THE BEST YEAR OF MY LIFE

Easy livin', crazy women, nothing really mattered as such
Dave and Heather got together but nobody believed it much
But it really didn't matter none, cos we were having fun, yeah

Don and Johnnie short of money robbed the cigarette machine
Drinking Jack and driving back and never knowing where we'd been
But it really didn't matter none, cos we were having fun, yeah

That was the best year of my life
That was the best year of my life so far, yeah

Endless nights and bar room fights and running from the scene of the crime
Getting high on doobie pie, I don't recall a better time
But it really didn't matter none, cos we were having fun, yeah

That was the best year of my life
That was the best year of my life so far

And maybe next year will be better or just as good
And maybe we will do the things we know we should, yeah

Playing cards for changing partners, dying when the sun comes up
Getting drunk and smoking skunk, not knowing when you've had enough
But it really didn't matter none, cos we were having fun, yeah

That was the best year of my life
That was the best year of my life so far
That was the best year of my life
That was the best year of my life so far, yeah

Jules Benjamin (copyright 1999)

YOU HAVE BEEN LOVED

There was a girl with an abundance of beauty
So over-endowed with grace and with warmth
One day she told me in a moment of candour
She'd never felt so unloved since the day she was born
"Hold on," I said "what you're saying is nonsense
And so sure I'm right that a bottle I'll bet
That everyone here in this room thinks you're groovy
Even that crowd that we've never met because

You have been loved but you just don't know it
You have been loved but you just can't see it

Now I have a talent for pointing out the obvious
And it's clear to me now that you're a genuine case
Somehow somewhere there's something that's missing
There's a longing and a pain when I look through your face
But you look no further than the scars on your soul
And it really is time you attempted to see
How often you need to experience the bad times
To make you realise how the good times can be

You have been loved but you just don't know it
You have been loved but you just can't see it

Come over here and sit yourself down
And I'll write you a song if it'll make you feel good
I'll buy you a beer and I'll ply you with roses
I'll try my hardest to make you feel as you should
I know it's hard for you to sit there and smile
After all of the times you've been pushed and been shoved
But I'm quite prepared to do it myself
Just so I can prove to you that you have been loved

You have been loved but you just don't know it
You have been loved but you just can't see it

You have been loved but you just don't know it
You have been loved but you just can't see it

Jules Benjamin Copyright 2000

MY INCREDIBLE CAREER

The sun screams through the open limbs of a naked tree on a winter's day
My mind flicks through the virgin leaves of a picture book from my yesterdays
On the whole it's all the same except my skin was tight and my hair was good
And I'm looking back through the fifteen years, you know I've got less to show than you'd think I would

You can tell a man's wealth from the shoes that he wears
So in I walk with nothing on my feet, nothing on my feet

The rain falls in an icy sheet as I'm heading out from the city sludge
I stood long on a failing ground while they arbitrated and dared to judge
The old friends fade and disappear, or they'll turn and shoot as you start to run
It's the K-mart girls and the working men who don't seem to care about what I've done

You can tell a man's favour by the friends that he keeps
So here I am standing on my own, standing on my own

Why is it when I want someone I get lost in the crowd
Why is it when I want to be alone all I do is stand out
Why is people wearing hats and coats don't know how to drive
Why is it a man's got to die fifty times before he's alive, and the snow…

The snow finds it's resting place against the driver's door of my Dolomite
The forecast said it was serious so please stay at home as we approach the night
A man will learn from his experience, he'll remember it or he'll pay the price
After all these years I've never learnt to embrace your mistakes but never twice

You can tell a man's wisdom by the way that he thinks
So in I walk with nothing on my mind, nothing on my mind

Jules Benjamin Copyright 2001

 

ON THE OTHER SIDE

So the evening plays a parting shot
A slap that put me to my feet
Left an aftertaste of kerosene
But it's all the same to me

Only I was on the other side
Only I was on the other side
Only I was on the other side
With a bottle and grin

Did you notice me surrender
Spitting blood out through my teeth
Singing songs of worldly beauty
Seemed familiar to me

Only I was on the other side
Only I was on the other side
Only I was on the other side
With a woman and a key

So I played the final number
Was a sentimental piece
But I lost it in the coda
It's always happening to me

Only I was on the other side
Only I was on the other side
Only I was on the other side
With a junkie and a freak

Only I was on the other side
Only I was on the other side
Only I was on the other side
With a million and a piece

Only I was on the other side
Only I was on the other side
Only I was on the other side
With a bottle and grin

Jules Benjamin (copyright 2001)

COME PLAY ME

Come play me like a song
Don't let me wait too long
Just feel the words run out of you
Just like I do, I want you to

Roll me like a dice
This is passion without a price
Don't bet your heart on something new
That wouldn't do, I'm asking you to play me

It's clear that we should be together
I'm sure the signs were never
As strong as this it's a chance that we must not miss
Can you find a better reason
For stopping me from pleasing and making you smile, so…

Say me like a word
Like I'm a sound you've never heard
Just spell me over all night long
Right or wrong come play me like a song

Jules Benjamin Copyright 2001

HOLDIN' ON

In the shadows running scared, the platform glows in the frozen air
Of all the girls who have ever cared, I've never known someone who dared to run
You were the only one to carry me away

We were holdin' on, holdin' on
Too scared to stay and we were too tired to fight
We were holdin' on, holdin' on
Waiting for a train tonight

As we wait the commuters stare, twenty-one workers unaware
Of the promise that you made me swear, to run until we find somewhere for us
You were the only one to make me feel this way

We were holdin' on, holdin' on
Too scared to stay and we were too tired to fight
We were holdin' on, holdin' on
Waiting for a train tonight

You know that I can't wait to climb on that evening train
And I really don't know where it will go
And I really won't care if at last we get there and it starts to rain
I just want a different surrounding with nobody there that we know

Take that empty carriage there, we'll hit the back and we'll say a prayer
Got some cash and you've paid the fare, let's ride until we don't know where we are
You were the only one to want to run away

We were holdin' on, holdin' on
Too scared to stay and we were too tired to fight
We were holdin' on, holdin' on
Waiting for a train tonight

We were holdin' on, holdin' on
Too scared to stay and we were too tired to fight
We were holdin' on, holdin' on
Waiting for a train tonight

Jules Benjamin (copyright 2001)

MILLENNIUM MAN

It was sixty-seven when I joined this world
But my daddy was gone before my toes unfurled
He left one morning and he never returned
It was supposed to be the summer of love

Five whole years of non-event
One more birthday came and went
No call received and no message sent
I suppose it was the year of the rat

Now it's a glamorous world for millennium man
With a professional wife and a growing clan
It's an amorous life for the modern guy
But sometimes I could cry

Still I made it to high school on the brink of teens
My first sweetheart and my first blue jeans
But I never lived my schoolyard dreams
It was the winter of discontent

In eighty-five I fled the nest
When you're eighteen years you know the best
I was earning small and I was eating less
It was the year when they were feeding the world

Now it's a glamorous world for millennium man
With a professional wife and a growing clan
It's an amorous life for the modern guy
But sometimes I could cry

Sometimes I could cry but I don't cos it's not so bad
If you look too close it'll drive you mad
I can make my luck I can take my life in my hands

Now it's a glamorous world for millennium man
With a professional wife and a growing clan
It's an amorous life for the modern guy
But sometimes I could cry

But I'm doing all right and I'm feeling free
Looking forward to the twenty-first century
And I'm just about all I could want to be
So why should I cry?

Now it's a glamorous world for millennium man
With a professional wife and a growing clan
It's an amorous life for the modern guy
But sometimes I could cry

Jules Benjamin (copyright 1997)

MULHOLLAND AVENUE

You have to wonder how she made it here
She left them standing in the final year
After growing up fast from an infant to a debutante
It didn't take long to find that this ain't what she really wants

You have to wonder how she got so far
She bought a basement and a classic car
She drives up home right out of the blue for a reconvene
It didn't take long to find that things ain't how they should have been

She was out, she was down, she was standing in the shadows
She was lost in a town that she used to know so well
She stood strong, held her head as she waited for a saviour
Standing in the shadows on the corner of Mulholland Avenue

You have to wonder how she lost the thread
She didn't listen to a thing they said
From being part of the set she finds that she is on her own
But it didn't take long to find this was no longer home

She was out, she was down, she was standing in the shadows
She was lost in a town that she used to know so well
She stood strong, held her head as she waited for a saviour
Standing in the shadows on the corner of Mulholland Avenue

She turns to find that she has got nowhere to go
She stands all alone like a spaceman riding in a rodeo

She was out, she was down, she was standing in the shadows
She was lost in a town that she used to know so well
She stood strong, held her head as she waited for a saviour
Standing in the shadows on the corner of Mulholland Avenue

Jules Benjamin, Carl Lewis, Sef Henni, Les Ames Copyright 2000

MAKE A FIRE TONIGHT

Sleeping free on mountain sides
Tobacco sunset frames my every sight
In an hour the sun will die
I'm on my knees to kiss the ground goodbye
So farewell to a stranger
I'll take a match and with my brothers I am gonna make a fire tonight

Getting lost in open land
I know this place just like I knew the man
Raise the tent and settle down
Sit with me and lift your glass of tan
We're drinking to a stranger
I'll take some wood and with my brothers I am gonna make a fire tonight

My soul is drifting tonight
I can almost touch your hand
We've never been so close as now

My eyes are wet but I'm still laughing out
We're seeing off a stranger
I'll take this moment with my brothers and I am gonna make a fire tonight
We're gonna make a fire tonight

Jules Benjamin (copyright 2000)

WILL IT EVER STOP RAINING

See the lovers walking home
See the others on their own
See the couples walking slow
See the others looking low
I'm missing you

See you walking through the crowd
See your face in every town
See you driving through the rain
See you passing on a train
I'm missing you

Will it ever stop raining? Will it ever stop raining?
Will it ever stop raining? Will it ever stop raining?

See you peer from every store
See you stand in every door
See you sat in every bar
See you climb in every car
I'm missing you

Will it ever stop raining? Will it ever stop raining?
Will it ever stop raining? Will it ever stop raining?

I've seen you fifty times but I ain't seen you at all
If I just had the nerve to give you a call

Will it ever stop raining? Will it ever stop raining?
Will it ever stop raining? Will it ever stop raining?

Jules Benjamin Copyright 2001

7 DAYS AND 13 HOURS

The ticking clock is deafening as I try to find the words
I hear nothing but her laughter and the singing of the birds
Never known such beauty and a smile I can't ignore
I try to sing about her but it's all been sung before, sung before

It's been 7 days and 13 hours since last I saw her face
Aside from all the time I find I'm drifting into space
Men have tried to capture in a song for evermore
The beauty of a woman but they've not met her before, her before

She may not feel the same
I'll live with knowing her name

If I could hold her I would never let her go
If there's a chance of losing her I'd rather never know
My feelings are relentless and of one thing I am sure
If this is what it's like to love I've never loved before
I try to sing about her but it's all been sung before, sung before

Jules Benjamin (copyright 2001)

YOU WON'T FIND ME

(You won't find me) Time has come to change my surroundings once and for all
(You won't find me) I've tried my best but I'm jaded and tired and I can't take any
more
(You won't find me) Gonna collect my belongings and put 'em in a blanket on the
end of a stick
(You won't find me) Got my rough guide to New York and a copy of Dharma Bums
in my back pocket

Just another morning when I should be somewhere else
Another Worcestershire sunrise breaking my heart and taking my soul

(You won't find me) It's taken far too long, I've got to drop everything and get away
(You won't find me) My reasons are sound but I doubt if you'll understand them
anyway
(You won't find me) Gonna purify my soul away from all this mayhem and misery
(You won't find me) It even feels cold and wet when the sunshine's pouring down
on me

Just another morning when I should be somewhere else
Another Worcestershire sunrise breaking my heart and taking my soul

(You won't find me) So I'me selling up, I've got all I need hung here on my back
(You won't find me) I'm heading out west, gonna find me a railroad and follow
the track
(You won't find me) Cos I need the space, gonna sit on a mountain and think for a
while
(You won't find me) Come tomorrow I'm gonna wake up in a different square mile

Jules Benjamin (copyright 1999)

MR. PORTER

Pray, may I talk to you please Mr. Porter
About the young lady you know as your daughter
And I must declare to you I never sought her
But couldn't help noticing her
Cos the stars were on form on the night when we met
And my God how she looked I can never forget
How her eyes joined with mine, and my only regret
Is that I never met her before

And then she smiled, when she smiles
The moon and the stars will collide
I can feel the earth trembling under my feet
When she smiles, when she smiles, when she smiles

Pray, Mr. Porter I have to confess
That I know I'm not perfect and I've made a mess
Of so much of my life, but I swear if you bless us
I'll treat her with nothing but care
Cos she thrills me, she melts me, she touches my mind
She could open the eyes of a man who was blind
And I'm certain a sweeter girl I'll never find
So I'm hoping you'll say it's all right

Chorus

And then we danced, when we dance
I noticed the season's advance
I could feel the spring sun on that deep winter night
When we danced, when we danced, when we danced

Pray, Mr. Porter would you tell her mother
That I've no intention of finding another
Cos she's all I hope for and so I will love her
For longer than she can love me

Cos she is night, she is day, she is everything
She's the words that I say, she's the song that I sing
She's the prize that I'm barely deserving to win
When the ticket was never bought

Chorus

And then we kissed, when we kissed
A solitary heartbeat was missed
And the nightingale orchestra took to the wing
When we kissed, when we kissed

Chorus

Jules Benjamin Copyright 2001