Machine Dream Lyrics

Combat Boots
Written January 30-November 23, 1997

Please remember in the future
There’s a reason to my rhyme
The things I make you do
Will put a picture in your mind

Like Jesus wearing combat boots

All the faces around you
Will be different from yourself
Learn to fire that gun
You’ll start to feel like someone else

Like Buddha wearing combat boots

Identify your leaders
And don’t question their rules
In war you follow orders
We’re the hands—you are the tools

Like Lao Tzu wearing
Like Buddha wearing
Like Jesus wearing combat boots

Credits:
Wendy Hearl – Vocals, guitars, bass

Flying to the Moon
Written January 8, 1997

I’m getting so tired
Of seeing all the winners
Sip their wine
I’m always so tired
Of trying to swim
When I should be

Flying to the moon
And I feel I could leave orbit
Soon, oooh, and I’m so high
And I, I feel
Good, like I should
I feel good like I should
So they tell me
So it must be true

I’m trying so hard
To believe that I am
Worth waiting for
It’s getting so hard
My body is here
While I’m up there

Flying to the moon
And I feel I could leave orbit
Soon, oooh, and I’m so high
And I, I feel
Good, like I should
I feel good like I should
So they tell me
So it must be true

Flying to the moon
And I feel I could leave orbit
Soon, oooh, and I’m so high
And I, I feel
Good, like I should
I feel good like I should
So they tell me
So it must be true

She waits for me in shades of gray
Not for myself do I still wait
She waits for me in shades of gray
It’s up to me
Got one more
Day to live
Can’t look back
I’m rising…

Credits:
Performed by Mother Zephyr
Wendy Hearl – Lead vocals, electric guitar
Joe Arrington - Backing vocals, acoustic guitar
John Franjione - Bass
Kevin Schama - Drums

I Wonder
Written May 29-November 24, 1997

I’m taken
I’m shaken
Room full of faces time has left behind
You fear me
You’re near me
So you run and hide the naked wrinkles of your mind

I wonder
How long until the child of yesterday
Will let the woman run?
I wonder
How many times can you live a day
Before tomorrow comes?

I’m winging
I’m clinging
To a life raft in the middle of a hurricane
You’re smiling
You’re dialing
For the nearest man to come and wrap you up in chains

I wonder
How long until the child of yesterday
Will let the woman run?
I wonder
How many times can you live a day
Before tomorrow comes?

Credits:
Wendy Hearl – Vocals, guitar, keyboards, bass

Remnants
Written November 3, 1997

Black disk spinning, spinning dreams
Of long-dead voices who laugh and scream
Of wondrous thoughts and exotic tastes
Of wise old men with children’s faces
So much magic in the grooves
Power to stop and strength to move
Spinning and spinning until it ends
Then turn it over and do it again

Remnants
Of a distant place
Remnants
A time we can’t escape
Remnants
All that’s gone
Remnants
Got to move on

Keep looking back to see what I missed
Cause up ahead is smoke and black mist
Keep walking over familiar ground
Can’t look around

Faded pictures, faded years
And all the blood and dried-up tears
Bottled and sold for a low, low price
Won’t fill you up, but sure tastes nice
What can we do when it’s all been done
But close our eyes and carry on
Tomorrow, tomorrow still won’t know
Turn off your mind and let it flow

Remnants
Of a distant place
Remnants
A time we can’t escape
Remnants
All that’s gone
Remnants
Got to move on

Keep looking back to see what I missed
Cause up ahead is smoke and black mist
Keep walking over familiar ground
Can’t look around

Credits:
Wendy Hearl – Vocals, guitars, keyboards, bass
Joe Arrington - Backing vocals

Ultraviolet Light
Written February 3-May 30, 1997

Goodbye, tomorrow
Goodbye, today
There’s no catching what I’m dreaming
As it slowly melts away
You won’t miss me when I’m leaving
You don’t see me when I stay
Forever and forever
I am falling into gray

I’d like to be
Someone like me
But not afraid to fight
I dream of love
What you speak of
In ultraviolet light

You’ve earned to right to see me suffer
You want to feel that I’m afraid to live without you
You’ve got a need to see me through
Don’t you?

Every song has to be important
Can’t waste a breath
The mask a smile is breaking
Funny as death

I’d like to be
Someone like me
But not afraid to fight
I dream of love
What you speak of
In ultraviolet light

You make me feel like a new moon
Shadow on my face
You make me feel like a runner
Who’s lost the human race
You make me feel like a monarch
Who cannot rule her fate
You make me feel like being born
And I can’t wait…

Goodbye, tomorrow
Goodbye, today
There’s no catching what I’m dreaming
As it slowly melts away
You won’t miss me when I’m leaving
You don’t see me when I stay
Forever and forever
I am falling into gray

Credits:
Wendy Hearl – Vocals, guitars, keyboards, bass

It’s Snowing
Written February 23, 1997

Stopped to think about another year
Future bright until I landed here and found that I
Didn’t know the reason why
Now at last I see it coming down
Burying all as it covers the ground below
A lead-gray sky

You’ve got something I need
You’ve got something I need
You’ve got something I need
And I can’t wait until tomorrow
It’s snowing

I saw a hand sticking out of the white
I think it’s mine but it’ll be all right as long as I
Can’t feel the pain
Close your eyes and think about the sun
On a frozen lake we’ll run until the thin ice breaks
I’ll take the blame

You’ve got something I need
You’ve got something I need
You’ve got something I need
And I can’t wait until tomorrow
It’s snowing

I’m the snowman
I don’t go, my
Blank eyes staring in the cold
I’m the snowman
Crumbling now, I
Melt instead of growing old

You’ve got something I need
You’ve got something I need
You’ve got something I need
And I can’t wait until tomorrow
It’s snowing

Credits:
Wendy Hearl – Vocals, guitars, keyboards, bass
Joe Arrington - Backing vocals

Been A Sun
Written March 30-May 30, 1997

Jupiter crying at midnight
And his thunderbolts can’t keep the pain at bay
A star shining cold in the day sky
‘Cause it turns so far away

An angry eye cast on yesterday
Tomorrow is something it never sees
The moons spinning cold around his head
Reminds that he will never be

Should’ve been a sun, should’ve been a sun
Should’ve been another happy sun
Should’ve been a sun, should’ve been a sun
Should’ve been, and he’s not the only one
Too small to burn

Seeing life has no place here
A comet’s kiss he seems to ignore
Companions are gathered around him
Don’t know what he’s waiting for

Should’ve been a sun, should’ve been a sun
Should’ve been another happy sun
Should’ve been a sun, should’ve been a sun
Should’ve been, and he’s not the only one
Too small to burn

Don’t you cry, little planet

Credits:
Wendy Hearl – Vocals, guitars, bass

Around the Block
Written November 30-December 3, 1997

I woke up this morning
With a bird flying through my head
And a feeling like time had flowed too fast
Walked around with feet on the ground
And the sunlight shining through me
And deep inside knowing my tears won’t last

I’d had a fever for ten long years
And remember my fever dreams
Where everything was twisted and turned away
When I woke in a pool of sweat
And stood on shaky legs
I knew that it was the start of a bright new day

Hello, beautiful stranger
I’m going nowhere, no
But I think you are
Goodbye, I wish I knew you
I’ve been around the block but I never
Got out of the car

If you flew back to your cloud
And I never saw you again
Then I could’ve caught myself a lifelong dream
But when you smiled and met my eye
And returned to your distant window
I let my feelings wash me down the stream

Hello, beautiful stranger
I’m going nowhere, no
But I think you are
Goodbye, I wish I knew you
I’ve been around the block but I never
Got out of the car

Hello, beautiful stranger
I’m going nowhere, no
But I think you are
Goodbye, I wish I knew you
I’ve been around the block but I never
Got out of the car

Credits:
Wendy Hearl – Lead vocals, guitars
Joe Arrington - Backing vocals, mandolin

Angel Feather
Written February 23-April 18, 1998

Golden jars of shooting stars, I know
Would be my gift to you
A gesture of the newest kind
But we have instead a silver thread between
Connected at both ends
The blind speaking to the blind

Angel feather floating in the breeze
Blown across the planet’s seven seas in winter
She wonders if she wonders what to do

Electric veils and fairy tales are what
Have drawn us to this place
Belief in what can never be
And I find that you are never who I saw
When I perchanced to dream
But someone lonely, wild, and free

Angel feather floating in the breeze
Blown across the planet’s seven seas in winter
She wonders if she wonders what to do

Angel feather floating in the breeze
Blown across the planet’s seven seas in winter
She wonders if she wonders what to do
I do
Oh, I do

Credits:
Wendy Hearl – Vocals, guitars, bass

What’s My Disease?
Written November 17, 1997

Sick of limping
Limping on good legs
Drag the ground
Tired of drifting
Drifting through the fog
Till I fall down

I hear you calling
Calling for a friend
To share the sun
Spinning, dancing
Dancing, I forget
My knees won’t bend

One face is smiling pretty, and
One face is shattered crying, but
Both in the same mirror, asking
“What’s my disease?”

What is living?
Living’s where we are
On the length of time
Pirates sailing
Sailing through the void
To our next crime

I hear you calling
Calling once again
As my mind reels
There must be somewhere
Somewhere two lost souls
Can begin to heal

One face is smiling pretty, and
One face is shattered crying, but
Both in the same mirror, asking
“What’s my disease?”

Humanity.

Credits:
Wendy Hearl – Vocals, guitars, bass

Machine Dream
Written January 19, 1997-April 21, 1998

1. My Dream

Machine dream
My dream
Oh, what it means to me
Not to feel
And nothing’s real
But what I touch and see
Can see

Build a wall
Between us all
Replace you when you fall
Live to serve
Don’t deserve
To sleep inside a golden hall

Look back to see the planted seed
Look back to see the changing need
Look back to see the death of me
Look back…

2. Open My Eyes

The sun shining on my back
And my spirit soars
And my spirits soar
The book, open in my hands,
Is all I need to know
Is all I need to know

Open my eyes to the world around me
Open my eyes; it’s there for me to see
Open my eyes to the world around me
Found me

The questions in my head
Sun begins to fade
Sun begins to fade
The book closes in my hands
And I turn away
And I turn away

Open my eyes to the world around me
Open my eyes; it’s there for me to see
Open my eyes to the world around me
Close my heart…

3. The Question

I heard you whisper my name
Into my mind you stole
I’ve always been a woman who needs control

You opened my eyes
And I saw the way
Was not so straight and narrow as they say

The gift you gave to me was the question
The question, “why?”

When she went away
It tore me apart
Now I’m much too strong to show my heart

You taught me that falling in love
Would only be a shame
Chemical reactions in the brain

The gift you gave to me was the question
The question, “why?”

The only thing you gave to me was the question
The question, “why?”

4. Free

5. Cross That Line/Medicine Jar

Gonna get free somehow
Gonna have some fun
Lookin’ out for someone
Gonna be number one

Gonna get me a woman
Might get me two
And if you look at me sideways
Gonna get through to you

And we’re gonna have a fight if you cross that line
And we’re gonna have it out tonight if you cross that line

These crazy dreams I have I don’t understand
And I understand it’s all in my head
These thoughts have only ever caused me pain
Doesn’t matter, it’s all in my head

And we’re gonna have a fight if you cross that line
And we’re gonna have it out tonight if you cross that line

These crazy dreams I have I don’t understand
And I understand it’s all in my head
These thoughts have only ever caused me pain
Doesn’t matter, it’s all in my head

And I’d rather keep my feelings where they are
Medicine jar, medicine jar
And it really doesn’t matter what they are
Medicine jar, medicine jar
And I’d rather keep my feelings where they are
Medicine jar, medicine jar
Medicine jar

6. Something Else

There’s a canyon in my eyes
And a river cold and wide
Flows inside
Walk the streets of darkened towns
Join the robots walking ‘round
Try not to drown

Look up at the sky at night and wonder
If there’s someone there
A bright hand reaching down from the clouds to wake
Me from my nightmares
There must be something else
There must be something we don’t know

Riding on a mystery train
Knowing things beyond my brain
All in vain
The blade of science cuts again
Leaving pieces much too thin
To what end?

Day after day spent looking for secrets
Under every stone
Night falls and I try to remember why
Everyone has gone
There must be something else
There must be something we don’t know

These crazy dreams I have I don’t understand
Open my eyes
But they reach the sky above my head
To the world around me, Open my eyes
I am alive and find it’s a joy to be
It’s there for me to see, Open my eyes
And there’s nothing more that needs to be said
To the world around me…

I don’t believe in your machine dream
I don’t believe in my machine dream
I don’t believe in a machine dream
But I still dream of the machine…

Credits:
Wendy Hearl – Vocals, guitars, keyboards, bass

All songs written by Wendy Hearl. ©1999-2024 Wendy Hearl.