The Headwinds

Lyrics

The Headwinds

Born under the umbrella of my warm loving family crew

Encouraged to imagine stories as their little ingenue

Life was an amazing a long enchanted song

Family adventures together and we’d roll along

Dreams come alive - in the cool cool rush of the headwinds

Forever I’ve - been drawn to the endless

Thrill of tall tales and walks along the edges

Here I stride into the cool cool rush of the headwinds

Imagination was real no wild idea incapable

Give me dreamers telling their campfire story fable

Where anything is possible whatever your mind can see

The code of truth, honor, and faith is the air we breathe

Dreams come alive - in the cool cool rush of the headwinds

Forever I’ve - been drawn to the endless

Thrill of tall tales and walks along the edges

Here I stride into the cool cool rush of the headwinds

I was a high school dreamer in love with creators

I met Chickenpox as a kindred wide-eyed dream enabler

Telling the stories of epic tales in the grown up world we assumed

But Pox’s flame which I saw burning bright was slowly relentlessly being consumed

Riding the headwinds left me betrayed and alone on a chilly hill

I’d never let another one of those dreamers take me down with a dead end stone

I met Lunchbox when I was tired of being both young and alone

Maybe I could mold the box into a hero, like in one of my imagined tales

But the fantasy makes bad choices when reality fails

There was no meanness when it was over, the headwinds called me back to the hill

My next last time the sly fox called me out for one more sure bet

And I’d prefer to end this tale happy and at peace walking to the sunset

So sir, this is my story, no need to confess the next sin

Just close your eyes and dream of me, rushing into the headwinds

Dreams come alive - in the cool cool rush of the headwinds

Forever I’ve - been drawn to the endless

Thrill of tall tales and walks along the edges

Here I stride into the cool cool rush of the headwinds

Words and Music Brian DiMarco

Saint Anthony’s Client

How many times, oh sweet Saint Anthony!

Precious things were lost, mislaid

How many trusting times, I sought your aid

How many times, oh sweet Saint Anthony!

I turned to thee

And yet never in vain; a book, a glove, a ring, or rosary

Each trifling treasured thing, you graciously gave back to me

Thanks gentle saint

Yet once more, extend aid today

That treasured of all treasured things, a friend,

Has gone astray

How many times, oh sweet Saint Anthony!

Precious things were lost, mislaid

How many trusting times, I sought your aid

How many times, oh sweet Saint Anthony!

I turned to thee

Dearer than book, or ring

Rarer than rosary or reliquaire

Of all of earth’s missing things, shall missing love alone be beyond repair?

Must malice wound or sour the sweetest spirits in the end?

No, Saint Anthony! Exert thy power

And give me back my dear lost friend!

How many times, oh sweet Saint Anthony!

Precious things are lost, mislaid

How many trusting times, I sought your aid

How many times, oh sweet Saint Anthony!

I turned to thee

Must malice wound or sour the sweetest spirits in the end?

No, Saint Anthony! Exert thy power

And give me back my dear lost friend!

How many times, oh sweet Saint Anthony!

Precious things are lost, mislaid

How many trusting times, I sought your aid

How many times, oh sweet Saint Anthony!

I turned to thee

How many times, oh sweet Saint Anthony!

I turned to thee

Music by Brian DiMarco

Lyrics from the poem "Saint Anthony's Client" by Eleanor C. Donnelly (September 6, 1838 – April 30, 1917) and in the Public Domain

The Legend of Younger You

All those dreams and wonders you brought to me

I dragged it along like a dangling fantasy

I used fear as principle that should have been your first clue

I was not the legend who makes daydreams come true

I wish I had a better handle on honesty

I’d have told you

Younger you should stay away from younger me

We’re born to run not knowing a race has begun

Taking easy laps on the front end of the long run

There’s a line separating me and the legends of myth

They didn’t fear taking a chance on their gift

I wish I could have better handled honesty

‘Cause I’d have told you

Younger you should stay away from younger me

Don’t waste your time

Because your time is your life

Don’t waste your life

Your life is your time

Lean in close here

Lean in closer

You’ll never save me, or change me, or get me

Just run away

The Lord provided younger me with a muse

Just like time it’s something you either use or lose

Bat ‘em around like a playful ball of string

Legends know not to waste precious things

I know now the legend wasn’t me

‘Cause he would have told you

Younger you should stay away from younger me

If there is any sense of decency

Younger you have been warned

Younger you stay away from younger me
Music and Lyrics: Brian DiMarco

Shadows and fog and the weight of living

Ghosts and memories and the late night haze

A million miles gone and a million miles coming

Gasoline smell and all those lost days

Streets are dark – am I the only one living?

No lights no cars nothing blocking my way

Radio is static – am I the only one living?

Eyes are heavy am I fading away?

I hear voices rise up from endless grey hills

I gun the engine - faster to nowhere

Roll down the window and feel the night chills

The sound of hissing tires the sound of dead air

And the howling dog howls And the howling dog howls And the howling dog howls

Just to hear his bark

I got echoes in the night

Echoes in the dark

I got two more hours until the sun rises

I got two hundred miles until I’m home

I got an ugly side of me and I can’t fix the damage

My whole world’s this car and I’m driving alone

I got a real good one if you want to hear my story

I interview myself when the ride gets long

He asks about a girl and a time not forgotten

I hesitate at first then I sing him my song

I felt the grace of love every time I was with her

I felt anger and betrayal when we were apart

I’d do anything for her- except change my behavior

The sound of hissing tires the sound of dead air

And the howling dog howls

Just to hear his bark

I got echoes in the night

Echoes in the dark

Words and Music Brian DiMarco

Rosa and Sam

In a New York City summer

In a way too fancy bar

Saw a pretty Southern girl

With the drive to go far

A wide eye city boy

Was trying to amuse

They stood off in a corner

Discussing day old news

They started with the goal

To fit in and make a sound

But they began a story

That neither could put down

Ro-Ro-Ro-Ro Rosa and Sam

Sam was a man adrift

In the post college flow

A cocky S.O.B but still

Scared of his own shadow

Rosa had a way

Of choosing what to do

And staying on the course

Until she saw it through

Ro-Ro-Ro-Ro Rosa and Sam

It’s a sight to see

The strength of love’s power

Life takes flight

The bloom of a flower

Two kids searching

For whom they should be

Found themselves a road

That only they could see

They raised five kids

They did it their best way

Made a few bucks

But gave most away

Then the kids were grown

So, on a restless day

They put some things in a truck

And headed to L.A.

Ro-Ro-Ro Rosa and Sam

So, it’s me on The Strip

Chasing the next star

Just another guy

In just another bar

Got my map spread out

Who I want to be

Old man named Sam

Sitting next to me

He said “there’s one thing that I know

Nothing you do will make the time slow

It all ends old whether you like it or not

Get here how you want, take your best shot”

Ro-Ro-Ro-Ro Rosa and Sam

Music and Lyrics: Brian DiMarco

The Poet’s Little Rival

A dainty desk of rosewood

With a half-completed sonnet

And a bunch of summer roses

In a Sevres vase upon it

And a bronze and crystal standish

And a golden pen or two

Whole reams of satin paper

Pink, azure, and ecru

And the poets, great and tiny

Scattered round in gold and blue

On a wall a linnet singing

At the desk a deep fauteuil

Under-foot an Indian matting

And the casement, low and cool

Twined about with waving ivy

Where the sunset glory burns

And the light and shade go creeping

Making bright and dark, by turns

The pendent basket swinging

From the trellis, full of ferns

And the poet, ah, the poet!

He quits his pleasant seat

And sees his little daughter

In the garden at his feet

Walking with her fair-haired mother

In a dress of snowy lawn

Prattling softly to the flowers

As they wander on and on

Saying “I must make a poem

Before the roses are all gone!”

Then the poet leans and listens

With a quaint and tender air

As the bird-like child goes darting

Through the beautiful parterre

Bravo! Bravo! Little poet!

Startled flushed with love’s sunshine

See my poem, papa darling!

Every word a blossom fine

“Sweet,” he says; “God bless thee, daughter

Never was a poem writ like thine”

And the poet, ah, the poet!

He quits his pleasant seat

And sees his little daughter

In the garden at his feet

Walking with her fair-haired mother

In a dress of snowy lawn

Prattling softly to the flowers

As they wander on and on

Saying “I must make a poem

Before the roses are all gone!”

See my poem, papa darling!

Every word a blossom fine

“Sweet,” he says; “God bless thee, daughter

Never was a poem writ like thine”

Music by Brian DiMarco

Lyrics from the poem "The Poet's Little Rival" by Eleanor C. Donnelly (September 6, 1838 – April 30, 1917) and in the Public Domain

A Kid Name Robbie

He was a kid named Rob or Bob or Bobby

Definitely not Robert, but something…maybe Robby

We met with our families on a Jersey shore vacation

12 year olds just hanging out by the Beach Surf Station

We got a pizza and we argued the Phillies versus the Mets

We hung out all night just talking by the back porch fence

We played wiffle ball on the beach and then we’d start

Tell each other jokes we heard back home

In schools 100 miles apart

This was all before email, no address exchange or phone calls

And the two weeks ended as sure as summer’s followed by fall

And I never saw “Robbie” again

Same jokes we heard in schools 100 miles apart

And I had friends throughout school in work and in the neighborhood

But I never felt it be so easy never had the time go by so good

As on those warm August nights

Phils versus Mets

Sitcom quotes

Junior high school jokes

Which guitarist we liked best

And you could stay up for hours

Discussing the whole wide world

Greatest time in that life that exists before girls

Familiar enough I could walk outside the back home clique I belonged

Strangers yet we knew all the same shows and songs

And something so random

I’d carry it for life in my heart

Laughing at jokes we heard in schools 100 miles apart

Schools 100 miles apart

Words and Music Brian DiMarco

Ties That Bind Unwind

And the friendships that we made

Start to fade, start to fade…

Ties that bind, unwind

Young lives it's no surprise

Things can change you didn’t realize

We made plans some were grand

The world shifted where we stand

Friendships are decided by

The house that your parents buy

Those ties run to the ones you are tied

Growing up side by side

See you next period

See you again tomorrow

You decide as it goes by

The friendships you can’t let slide

Moving out a new job and school

The people that you meet from a bigger pool

And there’s only so much time

You have to decide

There’s a truth to this ride

Life gets in the way

Maybe next week or another day

I’ll see you over the holidays

I’ll see you next summer

You’re working and you’re raising a family

There’s always somewhere else that you could be

Your job has bought up all your time

And on and on you climb

You got a plan to stay on track

New adventures and report them back

To those ties from your youth

But every new adventure has a cost to you

New friends that you meet you see them every week

Ties that bind, unwind

We used to call before too much time past

Or annual get together was quite a blast

Email came along “hey how are your folks?”

But soon we were just sharing internet jokes

See you at the reunion

See you at the next wedding

Texts and Facebook that should keep us strong

But memes and politics came along

Repeated or deleted until you realize

It’s been five years, my how time flies

Ties that bind unwind

‘Cause we made our choices we were free

And maybe forever friends weren’t meant to be

If you’re not forced together you must insist it

You’ll find communication dead and you won’t miss it

“Remember the days” that’s the final stage

Thinking about being young fulla joy and rage

Laughing in the cafeteria driving to the mall

Late night movies after late night calls

When your locker was across from mine

Walking together in the school bus line

Knowing every number of all your friend

Those lazy summer days that would never end

Ties unwind

‘Til the end

Ties that bind unwind

I’ll see you at the next funeral

Words and Music Brian DiMarco

Thank You Very Much

I thrilled them in my heyday

With the words I strung along

And now when they find me

They ask where I went wrong

Thank you very much (much),

Thank you very much

Thank you very much (much),

Thank you very much

Your concern is appreciated

But a wee bit misplaced

You think it’s all been wasted

A gift that’s been disgraced

You say I held the cards

A future of my own

But it took all my talents

Just to make a hom

Thank you very much (much),

Thank you very much

Thank you very much (much),

Thank you very much

She said “I respect your experience

Your years have made you wise”

She said “I guess you would concede my youth is also a valued prize”

I said: I was young once.

And it sucked.

Thank you very much (much),

Thank you very much

Thank you very much (much),

Thank you very much

Like is the new love,

Green’s the new red

But opinions are just opinions

And dead is still dead

Thank you very much…

Words and Music Brian DiMarco

Forgiving and Forgetting

“I forgive, but I never forget!” she said

With a frown on her dark, forbidding brow

When one she had wounded humbly pled

For peace and pardon now

“My foes, my footstool” cried David the king;

“A Christian, you say, forgives the debt”

Ah! Yes, but forgetting’s another thing

I never can forget”

I never can forget

And then, ignoring that offered hand

Blind to the love in the wistful eyes

She went away to that woeful land

That knows no Paradise

When her way to the black eclipse

Shadowing all that from Love depart

The rose of forgiveness on her lips

The thorns of hate in her heart

“My foes, my footstool” cried David the king;

“A Christian, you say, forgives the debt.

Ah! Yes, but forgetting’s another thing

I never can forget

I never can forget”

Following after her a shadowy Shape

Thorn-crowned, cross-laden, wounded sore

The crimson Blood, like the juice of the grape

Dropping behind and before

And forever in her ears shall live

His piercing cry: “What of thy debt?

How shalt thou fare if I forgive,

Yet never, never forget?”

Never, never forget?”

“My foes, my footstool” cried David the king;

“A Christian, you say, forgives the debt.

Ah! Yes, but forgetting is another thing

I never can forget

I never can forget”

And forever in her ears shall live

His piercing cry: “What of thy debt?

How shalt thou fare if I forgive,

Yet never, never forget

Never, never forget?”

Music by Brian DiMarco

Lyrics from the poem "Forgiving and Forgetting" by Eleanor C. Donnelly (September 6, 1838 – April 30, 1917) and in the Public Domain

So Much Wasted Time

Worried about the gone past and re-confessing every sin

Most of the day gets dragged away with the ‘woulda coulda’ been

Worry over your time left for saving and what’s been mis-spent

One day you’ll lay with your dying breath wonder where it all went

So much wasted time

God sent me word

Be present is all He said

Tomorrow is in my hands

Yesterday is forgiven

The present is all you're given

Don’t waste your time

Worry about tomorrow and all the best steps to proceed

Worry about all the things where none of it is guaranteed

I bet you’ll pass someone today in need of a helping hand

The fool rushes by ‘cause the fool doesn’t understand

So much wasted time

God sent me word

Be present is all He said

Tomorrow is in my hands

Yesterday is forgiven

The present is all you're given

Don’t waste your time

Tonight we dance the dance we bury all the past

Forgiven and forgotten like the shadows that we cast

Honor, love, and faith in whatever comes your way

Be present for the mercy, you can receive and display

So much wasted time

God sent me word

Be present is all He said

Tomorrow is in my hands

Yesterday is forgiven

The present is all you're given

Don’t waste your time

Words and Music Brian DiMarco

Fiat Voluntas Dei (God’s Will Be Done)

Once I made plans and said

By the time the spring rains

Brought the summer bloom

I’ll dream my dream

And after the autumn harvests

And the gathering of grain,

And winter has whitened the plain

I’ll fulfill my scheme

I’ll dream my dream

But the silvery rains

Melted in the bloom

I sacrificed my dream

Autumn proved my schemes

Were worse than vain

And all the winter in a vice of pain

My heart was caught

My heart was crushed

My heart was agonized

My dream was sacrificed

Don’t worry about tomorrow

It’ll will take care of itself

Don’t worry about tomorrow

It’ll will take care of itself

Don’t worry about tomorrow

So now I have no plan

So now I make no scheme

But, like and infant rocked

In tranquil dreams

Within thy arms I simply trust and love

Music by Brian DiMarco

Lyrics from the poem "Fiat Voluntas Dei" (God's Will Be Done) by Eleanor C. Donnelly (September 6, 1838 – April 30, 1917) and in the Public Domain

Missing

In the cool, sweet hush of a wooded nook

Where the May-buds sprinkle the green old ground,

And the wind, and the birds, and the limpid brook

Murmur their dreams with a drowsy sound

Who lies so still in the plushy moss

With his pale cheeks pressed to a breezy pillow

Couched where the light and shadows cross

Through the flickering fringe of the willow?

Alas, Alas

Who lies missing, alas!

So still, so chill, in the whispering grass?

A soldier, clad in the zouave dress

A bright-haired man, with his lips apart

One hand thrown up over his frank, dead face

And the other clutching his pulseless heart

Lies there in the shadows, cool and dim

His musket brushed by a trailing bough

A careless grace in his quiet limbs

And a wound on his manly brow

Alas, Alas

A wound, alas!

Dark clots spill blood on the pleasant grass

Alas, Alas

Violets peer from their dusky beds

With a tearful dew in their great, pure eyes

Lilies quiver their shining heads

Their pale lips full of sad surprise

Lizards dart through the glistening fern

Squirrel rustles the branches hoary

Strange birds fly out with a cry, to burn

Their winds in the sunset glory

Alas, Alas

Shadows pass

Over the quiet face on the dewy grass

Alas, Alas

God pity the bride who waits at home

With her lily cheeks and her violet eyes

Dreaming the sweet old dream of love

While the lover is walking in paradise!

God strengthen her heart as the days go by

And the long, dreary night of her vigil follows;

Nor bird, nor moon, nor whispering wind

May breathe the tale of this hollow

Alas, Alas

Who lies missing, alas!

The secret is safe with the woodland grass

Alas, Alas

Music by Brian DiMarco

Lyrics from the Civil War era poem "Missing" by Eleanor C. Donnelly (September 6, 1838 – April 30, 1917) and in the Public Domain. Lyrics stick close to the original poem.

The Headwinds 05:50
Saint Anthony's Client 03:32

Legend of Younger You 03:30

Echoes in the Night 04:37

Rosa and Sam 03:50

A Kid Named Robbie 04:06
Ties That Bind Unwind 05:11

The Poet's Little Rival 04:37

Thank You Very Much 02:12

Forgiving and Forgetting 03:56

So Much Wasted Time 04:24

Fiat Voluntas Dei 03:05

Bonus Track: Missing (rough cut) 05:10
Bonus Track: The Echo of Life (rough cut) 03:04

New album by Brian DiMarco: April of 2023

14 New Songs, Including 6 lyrics based on poems by Eleanor C. Donnelly:

Saint Anthony's Client
The Poet's Little Rival
Forgiving and Forgetting
Fiat Voluntas Dei
Missing
The Echo of Life

These lyrics are taken from poems written by Eleanor C. Donnelly (September 6, 1838 – April 30, 1917) and are in the Public Domain. Eleanor Donnelly was born in the Philadelphia area and was a noted poet, with many works detailing the American Civil War and her devout Catholicism.