Bio-Headed for a career as an English professor in the mid 1960’s, John Lyle was ‘broadsided’ by Bob Dylan and The Beatles. His degree went out the window, and so did he, playing in a series of bands and then performing on Canadian network television and radio as a solo act. He was also signed to two record labels during this era, but realized that because of his highly sensitive nature he was not cut out for the performing life.John returned to his home in the Vancouver area, and devoted himself to his family, supporting them with a career that may have been more dangerous than the perfomance stage. He became a postman. John Lyle’s wonderful body of work is evidence of a life lived on the streets and in the home, filled with all the love and loss and joy and despair that are part and parcel of being alive. The songs are vital, not written to imitate a commercial trend or to fulfil a contract, but to reflect the intensity of experience and to remain sane. Feedback -'John's songs are amazing!' Frazee Ford (The Be Good Tanyas),'We love John Lyle. We listen to him all the time.' The Sumner Brothers,'There's lots of nice stuff on there!' Paul Rodgers (Bad Company; Free; Queen),‘Magnificent!’ - Robert Altman,'John Lyle will take you gently to your safe place, and then sneak up on you with a song as uncompromisingly ferocious as a grizzly in a maternity ward.’ Dennis Albo, in his reality novel ‘One Bullet Left,’'The James Joyce of folk'- Heywood Banks,'Super, passionate stuff!' Mark Smith"Bootleg Powerhead" lyrics-1. RIVERS OF STONENeon Bride, please come inside, you’ve sanctified the streetNow kiss my doors and bless the boards that run beneath my feetNeon Bride, please look alive and leave these streams of stoneAnd search my banks and breathe your soul into my telephonesCan’t you hear the silver sirens scream at sickle moons?Electric tyrants make my life a room and a road that leads nowhereNeon Bride, forget your pride and pave the paths to hellThe street of lies runs through your eyes And the darkness knows you wellNeon Bride, you’re not alive, your veins are coursed with gasYour life is light and like as not your light might never lastCan’t you feel the fires burning all along the dreamGlass hearts yearning by a silver stream Laid of stones that roll nowhere2. LIVING THROUGH THE BLUESMissed a lot of lovin’ down in TennesseeIt takes a lot of lovin’ for a fool like meLivin' through the blues I’m like a fricasseed chickadeeSmoked a lot of d**e and I’m an aeroplaneI’m never gonna see things quite the same againLivin' through the blues I’m like a fricasseed chickadeeSee the little lady, boys, she sets my soul on fireI’m the kind of shady toy should be her pacifierIf I run out of atoms on the Santa FeThink I’ll pretend I’m Jimmie Rogers in a ChevroletLivin' through the blues I’m like a fricasseed chickadeeHad eternal contacts ‘til they disappearedGuess they’re somewhere in the middle of the hemisphereLivin' through the blues I’m like a fricasseed chickadeeIt blows my mind to find that I’m still on paroleI’m dreaming on the outskirts of my only soulLivin through the blues I’m like a fricasseed chickadee3. KATHERINE ROSS’S HOSSESI wish that I was one of Katherine Ross’s hossesWe’d ride the range to the silver strains of meShe’d ride astride and I’d feel obliged to wanderWherever she might want the range to beCan’t you see me now? I ain’t no plow horseI’m a saucy, tossy Ross horseWith my mistress mounting me so wild and freeAnd if my libido’s showin’, bet your spurs I’ll be growin’Palomino, pal of mine, you’re gonna do me proudI wish that I was one of Katherine Ross’s hossesFrom Tinsel Town to the sylvan mound we’d roamWe’d stake our claim and she’d call my name- ‘Flame Wonder,’My five-card pard, you’re never gonna let me downCan’t you see us now, ain’t we a pictureWorth a thousand story-book words?Saddle pals with saddle bags of saddle songs‘cause that long, long trail gets dusty and it helps To have a trusty saddle tune or two to fun the miles awayI wish that I was one of Katherine Ross’s hossesNo hitchin’ posts’d come between her steed and herWe wouldn’t ford love’s stream, we’d ride her sparkling cleanTrue waters into the setting sun for ever moreCan’t you see us now, aint we a western, fairy-tale dreamWe’re the best one to slip out of here in such a lonesome timeAnd if horses could get married to a starlet, not to a carriageWe’d no longer wander shamelessly in sin4. LIES ARE ONLY LETTERSReverberating into the innermost reaches of his private brainHal Humble tests the sad, sad state of his joke; fully realizingLies are only letters to your heartsick mother’sLonesome baby child, oh no, oh no, oh no, oh no!Complicating matters in the strangest way but with a sense of flowHal’s Hannah smiles a quick ‘Hello! I know you know I know.’ Fully realizing lies are only letters to your heartsick lover’sLonesome baby smile, oh no, oh no, oh no, oh no!Calibrating constancies across the room and through the great divideHal Humble hears his Hannah sigh, ‘I guess I’m still alone.’Fully realizing lies are only letters from your heartsick lover’sMother’s broken child, oh no, oh no, oh no, oh no!Mitigating circumstances with his hands and with his sounds of loveHal Humble makes his special love across his Hannah’s eyes;Fully realizing lies and ties and alibis intensifyYour lullaby of love- oh no, oh no, oh no, oh no!5. WAVES OF LOVE (music by John Lyle, lyric by Susan Underwood)Waves of love come rolling inBut I just drag my feetAnd point to what’s around meCan there be no real relief?Maybe up and in’s the only way to moveBut down and out’s the only God damn way to goNow and then my lover bends to take in what’s insideFlying over promises that leave me satisfiedI stand and tremble mutely As this death of days goes onI could not change my visionsUntil I had turned them roundThe circle keeps on opening and closing on the pastWill the city be the place we’ll meet and leave at last?6. COME ON OVER (written and performed by Garry Macpherson)Here I here I here I come, right back where I started fromAnd I don’t even know where I’ve beenSinging crazy songs to you to pass the time we’re going throughAnd I can’t even say, no I can’t even say what I’m seeingBe what I’m being, get where I’m going to, way beyond the bluesHere I here I here I am in the same old space I’m always inLooking for that same old lost corralPlaying saddle stoned with you the game of what we’re going throughAnd I’m saying to you, I’d like to see you nearBeing what you’re being, getting where you’re going toWay beyond the bluesHere I here I here I swim in the same old stream you found me inSinking through the stone-blown blue moon skySaying good-bye to the same old tune. so long now, and I’ll see you soonFar and wide and here and in betweenBeing what we’re being, getting where we’re going toWay back home with youIt’s a long it’s a hard it’s a happy time and I’m trying to make it throughTrue blue7. KEEP THE BANNERS FLYINGMy heart’s been sent to heaven and the same old used to beStill lingers on beside the riversideThat holds a line on me, holds a line on meThe dream is an illusion and it never comes againUntil the ocean tries to take you backTo where you’ve always been, where you’ve always beenChorus-And when the cave on sugar mountainIs the only home I count on, I’m a foolAnd when the grave beneath Death ValleyIs my mind inside an alley, I’ll be coolA series of explosions from the leftest field there isHas come and left me with a big desire to break into the bizBreak into the bizThe scenes are always changing and I haven’t found the keyBut when I sing this song the ghost of God Comes sailing home to me, sailing home to me8. HELLO, BUDDYWell, I know your lazy susans, and I know your easy chairsAnd I know your swinging hammocks sleepy-two time your despairAnd I know the hours you kill spending seconds splitting hairsCannot keep you from your purpose, cannot keep you from the stairAnd I wish that I could organize my mindWell, I know that your polemics, comprehensive and bizarreCould get me on your band-wagon if I was a movie starBut I’m having trouble shaking, I no longer have a carAnd my best friend’s wife has left me in this lonesome, homely barAnd I wish I had a dollar for a dime‘cause I’m still a little thirsty and there’s still a lot of time‘cause those big, old hands keep slowin’ and stopping on my dimeAnd the world owes me a drink and I just want what is mineAnd I’ll hate the man who says you’re not my friendWell I think my stool is screwing me up into my hairAnd is that our old bar-tender with his arm up in the air?And is that a knife he’s holding? Well it’s just not hardly fairAfter all the time I’ve spent here and with all I’ve had to bearDo you think you have somewhere that you can spare?9. DEATHLESS SONGIf the sun don’t burn the tears away from all our ragged dreamsI’ll be the one to try to prove that I am more than what I seemIf the steel, insane insistent rain from my old, lost guitarCan be a groove for me and a tune for you, help me raise the barLove’s a wicked word when you’re a crazy cagey foolBeneath the silver wires and diamond knives in timeLeft alone and stoned into the heart of Emmot’s ZoneI know that everything that’s passed ain’t left behindAnd so I’ll meet you in the countryside a love affair from nowYou know, I pray the breeze that feeds the treesWill hold us there somehowNew bluebirds and old blue-devils war inside of meI guess a deathless song’s the only way I have to set you freeFeel the blue cool burn of frontier justice in the yearningThat we’re yearning every time we want to cryI’m the part of you that wants to be the part of meThat wants to come into the sky while I’m aliveIf the sun don’t burn the tears away from all our ragged dreamsI’ll be the one to try to prove that I am more than what I seem10. The Showdown Might Be TragedyWhen our trust is in the gambler and the odds are on the wallAnd all the whores can beg for rain-checksWhile their johns lose all recallAnd when our minds are always busy mailing letters to the seaIt’s the show-off age and it’s the show-off stageAnd the showdown might be tragedyWhen the preacher is a shadow hidden deep within himselfAnd when the church is just a house around a promise to protectAnd when our eyes are always searching for an empty ecstasyIt’s the show-off age and it’s the show-off stageAnd the showdown might be tragedyWhen the sun can break a window and a word can break my heartInto a bleeding, screaming billion scandalizing counterpartsAnd when the dawn buys benediction and your voice is clemencyIt’s the show-off age and it’s the show-off stageAnd the showdown might be tragedyWhen the showdown is a shoot-out and the stakes are after allJust a price to pay for praying for another bang-up brawlAnd when our masks are disappearing into naked comedyIt’s the show-off age and it’s the show-off stageAnd the showdown might be tragedy11 Lose (Music by John Lyle, lyrics by John Lyle & Garry Macpherson)I can’t read between the lines between the lines I can’t say the words that touch off a good time only stop myself from having a good try at the fly ball that is lost up in the sky the limit’s known to me alone all by myself in emmot’s zone you can rock the night away and say your prayers you can throw the key away and say you care about the wheres and hows and whys you’re not there and why you don’t believe that it’s not fair for me to care about you, for me to share what I lose think I’ll close my eyes and dream another song after all I’ve memorized it won’t be long before some new someone else happens along and I get a chance to prove I’m always wrong for you and your friends, tell me the truth, don’t I lose? I can’t see between the brackets of taipan but I have a very special friend who can she looks in on jack the ripper in between and paints self-portraits of the many things she’s seen like something dark, and noah’s arkthat block the stream, confuse her dream she can’t see as far as she has never seen she can’t be as far as she has never been but she sure as hell can push you off the boat yes and seal her plastic hands around your throat she brings ice-box blues and sad good news worn out toys for broken boys used to be that we all slept around her bed with the dreams of her dead lovers for our head of the crowd that melted rosebuds on the sleigh and washed the guts of fallen angels down the drain we have had enough, she played too rough we’ve lost the pooh, now we’re all through12. LOST IN THE DREAMThe day of grace was up today, I’m shipwrecked in your armsAll my false alarms ring true, old buddy, I’m blueDerek’s bass can fill the space between our tear-stained eyesAbove the seizing lies we knew, oh, old buddy, I knewAnd you know, I love to play the fool, Capsized and baptized and scared to be in schoolBut if you’re gonna leave me, you better leave me paralyzed‘cause I’m telling you now, I’m in love with your eyesI think it’s the truth, I’m in love with your eyesLove to be the shooting star to suck you to the screenJust like Eddie Dean come true, oh, old buddy, come trueI can sing a wave length out beyond the no mile reefBecause of my belief in you, oh old buddy, in youUndertow, drag me to the deepWrap your arms around me and rock my brain to sleepBut I don’t guess a coma’s gonna keep me crystallized‘cause I’m telling you now, I’m in love with their eyesI think it’s the truth, I’m in love with your eyesIt’s hard as nails to try to find a silver thing to sayWhen you’re a shipwrecked castawayLike me, oh, old buddy like me