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Track #1
Sultry Ways (5:09)
Adult Contemporary with a sensuous backwater feel.
When it’s so hot that it’s hard to tell reality from delusion.
© 2008 Loralyn Coles, BMI
Loralyn - mandolin & vocals
Jon Carroll - piano & accordion
Robert Spates - violin
Kevin Cordt - trumpet
David Kitchen, Marco Delmar - hamonies
Brian Goddard - bass
Ray Yrure - drums
Slow languid sweat, like champagne skin
My eyes drink you down, flow over me
No cooling breeze weakens desire
No way to sleep on a linen sea
(Chorus)
Coming out of the haze on the river
A big ol’ moon glows copper red
Warm sultry water won’t ease this fever
Your sultry ways won’t leave my head
Smooth movements tease and mystify me
I reach for you through shuttered air
First you are real, then just delusion
Beyond my grasp, forever there
The still night wraps the heat of day
Like a shawl around my burning skin
Cover me love, cradle this longing
‘Til my tangled eyes see dawn begin
Track #2
Northern Lights (4:25)
Up tempo Folk. The story of the Civil War battle of Fredericksburg, Virginia in 1862, when “the Northern Lights danced for the dead.” The Confederate troops of the South under General Robert E. Lee were entrenched on the hills above Fredericksburg, defending the city. The Union troops of the North were the ones sent to attack uphill and were slaughtered. General Lee is quoted as saying at this battle, "It is well that war is so terrible - lest we should grow too fond of it".
© 2008 Loralyn Coles, BMI
Loralyn - vocals, mandolin, guitar, bodhran
Robert Spates - violin
Brian Goddard - bass
Don Bridges, David Kitchen - harmonies
In Fredericksburg, on a cold December day
One more battle of Eighteen Sixty-Two
Thousands charged the wall and guns of Marye’s Heights
Thousands fell before the day is through
As darkness covered the living & the dead
The Northern Lights shimmered in the air
And many a man who lay dying saw
The face of his beloved up there
(Chorus)
Northern Lights be my messenger
Take my love home to her
Tell her that I died with beauty in my eyes
Under Virginia skies
To those on the Heights the lights meant victory
To some it was thanks they didn’t die
But some saw the dress she was wearing
The day that she kissed him goodbye
Men who were there later said the very ground
Moaned for those who couldn’t speak or cry
While all eyes that could see sought the lovely lights
As if they were a prayer from up high
Fools had men charge that wall eighteen futile times
While the half frozen mud turned dark red
But even their foes cheered the courage they showed
And the Northern Lights danced for the dead
Track #3
Golden Songs / The Water Is Wide (4:17)
A re-write of the Traditional Folk ballad, my new lyrics
appeared in Sing Out! magazine, Fall 2002.
New lyrics © 2002 Loralyn Coles, BMI
with trad. melody (and trad. lyrics in italic)
Loralyn - vocals, guitar
Robert Spates - violin
Marco Delmar - guitar
Fred Lieder - cello
David Kitchen - harmony
Everyone knows that seaweed strands
Are a mermaid’s long and lovely hair
And pirate’s gold lies hidden deep
Within each sand dunes shifting lair
One day I’ll find that mermaid fair
And I’ll ask of her why does she sing
One day I’ll find that treasure rare
And I’ll ask the gold what peace it brings
But if I could see you just one more
I would ask of you what is life for
And what golden songs are being sung
Upon that great uncharted shore
The water is wide I can not get o’er
And neither have I wings to fly
Give me a boat that can carry two
And both shall row my love and I
Oh if I could see you just once more
Upon that great uncharted shore
The water is wide I can not get o’er
Track #4
Fallen Tears (3:48)
Folk ballad. September 11, 2001 song honoring all who lost their lives; and the Search & Rescue men, women, and dogs who gave their all to help. On that day I was working for the National Assoc. for Search & Rescue. Mary Cliff has often said that this was the first 9/11 song that she aired on her radio show, “Traditions.”
© 2008 Loralyn Coles, BMI
Loralyn - vocals, guitar
David Kitchen - guitar
Fred Lieder - cello
Tears are never unshed
If they don’t fall from one’s eyes
They fall inside
And pool in the back of one’s throat
Two thousand & more fallen tears
Makes a deep, still pool
It’ll take a long time
It’ll take a long long time
It’ll take a long time
Until that pool drains dry
Tears are never unshed
If they don’t fall from one’s eyes,
They fall inside
And run in a river to one’s heart
Two thousand & more fallen tears
Makes a deep, swift stream
It’ll take a long time
It’ll take a long long time
It’ll take a long time
Until that stream runs dry
Tears are never unshed
If they don’t fall from one’s eyes
They fall inside
And power the hands reaching to help
Two thousand & more fallen tears
Makes a strong firm grasp
It’ll take a long time
It’ll take a long long time
It’ll take a long time
Until those hands won’t try
Two thousand & more fallen tears
Counted one by one
It’ll take a long time
It’ll take a long long time
It’ll take a long time
until peace soothes our cries
It’ll take a long time
It’ll take a long long time
It’ll take a long time
But peace will come by and by
Track #5
Paper Angels (4:46)
Contemporary Folk, a lullaby for hard times
© 2008 Loralyn Coles, BMI
Loralyn - vocals, guitar
Jon Carroll - piano
Robert Spates - violin
Fred Lieder - cello
Suzanne Ives - harmony
Nick Smiley - bass
Ray Yrure - kahone, chimes
You have cried enough today
Though your heart’s still full of tears
You have cried enough today
Let me take over while you rest your fears
(Chorus)
I will cry for you, I will cry for you
I will cry borrowed tears
Then I’ll give each tear to a little paper angel
And I’ll let them fly, send them flying high
We’ll take care of your tears
We’ll take care of your cries
The little paper angels and I
It takes a louder voice than mine
To calm the hate that perseveres
It takes stronger arms than mine
To hold this world until it mends and heals
‘Cause like the first tooth of a tiny little baby
This pain you feel is your own wings trying to grow
It takes a lot of pain to coax wings from our heart
In a breaking heart an angel starts to show
Track #6
Long Distance Train (3:13)
Driving Bluegrass. It's a car song. It's a train song. It's a
car-chasing-a-train song. Hot fiddle and guitar licks will have your heart racing too.
© 2008 Loralyn Coles, BMI
Loralyn - vocals, mandolin
Robert Spates - violin
Larry Benade - guitar
Nick Smiley - bass
The seatbelt’s strapped
Too tight across my heart
It hurts every time I catch my breath
But it keeps me from falling apart
While racing that long distance train
Following that long distance train
You’re on that train cause you feel it’s best
But your good-bye can’t be shed like clothes
My heart won’t let my mind rest
So I’m racing that long distance train
Following that long distance train
The gates are up at each crossing I pass
A whistle echoes down empty tracks
Saying you’re a dream gone by too fast
I want to tell you, I will try
I want you to see, I can cry
I just want to stop that train
Under the hood, metal screams it’s too far
If I lose this race, I’ve lost it all
Please don’t let me crash this car
While racing that long distance train
Following that long distance train
I’m following that long distance train
Gotta catch that long distance train
Long distance train, long distance train
Track #7
Once In A Blue Moonlight (3:10)
Country heartbreak. Pedal steel wails.
© 2008 Loralyn Coles, BMI
Loralyn - vocals, guitar
Dave Van Allen - pedal steel
Nick Smiley - bass
Ray Yrure - drums
Darling, I don’t miss you very much
I’m doing fine, glad you’re alright
It’s just stars hide and shadows grow longer
In this once in a blue moonlight
Thoughts of you don’t haunt me in the day
And they don’t keep me up at night
It’s just trains that pass by my window
Sound more lonesome in a blue moonlight
It creeps round the edge of the curtains
And flows to where you laid your head
We had a once in a lifetime love dear
Now the blues roll on down the bed
I could join the band at the honky tonk
Where we would play until daylight
But the pedal steel wails and cries more
In a once in a blue moonlight
And it’s blue moonlight most every night
Track #8
Gypsy Star (4:57)
Upbeat tempo, Django Jazz feeling.
© 2008 Loralyn Coles, BMI
Loralyn - vocals, mandolin, guitar
Robert Spates - violin
Brian Goddard - bass
Ray Yrure - drums
We should have met when the moon was full
A crazy ol’ moon that would join our hearts
But instead there shone a gypsy star
And when dawn came, we drifted apart
(Chorus)
See the bow stroke sweetly the violin
Feel the tremolo of the mandolin
Let the sadness hidden in their song
Be a warning to keep your heart light
Because a gypsy star stays just one night
Who hasn’t wished on a nighttime sky
A starry ol’ sky to make dreams come true
But I must have picked a gypsy star
‘Cause in sunlight those dreams failed to endure
If someone claims to know the truth of love
The absolute truth behind all love songs
Just laugh ‘cause love’s a gypsy star
That for once chose to take you along
See the bow stroke sweetly the violin
Feel the tremolo of the mandolin
Let the joy that’s hidden in their song
Be a promise that keeps your heart light
Somewhere a gypsy star shines every night
Somewhere a gyspy star shines for you tonight
Track #9
Lark in the Morning, Wild Geese at Night (3:39)
After the siege of Limerick in 1691, the defeated Irish set sail for France. The legend grew that when they died, their souls flew back to Ireland as wild geese.
© 1998 lyrics Loralyn Coles, BMI, tune - trad. Irish
Loralyn - vocals, mandolin, guitar
Robert Spates - violin
(Chorus)
Oh, your whisper t’is here in the still of the morn
As the lark sings her song to the new risen day
And I wake with a smile feeling you here beside me
Then my heart breaks anew cause you’re far far away
T’was a cruel game they played when they gave you one choice
To join English ranks, or to leave Irish land
And tho’ some gladly turned you’d be less of a man
If you faced your own friends with a sword in your hand
So we get through the day tho’ t’is hard & t’is cold
And the whispers ‘round town seem to grow towards night
I watch with the rest for the wild geese a-hoping
T’is not your own soul coming home with this flight
Track #10
Offer Me A Sip (3:42)
Playful Texas Swing feel
© 2008 Loralyn Coles, BMI
Loralyn - vocals, guitar
Robert Spates - violin
Dave Van Allen - pedal steel
Marco Delmar - bass
Ray Yrure - drums
If our lips will never meet
Be kind, share your glass with me
So that my lips can gently touch
The place where yours used to be
(Chorus)
Offer me a sip
I thirst for more than this glass can hold
Will swallow lies if the truth’s too cold
Offer me a sip
If this is as close as we get
Don’t rush to reclaim what’s missed
And I’ll pretend this icy rim
Is the warm taste of your sweet kiss
If our hands should overlap
Let me think you reach for me
Or that you want your lips to touch
The place where mine used to be
Track #11
Children of Summer (4:54)
Contemporary Folk. Creatures of summer flee the snow.
© 2008 Loralyn Coles, BMI
Loralyn - vocals, guitar
Jon Carroll - piano
Brian Goddard - bass
Ray Yrurre - drums
All the maple trees are wearing lipstick
To entice the summer sun to stay
But as nights grow long, oh they grow strong
And the children of summer fly away
(Chorus)
Fly away, fly away
Many have flown away south
Many have caught southbound trains
Few have stayed to curse the dark
And hover round a ghost of an old flame
Now’s the time to climb up Old Rag Mountain
And gaze down at trees far below
Soon ice will encase our names on the rock
As one more child of summer flees the snow
How doubly cruel to hold out hope for return
Like planting tender seeds in hard frozen ground
Far better that you go and don’t look back
And let my heart fall without a sound
Loneliness is tough to beat in good times
Living in a shallow tourist town
But it stomps one down on these grey days
When the children of summer aren’t around
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