NEW debut album "Torch" now available

Click above to hear it for free or download on Bandcamp!

 

Scroll down for all song lyrics -

or click here to download lyric booklet as PDF

 

01 Back & Forth
Back and forth I follow you
Run away, you follow me too
You’re in Spain and I’m in Rome
When we really both want to be at home
It’s a game I can only lose
Sooner or later I’ll have to choose

Running away from emotion
Trying to avoid my devotion

You send a postcard from New York
But I’m already in Bangkok
I chase you to another port
It’s a very dangerous sport
If I catch you all is lost
Better keep on running at all costs

Running away from emotion
Trying to escape my devotion
Where will it end?
Can’t we just stay friends?

La la la la la la la
It’s not what I want
It’s not what you need
Don’t want to get hurt
Don’t want you to leave

Running away from emotion
Trying to forget my devotion
Where will it end?
Can’t we just stay friends?

02 Bleaker Street
Sunset rises on Bleaker Street
Busloads of tourists coming to see
All the high-heeled hustlers and hip-hop queens
Cruisin’ the pavement looking for scenes

Follow me close, we can walk to the pier
Gaze at the river escaping from here
The night’s open wide with all possibility
Set ourselves free from the daily futility

On Bleaker Street - We’re chasing dreams

Sunrise sets down on Bleaker Street
Neon pizza shops turning their keys
In our IKEA coffins, oblivious sleep
While midtown landlords are counting receipts

Rouse yourself up, we can go to the river
Drinking our coffee we sit and we shiver
Counting the hours ‘til next weekend begins
And next Friday night we can do it again

On Bleaker Street – we’re chasing dreams

Can you spare any change? Can you spare any change?
Oh honey how you’ve changed…

 

03 Torch Song
Fight fire with fire
I got the urge to burn

Here I am again, finally found a home
The chaos is tamed, a tiny flicker of hope
Things are looking good, maybe even great
Got my ducks in a row, I got a full plate
The future’s looking bright, like another cliché
So why do I feel I wanna set it in flames?

I got the urge to burn – I got the urge to burn
I got the urge to burn, to torch it all down
Leave nothing but ash, burn it all to the ground
Fire can burn so bright, flame burns so pure
I know it ain’t right, I know it ain’t no cure

Fight fire with fire – fight fire with fire

So much to lose, so little to gain
A few hours of fun can bring a torrent of pain
Too many times before, not gonna do it again
It’s a battle of wills between my heart and my brain

I got the urge to burn – I got the urge to burn
Hovering on the edge, matchbox in my hand
Just give me a sign, I know where it will end
Fire can burn so bright, flame burns so pure
I know it ain’t right, I know it ain’t no cure

Fight fire with fire – fight fire with fire
I got the urge to burn – I got the urge to burn

 

04 Laugh at the Stars
Don’t cry cuz it’s over -- don’t cry -- don’t cry

When your world has been broken
And you can’t sleep at night
And your heart’s filled with aching
Feels you’ll never put right

Your friends are around you
But they can’t understand
How one person’s heart
Can feel so much pain

Remember the good times
Forget all the rest
Let go of the sorrow
Hold on to the best

Don’t cry cuz it’s over - when you can laugh that it happened
Your smile has more power than you will ever imagine
And you reached for the stars, you laughed at the sky
You win or you lose, you’ll never know why
You danced in the rain, you shared in the love
You’ve lived more of life than the angels above
Don’t cry -- don’t cry

Nothing lasts forever, not good or bad
Hold on to the memory of the joy that you had
In the dark of the night blow the sadness away
Look to the horizon for the new day

© 2019 lyrics Ginger Wade / music Ginger Wade and Paddy Korn

 

05 The Wrong Bus
I took the wrong bus this morning
The same bus as every day
A gloomy Wednesday morning
The streets were wet with rain

He got on at the next stop
Spewing bigotry and hate
Ugly words about foreigners
The riders looked the other way

Stand by in silence or speak up and shout
I search for the words but nothing comes out
Make a stand or look away
I search for words - don’t know what to say

She stood there with her baby
Trying not to cry
No one else said anything
No one else even tried

I want to help, to rescue her
I want to fight the good fight
And while I’m sitting and dreaming
Another woman’s by her side

She said what lousy weather
And she asked the baby’s age
And as they talked together
The man turned and walked away

I sat at my desk dying slowly
The shame stuck between my teeth
And all I can ask myself is
Why wasn’t it me? Why wasn’t it me?

 

06 Balloon Heart
You put me on a string
And pulled me all around
You tied me to your wrist
And showed me off so proud

I floated like a dream
Above your head I felt so free
I followed your every step
I was the star at your party

I got a balloon heart
I’m flying high when you’re around
Balloon heart
When you’re gone I hit the ground
Balloon heart -- balloon heart

Then came the sad day
Hung in the corner, losing my air
My heart began to sink
You forgot about me, you left me there

My balloon heart beats for you
You’ve moved on to the next birthday
I’m losing all my air
You think you can just throw me away

I got a balloon heart
I’m flying high when you’re around
Balloon heart
When you’re gone I hit the ground
Balloon heart -- balloon heart

And when you’re dead and gone
My plastic heart will linger on
‘Cause plastic never disappears
I’ll last another ten thousand years

 

07 Bad Habit
I’m tired of living a refugee life
Running just to live
Sick for a home that no longer exists
If such a place ever did

I’ve known you now for just three days
I’m praying maybe you can save me
From the way I sabotage myself
Seeking salvation in bed with someone else

(You’re my) bad habit….

Maybe this time things will be different
I promise to change my ways
I’ll try to be true not only to you
But also to myself

With a six-stringed hard-on solid wood
Nothing could ever be so good
As the fantasy film fest in my head
Dreaming of you, I’m in another man’s bed

(You’re my) bad habit….

It’s a bad habit but I can’t kick it
Keep running away but it comes with me
Shiver and shake like a wet dog
I got a bad habit…

I’m tired of living a refugee life
Running just to live
Givin’ away all the things should be mine
Nothin’ left to give

 

08 Safe Harbor
Love is a place where you got a safe harbor
Everybody needs a place they can be a part of
Soldier or sailor, lover or saint
Everybody needs a place where they can feel safe

Ladyboy hustlers out plying their trade
While dockworkers drinking away all their pay
They been building the cranes higher and higher
To unload the boats full of cheap shit from China

In the glass towers, the suits are all frantic
To earn money to buy all that cheap Chinese plastic
Down on the corner the punks beg for change
To buy beer and food for their dogs with the mange

Safe harbor - safe harbor

Down on the Kiez the whores come in clusters
In their parkas and boots dressed like ski instructors
The guerilla romantics set fire to the banks
The cops hose them down in their water-shooting tanks

Safe harbor - safe harbor

My guitar serenades you here out on the street
Singing this song ‘bout the people I see
The flood of humanity, the ebb and the flow
Washed up on the shores of this river of hope

09 Rescue Crew
Don’t take me down with you
I don’t wanna fall that hard
Can’t be your rescue crew
Had enough playin’ that part

She’s long and she’s loud and acts real proud
When she walks in the room she moves the crowd
She’s lean and mean and looks real cool
She makes you think she’s no one’s fool

But I know it’s all an act for her
I can see her sliding fast
I wish I could reach out to her
Can’t repeat the mistakes from my past

I know that’s what friends should be for
But where you’re now I was before
You grit your teeth and call it a smile
And pretend you’re not screaming inside

I’ve seen the bottom, I’ve hit that ground
And I’m afraid to slide back down
I can’t stand by and watch you fall
So I reach for you and risk it all

Rescue crew - Who needs who? - Rescue crew
Can’t be your rescue crew

Safety’s in the eye of the beholder
And when you crash it hurts
No one dies of a broken heart
But they say it can’t be cured

Don’t take me down with you
I don’t wanna fall that hard
Can’t be your rescue crew
Gonna shake your world apart

Rescue crew -- Who saves who? -- Rescue crew
Why don’t you save me too?

Ginger Wade – Guitar, Bass, Vocals
Stefan Adler – Drums, Mandolin
Kay Schielke – Saxophone on “Bleaker Street”

Recorded by Benji Schaub at YourMusic.Pro Studios
Rotenburg an der Fulda, Germany – March 2019

Cover photo Daniel Steinke / album cover design Boris Stoyanov

All songs copyright © 2019 Ginger Wade
except “Laugh at the Stars” © 2019 Ginger Wade and Paddy Korn
All rights reserved