Graffiti Train

 

LISTEN HERE

Graffiti Train

1. I want you to love them, I want you to care

I want you to give them hope and save them from despair

[Get on the ghost train now...]

I want you to respect them, I want you to feel their pain

I want you to walk into the pouring rain

Get on the ghost train now-- now-- now---- ooh---

2. Too many starts and stops in the worst part of the town

My life is a lonely hell and I am ghetto bound

[Here comes the lonesome train...]

There is too much poverty in the city all around

Crushing all the life of what was once profound

But now I'm homebound-- home bound-- home bound--- ooh---

[BRIDGE:]

He wanted me to ride the old graffiti train

He wanted me to witness and to feel their pain

But nothing'll ever save them if they don't save themselves

No free ride will ever pull them up from a living hell

ooh---  ooh---  ooh---  ooh---

3. Angels perched on high; in rhythm they all cry

to save our souls from judgement day before we die

[And the ghost train's soul...]

I want you to save them from the old train tracks

Box cars shelter from the cold and race attacks

Graffiti train... train.... train a-ride-- 

Train... train... train a-risin'--

Train... train... train alive----

Riding on the broken trains of the dying America

hmmm---

Ride on to another day

Another chance, another way

Outlaw on the train... I am free... Oh, Lord!

To paint my Graffiti train... wooo--wooo-- oooh---

Sun Studio, Memphis, TN

 

I recently visited Memphis - the main attraction for me - Sun Studio on Sam Phillips Avenue where Sam Phillips made history back in the '50s having discovered so many incredible musicians.  I thoroughly enjoyed the tour and the stories the young man who was the guide told us... I'd felt like I had been there a thousand times in another lifetime.  I loved reading this book about Sam Phillips and with the help of YouTube was able to listen to every side he recorded in the old days - Sam Phillips: The Man Who Invented Rock 'n' Roll

BlackWhiteLight

 

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BlackWhiteLight
 
1. Neon glow is luminescence
            An atmosphere of phosphorescence
Ultraviolet incandescence
            Radiate a mystic presence
Orbiting a coloured essence
            Exciting in its bright fluorescence
 
[CHORUS:]
Shine on me--- Let it bleed---
and God breathes life into my soul--
makes the connection
 
2. Illuminate in milliseconds
            Video white lightning beckons
Crystals gradate dark emissions
            Activate the shock positions
In afterglow, the heat transitions
            Wavelengths' new conditions
 
[CHORUS]
 
[BRIDGE:]
 
Ultramarine-- in its magnificence
Lava light-- obsolescence
It shines-- it shines-- it shines---   freely---
 
3. Strobe lights flicker luminescent
            Radar shifts, it's phosphorescent
Silver streaks incandescent
            Reconnect when ghosts are present
Light dreams alive!
            (Fluorescent) BlackWhiteLight! Yeah!
 
Shine on me--- Let it bleed---
and God breathes light into my soul--
It shines-- it shines-- it shines---   freely---

Ground Zero Blues

 

This is the story of a trip I took traveling through the Deep South in 2019.  It was a great time and I really learned to love America.  Here are some pictures... 2,000 miles in 8 days!

[LISTEN HERE]

 

GROUND ZERO BLUES

From Clarksdale, Mississippi up to Memphis, Tennessee

The Cat Head men and Hambone's Street

In the sweltering heat

Spoken: Trying to find Elvis... headed to Ground Zero

 

Pulled in Macon town where the Allmans' still around

Their Marshall stacks and great old tracks

Ghosts in bed

Spoken: It's the life they led... headed to Ground Zero

 

Drove through Alabam' where the real folks live in shacks

On Easy Street, the poor souls say,

'He who makes a garden

Spoken: ...works with God'... going to Ground Zero

 

[BRIDGE]

I had nothing then-- got nothing now---

But I sang at Muscle Shoals

- living out my dream.

"Through these doors walk the finest in the world..."  Ooh--- yeah

 

It was a hot Alabama day, on my Mississippi way

And the mission man showed me the plan:

"The Delta's not for the weak

Spoken: ...or some poor sap on a losing streak" Ooh---

 

The only soul in town, Loretta's still around

Her depot's lonely in an old ghost town

And the track's still there

Spoken: But the train is gone... take me to Ground Zero

 

Clarksdale's still with me and Nashville, Tennessee

The black man there, he don't care

for no politics

Spoken: - just chops and licks. Ooh---

 

Now the Deep South's in my soul

The Deep South is forever in my soul----

 

The Tithe

[LISTEN HERE]

Numbers can be cruel

The clock ages us too quickly

The pressure's on and time is short

for the poor and sickly

We count our blessings every day

but do we give enough?

What is the cost?

The tithe is generosity

given from within your soul

To some, it's just a one-tenth contribution

from the dole

The tithe, a voluntary gesture's

giving to the needy

- not invited to devour

the banquet of the greedy.--- Ooh--- ooh---

Too much credit, not success

won't settle up the score

We miss the point of living life

and should be giving more

For what goes out, will come back

the Lord, He will provide

What is the cost?

[BRIDGE]

We're humbled, now, must show respect

to the Living Lord

who's taught us grace, to do without

and sacrifice the hoard

And no amount of money

will satisfy the host

What is the cost?

The tithe, a voluntary gesture's

giving to the needy

- not invited to devour

the banquet of the greedy.--- Ooh--- ooh---

I Am Blue

 

I AM BLUE

LISTEN HERE

I came back to James Island,

no hurricane to run from.

Left the New York blizzard chill.

I knew I had to go home

to the warm Charleston sea.

It was my own free will.

On the island, it was empty -

no one to receive me.

And my mother's bed was cold.

So, I wondered through the market,

painted abstracts in my loft, and

I believed what I was told.

[CHORUS]

They say no man is an island

And the rivers all run freely

And we're all escaping some fate

yet I am blue.

 

The Carolina sun was hot

and in the darkness, it was not

my dream come true.

Staring out the window

on the highway with the sad palms,

I knew my karma's through.

 

[BRIDGE]

Where once I was lost, now I'm free---

Where once I was blind, now I can see---

Give us, oh, Lord, your sweet mercy---

I'd rather die than not be free---

 

And at the stroke of midnight

I finished writing down this song

and it was a soul release.

Sitting in pitch black, I still felt

light on my shoulder

and a total sense of peace.

 

[CHORUS]

 

LISTEN HERE

Smiles of a Sorrow

No free will, free will is gone

left too deepened underground.

And the will is a ripened fruit

- destiny's pursuit.

In the hands of God we lie.

At the myst'ry's end we'll die.

Time will recognize, time will recognize

the smiles of a sorrow.--

At the last breaths of kharma,

time we cannot borrow.

We awaken lost as the coin is tossed

by the Big Hand in the Wishing Well.

Where the bottomlessness is our hell,

there are no answers there.

There is no wisdom anywhere.

No! But I can't complain of pleasure or pain.

And the damned play on, knowing will is gone.

Will is gone--- gone--- gone----

Time will recognize the smiles of a sorrow

...of a sorrow.

These Difficult Months

American patriots everywhere have been going through one of the worst eras in American history over these past 6 months.  But we've got to remember...

America is the most extraordinary place on earth. I never realized it as much as when I went on a Deep South Rock & Roll blues tour last year... and the various road trips I've taken since then. It makes you feel so lucky to be alive in the land of the free... when you see her for all her glorious beauty. Take some time to explore this great country of ours. Talk to people... strangers for just a moment soon to be friends for life... Americans. #proudamerican

My art and music always keep me going...

Best of Sandy Frazier Photography

Beau and Emily Bridges on Acting: The First Six Lessons

A truly great read for musicians, songwriters, historians and Americans who love this country. 

Sam Phillips: The Man Who Invented Rock 'n' Roll

Doc Pomus was one of my favourite songwriters growing up... and oddly, his brother, the famous lawyer in Manhattan was my client for a while in 2007! The Genius of Doc Pomus

Hoyt Axton

One of the greatest progressive rock songs ever - watch the lead singer (whose voice is phenomenal) switching from vocals to keyboards to bongos! Carry on My Wayward Son - Kansas

Shapeshift

I dedicate this song to my late brother, John Frazier.  He inspired this song which took me a long time to record this past year. Go here to listen.  Lyrics are below:

Shapeshift

[Dedicated to Johnny]

A. I.  A. I. is supernatural

Supersonic, fashionable
Transformation--- to divine
And the robot has a mind!

            Shapeshift! Adrift!

            on an astral magic ship
            inside--- outside--- to the future
            and the moon intensifies... intensifies---

Dreamscapes in the atmosphere

Navigation in the black
Flows smooth--- in the groove
We are all on the attack!

            Shapeshift! Airlift!

            the Concord crashes to the earth
            hey, hey, anime, midnight hero
            and the trails reset to zero... and then link.  ooohhh---

Ride the storm--- if you dare

exploding on horizons' flare
Night Flight--- in its shifting glare
sinks to dusk - a distant stare.    ooooohhhhhh---

Hurray! Anime! Superhero!

And the trails reset to zero.

Supersonic trailblazer

Supersonic stargazer
yeah-- yeah-- yeah-- yeah--

I am out of this world and into a new dimension

Airless grooves--- mindless moves---
Airless grooves--- mind-numbing moves---
A. I.

Savannah's Lights & Shadows

Continuing on the theme of my Deep South tour, I visited Savannah, Georgia and explored the riverfront and back alleys, which are covered with cobblestones.  Every nook & cranny brought a new surprise.  It reminded me a little of old New Orleans of the South.  See some of my photographs here.