Number 9 Lyrics

No Words
Anthem
To Shine
Can You?
Ready to Wear
Unknown Daughter
Remembrance of Things Imagined
Un Sueño del Mundo
Number 9
If I Can't Have That
All Over Me
The Third Side of the Coin
Blind Alley
The Universal Hipster

No Words
Written December 6, 2022

It was a long hard year
Hope was killing me
Life in a minor key
The world turned at a touch
Delirious surprise
Crystal-blue eyes

I want to sing you every song
That I ever knew
There’s no way I can say
All I feel for you

I have no words, I have no words I have no words
I have no words, I have no words, I have no words
I have no words

Delicious insanity
Dreams full of you
In a rosy hue
The clock counts eternity
Blissfully in spin
Till I see you again

I want to write you every song
Straight from my core
But there’s nothing I can say
That’s never been said before

I have no words, I have no words I have no words
I have no words, I have no words, I have no words
I have no words

Credits:
Wendy Hearl - Vocals, guitars, bass, drum programming

Anthem
Written July 16, 2024

Standing in the dejection line
Remembering days when I felt so fine
Head in sand, didn’t understand
Demolition crews in the Promised Land
Watching the news, the shadows ooze
Feels so hard to breathe
Want to lift this pall, stand up tall
And wear it on my sleeve
 
Wish I could write us an anthem (anthem)
A tune to help us believe again (believe again)
Wish I could write us an anthem (anthem)
‘Cause we need to raise our voices
Now and then
 
You got to live, you got to love
And there ain’t no help fallin’ from above
You can’t pay, so you got no say
You throw your hands up and give it all away
But you might find, if you look behind
Companions all around
If we had a song, we might feel strong
Enough to stand our ground
 
Wish I could write us an anthem (anthem)
A tune to help us believe again (believe again)
Wish I could write us an anthem (anthem)
‘Cause we need to raise our voices
Now and then
 
Ain’t got no corporate sponsor
Or an organizational chart
But I’ve got a guitar, and I’ve got a voice
And I want to do my part

Credits:
Wendy Hearl - Vocals, guitars, bass, hand claps
Kirk Roberts - Drums, hand claps
Bob Huss - Backing vocals
Linore Huss – Backing vocals
Ann Johnson – Backing vocals
Rosemary Kleske – Backing vocals
Phoenix – Backing vocals

To Shine
Written June 29, 2023

I don’t know what to sing about anymore
All the stale old rhymes
And the worn-out metaphors
All the chords are wrong and they’re out of tune
The audience turns away
And I know I’m not immune
 
And I’m lost inside the
Circuits made in another time
Let me out, let me out
The bulb is burning out
When I know it needs to shine
 
I don’t know what to talk about anymore
I’ve got my tales to tell
And every one’s a bore
I’ve killed many a straw man in my time
All the hard-won truths
Are now nursery rhymes
 
But I look out from the
Dark into the pink-and-purple sky
Let me see, let me see
The earth hides the sun
But I know somewhere it shines
 
I don’t know how to live anymore
I’ve lost so much, and I
Know I’ll lose some more
The years keep flying by, guess I’m in the way
I’m told the kingdom belongs
To those born yesterday
 
And I’m looking for
Epiphany, or at least a sign
Show me now, show me now
I don’t know where to go
I just know I need to shine

Credits:
Wendy Hearl - Vocals, guitars, keyboard, bass, tambourine, drum programming

Can You?
Written December 6, 2023

I used to think that as I got older
It would maybe get easier
I’m a little bit wiser, but on my shoulder
Sits the same little imp
 
When I was small
And the whirlwind was tugging at me
The device kicked in
Shields that I couldn’t see
 
You want to keep me safe
But this is not the way
Can you give me back my mind?
Can you give me back my life?
 
The old algorithm stayed in place
When the danger had passed
Like a medicine with a strong aftertaste
A situational eye
 
Left and right
I try to clear away the debris
A buccaneer
Sailing in the sea of memory
 
You want to keep me safe
But this is not the way
Can you give me back my mind?
Can you give me back my life?
 
Lay down your weapons, you tired soldier
The war is over
 
You want to keep me safe
But this is not the way
Can you give me back my mind?
Can you give me back my life?

Credits:
Wendy Hearl - Vocals, guitars, keyboards, bass, shaker, drum programming

Ready to Wear
Written January 22-25, 2024

I’m putting on something new
To emerge from the shadows
I’m not waiting on you
 
Some people dress to better blend into
Some dress to hide they’re monochrome
Some judge you if you’re wearing dress and heels
Too unreal
They’ll keep you trapped in chromosomes
 
I’m putting on something new
To emerge from the shadows
And carry the flame in my style
I’m not waiting on you
To resolve all contradictions
I’m taking back my smile
 
Some people dress devoutly casual
Some people love to wear their pain
Some people love to brandish uniforms
Unicorns
Will be kept in finest mundanes
 
I’m putting on something new
To emerge from the shadows
And carry the flame in my style
I’m not waiting on you
To resolve all contradictions
I’m taking back my smile
 
I’m putting on my veil of mystery
I’m putting on my rainbow shoes
I’m putting on what makes me beautiful
What’s beautiful
Is wearing my own truth
 
I’m putting on the gentle lavender
I’m putting on the icy blues
I’m putting on what makes me beautiful
What’s beautiful
Is wearing my own truth
 
I’m putting on something new
I’m putting on something true

Credits:
Wendy Hearl - Vocals, guitars, piano, bass, tambourine
Kirk Roberts - Drums
Ann Johnson - Backing vocals
Phoenix - Backing vocals

Unknown Daughter
Written July 6-7, 2023

How lonely it must be
To be the axis of everything
But you’re never free
You can’t let them see
The darkness to which you cling
 
Love is a verb
And you’ve got to live it
You saw the truth unearthed
And you can’t forgive it
 
No tears for the unknown daughter, just
Accusations of imaginary manslaughter
Now she’s left treading water, but she
Can’t forget all the things that he taught her
 
She cries for you
As you hide in your thorny pride
A cage built for two
Where you sit and stew
And hold back reality denied
 
Love is a verb
And you’ve got to live it
But I guess that
It was just a word
And she can’t forgive it
 
No tears for the unknown daughter, just
Accusations of imaginary manslaughter
Now she’s left treading water, but she
Can’t forget all the things he taught her
 
Love is a dream
When you can’t show it
She was never seen
You don’t want to know it
 
No tears for the unknown daughter, just
Accusations of imaginary manslaughter
Now she’s left treading water, but she
Can’t escape all the things that he taught her

Credits:
Wendy Hearl - Vocals, guitars, piano, bass, congas, drum programming
Phoenix - Backing vocals

Remembrance of Things Imagined
Written August 31-September 19, 2023

She was the one with the siren song
And a smile that could snare the snake.
Homecoming Queen in her Jordache jeans,
In her palm lay the dreams of youth.
Daddy’s girl with a brunette curl
And a mask to escape the dark.
Cheerleader bright in the midst of cool;
The future open wide.
 
Status defended with cruel remarks
And a withering stare revealed.
Still she must shrink to be small enough
To fit into the mold she chose.
Manicure, pedicure, satin gown,
And an ornament takes her arm.
This is the place where the music starts,
And the time when the magic ends.
 
She looked out the windows and sighed,
Watching the pigs fly by.
 
It was a life she never lived,
And no one knew she was there,
And her double never got into trouble;
He didn’t dare.
 
Quiet mouse, no talk in the house above a whispered prayer.
Iron cross around slender neck; she hides from Satan’s gaze.
Hand-me-downs—the popular girls look down from moneyed heights.
Boys don’t see the way that she fills her out-of-fashion dress.
 
One, though, looks, mysterious grin and dark appraising eyes;
Bad boy, steely, promises something more than cloistered sighs.
Stubbled face against her smooth cheek, a strong arm leads her down.
Grateful for a shadow of love, she opens up the gate.
 
Late, too late she sees there’s no way to turn the hours around.
Future shrinks as seedling increases, barring all escape.
Fall from grace, the eager young student branded by mistake.
Single mother, seventeen years, she fights to stay alive.
 
She looked out the windows and sighed,
Watching the pigs fly by.
 
It was a life she never lived,
And no one knew she was there,
And her double never got into trouble;
He didn’t dare.
 
Studded leather bracelet rebel, once upon a smoker’s glory,
Poetry in notebooks hidden, music with a metal edge.
Alien with stoic face that can’t quite hide the trace of crying,
She’s the cynic, wary, eyeing those who teach and those who try;
Wishes she could be herself.
 
If there is another like her, never has she seen or met them.
Only once, a breathless moment, stolen kiss on lipstick mouth;
Seared in memory, replayed over. Was it real or dream or fancy?
Bides her time until her life unfolds in strange surprising ways.
Looks beyond the flattened hills.
 
It was a life she never lived,
And no one knew she was there,
And her double
Never got into trouble;He didn’t dare.

Credits:
Wendy Hearl - Vocals, guitars, keyboards, bass, shaker, rain stick, drum programming
Ann Johnson - Backing vocals
Phoenix - Backing vocals

Un Sueño del Mundo
Music written circa 1993, lyrics written early 2024

My mind longs for escape
Every face is a mask, every word a cliché
I’ve found a need to be lost
Embracing illusion, making love under the Southern Cross
 
I see the bright-painted poverty’s humble glory
And the dull emerald waters roar their story
Into my ear
 
Estoy soñando
Todos juntos, la gente cantado
El mundo unido
No he sido allí
Pero yo quiero ir
 
The pale crown is revealed
But the copper griefs remain too well-concealed
And ice sweats in the heat
As the wind and the rain spit through the teeth of deceit
 
See the fisted glove and the clerical collar
Tangoing through the polished squalor
Can you hear?
 
Estoy soñando
Todos juntos, la gente cantado
El mundo unido
No he sido allí
Pero yo quiero ir
 
When the visions clear, and the journey’s completed
Defiant voices shouting undefeated
Still ring clear
 
Estoy soñando
Todos juntos, la gente cantado
El mundo unido
No he sido allí
Pero yo quiero ir

¿Estamos listos, amigos?

Credits:
Wendy Hearl - Vocals, guitars, bass, shaker, guiro
Kirk Roberts - Drums

Number 9
Written November 27-28, 2023

Way up in a holler
Get up and fix the stove
Beat the sun to breakfast
And shave by lantern glow
Kiss the wife and join the men
Heading up the road
 
Dust and sweat and fear
All crowded in that hole
Carbide lights and shadows
Keep loading up that coal
Wire up the dynamite
Smoke and thunder roll
 
And when we hear that whistle
Blowing quitting time
Thank the lord for another day
Walking out of Number 9
 
Well, the company built the town
And the company owns the store
You break your back for a handful of scrip
That’s gone before you know
Some cough and hack, some never come back
You wonder what it’s for
 
Two thousand people came and marched
For the UMWA
The governor sent the State Police
To show us all the way
Machine guns pointed at the crowd
This is freedom in the USA
 
The captain says they’ll shoot
Whoever crosses that line
“You’ll never have the Union
Down in Number 9”
 
Still we marched and fought
Till the men were organized
The coal towns were booming
As the seasons rolled on by
The road paved with red dog
Headed right up toward the sky
 
Rock fall broke my uncle’s back
Black lung took his dad
Machines could mine the coal
Faster than they ever had
The river running dirty
We didn’t think we had it bad
 
Well, Daddy’s voice was shaking
Mama tried not to cry
The seam is all mined out
They’re closing Number 9
 
One more time the company tried
To break the union down
Cops and scabs poured in
Jackrocks on the ground
The battle won, the war was lost
And no one made a sound
 
Store fronts dark and rotted
Numb people half-deceased
On stolen mountaintops
Vultures wait for the feast
And in the churches, many wear
The Mark of the Beast
 
And they say, “Bless the hand that steals
The bread away from mine,
And when I die, send my soul
Down to Number 9”

Credits:
Wendy Hearl - Vocals, guitar

If I Can't Have That
Written circa January 2022-March 24, 2023

I’d like to give you kisses in the sunrise
Enfold you under pinholes in the sky
Laughing, aimless rolling with the wind
But if I can’t have that
Still want to be your friend
 
I’d like to lie and listen to you breathing
Feel life pumping through our hearts in time
Ecstatic night we wish to never end
But if I can’t have that
Still want to be your friend
 
I’m romantic, and I’m hopeless
Juniper and honey on my plate
Whether this can grow into something more
It’s worth the time to investigate
 
I’d like to send a hundred blessings to you
And give thanks for every minute since we met
And feel your love like fire, but then
If I can’t have that
Still want to be your friend

Credits:
Wendy Hearl - Vocals, guitars, mandolin, bass, drum programming

All Over Me
Written July 31, 2014

Well, you can get drunk every night
And be as stupid as you can be
But don’t get your stupid all over me
 
You can rant and rave
And hate everyone you see
But don’t spit your hatred all over me
 
All over me
All over me
You’re not free to spill that juice all over me
 
You can be so scared
That you’re always packing heat
But don’t shoot your panic all over me
 
You can stuff your face
While you’re lying in debris
But don’t dump your garbage all over me
 
All over me
All over me
You’re not free to spill that juice all over me
 
Well, I wouldn’t care what you do
But this is my world, too, you see
So don’t get your stupid all over me
Don’t get your stupid all over me
Don’t get your stupid…
 
Why don’t you straighten up and act like somebody?

Credits:
Wendy Hearl - Vocals, guitars, piano, bass, tambourine, drum programming

The Third Side of the Coin
Written March 26-May 14, 2024

Have you heard the news?
The world’s going to hell
Same as every day for the last four billion years
But a new flower’s always growing
Rooted in garbage and watered by tears
We want to unscrew the inscrutable
Find truth immutable
Apply the rules, destroy the fools
But it’s all only temporarily forever
 
Good, bad, yin, yang
Heat death, big bang
 
I’m looking at the third side of the coin
I’m running through the twilight
From the ones and zeroes
Save us from the great all-knowing
Who confidently separate
The villains from the heroes
 
Some say
We need to pray for a better god
But who can say if disillusion is better than that illusion?
Just as sure as the sun casts a shadow
Logic dissolves into pools of confusion
Labels, boxes, either-or
It’s us or them, forever war
We may be smart, but we’re really not that wise
 
Action, reaction
Uneasy satisfaction
 
I’m looking at the third side of the coin
I’m running through the twilight
From the ones and zeroes
Save us from the great all-knowing
Who confidently separate
The villains from the heroes
 
There’s a man in a basement with tears in his eyes
As he dreams of dividing up women like pie
There’s a prophet who says that we’ve already died
Her hands raised to shield her from pieces of sky
And another who shivers with righteousness rage
And would kill for the birth of Aquarius age
And we swallow the world to fill holes in our hearts
Where did it end, and when does it start?
 
I’m looking at the third side of the coin
I’m running through the twilight
From the ones and zeroes
Save us from the great all-knowing
Who confidently separate
The villains from the heroes

Credits:
Wendy Hearl - Vocals, guitars, piano, bass, finger snaps
Kirk Roberts - Drums, finger snaps

Blind Alley
Written March 23, 2023

You led me down a blind alley
You stabbed me in the rain
You left me in a blind alley
Bleeding and calling your name
 
Jagged words in my ear
Kindly heartless
Don’t know how we landed here
Crawling in darkness
 
You led me down a blind alley
You stabbed me in the rain
You left me in a blind alley
Bleeding and calling your name
 
I've walked my footsteps back
Searching for some hints
In that fantastic trimester
Nothing makes sense
 
I thought you were who I was looking for
I thought that you had let me in
But the door slammed shut
Just like it burst open
 
You led me down a blind alley
You stabbed me in the rain
You left me in a blind alley
Bleeding and calling your name
 
Blind  Alley
You don’t know yourself
Blind  Alley
You are so blind

Credits:
Wendy Hearl - Vocals, guitars, keyboard, bass, drum programming

The Universal Hipster
Written January 6-24, 2021

A hepcat in a zoot suit
A bearded lumberjack
A groovy Nehru jacket off-the rack
Doc Marten boots and flannel
Turtleneck and black beret
Blue jeans and a studded bustier
 
Emptiness wrapped up in a suit of cool
Today’s rebel clone, and tomorrow’s fool
 
It’s the Universal Hipster
A person of their time
Fashions change, but all the same
The hipster abides
 
Whitebread warm and cozy
Authentically counterfeit
Appropriated soul, it’s a perfect fit
A badge for us and a badge for them
Distinctions crisp and clear
We look down and they can’t get too near
 
Standing out by blending in
Comfortable wearing someone else’s skin
 
It’s the Universal Hipster
A person of their time
Fashions change, but all the same
The hipster abides
 
It’s the bomb, yeah, it’s a gas
It’s rad and sick, all reet and bad
The black hole in the middle of a fad
 
It’s the Universal Hipster
A person of their time
Fashions change, but all the same
The hipster abides

Credits:
Wendy Hearl - Vocals, guitars, keyboards, bass, tambourine, drum programming

All songs written by Wendy Hearl. ©2025 Wendy Hearl