| "Suitcase by the Door" CD DEDICATIONS, CREDITS, LYRICS "Suitcase by the Door" is available directly from David Zee only, please click here to order. This CD will be available soon on CD Baby and ITunes, please check back to order. - SONG-BY-SONG DEDICATIONS
- STAY WITH ME for Crystal
- SOMEDAY for Mom Zee
- THE DOOR for Earl
- FOUR WALLS for Mookie
All lyrics and music by David Zee - Lyrics for "Children of Conflict" and "Classified" co-written by Ashley Pound
- Vocals, piano, acoustic guitars, keyboards, melodica: David Zee
- Slide Guitar for "Classified": Jim Seechuk
- Percussion for "Johnna Knows," "The Tap Root Tree": Derrik Jordan
- Percussion for "In a Dark Room": Jimmy Brink
- Additional vocals:
- "Stay With Me": Karyn Oliver
- "Someday," "Children of Conflict": Cara Costantini
- "Johnna Knows": Kathleen Pemble
- "The Tap Root Tree": Michael Shacoshis, Kathleen Pemble
- "The Old Folkies Home": Karyn Oliver, Matt Lehr, and "The Superbowl Party Choir": Crystal Bosserman, Roger Frissora, Larry Dennis, Nadine, and Kayla
- Recorded in living rooms, kitchens, classrooms and other rooms from 1999 to 2007.
- Vocals for "Stay With Me" and "The Funny Little Organ" recorded at Technique Inc., Baltimore MD
- Mixed and mastered by Ty Ford, Technique Inc., Baltimore MD
- Cover photo of David Zee: John Kessel
- Graphic design: Ashley Pound
- © 2007 David Zee - All rights reserved
- David Zee Music, P.O. Box 1590, New York NY 10028
STAY WITH ME - Moving boxes every inch piled high and tight
- Single bed by the wall
- One-room palace paper plates by candlelight
- Cold and dark in the fall
- There's no wine glass coffee mug will do
- As long as i can sip this grape with you
Stay with me - Hearts in tune
- Starting new
- Sparkling blue harmony
Hard luck love life was my story until now - Hurting heart history
- Out of nowhere you appeared to me somehow
- An unsolved mystery
- Where'd you come from, how did you get here
- It was cloudy, now it's crystal clear
- Stay with me...
Rolling pennies nickels from the loose change jar - Just to go on the town
- No work no plans nothing left but burned-out stars
- But it won't keep us down
- From the life i had to leave behind
- Yo this place i never thought i'd find
- Stay with me...
SOMEDAY - Raymond packed his suitcase and left it by the door
- He was always ready for a trip seven days before
- This time all his road maps couldn't show the way
- Through the fields and farms a million miles away
- As Janet tried to help him figure what to pack
- She wanted to secure her soul on the luggage rack
- She caught his eyes in silence reaching for the door
- On the journey he had never made before
But I think they'll be together again someday - He'll be back on the tractor chewin on some hay
- She'll be safe from harm on a Maryland farm every Saturday
- I think he's coming back this time to stay
- I think they'll be together again someday
She remembers how she watched him drive the mountain roads - To the refuge of the timbers near forgotten motherloads
- Sometimes she just stayed at home to keep the city near
- Now she swears she'd trade it all for one more year
- But I think they'll be together...
Raymond's illness took him down and Janet's tears flowed free - The lawyers came, she signed her name and sold the property
- She told me of her dream where he was leaving for the road
- Without a suitcase or her hand to hold
- But I think they'll be together...
OLD FOLKIES HOME - If you walk the streets tonight
- We'll be there at every light
- Strumming strings as they ring through the crowd
- Just a dollar for a song
- Buddy how can you go wrong
- Won't you toss a little in the hat and sing with us out loud
You can run us out of town - But we'll always be around
- Singing in the street as we roam
- We don't need no cars
- Just our songs and our guitars
- We'll be wailing at the Old Folkies Home
Like the minstrel days of yore - And the travelling troubadors
- Our tradition traces to the dawn of time
- If you'd get us both a drink
- Buddy that would help us think
- Of the history that led us down this long and lonely line
- You can run us out of town...
Now they're closing up the town - All the bars are shutting down
- The police are patrolling the square
- But as long as there's a moon
- We will play just one more tune
- Don't be shocked at five o'clock AM if we're still playing there
- You can run us out of town...
CHILDREN OF CONFLICT - Year after year the conflict went on
- Neighbor fought neighbor with beatings and bombs
- Tempers were short and memory was long
- Hatred like tree roots grew strong
- Fighting continued as peacemakers tried
- To find a solution and close the divide
- They asked each camp to send ten of their young
- To meet far away from the guns
Children of conflict came from both sides - Gathered together without knowing why
- Seeing the faces of those they despised
- And the tears in the enemy's eyes
They listened in silence and stared at the floor - While one girl whose brother had died in the war
- Talked of the life that he'd never live
- She would never forgive
- No one responded, what could be said
- To a child of an enemy mourning her dead
- Everyone there had a loved one who'd died
- They all broke down and cried
Children of conflict came from both sides - Gathered together without knowing why
- Seeing the sorow that time can't erase
- And the tears on the enemy's face
- No one expects to see conflict resolved
- Where years of destruction and hate are involved
- But if twenty children achieved nothing more
- They put faces on war
Children of conflict came from both sides - Gathered together without knowing why
- Knowing the sorow that time can't erase
- And the tears on the enemy's face
JOHNNA KNOWS - Johnna's room puts my mind in a trance
- Silks from india and coffee from france
- The scent of cloves and incense is filling the air
- Ink drawings and green palms everywhere
- Johnna's eyes make me dizzy and weak
- Living dangerously in valleys and peaks
- Wondering where i stand as the evening slides past
- Sweet closeness in small doses goes fast
Johnna knows but she's not gonna tell - It's still a secret she keeps very well
- Johnna knows her heart is closed in a shell
-
- Johnna changes her mind every day
- Should she take some classes or move to L.A.
- What should she do with the two men who've captured her mind
- Both please her, she won't leave one behind
- Johnna's future is a white empty wall
- She wants to paint it and cover it all
- But she likes too many colors and she can't decide
- Which love does she dream of deep inside
Johnna knows but she's not gonna tell - Why should she choose when it's going so well
- Johnna knows her heart is closed in a shell
Getting through one night at a time - Pain and pleasure that fill up my mind
- Hidden meaning in every word that she says
- How long can it go on on the edge
Johnna knows but she's not gonna tell - Why should she choose when it's going so well
- Johnna knows and if it shows what the hell
THE DOOR - I build the doors in the city
- I help them lock in their lives
- Turning the knobs on their jobs and their husbands and wives
- One day i saw a new door
- One that my hands had not made
- I heard a voice say come through and i was not afraid
Then i opened the door never opened before - And i saw there was more than i knew
- And i followed the guide as he flew me inside of the view
I saw a million children - Each waving wings with a smile
- Walking on air to a fair where they dance in the aisles
- The road and the sky were shining
- They were the same in this time
- Stained glass and stone sang refrains in a tone clear and fine
- Then I opened the door...
I can see there - I can be there
- I can walk through the windows and walls
- As the barriers crumble and fall
- And give way to a new nature's law
- I will be there
Now I can see the true world - Simple things glow to the touch
- We all build hallways to hide when the truth is too much
- None of the walls will hold us
- None of the doors will be real
- Nothing to prove we can make the earth move as we feel
- Then i opened the door...
I can see there - I can be there
- I can walk through the windows and walls
- (Learning to see as at birth)
- As the barriers crumble and fall
- (A warrior walks on the earth)
- And give way to a new nature's law
- I will be there (Not as before)
- I will be there (Come through the door)
- I will be there
FOUR WALLS - Every day you couldn't wait to run outside and see
- What was dancing in the dirt and up in the trees
- To a sweet spot in the sun resting casually
- Till you ran back to me
When you lived within four walls it was hard for you - Staring sadly through the glass at the river view
- But I'd rather you lived free than safe inside a room
- Till you ran back to me
We watched your eyes of wisdom as you wandered - Wondering what you saw that we could not
- Trying to perceive the thoughts you pondered
- Some say what you learn is just the things that you forgot
Now I want to live each minute like it was the last - Not to think about the future or what's in the past
- When your month was like a year the time went by too fast
- Till you ran back to me
Not a single day goes by that i don't think of you - And remember all the things that we used to do
- And have hope I took the right road to be true to you
- And wish that you'd run back
- Run back to me
THE FUNNY LITTLE ORGAN - As I was a-walkin' along the morning shore
- I met a fair young maiden, a beauty that's for sure
- Her skin was white as oyster shells, her eyes a lovely pair
- A muslin shawl around her neck, silk ribbons in her hair
- She asked me would I play a tune to soothe the roaring tide
- On the funny little organ that I carry by my side
I put the organ to my lips and played a melody - It came from deep within the raging rhythms of the sea
- I felt her eyes upon me as I played with all my heart
- Inside my soul was dancing like a rooster in the yard
- I felt the passion from within us could not be denied
- As it filled the little organ that I carry by my side
I said dear maiden can I woo you by the fire bright - You set my heart aflame and my fancy into flight
- And then one special day I'll ask your father for your hand
- She said you silly fellow, I don't think you understand
You play a pretty tune but you could never be the one - For I have drawn the favor of the royal Governor's son
- Do you think I can afford silk ribbons on my own?
- I want a man of means to buy me clothes and precious stones
'Twas then I learned the truth that minstrels knew in days of old - That If you can pay the piper it's because you've got the gold
- And as for me I am content with tunes I can provide
- On the funny little organ that I carry by my side
IN A DARK ROOM - He walked into a dark room
- Off the alley near the subway
- He was drawn to enter by an inner voice
- Everybody told him
- That he could not change what happened
- He was certain there must be another choice
- Storefront gypsy whispered
- "I can see that you are troubled"
- He said "I'll do whatever it will take"
Tell me what you see beyond the edge - Tell me what you see beyond
- This world I'm trapped upon, I'm on the edge
They sat inside a dark room - With their hands placed on the table
- And a candle flickered shadows on the wall
- She closed her eyes and mumbled
- Incantations, pleas and questions
- He thought that he could hear the spirits call
- Tell me what you see...
He sat inside a dark room - In the house that they had lived in
- And he looked up at her picture on the wall
- TV psychic beckoned
- From a small set on the table
- He never thought he’d be the kind that called
- Help me Sister Sarah
- I swear I feel her presence
- She's following me everywhere I go
- Tell me what you see...
CLASSIFIED - What in hell did I do wrong and how'd I end up here
- There must be a reason but it's not exactly clear
- "You should know," they told me, "you're the one who did the crime"
- But the only one who's clueless is the one who's facing time
- Who is my accuser, 'cause he's not identified
- They tell me that his name is classified
Classified, classified, what informants spread these lies - How do I deny their claims when I don't even know their names
They sent me to a lawyer who agreed to plead my case - He said, "They'll think you're guilty 'cause you've got that kind of face
- You're a threat to state security so lay low for a while
- I'll file the writs as time permits, someday you'll get your trial
- I asked him what the charge is, what's the law that I've defied
- He said, "Ingrate! Don't be foolish! You know that's classified"
Classified, classified, reputation tossed aside - How can I make my defense if I can't see the evidence
Peeking through the shadows was another man accused - He whispered from the darkness, sounding frightened and confused,
- "It's been years with no indictment, I'm just waiting for the word."
- I told him that his situation bordered on absurd
- The judges and the wardens can't deny your basic rights
- "Give it time," he said, "and you will lose your will to fight
- You can't understand the law, believe me, I have tried.
- The lawyer is my only chance
- To change this dreadful circumstance
- And save me from my ignorance
- In case I'm not in compliance
- With every rule they say is classified"
Classified, classified, what to do when hope has died? - How can they enforce these laws that hold a person without cause
The law lies in a hidden room beyond an open door - The guard who blocks the entrance won't say what the door is for
- You can try to bribe him like the others must have done
- But you find out, after years go by, that you're the only one
- Yes, this door was meant for only you, and access is denied
- They tell you that the password is classified
Classified, classified, secrets hidden deep inside - Locked away from pubic view, next time they might come for you
THE TAP ROOT TREE - The tap root tree grows far and deep
- Where the possums play and the mudworms sleep
- Seeking life everywhere it lives
- And taking a lot less than it gives
-
- And the roots go round the world
- And the roots go round the world
- They wind and curl and wind and curl
- And the roots go round the world
People on every continent - Could embrace the tree to their hearts' content
- Eating the fruit, sleeping in the shade
- Carving the wood into things they made
- And the roots go round...
But no body was keeping track - They took from the tree and did not give back
- For years they were looking the other way
- And the roots dried up and the leaves blew away
- And the roots go round...
When their eyes were opened they began to see - How much they would miss the tap root tree
- Their tears fell into the hungry ground
- And the big tree grew back safe and sound
- And the roots go round...
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