a while

back by Alistair Chong

got to look at the calendar
where did the days go
i swear they were here
just a moment, a second ago

city lights again

the same by Alistair Chong

another day
another rise
another call
i'm not surprised
another stop
another train
another wait
held up again

taylor

taylor by Alistair Chong

bright wound strings
shimmer and sway
and show the way
into the night
sing a song
music comes along
more than notes
and words and music
this is a way of living

i can see it

just look by Alistair Chong

there's an album in a day
every second i breathe
i can hear words to paint it
every picture i see
shapes onto my tongue's tip
there's a song in everything
the melodies swim through every thought
i hear the lines in the air
there's nothing that falls short
of a song in my head.

a song in here

one for another day by Alistair Chong

you can't stop the plane
from taking off the runway
and i don't know how to stop it
from separating us today
because i'm leaving over the horizon
and you're staying right here
which means it's going to hurt
hurt a lot i fear
i'll write in this terminal

they're old

beach sick by Alistair Chong

what's it like to see the horizon again
after months in the dark
to see the water meet the sky
and the sunlight give water spark
it's a good thing, i tell you.
and what's it like to feel the sunlight glare
off the river shimmered surface
and catch in your hair
and to minutely feel no purpose
it's something. oh it's something.

d string heroes

take a left by Alistair Chong

he said "kid, take a left"
try something different on your feet
than to take the same old way
so down we went the Wooden Street

and what we found
was something better to try
than to follow the leader everyday
and take that right

we took a left against the lines
and found a different station
but ended up perfectly alive
in a better situation

sometimes it's hard to go against
what the traffic light says
but when you do
there's something better for you

one left

last by Alistair Chong

final quarter
the whistle blows
and the ball's in play.
i can't do anything but watch
with my broken ankle
and it hurts to see us score.

lifetime

no i'm no John Mayer by Alistair Chong

sometimes an obsession can be a dangerous thing
but i can't keep myself from this fling
the way i hear the words
and his fingers on the frets make it worse
makes me want to go underground
come out firing all my rounds
and becoming a better man
because i feel i can

your song

perfect harmony by Alistair Chong

so here we are precious memories
by the riverside in the breeze
we're so alive
with your voice inside my ear
no insecurities or fear
you're my lullaby

but i struggle to find the perfect words
or to hold a melody down
fighting to find what you deserve
well this is all i have now

don't take a step in time
this is all i want your hand in mine
hold me
because this moment is everything
we're held in this perfect harmony
you and me

describing all you are to me
such an impossibility
i can't get near
but i want you to know
that i am hopeless when i'm alone
without you my dear

still i struggle to find the perfect words
or to hold a melody down
fighting to find what you deserve
well this is all i have now

don't take a step in time
this is all i want your hand in mine
hold me
because this moment is everything
we're held in this perfect harmony
you and me

wo-oh-oh
wo-oh-oh
wo-oh-oh
wo-oh-oh

you and me
we're perfect harmony

88

in the night sky by Alistair Chong

you see the city
and it makes you feel like more
part of something big
fallen from heaven's door
you take the hand
of someone close
and you understand
what life is in prose
it makes you want to live for more

logistics

such an impossibility by Alistair Chong

finishing is a nice thing
can't stop thinking about it
and how it's going to work
let's just leave this
i'll figure it out tomorrow.

skill

artist by Alistair Chong

art
it's harder than you think
to make things mesh and link
songs
are more than just words
they're harder written than heard

speaking up again

distracted by Alistair Chong

hope i'm okay
a few more til the home way
come already, and just leave
give me something free
like freedom

cycle

broken wheel by Alistair Chong

there was a time when i thought words could weave their magic
but now it's the same to me, i've lost the mystery
there was once when i thought i could write a spell
and send my insecurity to hell, but i was deceived

i can't find the words to say anything
they're the same cliché
i can't pull my head out of this grey painting
it's the same every day

so i find my inspiration in recorded signings and deals
these words i thought i pulled from my head
my writing in hypocrisy, it turns out i steal
in a prison of mediocrity, gets me so damn depressed

i can't find the words to say anything
they're the same cliché
i can't pull my head out of this grey painting
it's the same every day

someone tell me how to do it
if you'd tell a kid
tell me how you see your dream
just like you'd tell a kid
but please don't see the irony
in telling me, please

i can't find the words to say anything
they're the same cliché
i can't pull my head out of this grey painting
it's the same every day

no such thing

dreams by Alistair Chong

dreams
they let you let them in
they watch you falling
in love with the idea
dreams
they dangle before your eyes
they give you visions
and they tantalize
dreams
they cloud your mind
then you're fed with a lie
and you see them die
dreams
once in a while
live on inside
in the greatest of lives

band

last day so they say by Alistair Chong

the start of the end
how many times has that been said?
but it's always heard
before we start and ahead
we'll be in the home straight
and we'll miss the nights we took
opportunities we wasted
and failing to look
for ourselves into the future.

as always

mortal concentration by Alistair Chong

hitting me in the chest
shattering my bulletproof vest
at a loss, what to do
missing you.
keeping find it hard to breathe
without you here with me
that's how it feels
missing you.

chill

spared by Alistair Chong

three classes and i'm fine
school is taking its sweet time
but it's alright
what else is there to do
i'm happy to be sitting
in this room
it's all downhill from here

The Glass Passenger

get me a GP by Alistair Chong

someone get me a GP underground
'cause i think i'm gonna die
i'm addicted to the sound of sound
it makes want want to survive
it gets me Crashin'
lifts me up and gets me Spinning
giving my heart a thrashing
and leaves me to sink or Swim
What Gets You Off?
did you find yourself in this too
or are you just a Suicide Blonde?
i don't know why you do.
can you see the stars, the galaxies
can you see past the cosmic dusted seas
Annie Use Your Telescope,
set your caged mind free.
but don't look too hard
your eyes are Bloodshot
we'll see the stars tomorrow too
they won't run from this story's plot.
watch falling stars Drop Out
The So Unknown falls to earth
and i can hear the shout
as dreams die and pain is birthed.
but girl, i'll use these Hammers and Strings,
A Lullaby i'll sing just for you
The Resolution we'll sing
and we'll find one from this two.
we'll save these Orphans and their fathers
from what we can't play
but we'll find the melody
as we explore these Caves.

someone get me a GP.

Jack's Mannequin

the glass passenger by Alistair Chong

i'm a glass passenger
listening to the sound appeal
reverberating off this glass
and this is how it feels
the shuddering and the life
shaking down these walls i'm in
washing the senses and letting me go
and shattering this prisoner's inn

i'm a glass passenger
waiting for this crystal train
to take me out once more
smooth the splinters from this pain
forty-one days slowly pass along
i'm finding the notes i write
being sung by your song

but it's still a sweet lullaby

one day more

hitting water by Alistair Chong

one day more
ready for this
i'll walk to this edge
i'm jumping in
six feet down and the clear water waits
and i'll hit it with my heart in my mouth
so dive.

ideas

strings by Alistair Chong

songs are born
the words run through my head
untamed children
laugh and play their games
my mind is a mess
just let me put it on paper
these words echo through my mind
no plae to put a melody line
let me press these keys
i can hear the piano echoing my heart
but it doesn't feel just right.

finite solution

desert by Alistair Chong

it's hard to choose what you need
or what we want
it's hard to choose where my feet
are going for once
or to see anything at all

throat

attitude by Alistair Chong

you wake
and you're warm inside
and there's just that feeling
that life is okay.
you sit up
and you realise
that maybe, just maybe
you'll enjoy today.
there's something more than you
there's something to live for

futures deciding

the people by Alistair Chong

the world is in your hands
the future you hold it here
choose and make a stance
or live in crowded fears
who will take the reign
who can lift this weight
and bear it on his shoulders?
time tells, as it always does.

cup

pedigree by Alistair Chong

the race that stops a nation
you can be miles away
but when you hear the thunder down the straight
you can't help but feel your heart quicken
and it goes down to the last hundred
you smile, and watch.
it's a marvel.

biology

relief by Alistair Chong

here goes
coming down to this
each word scartched in
tells the tale of days behind
blue words fill blackened lines
waiting until they're back.

catch it

trains and their by Alistair Chong

a much needed opening
a gap through the dark
the light crashes into this tunnel
and i can see the road
it's longing to be done.

papers

missed common by Alistair Chong

november days
nothing much to say
about where this has been
we'd fall from grace
only to pray
for some freedom within
some people go nowhere