Andy Baker

Almena Road

When I first discovered
The bridge a mile from my home
I was a boy of 12 years
Needing space to call my own
Down Almena Road

There lay an open skyline
That the highway rose to meet
The traffic flowed beneath me
Like a river running deep
Down Almena Road

And I swore that I would never lose that peaceful feeling
As each passing day…I found myself back again

Several years went by me
Like the trucks beneath my bridge
Spent my teen years wondering
How far away that I might drift
From Almena Road
Stand above the traffic
And watch it melt into the sky
Test the wind beneath me
Spread my wings and hope to fly
From Almena Road

And I swore that there were times when I was almost lifted
From the safety rail…to never look back again

All these roads we travel
All these curves and one way streets
Life is not a highway
With traffic signs and smooth concrete
And you don’t stand above it
To get a clearer view you just
You just go driving blindly
One eye on the road and one eye in the rearview…

So now the place looks different
20 years since I was small
Back to find connection
Now that I have seen it all
Down Almena Road
Still the cars beneath me
Still the sky they flow into
But I don’t dream of flying
I’m just happy with the view
Of Almena Road

And I swear that I won’t wander far from sacred places
Find your roots my friend
And let them grow back again

Icarus Knows

My old man said don’t fly too close to the sun
But one look in your golden eyes and I come undone
Feather’s fly, I’m losing altitude
And all because I can’t resist that flame inside of you

And Icarus would know
You play with fire
Look out below!

Falling I am falling through the sky
Falling with the smoke of rapture in my eyes
The crash will come too soon
But falling’s worth the chance to melt with you

Close enough to breathe your solar wind
Close enough for wax to melt on skin
Mind says you must keep a level plane
Body says you hold on mind, we’re going up again

And Icarus would know
Play with fire
Look out below, yah

-refrain-

All it takes is one touch of your hand
And there I go changing flight plans

September Mind

I was born in the season of turning
The harvest air thick in my veins
Each moment a leaf that is turning
Each step a drop of cool rain
The winter is ever approaching
Her frosty breath nipping behind
Pushing my footsteps before me
In the back of my September Mind
In the back of my September Mind…

There are attics where no one can find me
I go there when autumn arrives
I’m longing for something long hidden
In a box that I never can find
But the musty air ever will draw me
With a hunger I cannot describe
The echo’s of footsteps long taken
In the back of my September Mind
In the back of my September Mind…


Change is a whispering maple
Who’s mourning the loss of her leaves
They fly off like so many songbirds
Take wing and for one moment free
I’m standing beneath her bare branches
Her graceful arms frozen in time
Like so many dreams I remember
In the back of my September Mind
In the back of my September Mind…


c. 2005 Andy Baker, Northwind Sound BMI.

Don’t Know Why

This body is made up of water and skin
The cover it offers is fragile and thin
But it moves and it breathes though I don’t even try
It’s born and it dies and I don’t know why

It’s made up of dust that’s 10 trillion years old
From a ball that decided one day to explode
And who pulled the trigger that started that flight
I can’t see his face and I don’t know why

And the sun will fall
And the moon will rise
And we see it all
Through these tadpole eyes
A child is born
And grandmother dies
Over and over and I don’t know why

A suicide bomber straps on his vest
And prays to his god to help him do his best
And just across town a young woman decides
To go get some milk and loses her life…

A criminal lives to a hundred and three
A child will bear cancer and die at 16
One soldier lives while another one dies
Both mothers praying and I don’t know why

-refrain-

The robins all come back the first day of spring
For thousands of years they’ve all done the same thing
And how do they all know which way to fly
No compass or arrow…

And here is a silkworm inside it’s cocoon
Waiting for spring to break free of its womb
And with wings that it never could dream were inside
Leaves all it knows to kiss the blue sky


So maybe we’re all here inside our cocoons
Hoping and fearing what’s in the next room
And maybe it’s all part of learning to fly
To live in this mystery… without knowing why…

Sleep on it Tonight

There’s a cat outside the window
And a war across the sea
And our little town is fading
Like a pair of old blue jeans
There’s talk of global warming
And the credit cards are maxed
And the door is off its hinges
And the old dog needs a bath

But tonight
The world is quiet
And we’re safe beneath the covers
And the moon is keeping time
So let’s just sleep on it tonight

Your breath is on my shoulder
I feel you rise and fall
The candle light is fading
Leaving traces on the wall
In a boat of sheets and pillows
We sail to distant shores
Leaving all our cares and troubles
In the dresser drawers

-refrain-




And we know
The world keeps turning
And soon enough we’ll have to face the light
But I pray that with every curtain fall
The moon will always find us here again


Tomorrow there’ll be traffic
And the children and the phone
And the pushing and the turning
And the wrongs we must atone
But that’s another sunrise
A million breaths away
And for this time we slip inside
I only wish that I could stay