In Another Life...(song)

words and music: Larry Nicholson


What kind of Indian am I? -
One who won’t take advice?
The old one says that I should forget you
How could I forget those eyes?

You came out of the glowing sea spray
Saw you standing on the beach
You were born a carver’s daughter
You are close but so out of reach

Now you’ve taken up with another
Gone and gave your heart away
The hardest thing to do is watch you drift on by
So I’ll meet you another life…

I’m in love with the land that made me
Watch you in your graceful flight
Look for you down a road less traveled -
in some far off gentle night

Well we become the choices we’ve made?
Fall asleep inside our heads
Will we move on without a sound?
Don’t want to die before I’m dead

I can’t stay with any other
Can’t give half my heart away
It’s the hardest thing to stay and feel your wind blowing by
So I’ll try again in another life…


© 2010 Champsteen Publishing

Dark Horse (song)

words and music: larry nicholson


how is it you recognized me?…called to me in my sleep
cradled me in your in loving arms…gave me your word to keep
you’re a dark horse mystery…a way of looking i’ve never seen
you to me are undiscovered country…somewhere i’ve never been

before you a battle outside ragin’
inside each day a little death
you comfort me with the fresh wind of your voice
i’ll comfort you with the last wind in my breath

you brushed back for me all my defenses…came to me where i live
made real to me the dream i had…when i had nothing to give
this music plays in the deepest way…i’m learning to find the key
seeing things i never could before…walk through what could never be

i’ll come for you when you get so lonely
when the fire’s gone we will find the spark
you will be my sacred one and only
standing in the caverns of the dark

what was it that sent you to me?…some creation must have made this place
dance upon this grand design…reach for you in moments of grace
drink from this loving cup…the taste of you on my tongue
i may always be just a little fragile…you’ll always be the one

can i hold you under these stars so plenty
when cold winds runs through you like a knife
i love you like a night with no ending
you are the first and last thing in my life

now i’ve been a lesson in hard living
i’ve been a cautionary tale
but if you still got a little left for giving
we’ll get on board and find wind for these sails…


© 2010 Champsteen Publishing

Twilight Life (song)...

words and music by larry nicholson


a black-haired woman walks down to the edge of dark water
a clutch roses in her arms for the all the lost tribes with homes on the sea
ghostly waves beat the shore
like spectral ones come before
taking solace in storms and the things that will be

a thousand kisses won’t mend the bend in your heart
nothing in this world you’ve seen makes you come to grips with your fate
play the undertaker’s blues
get confused by the rules
you want no piece of the illusion that they call hate

chorus 1
when you stand high on the piny ridge of that beautiful mountain
and look across the expanse of the beautiful sea
your heart beats so fast
there’s no future no past
there’s no feeling alone in your twilight life…

chorus 2
when you rise up to a silver moon where you wait for no one
find that place with your love where you reach for the sky
there’s no secrets to keep
living forever deep
all there is is the quiet of your twilight life…

the orphan girl diving down in the urban jungle
a nameless child walks the streets named for sons of the city long since dead
wears a coat full of holes
stepping over lost souls
and never understood anything that they’ve said

all roads lead us home to that same mystic garden
where fires burn and the smoke bathes our bodies in ashes and in coal
no one comes back alive
the wind cuts like a knife
there’s no need for explaining in this twilight life…



© 2010 Champsteen Publishing

Ballad Of A Brown Town Crier (song)

words and music: larry nicholson


looking back on warmer sunny days
i can’t go back there anyways
we were young and wild, we had it all
did you ever think you might fall?
in the heat of the night vows were made
but as time goes by promises fade

the only thing I know
it’s time for letting go…
cause time won’t wait for me

your spirit stays with me everywhere
ten years from now will we still care?
will you ever turn and think of me?
wonderin’ where i might be…
in city rain i think i hear you laugh
as you come across an old photograph

there's no sense hangin’ on
when love goes it’s gone…
and no one is to blame

some people think they’ll stop the rain
hate the whole world when they fall again (and again and again)…
keeping track of all our mistakes
they only know how a heart breaks
gettin’ old before their time
carry it with them on down the line

it’s getting late September
there so much to remember…
and so much to let go

i love her still like i love the stars
i keep her close no matter how far (away she is)
its good to hope its good to need
but i’ll keep it there i won’t bleed
if she ever finds herself this way
i won’t think twice `bout what’ll say

she’s somewhere out there tonight
i’ll send her a little light...
i’ll sing for her this song



© 2010 Champsteen Publishing

East Van Nightmare (song)

words and music by Larry Nicholson

last night in an east van nightmare
time for one last score
looked hard but there’s no one out here
nobody here no more
might be a thief but you just can’t steal it
can’t find the key
might be in love but you just can’t feel it
looks like her love is leaving me

an indian warrior asleep in the cellar
can’t see the soldiers coming through
so many things that I wanted to tell her
i'll never know if she wanted me to
only bloodshot bugs knew my name here
like waiting for the flood
a cruel wind blew hard through my life, dear
like winter in my blood

no place for you to run to (baby)
no place to hide
when the music stops you go crazy
you’re gone like the tide

now one soft and velvet morning
went down to the sea
at Jericho I was born again
embraced the mystery
the sky was never so blue before
if she could see my world
gonna knock on every door
gonna find that girl

only ever sick as our secrets
it's no place to stay
surrender all the regrets
give it all away


© 2010 Champsteen Publishing

Native Son (song)

...this song (Native Son) was one of the first two I ever wrote...looking back I realize that it was in `88 that I strung up the guitar I had, learned some chords - and I was off!...the following year (making this song over 20 years old...fuckin' A!) I wrote this song and a little ditty called The Game and it's been downhill ever since - Ha-ha! both tunes came very easily, this one was probably written in about an hour and by god, NOTHING in my life ever came quite as automatically although elsewhere on this blog is a song that was written in about 25 minutes one night (i won't say which one)...in retrospect, I was corrupted early in life by the ease with which my first two songs came and it led me to think songwriting didn't seem so tough (and maybe it isn’t...for some) - i have many, many songs so achingly close to completion, it's always the case where if i can just find that one line or lyric that will elevate it to...poetry...my problem, as I see, it is that I love Dylan and Springsteen so much and listen to their music so often (both, daily, like medicine) that any song in comparison seems, oh...I don't know...crappy?...but what the fuck!...I’m engaging in the timeless practice of "speaking to the universe" and whatever may happen in this giant, ever-expanding universe, there is only one song called Native Son (well, that's not true, there are several out there, ha-ha!!) but there's only one written by Larry the (aspiring) Cree superhero...I damn near recognize the innocence in the clichéd lyrics that make it precious to me and it never changes that I am moved and find something entirely mystical about creating, conjuring something…out of nothing...as I’ve mentioned before, this blog may be entirely an exercise in ego if that's what the reader wants to think but as of this writing only about 400 visits have come down and each time I add or edit counts as one, so, it's more like I’ve had about 250 visits, no sensible person is trying to get famous buy posting simple songs on Freeblogger - get real!...but hey man, I'm a songwriter, poem maker, word wrangler extraordinaire and what could be more romantic an idea that writing a poem or a song even?...as a matter of fact, it’s ballsy!...onward, and thanks fer stopping by…whoever you are…


NATIVE SON

words and music by Larry Nicholson


I was born of the earth
Like my brothers those whom came first
Now I live in a city of steel
some days I forget how I should to feel
My grandmother’s grandmother lived in the days
Where the nation you lived was something to praise
But happened to our love for the land?
Now all that we care is to meet the demand…

Some days I walk through the streets of this place
I see once proud people laid out in disgrace
I’ve heard it said we deserve what we get
We’re useless and lazy, unworthy and yet
If someday you could through my eyes
You’d have understanding you might realize
If you always believe what you see and you hear
There will come a time when we’ll all disappear

I was born the native son
Till the end of time my spirit will run
Say what you like but nothing’s more true
Than I am no better but no worse than you
It’s taken some time but now I can see
Who it is that I’ve been and who I can be
And I’ll be…I will be free…

I hope wisdom will come from days that have passed
And I hope that of my kind you won’t see the last
It’s a time where matters most is what sells
We think we know all but we don’t know ourselves
The measure of a man’s not the car that he drives
It’s how affects another man’s life
There are ones who can see and will understand
we’re all brothers in spirit if not on the land

I was born the native son…


© 2010 Champsteen Publishing

Raining Again (The Pissing Song)

words and music by Larry Nicholson


well there’s whole list of grievance
baby and it’s ten miles long
when she kissed me on the cheek
I shoulda known that there was something wrong
there’s size 12 boots underneath her bed
my vagabond shoes are only tens instead
she’s pissing on my back and telling me that it’s raining again
that it’s raining again

I called up the DJ
said he’d play my favorite tune
stayed up all night drawing flies and staring at the moon
at the crack of dawn there’s nothing but dead air
signed off in the morning saying: laissez-fair!
they're pissing on my back and tell me that it’s raining again
that it’s raining again

they keep throwing sinkers
just like you throw a dog a bone
you scratch their back
but when it hits the fan you’re all alone

when the mortgage man winked
I put my name upon the dotted line
I got the keys to the mansion
I’m payin’ for my peace of mind
when the meltdown hit they said: you’re outta luck
I’m sleeping by the river in my pickup truck
they're pissing on my back and telling me that’s it’s raining again
that it’s raining again

preacher man said he loved me
said he’d take away my sin
for 10 hail marys
and all my money for the tin
St Peter shook his head and then he sent me back
now im reaching for a rifle straight up off the rack
they keep pissing on my back and tell me that’s it’s raining again
that it’s raining again


© 2010 Champsteen Publishing

Foolish Destiny (song)

words and music: Larry Nicholson


In the misty silent twilight that nobody knows
the windswept field where nobody goes I stand naked
Listen for the sweet sounds above all the screams
Intruding on dreams of truth and the ones who forsake it
I’m as upside down as I am inside out
Resting in the shade of the hollows in a shadow of doubt

In the skin of a lion on a chestnut mare
You contrast and compare and find only your indignation
To be hounded and haggard but never to break
You say it’s all a mistake and shake your fist at your station
Your love of pride keeps you strong and courageous
You belong to no heart, only to the ages

The faith of convenience is the hollowest faith
It puts free men in bondage, feeds rivers of hate and enslaves us
Investing twenty four-karat hope in uncertain things –
Fools gold-plated rings but the meek shall inherit and save us
In my poetry mama says: “child, don’t cry for me –
I’ve gone to that place behind sleep where everyone’s free”

A candle in the window flickers and fades,
midnight black it invades, still burning for those left uncertain
A glimmer of hope weds a glimmer of grace
reaching out to a place obscured by night’s angry curtain
Is the darkness that I’m in really inside of me?
Is it ancient wisdom I seek or just foolish destiny?



©2010 Champsteen Publishing

124 (Bluestone Road) - song for Toni Morrison

words and music: larry nicholson


bare feet and chamomile sap, call all your sons and daughters
kick off your shoes take off your hat, i'm a-keep you warm
this ain't no story for passing round - it's just me and black water
diamonds float and she'll bring you down into forever land

see dixie fires burning sweet home men, that's what they call "The Union"
ohio river up around the bend, it ain't no promised land
losing everything then losing more - that's what the hell we're doing
same old spite knocking at my door, the one we left behind

come out come out on bluestone road, where fireflies are dying,
mother's milk and mother's blood, a-body's misery
away away from bluestone road, somewhere a baby's crying
lay me down in the velvet woods, forever's calling me

chokecherry tree painted on my back, lips across the branches
like smoking steel on a railroad track, the echoes of a soul
the war ain't over it's just moved inside me, i've taken too may chances
i'll show the scars but you gotta remind me what the living's for

come out come out on bluestone road where fireflies are dying
mother's milk and mother's blood, a-body's misery
away away from bluestone road, somewhere a baby's crying
lay me down in the velvet woods, forever's calling me...



© 2010 Champsteen Publishing

Peace Hills (song)

words and music: larry nicholson



peace hills gave life and breath to me
in these fields low on the plains
i am running with the river
till the peace hills call me again

across the way the far-off mountains
they say beyond lies the sea
if i never cross those mountains
kiss those ocean shores for me

this stony life took my family
i’m told they wait on a distant shore
so i’m going cross those mountains
and i’ll search again no more

it’s this torch i hold above me
all who pass will know my face
in the storm that ever greets me
i take shelter i find grace

when the last wind comes a-blowin’
and that plain is all you see
peace hills call me from forever
storm and grace and is all there be



© 2010 Champsteen Publishing

Peace Hills (song)

words and music: larry nicholson



peace hills gave life and breath to me
in these fields low on the plains
i am running with the river
till the peace hills call me again

across the way the far-off mountains
they say beyond lies the sea
if i never cross those mountains
kiss those ocean shores for me

this stony life took my family
i’m told they wait on a distant shore
so i’m going cross those mountains
and i’ll search again no more

it’s this torch i hold above me
all who pass will know my face
in the storm that ever greets me
i take shelter i find grace

when the last wind comes a-blowin’
and that plain is all you see
peace hills call me from forever
storm and grace and is all there be



© 2010 Champsteen Publishing

As The Crow Flies (song)

words and music: larry nicholson


will you still be my love when i cross the sea?
with a heavy heart or triumphantly
i'll come back to you with the world on the rise
looking for you steady as the crow flies

this road is less traveled this path made of thorns
my raging heart lives on while you go chasing storms
beside ancient mountains where ocean meets the sky
i'll meet you there ready as the crow flies

down near the eddy there’s a river of tears
she cuts like that water marking cold hopes and fears
on knees bruised and bent the woman prays while she cries
over some half-remembered lost shore as the crow flies

bridge 1
some use broken wheels and sail leaky boats
spend half our days all our nights just to float
it's like floating forever, forever caught up high
we'll get on with the journey as the crow flies

on ragged wings i sailed lonely nights east
they painted me with false colors like a kind of cruel beast
the city blurs my vision and puts smoke in my eyes
tonight i still see you as the crow flies

false-hearted lovers - jagged sense of romance
back into ashes and dust we will dance
the heart that's gone weary is the heart that dies
watching forever for you as the crow flies

bridge 2
black wings beat through this city tonight
is this flesh and blood or a trick of the light?
when my bones have turned pale and the flames have all died
the silence will keep us as the crow flies

can you save the best part of your beautiful soul?
does your mother remember you young strong and whole?
you paid for your freedom with loss and goodbyes
with nothing left to haunt you as the crow flies

when your friends ain't your friends when the world is unkind
you've read all the books and you've been left behind
i put it all down for you, i'm putting down all the lies
tonight i still need you as the crow flies...


© 2010 Champsteen Publishing

Indians Don't Go To Memphis (Midnight on A Freight Train) - song

words and music by larry nicholson


midnight on a freight train
is all I’ll ever be
it's hard to walk away smiling
so hard to be set free
half my weight is memory
the other half carved in stone
i’ll get to Memphis in a bottle
this life’s bred in the bone

some people get paid for their opinion
some swing the hammer all day
some folks get paid for selling Jesus
then get paid to take it all away
you carry on with your kindness
you get caught where the river bends
where the dogs don’t bite gently
each reserve is condemned

bad news, bad news
for the traveling man…

cross every palm you see with silver
the hollow men that you seek
in a house made of dawn there
her icy kiss upon the cheek
you learn to live in silence
in the twilight of your mind
fight back the dark with violence
see the world through a heart gone blind

sad news, sad news
what’s gonna help you sleep?...

dime store politicians
sell the rivers and the breeze
medicine show revolutions
can’t see the forest for the trees
the Indian and the maiden
we’re not long for the world
no heart was made for breaking
but you'd die for the dark-eyed girl

you choose, you choose…

off to Memphis in a freight train
its all you’ll ever be…


© 2010 Champsteen Publishing

The Distance (song)

words and music: Larry Nicholson
guitar and vocal: Larry
guitar: Brett Richardson
(recorded in-studio with Jean Ardilla at Co-op radio)


walk down Pacific Boulevard
the Indian man he sat alone, he played guitar
sat conjuring people and places that he'll never see
(he said) i'm not old but i ain't young no more
i never see the faces of the ones i did before
there's been a journey in my heart full of dark mystery
and it ends somewhere in the distance

I find it sad what some find funny
sometimes making love's like making money
there's no room for men and women in the bottom line
is there still a place for sacred things?
worth more than all the fool's gold, the diamond rings?
is it here?...is it now?...do we all shine?

Sarah sang her gentle song for you and i
that sound across these distant waters, the forever sky
she went home she left our hearts opened wide
hey little sister can you ride the wind?
up around that big old painted moon, back down again
if there’s a memory left behind
i'll meet you there...in the distance

is there nothing left to do? is there nothing left to say?
you can see the bridges burning, we may have wanted it that way
there's a silence lives between us, it's what we build, it's what we make
it's what we take...into the distance

sleep tight my pretty lady, the moon is almost on the rise
when the ghosts have left the room i'll look into those eyes
i'll pretend i'm there and i'll wait
guess i'm just a dusty dreamer in this world that makes you tough
there’s still a chance for poets and runaways if we want it bad enough
to live enchanted in the earth, in the torment
in your eyes...and every instance

are we true just like a northern star?
or like the Indian man whose home is his guitar?
is there something in this night for you and me?
like ragged crows that fill the skies at night down in the eastside part of town
we're all still someone's sons and daughters
never knowing where we're bound
like the turning of the leaves we're all lost and then we're found
one by one we'll fly away...

© 2009 Champsteen Publishing

Charlie's Lullaby (song)

words and music: Larry Nicholson
guitar and vocal: larry
drum, bass keyboard, background vocal: Kristi Haavisto
violin: Jessica Deutsch
(produced and recorded by Kristi at1st Nations Longhouse, UBC)

welcome to the world dear
it's warm beside you dear
with mama in the sky dear
and heaven down here on earth dear

you called out my name love
in my sleep where you came love
the wild and the tame love
i look and they're one and the same love

you brought rain to the sky dear
i'm happy to cry dear
i'll never know why dear
that you came all this way just for me dear

you're free like the bird child
you are the prayer that was heard child
i know not the word child
for the light that you brought to the world child

called out my name love
in my sleep where you came love
the wild and the tame love
i look and they're one and the same love...

© 2010 Champsteen Publishing