Floodtides Of The Mind: - Poems From The Last Step -

A collection of lyrics and narrative prose-pieces by songwriter/novelist Paul Murphy.

Working almost exclusively in a short-story format, both standard and linear, the 36 entries here are some of the most excoriating and shadow-dwelling of his long career.

Among the included titles are the heartbreaking 'I Let You Down Again Today'; the marital fidelity playlets 'Dangerous Games', 'So Many Memories Of You' and 'Oklahoma Tale; political allegories 'The Eagle Slept (And The Snake Struck' and 'Inside/Outside'; and, as ever from this author, shark-teeth-sharp social injustice commentaries, such as 'Same Old Story; Different Streets', 'The Court Of Public Derision', and 'Thru' A Stained, Glass Window'.

Other playlets/narrative folk ballads here include the harrowing Depression-era 'Flesh From The Bone', the equally-harrowing tale of addiction 'Arctic Winds', and the abandoned lover tale 'She Heard I Love You'. The author, dying of F-MND, turns his pen on his own final days in 'A Living Autopsy' and 'Reflecting Pool'; and humour remained until the end with the risqué double-entendre blues numbers 'The Back Of Your Sedan' and 'Goin' For A Drive With My Baby'.

Bonus Material includes reproductions of all extant original handwritten manuscripts, an essay - Reflecting, Paul? - detailing the backstory to each work, and some of the author's sketch-art for several of the songs.

Madame Sans Jane [clip]

A furtive figure fleeting

Schooner blew its smokestack
When she disembarked
I put sooner before later
The flint gave a spark
That last call, the line went dead
Just as I said Hello?
I wonder what it is that
I'm not allowed to know

....

She Heard I Love You [clip]

The warming touch of a new-morn sun
As waves gently caress the beach
She notices that his hands are clasped
And he's sitting slightly out of reach
There's a thought of doubt tiptoeing
About finding what you seek
We had some fun but now we're done
I know you feel that way too
I had doors to pry, and that is why...
I told you 'I love you'

She feels her lower lip a-tremble
But tries not to let it show
Those words were the fulcrum point
Of how far she'd decided to go
No-one had ever read her pages
And her first secret - she'd let him know
She fakes a smile, trouper style
Not wanting to believe it's true
Strokes his arm You said you'd cause me no harm...
... when I said 'I love you'

...

Oklahoma Tale [clip]

Mary's outside Johnny's window, peekin' in
Sally's on the sofa offerin' all kinds of sin
Johnny swore he loved her, it's obviously not the case
A look of pure anticipation on his face

Mary don't want to look, but somehow she must
And sees lust trample her love in the dust
She picks a stone up from the ground, gives the glass a crack
And Johnny takes his hobo outta the shack

Looks like he's mouthin', I won't be long
Mary smiles as he's strugglin' to put his pants on
Sally might be a cat but she ain't gettin' the cream
Johnny opens the door and peers and then there's a scream

....

But Someday... [clip]

Not a single bird in the cloud-cloaked sky
I'm down among the dead men, waiting to die
I'm in so much pain it even hurts to cry
And you know why...

....