
She's learned you can draw blanks in the morning
If you kick back some Gin with the pills

Now at Thirty she's drawing a deep breath
As she walks up and rings the door bell
That monster appears in the doorway
With those eyes she once colored so well

Then Jenny draws her Smith and Wesson
And a crowd from the neighborhood
When Jenny draws the line in traces of lead
And wipes that grin off him for good

There's a lot more to what Jenny draws
Than anyone ever thought there was
Pictures worth a thousand words
No one saw
What Jenny draws

When Big Boys Cry

Words: Nicki Berns & Rob Heath / Music: Rob Heath
©1984 Rob Heath Music Inc. /SOCAN

When I was five I wandered off
From where we'd just moved in
Wasn't long before the dark
And cold and fear set gt;in
When I heard my daddy's voice
I tried to hide my tears
He said, "There's something, Son,
I've learned from all my years"

He said...
big boys cry, even big boys cry
It don't mean you ain't a man
Hold your head up high
You should never be ashamed
Of how you feel inside
Only empty hearts have empty eyes
And only small men laugh when big boys cry

They were married thirteen years
And all they seemed to do was fight
Daddy finally packed his bags
One very stormy night
He came into my room and said,
"Son take care of your mom"
It's the first time I had seen him cry
He new it shook me some

Thirty years have come and gone
Dad ain't been feelin' well
Me, my wife, our little son
Have come to say our last farewells

And as we're leaving grandpas room
My son begins to cry
He turns his head so I won't see him
As he wipes his eyes

And I say...
big boys cry, even big boys cry
It don't mean you ain't a man
Hold your head up high
You should never be ashamed
Of how you feel inside
Only empty hearts have empty eyes
And only small men laugh when big boys cry

The Trick

He said
Remember elementary school
How easily your heart was fooled
Like rabbits from a hat
Infatuations popped up just like that

But you know how these things go
They’d vanish in a week or so

When you’re young you see a trick
You think its magic

I know a house a job and kids
Can blow the flame out of a kiss
Now you’re wondering if love
Was everything you thought it was

Or if you’ve been fooled once more
By that illusion that you once fell for

When you’re young
You see a trick
You think its magic
Then you grow up
You see magic and you think it’s just a trick

Just like magic love can be
Part deception and part mystery
But its up to you and me
Which one we choose to see

When you’re young
You see a trick
You think its magic
Then you grow up
You see magic and you think it’s just a trick

But in time
You’ll realize the magic’s everywhere
The trick is just to see it there
The trick is just to see it there

Until We Are Ready To See

Up at dawn to curl her hair
Slips her best dress on
She goes to her rocking chair
Declares, “Today he’ll come”
I know her son lives near the home
Down the road a mile
She says that he won’t be long
But they say it’s been a while

She is out there somewhere
In a world of wishes and dreams
Where there are things we can never know
Until we are ready to see

I try to help her to her room
Near the end of the day
She smiles, “No, I’m going home
He’s just running late"
So I leave her waiting there
To watch each passing car
Although I know the truth
How can I break her heart

She is out there somewhere
In a world of wishes and dreams
Where there are things we can never know
Until we are ready to see

When I come back I find her still
You see she was right all along
The one she was really waiting for
Finally did take her home
Now she’s…

She was right all along
You see in the end someone came for her
And now she is finally home

She is out there somewhere
In a world of wishes and dreams
Where there are things we can never know
Until we are ready to see

I Believe

The greatest battles we fight alone
With heart and soul on fields unknown
Like an enemy by night our troubles seek us out
When we're weak and full of doubt

I believe from dark comes the dawn
I believe we will shine on
When all is lost tomorrow remains
We will rise again
That's what I believe

In just one blink of God's eye
We laugh and love; we live and die
We're just fallen angels stranded on this rock we roam
Trying to find our way back home

I believe from dark comes the dawn
I believe we will shine on
When all is lost tomorrow remains
We will rise again
That's what I believe

When all is black; we can't look back

Our greatest glory's not in how we've never fallen down
But how we get up off the ground

I believe from dark comes the dawn
I believe we will shine on
There's a light timeless and true
Burns in me and you
That's what I believe

Deadly Highway

Busted down on the Interstate 5 on the way to Lotusland
With an underage girl and a nose full of go fast in a rust bucket Chevy Van
Funny how chance and circumstance can change everything
If that...belt hadn't gone they would have drove on that cop would still be breathing
Thirty year veteran with a pension plan it was her last night
Brought a ticket book and Papermate Pen to a pistol fight
Leaves a...husband and son to a twenty one gun salute
They'll get a bag with a flag her blues, badge and boots
Now there's...TV Cameras at the Five Points Motel bout twenty odd miles away
Spokesman says the kid resisted arrest; that's what five eyewitnesses say
There's a bullet hole right through, his chest tattoo from a rookie's gun
It dots an "i' in the words "Kill me I'll try anything once"
And you can blame it on the Johns that his mom brought home from time to time
Every one said he was born to become a chalk outline
It just may be we can't get free of our yesterdays
So who's finger was it on that trigger on that deadly highway

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