Jack Hardy — Lyrics for The Hunter

Copyright © 1986, 1987, 1998 Jack Hardy Music (BMI)

  1. The Coyote
  2. Dublin Farewell
  3. Marlene
  4. All for the Love of Michael
  5. Dún Do Shúile
  6. The Wedding Song
  7. California
  8. The Changing Wind
  9. The Hunter
  10. The Children
  11. The Wharf Song

The Coyote

pain farms with their non-urban romances
with sonic maidens who cite rimbaud
scarf-wrapped earrings without chances
of restitution in the arms of the cold
alone is the coyote who scratches carefully
down the vacant streets of storefront tombs
alone is the coyote who dances madly
with anyone who ritualizes under the moon

pain is lost in the womb of promise
a paradise founded in the dying guilt
blaming all in the tomb of compromise
in the precise wound that it helped to build
alone is the coyote who suffers openly
vinegar to the lips of dying flesh
alone is the coyote who acts majestically
on the stage of count-down when his life is a mess

the torch is set to the sweet pavilion
where the ladies dangle their husbands
on diamond-studded leashes worth millions
in the fine print of contracts of understand
alone is the coyote who left all behind him
to chance freedom in the wisdom of the fool
alone is the coyote who changes his mind
when the chance comes to break all of the rules

distance is a metaphor divided in ruin
to the victor the ashes, to the victim the crown
resistance is a luxury provided with doom
where the fool-hardy fantasize all the way down
alone is the coyote who thirsted so patiently
for the moment of truth that betrayed so soon
alone is the coyote who stalks all the graveyards
digging up the promises sworn to the moon

Dublin Farewell

i carried your memory on a chain around my neck
as i walked the streets of dublin all alone
and everywhere the people asked what was it that you fled
what was it brought you here so far from home
but all i could tell myself was little bits of lies
and try to build myself into a man
there's nothing like love to cut you down to size
and show what you can do and what you can't

i met a girl with green eyes who teased me for a while
and showed me just how desperate i am
but when all i see is blue skies for so many miles
how can one cloud cause so much rain
but i am clutching to a memory that has no right to live
that has no right to call itself by name
wanting to share my dreams with nothing left to give
but love knows no alibis or shame

with my hands in my pockets and my collar inside out
i walked through county kerry in the rain
watching the fishing boats fight an angry sea
a tiny dot of strength in so much pain
there is a phantom lighthouse draws the sailors to their death
whatever life gives it also takes
but still they find a need to sail the sea, they're just fools like me
i guess we never learn from our mistakes

i carried your memory like a chain around my neck
as i bid farewell to dublin all alone

Marlene

marlene dietrich and lilly marlene
all of the girls have gone insane
carson mccullers and sylvia plath
how we gonna stop 'em going down that path

(chorus:)
eye eye eye eye eye what's a boy gonna do
eye eye eye eye eye what a mulligan stew

i saw her today on the avenue
she was looking both ways with somebody new
how many men can she go through in life
when she can't hold a candle without holding a knife

(repeat chorus)

(bridge:)
take this hunger from me
it's all i've ever known
she said i'm curled inside myself alone
i'm calling ranting raving
i'm falling and i'm aching
just waiting for someone to take me home

janis joplin and marilyn monroe
all of the boys say what a way to go
mirror mirror on the wall
who is the craziest one of all

(repeat chorus)

All for the Love of Michael

she has taken to making money again
in that sacred time-honored way
and all of the sainted money
goes into his arms to play
and i am only wishing
i could guard her part of the way
but all for the love of michael
she won't see another day
all for the love of michael

i am sad to see she is pregnant again
you can see it in her face
so warm and pained and beautiful
so pale yet full of grace
but the last one they took from her
and gave it another name
and all for love of michael
she will never be the same
all for the love of michael

she has cut off all her hair again
that she used to dry his feet
and dip the sponge in vinegar
the smoke that clouds your heat
and i have known some others
half-naked in the unhappy truth
but all for the love of michael
they were never as unhappy as you
all for the love of michael

how she came to beg a moment
crestfallen 'gainst the bar
molding to the hope of finding
a coup-de-grace of heart
and i have known some others
who would drink to abandon and dance
but all for the love of michael
she won't have another chance
all for the love of michael

those who never learn from love
and fall the first time around
and lean the weight of innocence
on friends who drag them down
you could never cure him
so he has now cured you
there is nothing left of virtue
that time has not confused
all for the love of michael

Dún Do Shúile

distance makes the heart grow fonder
and i'm so fond of you
calling out across the ocean
dreaming that i flew
somewhere it's the darkest midnight
somewhere it is noon
come back baby
come back soon
dún do shúile a rún

it's hard to know in february
the year is on the mend
light a candle in the morning
light it for a friend
keep it burning through the nighttime
on nights without the moon
come back baby
come back soon
dún do shúile a rún

so cold the wind so cold the flooring
cold upon the feet
draw the fire and draw the curtains
crawl beneath the sheets
can it be that we both see
the same hard-hearted moon
come back baby
come back soon
dún do shúile a rún

trial by ice trial by fire
trial by time is worse
calling out an incantation
to try and break the curse
the memory of a stolen moment
the magic of a tune
come back baby
come back soon
dún do shúile a rún

come back baby
come back soon
dún do shúile a rún mo chroídhe

The Wedding Song

by the stag of seven tines
through the forest down to the sea
the lapwing circles seven times
o'er the silent nest in secrecy
high and low they search the weirs
for the doe the whelp he fears
and for the child swept ashore
in the olden times

by the salmon in the pool
fed on hazel for the gift of sight
within the trees he hides the tools
madly gazing in the starless night
bless this ordinary home
guess the gleeman fools who roam
through the dance growing hot
when the barley's sown

by the merging of two streams
one of silver one of gold
find the merging of two dreams
one is foreign one is old
all the ancient clans unite
for this sacred candle rite
place the hand in the hand
for they bond tonight

California

i watched as the sun came slowly rising
laying waste all the damage from the night before
a blood-red knife as it cut the horizon
a warrior who can't find a war

don't look for pain in the faces that love california
though you know that it's there by the way that 
they're pacing the floor
and don't look for love in the city of the fallen angels
though i look for your face in every stranger 
who walks through the door

the sailors lay drunken against the bar
while the whores and the gamblers lay waste their pay
but i am no better than they are tonight
for misery's found company in shame

don't look for pain in the faces that love california
though you know that it's there by the way that 
they've seen it all before
and don't look for love in the city of the fallen angels
though i look for your face in every stranger 
who walks through the door

such is the end of this wind-swept night
in this season called winter that knows no snow
a bird seeking shelter too late for flight
the dawn shows us mercilessly alone

don't look for pain in the faces that love california
though you know that it's there by the way that
they can't take any more
and don't look for love in the city of the fallen angels
though i look for your face in every stranger 
who walks through the door

The Changing Wind

as i set out across the sea my fortune for to find
thoughts upon the vanity of all i'd left behind
one who said she'd wait for me whenever i came home
one who said she'd follow me wherever i did roam

letters are the currency of hearts who are far away
i waited for the longest time for what this heart would say
oh and i would ne'er repeat the words that in this letter came
that dashed my hopes and tore my heart each time i read again

foreign tongues are curséd tongues when one is so unsure
but distance is a greater cure if one can just endure
for the ocean is the enemy of fire and of ice
and a secret is a story that never is told twice

oh the wind the changing wind that waits to bring me home
upon the eve of my return i sit and drink alone
and i curse the day that e'er i strayed that turned this heart to stone
and i drink a toast to all who boast of living on their own

The Hunter

you who were the gatherer
who gathered me in arms
and spent the winter wandering
as safe as we were warm
when spring was ripe upon us
you sowed your summer greed
and in autumn with your sickle
you took away my need

gaze upon orion
the hunter who's been chained
and forced into the heavens
the king who has been lamed
for i was once the hunter
and you were once my friend
and you'll not have your freedom
'til i'm free to hunt again

(chorus:)
call down the moon
if you can call it down
call down the moon
if you know what to say (call it down)
call down the moon
for a man call it down
and he will be yours for a year and a day
and oh what a year
but oh what a day

the child of the hunter
they have given him my name
and poisoned all his arrows
to uniform his game
of protecting the provisions
and ownership of ground
thwarted in his vision
by his woman and her sound

(repeat chorus)

the wild grapes all are raisins
the currants are rock-hard
the holly bears its berries
blood-red upon the yard
so dream upon your pillow
the omen winds of sleep
that rustle through the window
and hunt along with me

(repeat chorus)

The Children

the swings were rusted 'cept the places worn smooth
by the hands of the children with nowhere to move
in the dry dusty playground in the midwestern heat 
where the snakeweed lies taunting and all's gone to seed
it was there i first ran as a coward runs back
from a bully named butch and his muscles of fat
and he proved he was strong and i proved i was fast
though there's nothing needs proving at all

there were those who called us cowards again
to the ears of the children who never have friends
while the bullies marched off to a faraway land
and we stayed at home to fight with our pens
and the bullies are home now with stares that could bleed
posing as heroes in a postcard parade
with new weapons to prove they deserved what they got
though there's nothing needs proving at all

render caesar his violence as well as his coin
the minds of the children need nothing to join
time's wasted fighting a battle all won
where some fight for honor and some just for fun
sing softly sing softly yet carry a big song
because we sing softly they think we're not strong
that we won't ever prove what they're doing is wrong
though there's nothing needs proving at all

The Wharf Song

it's not down by the wharf they look for jesus
down the crooked streets on the misty nights
where the dockmen defy the fate of photographs
by looking old before their time
it's not in the lonesome home that friends are found
that's how the streets can lay their claims
with that scratchy voice so rough and rude
that takes your smile but leaves your pain
 
(chorus:)
it's not in the crystal ball that dreams are made
not in the stars that shine the way
not in the rainbow but in the rain
not in the cards but in the game

there's not any heaven for sovereign fools
who squander gifts upon themselves
for riches aren't always in the golden rule
and gold's not worth its weight in hell
so don't blame the fool for your trust in him
and don't blame the rules you must play to win
and don't blame the poet for his bitter words
and don't blame the harlot for her sins

(repeat chorus)

it's not in the mountains that those ships come in
'cept in times of flooding rain
and it's not in your eyes that i look for love
for i've learned that much from my pain
but here i stand before you love
seeking refuge within your wings
not in the arrow but in the feather that makes it fly
not in the answer to the question why

(repeat chorus)

it's not down by the wharf that they look for jesus
and yet they find him just the same

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