Corners Scroll down or click a song title to see the song's lyrics:     Lens Cap     French Kiss - includes streaming audio!     Northbound     Deadline - includes streaming audio!     Stranger     Saturday     Janey     Dans la Louisiane - includes streaming audio!     Home By Now     After the Rain     Hold On     Shadows Lens Cap She's living in his lens cap He's studying her light Trying to find a still frame Of the gracefulness of flight Shooting up the pictures Like a needle in his arm Burning down the world around him For a shot of something warm But her wings won't fit on paper There's no room for them to fly The distance is too short between The corners of the sky The light is warm and precious At the turning of the day His shadow falls between them Her shadow falls away But he just can't seem to get it Must be doing something wrong Maybe chose the wrong exposure Or held his breath too long She watches while the sun sets He sees the glowing tears He slowly drops the camera She disappears And her wings won't fit on paper There's no room for them to fly The distance is too short between The corners of the sky Words and Music by David LaMotte ©1998 Lower Dryad Music/ASCAP French Kiss Well it's true what they say about Paris I'm so sick of romance I could lose my omelette People kissing everywhere Like they're going without air on a bet All the drivers are on suicide missions They must assume that I'm on one too If I sound bitter it's because I've got everything I love right here but you Last night I watched the sunset from the Arc de Triomphe And I lost myself in paintings by Monet And I made this little promise to myself and to Paris I'm gonna kiss you on the Champs-Elyseés I'm gonna kiss you on the Champs-Elyseés I'm gonna kiss you on the Champs-Elyseés While the children and the street musicians play I'm gonna kiss you on the Champs-Elyseés There's this certain look of cultivated boredom Only teenagers and the French can really do I've been practicing a bit But I blow it every time I think of you I'll buy one last baguette from the man on the corner And take one last long look at the view Maybe someday I will come back again But I'll be booking my tickets for two I'm gonna kiss you on the Champs-Elyseés I'm gonna kiss you on the Champs-Elyseés On a drizzling Parisian day I'm gonna kiss you on the Champs-Elyseés Words and Music by David LaMotte ©1999 Lower Dryad Music/ASCAP Audio: French Kiss (Champs-Elyseés) David says: When I wrote this song I called it Champs-Elyseés, but when we recorded it for this CD, which is the first time you really *have* to give a song its title, Evan convinced me that I couldn't call it that. His reasoning is that disc jockeys may not be able to pronounce it, and might be embarassed to play it because they can't pronounce it. Thus the bad pun which became the title. DavidLaMotteFan.com thanks David for his generosity in letting us share his songs. If you enjoy David's songs, you may order them here. To listen to more David LaMotte songs, visit the Audio Library. Northbound The birds flying south for the winter Must think I'm losing my mind Driving north at the end of November Certainly I should remember Idaho's winters aren't kind A friend told me once for this country This is the best time of year There'ill surely be no competition I'm the only travelling musician No one else would choose now to come here I stop into these taverns for company Where the music and laughter are loud Only to find there's no loneliness Like being lonely in a crowd Northbound Northbound It's like standing in line at a wedding Receiving the guests with a smile For a moment a face fills my vision I shake hands like a tired politician And I'd love just to talk for a while But the faces keep changing each minute Guessing at names I don't know It's so hard to keep on believing Seems I spend so much time leaving And so little time coming home And I guess it's a bit of a pattern How I find a warm place and then run Like all I can see is the shadows When I stand in the light of the sun Northbound Northbound Today there's no sunlight to stand in The sky's just as gray as the ground And the birds are all leaving this town Words and Music by David LaMotte ©1997 Lower Dryad Music/ASCAP Deadline He's got a meeting at six-thirty, so he won't have time to stay For dinner with his darling and his daughter on the way He's fighting down the freeway, sewing up that dotted line There's no time like the present and there's no present like time The little one gets presents for a little consolation He gives her her own telephone but not much conversation She asks him for a moment like a beggar for a dime There's no time like the present and there's no present like time Model student in her high school, does her homework every night Sends her mortarboard flying with her future looking bright Hangs the tassel from the mirror of the present parked outside There's no time like the present and there's no present like time Now there's a husband and a daughter and a lot of bills to pay Everyone needs something from her and they all need it today But she can't be omnipresent when she's working overtime There's no time like the present and there's no present like time Then the phone rings late at the office Coming in on the private line It's her husband It's her father Seems he finally made his deadline Now she's furiously packing for a little time away She's got a week's vacation and she's gonna make it pay Her husband's turning bitter and her daughter just turned nine There's no time like the present and there's no present like time Words and Music by David LaMotte ©1998 Lower Dryad Music/ASCAP Audio: Deadline David says: I had the hook line to this song for a long time before the song showed up. In fact, I wrote the song two or three times about entirely different subject matter. I remember one version was about a trucker. Over the years that I've been writing it's been interesting to watch the importance of editing continue to grow. I'm a big fan of editing. DavidLaMotteFan.com thanks David for his generosity in letting us share his songs. If you enjoy David's songs, you may order them here. To listen to more David LaMotte songs, visit the Audio Library. Stranger All those little lines on the ceiling All these little lines on my face Anyone can see I'm no stranger to this place Half a bottle empty on the dresser Half a suitcase full of my clothes Clock beside the bed says it's long past time to go Telephone is ringing in the kitchen Waiting for the answering machine Asking if I'm home, I don't remember what that means Put my only key on the table Take my jacket off of the chair Anyone can see I'm a stranger everywhere Words and Music by David LaMotte ©1999 Lower Dryad Music/ASCAP Saturday Well I wake me up at the break of day It's a pretty sky and I feel OK I wonder how people live this way And I roll back over again 'Cause the day is cool and the bed is warm I got no call for a clock alarm I don't believe it'll do much harm If I stay in bed until ten I've been needing one of these No responsibilities I've been needing one of these Saturday I don't wash my car I don't soak my lawn But the shower's warm and the heater's on So I'll stand right here 'til that water's gone And oh it feels so nice There's work to do, that's plain to see The laundry pile is as high as me But the Beatles said just to let it be And that sounds like good advice I've been needing one of these No responsibilities I've been needing one of these Saturday Every day I drive to town I run and run 'til I fall down Then I make my exit, take my bow And I just cannot tell you how I've been needing one of these No responsibilities I've been needing one of these Saturday Words and Music by David LaMotte ©1999 Lower Dryad Music/ASCAP Janey Hey Janey, where you been lately I've been looking for you down on Sullivan Street With your beat-up car and your bass guitar And your skinny, winning grin All the birthday candles melted away The colors running everywhere Yeah the flame burned down in this party town Man, I've been missing that light I keep looking for you In the stoplight cars and the blue jean bars downtown There were a couple of things I really wanted to say, but Janey you're not around I keep looking for you I keep looking for you You and Amy and me watched for shooting stars In that vacant lot up on Lookout Road But your head hung down, staring at the ground You never saw that light Those rocks went blazing across the sky Like they were trying to show us how to fly But you weren't like me, didn't have to see You were already burning into the night I keep looking for you in the rusty park and the smoky stars at night There were a couple of things I wanted to say, but anyway, I hope you're all right I keep looking for you I keep looking for you When Amy told me you were gone I didn't even believe her And there's nothing left that's burning now But the ashes and the fever I still turn down Sullivan once in a while When I've got something to do in your old neighborhood And I know you're gone, but I hear that song And I can't help looking for you I keep looking for you I keep looking for you Words and Music by David LaMotte ©1998 Lower Dryad Music/ASCAP Dans la Louisiane Down in south Louisiana the moonlight grows on trees It blows down in the autumn and it washes out to sea It dances on the waves there like a distant memory Dans la Louisiane I had played my songs and packed my gear and still I felt all right So I parked down by the water and I wandered through the night Where the streetsigns all speak Friench beneath the shimmering streetlights Dans la Louisiane And the moon it shone so brightly I couldn't find a star And the music flowed like sunshine from the fiddle and guitar But the light that glowed within us was the warmest light by far Je dois dire que je vous aime bien So I'm writing down this simple song with nothing much to say Except I'm thankful for the music and the privilege to play But most of all I'm grateful just to get to spend this day Dans la Louisiane And the moon it shone so brightly I couldn't find a star And the music flowed like sunshine from the fiddle and guitar But the light that glowed within us was the warmest light by far Je dois dire que je vous aime bien Dans la Louisiane Dans la Louisiane Words and music by David LaMotte ©1999 Lower Dryad Music/ASCAP Audio: Dans la Louisianne David says: after recording this song not once but twice, I recently learned from a friend in Kansas that there was a tiny grammatical error in it. The line 'je dois dire que je vous aime bien" means "I must say that I love you (plural) well." In English it's OK to drop the word 'that' from the phrase, but in French it isn't! Oops. So I've started to sing that little 'que' in there more recently. DavidLaMotteFan.com thanks David for his generosity in letting us share his songs. If you enjoy David's songs, you may order them here. To listen to more David LaMotte songs, visit the Audio Library. Home By Now You were reading in the café about that kid who left his home Disappeared into the north woods and died up there alone You were staring out the window like your thoughts had wandered far Then you ordered cappucino and got back into your car Keep the traffic moving There's nothing to see here Rubbernecking in the buffet line Where the choices all seem far too clear So comfortable it's painful Can't feel it anyhow Hey if you lived here You'd be home by now They were sitting in the hot tub of a cheap resort hotel They were toasting to the good life, but they didn't look too well He said this is why you work for forty years and pay your dues Then she told me about his bypass, how he's careful with his food Keep the traffic moving There's nothing to see here Rubbernecking in the buffet line Where the choices all seem far too clear So comfortable it's painful Can't feel it anyhow Hey if you lived here You'd be home by now Pay your money, take your choice Choose your vision, lose your voice Tell the story with a sigh of a thousand roads not taken I saw you glancing in that window driving past that pretty house There was a family in the dining room, forks half-way to their mouths Makes you want to pass your plate back to have a little more But you left that table years ago, your key won't fit the door Keep the traffic moving There's nothing to see here Rubbernecking in the buffet line Where the choices all seem far too clear So comfortable it's painful Can't feel it anyhow Hey if you lived here You'd be home by now Words and Music by Jared White and David LaMotte ©1998 Lower Dryad Music/ASCAP After the Rain She hears a shower falling in the morning The baby says it's time to start the day He's crying from his crib in the corner Because he doesn't know another way It was raining when the baby started sleeping And raining when he woke her up at four A little's coming through the plaster ceiling There's a bucket in the corner by the door When the rain comes it washes her clean And she's running in rainbows like the gutter gasoline She cries instead of sleeping, but she'll make it through this pain She's just waiting 'til after the rain The dishes from her dinner are still soaking It's not a big apartment but it's home People say this kind of home is broken The baby's here, she doesn't live alone When the rain comes it washes her clean And she's running in rainbows like the gutter gasoline She cries instead of sleeping, but she'll make it through this pain She's just waiting 'til after the rain A tiny shoulder works OK for crying When the baby goes to sleep she can let go She wants to make a change, she says she's trying She thinks he understands but doesn't know When the rain comes it washes her clean And she's running in rainbows like the gutter gasoline She cries instead of sleeping, but she'll make it through this pain She's just waiting 'til after the rain Words and Music by David LaMotte ©1999 Lower Dryad Music/ASCAP Hold On I appreciate your smiling Like it's just another day But you seem a little weary Just want to say that it's OK If you don't feel like being steady If you'd rather say what's true You don't have to have the answers Sometimes all that you can do, is Hold on, Hold on Take the dream in your pocket and lock it up safe Hold on for one more day When your eyes don't want to open When all you feel is fear When you wish someone would notice And that you could disappear In the company of silence If you need someone to hold Let your tears fall on my shoulder Let your story rest untold, and Hold on, Hold on Take the dream in your pocket and lock it up safe Hold on for one more day You walked through the daylight And nobody knew But the light falls to pieces And you're falling too Hold on, Hold on Take the dream in your pocket and lock it up safe Hold on for one more day Words and Music by David LaMotte ©2000 Lower Dryad Music/ASCAP Shadows Instrumental Music by David LaMotte ©1999 Lower Dryad Music/ASCAP