I was wondering how you’re feeling
I thought I saw you kneeling
And holding your gut last night
It looked like you were praying
But I heard someone saying
You had been in an awful fight
You get the worst of it everytime
Lashing out with no reason or rhyme
To lose all this rage, at so tender an age
Little baby growing up in a rat cage

Are you ready for the fallout?
Who you gonna call out?
When does it finally come to blows?
I think that you’re forgetting
The blood that you’ll be letting
Has a price on it, no one knows
You may be suffering in your sleep
You may be getting in way too deep
And you may not care for advice that I share
If you want it then I’ll be there

Soon you will learn how to swallow a tear
So when you are old you can cry in your beer
Do you spit at the face staring back in the mirror?
Do you have any self respect?

Soon you will learn how to swallow a tear
So when you are old you can cry in your beer
Do you spit at the face staring back in the mirror?
Do you have any self respect?

Well what the hell did you expect?

Are you ready for the fallout?
Who you gonna call out?
When does it finally come to blows?
I think that you’re forgetting
The blood that you’ll be letting
Has a price on it, no one knows
You may be suffering in your sleep
You may be getting in way too deep
And you may not care for advice that I share
If you want it then I’ll be there

Are you ready for the fallout?
Who you gonna call out?

Solid 80s Rock / Pop. Hook laden and full of some lovely guitar histrionics, lovingly crafted to fit into that Rock / Pop mold. A perfect time capsule of 1987.

I saw this performed live and the guitars were much more prominent.

Note at about the 3:04 mark the graffiti that reads “Jack and Mollie” That would be bassist Jack Blades and his wife Mollie, still married 23 years later.

I can’t believe
That I survived til Friday
I grab my coat
And make a run for where I
Hide and dream and lie all afternoon

I call you up
Although you work on Sunday
I’m not accustomed to a lonely afternoon
Inside my room
Is it the same with you

It’s just the color of your smile
Oh, it’s the color of your smile
You know you knock my senses out
With the color of your smile

I love to see you
When you’re tired and worn out
It doesn’t matter if you paint by numbers
All your colors move like a lonely moon

And I’m aware
Of all the friends you’ve gone through
A situation that convinces me
I’m cool on price
But short on my nights with you

It’s just the color of your smile
Oh, it’s the color of your smile
You know you knock my senses out
With the color of your smile
The color of your smile
Oh, it’s the color of your smile
You know you knock my senses out
With the color of your smile

Not even talkin’ ’bout a new sensation
Not even sayin’ how I’ve been mistaken
Well, I’ll be here when you return from your holiday

Never had a tougher situation
Lot of trouble with your reputation
I think I’ll go and take a well deserved holiday
Oh yeah

I can’t believe that we survived til Friday
I’ll grab our coats
And make a run for where we
Hide and dream
And lie and scream
And hide and dream
All day

Oh, it’s the color of your smile
You know you knock my senses out
With the color of your smile

Two versions. The first, a live performance in 1987. Maria McKee’s voice is always amazing, but the bass is so prominent in the live version – of course it could be that I’m listening to it through some sub-par computer speakers, but like most live performances the bass is really the glue anyway.

The other version, the official music video for Shelter, also released in 1987. Since I embedded this from a Vevo post, there might be an advertisement, so please indulge. By all means, if you have an opportunity to hear more Lone Justice songs, or just some work from Maria McKee, give it a listen. That gal can belt them out.

Live in early 1983.

There is an old truism in Rock and Roll: Never name your band after a song. Or a song after your band.

However, this song is a great jam tune. Always great live, although it only made it through the Dawn Patrol and Midnight Madness Tours.

I used to practice this song in my bedroom as a kid. With my small amp turned facedown on my waterbed, and covered with pillows.

And it still rattled the windows in our old brick house.

Night Ranger with…. Night Ranger from Dawn Patrol

In the cool city
In the heat of the night
Looking for adventure
On the face of the light
A Colorado school boy
Put his days on the line
Nights out of paperback
“Catcher In The Rye”

Night ranger
Where you gonna run to now
Night ranger (ranger)

He met her at a rock show
Skin tight jeans
Heavy metal leather
Hanging from her seams
He took her to a late night
She put her heart on the line
Left her standing in the doorway
Singing “Thanks for the good time”

Night ranger
Where you gonna run to now
Night ranger (ranger)
Night ranger
Where you gonna run to now
Night ranger (ranger)
I can hear you calling calling
I can hear you calling
Night ranger
I can see you falling falling
I can see you falling
Night ranger
Where you gonna run to now
Night ranger

In the hot city
On a cool summer night
Four letter words
Make it alright
A Colorado school boy
Put it all on the line
Under the street lights
Having a good time…
Night ranger…
Night ranger…
Night ranger…
Night ranger…

I can hear you calling calling
I can hear you calling
Night ranger
I can see you falling falling
I can see you falling
Night ranger
Where you gonna run to now
Night ranger

No official Video, or concert video available.

And other than the uber-queer graphic in this video (what the hell is that anyways?) always a nice listen.

Here I am
My heart in a sling
Holding on to memories
Wondering what might have been
There you are
Lost in a dream
Full of life yet loneliness
Has caused you to bleed
I know
Where there’s room enough for two
Take a trip to where we’ve been
The water’s hushed underneath thge bridge… again
As always I remain

So where are we now
Life is just a daisy chain
Your innocence my lost refrain
Where are we now
Never said you’d stay the same
As always I remain

Sudden call
It’s the end of the line
Or is it just the start of something
Maybe… we’ll see
Where will you go
And who will you be
Me I’ll just be singing songs
Crossing fingers
There’s always something going on
As always I remain
As always I remain

So where are we now
Life is just a daisy chain
Your innocence my lost refrain
Where are we now
Never said you’d stay the same
As always I remain

I must admit I’m an untimely man
Appearing to calloused to all
There’s a right way a wrong way
As always I will
Remain on this road right or wrong

So where are we now
Life is just a daisy chain
Your innocence my lost refrain
Where are we now
Never said you’d stay the same
As always I remain
As always I remain

Everyone always thinks that this is a love song.

A ballad, of lost love.

It is, after a fashion.

Bassist Jack Blades lost his brother to a drug overdose, and hearing Jeff Watson’s instrumental, crafted this final lyrical goodbye to his brother.

So it is a love song.

For a lost love.

As the sun hides his head
For another nights rest
And the wind sings
His same old song
And you on the edge
Never close, never far
Always there when I needed a friend

Yet it’s hard living life
On this memory-go-round
Always up, always down
Spinning ’round and ’round and ’round

And all this could be
Just a dream so it seems
I was never much good at goodbye

There once was a time
Never far from my mind
On the beach, on the 4th of July
I remember the sand
How you held out your hand
And we touched for what seemed a lifetime

Now it’s hard
Leaving all this behind me now
Like a schoolboy so lost
Never found until now

And all this could be
Just a dream so it seems
I was never much good at goodbye
Yet it’s hard
Living life on this memory-go-round
Always up, always down
Turning ’round and ’round and ’round
And all this could be
Just a dream so it seems
I was never much good at goodbye
And all this could be
Just a dream so it seems
I was never much good at goodbye
Goodbye

The 80s.

Completely, unequivocally, the 80s.

Totally.

I’ve seen Night Ranger, and members of Night Ranger, in concert more times than I can count. This song live, even without the horns from the Tower Of Power, is a bit rougher.

And that double neck Flying V Jeff Watson is sporting is pretty slick.

Think of it, I, hold the world in the palm of my hand
Run a comb through my hair, head on out for some new foreign land
And all this could seem like a dream out the door
With everyday people, face down on the floor

I always said I could make it and be who I am
There’s a new look in sight, what a change for the new modern man
With all this it seems, like I’m dying for more
The streets are on fire, never seen it before
It’s like the sound of electric guitars
Worlds collide and hearts will be broken
Over and over it’s the same every day-
How can I say what has never concerned me
The secret of my success is I’m living 25 hours a day

It’s amazing to me, what a fool will believe to bet by
With a change of your mind, I can live, I can fly
The harder the come, the harder they fall
I never say maybe and I go for it all
Just like the sound of electric guitars

Worlds collide and hearts will be broken
Over and over it’s the same every day-
How can I say what has never concerned me
The secret of my success is I’m living 25 hours a day

With nothing to show, just sweat form my soul
My heart’s on the line and I’m dying to go (dying to go)

Look at us now, gonna make it somehow

Hold on to me baby, can’t hold me down

Worlds collide and hearts will be broken
Over and over it’s the same every day-
How can I say what has never concerned me
The secret of my success is I’m living 25 hours a day
The secret of my success is I’m living 25 hours a day
25 hours a day

From 1998’s Seven, Soul Survivor

There’s a man
Sits outside in front of Grazi’s cafe
Dirty clothes, a bedroll and a smile
He rubs his hands together
Says “mister can you spare me some change?
I’ve been down on my luck for a while”
Yet I ‘m a soul survivor
I sleep under the freeway signs
And I’m here to remind you
Be a friend of mine
Oh be a friend of mine

There’s a famous picture
From the war in Vietnam
Little girl running on a road burned a screaming
Thirty years later
She met the man who called down the napalm
Did he lie
When he begged for forgiveness

She said I’m a soul survivor
God’s grace has set me free
And I’m a living reminder
So think about me
Oh can you think about me

I know this world out side
And it is no bed of roses
We need each others hand
To take us through the night

Soul survivor
Everybody needs a helping hand
We’re all here to remind us
The white man, the black man, red man , all men
Soul survivor, yea yea yea ….
I’m a soul survivor
Be a friend of mine
Oh be a friend of mine
I’m soul survivor
Be a friend of mine

Originally appearing on the  virtually unheard reunion album, 1997’s Neverland, this live track is from the equally easily missed Rock In Japan Live 97.

Penned by Jack Blades, the title itself is the hook, and signature of so many Blades’ songs: Simple, Silly, Sincere:  Forever All Over Again.

If she wanted the world
To be a happier place
She’s stop at least one tear
From rolling down my face
She’d think about me
Maybe pick up the phone
And say “I’m missing you”
At the sound of the tone

If she wanted the world
To keep spinning around
She’d pick a piece of my heart
Up off of the ground
I’d whisper her name
In the still of the night
And while I’m dreaming of her
Holding me tight
She’d be changing her mind
Packing her clothes
She’d buy a one-way ticket
That would bring her home

And she’d come back to me
She’d be more than just a memory
She’d come back to me
And we would fall in love
Forever all over again

If I’d only known
How I’d be breaking inside
I would have begged her to stay
I would have swallowed my pride
I wouldn’t be here
Drinking alone
I’d be holding her
‘Cause she wouldn’t be gone

So God if you’re listening
From somewhere out there
You know I’m down on my knees
And if you’d answer one prayer

Then she’d come back to me
She’d be more than just a memory
She’d come back to me
And we would fall in love
Forever all over again

If she wanted the world
To be a happier place
She’s stop at least one tear
From rolling down my face

She’d be changing her mind
Packing her clothes
She’d buy a one-way ticket
That would bring her home

Then she’d come back to me
She’d be more than just a memory
She’d come back to me
And we would fall in love
Forever all over again
Forever all over again
Yeah we would fall in love
Forever all over again

From the bygone era of 1997. When I first heard this I thought that Rock And Roll was making a come back. Sadly, it wasn’t. It’s still just an insurgency.

What’s not to like here?

Guitars, simple, loud, angry, and fun.

Thunderous drums.

A steady bass.

Harmony.

And girls.

Ain’t that America?