Chuck Perrin - Poetry & Lyrics

Early Words
Last modified: Mon, May 31st 2010 - 1:09 PM

TENNESSEE (1974)

i have seen your rolling hills
in speckled shades of green
rode your mares down dusty roads
and i have slept beside your streams
roaming round from town to town
i found a change came over me
as i grew to know your people
tennessee

tennessee
you treat me like i was your only child
you always take me back with open arms
tennessee
you've given me the best things in my life
just to know you're there
is all I need
till I come home
tennessee

i remember amber sunsets
smokey mountain haze
fishin bass from hickory lakes
on those lazy summer days
i remember being older once
but i was not as free
as i have been since I came to
tennessee

tennessee
you treat me like i was your only child
you always take me back with open arms
tennessee
you've given me the best things in my life
just to know you're there
is all I need
till I come home
tennessee

the work i do might keep me
a thousand miles away
but who i am and where i'm from
stays with me every day

tennessee
you treat me like i was your only child
you always take me back with open arms
tennessee
you've given me the best things in my life
just to know you're there
is all I need
till I come home
tennessee

MALIBU BAY (1975)

blue night
moonlight's got me in it's spell
and i'm feeling all right
you know, i'm feeling so well
i might stay up all night
and sleep all day
i love to play out on malibu bay
i love to stay out on malibu bay

no trouble or care
can bother me there
if you're bringing bad news brother
you haven't a prayer
cause i've turned myself off
for the soiree
i love to play out on malibu bay
i love to stay out on malibu bay

there's not a thing that i'd rather do
then get my car and my board and you
and head out to malibu

whistling breezes
whispering trees
waves bumpin beach
and I'm caught in the squeeze
between sand, surf, and sky
and salt water spray
i love to play out on malibu bay
i love to stay out on malibu bay

TELL ME YOU'LL BE MINE TONIGHT (1974)

when the world gets you down
& you can't turn it around
that's the time for you to call on me
if you're life's a mess
overwhelmed by stress
let me drive away your misery
i got a '68 vette
no one's beaten me yet
i will take you on a ride that you won't forget
you don't need to worry
i will treat you right
tell me you'll be mine tonight

if you're bout to explode
i can handle the load
let me take you thru the town's delights
lean your head
on the back of my bed
tell me you'll be mine tonight
i'm gonna wine you
dine you
fill you full of smoke
take your hand
take your heart
tell you lies
tell you jokes
you don't need to worry
i will treat you right
tell me you'll be mine tonight

i'm dropping everything that's on my mind
just so i can concentrate on you
i know you're troubled but i'll do the driving
just kick back & take off your shoes

slip on back
baby try & relax
i'm gonna shift it into overdrive
you may be blue
but when we start to cruise
i know you will be satisfied
you got nothing to lose
nothing to hide
we're gonna take in the sights
& i'll be your guide
you don't need to worry
i will treat you right
tell me you'll be mine tonight
tell me you'll be mine tonight

CALICO SKY AT 5:45 (1983)

dusk defying
calico sky at 5:45
and i couldn't keep my eyes off it
i had to see it change
watch the pinks pulled through the cirrus
sipped through straws
at the speed of light
then swallowed by the setting sun
& the blue fade to grey
gris grey leaving only gristle
ebony
finally
midnight
darkness
streetlamp spotted islands
hazy neon fuzzs
soaking up the nothingness

trying to make some sense of it all
staring
sorta silent fake inertia
a coltrane-induced coma

it's only me
holding down the fort
finger in the dyke
till the trweet twreet
cheup cheurp
& the pinks peek over the other side
intensifying
clarifying
i'm tired

bandanbladder buldge
drags me to my feet
gotta find relief
maybe splief spleef
focus pocus
pimlico
apartheid
i'm so tired

FOOL OF JEALOUSY (1975)

there's change come over you
that i can't understand
but i can feel it in the way
you tell me about your other friends
you used to be so kind and careful
how you set my mind at ease
now i'm just another fool of jealousy

once you let me think that i
was all you cared about
but i can see it in your eyes
you're changing your mind
and having doubts
is there some way i can stop it
put aside the agony
of being just another fool of jealousy

i've never felt this bad before
but there's nothing i can do
it's a cold, cold world when you play the fool
and you're the last to know it's true

so i'm leaving you this note
i'm going for good tonight
and i still love you but i know
you've got to be true to your appetites
i'll remember once i had you
but then lost you foolishly
i was just another fool of jealousy

i'm a fool for you, baby

BEAT CHRISTMAS (1994)

another year gone by
another year alone
another year to think about
the relationships i've blown

i guess i've had my chances
my need for space has been a curse
i'm not very good at long romances
sometimes the holidays make it worse

so pour me another espresso
turn up old nat king cole
this past year's been rough
but i'm not giving up
even tho
it may be
a beat christmas

check out the shoppers as they pass by
locked in that giving zone
& look at the children
the glow in their eyes
makes me wish i had some of my own

one thing i do have is life & the chance
to celebrate the coming yule
cause i made a promise to myself
to keep every christmas cool

so pour me another espresso
turn up old nat king cole
this past year's been rough
but i'm not giving up
even tho
it may be
a beat christmas

i bought myself some christmas gifts
ginsberg's new book of poetry
& a best of split-dit-dit dizzy gillespie disc
i might even get me a tree

saw a commercial the other night
they had santa wearing flannel this year
chanting carols
burning incense
playing bongo drums
he's even got an earring in one ear

so pour me another espresso
turn up old nat king cole
this past year's been rough
but i'm not giving up
even tho
it may be
a beat christmas
a beat christmas
a beat christmas

THE GAME OF LOVE (1980)

out on the street
study in business sense
logistic premise
rhythm & recompense
played by believers
artists in evidence
no one gets out without concessions

you may not know it
you could be next in line
don't give up hope
it might happen anytime
all of a sudden
revved up & running blind
you got the call
be sure that you're ready
give it the best you've got

the game of love
the game of love

rolling & loaded
don't get your hopes too high
senses corroded
switch to electrify
then when it's over
just glad to qualify
you show your scars like so many trophies

you may not know it
you could be next in line
don't give up hope
you're off on another climb
all of a sudden
revved up & running blind
you got the call
be sure that you're ready
give it the best you've got

the game of love
the game of love

"SOUTHEAST ASIA PROPERTIES" BLUES (1972)
(guess I never really realized when I wrote this in '72
that it would actually come true . . .)

i dreamed i was in vietnam in 1999
i just wanted to buy some land
and this was the only thing i could fine
saw a place called "firebase lake"
i'd heard about on tv
"a home in the sun to retire in peace
in the land of the brave and now free"

they flew me in a private plane
to somewhere near danaang
it seems they had a special offer on a parcel or two
before the price went up in spring
when we got on the ground and i looked around
well, . . . i didn't know what to say
it was just as good, as far as I could see
as the old u. s. of a.

why i remember when this place was a mess
full of swamps and debris
now they got everything so nice and neat
well it made you kinda proud to see
it looks real good, they got green cement
and life-like flowers and trees
and a plastic chicken in every pot
in the land of the brave and now free

i thought i was in vietnam in 1969
lost my right foot to a shrapnel blast
and my best friend to a mine
if i'd known then what i know now
i don't know what i'd do
it only would have made my life
that much harder to get thru

i dreamed i was in vietnam in 1999
i just wanted to buy some land
and this was the only thing i could find
finally got a place near "firebase lake"
with a terrace and a view
and now all of my neighbors from the old u. s.
are moving over too
yes, all my neighbors from the old u.s.
oh, god . . . what can I do?

LITTLE LADY (1973)

little lady
won't you sit down a while beside me
take a little time and be my only one
i've been crazy
and i'm looking for a way to let out
someone's got to help me get out
you're the one

everybody knows
when it settles in your mind
it'll eat right thru
if you give it time
got to keep it moving
make believe it never came
and i think i feel it leaving
when i call your name

little lady
won't you put your arms around me
pull me down and drown me in your love
i think that maybe
things are gonna work out better
if you and i can be together
for a while

DEUCE IS WILD (1976)

big windy just blew in
four stars & all
down at the corner
where the ice is thin
he’s got ‘em lined up in the hall

haute couture when the lights are low
snakeskin to her teeth
she looked just like james cagney
when she turned around
but her body is beyond belief

so bet ‘em all cause
deuce is wild
what have we got to lose
deuce is wild
deuce is wild

low riders in the lumber yard
deacon burton’s got a knife
& everybody sees the corn king’s child
is over talkin’ to his wife

pulled the needle on a one-way case
drove him backwards down the hall
dressed in kakai pants and persian lace
they pinned his number to the wall

so bet ‘em all cause
deuce is wild
what have we got to lose
deuce is wild
deuce is wild

TOO DARK FOR DAY (1967)
(written with geoff gillette)

all my aprils have changed to mays
reds & yellows are blues & greys
yeah
wild tomorrows are just todays
just todays

i'd better go
i'd better hurry
can't see too well
my eyes getting blurry
too dark for day

all my sunshine has turned to rain
past good feelings have turned to pain
yeah
some hurt inside I can't explain
can't explain

i'd better go
i'd better hurry
can't see too well
my eyes getting blurry
too dark for day

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