Secular Music
(Midi files for tunes
will be posted soon.)
Fantasy
I Don't Want to Play
I'll Be Your Fool
The Rain
Signs of Southern Living
Stephanie B
Take This Love (Merry's Song)
You're the One
The children stayed inside today,
So I had to referee.
A neighbor called me up to say
She'd found a brand new recipe.
Lunch is over, shopping's done,
Children quiet, naps begun.
I turn the radio on low
Your voice comes on and pulls my soul
Right into
Fantasy.
The songs you play sound like they're meant for me.
So when I need you I just close my eyes
And realize
Such ecstasy.
You are my
Fantasy.
You come inside my head where I am free
Free to give my love when I'm alone
It's the best I've known
Reality
Can't stop my fantasy.
My man gets home, and, without
fail
Kisses the kids, maybe me
Eats his dinner, reads the mail,
Then settles down to watch TV
Kids are bathed, tucked in bed
Night time prayers all are said
While my man's sleeping in the den,
I let your voice take me again
Into my
Fantasy.
That's all I have to keep me company.
I found the courage once to talk to you
But always knew
That you would be
Only a
Fantasy
To come inside my head where I am free
Free to give my love when I'm alone
It's the best I've known
Reality
Can't stop my fantasy.
I am awakened when he turns
The TV off. Though it's late,
My body aches and my flesh burns,
My needs have never been so great.
I sit up praying anxiously
That he will make sweet love to me.
All he gives me is one kiss.
Oh, god, I need much more than this.
I need my
Fantasy.
I need your voice to keep me company
I need to hear it so I'll feel alive
And I'll survive
This insanity.
I need my
Fantasy.
I need you in my head where I am free.
Free to give my love when I'm alone
It's the best I've known
Reality
Can't stop my fantasy.
The train pulled into a depot in Knoxville
In the clear, coral glow of the dawn.
The young girls were gathered, their small flags were waving
To cheer gallant soldiers along.
They were tossing small bundles to the eager young doughboys
And when one wrapped in blue hit his knee,
He found it contained the good wishes and address
Of a girl who signed, "Stephanie B."
He had grown up in pool halls and the pubs of
Chicago
He was tough, and he'd never known fear
But the law had him running, to hide he had turned in
His old coat for new combat gear.
Then while fighting the Kaiser in trenches of death
He found solace among the debris,
In the letters he read, and the letters he wrote
To the girl he called, "Stephanie B."
He wrote, Pray for me
Write every day to me
It's bitter and cold here
And I'm so far away.
Pray for me
Write every day to me
When this war is over,
I'll be with you to stay.
She had grown up protected, the daughter of
virtue,
In a parsonage covered with vine.
Her pure heart would race and her delicate fingers
Would tremble as she read each line.
His letters were filled with a poor soldier's plight
And through tears, she could just barely see,
The last line she treasured above all the rest,
Saying, "I love you, Stephanie B."
In a tumult of victory, pride and romance
They met when the Great War was through.
The year they had shared in their letters was binding,
Their need for each other was true.
Despite others' warnings that she didn't know him
She thrilled when he got to his knee.
His eyes were sincere, and his words a bare whisper
When he asked of his Stephanie B.
Come away with me.
Love and obey me.
I promise to love you
Forever and a day.
Come away with me
Wed me and lay with me.
I'll take good care of you,
I won't go away.
She traded her vine-covered cottage for tenements
Out on Chicago's west side.
She gave it up gladly, content to be helping
The man who had made her his bride.
But soon all the gambling and drinking and rambling
That she had been too blind to see,
Brought misery, hunger and pain to the innocent
Girl he called, "Stephanie B."
With two crying babies afraid of their father
She packed to start out on her own.
He never would miss her, he had other women,
For nearly two weeks he'd been gone.
But he came home and found her just as she was leaving
And he swore then, to all eternity
He'd change and protect her, he'd never neglect her.
He begged of his Stephanie B.
Stay with me
Don't go away from me
God, I'm so sorry
That I went astray.
Stay with me.
Please don't betray me
I promise you this time
I won't go away.
The cold years that followed stripped youth from
her body
As she worked and loved only her sons.
He'd muster up courage and try to do better,
Then he'd backslide... the good came undone.
Still, she stood beside him, her sacred vow never
Was broken, as he would agree,
To try once again to find work and provide for
His boys and his Stephanie B.
Her love and devotion to two timid boys
Helped them grow to be fearless and wise.
She found some fulfillment in helping the needy
And joy in her grandchildren's' eyes.
But the years of the liquor and wild life and running
Took it's toll, and he face fearfully
The end of his life with no peace to be found found
Once again, he begged Stephanie B,
Pray for me.
Clear heaven's way for me
The end is so close now
The skies are all gray.
Pray for me.
Clear heaven's way for me
This is the last time
I'll be going away.
Take
This Love (Merry's Song)
(Written and performed
for my sister's wedding)
Take this love I give to you and
keep it young and strong,
Love me for as long
As stars shine up above.
Take this love I give to you and never let it die
So that I
Can live forever in your love.
This love of mine I give to you faithfully.
This love of mine I give for all eternity.
Take this love I give to you and keep it free from harm
So I'll be warm
And safe forever in your love.
Take this love I give to you and
never let it go.
Love me, even though,
We may be faced with strife.
Take this love I give to you, protect it for all time,
For, darling, I'm
Prepared to love you as your wife.
This love of mine is stronger than the words we say
To one another on this our wedding day.
Take this love I give to you and keep it in your heart
So we can start
As one together in this life.
Where the Sunbeam girl is smiling
And Jesus tries to save
And the water tanks say "Class of 64,"
You'll see "Rock City" on the rooftops
And perhaps some "Burma Shave,"
These signs of Southern Living
Are gonna last forevermore.
These signs of Southern living
Are telling me I'm homeward bound.
I'm tired of the big city
I'm tired of roamin' round.
These signs of Southern living
Spell out hospitality.
So, from now on, when I spell "home,"
It's D-I-X-I-E.
You'll see a mansion on a hilltop
And a trailer in a grove,
And a single pump outside a country store.
Papa's working in the cornfield,
Mama's cooking at the stove,
These signs of Southern living
Are gonna last forevermore.
Whenever I start to feel that old
fear inside me.
You're always there to hold me and stand beside me.
You know what I am
And what I have been
You you love me in spite of it all time and again,
My friend.
You're the one that makes my life
worth living.
You're the one that keeps my feet on the ground.
You're the one that makes it a joy to be giving.
You're the one that makes my world go 'round.
For too many years I had suffered
the pain of rejection.
Now you've given me confidence, given your time and affection.
Now my heart is healing
I'm on the mend
'Cause you've given me the chance to begin
Again.
Repeat chorus.
I don't want to play your game
anymore,
Lord, I'm so tired of keeping score.
If you still loved me like before,
I'd probably stay.
But one-sided love brings such pain
My heart will never be the same
If you think love is just a game
It's one I won't play.
You think you know me
Control me
You always count on me
To stop my life and run to be with you.
Then you forget me
You let me
Sit weeks at home and free
Now, I'm the one who's in control
Here's what I'm gonna do.
Repeat first part
You'd best be knowing
I'm going
To break away from you
You're out for kicks, but, babe, I'm out for good.
I'm through with playing
I'm staying
Away from all I knew.
Just watch me now. Don't be surprised.
I'm doing what I should.
Repeat first part
My whole world's been spinning
around
And I've been needing the touch of a man
And I've know for some time
That I'm bound to find
A lover where ever I can.
We've been friends, you've always listened to me,
But now I need so much more from you.
So, please hold me tight,
Cling to me tonight.
Be my lover and I'll be your fool.
That's how it started. I
remember the day
That I offered myself to you
I was carefree and gay
Now it kills me to say
That it's time for us to be through.
You've been so gentle a lover that I
Have been falling in love with you.
Now, we must guard our hearts
And quit playing these parts,
You as my lover and I as your fool.
We're both locked into a life we
once chose,
And, though I'm hurting, I do understand.
That you can't change your life
You won't leave your wife
And I don't really want to leave my man.
So just make love once more, then I'll go,
And pray this burning inside me will cool.
Should you want me again
Just call me and then
I'll be your lover, and you'll be my fool.
When it rains I sit alone and
wonder,
Where you are. Are you thinking of me?
And the love we once shared
Of the way that I cared,
How I wish the rain would just let me be!
But the rain plays a game on my window.
Blurring images that I want to see,
Of the love that was true,
Of a way to start anew.
I wish the rain would wash this heartache out of me.
When it rains, I see the door
that you walked through
On the way out of my life.
When it rains, I have no one to talk to
'Cause you're back home again with your wife.
Oh, the rain beats so softly on
my window,
Bringing bittersweet memories back to me.
Memories of your touch.
Lord, I miss it so much
I wish the rain would wash this heartache out of me.
It was raining the day
I watched you walk away
I wish the rain would wash this heartache out of me.