HOLE IN THE GROUND

(4/20/02 NYC)

There’s a hole in the ground where my foot fell in.

Hit the blacktop hard in the intersection.

Trash piled high on Mulberry Street.

The sightseeing bus got a laugh on me.

Hole. Hole in the ground.

There’s a hole in the ground. Cab ran the light.

Landed on my back when I side-stepped right.

With my knee banged up. Crawling to the beat

of the horns and the screams in the Soho heat.

Bring a shovel. Bag of sand.

Bucket of tar and a strong pair of hands.

Won’t take much in the sweat and the din.

Fill the damn thing in. Fill the damn thing in.

There’s a hole in the ground where the words all fail.

When the dust settles down on a thousand tales.

Spoken in the past into plastic ears

of the girls behind glass, frozen all these years.

PLAYERS

MICHELE VAN KLEEF - Lead Vocal, Harmony Vocal

ALBERT REDA - Bass, Hammond Organ, Background Vocals

JIM WALKER - Drums, Percussion, Acoustic Guitars and Solo, Electric Guitars and Solos, Background Vocals, SFX, Samples.

Recorded and mixed by JIM WALKER at Studio515. Portland, OR

Mastered by Ryan Foster at Foster Mastering

@fostermastering

All Rights Reserved.

All material written by James Stanley

C&P 2024 Thon Music (ASCAP)

FIREMAN

We’re cut loose. I’m all alone.

This blood flows. Cold as stone.

Watch them dig and scrape for gold.

Now it lives down in the hole.

Mother, what happens next?

With no judge in it’s eyes.

One by one is how we die.

Mother, what happens next?

Cause I can’t wait to see the thrilling conclusion to this…

When the fireman’s been burned down.

When the flames rage and the water’s gone.

Mother, what happens next?

PLAYERS

Michele Van Kleef - Background Vocals

Albert Reda - Bass, Lead Vocal

Jim Walker - Drums, Percussion, Acoustic Guitars, Electric Guitars, Piano and Solo, Synth, B3 Organ, Background Vocals

Recorded at Studio515. Portland, OR

Mastered by Ryan Foster at Foster Mastering

@fostermastering

All material written by James Stanley Walker

C&P 2024 Thon Music (ASCAP)

All Rights Reserved.

I'll be releasing my new album, LITTLE BIRD, one track per week, here and on Bandcamp.

jvamusic1.bandcamp.com/album/little-bird

This is Track 9.

Big Game

I hope you enjoy it.

Thank you for your time.

Walker

www.jvamusic.com

BIG GAME

I’ve got big thoughts.

Sparks keep coming off rails that hum while the dreams are summoned. Uh huh.

I’ve got a big mouth.

Words go dark and it strains and bargains then begs your pardon. Uh huh.

Big will scream like a train in the rain.

It’s burning like a train in the rain.

I’ve got a big fist.

Clenched like steel it just can’t deal when things get real. Uh huh.

I gotta big heart. Big and broken it leaves me open but I keep hoping. Uh huh.

Big will pound like a train in the rain.

It’s pumping like a train in the rain, and…

Ooh, it’s all a big game.

Big game - that’s what you get.

PLAYERS

Michele Van Kleef -

Harmony Vocal, Background Vocals

Albert Reda -

Bass, Electric Piano, B3 Organ, Background Vocals

Jim Walker -

Drums, Percussion, Acoustic Guitars,

Electric Guitars and Solo, Lead Vocal, Background Vocals

Recorded at Studio515. Portland, OR

Mastered by Ryan Foster at Foster Mastering

www.fostermastering.com

All material written by James Stanley Walker

C&P 2024 Thon Music (ASCAP)

All Rights Reserved.

I'll be releasing my new album, LITTLE BIRD, one track per week, here and on Bandcamp.

jvamusic1.bandcamp.com/album/little-bird

This is Track 8.

Madeline Falls

I hope you enjoy it.

Thank you for your time.

Walker

www.jvamusic.com

MADELINE FALLS

Too much me shooting through the day sky.

In my mind is space and time.

Pour another long and tall one.

Floodlights shine upon my crimes.

When Madeline falls.

Whenever she calls and falls apart.

She gets in my head.

And drags me back to her heart.

Here she comes like precious cargo.

Bridgette Bardot - she walks like that.

Brown and gold in streaming sunlight.

Moment’s just right, my slinking cat.

But Madeline’s lines get crossed.

The simplest facts gets lost and tossed along the way.

But Madeline’s ways persuade.

And suddenly I’m displayed under glass for all my days.

Down the dark hall maps are scattered.

Good girl shattered. A long way down

Rings are pawned and windows shuttered.

How she flutters at every sound.

PLAYERS

Michele Van Kleef - Background Vocals

Albert Reda - Bass, Background Vocals

Jim Walker - Drums, Percussion, Acoustic Guitars, Electric Guitars and Solo, B3 Organ, Electric Piano, Lead Vocal, Background Vocals

Recorded at Studio515. Portland, OR

Mastered by Ryan Foster at Foster Mastering

www.fostermastering.com

All material written by James Stanley Walker

C&P 2024 Thon Music (ASCAP)

All Rights Reserved.

I'll be releasing my new album, LITTLE BIRD, one track per week, here and on Bandcamp.

jvamusic1.bandcamp.com/album/little-bird

This is Track 7.

Everything's Sinking

I hope you enjoy it.

Thank you for your time.

Walker

www.jvamusic.com

EVERYTHING'S SINKING

I dreamed of rats, slick with rain.

Drowning on the banks of marble.

Crawling for air. Gasping and rolling.

Woke up feeling quite unstable.

Lime work cracks. Basements flood.

Shin-deep in water.

Stone and salt. Wine and smoke.

Wet clothes stuck to my body.

Oh, Everything’s sinking.

Walls wet with blood. Buckets of mud.

Pound an old pipe with a hammer.

A patch and a kiss. Repair what’s been fixed.

The city waits upon a funeral.

No sign of light. Italian night.

Still the bridges simmer.

From the room into the drink.

Bells ring like death around me.

It’s alright. Another night. (Everything’s Sinking)

Wooden room. Like a tomb. (Everything’s Sinking)

PLAYERS

Michele Van Kleef - Harmony Vocal, Choir Vocals, Background Vocals

Albert Reda - Bass, Fretless Bass, B3 Organ, Harmony Vocals, Background Vocals

Jim Walker - Drums, Percussion, Acoustic Guitars, Electric Guitars and Solo, Lead Vocal, Background Vocals, SFX and Samples

All material written by James Stanley Walker

C&P 2024 Thon Music (ASCAP)

All Rights Reserved.

I'll be releasing my new album, LITTLE BIRD, one track per week, here and on Bandcamp.

jvamusic1.bandcamp.com/album/little-bird

This is Track 6.

Denied(lead vocal - Albert Reda)

I hope you enjoy it.

Thank you for your time.

Walker

www.jvamusic.com

DENIED

Now the waters run. The souls collide.

And I’m revealed as lost inside.

My hands are cold. I stall for time.

The words break up through static lines.

A grayish blur upon the day...make it go away.

The hemlock burns. It vipers through.

I cannot stay here without you.

It’s black and red, comes easily.

It’s part of me you’ll never see.

I wish I might, I wish I may...

It’s more than fascination.

It’s more than wanting everything.

It’s more than saintly patience.

It’s more than silver words and rings.

This is me and it cannot be denied.

It’s stronger now than it was before.

I will lock it up behind steel doors.

A plate of glass inside my head.

The flame is black, the fire dead.

The ash floats up as if to say…

PLAYERS

Albert Reda - Piano, Lead Vocal @butch_larocca

Recorded at Studio515. Portland, OR. Additional recording by ALBERT REDA at Boschetto

Mastered by Ryan Foster at Foster Mastering

@fostermastering

All material written by James Stanley Walker

C&P 2024 Thon Music (ASCAP)

All Rights Reserved.

I'll be releasing my new album, LITTLE BIRD, one track per week, here and on Bandcamp.

jvamusic1.bandcamp.com/album/little-bird

This is Track 5.

Don't Waste Your Time

I hope you enjoy it.

Thank you for your time.

Walker

www.jvamusic.com

DON’T WASTE YOUR TIME

From here on out, you’ll be standing in the rain.

A deck of cards while you’re waiting for a train.

Under cover of a neon night.

You can’t undim the lights.

Don’t waste your time.

I hear you call my name - don’t waste your time.

Knocking on my door - don’t waste your time.

Bernice and wine are coursing through your veins.

The hours drag as your minutes tick away.

Remember when we tried to reignite?

You can’t just scratch and bite.

Don’t waste your time

PLAYERS

Michele Van Kleef - Harmony Vocal, Background Vocals

Albert Reda - Percussion, Bass, Background Vocals

Jim Walker - Drums, Percussion, Acoustic Guitars, Electric Guitars and Solo, Lead Vocal, Background Vocals

Recorded at Studio515. Portland, OR

Mastered by Ryan Foster at Foster Mastering

www.fostermastering.com

All material written by James Stanley Walker

C&P 2024 Thon Music (ASCAP)

All Rights Reserved.

I'll be releasing my new album, LITTLE BIRD, one track per week, here and on Bandcamp.

jvamusic1.bandcamp.com/album/little-bird

This is Track 4.

Last Man Standing

I hope you enjoy it.

Thank you for your time.

Walker

www.jvamusic.com

LAST MAN STANDING

Looking out at these dark skies, I feel my mind slip.

Unhooked from my power supply, I hear the cord rip.

Underneath a darkened staircase.

Down an empty dead-end street.

I was waiting in the shadows.

Last man standing.

I turn around and there you stand. Without a warning.

I hold my breath long as I can. My last morning.

Pacing round this small enclosure.

Is it midnight? Is it noon?

Does it matter? Hours shatter.

Restless fingers. Sirens calling.

Someone drops me from behind.

Now I’m falling to the cold floor.

Oooh. Last man standing.

PLAYERS

Michele Van Kleef - Harmony Vocal

Albert Reda - Drums, Percussion, Bass, Acoustic Piano, Tack Piano, Space Piano, B3 Organ and Solo, Co-Lead Vocal

Jim Walker - Drums, Percussion, Electric Guitars, Riff Guitar, Co-Lead Vocal

Recorded at Studio515. Portland, OR

Mastered by Ryan Foster at Foster Mastering

www.fostermastering.com

All material written by James Stanley Walker

C&P 2024 Thon Music (ASCAP)

All Rights Reserved.

I'll be releasing my new album, LITTLE BIRD, one track per week, here and on Bandcamp.

jvamusic1.bandcamp.com/album/little-bird

This is Track 3.

Back To You.

I hope you enjoy it.

Thank you for your time.

Walker

www.jvamusic.com

BACK TO YOU

I’ve been to Paris. I’ve been to Rome.

I’ve been to Istanbul too.

I’ve traveled far and wide, to the ends of the earth.

But all roads just lead back to you.

Hollywood Boulevard, Lombard and Beale.

The Vegas Strip. 5th Avenue.

I could be anywhere, walking around.

But all roads just lead back to you.

I’ve got lots of stories to tell at the bar.

A couple might even be true.

Stamps on my passport and miles on my shoes.

All roads just lead back to you.

PLAYERS

Jim Walker - Acoustic Guitars, Lead Vocal

Recorded at Studio515. Portland, OR

Mastered by Ryan Foster at Foster Mastering

www.fostermastering.com

All material written by James Stanley Walker

C&P 2024 Thon Music (ASCAP)

All Rights Reserved.

I'll be releasing my new album, LITTLE BIRD, one track per week, here and on Bandcamp.

jvamusic1.bandcamp.com/album/little-bird

This is Track 2.

Flowers.

I hope you enjoy it.

Thank you for your time.

Walker

www.jvamusic.com

FLOWERS

The first day the flowers bloomed,

the wings came and gathered you.

All alone in this grey light, you’re lying with your eyes closed.

Leave behind your second sight.

You’re slipping through the window.

No, you never were from this earth.

Your heart was burning deeply.

You belonged to a different place. Another world completely.

The universe swings open just one time in every short life.

Hands that cut through voices keep on moving like a sharp knife.

Visions stalking the dark again.

They watched when you were sleeping.

Eyes crawling upon your skin.

But they never stopped your dreaming.

All your days are memories that happened to you back then.

Through the smoke, returning. All is beautiful again.

PLAYERS

Michele Van Kleef - Lead Vocal, Harmony Vocal, Background Vocals

Albert Reda - Drums, Percussion, Bass, Electric Piano, B3 Organ

Jim Walker - Drums, Percussion, Acoustic Guitars, Electric Guitars, Ghost Guitar Loops, Volume Pedal Guitar and Solo, Harmony Vocal

Recorded at Studio515. Portland, OR

Mastered by Ryan Foster at Foster Mastering

www.fostermastering.com

All material written by James Stanley Walker

C&P 2024 Thon Music (ASCAP)

All Rights Reserved.