'Two Houses' and 'Love and Carnage' by Gross and Keeley

[Autographed copies of 'Love and Carnage' may be purchased from Bob Gross at www.badlandsbooks.com ]

Lyrics for Two Houses

Ride Forever

Written by Paul Gross and David Keeley

I was born up north of Great Slave, 1898

And I rode near all my life on a ranch near Devil's Gate

And I seen this world around me bend and flip and change

Hey it feels like rain -- it's a thundercloud

I could be a coward but I've seen two world wars

And I lost my son Virgil -- my Korean reward

And my Lucy died last summer and you ask me if I cry

Hell, I'll show you tears -- they're all over this ground

They're falling from these Blue Alberta Skies

Chorus:

But I'm going to ride forever

You can't keep horsemen in a cage

Should the angels call, well it's only then

I might pull in the reins

Now, they tell me I'm an old man, they tell me I am blind

They took my drivers license, this house ain't far behind

I say: jump back all you big suits you got something wrong

Cause I ain't gone, no I ain't gone

I am still breathing, I still have my pride

And I have my memories -- your life it never dies

Like the wind that blows in thunder, like the stallion on the fly

I got it all and I'm standing tall

Underneath these Blue Alberta Skies

(chorus repeat)

Now I say to all you old men: don't let yourself be broke

If you think the worlds gone crazy and it's scratching at your throat

It's time to dust off that old saddle, get it on a horse

Kick up your spurs, we're gonna run like stink

We're gonna tear across these Blue Alberta Skies

We're gonna ride forever

You can't keep horsemen in a cage

Should the angels call,

Well it's only then we might pull in the reins

Bass: Tom Szczesniak
Guitar: Jim Tait
Drums: Barry Keane
Piano: Jack Lenz
Percussion: Brian Leonard
Pedal Steel: Bob Lucier
Fiddle: Antoine Silverman, Melanie Doane
Vocal: Paul Gross, David Keeley
Background Vocals: David Blamires, Cal Dodd

Voodoo

Written by Paul Gross and David Keeley

Something in the way you talk

maybe baby, just the way you walk

is shaking all the leaves out of the trees

Something in the way you smile

teeth and lips and hair run wild yeh

surely this has brought me to my knees

Oh Lord, I'm down -- I'm down upon my knees

yes Lord, I'm down -- I'm down upon my knees

And I don't know which way to turn

Which way to go

Chorus:

What did you do to me

(did you do) did you do a little seance

(did you do) a black cat romance

(did you do) did you do a little sun dance

(did you do) did you do some voodoo baby

Hey, yeh, yeh, yeh

Feels like a winds a blowin’

looks like a hurricanes comin’

and it's coming from the centre of your eyes

these eyes are deepest blue

these eyes that are so true

you got the eyes to make me cry

Oh Lord, I'm down -- I'm down upon my knees

yes Lord, I'm down -- I'm down upon my knees

and all I know is I don't know what I know

Hush now darlin’

I don't plan to cry

I say hush now darlin’

That ain't my style

Look at you, God knows I do

I put it down to a thing called voodoo

I put it down to the curse of love

I put it down to fate, hey

(chorus repeat)

Acoustic Guitar: Paul Gross
Electric Guitar: Asher Horowitz
Acoustic Guitar: Jim Tait
Bass: Peter Cardinelli
Piano: Jack Lenz
Drums: Barry Keane
Percussion: Brian Leonard
Pedal Steel: Bob Lucier
Dobro: Mike Holder
Vocal: Paul Gross
Background Vocals: David Keeley, Sharon Lee Williams, Vivienne Williams, Michelle "Booboo" Brown

Desert and Rain

Written by Paul Gross and David Keeley

I'm the desert, you're the rain

When I'm cracked and dry you ease my pain

When my aching body crumbles

Wanting of a peaceful refrain

I whisper to you softly

I'm the desert you're the rain

Chorus:

It happened long ago

When I was just a boy of seventeen

You were a woman schooled in love and finer things

You took me by the hand and we danced through

Each others dreams

And I whispered to you softly

I'm the desert, you're the rain

When my firebrand soul lashes out in vain

The sky opens up and you cool me again

When my windswept mind cannot seem to find the way

I whisper to you softly

I'm the desert you're the rain

I'm the desert, you're the rain

When I'm cracked and dry you ease my pain

When my aching body crumbles

Wanting of a peaceful refrain

I whisper to you softly

I'm the desert you're the rain

Electric Guitar: Asher Horowitz
Acoustic Guitar: Jim Tait
Bass: Peter Cardinelli
Piano: Jack Lenz
Drums: Barry Keane
Percussion: Brian Leonard
Pedal Steel: Bob Lucier
Dobro: Mike Holder
Vocal: David Keeley
Background Vocal: Paul Gross

Two Houses

Written by Paul Gross and David Keeley

Don't call me for supper if you don't mean to feed me

Don't tell me you love me with that gun in your hand

Cause I fall down dumbfounded

In the face of your beauty

Yeah, one look from you and I am a fool

In the palm of your hand

Chorus:

There's a house we call love built next door to hate

And both of them got lawns and a white picket gate

Their taxes don't differ and their water's the same

But in one you get comfort and the other house shame

Hey, do you mind if I speak

You know I'd like to be frank

Your cooking is wretched and this coffee is rank

But I look cross this table

Into the clutch of your eyes

And I'm kind of thrilled that we have been cursed

To live side by side

(chorus repeat)

Why do we bother

Why do we try

I think we should call it, call it a night

You go to your house and I'll go to mine

and we'll wake up tomorrow

and pick up the fight

(chorus repeat)

Acoustic Guitar: Paul Gross
Acoustic Guitar: Asher Horowitz
Acoustic Guitar: Jim Tait
Lead Guitar: Jeff King
Bass: Peter Cardinelli
Piano: Jack Lenz
Drums: Barry Keane
Percussion: Brian Leonard
Pedal Steel: Bob Lucier
Dobro: Mike Holder
Vocal: Paul Gross
Background Vocal: David Keeley

Blind Man

Written by Paul Gross and David Keeley

Grey socks and black shoes, black hair and eyes so true

A smile like a cool wind blowing through lips that kiss like a fool

These are the memories I have of you

No, these are the gifts I took from you

Your skin is so close to mine that it seems to know my name

And your laugh -- well, let's just say

Something wicked this way came

And in this old hotel my heart pounds like a drum

It beats with the rhythm of missing you

This is the rhythm of missing you

Chorus:

Take a look at the blind man, the fool ain't got no cane

The blind man he's dancing in the driving rain

Well, I am that blind man and I can finally see

What I've always known: you belong to me

There ain't nothing wrong with this hotel that a big bomb couldn't fix

My doorman he's a reprobate and the maid she's been turning tricks

And in my broken sleep I wake up from some pain

My heart drifts through the window

and sails into the rain

Oh Lord, I miss you, I miss you here in the dark

This comes from Nashville, baby

It's a call from a wounded heart

And if I want this heart of mine to ever mend

I guess I'm gonna have to find you again

Yeah, I'll have to find you again

Bass: Tom Szczesniak
Acoustic Guitar: Michael Francis, Peter Mueller
Drums: Barry Keane
Piano: Jack Lenz
Percussion: Brian Leonard
Pedal Steel: Bob Lucier
Fiddle: Melanie Doane
Vocal: Paul Gross Background vocal David Keeley

Promise us the Night

Written by Paul Gross and David Keeley

If one kiss from you could have lasted forever

Then I would have died a happy man

But now I know why we're not meant for each other

And why your lips never met mine

Chorus: Stars crumbled over the two of us

Dawn broke without rhyme

Love needed a better reason

To promise us the night

Champagne mornings were all I could dream of

After tender caresses all through the night

But I need more than a heart full of fantasy

To give of my love all the rest of my life

It's hard to imagine a day without you

But fate has spoken and I will abide

I'm sure all the love that you're longing to treasure

Will find you someday and make you my wife

Bass: Tom Szczesniak
Acoustic Guitar: Michael Francis, Peter Mueller
Drums: Barry Keane
Piano: Jack Lenz
Percussion: Brian Leonard
Pedal Steel: Bob Lucier
Fiddle: Melanie Doane
Vocal: David Keeley

Angels

Written by Paul Gross and David Keeley

I'm lying on the floor of a box car in the train

Movin’ through the rockies by way of the Crows Nest

These rocks are cursed thrown up by some god

Who turned his back on a word called love

And love can hold you, in a grip forged in iron

Love can make run away, like double 8 from a shotgun

Will you still love me

If you don't love me my darlin’

I swear I don't know what I'll do

Chorus:

I might say - hey hey hey

I might say - hey ey ey ey ey

I might say - hey ey ey

That's all the angels say these days

There's a diamond on the face of everyone I've known

There's a diamond on the face of everyone I've ever wounded

I still carry, I still carry

The memory of a kiss on a train

Where I'm adding up the lies of a lifetime

Where I'm adding up all the lies of a lifetime gone wrong

Do you still love me

If you don't love me my darlin’

I swear I don't know what I'll do

Where did all these angels come from

and who gave them all these horses they ride upon

Am I right in thinking these angels are racing this train I'm on

Racin’ and singin’

Acoustic Guitar: Paul Gross
Electric Guitar: Asher Horowitz
Acoustic Guitar: Jim Tait
Bass: Peter Cardinelli
Piano: Jack Lenz
Drums: Barry Keane
Percussion: Brian Leonard
Pedal Steel: Bob Lucier
Dobro: Mike Holder
Fiddle: Melanie Doane
Vocal: Paul Gross
Background Vocal: David Keeley, Elaine Overholt

Man on a Bicycle

Written by Paul Gross and David Keeley

Well, I did see a man on a bicycle

riding through heavy snow

his wife said, hey kids what the heck is he doing,

everyone laughed till they cried

Fait vos jeux madam

(and) Hey monsieur, place your bets

Love is a sure thing and these dice never lie

Fait vos jeux madam

hey monsieur, I can bet

10 to 1 you're as crazy as I

Well, I did see my father walking

walking without any clothes down by the banks of that big Red Deer River

holding an old fishing pole

My father was a man

once ran an army, he loved his children

but his duty came first

till one day when I bought him a bicycle he said,

"kiss my ass, I'm as free as a bird"

Fait vos jeux, madam

(and) Hey monsieur, place your bets

Love is a sure thing and these dice never lie

Fait vos jeux madam

(and) Hey monsieur, I can bet

10 to 1 you're as crazy as I

Acoustic Guitar: Paul Gross
Acoustic Guitar: Asher Horowitz
Acoustic Guitar: Jim Tait
Lead Guitar: Jeff King
Bass: Peter Cardinelli
Piano: Jack Lenz
Drums: Barry Keane
Jaw Harp and Jug: Brian Leonard
Pedal Steel: Bob Lucier
Dobro: Mike Holder
Vocal: Paul Gross

Papa's Front Porch

Written by Paul Gross and David Keeley

I woke to find the note that I thought

would never be found on my cupboard door

It said that you needed time on your own

somewhere to heal the scars of our home

I knew right then where you had to go

Chorus:

Your papa's front porch

would be there to greet you

as you came runnin’ down

that old dirt road

it's memories would comfort, hold you and keep you

safe and out of the storm

and that's where you'd go

your papa's front porch

As I screamed down that interstate

howlin’ your name in the wind

my heart reached out and slammed on the brakes

in a spin rage cannot win

I knew I'd never hurt you again

Time will heal this world that we made

But how high is the price we paid

All I ask is a breath of forgiveness

As I walk away

Electric Guitar: Asher Horowitz
Acoustic Guitar: Jim Tait
Bass: Peter Cardinelli
Piano: Jack Lenz
Drums: Barry Keane
Percussion: Brian Leonard
Pedal Steel: Bob Lucier
Dobro: Mike Holder
Fiddle: Melanie Doane
Vocal: David Keeley

After the War

Written by Paul Gross and David Keeley

After the guns are silent

And after my wounds have healed

And after all these crosses

Have been planted in all these fields

And after that long boat ride

All the way across the sea

And after this train carries me

Chorus:

I will love you after the war

Love you for always and forever more

I will love you after the war

For always forever and more

After my boots dry

and my tobacco's all but gone

And after these postcards I been carrying

under my arm

And after I remember

all the words I couldn't say

And after this long night fades away

And after this blackbird

lifts up from off my chest

And after my soul takes its rest

My love, forgive me

I never planned to die

and love, put two pennies on my eyes

Acoustic Guitar: Paul Gross
Electric Guitar: Asher Horowitz
Acoustic Guitar: Jim Tait
Bass: Peter Cardinelli
Synth: Jack Lenz
Drums: Barry Keane
Percussion: Brian Leonard
Pedal Steel: Bob Lucier
Dobro: Mike Holder
Fiddle: Melanie Doane
Vocal: Paul Gross
Background Vocal: David Keeley