Ed Fissinger - Musician & Visual Artist

COFFEE SHOP TALK

Sitting in this coffee shop we talk and let our dreams pour out
While muddy water washes away fatigue

Looking out the window I see a city bus go by
With just one rider sitting there and I wonder why

10,000 cars pass by each day, each one going its own way
While this coffee shop just sits and stares each and every day

Time for one more cup I think
We’re going to be here and we must drink, the answer down
To all our questioning fears

I went to sleep when I put my dreams to bed,
Tucked them in and crawled inside my head
The darkened space giving a bit of peace that day

Back to school – raised daughters on my own
Built a business – turned my brain way down
Into the zone of mediocrity

The coffee shop is crowded now – lots of us with worried brows
And hopes that we someday will awake –
That’s the chance we have to take

Our innermost dominant thoughts become our outermost reality
So be careful what you talk about in coffee shops on any given day

Sitting in this coffee shop we talk and let our dreams pour out
While muddy water washes away fatigue

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21st CENTURY BLUES

I love this country and New York City too
I love this country and New York City too
I’m so sick of al-Qaeda I’ve got these 21st Century Blues

The fat cats say that they’ll help us through these
Depression, recession, concession blues –
They talk protection from all this inflation, deflation news
Yet all I can see ahead is those 21st Century Blues

Bombs for peace and gas for after the blast –
Bad foreign policy could take us back into the past – the Stone Age I mean
I think we’d better look out for those 21st Century Blues

Israel and Palestine, Iraq and Britain too
Are playing deadly games that could end it all for me and you –
I hope they get it together to stop these 21st Century Blues

The solution is love for Muslim, Christian and Jew –
Accept each other let them have their own point of view
Then we won’t be singing these 21st Century Blues

I love this country and New York City too
I love this country and New York City too
I’m so sick of al-Qaeda I’ve got these 21st Century Blues

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CHICAGO

I am going home – to old Chicago – in my mind –
There I’ll see my friends, love them til the end of time – oh my –
I’m going to Chicago in my mind

Leaves are falling down on city streets that haven’t slept
People moving here, people going there, downtown it’s time -
I’m going to Chicago in my mind

And the lights downtown and the people are doing things that we all do –
Lake Shore Drive is just like heaven and I’m calling back to you

City buses and L-trains too have a feel that’s all their own
Take you to the Cubs, take you to the Bears, It’s on their line
I’m going to Chicago in my mind

I remember times in Lincoln Park with Mom and Dad
Going to the zoo, playing baseball too
They were so kind
I’m going to Chicago in my mind

And the lights downtown and the people are doing things that we all do –
Lake Shore Drive is just like heaven and I’m calling back to you

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JUST LOOK AT THAT

We can live our lives like lukewarm tea,
Or we can float like a butterfly and sting like a bee –
We can hold our heads like we’re not free,
Or change our names from Cassius to Ali
He did float; he did sting like a bee

If we had the chance to play our own tune, would we take that chance
And sing it to the moon our whole lives
He went from art school to the banjo –
Then he learned guitar – but he had to go – to places – no musician had ever been
Jerry was hot, burned like a flame – then he went out

If we had to leave home to find our dreams,
Bet it all on one shot no matter how it seems – would we?
This guy left Minnesota without one cent –
He couldn’t really sing or play but his will was bent
To make it in New York City
And he did – Bobby did – made it all over the world –

So, if you want to get it done, go and do it yourself –
No one can live your life for you
If you believe it first – then you will see it
Because it was always meant for you
Just put one foot in front of the other and get it done

There are no excuses and no one to blame –
You live your destiny and collect your own fame
You’re on the train; I’m on the train, 1000 miles per hour
Just look at that – we’re flying now

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A GREAT ROMANCE

She was living in a small town in Massachusetts and singing live on the local radio –
A pretty dark haired girl of just 19 years and not past Boston would her parents let her go
But she joined a traveling big band and headed out across the land
She was heading for her great romance

He was a high school track star back in Rockford Illinois and he too sang on the local radio
His legs were taking him to the Olympics and his music to the Hall of Fame somehow
But World War II came along and he joined the Army Air Force
And left without a great romance

She crisscrossed the land by train singing with the big bands –
Always moving west towards California –
While his Air Force training was almost done by then and he was shipped out to California
[And one day she looked from the stage and saw his handsome face and said
I’m going to marry him, he is my great romance]

Oh oh – a great romance – This is going to be a great --- romance

That small town boy from Illinois didn’t stand a chance
She took him in her arms and loved him true
And just before he shipped out they were married
And he promised her that he would return real soon
But on his first mission his plane was shot down and almost ruined their great romance

She used her love to nurse him back to health and put her own music on the shelf
Then for 47 years they loved each other – raising children and enjoying life together
They were always with each other – leaving notes and holding hands in celebration
Of their Great – Great Romance

Oh oh oh – a Great Romance – It truly was a Great Romance

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LUNCH

When I had lunch with you today I felt so happy and at peace
I wished that it would never end – just sipping on our tea and talking about secrets
We both knew – I felt so happy when I had lunch with you

Some things are found at the bottom of a cup – others on a palette of paints –
Still others in a song when we struggle for years with things gone wrong –
Yet finding joy in the journey – it’s radiant to meet one who is just like you

People come together at events to hear music – see art or change the politic –
Life’s puzzle pieces looking for a perfect fit

I found out at lunch that you have a lover – there is another and we are just friends
I was so sad that I almost could not eat – but hunger won and I ate a lot
As we discussed art and fame and true authenticity

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THE HOUSE AT 629

The house that we lived in is empty now
And the windows are all broken
And kids play games where we made love
And the trees and bushes hide the sidewalk
Where we skipped stumbled and ran,
That keeps me running to the memories that we shared.

Soon, there’ll be some new apartments there
And the old shady places will become hallways and laundry rooms
And the people that we knew there will meet us in new places
And come running to the memories that we shared.

The music and the card games that echo there
And the laughter of your voice is more real than the stones
And the wood frame that holds together
The house that we lived in
That keeps me running to the memories that we shared
Keeps me running to the memories that we shared.

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MAYBE

Maybe I love you
And maybe I don’t
Maybe I’ll come with you
And maybe I won’t
I say maybe – maybe baby
I can’t give you more than this simple word – maybe

You keep on asking for more than I’ve got
I give you a little babe, you want a lot
I say maybe – maybe baby
I can’t give you more than this simple word – its maybe

I keep thinking things are ok
You tell me to go – then you tell me to stay
I say maybe – maybe baby
I want you to see the word that’s key is maybe

It’s an easy idea – don’t think too much
Maybe it’s easy babe so let’s stay in touch
I say maybe, maybe baby
Quit asking me why I can’t decide
It’s maybe

Maybe I love you
And maybe I don’t
Maybe I’ll come with you
And maybe I won’t
I say maybe – maybe baby
I can’t give you more than this simple word – maybe

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SIDDHARTHA

Siddhartha let me listen to the river
Sit still and see the faces
Slowly drifting in the river
Downstream to join the sea
Let me know the peace within you
And join in the unity of all
And know all that is and all that will ever be

Oh Illustrious One –
Show me the light that shines for me
Sitting still we see the faces
Slowly drifting downstream to eternity
Speak to me the sacred word
Impart unto me the bliss of peace
And I will ask no more of you this day

Gotamma the Venerable One give me the one and final truth
Speak to me that which will finally set me free for eternity
What’s this you’re saying?
That I must live and find it for myself
That no one, not even you, can give it to me

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MY SONG

Thank you so much I’m sorry it took so long
But my mind’s been broken and I’ve not been strong
Since you’ve gone, since you’ve gone

Now you are gone and I’m all alone
And I’ve got no heart to call my home
I’m so alone, now you’ve gone

You said you loved me, but I didn’t see how
And I thought with time that I could have learned how
But as for now, now you’ve gone

If you hadn’t gone I’d never have written this song
And I thought alone that I never could be strong
But I was wrong, now you’re gone

You showed me how to get along on my own
Since you’ve gone

Now you are gone and I’m all alone
And I’ve got no heart to call my own
I’m so alone, now you’re gone

And I’m glad you’re gone, and I’m glad you’re gone

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AFTERSHOCK

52 seconds of cutting - ripping acoustic guitar solo.

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RUNNING WITH THE RIVER

Well – hey now we’re in this song – so just come along
And be in the laughter of all the questions that are asked of all of us
At one time or another
I know I keep asking but do you love me – I’m sorry I wonder –
And why do we have to go and why does it have to end my lover

All I really need is here – all that I could want is now
Running with the river

Going fast in cars the life lines blur in flashes of color
And people I knew change faster than talking heads on news –
After a while strange new places all look like you’ve been here before
And keeping up with their ideas of success can suck you down in a hole –
Hard to get out of – but –

All I really need is here – all that I could want is now
Running with the river

Purple lake – blue guitar running through my whole life
Ever approaching horizon
Just to find out each time it is only a start and not death closing behind him
In deep water I sink like a stone only to find that I am in heaven
And dry as a bone held safe in your arms drinking from sacred well, then

All I really need is here – all that I could want is now
Running with the river

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