This Wooden Box (My Guitar)

Copyright 2006: Robert Lindsay Nathan, Jr.

She patiently awaits me
Atop her corner stand
Serine and simply stately
Appearing oh so grand

And when I pick her up to play
Her heart beats out a rhyme
Erupting from her wooden soul
A primal patterned time

Her spirit beckons for me
To pick her it up and play
A melody so sweet and soft
That lifts the heart to say

Nothing lasts forever
Life will always change
But love forever carries on
My old guitar explains

Made from steel and wood
A miracle no doubt
With sounds so sweet and mellow
Could resonate about

Sanctify the craftsman
Who made her come to be
This friend who’s never let me down
Gives gracious company

Her spirit beckons for me
To pick her it up and play
A melody so sweet and soft
That lifts the heart to say

Nothing lasts forever
Life will always change
But love forever carries on
My old guitar explains

Calico Heart (Martha's Song)

Copyright 2007: Robert Lindsay Nathan, Jr.

Two stones that you gave me
Will they save or enslave me?
What do they symbolize?
Are they tears behind eyes?

Two stones that you gave me
Will the weight of them stay me?
Should I carry them light?
Like two torches at night?

To frighten away
All the sins we hold tight
Never knowing can‘t empathize
With tears behind eyes.

Chorus:

I know it’s not near enough
To earn your soft and tender touch
But maybe for now, bear with me a while
It’s as much as my calico heart will allow

Keep it locked away safe
Like the face of the stones
Nothing gets in
Only cold from alone

I speak only the truth
Of the flowers of youth
My gem is now dust
It’s sparkle now rust

As this poetry pains me
Your “slipper” sustains me
So here’s one more try
I’ll aim to explain me.

Chorus

Bridge:

Tell me how it is done
Melding two into one
Like the heart made of stone
In the song sung by Joan?

Chorus

The Builder (Shelter Me)

Copyright 1995 Robert Lindsay Nathan, Jr.

If you’re wondering why I haven’t written
Or why I haven’t bothered to call,
It’s not that I’ve lost my feelings for you
Or the fact that we’ve ended it all

I’ve been building a fortress of stone
Around the hope that’s left in my life
And every course that I’ve laid, is a year I’ve paid
Wondering if my plans could be right

And the roof will keep out the weather
And the windows will keep out the wind
And the dreams that I keep, on the daytime of sleep
Will help this old worn heart to mend

So if you’re wondering why I haven’t written
Or why I haven’t bothered to call
It’s not that I, sit alone and cry
Behind this psycho-traumatic wall

I’ve been building a fortress of stone
Around the hope that’s left in my life
And the warmth that’s inside, is what’s left of my pride
That your tongue carved away like a knife.

And the roof will keep out the weather
And the windows will keep out the wind
And the door to my past, I can never unlatch
Lest the beasts of the night crawl in

Shelter me from the weather
Shelter me from the wind
Shelter me from, all the things that I’ve done
Shelter me from what might have been

Shelter me from the weather
Shelter me from the wind
Shelter me from, all that I have become
Shelter me from all I have been

Oh shelter me……

Songsmiths and Poets

Here’s to the songwriters
Bless their lovin’ hearts
Getting’ stomped on and broken
Truly torn all apart

Chorus:

Songsmiths all
Forging their wares
Songsmiths call
So much to share
Songsmiths and poets
Lived it then wrote it
We’d never have known it
Save the songsmiths and poets

Here’s to the balladeers
Bless their lovin’ hearts
Spinning stories to tell
Weaving their art

Chorus

Bridge:

So here’s to the writers, of songs for our tears
Poets and songsmiths, and lone balladeers
Setting our hearts free, releasing our fears
Here’s to those musicians, bending our ears

Here’s to the troubadours
Bless their lovin’ hearts
Travelin’ and traipsing
Living lives apart.

Chorus

We’d never have known it
Save the songsmiths and poets....

A Little Taste of Heaven

It’s not where I am
Where I’m goin’s a myth
It’s not where I’ve been
It’s only who I’m with

I’ve traveled round the earth
Yet it’s you that I miss
Your promise of a true worth
And a little taste, of heaven

This yearning in my heart,
The searching in my head
Looking for a new start, for
This empty soul to be fed

I’ve traveled round the earth
Yet it’s you that I miss
Your promise of a rebirth
And a little taste, of heaven

It’s not where I am
Where I’ve been is a myth
It’s not where I’m going to go
It’s only who I’m with

This yearning in my heart,
The searching that’s in my head
Looking for a new start
And a little taste, of heaven

I’ve traveled round the earth
Yet it’s you that I miss
The promise of a rebirth
From your blessed kiss

No yearning left in my heart,
Or searching left in my head
No looking for a new start
Just a little taste, of heaven

San Diego Sessions

Dear friends and music aficionados,

After fooling around playing and writing music for 35 years or so, I decided to get serious about it and publish a CD. A couple of serendipitous evens occurred that caused this to happen and eventually let to the CD that is being offered to you here on this website.

The first thing that happened was that I got transferred from Houston to San Diego on a temporary job assignment. This “temporary “ assignment was to last only a few months, but as I type these words on my laptop in the Extended Stay Hotel, it has become18 days short of being a year.

Being stuck in a hotel room for this period of time has forced me to concentrate on my music hobby, as there are a limited number of television channels here. And as I have insinuated in the track “Down and Out in Dudeville”, I have been less than successful in making any new friends here. Not that I haven’t put out the effort. It just seems that the intensity of the struggle for the legal tender here on the lower west coast is such that folks here just plain don’t have a lot of time to invest in friendships. Living in a hotel room doesn’t help from my end.

The second thing that happened was that I got a fairly handsome offer on a piece of property that I own in Little Rock, Arkansas. My plan was to produce some pilot tracks and then go to Congress House Studios in Austin, Texas and have Mark Hallman produce the final cut. I was going to set aside some of the proceeds from the sale of the Little Rock property to fund this project.

So in the spring of 2005, I started recording pilot songs on a Tascam 2488 multitrack recorder in my hotel room. Things were moving along well. On the few weekends that I had away from my real job, I would take hiking trips up into the mountains east of here with my dog Medina. Spring is a fine time for hiking here. The photo of the stone pyramid on the CD was taken at the summit of the trail that leads up to the top of Vejas Mountain. I thought that it was fitting to put it on the CD face, given my background in Architecture and Construction. I also felt it to be a metaphor for the publishing of this CD, which I consider to be a summit of sorts.

In the evenings I would record or write music, and during the days I would do my work. In September, thinking that my stay in San Diego was coming to an end and because Medina was getting to be pretty restless (living in a hotel room and a pickup truck), I hauled her and most of my recording gear back to Texas. It was then I met with Mark Hallman at Congress House and discussed the project. On my return to San Diego, I kept writing and recording, but was limited to a single stereo track on my Sharp mini disc recorder. I would dub and then later master these recordings on my laptop using Goldwave software.

In late October, I had enough material for my pilot CD to take to Austin and start rounding up studio musicians to do the final CD project. But then, I learned from my realtor that the deal in Little Rock had died and was not going to close, so I lost my funding for the project.

After a little soul searching I decided not to wait until I could get the work near perfect, so I published the pilot CD that you see and sample on this site. It’s a little rough around the edges, but it is what it is and I make no apologies. At this point in my life, I have the feeling that if I get too serious about this music thing, it will become too much like having a job. How appropriate that we work at our jobs but we play music. Any artist will tell you that they do it for the love of it, not the money.

So here’s the thing. If anything you hear or read on this website (or it’s links) touches you in the very least and compels you to think that you may want to purchase this CD, look at it this way; every dime that I net from this moderately crude endeavor will go toward the next project. Trust me on this one thing; I have a boatload of material that is as good or better than what you hear on this site. And maybe if I get enough dimes together, I’ll wind up at Congress House Studios, in Austin, or even back to my roots at Fame Studios in Muscle Shoals. Our investment will pay a dividend in the form of some new and better art, and you will be proud to say that you had a hand in making it happen.

Enough selling…I hope you enjoy listening to this disc as much as I enjoyed making it.

Robert Lindsay Nathan
San Diego, Ca.
January 13, 2006

Second Hand Lions

Copyright 2006 - Robert Lindsay Nathan and James Mahoney


You know I'm gonna come around
When I’m really cranky and old
Looking for a drunken old night
Where memories unfold

Of remember whens and remember thems
Of mistaken mistakes and unfettered sins.
Tales of stuff we might never had done
Places we went and had so much fun

Where pot bellied pickers
And sharp city slickers
On wooden dance floors
Worn out by shit kickers

Find gals in tight pants
And guys getting’ tight
They all wind up rantin'
Late into the night

Tellin’ tales of tall Texans
These tall tastes of Texas
Livin’ crazy things done
And some just begun

Soon to be Second Hand Lions
They'll be reminiscing
About their second hand dreams
And the youth that they're missin'

Ahh… Second Hand Lions
Playin’ fouty-two and moon
As their dominos all shuffle
In a game that’s ending all too soon

And with a little luck,
On the tailgate of a pick-up truck,
Parked backed to a fire in camp
We’ll lay one down that's dark and damp.

With a melody that's sweet and pale
Driftin’ through the air like scented ale
That warms the soul and sooths the flesh
With wicked words so cool and fresh.

About unrealized dreams
And old unhatched schemes
We’re too proud to live
And too poor to die.

So we gotta unite
And stay up all night
Lay it all down,
Then pick it back up

Like a rusty old pickup truck
We’ll never get stuck
We'll know how to go
With a load of rhythm and blues in tow

Chuggin' down the road
That we call yesterday,
Tomorrow my friend
We'll play those surly songs again

About us, Second Hand Lions
Playin’ fouty-two and moon
As our dominos all shuffle
In a game that’s ending all too soon

Past Venues

The Forge - Bandera, Texas
Jet Farms - Tarpley, Texas
Quiet Valley Ranch - Kerrville, Texas
Maple Leaf Lodge - Townsend, Tennessee
The Enclave - Austin, Texas
Rico's - Pullman, Washington
SRQ Sports Bar - Houston, Texas
Vagabond's - Little Rock, Arkansas
Landry's - Little Rock, Arkansas
Howl at the Moon Stables - Franklin, Tennessee
The Beach Bar - Bradenton, Florida
The Bridge Restaurant - Florence, Alabama
Cajun's Restaurant - Sheffield, Alabama
Maranatha - Guntersville, Alabama
Parrot Head - Pleasure Island, Texas
Hartz's General Mercantile Store - Nacogdoches, Texas
Front Porch - College Station, Texas
The Basement - College Station, Texas
Toby's Deck - Lake Norrel, Arkansas
White's Lock and Dam Picnic - Jefferson, Arkansas
Arkey Blue's - Bandera, Texas
JP Hop's House - Houston, Texas
The Egyptian, Tea Room - San Diego, California
Hot Monkey Love Cafe - San Diego, California
Old Town Tavern - Vincennes, Indiana

Link to my website

View Robert Lindsay Nathan's EPK