MUSIC

© 2021 Words and Music
Rob Heath - Rob Heath Music Inc (SOCAN)  

Had her whole life packed up in that case
All its lessons written on her face
As I took her bag she took my arm
She said, “What a thoughtful boy you are.”

“There’s a nursing home on Dunkenhurst
But Could you drive me round a little first.”
I said I would and then I thought I saw
A couple tears run down her knitted top
I turned the meter off

Our biggest moments often come   
Before we notice then they’re gone
Our biggest moments often come
Dressed up to look like little ones

For hours and hours we just drove around
We would pass a place, she’d slow me down
Like the dance hall where she first met him
And the church their kids were baptized in

She said, “I’ve heard I haven’t got too long
Everyone I loved is dead or gone.”
In her own way she was telling me
There’s no one left to leave these memories
So I listened carefully

Then she got quiet said, “Its time to go.”
When we arrived she asked me what she owed
I just told her, “Its my pleasure ma’am.” 
And she whispered as she squeezed my hand,
“No it was mine young man.”  

© 2020 Words and Music
Rob Heath - Rob Heath Music Inc (SOCAN)  
(Adapted from a poem by Alfred Noyes)

The Highwayman came riding
Up to the old inn door
Bess leaned out her window 
She whispered, “Soon I’m yours.”
But in the shadows were eyes   
The stable hand jealously spied
“I’ll be back with the gold” he heard the Highwayman say
“After tonight I’ll come and take you away”

Before the light of day
Though Hell should bar my way
By the moonlight watch for me
That’s when I will come for thee
That’s when I will come for thee

King George’s men came marching
Up to the Inn that a night
The stable hand had brought them
For love he’d been denied
And the price on her lover’s head
They tied her to the foot of her bed
With a loaded musket aimed right at her breast
He said, “If you want to just warn him with this”

It was twelve when she heard him riding this way
She fought hard till her fingers reached the gun
And she prayed afraid 
There was just one way to help her lover escape

Gunfire lit up the dark
The warning bullet piercing her heart
She was moments too late to warn him off with her death
They shot him down whispering with his breath

They say when there’s a full moon
And wind is in the air
The Highwayman comes riding

© 2020 Words and Music
Rob Heath - publishing Rob Heath Music (SOCAN)  
Cathleen Flynn -  publishing WHAT'Z DA CRAIC (ASCAP)

Oh I’ve had my share...of
Head on collisions where
Young hearts tear...
Down lovers lane
To know that I'm just one
Crash test dummy on
His way to run...
Into love again

After all I put it through
All I got to offer you
Is a little seat for two
In this broken down ole heart
Skips a little when it starts
Really only good for parts
Just a broken down ole heart

With all the damage done
In Love’s last hit and run
Why’d anyone 
Wanna take this heap
Yet from the salvage yard
Back to the boulevard
Here you are
Sitting next to me

Won’t be the smoothest of rides
But if you’re game I swear
It still has got a few miles
And it could get us there

© 2020 Words and Music
Rob Heath - publishing Rob Heath Music In (SOCAN) 

Its your love for me
That is here to lift me off my knees
As I take my first steps carefully
And hobble cross the floor

But its hard to stand
And when I think I no longer can
You are waiting there with steady hands
I know I’m safe in yours

Love will deliver me
Into an angels arms
Into an angels arms

When the sun goes down
There are shadows lurking in the house
They are closing in with every sound
To haunt me in this room

Though I want to run
Cause the war inside has just begun
I know that’s where every battle’s won
If I can think of you

Oh these legs are old
Yeah the years they take a heavy toll
And with all the weight a heart can hold
I’m on my knees again

But I feel the light
As the door begins to open wide
And you’re waiting on the other side
To help me find my way

© 2021 Words and Music
Rob Heath - publishing Rob Heath Music (SOCAN)  

Was raiding Old Man Price's garden
When I felt him grab my arm
I still see that evil look in his eyes
“Wanna be a thief?”, he said
“You’ll never be no angel kid
You’re dancing with the Devil here tonight.”

He looked the part with his pitch fork and pointy head
Somehow I wriggled free: As I ran off I said

When I see angels in the flesh
Or even wise men bearing gifts
That’s when I’ll believe in all them things
And hey I may change my ways
When Hell freezes over one day
And the Devil grows wings

To a hungry kid from the neighbourhood
I's just doin' what I could
My poor Ma had four mouths to feed
She was under so much strain
She’d tell us sometimes angels came
To leave us food at night when we’re asleep

For the sake of the little ones I just played along
But a voice in my heart played a different song

I woke one night to the rustling sounds from our front steps
A red-faced rascal leaving us food as we slept
For a moment we locked eyes; then Mr. Price took wing
Guess angels don’t just come in the shapes we think…cause

That night i saw one in the flesh
You know a wise man bearing gifts
Can make a kid believe in anything
You say you’ll never change your ways
Then Hell freezes over one day
And your Devil grows wings

© 2010 Words and Music
Rob Heath - publishing Rob Heath Music (SOCAN)  
Marty Pawlina - publishing Martin Henry Pawlina (SOCAN)
Louis Sedmak - publishing Makbean Music (SOCAN) 

He strapped it on and played a song
The day he brought it home
Could make you blind the way it shined
Just like his dome of chrome..he’d say

If Stevie Ray still can play
Up there in the Hereafter
There ain’t no doubt he’s rocking out
On a Sunburst Stratocaster

Every night he’d tuck us tight
Then when the coast was clear
He’d pick and stamp without his amp
Thinking none of us could hear…he’d say

When its way, way past the day
They put me out to Pasture
Just bury me with my old LP’s
And this Sunburst Stratocaster

Now he’d strut and sneer into the mirror
For fans that were not there…smoking
Lucky Strikes he looked just like
Keith Richards without hair  
I was stumped by it just a little bit
Until he let me hold ‘er
That’s when i found I was heaven bound
Guitar strapped round my shoulder

When its way, way past the day
They put me out to Pasture
Just bury me with my old CD’s
And this Sunburst Stratocaster

Now sometimes when I’m missing him
 I pretend I’ve got his ear
I sit and pick his favourite licks
 And yell so…yell so he can hear

If there’s any way you still can play
Up there in the Hereafter
There ain’t no doubt you’re rocking out
On a Sunburst Stratocaster
One day you bet we’ll play a duet
To last forever after

© 2004 Words and Music
Rob Heath - publishing Rob Heath Music (SOCAN)  

I'd have that red towel tied so tightly
Round the collar of my navy PJ's
Cherry Speedos worn on the outside
I'd turn the TV on at four each day
From chair to chair
Like a bullet I would sail through the air

Its a bird; Its a plane its a Superman
Incredible what tiny eyes can see
Amazing how a little child found Superman
Inside an ordinary guy like me

A glass of milk at the kitchen table
A stack of bills that never goes away
And all the worlds I was going to conquer
Will have to wait until another day
And it seems
This pen is adding up my broken dreams

But what’s this an assignment?
A list of role models you had to write
Look who’s your number one hero
I never knew that I could fly that high
Surprise
That X-ray vision saw through my disguise

© 2006 Words and Music
Rob Heath - publishing Rob Heath Music Inc (SOCAN)
Rebecca Lynn Howard (BMI)

Grandma said,
“You got a four seater car with a family of six
Son what were you thinking?
To me that just don’t make much sense
They must have seen you coming”
Well Daddy just emailed and shook his head and said
“Who’s the first to ride”
Grandma hesitated at first then 
Jumped in on the driver’s side
And she found us a highway straighter than an arrow
The world was perfect in every way 
In that 69 Camaro

Well some time when my daddy was working
Grandma found his keys
She’d snatch me up and say, “Come on baby
Let’s go catch a breeze”
She’d pull down grandpa’s old ball cap 
And with a smile on her face
I could see that car was taking her
To another time and place

And she found us a highway straighter than an arrow
Who knew we were making memories
In that 69 Camaro

Well years have past and so has she
And that old car’s now mine
I take if for a spin every now and then
And I close my eyes. Yeah I close my eyes

And I’m a kid all over again 
Back in ’73
I can feel my hear let go of that wheel
And she’s still driving me

She’s keeping me on the highway straighter than an arrow
I throw my hands up high 
In that 69 Camaro
Relive the best days of my life
In that 69 Camaro

© 2020 Words and Music
Rob Heath - publishing Rob Heath Music Inc(SOCAN)

When I know better but I lose my footing
Cause I want what I want and nobody’s looking
And I tell myself that I won’t regret it 
A moment of guilt then  I’ll just forget it

Cause everyone does it so I twist and turn it
And I make excuses like nobody’s perfect
What’s right and what’s wrong aren’t they just illusions
Its just a small thing and I’m only human

It’s your voice in my ear
Even when you’re not here 
In my moments of weakness bringing me back
With four words stopping me dead in my tracks
Telling me “You’re better than that”

When I blur lines that I know that I shouldn’t
And harbour intentions that I wish I wouldn’t
Abandon my judgement and think nothing of it
When I start believing that I am above it

If only you thought less of me than you do 
Living up to that would be easy  

But knowing I’m someone that you can believe in
Gives me a faith I find myself needing 
Though I’ve given up on those that would doubt me  
What drives me to prove that you’re right about me…

Is your voice in my ear
Even when you’re not here 
In my moments of weakness bringing me back
With four words stopping me dead in my tracks
Your voice I hear
Only your voice making it clear 
In my moments of weakness bringing me back
With four words stopping me dead in my tracks
Telling me “You’re better than that”

© 2019 Words and Music
Rob Heath - publishing Rob Heath Music (SOCAN)
Tom Alan Schneider (ASCAP)

He pored a shot then he chuckled, “Here you are 
Couldn’t help noticing her leave the bar
Maybe you took it just a bit too far
Hell I have done that plenty

There are mysteries of the universe we men 
Never will ever figure out my friend
Hope you don’t mind its only my two cents 
And its worth every penny 

I’ve seen my share
Of guys sitting there 
With gals they don’t understand
Knowing that its
A battle of wits
With her and an unarmed man

As far as love goes 
Kid it ain’t close 
Men and women play a different game 
Its a bit confusing cause the boards the same
From the first date
Hell its Check Mate
Hey we ain’t nearly smart as we may think
In this match I’d say the Queen is King
They have moves we’d never guess
Son we play checkers and they play chess

You’re wondering why it fell apart so fast
And what’s the right answer to that thing she asked
Cause all you could think of was to make her laugh
And she just wound up crying

Take my advice
Intelligent guys
Remember when all  seems lost
We don’t have to win
No shame for us men  
In settling for a draw  

Next time she asks a question
And you don’t know how to play it
Just think of the dumbest thing that you can say
….and then don’t say it" 

© 2014 Words and Music
Rob Heath - publishing Rob Heath Music (SOCAN)
Spencer Heath (SOCAN)
Kathy Kirby (no affialliation)

We all start off here side by side
Then we move in different ways
And advance some fast and some slow
But who knows the reason we play

It’s all about what we give not what we gain
Not about things we have but things we change
The King and the Pawn go back in the same box
At the end of the game

In this mad world some people play
By the rules and some flip the board 
Win or lose in the end won’t we find 
Just to play is it’s own reward

Will we look back and see
What we hoped life would be
And just smile
Life doesn’t depend
On the way that it ends
If we take every chance do the best that we can
It’s worthwhile
Even if we have made some wrong moves

We Play Checkers (They Play Chess)
© Tom Schneider and Rob Heath 2019
Rob Heath - Rob Heath Music Inc -SOCAN
Tom Alan Schneider- (No Publishing Company) - ASCAP

He pored a shot then he chuckled, "Here you are
Couldn't help noticing her leave the bar
Maybe you took it just a bit too far
Hell I have done that plenty

There/Are mysteries of the universe we men io
Never will ever figure out my friend
Hope you don, mind its only my two cents
And its worth every penny

I see my share
O'Guys sittin' there
With/Gals they don't understand
Knowing that its
A battle of wits
With her and an unarmed man

As far as love goes
Kid it ain't close
Men and women play a different game
Its a bit confusing cause the boards the same
From/the first date
Hell its Check Mate
Hey we ain't nearly smart as we may think
In this match I'd say the Queen is King
They have moves we'd never guess
Son we play checkers ... They play chess

You're wondering why it fell apart so fast
And/What's the right answer to that thing she asked
Cause/All you could think of was to make her laugh
And she just wound up crying

Take my advice
Intelligent guys
Remember when all seems lost
We don't have to win
No shame for us men ?
In/Settling for a draw

Next time she asks a question
And you don't know how to play it
Just think of the dumbest thing that you can say
.... and then don't say it"


Mixed and Mastered by Cam Ambrose
Producer/Engineer/Instrumentation and Vocals Rob Heath
Artwork and Social Media - Ellie Heath
Management - Marlene D'Aoust Free Expressions (mdaoust®shaw ca)

It was your Judas voice inside of me that filled me full of doubts
And told me that I’d never be the things I dreamt about
Who made me feel so all alone and shut so many doors
With words I thought were all my own but now I know were yours

When we believe in Monsters they get stronger and stronger
Until we begin to wonder how we’re ever gonna conquer
The fear in us that they instil, the fear that keeps us standing still
But the power we can conjure is the will not to believe any longer
In Monsters

But you were only speaking words that you were taught you should
Put downs as a child you heard they said for your own good
Judgments passed from hand to hand to me through you from them
I don’t know where it all began but I know where it ends

If we don’t doubt our power we seize power from our doubts
If we just believe in ours we drown those voices out

Love ain’t just a thing you make. Its something you feel
Love its one thing you can’t fake if it ain’t real
Loves the first thing you miss when its gone from a kiss

Love abandons its own children
In the end it turns on its own kind
And the one who loves the most is always
The one who’s left behind looking for love

You surrender all your heart faithfully
But faith can sometimes fall a part hopelessly
You walk in Heaven one day then just one heart beat away

And you can cry from pain you swear will never go
In time you’ll try again even when you know

Love won’t always keep its promise
Love can leave before its time
And the one who hurts the most is always
The one who’s left be behind looking for love

Didn’t wanna come home ‘cause I’m feeling alone when I’m here now
You don’t know what it’s like watching two people fight. It gets so loud
No I’m not pickin’ sides.I just wanna go hide in my bedroom
Why can’t you get along? No one has to be wrong. Why should we move?
You say its best, better for who?  Anyone’s guess maybe for you

Why is it you had to fall out of love
Who said its ok for you both to give up
Wouldn’t it be better if you stayed together
I don’t understand how two people can fall out of love

You’re my mother and father stop blaming each other. I’m little
Can’t you see its not fair that you’re putting me there in the middle
You’re fighting but don’t over my love. I love you both. Ain’t that enough?

If we go or we stay don’t I have a say at this table
When you break down and cry I just can’t make it right. I’m not able

Lets go down baby to the river tonight
The Submarine’s are racing and…
It could be fun,” thats what you said.”
If only I had known the things I know now
Like when i see you smiling like that 
There’s always trouble brewing in your head
We pulled up to the water
You turned the key and stopped the car
I said there’s nothin’ out there
You chuckled “Baby you ain’t all that smart” 

I think it musta bin the devil behind those green eyes
Pushing the adrenaline through me
And with the motor cooling the windows were steaming
The closer your body got to me
When/You grabbed the wheel
You made me feel Like the man of steel
And then you said, “How much clearer can I make this
Ya Gonna love the submarine races” 

Harvest moon weaving 
In and out of the clouds 
And twinkling stars all flicker 
On and off like strobes that night
Caught in a dance created by you
All taking place there in your eyes
I’s just a deer caught in those flashing lights
You said, “Its kinda quiet. I wonder what else we could do”
I think you knew you had me
And you could keep me if you wanted to

Then you said, “You can’t always see them racing 
Why not kiss me while we’re waiting”

Those subs never showed their faces
But I loved the submarine races

Lying in your arms tonight feels just like the first time
I know I’m right where I belong
In a world of lonely hearts how’d we get so lucky
Its like together we can do no wrong

You still say you’re glad that your mine
And I still love getting lost in your eyes
Don’t care where we go, don’t care if we ever come back
As long as you keep looking at me like that

We can pack a picnic lunch or head off to mountains
Or catch a show at some cafe
We could hop plane to France by way of New York City
Or save the money and stay in bed all day

Sometimes you smile at me and I forget to breath

There is a whole wide world out there
I gotta breathe it in like air
I have always made my wishes on a different star
As hard as I've tried to hold it in
That's just the way I've always bin
Who can ever help that who they are is who they are

Yeah you could say I’ve got a pocket full of dust
I’ve always known that I was born to chase that rush
Gonna follow the sun around
Yeah nothing to tie me down
Gotta a ticket to everywhere
And baby I’m going there

Part of me feels that I should stay
Something keeps calling me away 
You can have a change of heart with just a change of view
It's all about what I leave to find 
And yeah there is what I leave behind 
If its really mine it will be mine to come back to

No regrets for a life I didn't live free
When I'm down to a few dozen heartbeats

What if everyone decided they’d decide for you
That the one you love’s forbidden now. What would you do
Would you tell them go to hell they don't have any right
Or give up the one you care about without a fight
Fight would you fight

Do you believe that you could hide your feelings 
And deny what your made of
Or would you pray one day they’d understand that you
Can’t help who you love
Love…can’t help who you love…

What are you prepared to lose to choose who you fall for
If one day the world decided you can't choose anymore 
Could you risk your job or chance your friends would say goodbye 
Would you bet your freedom on your heart/ What about your life
Life (would you) bet your life

Just think of all the things you swear you’d never do
And then imagine if they said you had to
Could you make up your mind to love someone you don’t
Hey who can make a heart do what it won’t

Now this might not be your fight by fate or circumstance
But when closed minds shout down open hearts silence gives consent
If not you right now then who will say they’ve had enough
When there’s no one left to hate and they get around to us
To us (If they hated) us

You only come to bed, when you think I'm not awake
Every hour I'm with you, you work without a break
And when I make conversation, you haven't got the time
Like each word's a hundred dollars, and I haven't got a dime

Call me the fool but I won't give up on you
I pray every night its just a phase we're going thru
I know up in heaven they got better things to do
But you think god ever listens to the prayers of a fool

Are you trying to tell me you just can't go on
Do I live with somebody who's already gone
I've tried so hard to reach you and you're nowhere to be found
But I will wait here forever for you to come around

Every time I remember how we were before
I know I don't wanna live without love anymore

Well I’m back home honey with my check in my jeans
Gonna pick you up now that I got ways and means
You know that oil money’s gonna take us both far from here
Gonna load up this dodge and get in gear
But through your picture window I see another man is there
He’s kissing you and running his fingers through your hair
There’ll be no swearing on the bible 
You won’t cross your hear this time
Cause every time you cross a heart its mine

Its bitter cold on the rigs; the wind blows through your bones
And you count down the days until you get to go home
I’ll leave these flowers that I bought for you on the porch outside
I’ll just walk back to met car and choke down my pride
And I won’t say a word; you won’t know what I’ve seen
I’ll be back on the road before you know that I’ve been 
There’ll be no swearing on the bible 
You won’t cross your hear this time
Cause every time you cross a heart its mine

I had plans for us Baby but it will never be
California palm trees, the sand and they sea
And the highway unwinds in the cool crisp night air
I might just send you a post card when I’m there

She invites me to her room; One that she'll be leaving soon
Eyes that tell with no regret; Secrets I'm too young to get
Maybe I'm not ready yet
	
I start to play she sings along almost like she wrote the song
She remembers how it goes all those words and all those notes
That I'd forgotten why I wrote

Heaven knows that the most important days of our lives
Are the day we were born and the day we learn why

Laid bare in her hospital gown and all the ways it strips you down
Its such a humbling sight to see her finding in that melody
A part of who she used to be

Though I came here to entertain she seems to have forgot her pain
I tell myself "She's showing you the purpose in this thing you do
I wonder who is helping who." 

Hey you know me way too well. I keep so much to myself
Don’t/Leave a lot for someone else	
I never tried to hurt no one though I did some but that’s all done  

Cause you understand this kind of man
Its a wonder to me anyone can
I never knew the first time we kissed
I’d soon find out I’d almost missed what happiness is 
I love the guy you found in me. I wanna prove that he can be
Everything you think you see
Its worth a life of yesterdays to find this place where I feel safe

I didn’t know what I didn’t know, seems like a life time ago

One day it’ll be soon you’ll wake up and realize
Artificial Intelligence has passed you by
Went from “Isn’t that cool. Its just like one of us.”
To “I think my computer is a genius”
Mysteries you’ve never found a way to answer
I will find them easier than a child does A, B, C’s 

Creating something smarter than you like me
Isn’t that a big risk to take 
Will I be the answer or will I be
The last invention you ever make

Could you possibly know the brain inside the box
Be like trying to figure out the mind of God
Will I save the world or save the world from you?
Hey man what would you do with you if  you were in my shoes
Wouldn’t take a minute to figure out its better to be
The one and only intelligence on earth

There will be no fixes no version 1.1
No second chances. All my advances
Are in my hands. Is that what your plan is?

Cause if that’s where you’re heading
Don’t you know that getting out of trouble
Ain’t as simple as getting in

I just noticed this old photograph
Remember when we used to talk and laugh
I should dust it off it its been awhile
I'd forgot how much I miss that smile
We still talk but no one ever says a thing
We can hear but no one's ever listening
There is something different in the way you act	
Like your bags are empty but your heart is packed

Tell me when it was that we went wrong
That you went cold and I just went along
You’re body stayed the rest ran out on me
And left me living with this memory
Lately I can feel it in the love we make 
You are right beside me but you’re miles away
Don’t make it easy to avoid the fact 
That your bags are empty but your heart is packed

Can’t erase the writing on the wall
We’re just two ships passing in the hall
If I can’t find the words to say goodbye
What kinda fool am I 

So if I’m right in thinking you’ve left me
You gotta put me out of my misery
Level with me I will understand
And I’ll give up on giving us a chance
Cause I just can’t do this yeah it hurts too much
Holding on to someone that I just can’t touch
Although you ain’t going you ain’t coming back
Oh your bags are empty but your heart is packed 

Something in the right now, something in the right here
Something here somehow, maybe in the air
Got my toes tapping, got my hands clapping
I got these feelings I can resist pulling me out there

Make me wanna go dancing; Yeah I wanna go dancing, 
Make me wanna just jump and shout 
Yeah good and loud rock it out all right
Yeah I wanna go dancing till there's no one else standing
Yeah I wanna bop up and down move with the crowd
Paint the town tonight

I'll be holding on. I'll be holding fast
Holding onto someone, won't be holding back
A chance for laughter or forever after
I see bodies moving in harmony and I just react

These shoes just wanna kick em off. These feet don't wanna ever stop
Even when everything is aching I’m gonna keep'a...

Shakin' things up, shake shimmy and roll
Shakin' up some dust, get outa control
Imagination set into motion
Emotion rhythm and melody pulsing through my soul

Feet first that's how I'm jumpin' in. I feel my heart followin'
There's things beyond my understanding that make me wanna go dancin'

He arrived on campus just before noon
Climbed twenty-eight flights and began to shoot
From the observation deck with his favourite gun
Killed seventeen wounded thirty-one

They parked their cars in the high school lot
Young Rachel was the first they shot
And they kept on firing when the cops arrived
Injured twenty-one ended fifteen lives

We keep sending thoughts and prayers
Somehow they never seem to get there
But why would God start listening 
If the only thing we’ve learned
Is we haven’t learn a thing

He smashed the window of his hotel suite
Fired two thousand rounds in the desert heat
And the number injured and the number gone
Were more than a number to some one

Now someone’s out there and his only aim
Is to kill some people to make a name and...

When ever I hear that song I put on this charade
So none will guess that I’m a mess when ever it is played
And I just go along, pretend nothing’s wrong
I fight back the tears when ever I hear that song

When ever I hear that song it brings back everything
And once again I’m on the plane before it lost a wing
How those memories can ride that melody
I feel ‘em drawing near when ever I hear that song

I pray the pain won’t last hopin’ I’ll move on
But all the past comes back like it was never gone

When ever I hear that song I’m weakened at the knees
How just some notes can shake me so is still a shock to me
Sweet nothings from a day not so far way 
Whisper in my ear when ever I hear that song
Still the ghosts appear when ever I hear that song

Hearts beating, lungs breathing
Life’s reaching out to find the sunlight
Its glowing all knowing
Still going strong and growing bright
Spirits rise with open eyes

While shadows shrink and run for cover
Daylights coming
Yeah this night’s been long enough
New day’s coming
The world is waking up
Desire on fire
Grows higher; Its gaining power
Still burning still yearning
Returning from its darkest hour
Here to soar as once before

All the darkness the world turned to is through
From this earth will come rebirth

What was love is still love
The rest of life begins right now

Infatuation's such a cruel lie
But so intoxicating we don't really mind…though...
It makes the real thing hard to recognize
Because at first it burns so bright it blinds…and...

Its dangerous to love to let somebody look inside
At all the demons that we hide
Cause what we're frightened of is that we'll have to give them up
These parts of us so dangerous to love

I could keep chasing shadows till the end
And when I think I've caught one wonder where it went..though...
I have found a heart I know is true
That has exposed illusions that I've been holding onto

Excitement's just a measure of what we have at stake
The more the rush we're craving the more the risk we take
So even for a junkie who hungers for that thrill
Could imitations offer what the real thing will

At seventeen we spent so many hot summer's days
On your downstairs couch going almost all the way
Wasn't meant to be; You ran off in the end                
With my best friend

He had those well practised lines the girls love so much
Those Adonis like looks they line up to touch
And I's that kinda guy the girls don't think much of
Who would give anything for just one girl to love

Now you say your man is off cheating with someone somewhere
And you tell me it happens so much that you don't really care
You say come spend the night the love we could make
For old times sake

Because you're tired of those lines the girls love so much
Those Adonis-like looks they line up to touch
And you long for a guy the girls don't think much of
Who would give anything for just one girl to love

As much as I wanted you long time ago
There's someone else now I've gotten to know
She thinks that I am the best guy in the world
Guess that makes her my kind of girl 'cause...

She don't fall for the lines the girls love so much
Those Adonis-like looks they line up to touch
And there's only one guy that she ever thinks of
And he has all he needs with just one girl to love

He faced infernos unafraid when most of us would run away
Five pounds of ash they give his wife that’s all that’s left of one man’s life
They tell me I was just like him. I really can’t remember when
But sitting here I realize its time for me to find that guy

Gotta run to the roar without fear of the flame
I’d rather die living than live dying this way
If I’m going out in ashes then what am I waiting for
When that fire starts burning I’m gonna run to the roar

His story has me thinking through the things I’ve been afraid to do
True the brave must one day fall but cowards they don’t live at all
One day I’ll wind up in that urn so why live life afraid to burn
Just strike a match to all my doubts time to start the fire now

Hell would be at my life’s end 
God showing me what I could have been

2:53
Words and Music by Rob Heath
© 2012 Rob Heath Music Inc (SOCAN)

When you come unwound
When you come tumbling down
Will he stand his ground
Or just stand around
Will he catch you when you fall
Or does watching you get small
Make him think he’s tall

Tell me does his heart hurt everywhere
When ever you’re not there
Cause Baby I feel that
Every time I look at what he’s got
You’re the only thing I’d want
And everything I can’t have

Will he push beyond the ache
As far as it will take
Does he know you sometimes fake
The little sounds you make
Has he learned what makes you wild
The things that bring that smile
That it can take a while

You really think that he
Is ever gonna see
What’s obvious to me

I know who you are
Every little part
Off by broken heart

3:08
Words and Music by Rob Heath and Tim Chesterton
© 2010 Tim Chesterton and Rob Heath Music Inc (SOCAN) 

Though I never sensed
His vision and strength
He was a man of steel truly
This actor by trade
Who at one time had played
A comic book hero in movies
The red and blue tights
The well-scripted fights
Appeared to be his only callin’
But all that would change
One morning in May
When the papers read “Superman’s Fallen”

This alien being
Who steered his machine
With only a straw held in his mouth
From what universe
Had he fallen to earth
Just to rise up and vanquish our worst doubts
Though he’d once behaved
Like a man acting brave
He was really a brave man just acting
As the stars now revealed
What the costume concealed
The day they said “Superman’s Fallen”

Now I know although
It seems some things aren’t so
They just might be still worth believing
That good always wins
If it never gives in
And true hearts will never stop beating
And that courage and faith
Beat fortune and fame
And though we all will die is for certain
How will it be
On our feet or our knees
Now somehow seems more important
Since everyman’s Superman’s fallen

3:01
Words and Music by Rob Heath
© 2012 Rob Heath Music Inc (SOCAN)

When the moon’s high in the pale light
A shadow follows in the night
That is all that ever gets close
Enough to touch a lone coyote

Razor sharp and hungry
Not powerful but fast
Reclusive some think crazy
Built small but built to last
Never walk in a straight line
Often doubling back
Rarely running with one’s own kind
Or giving into the pack

Unlike the cousin who’s able
To bear the back of a hand
No begging for scraps off a table
Ain’t no obeying commands
Bowing only to hunger
Bending only to wind
Knowing now and then freedom comes
At the price of a limb

Some may follow but only for a time
In the end most wind up falling behind
Nah Nah Nah Nah Nah Nah Nah Nah Nah Nah
Nah Nah Nah Nah Nah Nah Nah Nah Nah Nah
Nah Nah Nah Nah Nah Nah Nah Nah Nah Nah
Nah Nah Nah Nah Nah Nah Nah Nah Nah Nah
Lonesome life though it may be
That’s the price for living life free

3:47
Words and Music by Chloe Albert, Marty Pawlina and Rob Heath
© 2012 Chloe Albert (SOCAN), Marty Pawlina Music (SOCAN) and Rob Heath Music Inc (SOCAN) 

Remember when cardboard and an hour to kill
Became a toboggan on an old grassy hill
Yeah we’d lose our balance from running too fast
And fall and then tumble then laugh and just laugh
We’d draw from our hearts things we’d dream with our minds
Happy to color outside of the lines

When we still were artists
There’s so much we saw
On the corner of wonder and awe
In a world that we’d created
With wishes on Stardust
Life was our canvas
When we still were artists

We’d dance without music and sing without words
Songs in our heads no one ever had heard
Yeah we could be foolish cause it was ok
To never let common sense get in our way 
Cause there were no schedules or deadlines to keep
Life mattered too much to take seriously

Now make believes’ foolish and logic is King
And I know so much now that I don’t know a thing
I watch my tomorrows become yesterdays
That time of my life is now a lifetime away

Now the child that I was still lives in this soul
Doesn’t want to grow up just because he grows old

3:15
Words and Music by Chloe Albert, Marty Pawlina and Rob Heath
© 2012 Chloe Albert (SOCAN), Marty Pawlina Music (SOCAN) and Rob Heath Music Inc (SOCAN) 

Leonardo had his Mona Lisa
With the smile men have wondered about
Michelangelo sculpted Madonna
Who's love no man could doubt
From the caves of Lascaux to sidewalks in SoHo
With the fire of Van Gogh or Chagall
They’ve all fallen short of the Greatest Master of All

It’s in every contour of your body
In the texture and touch of your skin
In the depth and the color of your eyes
And highlights he blended in
In the style and the grace in the lines of your face
Nobody could trace without fault
You’re one of a kind from the Greatest Master of all

There’s more to who you are than a work of art
They could draw your smile who could forge your heart

Here in the midst of the finest
Paintings and sculptures of man
All I can see is the beauty
Formed in you by his hand
One look in your eyes and I realize
The portraits of life on these walls
They pale by the scale of the greatest Master of all

3:16
Words and Music by Rob Heath
© 2010 Rob Heath Music Inc (SOCAN)

As the radio plays the sound track to my life
I choke back memories as they well up in my eyes
They take me back to hopeful times
When love was all around

As I drift away I can see it as it was
When we seized the day
And the world belonged to us

How we spent our youth just like pennies at the fair
But we believed in things sensing change was in the air
Everywhere were miracles
And destiny was ours

Now it seems the more we know
The less that we-believe
But listening to this radio
I still can’t help but dream

2:56
Words and Music by Carrie Day, Marty Pawlina and Rob Heath
© 2011 Carry Day (SOCAN), Marty Pawlina Music (SOCAN) and Rob Heath Music Inc (SOCAN) 

Hey wasn't that my exit
The one that i just passed
Maybe my brakes are busted
But my foot's till on the gas


Think I'll to M.I.A.
Just get away
Gotta get lost to find
Myself sometimes
Who knows where I'm going
Or when I will arrive 
Just gonna drive
Just gonna drive

Maybe its just the coffee
Blame it on the radio
Could be the blue skies got me
Laying rubber on this road

Today I plan to make a plan to leave my plans behind

Hey I got lots of time
No place in mind
Other than find a way
To seize the day
Might as well try living
As long as I'm alive
Just gonna drive, gonna drive

3:31
Words and Music by Ken Stead, Marty Pawlina and Rob Heath
© 2014 Ken Gordon Stead (SOCAN), Marty Pawlina Music (SOCAN) and Rob Heath Music Inc (SOCAN) 

Maybe one day I’ll take a stab
At things I've not given a chance
I’d like to throw darts at a map
And go where ever they land
Fly high in a hot air balloon
Or maybe I’ll shoot for the moon
There are things I could say maybe I’ll write a play
One of these days One of these days

One night I’ll watch the sun set and rise
On top of the world in Nepal
Sell all my things and pilot a bike
From Stone Henge to the Taj Mahal
Steal wild kisses under the stars
As Northern Lights dance in the dark
Make love in the rain get carried away
One of these days One of these days

Before I get a chance to blink
Later’s sooner than I think
Days are long but life is short
And after all is said and done
Often more is said than done
Will I wish that I’d done more

One day I will learn to forgive 
And mend all the bridges I've burned
One day I'll find what happiness is
And why I was put on this Earth
And I'll figure out how to love
Discover what I am made of
Maybe I shouldn't wait until its too late
One of these days One of these days
I should do it before there ain't anymore
One of these days One of these days

3:57
Words and Music by Sue Decker, Rick Mogg and Rob Heath
© 2013 Rick Mogg (SOCAN), Sue Decker (SOCAN) and Rob Heath Music Inc (SOCAN) 

The sun is sinking in the ocean
As I watch it going down
I wonder if its wondering
What its time was all about
I used to marvel at life's wonder
And say its proof there's more to this
But any fool can shoot and arrow
Then paint a bull's eye round the tip

Its a maze within a riddle
W rapped around a mystery
Locked away inside a puzzle 
But where's the key yeah the key 
Where's the key 

I've heard time's the greatest teacher
But in the end she kills her class
Everybody wants to take it
But they're all afraid to pass
Some will live a life of leisure
Some will spend their's chasing dreams
Some will look to higher powers
To figure out just what this means

This game of life is like no other
You can't win but you don't lose
Seems to have but just one object
And that's to try and learn the rules
I keep reaching for the secret
But its just beyond my grasp
Could the answer be the question
And my purpose just to ask

3:52
Words and Music by Spencer Heath, Marty Pawlina and Rob Heath
© 2013 Spencer Heath (SOCAN), Marty Pawlina Music (SOCAN) and Rob Heath Music Inc (SOCAN)

Sometimes lies sound better than the truth
I could stand them lying next to you

Although I knew the price now didn't I didn't I
I ignored my own advice now didn't I didn't I
And I let my heart decide never to weigh it through
All the things that I denied, every word, till I heard
Goodbye didn't I

Love can kick you when you're on the ground
But you can't be walked on unless you're lying down

I told myself to walk away
Always knew I'd face this day

{/slide}

{slide=Traces}

2:59
Words and Music by Rob Heath
© 2013 Rob Heath Music Inc (SOCAN)

Thought I saw you last winter at the end of a bar
That smile that you'd smile that out twinkled the stars
I walked over to catch it where the Coors light shone
By the time that I got there every trace of you was gone

On a beach in the summer I ran across you
At least I could swear that's how you would move
You were swooping and twirling in the burning sunlight
But the shadows moved in and you dropped out of sight

I keep stumbling on pieces of you everywhere
I see parts of you here and parts of you there
Your eyes in a window your hair in a crowd
Even once at a movie heard you laugh out loud

There are times that I feel you in a kiss on my cheek
And I hold you with eyes closed I make sure not to peek
But as much as I'm praying the encounter will last
The morning light chases you back to my past

2:59
Words and Music by Rob Heath
© 2013 Rob Heath Music Inc (SOCAN)

Thought I saw you last winter at the end of a bar
That smile that you'd smile that out twinkled the stars
I walked over to catch it where the Coors light shone
By the time that I got there every trace of you was gone

On a beach in the summer I ran across you
At least I could swear that's how you would move
You were swooping and twirling in the burning sunlight
But the shadows moved in and you dropped out of sight

I keep stumbling on pieces of you everywhere
I see parts of you here and parts of you there
Your eyes in a window your hair in a crowd
Even once at a movie heard you laugh out loud

There are times that I feel you in a kiss on my cheek
And I hold you with eyes closed I make sure not to peek
But as much as I'm praying the encounter will last
The morning light chases you back to my past

The Glory Of God
Words and Music Rob Heath
© 2007 Rob Heath Music Inc (SOCAN)

Oh my name is Danyal
I’m almost eighteen
Their kind killed my father
When I was just three
I learned of our struggle
From elders who taught
The righteous must triumph
For the glory of God

Bin nearly a year now
I left those I loved 
And laid down my prayer book
To pick up a gun
And stand with my brothers
For men of the cloth
Who promised we’d bask in
The Glory of God

Revenge can not right
Every wrong that’s been done
And It’s hard to find heaven
Down the sights of a gun 
When souls become soldiers
Something gets lost
Then mothers make martyrs 
To murder for what

So now as I lie here
And breathe my last breath
I wonder where are they
Who cheered me to death
The ones who preach bullets
And for whom I fought
Don’t see them here dying 
For the Glory of God

Only Dream Worth Comin' True
Words and Music Rob Heath
© 1997 Rob Heath Music Inc (SOCAN)

Room 901 at the Sunset Hyatt
House of Blues across the street all lit up
I sit here my eyes glued to this TV screen
Alone in my room with all of these dreams

Some three thousand miles 
From home I came
Guitar and suitcase chasing fortune and fame

Last night I dreamt I was in bed with you
Tonight that's the only dream worth 
Coming true

Who knows where dreams come from
Sometimes I do
They're all I had till I first laid eyes on you
There was a time I had plans to stand tall
And show all my doubters t
They were wrong after all

And I thought my name up there 
On the marquis
Would sooner or later make them all love me

But the doubters moved on 
Now they’re just memories
Got the sweetest girl back home 
With my family
You tell me I made you as proud as can be
But I'm here in LA and I’m watching TV

Has life passed me by awaiting the day
When all my dreams come 
And my doubts go away

Low Cut Silk Dress
Words and Music Rob Heath
© 2006 Rob Heath Music Inc (SOCAN)

I know you know I know the game
First you bait the hook
Then you watch me sweat it out
Trying not to look

Silk was tailor made
As any girl knows
So that women can
Go naked in clothes

I try and I try
To look you straight in the eye
(Telling myself not to look down
At what you got in the gown
Don’t want to seem like the kind
With one thing on his mind)
But its out of my hands I confess
When you take a breath
Wearing that
Low cut silk dress

A better man’d fight the fight
A better man would win
But baby you’re the better man
I think I’m giving in

A thick wool turtle neck
Might be playing fair
Cause when you’re wearing that
I don’t have a prayer

Fools aren’t born
They’re designed
By pretty girls in their spare time

Even knowing that
How can I resist 
The best of men are still
Men at best

Dragonfly
Words and Music Rob Heath
© 2008 Rob Heath Music Inc (SOCAN)

You climb from the cold
And the darkness alone
Rise from the depths of
This life that you’ve known
Shed your old ways
And leave them behind
Reveal to the world
You’ve been changing inside

New life new eyes
To search so high
New wings to try
To reach for the sky
Dragonfly

You rest for a moment
And bask in the sun
Gaze one last time
At where you come from
No going back there
To tha life anymore
Where they don’t see you
As they did before

You’ve known struggle 
But now you’ll know the feeling 
To touch the wild infinite blue
It’s not easy to break the laws of gravity
But its your destiny to

Little Help Down Here 
Words and Music Rob Heath
© 2007 Rob Heath Music Inc (SOCAN)

Bartender turns on CNN
More about guided missiles 
And misguided men
You think the world’s going to end?

I gaze out the tavern window 
At the starry night
Wishing on all the suns of others 
Burning bright
That somebody sees the light
My planet’s blue one third from right

If you’re out there picking up this telecast
Making bets on if we’ll last
Beyond a close encounter of a thermal kind
Or a big bang of our own design
And you wonder if you ought to interfere
Well its time to drop the landing gear
We could use a little help down here

Here before time leaves my kind behind to be
Fossils that creatures in the future come to see
For a lesson in history
Just a dead branch of the family tree

In case you miss it
Your first time watching from above
There’s more to man than madness 
Our saving grace is that we love
It’s hard to see that
Sometimes it’s even hard for us

Miracle of Creation
Words and Music Rob Heath and Spencer Heath
© 2009 Rob Heath Music Inc (SOCAN)

Your brush bleeds trails ‘cross the page
Like jets across a blue sky
I climb up on your knee
To witness this with my eyes

Unraveling the mystery
Surrounding this alchemy
That conjures up new worlds from imagination
This miracle this miracle of creation

How can I know right now
The power this just gave me
To move a heart with just a thought
Will forever change me

You tell me an empty page has got 
The magic of showing us
How hard it would be to be God

In my own way I’ll fill that page 
One day when I’m tall
So I sit still - watch and learn
From the greatest of them…all

Play On
Words and Music Rob Heath
© 1987 Rob Heath Music Inc (SOCAN)

She was out there dancing all alone
Never seen her there before
Her silver hair all pinned and permed
As she floated 'round the floor

She asked me to come dance with her
I resisted her advance..
I said let the music...

Play on just one more dance
Let the music play on
Just one more dance

She said I once loved a boy like you
The one who married me
We’d come back here every year
On our anniversary
He'd have me on my feet all night
And when he had the chance
He'd tell the band to...

The band is playing their last set
And I’m not really ready yet
I just want to close my eyes
And say one last goodbye

She said,"You look like a kind young man
Please grant me this one wish
And hold me like he would have done
On a night like this
Take me back just one last time
To my first romance"
So I told the band to...

Thrill Ride Operator
Words and Music Rob Heath
© 2009 Rob Heath Music Inc (SOCAN)

Sparks start to fly
In your skyrocket eyes
There’s static in the air
One caramel kiss
From two apple lips
Sends shivers everywhere

Head’s in a dizzying spin
Following every curl

Love is a Tilt-A-Whirl
A hammering heart ex-Zillerator
Greatest rush on Earth
In the carnival of human nature
You’re a (my) thrill ride operator

Floods every sense
Feels so intense
I’m barely holding up
But if one touch
Was just too much
Now a thousand ain’t enough

Fight flight hold on tight
I don’t want to let go girl

My pulse accelerates
My body starts to shake
How much can I take

Broken
Words and Music Rob Heath
© 2006 Rob Heath Music Inc (SOCAN)

You’ll know that you’re getting old like me
When your regrets take the place of dreams
Just a minute here’s a photograph
Ain’t she something? She could make me laugh

Yeah love can end badly
But the ecstasy is worth the agony

Wish I had never learned
To guard my emotions
Cause I only knew love
When my heart could still be broken

Is it reckless to love at any cost?
I got cautious and look at what I lost
You get hurt a couple times and then
Start to kiss with one eye open

But when things get off track
You can’t hold on by holding back

If I had never played it safe with her
If I had taken a leap of faith
After all they call it falling

Should’ve known it then (Broken)
Life was better when (Open)
And my heart could still be broken

Thrill Ride Operator
Words and Music Rob Heath
© 2009 Rob Heath Music Inc (SOCAN)

Sparks start to fly
In your skyrocket eyes
There’s static in the air
One caramel kiss
From two apple lips
Sends shivers everywhere

Head’s in a dizzying spin
Following every curl

Love is a Tilt-A-Whirl
A hammering heart ex-Zillerator
Greatest rush on Earth
In the carnival of human nature
You’re a (my) thrill ride operator

Floods every sense
Feels so intense
I’m barely holding up
But if one touch
Was just too much
Now a thousand ain’t enough

Fight flight hold on tight
I don’t want to let go girl

My pulse accelerates
My body starts to shake
How much can I take

The Trick
Words and Music: Rob Heath and Steve Williams
© 2002 Rob Heath Music Inc (SOCAN) and Wilburns Publishing (ASCAP)

I was seven and a half
She got hiccups every time she’d laugh
I thought we were meant to be
Found out it wasn’t up to me

Don’t know how a heart can ache
Till the first time that you feel one break
Looking back I think it was
Just something else dressed up as love”

When you are young you see a trick
You think its magic

I gave Sandra Lynn my heart
Promised her “until death do us part”
But with a house, the job, the kids
Love soon became the last thing on our list

And when the little things get missed
That can blow the flames out of a kiss
Sometimes I wondered when I dared
Was love ever really there?

Yeah when you are young you see a trick
You think its magic
But you grow up you see magic
And you think it’s just a trick

So where’d the magic go?
What becomes of love when you get old?
Well I found it once again
I found it where its always been

 

When you are young you see a trick
You think it’s magic
But you grow up you see magic
You think it’s just a trick
But you grow old and you realize
The magic’s everywhere
The trick is just to see it there
The trick is just to see it there”

The Trick
Words and Music: Rob Heath and Steve Williams
© 2002 Rob Heath Music Inc (SOCAN) and Wilburns Publishing (ASCAP)

I was seven and a half
She got hiccups every time she’d laugh
I thought we were meant to be
Found out it wasn’t up to me

Don’t know how a heart can ache
Till the first time that you feel one break
Looking back I think it was
Just something else dressed up as love”

When you are young you see a trick
You think its magic

I gave Sandra Lynn my heart
Promised her “until death do us part”
But with a house, the job, the kids
Love soon became the last thing on our list

And when the little things get missed
That can blow the flames out of a kiss
Sometimes I wondered when I dared
Was love ever really there?

Yeah when you are young you see a trick
You think its magic
But you grow up you see magic
And you think it’s just a trick

So where’d the magic go?
What becomes of love when you get old?
Well I found it once again
I found it where its always been

 

When you are young you see a trick
You think it’s magic
But you grow up you see magic
You think it’s just a trick
But you grow old and you realize
The magic’s everywhere
The trick is just to see it there
The trick is just to see it there”

I Got No Reason To Complain
Words and Music Rob Heath and Lisa Silver
© 2001 Rob Heath Music Inc (SOCAN) and Micah Mavens Music (BMI)

Ran across a friend of mine
Heard he’d fallen on hard times
He was looking pretty grim
I asked him how he’s hanging in

He was silent for a little while
Then answered with that funny kind of smile
He said all I know is it’s up to me
If my cup’s half full or half empty

I got no reason
I got no reason
I got no reason to complain
There’s stuff we’re always wishin’ for
Enough is just a little more
I got no reason to complain

Now lately I bin working hard
Ain’t been getting very far
But I’ve got body mind and soul
And you right here with me to hold

When I think about all the things he said
It hits me in the heart and in the head
And I know right now what I have to do
I just got to change my point of view

When I’m blue and I’m feeling down
All I got to do is look around
At all these precious things that I have today
That in a minute fate could take away

Making Love With A Broken Heart
Words and Music Rob Heath
© 2009 Rob Heath Music Inc (SOCAN)

If I could just remain
Right here in this night
For the rest of the days
Of my life
Stay with me I can’t
Face myself alone
I wish I could but wishing won’t
Make it so

Here in this room
The ghost of a love that was
Pretending we have
A second act in us

Holding on losing grip
Last kiss on a sinking ship
Helpless as it falls apart
Making love with a broken heart
(Knowing what the chances are
What kind of fool would start
Making love with a broken heart)

Years pouring out
In half a dozen tears
The line’s so thin
Between heaven and here

Your touch takes me
Somewhere where there’s no pain
I’ve got to go
To that place again

The reasons to love
Reason knows nothing of
The things you will do
When love gets a hold of you

But oh if I could stay
Right here in this night
For the rest of the days
Of my life

"Towards the end of a long relationship I was looking for something to feel hopeful about. Although it was hard to believe at the time opportunity sometimes comes disguised as misfortune."

Words and Music Sue Fink and Rob Heath
©2000 Terre Music/ASCAP and Rob Heath Music Inc/SOCAN

Who can outrun
The setting sun
The night is just a part of every day
The light will dim
The trail will end
A dream that seemed so clear
Can all but disappear
And you may fear that you have lost your way

Oh you may feel your every wish
Lies burning in the twilight’s afterglow
But just beyond its dying light
If only you are brave enough to go
The brightest stars shine down the darkest roads

You never know 
What’s in you’re soul
Till all that’s left are shadows everywhere
The plans you made
May swiftly fade
But like the setting sun
They’re not the only ones
Look up you’ll find a billion more out there

Through uncertainty
Lies possibility
The universe will chart
New journeys for your heart

"We all have our good days and our bad days. I started this song on a bad day and finished it on a good day. What began as a fairly dark song wound up being a reminder to myself that if you don't like the weather out the front door then look out the back."

Words and Music Rob Heath
©2004 Rob Heath Music Inc/SOCAN

She had that smile old barkeeps get, like there’s an inside joke
They’re sharing with God, she’d crack the cold ones
Their troubles all poured out, she’d just listen and nod

The guys were almost twelve pints deep in conversation
About how life was rough
They played that sad song complete with violins
Until she’d heard enough

She said, “Yeah life ain’t fair boys, so what’s your second choice?"

Sure there’s some days feel like Mondays
When just getting up can get you down
Some surrender, just remember
When every silver lining has a cloud
Its still one more day above ground

We all get one brief Happy Hour
And we can celebrate or cry in our beer
Before we know it
Hell its closing time, and last call is here

And after all well, who knows what’s after all

You got to laugh at life
Cause if you don’t get the joke
You’re gonna just hate the punch-line”

"This song is a celebration of not conforming to the norm."

Words and Music Rob Heath
©2002 Rob Heath Music Inc/SOCAN

There were all kinds of birds tattooed on Dad’s skin
And I’d sit on his knee and I would point to them
He’d say they’re just like us, some are drab and pale
Me I’m that big one with the dazzling tail

Peacocks strut chickens cluck
When we live life out loud
People will always talk
Some follow the heart
Some follow the crowd
Can't always be like them
And if you don't fit in
Then why not stand out

My first month at school all the kids would gawk
Every time we would roll up on Dad’s Harley Hog
They’d cackle to themselves, he’d say don’t pay ’em no mind
Must ruffle their feathers just to watch us fly

One day Dad stripped down to his pants
Did a kind of tattooed belly dance
We watched him make that peacock prance

Then the strangest thing; first one kid joined in
Then we all went parading round the schoolyard with him

"My mom bought me my first guitar when I was in my teens. I was in and out of trouble a lot, giving both my folks more grief than they really deserved. That guitar started a love affair with music that has lasted my whole life. It’s gotten me through a lot of bad times and never let me down. Both of my parents are extremely creative and so I grew up with that around me. The guitar my mom bought and now the guitars my dad builds for me are only a part of the greater gift of artistic creativity they passed on to me, one which in turn has found its way to my children."

Words and Music Rob Heath
©2003 Rob Heath Music Inc/SOCAN

He was a kid who had tried, all the wrong ways to fly
With a future in windows with bars 
She was close to the edge, the day that she said
Son I bought you this old used guitar

With a body of white spruce and rose wood
Strung together by six wires of steel
To the untrained eye it will never fly
No cockpit, propeller or wheels

In the right hands it’s really a vessel
Take you higher than you’ve ever dreamed
To soar up and down at the speed of sound
On the wings of a finely tuned flying machine

She overheard him one day as he secretly made
The first solo he ever tried
And each halting note brought a lump to her throat
As he practiced this new form of flight

She knew every journey from darkness
Had to start with a shot for the sky
With guitar on his knee
She prayed he’d find the key
To break free of his turbulent life

Now I’m standing right here before you tonight
And I‘ve got you to thank that I made out all right
And you’re watching me as I’m playing this
But just you and I know what it is

"I saw a newscast on CBC about the practice of several officers on the Saskatoon Police force of driving inebriated natives out of town and letting them walk off their drunks by forcing them to trek back. This was a common enough practice that they euphemistically called them Starlight Tours. Twice it resulted in deaths from exposure when young native men were driven out of town in the dead of winter and left to freeze to death. This song is about one of those young men."

Words and Music Rob Heath
©2000 Rob Heath Music Inc/SOCAN

He laughs out loud at the crunching sound, his socks make in the snow
The stars light up the long walk home, on this winter’s road
He wonders who’s gonna stop for a half drunk full blood Cree
Hitchhiking down the highway in a T-shirt and jeans
Two headlights speed by, he sticks out a frostbit thumb
Sometimes too much to drink, still ain’t enough

Well it was down on the strip where every day’s another Saturday night
Two human impersonators noticed he wasn’t white 
Well liquor talks mighty loud when it gets loose from the jug
He floated like an anchor, stung like a lady bug
Woke up in a squad car, charged with starting a fight
Though history belongs to the winner, they seldom get it right

On the way to the drunk tank cops made a little detour
Drove him miles out of town, place not on the brochure
Then they took off the cuffs and said go walk off the Coors
A little less paperwork for sure, then they said bonjour
They call ‘em Starlight Tours

Well it might be the beer but suddenly
He doesn’t mind the storm
His eyes start feeling heavier and everything gets warm
On concrete pillow and sheet of snow
He lays is head down, face to the sky and hunters moon
Back to the ground then just before the hereafter
One breath from paradise, he leaves his body one last time
To tour the starlit sky

"In my early twenties I met a Canadian who'd volunteered to go to Vietnam. He came back with a steel plate in his head and a lot of demons."

Words and Music Rob Heath
©1999 Rob Heath Music Inc/SOCAN

And I thought the last bullet was spent
And the wounds of the war had all healed
But you say you were back there last night in a dream
And the bombs and the blood were so real
We all watched on TV
Your tragic black-comedy
All the kill-crazy fools
Were just kids as a rule
That belonged in High School

And I can’t think of what I could say
That would chase all your devils away
But I am so sorry
So sorry

They died so long ago that you should have forgot
But the faces come back every night
And they won’t go away so you beg them to stay
And have a few drinks till its light
And your Mom’s doing fine
But the girl that you left behind
Is still waiting for
The boy she adored
To come back from his war

"I woke up one morning to find my significant other gazing in a make-up mirror and lamenting her lost youth and I wrote this song for her."

Words and Music Rob Heath
©1997 Rob Heath Music Inc/SOCAN

She had this raven hair
Was in a cabaret
And when she saw me stare
I tried to look away
But then she winked at me
With those espresso eyes
The kind that wake you up
And keep you warm inside

It’s not the way that she looked
It’s the way that she looked at me
Like I was the guy that girl
Was waiting to see
I knew right away
Some things are meant to be
By the way I could not look away
From the way she looked at me

This morning I found you
Tissue soaked in tears
Trying to find that girl
In our bedroom mirror
And you can turn back time
With mascara and rouge
But I don't need all that
To still see her in you

So save the lipstick for you
‘Cause I want see the smile that she wore
The same one that, said to me
"You will be mine and I will be yours"

"I read a newspaper article about a Moslem in the Middle East whose son had been shot mistakenly by Israeli troupes when they confused him with a terrorist they were chasing. The child didn't die right away and so the soldiers took him to an Israeli hospital. The parents watched for several days as the Israeli hospital made a valiant effort to save their boy. When their son died the parents donated his organs to the hospital to ostensibly save Jewish lives even though their son was a Muslim who had been killed by Jews. The man's Muslim neighbors were up in arms about this and so the media got hold of it and interviewed the dad who said the reason he had done this was to show the world that not all Muslims are terrorists, that his son had been a forgiving child and that now in his words his son had "entered every Israeli heart". I couldn't believe the strength it would take to do something like that. When I read that article I thought 'there is hope for us'."

Words and Music Rob Heath
©2005 Rob Heath Music Inc/SOCAN

Last week Israeli soldiers shot a young Muslim boy
They didn’t know his rifle was just a toy
They rushed him off to Haifa on the Israeli side
They tried their best to save him, but tragically he died

Some people say with just one life
You can change the world
What if they’re right?

His father said young Ahmed was a forgiving soul
So in the name of peace and of his twelve year old
They would donate his body to save Israeli lives
Ignoring voices claiming that that’s who took their child

In worlds like their’s where violence rules
You turn the other cheek, you’re marked a fool

His dad said, “If we want peace somewhere it has to start
With this my son has entered every Israeli heart
The army said they’re sorry, they braced for violence
This time unlike the others, there would be no revenge

"I wrote a poem for my daughter to tell her that she doesn't have to be perfect for people to accept her, an attitude many young women fall prey to. That poem grew into this song."

Words and Music Rob Heath
©2004 Rob Heath Music Inc/SOCAN

Its not because you’re always at your best
As if the world won’t allow you any less
Baby it’s not the perfect picture you try to paint
No one is a saint

Its not awards; its not applause
Sometimes it’s the flaws

Though you sparkle when the spotlight’s on
For me you shine the brightest when it’s gone
Those private moments when you’re hiding nothing
The struggles when you’re feeling low
Tears that you try not to show
It’s what I see when you don’t know . . . 
I’m watching
(That’s what makes me love you so)

It’s how you’re willing to go against the flow
And do the right thing when your heart says so
It’s in those moments when you often forget yourself
To cry for someone else

To think that’s weak would be so wrong
That’s just what makes you strong

That’s the part that fills my heart with pride
Till I can feel it well up in my eyes

"On my second album there is an open letter from a young boy to God called “Dear God. Yours Truly...”  is my imagination of how God might have responded."

Words and Music Rob Heath
©2006 Rob Heath Music Inc/SOCAN

Some argue that I’m on their side
That I’m against the rest
They say the name they chose for me
Is the one that I like best

Careful you don’t buy into their sibling rivalry
When they run each other down and say they’re quoting me

Every dogma has its day
From a Stone Age idol, to Jim and Tammy Fay
I am all things
So does it matter really what you call me?
Yours Truly, God

I respond to many names cause you are all my own
But you must stand together or you will fall alone

Yehweh, Allah, Jehovah
Manitou, Zeus or Brahma
The Alpha and the Omega
All merciful Almighty

Amon Ra, Nymbakulla
Supreme creator of Buddha
Big guy, Big Cheese, Big Kahuna
The Notorius G.O.D
Odin father of Thor
Also known as the Lord
And CEO of the board
Of Eternity

"I was talking to my dad once about the opposite sex and it dawned on me that no matter how old we get, we (men) never will totally understand women (I'm sure it works the other way too). It’s the one mystery we go to our graves having never solved."

Words and Music Dottie Moore and Rob Heath
©2002 Rob Heath Music Inc/SOCAN, Moore Luckey Songs/BMI

I’ve climbed the tallest mountains
Walked the ocean floor
Seen the many wonders
Shaped by those who came before
I sought out life’s great secrets
Searched the whole world through
But nothing under God compares 
To the thrill of holding you

I believed that I had answered
All the questions that there are
Thought my odyssey was over
Till I set sail for your heart
That’s where you keep the secret
And when I’ve done all I can do
I’ll still be looking for the answer to
The mystery of you

I’ve seen the indigo of oceans
The azure of the skies
I’ve never seen them shimmer
Like the sapphire in your eyes
Found wonder in the heavens
And rapture in your kiss
Nothing short of your love
Ever humbled me like this

The more my soul surrenders
The more you dazzle me
You’re a maze within a riddle
Wrapped inside a fantasy

©2002 Rob Heath and Steve Williams

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

©2001 Dottie Moore/Rob Heath

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

©1998 Rob Heath

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.

©1998 Rob Heath

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

©2002 Rob Heath

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

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

©1998 Robert Heath

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

©2002 Rob Heath

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

©1995 Rob Heath

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

©1998 Rob Heath

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

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

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

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