Julien Aklei

I think I’d like to go away
with no one else around
That’s when it feels like the day.

I think I’d like to be alone
with no one else around
That’s when it feels like a home.

Talk about an old guitar
Talk about an easy way to fly
Everybody wants to go
but they won’t take the time.’

Talk about an old guitar
Talk about an easy way to feel
Everybody wants to know
but they won’t touch the real.

I think I’d like to know the way that he rings
and though I kick myself again
It’s just the way with these things.

I think I’d like to know he’s hoping in side
I see his eyes turn out towards me
But they’re lost in the ride.

Talk about an old guitar.
Talk about the crazy worlds you know
Everybody wants to climb
but it won’t stop the show.

Talk about an old guitar.
Talk about the crazy things you’ve seen
Everybody wants to go
but it won’t stop the dream.

I think I’d like to know a world that is mine
just one step beyond the ocean
Someplace you’ll never find.

I think I’d like to know a world that is green
just one step beyond the water
Someplace far from the dream.

In my house, you come to learn.
This is my fire- you watch it burn.
Listen, look, learn again.
You will be my secret friend.

You will be my sole defender.
Give me something to remember.
Cause there’s so much pain that I cannot hide.
I need you to know how I feel inside.

In my house, where the shadows are long
Come inside, do not hide
You will learn to be strong.

Cause the pain is a flame I hold inside
Through the night while we dance in the moonlight.
And the flame is a fire that will never end.
Even for my secret friend.

But if you hurt me secret friend-
If you lay me low-
You don’t want to be there
On that night I lose control.

Cause the animal in her cage is pacing
And the wiggly worm know what he be facing-
I’ll make you laugh just like a clown
Then BAM another secet friend go down.

In my house, where the children come play
Through the night, so we hide
But they won’t be there by day.

Cause the pain is a flame we hold inside
Through the night while we dance in the moonlight.
And the flame is a fire that will never end.
Even for my secret friend.

Let’s go play a game
That everybody knows
You will run and hide
I will try to find you here we go.

Running thru the night
Running all alone
The way its always been
I was not your home.

Come and find me
No I think I will decline this time
Cause every man I ever meet
Has something dark behind his eyes that shines.

So sublime at first
A gentle light to draw you in
Til suddenly the tables turn
And now you’re falling down again.

Squirming in the shadows
First time I found a friend
But every time you come
You disappear again.

Come and find me
No I think I will decline this time
Cause every man I ever meet
Has something dark behind his eyes that shines.

So sublime at first
A gentle light to draw you in
Til suddenly the tables turn
And now you’re falling down again.

Wait there in the darkness
Wait there til the day
Thinking that you hear me
When I am far away.

And so you stay there in the darkness
Stay there by your phone
Thinking someone’s coming
When you are all alone.

Come and find me
No I think I will decline this time
Cause every man I ever meet
Has something dark behind his eyes that shines.

So sublime at first
A gentle light to draw you in
Til suddenly the tables turn
And now you’re falling down again.

You could be my dark man
Stranger in the park man
Standing in your trench coat flashing
Stars above but somethings crashing down

You could be my shady friend
Standing where the street lights end
Shadows fall always behind you
No one seeks and no one finds you now

Clouds stretch so far away
Endless worlds of endless grey
Walk before me and I’l follow you
This road leads us to tomorrow, true?

Clouds takes shape but they always lie
We’ll get bored but we’ll never die
Lay your hand upon my head now
Lead me through the fog and dread now

You could be my shadow man
To offer me your white bread hand
Shelling peanuts with your finger
A dusty feeling I remember now

Life can be so many things
Sometimes swirling like a dream
Sometimes flat I’m trapped inside it
Close my eyes but they won’t hide it

Half alive but that’s okay
The other half is filled with gray
Eyes are reaching through the fog and lace
From another world I can almost place

You could be my answer man
A book to dull to understand
A slice of bread upon my plate
The rusty and forgotten gate to now.

Strap the cloth upon your eyes- walk.
I can’t walk!
Strap the cloth upon your mouth- don’t talk.
I can’t talk!

Air surrounds like terror.
The world is black and dark everywhere.

Behind doors, men hide.
Shrink a little more inside.

Please don’t touch me now- I’m cold.
No more time to run and hide- too old.

And where else could I be
But in this darkened hall?
I can feel their bodies moving
Like bananas through the wall.

Strap the cloth upon your mouth-
I can’t talk!
Hands behind your back-
Walk!

No time. Too old.
You know before you were born, you were already sold.

And where else could I be
But curled up in my spleen?
I feel their fingers on the wall
And I know what they mean.

We walk through the hall
Patent leather shoes
On the marble floor
White you win and black you lose…

I can feel the stairwell rise.
I can feel their greenish eyes.
This was never about right and wrong;
It was only truth and lies.

Pat pat, so cold.
Don’t move, too old.

The cord around my waist
His waist beside my head
We’re standing in the kitchen now
He tells me I’m already dead.

And I know- I feel it too.
An air so dark and cold-
It doesn’t emanate from you.

You’re just another fish upon his line
Trapped inside a ring of time.
Your fingers on my shoulder now;
You know I won’t resist this time.

Time is dark.
What’s done is done.
The dead will never rise again.
The dead and I are one.

Hidden in my spleen,
You know that I know what things mean.
There are creatures wandering this earth;
They will find their home in me.

Up and down the stairs I ran
with a sceptre in my hand
How to chase the doubts out from my mind?

When the only life I’ve ever known
is to strive for absolute control
and to pull on every string that I could find

To my talismans I cling
I am scared of everything
She knew one day she’d grab the golden ring

On my back I saw the stars
I remembered fireflies in their jars
How to pull the fire out from the flame?

Can I make the bad ones fall
Crush them into pieces small
and somehow extricate myself from blame?

In my ears are bells that ring
I will conquer everything
She knew one day she’d grab the golden ring

Ladies dance and ladies sing
they toss their hair; they wear a ring
they won’t amount to anything I’m sure

But I will cut each finger tip
with stony eyes I’ll watch them drip
I’ll stand in puddles red upon the floor

Are there wise men- I don’t know
I grow the way that flowers grow
spreading from their center like a star

I made my bed; I lie in pain
it cools the fever from my brain
But my seeds upon the wind will travel far

I sing the song that roses sing
I don’t believe in anything
She knew one day she’d grab the golden ring

On my back I saw the stars
they spread out wide they were my arms
the burning flames that sparkled were my hands

I held my hands up to my face
I gazed into that burning place
so many bright things I could understand

I sing the song that roses sing
I will see through everything
She knew one day she’d grab the golden ring

What you mean to me- what you represent
Is a world that isn’t down below
Where the neon doesnt shine through a window filled with grime
Hahahaha laughing at men’s jokes all of the time

Working for nuns- putting hotdogs in their buns
And you always have to do it with a smile
And when the men laugh-hahaha- you laugh right back
Cause there’s a million other women who will serve it with a lemon

Will you take the rites with me- I want to bow before you
Will you step towards the water- lay your wallet on the altar
Can you hear them singing in the dark- prick you with a little spark
Disgraced by the thorn again- we want you to be born again.

Don’t touch the velvet curtain, cause it’s absolutely certain
That it’s crusted with somebody’s dream- better not touch anything
Just close your eyes and dream about the days when you ran wild about
The night and know for certain that them days are coming back alright.

Will you take the rites with me- I want to bow before you
Will you step towards the water- lay your wallet on the altar
Can you hear them singing in the dark- prick you with a little spark
Disgraced by the thorn again- we want you to be born again.

Do you love me do you don’t? Will you stay or will you won’t?
I don’t need your fidelity to open up a world where we
Can run and run where flower fly, through the night until we lie
On grass neath a bed of stars- the beauty of the world is ours.

Will you take the rites with me- I want to bow before you
Will you step towards the water- lay your wallet on the altar
Can you hear them singing in the dark- prick you with a little spark
Disgraced by the thorn again- we want you to be born again.

(Lyrics adjusted by me.)

Oh Shenandoah I long to see thee
Away you rolling river.
Oh Shenandoah I long to see thee.
Away, I’m bound away
Cross the wide Missouri.

Twas 7 long years since last I see thee
Away you rolling river
Twas 7 long years since last I see thee
Away, I’m bound away
Cross the wide Missouri.

So I ran to the corners of the land
And the sky did lay his hand so hard upon me.
There I lay, 20 nights and 20 days
And every day it seemed to rain
And I felt your waters on me.

In 7 more years, I won’t forget thee.
Away you rolling river.
In 7 more years, I won’t forget thee.
Away, I’m bound away
Cross the wide Missouri.

Sacred are the things that last
But you come on so hard and fast I cry.

Sacred things are meant to be
But you won’t put your claim on me so I
Belong to myself.

And the claim of
The life that I have known.
Please don’t let me go there.
Please don’t let me go back to the

Claim of the life that I have known.
Please don’t let me go there
Please don’t let me go.

You come on so fast and dark
Leave just when you’ve had enough
I lie- cloud in my mind.

Sacred things are meant to be
But you won’t put your claim on me and why?
There’s a woman you love

And the claim of
The life that I have known
Please don’t let me go there.
Please don’t let me go back to the

Claim of the life that I have known
Please don’t let me go there
Please don’t let me go back to the

Claim of the life that I have known
Please don’t let me go there
Please don’t let me go.

Claims appear on every street
The ripples where the rivers meet thats life.
Climb their way up every wall
They do whatever’s wanted to survive.

Pick your phone up with your ring
You leave like its not anything but why?
There’s a woman you love.

Through the alleyways I creep
A cloud of smoke when people sleep
And I belong to myself.

And the claim of the life that I have known
Please don’t let me go there
Please don’t let me go back to the

Claim of the life that I have known.
Please don’t let me go there
Please don’t let me go.

Pink and green, all alone
Guess you never really had a home.
Circles form, fires shine
You alone are left behind

To learn the ways
To burn the pain away
To find the gold
For you alone are truly old.

Chicken leg, gnaw the bone
Make your bed curled against a stone.
Circles form, fires shine
You alone are left behind

To see through things
To learn from bearded kings
To find the gold
For you alone are truly old.

Morning gold, wake in dew
Little bugs fly all over you.
Tiny bugs, tiny wings
In the end, you are a friend to things.

To feel
To know what’s really real
To touch the shine
Another world is left behind.

Fires shine, do not go
Never circle round their glow.
Fires shine in the night
Independent of their light

You alone are truly old.
You alone are truly old
You alone are truly old
You alone are truly old.