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Shadow Books

from Darkland Express part two by Greg Segal

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about

Shadow Books
Based on a dream. I used to "go" to this book store quite often in my dreams, find books that didn't exist. I dreamed of this place many times. One dream involved me following a girl that lived above the shop, and that's where this song came from.

The steel drum part at the end is really an orchestral string or horn part, or maybe a piano part. I didn't have any of those instruments, but when I tried the steel drum here, it fit beautifully and did not make me think of stereotypical steel drum music. Some people hear it and immediately go "Oh, de islands mon!", but I've never even once been able to hear it that way. Imagine three violins playing it in unison. That's how it sounds to me.

lyrics

The old couple has a bookstore on the boulevard
I only see it at night around closing time

The old lady has a mouth, she does all the talking
The old man stares from behind the counter
From behind her

He shuffles, grunts, mumbles under his breath
I don't think he likes me
Oh well

I like this store, I have been here before
They've got books you can't find anywhere else

Latest writings by authors long dead
Rare works I was not aware ever existed
(Of course, perhaps, maybe they don't...)

Well they rudely remind me it's closing time
And they want my host eyes to leave
Gotta make a change (can't explain how)
Who am I with now?

She's been working there part time, I think
Overtime on black wet Sundays
Not much of a life
She doesn't miss her time much

There's a small apartment upstairs, around back
They wouldn't rent it out to just anyone
It's rented out to this girl
I'm her shadow tonight
As I have been, it seems, on other nights

She's sensitive, shy and lonely
Getting older, sort of plain
She doesn't like herself very much
Thinks most of her life's been spent in vain

In her quiet dim lit room
The darkness leaks in from outside
From the black humid sky
To the shadows that hover in the corners
All around

Heat that simmers up the smells
Of paint, carpet, old clothes and
All the personal scents inside a dwelling
Like a fingerprint, no two exact but many alike

Tonight again she's sad
She's argued with the old woman
Who is harsh and blunt
A sensitivity flattened and razed
By years of hard living

The old woman doesn't trust her to pay
And has too many rules for her not to break any

The girl is disturbed, upset
Her living space is in jeopardy

She has nowhere else to go
And probably no way to start over again
No one to turn to for help
Her too small apartment and her stressful job
Are all she has

Not true, not totally
She has friends
And at times like this she remembers them

I've seen her party with them before
Amber drink from the bottle
Feel less pain and laugh it off for a while
She's not lonely then, those nights are good
But most nights are like this

You think you're alone but I see you
Your guard comes down and you cry
And I know

Your soul is like this night
A choir of despairing voices
Coming out of the dark

Into your room...into the shadows
Touching and merging with the darkness
In your heart

She likes this place,
And though she hates the old bitch
She'd hate to let it go
A private place where she can be
A person no one knows

Naked walks at midnight
Through the shelves of printed treasure
Sensual, alive at last
Dark solitude and pleasure

The freedom of the unknown place
Depopulated store at night
A place to fully be herself
Free spirit coming up for light

The most light it may ever see
Outside of in her head
Better late at night than never
Better 3 a.m. than dead

Feel I'm slipping- got to go
Hate to leave you crying
But I'm one of those voices on the night
My signal fades, dying

Don't sit alone
If you can, call some friends
Who'll understand and change the mood
To something higher, just to get you by

I like this place
I like you too
It's a sure bet I'll remember you
You both have cheap class
And that's the richest kind there is

And if I get cast this way again
We can looks through the books
And dance naked in the aisles after midnight

Celebrate freedom surrounded by knowledge
Cloaked in mystery and the force of life

I'd like to see you again sometime
Yes maybe I'll see you
Somewhere
Down the line

G.S., 6/20/91

credits

from Darkland Express part two, released April 29, 2016
GS: vocals, guitar, electric drums & percussion, treated whistling, bass

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Greg Segal Portland, Oregon

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