The Lyrics of Lachlan MacLearn

For some song-lovers, the words are as important as the music. For others, more important. The lyrics below, comprise the work of over thirty years, including the songs comprising The Putney Album (released in 1976), Sahel (released in 1988), Oblivion Ponies (released in 2000), and songs that are yet to be formally recorded or produced.

The Putney Album	Sahel	Oblivion Ponies
Lady Come Lightly Bahama Waters Happy The Putney Song I Want to Talk to You Post Script Green Mountain Run Everybody Loves a Rock 'n Roll Band Spring Anticipation	Dragon, Dragon - Grove Street If we try - Just My Luck Never Enough Nothing More Savanna So Long Delilah Til the Night Goes By - This Love (ain't gonna wait forever) - Walk Away Friends	- Angel in the Ice - Faster Than The River - Heat and Air - Watching the Dreams Go By - Waterfall - One More Time (with feelin')

Angel in the Ice
© Copyright 1992 L. MacLearn

He was twelve years old
Emissary of welcome
At the edge of the crystal cold
Bearing gifts so rare
They had no equal
In money, jewels or gold
Rarer still, the vision
Blinding white
To eyes in darkness trained
There in the frozen lake
Lay the form of an angel
And transfixed the boy remained

No armor did the lad possess
To shield him from her lovliness
Nor would he run
From what he could not fear

Each moment seemed a lifetime gone
From darkness to his hearts first dawn
Unheeding of those warnings
Need can't hear

Down he knelf to scrape and claw
Til frozen fingers bled
To free the angel
From her lifeless bed

Slowly, was the innocent
imprisoned by the cold
Transformed from youth 
Into a man grown old

It was a boy who saw the Angel first
But a man who walked away
From the grinding stone of Heaven's will
Or thoughtless gods at play
Exhausted was the older man
In body, mind and heart
Rare the child who'll complete the task
A grown man would not start...

Faster Than The River
© Copyright 1995 Lachlan MacLearn

In these last hours of troubled sleep
I wage strange battles
Protecting some keep
I wake with few expectations,
Save a hunger that leads me on
Now there's no use in running
And no place to go
I've got no answers,
And my blood runs too slow
I see ten lost virtues 
For every crystal truth I now know

Keep your pieces ahead on the board
Don't get lost in the mercantile horde
Guard your dreams, and guard the ones you love,
Never tell a fool your true name
But above all...
Keep rowing faster than the river
Speed is freedom
And freedom will deliver you
Keep rowing faster than the river travels

In these last hours of an endless day
I'm caught in a current
Of rush-hour play
I see deep exhaustion
In faces without a clue
Now my heart is an engine
My mind is a wheel
I can't see where I'm going
Travel strictly by feel
No illumination
In this fog that I'm wandering through

Hauling in a catch of spent years,
A net full of dreams
In a sea of dark fears
Too much time wondering what went wrong,
Maybe holding on a little too long
I've just got to

Keep moving faster than the river
Don't look back
Cause the sight will make you shiver
Just keep moving faster than the river travels
You've just got to
Keep moving faster than the river...

Grove Street
© Copyright 1987 Lachlan MacLearn

The road to Putnam lay beneath 
A swirling, windblown snow.
They had promised the storm would leave much more.
Time I left, it was nearly six. 
The snow and light played such tricks,
I barely recognized Route forty-four.

I made my way down Grove Street
looking for a place to park.
At a florist, I bought a second wreath.
The wind blew hard, and angry.
Deep snow lay all about,
And somewhere was a cold stone beneath.

With wreathes and windshield brush
I wandered to the corner of the yard,
Brushing off the snow from every other stone.
It was years since I had been there.
There was noone there to ask,
It seemed I'd come two hundred miles to be alone.

And a wondrous string of memories
Stretched off into the grey,
As I lay my farewell wreathes upon the ground.
The wind died off so suddenly I never ever even noticed
For the sun came out
And spread such warmth around.

Heat and Air
© Copyright 1996 L. MacLearn

It was a scorching summer drought
When the animals came to peer
At a small pool of water that promised life
Yet none would venture near 
For a Lion stood at the drinking hole
And he held the rest at bay
He said "This water is mine by the cool of the night,
And mine by the heat of the day"
"What right have you", asked the wildebeest
"To keep us from our share?"
"The water's mine" growled the Lion,
"But you can help yourself to the heat and air"

Now the wise old vulture glided in,
And whispered to the King
"Who are they, your majesty, to question you
About anything?
Now, from up above I spied a pool 
so great it has no end
Fit for a king such as yourself
to savor and defend"
He pointed a wing to the distant east
"All yours -- you needn't share
What's more this little pool will soon dry up
Consumed by heat and air"

The Lion looked where the vulture bid
And saw to his surprise
A distant shimmering reservoir
That filled his greedy eyes
And he imagined all the wealth
The water soon would bring
Once he had claimed his right to it
As guardian and king.
And so at once he left the pool
No longer did he care
And set out for the greater prize
He thought he saw beyond the heat and air

The animals now could safely drink
Beneath that blazing sun
And in the pool found there to be
enough for everyone
The vulture watched the thirsty drink
Until a zebra asked
"My feathered friend, why was it
that the lion left so fast?"
"His vanity", the bird replied, 
"And a mirage so fair,
It seemed a bargain at the time -- 
To trade his very life for heat and air..."


Just My Luck
© Copyright 1984 L. MacLearn

Got up this morning,
Stepped where the dog left his mark
Tried to drive to work
But my car had no spark
I called a taxi,
It was the cabbie's first day.
He said "How do shut this damn meter off?
I think I've lost my way"

It was just my luck
It was Just my luck
It was just my luck,
And that's the only kind of luck I seem to have

I called up a lady friend I know real well.
She said "I don't remember you, sucker, 
or what it is you sell......"
So I put on some good clothes, and I went downtown,
And in my absence, my house burned to the ground.

It was just my luck
It was Just my luck
It was just my luck,
And that's the only kind of luck I seem to have

I cut myself shaving 
as I stared off into space.
Looked like the Minnesota Vikings 
Ran all over my face. 
So I called up a doctor friend to get some first aid.
He said " I'm examing Suzanne Sommers, man,
Don't rain on my parade"

It was just my luck
It was Just my luck
It was just my luck,
And that's the only kind of luck I seem to have

One More Time (With Feeling)
© Copyright 1992 L. MacLearn

It’s a killer sunny morning
Got this fire in my brain
It’s quicksilver inspiration
I may not see its like again
Anything could happen
And you know it likely will
No saying why it’s ‘here’ or ‘now’
I just know I can’t sit still

There’s the smell of hardwood burning
From a chimney through the trees
Bright feelings so long buried
Drive me nearly to my knees
And I hear myself, in wonder,
Speak to someone not yet here
Saying “all this time I’ve waited
Just to meet you in the clear”
	
Some folks will try to tell you
“It may hurt, but it will pass”
That “its not the stuff of real love”
But a brittle thing like glass
So maybe there are lovers
Maybe soon it’s years gone by
But that place within stays empty
No matter who or what you try

Speckled cubes of chance deliverance
roll in vain beneath my fist
And this fickle sea I’m searching
robs the very shore it’s kissed
Now its late for starting over
And too fair a tide to trade
But I can count like cupid’s midas
Every golden touch mislayed

Sayin’ “One more time”
Living just for livings sake
Or fortunes not yet made

For a moment clouds are parted
And I see what we could be
Past childhood shrinks
And grownup kinks
And restless fantasy
And I never have forgotten
And I ache for what I know
Still I’d rather risk it all this way
Than sleep on in the flow
	
Sayin’ “One more time”
Rising to the deadline
The lunch hour and the toll
Just one more time
They say half the thing is trying
But the half is not the whole
One more time
In this place I’ve come to visit
with this human-colored soul

This Love (Ain't Gonna Wait Forever)
© Copyright 1983 L. MacLearn

They say 'true love' will stand the test of time
Is twenty years enough?
They say there ain't a chance in hell,
That the odds are just too tough.
Well live and learn, here's lookin' at you.
We all do the things we have to do.
As long as its finally clear
What its coming to.

There must be a million kinds of fools.
How many kinds am I?
To think love grows like a tree in any soil.
That's just another tragic lie.
Live and learn - wait your turn,
Count candles left to burn,
While standing in line
You yearn - how you yearn.

But this love, this love,
This love ain't gonna wait forever.
This love, this love,
This love ain't gonna wait forever.

How could she think otherwise?
There's always more than one,
To hold the stars above our heads,
And outshine the sun.
I've seen her face in every ebb and flow,
waiting for that sweet love and it's still "no show"
This is one love that just might go away, to stay

'Cause this love, this love,
This love ain't gonna wait forever.
This love, this love,
This love ain't gonna wait forever.

WALK AWAY FRIENDS
© Copyright 1988 L. MacLearn

Nothing - nothing to say or do.
Wanting, but really not wanting to tell you
Nothing remains here to try.
Better to lose than to lie.

Feelings get in our way, oh, I know that.
Lord, how I pray I could show you, 
And walk away, both of us friends.
Taking no detours, or dead ends -
Believing there's still room for sharing.
You must know I'm not beyond caring
More than the 'wave of a hand'.

Laughing, holding our sides,
I remember love in the secret night
Touch me, I haven't left, though I've changed.
Much of my life rearranged
Maybe we'll come full circle.
Maybe we'll find that its better
left for a while in the sun,
Growing...

Watching the Dreams Go By
© 1989 Lachlan MacLearn

I am a watcher
Watching a world doing handstands
Biding my time -- laying low
Keeping the wolves at bay
Chasing the lions and tigers and bears away
Watching a sea of faces
Wave after wave
Til it starts running all together
Neck deep in junk and jive
Paying the price of a
Ten story dive

And watching the dreams go by
Hardly a reason to waste
What there is to love.
That's what a friend
Once said life's made of
Who am I to question why...

I am a reacher 
Reaching for hands that aren't there
Telling my problems to
Ears that don't care
Still I keep rambling on
Paying the price of
A cold-leafed con
And I know
I may be taken in again
Be it by foe or seeming friend
There's always risk in the plan
You side-step the pitfalls
As best you can

Still I'm watching...the dreams go by
Hardly a reason to waste
What there is to love.
That's what a friend
Once said life's made of
Who am I to question why...

Waterfall
© Copyright 1992 L. MacLearn

Drivin’ in the wind and blowing rain
Cold city streets, a commuter train
With boxed in faces slowly rolling by.
Behind the wheel I am drifting back in time
To a summer morning, feeling fine
On a wooded path 'neath the bluest sky.

Heard it before it came in view
And nobody really knew quite what to do.
And nobody spoke for quite a while
Surrounded by beauty, trying to grasp it all
Lovely waterfall

Crashing down the rocks to a pool below
While we lay in the sun and watched it flow
We stayed the whole day long
At the waterfall

Rainbows formed within the mist
And long rays of sunlight bent to kiss the spray.
A car horn scolded from behind
And brought me back from peace I could recall
At the waterfall

Lights changed and I drove my weary way
Thinking back to that lovely summer’s day
Thinking back to the magic 
And the waterfall...