Grateful Fool
(2016)
Maps & Plans
(2014 EP)
Lyrics
I woke from the storm
Drenched and ragged on the shore
Stranded next to me, an angel carved of ivory
I strung it around my neck
And swore that I'd protect it from harm
Ageless, time went by
Child of the sun and tide
Voices sang to me, calling me across the sea
They begged me to journey home
For a moment they sounded so close
My wife, my son, my ghost
But the tempest sunk the raft I strung
And I was flung headfirst into the sea
And all was lost until you caught
Upon some wood and carried me
Over the waves, you saved me
And you pulled me to the sand and helped me stand
I wasn't frightened as you burned
The purest white, and split the night in two
I knew I had returned
That I belonged with my angel all along
Well I woke, warm and safe
My smiling angel, her tireless grace
Dancing as she blazed, I couldn't move or look away
She beckoned and called my name
And fervent, I drew towards the flame
No tubes, no beeps, no pain
She held me by the head, a dazzling red
And I could see her as she was
A golden guide, who raised her eyes
Shattered the sky carried us
Over the waves,
Up and away.
Sailing through the air, cast on the green
Apple falling from the Mother tree
Orphan of the fall, don't cast envy
A father you had not, but you'll someday be.
Forgotten fruit decayed into the earth
Brother seeds estranged at humble birth
One took root in shade, one poached by a bird
One withered away, one felt its worth.
Etched into the fabric of the earth
Are lessons you must formulate to words
The oak that stands alone, encroached by none
May lift its limbs unhindered toward the sun
Under the deep and darkest night
There hides a flickering candlelight
Its name is truth, it waits for you
To come, to come, to come.
Under the deep and darkest night
There hides a flickering candlelight
It waits for you, but it's fading soon
So run, so run, so run
Back at the start, I was a boy
You gave me your heart, I held it like a toy
That I won from the pinstriped suit at the summer fair
Just another fancy trinket that I could wear
And I said these words were true,
Still I had much to prove.
Oh let's go back to that night on the grass
Just laying there watching Orion roll past
And I knew right then that everything had changed
The verse that never worked was rearranged
I say these words are true,
I lay them before you.
Now I ain't no prince, but I am a man
You gave me your heart and upon it I'll stand
A rock I claim and mark as holy ground
The most precious plot of earth I've ever found
And out of timber-wood and truth
I build this house for you
Oh, I swear these words are true,
I'll leave them here with you.
Flyin' over the fields and shifting seas
We are doomed but we are free
Free to make our perilous ways
And it's stranger than I can believe
What greater gift could one receive
Than time, a pen, and an open page
And I know, yeah I know
There's an awful hollow void beyond the veil
But the unknown, yeah the unknown
Is the only course I'm not afraid to sail
So let's sail
And one day I'll only be a stone
Marking where they laid my bones
Just a sentence and a name
To try and explain
What could never be described
We've all lived a million lives
The finer points are much the same
And I know, yeah I know
There's a final, silent blackness round the bend
Oh, so I won't, no no I won't
Look away until I know it as a friend
As a friend
Oh, we know the end
The vultures start to gather overhead
So face the dawn
And sing on, sing on.
I have often wondered
If all that I can see
And all that I can marvel at
Would marvel back at me
Oh, my dearest mother
Don't wait up for me
I am lost and wandering
A dream, a reverie
Golden rays peek over the trees
I seek to leave the sun at peace
When it looks upon my soul
Oh, my sweet songbird, where have you gone?
I heard your songs but sang them wrong
I caged you and you carried me
Now graceful bird, you're burden free
Oh frightful siren, don't pull me down
You drew me in, seduced by sound
Voracious monster, lay me to waste
Now help yourself, if you like the taste
Oh gentle goddess, my fragile muse
Left behind, betrayed and used
Oh darling dove, hide your love away
This world's an awful, painful place
This world's an ugly, hateful place
Such a lonely man, so finely dressed
Plays at life like a game of chess
Tell me, what will the poor soul think
When his hand, with its wristwatch and rings
Starts to shake and then topples his king
Tell me now, what will he think?
And the land provides, it gives all you need
So travel light, go wild and free
May your plans only follow your feet
Take in stride every turn that you greet
For every step taken's a treat
Golden and sweet it all can be
And only love, all the time, all the time
Just take enough, more is a crime, more is a crime
Help me give it all up, nothing is mine, nothing is mine
I'm a wayward grateful fool, and that's alright
And we're only dust, swept up by the breeze
We're paper boats adrift on an endless sea
Kept afloat by the ocean's grace
And undone by a lone rogue wave
But until I am sent on my way
I'll laugh with the stars, they know my name
And only love, all the time, all the time
Just take enough, more is a crime, more is a crime
Help me give it all up, nothing is mine, nothing is mine
And one day, you awoke for the very first time
With no recollection where you came from
How you're here or why
But you're here now, oh you're here now
Oh isn't that enough?
Just look around, yeah just look around
Such a gift that is given to us
So only love, yeah only love
This life and the beauty it brings
And rejoice, cause we don't know a damn thing.
Come, let us talk about life for a change
Cause all I got in me
Is just a little bit of time to my name
And a love you won't believe
Isn't it grand?
How you'll never know where you're going, my grandmother said
"Don't peek at the end,
It'll spoil the journey and the joy of the story ahead
That you hold in your hands."
How bland, if it always went as planned
Come, won't you look at the stars in the night
And the people on the street
They're one and the same and I'm certain in time
They'll switch places and repeat
Isn't it grand?
I asked God what's the point of it all, he just smiled and said
"You won't like it my friend,
But the meaning of life is that you're not meant to understand.
If I told you, oh, what then?
How bland, if we're just all means to an end."
Ahead, a million threads
And yet a single braid behind
A million distant memories
With no way to rewind
All we are
Are drops of water
Floating down a river of love
'Til we're dashed against the rocks and we break
And we wait to be taken back to the clouds above
There's a ticking time bomb in the center of our solar system
Warning all its daughters but they'll never listen
If you hear this in a million years, well then I'm sorry it's you
The ocean will heat up until the water forms a vapor layer
Obscuring us from all our planetary neighbors
It's a pity it'll be up there, cause it'll ruin the view
Of the greatest fireworks display our gods have ever seen
As we're all erased and burned away and purged until we're clean
As droves of us explode to dust,
Rainbows will burst as our molecules disperse
Drifting through the void, remember what we used to be long ago
Composite chorus, now a dissonance of solos
No direction, will I ever form a section of a whole again?
Mysterious complexity of elemental animation
We're walking dead, we're beautiful abominations
But we're lifeless chemistry under the microscopic focal lens
We monitor sparks, say we're connecting the dots
And claim we've found the meaning
But numerical plots can't spell out the thought
That happened in between
The gaps of all these synapses I call
My own, borrowed, and soon to be returned in full
Solar wind has spread me thin but really I have just expanded
Part of every strand of life and every planet
Liberated from my jaded form, I'm fated to be born again
Yet to comprehend the fact that matter isn't all that matters
Defining death as just another word for scattered
Call it dark, but it's brighter than a star that doesn't fade and end
Grateful for my borrowed time, now laws I must abide
As a million silver strings between them all, I'm still alive
And those of us whose souls don't rust
Will bathe in light 'til the day our atoms recollide
The wind that's in the trees
Is the same that stirs in me
The best things have always been free
I can taste the dust I'm of,
Taste the hope and loss and love
Of the countless who lived before me
So let's raise our noses high,
Let's toast to this new life
And the ecstasy found in each breath
Let's dance in the light of dawn,
While the curtain remains drawn
In this brief intermission between death
We're alive!
Magnificent, this world we're in
Where each sunrise is a symphony,
And you are a work of art.
So let's whistle while we walk
Don't heed the tick or tock
Of that mechanical bandit, the clock
If you're burdened down by time
Dive deep in another's eyes
Where the hours melt like waves on the rocks
We're alive!
Magnificent, this world we're in
Where each step you take makes history,
So join in and play your part
And each passing smile's an eternity,
Who knows what it could start?
Where each creature sings in harmony,
Let's join in with all our hearts.
We're alive!
Magnificent, this world we're in
Where each sunrise is a symphony,
And you are a work of art.
And it's more beautiful than I could ever dream
And my love, you're the very best part.
Darling of mine, as you wake up alone
Throw a smile on for me
We'll always be
Two little peas in a pod, until we're trees
We'll give the birds a home,
So they can sing.
I have never been one to explain a lot
I always get tossed off my train of thought
I can't hold on for long to the things I've got
I don't know who I am, but I'm learning what I'm not
I had learned to walk the streets alone
I trained my feet to fall to a metronome
I had maps of where I planned to go
But then you showed up and all that went out the window
I have lost a lot along the way
But all I see is everything I've gained
And there's nothing I wouldn't trade
To have you stay with me all night til we
Could see the morning in
And clasp our hands and draft some plans
And try to hold on to them
As we
Both change
Again and again
Things can't stay the same, we both agreed
And now on my map your face is pinned across the sea
I have nothing to do but wait and see
And pray our maps and plans will bring you back to me
I know the only constant thing is change
But through it all, my thoughts persist the same
I'd still give it all away
To have you stay with me all life til we
Have to tuck each other in
So if I can, may I have your hand
Can you teach me how to dance
And laugh
And love
Oh waltz me til the end
Just say the words
I will disappear
Divided by my fear of losing you
You're all but gone
Don't cage the bird
It's born to fly away
Not rotting out its days resenting you
For the traps you made
I want to love you
And ask for nothing at all
But I hold on to you
With arms that can crush your soul
I no longer know how to caress it
So bar the gate
Keeping it all inside
Much stronger men than I
Tried to stand their ground
Now they’re lost at sea
I’ll guard you safe
Free from the creeping doubts
Each time that trust wins out a rope is cast
Catch and pull me in
I want to love you
And watch you grow
But I hold on to you
Make you drag me through the snow
I no longer know how to walk on my own
When the sun rose
I was clutching my blankets
My dreams possessed by the demons you have left
The medicine man said he'd stop
All these tears from falling down
With a scalpel, a needle and some thread
No more!
My eyes won't overflow no more
No more!
I can't see
But they won't bother me no more
And when the night came
I was clutching my chest
And howling at the black in dross and pain
The witch doctor said he’d extract
The source of my unrest
Until nothing but a cavity remained
No more!
It won’t pound out my sorrow no more
No more!
I’ve got scars
But no heart no more
I’ve got scars
But no heart no more
I’ll be your winter coat
Between the cold and you
I’ll stand here until I’m old
And wait for you
And I’ll be your fumbling sight
When the dark gathers round
Pick you up and hold you tight
When you're weighed down
And I’ll be your prism block
To separate the shades of gray
And I will be your music box
Just open me up and call my name
And I’ll play
I’ll be your secret compartment
I will hold what means the most
And I will be your music box
Just wind me up and lean in close
Here I go
I don’t know what I want
Or where I’m going to
You have your visions
Your path is laid for you
We hold our memories
I hope they serve us well
They hold a lesson
But what, I cannot tell
Stay with me
And set me free
From the doubts that cripple us all
We have our choices
And they’ll all be made soon
Mine may be right or not
But I want to make them with you
So drift with me
This river dream
Don’t fear the canyons ahead
Articles
Miami New Times: Former Physicist Keith Johns Hopes to Start a Folk Revolution in Miami-----
And yet, the music persisted, and the universe contrived to change things. In a chance meeting through mutual friends, Keith met Shawn Sutta and Adam Robl who together make Audiocastle, an emerging recording studio in Miami. They eventually got around to talking music and Keith performed a few of his songs, and in that moment, the tides of battle turned.
In April 2014, after a year of working at the lab by day, recording in the studio by night, shows on the weekend and very little sleep, 'Maps & Plans', Keith's debut EP, was completed. With the support of his friends and family, the money saved from his days as a lab technician and 'Maps & Plans' in his hand, Keith quit his day job and took the leap as a full-on musician, hoping he would land softly.
And, to his joyous surprise, he has. 'Maps & Plans', released as a free download on Noisetrade.com, became featured on the site’s front page and went on to be one of the top ten downloads in the country, as well as being featured on various national music sharing sites.
The year following the release of the debut EP was one of playing shows and gaining allies all around the country, and has left him with an overwhelming sense of gratitude. It was with this feeling in mind that he wrote a new full album of songs, entitling it 'Grateful Fool', and together they headed back into the studio. ‘Grateful Fool’ is set to be released coming Fall 2016.
Following the successful release of his 2014 EP 'Maps & Plans', Keith and band headed back into the studio and set out to create a creatively cohesive and significant debut album. They have returned in 2016 with 'Grateful Fool' - a stunning, evocative journey of self-knowledge and growth, masterfully woven with threads of hope, humility and truth. Musically breathtaking and lyrically profound, 'Grateful Fool' stands tall as a strong statement of intent and a promising sign of what else is to come.
And yet, the music persisted, and the universe contrived to change things. In a chance meeting through mutual friends, Keith met Shawn Sutta and Adam Robl who together make Audiocastle, an emerging recording studio in Miami. They eventually got around to talking music and Keith performed a few of his songs, and in that moment, the tides of battle turned.
In April 2014, after a year of working at the lab by day, recording in the studio by night, shows on the weekend and very little sleep, 'Maps & Plans', Keith's debut EP, was completed. With the support of his friends and family, the money saved from his days as a lab technician and 'Maps & Plans' in his hand, Keith quit his day job and took the leap as a full-on musician, hoping he would land softly.
And, to his joyous surprise, he has. 'Maps & Plans', released as a free download on Noisetrade.com, became featured on the site’s front page and went on to be one of the top ten downloads in the country, as well as being featured on various national music sharing sites.
The year following the release of the debut EP was one of playing shows and gaining allies all around the country, and has left him with an overwhelming sense of gratitude. It was with this feeling in mind that he wrote a new full album of songs, and together they headed back into the studio. They have returned in 2016 with 'Grateful Fool' - a stunning, evocative journey of self-knowledge and growth, masterfully woven with threads of hope, humility and truth. Musically breathtaking and lyrically profound, 'Grateful Fool' stands tall as a strong statement of intent and a promising sign of what else is to come.