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DRUGSTORE NOVEL

Geoff

McKenzie

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Geoff McKenzie writes songs that are about something. Love and its malfunctions, candied moonlight, at least one murder ballad and the plot of a drugstore novel set to rhyme.


It’s hard to tell if he’s a disgraced poet who got good at guitar or verse vice-a, but somewhere along the line he raised a brood of restless folk songs that will jump in your lap and seize hold of your feelings. The little bastards.



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Drugstore Novel

Geoff spent his youth learning guitar, half a lifetime learning to write and nearly five decades getting around to a record. Maybe he just hadn’t seen enough yet.


Finally, he guesses, he’s peered into enough darkened windows. Pressed his ear to the hearts of lovers and strangers, listening for off-kilter rhythms that haven’t been trapped by a microphone yet.


Here they are, those songs he cornered in the field. Skinned and salted and slung into bedtime stories that are easy to fall into and hard as hangmen to forget. You’ll meet lost souls wandering crumpled landscapes, coloured by every shade of regret. You’ll try—and fail—to outrun hellbent lovers haunted by a vengeful moon. You’ll lose yourself in the weave of love songs spun with a lyrical thread too fine and luminous for any dark night ever to unwind.


Songs to wreck you and songs to mend you.


Turn now, if you would, to chapter 1.


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80 Word Biography

Geoff McKenzie writes songs that are about something. Love and its malfunctions, candied moonlight, at least one murder ballad and the plot of a drugstore novel set to rhyme.


It’s hard to tell if he’s a disgraced poet who got good at guitar or verse vice-a, but somewhere along the line he raised a brood of restless folk songs that will jump in your lap and seize hold of your feelings. The little bastards.


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220 Word Biography

Geoff McKenzie always wanted to be a novelist. The problem is, all his stories sound so much better over music.


He’d love to tell you about a childhood spent at kitchen parties, learning fiddle tunes at the knee of the family string band while he sang ballads into a wooden spoon. But Geoff is not that guy.


He’s this other guy, raised on Shel Silverstein, John Steinbeck and Leonard Cohen. (Did you know Cohen also wrote songs?) And it’s true that he also stumbled on Ian & Sylvia and Gordon Lightfoot records in the family collection—and what all these scribblers have in common is, they had something they just really needed to tell you.


McKenzie writes songs that are about something. Love and its malfunctions, candied moonlight, at least one murder ballad and the plot of a drugstore novel set to rhyme. He’s a deceitful sort of folksinger who will melt your heart in one song and pawn it for scrap in the next. So maybe his current predicament is only fair: he has on his hands a brood of restless folk songs that will jump in your lap and seize hold of your feelings. The little bastards.


Drugstore Novel, Geoff’s first album, will debut on October 13, 2013.


Did you know Shel Silverstein also wrote songs?


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Lyrics

Salton Sea


Friday comes with eyes ablaze

Burns a hole through Saturday

Sunday comes and goes so fast

Monday crawls on broken glass


I don’t know why, but I can’t leave

This shallow hole that was dug for me

This reservoir of dried out dreams

This town beside the Salton Sea


I kissed you under April stars

You loved me with a heart on fire

A young man’s heart beats just as fast

And runs as quick as candle wax


I think sometimes on how we met

How love came, and how it went

I left you with a life caved in

Then you left me in the poison wind


She found me in the Bombay Bar

Didn’t have to seach too far

Told me I’m some kind of father

The Salton Sea’s some kind of water


I asked her to sit with me

She crossed her legs and sipped her tea

Looked around with your brown eyes

Nodded once and said goodbye


Friday comes with eyes ablaze

Burns a hole through Saturday

All around me things recede

Reminds me who I used to be

All around me things recede

In this town beside the Salton sea



Signs of Spring


My father walks

Out on the hillside

My father oft

To the mountain goes

Soon he’ll spy

Some sign of springtime

A crocus bent

In a field of snow


My mother looks

Out of the window

My mother sees

The cherry tree

She calls her sisters

One bright morning

For George the robin

She has seen


My daughters too

They’ll quit their bedrooms

Their hearts like streams

Overflown

Soon they’ll go

Down to the fairground

And come back home

Sweethearts in tow


And the crocus knows

(And the crocus knows)

Oh the crocus knows

(The crocus knows)

What the robin brings

(What the robin brings)

Why the robin sings

(Why the robin sings)

His swelling hopes

Overflow

Our waxing hearts

With signs of spring


And my daughters too

They’ve met the robin

Hear him sing

Touched his wing

And they sun their cheeks

Sweet as cherries

And they lift our hearts

With signs of spring

Signs of spring

Signs of spring


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Alibi


I

Never put by silver

I never put by silver

For the boatman’s fare


And I

Am a wayward sailor

I’m a wayward sailor

With a guilty stare


I've been looking for an alibi

I've been keeping you in mind

I've failed at gold and guile

And bibles never stood a chance in hell

But in your eyes I see the light this time


You

Are a pool of lamplight

A kiss at midnight

On a gated lawn

Your voice

Is candied moonlight

A sparrow’s first flight

In the early dawn


I've been looking for an alibi

I've been keeping you in mind

I've failed at gold and guile

And bibles never stood a chance in hell

But in your eyes I see the light this time


I

Am a drug store novel

The plot’s just awful

But the heart is true

I will kill every monster

And the evil wizard

To stand next to you


I've been looking for an alibi

I've been keeping you in mind

I've failed at gold and guile

But when they see me standing by your side

I swear they’ll find me innocent this time


I

I never put by silver

never put by silver

But I’ll come with pearls





Desdemona


Seems like time is running backwards

Holding on to these haphazard

Dreams that come around so rare

Desdemona are you lonely?

I wouldn’t ask it’s only

I find I’m running out of air


Seems like time is busy elsewhere

Mending someone else’s threadbare

Heart, left out in the snow

Desdemona, do you remember

Barcelona? Forever

My mind looks for you back there


Pale moon in your eyes

Spanish starlight in your hair

Soft, upon your lips, my name

Did it ever touch your lips again?


Dessie, I was 21 then

Measured time in sixteenth rhythm

Half of you went missing in the blur

But time refunds the missing pieces

I can see the deeper spaces

Now, I danced around before


Memory rewinds so slow

The moment that you go

Again, is looping like a crime

Both our lives, trapped in amber

Nothing changes, still I wonder

How it is I’m running out of time?


Pale moon in your eyes

Spanish starlight in your hair

Soft, upon your lips, my name.

Did it ever touch your lips again?


Seems the wine is almost empty

Swallowed up like the twenty

Years that seeped beneath my floor

Do you ever search the pages?

Eight billion aging faces

Only one is yours


I see you now like we’re under water

Diving after dreams I thought were

Sunk too deep to ever rise back here

Desdemona are you lonely?

If I’ve never asked, it’s only

Because I’m running out of air











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Sylvie


Sylvie,

Her eyes are steely

Her eyes are steely

But her heart is wool

When she

When she comes to see me

When she comes to see me

My heart is full


When you

Wrap your arms around me

I’m glad you found me

In the morning light

When my

When my words confound me

Your arms surround me

Everything’s alright


Sylvie

My hands go greedy

My mind grows filthy

And my poor heart pines

But love comes

The love comes easy

My Sylvie’s squeezy

And her blue eyes shine


And when you

Wrap your arms around me

I’m glad you found me

In the morning light

When my

When my words confound me

Your arms surround me

Everything’s alright


Sylvie

She calls me Geoffrey

She calls me Geoffrey

And I fall in line

But if she

If she makes me brekkie

If she makes me brekkie

Everything’s just fine


And when you

Wrap your arms around me

I’m glad you found me

In the morning light

And when my

When my words confound me

Your arms surround me

Everything’s alright




Jealous Moon Waltz


Lucy was harvest day queen

And she danced through everyone’s dreams

The moon in creation

Was herself overtaken

And from above

Cast her love

For all to see


Jacob was a man about town

A lover of faithless renown

Though his heart was another’s

He swore he would love her

They wed one night

In the sight

Of the moon


Shine, moon, show me a scene

Lord knows the sorrow she’s seen


The lovers paddle soft in the night

A stolen heart and a bottle of wine

The sky pulls a blanket

Over their banquet

But the moon she finds

A parted blind

In the clouds



Lucy tracks their trail through the trees

Hunting after heartache is she

Through the crack in the covers

She soon spies the lovers

For there they lie

Undisguised

By the moon


Now Lucy, bewildered by grief

Gives herself up to the deep

There in the water

The lake takes a daughter

And hides her face

From the gaze

Of the moon


Shine, moon, show me a scene

Lord knows the sorrow she’s seen


Jacob steals home in the dark

In the hallway he hangs up his heart

He climbs up the stair

And awaiting him there

Where his wife had been

A silver beam

Fills their bed


Jacob flees deep in the pines

And wherever he tarries, she shines

A light in the heavens

Seeking her vengeance

And Jake remains

Wide awake

To his shame


Shine, moon, show me a scene

Lord knows the sorrow she’s seen


A lifetime of vagabond dread

Shortened by demons she fed

Driven to madness

He seeks out the blackness

Which he finds

In a mine

Made of coal


Surrounded by darkness at last

He hastens the end with a match

In the coal dust explosion

A narrow shaft opens

For evermore,

A ghostly glow

Lights his bones


Shine, moon, show me a scene

Lord knows the sorrow she’s seen


A lake and a mine, seen at night

Some say gleam unusually bright

One pale and pretty

The other one grisly:

For there they lie

Haunted by

That jealous moon






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Stray Hearts


Oh, us castaways

Hold fast to what remains

We guard our hearts

Under lock and key

Don’t let them go

Don’t ever set them free


But like runaways

They sigh for their escape

They seek their kind

They weep and pine

One day they slip their chains

Defeat us every time


But stray hearts

Don’t know their names

They lose themselves, they misbehave

A stray heart, if it comes to you

It’ll take yours too


Then like birds of prey

They beat against their cage

They find a way

They fly away

Won’t ever come back home

Until they’re broken


Stray hearts

They follow you

They’ll bite your hand. They always do

A stray heart,

When it comes for you

It’ll take yours too


Stray hearts

They follow you

They’ll bite your hand. They always do

A stray heart,

When it comes for you

It’ll break yours too






Jade Eyes


Hiding your jade eyes

Underneath my gaze

Every Friday night

I watch you from this stage

I watch you turn away

But your sweet jaded eyes

Have seen this smile

A hundred times

In a hundred places


Thin hair and thin disguise

I bullet point my life

Sing it to the wind

And hope you’re passing by

I hope you read my file,

But your sweet jaded eyes

Can spot a lie

From a hundred miles

A hundred times


It’s making

Me crazy

Chasing you around inside my mind

Maybe

One day

You’ll grace me with the whites of your jade eyes


I watch you from a crowd

Your lips have hypnotized

Pinned beneath your stare

Every person here

I am this unwise:

Hoping that your sweet jaded eyes

Will fall on mine

Just this time


White Piece of Paper

The Sad Ones Are True


My mother’s sad smile came and went like a Las Vegas streak

A flash at the table, now fading, now chilly and weak

And she watched her life anted away, a tip at a time

The gamblers tapped out the rhythm and the band made it rhyme


In the dirtiest dive bars, my daddy’s old six string rang pure

It soothed every hard-hearted waitress that had to endure

The truckers and hipsters and drifters all groping for beers

Where any soft eyes like my father’s could move you to tears


Mother said follow your heart if you’d follow a fool

Every sweet face in the dark is a portrait of ruin

Faith in a love song is faith that falters too soon

Every singer is a liar, but believe me, the sad ones are true


Silver words shine, the deeper you dive in a hole

He sang of forever and beauty and rapture and soul

Every word rang in her heart, and maybe his too

But a singer, believe me, will leave you in time for the blues


Mother said follow your heart if you’d follow a fool

Every sweet face in the dark is a portrait of ruin

Faith in a love song is faith that falters too soon

Every singer is a liar, but believe me, the sad ones are true


Somewhere my father still sings her sad songs in the dark

Every hurt word closing in on the truth in her heart

Love’s a stray arrow, but sorrow flies steady to you

Give your love to a singer and your life to a sad country tune


Mother said follow your heart if you’d follow a fool

Every sweet face in the dark is a portrait of ruin

Faith in a love song is faith that falters too soon

Every singer is a liar, but believe me, the sad ones are true

Every singer is a liar, but believe me, the sad ones are true


White Piece of Paper

Sighs


Flowers after frost don’t know they’re dying

Gilded for an hour, they keep shining

Stay with me my darling in this moment

Accept this fleeting gift of perfect glory


You, who’ve scaled the palace tower

I, who’ve searched for a trap door

Somehow we’re parted in the silence of this night

I still love your morning sighs


The moth, she quit her toil of endless spinning

To chance the lantern light on silver wings

How I wish to find you in that darkness

And hold you just outside the siren flame


You, who’ve scaled the palace tower

I, who’ve searched for a trap door

Somehow we’re parted in the silence of this night

I still love your morning sighs


Now our hearts grow wooly in their chambers

Wearing thin, the years would make them strangers

Let us knit their fraying ends between us

And mend the broken spaces in the stillness


You, who’ve scaled the palace tower

I, who’ve searched for a trap door

No longer parted in the silence of this night

I still love your morning sighs






Blues Run The Game

By Jackson C. Frank


Catch a boat to England baby

Maybe to Spain

Wherever I have gone

Wherever I've been and gone

Wherever I have gone

The blues are all the same


Send out for whiskey baby

Send out for gin

Me and room service honey

Me and room service babe

Me and room service

Well we're living a life of sin


When I'm not drinkin' honey

You are on my mind

When I'm not sleepin' honey

I ain't sleepin' babe

When ain’t sleepin'

You know you'll find me crying


Try another city baby

Another town

Wherever I have gone

Wherever I've been and gone

Wherever I have gone

The blues come followin' down


Livin' is a gamble baby

Lovin's much the same

Wherever I have played

Whenever I've thrown them dice

Wherever I have played

The blues have run the game


Maybe tomorrow baby

Some place down the line

I'll wake up older honey

So much older babe

I'll wake up older

And I'll just stop all my trying


Catch a boat to England baby

Maybe to Spain

Wherever I have gone

Wherever I've been and gone

Wherever I have gone

The blues are all the same


White Piece of Paper

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Made in the Morning


You were made in the morning

From sunlight on dew

From leftover moonlight

From the twinkling of jewels


You were made in the morning

From lambswool and down

Some yarn they were saving

Some rubies they found


Should the darkness come calling

Should you wake in the night

Let the shadows down gently

You belong to the light


Your mother was painting

The stars in her mind

Your young father humming

Some glad little rhyme


Fresh from some sweet dream

Golden and prime

The whole mystery before them

The whole sky in their eyes


Should the darkness come calling

Should you wake in the night

Let the shadows down gently

You belong to the light


You were called forth in longing

Summoned in song

A spark brought to burning

A flame coaxed along


You were made from a melody

In three quarter time

You were made in the morning

One wish at a time


Should the darkness come calling

Should you wake in the night

Let the shadows down gently

You belong to the light





Thicker Still


Lift your head in the morning time

By the river, take my hand

Oh take my hand

Leave your little ledge behind

Float here in my arms awhile

In my arms awhile


The water is wide

But blood is thicker still


Kick your boat away from shore

Paddle far out as you dare

Oh as you dare

Slip inside the still lagoon

Gravity won’t find you soon

Find you soon


When the water wears you down

Let the current call you home

The water is wide

But blood is thicker still


If your boat fills up with rain

Find me on the banks again

On the banks again


And when the the rising waters crest

Lay your sorrows on my breast

On my breast


When the water wears you down

Let the current call you home

The water is wide

But blood is thicker still


When the evening glitter fades

Drift into the rising shade

The rising shade

Lie beside the silent stream

Listen to the rainbows dream

The rainbows dream


Rest your head when the moon is high

Close your eyes and breathe starlight

Breathe starlight